Chapter 8.5 â Ashes Beneath Iron, Part V: The Price of Freedom
Day 230 of the Twelvefold Cycle
Era of Concordance, Year 812 | Deep Duskhorn | Early Morning
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âDammit⦠I really pushed myself⦠this badlyâ¦âThe thought barely registered before her legs gave way.
Her knees struck the tavern floor with a muted thump, stone meeting skin through damp cloth. The sound wasnât loud, but it was final. Her palms followed next, trembling arms unable to hold her weight. The rune-lit floor swam beneath her in flickers of light and blur. Heat surged behind her eyes, vision shrinking to a tunnel of haze. Her breath caught, stuck somewhere between grit and surrender.
âHey!â Willowâs voice cut the silence, sharp and scared. She dropped to her knees, catching Rukiâs body just before it hit the stone. âShit! Stay with us! Donât you dare pass out now!â
Seleneâs voice followed, calm but commanding. âGet her upstairs. Now. If her mana dips any further, she wonât wake up at all.â The two beastkin maids moved without a word, flanking Willow and carefully lifting Ruki from her arms.
Kaelira emerged from the shadows near the stairwell, arms crossed, her voice tight. âI told Ethel she was pushing too hard. She shouldnât have had to carry this alone⦠but damn it, she did.â
Juizo exhaled and stood from his booth, smirking with one brow raised. âAnd who exactly decided splitting up was smart again? Oh, thatâs right, the Ice Queen with the solo plan. Guess weâre all reaping the brilliance now.â
Ethel grunted but didnât correct him. He just stepped forward and gave a quiet nod as Rukiâs body was carried up the stairs. âShe went all the way past her limits⦠again. Crazy girlâs got more steel than sense. But gods damn if it ainât impressive.â
Even with their voices echoing around her, Ruki couldnât focus anymore. Everything blurred, twisted, and collapsed into one endless stretch of motion.
And then⦠silence. Even Mar-Marâ¦Gone. No voice. No warmth. No shared mana. Just emptiness.
> [ [SYSTEM INTERFACE:]
>
> STATUS: Soulbound Companion Unresponsive
>
> CONDITION: Marzhaâren has entered Dormant Recovery Mode
>
> DURATION: Estimated 4â6 Days
>
> NOTES: Extended mana depletion has triggered shared stasis.
>
> Guidance and resonance are suspended until recovery is complete.
The message flickered, then vanished before her eyes could fully focus. And then the world vanished, too. She blacked out. There was no pain, no slam into darkness, just absence.
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⨠LIIAâS REALM - SECOND VISITATION
Stars. Millions of them. Shimmering across an eternal sky that reached farther than anything in VelâDranis.
This place⦠wasnât new. She remembered this space. The same constellations. The same soft warmth under her body like a stone. It was the place between death and rebirth, the place where sheâd met the goddess once before.
But now? Something was different.
The warmth was thinner. The air felt stretched, like fabric fraying at the seams.
She looked down. She wasnât floating, she was lying on marble, smooth and glowing with an internal pulse. She wasnât hurting. She wasnât cold. She was just⦠present. Footsteps echoed behind her.
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A woman descended the massive stairwell. Not quite barefoot not quite mortal. Cloaked in starlight, her hair flowing like nebula smoke. Liia, the Goddess of Recreation. But this time, her light flickered at the edges.
Small fragments of her robe dissolved into the air as she moved, fading like dying sparks. Her expression was kind⦠but strained. Her voice, still divine, lacked its usual resonance.
âWelcome back, Ruki Yusato,â she said softly. âI donât have long⦠as you can probably tell, my powerâs almost gone. Intervening like this twice? Itâs beyond what I shouldâve done.â
Ruki sat up slowly, her body lighter in this world than the last time. Her eyes finally met the goddessâs directly not as a lost girl, but as someone who had survived.
âI can feel it,â she said quietly. âYouâre not just tired⦠Youâre breaking the rules by being here, arenât you? Ruki asked her,â
Liia smiled faintly. âYes. And the cost is final. This will be the last time we speak like this.â She moved closer, fragments of her dissolving cloak trailing behind her like comet tails. War is coming, Ruki. Whether you fight it⦠or it swallows you whole. The Holy Empire holds three of the mythical beasts now. Theyâre using their drained mana to power ancient relics, weapons you wouldnât believe. Mar-Mar is different. Heâs not just dormant, heâs cursed. You have three years to awaken his true bond⦠or heâll be lost.â
Rukiâs hand moved to her chest, instinctively over where she used to feel Mar-Marâs presence.
âThree years⦠thatâs not enough. I donât even know where to begin.â
âYou will. Just remember⦠VelâDranis isnât the whole world. It never was. Not in your game. Not in truth. This land youâve touched so far? Itâs barely a shimmer of what lies beyond. The Fifth Expansion was real. The world is vast and the enemy doesnât sleep.â
Liiaâs light dimmed further. Her legs are almost transparent now, the cosmic trail fading behind her. âI wonât see you again, Ruki,â she said, solemnly. âBut live freely. Youâve earned that. And when others doubt you⦠Remember this: I gave part of my life source to bring you here. I believe in you. I always have.â
Ruki reached out, but her hand passed through fading starlight.
The marble beneath her pulsed one last time. And then, it was gone.
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RUKI AWAKENS 2 HOURS LATER | UPPER ROOM, THE WHINING MOON
It wasnât pain that woke her. It was⦠comfort.
Her fingers twitched first, curling around soft linen sheets. Her legs were unbound beneath thick, clean bedding. Her tail brushed across the fabric, and she flinched not from pain, but from the memory of never feeling soft things before.
She stirred.
The scent of lavender and cedar clung to the air. Her beastkin body caught everything the gentle musk of fresh bedding, the faint sizzle of a hearth downstairs, the sharp metal tang of a sword resting somewhere near.
She opened her eyes.
Moonlight spilled through a wide shuttered window, its beams stretching across the floorboards like gentle fingers. The rooftops of Black Fangâs noble tier shimmered in the distance. A small enchanted lantern glowed on the side table, flickering gently.
Her sleepwear clung softly to a violet-blue linen set, two-piece, sea-hued at the edges. Her arms were bare. Clean. Her claws had been trimmed. No blood. No bruises.
Someone had cared for her.
There were no wires. No machines. No beeping monitors.Just stillness.
And warmth.
And then⦠a memory.
> âWe canât keep dragging this on,â her motherâs voice snapped coldly.
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> âIf she wasnât useful, we wouldnât even be here.â
>
> Her father replied, flat and emotionless
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> âLet the doctors do what they can. When the media forgets, we stop.â
Her breath caught in her throat. Not again.
Her hand clenched around the sheets. Her beastkin ears flattened as she forced herself to stand upright, her breath shaky but steady.
Not this world. Not this time.
Ruki heard rustling at the door.
Ethelâs voice, low and grounded, carried through the crack in the door. âSo thatâs what happened⦠I misunderstood the situation. Forgive me.â
âNo worries,â Willow replied, her tone biting but heartfelt. âShe was incredible. Like, no bullshit, Iâd be dead if she hadnât stepped in. And magic? A beastkin using magic like that? Have you ever fucking heard of that?!â
Ethel grunted. âItâs rare as hell. In two hundred years, only one other could do it, and she was a damn queen. Lightning too? Godsâ¦â
âIâm not exaggerating!â Willow hissed. âShe made Malfur her bitch. Blocked, baited, and stunned him with his own damn spell. Then summoned lightning like it was Tier 3 flame magic!â
âI thought Kaelira was exaggerating,â Ethel muttered, clearly stunned. âBut this? If thatâs realâ¦â
âIt is. I was there. And yâknow whatâs worse?â Willow paused, voice dipping low. âI almost got executed at Southgate for some stupid scroll. I thought we were a team. Turns out, all it took was loot to show peopleâs true colors.â
A pause.
Then Ethel again âDonât beat yourself up, kid. Weâve all got a storm coming. Might as well get some sleep before it hits.â
Ruki blinked. The door shadow showed only one person leaving. Willowâs silhouette remained.
âShe⦠stayed?â The thought clung to Ruki's her heart like a balm.
Her UI shimmered to life at last.
> [SYSTEM INTERFACE]
>
> Health: Stable
>
> Mana: Restored
>
> Status Effect Cleared
>
> Level Up: +11 (Level 14 Now)
Ruki exhaled softly and sank deeper into the sheets. 'Must have been Liia's doing," she thought to herself as she noticed her health and mana was officially restored âIâll deal with this⦠tomorrow.â And for the first time in years, Ruki slept without fear.
END OF CHAPTER 8.5
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