136 Rain in the Nigh (2/2)

Another thing was the corrupted horror that they had faced only a short while ago. Many of them had been overwhelmed by fear and had collapsed. This had considerably damaged their morale and determination, and left most with mental shadows that would plague their nights.

But some of the veterans had maintained their presence of mind enough to see what had happened. From what Zoey could overhear they were doing everything they could to tell the others how their commander had faced down the monster and fought it in mortal combat, along with Ssaul. Their tale was doing wonders to lift the spirits of the others. If one could not face the darkness on their own, having a powerful leader that could instilled hope and confidence was definitely something that helped.

Zoey also overheard them discussing her and her party. They were marked as the ones who had destroyed the monster with a single swift blow. Wielding a mysterious power and having appeared so suddenly, the Asurai warriors regarded them with caution and trepidation.

Zoey understood their thoughts, but could do little to change them at the moment, so they continued on up the canyon to the white tents that seemed to be the center of activity at the moment.

Zoey quickly realized that this was the medical area from the activity taking place. It seemed like some of the warriors had been affected more severely by the corrupted creature's aura, and the healers were desperately working to keep them breathing.

This was the first time Zoey had witnessed the affects a corrupted creature could have on normal humans. The terror that it instilled on those that were not prepared was strong enough to stop a person's heart and inflict severe mental trauma. Zoey Max, Athena, and Viridi were clearly more equipped to deal with the mental pressure, and had no side effects to speak of after facing these monsters. These warriors on the other hand...

”Viridi, want to give me a hand?” Zoey sent a thought to her companion.

The feline responded by licking her hand and sending back a confirmation through their link. She was eager to help in any way she could, so the two of them went to work.

One difference between how Zoey used magic and how Viridi did, was that Zoey inscribed her rune arrays onto physical objects and then injected magic power into said object to invoke the effect. Viridi on the other hand constructed a mental array and then cast the magic through that, which was the more traditional way here on Darren.

The difference here was that Zoey's arrays could not be easily modified, but were reliable, while Viridi's arrays could be modified on the fly before casting, but could be interrupted. Zoey needed Viridi's help here because she planned on using a modified Mittra Rune array to perform a large scale healing on all the wounded Asurai. Zoey had seen enough undeserved suffering in her time, and she had no desire to see more, especially if she could do something about it.

She put her arms around Viridi's neck and the two of them closed their eyes as they began the process. First, they enhanced their connection to each other so that their minds were so closely linked that they were almost one.

Then using Viridi's ability and Zoey's knowledge on arrays, together they began to construct a massive Mittra Rune array. As they built it, this array grew so robust that it actually began to manifest itself physically outside of Zoey and Viridi's joined mental space.

In the air above them the array started to visibly form, drawing exclamations of shock from those that saw it. Soon all eyes in the camp were on the glowing green geometric lines and runic symbols that traced their shape into the dark night sky.

With Zoey and Viridi as the center, the array continued to form into a magnificent glowing construct that lit up the canyon with its vibrant green light. All who saw it were rendered speechless as the complex symbols continued to form.

Then after five full minutes of casting, it was complete. It hung in the sky humming softly with power, a runic marvel of geometric designs and runes that no one knew the meaning of. Despite the unknown symbols, all who saw it sensed that it was not designed to harm. No, the energy that they all could now sense was the energy of life.

Then finally, Zoey and Viridi working together in magnificent harmony let loose their magic and activated the array.

In a heartbeat, the array suddenly shattered into a million green shards in the sky. Then those million shards each burst into a million more until the sky was filled with uncountable tiny specs of green light.

Then they fell. Like a gentle rain the lights came down and doused every person in the canyon with a surge of life-giving healing energy. Every person had their face was turned to the sky as the miracle took place, not even realizing for a moment that all their ailments and injuries were being healed.

Zoey and Viridi, who had quite possibly overdone it a tiny bit, looked up together, looking at their work with satisfaction before they both passed out where they stood.

Max was the only one who had not watched the lights in the sky. His eyes had never left Zoey this entire time. As she collapsed after overusing her magic, he gently caught both her and Viridi and laid them together on the ground.

He made sure they were comfortable before he turned and stood to guard their sleeping forms while all around them were cries of joy and happiness as the Asurai clan realized what had just taken place.

The Asurai would from that day onwards remember that day as the day that a young woman had healed them all with a single spell of healing rain.

They would remember it as the defining moment when their future forever changed.