Pain. Light. Everything faexing hurt, and it was her own faexing fault, and if she could go back, she wouldn't change a thing.

Gia's eyes watered, but she managed to focus on her arm--the crystal scars embedded in it from a long-ago magical experiment. The crystal used to glow a vibrant fiery red, the color of her magic. Now it was almost as dull as clouded glass, only the slightest traces of pinkish light remaining. So far from the power she used to hold.

"For songland's sake, by voidlight's grace," she intoned. "Guide me to Kateri's place." Only one tiny little wisp of red light traced a path through the air. It looked and felt like a drop of bright blood bleeding straight out of her heart, but she followed it like a ruvido on the trail of a deer. Her feet dragged on the marshy ground. Had it really only been twenty-eight days since she started dying? And was it too late now to find Kateri Pait and force them to help her figure out a cure that didn't exist?

She remembered last time she'd seen the voidling, the translucent being that healed mortal injuries through aura transference. "It's impossible to recover from giving half your soul away," they had said, green glass mouth moving fluidly. "You will be dead within thirty days."

Well, a lot of people had told Gia that things were impossible. And none of them had been right so far.

-------

When she found Kateri, they were sitting on a log above a muddy pool, sunlight shining through their body onto a trio of dragonflies. The voidling watched the insects intently, taking notes every so often on a wad of bark paper. They didn't look up from their studies until Gia limped right up next to them and waved her hand right across their face.

"Lord Everlyne," they said in surprise. "I had thought you would be dead by now."

"You thought wrong," Gia muttered, though her mouth felt like it was full of icy stone bricks. "I ain't dead, and I'm here to make sure I won't be any time soon."

Kateri blinked, furiously taking notes on their paper. "I helped you sacrifice yourself to bring Lord Ebbtide back from the moment of death, and now he lives. Was that not enough? Aura transference functions through selflessness, as you well know. One does not recover from giving up a part of themselves." Their eyes narrowed, focusing on the faded crystal scar. "Fascinating. A physical manifestation of the metaphysical ailment you are undergoing. I would be interested in watching its final moments."

"There won't be any final moments, Kateri," Gia growled. She tried to focus on the voidling's eyes, but her vision blurred, and she stumbled forwards, catching herself before her face hit the mud. "Not if I can help it. I've got a plan, and I need you to make it work."

Selflessness. They had said selflessness. She wasn't used to hearing that word in reference to her.

They reached out an arm to steady her, helping her back to her feet. "Steady, Gia. I wish I could cure you. But there is no such spell in Trivera or the Void."

"What if there was?" Her eyes took on an almost wild light, despite the absence of magic within. "No songweaver and no voidling... but what about both, working together to achieve the impossible? You love experimenting as much as I do. I built this ritual from a text I found in a cavern near the Oaken City, it can change a body and soul entirely--"

"Or rip a hole in space." Kateri's face was hollow now as they looked over the notes she held. "What makes you so special, that you threw your life away only to believe yourself worthy of a second chance? Who are you to question the laws of magic and reality itself?"

She laughed, every breath wracked with pain. "You really don't know horse spit about me, do you? Look into my memories and you'll see." A bright flare of red light lit up her face, only to fade just as quickly. "I've been questioning the laws of magic since the first songspell I weft."