“Mortem Morti!” cried the deathly lich, a wave of necrotic energies blasting towards Val.
Desperately shoving aside the black magic as best he could, Val had no choice but to split his focus as he catalyzed his enchantment.
The lich screamed, blazing with furious blue flames matching Val’s Greater Warding as his spell came to life.
A scream mirrored by Val as deadly green energies blasted through his upper left arm, the entire limb instantly sloughing off in a swarm of maggots and flesh decomposing before his horrified eyes.
Contest of Skills: Tie! EM Mastery has forced aside Death Stream! Fatal wound becomes Critical Wound! Your shoulder has been hit! You have suffered 120 damage and your left arm has been destroyed! You have saved against toxic putrefaction! Song of Battle in effect! Regeneration in effect!
Congratulations! You have successfully cast Greater Warding!
Elder Lich saves against Oblivion! Elder Lich has suffered 50 damage to spirit. Target is immune to all wound penalties.
“How dare you interfere!” roared the billowing mass of shadows and fury now howling down upon Val. A storm of hate, vitriol and chaotic black magics and crackling lightning flashing against the shimmering dome of force now encasing a gasping Val and his companions.
Val hissed as awful pain seared through him, doing his best to ignore the howling lich hammering against his shell.
Contest of skills: Elder Lich vs Greater Ward. Greater Ward holds!
Shock and fear for his newfound friends compelled him to act with focused deliberation, carefully casting magics that burned with bitterest agony. But with purple regeneration potions already boosting him and only one red potion remaining, he had no choice but to endure.
Sterilization successfully cast! Season’s Mending Successfully cast! Save versus incapacitating agony failed! Feel the pain, Val!
Collapsing and writhing as his limb regrew before his eyes, every nerve burning as if seared in fire. As if it was living flame, searing his brain with agony that knew no end, until at last it was whole once more, his PRM regeneration and Song of Battle synergism allowing him to recover in minutes what should take that spell a full day to even begin to heal.
“I will strike you dead for your insolence! I will tear your soul free of your flesh for daring to interfere!”
He did his best to ignore the waves of hatred continuously smashing against his wards. The eldritch flames outlining his magic flared brightly, pulsing in time with the furious lich’s struggles, the final Doomspider long since shriveled to a husk, caught in the periphery of the endless volley of hostile magics thrown Val’s way.
Val's hand went to the only mildly sticky fiber of the closest cocoon before him, sensing the final flickers of a life slowly sputtering out.
It was all he could do to carefully slice the strands where desperate hands sensed the fold of a struggling mouth to be, the pristine dwarven blade he had summoned from storage kept inert, the edge alone allowed to carefully slice the fabrics over struggling lips and lungs too weakened to fight any longer against only slightly porous fibers.
A final tear, Val’s now unarmored hands struggling to rip free the deadly mask of sticky silk, gazing into dying eyes as he poured his heart and soul into a desperate casting.
“Plenis Curatio!” Val whispered, touching Bill’s cheek, his arcane reserves dipping slightly as the high school senior bucked and screamed, torpid lungs gasping desperately, all poison and injury burned clean even as Bill’s nerves blazed with agony undreamed.
Val’s heart surged with renewed hope as he desperately sliced away at the strands of silk covering Eric and Jiu’s faces.
Horrified to find them utterly still, eyes wide with crimson pinpricks, lips pale blue.
He screamed, heart racing with terror and fury.
Refusing to accept what he saw.
“Fuck, fuck! Goddamn that hurt. Jager, you there? What the fuck is going on? Come on, help me break free of this shit!”
But Val paid the struggling young jock no mind, having already spared a few precious seconds ripping tears around the cocoon the young man would eventually break free from. He refused to accept the horror of what was so clearly before him, fighting not to imagine his newfound friends flatlining on Earth, even now.
“Bullshit!” Val hissed, lips pressing against Jiu’s own, desperately trying to breathe life into them, alternating with careful chest compressions, overwhelmed by the horror that Eric, whatever was left of him, was fading irrevocably because he was only one man.
“What the hell!” Bill hollered as he finally manged to break free of his cocoon. All ire fled as he caught sight of his friends and Val’s wild-eyed gaze. He swallowed, wincing as he rubbed his arms, eyes widening with horror at the furious storm of inky blackness and crimson flame that was the lich hammering against their ward in between flashes of lightning, screaming for their souls even now.
“No time!” Val shouted. “Eric! Give him chest compressions now!”
Bill paled, catching sight of Eric’s lifeless form.
“Shit!” he hissed.
And for endless minutes Val and Bill struggled against a negative cascade well underway, Val too gifted not to sense the final flickers of life fading from brains too far gone to kick start to life once more.
“Goddamn,” Bill sighed. “Goddamn.” Pained eyes gazed Val’s way. “Jager.” He slowly shook his head.
Val glared, causing the younger man to flinch. Choking back silent screams. Refusing to believe this was the end.
He knew under the right conditions, people could survive half an hour with their brains mostly intact, if they drowned in cold enough water and were rescued in time. The low metabolic state preventing so many negative cascades that would otherwise spell the end for the brain, one dying neuron at a time.
Before he froze, gazing into Bill’s grieving eyes, realizing he was being a fool. With Bill doing his thing, it didn't even matter if Eric's brain was too far gone even to breathe.
As long as most of the neuro-network was still intact.
“Bill. Chest compressions now. Don’t stop! Fuck it all, this just might work.”
Bill gave a sad shake of his head. “Dude. You’ve done enough. We’re kidding ourselves. If they were alive at all, your purple potion...”
Val angrily shook his head. “Do it, Bill!” He met the kids angry glare with a silent plea.
Bill gave an angry shrug. “Fuck it. One more round.”
And even as Bill gave chest compressions, Val placed his hands on the boy’s head, whispering the words he should have cast minutes ago.
“Plenis Curato!” Val whispered, pouring his heart into the now boosted spell, feeling a storm of magics roaring through him, fighting desperately to maintain the level 45 spell matrix as it strove to find patterns where so much had been destroyed.
A soul hanging in the balance, and Val could only hope with every fiber of his being that his spell truly could heal neuronal links as well as gross physical damage, even to the point of death.
Insight gained! What is the border between life and death save the complexity of the damage and cascades of ever-growing internal entropy? A spell that can restore even memories can arguably restore life itself! Especially in flesh still warm with the life it had embraced just minutes before!
Contest of skills! Level 45 boosted healing spell + Insight VS Death.
You have saved against Oblivion!
Spell successfully cast!
Healing is now Rank 3.
And Val felt his heart lurch with awe and wonder as Eric’s blood-speckled eyes shot open and he wheezed for his life, before heaving blood, bile, and god knew what else, gasping and screaming from pain so awful even Bill paled to hear it.
Val allowed himself only a single moment’s exultation before gazing down at Jiu’s pale blue lips. Snarling like a wolf daring to tear free death’s bounty, and claim it for himself.
Contest of skills! Level 45 boosted healing spel
l + Insight VS Death.
A tie! Entropy seems determined to claim its prize, Val. What will you do?
And Val screamed with fury and determination as he struggled to superimpose the hideously complex spell-matrix upon the memory of Jiu’s dying brain. He fought against a crushing sense of despair, knowing he faced a task of such hideous complexity it made repairing Christine’s dying facility child’s play in comparison.
Insight gained!
Val flashed a desperate smile, even as he felt himself on the lip of Oblivion itself.
Recalling how he had managed to fix so many battle-mechs, massive mechanical constructs of a complexity and scope his limited mind couldn’t hope to comprehend. Not mathematically. Not intellectually.
But intuitively, it was child’s play.
Not by analyzing it, but by becoming one with it.
“For you have taken my coin, and sworn yourself to me,” Val whispered.
“You are mine, Jiu Hyuen. Body and soul.”
Val gazed into Jiu’s vacant eyes. And in those awful moments, Val and the dying girl were one.
Song of battle in effect! PRM regeneration in effect!
Save versus Oblivion made!
Val gasped, momentarily confused as to where he was, finding himself in a beautiful Tudor home so like his father’s, cream white rugs adorning the floors like clouds, fine oaken furniture and depictions of Chinese caligraphy giving the rooms an air both tasteful and sophisticated as Val found himself drifting through the house.
He ignored the gathered guests chatting and laughing with the clink of champagne glasses in the dining room below. His mind sensed dark secrets, ugly and terrible, hidden on the floor above.
Soft footsteps trod upon the landing, ascending the stairs.
Heart lurching at the sound of fists smacking flesh, a savage grunt, a choked scream.
Stopping before the door holding all Jiu’s secrets and shame.
Heart racing, Val slowly squeezed the doorknob and stepped through.
But all he saw when he entered was Jiu, gazing down at a perfectly made bed, tears streaming down her face. Her hands were tightly clenched, her Jordian attire a jarring juxtaposition to the room filled with silk and lace and endless porcelain dolls taking up an entire second bed, every single one of them gazing at Jiu in silent accusation.
Val smiled into her horrified gaze. “It’s time to come back to us, Jiu.” He solemnly held out his hand. “It’s time to come home.”
Jiu paled and shook her head. “I have no home. My father, the only one who loved me, was killed. His brothers took over the business.” She choked back sobs, lowering her gaze. “The lawyer who held the will is dead. There are no records. No proof. My uncles stole everything and worse… worse...”
Val swallowed the lump in his throat, her pain lancing through him like a spear. “I know, Jiu. I know. And I wish there was some way I could make it better. Some way I could erase the past. But if I do, if I dared to alter a single aspect of your memories… you’d be gone forever.” He flashed a desperate smile. “Jiu? I’ll be honest with you. I can barely hold us together as it stands. If you don’t come soon… we’re both dead.”
Jiu flashed a bitter smile. “I can almost… almost sense what you did. God, you’re an idiot. Risking your life on a girl you hardly know.”
Val grinned. “Maybe I am. But here’s the thing, Jiu. You're worth the risk. Worth doing whatever it takes to give you a shot at a life filled with laughter and joy. And you can have that life, Jiu. Let regret and bitter memories fade as you embrace a life worth living. So come back to us, Jiu. Come back and live. Live for yourself. Your sisters. And the boy who almost died right beside you, and is even now crying over your body.”
Jiu’s eyes widened. “I… you saved him?”
Val nodded. “None of us can change our pasts, Jiu. But we can choose the shape of our future.” He held out his hand once more. “Choose to give life a second chance, Jiu. Safe in the arms of a man who loves you. A second chance at making memories worth savoring, a life worth living.
“Please, Jiu. Take my hand and come home.”
40
“Jiu!”
Val blinked open bleary eyes, gasping for breath as Bill gazed down at him, only peripherally aware of the ache on his solar plexus.
“Breathe, man, breathe!”
Bill flashed a rueful smile even as the furious lich continued to howl and rail. Val frowned, noting cracks in the Greater Ward that had not been there moments before.
“Goddamn, Jager! I sure as shit am glad you finally opened your eyes, cause I sure as hell wasn’t going to give you mouth to mouth!”
Val couldn’t help grinning at that. “Thank god for that, man.” He bumped Bill’s fist. “And thanks.”
“For what?”
“For keeping watch.”
Bill smirked. “Hell, yeah. Looks like Romeo and Juliet are back on track, minus the tragic death bullshit, and I won’t even ask what spell you pulled out of your ass, because I sure as hell know that no standard player can cast what you just cast. And you know what? Fuck it! Let’s just take care of whatever the fuck that is, and get the hell out of here.”
Val nodded, catching his breath, surprised at the crushing weight of exhaustion bearing down on him.
His eyes widened when he sensed just how depleted both his Mana and Psion reserves had become. Wondering just how close he had come to death himself, struggling to pull Jiu back from the brink. “Holy… 500 mana?”
Bill frowned. “What was that, Jager?”
Val swallowed, shaking his head. “I think that spell took way more out of me than I thought it would.”
Bill shook his head. “Please tell me you’re not too fragged to get us out of here.” He gazed up at the furious lich, roaring in a long dead language Val now realized he alone could understand. “What the hell is this cat talking about anyway?”
Val smirked. “Oh, he’s promising us eternal torment at his hands for daring to interfere with his plans to turn one of us into his meat puppet and the others into egg sacs for fresh batches of Doomspiders. Kind of a one-track mind, actually. As in he’s an utterly insane spirit who was locked in this room for a very good reason.”
A pale-faced Jiu gazed at Val in wonder even as Eric held her tight, tears in both of their eyes.
“Jager?”
“Yes, Jiu?”
Her beautiful smile lit up the room. “I don’t even have the words. Just… thank you.”
Eric’s gaze was filled with something disturbingly close to devotion. “You saved us, Jager. I don’t know how the hell you did it, but… wrapped in those awful webs, my lungs fighting for breath, every muscle burning with a pain I can’t even describe, and I felt so fucking lost, so fucking alone, hating myself during those final moments for getting caught so flat-footed. Terrified I’d never get to see Jiu again...” He swallowed, eyes bright with unshed tears, flashing a grateful smile.
“Jager. Seriously. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I’m not really sure what your story is, I mean, you look about my age, but your eyes have seen some serious shit. But if you ever need help with school, college applications, or whatever… I totally got your back. You ever need a friend, here or there, I’m here for you.”
Jiu nodded whole-heartedly. “Say the word, hero, I’ll set you up with the cutest girls in school. Because not only do you radiate a badass Keanu vibe, I can honestly tell them you’re one of the good ones. A real hero who risked his ass saving a messed-up girl and the nerd she loves with all her heart.”
Eric flushed and grinned at those words.
Val chuckled softly. “Thanks, guys, I mean that.” His smile remained even as his gaze grew intense. “You gave me your word, and you could have given me no more sacred a gift. You’re darn right I’m going to do you three good turns as best I can, for the honor you’ve already shown me.”
Bill chuckled softly, shaking his head. “Damn, but I don’t even want to think about wha
t front-line shit we’re going to owe your forces after surviving this caper.”
Val winked. “Not a damn thing, Bill. Go hang out in a mage’s tower every bit as glorious as the ones you see in your favorite films. Write a bloody book about how much you love it there, put it online, and entice a thousand would-be adventurers to join our cause and learn magic at a college just like the fantastic ones they had always dreamed of entering, before worlds of fantasy suddenly got real on us.”
He frowned, sensing the gathering of the howling lich’s reserves of strength, the sudden strain against his wards. “Or do nothing at all. Hold on, I got something to handle here, now that you’re stable.”
Contest of skills! Greater Warding versus Arcane Rupture! Willpower modifiers in effect! It looks like you’re not the only one who figured out how to cleave through spells! Too bad the lich could never escape this chamber. And perhaps, neither will you!
The chaotic storm and wild discharges of energy had passed, their foe focusing all his energies on the weakest points of Val’s spell, somehow sensing that freedom and vengeance might be within its grasp. The hideously distorted face glaring at Val from the other side of the straining ward twisted its lips in a vicious parody of a smile.
Willpower save made! Val grimaced as the terrible pressure of the compressing spell near overwhelmed him, before channeling his own fierce resolve to protect his friends and himself at any cost.
He had managed to reforge himself within the psyche of the most horrific foe imaginable. He was not going to let some howling spirit get the best of him now.
Val flashed a smile bleak and cold, and the lich doubled its efforts, formerly shadowy eye sockets now blazing like fiery suns.
Contest of skills: tie!
Jiu whimpered as the air seemed to roil and howl. Wide, frightened eyes made it all too clear that the party members with him sensed that Val was slowly but surely losing the battle.
“It is only a matter of time, worm. Only a matter of time!”
Val snarled at the abomination gloating right at him, knowing what the ancient necromancer was saying was all too true.
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