Chapter 73: A Blast From the Past (Patreon)

Edwin mentally cursed as he ducked behind the ‘wall’ surrounding his kiln, trying to get cover from whatever assassin had been sent at him. He knew that his constant paranoia about the dwarves had to have been justified. How had he been tracked down now, though? It had been months since he’d been anywhere close to people.

His mind raced as it pulled on instincts he hadn’t had to use in months, struggling to get ready for fighting. Inion’s training didn’t exactly prepare him for this, but the required skills when combined with what he knew were similar.

Take in the surroundings, make a plan, take him out.

Edwin knew his clearing like the back of his hand- possibly even better given he’d never tried to memorize the latter- which put him at a serious home field advantage. He closed his eyes to try and think, but another quarrel coming from a totally different direction broke his concentration as it struck his left arm, pinning him by the bicep to the side of the earthenworks. It was immensely painful, but eminently manageable.

A concerted flex of will had the wooden shaft in his arm burst into flames, incinerating it in the blink of an eye and freeing him. He’d need a potion to fix the muscle damage to his bicep, but that was fine. A drop of very, very diluted knockout potion killed the pain in his arm, and he downed a tiny vial of experimental healing potion. Hopefully, the combination of his two emergency-healing potions would help keep him alive. He’d taken efforts to ensure he’d always have something on him after the panther attack, and it was finally paying off.

Before he got the chance to also eat a few talsanenris berries for the energy boost, he was forced to take cover again as another bolt flew at him from a new angle.

That made three shots coming from three different directions. Where was this guy? Other than the momentary tag with Identify, he hadn’t seen so much as a hint of his assailant. The rate of fire suggested a crossbow rather than a bow, and the class name suggested he might have something to do with darkness. Or it was just a Clan name. Probably the latter. Maybe both.

Straining his ears let Edwin hear a clunk coming from the side, near the top of his cliff, and while Edwin wasn’t fast enough to completely dodge the attack, his sudden movement meant it took him in his shoulder rather than his heart.

Any hopes he’d had of his left hand being of any use in this fight fled his mind, but at least he still had his right. That was enough to throw his bombs, though without the counterbalance, his accuracy would suffer.

To test his current aim, he grabbed and threw a rock from his surroundings towards where the last bolt had come from. A moment later, Edwin heard it clatter against stone. A miss, then. Whoever he was facing was smart and kept moving. Some kind of ambush specialist, most likely. Hopefully that meant they’d be weak close-up, but they’d probably at least have Health.

Running across open ground to try and get inside Obairlann was just inviting a quarrel in his back. He’d need a shield of some form, or some sort of obscuration. Smoke bombs sounded really nice about now, and he wished he had something that would help in that regard, but wishes wouldn’t help him survive this attack.

Another quarrel shot, and Edwin flinched, letting the quarrel strike his kiln, a good foot from his face and sending a spray of fired clay into his face. Was it just him, or was the hunter getting less accurate with each attack? Some sort of ambush bonus Skill, perhaps?

A thought flickered across Edwin’s mind, and he grimaced. It wasn’t ideal, but he’d take it over dying. What he needed was something big, loud, distracting, and that would produce a lot of smoke…

The sequence of events here wasn’t great. But it would accomplish his goals, and only had a high chance of killing him. It beat dodging crossbow bolts while pinned down in a pit, though.

…Maybe. He might also just blow himself up if he didn’t do this perfectly.

No, he’d blow himself up regardless. Edwin didn’t have long, didn’t have time to consider many alternatives. There was one thing he might be able to do to increase his odds of survival, but that in itself was a risk. But he was close enough to tiering up that even in the worst-case scenario for his first risk he wouldn’t be hurting himself that much. And right now? Right now he’d need all the help he could get.

I really hope you guys are right.

Edwin steeled himself and pulled up his Status, eyes skimming down its length. He flinched as another quarrel shot from the direction of the cliff, but it seemed like his current hiding spot would hold for the time being. Gah, this list was a mess. He’d been ignoring it for months, not that he blamed himself for that.

There it was. Just what he’d need to give him every edge in potentially surviving this. Worst-case scenario, it might… he didn’t even know. Give him a combat Skill that might be useful in this situation? He’d been lax before, putting long-term plans above all else. It wasn’t wrong, perhaps, but not the mindset he needed right now. Besides, this was already on his must-have list, it was just moving up the schedule a bit, and as it gave an Attribute, it might genuinely be useful, in contrast to a Skill which he’d need to figure out on the fly and wouldn’t even be that strong.

Another bolt whizzing overhead broke him out of his musings. No matter the accuracy or lack thereof of his assailant, who was probably just trying to keep him pinned anyway, he didn’t have time to waste.

You have completed the Warrior path!

Relentless training and a will to survive and thrive has gotten you far. You have and will face many obstacles in your way. As an alchemist, you know the value and power of blood both that of your own and that of your enemies. You tread a path of bloodshed, but will it be one of war or of medicine?

Come on, come on, stop waxing poetical at me. Are you going to give me what I need or not?

Class Change!

Hedge Alchemist → Sapper

Calculating Rewards…

Could this thing be any slower? He was never trying to complete a Path in the middle of a fight ever again. Shoot, that bolt seemed like it had a sharper angle than its predecessors. Was his attacker getting closer?

…

Done!

You have unlocked a new Attribute!

Health

Health level set to… 7

Edwin gasped as the change set into place. It wasn’t a major change, nothing like getting magic for the first time, but warmth blossomed across his body, seeming to anchor him to… something. The connection to his body became more pronounced, and for a few moments he was acutely aware of his blood spread out throughout his entire body. No wonder Zosiman had said Health was a vital (heh) component of becoming ‘real.’ Were all Attributes like this? Stamina had just bumped itself up his to-get list regardless.

A stick snapped on the soil nearby. Heh. Some assassin, if he couldn’t even avoid stepping on a stick… unless it was a decoy? Nope, not going down that rabbit hole. Edwin needed to do something, and fast, to avoid getting skewered… again. He’d almost forgotten the crossbow bolt sticking out of his shoulder in the glow of getting Health, but it was still definitely there.

This would take careful timing, and Edwin prepared himself. After each shot, there was about thirty seconds before the next one. That was still true, even as all the quarrels started coming from the same direction, trying to keep him pinned down.

One, two, three… Let the hunter shoot his bolt and… now.

Edwin had a fairly long stick within reach, and he grabbed it, used it to push himself out of the pit through what he felt was a stellar display of Athletics and Flexibility through the excruciating pain in his shoulder, and fed Mana Infusion in through it. It charged up quickly, and Edwin maneuvered the end of it so it was sticking in the kiln’s roaring fire.

He jumped, pushing Athletics as far as possible to let him leap across the open ground. He kept his foot barely touching his pole as he arced through the air. While mid-flight, his eyes were able to catch a glimpse of the next crossbow bolt hurtling straight towards him from an indistinct figure barely fifteen feet away from him. In the instant before he lost contact with his stick and the moment escaped him, he pulled his trigger.

Mana Infusion. Firestarting.

Edwin pushed as much mana as possible through the stick into the fire. The Skill did what it always did, and his connecting pole burst into flames. The fire beneath the kiln, though….

BOOM

Explosions were not what Hollywood liked to portray them as. Everyone knew that. There was much less fire and much more concussive force. However, even then, there was this idea that the force of an explosion could push you away from the explosion, like a massive fireball-powered leap.

That was wrong. While some might argue it was mere semantics, the shockwave did nothing to push away a person, not when it was traveling so fast through a person that it could rupture any part of them with gas in it. Instead, it was the air it pushed which might throw a person, and paradoxically, it was just as possible to be flung towards the epicenter of the explosion as away from it.

However, this close to a roaring kiln simultaneously catching on fire, every piece of charcoal igniting with a speed that would leave any pyrotechnic from Earth jealous, Edwin wasn’t worried about where the wind would blow him, midair or not. If it came to that, he was dead anyway, the blast wave tearing open his lungs, his digestive system, and his ears. He’d hoped there wouldn’t be much of a shockwave, but he’d been proven very definitely wrong.

All that to say, Edwin was very surprised to be alive.

The resulting explosion which had ripped through the clearing was massive. A fireball had risen into the air alongside shattered pieces of kiln and displaced dirt, pelting Edwin with debris. A crater had replaced much of the ground on that side of Obairlann, and the blast of wind originating from a rippling shockwave had snatched Edwin from the air, tossing him away like a floating leaf, and knocked the bolt aimed at him to places unknown.

When he’d come around to his senses, Edwin gulped, then winced at the pain accompanying the action. He wasn’t sure how he was still alive. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Being that close to such a large explosion, even larger than he had anticipated, would have killed him if he were still a normal human, and not magically augmented with his Athletics and Flexibility skills, and now Health. His ears rang, his ruptured eardrums bleeding slightly, and as his gulp turned into a cough, he felt wetness. The pressure wave had to have ruptured blood vessels in his lungs. Without magical healing, he was a dead man walking.

No.

No.

The Alchemist pulled himself to his feet, his sense of balance wholly shot. He’d make it through long enough to get potions, to get Inion, to get First Aid going. He was a bloody mess, the crossbow bolt in his shoulder shattered and wedging the tip even further inside his body, but that explosion would have been undoubtedly heard across the Verdant. Inion would be back soon. Once she came back, they’d have numbers on their side and then he’d be safe.

A figure stirred at the base of the cliff, similarly thrown by the explosion against the rocks. If not for the motion, the Hunter would have been indistinguishable from the stone around him.

Edwin narrowed his eyes.

Inion was on her way. All he needed to do was survive until she arrived. Once she showed up, then he could reassess and figure out what his options were.

He could probably manage that. Dust and smoke were sweeping across the area, obscuring everything and giving Edwin the cover he needed to make a break around Obairlann. He dashed around the edge, crossing the distance in an adrenaline-powered flash, half-slamming into the outer wall of his house before he was able to reorient himself and barrel his ‘door’ down. Behind him, he slammed it as best as he could and barricaded it with his table and chairs, now smeared with his blood. He couldn’t hear anything from outside, which meant…

Oh yeah. It meant he should probably heal his eardrums.

Now that he was inside, he had way more than just the random first aid potions he kept on him at all times, and he took full advantage of that. He gently pulled the crossbow bolt from his shoulder- did his left side have a magnet on it for arrows or something? Or did crossbows just lean towards the right when they shot?

He’d been through this song and dance before, so he wasn’t too worried. A few giant dollops of proper healing salve, some of his last, set his skin itching as it and muscle knit themselves back together. First Aid and Alchemy both cooperated when he used healing potions, and alongside the specialized human-only salve, he’d be up to about 70% capacity within a few minutes. Already, his hearing was just barely starting to return.

There was a knock at the door. Edwin grabbed his stick and his knockout potion as the knock rapidly turned into pounding, and then with a crack, the door broke in half, both halves flying across the room.

The dust cleared, and Edwin finally got a good look at his attacker. Well, not quite a clear look. Shadows wrapped around them, obscuring most of their features, but Edwin could still tell that he was dealing with something tall, large, and gangly.

Not a dwarf, then? He wondered, and ducked behind where his table had been knocked to with his assailant barging through the door.

The hunter advanced inside Obairlann, hefting a wicked-looking harpoon-spear. He paused, and Edwin tried to tell what was happening. Was he sniffing the air? Could he not see him?

Edwin dashed out from his cover and up the stairs, snatching a row of glowing potions from their shelf. Sure, they didn’t actually have any alchemical effect, but he could still throw them and maybe use them for cover?

As soon as the first potion started passing through the strange dark mist surrounding his attacker, he jerked out of the way, and the bottle crashed against the floor, spilling its contents everywhere.

Edwin winced. Intentional or not, it was still painful to see some of his few glass containers shatter in front of him. He’d take it over dying, though. He didn’t have any time to really think it through, though, as the hunter seemed to use his attack to find Edwin, and the spear flashed out towards him, fortunately falling short.

Edwin followed up the first throw with several more harmless vials, each of which was effortlessly dodged. He quickly started throwing just his earthenware containers instead of the glass, but even empty ones were all swiftly avoided.

Soon, the hunter’s slow advance brought him to the top of the stairs, and Edwin promptly fled through the roof, climbing over the edge of the wall and slipping out of the leaves which made his roof. Once he was on the outside, the magic of Obairlann supported him and he ascended to the top of the roof. There, he had a chance to breathe and let his wounds recover somewhat.

His hearing returned enough to hear a commotion inside, specifically the commotion of pottery and glass breaking, and Edwin winced. He didn’t want to know what some of his creations would do when mixed, but it sounded like he was about to find out. He’d also probably have to remake most of his alchemy equipment as well.

The branches near the edge of the roof rustled and parted as his assailant figured out where he’d gone, and the shadowy figure pulled himself onto the roof, only to be met with Edwin’s entire bottle of concentrated knockout potion straight to the skull.

Edwin looked on in dismay as his efforts to make a tough container for what was by far his most impactful potion succeeded, and the ceramic vial failed to shatter on contact. Instead, it bounced off the hunter’s head and rolled off the edge of the roof, leaving him in the awkward position of having just thrown away his best weapon with nothing to show for it.

By the time he’d prepped a firebomb, the hunter had already closed much of the distance between the two of them, and Edwin frantically slid down the far side of the roof. He managed to stop himself before he fell off the edge, transferred his firebomb from his left hand to his right hand, and lobbed the grenade just in time before he fell.

Edwin took the landing relatively hard, which just meant that he went almost entirely limp to absorb the shock of hitting the ground before springing back up- Flexibility was great- and dashed to the talsanenris hedge. Behind him, he heard the figure curse as the grenade detonated, hopefully as it came into contact with them, but didn’t look back right away.

In the bushes, he finally turned around to see what he needed to prepare for. Edwin’s eyes widened in shock as the assassin took a leap from the top of the roof, diving gracefully to the ground. Wait, no. Through the ground. He had vanished into the soil without so much as a trace.

Edwin stood back warily, not sure where they might reappear next, and a flash of motion from near the cliff drew Edwin’s eye just in time to see his attacker emerge from the rock, face and body tense. The shadows reappeared, enshrouding its body from the head down, but before they did, Edwin managed to make out a powerfully built, furred body with a wide, monstrous head and fanged mouth. As the shadows returned, it looked more relaxed. The light hurt it, then? Or was just uncomfortable? Hmmm. He needed to try and figure out flashbangs.

Edwin’s eyes grew wide as the assassin produced a crossbow from… somewhere, and began the process of loading it. Within ten seconds, it was already cocked and ready to fire. That was way faster than the pattern he’d counted out earlier! Was the hunter trying to bait him out before? Probably, come to think of it.

He dashed through the bushes, intentionally rattling some that he wasn’t near to try and confuse his assailant as crossbow bolts peppered his surroundings. He managed to remain mostly unharmed, save for some cuts that came from the bushes tearing at him. The bushes seemed to do a good job of foiling accurate shots.

If Edwin were to guess, maybe the assassin was used to underground fighting, and so wasn’t used to undergrowth? It would explain stuff like the stone and earth travel and the discomfort with light. That confirmed that he likely was sent by the dwarves, even if he wasn’t one himself. Edwin shuddered at the thought of having to deal with this assassin in enclosed spaces.

He really hoped Inion made it back soon. He could only stall so long, especially against someone actually good at their job, no matter how out of their element they were. The assassin seemed mostly unfazed by the explosion, barring some likely disorientation, and Edwin certainly didn’t have anything which could hit harder in his arsenal. His next option would be his knockout potion, but that had been knocked off the roof and lost to him for the time being.

So, time to just run around and hope that his accuracy didn’t improve? There had to be a better idea than that, and Edwin had a sudden realization about something that might help. He broke from the bushes near the garden and, taking a deep breath, dove into Inion’s pond.

It was freezing, naturally. It always was unless Inion specifically willed it otherwise, but Edwin couldn’t let that hold him up. He swam to near the bottom of the very, very deep pool and looked up. He could see a couple bolts floating at the top, and another slammed into the water as he watched, disturbing the surface and penetrating just a few feet under before its momentum was sapped and it floated to the surface.

Whew. He was safe down here, for a little while at least. He’d never tested exactly how long he could stay underwater before he’d drown, but so long as he wasn’t super active and just let Breathing slowly work its magic, he could last about twenty minutes. Hopefully, that would be more than enough for Inion to return. He gently wedged his foot in the crevasse of a rock to help him keep his position and looked up at his shadowy foe, who had arrived at the edge of the pond and was staring down at him through the crystal clear waters.

Edwin wasn’t sure why the small waterfall pouring into Inion’s pond didn’t disturb the surface, but he suspected fey shenanigans, especially as he didn’t remember it happening before she woke up. Still, in this instance, it was very useful as Edwin and his hunter stared at each other in silence. The assassin prodded the pond with his foot, then withdrew.

If Edwin was above water, he would have sighed in relief. He was safe. Inion was bound to make it here before he needed to go up for air.

An enormous splash broke Edwin out from his reverie. He looked up and released most of his breath in surprise. A massive boulder had broken the top of the pond and was now sinking like, well, a rock directly at him.

He hastily extracted his foot from the crevasse it was wedged in- oh come on, it wasn’t this hard last time- and darted out of the way just in time, joining the many fish displaced as the gigantic stone dropped through the water. Athletics was working overtime, and his lungs began to burn in protest at the sudden exertion, and even then he was still caught by the wake left by the stone, pulled in towards where it had just been while it settled to the bottom with a gentle crack.

There was another splash above Edwin. Then, another one. And a third. And a fourth. He looked up in panic, and saw four more stones- not as large as the first, thankfully, but still at least as big as he was- sinking towards him. Ah, shoot.

He needed to do something, and fast. His lungs cried in protest, but how was he supposed to get to and be at the surface safely with boulders being chucked at him? More stones kept raining into the pond, and it was only a matter of time until Edwin was hit.

Hmmm… He hadn’t tried it, but couldn’t Packing be of use here? Rock was something like 1 and a half times denser than water, so if he activated Packing on one of the stones falling towards him, given his current Packing level, it should then be… what, 1/20th of the weight of the water? It would practically function as a flotation device! He could ride it up to the surface, using it as a shield, and then hide under it while taking the occasional breath.

Plan in mind, Edwin pushed himself just a bit further to grab a slightly concave stone. He grabbed it, the rough surface of the rock hard on his hand, and… nothing. Edwin frowned, intentionally trying to get Packing to work. Nothing happened. What was going on?

The rock dragged Edwin down, and another stone crashed into his foot, making Edwin recoil. Why wasn’t Packing working? Wait, no. It was, it just… wasn’t doing anything?

He released the boulder before it could pull him further underwater, and another rock struck him in the back, driving out the last bit of breath from his lungs and threatening to crush him under it. He rolled out from under it before it could sink so deeply and frantically swam towards the surface. He’d take his chance with the boulders, he just needed air.

Edwin broke the surface of the pond with a gasp, and immediately dove back underwater, grabbing on a rock for weight, to avoid the rain of stone projectiles. Yeah, his attacker was absolutely geared for underground attacks if he could do this much with stone. There weren’t many rocks that big in the surrounding area, he must have been pulling them from the cliff face itself.

Edwin continued the cycle for a little while longer, ducking up to the surface to get air, hitching a ride on a rock down. Then, his hunter caught on and started mixing in crossbow bolts every once in a while, catching Edwin in the side before he started becoming more cautious. Where was his attacker, anyway? He wasn’t sure how long he could keep this up, not with a crossbow bolt sticking out of his gut and slowly bleeding him out.

The pond was flooding with every boulder thrown in, great splashes drenching the surrounding area and filling the stream to near-bursting. Was he just trying to fill up the entire pool? That…. Honestly, Edwin didn’t know if that would work. Inion would be peeved, though. Honestly, she would be regardless. The boulders had piled up significantly in the pool, and Edwin was almost considering trying to hide between them for shelter, but immediately dismissed that idea for being utterly idiotic. He’d never have time to make anything stable, and if it wasn’t perfect, the shifting rocks as more struck them would make the whole thing collapse.

Come on, where was Inion? She had to know to come when she heard the explosion. How long had it been, anyway? It had felt like hours, but ‘minutes’ was probably the better measure here. Each time he went up for air, he lasted less and less time. While twenty minutes might normally be his limit, this was far from normal. Panicked gulps with highly injured lungs interspersed with playing dodgerock and avoiding being shot at barely got him a minute at a time, if that, and when a rock actually did connect, it tended to knock any remaining air from his lungs.

After what felt like an eternity, salvation arrived.

“Hey!” a voice boomed from the top of the cliff, melodic and terrifying, “Stop throwing rocks at my human!”

The sound echoed through the water, and Edwin looked on with hope, hesitantly climbing onto the shore in utter, pained exhaustion.

“Break it up! Now!” She sounded like she was scolding a kid, or maybe a dog. Honestly, might not be the worst comparison.

The waterfall cut off suddenly, and a low rumble filled the area. A second later, Edwin’s attacker was blown out of the cliffside, a pressurized blast of water carving a hole in the solid rock and breaking against Obairlann. His hunter, devoid of its shadowy occultations, slumped to the ground.

Then Inion crested the cliff, appearing to ride a wave of water to her pond. She floated over to where Edwin lay, a broken and bloody mess, “Are you okay? I’m sorry I took so long.” Her voice was… unusually caring. She seemed like she might almost actually care about him personally, rather than just contractually.

Edwin managed a weak smile, “I’ve…” he coughed, blood and water coming up from his lungs, and his side and entire body a mess of cuts, scrapes, bruises, and crossbow bolt, “I’ve been better.”

“It’s all gonna be okay, m‘kay Edwin? I’m here now.” She cupped her hand around Edwin’s head and gave him a smile, then turned back to a somewhat-recovered assassin who was trying to stand up and flee.

“And just where do you think you’re going, you little insect? Uh-uh. You stay here.” Inion snapped, and vines burst from the ground, ensnaring the hunter until Inion was able to reach them. Then, they retreated.

Before Edwin’s former attacker could make a break for it, though, Inion reached out and grabbed them by the heel, her grip supported by a tendril of water, lifting them into the air and assessing them like a particularly interesting piece of meat.

“Eck. Honestly, people like you are why there’s such a stereotype about bugbears. Like seriously, Terror of the Depths? Haunting Nightmare? Abyssal Predator? What sort of person takes Paths like that? What do you have to do to get Paths like that? Someone seriously messed you up at some point.”

The hunter- bugbear, apparently- growled something which Polyglot began to translate, but Inion interrupted, returning the speech to snarling, “None of that, thank you very much. The children are listening.”

Edwin… felt like he should be offended by that description, but he was in too much pain to really care.

“Now, what to do with you, though? Hmmm…” Inion paused for dramatic effect, “Ah yes, I know.”

She hefted the hulking figure like it weighed nothing, and slammedhimt into the side of Obairlann. Edwin could hear something crack from where he was, and the yowl of pain which accompanied it almost hurt his ears. Or maybe that was just his head in general, and sympathetic wince.

Inion wasn’t satisfied, though, and brutally slammed the bugbear into the ground a couple more times, then threw it bodily against the cliff. The hunter jumped at its chance and tried to dive into the stone. He was halfway into the rock when Inion suddenly arrived next to it, and a tendril of water wrapped itself around his ankle and yanked him out of the stone, “I told you. I will have none of that.”

He didn’t come alone, and rocks ripped from the cliff seemed half-merged with the bugbear, now a bloody mess even beyond Edwin’s current state. It was missing half its forearm, only a splintered stump remaining of what was once its left hand.

Edwin couldn’t help but wince as Inion refused to let up on her savage beating, and the intermittent screams were the only thing which let Edwin know that he was still, somehow, alive.

“This isn’t what you wanted? THIS IS WHAT YOU EARNED.” Inion screamed at the hunter, her appearance shifting somewhat, becoming lankier, more distended, and hands slowly elongating into claws “THIS IS WHAT YOU GET.”

“Inion!” Edwin called out, and she dropped the broken attacker in a heap, immediately reappearing next to Edwin.

“Yes, Edwin?” The tonal shift was… immense, and sudden. Same with her appearance. She looked no different from how she normally did.

“Just… stop.” Edwin slumped in his plea, “I can’t watch this. Put him out of his misery, or let him go, or… something. But I can’t see you doing that to someone anymore.”

“He would have killed you. Brutally. Painfully, if possible. Dragging your final moments out into hours, ensuring you were a broken, nervous wreck begging for death.”

“I… I know. But please. I… don’t want to return the favor,” she looked unconvinced, so Edwin pulled out what he hoped would work, “And I need your help besides. I can’t move… hardly anything.”

She seemed torn between her conflicting urges, before settling on one and giving a curt nod and a sigh, “Fine. For you.”

The bugbear hadn’t moved from where Inion had dropped him as she reappeared, picking him back up, this time by his splintered arm, “You hear that? You get off easily. This time.”

With that, she wound back, enshrouded the hunter with water, and threw the assassin as hard as she could. The bugbear seemed to rouse slightly at the water’s touch, and as he arced through the air, a trick of the light almost made it look like the creature’s shadow cloak was re-manifesting.

Edwin took a deep, rattling breath and leaned into Inion’s embrace as she picked him up and carried him inside Obairlann.

“I really need to stop getting myself injured so much,” he muttered as Inion gently laid him down on his ‘recovery’ mat, “Maybe we scale down training a bit?” he tried to joke, but his heart wasn’t into it.

“Ya,” Inion carefully caressed his face, “Maybe a bit. Now sleep, Edwin. I have a lot of work ahead of me.”

“Good luck.” He mumbled, and his friend smiled.

“Sleep, Edwin. You need your rest.”

Edwin sighed, and with a tug of his Skills, let darkness envelop him.