Chapter 16 Failed Fealty

Decem 9th of 4831 AS

Time: Late Evening

"Shizu!"

Azi cried out as he dropped the umbrella onto the snowy ground and turned to Shizu who stood behind him. Her red blood ran down from her left arm and more blood was coming from her mouth which dripped down stained the white parts of her dress. Her legs were trembling and she was about to fall, but Azi moved to catch her in his arms.

Laying her down, Azi could see that Shizu was unconscious, so he called out to Kajima who was still on approach to their position.

"Kajima! The breastplate, quickly!"

Not wasting any time with questions, Kajima rummaged through the crate of prototypes Azi brought with him. Taking out a black breastplate, he threw it over. Caught by Azi's extended magic tether he then snapped it in one fluid motion over Shizu's wounds.

With all his being, he prayed that he was not too late. When the blue light from the broken breastplate began to form around Shizu, hope began to form in his heart but soon sunk when the blue motes of light suddenly dissipated.

This was one of Azi's earliest prototypes for a breastplate with a built-in healing spell, but due to this breastplate being the earliest prototype, it failed to activate correctly.

Kajima stopped his mount at Azi's side and Azi cried out with fear in his voice.

"Kajima, another! QUICKLY!"

With another black breastplate, Azi snapped it in half over Shizu's body but again the healing spell failed to activate. When he moved to grab a third breastplate himself, he noticed the finer details of the crate he had brought with him. It was one of the two crates Azi used to store his failed and successful prototypes.

They were identical crates, but Azi remembered which was which due to how he always checked the contents before storing any of his prototypes. Since he was in a rush, he had grabbed his crate full of failures on accident as he did not think to check due to the needed rush for the situation.

Panicking, Azi attempted to channel a healing spell of his own. Holding his hands over Shizu's wounds he attempted to visualize the healing process. Unfortunately, he lacked the understanding of anatomy and the biology of humans.

This was why he had created the healing breastplates, they were simpler to use and could perform the kinds of healing Azi had yet to master.

His attempt was unsuccessful but not wanting to give up he picked up Shizu's body and held her close. He began to have his glowing blue veins encroach onto her as he sent his magical energy into Shizu and hoped that it would boost her natural ability to heal.

This time he was successful as Shizu's eyes began to open. She coughed up a mouth full of blood, but this helped as it cleared her throat.

"Shizu! Stay will me, come on, work dammit!"

Azi focused harder on attempting to stabilize Shizu by infusing her body with his own energy. Unbeknownst to him, Shizu could feel that his attempts were only delaying the inevitable. She was losing too much blood and Azi's would not be able to stop the bleeding in time. Shizu could feel her consciousness fading so with the time she had left she said her peace.

"Kajima, Azi. You need to listen *Cough*."

The two listened, but Azi continued to try and heal her.

"Take this to my father. *Cough* Tell him, we have a traitor. He will know what to do. Tell him, *cough* that they planned to kill Rulu and are plotting with Uzuru."

With her unwounded right arm, Shizu reached into her dress's inner chest pocket and was able to take out the sleeve she retrieved from the suspicious men. Holding it out to Kajima, he noticed the hawk claw emblem which made him frown in disgust.

Understanding what Shizu meant, he accepted the bloodied piece of cloth and nodded.

"I know Shizu, I'll tell your father. Don't worry, your death won't be in vain."

"SHUT UP!!" Shouted Azi. "I CAN HEAL HER, I JUST NEED MORE ENERGY. COME ON! WORK!"

Grunting in pain, Azi attempted to call up more of his own magical energy but there was little left. This was due to the 5 days of forging he subjected himself to and the incredible display of fire magic he just used to destroy the swarm of monsters. Both of these feats left him with little magic energy to use but he didn't want to admit the hard truth of the reality in front of him.

His attempts to draw more magic energy out from himself was fruitless and the best he could do now was maintain the connection and keep her body from decaying. He did not have enough magic energy to close the wounds in time before Shizu bled out.

Her external wounds were treatable, but the internal wounds had begun to show its effects as Shizu's voice became weaker. To her, her lungs felt heavy and felt as if they were filled with blood. She could taste iron in her ever weakening breaths.

Seeing Azi push himself to the brink, Shizu could see the tears in his eyes. They began to fall onto her face and she swore that she felt a bit warmer from his tears. Smiling, she comforted her "young" apprentice in a soft tone.

"It's ok Azi, you came and helped me. I might die, but you fulfilled your fealty to me."

"NO! It's not enough. You have to live, please live. You said you wouldn't leave me. You, you said never!"

Azi continued to cry over Shizu and as she saw this, she thought to herself.

'He hasn't passed my trials yet, but I don't want to leave this world without saying my peace. I think I understand now, this unknown warmth, this is love. I love this adorable and strong young man.'

Remembering their short time together, Shizu had to agree that it was very rushed of her to come to a decision like this but she felt she would regret not doing what she felt was right.

With a smile, filled with resolve and love, Shizu raised her right hand and grasped the back of Azi's head. With the small amount of strength she had left, she pushed Azi's head close to hers and locked her lips with his.

Azi's crying stopped and he felt calmer. He could taste the disheartening flavor of iron from the blood on her lips but the overwhelming sense of comfort and warmth overshadowed it. Shizu then cupped his cheek and released Azi from her gentle kiss. With a smile, she softly said in a voice as low as a whisper.

"I will always be in your heart. Because I ... love ..you..... Azi...."

Even with such a soft tone, Azi heard every word and shut his eyes tight as he felt a pain in his heart.

"SHIZU, I, I, AHHHHHHH, Ahhhh, a"

Attempting to get the words out, the veins on Azi's body began to glow an even brighter blue-ish white but soon turned to a sudden blue gray. At this moment, Azi heard the sound of glass breaking around him.

Feeling as if something was lifted from him he pushed any other thought away and declared what he wanted to say. He needed to do this before it was too late, so with a trembling voice he opened his eyes.

"I love you too. Shizu."

As he said this, he felt her hand begin to go limp as it fell lifelessly to the snowy ground. Her eyes had lost their light as the prominent red of her eyes became dull and her eyelids were half open.

Noticing that Shizu's hand was no longer holding his cheek and her eyes were not seeing him. He then thought to himself with gritted teeth.

'She didn't hear me, I-I couldn't tell her…..'

Azi began shaking Shizu violently in his arms as he called out her name, hoping that she would wake up. With tears in his eyes he held Shizu's head close to his chest and wept.

Kajima looked on at Azi and tried to think of what he could do. It broke his heart to see Shizu's lifeless body in Azi's arm and the tears Azi shed only made the pieces of his heart feel as if they were being grinded away.

Deciding to give the boy his space, he stepped away and took out a red tube from his pack. Pulling the string at the tube's end, a red magic flare was launched from it and flew up into the sky. He continued to do so periodically throughout the now dark and gloomy night.

Azi continued to hold Shizu as he cried and attempted to cast whatever healing magic he knew in repetition in hopes to bring Shizu back but all his attempts failed.

Still not wanting to give up, Azi asked Kajima to set up a tent. Complying as he wanted to help the boy grieve in the way he chose to, Kajima helped to lay Shizu on a mat inside a quickly built tent. Azi continued to pour magic energy into her body as he knew from his limited studies into human health that a person could be revived as long as they had a heartbeat and that their brain and body did not decay to a point of no return.

He noticed that if he left his glowing blue veins or his magic tethers attached to her body, it did not show signs of decay. He confirmed this as he examined the changing conditions in her body with detection magic he had infused into his gray lensed goggles.

He could see that Shizu's body was not decaying but was in a form of static when he supplied it with his own magic energy. Her heart was pumping but was weak and she wasn't able to wake up. This was just like how Shizu described his condition during the investigation a month prior.

From this, he deduced that he just needed to find a way to see if her soul was still within her. If the soul was still present but only dormant, then he only needed to find a way to wake her soul from her slumber.

Hours passed as he attempted to find and trace of Shizu's dormant soul. The searching took hours and he found nothing in return for his efforts which filled him with an enormous amount of grief.

He had promised Shizu that he would come to her aid when she called on him, and he did so in this incident. But while Shizu told him that he did not fail in his promise with her, Azi thought otherwise. He blamed himself for this unfortunate situation. If he had grabbed the correct crate he could have healed her in time.

But due to his oversight and rushed actions, he failed her at the moment she truly needed him and his magic. Remembering fonder times as a way to comfort himself, he recalled the "defensive" training Shizu subjected him to.

She would constantly attack him for an hour to see how he would defend or would at times have him take a hit from her so that they could test the effectiveness of the disposable breastplates. He then began to remember more of the eventful times he had with Shizu.

From their kiss of fealty, to training with her late into the night, the time she taught him how to read and write, and the times they slept in bed together. He could remember her expression, her voice, her touch, her smell, and her warmth.

He realized that he would never feel or see these things ever again as the proof was evident in front of him.

Slumping over Shizu's body, Azi cried as he reminisced and grieved. With it came a sense of longing that began to form in his heart which made him feel empty and hollow.

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