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Mira’s mind raced as her power, her life energy, her very soul was sucked from her. A Qi channeler like the soul drinker shared many aspects of traditional vampires. Mira had always steered clear of the deadly creatures.
She had learned in the Arcanum about individuals who stole Qi. People couldn’t usually do it, but some beasts like this soul drinker could. If a victim of a Qi channeler survived, his damaged core could enable them to inject their Qi into others. It could even be a good thing, empowering an ally with Qi and Qi patterns they couldn’t achieve on their own.
But a Qi channeler could go too far and pierce another’s Qi Core either by accident or design. The rich Qi energy was said to be impossible not to pull. Once you took your first taste you felt amazing but were firmly locked on a path to doom.
At first, the rush of power would amplify your every action and ability. But power once used was gone. The thirst for more grew and grew. To make the situation worse, once a Qi channeler regularly used foreign Qi, the channeler’s core slowed down and eventually stopped generating its own power.
Quickly one would become utterly dependent upon draining the Qi of others to stay powerful. Mana depletion could kill a Qi cultivator. Eventually, a Qi Channeler needed to feed upon others just to stay alive. It turned people into monsters, and Mira’s core was now pierced by the Soul Drinker’s attack. Mira felt tears rise as she knew she would be damaged forever. She struggled to stop the pull on her Qi in a tug-of-war for her soul. She felt herself begin to win and then she hesitated.
If she reversed the energy flow and tasted the Soul Drinker’s Qi, she would truly become like one of them. Even planning an exit from the game, she couldn’t compromise her character and become a soul leech! Mira did the only thing she could think of. She refocused her effort from pulling and pushed her Qi at the Soul Drinker as hard and fast as she could.
At first, the creature drank greedily, then tried to back away as the trickle became a flood. It tried to disengage, but with Qi powering through its psychic fangs, it found it couldn’t stop. The monster’s features glowed and distorted, expanding with the unexpected rush of energy. Face pressed into the stone floor; Mira smiled in pain.
Tiamat flew in and her sting struck the beast in the neck as it reached some internal limit and detonated. It ripped apart in a shower of gore. Mira fumbled about in a daze and dragged herself to the exit. Tiamat transformed into her little girl form and helped drag Mira from the room. They worked together quickly to barricade the door with a couch from the sitting room beyond.
Mira collapsed on the couch, moaning, and summoned some health and mana potions. Tiamat helped uncork each and helped Mira drink them.
“Gods!” She moaned and coughed up some blood. “That damn Magister…left a portal open to the forsaken Abyss. Ah…ah…ah. My core hurts. That last attack drained my entire Qi core. I may have gone too far.” She fell back into the couch trying to catch her breath. Tiamat looked on, worried but uncertain how to help.
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“What exactly happened with that monster? My stinger poison usually puts people to sleep. It shouldn’t have exploded that thing.” Tiamat asked confused.
“That was a Soul Drinker. It was sucking my Qi out. My brother was a bit mean growing up. When a mosquito bit him, he would squeeze his arm until the poor thing filled with blood and popped. I guessed that something similar might work on this beast. I’m as surprised as you, I truly thought I was a goner.” Mira laughed weakly.
“Should we call it quits? You don’t look too good.” Tiamat said with concern.
“Just…need…a…moment.”, Mira said with difficulty. She still had traces of Qi. She hoped she could rekindle her core. She tried cycling and noticed some Qi was building, but also leaking out. Her core was cracked!
Shit! I’m not sure this will mend, she thought to herself. As she furiously tried to cycle her Qi, she couldn’t help but look about the sitting area with her mage sight. The Faen threads were pulling aggressively towards the second door. None for the stairs up to the next floor.
The gold faen mystic threads swirled towards the next remaining door. Mira could see several had “flipped” into a darker shadowy color. If she delayed too long, ill fortune would accumulate. With a pained sigh, she pulled herself upright and staggered to her feet. She summoned her staff and leaned hard on it.
“Come on, girl. I’m good enough to check out the next room.”, she said. With a twist of her hand, she had just enough Qi to turn the latch and open the door for Tiamat. “After you, my brave Dragon.”, she said with a grimace. She needed to use the door to keep from falling but managed to avoid showing her weakness to her friend.
The room’s interior was in dramatic opposition to the feel of the last room. This room was bathed in the soft, ever-changing colors of an aurora borealis. The floor, walls, and pillars were glittering arrays of gems. The whole room swirled and pulsed with energy, specifically Qi energy. Mira breathed in deeply as Qi penetrated her body. The density of energy in the room seemed to counterbalance her leaking core.
“Sweet fucking fairy-luck. It’s still working hard for me. Although this room wouldn't be nearly as miraculous if I hadn't been attacked and damaged by a soul-devouring monster in the last room.” Mira said as her breathing strengthened. The life draining from her core stopped as the Qi-filled room equalized the energy imbalance between her core and body.
“Let’s take a little break here, Miss T. Cycling here…for even an hour…in this dense Qi zone would be the equivalent…of cycling my Qi non-stop…for a year. Maybe I can repair my core if I can…add a layer to it.” Mira said. The center of the room was slightly elevated and had a prayer mat centered. Perfect, but that was probably exactly the function that the room had been designed for. The room was miraculous. Qi was an internal energy, but the room was cycling it as if it was a cultivating master or a great beast. Mira slowly staggered to the central stage.
As she set herself into a meditative pose on the mat, she got a closer look at the floor. The scintillating pattern was from embedded beast or Qi cores. The whole room was built from Qi cores!
“Oh my god! If I could harvest this room, I’d be set for life. I’m feeling much better about the reward part of the risk and reward equation.” Mira closed her eyes as Tiamat stood guard. Mira soon found that if she cycled in time with the pulsing “heart beat” of the room, it worked the Qi into her core even faster. Grinning and a little drunk with the power, she compressed her burgeoning Qi energy and cycled more.
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