LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 396: Move!
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While they still had a few questions about the black gem, Nessa and the others understood that it was nowhere near as important as Yanael's well-being. Without her sacrifice, Alzara and Mandra wouldn't be alive, and Zach wouldn't have had the time to break his petrification.
Dukiel decided to stay and check on Zach's state while the other three went to check on Yanael, Alzara, and Mandra. Alzara and Mandra were in pretty bad shape, but they were strong and not in any danger anymore now that the worst had passed. They had even started getting stable enough to get up and move to Zach's side.
Yanael, on the other hand…She was hanging by a thread, at least by the looks of it. They couldn't get to her due to the barrier Zach had put up. It also obscured their vision a little as well. An oval dome of pure light kept them from getting too close to Yanael's resting body. It did not, however, stop them from delivering her arms back to her. Those slid right through.
Of course. It was a barrier made for Yanael. It would never stop her from leaving or entering, including parts of her body not currently attached to her. But it still stopped the students' hands. All they could do was drop them next to her and hope for the best.
But it wasn't like any of them had any healing skills. The most they could do was use Alzara's potions to try and heal her. But those didn't get through the barrier, either. Instead, they ended up pouring most of them on Zach, hoping he would come back to the world of the conscious and lift the barrier to let them treat Yanael.
However, even if he were conscious, he might not be able to do that. The barrier was made with world essence energy infused into it. If the world essence energy obeyed or at least didn't resist, he could do it. But if the world essence energy was being stubborn again, it would stay as a barrier.
It was a troublesome energy.
But it protected Yanael from the aftershocks of Zach's and the Great Ugor's battle. Even now, it supplied Yanael with warmth and its passive restorative effect that it had only ever shown Zach.
However, a passive restorative effect like that wouldn't reattach her arms, regrow her limbs, or heal her gruesome injuries. It could alleviate her pain in her final moments. It could take her sacred energy's place in stemming her bleeding since she was too weak to do that on her own. But it wasn't enough to save her.
The damage was irreversible. There was no one who could do anything about it in the sixth layer.
"Move!" Soara shouted, pushing the students and familiars crowding over Yanael out of the way.
She had a bone or two to pick with Julius and Monolith. She was pissed with them for what they had made her watch and how they had repeatedly knocked her out. But now wasn't the time.
Since she had been unconscious most of the fighting, she wasn't sure what had happened to Yanael. But she could sense that Yanael's flame of light was as secure as a candle trapped in a hurricane. It was on the verge of going out permanently.
Soara knew Yanael had been skeptical of her at first. It wasn't mutual. Soara respected Yanael right from the very beginning. Yanael was a talented swordswoman who worked hard without being blinded by the world around her. She strived hard toward her goal of being the best maid possible for Zach.
Soara put her hands on the barrier.
Yanael wasn't the strongest of them, but only because she hadn't had the time to grow yet. Soara wasn't sure since age wasn't important to any of them, but she was pretty sure Yanael was the youngest. She was far from as old as her or Mandra. Even Alzara should be pretty old, at least if the rumor about Desert Witches growing continuously for as long as they lived was true.
She was a young chick yet to grow out of her down feathers.
"You're not dying here! Not if I have a say!" Soara was used to doing the opposite of what she was doing right now.
But she was more familiar with the flames of life inside people than anyone. She knew how to snuff them out. But, in theory, she also knew how to stoke them and make them burn brighter.
Yanael was too young to die. She was too loved to die. She was too good to die. More than that, Zach would also be sad and in pain if she died.
It was both Soara's and Yanael's duties as their faithful and loyal maids to do their best to keep Yanael alive.
Soara cupped her powers around Yanael's life flame, stabilizing it. She shielded it from the turbulence of her injuries and waning strength. But this much was only a temporary measure. As soon as she removed her strength, Yanael would grow weaker and die, her life flame unable to endure it any longer.
Soara slowly and gently fanned the flame, encouraging it to grow. As long as the life flame grew more energetic, it would be enough to give her body some invigoration and the boost it needed to get back on the right track.
However, Soara was making a mistake. She was indeed right in that she could stoke Yanael's flame and make it more energetic.
However, what she failed to take into consideration due to her lack of experience in this regard and in the rush to save Yanael's life was the fact that a stronger flame needed more fuel. A stronger life flame would burn through Yanael's life quicker.
Usually, her life force was strong enough that such a thing wouldn't be much of an issue. It could even be called a last resort since she would get stronger for as long as her life flame burned more intensely.
But now that her life was already hanging by a thread, the energy it gave her wasn't what she needed. It was like burning one's body for heat in the cold of winter.
It worked. It produced the intended result. It revitalized the life flame. It gave the heat Yanael needed to survive the winter. But it wasn't enough to last her till spring. It wasn't enough to heal her injuries enough to heal the backlash of the technique.
If only there had been something else the life flame could burn instead.