Eian felt like crap, that was the second time in the same night he'd been mauled by monsters, his spirit was thoroughly drained so his trump card was already spent.
The stupid insects in the forest were also annoying, they keep buzzing and biting at his injuries, he swatted another one, wincing at the sting, he felt that area tender.
While Eian was fully healed, Alex mentioned his spirit was low as well, that meant until he recovered there would be very little healing.
A terrible omen as even now he could hear more noise, Eian tried to think of what they could do, this place was a death trap, he couldn't even burrow underground as he was spiritually spent.
"Let's keep moving." Sarah looked ridiculous with a shoddy rough pack as clothing.
Still Eian personally preferred her this way over when she was....exposed, till now he really hadn't noticed how well-endowed Sarah had been.
Shaking his head Eian took his head out of the gutter, it was harder than he'd thought it would be, how do you stop thinking about something on purpose? It seemed redundant, by trying not to think on it, your thinking on it.
He'd seen and done everything you'd expect a young adult male his age would do, at least on a highly irregular basis...so Eian wasn't by any measure chaste or 'pure', but he wasn't quite at to the level where he could be nonchalant about female nudity.
Especially when it's right in front of his face, it didn't help he hadn't exactly been 'around' in a long time.
A croaking sound broke him out of his thoughts and he snapped to attention, inwardly glad to not be focusing on his previous thoughts, he was glad people couldn't read his thoughts....they'd think he was some sort of pervert.
Wholly focusing his senses to the darkness Eian spotted nothing, he knew the monsters were everywhere but none of his senses were picking up anything apart from distant noise, so he relaxed a tiny bit.
Alex was again in the lead and Eian had to admit, he rather enjoyed it, always wondering where to next, or if there was a monster just up ahead was stressful.
"Do you really think the vampires are actively looking for us?" Alex asked Sarah.
Eian sighed, Alex was a cool guy, but he asked the right questions to annoy Sarah, plus he'd already asked this one before.
Sarah looked at him funny, Eian could imagine she likely rolled her eyes.
"...Really Alex? I already told you, they have to be. We're hours away from their city by now and they found us here, in the middle of no-where. They're probably using magic to track us." Sarah shrugged.
"I think so too. We killed a lot of their minions and quite a few of them, they're probably pissed." Eian added his thoughts as well, before this became an argument or something.
"...Roger." Alex sighed, he sounded depressed, Eian could understand he wasn't looking forward to more fights.
A good while later Eian heard the noise behind them pick up, frowning he craned his neck to look back.
He couldn't see anything, but that didn't stop dread from slowly building up in his chest.
Something was coming, his ears could pick up something, something he couldn't quite place but his subconscious warned him it couldn't be anything good.
"Guys. Let's pick up the pace. I think I hear something behind us." Eian felt a little stupid saying it out loud, but like his mom said, better safe than sorry.
"I can't run for long." Sarah grimaced.
"Sarah I'll focus on you first then. I'll have to switch to you when you're tired Jess-sica." Alex told her.
Jessica remained silent, Eian ignored her, she wasn't really his problem, she had Alex to worry for her.
"Please just tell me, when you need it." Alex sighed.
Jessica turned to look at him, her lips were a half-formed frown, but she gave him a single nod, much to Alex's relief.
They began jogging at a reasonable pace, Sarah was puffing and sweating a while later, even though Alex was healing her.
The wind began to pick up, hampering Eian's hearing, that wasn't a good sign, they had to go faster.
He could keep this up forever easily, even while carrying some the baggage, Alex was carrying a little bit too.
"Pick up the pace!" Eian warned over the cutting wind.
"Jess'll fall behind if we do man!" Alex returned his warning with his own.
"We have to! We can't...*huff*...fight right now!" The wind almost blocked Sarah's warning completely, her breathe was labored and voice weak.
Eian looked at Jessica, she was sweating and breathing taxed already, what to do?
A gurgling howl in the distance accelerated his blood in shock, dammit they were running out of time.
A quick idea sprouted in his head, it wouldn't be ideal, nor comfortable but he had to do something before another horde caught them.
Fighting didn't sound like an option with most of everyone spiritually low.
"Alex switch to healing Jessica!" Eian ordered quickly.
"Man what?" Alex turned his confused eyes at him.
"WHAT! *huff* Eian you can't mean-" Fear and shock entered Sarah's face and eyes.
"I'll carry you!" Eian nodded to Sarah.
Sarah's face twisted in confusion, his words probably weren't making sense to her.
"Roger!" Alex quickly agreed, he quickly ran over to Jessica, whom seemed reluctant.
Before she had a chance to protest, Eian ran over to Sarah.
"Hey! Wait!" Sarah held up her arms.
Eian quickly grabbed her, ditched an extra pack of heavy deer meat, and quickly flung Sarah over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.
These actions reduced him to a single bag of miscellaneous items, luckily Alex had some more rations.
Now finally, in what felt like a century, Eian felt a tad bit of strain as he picked up the pace, even as loaded down as he was, the other two on foot had trouble keeping up.
Eian gunned his legs to turbo, a slow burn spread to his calves and it felt good, Eian grinned.
"HEY!" Sarah's voice sounded shaken.
"Hey man! *huff* Not so fast!" Alex complained from behind Eian.
"Heal yourself too stupid! Your body shouldn't need as much as healing others!" Sarah belatedly yelled at Alex from Eian's shoulder.
A quick moment later Alex responded.
"Roger! Thanks!" Alex sounded less winded now, Sarah had the grace to remain silent.
Eian quickly noticed something he hadn't taken into account and it left him distinctly uncomfortable, Sarah's body was positioned in such a way he clearly felt her...assets rubbing against his shoulder, it was super weird.
He was even tightly holding on to the back of her upper thighs, Eian mentally-chided himself, he had more important things to worry about than a little weird discomfort.
Hopefully this would all be over soon and Sarah wouldn't take him for some creepy pervert, then they could go back to normal stuff, like killing monsters...or hunting for food, among other less weird things in life.
A good run later Sarah tapped Eian's shoulder vigorously, he almost thought she wanted to come down.
"MONSTERS! RUN FASTER!" Sarah's voice was too close and Eian winced slightly, his ears didn't like that.
"I'm low! I'm soon out!" Worry and a tinge of desperation leaked into Alex's voice.
"KEEP TRYING! First sun's coming up soon!" Sarah screamed loudly, eliciting another wince from Eian.
Eian tried to figure out what she meant, then he clicked, the vampires were nocturnal, hopefully they'd stop chasing them during the day.
For once in his life Eian hoped those stupid movies along with popular media were true, if not, they were in for the fight of their lives.
He wasn't sure how he'd fare without rock-armor, Sarah's fire-support and Alex's healing.
They were tired, both spiritually and physically and to a degree even emotionally, this night had been one thrill ride after another.
'Shit! Hope we make it.' Eian grit his teeth in frustration.
Eian wasn't worried for himself, he still had plenty on 'gas' in his body, he felt he could run for several more hours straight.
The problem lay with the others, Alex might last a good while more, but he wasn't going to abandon Jessica, and Eian wasn't going to abandon either of them.
Howls and screeches intensified, the wind picked up and Eian heard Sarah swear.
The flash of light illuminated behind him, Eian jolted at the brief flash, it almost caused him to miss a step and tumble.
"Stay still! There are a few left!" Sarah chided him.
"A few what?!" Eian couldn't see behind him.
"Vampires! I'll shoot them down! I have a few shots left!" Sarah screamed.
"FUCK!" Eian swore, he didn't like this shit.
Another flash erupted, finally Eian understood how those people in movies felt when they were running away from monsters.
He had to say, being on this side of things wasn't pleasant, he'd much rather be on a sofa watching it go down in tv and laughing.
Eian mentally cursed those stupid monsters and swore he'd kill them as soon as his well recovered.
Another flash passed.
"Shit!" Sarah swore.
"What?!" Eian was worried, he didn't want more bad news.
"Just keep going! I missed, I'll get him this time!" Sarah responded.
Another flash and another past, Eian wondered how many of those things were behind them.
"Got them! Keep going!" Sarah sounded smug.
Another minute passed and Eian'd eagle eyes could see the forest visibly clearing up slightly, Eian grinned, they were almost there!
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The wind wasn't slowing down yet though, Eian began to worry if the vampires could actually stay active during the day.
Slowly more and more light began to trickle in and Eian took a deep breathe, was this it?
Then the wind died down, Eian slowed down slightly due to the event.
"Keep going! We have a few zombies on our trail! Lose them first!" Sarah ordered.
"I'm out man!" Alex yelled.
"Close! The vampires are gone! Jessica can make it!" Sarah said.
"How many?!" Eian wondered if he could take the zombies.
"Like thirty! Everything else was too slow to keep up. Let's put some distance and then kill those things!" Sarah said.
Eian complied, the night had visibly lightened.
"We're good!" Sarah yelled.
Eian set her down, turned and saw a small horde of zombie a fifty meters away.
He drew his axe, dropped his pack and charged, the other's likely couldn't fight much right now, they were probably exhausted so he had to buy some time.
Soon he beheaded his first zombie with two hands on an axe he had superb control and could kill easily, a shield would be nice though.
A few zombies past him but many focused on him, the second, third, forth and fifth zombies went down just as easily as his first, but then things got dicey.
Many charged together and he was forced to barrel into two zombies, sending them to the floor on their backs.
In a flurry of motion he pivoted and swung wildly behind him, the axe bit deep, but it only lopped off an arm and threw his target along with a friend to the floor.
A stray tried to go for his legs and he gave it what it wanted, he gave it his foot straight in the face, he felt something crack or snap and the monster went down, Eian had no time to spare it attention.
Eian felt something latch unto his back, he ignored it even as its slimey teeth tried to find purchase upon his neck.
Swinging with precision Eian neatly sheared off the upper face of another zombie, something grabbed his left leg.
Eian growled in frustration even as he swung at his next target, while easily dragging the two mangy creatures latched on him.
With the back of his head Eian tried to head-butt the monster on his back, while shaking the undead on his left leg.
Another set of hands gripped his second foot and Eian became enraged, another zombie grabbed his bicep and swiftly it received a taste of his elbow, some liquid spluttered as the zombie fell in a heap backwards, it would get up shortly.
'DAMN IT!' Eian's grit his teeth and gave a throaty growl.
Then he heard the sweet sound of metal tearing into flesh.
"You're crazy man!" Alex shouted at him.
"Hurry up and help me kill these fuckers!" Eian shook himself vigorously.
The zombie on his back fell off, Eian felt his neck was bleeding slightly, nothing urgent, but still it would probably need attention soon, Eian tried to keep the surrounding zombies at by swinging at their faces.
Teeth were slowly digging into both his legs and Eian tried to remedy that, he grabbed a zombies' hair and pulled, it stubbornly tried to hold on but it's teeth let go.
Flinging it aside, Eian wildly caught an approaching zombie in the face, he caught it badly but he was just buying time.
He shouldered into another two zombies stretching their hands at him, they went tumbling to the floor.
Grabbing the last zombie on his leg, Eian pried it off his leg with gritted teeth, he threw it to the floor, he stomped its face in.
Two zombies he'd shouldered got up and he split one's skull and beheaded the next one.
The crowd of monsters had visibly thinned, so when a zombie tried to latch itself to Eian's foot he kicked it then slashed it face diagonally, the axe left a the head hanging by a thin strip of skin, it was down for good.
Turning he saw a stray zombie heading for a busy Alex, he killed it embedding his axe in it's spine, then as the creature struggled to move he lopped of the head.
He quickly killed one more zombie and searched for another.
His search ended, they were all dead.
Alex, Jessica and Sarah were gathered around him, Eian smiled it looked like they'd all made it.
"Alex, Eian needs some help." Sarah looked at Alex.
"I'm out. Completely. Sorry man." Alex shook his head lightly, apologizing.
"No worries, I'll last a while more." Eian shrugged, wincing slightly when pain lanced through his neck.
"Let me try. I have a little left." Sarah got up close.
Quickly Sarah healed summons a sphere of life and sunk it to his neck, he grunted at the uneasy feel of flesh knitting itself.
The next one Sarah summoned was visibly smaller, she placed it on his neck again.
"There. I'm done too." Sarah eyed his injury with focus.
Eian definitely felt better, his neck wasn't top shape but it wasn't leaking blood anymore and the pain had reduced to minor discomfort.
Looking up Eian saw the first rays of daylight shine down on him, an easy smile slipped into his face, he'd never been so happy to see the light.
"Alex, as soon as you recover somewhat, finish patching up Eian. I don't want him to turn into a zombie or catch an infection." Sarah's words killed Eian's smile.
"Roger. Sorry man." Alex sighed.
Eian shrugged helplessly, what else could they do?
"Let's move and put some more distance, the other undead may be slower but I don't what to tangle with the horde I saw. Come night I want to be ready." Sarah urged them onward.
"What do you mean?" Alex looked at her with a frown.
"They'll likely be back in the night." Sarah sighed.
For once Alex stayed quiet, Eian was surprised he wasn't trying to deny it, Alex had the habit of being optimistic.
They got moving, Eian was worried about the night, but for now it seemed the undead tide had left.
"Fuck." Eian was watching his markings, he swore he still hadn't gotten an upgrade.
"What's up man?" Alex turned to him.
"No upgrade." Eian sighed.
"Oh man. I got one though." Alex shrugged.
"Same here." Sarah shrugged and quickly selected mind supposedly.
Jessica remained silent and Eian briefly looked at her, she wasn't saying anything so he guessed she didn't have one.
It's not like he was keeping count after-all and she'd just gotten an upgrade last night.
Quick math made Eian realized Sarah was now at the same overall as him, seventeen.
She should have Body:1, Mind: 6, Spirit:10 with this recent one.
Eian himself was at Body: 7,Mind: 4, Spirit: 6, to be honest he couldn't wait to try out the new Qi powers of Body once he reached 8, but he really needed more spirit too, he ran out too fast as is.
"Should I go? We're running aren't we?" Alex looked worried.
"Just don't take long. Ask your guide to hurry up." Sarah shrugged.
Alex turned to Eian briefly.
"Your call." Eian shrugged, they seemed safe enough and if anything he could carry Alex.
"Roger. Thanks Sarah." Alex nodded at her.
Alex quickly selected something, went into a daze, not a minute passed and he blinked awake.
Eian raised his eyebrows, record time.
"Good news." Alex seemed happy.
"You can take us home?" Sarah snorted.
"...No, but I can split my life link into parts now. Apparently each split makes it weaker, but as I grow stronger the link also gets better." Alex's smile was genuine.
Eian scratched his head, parts?
Did he mean he could link more people?
"That means you can heal us both as we run." Sarah pointed at Jessica, then herself.
"Yeah, well, I could actually link all three of you, but it would be pretty weak right now. So two's best for now." Alex's smile wasn't fazed.
"That is good news." Sarah smiled, Eian's surprise increased, Sarah had been grumpy for a while now.
Thinking back on it Eian wished Alex actually had that a while back, it would certainly have made the run less awkward.
"Let's go though. We have to think of something before nightfall." Sarah's hid her mirth and got to business.
"Roger that." Alex looked to be in high spirits, no pun intended.
Eian and the rest kept going.
*****
They were eating by a stream, deer again, Eian was getting sick of meat, but his rumbling belly didn't have a menu luxury.
They had found this spot a few hours after their escape, had a quick meal and they were now ready to plan.
Eian was feeling much better, Alex had already patched him up.
"Alright, I think I have an idea." Sarah nodded.
'So nothing new.' Eian rather appreciated how she gave logical ideas, they might not be here without her.
"Okay?" Alex looked at her.
"Right, as Eian was carrying me, I saw a few vampires in the back. The important one that looked like the leader was there." Sarah informed them, and Eian thought her voice might have held a sliver of fear.
That got everyone's attention, even Jessica's.
"Did you kill it?" Eian hoped she did.
"No, it was the only one that didn't get close enough. It was just watching, anyways listen I think it might have been directing the undead on the ground." Sarah reasoned.
"So it'll be back." Alex added.
"Likely." Sarah nodded at him.
Sarah gave them a brief time to contemplate that before continuing.
"I think we should set a trap for it." Sarah proposed.
"Trap? It's not a wild animal. I think I heard the last one say something." Alex said, he really should give her more time to explain Eian thought.
"Not that kind of trap. I mean an ambush." Sarah rolled her eyes at him.
"How will that work? It's in the air." Alex didn't look like he was challenging her idea to Eian, but he knew Sarah didn't like people trying to poke holes in her logic.
"Will you just listen? Eian can lead the horde away from the boss." Sarah said.
"What!?" Eian turned to look at her, slightly alarmed.
"What he said: What?" Alex briefly looked at him, before turning back to Sarah.
"I've seen it stay well away from us both times, it seems like he controls most of the monsters. I killed a creator last time and it's creations died shortly. By killing this one, I think it's our best bet to be rid of this problem." Sarah looked completely serious.
Eian took some time to digest that, it made sense....in a weird way, but he didn't like the idea of being bait.
Alex seemed thoughtful, or worried, but he didn't say anything.
"Where would I take the monsters? How would I not get lost? How will I find you guys again?" Eian asked the three most important questions he could think of.
"Easy, we plan it all ahead, we scout around and find the prefect location for the ambush, then we arrange a predetermined location to meet up again after everything is said and done. Maybe even dig a hidden pit or something for you to slow the undead, if everything works out they'll all die after the creator is dead. If any stay alive you ditch them, you're the fastest Eian, I've seen you run and those things can't hope to catch you." Sarah explained.
"Seems a bit dangerous for Eian." Alex put in.
"I agree, but as long as it's alive, we're all in danger. Jessica and I can't keep up running with you two forever and who knows what we can run into accidentally in this murderous forest." Sarah shrugged.
"...Alright I'll do it." Eian nodded, he was pretty confident in his running skills.
"Excellent. Thanks for everything Eian." Sarah gave him a grateful smile.
"Sure, no problem." Eian nodded.
"Well if you have no problem man, I guess I can't argue. Care to explain some more details Sarah?" Alex sighed.
"Sure." Sarah seemed happier than Eian had seen her in...ever, did she like the challenge or the thrill?
The planning went ahead, Jessica was quietly watching them, Eian mostly listened as Sarah listed her ideas and Alex questioned those ideas.
Soon Sarah brought up another topic.
"I know a way to turn fire energy into another type, it might work for you all as well. It might be worth-while to explain it to you all." Sarah said.
That certainly got Eian's attention and judging by the other's looks theirs as well.
"It would help if Alex and I were tired, you two could still heal yourselves or us." Sarah pointed to Eian and Jessica.
"Oh we could all use fire or earth?" Alex raised a brow.
"Yes, but it's hard to focus and use it in battle." Sarah shrugged.
Eian didn't care, he knew it would have helped tremendously when he was separated from the group.
Sarah held up a hand.
"Before we start, do any of you have something similar or something anyone else can use? The more we know and have at our disposal the higher our fighting chance at survival." Sarah said.
Everyone went silent.
"I only know some wooden images for healing spells. Do those count?" Alex asked.
"Can you explain what you mean?" Sarah quirked an eyebrow.
Alex explained in detail about a few images his guide taught.
Sarah experimented and tried them, she shook her head and sighed.
"No. It doesn't look like it Alex, those must be natural for you, thanks for trying though." Sarah shrugged.
"...Roger. Sorry." Alex looked down.
"I might have something that might count, but I don't think it'll help you guys until your stronger." Eian said.
"Stronger?" Sarah turned to him.
"Yeah, my guide called it empower. He said it puts a strain on my channels. He said it's why my spirit makes my body stronger, otherwise it would hurt my channels when using it." Eian shrugged.
"...Channels, so that must mean I'd need to be stronger physically to use it?" Sarah easily deduced what he was talking about, the context was all there from his words and Adara's lessons.
"Yeah." Eian shrugged.
"Well. Just tell us about it, maybe Alex can use it after some time and I can use it in the future." Sarah nodded.
Jessica didn't add anything so Eian explained empower and soon Sarah began teaching her lessons on energy conversion.
Eian and Alex tried and failed constantly, it was to be expected, Sarah said she had trouble learning and her mind was stronger than both of theirs.
Jessica didn't try, she did pay vivid attention when they were both explaining though.
******
"That's enough. We have to start scouting and then go through scenarios in case something goes wrong." Sarah said.
"Roger. Let's start." Alex stood up.
Eian agreed he was sick and tired of constant failure by now, they soon begun their search and would soon plan things once they found somewhere adequate.
******
Several hours later Eian stood alone, next to him was an unlit bond-fire atop a small hill by a large chest-deep stream, the first sun had just gone down.
He held a blazing torch in his hand and threw it into the center, where the kindling awaited, he was glad it hadn't rained as Sarah had another scenario ready in-case that happened, it would be much more embarrassing.
Soon the blazing bonfire was up and burning making Eian develop a sheen of sweat, the second sun descended and Eian felt slightly nervous but he focused they all had their parts to play.
It was now or never.