"Stop scratching. It will only make it worse."
The feminine voice suddenly sounded in his mind and Austin froze as he wondered who had said such words.
He looked around quickly but saw nothing.
Then the voice spoke again. "Circulate your mana across your whole body. Push it to the surface of your skin like a thin shield. It won’t do much, but it should give you at least a minute of rest before the blood moths gather around you again."
Austin paused for a second.
He was a bit surprised by what the voice had said, but he didn’t want to waste ti asking strange questions, so he simply did as it had instructed.
After all, right now he was in too much pain to think clearly.
So he quickly circulated his mana and pushed it to cover his skin.
And to his surprise, the biting sensation beca much weaker.
Even the pain eased a little, but he still could not breathe properly.
Of course, the voice noticed this as well, so it spoke once more, and this ti it sounded a lot more serious.
"I can help you, but only if you promise to help first." Austin turned around again, trying to find where the voice was coming from.
He still saw nothing but dead black trees and thick dark fog, and now he was beginning to think that maybe he was actually hallucinating.
Then again, it could be a side effect of being exposed to this strange fog.
However, the voice noticed Austin trying to locate her, so she swiftly spoke in his mind.
"You can’t see , so don’t bother looking. I am currently in the spirit realm, trapped between the spirit realm and this one. But if you turn around completely, you will see where I am." Austin turned slowly, and through the thick dark fog, he saw large and thick round wooden pillars arranged like a torii gate.
Even with the heavy fog, he could clearly see glowing paper talismans stuck on the wooden planks.
There were twenty of them, and Austin suddenly heard the voice echo in his mind again.
"Help remove all the talismans and I will help you get out of here." She said, but Austin coughed even harder.
His body was still burning with pain, but he felt reluctant to do as the voice instructed, because if sothing needed so many talismans to keep it trapped, it must have done sothing terrible.... right?
This was the thought that ca to his mind upon seeing the torii gate, and sohow the voice could sense his reluctance.
"Look, human, I know you are doubtful right now. But if you don’t do sothing soon, you will die here."
"I can get us both out, but if the talismans stay, only you will remain here to die."
"So what do you think? Will you help ?" She asked again, but Austin stayed silent.
He coughed even louder, and this ti the voice sounded more desperate.
"I understand your doubt. But you must have people you want to return to, right? Help and I promise no harm will co to you or those you care about."
"We can even sign a symbiotic contract if you want. If I hurt you or the people you care about, I will die along with you. Is this term good enough?"
After centuries of being trapped there, the voice had been lonely for so long.
All she could talk to were rocks or worms that couldn’t understand or talk back to her.
But upon finally seeing soone reach this far into the forest, the voice knew she had to make the most of this opportunity.
This was why she was sounding so desperate, and why she badly needed Austin’s help.
"So? What do you say? Will you help now?" She asked, and Austin could feel the loneliness and sincerity in her voice.
So after thinking for a mont, actually for just one second, he nodded in a hurry as he coughed once again, and his mana arms shot out from his back.
They quickly tore off all twenty glowing paper talismans from the torii gate.
But as each talisman was removed, Austin could hear loud clanging sounds of heavy tal chains unlocking and slamming against the ground.
At first he thought he might be hearing things, but everything he had experienced up until now had been strange to say the least.
So right now, he was more focused on staying alive than worrying about the sound of heavy chains clanging on the ground.
And so, with the last talisman peeled off, Austin instantly lost consciousness and the wooden torii gate began to vaporise into dust particles.
As it did, a thick white fog suddenly appeared where the torii gate had been, then it wrapped around Austin’s unconscious body, almost as though it was trying to protect him from the dangerous poisonous air.
And from within the thick white misty fog, a beautiful female figure stepped out with a huge grin on her red lips.
She had no clothes on her body, but her skin was pale and smooth, and she had large red wings spreading out from her back.
She swiftly leaned down to gently lift Austin from the ground.
Then she held him in her arms before flapping her huge red wings once, and the powerful motion created a strong wind that left a small crater in the black sand beneath her feet.
Now she shot up into the dark sky, carrying Austin with her.
***
Days later, Austin woke up inside Rowena’s mansion with a loud gasp as his eyes stared at the ceiling.
He swiftly sat up on the bed, but what he saw on his system screen hovering in front of him almost made his jaw drop.
****
[Congratulations to the Host! Nora has successfully given birth to your first child.]
[You are now, without a doubt, a father.]
*****
A/N:- I’m sorry, I’ve been trying to make up for all the lost scripts and scenes and world building I had lost by building them up all again.
And that has been a lot difficult than I had initially thought.
So the new Chapter ca out late than expected
But I’ll try to release new Chapters very soon, right after I’ve sorted out a few other things related to the world building.
Thank you so much.
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