Hardcore: Qi Worlds Chapter 15: Troll 3

 Darkness. Benzhi was floating in a pool or lake, it was hard to tell, other than some starlight it was pitch black. The only noise was the water lapping against him. The cool waters were keeping him afloat on their own without any effort from Benzhi.

 He floated like this for what seemed like ages, 'was there really a point to do anything else?' He thought. Unmotivated to explore his environment.

 'Lap, lap' went the water repeatedly. Benzhi just lay there. His brain, which normally went a hundred miles an hour, wasn't motivated to do any thinking. Benzhi closed his eyes, time for a sleep.

 All of a sudden there was a voice.

 "Resuscitate him!" speaking Chinese. Benzhi could not understand the voices. 

"We have lost four already, number eleven is our best candidate, he is not lost yet do your best." another voice in Chinese. Benzhi understood a couple of words only. (underlined words Benzhi understood)

"To think the control was the most promising." after awhile the second voice spoke again.

The voices faded. Benzhi was back in the quiet pool, floating, so relaxing. The waters of the pool started to whirl, he was floating in a circular pattern now, slowly round and round in the pool. 'Was the water dropping,' he thought. This was no longer relaxing the water began to drain faster and faster, the circle got smaller and smaller. Benzhi started to think, his mind becoming a little less foggy than before. He was certain he was caught in a whirlpool. The water was leaving the pool, down some sort of hole, in a torrent and took Benzhi with it. 

Shock. Numbness. 'Where am I now?' Benzhi thought.

He was lying somewhere, there were muffled sounds, but darkness still prevailed.

Without warning he inhaled a raspy breath, when was the last time he had taken a breath? He couldn’t remember. Pain racked his body, ‘oh, I am Benzhi,’ he thought. ‘I am back in the forest, where was that pool, and those voices were they from the real world?’ It all came back to Benzhi, he had fought a troll and was probably not being eaten by it right now since he was in one piece. Almost.

Ailen, Talila and Sakaala were putting together a litter to carry Benzhi’s large frame back to the glade. It consisted of stout branches as straight as they could find, as much flax as they could find quickly and some vines. The group was putting the finishing touches on the litter when Benzhi suddenly drew a raspy breath. The sound made them jump out of their skins, he’s alive?! Ailen looked at Sakaala, Sakaala looked at Talila, Talila shook her head and looked back to Ailen. He shrugged. "Let's get him back to the glade," Ailen offered. 

"Sakaala, run ahead and ask for help," Talila ordered. "Tree-run and take care." She called after Sakaala before the young girl left the area.

Quickly and as gently as possible Talila and Ailen placed him on the frame. They needed to get him back to the glade where someone more skilled than they could help him. Although Benzhi was massive, compared to a normal wood elf, both Ailen and Talila were strong for their size. Lifting double their body weight was not out of the question.

Pain tore through Benzhi when he was moved onto the litter. His eyes were still shut, he was barely conscious, the sensations he was experiencing were leading him to deduce they three wood elves were trying to assist him.

The pain of being bounced around was unbearable, he could not think and was barely conscious.

“Put me down,” he rasped, he could do something, or at least try, given a chance. Suddenly the litter stopped moving and the wood elves started a discussion amongst themselves. If they asked him a question he did not hear. Benzhi was too busy being in pain.

 They laid him down, gently on the ground. Benzhi began to focus, he tried to block out the pain as much as he could. He desperately tried to remember what he had witnessed with the troll and its qi manipulation. The intricate workings it performed were beyond Benzhi, but he could try an emulate some of what it did to repair some of the damage to his body. The first amongst he desires was to do something about the wounds caused by the fangs. The trolls saliva was acidic and it was still burning.

 "Wash out the fang wounds," he rasped again. Benzhi began to meditate as best as he could under the circumstances. He disassociated himself with his body and hovered above it looking down. He could see Talila and Ailen using their waterskins to rinse out his wounds before Ailen ran off to find water presumably. Benzhi stopped paying attention to the two wood elf guardians and began to focus on his qi. His circulation was woeful compared to the trolls, he would work with what he had. The troll had predominately created three patterns. One was what Benzhi thought of as stitching or close to it. Where muscles, bones and skin were sewn together in fine streams of qi as if pulled by a needle through and through. Stitching the organs back together.

The second was bubbling. This was where the troll formed tiny bubbles which seemed to encourage regrowth of muscle, bones and organs. Benzhi needed to remove the acid, he never saw how the troll remedied its own acid, which it surely did. He probably had to rely on Talila and Ailen to remove the acid.

The third was sprouting, this was where the troll sprouted streams of qi which looked like worms or a small seedling reaching out. This technique was used when trying to rejoin something, like an arm or finger. Knowing the techniques, seeing them once, was quite different to putting them to practice. Seeing the troll do this once did not make Benzhi a master, or even an adept. More like a day one trainee.

 Benzhi began to use the sprouts, as they were the largest and required the least finesse, inside the fang wounds. Trying to close the gaping holes from the deepest point. Where he met acid he just tried repeatedly and the acid was reducing slowly, whether it was from his attempts or that of the ministrations of the wood elves he did not know. When he made sufficient progress he began to qi stitch. There was internal damage, which was being covered up, he would have to attend to it soon or he could end back at the dark pool or worse. For what seemed like an eternity, Benzhi stitched, often they would break and he would begin again.

 For the internal damage, it would require bubbles to regrow muscle and organs. This was beyond Benzhi, he attempted to form tiny bubbles, but they seemed ineffective. He formed tiny bubbles inside his chest for what seemed like forever and he noticed his qi level was getting very low, he could not continue. No amount of will power or focus could make something out of nothing. Tiredness overwhelmed Benzhi, it was time for a nap.

Ailen ran back with some water from a nearby stream. He had filled both his and Talila's waterskins. The normally jovial Ailen was dead serious for a change, the circumstances of the battle, the death and the rejuvenation of Benzhi were taking a toll on him. Although, he preferred 'a near dead Benzhi to a dead dead Benzhi.' Arriving in the grove where Benzhi lay Ailen was astonished to see Talila licking Benzhi's wounds and spitting out the poison. 

 "Are you mad?" he asked

 "Give me the waterskin!" Talila blasted. She was in pain and he stood there gaping. She took the waterskin and washed her mouth out, twice.

 Ailen made a tiny pipe with a leaf and began to blow water onto the affected area. He and Talila were making progress. He could sense they were reducing the poison visually, by taste and smell. They continued their work when the fang wounds started closing, right before their eyes. Ailen looked at Talila and she at him.

"Nuts," Ailen proclaimed, "he is healing himself, is this even possible?" Talila just shook her head.

"Maybe he is a baby troll," Talila said looking closely at Benzhi's flesh

"That's not even half funny," Ailen replied.

 They went back to removing any trace of poison they could find. Benzhi would survive, he had gotten past the worst of it. How he had survived was beyond Ailen. Once they were satisfied Ailen sat back on his heels and gave Talila a look which conveyed 'Nuts!?'

 "I know," Talila said to Ailen. "And this is only our first day! There is no way I would go back, this place is far too exciting."

"They will be telling stories about us soon!" Ailen said gleefully.

With that Gisael stormed into the grove. "Benzhi!" She said breathlessly. 'She was alone, she must have left the others behind,'  Ailen thought.

Gisael bent down and tested Benzhi's breath, wounds, she ignored Ailen and Talila, it was like they weren't even there. She pulled out some poultice from a pouch and started to apply it liberally to Benzhi's right side.

"Ah, hello," Ailen volunteered. Gisael looked up, as if just noticing them, her countenance changed. Her worried look altered to one of the elite, stern, prodigy guardian.

"Tell," Gisael ordered.

First Talila and then Ailen reported what had happened from first discovering the troll until now. Gisael's facial features gave almost nothing away, only when the two described Benzhi charging the troll she lost control. 

"Hold," she exasperated, "are you saying he stood in front of the troll, chopped off its arm, for the third time, kicked it, and then after the troll almost swallowed his whole right side, tried to use his qi blade to separate its head from its neck with his left hand?"

"Yes," Ailen said matter-of-factly. And Talila when on to describe the scene step by step including Ailen's courage in assisting Benzhi.

 During the description, a little yelp left Gisael's lips. 

She stood up, stomping around. "You stupid, stupid!" She yelled at no one in particular, waving her hand around.

Ailen and Talila knew she was not speaking to them. Gisael glared at the unconscious Benzhi.

"Why," she asked after calming down, "is he not more wounded? Sakaala described much much worse."

"We hadn't got to that yet," Ailen replied. He was rewarded with a scowl from Gisael. Ailen just smiled sweetly at her.

Ailen explained how they thought Benzhi had died.

"You just left him lying there, while you burnt the troll and made a litter?" she asked incredulously. 

"Well, we thought he was dead. He had no breath or heart." Ailen answered ashamedly this time because he did feel ashamed they had not known Benzhi was actually alive.

"As to why he looks better now," Ailen continued, "Talila and I helped a little, we removed some poison. Benzhi did the rest himself."

Gisael's mouth had never been so slack. She stared, open mouthed, at Ailen, then Talila, who just nodded, and then Benzhi.

Chapter end