Volume 1, Chapter 28: A Dick Move (Patreon)

Peeking out from behind the tree, I flew closer to Khufu’Ri, who was trying to free his hand from inside an orc’s body. The claws he had created from bone had probably gotten wedged somewhere among his opponent’s bones, and now the motionless body hung from his hand while he tried to push it off with one foot.

[Current estimated balance: 56 Standardized Essence of Authority Units. Total Earned: 56 Standardized Essence of Authority Units.]

I checked my Essence level. I had managed to gain so much of it during this battle. Seeing that number rise made me happy, as did the prospect that sooner or later I would be able to improve my ability. What I didn’t like, however, was that for me to grow stronger, there had to be suffering around me. Violence weighed terribly on me, and there was so much of it all around.

Eli had woven his ropes around the trees ahead of us, creating something like a net that blocked the enemies from getting any closer, but he was leaning unsteadily against one of the trunks and muttering something under his breath.

Sophie was lying almost unconscious behind me, and I didn’t want to leave her, but the need to close the slash running across the lion’s stomach urged me forward, so I flew toward him.

“I’ll heal you. Don’t move too much!” I shouted, trying to piece together a sentence he would understand. Speaking was still very difficult for me, but my determination to save people helped me focus and due to the hand Alexander had created for me, I could at least bring help where it was needed.

“Very well!” Khufu’Ri’s ears pressed flat against his skull, and each breath came with a low involuntary rumble from deep in his chest, but he never looked at the wound.

For a moment, he crouched down, shielding himself from the arrows fired from the tower on the right with the body of the orc still caught on his claws.

I positioned myself behind him so that the motionless hand attached to my equally unmoving arm could reach his wound, then triggered a reaction from my Psyche and cast the spell. The blue light of my Soma traveled along my flames until it reached the hand, then used it to cross over into my friend and heal him.

“I’ll move Sophie a little farther back!” Nicky shouted as I turned around and flew back toward her to take cover among the trees.

She grabbed the other woman beneath the arms and dragged her a little farther across the grass, deeper into the trees, then propped her against a trunk.

Sophie had lost her mind a bit a few moments earlier after forcing more than a dozen flowers she had gathered into a bouquet to sprout vines while their blossoms transformed into snapping jaws lined with plantlike thorns.

“Hold formation… protect… stay where I put you… no, no, you’re out of place…” She had managed to drop them onto the ground before collapsing and continued mumbling with empty eyes fixed on the tree in front of her.

Her creations, however, crawled away and continued attacking the orcs and goblins—and, interestingly, Milo as well—lunging at them whenever they had the opportunity, entangling them and brutally biting into their bodies.

Milo had already destroyed three of them, and since then he had kept his distance, fighting closer to the temple entrance, where a group of orcs had barricaded themselves.

“Sophie, down!” Mara screamed from somewhere behind me.

Sophie’s barely conscious body folded sideways just as an orc broke through the trees with an enormous hammer already moving. Mara threw herself into the remaining space between them.

The hammer struck her across the chest. There was no spray of blood. No open wound for me to see. Just a horrible, dull impact followed by Mara leaving the ground and striking the trunk of a tree hard enough to shake loose leaves above her.

Eli reacted instantly, throwing himself at the orc from the side and knocking him onto the ropes stretched through the air between the trees. They reacted the moment he hit them, wrapping around both men, though most of them concentrated on the brown-skinned orc, tightening hard around him.

Seeing that Eli could handle the enemy, I focused my Eye of the Physician on Mara. Blue and green light filled my sight—and immediately I wished it hadn’t. Her ribs were broken in too many places. One had pierced her lung. Blood was filling spaces where my Anima told me blood should never be. Something larger had torn inside her chest, pulsing more weakly with every beat of her heart.

“I’m going to, um… fix this.” I pressed my fiery hand against her anyway.

“Can’t?” Mara looked at me. Her breaths came shallow and wet.

“I can. I just need—”

“Don’t.”

I froze for a moment, then pulled back so my flames wouldn’t hurt her anymore.

“Don’t do that to me. Triage.” She swallowed with obvious difficulty.

“I don’t want to.”

“Neither did I.” Her eyes moved past me toward the sounds of the battle. “Who’s next?”

I looked away from her. Only for a moment. Only long enough to search for someone else who needed me. When I looked back, she wasn’t breathing anymore.

“Mara!” I flew toward her again before she had finished sliding down the bark.

“You can't help her anymore.” Nicky shook her head, her eyes refusing to settle on the body.

Eli sat braced against part of his ropes, clutching one of them tightly in both hands and using it to choke the creature that had taken Mara’s life. Surprise showed in the man’s eyes, along with exhaustion, but also determination.

He looked toward the woman slumped against the tree trunk, only for a moment, then focused on the enemy again—the one he was killing with his own hands.

“She’s dead. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to mourn right now, Bri. Do you understand me?” Nicky waved to get my attention.

I looked at her and answered by shifting the color of my flames, making them brighter and stronger.

Seeing all that death and destruction filled me with conflicting feelings. On one hand, I understood that this was sometimes simply how things had to be, that death could be necessary if you wanted to preserve your own life. But I still wanted to help. I still wanted to heal. Even those who seemed to want to hurt me. And even those who were beyond my help.

The tower that had burned earlier like an enormous torch had been quiet for only a moment, but I was still worried about Alexander, who had climbed up there. Until I caught sight of him out of the corner of my eye, rising near one of the tower’s corners with an enormous flaming lance held in his hand.

For a moment, Nicky and Khufu’Ri—even one of the soldiers and two nearby orcs—all glanced toward the massive burning weapon before Alexander hurled it toward the second tower. Seeing the commotion, Eli finally let go of the orc, dropped to all fours, and turned his gaze in the same direction.

The hurled weapon’s flight was short and fast, and the archers only had a moment to consciously stop shooting at us before the fiery lance he had thrown suddenly flared with such intense brightness that everyone except me either looked away or shielded their eyes.

I, however, could see all the majesty of the fire and the tongues of flame that burst outward as both the living creatures and their bows and arrows caught fire.

A moment later, the entire line connecting the two towers disappeared, and with it my arm and hand as well, but the flames consuming the orcs and their equipment remained.

One of them tried to save himself in some strangely illogical way by throwing himself from the tower straight onto the grass below. The impact produced an oddly unpleasant sound, and the orc never moved again.

“He did it,” Nicky murmured behind me, making me turn toward her with my eyes wide open. “Incredible power.”

[Current estimated balance: 62 Standardized Essence of Authority Units. Total Earned: 62 Standardized Essence of Authority Units.]

I called up my beautiful Daimon once again, checking how much my Essence had increased after I healed my lion friend. Understanding that it had risen by as many as six points, I smiled to myself, then paused for a moment to wonder whether I might be getting addicted to watching myself grow stronger.

I immediately regretted that I couldn’t use my diagnostic ability to examine myself. I wasn’t even sure, however, whether it was possible to diagnose mental disorders at all.

On the move,  I called up the descriptions of my abilities.

[Poison No More; Classification: Technique, Expression Type: perception, destruction, Authority Requirement: varies depending on the severity of the poison,  Authority Claim: Poison within a living body may be broken apart through the manipulation of Soma. Allows the Inspired to use their control over Soma to identify and destroy poisonous substances within another being’s body. The greater the amount or potency of the poison, the more Authority the Technique requires.]

[Wound Stitching Touch; Classification: Technique, Expression Type: reinforcement, connection, Authority Requirement: varies depending on the severity of the wound,  Authority Claim: Separated living flesh may be compelled to close and become whole again. By placing a hand directly against a wound, the Inspired manipulates their own Soma to draw the wound’s edges together and close the injury. The Technique repairs wounds but does not necessarily restore everything lost or damaged beneath them.]

[Eye of the Physician; Classification: Technique, Expression Type: perception, Authority Requirement: very low, Authority Claim: The condition of the living body may be perceived through the use of their own Aura. Allows the Inspired to examine a person and perceive abnormalities corresponding to injuries, disease, poison, or other disturbances of health.]

Not only did that fail to clear up any of my doubts, it once again brought me back to wondering what Aura actually was. On top of that, it distracted me enough that I didn’t notice Sophie had slipped completely into unconsciousness while being moved.

I glanced once more at the black-haired woman lying beside the tree, her chest crushed, and my flames dimmed with sadness. I hadn’t been able to save her, but just as she had asked, I decided to focus on those I could still help.

I flew closer to Sophie and used my Eye of the Physician, focusing my Soma and the Authority moving within me into my eyes. They shone briefly with light blue and green colors, obscuring my vision for a single heartbeat. I felt no resistance from her as I looked at her in that state, most likely because—as my ability determined—her body was completely exhausted.

“Sophie’s flowers have fallen!” Khufu’Ri shouted from behind me, confirming my suspicions.

Keeping them moving must have been straining her Psyche and draining the Authority she needed with every passing second. When her soul organ could no longer endure it, her body followed in the same direction and she lost consciousness.

But that had to mean the disappearance of the hand from my body had been caused by something similar happening to Alexander.

“Alex… I mean Arthur, is, um… in trouble,” I said and a nervous puff of smoke escaped the corner of my mouth at the slip.. Fortunately, Nicky, who was checking Sophie’s pulse, didn’t seem to notice my mistake.

“What?” she asked, turning her worried gaze toward me.

“He lost, um… consciousness up on the tower. We have to go help him!” I told her, then looked back at the lion, who had finally managed to pull the orc off his claws.

Each time he summoned them, it cost him Authority, and he didn’t want to strain his Psyche by creating them again, which I thought was a wise decision.

“Sophie is unconscious because she, um, couldn’t keep her little creatures going anymore. She’s alive and, um… she’ll be fine after she rests for a while,” I added to reassure Nicky.

“I’m heading toward the gate. Will you manage here?” Khufu asked, glancing back at us.

His mane, which had been light-colored before, was now completely matted with blood, turning his fur a dark mixture of brown and red. He looked absolutely terrifying.

“I’ll help you. I’ll go with you, okay?” I asked, flying closer to him.

“I’m going too,” Eli added, untangling his rope from the trees.

The entire courtyard ahead of him looked horrible. The green grass and flowers were almost gone—trampled and replaced by pools of blood and entrails, along with other body parts and excrement.

And even though it seemed impossible to squeeze any more death out of such a short span of time and space, the fighting had moved nearby into the building promising more to come. It was there that several orcs and goblins had barricaded themselves and were attacking the soldiers and Milo, who had gone in there while fleeing from Sophie’s flowers.

“I’ll stay back and watch over Sophie,” Nicky said as we began moving away.

I was terribly nervous at the thought that someone might have gone up there to Lex and hurt him while he lay unconscious.

“Move! Make some fucking room!” Milo shouted as we approached the only remaining half of the gigantic doors.

He stepped out from behind it, bracing himself against the door with one hand while his blood-soaked bat rested on the ground beside him, still dripping. He caught his breath and started walking toward us, with no intention of moving aside.

I made a wider arc so I wouldn’t run into him, while Khufu’Ri only took a single step to the side.

Milo used even that as an excuse to collide with him anyway, slamming his shoulder into the lion hard enough to knock him off balance.

Khufu clenched his teeth, baring them for a moment, but only shook his head and ignored the man as he continued toward the soldiers shouting to one another from deeper inside the building.

“You need to, um… watch where you’re going a little.”

“Shut the fuck up, bitch, or I’ll put you out!”

As he said it, he held his own head as though he too was already close to losing his senses.

I had no intention of checking his health, though—partly because I was afraid of how he might react, and partly because, even though I was usually overwhelmed by a powerful urge to help, that feeling was much weaker when it came to him and I decided to trust that inner instinct.

As soon as he turned away, I stuck my tongue out at him and flew after my two friends into the building.

Just inside the entrance, I spotted one of the soldiers pinned to the wall by more than a dozen arrows.

Following Eli, I took cover behind a fallen column, then moved around it and along a partially destroyed wall until I reached the place where the survivors, Plasario and Rodrick, sat with their backs against the stone, catching their breath and drinking water from the canteens they carried.

The lion approached them in a crouch while we stayed farther back, glancing deeper into the long hall. At the far end, I could make out overturned benches and wooden cabinets stacked on top of one another to form a long barricade, with something moving behind it.

“What is the situation?” Khufu asked. Even when he tried to keep his voice low, it still thundered through the hall, echoing off the walls.

Inside, the darkness was broken only by me, a single fire burning in the middle of the chamber, and a few weaker lights behind the barricade.

“A few orcs and at least two goblins are hiding behind that wall. That seems to be all that remains of them. Unfortunately for us, one of them managed to get down from the tower with both a bow and arrows, and now every time we show ourselves, he showers us with arrows and keeps us from getting any closer,” Rodrick reported, looking at my friend.

Plasario, meanwhile, sat with his lips pressed tightly together, staring at me with contempt.

“You have brought misfortune upon us, evil spirit!” He spat on the ground directly beneath me, then, without changing the angry expression on his face, turned toward the lion. “Your companion who created that shield from flowers earlier—can she do it again for us here? Or the other one, the woman who was firing balls of fat? We need either one of them.”

“The first—Sophie DeLonge—is unconscious—”

“She, um… overused her power,” I interrupted, explaining the situation.

“Silence, spirit!” Plasario shouted, making me recoil in fear.

“Master, I ask for patience and understa—” The other soldier turned to him.

“I will go for them myself. Master Rodrick, hold this position with Masters Khufu’Ri and Eli.”

Plasario addressed the men, and all nodded in response. He then moved quickly toward the exit, half-crouching as he made his way along, while Eli crouched closer to Khufu.

I didn’t like the swordsman’s attitude, though, or the fact that he was heading toward an unconscious Sophie with a sword in hand, so a moment later I flew after him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the lion extend one hand. I couldn’t tell whether the gesture was meant to stop me or encourage me, but it didn’t matter. I had already decided to follow Plasario anyway, and while doing so, I checked—as I had promised myself, for the last time… today—the amount of Essence I had accumulated.

It had increased by one point, bringing me to sixty-three in total, which I considered a good result considering I had only used my diagnostic magic.

The moment I flew out into the courtyard, I spotted Plasario running toward the tree line, where Nicky lay completely motionless with her arms spread strangely at her sides.

I quickly flew past him and, using all the strength I had, circled around to get a better look.

Milo’s baseball bat was leaning against a nearby tree. Instead, he was holding something in one hand at the level of his crotch. His pants were down, and he was moving his hand rhythmically, which I could tell from the way his body reacted to the motion.

With his left hand, meanwhile, he was crouched over Sophie’s body and trying to pull down her pants.

Before I fully understood what was happening, the swordsman was already upon him.

Startled, Milo turned toward him, his eyes widening and a moment later, Plasario’s sword swept slightly upward in one quick motion, turned, and came down like a guillotine.

Milo managed to pull his hand away, but what he had been holding fell to the ground, severed from the rest of his body.