Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 151: In the Wake of the Plague

Toren Daen

I groaned, shifting as my consciousness pulled itself to the surface. My mind felt bleary and weak, as if I'd spent the last dozen hours painstakingly studying for an exam. My thoughts were hazy and indistinct, my brain struggling to hold onto each fleeting moment. I rolled, feeling the warm sunlight against my eyelids.

Sunlight, I thought hazily. That means it's time for me to get up. Go to class.

I opened my eyes, feeling my body ache as I shifted. There was a gentle, lulling hum that brushed against my ears. It was a powerful, resonant thrum that seemed to seep from my ears all the way to the tips of my toes. Like the warm water from a shower that slowly trickled down an exercise-sore body, the tone that caressed my ear was soothing in a way I found difficult to ignore.

I was in a large, sunlit room in a lavish bed. It had an almost sterile atmosphere, though that was slightly ruined by the relatively lavish furnishings throughout. It was as if the interior designer couldn't decide between a hospital room or a five-star hotel suite when laying out his plans.

My thoughts were immediately drawn away from my surroundings and back to that effervescent hum. I automatically traced where I felt the tone emanating from, looking down at my hands.

A long, white horn was clutched tightly in my hands. Pulsing striations of fuschia, magenta, and deep ochre radiated in tune with the rhythm in my ears. I could feel a connection between the horn and me, not unlike the puppet strings Aurora used to pilot her djinni relic.

Memories came flooding back to the forefront of my mind, wiping away the fog of the morning in a flash of adrenaline. My frantic rush from Bloodstone Elixirs as dread, terrible realization set in. How I'd barreled through the teleportation gates around Fiachra, then headed in a beeline for the most concentrated source of mana I could find.

My breathing hitched as the memories of my fight with Mardeth replayed, each recollection speeding up as it came. The use of the Second Phase of my Phoenix Will, nearly being subsumed by Aurora's weight of experience, and the final destruction of Mardeth's crystal.

And then our brawl in the depths of the Doctrination temple, where I'd staked the wretched creature's body to the mosaic of his gods. Just as I'd promised so many months ago.

And after that...

"You have been asleep for some time, Toren," my bond said, the Unseen World washing over my vision. She sat neatly in a nearby chair, her arms folded primly across your lap. "I had some... worries as to your mental state in the aftermath of the battle. But it appears as if all is in order, aside from some lingering effects."

I twisted to look at the phoenix shade, wincing as the movement made my body twinge with a dull ache. She looked the same as ever: flowing martial robes, windswept hair the color of fire, and twin suns for eyes that looked at me with a motherly cast. The hole over her translucent chest did not bleed.

"How–" I swallowed, thinking of the devastation all across my city. The many fires, raging mists of blithe, and the vicars that bore down on it. The Rats, alongside Sevren and Caera, had destroyed the source of Mardeth's power. But were they okay? What had happened afterward? "I mean–"

My throat clenched. So many questions broiled at the forefront of my mind that I found it difficult to voice a single one.

Thankfully, Aurora seemed to understand the churning turmoil in my gut. "You were unconscious for a few days, my son," she said soothingly, standing and moving to the side of my bed in a silent glide. "As far as I have been able to gather, the spread of that wretched monster's toxin has been staunched and destroyed. You were taken to a safe place to rest and recover in the aftermath of your fight. I believe you are currently in the Fiachran Ascender's Association."