In the Blade's Hilt |A tale from Triterra|

Chapter 47 - Ichor

After trekking through the caverns for two hours, inspecting carvings and artwork along the way, the three adventurers finally found what they were looking for.  After opening another large stone door, the trio stepped into another large room.  In the middle of the room was a large pool filled with a thick golden liquid.  Hanging from the ceiling were several golden stalactites.  Every few minutes, a single drop of the glistening liquid would fall from the tip of the yellow rock and plunge into the pool below.  Attached to the walls were stone tablets containing the ever-present undecipherable runes.  Attached to the far wall was another mural.  It looked more recent than the rest of the artwork, as it was in pristine condition, with not a crack in site.  Taking his eyes of the golden liquid, Blue carefully maneuvered around the golden pool until he was standing beneath the beautiful artwork. 

"Have you not seen enough of those?" asked Ty sarcastically, from the other end of the chamber.

"This one just has something about it..." replied Blue.

It depicted a picture of a woman.  She had long golden hair and pale skin.  She wore white and gold armor, unlike anything that Blue had ever seen before.  On her back, was a pair of white feathered wings.  She had her right arm outstretched.  Focusing on her index finger, Blue could see droplets of golden liquid falling from it.  He tore his eyes away from the mural and stared into the pool.

"What's wrong?" asked Jenna, walking up to him.

"This stuff," he said, pointing at the liquid, "it's blood"

Without another word, Blue pulled a glass bottle from his coat pocket and dipped it into the fluid.  It slowly filled with the viscous liquid.

"Alright, we got what we came for, let's go already" moaned Ty.

"He's right Blue.  We have to go" added Jenna.

But Blue wasn't listening.  He had seen this stuff before.  The bottle that Zandor gave him.  It was ichor.

Without a moments hesitation, Blue unsheathed his sword and held it out in front of him.  Gripping the handle tightly with one hand, he held the full bottle above the shining steel of the blade.  Just as he was about to tip the contents of the bottle onto his weapon, he remember what happened last time when his did this, and how he was unconscious for several days. 

A minuscule drop of ichor fell from the bottle and splashed onto Blue's blade.  It's not like he had a choice now.