The aftermath of Lyra's shocking gambit left the atmosphere crackling with tension, a volatile mix of restored life and fresh, enormous debt. Aki stood stronger, his stolen years returned, but the price an immeasurable portion of Axiom's elemental life force now hung over them like a spiritual guillotine.
Axiom, the Sassy Sentinel, rubbed the finger Lyra had bitten, her red eyes narrowed to angry slits. Her entire small form was rigid with controlled fury. "You just consumed decades of my Sanctuary's energy, you little thief! The price for this is no longer mere servitude it's absolute, immediate compliance."
Before she could detail the first impossible task of their new debt, a subtle, yet terrifying change occurred by the mossy patch.
The Child God, who had been lying still and pale, began to stir. Not with awareness, but with distress. A fine, glittering sheen of sweat broke out on his brow, rapidly intensifying until his oversized golden robes were starting to become visibly damp. A faint, desperate whimpering sound, tiny and heartbreaking, issued from his throat, muffled by his cascading golden hair. His body, though small, began to emit an excessive heat. The temperature in the immediate vicinity of the orb soared, causing the surrounding moss to steam and shrivel.
Axiom's anger vanished instantly, replaced by a look of specialized, panicked knowledge. Her eyes widened, her posture snapping from defensive rage to urgent crisis management.
"By the First Oaths!" Axiom gasped, her voice losing its sarcastic edge and becoming raw and serious. "The residual corruption has destabilized his core! His divine matrix is burning itself out! He's going into an aggressive, self destructive fever!"
She leaped toward the shimmering orb, but stopped abruptly a foot away, her expression a mask of fear and urgency. "No one get closer! That is divine heat! Because his consciousness is sealed and limp, this heat turns the pure creation of his core dangerously aggressive. If his essence flares out of control, it will purify and incinerate everything within a mile radius including us, my sanctuary, and the orb that's barely containing him!"
Aki staggered forward, his blood pressure spiking with adrenaline and terror. "What do we do? Lyra, what do we do?"
Lyra's voice, now a faint, weary echo in his mind, returned a single, clear command: "Stabilize. The core must be cooled, not by force, but by nature."
Axiom, already acting on the same ancient knowledge, pointed a trembling, elementally charged finger toward the deeper shadows of the grove. "There is only one place in this whole dimension: the Lac of Unmaking. It's a primal pool, filled with the original, stabilizing water of this dimension. It calms the aggressive nature of unchecked elemental and divine power. We have to get him there. Now!"
The emergency had momentarily eclipsed their staggering financial debt, forcing Axiom into the role of reluctant savior.
The problem remained the same: getting the Child God, who was now radiating enough heat to melt bone, from here to the Lac.
"My roots can't move him; they'll instantly turn to ash!" Axiom yelled, her red eyes desperate. She looked at Aki, her gaze snapping to his massive, blood stained wings. "Your wings! They're light! They're pure creation! You have to carry him. Your flesh will burn, but your wings might just withstand the initial contact!"
Aki didn't hesitate. He pushed off the ground, his newly stabilized strength surging into his body. He approached the orb, the heat instantly hitting him like a physical wall, searing his skin and making the air around him crackle. His massive, beautiful light wings flared out, absorbing the brunt of the temperature as he reached through the heat barrier and gently, meticulously, lifted the small, whimpering Child God from the orb.
The moment of contact was pure agony. Aki roared, his human skin blistering instantly, but the raw, divine light in his wings acted like a shield. He held the small, burning body against his own chest, the massive heat a painful, constant burden. The whimpers of the child god, however, calmed slightly as the dual, harmonious light of Aki's body and wings began to gently interact with his core.
"Kael!" Aki yelled, turning to his friend. "We need cover! The Architect might be tracking this energy surge!"
Kael, though weak, was already moving. The purification had cleared his mind, leaving him with clear tactical thinking and a terrifying amount of guilt fueled adrenaline. He didn't have his sword, but he had his mind. He focused on the discarded, dark chains of the shadow guards Aki had defeated earlier. With a raw cry of vengeance, he began to telekinetically manipulate the dark, cursed metal, weaving a shield of black, smoking iron to cover Aki's escape.
Axiom led the way, a blur of red eyes and elemental magic, clearing the path through the dense grove. "Follow me! It's not far, but it's dangerous! The Lac is where the laws of nature are... interpretive!"
Aki launched himself into the air, his wings beating powerfully, the unconscious child god a devastatingly hot ember in his arms. The desperate race for the Lac of Unmaking had begun. They were no longer running from the Architect; they were running from a divine core that threatened to explode from inside their own hands. The life of their god, their hope, now depended on finding a legendary, healing water source and trusting their new, volatile Guardian not to betray them the moment they stabilized their prize.