A Beautiful Saviour

Chapter Twenty

…He thought death would be swift. He had prepared for it. He felt so weak with his blood having been drained by the King’s magic but he was confused.

 Looking up there was water float around his head. He saw it ripple and fade away. He was lying down, he knew that much, and he was weak, drifting towards unconsciousness. The trees and stones were floating alongside of him and he knew the mountain would be as well; oddly enough his body didn’t feel beaten up by them. It felt the sharp, stinging pain from stab and claw lacerations but not the dull ache brought on by blunt earthen objects. He didn’t understand, he had used every single ounce of strength, energy and power to achieve the end and while he was laying submerged in water, he was not dead.

                And he was still breathing…?

                He tried to move his arms but he was too exhausted for that. He still hadn’t figured it out why he felt himself floating away. He saw the wave of the water above him, it didn’t look blue, it looked a little on the grey on side, and it gave way easily to his body even as it moulded to him. Nothing hindered his glide under the water and he saw the sunlight trying to pierce through the liquid. The rays were able to show him how close to the surface he was. He was almost there. With furrowed eyebrows and a groggy mind he tried to work it all out. This death was puzzling, he didn’t understand… until he saw the enchantress’ face above him.

                He had a shield of his own. With no magic left inside of him, for the time being, he knew this shield was not of his doing. They must have rallied together, combined their own magic; he knew it to be a joint effort simply because he knew them not capable of such a feat on their own. A shield was one thing, a projected shield another but Joseph had specifically brought down the heaviest things, just to make a projected shield impossible. He had underestimated them, or maybe he just never really believed the true extent of friendship.

                He started to try and feel the shield around him and pin point just who exactly was saving his life, the evaluation was a little daunting. All the enchanters, all the sorcerers, even Perttu and Lily had joined together in the effort. But what really touched his heart was that those who had been fighting, the one he had promised change to and shown the white days to, were all adding their power. There was only a few of the soldier vampires that hadn’t tried to help but he chuckled weakly to himself, you can never have everything. What mattered was, because of his own friends, and the majority of the fighters, he was surrounded by a pale pink bubble. They hadn’t let him die.

                His eyes were closing and he struggled to keep them open.

“Rest now, Joseph, you accomplished a lot today, take rest.”

Too weak to do anything else he let his eyelids slide closed.

*

Days passed and they bathed him daily, they changed the dressings to his wounds and Perttu religiously forced his own blood down Joseph’s throat in a bid to nourish and strength him. Still Joseph did not wake up.

“He gave everything of himself to stop the wars Perttu. He needs to build himself up again.” The enchantress tried to reason with him.