by Gage Lee
“Thanks,” I said. I reached out to take Baylo’s hand, and there was an awkward moment while she debated whether or not to take it. Finally, the green warrior accepted the handshake. I was worried she might try to crush my fingers, but her grip was cool and firm.
“Yes,” she said with a shrug, “well, we don’t really have a choice in the matter, do we? We need you engineer. Don’t let it go to your head.”
“It’s not like I have much choice in the matter, either,” I said with a rueful grin. “If we don’t help you, we can’t go home.”
The fighter seemed uncertain how to respond to that. She scratched her chin, glanced at Biz, then gave me a sharp nod.
“I’ll be here at dawn,” she said. “Be up, dressed, and fed. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and the sooner we get started, the sooner we’ll be finished.”
She turned on her heel and left Biz and me all alone in our new room.
“Mom’s probably out of her mind right now,” Biz said quietly. The blue fuzzball was up by her shoulder, combing its delicate fingers through the strands of her hair. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to calm Biz or soothe himself. “I feel so guilty.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “We didn’t choose to be here. And we certainly didn’t ask to be chased around by a giant snake or get yelled at by the Tribunal for not finishing their errands. You got nothing to feel guilty about.”
Biz laced her fingers behind her head. She stared up at the ceiling, then let her eyes drift closed. I thought she’d fallen asleep like that, exhausted by the day we’d just had, until she started speaking.
“Maybe I did,” Biz chewed on her lip as she considered her next words. “I’ve wished for things to be different so many times. I always thought if I could go somewhere else, be someone else, we’d all be happier.”
A tear trickled from the corner of my sister’s eye and ran down to soak into her pillow. I’d heard Biz make those wishes during the worst stretches of her treatments. She’d suffered more than any one person should have to bear, and sometimes she’d begged for mercy from anyone or anything that heard her tearful cries.
I would’ve given anything to make that pain stop.
And now it had. So, which one of us should feel guilty?
Before today, I would’ve said neither of us. Wishing didn’t make things happen. Or, at least it hadn’t. The Ghostlight Academy had me questioning everything I’d ever believed. The yaoguai was magic. So was Biz falling asleep instead of drowning in that pool. And, now, she could breathe again.
None of it made any sense. And, yet, it was all true.
“Let’s try some of those sustenance capsules and hydration beads,” I said. “They sound delicious.”
“Okay,” Biz said, glad to be distracted. She rolled out of her bed and looked under it. “I am kinda hungry.”
My sister pulled the small chest out from underneath her bed. The wooden container was about the same size as her precious GameCube, though it was made from red-stained wood rather than plastic. Biz flipped open the brass catch on the front and raised the rectangular lid.
“Not much to look at,” I said from over my sister’s shoulder. “Looks like those green tea capsules you used to take and those weird gel beads mom put in her houseplants so she wouldn’t have to remember to water them.”
“You first,” Biz handed me a gritty capsule and smooth transparent ball.
“Down the hatch,” I said with a grin and tossed them both in my mouth.
They dissolved in the blink of an eye. They had no flavor at all, but I immediately felt an unusual surge of energy rush through my body.
>>>Your meridians are reinforced with life sustaining ghostlight. You will not require food or drink for the next twelve hours.<<<
Well, that was interesting.
“The interface says this stuff will keep you fed and watered for twelve hours,” I explained to Biz. “That’ll be handy.”
Biz nodded and downed her own pills. She closed the chest, slid it back under the bed, and crawled under the covers. Her little blue buddy nestled into the crook of Biz’s neck, its tail wrapped protectively around the top of her head. It tucked one paw under her hair and rested the other on her cheek.
“I’m beat, bro,” she yawned. “Any idea what time it is?”
>>>Approximately twenty-one hundred hours.<<<
“Around nine.” The purple light that seeped in through the blinds didn’t quite match with what I’d expect at this hour, but nothing else lined up with my expectations either. “I’m zapped, too. Feels like I ran a marathon today.”
I kicked off my sneakers, slipped under the sheets, yawned, and got kicked out of bed by Baylo.
“I told you runts to be up and ready at dawn,” the warrior snarled. “I wasn’t kidding. Get your shoes on. It’s time to see what you’re made of.”
“It can’t be morning,” Biz groaned.
“It is, and no lollygagging,” Baylo growled. “Move!”
She had us out of our room two minutes later. If I hadn’t felt so rested, I would have sworn that’s about how long I’d slept.
Baylo led us back out to the rotting meditation garden and jabbed her finger at the stone platform.
“Both of you get up on that thing,” she barked. “Face off. I want to see what you can do.”
“Against each other?” I asked. I’d spent the past five years getting stronger so she wouldn’t ever have to fight anyone. The idea that I’d fight Biz, even just kidding around, was unthinkable. “I can’t fight my sister.”
“You will, or I won’t train you.” Baylo shrugged. “I can’t fight you without killing you, and unless you want to go down into the chapel and see if your friendly neighborhood yaoguai has returned for round two, you’ll have to spar with your sister.”
Biz and I took our spots on the stone platform. I raised my hands and fell into the defensive crouch I’d learned in my kickboxing classes. My sister pumped her fists and danced from foot to foot like a cartoon boxer.
“Put ‘em up, bro,” my sister taunted. “I’ma knock your socks off.”
Biz hopped forward with surprising speed and unleashed a flurry of uncoordinated punches. The strikes were sloppy, but quick enough that I had to take a step back to give myself room to defend against them. The blows landed against my blocks harder than I’d expected from Biz. She was stronger now.
A lot stronger.
“She’s got spirit,” Baylo said. “You going to stand there and take it?”
That was exactly what I had decided to do. Biz was half my size. If my strength had increased even a fraction of what Biz had gained since we arrived at the Academy, one of my punches would knock her head off. I didn’t want Baylo to know I was throwing the fight, though, so I took a couple of half-hearted swipes at Biz.
My sister easily sidestepped those attacks and retaliated with a quick series of jabs that I was hard-pressed to keep away from my ribs and stomach. When her attacks bounced off my forearms, Biz switched tactics and threw a surprisingly powerful snap kick under my guard. Her heel tagged me hard enough to make me to wince.
“Hit her,” Baylo shouted. “Or you’ll wish you had.”
“This is stupid,” I dropped my guard and turned to face Baylo. “Knocking my sister out won’t prove anything. It’ll just make me feel like crap.”
Baylo clapped her hands together with a sharp report. She stomped up onto the stone platform and motioned for my sister to join her over in the corner. The two of them hunkered down so I couldn’t hear or see what they were up to. After a few seconds, Biz nodded, then took a deep breath. She rose onto her tiptoes as the air flowed into her lungs and filled her core with a golden glow. When she breathed out, the ghostlight she’d cultivated from that breath flowed down into her arms and wrapped her hands in glowing coils. Biz took another breath and another. Her arms glowed from her fingertips up to her shoulders. Golden fire danced around her eyes, and Baylo gave her one last bit of advice before steppin
g out of the way.
“I wouldn’t play around if I were you,” the warrior warned me as she strode back to her spot next to the platform.
Biz walked toward me without a care in the world. Her hands were low at her sides and a wide grin split her face from ear to ear. The feral fire in her eyes was unnerving over that familiar smile. It was like looking at a stranger wearing my sister’s face as a mask.
“Last chance, bro,” Biz said in a voice filled with new strength.
“I won’t hit you.” That didn’t mean I wouldn’t keep my guard up. Biz might be stronger and faster than she’d been back home, but there was no way my little sister was going to take me down in a sparring match, glowy magic hands or not.
“Here comes the number one,” Baylo called a warning.
Biz’s first punch floated toward me like a lazy slow-pitch softball. The hooking shot gave me plenty of time to bring my left arm up to intercept it. I caught Biz’s right fist on my left forearm long before it could reach my chin.
The impact threw my arm to the side and sent shockwaves rippling up through my shoulder. I felt the powerful strike in my chest and, a split second later, against the side of my head. If Biz’s aim had been any better, she would have knocked me out cold. As it was, I still staggered away from her and covered my head with my hands, ducking low to protect my face with my elbows.
“And number two.” Baylo seemed very pleased with herself.
A second punch blasted into my unprotected right side and knocked the wind out of my lungs. My legs went limp, and my knees hit the stones. The shock of what had just happened was more overwhelming than the physical pain of the attack. I looked up at my sister’s triumphant face and saw something wild and dangerous there.
>>>You have sustained critical fatigue damage. Additional fatigue damage will convert to physical damage. Caution is advised.<<<
“Give him some space,” Baylo called. “You don’t hit your enemies when they’re down. Unless they’re the Fell. Then kick their skulls in before they get back up.”
Biz’s shocking power had turned my world upside down. I took a few seconds to circulate my breath and fill my core with ghostlight. The celestial energy banished the pain in my skull and ribs with miraculous speed, though I still felt woozy and stunned. When Biz offered me her hand, I gladly took the help to get back on my feet.
“You have to show me that trick,” I said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“It’s not a trick,” Baylo corrected me. “It’s the power of ghostlight. Go ahead and teach him how to do it, Biz.”
My sister frowned. She didn’t want to give up her edge to me. Until she’d knocked me on my butt, Biz had always been the weakest one in our family. She liked being stronger than me.
“The ghostlight in your core is fuel,” Biz reluctantly explained. “You can direct it to different parts of your body to give them a boost. Push it into your arms to hit harder, into your legs and you can run faster or jump higher.”
“Okay,” I said. “That’s what I did when I fought the yaoguai. But that didn’t make my hands light up like yours.”
“That’s because charging up your body is the easiest and weakest way to use your ghostlight.” Biz grinned and stoked the fire in her eyes with another deep breath of ghostlight-rich air. “You can also direct your ghostlight into disciplines. Baylo showed me how to use the Fist of Light. It’s easy. Just imagine your ghostlight seeping out through the pores of your skin to make an energy glove around your hand. Boom! Power fist.”
“Sounds easy enough.” The ghostlight I’d already cultivated flowed down the meridian to my hand.
“So far, so good.” Biz and Baylo both watched my progress with interest. Their attention was like a butterfly brushing against the back of my neck. It was weird and distracting.
Maybe that’s why I missed my premonition.
The ghostlight was warm as molten wax inside my hand. I imagined it oozing out of my pores to coat my fist in a sheath of light.
>>>Potential overload. Do you wish to continue?<<<
That was weird. But, yeah, I wanted to continue. This ability would make me much stronger and give me the edge I needed to go out and hunt down the ghostlight ore. I furrowed my brow and concentration, then tried again.
My knuckles popped and crackled like a green-wood fire. The nerves in my hand screamed as if I’d just dipped them in acid. Blisters bubbled up across my hand and wrist. All the ghostlight I’d cultivated vanished, like a candle blown out by a hurricane.
I wobbled on my feet for a second and everything went black.
Chapter Ten
A SHARP SLAP BROUGHT the world crashing back into focus. It also left my cheek stinging and put me in a foul mood. I raised my hands defensively and sat bolt upright, ready to punch the next person who swung on me.
“He lives,” Baylo said with a chuckle. “Let’s get a look at that hand, tough guy.”
The pain in my hand surged back as if awakened by Baylo’s comment. My fingers throbbed like the toothache I’d had when I was six. My palm itched so badly I wanted to rake it with my nails, but I knew that was a bad idea because the skin there was covered in juicy, bubble wrap-sized blisters. I raised my arm to let Baylo get a better look at the damage.
“Well.” She rubbed her chin and squinted at my hand. “That’s a bad case of ghostlight burn. Let’s get some ointment on it before it festers.”
Baylo fished a small clay pot out of her belt pouch. The instant she twisted its lid off, a pungent, spicy aroma filled my nostrils. The warrior scooped out a dollop of dark, gritty goop with one finger and deposited it in the palm of my damaged hand. It was blessedly soothing, and I let out a long, slow sigh of relief as it oozed across my wounds.
>>>Salve of Minor Healing.
Rarity: Uncommon.
Charges: 1
The ghostlight activation cost of this item is one blade.<<<
Though I was nervous about pushing more ghostlight out of my body, I really wanted to see the stuff in action. If the salve felt this good before I’d charged it, I could scarcely imagine how awesome it would be once I’d powered it up. I took a deep breath, gathered my ghostlight, and willed it into the salve. Fortunately, this time my hand didn’t explode.
The golden energy seeped into the wondrous goop, which responded by spreading out across my hand until it covered my wounds. A faint tingling sensation raced across my skin, and the instantaneous relief nearly took my breath away. When the sensation faded, the salve transformed into a flaky brown crust that crumbled away to reveal my fully healed hand.
“Quick learner,” Baylo said. “You all right now?”
>>>All physical damage restored.
All stamina damage restored.<<
“Yeah.” I pulled myself back up onto my feet. “I don’t know what happened. I did exactly what Biz told me.”
Baylo studied me carefully for a second, then turned her eyes to Biz and back to me.
“Take this with a grain of salt because I don’t have a lot of experience with engineers,” the warrior said. “But this can happen if your ghostlight is too strong for your body. It overloads your meridians and escapes as light and heat. You can invest your cultivation in strengthening your body; spinal merdian is a good start. Might be worth a shot.”
The blue fuzzball scrambled up my leg and across my chest to my shoulder. He patted me on the head and made that gentle cooing noise that was so comforting. Biz took my hand and gave it a squeeze.
It was hard to hide my frustration and disappointment at this roadblock to my progress. I wanted to learn a new discipline, but I had no idea how to do it without tearing my hand off. I willed the interface to explain investment to me, in the hopes it would show me a path to follow.
>>>Body cultivation and investment require a Neophyte level core or higher. As a safety precaution, access to this information is restricted until you reach the appropriate level.<<<
“Great,” I muttered.
“You can still channel ghostlight,” Biz said. “You’re way stronger than you were back on Earth, and you were plenty strong then. It’s gonna be okay, bro.”
While everything Biz said was true, it didn’t make me feel any better about the situation. She could punch through a brick wall with a discipline I couldn’t master. If we got into a fight with more monsters while trying to hunt down ghostlight ore, my sister might have to protect me.
I didn’t want to admit it, not even to myself, but that felt like failure to me. I was supposed to be the protector, the one to watch after my sister. I’d failed at that once, and it was happening all over again.
“There are other disciplines,” Baylo said. “Offensive techniques may be off-limits because of your engineer attunement, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn something just as good. Some of the greatest cultivators ever known didn’t master a single combat discipline.”
“Sure,” I said noncommittally. The truth was, I knew there were fights headed our way. We needed ghostlight, and we needed it now. I couldn’t wait around until I’d mastered some exotic discipline that might be useless in a battle. Now, more than ever, I wanted to get all of this over with and put it behind me. I needed things to go back to the way they were supposed to be. “When do we go after the ghostlight?”
“Well, now.” Baylo shrugged. “Ylor was up all night mapping out possible deposit locations. There are a couple close to the Academy. The two of you are tough enough for a short run. Might as well go get the goods.”
The green fighter gestured for us to follow her out of the garden. The fuzzball scampered off my shoulder and jumped onto Biz’s back, where it clung like a living backpack. Our little group made its way back to the great hall, where Monitor and Ylor were already at the table. Papers and books were strewn out in front of them, and Ylor looked even paler than he had the last time I’d seen him.
“I would like to say, for the official record, that I do not agree with this plan,” Monitor said flatly. “The engineer is too valuable to risk on such an expedition. It would be better for all of us if he remained here, and we worked through the slow and steady process of cultivating enough ghostlight to rebuild the Academy safely.”