The Runic Alchemist

Damian was on the verge of collapse. Hastily, he inscribed an advanced healing runic circle, but it one barely helped. His body lacked the necessary nutrients for the magic to take more than one, he was already too hungry. Releasing the mana threads and dispelling the spear's enchantment provided some relief, but there was no time to relax.

He dismissed his spear letting it go back into his soul, unwilling to flaunt it more than necessary.

As he fought to regain his strength for couple of minutes, Vidalia and the others reached him. Moondancer could return at any moment, and they didn't have much time. The swirling darkness above them was still burning, but it was nowhere near enough to knock her out.

"You can still do the spell?" Vidalia asked, her voice edged with hint of concern as she took in Damian's haggard appearance.

"Give me a second…" Damian reached for his spatial storage to pull out the wormhole spell roll, but something was wrong—it wasn't working.

"Huh? What the—?" He tried again, and again, each attempt consuming mana, but nothing happened. It was only when he looked down at his bracers that he realized what had happened. The runes were misshapen, almost as if they had melted.

"Ahh, f*ck…"

Damian cursed under his breath. The spear's enchantment had protected his body and clothes from the intense flames somehow, but the bracer wasn't as lucky. The fire had damaged the delicate runes etched into the metal messing up the internal mana pathways.

"Stupid. Why didn't I think about this earlier?" He scolded himself. Guess that's what happens when you are too busy making poses, he'd neglected to consider the consequences.

"My spatial storage is damaged," Damian announced hurriedly. "I can't access my runic rolls." There was no point in wasting time, so without missing a beat, he started drawing the wormhole spell manually, muttering random Japanese words under his breath.

"WHAT?!"

"What are we going to—?"

"How did that happen—?"

Everyone spoke at once, confusion spreading. Aramis, after looking between Damian and Vidalia, finally cut through the noise with a single question.

"What now?"

"We should get out of here. We'll figure out the rest later."

Damian, still receiving a steady stream of mana from Vidalia, powered the wormhole spell. It had its limitations—he could only open an exit as far as his vision stretched. He considered using the waygate spell, the one they used for their waygates, but it had its own set of problems: it required a massive amount of mana, which, while possible with Vidalia's help, also demanded precise details.

Details Damian couldn't properly recall without checking his rune collection book, which was trapped in his damaged spatial storage.

Besides, he was in no condition to perform intricate magic. He opened the wormhole as far as his enhanced vision allowed, targeting a spot as near as possible to the entrance of the Wraith's Passage in his vision. The portal hovered midair, high but low enough for them to jump through.

Damian however, was barely able to see clearly, he watched as Vidalia used her flying spell to take him and herself through the purple shimmering portal followed by her companions one by one jumping through.

The Ashenvale forces noticed the portal too late. By the time they realized what was happening and rushed at them, the group had already passed through. Damian, exhausted, dismissed the spell and let his eyes close.

They were still far from the Eldoris camp, which should have retreated even further by now. There was a long journey ahead, but Damian allowed himself to rest, falling unconscious in mid-air beside Vidalia, who took him in her arms for some reasons. The group sought refuge in a small cave or more like a hole along the sheer mountain walls of Wraith's Passage, hoping to stay hidden for a while.

Moondancer could find them if she wanted to, but even if she couldn't sense someone's mana from this distance she just had to make her way up the Wraith's passage and would come in range to them sooner or later. She wasn't that big a problem alone..

However, the Ashenvale forces were still nearby, and if they followed her and intervened which they will most likely do, the fight will be very disadvantageous for them.

"Can't we use the same spell as him?" the pugilist asked, his brow furrowed in confusion. It made no sense to him that Damian could cast such a spell when other mages couldn't.

"His spells are… different," Lysandrea began, sitting near Damian's unconscious body on the snow-covered ground. The mountain wall provided some shelter from the biting wind, but it was still freezing.

"He somehow controls the distance of the portal, something I've never seen," Tristan added.

"That's impossible. The traditional wormhole spell can only open portals within 10 meters of the caster's vision and not even half as fast as this guy does," Aramis explained, sitting on the snow and finally resting his weary body.

"Flying?" Lysandrea turned to Vidalia, who was still standing, staring down at Damian's unconscious face. She didn't appear as fatigued as the others or maybe she was just acting tough, who knew.

"I can fly, but it'll drain too much mana and strain me mentally. If Moondancer tracks us down, I won't be able to handle a fight with her. Not to mention, I can't carry all of you at once," Vidalia replied. She never used to explain her reasoning, but fighting a life threatening battle alongside them had changed her somewhat.

She knew they might all have been dead with Esme's betrayal if Damian hadn't risked his life to heal her.

"Then we move as fast as we can and wait for the kid to wake up," the pugilist concluded.

"Did he get the tool?" Lysandrea asked. Vidalia inspected Damian's hands and found a small, square metal piece—a medium-sized spatial storage tool. She accessed it with her mana and retrieved a blue, glowing orb that radiated an unfamiliar energy mixed with mana.

"Damn him," Aramis grumbled. "The bastard's annoying, but he always pulls through."

Tristan chuckled, knowing that was as close to a compliment as Aramis would ever give. If Damian was awake, he'd probably never hear it at all.