Sneak Peek #52 (Post 8 of 8) - Sixth Realm (Patreon)

Erik slumped to the bed. He waited there, the power of the needle decreased over time. The spread slowed down to a crawl and then halted. 

Erik gathered himself as the charge of the needled continued to drop.

He pulled out the charging device, and activated it.

The Metal element still infiltrated his body but it was now at a stalemate with the other forces within his body. His leg up to his stomach was covered in silver veins, his skin had turned black and there were flashes of light that seemed to appear under the skin.

“That fucking sucked,” Erik looked at his leg, wincing at how it looked, putting weight on it he could feel the weakness within.

“Looks like I won’t be running that fast for a while.”

He headed into the gym and tried training.

“My legs is about twenty five percent weaker and it hasn’t been completely tempered, the metal element has only got into the skin and muscles, the tendons, bones and veins had only just started to be affected. I’ll get weaker before I get stronger.”

Erik pressed the button for help.

In minutes a medic arrived at the door with several others behind him. Gong Jin was there as well.

“I’m not going to be able to shake you am I?” Erik asked Gong Jin.

“You haven’t yet,” Gong Jin smiled.

“Help me put some IO’s in.”

Gong Jin sighed and moved past the medics.

“I’ve got this.”

The medics and the special team members moved away, the special team members taking out seats and getting comfortable.

Erik took off his shirt, boots and pants, leaving him in his underwear.

“Bit breezy, should turn the heat up in this place,” Erik complained.

“My boss is such a weirdo,” Gong Jin checked his supplies, he had an IV stand on wheels and had hooked up four healing and stamina potion bags and pulled out his IO kit.

Erik put wraith’s touch on his shoulders and below his knees.

“You’ve done this before right?” Erik asked.

“Yeah, we even came up with this,” Gong Jin held out a strap attached to a formation plate with a cylinder sticking out of it on one side.

“What’s that?”

“Advanced IO,” Gong Jin put it on Erik’s leg the strap was sticky clamping down on Erik’s lower leg, right under his knee. Gong Jin checked it and activated the formation. The Cylinder turned and dug in, piercing Erik’s leg and right into his bone.

“Huh, cool, I don’t feel shit.”

Gong Jin grunted and placed the other IO kits on Erik’s other leg, and his two shoulders.

He ran the IV lines from the IV stand hooking them up to the IO.

“Alright I think you’re good to go,” Gong Jin admired his handy-work.

“I look like and eighty’s b class alien,” Erik said, waving his IV tubes.

“Happy temperings boss,” Gong Jin left the room. Erik waved the tubes a few more times, laughing to himself before he hit the other button on the wall. 

Earth element entered the room, gas with shimmering silver sparks appeared within the room, electricity arced between the dust, giving the room an etheral feeling.

His body that had already been weakened with the Metal element continued to lose its war. Erik opened up the friction locks on the IV lines slightly.

The progress slowed slightly but the metal element was attacking him from all over, changing the color of his body causing his body to crack and lightning to flash through his body.

Erik focused on his body as it felt like lightning and metal shards were reaching to his very bones.

He used healing spells to stop the power from reaching his head, if it reached his head then he would no longer be able to control his healing spells of examine the state of his overall body, it wa the last and most critical stage. He used healing spells on his vital organs for the same reasons to make sure that nothing could go wrong.

Riding the line between death and rebirth. It might be terrifying but fuck if I don’t feel alive! 

Brilliance appeared in the depths of Erik’s eyes as he closed them, focusing on the situation inside his body. Time slipped by below his neck his body looked like it belonged to a demon instead of a human.

Any patch of skin that wasn’t altered before slowly changed, reaching his neck as if meeting an impassable barrier.

Erik shed his skin and red blood mixed that seemed t be mixed with mercury ran across his body, giving him a savage appearnace.

Erik’s eyes snapped open. They were no longer blue but pure black with silver specks and lightning seemed to flash periodically. Purple and green smoke were mixed with red flames and yellow rocks in the depths.

He stood up slowly, his face shook with pain as the red stained mercury fell from his body, the drops ignited in a flash of lightning as they hit the ground, leaving burn marks.

Such reactions were happening constantly within Erik’s body as he stepped forwards like a demon climbing out the depths of hell.

He grunted as he shifted his foot forward, he had transformed from the muscled and powerful man from before, into a slim ghost of a man, his muscles hanging off of his body as he left black footsteps on the ground as his blood created lightning sparks on the floor.

Each step was a fight of will as he pushed the door open to the gym.

The effort dropped him to his knees, pulling on the IV stand.

Erik was breathing heavily as he pushed his fists to the ground. He grit his teeth as he pushed his legs back resting his feet on the floor as he looked ahead.

He dropped his chest just centimeters from the floor, holding it and pushed upwards with a grunt.

You are a United States Army Medic, you served five tours, you survived being a mercenary for four years. You just going to give up? Come on one more!

Erik yelled at himself internally, that drive to show himself, to show others just what he was capable of pushed him on. He kept pushing, one more pushup, just one more. He reached twenty before he allowed himself to recover.

His body was shaking, the floor around him had turned into a series of burn marks from where his blood had fallen. He stood up and opened up the IV lines all the way. He grabbed the stand and wheeled it over to the weights. He started to stretch out his entire body, his body which felt like clod metal had stabbed into his skin started to warm up slightly. He grabbed the dumbells and started to work out, shoulder press, Tricep extensions, bicep curls. Situps, chinups. Dumbell squats, deadlifts

His body was covered in wounds that continued to open with every exercise. He didn’t do bench, the pain of his wounds against the bench or against a bar would have been too much and taken his mind off of the exercise.

Erik studied his body seeing the metal element move deeper into his body while his body’s potential only increased as the changes within his body sped up.

His Cells were sent into overdrive, heating up as they started to repair even faster, nursed with Erik’s exercise, his healing spells and the healing IV’s.

Erik’s wounds started to recover and the color of Erik’s body began recovering in parts.

He sat down on a chair and pulled out the box of different training aids that he had purchased. 

Erik took out a powder and sprinkled it on his leg, it went into his wounds as one could hear lightning. Erik’s leg was torn apart with lightning.

“Fiesty,” Erik said through gritted teeth as he pulled out a notebook and started doing his own tests.