Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 182

Chapter 182: Priestess and Goddess

Lysette and Mirae walked up the stairs of the infirmary hand-in-hand, eventually reaching the backside of the fourth floor where Amalia lay resting.  As they stepped into the hallway and Lysette confirmed her presence with her aurasight, she realized that Mirae’s ability was even more precise than Lysette had initially thought.  Lysette knocked first, and after hearing a quiet beckoning from within, the two entered to see the young priestess convalescing on the bed.

“Lyse?” Amalia said.

Lysette immediately flared out her aura and began pulsing her regenerative ability into Amalia.  Nearly all of the once-deep physical injuries had been fully healed, but having been so close to death had caused considerable damage to her Spark.  She still retained some of her Essence, and Lysette had been working in her peripheral consciousnesses to rebuild Amalia’s Cultivation path and reinfuse it with the necessary Essence, but it was a precise and time-consuming process.

“It’s me,” Lysette said.  “May we have a moment?”

“Of course.  Is something troubling you?”

“There’s always something or another on my mind.  But right now, I wanted to ask how you were feeling.”

“I’m awake.  I’m alive.  My appetite has returned, and I can move around.  I’m not in any further danger of dying that I know of.  But my ability to use my Cultivation techniques seems weak and distant.  The doctors aren’t quite sure what’s wrong with me, so they want me to stay here for a few more days to run some tests.”

“You were brought back from the precipice of death’s door by an extremely rare botanical compound called phoenix root.  Unfortunately, it seems, you were so close to death that your Spark was damaged.  I am working on healing it, but I can only do so very slowly, very carefully.  Worst case scenario, I completely destroy your already damaged ability to Cultivate.  Or deliver you back.”

“I believe in you, My Goddess.” 

Amalia lowered her head and began praying.  As she did, Lysette felt a surge of strength and Divine Essence entering her.  Emotions followed, but not the ones she was expecting.  No grief, no despair, no anger or sadness.  No hints of broken faith, no burning desire for vengeance.  Just reverence and awe and selfless compassion.  Hope. 

Lysette dropped to a knee and lowered her head.  

“I need to apologize to you.”

“Apologize?  What do you have to apologize for?  And why are you bowing to me?  Shouldn’t it be me who’s supposed to bow before you, My Goddess?”

Lysette shook her head.  “I feel I have not proven myself worthy of these prayers you have given me.  I have failed in my duties to you, Amalia.  Because I was a weak goddess, I could not protect you as I wished.  And because of my failure, you very nearly died.  It is only right that I am as contrite as possible when begging for your forgiveness.”

Amalia giggled.  “You were much the same way the last time I found myself in a hospital bed.  It’s nice to see how much you care about me.”  She smiled, openly and warmly.  “Please rise, Lyse.  Or sit down if you prefer.  I don’t want you to feel you need to lower yourself on my account.”  Amalia pointed to one of the chairs in the small room.

Lysette and Mirae each pulled up a chair and sat down next to each other on the side of the bed.

“Lyse, you have done more for me than you realize.  You gave me confidence.  Hope.  Something to strive for.  You taught me that I could be more than I thought I was.  Showed me that I wasn’t just a meek girl, but a woman able and willing to stand up for those who I believe in, and fight with determination worthy of being a Cultivator.  Thanks to you, I have a future I can look forward to!”

“But, you nearly died because of me!”

“I did.  And If I had died, I would have done so with purpose.  Fighting for what I believe in.  Fighting to defend the campus, defend my friends and all those who my Goddess holds dear.  And fighting for the world you envision.  A world where Cultivators and non-Cultivators work in harmony to uplift one another, working in tandem to create a bright and vibrant future.

“That would have been enough for me.  But in that moment when my Spark was fading and my consciousness was slipping away, Mirae used that— what did you call it, phoenix root extract?  Whatever it was, that helped me cling to life, even as the light tried to claim me.”

“I didn’t want my favorite priestess to lose her life fighting my battles.  I’m just glad Mirae had the chance to use that phoenix root extract to save the life of a friend.”

Amalia reached out and took Lysette’s hand.  “Of all the people you, as a goddess, could have asked to serve as your first and highest priestess, you chose me.  You didn’t choose one of the nobles who could have showered you with accolades and titles, or a wealthy merchant family who could have set you up with the riches you would need to become a mighty Cultivator.  And yet, you didn’t.

“In addition to all those things, you gave me a second chance at life.  And in return, you asked just one thing of me.  You asked me to live a life in accordance with your Reciprocity.  To give aid and succor to those who deserve it.  And to smite your enemies as my own.”

“Amalia, I don’t want you to be eager to throw that life away.”  Lysette took Amalia’s hand in her own.  “I don’t want you to sacrifice your life in pursuit of the world I seek to build.  I want you to live to see that world alongside Mirae and me.”

“As you command, My Goddess.  I will do everything I can to carry out your will.”

“And I will do everything I can to be worthy of the faith you have placed in me.  With that said, Mirae and I will be leaving tomorrow, and I don’t think we’ll be coming back for a good while.”

“Um–  Forgive my asking, but, would you take me along?”

“Are you sure?” Mirae asked.  “It might be the last time you see the Academy for months, if not years.”

“Do you not want me to come?”  Amalia’s eyes began to water.

“I do want you to come,” Lysette said.  “I very much want you to come with us and everyone else.  But I only want you to come if you want to come.  Not if you want to stay behind and just feel obligated to come along.”

“No!” Amalia shouted.  “I don’t want to leave your side, Lyse!  I don’t want to go back to being a meek girl who can’t do anything for herself.  I don’t want to beg for scraps and scrounge around to survive.  I want to be stronger, to live a proud life, to give back to my family and my Goddess who have supported me.  So please, take me with you, or I’ll follow you even without your consent!”

Lysette nodded.  “But I want you to promise me that you won’t step on the field of battle until your Spark has been fully healed.  If I say to run, you run.  If I say to fall back or hide, you’ll do that too.  I know that might be selfish of me, Amalia, but I need you alive.  Can you promise me that much?”

“When I’m healed, will you let me return to the battlefield?”

“When your Spark is fully healed and you can use your techniques fully again, I wouldn’t dare think about trying to keep you off the battlefield.”

“How long will that take?”

“I don’t know.  But I have a couple of hours I can dedicate fully to the task.  Mirae, would you be willing to assist me?”

“Of course, love.”

“Can I help too?” Amalia asked.

Lysette lowered her head.  “Not in the same way, no.  If you were to jointly Cultivate with the two of us in such a weakened state, I’m afraid the proximity to the heart of our divinity could corrupt your Spark and potentially even kill you.  But, I think if you pray as hard as you can for a miracle, your prayers will empower me and help maximize the chances that I can succeed.”

“I trust you, Lyse.  And I believe in you.”

“There’s one last thing, Amalia.  If I can’t heal you myself, there is one other thing I can try that might work.  But I can’t guarantee how safe it will be.  Knowing only that the risks are unknowable, will you still consent to my trying?”

“I do trust you, Lyse.  My Goddess.  I accept the risks, if it means a chance to fight alongside you again.”

Lysette smiled and took Mirae’s hand, and bit by bit, the sights and sounds of physical reality went faint and distant as the two entered their joint Cultivation realm.  In the center of the void lay Lysette’s Tree surrounded by Mirae’s Ivy, the manifestation of both of their divinities, intertwined together as one.

Both of them had grown significantly over the past two months.  Lysette’s Tree was now sprawling high above the now-thousands of plants that surrounded it, myriad sheltering boughs providing an aegis toward those resting in her shadow.  And yet still filled with enough gaps to allow her divinity’s Star high above to shine its warm orange glow down upon the plants, beckoning them toward the heavens as well.

Lysette tiptoed around the plants, and as she and Mirae made their way to Amalia’s, space around the couple warped, ensuring that none within the burgeoning garden would be harmed.  Finally, after a minute or so of observing her surroundings and taking them in with her primary consciousness, she willed the area around Amalia’s plant to twist and expand, so that the two demigods could work in peace and without distraction.

Where the other plants were healthy, vibrant, glowing with vitality, Amalia’s plant was anything but.  Her mossy ferns were horribly scarred and gashed, with black marks and char all throughout the surface.  Even the parts that were still green were only so by the most expansive definition of the term, so yellow and brown the stems and fronds were.  Mirae barely restrained a gasp at seeing the sight of it.

“I didn’t realize it was this bad, love,” they said.

“It was even worse days ago.  Only a lot of Essence, a lot of time, a lot of willpower on her part, and most of all, a lot of work on my part has gotten it even to this state.  I’ve managed to suture much of the tissue back together, but it’s still super frail.”

“What can I do to help, love?”

“Would you be willing to take a little piece of your Ivy and use that as a tissue graft?  I suspect the two of you might have better compatibility than I do with her.”

“Why didn’t you tell me how bad this was sooner?”

“I’ve been trickling Essence into her so, so slowly to help her regrow and stitch her shattered Spark back together.  I don’t think she would have survived a graft in the state she was in five days ago.  Besides that, we were both doing various other things and working to fix all the other problems that had arisen after the second attack on the Academy.”

Mirae vanished, reappearing a few seconds later with a few small ivy cutlets, which they gave to Lysette.  A cooling sensation filled her, followed first by the warmth of her partner’s love and then by a fiery resolve to see her priestess brought back to full health, no matter the time it took or personal cost it exacted.  Her Reciprocity burned bright— Amalia had already sacrificed much, and Lysette would see recompense delivered unto her.

She cast off the tenebrous bindings occluding her left eye, magnifying her vision a thousandfold as she began weaving tiny, otherwise invisible strands of shadow and Essence together.  Mirae’s Ivy indeed proved a suitable fiber to interweave among Amalia’s Fern, but the surgical procedure needed to be precise.  Using too much of Mirae’s Ivy could overwhelm and corrupt Amalia’s Spark completely.  But using too little would provide insufficient Essence and substrate to heal her damaged soul.

“Love, can you keep an eye on the physical world and monitor Amalia for any changes?”

“I will.”

Lysette moved deliberately, stitching vascular tissue together in a seamless manner.  Every thread was precisely measured.  Every stitch was sewn with the accuracy and precision that only Lysette’s eclectic mix of artifice and ability could make.  As she did, she dabbed pinpricks of refined Essence extracted from her Tree into the numerous wounds, helping to heal them and bond the two disparate plants together as one.

Sweat beaded down Lysette’s forehead, which she wiped away with a small shadow as she continued threading tissues together and ensuring that the grafts would hold.  She turned to Mirae, and when they responded with a smile and a nod, the weight of the world seemed to vanish from Lysette’s shoulders.  For minutes or hours— Lysette couldn’t tell, she continued her tireless task of ensuring that Amalia would again be able to one day fight on the battlefield.

Even as pain filled Lysette’s body, even as her vision started to blur from the intense effort and focus it took to use her eye to such an extent, Lysette continued.  The pain was dull, easily ignorable.  And Lysette used her aurasight to supplement her eye’s visual perception to ensure that she continued with her task unabated.

Eventually, however, Lysette stopped, her task as complete as it could be.  She gathered more shadows into a series of posts and staked them next to Amalia’s Fern, tying the latter against the former as a support lattice.  It would take time and willpower and continued check-ups and infusions of Essence, but it was far healthier than it had been just hours earlier.  And with a long and deep exhale, Lysette slipped out of her and Mirae’s Cultivation realm, confident that the prognosis would be positive.

“Did things go well?” Amalia asked.

“It’ll take time for you to fully recover, so I don’t want you to use any techniques if it’s not a life-or-death scenario.  And, you might have some different abilities than what you’re used to.  But I think it worked successfully.  Thank you for your faith in me.  Now it’s my turn to place my faith in you.”

“Thank you, Lyse.”

“Meet us on the rooftop tonight?” Mirae asked.

“Of course!  I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

Chapter 181: https://www.patreon.com/posts/110306776

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/table-of-101896170

Chapter 183: https://www.patreon.com/posts/110306778