Mending and Channels

The moment Wanderer was sure they were safe, they began to fix their broken body, beginning the arduous task that awaited them.

The massive wound in their side differed in one major way from every other injury they had taken, its location.

When before they could use all their hands to smooth out their clay flesh, now they were only able to use two, a factor which increased the difficulty of sealing the would ten-fold.

At current, almost half of the Golem’s right side was drooping to the side as the slice destabilised their malleable clay body.

The Vessel began the task of joining the two sides of their body, ultimately having to pull the injured half of their torso toward the other half with their malformed arm, and slowly sealing the clay with the other.

Numerous times as they worked, their hand brushed nearby to the core in the centre of their body where their soul resided, the Golem being able to physically feel the energy that flowed from it and their blessing.

Having the most vulnerable part of their body so exposed caused the Vessel to feel unsafe, leading them to spend special attention to cover their core in clay before anything else.

After a great deal of time, their wound was finally closed, a small amount of pain still emanating from the minor imperfections in their fix, Wanderer could only hope that it would fade with time.

The Vessel stood up in the vast sea of grass only to realise that there was an error in their restoration because as soon as they attempted to move their right two arms, they found their capability greatly reduced.

This confused Wanderer, never before had a part of their body lost its utility when faced with damage, certainly not once it was fixed.

They were puzzled, even when their legs were torn to shreds by the swarmlings they had not faced permanent damage.

For a long time, Wanderer mused over the cause of their disability, until finally they looked inside themself with their mind’s eye, and saw the source of the issue.

Throughout their body, there were veins and pathways of magic through which power of all kinds flowed, and it was in these veins that Wanderer found the cause of their issue, for where the Golem had been injured these channels have been misaligned and deformed, letting only a trickle of their potential through.

This discovery added yet another layer of reasoning behind avoiding physical damage, shattering the seed of arrogance that once grew within Wanderer’s mind, proclaiming that they were invunerable to weapons.

The Vessel spent a moment just staring at the issue with their mind’s eye, contemplating how to fix it and hoping it wasn’t permanent.

The only way of realigning the magic-carrying channels that they thought of was also the worst, that being to re-open their wound and physically connect the veins.

They immediately revolted at the suggestion, they had only just escaped the pain of the wound, they didn’t want to consider how much worse it would be if they had to open it themself.

Just as Wanderer had worked up the courage to try and fix the issue, their Spirit woke and called to them, bringing an alternative way to fix their damaged pathways.

Their Spirit painstakingly conveyed to them that the magic that flowed through their veins could be forced to follow them with greater ferocity, and if Wanderer managed to do this their channels could be forced back into the right shape.

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While this news relieved the Golem, their Spirit’s explanation of how to move their magic did not.

The closest thing Wanderer could liken their Spirits instructions to was moving an extra arm they didn’t know they had, as if their magic was a limb they had never used before.

None the less, the Golem took a comfortable position in the grassy fields and began to try to move their magic.

At first, they tried to focus on the humming channels of power in their body, just trying to will the power to move faster, yet this was met with little success.

Feeling that maybe the quantity of magic was getting in the way of their breakthrough, they turned their mind’s eye to their Spirit and blessing, from which much of the magic in their body originated, hoping that the vast power they contained would bring some kind of revelation.

While it was fascinating to watch the cycle of magic that was siphoned through their blessing and soul, it provided no revelation as to how to control the energy.

Feeling that Wanderer’s investigations were going nowhere, the Spirit once again sent their instruction, this time with an extra emphasis on using the magic like one would a limb.

Abandoning their previous pursuit, Wanderer heeded their Spirits instructions and began to attempt to flex the unseen muscle that their guide insisted upon.

The Golem first attempted to replicate the feeling of using one of their body parts, focusing this feeling on the flowing magic in their body.

The best they got out of this approach was the involuntary movement of their arms so they attempted a different approach.

Next Wanderer began moving their body (the parts they could move), at random, hoping to activate the mysterious ability by chance.

Yet it was another failure, one that resulted in the frustration that was slowly boiling inside the Vessel coming to a head, and in a last-ditch effort to do something, they flailed every part of their body that they could, at the same time.

As soon as they did this, they felt a slight pick up in the speed of the magic flowing through their veins, existing for only a moment before fading again, a pulse so slight that the Golem would have likely missed it if they had not been searching so closely.

A new wave of enthusiasm for their formerly hopeless task exploded into Wanderer at the smidgen of progress they had made, and they did not waste a moment on setting out to recreate their minor success.

They once again flailed their body, this time paying special attention to the pulse of speed that followed, and more importantly, the action that activated it.

Wanderer quickly found that the instructions that their Spirit had provided them as an example was vastly different to the truth, the action feeling more like focusing a foreign part of their mind than using a limb, but none the less they had discovered what to do, and now it was only a matter of practice.

It took a while for the Golem to consistently be able to move their magic, yet under their relentless enthusiasm no problem could stand for long.

As they practised forcing magic through their channels, they found that true to the Spirit’s word, the misaligned pathways where they were wounded slowly corrected themselves, as they were forced to take a more efficient shape under the flood that flowed through them.

Their veins were almost fixed when their Spirit spoke to them once again, giving them a light warning against continuing with their practice.

“But I am almost finished?” the Vessel thought, unwilling to stop when they were so close to being whole again, yet their Spirit was insistent.

And with a quick explanation, the Golem soon discovered why.

Due to their mending, their magic channels had become worn down, the rushing magic having made them weaker than they once were.

Like a waterfall rushing over a rough stone, their veins had become dangerously thin to contain the magic that flowed through them, causing Wanderer to wonder what would happen if they were to burst.

The Vessel didn’t need their Spirit to tell them it wasn’t a pretty picture.

Luckily, their Spirit made it obvious that their channels would heal in time, meaning that all Wanderer needed to do was give them a rest for a while and they would eventually return to their former glory.

And so, a little disheartened by being unable to finish the job, Wanderer stood up and crept through the grass to try and find Emio.

As they walked, they looked down upon the crossbow-like contraption that they had almost died to obtain, wondering if it was truly worth all the fear and pain they had to go through to get it.

“Did I not take it so that I would be safer?”, the Vessel thought.

Yet despite their intentions, their retrieval of the object had placed them in more danger than they ever would have been in otherwise.

“I just have to hope it was worth it”.