"Haa..." Emma exhaled slowly as she finished healing the last person William had sent over.
The man lay inside one of the containment pods, his body still weak from prolonged exposure. Emma rested her palm against his chest for a moment, letting the final traces of restorative aether flow through him.
One by one, she had treated them all.
Every person William rescued had arrived in the same condition. Pale skin, shallow breathing, and a body that felt hollow when she examined it with her senses.
Their life energy had been draining constantly.
If they had remained trapped inside those pods for even another day, most of them would not have survived.
Emma straightened her back and rolled her shoulders slightly, letting out a quiet breath as the strain of repeated healing settled into her muscles.
Yet her mind was not focused on the exhaustion.
It was focused on the pods.
Something about them felt deeply wrong.
