The silence that followed was absolute. Even the villagers murmuring in the background fell completely quiet.
"No," Rady whispered, and then louder: "NO! There has to be something! You're a mage, you... you killed that thing! There has to be something you can do!"
"Unfortunately, I no longer have the energy to use any kind of healing magic," Aldric said, and there was genuine pain in his voice. He looked at his own trembling, burned, useless hands. "If I had... if I had reserves, I could try to purify the corruption directly. But I used everything in the fight. Nothing is left."
Rady was shocked, his mouth opening and closing without producing sound. Tears flowed freely now, his face a mask of absolute despair.
"So he's going to die?" Gareth asked, and for the first time since Aldric had known him, the experienced hunter sounded... lost. "We saved everyone else, but Konstant is going to die anyway?"
Aldric did not answer immediately. His mind raced, searching for options, alternatives, anything. Healing spells were out of the question, as he could barely stay conscious, let alone channel complex spells. Herbs? Mira had powerful remedies, but none worked against abyssal corruption of this level.
Unless...
A memory surfaced. Ancient. From decades ago.
A friend. A researcher obsessed with Abyssals, dedicating his life to finding ways to combat their influence. They had met during his adventures, worked together briefly. The man had given him something, a small vial, saying it was experimental, untested, but potentially effective.
Aldric had kept it for years. Never used it. Never had need. But kept it, more out of sentimentality than any real expectation of use.
Did he still have it? Had he not thrown it away during one of the many cleanings over the years?
"Wait here," he said suddenly, trying to stand.
Gareth immediately held him. "Where are you going? Aldric, you can barely stand!"
"My house," Aldric replied, already turning. "I have something. I don't know if it will work, but it's the only chance."
"I'll get it," Gareth said immediately. "Tell me where it is and I'll bring it."
"No," said Aldric, shaking his head stubbornly. "It's stored in a place only I know how and where to access. There are magical traps. You'll get hurt trying."
"Then I'll go with you," Gareth insisted.
They had no time to argue. Every second counted.
"Rady," Aldric said, looking at the devastated boy. "Keep pressure on the wound. Don't stop cleaning the blood. And..." he hesitated, "talk to him. Even unconscious, it might help. Keep him connected to this world."
Rady nodded fervently, immediately returning to Konstant's side and resuming his vigil.
"You," Aldric looked at some nearby villagers, "bring Konstant to my house. Carefully. Don't jostle his head."
Some men approached, lifting Konstant as gently as they could. The boy remained completely inert, his head hanging to the side, blood still flowing from the wound.
Aldric and Gareth began to walk, faster now, despite the pain, despite the exhaustion. The elder leaned heavily on the hunter, but forced his legs to move.
Aldric's house wasn't far, but each step felt like an eternity.
When they finally arrived, he went straight to his study. Shelves filled with books, scrolls, strange jars the collection of a lifetime of learning.
Aldric went to a specific shelf in the corner, kneeling before it with a groan of pain. His hands trembled as they searched among the objects, moving books, pushing aside ceramic pots.
"Where is it, where is it..." he murmured, beginning to feel despair. "I know I kept it here, I know I..."
Then his fingers touched something cold. Glass.
He pulled the object carefully. A small vial, the size of his palm, made of dark glass that blocked light. Inside, a viscous and completely black liquid, that seemed to absorb any light that touched it.
"Found it," he said, his voice laden with mixed relief and apprehension.
Gareth looked at the vial with distrust. "What is that?"
"I don't know exactly," Aldric admitted, standing with Gareth's help. "It was developed by a friend of mine many years ago. He was obsessed with creating something that could combat abyssal corruption directly. This..." he raised the vial, "was one of his prototypes. He gave it to me, said to keep it in case I ever needed it."
"You said you don't know if it works," Gareth pointed out, his voice tense.
"I don't. It was never properly tested. My friend disappeared before completing his research." Aldric looked at the vial, seeing his own distorted reflection in the dark glass. "But it's the only chance we have."
They heard heavy footsteps the men bringing Konstant. They entered the house and placed him carefully on the bed in Aldric's main room, the most comfortable available.
Rady entered right behind, refusing to leave Konstant's side even for a second.
Aldric approached the bed, looking at the unconscious boy. The blood had stopped flowing so intensely Rady had done a good job maintaining pressure, but the wound was still horrible. The purple aura seemed to have grown, spreading further beyond the edges of the laceration.
We have no more time, Aldric thought grimly.
He looked at Gareth and Rady. "You two, leave. What's going to happen now... isn't pretty to see."
"I'm not leaving," Rady said immediately, his voice firm despite the tears. "He's my friend. I stay."
"Rady—"
"I STAY!" Rady shouted, and there was something almost wild in his eyes. "He saved me! When I was paralyzed, when I couldn't move, he put himself between me and that thing! I won't abandon him now!"
Aldric studied the boy for a long moment. He saw the determination there, stubborn and unshakable. He saw the loyalty. He saw what true friendship meant.
"Very well," he said finally. "But stay behind me. And no matter what happens, don't interfere. Understood?"
Rady nodded vigorously.
"I stay too," Gareth said firmly. "He's one of mine. A hunter in training. It's my responsibility."
Aldric had no energy to argue with both. And, honestly, part of him appreciated not being alone for this.
He held the vial with both hands, looking at the sealed cap. He brought it to his lips and, in a quick movement, bit his own index finger until it bled. A drop of blood fell onto the cap.
The moment the blood touched the surface, the cap began to dissolve like wax under intense heat, evaporating into a dark mist that disappeared into the air.
"A blood seal," Gareth murmured, recognizing the type of magic. "Your friend was being very careful."
"He had reasons for that," Aldric replied somberly. "If something so potent against abyssal corruption fell into the wrong hands..."
He didn't finish. He didn't need to.
With the cap dissolved, the vial's contents were exposed. The black liquid was even stranger up close; it reflected no light, had no shine. It seemed like a hole in reality, as if looking at it, you were looking into an absolute void.
Aldric turned the vial over Konstant's wound, tilting it slowly. The liquid began to flow.
But it didn't spread as a normal liquid would.
As soon as it touched the skin around the wound, the black liquid stopped. It simply stopped moving, as if it had found exactly where it needed to be. Then, slowly, it began to concentrate, flowing toward the cut as if it had a will of its own.
Rady made a choked sound. "It's... it's moving on its own."
"It's intelligent," Aldric murmured, watching fascinated and horrified. "Somehow, it knows where the corruption is. It's going straight for it."
The black liquid reached the wound and began to enter it, disappearing into the open flesh.
Aldric continued turning the vial, pouring every drop until absolutely nothing remained.
For a moment, nothing happened. The liquid had simply disappeared into the wound, and Konstant remained motionless.
Then it began.
The black liquid reappeared on the surface of the wound, but now it had a different texture. Thicker. More viscous. Like liquid gelatin. And it was moving, undulating over Konstant's skin with movements that were definitely not natural.
"By all the gods," Gareth whispered, taking an involuntary step back.
The black substance began to spread. Not quickly, but with deliberate purpose, covering the wound completely. Then it began to grow, extending beyond the limits of the cut, covering the forehead, descending down the temples, rising along the hairline.
"Aldric, what's happening?" Rady asked, his voice rising in panic. "It's covering his entire face!"
"I don't know," Aldric admitted, and there was tension in his own voice. "This... this shouldn't be happening. Or at least, my friend never mentioned this."
The substance continued growing, relentless. It covered Konstant's closed eyes, descended down his nose, reached his cheeks. Then it began to descend down his neck.
"Stop it!" Rady shouted, taking a step forward. "You need to stop!"
Gareth held him by the shoulders. "Wait. Look."
Where the black substance touched the skin, something was happening. The purple aura that sickly light marking the abyssal corruption was disappearing. Not being pushed back, but being literally consumed by the black liquid.
"It's fighting the corruption," Aldric said, his voice laden with reluctant admiration. "It's following the paths the abyssal energy took and... and devouring it."
The substance reached Konstant's neck, where the mystical mark glowed faintly under his shirt. It paused there for a moment, as if sensing the divine fragment. Then it continued, spreading over his shoulders, descending down his chest.
"It's going to cover him entirely," Gareth observed, his voice tense.
Aldric didn't respond. His eyes were fixed on the process, observing every detail. The black substance was forming a uniform layer over Konstant, about a centimeter thick, covering every centimeter of exposed skin and beginning to seep under his clothes.
Five minutes passed. The substance had covered the entire torso, the arms, was descending down the legs.
"Is he still breathing?" Rady asked suddenly, realizing he couldn't see Konstant's chest rising and falling.
Aldric extended his hand, hesitating before touching the black substance. When his fingers made contact, he felt something strange; it wasn't hot or cold, wasn't solid or liquid. It was something between states, something his mind had difficulty categorizing.
But he could feel the faint pulse beneath the surface. "He's alive. Breathing. The substance isn't suffocating him."
Another five minutes. The legs were covered now, down to the feet. The substance had completely seeped under the clothes, covering every centimeter of Konstant's body.
And then, when the last piece of skin was covered, the substance began to change again.
It began to harden. Not becoming rigid like stone, but taking on a firmer, more defined consistency. The smooth surface began to develop a subtle texture, almost like tree bark.
"It's forming a cocoon," Aldric said quietly, marveling. "A protective cocoon."
The transformation took only a few more minutes. When it ended, Konstant was completely encased in a black, shining capsule, his form still visible but completely isolated from the outside world.
The cocoon pulsed softly, a faint, rhythmic light emanating from its interior as if it were breathing, living.
Aldric looked at it and felt his heart could stop at any moment. Not from fear, but from complete exhaustion mixed with overwhelming anxiety.
Now he could do nothing but wait. He had no power to change anything more. He had no control over what would happen next.
"What do we do now?" Gareth asked quietly.
"We wait," Aldric replied, his voice laden with weariness. "And we pray."
Rady did not leave the cocoon's side.
Gareth tried to convince him to rest, to eat something, to at least wash the blood of Konstant that still stained his hands and clothes. But the boy refused firmly, sitting on the floor beside the bed with his legs crossed, his eyes fixed on that black, pulsating structure.
"I stay," was all he said, and there was an absolute determination in his voice that admitted no discussion.
Aldric, too exhausted to argue, merely nodded. He himself sat in a nearby chair, the staff leaning against the arm of the furniture, his burned hands resting in his lap.
Gareth stayed for an hour, pacing back and forth, checking the cocoon regularly as if expecting something to suddenly change. But nothing changed. Only that constant pulsation, that subtle glow.
Finally, he spoke. "I need to check the village. See how the other wounded are. Organize watches in case of more attacks."
"Go," Aldric said, without taking his eyes off the cocoon. "We'll stay here."
Gareth hesitated at the door, looking back one last time. "Will he survive?"
"I don't know," Aldric answered honestly. "All we can do now is have faith."
Gareth nodded and left, closing the door softly behind him.
Silence filled the room. Only Aldric's slow breathing, Rady's occasional sobs, and that almost inaudible pulsation from the cocoon.
"Aldric?" Rady said after a long time, his voice small and broken. "That liquid... it will save him, won't it?"
Aldric looked at the boy. Rady had dried tears marking his face, his eyes red and swollen. His hands still trembled slightly.
He could lie. He could offer false assurances, say everything would be fine, that Konstant would surely survive.
But Rady deserved honesty. Everyone did.
"I don't know," Aldric said softly. "The liquid is fighting the corruption, that's certain. I can feel it. But I don't know if it's strong enough. I don't know if Konstant is strong enough. All I can say is... there's a chance. A real chance."
"It's better than no chance," Rady murmured, turning his eyes back to the cocoon.
"Yes," Aldric agreed. "It's much better than no chance."
They stayed there, in silent vigil. Aldric eventually dozed in his chair, exhaustion finally overcoming worry. Rady never slept just sat, watching, waiting.
Outside, the village slowly recovered from the night's trauma. The wounded were treated, damages were assessed, stories were shared in whispered voices.
But in Aldric's small house, in the silent room, time seemed to have stopped.
And inside the black cocoon, in a place between life and death, between this world and another, Konstant fought a battle that no one could see.
A battle that would determine not only whether he would survive, but also what he would become when he emerged, if that even happened.