The Game Before the Fall

Chapter 48: Counter (Part 1)

"You know why I started to work out. I wanted to show my sister that I'd be fine without her. I'm stronger now but... I thought I'd be okay... I'm not okay." He began to cry and beside him Fiona moved to dry his tears, even while her own began to pour.

"It'll be okay," I spoke to him slowly.

"I know," he breathed. "I'll say goodbye smiling. That's how I want to do it. I know it'll hurt. I'll be sad but... I'll be okay."

"I meant everything will be okay," I patted his shoulder and stood back up.

"What do you mean?" he and Fiona both looked at me confused.

"It's a secret," I put my finger to my lips and opened the curtain. The girls surrounded Maggie. "Have you made up your mind?"

Aria smiled, "We made it after the first time we met."

Maggie looked at us confused, Erin as well, "What did you make your mind on?"

"To save you," Endi struggled to a stand beside her bed. "After all, we've already messed with the world enough and we'll continue to. Why not change things a bit more, right Ardent?"

"You know it," I clapped my hands and breathed out. "Maggie, do you want to live?"

"Umm of course I do, but-," she looked at us both concerned and intrigued. "What are you planning to do? My body's failing. My muscled are barely working. We've tried the best doctors and medicine."

Aria took her hand, joining with Erin, "This isn't modern medicine. I'll be honest Maggie, whether you live is up to you. We can only give you the boost you need. Then, it'll be hard work."

She looked at each of us with renewed determination, her eyes watering, "If you can give me a chance to continue living, I'll take it with everything I have!"

It was more than a perfect answer, I smiled, "Good. Aria you'll need to lead."

"Yeah, that's probably for the best," she nodded. If I tried, the Void may trigger and instead of helping her, I might just make it worse. She placed her hand on Maggie's chest, and I placed a hand on her back. "This may sting a little."

"I can handle it," Maggie smiled, her expression prepared for the worse but filled with a tender hope. She could only imagine what we were about to do, and I truly wondered what was going through her mind.

"Here we go," Aria's hand began to glow as her mana danced, twirling in sparkling lights before sinking to Maggie's chest. "Ardy, help me."

I guided the flow through Aria. It was similar to what we had done to Endi to save her but not quite going so far. We didn't need to forge a mana heart, we just needed to unlock her Aura and let it flow. A pulse beat through the room, sending a physical vibration to everyone present. Maggie winced. Her muscles faded by her disease were activating, connecting to a source of power more than just her body. Another pulse echoed and this time Maggie let out her voice, her body jerking as if an electric shock had gone through it.

We were almost there. The connection to her Aura was open but we needed it to flow. The first step in Aura was to activate it when needed, the second was to keep the channel open even if just a little. The problem was skipping straight to it. Maggie didn't have a body that could be trained, what she had was pure will.

"I-I can feel something," she gasped through the squirming sensations of pain and numbness assaulting her. "It feels tight."

"You need to release that feeling Maggie," I spoke slowly. "Focus on it. We can only help so much from here."

"I-I've got it." A sudden burst of force shot from her body causing us to back away and the blankets laid across her to fly off the bed. What was left was Maggie covered in sweat and breathing hard. She raised her hand in front of her face. That simple movement that was so easy even for a child meant more to her than we could know. "Oh my god. I can move my arms. I can move my arms!"

"You did it," Aria dabbed away the sweat off her own forehead, tiredly pulling a blue vial from her jacket and draining it.

"This feeling," Maggie pondered it as she moved her fingers and hand. "It feels like Aura. It feels like I'm in Areithia."

"That's because it is," Endi answered before either Aria or I could.

"Aura is real?" her eyes widened at the implication. "Am I going to live?"

"That depends on you," Endi continued. "Aria and Ardent only connected you to your soul where Aura comes from. You'll need to train it. It'll be hard but your muscles will come back."

A tear dropped down her cheeks, "I'm going to live." She began to cry freely, "Thank you, thank you so much. I'll make it up to you somehow."

Finn stepped past the curtain, he had seen what happened and could see his sister wiping away her own tears, "Maggie? Maggie you're better!" He ran closer, throwing his sister into a hug. "I gave up. I thought you'd disappear. Just how? What did you do?" his question was directed towards us.

"It's a secret, for now at least," I smiled. We had done many things since I returned to my younger self, but this one thing, it was certainly one of the best.