From the Ashes

[Gildarts]

Gildarts looked quizzically at the extended hand, which belonged to a face he didn't quite recognize. It had one eye, which he looked at through the seems of his own blood-encrusted lid, and held the hand firmly in his own as he took to standing. Already, he was being surrounded by a shimmering glitter of light, which had started to heal his wounds. Thread after glowing thread, the tan skin of his body started to stitch itself back in order, as so he noticed on Zack.

Their camaraderie was almost instant, as it usually is with those who have fought the same battle, and endured the same suffering. It didn't need words to ask the girl where she had sustained her injuries, she had fought the good fight and had nearly been slain along the way. Her expressed regret was something the Mage could relate to, though hearing that the menacing dragon's life was almost over, would be a relief both to him and to the fallen.

Gildarts stood on his own prosthetic leg, which had more or less been melted in places due to the splashings of magma. They were about halfway down, and their joints were taking their sweet, aching time. Gildarts stayed solemnly silent but cast a glance over at Zack only once, which Zack caught in the corner of his eye.