Hardcore: Qi Worlds Chapter 10: Feral Trial 3

Benzhi was woken by Gisael, 'did I actually sleep?' Benzhi thought. Benzhi had not slept since the simulation had begun, he hadn't needed to. Instead each night he had meditated and recuperated from drinking the water from the pool. Yesterday's efforts had drained him, after reaching the glade, Gisael had tended him further. She was quite helpful for someone who spouted so much scorn towards him, he thought.

She slapped him gently, "Mother has ordered for you to eat this," Gisael mentioned has she fed him another pea sized piece of turquoise gemstone or Core as Mother called it. "Hold still," she ordered as she removed a poultice from his back.

They had arrived back to the glade late last night. Benzhi would have usually been in a meditative state for several hours by that time. What happened next was the usual, drink from the waters of the pond, begin meditation. Benzhi must have dozed off sometime in the early hours of the morning.

After consuming the pea sized portion of Core Benzhi was energized to such a level he almost glowed. He felt like he could sprint a marathon, he shook his legs out and tilted his head side to side, the energy he just consumed was eager to be expended. 'Was this even healthy?' he pondered. At least it wasn't consuming his life force because he was intaking the source of the energy, he assumed. Benzhi picked up the green gemstone he had taken from the ferals and made his way over to Mother's willow.

She did not wait for him to touch the willow this day. She was standing, stock still, watching him. Mother looked sad. When he was within a few meters of her she spoke.

"Benzhi," she said sadly, "what have you done?" She looked at the green gemstone and then back to his face. She held his gaze waiting for a reply.

"They will come for this," Benzhi said and holding out the green feral gemstone. This morning was unusual. Gisael would not normally stand around while he was conversing with Mother, yet she stood a few meters behind him. Mother would usually lecture him and only ask questions which required simple answers.

"And when they do," Benzhi continued, "I will cull the ferals, thus removing the source of disharmony in the forest." These were his conclusions of his actions based on the trial he had been given a couple of days ago.

Mother was silent awhile longer, holding his gaze, the silence weighed heavily. Benzhi wanted to speak to relieve the tension, but he waited, it was Mother's turn to respond. Benzhi did not want to explain every thought, every strategy, hell, he winged most of it and went by gut feel. He was fairly certain Gisael had the opportunity to relate all the details of yesterday, what she had seen, sensed and concluded, in any case.

"When you first arrived," Mother finally broke the silence, "we thought you may be wise or impulsive. We see now, impulsive." She was quiet for a long time again. "You must decide what happens now, not Mother, not Daughter, you." Mother pointed at Benzhi with each utterance.

Benzhi was somewhat taken aback, this is not what he expected in the slightest. He did act with a plan, however, he had expected Mother to order him what to do next. He had presumed this would be "kill all the ferals that enter the forest." 'Isn't that what she said when she gave him the trial? What did she say exactly? She definitely sounded disappointed with his actions now. Benzhi felt cast adrift. 'Wait,' he thought, 'she hadn't withdrawn support, Mother had merely said, it was now up to him. Who was the leader here? This got complicated quickly,' he thought.

"There is not much time to discuss or ponder," Mother informed Benzhi.

From Mother's words just now, the ferals must be approaching in search of their core, as she called it. It was interesting that the forest had a Core and the ferals had a Core. Benzhi did not know how all this worked, but the Core was precious and unique to each community or culture.

As far as Benzhi could see there were two options. Give the Core back to the ferals and try to negotiate somehow. Or kill them. There did not seem to be any other alternatives.

"Mother," Benzhi enquired, "can we keep this core?"

She looked at him with no hint of emotion although she sounded slightly disapproving, "Yes," she replied, "it is possible. You would place it in the pool."

"What happens if we keep it?" Benzhi asked.

"I don't know," Mother replied and looked down, almost embarrassed. 

Benzhi was stunned. He had imagined Mother knew almost everything, she was just cryptic with her answers sometimes. Or she deemed he needed to work it out himself in order to understand. The only topic she ever expressed ignorance was his biology. Never in the case of qi, or the case of the forest. She had just expressed ignorance with what seemed to be a key aspect of this world. Not simulation; as time passed, away from the real world, Benzhi began to think of this place as more of another world than as a simulation.

Benzhi felt he had done well so far, despite what Mother had just said. His instincts had served him well. He did not feel bad about killing ferals, he wasn't doing it for sport, it had felt like war to him. No emotions, no hate, no joy in causing harm or misery. It was a task he had to do and he did it without regret. He would have drawn the line if he was confronted by a baby or child of the ferals, but he had only faced what would pass for their warriors or hunters so far. They were all armed in any case.

After considering much in a short amount of time Benzhi came to a decision. He walked across to the pool and dropped the feral's Core into the pond on top of the forest's turquoise Core. The colours blended in the now swirling waters and when they settled Benzhi could see the two cores lying at the bottom, the green laying on top of the turquoise. Before he turned away he noticed something incredible starting to happen. The green Core started to merge with the turquoise, it was if they were gel like. After a few minutes had passed the Cores had merged and what was now at the base of the pond was a larger Core, greener than before.

"The decision is made," Mother announced. "Gisael, support Benzhi in protecting the glade." Gisael nodded and proceeded to the treeline and climbed up in the canopy with her usual grace.

"Benzhi," Mother called over to him. "they are coming." With that, she dissipated.

Benzhi drew a deep breath and loped off to the south. Using all the skills he had developed, with Gisael's and Mothers training, he made his way quickly and quietly through the forest. Fighting a large mob of ferals in the glade did not sound like fun, he would head south and find them as close as possible to the edge of the forest. 

After running for an hour Benzhi was calculating he should run into them soon. If the ferals had left their village at sunrise and it took them three hours to reach this point they should be intersecting soon. The ferals could not run as fast as Benzhi and they may not be travelling at full speed. This was the most likely the earliest point he would run into them, given quite a few assumptions. Such as, they knew where the glade was and they took a direct route.

Benzhi stood on a large moss covered boulder atop a ridge. Closed his eyes and layered his eyes with qi. This technique allowed him to see the qi flowing through the forest and his body if he focused on it, something akin to qi sight. Benzhi probably didn't need to close his eyes, however, it did cut out all normal vision and allowed him to focus on the qi flows easier. Multitudes of qi streams, from the forest itself, became apparent immediately. Benzhi let them wash over him, looking as far as he could for abnormalities or disturbances to the somewhat familiar forest qi streams. Benzhi was scanning for less than an hour when he noticed a break in the patterns. There were a many small qi dots bobbing up and down and coming this way. His calculations and assumptions had been correct, the ferals were coming.

Opening his eyes, Benzhi jumped down from the boulder and started running diagonally to what was the left flank of the ferals. Two of his main advantages were speed and size, he would make use of them. He could sense dozens of ferals, unsure of their exact number if he were to hazard a guess they were between forty to sixty. The ferals were not arrayed in a straight line, they were all over the place, as Benzhi closed on them he picked his first victim and headed directly at it.

The feral snarled at Benzhi, it was wielding what looked to be a club and not wearing as much armour as the ferals previously encountered. An arrow whizzed by, coming within centimetres of Benzhi's shoulder. He could not discern its source, best to keep moving as fast as possible to reduce their chance of hitting him. The feral Benzhi was charging raised its club before it got a chance to swing, Benzhi qi punched it in the face. There was a loud crack as its head snapped back and it fell in a crumpled heap. Another feral rushed him from his right side, this one pointed a crude spear at Benzhi's mid section, Benzhi pushed qi meeting the spear head on with the flat of his palm. The spear disintegrated under the pressure, the head flew off and the shaft bending then snapping in three places. Benzhi proceeded to pick up the feral with his other hand, spun, swung it around two hundred and seventy degrees and smashed its back into a tree. Letting it go, as it had stopped moving as well, it dropped to the ground. 

Benzhi turned to see an arrow headed right at him. He dipped his shoulder to the left and behind, it just missed, flying past. The archer feral was a good twenty meters ahead. Benzhi took off, hopefully, he could close the distance before it let loose another arrow. The archer feral brought its bow up with another arrow nocked, aiming at Benzhi, Benzhi was closing fast, he would almost make it. This was not a one on one fight however and another feral charged from Benzhi's left. Benzhi darted left, grabbed the spear and yanked the feral towards him. The motion was enough to put off the archer feral's aim, it had missed, or it hadn't shot, Benzhi wasn't sure.

Benzhi spun back to the archer feral, two more club wielding ferals had arrived one charging Benzhi another running towards them from behind the archer feral. They must be all closing on his position now, the fighting would only get thicker. Benzhi dealt with the first club wielder by picking it up and ignoring its blows. They hurt, but not enough to do any lasting damage. A bite from the club wielder may hurt though, Benzhi threw it at the archer before it could bite him.

 He charged the two fallen ferals, after they collided they fell to the ground and stomped on the head of the archer feral then proceeded to run past to the south for the second club feral. Benzhi kneed the club feral head on, he could not afford to tarry in one spot and kept running. He made his way west, away from the group of forty or so ferals. Benzhi dodged around trees, putting as many obstacles and distance between himself and the group as possible in a short amount of time. On the ninth tree he dodged around he stopped immediately and put his back to it, standing still while listening intensely.

The little pitter patter of feral feet could be heard, one passed, two up until five total. The ferals did not look back, they just kept streaming past. Benzhi drew his wooden sword, which had been hanging on his back during the first encounter. He dispatched the five pursuing ferals without too much trouble. Smashing skulls and breaking rib cages until they stopped moving. 

Benzhi was sporting a few cuts and bruises, nothing of concern. He loped east, back towards the main group of ferals. The battle had gone well so far, he hadn't even needed aid from Gisael, however, there were still many ferals left. The amount accounted for was far less than a quarter of their total number. Benzhi was under no illusion that the real fight had not yet begun, there was the better armour coterie that surrounded the shaman and the feral shaman itself to overcome. In addition, the glade had no perimeter defence, it was open from all sides. He wanted to deal with the enemy before they reached the glade.

It was a pity he could not communicate and coordinate with Gisael, he would just have to rely on her judgement and skills, especially if the shit hit the fan. Sheathing his sword, Benzhi caught up with another group of ferals who were not chasing him but heading north. One of them stopped to fight him while the rest ran north. Benzhi grabbed its face and yanked the ferals spear from its grip, he lifted it off the ground and smashed the back of its head into a tree. He apologised to the tree. As Benzhi overtook each of the other seven ferals and took them out in turn. Breaking them with foot, fist or by bludgeoning them against a rock or a tree. 

 Benzhi ran north, the fighting was slowing him down and a large number of ferals were closing on the glade. Before reaching the glade another six ferals succumbed to Benzhi's unsophisticated direct fighting style. The perimeter of the glade was not a pretty sight if you were a feral. Not one had been able to enter it was apparent that each one that tried was skewered with an arrow through an eye. Gisael's aim with the bow was amazing, she must have been firing from an unseen position high up in the trees. It was death from above and the ferals had no counter.

A group of twelve ferals surrounded the feral shaman. This group rushed the glade, it was their last ditch attempt to take back what was theirs. 'You had to admire their commitment,' thought Benzhi, despite having their numbers massacred with no losses on his side the ferals still attacked with everything they had.

An arrow took down one after another. Three ferals were down when something strange happened. The arrows started to bounce off something invisible. It was as if a bubble surrounded the remaining ten ferals including the shaman. The shaman's staff was glowing. They had slowed to a walk to stay within the bubble. Benzhi decided now was the time to act. He closed his eyes and engaged qi sight. He opened his eyes and charged, the bubble was made with qi, no obvious weaknesses, it surface appeared smooth, almost shiny. Benzhi decided to qi punch the fuck out of it. He gained speed, sprinting towards the group, when close enough he leapt into the air, coming down with his palm extended and pushing as much qi as he could muster.

 There was a loud crack as a shockwave rolled from the point of impact. All the ferals were flattened, including the shaman. The bubble was certainly gone as arrows started to pepper the remaining goblins. The feral shaman still had some form of protection as an arrow bounced off him as if he was made of granite. Gisael proceeded to take out the unprotected entourage surrounding the shaman.

Benzhi was about to charge the shaman with his qi blade when a ball of fire suddenly appeared, shooting right at Benzhi. There was no room to dodge, Benzhi was too surprised at the unexpected ball of fire to dodge in any case, it hit him full on the chest burning and melting his skin. Benzhi roared in pain, sinking to his knees, it continued to burn, his skin turned rubbery as if melted. Benzhi was stabbed by a spear in the cheek. His eyes were filled with tears, from the pain, he could barely see a thing let alone fight. If he did not act now Benzhi would die and if he died in this world, he could die in the real world as well, not that that mattered this world felt real. His impending death was all too real. Qi was his only recourse. He had eaten a pea from the Core this morning, he still had plenty of fuel in his tank. 

Benzhi flushed his skin with qi, his chest, his face, his eyes. He closed his eyes and fought blind except for his qi sight. He could see qi swirling and forming shapes on the shaman's staff, probably another fireball to finish him off. Thankfully the feral warriors had stopped stabbing him with spears, either getting out of the way of a new fireball or dead from Gisael's arrows. Benzhi ran qi up his blade, forming a fine skin coating and another coating on his feet. He covered the soles of his feet with small round bubbles of qi and leapt towards the shaman, he had never moved so quickly in his life. He swiped the staff with his sword before a fireball could leave its head. He broke the stream of qi feeding the fireball and it dissipated. He then stabbed his sword into the shaman where he could see the shamans core. It met resistance. Gisael's arrows had just bounced off the shaman. Benzhi was trying to push his sword into the shaman's core and was meeting resistance, he was forming a qi blade, the resistance wasn't granite it was more like thick leather.

The sword was making slow progress, Benzhi was unaware of anything else, if a spear feral stabbed him now it would have a free shot, he had to trust in Gisael to protect him. The shaman was resisting. Benzhi could see how the shaman was forming qi to push out the sword. The shapes and makeup of the qi arts the shaman performed were very interesting, it didn't simply throw qi around like Benzhi did. There was no time to contemplate this now. Benzhi streamed qi along his blade, imagining a chainsaw, he ran a stream of tiny bubbles along the surface of the blade, 'fast, faster, cut the bastard,' Benzhi thought. The feral shaman was powerful and more knowledgeable than Benzhi. Benzhi had to prevail on sheer power alone, both physical and the amount of qi he could wield. It was nothing fancy. It was agonising slow progress to penetrate the shaman's defence. But penetrate he did. When his qi blade made contact with the shaman's core it was like piercing a balloon filled with water. Qi left the shaman in a torrent, leaving an empty shell.

And with all the qi leaving the feral shaman, it fell, lying unmoving on the grass of the glade.

Benzhi fell to the ground also. The immediate danger had passed. The forest guardians had prevailed. 'He could just take a nap now right?' Benzhi thought before he blacked out.

Chapter end