Rosalia was still catching her breath when she finally looked at me properly, some private, half-panicked thought clearly working itself out behind her eyes.
"Kazu," she said carefully. "Did you see what that spell actually looked like, once it left you?"
"No," I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck. "I had my eyes shut the whole time — I can't seem to focus unless I do."
She let out a long breath through her nose. "Ah. Well. I think it's fair to say that spell was more than a little dangerous." Something in the set of her mouth told me she was choosing her next words carefully. "Maybe we start somewhere gentler. Healing, perhaps, instead of anything that sets the horizon on fire."
"I'll do better," I promised, entirely too pleased with myself to notice how unconvinced she looked. "I'll keep my eyes open next time, I swear it."
She managed something like a smile, though it didn't reach very far. "That's — good, sweetheart. For now, healing. First we'll need something sharp."
I went looking without needing to be asked twice, humming to myself as I combed the edge of the clearing — this stone's got an edge to it, maybe… oh, what about this bottle — and came back holding up a shard of broken glass like a prize.
"This should work," I said.
Rosalia took it, some of her composure returning as she explained. "Watch first. I'll cut myself, then heal it, so you can see the shape of the spell." She drew a slow breath and spoke the words with practiced calm. "Mighty God, bless this wound and give the strength needed to survive — Healing."
The glass caught her skin, just a shallow line, and a moment later a soft light closed it over so completely that not even a mark remained.
"See?" she said, turning her arm to show me the unbroken skin. "Nothing to it, once you know the words. Same rule as before — don't ask a god for the favor. Be the one granting it."
I nodded, serious now, and reached for the glass she held out.
Before it touched my skin, a warning flared red across my vision.
[Warning: Killing Intent Detected]
"Rosalia — something's coming!"
A shape broke from the tree line before either of us could move further — a werewolf, fur matted and filthy, yellow eyes fixed on us with an ugly, hungry focus. Drool ran from its jaws as it spoke, voice a low, wet growl. "I'm starving. You'll both do just fine."
Rosalia went white and stepped in front of me without a second's hesitation. "Kazu — run. Get away from here, now."
I didn't run. I couldn't — not with her standing between me and something that size. "Get away from her! Fire Pierce!"
The bolt of flame caught the beast across the shoulder and did almost nothing, brushed aside like an insect it hadn't bothered to notice.
"A human child, casting Fire Pierce?" It bared its teeth in something that might have been amusement. "You'll be the first to die for that."
It moved before I could answer — faster than anything that size should have been able to move — and seized Rosalia by the shoulders, hurling her aside like she weighed nothing at all. She hit the ground hard and didn't get back up.
"Rosalia!" The word tore out of me before I'd decided to say it. I dropped to my knees beside her, shaking her shoulder, some part of my mind refusing to accept what my eyes were telling me. Then I turned back toward the werewolf, and whatever had been fear in me a moment before had curdled into something with sharper edges. "What did you do to her? Fire Pierce!"
It dodged this one too, laughing low in its throat. "You can't hit what you can't catch, little one."
It came at me next, claws already extended, and I had exactly one thought as it closed the distance — the broken glass, still gripped tight in my hand.
Dash.
I blinked past its swing before the claws could find me, close enough now that I could smell the rot on its breath, and drove the shard of glass into the side of its skull with everything I had left.
"Fire Pierce!"
It went down before it could so much as howl, the spell tearing through it from the inside, and then the clearing went very quiet.
A string of pale blue windows unfurled across my vision.
[Notification: Enemy Defeated]
[New Skill Acquired: Bloodthirst]
[New Unique Skill Discovered: Assassin]
[Assassin skill reached Level 12. Enhance now?]
Yes, I thought, barely registering the words, already turning back toward Rosalia where she lay unmoving in the dirt.
"Rosalia — I need to heal you. I need to—" My hands were shaking as I laid them against her forehead, trying to remember exactly what she'd taught me an hour ago in what felt like another lifetime. I am the one granting the wish. Not asking for it.
I closed my eyes. "I am the God who grants this wish. Bless the one who lies before me — Healing."
Warm light spilled from my palms, and after a stretch of time that felt far longer than it probably was, Rosalia stirred beneath my hands, a soft groan escaping her. "Mmh… my child… what happened?"
Relief hit me so hard my eyes burned. "You're okay. Everything's okay now."
She touched her own head and drew her fingers back stained faintly with blood. "I'm alright, dear. Just — why is there blood?" She pushed herself upright slowly, taking in the smoldering shape of the werewolf a few paces off, then looking back at me with something sharpening in her expression. "Did you learn to heal, just now?"
"Yes," I said, voice cracking. "I'll tell you everything on the way home. You went down and you didn't move and I thought — I thought I was going to lose you too."
I threw my arms around her before she could answer, and she caught me, holding on just as tightly, murmuring something soft against my hair that I didn't quite catch and didn't need to.
We walked home slowly after that, my mind still turning over everything the day had handed me. A new skill. Bloodthirst. Assassin. I'll look at all of it properly once I'm alone tonight.
Rosalia noticed my silence and softened into something gentler. "You've got a lot on your mind, I can tell. You must be starving, after everything today. I'll make you something good once we're home."
"Thank you, Rosalia," I said, and meant it more than the words probably let on.
The walk back felt longer than the walk out had, but I didn't mind it. Whatever this world still had waiting for me, I had a home to come back to at the end of the day — and for now, that was enough to hold onto.