Heat. Pressure. Each force pushed on him enough to turn into an affliction. Another magnitude forced him to turn the negative around to usable leverage. Fire poked at his nerves enough to shock his mind to be alert. He tried to squirm, move, or scuttle around. Each flinch caused pain, and the gravity that bore down on his bones was the whetstone to his focus.
He was aware but numb. His conscience shattered but bound together with threads. His mind wasn’t whole but for the time being, it had to be enough. His right hand was the only limb completely stuck. It was hindered by an immense weight complemented by searing pain. Contrary to that, he still clutched the black blade. While his right side might have been saved from flames his left hadn’t been spared. He couldn’t conjure sight from his fused shut eyelid, or grab anything from his nubbed fingers. Cloth and skin both melted together in an ugly amalgamation. The terrible meek breath that blessed him was halted.
With his good eye, he spotted the small figure just in front of him. White and black, with too much dark red undulating out. Bits of fur charred with ash piled on top of it. Kenan's best friend lay there, curled and still. Kenan waited. It’s chest heaved.
“Dion,” Kenan said. It was a feat of will. The vocal volume just brushed a whisper. It burned his energy and sent the shock of agony down his limb but he reached his left arm and placed his remaining fingers just behind the fox's ear. “Dion…” Kenan choked out. “Buddy…” Dion shifted his head. The fox, despite its state, its fear and pain, its trepidation, wagged his tail.
Dion wasn’t happy. In another thread of the whimsical, he could’ve lived the rest of his life next to his best friend, getting all of the scratches he wanted and tracking down all the chickens possible. The beast knew that, knew where he could’ve been once. Yet, he was joyful. It was with an assurance, a confidence, that his heart slowed. That too was matched with pleasure to receive a final ear scratch when the rhythm of life finally winked out.
“Dion… Dion… no no no no. C’mon buddy. Please. Dion…” Kenan sobbed. Weaped without tears. The fire was without mercy, it wouldn’t allow that minor reprieve. The miniscule amount of control that he had was pierced and broken. There was more sorrow, he knew for sure. He knew that there was a clock on the time he had left. But right now, it was all he could do just to feel.
Kenan screamed. He wasn’t sure why, but he did. The emotion fluxed and doubled. He thrashed about but the pain was more fuel. It only took a spark for the flammable source to erupt. It was there again, fast and furious. Churning so swiftly that the true emotional thought couldn't keep up. Anger, so deeply rooted that it shrugged the most rational conscience away.
He needed to get out, and it needed to be now.
At the moment his worst obstacle was mana deprivation. His body was tired, sapped thoroughly. The hole he poked through his skin so his body could get the ethereal to absorb through the physical was burned shut. His mind wasn’t functionally peak, but his guess was good enough. At most, he had half a day, if not less. Then, whatever happened to a being without mana would happen to him.
There were other factors ahead of him. He would need to walk to the village. If he could walk. He would need food soon and had a thirst for water right now. What of the carnage he would see outside? What would he tell his uncle? Questions and concerns didn’t matter.
He knew the decision was terrible. Rational told him he should just wait. He tested the reaction of the mana in his body. It followed his command.
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A raspy breath came and passed. The intake was of his own accord but the release wasn’t. Kenan was brought to the cusp of action but he needed more. Much more. He sought power deeper and dusted away his mind of proper thought while his focus was split. A portion of his attention circulated mana in his blood and forced it to support his free arm.
Another prodded. Tested and activated an action that he didn’t know the mechanisms behind. Beyond the physical, he created a vortex of potency. The swirling mana spun quicker and quicker. It created a force that almost turned palpable in the physical. Like the world whirred around Kenan. Then he pushed. Power rushed to his arm, somehow in the real but the ethereal at the same time.
Kenan then swung his body up as much as he could. The pain was so intense he screamed but clenched his teeth and continued. It did not matter that he felt flesh rip, or that the edges of his vision turned. He was close now and the repercussions did not matter when he got to that goal. At the apex of his enhanced strength, the mounting packed mana on his limb swelled. Then burst.
“Raahhhhggghaaa!” The rubble moved and then exploded outward. From the sudden rush came Kenan as he yelled. The power he built exploded with dangerous violence. It let Kenan free but now his arm was mangled, twisted beyond recognition. The bone shifted in a hundred different directions and the damage got gut-wrenching when it came to his partial fingers. He wished that it suffered because it was more alarming that the broken and ugly limb was completely numb.
No, that wasn’t right. All of him was numb. Only pricked with a terrible sting of blood loss.
The right side of his body, while not licked by the blaze, did not look better. Long lacerations in the skin ran up and down the length of his torso. His right hand was battered too, but the blade held firm into it. He feared the damage to his legs, and what they would look like when he got out. If he did.
It was with a shock that he realized that he was not alone. In front of him was a man, beyond him was a scene of death that Kenan half blocked out and half ignored. That person questioned the essence of humanity. It had dark green skin, long dreads that went to its mid back, and large tusks that poked from its lower lips. There was more to it that seemed wrong. The thing was tall. Too tall. Large beyond belief. Kenan had heard the whispers of stories. It was an orc in front of him.
“Ah!” The orc, the thing, the monster said. “Who are you?” The creature's baritone was deep, but almost lackadaisical. Not dosed with lethargy but something else. A certain giddiness. “You are a small pig-skin.” Its smile was a frown that flopped down on the side of its face. The fixture turned the grin to a snarl.
Kenan tried to say something. Anything. But there was more churning beneath his skin than he could handle. “You're his nephew?” It asked.
“Was it you?” Kenan ground his teeth to ignore the question with his own. Even that small action caused pain, but he continued to do it. There was something in the agony.
“Aye, I did.” Its mouth twitched. It had curiosity and amusement. That angered Kenan to a greater degree. Red flooded the outside of his vision as he mentally took hold of his tortured form. Then he dug.
A strength engulfed his body. It would not be enough, but it was there. “What's your name” He asked.
“Roshu '' it said. “You're Kenan, aren't you?”
He didn’t know what pushed him beyond the precipice. But Kenan snapped. He yelled. Thrashed at his confines. His movement caused more damage to his body. Rage boiled in his blood and forced a block to the consequences. He hated that he couldn't go forward. Hated he couldn't reach for the orc's throat and rip it out with his teeth. Hated the being in front of him with such an intensity it put leverage on the world. He reached for an object and chucked a stone at the orc. It bounced off of Roshu.
“I’m going to kill you!!” Kenan half-growled half-yelled. ”You hear me!”
Roshu’s brow went up, and then a chuckle came. That certainly did not help Kenan’s fury. “Hahahah. We’ll see, young one.” He gave another laugh. “We’ll see.” The orc turned and walked away.
“Hey! Get back here!” As he threatened, blood bubbled from his mouth. He didn’t care. “I’ll tear you to shreds! I’ll rip your skeleton out of your body. I’ll…” There was no definite end. At some point, Kenan lost his strength. He Fell forward. Unconscious.