"ANRI."

  Elana's voice resounded around him like a desperate whisper trying to wake him. He couldn't move a muscle. His eyes opened to a worrying sight of his Spiritual Sea sky, which had thick storm clouds gathered in heavy clusters, aggressive lightning striking without pause to form spatial tears.

  "The corruption is killing you." Ray's voice was like a stuttered sound rippling dark, oily and gunky pollution within the waters.

  "It's the lyrium." Anri huffed, feeling too weak to move, but damned if he was going to lie flat and let those evil bastards win. He closed his eyes and relied on his instincts to arouse his soul form into action: a memory of muscle movement at a time. He was finally about to sit up and see Ray for the first time.

  "Oddly, I never expected you to be a mage." Anri observed the soul form of a tall and elegant divine mage with long, flowing, silver hair. He was handsome with almond-gray eyes that seemed to hold the wisdom of ages, full lips to balance his symmetrical nose and gentle jawline. His mage robe of silver and white appeared brighter from his white aura.

  "I am what is familiar to you. It helps with the psyche." Ray sighed and glanced across the water and sky disturbances. The external corruption was increasing strength within Anri. "The corruption drew out my form as it breaks down your Soul Core and sea."

  He helped Anri stand.

  "What do I do?"

  "The girl with you, she is another Resonance who can open a Fade Channel. You need to manipulate this channel to flow through it and cleanse the corruption."

  "I'm not sure how to reach her."

  "And do you not have the devilishly handsome me to help you?" Ray lightly joked. His expression sobered when he returned to his instructions. "Get her to open the channel and I'll help you do the rest."

  Anri nodded as he noted his actions to take and closed his eyes to focus on the faint whispered connection he had to Elana's voice and spirit.

  "Anri!" Elana's voice was full of fear.

  "I'm here. It's okay. Don't fear." Anri reassured her, singing a soothing lullaby to ease her fears. The reassurance and selfless desire to see her safe, stirred brush strokes of silverish energy to erase storm clouds and other signs of the corruption in small patches. One section of his polluted sea was cleaned. A brush stroke of silver lifted a wave before him. It crystalized mid-motion.

  "This is the Fade Channel between you." Ray's voice flowed between Anri and Elana's soul, along with his unique energy. "Keep the song going and allow the flow of energy move you. Let go of your mortal conciousness."

  Anri closed his eyes as he delved into his song, which resonated from his heart to keep Elana's soul and the Fade Channel stable. A powerful sensation of touch and clarity moved through his being. It moved the silverish brush strokes on the waters to clean the pollution with swift motions. But the corruption was persistant, reforming its ugly darkness where the silver brush strokes had clear.

  "I'll keep clearing your sea. You need to delve deeper into your Soul Song." Ray instructed.

  Without thinking, memories of his life with Dorian and the image of his lover's face became stronger to him. It played a new and powerful song, full of warmth, pleasantness, desires for life and an undying love that made his heart pure. Anri's Song of Love shook the pollution from the waters and sky so fiercely, making the silver brush strokes gather the corruption into an orb of dark energy.

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  With explosive and swift motions the silver brush strokes painted over the dark orb to make it shine silver and white with a consistent and clean energy. The Spiritual Sea was clear and calm again, with Anri's soul core healed to be a vivid and solid image.

  A divine energy of pure silence was cast over Anri's sea to make the atmosphere feel still, but all the warmth of the world was felt.

  "I've cast the Power of Light spell to turn the corrupted Spirit Energy into a divine healing power. Carry this through the Fade Channel to external corrupted spiritual nexuses. The power will flower through the disrupted channels to cleanse and restore them."

  Anri slipped into a mental focus of envisioning the orb of light flowing through oily, dirty, channels and making them clean. The chaotic energy converted to a pure white and still light. Like the cleansing of his spiritual sea, the corruption attempted to fight back, reforging itself to be a greater strength. But the orb's light was too stark and fierce, striking down the ugliness with purity. Until the network of channels the orb traveled along was cleaned to form an image of one white light. All the emotions associated with fear and dying became a sense of resolution.

  Like cutting a cord, Anri's soul song was stopped. But it wasn't harmed; rather, he felt Ray pulling him back and out of the Fade Channel he and Elana had formed. The crystalized wave cracked and became fluid again, returning to his sea.

  "It is... done." Ray's voice sounded weak.

  Anri's soul consciousness returned to him, where he saw Ray's form become semi-transparent. Fading.

  "Ray!"

  "It's okay. You did well." Ray weakly smiled. "The Power of Light divine spell is now yours to cast within your sea, along with the ability to move through Fade Channels to cleanse the corruption."

  Anri fretted with worry for Ray.

  "Don't fret, Little Bird, I only need to sleep. The Uthenera."

  "Uthenera? No, that's not good. If I had known." Anri dropped to knees feeling horrible and desperate to right this wrong.

  "It's not wrong to have someone help you. Remember that as you grow in power. Rebuild your arm and have the power to wake me."

  "Rebuild?"

  "But for now, worry about your immediate reality. Me, I'm not going anywhere." Ray eased into a meditation pose of crossed legs and closed his eyes. His spirit image faded into a faint trace within Anri's sea.

  Anri nodded and closed his eyes. He was taken out of his spiritual sea, where he woke to see Elana lying unconscious across his chest. Red Lyrium crystals fell from the cavern ceilings like raining shards.

  His eyes widened as his instincts stirred his body into motion. He held Elana tight as he evade-rolled to dodge the large lyrium shards: hastily sat upright, balancing the young girl to his bosom. He shuffled backward as the ground split open before him.

  People ran about chaotically as they struggled to avoid the red lyrium shard rain. Anri repositioned Elana to him and used all his might to stand, wobbling unsteadily and feeling his arms throbbing like crazy. He was able to position Elana on his back and keep her balanced with his arm. Through the commotion he saw a way out, and Servis escaping through it.

  "Lavellen! KILL HIM." Kalias bellowed with outrage for Anri. But many of his warriors and rogues were falling through ground fissures and being stabbed with red lyrium crystals.

  Kalias's arrogance and rage faulted when he saw the smelter's metal casing crack as quakes made the ground beneath it unstable. The partially processed lyrium within the smelter became a chain reaction of destructive energy, which swelled toward an explosion.

  Anri scrambled for the exit Servis had taken, feeling enough strength in his sprints to take them out of the chaos. As he passed through the cavern entrance and part way up the crumbling corridor, the smelter back at the cavern exploded with reddish energy. Midway the explosion paused. Its motion flowed backward to be an implosion. Everything in the cavern was being sucked in. Kalias cursed Anri's name as he clung to a jutting piece of lyrium for dare life but his grip gradually slipped and he flew into the implosion's core.

  Anri screamed as he felt his legs being yanked back toward the destructive impact.