Chapter 66
Nothing Green Stays Gold
“WH- WHERAM-I?”
He felt his mouth moving, and his throat vibrating.
“WHATSGOINON?”
But he heard nothing.
Life is pain.
Just varying levels.
He tried to open his eyes, and couldn't.
Why do my eyelids hurt…? Oh…
OH.
Yeah.
His body lurched with pain as he chuckled in a daze.
As wits started to return, limited as they may be, the screaming in his arms made it through.
I can’t see, I can't hear, and I can't move my arms.
His body started shaking with silent laughter, body wracked with alternating waves of mirth and torment.
Hey, you're not dead.
His rumbling slowly subsided, barely shaking his head back and forth.
You’re just almost dead.
A cough rocked him, drawing a sharp lance from his ribs.
He felt a cool caress moving along his exposed skin.
My clothes are rags at this point.
Flesh tingled, fresh pinpricks of pain dancing across his face.
I’m healing…?
The mental gears ground, fighting through the grit.
Chi!
A crazed smile split fresh scabs, drawing rivulets of blood.
Who cares about pain?
He inhaled like his life depended on it.
Because it did.
The chi, rich in pure Life, was a wave of bliss rushing through his broken body.
He didn't even have to direct it as it rushed to work, fixing things he didn't even know needed fixing.
The burning slowly building from his arms spiked, as he felt the bones shift and start growing.
Torn and battered muscles squirmed beneath his tanned hide.
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He writhed on the ground, churning up the dirt, living in silent agony.
Skin knit, stitching lines of fire.
It's like a whole caffeinated tattoo shop is battling for fresh canvas.
Needles pricked his ear canals, as a wall of sound hammered into his sore eardrums.
There's some howling beast!?
Oh.
That's me.
The howling cut off.
Only the siren from the tornado of Life remained, head rattling.
I’ll take it.
He winced, as the deafening roar slowly started to ease.
Relative sanity started to return with the decreased swelling in his brain.
Leaves were tossed about on the whirlwind of current pouring into the broken cultivator.
The chi slowly lost effectiveness, healing slowing to a crawl.
But he was alive.
Ken could feel small slivers of trace energy lingering deep in his bones, causing small twinges of discomfort as his body conflicted with the foreign energy.
“Little dirt never killed anyone,” he growled out with a cough.
He raised his arms over his head, testing their motion.
“Aching, but functional, perfect.”
He rubbed cautiously at his tender eyelids, peeling them open.
Squinting at the blinding light, he could finally see the swirling life-saving chi.
The mountain used in just healing him was immense, but there was still a storm pouring into his pathways.
While not as dense as the bears’ had been, the cloud around him outstripped his capacity by leaps and bounds.
He felt himself inflating like a balloon.
I didn't even eat any blueberries.
His focus centered onto the flowing cords of power that made up his Core.
The willful chi drained to his center, tainting it with hints of a golden-green energy.
“Momentum Core, forever unclean!"
He glared at his stomach.
“Yeah, I don't think so.”
Momentum hummed to life.
His eye twitched, as the silvery energy ground away the taint.
It flowed through his channels, breaching and clearing any blockages.
The forces battled for supremacy, the invaders standing no chance on the foreign ground.
Pathways burned like molten silver, sparks flaring like tracer rounds as Momentum reclaimed stolen ground.
He nodded, “Just need time.”
With half a mind locked onto his purification, he looked over to the Pile of Sticks.
Acting on suspicion, Ken crawled over and started analyzing its torso.
Sure enough, he felt a subtle thumping.
He climbed slowly to his feet, body protesting the stupid idea.
A few careful kicks, and he held another Crystallized ball in his blood-stained hand.
His hand hummed, pure life straining for release.
It was green, with gold veining originating from the center.
He stood transfixed, face cast in a swirling verdant glow.
It almost pulled, drawing his stare deep into its golden heart.
It's like looking into four dimensions..
Pretty… Dangerously pretty.
Thump.
His head snapped up.
Off in the distance, a hit very similar to the signal he just tracked..
Thump.
Strong signal, maybe even stronger?
He stood, locked with indecision.
Thump.
Ken could feel the ache through the bones in his arms.
His head throbbed.
Chi was blasting through his body.
Greed versus survival…
THUMP.
Somehow, survival won.
“Fuck this, I’m out.”
I will make it home.
