Chapter 11 (Integration)

  "AHHGH!" My body jerked upright as I screamed.

  "Ah, you're awake," Yashir stated calmly, sipping on what looked like tea.

  "Oh my God… I'm alive? What the heck?" I blurted out, looking down at my chest. There was no hole, just a tear in my shirt, and my arm was perfectly fine, except for the burned fringes of my sleeve. I glanced over at Yashir, who sat there as if nothing had happened. "Was it a dream? It couldn't have been; my shirt is ruined," I wondered aloud, trying to make sense of the situation.

  "Yup, I'm impressed you were only dead for like thirty minutes. It usually takes longer than that for people to resuscitate," Yashir said, taking another sip of his tea.

  "What! I ACTUALLY DIED?" My panicked mind sought confirmation.

  "Yeah, I cut out your lungs and your heart," Yashir said calmly, his tone oddly nonchalant. He started chuckling. "Ah, you should have seen your arm, it was all dangly. Looked gross," he laughed, seemingly unfazed by the memory.

  My face flushed with anger and disbelief as I struggled to process what he had just said. "You killed me! You killed me, and you're sitting here laughing about it while drinking tea!"

  "Relax, Kaliah. I may have killed you, but you're fine now! Here, drink some tea; it'll help you feel better."

  "I hate tea. Forget the tea, what the heck happened?" I protested, my voice rising in frustration.

  Yashir let out a brief sigh before setting his cup of tea on a small wooden table he had made. "You seem to underestimate just how extraordinary Arc is," he began. "Arc can only directly affect matter made of or containing Arc. Since all living things contain Arc, it can affect people, and it can affect..."

  "Trees…" I murmured, noticing the fallen tree Yashir had pointed to. It dawned on me that his makeshift tea table was crafted from the very tree he had cut down. "But what about my shirt?"

  "Haha, you're a smart little girl," Yashir said, complimenting me in a way that made me slightly flustered. Even after all this time, it still felt awkward, despite being an adult I was still a kid in this world. "Arc is a potent energy source. Your shirt burned from the heat, but it wasn't the same reaction as what happened to your body."

  "Alright, that makes sense, but I still died… So how am I alive now?" I questioned, my voice betraying my confusion and discomfort as I recalled Yashir's blade in my chest.

  "It's simple, really. Mass is neither created nor destroyed; it just changes form. Arc is no different. When my blade cut through you, it essentially dispersed your body's energy into the forest," Yashir explained. "The energy in your body is your own, so as long as your core remains intact, it will always come back to you. It's like it responds to a specific signal your body gives off and returns as it beckons that call."

  I absentmindedly rubbed my sore chest, amazed at how resilient people were in this world. It almost seemed as though they were invincible. However, something didn't add up. I had scratched out Davy's eye, and he never regained his sight from that. Plus, I still had scars from previous beatings. But there was only a bit of reddening on my chest; there was no scar or remaining damage.

  "How come there's no scar?" I asked, looking back up at Yashir as he began sipping the tea he had poured for me.

  "Only physical damage results in scarring. Scratches, cuts, burns, sickness, and so on can be thought of as physical damage. Arc isn't capable of healing these things; it can only assist your body in healing itself by boosting its ability to do so. Energy damage, on the other hand, doesn't technically cause physical damage. As long as you can regain the lost energy, you can restore your body to exactly how it was." He says, Setting down his cup of tea, Yashir offered his hand. Taking it he helped me up and dusted some of the brush off of my clothing.

  "Come on, I'll show you how to collect fibers so you can work on fixing your shirt." Yashir directed as he turned and headed away from our campsite. Sighing I followed after him, my gaurd now raised. While Energy damage was easier to heal from, it also seemed to be much easier to die from. Had his blade hit my core it would have shattered and I would be dead. I couldn't help but think about just how much control Yashir had to not actually kill me with such an attack.

  The rest of that day we spent foraging. He showed me how to Collect fibers from the Lightbloom plant, a flower with a cotton bulb. it was very easy to turn into threads, and use to sew back up my shirt. I'd already known how to sew, and I think Yashir found that fact a little impressive.

  "You okay?" Yashir asked me with a calm voice.

  I had another nightmare and woke up hyperventilating. It took me a moment to gather my bearings, but after I was awake I nodded to Yashir. "Yes sir."

  "Very well." Yashir would say, standing and walking off. "Come on, we need to get something to eat."

  I hated how He expected me to just get up every morning. I'm a growing girl after all, I need my beauty sleep. Although admittedly there was nothing beautiful about me at the moment. I was a rather miserable child, full of emotional trauma and coated in the grit of the forest we were now living in. I got up anyway, and followed after Yashir.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  I hadn't put my shoes on when I got up, but was definitely regretting not doing as much. I could feel every rock and twig snap and crumble under my bare feet. It wasn't the most pleasant feeling.

  "Ya-... M-master?" I called after Yashir, a bit conflicted on what to call him.

  "Yashir is fine… Now shush." He'd say his voice In a whisper as he held out his hand for me to stop. Pausing I met his gaze and slowed as I walked up beside him to see what he was looking at. In the clearing just before us was a deer, a female deer. Its Fur however wasn't brown but black with white fur coating her underbelly.

  "Oh it's a deer. How pretty." I whispered to Yashir. He would smile for just a moment before Reaching for his Energy Cell.

  "It is pretty, but she's also breakfast." He whispered back. I felt my face stricken as I remembered him saying we needed something to eat. I didn't piece together this is what he meant.

  "WHAT NO!" I yelled in protest. Realizing how loud I was, I looked over to see the deer now staring in our direction. Her eyes narrowed and then began to glow Yellow with an intense amount of furry.

  "I told you to hush!" Yashir growled gently pushing my head as he stood up staring the deer down as well.

  "You can't kill her." I declared as he activated the emitter. He'd started to move into the clearing and stopped as I spoke. He then turned sharply and glared at me.

  "Fine, then you do it." My eyes widened in surprise as he reached out and grabbed hold of my shirt before using it to fling me into the clearing. I rolled across the ground and struggled for a moment to pick myself up. As I turned I realized the Deer was charging at me, their eyes still glowing with the vicious yellow hue. Panicked, I pushed myself over to the left Just missing the creature's charge.

  Up close I came to realize just how much bigger the animal was than I was. It stood at about five foot ten or eleven even. While I was still only about three feet and five inches.

  "The only way you can survive is if you kill this thing." Yashir called from behind me. With fear taking over my mind, I knew he was right. I reached for my Energy Cell and channeled as much arc into it as I could. The red blade illuminated the small clearing and radiated off of my face. My arm that had been broken by the sellers was still pretty awkward, making it so that I couldn't hold my blade straight as I wanted.

  As I stood the deer came back around. It snorted and stomped with its hooves kicking up dust from the forest floor. For a deer, it certainly was more aggressive than any deer I'd ever come across in my old world. I also found it's eyes strange, it was almost as if…

  I didn't have time to think as it began charging after me again. Despite it's size it wasn't much of a thinker as it just charged at me again. On my feet now, I tried jumping to the side, But this time it stopped its charge early. Jumping up on its back legs, she came stomping down with her front legs right at my face.

  I screamed, raising my blade slashing at its legs before they could hit me. I watched as the energy dispersed into glimmering particles of light as it came crashing down. It let out a serious groan and looked up at me with its hate filled eyes.

  "I'm so sorry… " I said, trying to console the creature as she continued to stare me down. Her groaning became more and more guttural. A sad display of the pain she was in.

  "If you're sorry don't make her suffer… '' Yashir spoke up from beside me. I hadn't even seen him walk up. My eyes welled as I started into the eyes of the injured creature before me.

  "If we leave her she'll get better though right?" I asked. It's what Yashir has explained to me before. Since I had used my arc blade, it should just heal from its wounds. " Right? "

  Yashir let out a simple sigh. "Not exactly, in order for your energy to come back to you, it has to be initiated by the same or a stronger Energy source. You see, you have a red core, it's easy for me to Call your energy back to you."

  " But this deer… it has a Yellow core… You can save her too."

  "I could, but then what would we eat?" Yashir asked, his voice unwavering. "Is it not better to accept the life of this animal than for us to lose our lives in hunger?"

  Trying my best to hold back the rest of my tears, I bit my lip as I continued looking into the deer's eyes, I knew this was where food came from… Why was I being so childish? It made me sick, It was like I was in a constant feud with my emotions. Even still, It's eyes now seemingly lost their desire to fight, and their will to live now looked to me for relief. A relief that only I could for her.

  "If you really care, don't make her wait any longer." Yashir said sternly.

  Gritting my teeth I raised my emitted blade and lowered it into her head. In a simple motion, the deer then fell limp and ceased moving.

  " Nicely done Kaliah…" despite his compliment, I turned back and glared at my so-called master.

  "Why did you make me do that?" I demanded an answer. But really I knew why… I just didn't want to bear the burden of guilt. I was trying to make it Yashir's fault, he made me do it… I did it because I had to, is what I wanted to believe.

  "Because one day you will kill more than just deer, my little apprentice." His words cut into me as I now better understood the implications of what he was wanting me to become. It was the only reason he'd start with someone so young… someone already filled with trauma… He wanted me to become a killer.

  After I killed it, Yashir told me it was called a Black wood deer. They are known for their hostility against all animals and especially people. He actually told me most of the animals of the wilds were aggressive. Black wood deers being among some of the weaker creatures. Although I declined he also showed me how to skin and clean the deer. Taking off its fur, and draining it of all its blood.

  He also showed me how to remove its Arc core. To my surprise an arc core was very much a physical thing. It was a perfect sphere which sat in the center of the deer's chest. Strangely it was perfectly clean as no blood clung to its surface.

  "What do you do with this?" I asked Holding it uncomfortably. It still swirled with yellow energy, the same spark that illuminated the deer's eyes before I snuffed out her flame. My stomach lurched, it was as if I was holding it's still beating heart.

  "You Absorb it." Yashir said simply as he continued portioning bits of deer meat, setting aside to cook or save for later.

  "But like how… " I asked as I rolled the sphere around in my hands. I reached for my own core and drew out some of my energy. Just like how I channeled energy into my Arc cell, I began drawing it into the deer's core. I could feel it's energy consuming my own as it swirled within the core. I then tried the inverse, closing my eyes allowed me to focus better as I reached for the yellow energy swirling around in the deer's core.

  It was almost as though I'd used my own energy to open a hole into the deer's core. I instantly felt it's energy with nowhere else to go leap for my core. The energy traveled through my arc channels and rushed straight to my core. It's presence was warm, almost sweet tasting. I drew it in vivaciously not wanting to waste a single drop of the purified energy.

  I could feel the energy splashing into my core, and strangely enough, I could even feel it Seeping through my outer core, and then my second core and finally merging with my third. The warmth of the energy filling it spread and the scrapes and cuts id gotten from fighting the deer and walking barefoot began to heal on their own.

  "Ah it looks like you figured it out." Yashir would say nonchalantly.

  "What just happened." I asked, smiling, practically brimming with new energy. Despite how I felt before it was as if this carnal desire for more overshadowed my fragile sense of morality.

  "Absorbing energy cores, can help your body heal and can expedite the growth of your own Arc core. This process isn't really you taking the arc energy from the core, thar gets dispersed when the animal dies like we talked about before. When you absorb arc, you're essentially taking the Cores’ ability to purify arc. It makes the process easier and quicker. But it's still up to you to take the time to refine your core from there." Yashir used a towel to wipe the blood and guts of the deer from his hands as he came over to talk face to face. "Just… don't try doing that with another person's core…" he finished firmly.

  "Why not?" I asked , drawing the last bits of energy from the deer core. As It emptied the glass-like sphere dissolved into a fine white light sparkling as it rose to the tops of the trees.

  "Arc Cores are also referred to as wills from time to time. That's because most have a will of sorts of their own." Yashir began. "If you were to absorb another human's core, you'd make yourself go insane with their thoughts and desires."

  "Do animals not have their own will." Yashir handed me another clean towel which I used to clean my hands too.

  "They do, but human and beast wills are different. A beast will reflect the most basic of desires. To eat, to protect, to survive. But that's the extent of it. Our human wills are too strong to even notice or otherwise care about these." Yashir explained, and I understood better what he meant.

  I stretched out my arms above my head and yawned a heavy tiredness settling over me now.

  "You should lay down, Integration can be pretty drai

  ning.”

  I did what he suggested and laid down my bed roll again. It didn't take long at all for me to drift off to sleep.