Hardcore: Qi Worlds Chapter 44: Spawn 11

 The ledge Vanguard was perched on was almost five times the height of a Troll, with the top of the cliff another thirty feet above them. The rocky cliff face was almost sheer, it would have been a difficult climb for almost anyone. Almost. Benzhi made his way down, at full speed, with Reyas following using her picks to make her way down. Although she had to use conventional means, Reyas was an exceptional climber and her speed was increased by the fact she had no fear.

 If she could not immediately find a foot or handhold, to move downwards, Reyas would just drop five feet, smashing her pick expertly into the rock face, to arrest her fall. 

 The Troll was focused on Benzhi, who was to the fore, when the first arrow struck it in the eye. The Troll then brought one of its arms up to cover its face, while it removed the arrow with its other hand. It snarled as another arrow pierced its arm, although the damage inflicted was negligible. 

 Benzhi landed on the sandy ground with a thump before taking his next step towards the Troll. He did not run straight at it, he ran diagonally, however, the Troll had the ocean on one side, and another cliff face on the other. Where the Vanguard had perched was effectively a dead end if you couldn't climb or swim.

  Benzhi swept past the Troll, he was simply too fast for the Troll to react, it looked like its arm was in slow motion compared to Benzhi's movements. As Benzhi swept past he sliced its leg, the Troll had thick skin, sinewy muscles and granite bones, it was tough. Benzhi's qi blade jarred at the impact and he was forced to pull the blow or risk losing his sword or worse still, halting his advance to fight toe to toe with the brute.

 Gisael's next arrow honed in on the Trolls now unprotected eye, the Troll moved its head tracking the departing Benzhi, but she had predicted this movement and guided the arrow home. Growling in anger, the Troll covered its face again and proceeded to remove the arrow. 

 Benzhi changed tact, there was not a lot of room to sweep either side of the Troll. He had two options that he could think of, as usual, he went for the balls to the wall direct route. This fight would take forever at their current rate of progress. Throwing caution to the wind, Benzhi lept onto the Troll's back and ran up to its neck. The Troll reacted immediately, flinging itself backwards, Benzhi had less than a moment to decide to jump or strike. Benzhi felt, through their connection, Reyas could see a second Troll approaching from behind. 

 Benzhi struck, burying his sword into the back of the Troll's head, hilt deep. As the Troll fell, he rolled away, unable to pull his sword without being crushed.

 The first Troll lay unmoving, while Reyas charged the second Troll, Benzhi checked the first with qi sight. Gisael left the ledge in order to assist Reyas, who had strength and speed, but not reach, with her weapons.

 Benzhi inspected the first troll, its core was active and it was attempting to heal its wounds, small and large. Piercing its brain was not a mortal wound, it was merely an inconvenience. Benzhi swore.

 Benzhi's sword was embedded in its brain, but instead of removing the wooden blade, the Troll began to destroy the wood and replace it with flesh. Benzhi panicked, the sword had already begun to disintegrate, within minutes it would be gone entirely.

 Benzhi realised suddenly, of course, a sword embedded in its brain would not kill it, otherwise the Fae could kill a Troll with qi arrows. It was more likely the Trolls major qi pathways needed to be severed and stopped from reconnecting. All this went through his mind as he grabbed the hilt of his wooden sword, activated qi blade, and pulled it.

 Benzhi turned to see a third troll approaching, while Gisael and Reyas were occupied with the second. The third troll was one of the largest they had seen, almost thirty feet in height, this Troll had found a tree somewhere, uprooted it and was brandishing it as a weapon.  

 The first troll would regenerate given time, the second was proving difficult for Reyas and Gisael to wound while keeping out of reach of its grasp and the third would most likely prove the most troublesome of all.  

 Benzhi called it. 

 As one the Vanguard retreated, scaling the cliff as quickly as they could. Even with Reyas' exceptional climbing ability, she was not fast enough, a thirty-foot troll with a tree as a weapon had quite a bit of reach.

 The log, the large Troll was wielding, swooped towards her back as she climbed, Benzhi reached out a hand to her left. Sensing the danger, through their connection, she jumped and grabbed onto his hand, he swung her under and up. As she flew upwards she planted one of her picks into the rock face and grabbed an outcropping with her other hand. The log smashed into the rock face where she once was.

 Benzhi climbed next to her and insulted Reyas by asking, "jump onto my back." For a Gael to be assisted so was galling, but she did anyway, grabbing onto his neck her face turning red with embarrassment. Benzhi scooted up the rock face out of reach of the massive Troll. Benzhi climbed with hands and feet covered in the qi discs which suctioned onto the rock surface.

 Once they reached the top of the cliff and Reyas jumped off his back and brushed herself off as if dirtied by the experience. 

 She leaned in close to Benzhi's face, almost angry she breathed, "I be Gael, I climb, I not be carried." 

 Benzhi held up his hands, palms outwards in submission, "I...I...oh nevermind," he replied.

 The Vanguard lay on the edge, watching the Trolls gather at the base of the cliff. One after another arrived, on top of that, the first Troll, Speedy Gonzalez Troll, had healed itself and was now up and walking around. 

 "I am not risking your lives in that mess," Benzhi announced while pointing down at the Trolls. "Unless they are invading the Alpine Forest, we don't need to kill them."

 Reyas and Gisael merely looked down, deep in thought.

 "If you die here, you are dead and gone," Benzhi said as he paced back and forth along the cliff. "Okay, we risk our lives all the time, but for good reason," he paused again, "but right now we have other options."

Benzhi knelt at the edge looking down at the Trolls who milled about, frustrated they could not reach their prey and not willing to climb or backtrack. 

 "You don't like running away do you?" Gisael asked.

 She had correctly guessed why he was venting, Benzhi hadn't even realised it until she mentioned it. 

 "No, I do not," he said calming down, "we have to be sure they do not follow into the Alpine Forest though."

 "How is your finger?" Reyas asked.

 "It will be fine," Benzhi answered, "I just need time to sit and heal. We do not need to maim another Troll for study, I think I have enough to work with." Benzhi had changed his mind, if they could easily syphon off one Troll to study was one thing. To take on fourteen was another.

 The Vanguard headed north, keeping as close to the coastline as possible. When they reached the border of the Alpine Forest, they waited until dark. No Trolls had appeared. None had followed this far. 

 During the early hours of the night, the Vanguard headed to the border camp, it only took an hour from where they lay in wait to travel to the temporary camp where Sakaala and Zoastria waited. Setting a sentry, to watch out for Trolls, they rested until morning.

  By mid-morning Benzhi began to relax, no Trolls had shown, which meant they had lost the scent, there is no way it would have taken the Trolls this long to reach them if they hadn't. Benzhi resumed qi healing his little finger. He had regrown it to the last knuckle before the tip. He inhaled deeply and drew qi from his shield, focusing on the task at hand he began to heal. 

  After an hour he was sweating from concentration, Benzhi had worked out the seven main bubble types, although a Troll naturally did hundreds of types, he had an understanding of skin, muscle, bone, tissue, sinew, nerve and blood vessel. What he did not have a grasp of where the many organs in the body especially complicated ones like the eyes and the most complex of all, the brain. 

 Benzhi wiggled his little finger, other than feeling tender, and fairly useless, which was normal, it felt fine.

 He stood, stretching. Even though he had used stored qi from his shield the sheer concentration required was taxing. The shield had not been that useful against the Trolls, but even if he didn't use it in combat, it was a treasure just from its ability to store qi.

  "We called the Gatherers for no reason, they will not be able to avoid the Trolls," Benzhi discussed with the group. "How many cores did you harvest in the end?" He asked Zoastria.

 "This bag is almost full, I think several hundred small stones," Zoastria said.

  "This is very good, Thank you Zoastria and Sakaala," Benzhi said bowing. The bag was heavy, it was the size of a large backpack filled with marble sized cores. Added together they were larger than the Feral Core.

 The group waited for the Gatherers to arrive before turning them around and heading back to the Glade together. 

 The Vanguard arrived back at the Glade with much fanfare. They had not visited since the aftermath of the small war with Vaugend.

 Benzhi thanked everyone in turn for their efforts and their help. The Fae had always done everything he had requested. No matter how much of an inconvenience it was to them. Granted most of the time he was fighting to protect them, but things like crafting thousands of arrows must be out of the ordinary for them.

 The village in the trees was coming along nicely, it had been almost two months since the creation of the Alpine Forest and the Fae builders had constructed a few dwellings and a couple of large platforms in the understory. It would probably take them a couple of years to build twenty dwellings, walkways, platforms and other communal buildings for the fifty or so Fae. 

 After all the small talk, with thirty or so Fae, Benzhi faced Ailen.

 Ailen looked at the ground. Avoiding eye contact with Benzhi.

 "Hello Ailen," Benzhi started.

 Ailen mumbled something. His left arm was missing, a stump protruded from his shoulder.

 "I have no words to express my feelings for your bravery and loss," Benzhi said, he did not want to bring up their parting when he headed south.

 Ailen lifted his head suddenly, looking at Benzhi with fierceness, tears, and sorrow in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something and nothing came out.

 "When we," Benzhi indicated Gisael and Reyas, "heard what you had done and what it had cost you, we set ourselves a quest."

 Ailen asked softly, "what quest?" 

 "To heal you," Benzhi replied quietly.

 Ailen just stared at him. Confusion in his eyes and stance, then hope rising in his chest. "What must I do?" asked Ailen.

 "Nothing, you have already done it," Benzhi answered.

 "I have never hated anyone," Ailen said suddenly, "but I hated that you left me behind and then I hated myself."

 Benzhi didn't know what to say. He waited for Ailen to continue.

 "When the portals came, I..." Ailen choked up, "I knew I must fight the abominations. I fought them with everything I had and through those battles, I stopped hating myself. It is not right for one of the people, or a Guardian, to hate anything but that which threatens the Forest." It was all coming out of Ailen now. Everyone was quiet, listening.

 "Then Skandvord died, he was so brave, so fierce," tears were streaming down Ailen's face.

 After a while, Ailen composed himself somwhat and he continued, "I became careless and an elder spider, one of the poisonous ones, bit my arm. I should have removed the poison right away, but I was reckless and kept fighting," he paused again, taking a few breaths. "By the time I got help, it was too late and I had to lose my arm to save my life."

 "Now I no longer hate myself. I no longer hate being left behind. Now I have found peace." Ailen said and there was another silence.

  Benzhi nodded, "I hear what you have been through. You are a better man than me Ailen. I once was injured and I lost my way, I did not handle it as well as you have. If anyone deserves to be healed, to have their body restored, it is you." This was one topic Benzhi could certainly relate to Ailen.

  "Let us depart to the Seer's cave. I will need to draw on power from the Core and I do not wish to do it whilst underwater," Benzhi laughed.

 The Vanguard and Ailen departed immediately for the Seer's cave. They rested in a Haven as night fell, several hours out from the Seer's cave. Benzhi had brought the pack full of cores from the trollkin and the larger Troll core that Gisael had harvested. As the others prepared a fire and food, Benzhi meditated on the task ahead. 

 Everyone now knew what he intended to do. If he failed it would be disastrous, especially for Ailen. He was feeling the pressure, the burden. But he was determined, he knew this could be done, it was just a matter of will.

 They rested for the night and when morning broke Benzhi addressed Gisael and Reyas. 

 "I want you to go to the Dwarven stronghold. The qi healing will take many days and you will just be sitting around waiting. I will join you at the Stoneskin Clans home when we are done," Benzhi said.

  "But we are part of this quest," Reyas said.

  "I know and you still are. There is something I want you to do while we attempt the healing," Benzhi requested, "when fighting the Trolls, and before that the hellhounds, we were at a disadvantage due to our weapons. Especially if we fight something large. The dwarf weapons can really make a difference, especially with you Reyas. I want you to practice with large axes and spears. You need to ask Barrin to watch you train and to craft you weapons to use."

 Reyas nodded, understanding.

 "When you have a weapon from Barrin, you will be able to supply it qi and it will be like qi blade, without having the ability. It will make a big difference, trust me. Come to think of it, we should ask Gleig and Nasven to spend time with the Stoneskin master crafters. If they can learn to craft armour, like the Duke had, that would be useful to not just us, but to all the Gaels. Ask Barrin if he can do this," Benzhi said.

 Reyas nodded.

 Gisael asked, "is there a weapon I should train?"

 Benzhi said, "you are smart, you work it out." He smirked.

 Gisael stared at him flatly, "perhaps something to wipe that smirk off your face."

 Benzhi relented, "you are almost perfect Gisael. You have a bow and arrows to carry already and you have qi blade. The only thing I can think of is something for your offhand when you are using qi blade. You choose, a small ebony shield from Paphyra or some sort of small blade from the dwarves."

 "You make the shield look gauche, I will see if a small blade is more elegant," Gisael replied.

 Benzhi hugged the women in turn, "wish me luck," he said.

 "Ye do not need luck Benzhi the brave," Reyas giggled at her joke, he hated being called that.

 "Do not fail," Gisael said straight-faced, she was teasing but she also meant it deep down.

  Benzhi and Ailen arrived at the Seer's cave later that morning.

  The Seer welcomed them, "come in, come in. It be the day for the healing?"

  "Tomorrow," said Benzhi, "today I add a few hundred spawn cores to the Core." With that statement, Benzhi set about merging core after core. He planned on drawing power from the Land Core and these small spawn Cores were necessary to sustain the Land Core. Benzhi hoped they would end up net positive, the Land Cores were extremely concentrated in power and he needed that to power for the domain.

 As the day passed, Benzhi adding the small cores, he chatted with the Seer. Ailen listened quietly, while Benzhi filled him in on the events with the trollkin, Trolls and what he had discovered with qi healing techniques.

 The rest of the day and night Benzhi meditated, visualising the patterns of qi he had used when he regrew his pinky and what he had witnessed the Troll and trollkin forming.

 The Land Core was burgeoning with power, what was the Mountain Core, which was now part of a nexus forming the Alpine Forest, was by far the most powerful Core. Even more so after Benzhi added with spawn cores. Benzhi positioned himself next to the Land Core with Ailen in front of him. 

 "Ailen, we need to connect, you need to try and reach out to me with your qi," Benzhi instructed. This was the first hurdle, he had only been able to heal Reyas because they were connected if he couldn't connect with Ailen this quest would fail before he had even started the qi healing attempt.

 A tiny stream reached out from Ailen's core, Benzhi saw it immediately with his qi sight, and reached out himself. He connected with Ailen.

 A flood of emotions followed, Ailen was extremely anxious and confused. Despite their talk he still had unresolved issues, Benzhi could tell. Nothing was ever simple.

 Benzhi reached out to the Land Core, merging with it, drawing qi from it the same way he did from his shield. He sent the qi into Ailen, through the connection, and began to create the qi healing bubbles, hundreds of them at the surface of Ailen's stump.

 Benzhi concentrated on the process, for what seemed days, he was tiring and had to break before he collapsed. Benzhi blinked breaking the two connections and opened his eyes to normal sight. He had been in qi sight for so long it was like waking up from a dark room and coming into the light. 

 "I am so hungry," Benzhi said to no one in particular. It was dark outside the cave so Benzhi asked, "how long have we been at it?"

 "Well it was light and now it is dark," replied the Seer. 

 Benzhi looked at Ailen, his arm had grown past his elbow and what looked like to be a freshly severed stump was what stood as his forearm. "Wow," Benzhi said. "I knew it was going well, but, that is a lot more than I expected. 

 Ailen was sleeping. 

 "I had to give him knock out potion," the Seer explained, "the pain was too much and he didnae want to disturb ye."

  "Ah," said Benzhi. After eating some of the Seer's interesting foodstuffs, Benzhi too got some sleep. He would usually meditate for half the night, but his brain was overtaxed, so he slept the whole night through as well.

 The next morning Benzhi woke to groans from Ailen.

 "It hurts," Ailen said.

 "'av some more of this," said the Seer.

 "Wait," said Benzhi, "we need to establish the connection first." Then he realised he still had the connection with Ailen, that is what woke him up, the pain had come through.

 "Nevermind, we are good to go," Benzhi stated.

 Benzhi spent the entire day qi healing Ailen. The amounts of qi he used were enormous, if it had come from his qi core it would have been thirty or even fifty times the size of his core. Fortunately, with all the cores harvested so far, it barely made a dent in the Land Core, consuming what would be the equivalent of a hundred trollkin cores. 

 It was dark again when Benzhi opened his eyes. If he had stood, to walk around, he was pretty sure he would have fallen over. He had taxed his mental capacity to the limit. A full wave of exhaustion only hit him when he left the merged state with the Core. 

 "Let's see it," Benzhi asked, he was certain it was done, but he needed to see it.

 There lay Ailen, with a full normal arm and a new pink one. Benzhi sighed. Thank goodness, it looked normal, they body remembered what it looked like and probably used Ailen's DNA to instruct the characteristics of the arm. It wasn't purple or blue, or extremely hairy, it looked like Ailen's arm except for the fact it was brand new and slightly discoloured. Which would pass? Hopefully.

 Ailen was still asleep. The Seer had kept feeding him a potion designed to send him unconscious. Benzhi hoped there would be no lasting damage for overdosing on that potion, whatever the hell was in it.

 "Benzhi," the Seer said, "we must talk."

 "Hmm?" Benzhi replied and yawned, he was extremely tired.

  The Seer sighed, "it can wait until tomorrow. Rest, tomorrow send Ailen away and we shall talk."

 "Okay," Benzhi replied and went to sleep.

 The next day, Benzhi did as the Seer asked. After celebrating with Ailen, he asked him to return to the Glade, celebrate with the people, before renewing his training. 

 Ailen hugged Benzhi. "Thank you, I can.."

 "Say nothing," Benzhi interrupted. "There is no need to thank anyone. Well, perhaps Gisael for killing the trollkins and completing the quest with our assistance, you know how needy she is for compliments."  

 Ailen laughed. Oh, it has been so long since he heard that sound.

 Ailen left for the Glade.

 Benzhi turned to the Seer, who was waiting patiently, and asked, "what is so sensitive that Ailen could not be privy?"

 The Seer sighed and stated, "Benzhi, ye see my face, it is but one sign. Me body is diseased, I dinnae 'av long to live."

  Benzhi was taken aback. He never imagined the Seer was in poor health. The assumed the disfigured face just went with the territory of being the Seer.

 "Is there anything I can do?" Benzhi asked.

 The Seer smiled, "Oh, ye are a good lad, aint ye," he was then silent for a long time, deep in thought. Before finally asking, "do ye think ye could qi heal me?"

 Benzhi shook his head, regrowing an arm was one thing, but a disease? Where would he start? Perhaps he could repair damaged tissue, destroy any suspect parts and then regrow.

 Finally, Benzhi said, "it is not something I have done, but I know a few tricks we could try. Are you prepared to gamble? I would be experimenting with qi healing techniques on you? Do you have long to live? Is there any potions you know that would help?"

 "Stop, stop," said the Seer. "I dinnae 'av long." The Seer sighed and breathed deeply.

 The Seer was silent a long time again. He stared directly at Benzhi and said, "I have been waiting for you. Of all the subjects you and only you have shown progress in this area. If you help me now, I promise I will help you."

 "Who the fuck are you?" Benzhi asked. 

Chapter end