I take a quick moment to glance over my ‘Bound’ tab. The information available is quite simplistic, but useful, putting numbers to things I’d never been able to properly quantify before. The HR worker in me is satisfied: being able to measure progress and development in numerical form was a big part of my job before all of this.
Bound – Dominate – ‘Bastet’
* Health units: 486/650
* Mana units: 50/50
* Stamina units: 280/280
* Progress to Tier 2: 82%
* Lifespan remaining: ~1y 6m
Bound – Dominate – ‘River’
* Health units: 830/830
* Mana units: 16/70
* Stamina units: 300/300
* Progress to Tier 2: 46%
* Lifespan remaining: ~34y
Bound – Tame – ‘the bird’
* Health units: 120/120
* Mana units: 75/75
* Stamina units: 190/190
* Progress to Tier 2: 31%
* Lifespan remaining: ~16y
Interesting, very interesting. The first thing I note is that neither of my Bound present seem to be suffering from the same Energy poisoning that I am – although Bastet’s health pool isn’t full, it also isn’t dropping, and River’s is completely full. The second is that almost all my Bound’s physical stats are better than mine. With a stamina pool of eighty, I’m severely outclassed even by the bird who has the lowest pool of the three. However, my mana pool is far above even the bird who conversely has the highest mana pool.
The only physical stat I beat any of them in is, again, the bird who has the lowest health pool of all of us. However, we are most definitely the weaklings when compared to Bastet or River with their hefty health. No wonder River wasn’t too badly damaged by the salamander’s fire where I got my side half-melted off; no wonder why it took so long to heal Bastet when she was almost dead those two times. And apparently I didn’t even fully heal her, as she’s still missing a good third of her health pool.
Though seeing that she apparently only has just over a year in lifespan is a little shocking. She did say she was old...but I can’t imagine her not being by my side. Feeling melancholy at the thought of losing someone else I’ve got close to, I flick away the information and return to the ‘real’ world.
Looking around, I spot the silhouettes of River and Bastet still working away at removing Energy-Hearts – or ‘Cores’? - from the walls. Both of them seem to have created a sizeable pile of the things near where they’re working. I push myself to my feet, my body aching, and move over to pack them into my Inventory. At least that’s working, I tell myself. I try to cast another Lay-on-hands, hoping that the issue has fixed itself but release the magic quickly as pain shoots through me.
If I had felt like the pain was just the ache of an over-used muscle, I might have continued anyway; it instead feels like I’m digging my fingers into said muscle and yanking. Except not in any way a physical pain. So, in short, I fear making things worse. I may just have to rely on my natural regeneration – which means getting out of this place before my health drops further.
OK, guys, I project to my Bound, after trying my voice and finding that it’s still not working. We need to leave once I’ve grabbed these Hearts. I get back agreement from both of them, though I sense an element of reluctance. Bastet, can you gather up Lathani and the cubs, please? Maybe start getting them moving? She sends back a desire to first finish chipping away the Energy-Heart she’s working on. I agree, already shoving Energy-Hearts into my Inventory one by one.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Interestingly, it seems like there’s a limit on the number of Energy-Hearts that can fit in one slot – about twenty-five in each. Clearly the limit to each slot isn’t based on number as I fitted significantly more firewood into a slot than that. Not to mention a good half-ton of clay and loads of salt, so not physical space either. Maybe it’s to do with the amount of Energy in them? At least I don’t have to worry about space, though – with the number of Inventory slots I’ve just gained all in one fell swoop, I’m not likely to run out of room anytime soon.
Once I’ve finished packing up Bastet’s cores, I move onto River’s pile. It’s bigger, his method of using his knife clearly more effective than Bastet’s claws. By the end, I have four slots filled up, and a fifth partially filled. Not bad for a few hours of work!
Did you keep doing this throughout the whole time I was sleeping? I ask River curiously.
Of course, he answered, as if it should never have been in doubt. When he feels my surprise, he continues. This is an unprecedented opportunity; spending time on another task would seem a waste. Now that makes me feel bad about sleeping…
Perhaps we can come back, I offer.
Perhaps, River agrees, though with doubt tinging his mental message. Though places of opportunity such as this rarely go unguarded for long. True. But the salamander, though it almost killed Bastet, still came off worst from our confrontation. Who’s to say that we wouldn’t be able to gain access again, and maybe even find a way to use the Pure Energy safely, a sneaky voice in my mind suggests. I push that thought firmly to the side – while it may be a good idea if I have the right method, finding that method is going to be fraught with danger. While the potential of Pure Energy makes the effort worth it, I need to make sure that I approach the attempt with a lot more consideration than what happened this time.
I do consider coming back earlier for Energy-absorption purposes, though. That’s significantly less dangerous but still offers huge potential benefits. As long as I’m not being poisoned, that is, or can heal myself of the poison’s effects. And as long as we don’t need to travel through the vine-strangler forest to get here. Hmm, a thought for a later time.
While I was packing up the rest of River’s pile, I noticed that there had been some changes to my Bonds. Or, not the Bonds themselves so much, but my ability to touch and interact with them. I’m able to pinpoint exactly where my two Bound are in the cavern with me, to the point where I could have found them while otherwise sensory deprived. I even have a vague sense of where the bird is, though the distance reduces the accuracy there. As for touching the Bonds themselves, where previously I’d felt like I was wearing gloves, even if they were thin ones, I now feel like I’m touching a braided sinew cord bare-handed.
There’s a big difference. I have so much more understanding of both my Bound and the Bonds – the ones formed with Dominate. I can feel their feelings with clarity and sense that I could invade their thoughts with a simple flex of will. If the latter seems morally dubious, it’s nothing to the other things I realise I could now do with the Bond. With just a moment’s thought, I could impose pleasure – or pain. I could use the Bond to puppet my Bound like a marionette, controlling their every move and refusing them any agency at all. Even if I didn’t go that far, I sense that any command I give while gripping the Bond will be impossible to refuse, regardless of my tone of voice or how much attention I’m paying.
I also sense that the more I wrapped my Bound in chains, the easier it would become for them to resist me. Although their stats aren’t included in the information I have about them on my ‘Bound’ page, I reckon that if their Willpower stat was stronger than mine, I would be unable to exert full control over them. Not that I’m intending on doing anything of the sort; in fact, the idea makes me feel a little sick. It’s everything I feared after I’d Dominated Spike: a slave-master’s tool. The only reason I used the Bond to give commands recently was because I feared that I couldn’t get them away from the Energy-Hearts in any other way. The only difference between the two bonds is that Bastet’s is thicker, built, I suppose, from time and shared experience.
The difference is even more clear between the Bonds I hold for Bastet and River, and the one I hold with the as-yet-unnamed bird. Although I can sense her location, somewhere above us, and touch on her emotions, I sense that I cannot touch her thoughts without explicit permission. In fact, the Bond is significantly more two-sided, with my ability to affect unilaterally being far more limited.
In fact, I can only affect it in as much as I am concerned: I can block access from her side so she wouldn’t be able to communicate with me or touch my emotions. I could block my own location from her, or indeed, broadcast it. I can send a message to her, but I cannot ensure that it is received. In short, it rather reminds me of an instant messaging feature, except with added emotional connection. Needless to say, I can sense that any attempt of mine to impose my will on hers would be met with a quick refusal, and probably a blockage or severance of her side of the Bond.
It’s all very interesting, but there are other things for me to focus on right now. Namely, getting out of here and returning to Kalanthia as quickly as possible.
For that, I’m going to need light. So far, I haven’t actually required it, although I did have a torch just in case. The moonlight helped me in the first bit of the tunnel, and even now my torch has gone out, the light from the Pure Energy and Energy-Hearts is sufficient for me to see just well enough to not need artificial light. I have a feeling that that might change. From what I remember of Bastet’s scouting, the next bit is travelling beside a stream of Pure Energy. Then there will be some more travelling in a dark tunnel: torches definitely necessary.
Pulling out the torch I lit earlier, I quickly set myself to re-lighting it. Although it takes a bit of convincing, finally, I’m holding the branch in the air, a flickering flame on one end. If nothing else, it will serve as a canary in a coal mine in case we run out of oxygen.
Then, checking that we haven’t left anything behind, we head towards the other exit of the cavern. As we pass the Pure-Energy, I’m unable to avoid casting it a glance. One day, I promise myself. One day I’ll be able to harvest the immense potential in that substance without a 99.9% chance of dying.
But today is not that day, so I force myself to shift my gaze instead to the hole in the floor that is our path out of here.