Pattern Type Blue
Noah and the group rode through the night, trying to escape from Scyler and his minions. On the plus side, Valia's slash seemed to have inflicted some lasting damage because he wasn't pursuing them on foot like he was before, and he was keeping his distance as though fearful of another attack. Perhaps his regeneration wasn't working, or it was slowed. Either way, it gave them some breathing room. However, that didn't mean he had given up. If anything, he had returned to his original strategy, chasing relentlessly so as not to give them time to rest while traveling inside a slime. He was wearing them down, waiting until they could no longer resist.
After fighting so much, Seraph and Bojena were utterly exhausted, falling asleep in their saddles, with Valia yet to wake up, but Shannon and the horses were suffering the most from this long pursuit. The horses were aware that death was coming for them, and knew they had to run for the sake of their own survival, even without Shannon telling them. Yet while fear did give momentary strength, it could not alleviate fatigue.
Whenever they had time, the group would stop to recover, and Noah would go to work, gathering herbs and other ingredients to make potions to restore everyone's stamina, even mixing in some alchemically-crafted caffeine and amphetamines. Soon enough, they would sense Scyler and the slimes' approach and be forced to keep moving. Noah's potions took the edge off, but everyone in the group, two legs or four, was being pushed to the edge of their endurance.
Once the sun returned, Valia awoke on Shannon's back while Noah rode her horse. "I'm sick of waking up like this," she grumbled.
"My Lady!" Shannon exclaimed in relief, though Bojena and Seraph were far less joyful.
"What happened?" she asked.
"You managed to land a significant blow, but Scyler survived, and he chased us through the night. Valia, those powers...."
"We can't trust her," said Bojena. "She's been turned, just like that whore that killed the king."
"I swear, I'm not one of the Profane. I don't know where that came from."
"Welindar," said Noah. "Kaisen's explosion, you were wandering around in the fallout, looking for us, breathing in all that dark mana and contamination. Then, when you made the run to Colbrand, continuously expending all of your energy and replenishing it with potions, that contamination kept circulating through your body, working deeper and deeper into your system. All of the healing magic you've received probably prevented the infection from spreading, but it couldn't dig out the roots. If Lumestada can't purify you, our only hope is the Star of Sylphtoria, but we can't get there with Scyler pursuing us."
"It doesn't matter how it happened! Now that she has Profane energy, she's a danger to all of us!" Bojena shouted. "We need to put her--" Noah shot her with a mana bullet, silencing her and nearly making her fall out of her saddle.
"I thought I made it clear that your job is to guide us to Lumestada. The only words I want to hear out of your mouth are which direction we go and how much longer it will take."
She glared at him and sat up in her saddle. "I don't know where we are. We need to get our bearings."
They kept riding, finding some of their strength recovering with the rising sun, but always with the slimes in pursuit, giving them no chance to properly rest. Eventually, they reached a road and followed it to a fork with signs, one pointing to Rorik, and Bojena pulled out her map.
"I know where we are. We should reach Lumestada by midday if we continue in this direction. Running for our lives has advantages; we've made good time."
They abandoned the road and cut across the wilderness towards their goal, not wanting to risk travelers getting mixed up in the fighting. What relief the sun gave at dawn withered as the morning grew late. Everyone's sleep debts and empty bellies weighed them down, and the summer heat wasn't helping. They scavenged for food where they could, but with Scyler on their tail, there wasn't much they could gather with what little time they had, and their hunger pursued them just as relentlessly.
"I never told you this, but when I fought Tysinger back in Welindar, he offered to make me a ghoul," said Valia weakly, leaning against Shannon.
"He made me the same offer when I faced him," Noah replied, riding beside her.
"Yeah, he said I was a better choice," she chuckled.
"I thought what he and I had was special. I can't believe I let myself be fooled by his pretty words," Noah sighed, making her laugh again.
"I didn't tell you because... part of me wanted to give in and let him turn me."
"My Lady!" Shannon exclaimed in shock.
"But you refused him, of course, right?" Noah asked.
"I didn't have the chance. Kaisen blew up before I could answer. And to my shame, after seeing all the horrors the Profane wrought, while running to Colbrand to warn them of the horrors they set to unleash, I kept turning Tysinger's offer in my mind over and over. Despite all of my best judgment, I still felt temptation tugging at me."
"I don't want to hear this!" Shannon said, shaking her head.
"Because of Valon?" Noah sighed.
"We both said we needed to get stronger before we faced him again. When I slashed Scyler back there, deep in my heart, I wondered if my prayers had been answered. I imagined that blast cutting through Valon's shields, cutting through the barriers around his mind, and letting me finally reach him. You should know what that's like, to have a prayer so desperate you'd even make it to a demon. The power, it gives you wild ideas. I understand why so many accept it. I wish I didn't, but I do, and even now, I still wonder if it could be what allows us to save him."
"Valia, this isn't power. You haven't been turned into a true Profane. You haven't gained anything. All you're doing is burning through your life force. If you keep this up, you could lose your immortality, if not your life."
Valia reached out and grasped his hand. "Yet for all the times I've heard you explain your reincarnation, all your fears of dying in this world and being reborn into another one, all the reminders that death is not the end for you, when I saw Scyler lunge for you, when I saw him threaten to take you away from me, it seemed like a good trade, and it still does, even now."
"There, that mountain," Bojena said, pointing ahead.
