The Two Week Curse

by Michael Chatfield

  “What did you add to it?” Rugrat asked.

  “I took saline solution, mixed it with healing powder and injected it into the IV. It shouldn’t create any problems.” Erik pulled out another three needles. “These are weak Novice-grade healing potions. If things are going badly, use these in the IV to boost my healing ability. If that doesn’t work, inject it straight into my neck.”

  “Your body is going to be in the bath. How will you hook up an IV?” Rugrat asked.

  “You’ll hook it up, and it’s going to go into my neck.”

  Rugrat’s head recoiled back, his lips pressed together. He looked like an offended lama. “Dat’s fucked.”

  “Thanks for the confidence boost,” Erik muttered. “Fucking support lama.”

  “Who’s a lama—you’re a lama!”

  Erik put the items on a table and put the IV bag on a stand next to the tub.

  Rugrat took his time, checking everything and then moving to the IV. He put on gloves and sanitized Erik’s neck as he had Erik sit down in the tub and look at the ceiling. His hands were steady as he inserted the needle. Blood appeared as he advanced it a bit more, seating the catheter properly. He taped it down, removing the needle and attaching the IV tube before taping that down as well.

  Rugrat checked everything once again.

  “Good?” Erik asked.

  “Good,” Rugrat said. There was no playing left.

  “Thanks, Rugrat.” Erik had a rare moment of vulnerability. His brother had been the reason he was here, the reason he hadn’t taken his life back on Earth. His debt to Rugrat wasn’t simple.

  “Anytime, brother.” Rugrat pat Erik’s shoulder. There was no need for complicated words between them.

  Erik let out a shaky breath before he pulled out the snake poison sac and handed it to Rugrat.

  Rugrat put it to the side and applied Wraith’s Touch around Erik’s neck.

  Erik had a moment of fear as the feeling of nothingness returned. It was the same as when he had lost his limbs in Africa. He took deep breaths as Rugrat let some of the snake poison enter the water.

  They waited as the poison diffused through the water. It started attacking Erik’s skin, burning it. Erik didn’t feel anything and just watched as he started using his Minor Wounds Heal spell.

  Rugrat could see what Erik was seeing, one hand on Erik’s head, the other on the poison sac. Slowly, he increased the dosage.

  The poison was more of an acid than poison. It broke down Erik’s skin, and then moved through to his veins. His tempered blood fought back, but this was a much stronger poison than anything it had dealt with before.

  Erik decreased his Minor Wounds Heal. He didn’t want to heal too much too fast, otherwise the poison might not go through his entire system.

  The poison moved through his muscles. Erik’s body slumped; still, he held off from pouring out all of his Mana in healing.

  The poison moved to his organs.

  His entire body was shutting down now.

  Erik found it hard to concentrate as his brain was being deprived.

  Rugrat increased the poison concentration and used Focused Heal on Erik’s brain, clearing his thoughts and allowing him to function fully.

  Rugrat put the poison sac away.

  Erik’s entire body was now falling apart below the neck. The water turned red as his muscles and skin were dissolved. Erik’s face showed strange fluctuations.

  Rugrat opened up the IV. The healing solution entered Erik’s neck and started to move through his body.

  Erik didn’t hold back anymore as a healing spell formation appeared on his forehead.

  His body was trying to fight back against the poison. It was like building levees in the midst of a flood, trying to slow a flood that was already happening.

  Rugrat focused on maintaining Erik’s brain, keeping him conscious. He grabbed a needle filled with healing potion; he had it inserted into the IV drip assembly, ready to push the plunger at a moment’s notice.

  Erik started to panic as he saw that nothing was happening with his healing spell and the regeneration powder solution.

  Thankfully, he didn’t feel the pain as he concentrated his mind, eliminating the random thoughts. Fight, mother fucker, fight! You going to let some kind of poison kill you?

  Erik used a burst of healing power. His entire body was coming apart; the water was fizzing slightly and colored red with blood.

  The Mana in the room was stirred up under the two’s draw.

  Rugrat changed spells, using Minor Wounds Heal to assist Erik. Rugrat let out a low grunt. His eyes flashed as his Mana channels lit up. Erik might be a Mana Lord, but Rugrat was like a duke, able to move an army with a single word.

  Power rushed into Erik’s body. His body started showing concentrated signs of fighting back. Every time he advanced slightly, the virulent poison would destroy it.

  Erik’s body was in a state of rebirth, trying to advance and being destroyed. Each time it regrew, it would become stronger, evolving to fight the poison.

  Rugrat couldn’t hold off any longer and injected the needle of healing solution into the IV drip.

  The pink saline solution took on a deeper red appearance as Erik’s body increased the speed that it was destroyed and rebuilt.

  Rugrat grabbed another needle, ready to act as he watched.

  The room was whipped up into a frenzy as threads of Mana could be seen, drawn in through the Mana gates of the duo.

  The Mana in a thirty-meter radius was stirred up as those passing the Village Hall backed away, feeling uncomfortable.

  Erik and Rugrat might not be moving but they were fighting one of the hardest battles in their lives, with Erik’s life on the line.

  There was no time for them to care about what was happening around them.

  Finally, Erik’s body wasn’t being torn apart anymore and was actually stabilizing. It wasn’t regrowing, but it wasn’t being destroyed anymore.

  Rugrat was surprised at the tenacity of Erik’s body. His tempered blood and heart acted as the framework for the rest of his body. With each beat of his heart, the vitality of his body started to increase.

  Erik’s organs that had failed long ago started to show signs of life. It wasn’t sudden, but an incredibly slow progression. Still, Rugrat watched, not letting his concentration waver in the slightest, not putting down the needle filled with healing potion.

  As Erik’s body started to recover, one could sense power coming from within his organs and his muscles.

  Erik’s body had been destroyed and healed continuously, going through countless cycles of rebirth. Each time, his organs, skin, and muscles were tempered and their impurities removed. He seemed to become closer to the Ten Realms as threads of golden energy from the Ten Realms entered his body.

  Rugrat and Erik worked throughout the night.

  Rugrat could tell that Erik would be completely changed.

  Erik’s recovery ability took a leap upward as he fell into unconsciousness, the mental and physical strain too much for his mind and body to handle anymore.

  Rugrat continued to heal and watch over Erik.

  Finally, Erik’s body fully recovered, sitting in that highly concentrated poison that could no longer affect him.

  Rugrat used a storage ring to gather the poison water up. He hauled Erik out of the tub, checking his vitals again.

  Erik’s body was fine. He had just sunk into a deep sleep from the strain.

  Rugrat pulled out the IV and picked him up. “Well, at least the extra strength makes it easier to carry you.” Rugrat threw him unceremoniously over his shoulder and dropped Erik off in his bed, checking him again.

  Rugrat paused for a minute and then pulled out the needle with a healing potion. He put it in Erik’s neck and injected it. “Better safe than sorry,” Rugrat said, feeling light-headed and nauseous. “Damn, that hurts worse than that second-hand tequila from Columbia.”
r />   He went back to his room and collapsed.

  ***

  While Erik was recovering, Rugrat wasn’t sitting idly by.

  There was a muffled explosion as the room he was in exploded.

  “Do you think that there will be anything left of the Village Hall by the end of this all?” one of the guards watching over the Village Hall asked.

  “Nope,” Blaze replied.

  “I figured it out!” Rugrat yelled as he waved the dust away.

  “Is it safe to come in?” Blaze yelled through the door.

  “Yes! Come in!” Rugrat said.

  Blaze entered the room to see pure destruction. A table had been turned into splinters; the windows were blown out and people could be heard in the street.

  Rugrat, on the other hand, was studying a green gas inside a clear container.

  “Making something new?” Blaze asked with a nervous laugh.

  “Bombs, Blaze—making bombs!” Rugrat said. “I had the densities all wrong. It’s really kind of a coincidence that they went off against that Willful Institute bunch.” Rugrat half muttered the last part to himself.

  “Huh?” Blaze asked.

  “While we have defenses in place, we should always have a plan ready for when everything goes to shit, one filled with explosives and destruction. Hopefully, in the future, Erik will make different explosive substances that I can use, but for now I’ve got basically pure bomb fuel from a three-headed snake that Erik and I killed. In high densities, it will create a flame that will stick to a person and not go out until all of the fuel is consumed. Not even water will fully stop it. Though, when it’s aerosolized, with a simple spark, it makes a nice pop!” Rugrat waved around, indicating the room.

  Blaze couldn’t help his laugh at the simple “pop.”

  “Now, if I could find a mechanism to spread the flammable liquid over a large area and then spark it, do that all around the defenses we have in one go, welcome to thermobaric weapons,” Rugrat said, losing himself in thought.

  “Some kind of explosive charge to aerosolize, then another to set it off. Hard—don’t have the materials. Mechanical solution? Mortars? Create a tube underground, someone pulls on a string, triggers the crossbow, the bolt attached to a container shoots upward. When leaving the tube, have a claw pull off a covering; the container starts dispersing the flammable material. Disperses the liquid turned to gas all over the place. Pull a second string that is connected to containers with pressurized gas. Just like the one I made. That should send off the liquid that was dispersed first.” Rugrat paused, his eyes moving back and forth as if picturing the device he was thinking of.

  Blaze didn’t know why, but he felt distinctly less safe after hearing Rugrat’s plan.

  Chapter: Nothing To Do But Work

  Rugrat might have gone to sleep exhausted but when he woke up just a few hours later, he was filled with energy. I wonder what Erik will say when he finds out that every time one opens a Mana gate above ten, their Mana Lord title will be upgraded?

  Rugrat got up and went to check on Erik. He was fine but he was still out cold. Seeing that there was nothing to do but let him rest, Rugrat left the building and went to the main square.

  Some people were returning home after completing their shift; others were waking up and getting their meals before heading off to work.

  Rugrat detoured to the showers quickly before heading back to the main square.

  He saw that Glosil, Elise, Jasper, and Taran were all there. Sergeant Niemm was also at the table; Blaze must have been off training the heavy infantry.

  Rugrat didn’t like having to be the leader, but as his friend was down and he was the other leader of Alva Village, he grabbed his breakfast and moved to join them. “Erik’s going to be out for some time,” Rugrat said. “How’s the village?”

  The others nodded and organized their thoughts.

  “We should be done building the watchtowers in four more days. After that, everything will be focused on creating more defenses. With our current group numbers, not including the heavy infantry, we will be able to complete the defenses in another week. With them, four days, even less if we use the people from the logging camps,” Elise reported.

  It was coming down to the wire now. It was the seventh day since Erik and Rugrat had arrived. A lot had happened in that time, but Erik and Rugrat wanted the city to be ready for attacks by the ninth day. It looked as if they would be late, unless they gave up on the logging camp.

  “Break the logging camp. Everything is to be collected and the groups will be put onto construction and building defenses,” Rugrat said.

  “Yes, sir,” Elise said.

  “We have enough rations for everyone for three weeks now. We have twelve warm meals prepared ahead of time as well. With water and food supplies, we should be able to hold out for four months,” Jasper reported.

  “Good. Keep up the good work,” Rugrat commended.

  “We’ll have spears for everyone by day’s end. We’ll have twenty of the modified crossbows as well, with enough regular crossbows for everyone able to fight,” Taran said. Rugrat already knew the situation with the weapons but the others didn’t.

  Rugrat and Taran’s techniques had greatly improved over the last two days and nights. For them, it was much easier to create Novice weapons and armor; they even modified older weapons to increase their attack power and abilities.

  “It is my aim to make Apprentice-level crossbows and spears moving forward, to cut down on costs. This will mean melting down older weapons,” Taran said.

  Everyone congratulated Taran on the new skill increase to Apprentice Smith before continuing.

  “The guards have basically all become sergeants for the Alva Village protection force. Those who have showed promise among the archers have been termed sharpshooters and taken on an active role, patrolling the walls and the streets, being stationed in the completed watchtowers. When they are not on patrol, they are scouting the forests, killing more boars,” Glosil said. Now that the groundwork had been laid for the archery units, there wasn’t much more need for him to do anything but provide an early warning system for the village.

  “Captain Blaze is working with the heavy infantry, teaching them how to use their swords and shields. They will be training all of today. Tomorrow, he wants to take them out, patrolling in the forest and use the sharpshooters to lure in beasts. So far, we’ve lost seven trainees who have quit,” Sergeant Niemm said.

  “I want fourteen people who have a good grasp of first aid. It doesn’t matter their role—all I want is for them to be willing to learn. The plan is to turn them into medics like Erik so that everyone else can focus on the battle, or pass wounded over to them. They’ll heal them up and get them back in action,” Rugrat said.

  The others broke into discussion. Rugrat had some ideas on who he wanted, but he let them break it down; they knew what was happening in their different groups.

  ***

  Rugrat was working in the smithy again when someone knocked on the door.

  “The medic trainees are here,” a sergeant said.

  “Thanks.” Rugrat finished up what he was working on and then headed out to look at the fourteen people. They came from all walks of life.

  “All right, so, in this job, you’re going to see a lot of people wounded and you’re going to put them back together. Is everyone okay with blood and some nasty-ass injuries?” Rugrat asked.

  A few people turned pale.

  “That’s no problem. If you’re not good with that, go back to your work parties and have your leaders send over new people,” Rugrat said.

  Five people left. Rugrat was a bit disappointed that the leaders hadn’t truly vetted their people.

  “I will not be teaching you healing spells, or how to be an alchemist. I will be teaching you how to use needle and thread, bandages and tourniquets, different ways to apply healing powder, healing solutions as well as in-depth methods
you can use to save a life. Let’s get started.” Rugrat clapped his hands together.

  ***

  “Swords!” Blaze yelled out.

  The spears in the heavy infantry’s hands disappeared and their swords and shields appeared. They braced their shields and stabbed forward with their swords. “Hah!”

  Dust rose from their feet. They’d thoroughly trampled the ground, their actions sending out a wave of air.

  Since they had rested last night, they’d increased their levels in one shot. Their combined power couldn’t be compared to before.

  Fighting with a sword was more complicated than a spear but Blaze had broken it down, using a mix of tactics from his time in the army and what Erik had suggested to him, something about Romans and hoplites.

  Blaze looked over the groups with approval. Their reactions were better: they didn’t pause in carrying out their orders; they didn’t care who was beside them; and, although they still had close friends, they all interacted with one another.

  They’d formed a brotherhood in the last few days.

  Blaze could see the strength that was emerging from these farmers and he was excited.

  He looked over as he saw Rugrat and the sharpshooter group moving through the fields. Erik had slept for two days now; his heart twitched, nervous for the changes that Erik had gone through. Rugrat assured him that Erik was fine, but not seeing him for so long after the strange happenings from the Village Hall a few nights ago didn’t make it easy for Blaze to calm his heart.

  “Recover!” Sergeant Niemm yelled out as the sharpshooters in their armor made from boar hides looked at the heavy infantry. Their eyes seemed to be challenging the other group.

  The heavy infantry didn’t even look at them, as if they weren’t worth looking at.