It didn't make sense. It couldn't be happening. She had been just fine not even half and hour ago.

"He—… Hey…" But he couldn't find the words to finish whatever it was he had wanted to say. And Heath didn't inquire. In fact, the tank didn't say anything at all. He hadn't turned around at Eik's call and didn't really seem to have even noticed his friend's arrival.

Sonja was slumped lifelessly against the outer wall of a house. A copious amount of blood had run from her neck down her torso to where it now pooled on the ground, seeping into the ground between the stones. Her shirt and leather armor was absolutely covered, not a single square centimeter of fabric on the left side of her body left clean.

Her bow, the Bow of the Squall, lay haphazardly across her knees. It was still in good condition and she could have continued to use it if only she would stand up again.

Her eyes were… difficult to look at. Right when he initially saw her, he had caught a brief glimpse of them but quickly looked away. That simple action of moving his eyes to hers felt like an insurmountable wall. But somehow he felt he owed her that much. To recognize and acknowledge that it was her. That she was not just some random person, but a person whom he held dear.

Distant was the best way to describe them. They were intact but even that brief glimpse he had gotten earlier would have been enough to tell him that something was very wrong. The soul and the light had vanished. A spark of life was absent behind her pupils.

Heath's hands and sleeves were also completely coated in his sister's red life blood, a testament to a desperate attempt to save her life. Now, however, they hung limply at his sides, all hope lost to the reality that was so cruelly displayed in front of him.

Eik knelt next to him and touched his arm gently. "Heath. Heath, I'm here."

Heath flinched and whirled about with the look of a man who had thought he was alone. His face had none of the spry brightness that usually characterized it. Instead it was sunken and forlorn to the point where he almost looked like a different person.

"Oh… Eik."

"I'm here."

"Yeah. Yeah, that's good. You're here. That's good. Sonja's just…" he trailed off, looked down at her again. His voice was steady but his mind didn't seem to be.

"Heath, I'm s-so… so sorry."

The big man huffed. "Nah, man, it's… No, no, she's just, uuh… she's just…"

Still kneeling, Eik shuffled closer to Sonja's body but Heath grabbed him by the elbow in an iron grip that belied his inferior rank. There was no anger in the eyes with which he regarded Eik, but there was a hard resolve. "Don't touch her, Eik. You can't touch her right now."

"Alright. Alright. Don't worry, alright? I'm not going to touch her. I promise."

"Good," the tank said, relaxing slightly and letting go of Eik's arm. "That's good."

"But, Heath, listen to me. We can't just leave her here. She doesn't want that, does she? How about we help her to the square? Do you remember Andihar? The S-ranked elf. His wife Molanda is an A-rank healer. I think it would be best if we brought Sonja to see her. Don't you agree?"

Heath looked to Eik with wide eyes, then back to his sister. "Uuh, yeah… Yeah, of course. We should do that."

"Now, Heath. We can't stay here right now." Truthfully, Eik wouldn't have minded sitting with Heath for a while, just letting the reality of the situation sink in before moving on, but even now he felt the effects of the miracle medicine that was allowing him to move gradually fade. He couldn't leave Heath alone here, knowing how his current state of mind. But he also couldn't delay any longer.

"Y-Yeah, okay. Let's go." Heath said and tried to stand but fell backward on weak knees, his legs seemingly unwilling to obey him. The tank also had more than a few injuries himself, albeit nothing grievous enough to threaten his life. It did give him some difficulty moving around though.

"Okay, buddy, I got ya, don't worry," Eik grunted as he caught the big man under the pit of his arm. "Lean against the wall there, I'll take Son—"

"No! No, I'll… I'll do it."

Eik helped him to his sister's side. "That's totally fine, but I love her too. I'd be glad if you would let me help so we can do it together."

Heath paused for a second, and then scooted over a bit to allow Eik to come closer. "Yeah… Of course you can. We're a team. We help each other."

Heath didn't even glance at the weeping and sobbing people all around as they made their slow way back to Molanda. His looked as distant and empty as Sonja's did, almost as devoid of that spark of life. He was a husk.

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It was clear that he was deep in shock, and that was understandable, but Eik hoped he would eventually claw his way back to the surface. In this world, people unable to come ot terms with loss and wasting away as a result were an all too common sight. Eik would give him time to grieve — that much he deserved — but he would not leave him to shrink into nothingness.

Molanda's area of effect healing abilities were visible long before they made it back. She was working non stop to save as many people as she possibly could.

Just knowing that the house of Dayarunar had been willing to drop everything to rush to the aid of a people that, frankly, they had no real relation to filled Eik's heart with appreciation.

Presumably it was an act of gratitude for saving Andihar and Molanda's daughter Thalandi, not only from being murdered by the insane cultists inside the forest of the first trial of the Championships, but also for carrying her wounded and unconscious body to safety after they were spat back out in the headquarters of the alliance.

But even then, it was a gesture so enormous that he almost felt bad about it. But only almost. They had been in dire need of a rescue and he wasn't going to think twice about it.

The closer they got, the more Eik's strength began to leave him. He reckoned another half a minute or so would see him slumped to the ground like an ice cream dropped on the flat griddle top at a hibachi restaurant.

There was no time to waste.

Pushing themselves, they step up. With every step, Sonja's body grew heavier in his arms even though he was only carrying half.

Molanda noticed them when they were about a dozen paces away and appeared before them, helping them to lower Sonja down to lie on her back. Olivia inhaled sharply when she saw Sonja.

"Sa-Save… Please save her. Please. My sister, she…" Heath breathed, some of the emotionless mask cracking at the edges to reveal a deep and dark abyss of sorrow beneath. His eyes never left his sister's face as he spoke.

Molanda studied Sonja's wound closely but didn't appear very positive at all. Eik saw the faintest trace of light travel from the tips of all five of her fingers simultaneously as she laid a hand of the E-ranker's stomach. It must have been some kind of medical scan.

She glanced up at Heath but he hardly noticed it at all. Then her gaze met Eik's and it revealed the painful truth to him then and there.

Finally, without a word, she laid a hand gently over Sonja's horrific neck wound, blindingly golden light swirling about it like a thousand fireflies.

Twenty seconds later she removed her hand, demonstrating just how powerful of a healer she truly was as the wound was not nowhere to be seen and the skin was left springy and pristine, save the pallor that remained. She gently closed Sonja' eyelids so it almost looked like she was just sleeping.

Heath flew forward, eyes wide, but Molanda took him by the shoulder and forced him to look her in the eyes. "Heath, I'm sorry. This was all I could do for her. It was simply too dire and even I can't bring back those who have already departed. She's gone, Heath. You have my condolences."

"N-No, but look," he tried, desperation making itself known. "It's gone! The wound is gone! She's all better now! You did it! Molanda, you did it!" There was a smile on his face, but his eyes showed nothing but panic.

The A-rank healer was clearly experienced and spoke with ultimate calm and kindness. "I could only restore her body. I'm sorry, but her life is gone. Look at her and remember her as you knew her. This is who she was. A beautiful woman and a sister whom you loved. You must let her rest now, Heath."

Lightheaded, Heath fell backward, caught only by Eik's hand on his back. His eyes had been dry before, but now tears flowed uncontrollably. Eik

Eik himself felt the tears threaten but at this point he was slowly losing the ability to sit up on his own. The effects of the pick-me-up was disappearing much less suddenly than the one he'd been given back in headquarters. Maybe this one was of higher quality? Note to self. Learn to make those as well.

The list of stuff he had to learn was growing longer and longer every day he spent in the Unified Mass, but at least it gave him a reason to get up in the morning.

"Molanda, could you spare some more medicine to give me my strength back? I need to go and get my friend Michael as well," Eik pleaded. They had left the healer with the injured young man on the way here and the sooner they could get to them the better. And after finding Sonja like that, dread for Michael had settled heavily in his stomach.

"This really isn't something that should be taken too often. It can have some serious adverse effects if overused," Molanda said hesitantly.

"I'll go get him," Olivia said and sped off before Eik could protest. He could have used the distraction from the reality he had just come face to face with.

Sonja was dead. And she wouldn't come back. In this world full of super powers and fantastic creatures and phenomena, it felt like she should come back but he knew she wouldn't. It made him sad.

And it made him angry. Very angry. Angry to the point where he felt like everything was about to boil over. Something inside him had snapped when he saw his friend's eyes like that — empty and lifeless.

He now lay with his head supported on his rucksack of holding while Molanda worked on his devastated body. Everything hurt, but the rage and sorrow that dominated him made it feel distant and dull.

Half a dozen paces away lay Travis Lockwood, dead as well. Jen, his ever loyal assistant cried over his body. Good to see that he was more than just a leader. She had cared for him.

What the fuck was going to happen to Forest now? The pillar of their city was gone and Eik couldn't think of a good candidate to take over.

And it was all because of that fucking cult. And they probably wouldn't stop now. They would be back.

Profound Toxin whorled up about his body as indescribable wrath swallowed him. In a manifestation of the torrent of emotion wreaking havoc on his mind, the blue substance rapidly shifted between its three states of matter with no apparent pattern.

One moment it churned violently around him like a vortex only to converge in the next and sprout multiple spear length spike that made him impossible to approach, and then burst into mist that immediately clung close to him like a cloak protecting against the elements.

What he had achieved thus far simply wasn't enough. There were forces out there far more powerful than him, and they had their sights on Earth.

He could no longer afford to play it safe. The acquisition of power would have to be of the highest priority from now on. Nothing could be allowed to come between him and po—

"I'm going to put you to sleep now, Eik. Get some well deserved rest," Molanda said and put a palm over his eyes.

"No, wai—"

A second later he was out.

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