Various churches would have you believe that adherence to their teachings can minimize or even reverse the effects of corruption. These are lies. Learn to live with it instead, and you may find that there are some benefits.
- Tercia Lazarova, Level 34 Weaver of Life, A Healer’s Primer
“RAYLAN! ZAIRE! Are you guys OK?” I shouted, trying to sprint forward, cursing as my leg slowed me. The biggest wave of Essence I’d ever felt slammed into me so hard it almost felt like it pushed me back momentarily, but I ignored it, cutting off PAST with an expletive as he tried to announce something.
“Tend to Raylan first! I will be all right!” Zaire responded.
Raylan was on the ground moaning, clutching his left arm, which was covered in blood.
Shit shit shit oh fuck…
I fumbled at my belt, managing to pull out the potions. Yellow, blue, green – I dropped each one on the ground, finally locating the red one. I knelt next to Raylan as I spun the cap off, grabbing his head and tilting it back forcefully.
He looked at me in confusion for a moment, then saw the vial and opened his mouth. I shoved the vial in and tilted it back. As soon as he swallowed I discarded it, my hands locating my medical kit. I ripped it open and located the tourniquet, pulling it open.
“We’ve got to put this on until the bleeding stops, you’re gonna be OK!”
My voice wavered as I actually looked at his arm closely. His vambrace was entirely gone, and blood was gushing from his forearm. I had to swallow back vomit as I saw the white of bone peeking through.
It looked like part of the outside of his arm had been sheared clean off, a chuck of flesh maybe six inches long simply missing. He must have waited just too long to dodge the last strike. It had barely clipped him – not enough to cut through his arm – but enough to slice off his vambrace and take part of his arm with it.
He gritted his teeth, but raised the arm, and I carefully slipped the loop of the tourniquet around it, moving the strap until it was just below his elbow. I pulled it tight, then a bit tighter, as he grunted in pain. I fixed the strap in place using the strange, rough fabric fastener, then twisted the windlass as Vale had demonstrated.
I watched in horrified, nauseated fascination as the bleeding slowed to a trickle. Inside the wound, the flesh seemed to writhe for a moment as the healing potion took effect. Within a few seconds, the white of bone was covered up by new flesh, and the wound had shrunk slightly, though it was still wide open and far from entirely healed.
“I’m sorry Raylan,” I said softly, “it’s my fault you got hurt so badly. I should have been able to make the shot.”
“Sometimes, you have to accept a hit,” he replied, quoting Mason. “It’s not your fault, Az, that monster was going to get me eventually.”
“If I’d been better – “
“You performed well, Gunner Az, it was I who let the team down. I was unable to penetrate the beast’s armor before I was disarmed,” Zaire stated.
I turned to see Zaire gingerly flexing the fingers of his right hand.
“What happened to you?” I asked.
He grimaced, golden eyes narrowing. He hesitated before admitting, “When it chopped through my staff, I reacted instinctively and punched it. I believe I must have fractured a bone or two, though I think the healing potion will put it right.”
“Shit, that big fucker nearly did us all in, didn’t he?”
“He didn’t,” Raylan grunted as he got to his feet. “We better check on Elin.”
“SHIT!”
I cursed, running over to where she’d been pinned under the first armored orc throughout the fight. Between my two arms, and one each from Raylan and Zaire, we managed barely to roll the hulking corpse off of her. She had been trapped under it, with her shield caught between them and her right arm sticking limply out to the side.
“Is she…” my voice trailed off in relief as I saw her chest rise and fall shallowly. “Thank the angels, she’s alive… but how badly is she hurt?”
I reached out and shook her gently, getting no response. Tentatively, I looked her over for injuries, but didn’t find anything obvious. I swallowed, feeling how dry my throat was, and pulled my now-battered canteen from my belt and took a long drink. I splashed some water on my face for good measure, then had an idea.
Elin woke with a strangled gasp when I poured a bit of water on her face. Immediately, she curled up into a ball, holding her ribs tightly.
“Shit Elin, are you OK?”
Zaire pulled one from his belt and she drank it. I helped her to a sitting position, and she looked around the room in confusion. There were at least a dozen dead orcs scattered around, many lying in pools of blood.
I quickly explained how she’d been caught under the corpse when we were attacked. She started to react angrily but deflated when she noticed Raylan’s arm. She insisted on checking my tourniquet, then pulled out Vale’s large medical kit and found the bottle of alcohol inside. Raylan paled as she demanded that he hold his arm out.
In the end, Raylan removed his other vambrace and bit down hard on the leather as I used both hands to hold his arm steady. He screamed into the leather as the alcohol washed over the wound, breathing hard afterwards as Elin bandaged it. The potion had obviously helped, but it was a long way from healed.
We slowly made our way back down the dark tunnel until we reached the previous pair of torches – the ones without any monster corpses lying around. Along the way, I gathered up my brass, finding three of the precious slugs and six of my standard shells. I slipped the regular shells back into my bandolier and carried the slugs for the moment. Zaire located the other half of his splintered staff and was carrying one piece in each hand.
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He held the two pieces of his staff together and concentrated. I watched, fascinated, as the shattered wood seemed to grow back together slowly. Zaire slumped back against the wall, closing his eyes and breathing slowly.
Oh, that’s right. You can’t cast a Spell like Earth Spike without a focus until Tier 1, which is why I can’t do anything useful with Force other than infuse it into my shells. No wonder he couldn’t do anything at the end of the fight… We all need backup weapons.
I looked at the three expended white shells in my hand and checked my Status.
Fifty-seven isn’t bad, that’s more than I had total when I started the Tutorial. But… each of these is going to cost me eight mana to restore. Can I afford not to, though? I only have, let’s see… 8 more in my pouch, and they’re my most powerful shots.
One at a time, I inserted the spent shells into my bandolier, feeling the rush of mana pour out of me. I paused after the second one, wincing at how much my mana had just dropped. I changed my mind, sliding the last expended slug into my pouch and pulling out two fresh ones to add to my bandolier. As long as I didn’t restore it, it was still a normal object and wouldn’t disappear. I gently massaged my aching leg, wishing I could take another healing potion, but it was still too soon. We settled in to rest and recover.
I tried not to look at Raylan’s heavily bandaged arm, or think too much about how we’d all nearly just died. I focused on my breathing, slow and steady, and I found myself drifting off, not quite napping but not fully awake either. I was startled back to alertness what felt like an eternity later as Elin moved over to kneel by Raylan.
She loosened the windlass, and Raylan definitely didn’t whimper in pain as the blood started flowing to his arm again. I saw a few spots of red appear on the white bandages, but it seemed that the bleeding was far less than before. I hoped that Vale would be able to fully heal him once we were out.
“PAST, what notifications did I miss?”
[I do not believe you fired upon any notifications, Gunner!]
“Fuck off PAST, I’m not in the mood! Show me my notifications from the last fight.”
Shotguns has reached Level 3!
You have acquired the General Skill Short Blades!
You have accumulated enough Essence for an item!
Interesting! PAST actually displayed these without yelling at me… maybe because I told him to ‘show’ me my notifications? I’ll have to keep that in mind. I guess it’s nice that I got Short Blades, but it’s just a General Skill… literally everyone can get it. I doubt I’ll get much use out of it, though I suppose the sword did help save my life. And I can use it sparring with Raylan.
“PAST, give me my item.”
I felt the Essence flow out of me, forming into a folded square of cloth. Confused, I reached out and took it, letting it fall free and seeing that it was – a cloak? Sadly, it was a boring black cloak which I had little interest in. Disappirritated, I stored it away in my Inventory.
Deciding that enough time had passed, I concentrated on pulling the health potion from my Inventory. As I did, I thought I heard a faint sound coming from down the tunnel – the sound of water. Distracted, I had to start over again. Once I had the cool metal tube in my hand, I paused to listen once more.
Waste it, I think I just heard it again… It was barely audible, only detectable in the pauses between the soft sounds of my teammates’ breathing. Frowning, I unscrewed the cap and downed the potion. Elin watched, but didn’t make any remarks about it being too soon.
The potion tasted sweet and spicy and… just fucking weird. It tingled as it hit my tongue, and as I swallowed I felt a strange sensation flow through my body. It seemed to pool around my injuries, bringing a cool relief.
I sighed as the pain in my leg noticeably lessened, along with some of the remaining damage from the trapped chest. I watched my resources as my health ticked up slowly by six points before settling. Then I heard the soft sound of water again. Shit!
I reloaded my shotgun from my bandolier, needing to conjure an extra shell to do so, then slowly refilled the bandolier until it was full. Down to 27 mana now… I wonder how much farther we have to go. I started to get to my feet, three pairs of eyes turning to look at me as I did.
I yanked one of the torches from the wall and we walked back down through the cave, the light flickering around us. By the time we’d reached the spot where Raylan and Zaire had jumped the two orcs, I could feel the moisture in the air. As we approached the first junction, the sound of the rising water was obvious. The torchlight reflected off the water pooling in the junction, brightening the scene in front of us but doing nothing to lift my spirits.
Raylan and Elin were on their feet when we reached them. I looked at Raylan’s bandaged arm, hanging by his side, then met his eyes with a silent question. He nodded that he was ready to go. I asked the others about their resources. Elin’s mana was nearly full, but I was well below half, and Zaire was only at a quarter, having spent a significant amount to fix his battered staff. Raylan’s mana was full, but his stamina was down to half despite the rest.
As we approached the site of the battle I was astonished at the number and size of the huge, green corpses strewn about. We’d slain a dozen orcs in the big fight, including the two that had initially attacked us. The scent of blood was heavy in the chill air.
I retrieved the shortsword from where I’d dropped it, cleaning the blade on one of the orc’s furs before returning it to my sheath. I also found the potions I’d fumbled in my haste, and dusted them off before putting them back in my pouch.
We briefly debated looting the bodies, but most of their weapons had vanished. They must have been Class weapons… The only ones left were obviously backups, and they were all oversized and crudely made. Interestingly, the biggest orc’s armor had also disappeared, making me wonder if it too had been some kind of Skill.
I gestured at the formerly-armored corpse.
I shuddered at the idea of facing even one of the regular orcs without a combat Class. I guess I could be something like a Blacksmith and have a big old hammer, but still… I really like my gun.