Before

“How did this happen?” The shock-filled query slips out without conscious thought. But it’s a valid question. I’ve just come back from a highly dangerous trip where I almost died multiple times – and frankly, if I never have to see that kraken-squid-octopus thing again, it’ll be too soon. I was hoping to get home, have a good meal, maybe have my first proper wash with my new soap, but instead, I find my landlord, the most powerful creature I’ve come across so far, lying collapsed on the ground. Actually, if Kalanthia went up against that water monster, I wonder who would come out on top…

Not the time, I tell myself. What’s important is that Kalanthia is in a bad state from some sort of poison, and Lathani, her cub, is missing – taken.

Ambushed, Kalanthia answers me, even her mental voice sounding weak and as if it takes great effort just to project her meaning. They shot me…captured her.

“But what kind of poison is strong enough to take you down?” I ask, almost disbelieving. It’s only because I can see the effects before my very eyes that I don’t disbelieve that it could happen.

Stamina...inhibitor. Instead of feeding more words, I get a small ‘download’ of sensations. The sense of constant exhaustion as my stamina is kept down forcibly to practically zero. I get the idea that there were two poisons, in fact. One that made her use her stamina far quicker than normal, and the other that stops it from regenerating. Actually, the whole situation reminds me of how I felt when I was attacked by the black blob. The one which Spike saved me from. The thought sends a pang of regret through me – it’s still too soon after his death for me to be able to think about it without pain.

I understand the issue now: even breathing is difficult with no stamina in the tank. Why that affects her mental voice too, I don’t know, but clearly it does. I take a moment to review the memories I absorbed a while ago which give me a basic understanding of the System I now have embedded in my being. According to them, having one’s stamina too low for too long leads to increasing problems.

When stamina first is brought down too low, moving is difficult and the person can only sit or lie down and wait for it to regenerate. If it doesn’t, or is immediately used again, the next step is difficulty in breathing. Kalanthia is already at that stage, to judge by how laboured each of her breaths is. The final step is the most dangerous and is fatal if not overcome: organ failure. Having laboured with a lack of stamina for too long, the vital organs of the body are put under increasing strain. If the low stamina continues, the organs will start failing, one by one.

It’s like stamina is just a pool of energy which the body uses. Like an oasis of water, really. When it’s plentiful, the plants and animals all benefit. When it’s reduced, the water-hungry plants and animals die off, where the ones which can better conserve water survive. Finally, when the water is gone completely, the animals and plants start becoming dehydrated, eventually all dying from thirst and leaving a barren land.

“Will you be able to fight the poison off before it kills you?” I ask, concerned. “Can I do anything to help?”

Yes...and yes. Healing. Oh, that makes sense, and I feel like smacking myself for not thinking about it immediately. Placing my hands on her head, I close my eyes and focus on my healing spell, Lay-on-hands. Feeding my mana into the massive leopard slumped in front of me, I feel like I’m pouring a bucket of water into a dried-up swimming pool. An Olympic-sized one. In short, by the time I’ve bottomed out my mana, I still don’t feel like I’ve made a single jot of difference.

“I’m sorry,” I tell her shame-faced. “It’s not much.”

It’s something, she reassures me, and I feel even worse: here she is, potentially facing death if she can’t get her stamina up a bit, and she’s helping me feel better.

“When my mana regenerates a bit, I’ll heal you some more,” I promise.

No. Her voice, for all its weakness, is firm. You must ...help Lathani. I will...be fine. She...is among...enemies. If I wait...until I’m recovered...to seek her, it...could be too...late.

“Alright,” I agree, though my heart is full of doubt. If these creatures were strong enough to take down Kalanthia, what kind of chance do I stand against them? Sure, I’ve come a long way since I arrived in this world, but my increased stats and new weaponry wouldn’t help me much against Kalanthia; why would they serve me any better against her enemies?

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Here, she tells me before dumping a whole load of information in my head. It’s actually painful, though it takes me a few moments to work out why. I’ve had experience with painful information dumps, though those have been because of the sheer number of memories suddenly needing to find a space in my memory. This isn’t for the same reason, or not entirely, at least. It’s not because of the volume, but because of the content.

Kalanthia’s memories are just simply too alien to easily fit in my head. Just like Bastet’s impressions of scouting ahead in the dark were difficult for my brain to comprehend, these memories hold sensations which I simply don’t have the faculties to process. Kalanthia has much stronger sensations of smell and taste than I do. She has whiskers which tell her things, fur which communicates information, and two other senses that I cannot make sense of at all. One seems to be something to do with the earth; the other, something to do with other living beings. The pain is from my own brain trying to wrestle with the new information and pummel it into some form which it can deal with. And the process is almost as agonising as shoving the Lay-on-hands Skills stone knowledge into my head.

By the end, though, I at least have more information than I started with, and I gain a sense for why she is hurrying me along. I wouldn’t want to leave Lathani in the hands of the creatures which have taken her. Or should that be paws? Or claws? Anyway, she’s right. I need to get going.

“Do you want to come with me, or stay here with the cubs?” I ask Bastet. We’ve been through enough in the last couple of days that I thought I’d better give her the choice. She thinks for a few moments before sending a wave of emotion through that expresses determination to be with me, but also not wanting to leave the cubs alone. “Oh, I didn’t mean to leave them here – I wouldn’t trust Trouble near my pots,” I tell her with a touch of humour. “I meant that if you wanted to keep them and yourself out of danger here, I’d understand.” I wouldn’t like it – I’ve learned that lesson multiple times over. But I would understand.

There’s a clear sense of negation. Right, fortunately Bastet seems to feel the same way I do. Hopefully the cubs will cope with being carried most of the time – we need to move fast and I don’t want to risk leaving one or more behind.

No time to waste. I quickly refill my canteen with the water, and then look at Kalanthia a final time. She should be fine. She’s got water here, and hopefully nothing will attack her in the time it will take her to gain at least some ability to move. My mana has regenerated somewhat in the last few minutes, so I give her another dose, allowing my mana to run out completely.

Feeling suddenly tired, the sensation of emptying my mana completely almost as bad as emptying my stamina, I force myself to move. There aren’t that many hours until dark and I want to make the most of the time.

As we move at a medium-paced jog, I go over the memories which Kalanthia sent to me. They’re still difficult to parse, and there’s no way I can gain as much information as she put into them – our senses are just too different. Still, I can get enough information out of them via sight, sound, and smell to know in which direction to head.

I could actually follow the river if I chose as the lizard-folk live not that far from it. That would waste unnecessary time, however, since the river isn’t exactly a direct route. Hopefully with the new knowledge of landmarks, I’ll be able to find my way easily enough. Directions, though, are not my main concern. That might seem a little surprising considering I have the directional sense of a paper bag blowing on the wind. Fortunately, my Map should be able to help me keep on track for that. No, it’s more about where we’re headed that concerns me. Specifically, into what area.

The lizard-folk of the valley live exactly there – deeper in the valley. Technically, I’m in the valley now, since I’m not on the bare slopes of the mountains themselves. But both valley and mountains are vast, the elevation of the peaks high enough to compete with several of Earth’s highest mountains, though not perhaps its top five. I already know that the further down the mountainside we travel, the more dangerous the creatures we encounter will be. Based on Kalanthia’s memories, I can tell that the density of Energy is going to increase significantly; the density of animals and their danger level is likely to do the same. How do I know that the Energy density increases significantly? Kalanthia can feel it. And apparently so can I, or at least enough to be able to recognise it in Kalanthia’s memories.

When she walked through the area, Kalanthia wasn’t particularly bothered by other animals around, but I have a feeling that that might be more of a perk enjoyed by massive predatory beasts, rather than a feature of the area. I’m probably not going to be as lucky unless I can slip by using Stealth and Fade. For sure I’m going to try, but I’m also prepared for that not to work. All I can hope is that my new bow and upgraded weaponry will prove a match to the killer creatures I’m likely to face.

Not to mention the lizard-folk themselves. They look a bit like upright crocodiles, with long, sharp-teethed jaws, though these jaws aren’t as long proportionally as a real crocodile’s. Actually, maybe it’s more accurate to say that they are like a more humanoid T-Rex. Or maybe a strange combination of the two.

They seem to often walk upright on their back legs, which have longer feet than their front, but when they want to run quickly, they lean forwards like a T-Rex would, their heavy tails providing a perfect counter-balance. Their heads are more crocodilian than a T-Rex’s, though. They have spikes down their back which appear capable of flaring up and down. Unlike both T-rex and crocodile, however, their front feet are far more capable-looking, described more easily as arms with clawed paws on the ends. Paws that are rather obviously dexterous.

They don’t really look like easy targets, if I’m honest. Clawed fore and back paws, their jaws, and the scaled skin which looks better than most types of armour… Plus, Kalanthia didn’t include the memory of the attack, but the fact that she was hit by such powerful poisons indicate that they have some method of delivering it, whether through bite, scratch, or ranged attack. Frankly they make me wonder whether I’ll even be able to do anything even if I find Lathani. But I can’t think like that. I’ve overcome so many odds so far; I can’t leave Lathani to suffer and die, not when I know her mother isn’t in any condition to rush to her aid. Not when I can at least try to do something.

I cast a glance over at Bastet. And I mustn’t forget that I’ve got some fire-power on my side too. One on one, I would put my money on Bastet. I’ll just have to make sure that the odds stay in our favour.

Of course, that might be easier said than done. The memories from Kalanthia make one thing clear: lizard-folk don’t usually face threats one on one. In fact, it’s their threat which actually made her move out from her previous den.