Chapter 564

Chapter 564

Just make sure nobody stops me.

Ben wasnt given time to ask what she was going to do before shed already crossed the boundary to the statue, leaving him to deal with the yelling staff whod come to stop her as he rushed over and held them back, trying to be as reasonable as he could given the circumstances.

Now, I know this probably doesnt look great, but theres definitely a good reason for this, He told the two hed grabbed in his arms, all while trying to keep an eye out for more as they screamed at him. Theyd already drawn the eyes of the other visitors but that was always going to happen in a circumstance like that, Ben could only hope that none of them decided to join in on the chaos. The bigger the crowd that tried to push past him, the more hed have to do to hold them back.

His only option was to try to hope that Thera finished whatever it was she was doing quickly and after a minute it seemed she had. The staff had stopped their yelling and thrashing while the visitors whod been looking were wearing expressions of either confusion or horror, giving Ben the leeway to look at what shed done before coming to the same horrible understanding as she had.

In front of Thera was no longer a statue, but instead a man, one free of the petrification that had to have been placed on him hundreds of years ago as what happened all came together.

Ben had wondered if the famous healer, an awakened life mage, who had supposedly created all of the statues surrounding them had been an earth mage as well and it seemed the answer was a firm yes, granting them access to the spell theyd need to do such a thing with the implications of what that meant for every other statue in the room clear as Ben turned his thoughts upward, needing some higher powers to give their input as he screamed into his head.

MYRIAD, HELORI, NARE, ANAILIA! ANYONE LISTENING ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW!

His god asked as the others made themselves known.

Nare added, with Anailia speaking up next.

Helori told her.

So not the time guys. Take a look at where I am and then notice that every statue here is actually someone whos been petrified for a couple hundred years and let me know what the hell to do about this!

The gods yelled in one voice before quickly talking amongst themselves and deciding that they needed to inform the others, leaving him alone with Myriad.

You know, I called all of you for advice, not to wait for you to figure it out yourself.

Shit, right.

Taking his gods advice, Ben dropped the two members of staff before rushing over to her as she tried to handle the very disoriented cyclops, looking like she was feeling deeply out of her element.

But how could she not be? How was one supposed to tell someone that everyone they knew was likely long dead and that theyd been brought back in the middle of the worlds dreaded invasion? That shouldnt have been a job for anyone, let alone her.

Where am I? The cyclops asked in a panic. I was going out to dinner and then I I Whats happening?

Just try to calm down a little, Thera told him gently. Take a seat. Im a healer, youre okay but its just going to take some explaining-

Okay, does anyone know if any have ever been bought or stolen since they were first discovered?

I dont believe so, no.

Okay, good, Now for the big one. And have any of them been damaged and repaired?

Ben had no idea what would happen to any of them once they were unpetrified if theyd received any damage. Would scratches and chips translate to gouges and bleeding? What if an earth mage had repaired the damage or reattached an arm that had broken off? Would that properly unpetrify and if it did would that carry any long-term consequences?

To his small fortune, it seemed the answer was a general no. While they couldnt be sure there weren't any scratches, in general the staff had made sure to treat the statues with extreme care, believing them to be the hidden works of their citys greatest healer. At the very least, no limbs had broken off and been re-attached, at least as far as any of them were aware.

Which just means weve gotta cross our fingers and hope nothing has been secretly damaged and repaired. Okay, this is probably fine.

His god chimed in.

Its called optimism. Now hurry up and tell me what were supposed to be doing here man. Like, should we even unpetrify them?

It was an obvious question in the end. All of them would be coming back to an objectively worse world, their friends, families, and livelihoods lost to them, with the worst part of all that theyd be coming back to face the second wave. Rather than deal with the horror of all of that, wouldnt it be kinder to leave them as they were and then worry about awakening them if the world was lucky enough to survive in the end?

It was something he thought was worth considering at least, but Myriad disagreed.

His god told him.

Ben let out a sigh.

Fine, Ill tell her, but shes putting every one of them to sleep and the gods can send someone over to act as a therapist when they wake up, she shouldnt have to deal with that.

Okay, thanks buddy.

Thera- He began, only for her to cut him off as she stood up.

Anailia just told me. Dont worry, Ill get it done.

Im less worried about that than you.

Im a healer, this is the sort of thing I should be doing.

Despite what she said though, she didnt sound okay as she moved to the first statue to begin the mass unpretrification, with Ben moving to her side to provide the emotional support he could.