by A F Kay
“Your heart is the only Meridian you’ve Fortified, right?” Ruwen asked.
“Is this going to be a lecture? Because my parents –”
Ruwen waved the spike back and forth. “No. I think the Fortifying we did at home translates into armor here.”
“It’s doing something with its light,” Lylan said.
Ruwen handed the wolverine’s hand to Lylan, and she gave him back the arm. “That light is Spirit, and it’s power here. That hook is full of it and might penetrate its armor.”
Lylan took the wolverine’s hand and gripped it through the fingers like the hand was her own, and the glowing wrist-hook almost looked like it protruded from her wrist.
“Sift you should use Io. My guess is he’ll cut through almost anything here,” Ruwen said.
Sift removed Io, and Ruwen looked away from the dense light.
“It’s tensing to jump. Looks like it decided to fight,” Lylan said.
Ruwen tried to relax his muscles. “If you see the orb above its knee pulse, a stone attack is coming. The shoulder orb will cause an air attack.”
“What are you going to fight with?” Sift asked.
Ruwen dropped the arm and the spike and looked at his hands. “I have an idea.”
Sift groaned but couldn’t comment as both the Stone and Air Meridians flashed on the wolverine, and the world turned into a rock storm.
Chapter 4
Ruwen hadn’t expected the wolverine to combine two Meridians, and he flinched as dust and small rocks struck him. His body, Fortified to Copper, resisted all the flying stones, and they bounced off his skin. Lylan and Sift were not as fortunate, and Ruwen could see rocks lodged in their bodies.
“Fall back!” Ruwen yelled and then dashed toward the wolverine.
The wolverine had filled its entire remaining arm with Spirit. Ruwen could no longer see the smaller Air Meridian now that brighter Spirt from the wolverine’s center surrounded it. Ruwen guessed this would strengthen the wolverine’s arm, and he wouldn’t be able to tear it off like he had the wolverine’s other arm.
The wolverine jabbed at Ruwen with the spike, and he knocked it away with a circular block. He had practiced the same movement thousands of times with Sift. Instead of following the block with a punch to the face or chest, Ruwen angled his blow downward, striking the middle of the wolverine’s right thigh.
Ruwen hoped to break the leg or disrupt the connection between the Stone Meridian and the wolverine’s center. His fist sank an inch into the wolverine’s flesh, but Ruwen’s Strength wasn’t high enough to penetrate any further. Too late, he realized he should have flattened his hand into a spear to lessen the surface area.
The wolverine’s arm slammed into Ruwen’s head, and he worried for a moment that the blow had sheared his head from his body. He stumbled to the side, dazed, but no debuffs appeared. It seemed nothing could cause a notification here.
Ruwen kept his feet and regained his balance quickly, another benefit of his Copper body. While not able to sever the Stone Meridian’s connection, Ruwen had still injured the wolverine, and the swirling rock-storm stopped. The wolverine glared at him while the foot-long tubes gyrated under its nose.
The Spirit in the wolverine’s chest grew fainter, but after a moment, Ruwen realized it was just being pushed throughout the wolverine’s body, and the lowered concentration had caused the dimming. Evidently, the wolverine wanted to strengthen its entire body.
Ten feet separated them, but Ruwen didn’t want to attack first. He needed to learn some offensive Steps and branch out from the block and punch he’d learned so far. He’d ask Sift about it if they survived this. If Ruwen could keep the wolverine’s focus, his friends could ambush it.
Ruwen observed the process, hoping to find a clue as to how the wolverine manipulated Spirit like that. Ruwen had to place his body into the appropriate Meridian pose to get Spirit to flow to a specific area. Not practical in a fight.
Not only that, but the wolverine’s two Meridians had something in them that differed from the Spirit in its center. Was the substance in the Meridians still Spirit? How did you get Spirit inside a Meridian? And what was the purpose? Whatever filled those Meridians, it appeared the wolverine used them when it cast spells.
Ruwen quickly looked around for Sift and Lylan but didn’t see them. The two were experts in stealth, even without magic, and he wasn’t surprised he couldn’t find them. He hoped they were okay and that the rock storm hadn’t knocked them unconscious. Since he didn’t know where they were, he just yelled.
“The glowing stuff makes it stronger. Make holes, so it leaks out,” Ruwen shouted.
The wolverine took a step toward Ruwen, favoring the leg Ruwen had injured. Probably sensing Ruwen’s reluctance to engage, the wolverine placed its tail against the ground and jumped. But instead of landing in front of Ruwen, the wolverine sailed over him. He twisted around, expecting an attack, but the wolverine had continued moving. A few moments later, Ruwen understood.
The wolverine picked up the arm Ruwen had dropped and placed it against its shoulder. Spirit stopped leaking and trickled into the arm. After a second, the wolverine let go of the arm and picked up the spike, which it replaced on its arm. It still didn’t have its hand, but as the arm and spike filled with Spirit, Ruwen realized the wolverine had regained a weapon. Ruwen had made a mistake by leaving the pieces lying on the ground.
The wolverine squeezed the stump of his missing hand. Spirit pooled there as it stopped leaking. The wolverine rotated its newly replaced arm and then faced Ruwen. The mouth tubes reached out toward Ruwen, and he shivered in disgust.
The Spirit flowing into the arm must have sped the bonding process since the wolverine’s arm looked usable now. House Captain Juva’s two halves certainly hadn’t meshed that quickly.
If Sift and Lylan were nearby, and not injured, they were probably waiting for Ruwen to create a distraction so they could attack safely. Ruwen relaxed his muscles as best he could and stepped forward.
The wolverine raised its arms, glowing spikes pointed at Ruwen. It spoke, the words sounding like Sift with a mouthful of food, and Ruwen couldn’t understand it. Not having access to his Hey You ability was already affecting him. Somehow it made the predicament they were in more real.
Ruwen took another step closer. The wolverine bent its knees, lowering its center of gravity, and placed its legs in line with its shoulders. Ruwen paused, shocked. The wolverine had just put itself into the first Step. Had the creature trained in Unarmed Combat? Or was it just a coincidence?
The wolverine’s tail rested against the ground behind it, strengthening its stance.
“That’s unfair,” Ruwen said, wishing he had something to steady him.
The wolverine responded, but again, Ruwen couldn’t understand it.
A movement behind the wolverine caught Ruwen’s eye, but he ignored it, not wanting to give away his friends. Nak, who lay in two pieces behind Ruwen, had seen Ruwen’s expression at The Fainting Goat and been warned of Ky’s presence. The bar, and all Ruwen’s many mistakes, still haunted him, and he needed to do better.
Ruwen wanted to keep the wolverine distracted. He took another step closer, the distance between them now mere feet, and also sank into the first Step.
Knowing Sift couldn’t respond, Ruwen smiled. He could distract the wolverine and have some fun at the same time. “Beware! My Sisen is a great monkey master. And while he mostly sits and smells his armpits, I’ve managed to learn his secret form. Fear the…” Ruwen stepped forward and threw a punch with his right arm while screaming. “Poop Chucker!”
The wolverine swept Ruwen’s arm away with a block and lunged forward with the spike on his right arm. Just like the wheel he’d practiced with Sift, Ruwen blocked the arm, pushing it to the side.
Using the momentum of Ruwen’s block, the wolverine continued to turn, rotating its entire body. Too late, Ruwen understood what the creature meant to do.
The wolverine’s tail
slammed into Ruwen’s right side, throwing him to the ground. Pain radiated outward from the impact, but Ruwen’s breathing remained normal, and it meant he’d probably avoided breaking his ribs.
Using the techniques Sift had beat into him, Ruwen rolled as he struck the ground, and quickly regained his feet. He faced the wolverine, his hands in front of him, ready to block any additional attacks.
But the wolverine remained facing away from Ruwen. When it had turned to strike Ruwen with its tail, it had seen Sift and Lylan behind it, and now readied itself to fight them instead.
Ruwen cursed. He had been trying to keep the wolverine distracted. Spirit seeped into the tail, and Ruwen knew the extra appendage would be even more dangerous enhanced like that.
“Poop Chucker form?” Sift asked as he held Io out in front of him.
Ruwen squinted at the painful blue light coming from Io. The wolverine stared at the weapon, almost like it had been put in a trance. It ignored Lylan who crouched fifteen feet to Sift’s right. The wolverine’s mouth tubes kept snapping forward toward Sift, jerking the wolverine’s head each time.
“Seems like something you’d be good at,” Ruwen said. “I think it really likes Io, too.”
Sift held the dagger out to his side, and the wolverine’s gaze remained locked on it.
“Looks that way,” Sift said.
“That gives me an idea,” Ruwen said.
“Do you ever not have an idea?” Lylan asked.
Sift rotated Io in a circle, watching the wolverine’s response. “Exactly. Do I tell you every idea that comes into my head?”
The wolverine took a step toward Sift and Io.
“I’m not sure much happens in there,” Ruwen said. “Plus, this is a good idea.”
“You always say that,” Sift said.
“Well, you better do it quickly,” Lylan said.
“Okay, close your eyes for three seconds,” Ruwen said.
Sift groaned and muttered, “Terrible ideas.”
The wolverine’s reaction to Io made Ruwen think the Spirit denseness of the weapon was like showing a starving dog a sliver of meat. Rami had told him Io’s Spirit denseness ranked third in their group, behind Ruwen and Rami. Ruwen figured the wolverine wouldn’t be able to control itself when it saw a steak.
As soon as Sift and Lylan closed their eyes, Ruwen pulled up his shirt. The cavern lit up like the sun had appeared, and the shadows of his friends looked like giants on the far wall.
The wolverine’s head jerked violently to the side as the tubes from its mouth twisted in a frenzy. Ruwen barely had time to pull his shirt down when the wolverine struck him. If there had been any intelligence in the creature’s eyes, it had disappeared, replaced by fevered eyes of pure need.
The wolverine reared back, dragged its hook across Ruwen’s throat, and stabbed him in the chest with the spike from its handless arm. Ruwen staggered backward, not feeling any pain, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t taken any damage. He wished his Health bar worked.
The suddenness of the attack surprised Ruwen, but he had wanted to get the creature’s attention. He didn’t feel it was that risky since the previous hook had been filled with Spirit, and it had barely penetrated his Copper body. The wolverine had only diluted its Spirit by distributing it within its body. If anything, the attacks should be weaker.
Instead of a fist, this time Ruwen straightened his hand and jammed it like a dagger into the thigh of the wolverine, in the same place he’d punched earlier. The Spirit-infused leg of the wolverine resisted for a moment but then separated from the pressure exerted by Ruwen’s fingers, which had been Fortified to Silver.
The wolverine threw its head back, and Lylan appeared, dragging the wolverine’s own hook across its exposed throat. Spirit spilled out of the gaping wound, covering Ruwen like blood. A heartbeat later, Io descended in an arc of blue-grey light, the movement of Sift’s strike so fast Ruwen saw the attack as a blur. The wolverine’s left arm fell from its body, and the two thin veins that ran from the Air Meridian to the wolverine’s center shot Spirit into the air.
Ruwen’s hand struck something hard and round in the wolverine’s leg, and he realized they were the thin tubes that connected the Stone Meridian to the wolverine’s center. Wrapping his fingers around them, Ruwen yanked his hand back.
The wolverine thrashed, but remained silent, even though it looked to be in agony. Spirit filled the air around them like a glowing fog.
Power, Fractal said.
Does that help you? Ruwen asked the dungeon.
Yesss.
Lylan ran her hook along the wolverine’s throat again and the head fell to the ground. The headless body fought on and jammed the spike from the handless right arm into Ruwen’s face.
The spike didn’t penetrate Ruwen’s skin, but it pushed the wraps up, exposing his face. The ceiling lit up, the headless shadow flailing like a mad puppet across its surface.
Io emerged from the wolverine’s chest, and in a blink, rose to the creature’s neck, shearing it in half. Spirit, no longer with a vessel to hold it, flowed like water around Ruwen and onto the dungeon floor. Vapors swirled in the air and drifted toward Sift, who stood with his arm over his eyes.
Ruwen quickly fixed the wraps on his face and the room darkened back to its original twilight.
As the Spirit left the wolverine’s body, its movements grew slower and weaker. Sift held Io in his right hand and grabbed the wolverine with his left, trying to pull the creature off Ruwen. With a last surge, the wolverine brought its tail up and into Sift’s armpit, slicing through Sift’s unfortified skin.
Sift’s arm dropped to the ground.
Chapter 5
Sift gasped in pain and stumbled backward. Lylan caught Sift and held him steady. Ruwen slid out from underneath the wolverine and pushed himself up. He picked up Sift’s arm, pulled the sleeve off it, and strode toward his friend.
“Hold him still,” Ruwen said to Lylan. “I don’t know if this makes it hurt worse.”
Ruwen pressed the arm against Sift’s shoulder.
Sift winced. “Shade’s first rule: a hand offered to a fool costs an arm.”
Ruwen stared at Sift. “Are you calling me a fool? And did you just make that up?” Ruwen looked at Lylan. “Did he just make that up?”
Lylan held Sift with one hand and applied pressure to the severed arm with the other. “There are so many, it’s hard to know.”
Sift wavered on his feet but didn’t cry out. “This really hurts.”
Ruwen took Io from Sift’s right hand and placed the dagger in its sheath. Lylan had pulled the glowing bone hook out of the wolverine’s wrist. The hook hung on her belt, and the hand wasn’t visible.
The arm hadn’t reattached to Sift like Ruwen had hoped. They would have to try something else.
“I have an idea,” Ruwen said.
Sift groaned.
“Stop doing that,” Ruwen said. “Sit down and cross your legs.”
Lylan helped Sift sit, and Ruwen kneeled in front of him. Now that Sift couldn’t fall, Lylan used both hands to press the severed arm against Sift. Ruwen reached down, grabbed Sift’s left hand, and raised it to Sift’s right shoulder. The severed arm now lay diagonally across Sift’s chest.
Ruwen leaned back, sitting on his feet. “That wolverine used Spirit to strengthen and heal itself. I want you to do the same.”
Sift locked eyes with Ruwen. “Seriously? You saw the control it had. I am literally the opposite of that.”
Ruwen pointed at Sift’s heart. “But you got that to Jade.”
“Is that why you put me in this pose?” Sift asked. “So I can Fortify my Air Meridian?”
Ruwen ignored the sarcastic questions. “You absorbed some Spirit leaking from the wolverine, so I know you have some in there. Move it to your arm.”
Lylan looked confused. “What is a Meridian, and how is that going to help him?”
Sift closed his eyes, and Ruwen hoped that meant Sift had started the Forti
fying process.
Ruwen met Lylan’s eyes. “You saw the smaller balls of light in the wolverine, right? The one near the bicep and the one in the thigh?”
Lylan nodded.
Ruwen continued. “Those were actual Meridians. I don’t know how to get Spirit in them yet, or if the Spirit changes somehow inside them, but it doesn’t matter, because Sift isn’t trying to fill the actual Meridian.”
Sift spoke up, his eyes still closed. “I couldn’t do that even if I wanted. You all saw at the lake. The paths to my Meridians are a mass of dead ends. I don’t know much, but I know you can’t fill a Meridian if you don’t have a path connecting it to your center.”
“Stop listening to us and move your Spirit,” Ruwen said. He looked back at Lylan. “The body is divided into twelve areas, and each has a Meridian. Sift’s left shoulder, arm, and hand are all associated with his Air Meridian.”
“I still don’t understand,” Lylan said.
Ruwen stared at Sift. “Even though Sift can’t place Spirit inside the Air Meridian, he can still funnel Spirit to the area surrounding the Meridian. Doing that makes that area stronger. It’s called Fortifying.”
Sift opened his eyes. “This is pointless. It took me years of daily Fortifying to get my heart to Jade. Without being able to find my center, the process just takes too long.”
“But we saw your center at the Lake,” Lylan said.
Sift sighed. Ruwen hadn’t thought Sift could look in any more pain, but he was wrong.
“But Sift can’t feel it, and so getting Spirit out is hard,” Ruwen said.
Ruwen thought about his early attempts, not that long ago, in Blapy. He had the luxury of knowing exactly where his center sat, and it had still been difficult. It had only gotten better when he’d started the breathing techniques.
“Did your parents teach you any special ways to breathe when Fortifying?” Ruwen asked.
Sift nodded.
“Show me,” Ruwen said.
Sift looked uncomfortable. “It’s supposed to be a secret.”