Mana 4 Chapter 11 (Patreon)

There are certain sounds that just startle you awake. For me, it was currently the sound of someone gasping for air as they were being choked.

I jolted upright and immediately regretted it as my entire body lit up in searing pain.

Kat was here in the cave. She was currently holding Tracey by the throat and was throttling the girl. “Kat. Don’t kill her.” Even trying to throw my voice, it didn’t come out very loudly.

My red-haired wife dropped Tracey and rushed over to me. “Oh, my husband. I thought you were dead! I couldn’t find your pulse.”

Kat, my first love and my 6th wife, looked at me with complete adoration. We’d been through so much together. Even when she’d gone astray, my fiery wife found her way back to me, resisting to her last breath and coming back to me in the end. Though broken and reformed, she was still the Kat I’d fallen for all those years ago.

I reached up, ignoring the pain to trace my fingers along her heart-shaped face, tugging on one of her loose fiery locks. Kat, for all her ambition, was raw in love, in anger, and in lust. She could ignite her enemies in a sea of flame, temper our children, or melt my heart. Whatever she chose to do, she put her entire heart and soul into it.

“Have to admit. Feeling at least a little dead.” My body was chilled to the bone, while my clothes were soaked with sweat. I realized for the first time that Aurora wasn’t in my arms anymore, startling me. Looking around quickly, I spotted her laying not too far away, curled up against Quinn’s coiled form. “How long?”

I couldn’t remember falling asleep. Frowning, I tried to put the pieces together.

“I think you need to let Mei back out.” Kat tapped my chest, where indeed she was beating on the ring. “She went back to our shared soul space to direct me here, but she needs you to let her back out.”

Mei appeared next to me. Instead of her usual outfit, she was wearing one of her favorite nurses outfits. “You’re alive.” She bounded closer to me, putting her face right in front of mine as she looked me over more carefully, a frown appearing on her face as she did.

“I don’t look that bad.” I protested, but my voice barely came out as a whisper.

Despite Mei’s outfit, she had little experience with tending the injured, but she did enjoy tending to me.

Kat picked at my clothes, which by now were dry and stiff, peeling part of my scabs as she tugged. “Sorry. We need to clean you off and get you fresh clothes.”

Kat turned towards Tracey. “You. Empty your spatial ring.”

Tracey was still rubbing her throat, looking at me like she was trying to figure me out. “Who are you? How many of those do you have? Are they all mana beasts?” Her eyes wandered up to Quinn’s massive form.

“Not a mana beast.” Kat snapped.

“Could have fooled me.” Tracey grumbled before speaking clearly. “And he has my ring.”

Kat raised an eyebrow in question, and I lifted one of my hands enough to get her attention. “Mind if she uses it?”

“There’s a crystal in there linked to this cuff.” I wheezed, feeling winded with the effort to speak. Mei’s frown grew, and she started fussing further, although what she was trying to do wasn’t perfectly clear.

Kat took the ring and inspected it for a moment. She tried to use it but had the same issue that I’d had with it being tied to Tracey in some way. “Here. Drop everything from the ring, or I kill you.”

“Would saying please be too much to ask?” Tracey asked, arching an eyebrow. But her face seemed to recognize her mistake as Kat quickly charged her.

Kat slammed Tracey against the wall. “Let’s get one thing straight. You were the cause of my husband almost dying. The fact that you still draw breath is all the leniency you’ll see from me, and that’s only guaranteed for the moment. So I’d recommend you empty everything from this ring before I dig around in your head and scramble your soul.”

A smile tugged at my lips. Kat’s passion burned hotter than a magma beast. It made her a fantastic wife, and often an overbearing mother to our children’s chagrin. But it also made her more ferocious than a cornered tiger when someone harmed their family.

Tracey took the ring and waved her hand, creating a pile of rations, several dozen jugs of water, two piles of clothes, and other things she’d have needed for camping.

Kat took some of them into her own spatial ring as they were unloaded. Materials stopped appearing, and the crystal was nowhere to be seen. Kat picked up on it instantly. “I think you’re missing something.”

Tracey cowered slightly under Kat’s glare, but she didn’t bring out the crystal. “No way. I give that to you, and you’ll kill me in the next breath. I’m not stupid.” She raised her hair a bit, clearly working to show resolve. “If you kill me, you lose it.”

Even from here, I could see Kat’s eyes glow in a kaleidoscope of five colors. “There are other options available to me. Maybe I should just barge into your soul, shatter it, and turn you into an obedient fuck-whit.”

“You, couldn’t…” Tracey recoiled and slid down the cave wall into a ball, looking over to me for help.

“Kat, dear. Please calm down. We are better than that.” I put meaning into my words, reminding her we were different from those we had once gone up against. I sometimes worried about losing Kat to a darkness inside of her. Kat’s eyes locked with mine, and I could tell she’d understood. “And I assure you, she could.” I replied to Tracey, not wanting her to feel too comfortable.

I didn’t feel much sympathy towards Tracey, but I also didn’t know how the enchantment worked. She knew a bit more, and whatever she knew had her clinging to it like it was her lifeline to survive the whole ordeal. So for now, I’d treat it the same.

“Sorry. Just so—” Kat let out a strangled shout of frustration, and Tracey startled a bit. “What she did to you needs karmic justice.”

“Then let karma serve its justice. For now, I see a nice pack of medical supplies in her things. I wonder if there’s something that would help speed up my recovery?”

Giving Kat a purpose was all I needed to do. She immediately focused on the kit I’d spotted and went to work, nudging Mei aside as she attempted to help. Kat used a knife to cut away most of my clothes, and water to wet the caked on clothes, gently massaging moisture and flexibility back into them before peeling them off.

“Never got a chance to do something like this for you.” Kat said. Her anger was gone, replaced by care as she focused her attention on my wounds. “As I remember it, you were the one always taking care of me ever since I woke back up.” Her voice dipped low, and tears dripped down her nose and fell on my leg.

“It’s okay. I’m fine.” I tried to comfort her.

She sniffed and wiped at her face. “This is very far from okay, but I’m here, and I can do something about it now. The last few days have been agony. Not being able to be here to help… Then seeing… this.”

Mei kneeled on my other side, wiping ointment on bandages before handing them to Kat like a dutiful assistant. Kat replaced the dirty clothing with fresh bandages.

Kat was quiet and focused on me, yet Mei’s tails were oddly still and she was more calm than usual. I had a feeling she was trying not to draw attention, letting this be a moment between me and Kat. Mei was thoughtful like that.

“It’s okay, Kat. We’ll make our way out of this. We’ll solve my problem.” I shook my wrist to indicate what I meant. “Then we’ll bring the rest of our family through and demolish those that think they can do something like this to us again.”

Kat smiled, a little anger still hiding deep in her eyes. “Oh, they will regret this. You have my word.” The five colors of her soul shone through her eyes for a moment.

At times, I worried there was still a little bit of the monster Kat had once been hiding under the surface, like a shark whose fin only briefly breached the waves. But whatever she was, she was mine, and I knew she’d never hurt our family. Unfortunately for our enemies, it didn’t bode well for them.

I gave Kat a smile, trying to hide the momentary worry.

“How is Aurora?” Kat asked, her eyes glancing to the side at Aurora’s still form.

I dipped into my inner world and felt for the connection to Aurora. Her life pulsed far stronger than it had before. She was recovering better than I was, at least.

“She’s growing stronger by the second.” I wouldn’t call her condition good, but it was improving enough for me to be buoyed with hope.

“Good, then we can get you back on your feet. We just need to keep you as healthy as we can to make your recovery quicker once you have access to Aurora’s mana again.” Kat finished wrapping my thigh and went to pick at the clothing around my gut. I knew that one was bad and didn’t want to see it turning away.

Mei took the hint and moved to capture my head on her thigh, keeping my face turned away. “Shh.” She stroked my hair.

I finally relaxed, letting them take care of me. It was just so hard to admit that I needed this much help.

“Ahem.” Tracey cleared her throat. “Can I ask where these… things are coming from?”

Kat looked over, but I couldn’t see Tracey. “Do mages here not cultivate through absorbing mana beast cores?”

“Yes, but they are dead and gone. I’ve never heard of one coming back out. Certainly not one that then looks like a human, mostly.”

Kat looked at me for confirmation before she spoke too much. I nodded. The secret of being able to summon my mana beasts was already out. “In the world we come from, you absorb the mana beast cores similarly. But as we progress, we can also store a number in our souls to help progress our cultivation.”

“But they fought with you, just as strong as a cultivator.” Tracey sounded shocked.

“Yes, and mine are some of the strongest.” I smirked as Mei’s tails swished around happily behind her. I knew no other mage that had come to the immortal world with three rank four beasts. Even those who managed to obtain one were extremely rare. “But you should have seen people like Mei before. More than a few rank 4 mana beasts from my world have come here.”

Tracey shook her head. “Mana beasts don’t become human like them here. If they come here like that, I’d have to guess that ancient families scoop them up and they disappear. The ancient families do anything they can to keep their bloodlines strong.”

I frowned, looking at Mei and Quinn’s massive form still coiled around us. “That brings up several questions for me. Tracey, where are the ancient families like Guo Ying and his family?”

“Our city isn’t really a powerhouse; we’re more of an outskirt. The Ying family barely counts as an ancient family, but around here they puff out their chest. And to be fair, any of the girls at the pavilion would kill for a chance to join them. They are still one of the prominent powers in our area. The other family is the Su family, but it is just a small branch out here. The Su family is a big name in the capital.”

“So the Ying family has a home here in Murdock?” I asked.

She nodded, seeming to be happy to share this information in return for some good will. “They have a large estate on the edge of town.”

“I believe I’m part of an ancient family.” I looked back to Kat. “From everything I know and what my mother has hinted at, it makes the most sense.” Kat nodded, seeming to process it at the same time.

Turning back to Tracey, I asked, “If I were to search for my family, where should I start?”

Tracey had gotten up then, curiosity in her eyes. “Are you really from an ancient family?” She took another step toward me, eliciting a growl from Kat, who was now laser focused back on Tracey. Tracey held up her hands and stepped back again, waiting for me to answer.

“My mother is from this world and returned here after giving birth to me. Her bloodline and my own came from the Pixiu, the godbeast of luck. I feel like a name like that has to qualify.”

“Take me with you to find your family! I’ll do everything I can to guide you through this world.” Tracey fell to her knees.

“No.” I said in unison with Kat.

Tracey looked between the two of us. “I’ll be a concubine. I don’t care. Just take me out of Murdock.”

Kat scowled. “Never. After what you’ve done, sparing your life is the best reward you are going to get.”

As Tracey seemed to shrink in front of us, I felt bad, but it didn’t change my answer. “Where do we go?”

Tracey’s mouth shut, and her jaw was set for a moment before her shoulder slumped. “North, out of Murdock, there’s a road that leads to a much larger city. It’s called BlueHeavens. You should be able to find out more there, but I swear I’d be useful.”

Further conversation was stopped as thunder boomed so hard the cave rattled. “Answer remains. And I think we need to worry more about our situation now. Was that the Raiju?” I asked.

But before Tracey could answer, the cave shook again. It was like a rapid sword dance above our head, thunder boomed repeatedly somewhere up the mountain and reverberated through the earth.

“Yes. I think Guo Ying has brought more reinforcements to search for us.”

“What are the chances that the raiju takes care of them all for us?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Honestly, I doubt it. He might even have brought someone from his family that could fight the Raiju.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. I was not up to fight somebody who was at least on par with a fifth rank mana beast. If what Tracey had said was true, then we didn’t stand a chance.

“Then we hope that it at least keeps them from searching this mountain too hard.”

The thunder died down shortly after. I would have expected a far longer fight if they had fought and defeated the raiju.

“You can do nothing in the state you are in.” Kat said and pressed me back down onto Mei’s thigh. “Rest.”

As much as I wanted to fight her, she was right. I rested against Mei, slowly drifting back off to sleep and trusting them to protect me. This time, I slept without entering my soul palace. I really just needed to focus on my body.

Thunder woke me up again, but only several blasts later it calmed down.

Mei ran her fingers through my hair. “Go back to sleep.”

Groaning next to me caught my attention, though, and I turned my head. Aurora shifted and tried to prop herself up on one arm. “Master.”

“Shh. Save your strength. We’ll both come out of this just fine.”

Aurora nodded, but then disappeared into a stream of mana that entered my chest. I clutched the spot, feeling her back where she belonged. Her ring rotated with powerful waves of mana. With her back inside, I could cycle my mana through her, receiving life mana back through her ring.

I sighed, happy to once again be united with her and able to cycle our mana together. It was a boon like no other. Sometimes you didn’t know what you had until it was almost gone. I couldn’t believe I’d once thought life mana wasn’t the best first ring. I poured my heart and soul into cycling mana for both Aurora and me to recover.

Time passed at what felt like a snail’s pace while we both recovered. But eventually, a new day started and Mei was pacing the cave.

“If you need to get out and stretch your legs that badly, you can just promise me you’ll be back.” I said to her, laughing as her eyes lit up.

“Thank you!” Mei jumped to her feet and darted out of the cave.

“Are you sure that’s okay? What if something happens?” Kat asked.

“Mei is almost impossible to pin down, and her ability to escape is nearly unmatched.” I reasoned. Of all of my mana beasts, she was the best equipped to scout and escape if needed. “Besides, we need to know what is happening outside the cave.”

“Fine. I need to redo your bandages, anyway.” Kat came over and started peeling them off. This time, it was far easier with the ointment protecting the cloth. She replaced them one by one as Quinn watched over the cave.

I checked out the wound on my thigh as she removed the old bandage; it was already far less red and angry. I smiled. The life mana was speeding up my recovery. There was a chance I might be able to move around with a bit more time. We couldn’t sit still and expect to remain hidden for too much longer.