CH565

The act of reversing the effects of that ancient petrification was long, with each minute of it giving Thera far too much time to reflect on the exact nature of what she was doing.

With the museum staff looking after the victims she’d put to sleep while others led her to the storage room holding the last few, it was only once she was done that the representatives of the communal church arrived to take over from their care, letting the two of them find a place to stay for the rest of the day and leaving Thera to promptly bury her face in Ben’s chest.

“Uuugh.”

“It’s okay,” Ben encouraged. “You did great.”

“But did I even do the right thing?” Thera asked him, feeling emotionally exhausted as she did. “They’re all starting over with nothing in the worst point of this entire planet’s history. And I did that to them!”

“No, some dead asshole did it to them, you saved them from an eternity of stone.”

“And I’m sure each one is going to be super grateful,” She told him sarcastically before quieting down. “Sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

“No, no matter how I feel I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. It’s just, this is so… Ugh!”

He understood where she was coming from so he did his best to be supportive, holding her in his arms as the night wore on as she struggled with the implications of what she’d done.

Given that the gods themselves had asked her to reverse the petrification that all of those people had been under, it wasn’t like she could have even said no but that didn’t make things any easier on her. Once the sleep she’d cast on them all came undone and they’d be forced to face the new world they found themselves in, she would be the one feeling responsible for it all.

It was too much to handle, but as Ben continued to try and comfort her, stroking her head and reassuring her as best as he could, she finally managed to drift into an uneasy sleep.

He took another hour to watch her, making sure her dreams wouldn’t wake her again too soon before he finally closed his own eyes and forced his mind into his god’s realm, finding only Myriad and Helori there.

“So just for the record, I want to say that vacationing has kind of sucked so far.”

“It’s been a bit unfortunate given how things have worked out,” His god agreed. “But the point of it all was to get you some rest and it looks like that’s worked.”

“And if you both hadn’t shown up, this never would have been discovered,” Helori added. “Tell your partner to take more pride in that.”

“What, do you think unpetrifying them all was the right thing?”

“Of course.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“I’d always choose to survive another day,” She told him confidently. “No matter how bad things might look, as long as you’re around to see it, there’s hope for the future.”

“…Okay, that’s a little too optimistic right now but thanks I guess. So are any of them awake yet?”

The author’s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.