Slowly, the energy in the green light began worming its way through Rose' body, and in the process, a series of symbols began flickering across her skin. Her body began twitching as more and more light filled her, and slowly everything on the altar began melting, joining the light in order to fuel Rose's revival. First it was the bag that was permanently affixed to her waist, then the thousands of plants held within, then the very clothes on her skin. Each item increased the speed that the symbols moved, and by the time that Rose had been left bare there were more symbols visible than her herself.
The entire process had so greatly enthralled Peter that he failed to notice the spider web of cracks that were quickly spreading all around the room. He was not the only one though. Everyone stood watching with bated breath as they looked at the altar. They were all desperate to know if the wishing well truly worked, and Peter was the one who would inform them. Still, the cracks spread.
Gawayen moved away from the light as he watched. Slowly retrieving several bones from the odd space he had in his control, he began inserting them back into the holes left by the combat with Laurence. He could already see that he would need to prepare if he wanted to gain the other wish left in the well. He looked towards Yveth and smirked, the girl might have been trapped but she had done her job admirably. It might not have been for the reasons he wanted, but it did not matter. She would fulfil her role soon enough nonetheless.
Laurence watched on nervously. The few following minutes would show him whether his journey had been wasted, and that stress was not something he was used to. He did not know where he would go or what he would do if he failed, so he watched on, gripping his hammer tighter and tighter.
Yveth just stood still. Seeing Peter on the altar had ruined her plans completely, and now her prevailing feeling was a need to escape. As her hand sat in her bag full of bone piercings, she came to the worrying idea that she might only have one way of escaping. In her rush before she had recklessly used her abilities, leaving her with scant to spare. She knew that she could use most of the bones she had left to rip open a hole and escape, but she was concerned that in doing so she would leave herself to dangers unforeseen. If that came to a head then her only option would be to sacrifice some of herself to escape.
Chunks of the room began to separate and drift off into the void all around them, but not one of the four could tear their eyes away from the light show going on in its heart. They were mesmerised as the figure that was being held in the green light gained the luster of life. The only thing she was left missing was the spirit.
Lifetimes away, in a blank room, stood a woman. Her figure was indistinct but she stood out against the pale grey wall and white door that stood massively before her. A similarly indistinct figure stood in front of her, and in front of them was another. The line continued infinitely, stretching all the way to the doorway. Slowly the line moved forward as one by one the people walked through the white doorway. There was no noise as they did so. Nobody made noise here. Noise was for the living.
As the figure in front of her took a step forward, she shuffled to follow, taking her time as all things did here. All they had was time, and not one of them was loath to use it. Another step eventually followed the last, and then another, but as she took the next step she heard a whisper. It was quiet to begin with, but she could hear it. Initially she ignored it. Though it was something new, it still was less than enough to make her interested, but the whisper got louder. She could not make out what it was saying, but knew it was calling to her. The feeling behind the voice was one of need. It yearned. It yearned for her.
Taking her next step, she moved out of the line and began to follow the voice. It called to her from the world she was leaving, cajoled her to follow and teased her with the chance of life. Gradually, it led her with its whispers back through the winding path that she had taken to get to the room, past the scales that weighed her life, and back out into the world that she had come from. She followed the call, working her way back to the Tower, through the void and eventually into a single room, where she saw the body of a woman, wreathed in green light.
As she saw the light, she understood where the whispers were coming from, and as she saw the body, she felt a kinship to it. She made her way to the still figures before her and looked at each person closely before walking up to the altar in the heart of the room. Taking one last look at the man looking at the woman in the green light, she stepped onto the altar and touched the beam. Her body melted into the light and became a white string of energy that wrapped with thin grey flows that were already present. The energy danced around the body for several seconds before fusing with it and finally the green light dissipated into nothing.
The room was quiet as the light faded away, leaving only a body on the flat stone surface of the altar. All four people in the room looked on at the body with baited breath as they waited to see if the Well had worked its magic. Slowly the body raised itself up and revealed a beautiful woman with slightly confused grey eyes. Gradually she sat up, taking her time even as the room fell apart around her. She turned and saw Peter, a look of recognition appearing on her face, before shock and her hand darting up to her throat, searching for a wound that did not exist.
"R... Rosebud?" Peter stammered. He reached out to touch her face and his own softened. She smiled in response, softly gripping his hand as she let go of her neck. Her free hand moved forward as the mana around her wrapped her up, covering her in a simple cotton dress as she slowly put her palm on his chest.
"I'm here darling, you'll be with me forever," she said, her smile dipping slightly. The mana churned around her once more and she sighed, "You should be so much more careful when resurrecting someone, though. Mixing the intents of two corpses is an amateur mistake, but one that the Solutions Immortal saw you making." His eyes went wide as he felt her hand pierce through his chest, tearing out the oversoul that protected his mana reservoir from dissipation. Blood dripped from her hand as her mana surged, coiling round what was left of Peter and turning him into a bizarre effigy made of plant fibres and bark.
Standing up, she disappeared from everyone's sight for a moment before appearing at one of the large gaps that now existed in the walls. "Let's spend the rest of eternity together in the void, and perhaps one day I'll let you out. It's your turn to be the prisoner, my love..." With a laugh, she leapt into the empty space, leaving Laurence and the two Avalonians to fight over the final wish as the room continued to break into pieces.
For a moment, the three of them were too stunned to move, but Laurence came back to himself quickly.
"It worked," he whispered, before pointing his hammer at the poisonous smog that Peter had left behind. "It worked!"
He took a deep breath, and raised his hammer high. The mana churned. The room began to heat up rapidly as a flame formed around the hammerhead, sending ripples of smoke into the aether. Laurence swung the hammer forward and his inner flame shot out in the direction of the altar. It was not as momentous as his earlier strikes when fighting Gawayen, but it did something those strikes could not; it charred everything it touched, leaving a smoky path right through the clouds.
The flames shot disturbingly close to Yveth, causing her to Yelp and snap out of her reverie. Seeing a path to the altar open before her, she looked back at Laurence and ran through the last of the poisonous dust, reaching the small set of steps that surrounded it within a moment. The piercings on her flesh shattered in order to heal her wounds from the dust, and quickly her body returned to it's most pristine form.
Placing her hands on the altar, she took a deep breath and before she could utter a word was suddenly transported to the entrance of the room. She turned around and saw her father standing in the place she had been an instant before. A thin rib bone that he held in his hand slowly disintegrated before her eyes, and she screamed.
"I couldn't have done this without you, darling. Now, watch me turn this Tower upside down." Gawayen raised his hands and cried out, "Wishing well! I wish to have enough power to subvert Babel and stop the Doom of Avalon!"
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