Chapter 55
Living On The Edge
Fight through the pain.
Take stock of the aftermath.
“Wh- Whose hurt?” Dan struggled out through a clenched jaw, forcing the words past gritted teeth.
Frost flaked off him in sheets as he limped forward.
Sharp pain lanced through his pathways.
His leg throbbed with every step, but the Qi surge had thawed enough for him to move.
Jaime ran up, grabbing him in a quick, fierce hug before bending down to examine the deep bite wounds on his thigh.
Blood seeped slowly, dark against his skin. “It's bad, but you'll live,” Jaime muttered, voice shaky.
“Belle, go grab the cloth scraps we have for bandages, now! Go!”
A pale Belle stood stock still with wide eyes, frozen in shock at the carnage around her.
Corpses strewn, frozen ground thawing, throwing clouds of steam in the moonlight.
It took her a long moment to snap out of it, sparks dancing on her legs as she bolted toward the camp supplies, feet barely touching the ground.
Jimmy started to survey the damage, quivering from the fight's adrenaline.
“We made it out unscathed. Those worgs—”
“Help!” Chris called, voice cracking with raw panic, “Dad’s down!”
Jimmy, Kim, and Annette rushed over to the prone man.
George was lying in a widening pool, his broken spear lying beside him.
A large gash tore across his left shoulder, deep enough to show the white of bone.
More lacerations crisscrossed his thighs and chest, clothes shredded, skin hanging in flaps.
His breathing came shallow, ragged, face ashen under the moonlight.
Luna sat near him, head down low, a soft whine escaping her throat.
“Figures.. Can’t raise my arm again. Can’t win, huh, boys?” George rasped out with a cough.
Red flaked his lips as he looked up at Chris and the slowly approaching Dan.
His voice was weak, but the stubborn glint in his eye remained.
The brothers looked at a loss at what to do.
Dan’s vision tunneled on the blood.
Too much. Too fast.
Not again, not like this..
His club clattered to the ground, hands opening and closing, grasping at air.
Chris’ hands shook, slouching in defeat.
The fragile comfort they’d built shrank as the pool grew.
Clarity Cascade ran overtime, cutting through the shock.
“George, absorb the Qi. Now.”
His voice was calm, commanding.
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“Chris and Kim, help Dan drag the other corpses over.
Jaime, Annette, Belle start bandaging him with anything clean we have.
Dip it in the spring first. Move.”
Everyone sprung into action, panic channeled into motion.
Jimmy took a knee next to the older man’s head, leaning in, “George. Listen closely. Absorb that Qi. Focus on cycling it around your injuries, shoulder first.
The Affinity felt mild, hopefully it will not fight him too much.
“Now, go.”
George’s eyes fluttered open wider, locked on Jimmy’s steady gaze, and nodded.
The nearby growing cloud of shadowy Qi from the Black One pulled into the prone man.
Molten slag poured into the wounds.
George bit back a scream as his nerves’ screamed in waves.
He twisted and writhed, as the biting shadowy energy fought to slip his control.
The memory cut through the haze, a lighthouse in a storm.
A hospital room, bright white, two young boys standing near.
Faces puffy, red, and wet with tears.
Didn't die then. Not dying now.
Jimmy observed the initial leakage of hazy Qi—raw energy wasted—until George’s grit forced a reversal.
The flow inverted, seeping into the gashes to knit flesh with a slow, wet grind.
It is like a nocturnal landscape.
Jimmy’s head pounded as he traced the glow.
His pathways, akin to moonlit highways.
Qi, the headlights, delivering essential freight to the broken "cities" of tissue.
It was a time-lapse of cellular repair, manual-shifted by George’s sheer will.
The girls were starting to get them wrapped up, the cloth turning crimson almost immediately.
Belle's hands shook, but she tied knots tight.
Tears cutting tracks through the dust on her face, and falling on the bandages, mixing with the blood.
“I'm sorry, grandpa…”
Jaime’s whisper cracked, “He’s tough. He'll make it.”
The Qi from the spring water pulled in, mixing with shadow.
Conflicting energies clashed, grinding a groan from George, but taking the edge from the wild will.
He breathed deep, grasping full control of the coursing flow.
As Jimmy studied the restoration, the other bodies arrived, energy pouring out in thicker clouds, rich with lingering affinities.
No one noticed Luna pull off a stream from the worg that she and Kim killed.
He turned to the growing mists, computing.
“George, Kim’s worg looks pretty pure, pull half of that. Dan, take the rest.”
The pained twist loosened on George’s face, his breathing evening out.
The surging pure Qi further calmed the war waging in his pathways.
Dan, wincing but standing taller, was able to test some weight on his leg.
Color flowed back into his pale skin.
Jimmy nodded.
Good.
Jimmy’s head throbbed, a rhythmic pounding behind his eyes that threatened to shatter his focus.
He ignored it, wiping a hot trail of blood from his nose.
The Frost Qi isn't just cold.
It is acting like a lattice structure, slowing the Qi in Dan’s leg to a crawl.
The Light Qi is more volatile—unstable photons of energy jumping randomly, creating chaos.
He turned to the group.
“Now the tough call. Do we prioritize gaining strength, or finish the healing?”
Jimmy asked with a calculating tone.
He caught mostly shocked stares in return.
“Jimmy! They are hurt!” Annette started, voice rising in surprise, eyes on George's bandaged form.
“We need to make sure they heal fully, the—”
“I’ll be fine. Survived worse than this, no magic needed,”
George patted Luna on the head, then struggled into a sitting position.
“Get me to the pool. We've got bigger things coming.”
Chris was pale, stood stock still, staring into the darkness.
Dan thought for a long moment, jaw tight, leg screaming.
He looked at Jaime and Belle.
His fists clenched.
We must get stronger.
“Alright… The frost is calling to me… Jimmy grab the light, everyone else... watch after my dad, would ya?”
Getting nods and a pained grunt in return, they settled into another long night under the watchful stars.
No one slept, the crystals’ humming and the wind the only sounds in the night.
