Farewell

"Understood, my dear wife!" Carl smiled knowingly, picked up the brocade pouch, and gave it a shake. A huge pile of miscellaneous junk spilled out.

Glazed ornaments, feathered crowns, lanterns, jars, knotted ropes, torches... and, of course, a whole heap of totem poles. There was all sorts of clutter, like supplies prepared for Winter Veil.

Carl shook his head helplessly. Ever since the day they had met, Tally had never been very good at tidying up. Even after all these years of marriage, she had not changed. She could handle cooking and housework with ease, yet whenever it came to organizing things, she always drew a blank.

Little Sian seemed to have inherited that trait too. No matter how many times Carl scolded him, his backpack was always a mess.

Carl picked up two totem poles as thick as bowls and strapped them to his back, then chose the two thickest ones and weighed them in his hands. With a Heroic Leap, he soared high into the air, raised the sturdy totem poles, and smashed them viciously into the tornado's midsection.

The blow did not break through the wall of wind, but the hurricane still caved inward. The gale let out a mournful wail, and faint cries and roars could be heard within it.

Carl landed, raised a totem pole, and swung it fiercely. The massive shockwave forced the tornado back again. Then, roaring, he drove the pole hard into the earth before leaping once more, striking, smashing the ground...

Amid the violent booming of Bull Earthshaker, the totem poles formed a prison around the storm, like a cage trapping the wind.

Tally silently recited Shamanic incantations, praying for the elements' aid. The totems resonated with her spell, and more than a dozen totem poles emitted soft white light at once. To the twisted elements, that peaceful radiance was as hateful as bone-eating poison, and they furiously unleashed lightning at Carl.

A red barrier protected him. Tally had acted.

A mass of red energy danced in her palm, sending out strange ripples as it formed a barrier that sealed her, Carl, and the elements within.

Countless storm elements roared as one, attacking the barrier and the prison that trapped them with all their strength.

Tally clenched her teeth. Her overdrawn mind felt like it was about to explode. A warm stream of blood ran from her nose, slid down her cheek, and slowly dripped onto the barren ground. Drop after drop, it eventually gathered into a tiny red stream.

Countless wind blades flew at the two of them. Tally swayed like a candle flame in the wind, and Carl roared as he stepped in front of his wife.

He chopped fiercely at the wind blades, shattering the gale into pieces. But new blades came in the next instant. Carl blocked some more, while the rest slashed into his body, spraying blood everywhere.

Tally struggled to maintain Purification and the shield. She could not spare even a trace of magic to protect Carl.

Strands of platinum hair slowly drifted down. The ends of her mane shimmered as they gradually disappeared.

Some wind blades passed through Carl and struck her. The places they cut did not bleed; instead, they dissolved into red energy, as though she were merely an illusory image.

The gale continued to grow stronger. The barrier began to flicker, and the light of Purification started to dim.

Just hold on a little longer... It can't... end like this!

The elements were being purified. Tally gritted her teeth. As long as she held on a little longer, this nightmare would be over.

She prayed desperately in her heart while feeling the life within her slowly drain away.

She could no longer hold on.

This false body was only an echo, a memory, a soap bubble hidden between the veils of life and death. It could go no further, and from the day it had been born, its end had already been destined.

Tally understood that clearly, and she accepted her fate calmly.

Honestly, embracing death for the second time did not feel too bad. Look, she had protected her son, her husband, and her home.

She had done so many things right. She could even properly say goodbye to the people she loved.

Tally suddenly raised her head. "Carl!"

She smiled faintly and softly said, "Take good care of yourself..."

After that final farewell, Tally's body began to shatter, like fragments of a dream or crushed autumn leaves.

Carl charged toward her with a grief-stricken roar. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but his strong embrace only brushed past empty air, because Tally's body had already become transparent and broken.

She closed her eyes, her chest overflowing with a bitter ache.

Come to think of it, there was still one small regret. In the end, she had not been able to tell little Sian that she would always be proud of him.

A distant cry seemed to ring out beside her ears.

At the same time, shock replaced the despair in Carl's eyes. As though he had found life in the depths of despair, hope bloomed in them once more.

"If you're so embarrassed to say that, you should tell him yourself. I can't bring myself to say something so mushy..."

Her husband's voice suddenly rang out in Tally's heart, filled with tenderness and grief, but with even more joy and relief mixed in.

Neither Tally nor Carl had opened their mouths, yet they both seemed to clearly "hear" each other's voices?

Tally froze, then jolted in alarm.

Telepathy? Could it be...?

She nervously looked around. At the same time, a pure, clear power flowed into her, traveling through her soul and into her body. The newly injected energy rapidly repaired Tally's shattered form. Her body was no longer transparent, and its leaf-like decay came to a halt.

That surging magic not only reshaped her body, but also solidified the scarlet barrier, making it several times sturdier in an instant and locking the gale tightly inside.

"Little Sian! Is that you?"

Tally anxiously called her son's name, because she knew there was only one source for this power.

When little Sian had been very, very young, she and Carl had noticed that the miraculous child possessed incredible powers, though even he did not fully understand them himself.

It was a secret the couple had sworn to protect. They had originally intended to keep protecting him until he came of age, but... the world was unpredictable.

Sian could not bear to lose the people he loved most, so he desperately called out his mother's name.

Tally heard her son's voice, and through his wish, she miraculously awakened once more.

This blessing was so powerful that even the barrier surrounding all of Bloodhoof Village was a creation of his subconscious. After he fell asleep, that power had drawn toward the Emerald Dream, reversing life and death and creating such a great miracle.

Though only temporary, all the Tauren who had died upon this land had already broken free of death's restraints and gained life again in this illusory yet real world.

"Honestly, you can't just leave without saying goodbye!"

A somewhat childish voice rang out nearby. At the edge of the storm, little Sian stood there, looking helplessly at his father and mother.

He had kindly shared his power with his mother, yet the first thing she did was lock him up together with his master, Tamara.

Even more humiliatingly, although the power was his, his meager spellcasting skills were clearly no match for his mother's expertise in this field. Even with the High Priest's crash course, he had been trapped for a very, very long time before breaking free.

"Don't do something like this again, okay...? You actually locked up Master and me. You really are..."

Sian shook his head. He understood his mother's heart and knew she had done it for his sake.

But by the same token, she had to understand that even the most obedient good child could be willful sometimes!

Besides, Sian Whitehorn had never been any sort of good child!

"Don't come in!"

Tally cried anxiously, "Go find your master! Be good! Leave this place!"

Sian shook his head and grinned broadly. Mischievously, he said, "You'd better be careful, Mom. This time, I'm very, very angry. No matter what, I'm a little bull. As a man, I will never accept the price of this kind of sacrifice! Prepare to accept my naughty punishment!"

"You child! Have you forgotten what you promised me?"

Tally said angrily, constantly signaling to her husband with her eyes. Carl had been standing off to the side watching the show from the beginning. Seeing his wife ask for help, he did not know what to do, so he scratched his backside and awkwardly turned his head away.

"You two!!!"

Carl was helpless too. Wife, couldn't you look a little farther away?

The wounds on his body hurt terribly, but he still forced a smile. "Honey, look over there."

Tally paused, then raised her head in confusion.

Her gaze passed over Sian and looked farther into the distance, where she saw a shocking sight.