Starry Resonance Ch. 10

So instead of risking making things worse, Yvain wondered where the source of light spilling through the curtained windows came from. This being Nora's dungeon, was the house inside the forest where he met her? Or were dungeons made for starchildren as dissimilar each instance as those made naturally? He should have tried to investigate a bit more after eating.

Roesia sat up, and Yvain stopped all thoughts alongside his breathing.

Was she going to try and stand? Should he make his wakefulness known then, and help her?

In the time he took to make a choice, Roesia got off the bed. The sound of her hands holding onto the wall, and her one good leg hopping were distinct. She did it twice before tripping. Thankfully, the bed was still close enough that she managed to hold on before falling.

What in the stars am I doing? Yvain immediately rose and turned to the sorceress.

"Let me help," he said and became startled at what he saw. Haggard would be a nice way of putting it. Roesia seemed as if she had one leg inside the grave.

"I just need to go pee," she said with despondency without looking at him. "Where's the bathroom?"

"I'll take you th--hey, hey!"

Roesia had turned to leave at his denial of information and began to hop away. Her body was battered though. Even with two legs it couldn't be easy to walk, and so Yvain jumped off the bed knowing what would soon happen.

Indeed, right as he reached her, Roesia lost both strength and balance before he caught her by the shoulders.

"Let," the sorceress pushed against his hold, "me," he didn't budge one inch, "go!"

The simple dispense of physical effort had her breathing hard at the end. How could he do as she asked? He'd never forgive himself if he left her to fend for herself in such a state.

"Come on," he said, and wrapped her arm around his waist while holding her small shoulder with the other.

Roesia offered smaller struggles, but finally allowed him to help her when it became apparent she'd never break free. She didn't say anything while hopping along slowly, following his own measured steps.

It had been over two years since he had been to his parents' home, but the mental schematics of the old architecture branched out as the door to the room was opened.

I wonder where that woman went. As the two of them covered ground and reached the bathroom, no signs of their benefactor appeared. Maybe the kitchen? She had mentioned how she'd bring Roesia food once she awoke.

Yvain expected the sorceress to stop him from bringing her all the way in, but she simply held on in silence. Her hand actually pressed harder into his side as they reached the latrine, eyes looking far into space.

"Roesia? We're here."

The sorceress didn't respond.

"Roesia?" Yvain gave her a small shake and she quickly looked up.

"What? Oh." Looking down, the sorceress seemed to remember what they were there for. She then, with no warning, pulled at the lower bandages before using him as support to sit down.

Yvain quickly turned his head away at first, and then his body once the sorceress was fully seated. He found it amusing how he opted to not overstep personal bounds just because the sorceress didn't feel for him what he felt for her. Thinking back to the time he met Nora for the first time, it was clear that she had needed him as much as he needed her, even if back then only their subconscious agreed to it. There had been no walls.

Roesia didn't send him such signals. Did that mean that whatever changed remained inherently different from what he shared with the goddess? It did start after the sorceress changed into her new dragon hybrid form. Was he just into that type of thing?

The sound of liquid string falling hit Yvain's ears. It disrupted his thoughts as his mind moved to the image of Roesia's naked body. Questions of how her pussy would feel, along other parts of her body, suffusing his concentration.

Stars, stop it.

"I can't feel it, no matter how much I try," the sorceress said as her urine wound down to a trickle.

Yvain became alert.

"What do you mean?"

Roesia gave a hollow laugh, "I've been trying for over an hour. It's not there."

"Roesia, what do you mean?" he kept his back to the sorceress, but it was becoming difficult. Was something happening with her injuries?

"Forget traveling outside of Empryon, I'll be lucky if I don't end up depending on my parents or some random man for the rest of my life."

Yvain turned, ready to repeat his question, but stopped himself.

The sorceress was staring down at her hands, opening and closing them as tears fell on the bandaged skin.

"Though what man will want me, looking like this?"

Yvain wanted to contradict her. Regardless of how she looked now, she rose violent lust inside him. Yet the pitiful looking creature before him clutched the words at the neck. It felt like anything carelessly said could break her to pieces.

He needed to at least understand the situation, so he quietly went on his knees and grabbed her hands.

"Please, tell me what's wrong?" he asked softly.

Roesia rose her head just enough to look him in the eye, showing her own lightless ones.

"I've lost my ability to use Starlight. I can't absorb or manipulated it at all."

The revelation sent his mind spiraling. Right before his eyes the genius sorceress turned into a normal woman. No powers, nothing to add to the guild, unable to survive outside the walls. Things that he didn't care about anymore, at least when it came to her. Yet the choice they would have to make in the end was obvious.

Her husk likeness now made sense. She understood the gravity of being unable to use starlight as much as him, maybe even better.

"I'll never again be able to create or build anything," she whispered hauntingly. "One of you will need to control the carriage in my place."

Roesia was already prepared to give up. It was something he wasn't good at, and his being demanded to make her think otherwise, but what could be done? Neither he, nor the sorceress understood her current condition.

Maybe...that's exactly why we have more options than we think. His confidence always came from forming and following a clear path of action. If there wasn't one, then it just needed to be created. If it couldn't be created, then that just meant a lack of information.

Looking at the depressed creature in front of him, Yvain's near resignation was replaced by determination.

"Why did you absorb so much starlight?" he asked. It wasn't an accusation, but to make a point. Roesia took it as the former regardless, her brow scrunching up.

"I'm sorry," she said with a sigh, "I couldn't help myself. When Nora put me in there it felt like...like I had found several million missing limbs. They all reattached, making me complete once more. All I did was use them."

"And did she ever warn us about something like that happening?"

Roesia searched his eyes before shaking her head.

"The first time I went into my Galaxia," Yvain began, "I went through something similar to you. Maybe not as violent, and it might have been just me being greedy, but I felt like I had been in those passages Nora took me through a million times before. It still feels as such, and I'm sure I could find new, better ways to traverse that star-filled sea. She didn't warn us about that either."

Before he could notice, Yvain had begun to caress Roesia's hands with his thumbs. She didn't seem to reject the touch, so he didn't stop.

"While more knowledgeable than us, Nora isn't all-knowing. Like before we even learned of the existence of starlight, there are things out there she might not yet understand. When we get out of here, we'll see if she has a solution for this, and if she doesn't..."

The sorceress eyes widened. Her ability to reach his conclusion had always been intact, but it was clouded by the shock and dread brought by the loss of starlight.

"There might be a way for me to gain control over the energy back regardless," she whispered.

Yvain nodded, unable to hold back a smile as he internally celebrated at the gleam returning to Roesia's eyes.

"And get your leg back. It might be a long-shot, but I've seen crazier things."

The sorceress looked at him skeptically, "Like what?"

"Like a dragon creating a sun out of thin air?" he said, implying she should remember his recounting of Nora's dungeon.

"You did fight something like that, didn't you?" Roesia said with a small, continuous laugh that seemed to release all of her tension.

Yvain's heart skipped several beats. He couldn't do anything but stare at her newfound mirth. The sorceress exuded a different type of attraction from Nora, something akin to a puppy he needed to protect. The endgame was still the same though and seeing her coming back to her usual self had his length hardening.

Enough time passed as such, that Roesia's laugh pattered out into silence as she too began to stare back.

Their stillness created a weird atmosphere Yvain hadn't experienced before. It was like neither of them knew what the correct step to take next was while each knowing exactly what they wanted. Roesia would never act first though, as she shouldn't. The responsibility and the mistake were solely his to carry.

Yvain closed to distance between them and kissed the sorceress full on her lips. It wasn't anything fancy or sensual. This was the second woman he had ever kissed, and most likely than not this was Roesia's first. In other words, he just did a safe, surface touch.

Pulling back, the sorceress had kept her eyes closed, head tilted back. When nothing else happened, she opened her eyes.

"Is that it?" she asked with naïve honesty. She then seemed to immediately understand the implications of her question and blushed furiously. "I-I need to clean up, please wait outside."

"No, I still need to help you get back." Why was she embarrassed now? He could barely look away in time when they first arrived.

"I'll call you when I'm ready!" the sorceress said a bit louder and tried to push him away.

Not wanting to fluster her anymore, Yvain allowed himself to be pushed. It's not like the exit was far. She could reach it easily.

"Fine, but make sure to let me know when you're done, alright?"

The sorceress made a small hum of acceptance as he went outside.

"Is everything okay?"

Yvain internally jumped when their benefactor appeared standing right in front of him, carrying another bowl of the same soup he had eaten.

When had she gotten there? He hadn't heard any movement outside.

"Yeah, she's just finishing business."

"Were you lending her a hand?" the woman asked with an arched eyebrow.

Was she questioning his motives? She did seem a bit...conventional.

"As best I could," he said.

"Good!" the woman said cheerfully. "I'll leave the food on her side of the bed. Tell her to help herself."

With that, the woman left down the hallway; Roesia knocked on the door right after.

"What happened?" Yvain asked when the sorceress appeared from behind the door, back with a somber look but not as miserable as before.

Roesia sighed and hopped to grab onto him before they began to move. "Everything you said makes sense. There's a very real possibility I can go back to normal. But what if, in the end, I can't? And even if I could, I would never forgive myself for bringing you guys down by carrying a cripple."

"A cripple?" Yvain said, "With your massive brain?"

The sorceress patted her head doubtfully, making him laugh lightly.

"You might have lost your use of starlight for now, but I'm still here, so are the rest. We can be your hands when directing the energy. Just think of us as one of those tools you use for your experiments."

Roesia stared at him with the corner of her eyes as the couple made their way to the bedroom.

"Nora has truly changed you," she said.

"I...guess?"

"She at least made you more empathetic, or is that only because you want to sleep with me?"

The sudden turn of questioning caught Yvain off-guard.

"I...I didn't... that isn't my intention."

"Isn't it? Then what did that kiss mean?"

Yvain couldn't even begin to answer that, as he himself didn't know.

Roesia didn't speak again, either content with waiting for an answer or having nothing more to say. In that time, he tried to organize his thoughts on the matter.

Nora was a peculiar case. He had never met her before their time in her dungeon. Things were weird between them, especially his control over her, and the way he lost his attraction toward her by a simple transformation. Yet this had all been inherent since the start of their relationship. It made sense in a nonsensical kind of way.

Roesia on the other hand, he had known since his teenage years. She was a gifted girl that didn't share the sentiments of hatred toward the outside world and wasn't quiet about it. Neither was he, and that naturally got them to find a sort of camaraderie in their xenophobic-overrun academy. They were also the quiet type and obsessed with their trade. Their natures allowed for easy company.

There was never a romantic undertone to anything they did though. His mind, being as it was back then, didn't conjure up any sexual images of her just like with every other woman. Then out of that blank state, everything took a one eighty change. Suddenly he couldn't stop pinning her up in his mind in whatever position he could more easily shove his dick in. If it had happened before Nora, maybe he would have attempted to make thought reality.

Though, maybe I wouldn't have seen her as worthy for the guild, had Nora not come along.

In the end, this was all conjecture. What mattered was the now, and the truth was that he couldn't lose Nora. Doing nothing with Roesia wouldn't affect their friendship, the opposite would have him lose his girlfriend and maybe the sorceress's friendship. It had been a mistake to kiss her.

When the couple finally reached the door, Yvain spoke, "It was a lapse of judgement on my part, I apologize. I'll tell Nora when we meet up again and hopefully she'll forgive me."

"...That's for the best," Roesia said, but he surreptitiously observed how her expression turned just a bit sadder.

It stung to see. He had rejected so many people in the past without batting an eye. Was this how they felt? It was almost like he refused himself. There was nothing to be done except endure though, he couldn't and wouldn't just take back his words.

The couple walked in. The food and drink were waiting on the sorceress's side of the bed, just as the woman had said. Though she was, again, nowhere to be found.

Where exactly was she disappearing off to? Yvain took the sorceress back to bed and helped her settle in before she grabbed the spoon without question and began to devour the food, barely stopping to chew the chunks of chicken in it.

After Roesia ate her meal, he would begin investigating their surroundings. At the very least a day had past with them in the dungeon, and it was unlikely that the rest got the same reception he and the sorceress did. Especially if it was Nora's dungeon. He could only hope that if anyone did meet up with a dragon, it would be an illusion just like his encounter.

A clatter called his attention, and Yvain looked to Roesia who had dropped her spoon.

The meal was half eaten, some of the water gone, and the sorceress lay on her back panting. A flush covered her cheeks.

"That bitch," Yvain said. The food had been poisoned.

Roesia's panting became more pronounced while her body writhed from side to side trying to make her aliment subside.

He quickly took the bed tray off of her and set it aside before checking her over. No foaming on the mouth, and it didn't seem like she was about to vomit. There was a string of saliva rolling down the side of her mouth though.

"Can you breathe?" he asked, but Roesia didn't or couldn't answer.

Using his strength, Yvain easily ripped apart all the bandages the sorceress was wearing. No rashes could be found, thankfully, and her skin looked healthy if only a deep shade of red. Her chest was also raising fully before deflating, which meant she could take deep breathes. Though there was a wet spot quickly growing on the sheets right...between her legs.

A shock suddenly rippled down Yvain's spine--Roesia's flushed skin, her breathing, her writhing, her glazed eyes.

She's indeed poisoned...but.

The sorceress lashed out with her arm and clutched onto his thigh with an iron grip. Her eyes pleading, nipples straight and solid.

"Help me," she managed to say with a moaning whisper.

Yvain wanted to do nothing less, but there was only one thing that would aid her. Stuck between indecision, it was almost amusing how his heart and hardening cock clashed for subjugation over each other.

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In the wake of destruction, Lydia, Michael, and the handful of surviving villagers walked for most of the night. When it became clear that those not versed in starlight needed rest, they stopped to sleep for a few hours. At dawn, they managed to start and keep a brisk pace thanks to the well-maintained roads of Empryon connecting every village, town, and city.

In the end, it only took the group one day, and a half of the other, to reach their destination--a village that had remained for the most part intact thanks to the natural protection the mountains surrounding it offered.

We were so close, thought a weary Lydia. It was a good thing she had starlight to fuel her, because sleep would have never come easy. Even with the energy though, it felt as though her feet were being held down by blocks of concrete.

As the group arrived, they were met by a party of well-built villagers, an old man at the front.

"Welcome, goddess," he began with a respectful bow, "we've prepared succor for your group, and our best dwelling for yourself and your companion."

Before the event a day past, she would have waved away their hospitality, opting for a more humble, temporary residence. Now? She couldn't careless about such a petty need.

"Thank you, he and I will go take our rest. Please make sure to aid these poor souls, find them a livelihood when they fully recuperate. Also, a family for the child."

"I'll take care of him, goddess," the woman who had been tasked with the orphaned boy said happily.

The both of them had thankfully grown close in the time it took the group to arrive here. She certainly showed the capacity to be a good mother and could direct the boy's questions in other directions, holding at bay the horrible truth he'd have to soon learn.

"As you say, my child," Lydia said and turned to the old man.

"It shall all be done, goddess. Come, I'll show you to your new residence."

Lydia and Michael left with the old man, while the rest left with the well-built villagers.

As far as villages went, this one seemed to be one of the more lavish. The houses were more modern and well kept, while its inhabitants dressed in well-maintained, yet simple clothes. It shouldn't have trouble housing those who survived the blast. It wouldn't have had problems housing everyone. It's the reason why Lydia was taking them here, and away from the wall. Not that it mattered anymore.

"Is it true what they're saying, goddess?" the old man suddenly asked.

"What is?"

"Ah, I would guess it'd be difficult to receive news on the road after the disaster," he said. "A letter was sent to everyone saying that the explosion was due to a malfunction in some new piece of technology. I couldn't imagine what it is they're working on that could cause so large a blast. It has been a rough few nights."

The information was par for the course wording to hide anything that those in Empryon shouldn't know of. Like a powerful goddess creating a dungeon smack in the middle of the country. A normal occurrence outside the walls, a calamity inside.