Chapter 33

Healing

Lykan stood over the body of the prone Tyleon Ulkin. Even now, the resounding energy and frustration that had been building within Lykan were drained. He stood, only to find his muscles stiff with pain. The previous venom that he had managed to avoid directly was now seeping into his open cuts and lacerations all around his body. He was dying. Even with his incredible Regeneration, he could do nothing against the dragon poison that was coursing through his body.

Lykan stood and scanned the audience, slowly looking for hope. His vision was already blurring, but he tried to focus. With the last of his waning energy, he found her salvation.

“Telka, I need you,” he shouted or at least tried to in the language of the High Wood Elves.

She ran forward carrying his scabbard. Somehow she had grabbed it in all the confusion. Seeing the scabbard, Lykan’s mind mentally reached out to the sword. His sword. He wanted it and needed it. The sword was a part of him. He had used part of his daily soul energy to help forge the blade into the deadly weapon it was today. Focusing on the blade, he called to it, and it responded. Even with his eyesight fading, he knew where the blade was and what surrounded the blade.

He grabbed it, or did it jump into his hand? He couldn’t tell. All he knew was his body and mind were swimming within each other. Two separate entities separated by a sea of poison, forced to swim wildly about within each other.

With the sword in hand, he realized just how badly off he was. The sword was in resonance with his own body. He felt his body move and sway. With a quick movement, he sheathed the sword. Then not wanting to have the weight of the object throw off his focus, he gave the sword to Telka to hold.

She grabbed the blade with a confused look. Even without his eyesight, Lykan could read the body language of his charge, of the person he was sworn to protect.

“Grab my arm,” Lykan said, holding out his arm.

Telka paused for only a second before darting in and grabbing his outstretched arm. This time unlike the others, Lykan clasped her hand. It was an odd gesture and one that sent tingles of delight and worry through her.

“Heal me, please,” Lykan managed as he began forcing his body to move forward.

Hearing the pain in his words and feeling his awkward gate, she realized something was deathly wrong. Nearly panicking, she almost fumbled the healing spell. Yet, just as always, Lykan grabbed the base and managed to form it into a true healing spell in seconds. The more they walked, the more the healing spell flowed from between their hands, into him, and throughout his body.

Only thanks to her being the source of the spell and the fact that she was by some still unknown force attached to the healing properties of the spell. She could feel the life force inside Lykan. It was an oddly personal experience, one that she felt a bit voyeuristic about until she saw the amount of damage that Lykan was dealing with. Seeing the state he was in, Telka redoubled her efforts to create a better healing spell.

This time Lykan was able to grab the better spell frame and do more with it, sending it to first expel the deadly poison that was now flowing easily in his body. Telka looked as glowing yellow puss pushed its way out of his cuts. Then once the poison was removed, the wounds were sealed shut. This wasn’t the end, there was still more that needed to be healed, but Lykan needed to close off his body from the infection so he could fully heal inside.

Yellow spots of puss-filled poison, red drops of dragons blood, and scrapes of tissue fell from Lykan with almost every step he took.

Finally, once they were inside the grand ballroom, Lykan seemed to have regained more of his composure.

“What? What happened?” Kirk Gantz, a servant in a bronze uniform, asked.

“Dragon,” Lykan said, gesturing with his head outside. Kirk paused for a second, then looked out the door. He stood there in dumbstruck silence for a moment. When he turned back, the man who looked like he had been through hell and the beautiful Elf by his side were gone. Only a stream of blood and viscera created a trail of where they had gone. The servant walked forward, trying to stop them, to ask about what happened. But was stopped by the mess that would need to be cleaned up immediately.

Squish.

A slimy sound came from under Kirk’s feet. He looked down to see that he had gone forward into the trail of blood. Quickly running to the supply closet, which was in the opposite room, he began getting supplies needed to clean up the mess. Once he got back, he called everyone to attention.

“There is a huge mess that we need to clean up. Multiple mops and buckets needed. We are dealing with dragon blood,” Kirk said.

“Dragon blood?” a few asked as they opened the door to see the two trails. The first followed behind Kirk, and the second went off in a second direction. Realizing they had to move quickly, everyone sprung into action. The team broke off into three groups, one to clean the main door. One to clean Kirk’s mistake, and one to clean the second trail end.

By the time people started coming back in, the floors were mostly cleared, thanks to the diligent staff. It didn’t hurt that Kirk had taken off his shoes and was now cleaning the floors in his socks to further avoid the spread of the dragon blood.

***

Marcy Kline had been with Steve Ricters. They had managed to find a secluded part of the woods immediately outside the back exit of the grand hall. Fortunately, no one had joined them. While the crowd inside had grown quiet, there was a loud ruckus coming from the front of the building.

During this time, she thought about a future with Steve. At this point, with Princesses coming and talking to Lykan, she wasn’t even sure if Lykan would remember her. Worse, what if he did remember her and had been avoiding her all along? She couldn’t blame him. He looked so pathetic being ostracized and kicked out for something he was born with. Still, her head pounded just thinking about him. Her thoughts about Steve possibly replacing Lykan’s spot in her heart were put on hold as the roar of a single dragon could be heard amid the chants of people from out front.

The two had grown curious and were even frightened when they heard the roaring of the dragon.

“Should we go and check it out?” Marcy asked.

Steve, for his part, was in his third and final year of the academy. He was nearly ready to graduate as an officer and join the military. He had been telling Marcy about how he was ready to do his part for the war efforts.

“No, we might need to stay here. If this is a coup of some sort, we should act as messengers,” Steve said.

On the surface, his words made sense. Marcy could also hear the note of cowardice in the voice, the tone that said he was too afraid to move. At that moment, she wondered what Lykan would do? Would he charge forward, despite the odds? Then she shook her head. Such thoughts were ridiculous. Even Lykan wouldn’t charge into battle against a dragon.

Then came the moment that caused pure chills to run down both their spines as the deafening roar of multiple dragons rang out, shaking the ground.

They had stood there, still as death as they waited for more. There were a few more dragon roars, but nothing compared to the time when no less than a dozen of the beasts roared out loudly enough to make the ground shake. Then people began talking and cheering loudly.

Marcy and Steve both looked at each other in shock, trying to see if the other understood what had happened.

Just when Marcy was about to leave and check on what happened, the back door opened.

Out walking arm-in-arm were Lykan and his charge Telka.

Upon first glance, the two were clearly worse for wear. Lykan was covered in blood and viscera. His school uniform was ripped in multiple places, and it was clear that he had been fighting. The sword that had been hanging on his hip was now being held by Telka. Worse, it was clear from his naturally fluid gate that Lykan was stumbling. Was he drunk?

Lykan nodded to the two as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Telka, for her part, just kept looking at Lykan as if something was wrong. If he was so drunk as to get into a fight, then a lot could be wrong. Lykan’s entire military career could be at stake, especially considering his uniform’s appearance at such a formal event. Nervous confusion welled up within Marcy as she wondered if anything bad would happen to him.

But the oddest thing happened. Lykan stopped, turned, and stared at Marcy.

Their eyes locked, and Marcy swore there was a moment of recognition in his eyes. Then he spoke words that made Marcy’s heart fill near to bursting.

“You remind me of someone I used to know. Someone I held dear but never told,” he said, his words slurred.

Birds singing.

The High Wood Elf Telka by his side sang to him. With that, Lykan nodded and then began stumbling back to the dorms. While their arms were interlocked, it was clear that Lykan was using her to help him keep his balance.

Only once they were out of earshot did Steve speak.

“Was he drunk?”

Marcy, for her part, just shook her head, though she couldn’t form the words. The thoughts were there.

Then a few seconds later, a rush of people ran out the back.

“You, where did they go?” Folowitz, a senior professor for the school, demanded from the two.

Not asking to clarify. The two just pointed off in the direction of the dorms. A quick nod from the professor was all that was needed.

“Come on,” Folowitz said as he gestured to some guards behind him. The guards, not even hesitating, began following the professor, who, despite his age, was still able to run at a fairly fast clip toward the dorms.

The two watched on in horror as the group went chasing after Lykan.

“I guess he was drunk and caused a fight?” Steve said.

Hearing the words and with everything they had to go on, Marcy could only nod. A well of sadness filled her eyes.

“Did you know him?” Steve asked, finally asking about the seemingly drunken conversation the two had. Well, the slurred question he had asked her.

Marcy paused for a second, then nodded. “I did at one time.”

That was all Marcy managed before a group of four people came bursting out of the building. These were fellow students who all seemed to be quite excited and talking animatedly.

“Oh, that was so amazing,” one student said.

“I know. He beat the Piran head bodyguard with the blunt end of his spear, saying that he was not worthy of a real fight. Then the bodyguard goes proceeds to get pummeled.”

“Then the way he slew that dragon with one slice.”

“That was only after he set it up by first blinding it.”

“Yeah, then he roared in challenge to all the other dragons.”

“Oh, what about the part where he bitch-slapped the guard in his stupid face. Whack!” another boy said, gesturing and imitating the violent slapping motion.

“Yeah, that slap is not going away. You saw that, right?”

“Oh, I don’t know what he did. But I will never pick on that bronzer.”

“What about that surge of power? How could a bronzer do that?”

“Old world laws.”

“What, no way.”

“The best part. The best part, if you think about it. That bronzer beat the guy up killed the dragon. Then he got all the other dragons to turn their back on the guy who lost the duel. That was freaking fantastic.”

The four were talking so quickly that it was hard for Marcy to keep track. But she couldn’t help but think that this all had something to do with Lykan and the dragons roaring they heard from earlier.

“I’m sorry, what happened?” Marcy asked, trying to get the four boys to slow down and tell her what she had missed.

Lykan Vita at the end of the first saga.

Blessing Bestowed: Poison Slayer

Poison Slayer (Legendary): You managed to slay a legendary male Poison Dragon. As a reward, the Gods have granted you +2 to all Attributes.

Name Lykan Vita Race Human Class Wanderer Age 16 Attribute Base Plus Modifier Total Strength (6+8) 14 Awareness (7+8) 15 Mobility (9+8) 17 Intelligence (7+14) 21 Power (7+14) 21 Skill Base Plus Modifier Rating Universal Linguist (Maximum) Spear Mastery (Maximum) Sword Mastery Sage + (Legendary) (Maximum) Aerial Combat Novice Bow Mastery Novice Quick Step Expert + (Legendary) Sage Universal Literacy (Maximum) Regeneration (Maximum) Meditation Adept + (Legendary X2) Sage Focus Sage + (Legendary) (Maximum) Aerial Movement Novice Master Crafting Novice Magical Abilities Rating Energy Absorption (Maximum) Energy Sensing (Maximum) Energy Control Sage Energy Alter Sage