CHAPTER 21

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CHAPTER 21

MORNING CAME and Grath was still burning with fever. Knowing that they couldn't survive in this hellish barren land by staying where they were and waiting for Grath to get better, Xeke gathered old logs from all over the barren land. Hakken used these to make a makeshift bed where they could carry Grath. Leaving him behind was not an option.

While Xeke scouted the best route to take, Hakken, Sollel, Zassia, and Cira were holding the makeshift log bed on each corner, carrying Grath. They were slower than yesterday, but they still managed to cover a few kilometers before nightfall.

At night, Cira tried her best to bring down Grath's fever with her medicine, but nothing was working. Another night passed with Grath still burning up. When morning came, they carried Grath again in the makeshift log bed until nightfall. Cira and Zassia was exhausted, but they didn't complain. Grath had carried them as well when they were tired from walking; they were just giving back the favor.

Resting at night, Sollel stared at Grath. He was almost immobile; if she couldn't see the movement of his chest, she would think Grath was no longer with them.

Sollel sighed. His soul is not accepting my blessing because it didn't give consent. That's why Grath was having a fever—his soul was fighting off her essence. There were only two outcomes in all this: either her essence wins, or Grath wins but his soul will end up being damaged. Between the two, the former was safer.

I'm sorry, Grath. Sollel sat beside Grath and rested her hand on his chest.

"Your Highness." Cira sat beside Sollel, watching the queen's hand on Grath. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to force my essence on him."

Cira's lips parted. "But that will damage his body."

"Damaging his body is far better than damaging his soul," said Sollel with decisiveness. "The body could be repaired, the soul couldn't be. And we must pick up our pace tomorrow. We have to get out of this barren land. We're running out of food and water."

Cira took a deep breath. "Very well. I will ready some medicine."

Sollel nodded and started feeling her essence inside Grath. As she delved deeper into Grath's very core, his soul...she felt how it was struggling against her flame. It was losing. I'm sorry, Grath. Sollel then clenched her hand that was resting on Grath's chest, and her essence in Grath's body immediately expanded and devoured Grath's soul with her aid.

Grath's soul struggled. Using its body's strength to overcome her essence, he was coughing blood, and his body was convulsing. But it was fruitless. Sollel's essence inside Grath devoured his soul wholly.

"What's happening to him?" Xeke asked as everyone crowded around Grath.

Cira immediately placed her hand over Sollel's. "We're healing Grath, and his body is responding," she lied. "El is trying to absorb Grath's fever, while I spread my essence to heal him."

No one asked and just watched. Zassia was so amazed with her teacher's ability to absorb body heat, Xeke was frowning, trying to understand what the two were doing, and Hakken was just silently watching Sollel's hand on Grath.

After a few minutes, Grath's body stopped thrashing, and his face finally looked at peace as Sollel withdrew her hand. That's when Cira truly came in and imbued Grath's body with her essence to hasten his recovery. It would weaken Cira, but there was nothing she couldn't manage.

Cira healed Grath with her essence for a couple of hours. Grath's body was nearly torn from the inside because of Sollel's destructive essence; that's why it took Cira that long to fix Grath's body, taking a lot of her essence as well.

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