“Everyone up, quick. I know we all feel like shit, but we’ve gotta get to the pool before they have time to regroup, and then we can figure out our next moves since they clearly know we are coming,” Cal said, barely getting the words out as he had his own struggles with exhaustion to contend with.
There were several loud popping sounds accompanied by wails of pain as Frank, once back on his feet, started forcing his bones back where they were supposed to be.
“Frank, are you sure you should do that?” Stan asked the tree man.
“Only way to heal correctly,” Frank replied as he pushed his shoulder against the cave wall, resulting in another loud pop. “Mom did some work on me the last few months to help with the wrestling matches. Now I can do my stunts without worrying about long healing times!”
“Huh, that was a good thought on Ethel’s part. How fast can you heal now, big guy?” Cal asked as he helped the now-conscious Albert up.
“Mom called it an experiment, so the Tree Titan has no idea yet!” Frank’s wrestling voice had returned as strong as ever, reassuring Cal somewhat despite how badly Frank’s body had been mangled.
“Albert, you doing alright? That was a great job with the mushroom explosion, but I’m guessing you totally drained your core there?” Cal realized he had spoken way too many words at the barely conscious capybara when the only response he had was several blinks and a confused look spreading across Albert’s face. “Sorry, I’ll let take some time to wake up more before the lessons.”
“Thank you,” Albert managed to squeeze the words out.
“Dad, you and Jen ready to go?” Cal turned to look at his father, who was leaning slightly on his wife with a grimace.
“Just give me a second. When that aura hit us, it really messed with my brain. I feel like bugs are crawling inside my head still,” Stan finished his answer with another gag.
“Yes, the creature's aura clung to our bond and caused some feedback directly into Stan’s head. He will be fine, but I imagine the feeling is not pleasant at the moment,” Excalibur explained further.
“That’s a giant understatement,” Stan’s words came between gags, though fewer gags than he had been doing moments ago, so Cal considered that a good sign.
“Alright, everyone gets five more minutes, and as much as I may want to, I will not scout ahead,” Cal said.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Images of the shadow Gryalth popped back into his head unbidden. He knew why it was stuck occupying his thoughts as much as he wished otherwise. The more the fight replayed in his brain as he ran from the area, the more he doubted the creature’s death with just the wall’s impact. Had it not been for the thud and scream behind the wall, he wouldn’t have even been sure the shadow had a true physical form.
A cough from his father broke him out of his thoughts. “Alright, I think I can at least walk for now. Let’s go,” Stan said.
And go, they did. Cal wasted no time ushering them down the passage he had come down. He took the rear to make sure no one fell behind. Soon the walk had turned into more of a light job as both Stan and Albert recovered even more of their strength. Cal also noticed that the dark cuts on Frank’s best were slowly fading as they continued. Whatever Ethel had done to him, she had done well, so it was no wonder he had become such a local celebrity to the squirrels.
By the end of the short trip, most of them looked ready and able again. Albert, though, still looked pretty drained, and Cal shared that feeling. He had spent more of his energies than he would have liked already today, and there was still the matter of the pool ahead.
As though to drive home Cal’s last thought, Frank yelled out in pain. What looked like arrows made of nothingness had rippled through the air, finding their homes in his shoulder. “Two!” was the only word Frank shouted before he charged down the passage into the chamber with the pool, entirely out of Cal’s sight.
The noises Cal heard during his sprint to catch up to Frank weren’t pleasant, but they also didn’t leave him worried about the big man. Entering the chamber, he found just what he had expected from the sounds. None of them had come from Frank, only the pain of the Gryalth as their bodies had been broken in the new lifeless shapes they occupied.
“Good job, Frank. Dad, get in here. The room is clear. Let’s get whatever it is Excalibur needs to do done so we can disappear into the tunnels,” Cal yelled back down the passageway to the others.
Stan walked into the room carrying the sword, approached the pool, and proceeded to drop the sword in. “He says the corruption is less along than he would have expected, so it shouldn’t take that long to absorb the pool's energies, ten minutes or so,” Stan spoke for the Sword.
Cal sat down and tried to relax as he watched the pool’s colors slowly change from the dark green it had started. Cycling through several shades of green as the color faded, the pool finally settled on crystal clear. Walking over to the water’s edge, Cal put his hand into it and felt nothing. “So the mana is all gone, then?” he asked.
Stan pulled Excalibur from the water. “Not gone, but within me. Stan has explained to you my hopes should I gather enough.”
“So I have a question. What happens to all these pools when we reset the loop? I know our abilities seem to stick, but what happens to the energies within them? Can someone else go find the pool I met Acorncracker at and get themselves their own?” Jen looked to both Cal and Excalibur for answers to her questions.
“No clue. Honestly, I was hoping to talk to Andy and Andrew when we got back and see if they had any idea how this all worked,” Cal answered.
“I have some theories, but I want to see this console you have firsthand before I give any concrete answers,” Excalibur said.