Zane heard the crack in Serenity's voice, and could see the faint glistening of her tears. Making his decision he slowly stands and walks over to her, ignoring the pain. He then slumps down next to her, and puts a hand on her shoulder
"Serenity, are you okay? Did I say something wrong?"
A little earthen barrier shot up between Serenity and Zane. It wasn't entirely intentional but she was in an emotional state and not focusing correctly.
"I'm sorry, it was nothing you said...and I'm still not entirely comfortable around you if I'm being completely honest." she wiped her tears, "Of course I'll get over it soon," sniffle, "I do appreciate what you've done for me."
The barrier was still up after she calmed down some, but she did lower it down a little so Zane could see her face at least.
"But I did bother you with the question, you deserve to know why. I wanted to know if it were possible to use blood magic to stop the werewolf curse."
Zane jerked his hand back when the earth shield shot up
"It's fine. I know full well how disturbing blood magic can be."
When she mentioned the werewolf curse, Zane eyes got so wide that they looked like they might pop out of his head
"The werewolf curse... Serenity, I'm not sure if I explained myself correctly earlier. Blood curses raise in power the more blood that is sacrificed to fuel the curse. The werewolf curse is one of, if not the MOST, powerful blood curses in history... The sheer amount of blood that it has infected and cause to be shed fuels it's power..."
Zane sighs and shakes his head
"The werewolf curse is extremely powerful. I'm one of the most powerful blood mages around, that don't use blood sacrifices anyway, and even I'd have to be basically standing next to the person when they get infected to do any good. Now, there is something called a blood sacrifice, but that is the most dangerous blood magic you can use, and is what gives it its bad name."
"That's because a blood sacrifice requires you to drain the blood of victims and use it to fuel your spell casting. The more is used, the more powerful the spell. Now, that being said, these have been used in the past for good. If the blood is given willingly, curses and such can be healed to great effect. But to cure the werewolf curse? The only story I've heard of someone trying it had the blood of fully 20 people, and still killed himself trying."
Zane sighs yet again and relaxes some more
"Sorry... as a blood mage and a doctor, that is one of the things I regret most. My inability to cure that curse. I suspect that there is some trick to it, tied to the original incarnation of the curse, but that was so long ago that nobody has a clue as to what it could be. The secret to curing that may just be thing most coveted by 'white-cloak' blood mages such as myself."
She chuckled, feeling a little relief and then guilty for it. But she was done crying, there's no reason to think about past mistakes when there might not be a future ahead.
"I see, thank you for your insight on the matter."
Shifting around a little, her eye lids began to feel heavy and she couldn't keep them up anymore.
"If you don't mind me, Zane, I'd like to rest a bit..."
Slowly but surely, she fell asleep against the table.
Zane nods and sits up straight, determined to stay awake and on guard. As time goes on and some of his power comes back, he pulls out the stitches in his arm and heals it with magic.
"Ahh... much better..."
He then sits still, not exerting his body at all, letting it remake as much blood as possible before they had to move on
As they headed down the next hallway, the light glowed brighter, until, in front of them, was a huge, gleaming pool of golden gel. The room was circular, almost like a swimming pool, but clearly it hadn't meant to be used so. Desks lined the ground, looking like stepping stones in the gel. Te door across the chamber was open, but there was no way across but stepping over the desks. A crystal above the doorway buzzed.
*cough* The...the lab boys said I couldn't afford to buy two bars worth of Truegold, much less two thousand. Bought 'em anyway, ground 'em up and put them in the gel. We *cough* did learn something interesting; ground up Truegold is pure poison. I am deathly ill. The gel is inert though, unless you get it on yourself. Makes a good acid. And we learned it can hold psychic vibrations, as good as that's doing us.
Let's...*cough* let's stay positive here. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Get out there and do some science.
That said, I would appreciate you testing fast...*cough*
Of all the graveyards in all the towns in all the world, she had to walk into mine.
Zane takes one look at the tables and slime, and just shakes his head
"This freaking place.... I swear, it can't just be happy with making this easy... Well, there's nothing for it really... I mean, if you were willing, I could make bridge from table to table, one at a time, but it's be a bit tiring"
Serenity walked to the edge of the golden acid pool and tried to feel for the earth beneath them, hopefully they won't have to rely on possibly flimsy tables to cross this death trap.