*Day 24 - The Ambush*
The Ghul'rok surrounded them. Twenty, maybe thirty. Too many.
Kaelen was bleeding. Bad. The kind of bleeding that meant minutes, not hours.
Ora knew what she had to do. The corruption inside her writhed, hungry, ready. But it needed fuel. Real fuel.
She closed her eyes, diving into her mind's vault. Memories floated like glowing orbs, each one precious, each one power.
There - Lyra's laughter. That specific laugh when Ora had slipped on ice during their tenth winter. Pure joy, pure innocence. It glowed warm and golden.
Worth a life. Worth Kaelen's life.
Ora grabbed it. Held it. Felt its weight.
*I'm sorry, sister.*
She fed it to the corruption.
The memory didn't fade. It BURNED. She felt it char and crumble, felt the exact shape of its absence carve itself into her mind. She would always know something belonged there. Something about Lyra. Something about laughter. But the specifics were ash.
The corruption EXPLODED from her.
Not a wave. A tsunami. It hit the Ghul'rok like the fist of an angry god. They didn't die - they ceased. Their existence unwrote itself, leaving only shadows burned into reality.
Kaelen gasped, his wounds sealing with corrupted flesh. Ugly. Functional. Alive.
"Ora, that was—" He stopped. Saw her face. "What did you lose?"
She tried to remember what she'd sacrificed. Knew it was about Lyra. Knew it involved laughter. But the memory itself was a void, a tooth-socket in her mind.
"Something precious," she said. "Something I'll never get back."
The worst part? She'd do it again.
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*End Chapter 19.7*
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