The Prodigies: The Return of Equinox

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Fallout

"Gods damn it, that hurts." Svetra grasped all around her looking for something to hold onto. Grass did nothing for her as it shred easier than paper. Tora was trying to heal her wound but it wasn't going well.

"I don't understand! You should be healed already." Tora was looking a bit panicked as she kept trying. The wound would barely heal, and the surrounding flesh only got more and more irritated. "Nano! What am I doing wrong?"

"Ugh, let me take a look." Nano, who had healed his own wound superbly, walked over. As Tora tried and tried he remembered something he hadn't need to think about in a long time. "You're a Chosen aren't you?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Magic with direct influence from gods has little to no effect on demonic magic. The only magic that can affect both is purely human or natural magic. Because you're a Chosen I don't think you can heal her with a wound like this." Tora shot him an exasperated look.

"And you tell me now?" She stood up and got right into Nano's face. "I'm wasting tons of energy trying to heal a wound that I can't. Only because you told me too! I could have used it somewhere else for whatever else we might face in the coming days." Tora then sat down on a rock and sighed.

"First of all, don't talk to me like that again. I could end you before you knew it. Second, you would have been able to heal her had you more control of your Goddess's gifted strength. God aided magic doesn't do much to demonic acts or beings." Tora just glanced away from him. She didn't want to hear it.

"That doesn't make any sense though. You told us that queenie killed the Shade you summoned with magic." Jasper started to make his way from his sitting post from atop a tree. "If she was Chosen then she wouldn't have been able to do that."

"Yeah, and she wounded the Demoness with that giant magic arrow. She tore her in half!" Protested Svetra."

"Celesta, unlike Tora here, has excellent control over whether she uses her Chooser's gifts or not. And if I remember correctly, you did plenty of damage to her too Svetra. She had a physical body, she wasn't just a demon." Nano just looked at the group of them with a hint of disgust and contempt. "How have you never been taught about the Chosen?"

"No idea. How were you taught?" Tora snapped.

"Well, in the Permagrounds, the Council has no hold over what is taught to Prodigies. Our oldest and most wise have decided to expand the curriculum. Prodigies aren't even a secret in the Permagrounds, everyone knows of them." Svetra, Tora, and Jasper looked confused, annoyed, and somewhat betrayed.

"How is this important?" Asked Svetra. "Just get over here and heal me!"

"I'll do what I can, but I've never been good at healing other people. We'd have a much better time taking you to the Permagrounds and having a healer take care of you there."

"Isn't it the same thing?" Sighed a pained and annoyed Svetra. "Healing is Healing!"

"Not with magic, and I have only barely managed to heal my wound enough to talk and not die. I still feel pain, but it is manageable."

"Looks like me and Tora got off clean on this one." Jasper was grinning. He reveled in the fact he was unharmed. He would brag all about it to his mentor, and to his future subjects in the Kingdom of Rogues.

"Let's get a move on then." Said Tora.

"I need to get healed first!" Moaned Svetra.

"Teyüt purt." Nano concentrated for a moment and the wound on Svetra's abdomen closed. It still felt painful, but much less so than before.

"Hey, can we do that World Step thing we did back in the Capital?" Asked Tora

"I can try." Sighed Nano. He breathed slow and deep. He held out both of his arms forward and focused on where he wanted to be. As he concentrated purple currents of static energies made themselves appear running around his body. There was a soft buzzing static sound in the air, and a smell of burnt metals hung around the area. Within a minute a tear in the very universe formed and led to where he wanted to go.

"What magic is that?" Asked Jasper. "That's like nothing I've ever heard or read about."

"It is a God Gate. Only us Prodigies can make one by ourselves. It takes at least three non-Prodigies to create one that carries even one person. This one can carry five." He explained.

"Why five?" Asked Tora.

"When moving with magic, it's always better to account for more than what you have." Said Nano. An idea sprung into Svetra's head.

"Can we take my uncle?"

"Who?"

"My uncle the one I rescued right before the Demoness fought us."

"Oh, sure I guess. But hurry I can only keep it open for so long."

Svetra bolted even though she was hurting. She needed to hurry. When she reached the house that she left her uncle in she only found a set of bones with the clothes he had on. He had been dead a long time. There was no reason for what she had seen except as some sick joke by the Demoness. She fumed. She grabbed the nearest chair and threw it at a wall. The chair shattered and the boards that made up the wall had bent, cracked, and splintered.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner Uncle." She grabbed one of his bones and stuck it into a pocket. It was tradition to carry at least some of the dead that had taken care of you in Kuva. She grabbed something small, the biggest of his pinky finger's bones. It had more meaning to her than the rest. "I will make it home somehow. I vow it."

She hurried back to the portal and saw that it was only her and Nano left.

"And your uncle?" He asked.

She only shot him a glance, but he understood. He made a motion for her to come closer. As she reluctantly made her way her uncle's bones appeared before her in a tied up pile.

"What?"

"You can bury him in one of the Prodigal Halls. It is meant for the Prodigies and the ones closest to them." Svetra nearly cried, but she remembered the promise she had made to herself a few years ago. To never cry until she had reached her home. She had already broke it, but she intended to try again.

"Thank you." As she passed through Nano could feel her pain. His Aunt, who had been missing for three years was found in the same state. He still misses her greatly. It's been a few months since they found her.

"It's not for you. It's for me." Said Nano. He passed through the gate and it closed behind him. The mess of the encounter was left for whatever unlucky soul decided to travel there. A demon's final resting place was a cursed and deathly place. Nano was thankful the curse hadn't taken place just yet.