They raced down the path between abbey buildings, heedless of stealth now that the monks had spotted them. Emily, restored now to full power, flung fireballs at any who got too close. But there were more and more monks as they got closer to the dome, and Emily found soon found herself ducking and weaving more than throwing fireballs.
Three monks blocked their path to the unfinished dome entrance. Grimacing, Emily slammed her bare foot down, kicking up a cloud of dust. The cobblestones beneath the approaching monks buckled violently, throwing them off balance. They sprinted through it, bursting through the entrance into the unfinished dome.
There were even more monks inside, working amidst the construction site that was the dome. Some directed floating stones with gestures, while others chanted spells. The ground was littered with debris, but the stone pillars and walkways Emily remembered from the last time she'd been inside were slowly reforming all around them, growing almost organically.
In the very center of the vast, open space, hanging suspended in the air, perhaps thirty feet above the floor, was the Azure Sphere. It wasn't solid mass, but a fluctuating storm of brilliant blue energy, pulsing and swirling, slowly growing, producing a wind that whipped at Emily's hair. Large blocks of sandstone swirled around it before slotting into place at the ends of walkways and in the dome's roof. The Azure Essence was rebuilding the dome.
But there was no time to stare at it, as the angry shouts of the monks around them soon made apparent.
"Guess we know where we're going!" Dorian shouted, grabbing Emily's hand and leading her towards the nearest staircase not yet blocked by blue robes.
Ignoring the questionable wisdom of climbing up a mostly unfinished structure, Emily and Dorian mounted the stairs and raced upwards. At the top of the stairs, they followed a walkway to the next set of stairs, climbing higher and higher, toward the Azure Sphere.
The structure was unstable and unfinished, giant blocks of sandstone still being rearranged. Monks pursued them from below but also appeared from alcoves and obscure corners of the walkways. Emily shot fireballs and knocked chunks of walkway off behind them, but the stone would often reform on its own, sometimes even creating shortcuts for the monks to gain on them faster.
They were level with the Sphere now, on a wide stone platform, but still too far to reach it. Another staircase continued higher, and a temporary, rickety-looking wooden walkway extended to the side of the dome, away from Azure Sphere. Monks' footsteps thundered up the staircase, hot on their heels.
Emily clutched her knees, gasping for breath. She flung a fireball at the monks approaching them, but it went wide, missing them completely and dissipating against a sandstone wall.
Dorian had drawn Richard's violin from his back. "Get higher!" he shouted, placing the bow on the strings. "I'll hold them off." Dorian shoved her towards the stairs, placing his body between her and the rapidly approaching monks. "Keep going towards the Sphere!"
Emily didn't hesitate, scrambling up the next flight of stairs alone. Once she was on the higher platform, she used the Bronzeband to crack and crumble two steps in the middle, and the whole staircase collapsed in a pile of rubble. Below, she heard the screeching of a badly played violin. A couple of blindfolded monks on the lower platform clutched their ears in agony. Strumming madly, Dorian drew some of the monks away, down a stone walkway going in the opposite direction from the Sphere. The rest glared up at Emily, then scrambled to find another way up.
Heart hammering, Emily pushed forwards, upwards and inwards, towards the Sphere. The walkways were thin here, and without railings, and the stairs steep and narrow. She advanced cautiously, occasionally using the Bronzeband to secure her footing.
Finally, she emerged onto an unfinished walkway that stopped just short of the dead center of the dome. The Sphere hung directly below her now, a churning vortex of impossible blue.
Footsteps pounded on the stairs behind her. In her caution, she had allowed the monks to gain on her. They were closing in fast. There was nowhere left to run.
The unfinished walkway offered no escape but the way she'd come, blocked by monks. Below, the mesmerizing, terrifying Sphere pulsed, a swirling vortex of impossible blue energy. But below that, on a walkway not far from the floor, she saw Dorian! He was limping slightly but had somehow shaken off the monks who were following him. She watched as he staggered into the open space almost directly beneath the Sphere, his head tilted back, searching for her.
"Dorian!" she shouted. "I'm here!"
A smile broke out across his tired face as they made eye contact.
The footsteps behind her were getting closer. Two monks had ascended the staircase and were now on the other end of the walkway, staring directly at her.
"No further, desecrater!" one shouted. "Surrender now!"
An idea occurred to Emily. It was completely insane, but she didn't have any other choice. She needed a vial of Azure Essence for the ritual, that's what Althea had said. But where to get a vial? Moreover, how to be sure it wouldn't be destroyed by her teleportation, just like clothing and other mundane items always were? Living beings could teleport through Stoneshell fire, as could magical items, including the ritual ingredients. Nothing else survived.
An image of glowing Azure Essence sticking to Richard's fingers on the clifftop flashed through her mind, as did his futile effort to wipe it off with the sleeve of his robe. She glanced down at the swirling sphere. She would have one chance at this, and she had to make it count. Anything she could do to tip the odds in her favor, however slightly, was worth it.
With that in mind, she threw off Richard's oversized shirt, sending the silky fabric up into the air and letting it drop into the vast emptiness below. She heard the monks behind her stop and gasp, but distracting them wasn't the point. Her eyes locked on Dorian's and she shouted, "Catch!"
Without a backward glance at her pursuers, Emily leaped from the walkway.
She plunged downwards, the wind whistling past her ears. The swirling surface of the Azure Sphere filled her vision.
There was a moment of intense cold as she hit the sphere, and time seemed to stop. She was surrounded by brilliant, swirling blue waves, and her skin tingled all over. The Essence clung to her skin, coating her from head to foot in a thick, viscous layer. A sharp pain pricked at her ankle.
Then, gravity reasserted itself. She passed through the bottom edge of the Sphere, once more falling through the open air of the dome, now dripping, glowing, coated head-to-toe in swirling azure light.
She was still falling, hurtling towards the distant floor. As she fell, she blasted jets of fire from her palms and the soles of her feet, marginally slowing her descent.
Below, Dorian stood ready, his face turned upwards, tracking her descent. His arms were braced, his stance wide despite his injured leg. It looked impossible. The height, the speed...
Time seemed to slow. She saw the concentration on Dorian's face, the strain in his arms as he reached for her.
Emily landed in Dorian's arms with a solid thump. The impact knocked the wind from both their lungs, sending them staggering backward. Dorian groaned in pain as his injured leg buckled, but he held fast to her, his arms locked around her slippery, glowing form. Somehow, miraculously, he kept his footing.
"Gotcha," Dorian choked out, grinning weakly.
Emily gasped, refilling her lungs, and threw her arms around his neck, pressing her Essence-coated body against his bare torso.
The shouts of the monks echoed from above and across the dome floor as they realized what had happened. Waves of blue robes rushed at them from all sides. This time, there was definitely no escape. But there didn't need to be.
"Paja Abbey!" Emily shouted, summoning up an all-consuming fire.
Instantly, the familiar, all-consuming heat roared to life. Flames erupted around them, around the clinging layer of Azure Essence, around Emily and Dorian locked in their desperate embrace. The fire flashed white-hot, causing the monks who were not already blind to shield their eyes from its brilliance. Then they were gone from Tiedavon Abbey, leaving only a blast radius of ash on the stone walkway.
Mission accomplished. Barely.
The world reformed in a blast of displaced air and residual heat. Emily found herself clasped tightly in Dorian's arms, blinking against the familiar, steady glow of the Stoneshell fire in Paja Abbey's designated chamber. The transition was jarring, from the frantic chaos of the half-formed dome and the icy grip of the Azure Essence to the warmth and calm of this room.
"Well," came a bright, amused voice. "Now that's an entrance!"
Emily looked up, still slightly dazed. Aria and Talyndra were seated at a sturdy wooden table piled high with books and scrolls, looking up from their studies with wide, beaming smiles. Sometime in the past few days, the simple chamber had been transformed. Bookshelves now lined every wall except the one holding the fireplace, crammed with ancient tomes. It felt like a cozy, private library—a welcome change from arriving amidst startled monks.
"We thought," Aria said, her melodic voice holding a hint of laughter, "that a more private arrival point might be... preferable. Given past experiences."
Dorian carefully lowered Emily to her feet. She swayed slightly, her body buzzing with residual energy from the Essence, which still clung to her skin in thick, glowing blue patches. Dorian had streaks of blue across his chest, where her skin had pressed against his. Talyndra hurried forward, holding out two large gray towels.
"What's that blue stuff?" Talyndra asked, handing Dorian a towel.
"The Azure Essence," Aria said, walking towards them. Her gaze was fixed on Emily. "It's even more captivating in person. So potent."
"I... couldn't find a vial," Emily mumbled bash, accepting the second towel from Talyndra and gratefully wrapping it around herself. The warm, soft fabric felt heavenly.
Except, it didn't stay. The towel immediately, inexplicably, slid straight off her slick, glowing skin, pooling around her feet on the floor. Annoyed, Emily snatched it up again, trying to hold it firmly in place by pinning her arms tightly to her sides.
It slid down again. "What?!" she stammered, bewildered. "Why won't it stay on?"
"Fascinating," Aria murmured, stepping closer to examine the blue coating on Emily's arm, careful not to touch it. "It seems to repel non-living matter."
"I'll take my leave, then," Dorian announced, having successfully secured his own towel around his waist, though a few blue streaks remained on his chest and arms. He gestured towards his leg. "Need to get this looked at. Ladies." He gave Aria and Talyndra a polite nod, and held eye contact with Emily for a long moment before he strode out of the chamber, something unreadable in his expression.
"I guess we need to get this stuff off me," Emily sighed, rubbing her blue arm fruitlessly with the towel. "It, uh, doesn't seem to stick to cloth, just... me."
"Perhaps it is attracted to life?" Aria mused. "Or perhaps it repels inert material to maintain its purity?" She turned decisively to Talyndra. "Fetch me the compendium on Elemental Essences, the one with the sea-green cover. And see if you can find Sympathetic Bindings and Separations as well, that giant book we looked through yesterday. Don't worry, Emily," she added reassuringly. "We'll get you cleaned up."
Thinking it may aid the Essence removal, Emily slid the hair tie from her wrist and gathered up her hair, twisting it into a messy knot at the back of her head. Not for the first time, she marveled at her hair-tie's durability.
"Blue is a strange color for skin," Talyndra added cheerfully as she hurried towards a bookshelf, scanning the spines.
The comment struck Emily as profoundly ironic coming from a green-skinned wood elf, but she was too tired and too sticky to point it out. "I'd like to go back to my normal color as soon as possible," she agreed fervently. "And maybe put something on that will actually stay on."
While Aria and Talyndra retrieved the heavy books and began poring over arcane diagrams and densely packed script, Emily sank onto a nearby stool. The adrenaline was finally fading, leaving behind a deep, aching exhaustion. She recounted the events at the Azure Coast, from the confrontation with Kastor, to the scene on the clifftop, to Richard's demise and their escape.
Aria listened intently, her stone brow furrowed, occasionally asking sharp, pertinent questions. Talyndra gasped and exclaimed at appropriate moments, her eyes wide with vicarious excitement and horror.
"So, Richard..." Aria paused, setting down a heavy volume. "Is he truly gone?"
Emily nodded, the image of the withered husk flashing unwanted behind her eyes. "The nightmoss... it was horrible. Just awful." There was something else about it too, something on the tip of her tongue, but it was gone as soon as it arose.
"A fitting end," Aria stated coolly, a flicker of grim satisfaction crossed her stone features.
"Nightmoss," Talyndra repeated, slowly turning the word over. "Was that... oh, hang on! It says here the Essence can be removed from a living host by immersion in blessed water."
"The Abbey's cleansing pool should suffice," said Aria. "Talyndra, fetch a large ceramic basin and fill it from the sanctified font."
As Talyndra bustled off, Emily felt a wave of relief. "Two ingredients down, one to go," she said to Aria.
"The Cinder Wastes await," Aria replied.
Sometime later, sounds of banging and clanging from the hallway heralded Talyndra's return. She appeared at the doorway, grinning bashfully. "I had to get some help with the basin—but don't worry, Emily, I figured something out." Then, turning to face over her shoulder, she shouted, "Just keep going straight!"
"What in Thessolan?" began Aria, as the banging and clanging grew louder.
Emily's heart leaped into her throat as a burly monk walked backward into the room, carrying one end of a large basin filled almost to the brim with sparkling water. A second monk brought up the other side, walking forward. Both were blindfolded.
Emily almost summoned a fireball before realizing they were dressed in the brown robes of Paja Abbey, rather than the blue robes of Tiedavon. They were also far clumsier than the blind monks she'd been running from less than an hour ago, each sporting a few fresh bruises.
Following Talyndra's careful direction, the monks deposited the basin in the middle of the chamber before taking their leave.
"We only had to refill it three times before they got the hang of the blindfold thing," Talyndra said, with a sympathetic glance at Emily's blue skin. "Figured it was worth it, you know?"
Although Emily felt a little sorry for the blindfolded monks, she nodded vigorously in agreement before climbing into the basin. The water was warm and pleasant. The Azure Essence began to separate from her skin, spreading out slowly across the surface of the water.
"Do you know how long this will take?" Emily asked.
Talyndra skimmed over the page where she'd found the solution. "You like baths, don't you?"
"How long?"
Talyndra exchanged a nervous glance with Aria. "Oh, just, uh... twenty-four hours. Might get a little pruney."
"Twenty-four hours?!" Emily exclaimed, bolting upright in the basin. "That's... ugh, fine. Maybe I can pretend it's a really high-end, intensive spa treatment."
"That's the spirit!" said Aria. "You know, Emily, standing like that, you look an awful lot like that stained glass window. Just a bit bluer."
"You don't say," Emily replied, putting her hands on her hips. "Well, I suppose sitting in a tub of water for twenty-four hours isn't the hardest thing I've had to do to get this Azure Essence stuff. But be warned—last time I took a long bath, I accidentally traveled to another world!"