The next step was obvious. I pulled my blade from its scabbard and held my left arm out in front of me. Pressing the weapon against my skin, I hesitated for a moment. I didn’t like the idea of cutting myself, but it could be healed once I was done. I pressed a little harder and the blade sliced through my skin, I winced a little, but it was only a small cut. I held the cut up to Aetherin’s mouth and tilted her head back a little, while I let the blood trickle inside.

At first, nothing happened. I kept glancing from my arm to her body, checking for any sign that she had begun to heal. Finally patches at the edges of her burned skin begun to change. Suddenly Aetherin’s arms moved. She grabbed my wrist and pulled it into her mouth a bit down hard.

“Ouch.”

It hurt at first, but the pain soon vanished. She was gulping down my blood greedily. Her eyes opened, but she wasn’t looking at me, she was just feeding in a frenzy. I looked at her body and her burns had begun to heal faster now, it was just I didn’t know how much more I could give her. I was starting to feel a little weak and lightheaded from the blood loss. I tried to pull back, but her grip on my arm was like a vice.

“Master!” Celine said from behind me. “You shouldn’t give her anymore!”

“I can’t pull my arm out, she isn’t quite with it. Help.”

Celine rushed to my side, but even with her help we couldn’t loosen her grip. Then Celine sat up straight and lifted her arm above her head. Wham!

She slapped Aetherin as hard as she could. “Come to your senses!” She shouted.

Just like that, the light behind Aetherin’s eyes returned. She immediately let go of my arm. I quickly popped a stamina and healing potion, as Aetherin sat up awkwardly.

“I’m so sorry!” She said as she realised what had happened.

“It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault. I cut my arm and put in your mouth, I half expected something like this to happen…”

“But I could’ve sucked you dry.”

“You didn’t…”

“Only because I stopped her!” Celine snorted.

“Thanks Celine…” I patted her head then turned back to Aetherin. “Anyway, how are you feeling? It doesn’t look like you’ve healed properly.”

“I feel fine, I can…” Aetherin said trying to get to her feet and stumbling a little.

I quickly got to my feet and stopped her from falling. “You should try and drink some more before you do that.”

“You’ll have to leave me here.”

“No way!”

“I can’t drink anymore of your blood. It isn’t safe.”

“Then you can have some of mine.” Beth’s voice said from behind us.

Liz had finished healing her and Serin. All three of them had joined us.

“Mine too.” Added Serin.

“But you should get out of here. There’s no telling how much time you have before someone else comes looking.” Aetherin protested.

“Then hurry up and drink!” Beth said thrusting her arm in Aethrin’s face.

“Drink it, between the three of us you should be able to completely heal, and we can all get out of here quickly.” Liz said rolling up her sleeve offering her own blood too.

Aetherin glanced at me, then her gaze switched to each of the girls’ faces in turn. All of them were determined to help her. Seeing this, she gently took Beth’s arm and sunk her teeth in. Her wounds healing quicker as she drank down. She only took a little, then stopped, but as soon as she did Serin offered up her arm. Liz did the same as soon she was finished with Serin. Aetherin was starting to look much more revitalised now.

As she finished drinking from Liz, Altria walked over. “What about me?” She asked holding out her arm.

“Thanks Altria, but I’m fully healed now, and shouldn’t we get moving?”

She did look healed. Her burns had disappeared completely.

“We should… Is everyone else able to move?” Asked Serin.

“Looks like we’re all ready to move, if Aetherin’s recovered now.” Answered Altria.

“Good, let’s get out of here while we still can.”

With that we all picked up the remainder of our gear and hurried towards the treeline. We were under the cover of the tree within moments and heading back up the small slope towards the trail we had taken on our way in. We had hours of darkness left ahead of us, but we needed to make our way down the mountain and find cover for light hours before dawn came. After reaching the trail, we begun the long climb down. I found myself walking next to Liz as we descended.

“Do you think there’s a chance something else will come for us? Do think it was tracking the artifact?” I asked her as we walked.

“I would be surprised if nothing else came for us on our way back, but I don’t think that flame demon was tracking the artifact.” She answered.

“Then how did it find us?”

“The altar must have been trapped in some way. Once I lifted the artifact it was alerted somehow. It might have been able to sense the artifact as it got closer. That’s probably how it pinned down our location. The energy coming from the artifact is too weak to pick up from much of a distance.”

“I don’t understand, why would it be trapped?”

“The same reason the shrine was guarded. They want to keep a hold on any artifacts that they have. They probably want to acquire the others too.”

“But if the gods are dead and there is no way of reviving them now, what would be the point?”

“Maybe what I said back in the shrine wasn’t entirely correct. There might not be any way for a mortal to revive the gods from that state, but what if it was god that was trying? Then things might be different.”

“If it was a god that was trying… You mean the demon lord?”

“Yes… We guessed as much before didn’t we. The taboo breakers, the ones that broke the agreement with the gods and slew them. Taking their powers for themselves and fracturing them into thousands of pieces. But if there was a god left in a different realm, one without a shrine in our world, it wouldn’t be much surprise if they were to return to enact vengeance and to try to revive their kin, would it?”

“No… But a god, we can’t stand any chance against them. There’s no way that we can survive!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“What?”

“Perhaps there is some truth to the summoning myth that the alliance peddles. We know that the source of your powers is the relic. The relic’s source was the artifact and ultimately the divine being that created it. There might be few ways that a mortal could defeat a god, but another divine being, or someone with the powers of one? That is something different all together.”

“You think it was true that the heroes are summoned to defeat the demon lord?”

“I’m not sure. There is still too much I don’t understand. My gut tells me that it wasn’t the systems primary function.”

“What could it have been?”

“I don’t know… Perhaps a way to harness the full power… But how would that work? I don’t know, there are more questions now…” Liz said almost as if she was talking to herself. “I need to examine the artifact in more detail to be sure and I’ll need to speak with Altria, but we need to make it away from here first.”

She was right. We had only just passed through the small wood where we had camped the day before. Even if that flame demon hadn’t raised the alarm, someone might have made out our fight. If by some miracle of luck that they hadn’t, it would still only be a matter of time until someone came across the guards at the shrine. Someone was going to come looking for us, if they weren’t already.

“Do you think we’ll make it?” I asked.

“We’ve got three days travel before we make it back to human realm… I would have like to have made it out of shrine without drawing attention to ourselves. I don’t know, I hope so.” Replied Liz.

We had a long way to go before we were safe. As I walked someone placed a hand on my shoulder, I looked back to see Serin. She had been walking a short way behind us.

“We’re not going to give up easily. We need to get this back to Dunshelm don’t we?” She said walking alongside me.

“We do.”

“And if it comes to it, Celine can always get you out of here.”

“I don’t want to do that. I don’t even want to think about it coming to that.”

“If the worst happens, someone needs to get back and let Lisa know what we found out here. We’ve got a war to stop remember.”

“I remember, but it doesn’t have to be me that does it!”

“Do you think Celine would leave you behind?”

“I don’t know… Maybe if I ordered her to. It hasn’t come to that yet.”

“It hasn’t. You’re right, we should keep positive. Let’s focus on getting down the mountain and take it from there.”