Oblivion closed in from all sides. The tiny shred of light that Sylvari could see was narrowing all the time, as the grasping hands of the void tugged at her fleeting consciousness, hungry for another denizen. I hope... Xalmann is ok... If-if I was helpful to him... If he survived with my help... Maybe... Maybe the end isn't so bad...

As the Lizardman shoved his bleeding arm into the mouth of the vampire the golem held, she looked very much like a corpse, save for the distorted edges of her being that grew more jagged with each passing moment. There was no burst of motion, no resurgence of life as the man with the crimson hide bled into the gaping mouth of his partner. It seemed to be to late... Until it didn't.

As the dripping blood reached the back of the vampire's throat, the fuzzy edges of her body clarified immediately, becoming solid once more. ^{[Major Vampiric Healing]} As yet more blood was offered, the hole in her chest began to close, a frankly revolting spectacle, as the fragments of shattered flesh created scarlet spiderwebs spanning the expanse and covering the opening. Finally, the soft glow of crimson eyes could be seen fluttering open, as arms like vises clamped upon the offered limb and she began to actively draw out blood, making the arm feel numb and cold. ^{[Striga Lineage]} There was also a pleasant sensation, for though there was an active theft of essence, notions of comfort and pleasure welled up in the Lizardman, like receiving a loved one's embrace.

Still she drank greedily, hungrily, until Sylvari became aware of herself. With painstaking effort, she ripped herself away from Xalmann, her whole body aching to continue. She blushed furiously and turned away, as she wiped away the blood trails draining out the sides of her mouth with a free hand. When she was sure she was clean, Sylvari turned back to her partner, still blushing and unable to meet his eyes. A single word was all she could muster, a bit of humor to underpin the macabre circumstance: "Surprise..."

Xalmann's fear for Sylvari's life rapidly changed to a fear for his own life as he felt more and more drained, the Vampire sucking out far more blood than he'd expected along with his arcane energy. He felt like he was about to pass out and couldn't stop his knees from buckling under him, too weak to even stand anymore. His knees hit the muddy ground and his head drooped as his breathing became more labored, gasping for breath as his body thought it just needed more air, but really, there was hardly any blood left to circulate the oxygen he was desperately inhaling.

He couldn't even pull his arm away as Sylvari gripped it almost as hard as the bogaboo had grabbed his tail. He was shocked by just how strong she suddenly was right after being on the verge of death. When she finally tore herself away, Xalmann fell to the ground, exhausted. The heat and light from his hands stopped as he no longer had any energy to maintain it.

Stupid. He wanted to save her, but he hadn't meant to sacrifice his own life to do it. Was this how he died, drained of blood and magic by his own ally? He'd never even managed to find Dagon. To get his revenge. How pathetic. He didn't want to die, not like this.

With the last bit of strength he could muster, he struggled to raise his arm to grab Sylvari by the hand and used the dregs of his magic to reclaim just a bit of the energy she'd taken from him. Sylvari wasn't the only one who could heal herself by draining the energy from others. As he sapped the energy from her, the slash on his arm stopped bleeding and closed up as if it had never been there.

That was the last thing he remembered before everything went dark.

---

Vampiric Touch

Sylvari's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. She had expected things to be difficult with Xalmann, well, more difficult, after revealing her secret, but seeing the Lizardman crumple to his knees and pass out was not planned. Oh gods. GODS! I couldn't have taken that much, right? Xalmann was a tempest of arcana... Please wake up, please, please, please.

Sylvari quickly dropped to her knees and grabbed Xalmann's unconscious body, cradling his head in her arms protectively. He looked fine, with no external wounds, not even a cut where he offered her blood, but Sylvari knew the problem was internal. She hadn't developed a good metric yet for gaging how much arcane theft a person could sustain and recover fully. Worse still, Sylvari's memories of the fight were hazy, as she had dipped into the Combat Meditation of her people, giving her body over to the spirit of tactics. She vaguely remembered attempting the guard Xalmann, and the Bogaboo on top of her, pummeling her into the soaked ground, then nothing. 

Sylvari winced and grabbed at her head as a wave of pain reverberated through her mind at the effort of remembering. It doesn't matter now. All that matters is making sure he lives. What a terrible guardian I am. As Sylvari knelt in the muck, holding firm the limp head of her companion, she noticed the golem that Xalmann had animated was still standing there, as if awaiting orders from its silent master, its hand extended down to the pair.

"Can-can you help him?" A question that went unanswered as the construct stood there, unmoving. Sylvari, sighed and contemplated. Her biggest concern was how cold Xalmann was: only a few degrees lower than most people, but a veritable frost compared to his normal blazing temperature. Maybe if I get him to a fire, he'll recharge? Sylvari knew it was rarely advised to move an injured person, but the circumstances were unique and she could think of no other option. Please don't die.

Sylvari threw her companion over her shoulder and climbed up the rough path the golem made for them with its arm. Once she was firmly atop its surface the golem began to move, marching in the direction of its initial resting place. Sylvari pushed wonders of its operation to the back of her mind as she rekindled the small fireplace where their initial flame stood, conveniently spared the covering of the vines. As the flames ignited, she placed Xalmann as close as she dared without risking burns as she waited. She wished that she had body heat or at least a blanket, but alas, her body was colder than his and her winter cloak around her shoulders was wet through with the freezing waters of the swamp. All she could do was wait and pray. Please.

The sun had risen when Xalmann finally opened his eyes slowly, still feeling drained of energy. He groaned weakly as he tried to look around and see where he was, but he could barely move his head. He felt warmth to one side and could see the fire nearby. He felt the hard rock beneath his back cushioned by a layer of vines. It wasn't very comfortable, but it was honestly not the worst place he'd ever slept. With how dead tired he was, he could have slept anywhere at the moment though.

The memories of what had happened to put him in this condition slowly returned to him as he recovered from his grogginess. His mind wasn't tired, it was just his body that felt as heavy as the stone he was sleeping on. Who would have guessed that he'd suffer more at the hands of his partner for this mission than from the bogaboo they'd been sent to hunt? He was never going on another mission with that Vampire again if he could help it.

As he lied there, his stomach growled loudly. With how much blood he'd lost, or more accurately, had been taken from him, he needed to eat if he wanted to replace it. Where was his bag? He was sure he had some rations left. He'd brought enough to last him a few days, thinking it would take longer than it had just to find the monster. He tried more to look around, hoping it was close enough for him to grab without moving too much.

Sylvari sat all through the night as a sentinel, watching Xalmann for any sense of recovery. She had tried at several times to carefully give Xalmann water to make sure he stayed hydrated, but given her unfamiliarity with Lizardman biology, she worried about drowning him in his sleep. For most of the time Xalmann slept, she simply sat unmoving, a guardian gargoyle over her crimson companion.

When Xalmann finally opened his eyes, a short while after the sun rose, tears began streaming down Sylvari's face. She all but tackled the poor recovering Lizardman, pulling him into a tight embrace. Most of the raging heat of Xalmann's body had returned, so the embrace was not entirely comfortable, but Sylvari didn't care. "Oh, Xalmann! I thought you were dead. I thought I-that I..." Unable to continue this line of horrific thinking, she simply buried her face against his chest. "I'm sorry! So, so sorry!" Choked sobs could be heard as well as felt as she pulled him closer, as if trying to convince herself that he was really there. Godsdamn it. I swore I wouldn't cry. But I...

The grumbling of Xalmann's stomach spurred Sylvari to action and caused her to release the death grip she had on her partner. "Oh, you must be hungry! Don't worry, I'll feed you." She rummaged around in his pack for the rations he carried and quickly returned, lifting him gently to lean back against her leg as she offered the small provision before Xalmann's mouth.

Xalmann was even more lost for words than usual as he was being hugged and lifted, Sylvari's face buried in his chest, and then he was being propped up and fed. It was happening too fast for him to even comprehend. He wanted to refuse the food being held in front of the face, to push her off of him, but he couldn't even move his arms with enough force to even slightly shove her. He was still exhausted, and if he wanted to get better, he knew he needed to eat.

How humiliating. He thought to himself as he reluctantly opened his mouth for Sylvari to give him food and water. He'd been the one taking care of this incompetent fool the whole trip, keeping her alive, and now he was at her mercy. When he regained his strength, he'd have to make her swear never to tell anyone about this.

Wait.

Xalmann's eyes went wide and he looked to the side to see the summoned spirit, Durumann, standing there with a wicked smile on his face. Even unconscious, his spirit remained unless they absorbed enough damage in his stead to force them to return to him or he consciously made them return. Durumann had seen everything!

Xalmann finally unsummoned the spirit who faded into mist and vanished, never losing his devious smile.

When Xalmann felt his stomach was full, he kept his mouth closed so Sylvari couldn't feed him any more. Already, he was feeling a bit better. He flexed his hands, his body growing less heavy. He could also feel his magic returning, the heat of his body letting him know he was once again filled with fire. He should make a full recovery soon.

He looked at Sylvari and spoke in a voice that was just as devoid of emotion as it had been before.

"Never... Mission... With you... Again...." He stuttered out before he closed his eyes, letting the fatigue overtake him.

When he awoke after another hour, he was fully recovered. He stood up and stretched, flexing his arms and checking himself voer to make sure there was no lasting effects. When he was sure he was back to normal, he let out a short sigh of relief and looked around for Sylvari.

Sylvari was pleasantly surprised that her companion allowed her to feed him, even weakened as he was, rather than obstinately refuse any help she could give. Ok, would have been better to not die, then almost kill him, but this is a close second. We both made it! This is all I wanted. And then she heard his next words, all five, more than Sylvari had ever heard Xalmann speak at one time. A happy moment, if not for their meaning.

Each word hit Sylvari like a hammer blow, worse even than her vague recollections of the fight with the Bogaboo. Xalmann passed out right afterwards: a small blessing, all things considered. He should be happy that he was on the way to recovery; he shouldn't have to see the crystal raindrops fall from Sylvari's eyes again. She gently laid Xalmann's sleeping form on the vines once more and began to clean what little remained of their campsite. In all honesty, she just took extra time dismantling both members' tents and rearranging both hers and Xalmann's packs. Anything to keep the thoughts of despair away, which circled like vultures, preying on her hopelessness. At least I was right to hide what I was, Sylvari weakly thought. I can't blame him; no one wants to rely on a monster.

Sylvari had refastened her veil over her eyes and had her lips firmly closed in a frown as she was trying in vain to restraighten her club as Xalmann awoke.

The stone golem brought them to the edge of the pool of water again to let them off. With their campsite all packed away, they started to head back to Lloyd to report on the... wait, this was supposed to be a research mission, wasn't it? Well, fighting the bogaboo was close enough to researching it. Xalmann wasn't about to go find another one of those monsters, no matter what Lloyd said.

Walking along, Xalmann kept to whatever dry paths he could find in the marsh, just as he had at the beginning of their mission. There was a tension in the air that hadn't been there then though. Xalmann was still a bit upset at how Sylvari had drained him and reduced him to needing to be fed like some injured animal. If she was going to be injured to the point of needing to do that every time they worked together, then he never wanted to go on a mission with her again. She was too weak for him to rely on. Unless that changed, he would avoid her.

Sylvari also seemed upset about something. Maybe it was just lingering guilt for what she'd done to him. Xalmann couldn't be sure. He'd never been good with understanding the emotions of others. Emotions weren't something warriors needed in his tribe. The fear, the pain. The emotions on the faces of the enemies didn't matter. Still, maybe he could say something to show he didn't hold a grudge. He was upset by what happened to him, but he couldn't fully say what she'd done was wrong. Getting herself almost killed, yes, that was her fault. But draining him was only her trying to survive. He could at least understand wanting to survive.

He looked back at Sylvari and tried to say the most comforting thing he could thing of.

"Be stronger."

After Xalmann awoke and began leading the pair back through the marsh to report back to Lloyd, Sylvari had kept herself as silent as possible, watching for where the leader stepped and mimicking his movements to avoid any mishaps. You've done enough. The best thing would be for you to not be here, and the second best is to pretend. She didn't want to cause any more pain and trouble than she already had. 

Sylvari internally sighed. Was her father right? Was any attempt to do good necessarily thwarted by her nature? What good was wanting to do the right thing if it caused one to bring more pain into the world?

As Sylvari battled her mental demons, she barely had time to notice Xalmann's slowing and stopped just before she ran into him. Hearing his words broke her further. She wanted to cry. She wanted to apologize, to make him understand how sorry she was, and assure him it would never happen again. However, she did none of these things. Words caught in her mouth like struggling woodland creatures in tar, and the only thing that could escape her lips were the practiced adages that Romarii had drilled into her. Sylvari had shown her true face, unwillingly, and was burned. She retreated to the only protection she knew: the mask. She began to see familiar landmarks as they had nearly left the wildlands. She would not have to maintain the facade for long.

"That's the plan, darling. Thank you for your assistance in this matter. I believe our business is concluded. We needn't harry one another any longer. Good day." With a heavy heart, and a practiced smile, Sylvari began diverging her path ever so slightly northward.

Yes, that had worked perfectly. She was already so much more cheerful. Maybe he was better with words than he thought. These thoughts were abruptly cut off as Sylvari's path started to diverge from his own.

Where did she think she was going? Their business was definitely not concluded! Was she ditching him now that she felt a little better? Was she trying to avoid having to go back to talk to Lloyd? Understandable, but Xalmann wasn't about to have to go back alone and have to explain everything that happened, everything they'd learned about the bogaboo, on his own!

A wooden hand grabbed Sylvari by the back of her armor's collar and lifted her up. Xalmann stood with his other hand on his hip and an annoyed look on his face.

"Talk to Lloyd." He growled impatiently.

Carrying Sylvari at his side like a misbehaving cat by the scruff, he continued on his way back to Lloyd, the heat of his scales just a little more intense than before from his anger at nearly being abandoned. As much as he wanted to go their separate ways, he wasn't going to let her get out of talking to that damn nerd who had set them on this mission that had nearly been fatal for both of them.