Emily ducked into the small sweltering shelter, the heat of the sun pounding on her back. Ashe looked up from a book the moment she entered the small space.

  Beside her was Selia who lay quietly on the blanket, her ragged breathing carrying the stink of death.

  Emily had strapped the woman to Cupcake during their retreat and had just come from tending to her mount.

  Kael had erected a huge tarp for their beasts, none of which were built for this heat. Although they were only on the outskirts of the desert, the ravens were already showing signs of exhaustion.

  Emily thought of Cupcake, and for a beast that had made its home up in the mountains, she dealt with the heat surprisingly well. Even going so far as to burrow into the cool sands to protect herself from the harsh rays.

  Emily glanced down at the sleeping woman and took out the water skin Kael had given her.

  “Here, they said she’ll need water.” Emily started quietly.

  Ashe tore her eyes away from the book for long enough to take the offered pouch but didn’t otherwise respond, going back to her reading.

  The air in the tent remained frigid as she held the tome in trembling hands. Ashe had not slept as of yet and while one sleepless day might be okay, she wouldn’t last if she kept doing this to herself.

  “Look Ashe I know you are hurting, and I can help, but you have to tell me what you’re thinking.”

  Ashe finally looked up from her work.

  “I gave her one of my healing potions like the Healer said, and she threw it up. We’re stuck in his damned desert with no way to return, and I don’t know what to do. I can’t help her Emily.” Ashe said, her voice breaking near the end.

  “This is all my fault” Ashe whispered as tears began to stream down her face.

  Emily pulled Ashe into a gentle hug, her voice soft and soothing. “Hey, it’s okay. Everything’s going to be alright.”

  Comforting someone was the last thing Emily ever expected herself to do, but it felt right and Ashe seemed to calm in her arms.

  “Okay, so we don’t have access to black source, what else can we do? Is there any way we can emulate it with my Blood wards? What’s the opposite of blood magic?” Emily asked.

  Ashe still had tears in her eyes but pushed out a forced laugh and hiccup.

  “No…I might be able to make something if we knew the appropriate runes, but I still only have my books. I was able to get a couple more general books while in Lorthil but there’s nothing in there on curse removal…”

  Ashe dried her eyes with her sleeve.

  “As for the opposite of Blood magic, there is none. All the sources have their own traits and weaknesses, but this type of magic is just pure energy” Ashe said

  Emily pressed her lips together, she didn’t know if she believed that.

  “But it can’t be that different, can it? Surely we can just think of it as another type of source? Like my grey source, right?” Emily asked hopefully.

  Ashe shook her head, then froze—her eyes widening, lips parting as if a thought had just struck her.

  “Wait, your right… So, there are no inherent opposites within the sources, but certain ones can mimic others with similar functions. For example, black is the endpoint to everything. It disperses both good and bad. However from what you’ve told me grey source makes you feel like you fading from the world, right?.” Ashe asked excitedly.

  Emily shifted in the blanket uncomfortable.

  “Yeah, sorta…”

  That seemed to be all the encouragement Ashe needed.

  “Well, then maybe we can make it work. You’ll need to figure out grey properties, and I’ll look through the book on blood magic you gave me. If we can use a combination of the two accents maybe we can reverse this curse instead of breaking it.”

  Emily stared at the woman hesitantly.

  “Are you sure this is such a good idea? From the sound of things, you’d have to learn how to use blood magic and you told me you wouldn’t do that. Plus Selia didn’t want you touching this magic…”

  Ashe's face fell as desperation flicked over her features. She reached forward and took Emily's hand in hers.

  “Emily, please. I’m begging you, you have to help me here. It’s the only way…”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  Emily bit the inside of her lip. Why did she want to help Ashe so much? There wasn’t much to gain personally, but she hadn’t felt this kind of desire to help since her cape-wearing days.

  Was it because it was Ashe? Emily sighed.

  “...Alright, but only because I don’t want you trying this without me. And I have to be the one to do whatever spell is necessary. Your sister and I spoke, and I shouldn’t be allowing you to do even this much”

  Ashe's face flashed from joy, to frustration, and back to relief.

  “I’ll start researching immediately!” Ashe exclaimed excitedly but Emily held up her hand.

  “Hang on, you’re going to need to tell me what I need to do, you know to figure out my source's properties?”

  Ashe paused and smiled bashfuly as she turned back to Emily and walked her through the process. They were just going over it again when Selia started to groan.

  “Okay that’s it, and remember don’t tell Selia-” Ashe turned to look at the restless woman to see her eyes open.

  “Don’t tell me what?” She asked with a tired expression on her face.

  Ashe wailed and hugged the woman who groaned.

  Emily made herself scarce as Selia started questioning Ashe, but before she made it to the door she called out to Emily.

  “Emily, I’m glad you made it out, and thank you.”

  Nodding to the woman Emily stepped out into the sun.

  If Yishmal was right Selia would be alright for now, but as the curse worsened he would begin to exhibit bouts of extreme pain and eventually, she wouldn’t be able to move.

  It was early days, but they would have to work fast if they wanted to come up with an answer to this curse.

  Emily’s first objective was to discover her limits or at least the effects of reaching them. She looked around and found a spot further away from the main grouping of tents.

  The current problem was that with the relic lodged in her spine, she was heavily resistant to exposure.

  Lorthil had toted exposure as the gods will working against Mages, but Emily wasn’t sure.

  She could believe those pompous gods were willing to limit others, but when Ariandel had transformed into a Sourceborn there was a moment when his source had sifted to something far more powerful. It embodied everything that red source was, and that alone gave her pause.

  This was just a roundabout way of saying that exposure had its advantages, but reaching that now was going to be hard.

  Ashe had given her an answer to this though.

  Taking out her little chalkboard, Emily stared at the singular rune there. This particular rune was incredibly simple and would allow her to sidestep her new limitation.

  If she were to translate it into a concept, the only word that would fit was ‘Embody’.

  Ashe had said she just needed to pour all her source into the ruin and attempt to feel out what came next.

  The exercise was a common one that most Adepts practiced at some point in their lives, but Ashe had not seen the practicality of it up until now.

  It was intended to help gain control over one's source through exposure. Of course, Emily had always struggled with control, but her ample power allowed her to brute force most spells. However, for those who had a more limited resource to work with, control was very important.

  Emily stared down at the rune she had drawn and placed the tips of her fingers on the chalk. She needed to keep her vitality away from this process to avoid confusing herself. When she was ready she released the restraints on her power.

  Immediately grey source flooded the runes and waves began to ripple off the chalk, disturbing the nearby sand.

  The rune drew source in and created an opposing force that kept her power at bay. If she had to describe the sensation it was like two streams pushing against one another. Interestingly it was still her power so when they met it felt like the resulting process was expanding into the air around her.

  For the first time, Emily thought she could feel something as the rune hummed.

  Straightening her spine Emily opened herself a little more to the rune and the sand around her began to rise in plumes of twisting abstract shapes.

  The power churned off her in waves spreading into her surroundings the more forceful she became. The brilliant sunlight reflecting off the sands began to warp and dull. At the same time, Emily felt the tastebuds on her tongue go numb, but that was all the change she could make out.

  Determined to test things out properly Emily was about to throw the floodgates open when she heard a footstep to her left.

  “Well, you’re about to do something dangerous again, I should have known,” Alex said as his shadow covered her.

  Emily squinted up at the vexing man, his figure eclipsing the sunlight for an instant.

  He sat down on the dune, sweat trickling down his next.

  “How in the world are you sitting out here in this heat?” Alex asked.

  Emily glanced up at the sun for a split second and shrugged her shoulders.

  “It’s not that hot. What did you mean by ‘dangerous’?” Emily squinted as she eyed the man.

  Alex pulled a thin piece of cloth out of his pocket and wet it with his waterskin, draping it over his head and neck.

  “Exactly what I said. You don’t have a ‘containment’ rune around that, meaning the effects will spill out into the environment. Normally, I’d say that was fine, but seeing as your upper limit is high enough to contend with a Mage’s tower, I think you should take some precautions.”

  Emily bit the inside of her lip.

  “Fair point, but how did you know that.”

  Alex snorted and took the chalkboard from her hand, causing the floating sands to fall.

  “I told you, I had to learn to identify runes from a young age. This is nothing special.”

  Emily watched as he drew the changes without a single mistake.

  “Why? Were you planning on becoming a Mage?” Emily asked genuinely curious.

  Alex paused but his usual defensive scowl didn’t fall into place.

  “My parents certainly were… and that was just the beginning as far as they were concerned.”

  Emily searched the distant gaze on his face.

  “Is that why you ran away?” Emily asked.

  Alex’s face twitched and he looked up at her.

  “I didn’t run away…” he said calmly. “I was sent here.”

  Emily searched his eyes but they were completely in the present now.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “As you've seen, it's to be dealt with. Which reminds me, Oscar got away, so there’s no telling if more Seekers will be after us,” Alex said, trying to shift the subject.

  Emily guessed they’d reached the limits of his patience, and for once she didn’t feel the need to push them.

  Whoever had sent him here clearly intended to assassinate him, or he’d never have met with that accident in the first place. There was more here than Emily had ever had the patience to ask, but perhaps it was time to do exactly that.

  Emily looked down at the rune Alex shoved in her hands.

  “Now concentrate. I’m assuming you’re trying to gain more control over your source, and the first time you experience it, it can be intense, but for heaven's sake don’t sit out here in the sun. Come with me” Alex said as he poured more water onto his neck where the piece of cloth had almost entirely dried out.

  Blood points: 483

  Hey everyone, Achvillan here.

  I hope you’re all enjoying Emily’s journey through this stage of her adventure and the wonderful new world she’s exploring.

  Lately, I’ve been facing some personal challenges at home and have had to take on extra shifts at work. Because of this, I’ve realized that my current release schedule is too demanding to maintain alongside everything else. That doesn’t mean I’m stopping work on Emily and Alex’s story—far from it! However, I do need to make some adjustments.

  Starting this week, I’ll be shifting to a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday release schedule, meaning I’ll no longer be posting on Saturdays. If things continue as they are, I may have to reconsider Wednesdays as well.

  For those supporting me on Patreon, I’ll be releasing my backlog of chapters there to keep up the current pace.

  I truly appreciate all of you for being part of this journey, and I can’t wait to get back into full swing as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and support!

  Achvillan