Chapter 372: Chapter 372 Eye's Closed



“How long do you need?” Lannister said.

Ten minutes had passed since they arrived in the lonesome field of flowers, a small respite atop the mountain. A sheer drop was on one side, and a rugged climb on the other.

“I don’t know. I got hit pretty bad. It still hurts.” Lara weakly moaned, trying to hide her pain.

“Alright just let me know.” He smiled, and began to trace his fingers across the flower petals and watch bees hopping between them. Lannister didn’t mind the detour. They needed to wait a few days before returning to the mirror reality anyway, so he began doing what he enjoyed the most—marveling at the world and the riches it offered.

Estra quietly watched him, unwilling to break the silence. She sat amidst the flowers and hoped they would forget about her, but that was just a desperate, hopeless, maddened wish. Yet it was one she clung onto as she watched how carefree Lannister was.

Lannister walked around the flowers, curiously looking at whatever he found. He reminded Estra of a child, captivated by the smallest things, and for a moment she wondered if he would even find a pair of sticks to toy with. But as his captive, she hoped it didn’t come to that, as sticks always led to stones, which begged for targets to be thrown at.

Lannister’s trail through the flowers was more chaotic than the bees; turning, twisting and crossing itself. But every so often he lifted his head and called to Lara.

“Are you ready now?” He asked, and Lara would reply without any sense of annoyance in her voice.

“I need more time—It still hurts.—No.—No.—Not yet.”

Lannister never seemed to get bored, and Estra wondered if anything could break his spirit. And then, she saw something in him change.

As he twirled a flower in his hand he abruptly froze, tossed the flower away and dashed over to Lara. His carefree expression disappeared, his eyes intense and single-minded, wholly focused on Lara as he crouched at her side.

“What’s wrong? Are you ok? Really ok? Lara.” He blurted. Esrta stood up and watched, holding her breath. Something was wrong, very wrong. She glanced across the mountain, wondering if she should make a run for it—or if she could even survive out there. They hadn’t taken away her weapons, so there was a chance. But she couldn’t bring herself to leave, not after witnessing how easily and quickly Vanderby was crushed.

Lara groaned, her eyelids barely open as she weakly raised her hand, “Somethings wrong. I need the infirmary.”

“Say no more.” Lannister jumped up and golden runes appeared in his hands. He lay them a few feet above the flowers in a floating circle, and using magic he created an elaborate mesh, connecting them at various points across the circle as he crafted the stage for his portal above the flowers.

Lara continued to groan and weakly held her side. She was holding on well before, but now she looked horrible. Her skin turned white, her eyes sunken, and it seemed that her HP had dropped to zero. The real damage to her body had begun. Blood continued to flow as charred burning marks continued to eat whatever flesh attempted to reform for a final time.

Estra watched the portal runes being laid; it was so complicated and confusing that she had to blink and shake her head a few times. She simply couldn’t make sense of it. Some runes were large, as big as wagon wheels, while others were the size of marbles, and yet they all had a role to play within the portal architecture.

“Get ready to move.” Lannister called, and the circular stage of runes began to gleam with a blinding light. He didn’t give a single thought to how this would affect the mirror reality.

Above the runes a swirling point of nothingness materialized. Blue crackling energy began to swirl and try to pull it open.

“No no no. Come on, it was perfect.” Lannister said, sounding panicked for the first time. But he stepped back slowly.

“Something’s wrong.” He whispered, dropping his hands to the side.

The swirling crackling blue energy intensified, trying to rip open a rift. Arcs of chaotic energy lept from the portal, frustrated and furious that they couldn’t tear open the portal.

Lannister turned and bolted towards Lara, jumping on her body and covering her. Estra’s hairs raised on end as she felt danger, and she also hit the ground as quickly as she could.

A deafening crack sounded as blue light flared, sending a bright flash over the entire mountain. Stray tendrils of energy hissed as they lashed out light thick lightening bolts. Everything they touched vanished.

The golden runes underneath the portal withered, their glow softened and then disappearing into nothing.

*Boom!*

A deafening roar tore open ear drums. The mountain shook and the field cracked open. The portal expanded and collapsed on itself, pulsing with a wave of heat that turned the flowers brown. The pulse of energy had nearly knocked Estra unconscious, but she didn’t dare to lift her head until the shaking stopped. She found her hands clutching, digging into the earth. After a short while her HP healed her ear drums and she still heard echoes of the boom, still bouncing between the mountains. If other bounty hunters searching for Jay wanted a clue, they had just received it.

Estra finally pushed herself from the ground and blinked to cure her fuzzy vision, and examined the damage. A perfectly spherical crater was left in the earth where the portal was. A little further away boulders rolled down with deep thuds. But this wasn’t the only change.

Streaks of black lightening appeared in the sky, ripping through it and freezing in place. Something felt wrong, like her very soul was being threatened. And then she saw the source of her existential terror.

Further down the mountain, in the swamp they had escaped from, a spire of black nothingness appeared, like a torn piece of a starless night, breaking out of the earth. It was as tall as the mountain itself, stretching into the sky. The tendrils of frozen black lightening spread from the top of the spire like a great tree, casting that old swamp in shadows once more.

The fire lights that had escaped their foggy prison had dashed out across the rocky plane, but now they changed direction—they all had turned back and sped towards the spire.

“What… What is happening” Estra whispered. Across the horizon and throughout the land, more of the black spires appeared, each standing proudly and shooting their own tendrils into the sky, daring all to approach their splendor, and each gave off a feeling of dread that make her chest feel hollow. Now, she doubted any bounty hunters would come their way.

Estra looked around for help, for anything or anyone to make sense of it—but Lannister’s eyes were fixed on Lara. He only had one concern, even if the world was filled with those terrible black spires.

“Lara, I couldn’t connect. I failed. Somethings wrong, I dont. I don’t—I couldn’t” Lannister shook his head as his eyes began watering.

“Shh, don’t cry. It’s okay. This is the life we chose.” She placed her palm on his cheek, “Just let me see your smile.” She said with a gentle voice, but Lannister was lost in thought.

“If we go to a city, maybe we could get you healed. Just hold on.” Lannister said, and a portal formed behind him, but as he grabbed Lara’s arm she felt heavy, too heavy to lift.

“Stop.” Lara whispered.

“Why? Just let me! You can be healed!” He tried to pull her up again, but she resisted.

Lara weakly blinked her eyes and titled her head to look him in his eyes. Her gaze was filled with a tenderness that was new, but familiar to Lannister, one that could melt any heart with its warmth. Behind her hard exterior and tempered attitude, a soft soul stepped forward.

“I won’t let you put yourself in harms way. Not for me.” She said. Lannister grit his teeth and fought back his tears, but it became harder each time Lara spoke.

“I don’t want to die. I don’t want to leave you behind…” She took a strained breath, “Please forgive me. For all the times I hurt you.”

Lannister took a deep breath, fighting his tears away. “You never hurt me. You healed me.”

Lara smiled and stroked his cheek, and something appeared from her inventory. A small book.

“You opened my eyes. Never close yours.” Lara weakly murmured and held the book up. It was a journal, filled with sketches of flowers, bugs, mountains and waterfalls; the journal Lannister had forgotten, taken from him when he entered the mirror reality and lost his memories all those years ago.

Lannister grabbed the book from her shaky hand, and her hand fell down as soon as he took it. Under Lara’s loving gaze, Lannister looked through some of the pages. The images seemed to call out to him, but Lara was more important. To Lannister, the beauty in Lara’s soft eyes could never compare to a thousand of the drawings in the journal. He wanted their silence to last forever, but the rising of her chest slowed, her grip on his hand lost its strength. Her smile softened and waned. Her eyes, which were locked with his, became empty.

Lannister froze, not daring to take a single breath, keeping his eyes locked onto hers as he felt his heart rend and sink. He didn’t want to move. He wished time would stand still, but his vision clouded with tears. He spent his time looking at the wonders of life, the movements of bugs and beautiful trees, but now, he was confronted with death. His hands trembled as an unstoppable tidal wave of grief crashed down and swallowed him whole, and he had nothing to brace against it.