The Eclipse Mark

Chapter 16

"Someone help her! Please!"

Maybe we should back up a bit.

After Chelsy came back, it was pretty late. We stayed in Sirei overnight and decided to look around the next day before heading out.

Dani really wanted to see the fabled Sapphire Water Pool. It was said to be able to cure almost anything, including curses. However, the water was limited. While water could turn into sapphire water, it took a very long time.

Honestly, it sounded cool, and I think we all knew Dani was still shaken up. We just wanted him to be happy.

So, that's where we were.

~~~

"Someone help her!" A panicked voice echoed through the large hall and we turned.

"What's wrong?"

"A spell backfired, it hit her instead. Please, you have to save her." The voice cracked, and I felt a burst of sympathy.

"Hold on, we know her." Chelsy pauses. "Talia?"

"Talia? Like Blood Sea?" Dani perks up. I had almost forgotten that we had only met Dani because of May and Talia.

We run forward to see Talia.

"What happened?" Talia turned to look at us. She looked teary, but she wiped them away.

"I... I thought it... I was trying a new spell. I'm not a hybrid, but I have an affinity for nature magic because of my mom. I was trying to do a dual element spell with May's help... but it just didn't..." She sighs. "It backfired. A lot."

"Is she going to be okay?"

"I hope so. The spell just really... I don't know what happened." For the first time, I got a good look at May. Plants were growing all over her body, almost like they were growing from her blood.

Mages had different colors of blood. I didn't know what mine looked like now, seeing as... everything, but I knew it was probably different now.
May's was green.
And so were the plants. A sickening green.

"Chelsy, can you do something?"

"I can try, but this is nature magic too. Dani?" We turn to look at him. He looked sick.

"I can try to help too." He takes a deep breath.

They both try to work together, but the plants seemed to pop back up every time they got rid of one.

It wasn't looking good.

"What exactly was the spell? It might be easier that way?"

"There was a plant lodged in a rock. I tried to destroy it using the water in the plant and the plant itself. I guess the spell got directed to May, but I don't know how. The spell definitely got messed up though." The word sorry danced on her lips, hut she keep quiet.

"I'm not sure there's much we can do. Hopefully they'll give up some Sapphire Water." Thankfully, a woman came out with a small vial. She carefully opened May's mouth and a small drop came out. Almost instantly, the plants came off and May's eyes fluttered open.

"Mal!" Talia hugged May almost instantly.

"Never met a person that went by a human and mage name." Chelsy tsked.

"Only Tals can call me Mal, so don't even think about it." She glared at us, before looking at Dani. "Took a detour?"

"Uh, you could say that." He grimaced.

"Uh, so how do you guys know each other?" I look between the two nature mages.

"We knew each other when we were kids. Her family is pretty influential, so they visited a bunch of villages. They're basically dukes."

"Of course, I'm not with them at the moment. Ugh, what happened, Tals?" May rubs her arms. "Do your arms feel weird? Or legs? Or skin?"

"Uh, the spell backfired." Talia pecks May's forehead and helps her to her feet. "Don't worry about it."

We watch them leave before turning back to Dani.

"You good?" Thanatos puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm good. It's just... the plants kinda reminded me of home." We looked a little confused before realization sunk in. All mages go back to their magic, which is why we didn't see any bodies. They turned back into nature, into plants.
Made me realize how grave the situation was with May.

"She's fine now. They saved her."

"Yeah." He looked crestfallen. "It's getting kinda late, we should go back."