Sidney didn''t move again. He only kept his head turned to the side, quietly looking at Cadence''s face.
A wet shine flickered in his eyes.
Gwendolyn walked over from the corner. She lowered her head, checked on the two of them, then gave a small nod.
"The reconstruction was very sessful. The remnant souls fused with the bodies even better than I expected. There was almost no rejection at all."
She paused, then added, "But they really are too weak right now. In their current condition, they''ll need at least three months of recovery before they can regain even basic mobility."
Jared let out a long breath.
It was like every bit of strength had been pulled out of him at once. His body
swayed, and he nearly pitched forward in front of the stone dais.
Gwendolyn reacted fast and grabbed his shoulder, steadying him.
"You''re not much better."
Her voice carried a trace of reproach. "You''ve been pouring out life force nonstop for seven days and seven nights. Even the Golden Dragon Bloodline can''t withstand that kind of drain. If you don''t want to throw your own life away too, let go right now." Jared lowered his head and looked at his hands.
His palms were still pressed against the two seeds that had already withered.
The life force inside the seeds had been drainedpletely. They were nothing but two clumps of gray-white powder now.
He slowly loosened his hands.
The moment he did, the two clumps scattered apart, turning into fine dust and fading into the air.
"It''s over..." he murmured, so softly it was almost a sigh.
Gwendolyn helped him up from the front of the stone dais.
His legs had gone weak, and he could barely stay on his feet. Without her holding him up, he would have dropped to his knees again.
"You''re not in much better shape than those two," Gwendolyn said. "Go rest off to the side. I''ll handle the rest."
Jared nodded and quit pushing himself.
He staggered to the corner of the hollow and lowered himself down against the wall.
The stone pressed cold and hard against his back, and for some reason, that settled him.
He looked toward the stone dais at Sidney and Cadence.
He watched their quiet sleeping faces, and the corner of his mouth lifted.
Mr. Morse. Madam Lewin.
They finally made it back.
Then he closed his eyes and dropped into a heavy sleep.
When Jared woke again, it was already the next day.
Sunlight spilled through the cracks in the hollow and scattered inside.
Golden flecks danced across the walls like countless tiny fireflies.
The air carried the clean fragrance of the Worldtree.
It ran straight through him and cleared thest of the haze from his head.
He moved a little and checked his condition.
About half, maybe sixty percent, of his life force had returned. He was still a little
spent, but it no longer got in the way of moving around.
On the stone dais, Sidney and Cadence were still asleep.
But their faces looked better than they had yesterday. The deathly white had faded, reced by a faint wash of color.
Gwendolyn wasn''t in the hollow.
Jared got to his feet, stepped out of the hollow, and made his way down along the root-steps.
By the water''s edge, Gwendolyn stood facing away from him.
Her white robe stirred in the morning wind.
Her ink-dark hair fell behind her, and with the snow and the golden radiance around her, the whole scene looked almost unreal.
She seemed to be watching something beneath theke, quiet and utterly focused.
"You''re awake?" she said without turning around, yet she still caught Jared''s approach with perfect uracy.
"Yeah."
Jared stepped up beside her and followed her gaze down to theke.
Something moved slowly through the dark sapphire waters beneath theke''s surface.
It was a huge fish.
No—not a fish. A dragon?
No, that still wasn''t right.
The thing was far too massive, dozens of yards long, its whole body covered in dark
sapphire scales as it drifted soundlessly through the water.
Two curved horns showed faintly on its head.
Its eyes were gold, casting a dim glow through the dark.
"What is that?" Jared said.
"The Worldtree''s Warden."
Gwendolyn said it inly. "It''s called Return to the Void. It''s a living being that has dwelled in Voidreturn Lake since the elder age. It was already here before the Celestial Pce was built."
The enormous creature seemed to notice Jared''s gaze.
It slowly swam closer to theke''s surface, and its golden eyes looked at him through the water.
That single look made it seem as if some ancient beast from the beginning of the world had fixed its eyes on him.
There was no hostility in that gaze, and no kindness either.
There was only a kind of indifference that had ousted time itself.
In those eyes, Jared was nothing more than a passing speck in the long sweep of
the ages.
Then it turned and swam away, vanishing into the darkness at the bottom of the
Jared pulled his gaze back from theke and looked at Gwendolyn.
"Your two friends should wake up sometime this afternoon."
Gwendolyn said, "They''re recovering faster than I expected. It may be because your Golden Dragon vitality was too abundant. Even their rebuilt bodies ended up tougher than bodies remade the normal way."
A spark lit in Jared''s eyes. "Then when will they be able to move around again?"
"As far as moving around goes, once they wake up today, they can start doing that little by little." Gwendolyn paused.
Then her tone sharpened. "But they can''t stay in the Fourteenth Firmament for long."
Jared stopped short. "Why?"
Gwendolyn turned to face him, her gaze steady and grave.
"Thews of the realm in the Fourteenth Firmament are more than one level stronger than they are in level thirteen. In their current condition, this isn''t a ce for them to stay."
Jared''s brow tightened. "I can create a pocket realm for them."
Gwendolyn shook her head. "With your current strength, even if you can create a pocket realm in the Fourteenth Firmament, how long could that pocket realmst?
They can''t withstand thews of the realm here as they are now. It''s like... taking a fish out of a creek and throwing it into the sea The sea is broader but the water pressure is
heavier too. If that fish doesn''t have
scales and bones strong enough to
bear it, the pressure will rush it alive."
"You mean if they stay in the Fourteenth Firmament, they''ll be in danger?" Jared
asked.
"Not that they might be in danger. They will be."
There wasn''t any room to argue with the way Gwendolyn said it. "With the strength of their bodies and their cultivation level as they are now, thews of the realm in the Fourteenth Firmament will start eroding their bodies within three days."
"On the first day, they''ll feel tightness in the chest and shortness of breath, and their spiritual power will stop flowing smoothly."
"On the second day, blood would start seeping from all seven orifices, and cracks
would begin to spread through their meridians;"
"On the third day... their bodies would be crushed into powder by thews of the realm, like eggs squeezed apart in someone''s hand."
Jared''s fist clenched.
He had paid too much to pull Sidney and his wife back from the edge of utter soul-
ruin.
He had crossed ten thousand miles of the Voidwind. He had burned through nearly half his own life force. Only then had he managed to drag them back.
If they ended up dying again just because they stayed in the Fourteenth Firmament, then everything he had done would mean nothing.
"Then what do we do?" he asked, his voice low. "Send them back to level thirteen?"
Gwendolyn nodded. "Thews of the
realm in level thirteen are far weaker than the ones in the Fourteenth Firmament. With their cultivation, they wouldn''t be suppressed there at all Quite the opposite Because their rebuilt bodies are far better than those of ordinary cultivators, they''d adapt there with ease. As long as they return to level thirteen, they''ll recover quickly. Their cultivation
might even rise another step."