With a heavy, grinding collapse, the stone pillar began to slowly sink back into the earth, retracting like a piston into the ruined foundations of the destroyed village.
Kurt dragged his boots through the thick layer of corpses and green blood that covered the ground. Now that his adrenaline had finally died down, all that was left behind was a hollow vacuum of pure physical exhaustion.
The moment the stone platform touched the level ground, Isabel didn't wait for it to fully settle. She sprinted across the bloody aftermath and skidded to a halt in front of him, her hands reaching out to hover over his chest, afraid that touching him might cause some hidden wound to open.
"Master! Are you alright? Please tell me you're not broken."
Kurt offered her a weak, lopsided smile, though he didn't have the energy to lift his arms. "Yeah. Just extremely exhausted, and I think my brain is currently fried from the inside out... but I'm fine. Trust me."
