Nothing happens, though the nagging sense of a notification appears. Returning to my messages, I see a new one waiting for me. Worry prickling at my gut, I can’t help but feel that it’s got to be bad news.

Error.

Your internal matrix is compromised. Modifying existing Skills is not possible until this is restored to full functionality.

Close messages? Y/N

Sure enough, it is. I read the message with dismay running through me. Have I waited too long? I can’t help but think. If I’d made the decision when it was first presented, it would have been ahead of the issue with Pure Energy which damaged my internal matrix. As it is, I fear that by the time my internal matrix is fixed, I’ll have lost the ability to choose.

I don’t know what would be the consequence of that. Nothing good, I guess. The best case scenario would be if the system automatically chose an option for me, ideally what I would have chosen for myself anyway. If it chose the second option, that would be the second-best decision, I suppose.

I can’t help feeling that there are other possibilities on the table, though. What if it didn’t choose either option but instead just removed combat healing from something that I could possibly do? Given that it seems to have done that in lieu of me making a decision, I can’t help but think that this is a strong possibility. Or, and hopefully this is only a paranoid imagining, what if it ‘broke’ my Lay-on-hands Skill entirely, rendering it completely unusable?

The last seems the least likely but none of the others would be particularly desirable options, apart from the first. I groan, realising that fixing my internal matrix as quickly as possible is the only answer I’m coming up with as a solution for this situation. However, I’d estimated that it would take me quite a while, spending a few hours on it per day. Do I even have that sort of time?

It’s been...four days since we fought the salamander and the original message appeared. Some instinct tells me that just over half the time I have to choose is already passed. So probably another three days left until...whatever happens. Possibly four, but I wouldn’t like to bank on it.

Three days...Is that enough? It’d better be, I say to myself grimly. Though all the other things I wanted to do will have to be postponed until either I’ve succeeded or time has run out and the decision has been made for me. I grumble under my breath, not looking forward to spending hour after hour on the mentally-exhausting task. Nonetheless, there’s no time like the present.

I stand up, deciding to find a more comfortable position, only to realise when Kalanthia looks at me that I had actually been in the middle of a conversation. Kind of.

You have an air of resolve about you, she comments.

“Yeah,” I sigh again. “It turns out that I have to finish fixing the damage from the Pure Energy before I can do what I needed to do, so I’m going to do that. Thanks for your help.”

It was interesting for me too, she replies. So instead of charging you three Energy-Hearts, I will only charge you two. I freeze, forgetting that she had said that at the beginning. I feel a little short-changed even as I pull them out and lay them in front of her: if the decision is taken from me, I might not be able to actually put what she said into practice. Then again, I suppose knowing about it might help with Earth-shaping.

Actually, maybe part of my issue with that is my compromised internal matrix? It’s possible, I suppose. Fixing my regeneration issues can only be to my betterment too. Maybe feeling pressured to get it done isn’t the worst thing that could have happened. Though I’ll still be annoyed if I don’t manage to get it done by the deadline.

Mind set on getting started immediately, I still take a couple of moments to check on my companions. They’re fine. All but River are relaxing; the lizard-man seems to be processing some of his newly-gathered ingredients. I’d let him keep the venom he harvested from the creature we’d killed in the vine-strangler forest: I figure that he’s more likely to get use out of it than me.

I check with all of them whether they need Energy-Hearts or not. As it turns out, only Bastet has finished hers, so I’m only one Energy-Heart poorer by the time I sit in a sunny spot with my back against the cave wall.

Dropping down into my Core space, I once more restart the painstaking and mentally exhausting process of compressing my mana down into oblongs which are as long as possible and feeding them along the threads to the damaged spots.

*****

By the time I surface again, my mind feels wrung out like a wet cloth. I have a pounding headache which actually flares when I try to use Lay-on-hands. Checking my status, I see why: my mana is down to the single digits. The low single digits.

Name: Markus Wolfe

Race: Human

Class: Tamer

Level: 12

Energy to next level: 98%

Energy absorption rate: 26u/hr

Energy towards debt: 78%

Intelligence

36

Mana: 2/360

Wisdom

34

Mana regeneration rate: 697u/hr (-18%)

Willpower

42+8 (+20%)

Health regeneration rate: 40u/hr (-20%)

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Constitution

19

Health: 190/190

Strength

17

Stamina: 100/100

Dexterity

15

Stamina regeneration rate: 150u/hr

Class skills

Dominate – Novice 3

Tame – Beginner 6

Fade – Initiate 1

Non-Class skills

Lay-on-hands – Journeyman 2

Stealth – Novice 1

Animal Empathy – Novice 6

Meditation – Initiate 1

Energy Manipulation – Novice 7

Sensation Management – Beginner 5

On the other hand, I have made some good progress. My mana regeneration rate has improved by two percent. It’s a bit disappointing that only that one has shown any progress; I can only hope that my health regeneration will catch up in some way. If not, I really don’t know how I’m going to fix it: it had been relatively easy to figure out how to fix my internal matrix, but health regeneration? No idea there.

Two percent doesn’t seem like much in what has had to be about five hours, judging by how dark it is now and the position of the moons, but it’s not the only gain: Energy Manipulation has also increased by two more levels – from Novice five to Novice seven. That means future improvements will only be faster and easier.

If I take five hours to fix two percent, that means fixing the rest of the eighteen percent should take at most forty-five hours. If I worked without a break, I’d be able to do that in less than two days, but I know that’s not possible.

First of all, I need to let my mana regenerate since that seems to be what this process uses rather than Energy – the fact that my Energy store has actually increased by a single percent is proof of that. With my new mana regeneration rate, that will take a little more than half an hour to happen. Not too bad.

Plus, something catches my eye as I skim through my status. Meditation has actually ranked up to Initiate one! I quickly navigate to the notification about that. Actually, did I ever look at the notification about the rank up to Novice? I don’t remember it so I focus on bringing up that notification too.

Congratulations!

You have advanced a Skill past Beginner. Meditation is now Novice 1. Your connection to the world around has improved and you are more able to enter a calm state. Due to your receptivity to your surroundings while in meditation, you have increased your Energy absorption rate from 5% to 10% for each Novice level in this Skill that you have. This is in addition to the 45% increase that you earned while this Skill was ranked as Beginner. This will be automatically diverted into refilling your mana pool, at a rate increased by the same percentage as your Energy absorption rate.

Next message? Y/N

Well that explains it, I think to myself. I’d been surprised at how quickly my mana replenished itself; a one hundred and thirty-five percent increase in mana regeneration would be the answer. Though, when I think about it, I don’t think I’ve been getting more than double the mana absorption rate. Is that because my Energy absorption rate hasn’t increased enough or something? Still, it reduces the issue of waiting for my mana pool to regenerate.

I check the other notification – the one new today.

Congratulations!

You have advanced a Skill past Novice. Meditation is now Initiate 1. You have focussed on developing an understanding of your inner world, manipulating your Energy channels and the way Energy and mana flow around your body. You have both damaged and repaired your Core, an endeavour few accomplish. Gain +15% to your control of Energy or mana within your Energy channels or Core space per Initiate level in this Skill.

Next message? Y/N

Interesting. That should also help with this whole process. I feel the same way about Mediation as I did when I first saw it – not the most exciting Skill, but probably the most useful since it improves the functionality of many of my Skills, particularly now that I’m having to do so much work in my ‘inner world’. It’s a very good improvement, actually, even if it’s not ‘flashy’. However, mana regeneration and control aren’t the only issues facing me.

The other obstacle is my mental energy. I need to rest. Properly. I have a feeling that I could do another few hours, but that would be the limit for me right now. So I need to sleep and then even during daylight hours I’ll need to have some time to do something different. If I don’t, I fear that I could do myself more damage by half-assing it out of tiredness.

So, reasonably, I could probably do about ten to fifteen hours per day, perhaps broken into three periods. If I got fifteen hours in fully, I could potentially do it in the three days, but if I only got ten, I’d be risking being just too late. However, with Energy Manipulation having levelled up – and hopefully going to do so again soon – I’m praying that my speed and ease will increase.

Of course, that’s assuming that to do what I need to with my Skills, fixing my internal matrix is the only thing I need to return to normal. I think it’s a safe assumption to make, though: all the error messages I’ve had related to Skills have mentioned ‘internal matrix’; they haven’t mentioned ‘soul’, which is apparently what took damage to cause my reduction to health regeneration.

At least I have an answer to a question which was concerning me: whether I’d be able to fix the threads even past their ‘ghost’ points. As it is, I’ve discovered that when I extend a thread, it seems to ‘know’ where to go next, even when all traces of its previous length are not present. So it really is just putting in the time and effort.

But for now, I need to take a break. Pushing myself to my feet, I trudge inside and stoke the fire. Staring blankly at the sparks and licking tongue of flame that appear as I add more fuel, I find my mind starting to relax. Sometimes thinking of nothing is soothing.

The flames dance and jump, looking like twirling and twisting sprites as they vanish only to reappear somewhere else. The snap and pop of the branches catching light is like the percussion of an orchestra that only the flames can hear.

It fills my vision, the red glow of the embers, the darkness of the branches yet to burn, the white of the fuel already turned to ash. Every so often there is a flash of colour as the fire happens upon a trace element in the wood it is fed. Other than that, though, the world becomes limited to shades of red and orange, its warmth settling inside me just as its heat warms my body.

I extend my hand towards the fire, feeling its heat intensify and start burning. It’s hot against my face and I luxuriate in its burning warmth as the chill of the night cools my back. For a moment, I wish I could become one of those carefree flames. Their lives are short, but they burn fiercely while they are present.

Then again, passion burns just as fiercely as fire, and it has never led me anywhere good. I drop my hand and the spell breaks. Once more I’m in a cave with a crackling heathfire in front of me. Nothing more.

I need to sleep, I decide. I’m getting lost in pointless fancies. Even if my life seems to have turned into fantasy, that doesn’t mean that my fire is suddenly alive in any qualitative way.

Feeding myself with food pulled from my Inventory, I check on my Bound once more. River is already slumbering, having somehow crept into the alcove while my focus was on the fire. Fenrir is lying snuggled up to River, taking up even more of the bed. I hope I’ll manage to actually fit on it too, what with both of them taking up the space. Bastet is curled up next to me too, though she had been there when I entered. She seems to have crept a little closer to me, though, as her feathers are now pressed against my leg.

I can’t help but stroke my fingers through them gently. Every time I touch them, I’m always surprised at just how soft they are, unlike any fur I’ve ever encountered. If anything, the closest comparison is those chickens which look more furry than feathered, though they are feathers.

Bastet shifts a little in her sleep, and I pull my fingers away hurriedly. The sleepy contentment and longing that drifts along the Bond from her side even as she snuggles closer makes me smile, though, and encourages me to continue. I lose myself in gently carding the feathers into place, the calm action doing as much to relax me as staring at the fire had.

My eyes are drooping, unfortunately, and I finally call it an evening when my yawns threaten to split my head in two.

I’m asleep soon after my head hits the pillow.