“You just had to bring the cat along.” Cymone groaned. “The. Cat.”

“It was an accident!” I reasoned. “She must’ve jumped into the teleportation circle without us noticing.”

She groaned again. “At least you didn’t beat up my armor too much.” She patted herself down, clearly happy to back in her original attire.

“Sure thing.” I scratched the cat’s head with two fingers and she purred. “I would say I’m happy to be back in a priest’s clothing, but that’d be a lie.”

We had been teleported to the mouth of a gorge, which happened to be a small rock beach. Behind us, the valley continued, occupied by a field of oleanders. The strong sea breeze occasionally carried parts of the flowers past us and into the water, letting the pink petals float into the distance.

“Where are we even?” I took in the scenery.

“Agiofarago, Crete.” Adon heaved in a breath as he sat down. “Used to come here as a kid. There’s a strong spiritual presence here.”

“Thanks for helping us, by the way.” I bowed my head. “Why did you, though?”

“I owe CeeCee a favor for something she did for me a couple centuries ago.” He nodded at her, then returned his attention to me.

“CeeCee?” My eyebrows scrunched together. “Couple centuries ago? How are you not dead? You’re human.”

“One of the perks of being a necromancer is immortality.” He shrugged. “It’s the only perk, really. But we can talk more about this later. We need to focus on healing the priestess.”

“Right.” I agreed. “Cymone, how long will your magic stop the corruption’s spread? How long does Atemu have?”

“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “Blood moon magic is potent, especially this close to the actual celestial event, but it seems that the corruption within her has been at work for quite some time, which complicates things. It’s rooted and unpredictable.”

Both Illias and Atemu laid unconscious on the rock beach, well away from the water and in the shade of the mountains. Though while Illias rested peacefully, Atemu winced every few seconds.

“Seeing her like this hurts.” I fell to my knees in front of the water, the waves barely touching me as they whooshed up the rocky shore. “I did this to her. I have to fix it.”

The cat strolled up to my side and rubbed up against me.

“You know…” Adon’s footsteps crunched on the rocks as he approached me, then sat on the other side of the cat. “Corruption is only one side of the coin. One blade of the double edged sword.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve seen a lot of places in my travels as a Phoenician merchant.” He started petting the back of the cat. “A lot of people, too. Corruption magic only became the destructive force that it is now with the rise of Cyrus the Great and the Persian Empire. Before this, however, it was not known as corruption, but balance.”

“I don’t follow.” 

“Tell me, Theo.” His hand moved up to the cat’s head as he continued petting. “Do you know what the opposite of corruption is?”

“Uh…” I scratched my head. “Purity?”

“Ugh.” Cymone face palmed. “We don’t have time for one of your lessons, old man!”

“Who are you calling old?” He glanced at her. 

She sighed then walked away to tend to Atemu and Illias, crunching the pebbles beneath her feet.

“Anyways.” He turned back to me. “When either corruption or purity is utilized without the other, its wielder is affected over time. The founders of balance magic knew that corruption and purity were two unstable on their own, so the two schools were brought together in harmony to be used together. When Cyrus the Great rose to power, he threw away purity and abused corruption alone. Thus, he and his children would be forever corrupted, bound to be consumed by the imbalance he wrought upon his bloodline.”

“Is that why I’ve been so angry these past few weeks when channeling my power?” I massaged my head. “Why my actions have been so…”

“Yes.” He nodded. “My guess is that your personality started to truly change when you first accessed the corruption. It affects all it touches. Including its master.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I’ve been around for a while.” He winked. “Now I don’t know how harshly or totally Cyrus severed purity from corruption. Nor do I know if there’s any purity left in you after the passing down of Cyrus’ version of the magic for four generations already.”

“Hold on.” I burst to my feet, startling the cat. “You think I could cleanse her?” 

“There’s only one way to find out.”

“This actually makes sense.” My eyes darted back and forth in thought. “Artemisia told me a while ago that my father thought I could be better than he was and use this corruptive force and turn it into a cleansing one. Maybe there was some truth to her words.”

“Maybe.” He scratched his hairy chest. “Perhaps Darius didn’t want to give up on the original nature of corruption and entrusted you with rediscovering it.”

“Why me?”

“Because he was too weak.” Adon’s tone soured. “People often delegate tasks to others that they themselves are too scared to complete.”

“So what do I do?” I stared at my palms. “How do I access this ‘purity’ magic or whatever.”

“You mustn’t think of purity and corruption as separate things.” He gestured with his hands. “But as one and the same. They are a single force.”

My arms flopped to my sides as I sat down again, slumped forward.

“I must warn you.” He set his hand on my shoulder. “Corruption has not tasted its counterpart in a hundred years. If you cannot manage them when they reconnect, you will‒”

“Explode?” I sighed. “Yea I know.”

“Well normally you’d be right.” He cleared his throat. “When two different magics enter the same body, the consequences are indeed… explosive. But corruption and purity are not different magics, as I’ve said. If you fail this, then any hope of the two forces uniting again will be shattered and corruption will utterly consume you. The things you will do if this happens… I don’t want to think about it, but Cymone and I will be forced to put you down if it does.”

“That’s reassuring.”

He stood up and offered me his arm. “You can do this.”

“I hope you’re right.” I took his hand and he helped me to my feet. “For all our sakes.”

I made my way to the unconscious body of Atemu, which Cymone sat next to.

“She’s burning up.” The elf didn’t even look up at me. “She’ll be gone soon.”

“Not if I can do anything about it.” I scooped up the priestess’ body, kicked off my papyrus sandals, and approached the shore. The water brushed over my feet as the pebbles tickled the in betweens of my toes.

“Good luck.” Adon called from behind me.

I glanced back at him and nodded, then gazed back out at the vast, glinting sea before me. The sun towered over me in its peak position, casting a glittering light over the water.

“Well.” I looked at Atemu. Her eyelids were shut and wrinkled and her eyes darted around beneath them. “There’s no turning back now.”