章 267: Chapter 267: Sucked Dry

My former maji guide didn't respond when I reached for her with magic, unconscious and fading quickly. That couldn't be right. She was second race, powerful beyond measure, a bottomless well of rainbow magic. And yet, she lay prone and near empty, the barest whisper of her essence all the remained to her.

I poured power into her, gasped for breath as a wash of weariness took me. She felt like the void, the dark space outside the veil, her very soul a shard of that dark place that had almost devoured me several times. Again I fed her strength, white sorcery this time, only to have it disappear into a bottomless hole deep inside her.

There was nothing I could do to help her. At least, not alone. Desperation drove me home, taking her still form with me, the kitchen at Wilding Springs suddenly too bright, too cheerful as I staggered out of the gap in the veil and dumped Iepa on the tile floor at my feet.

"Help," I gasped. "She's dying."