I'd figured Sharon had some spell chain shenanigans to allow her to fly, considering how apt at it she'd already shown herself to be. What I hadn't expected was for her to become a literal manifestation of her Totems.

I'd seen the silver wings from a distance, but up close painted them in an entirely new light. Swirls of mana I'd only seen in Blessings of Magic curled off the hawk wings extending a dozen feet to either side of her back. Each of the feathers spoke of power enough to snuff out one of the lesser elementals as they beat the air to keep the woman aloft.

If that had been all, it would have cut enough of an impressive figure. Except it wasn't. A chord of azure light trailed from the back of the woman's body. A deep mane snapped the air at the base of the wings like a torn flag for a second before being replaced by a scaly tail, fog and frost trailing off of it. A pair of equine hooves hung where her legs were meant to be, each as tall as the woman herself. Nature was superimposed on her figure, and it looked right.

It was one of those hooves, timed perfectly with the beat of her wings and slap of her tail, that donkey kicked the Anemoi's arm clear off its body. The sound of screeching, tearing metal and a wailing storm filled the silence between moments. Then Eurus burst like a soap bubble, thunder rumbling in the sky before a bolt of lightning thicker than the one that had struck my grounding rod zipped towards the remains of the hurricane in the distance. Instantly, the storm seemed to draw breath. It pulled tighter minutely, but thanks to the scale of the thing it was visible even from a distance, before it started to recede towards the horizon at visible speed.

For almost thirty seconds the only sounds at ground level were the panting of two humans, the beat of giant wings and the squelch of slime. A chirping chime broke the pause, as the possessed Hummingbird Charm struggled to move Fievil with the axe blade embedded in the ground as it was. Frustration and consternation were lathered on the single sound and I couldn't help but to start laughing. It hurt, pretty bad really, but it was a very poignant reminder. I was alive.

A pained cackle joined me as the silver wings spun just enough for me to lay eyes on Sharon. My throat clenched and I instinctively tried to reach out towards her before my plethora of injuries reminded me I wasn't exactly mobile. The woman continued to cackle as the wings laid her gently on the ground. A soft bed of snow formed on the ground, catching her before being stained red from the almost whole body road burn that covered her. Part of her lip was missing and I could spot her gums through the pained grin on her face. The manifestations around her popped into mist, swirling gently before iridescent energy flowed out of her chest to join the silver and azure light.

In a flash, the mana was gone and her Staff of Storm Ruling fell upright beside her slumped form.

Cheering erupted from the weather tower as the last of the rain abated and clear rays of afternoon light fell onto the city of Ocala. More than one window was opened in the hospital building itself to join the cheer even as I felt a small horde of people rushing out of the entrance.

"You are quite something, young man," Sharon said, her voice a bit slurred.

"I'm more of a hands-on learner," I replied, sighing. "I'm sorry."

"For letting me finally give that pompous knock off of the silver surfer a piece of my mind? No need for that. I saw what you did for the Nash. Still see, as a matter of fact. As far as things are, we owe you and so does this city. For all the power Sargon and his goons have, they never had the spunk to leverage it. Instead, they left it to the old lady so they could hold their power close. Bah!" The woman's exhalation carried force as mud and snow blasted away. "What good is strength if you don't use it to carry the burdens of those you love?"

"On that we can agree," I said, crackling an eye as the little bird Totem managed to get Fievil in range for me to grab him. A groove in the earth marked the path the determined creature had carved. Ballast flowed through me, shifting the weight to my good leg even as I laid Fievil across my lap. The Hummingbird Charm booped me on the forehead before returning to my necklace. A wisp of silvery light flowed from it to the woven bracelet around my arm.

"You are good with kids," the Shaman said.

"I value earnest people," I said, smiling at the Shard Bracelet. In sync with me, Fievil and I both sent gratitude towards the little creature. The bracelet vibrated, but without manifesting it didn't seem quite capable of joining the mind connection I shared with my own mole Totem friend.

"She'll be in good hands, then," Sharon said, finally closing her eyes.

"Huh?" I asked, glancing at the woman. Her eyes were closed, and her whole body was still. A shock of panic hit me -- the Nash were still at least a minute away! "Sharon! Sharon, stay with me!"

"I'm right here you numb nuts!" The woman immediately complained, not even cracking an eye. "Let an old woman rest her eyes for Christ's sake!"

I relaxed back into the earth, warring with the relief and annoyance that came from the woman. All I could do was shake my head. You deal with a grandma decades older than you with the power to tear the arm off a living hurricane, you are bound to lose. I guess I am glad she's at least still kicking. Things will get complicated though.

That was all the time I had to contemplate the future before a dozen healers swarmed around the two of us. Dyonte slid through the snow to get to Sharon's side, mumbling something under his breath as he held the woman's hand tenderly. Sharon cracked her gum grin, patting the man on the arm. The sight disappeared as fur and multicolored people blocked it to swarm over me.

"Hey, hey! Easy! I'm already Overhealed. Patch me up as mundanely as you can until I get a chance to recover!"

-- + --

Unfortunately, the un-Implanted healers of the Nash didn't listen to my suggestions. Overeager, perhaps, but also the moment I released my hold on the Refinement boost from the Hummingbird Charm the whole world turned to molasses. The Over-Overhealed Affliction hit like a ton of bricks --enough to shake me back into the present-- but at the very least I could limp and see out of my eye again. The rest of me was bandaged and splinted... because I'd started to scream with each further attempt to heal me. The sight of my muddy Ichor leaking out of my very skin likely added to the visual, which forced them to listen.

Sharon... received much gentler treatment. The two healers I'd sent after her finally joined the group, updating those from the hospital about the concussion and broken hands the woman had suffered from in addition to the skin-tearing lesions. A stretcher of vines was quickly formed by the many Life Attuned and the Shaman was taken away. The group -- smaller than the Shaman's, but I could hardly blame them-- that had been tending to me attempted the same but I opted for a crutch and a shoulder to lean on. When they gave me skeptical looks, I just told them I was made of dense stuff.

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"Understatement!" Sharon had called out, cackling, clearly within earshot thanks to whatever Traits the woman had. Since there weren't any outward signs, and she'd survived being a ragdoll at her age, they were probably all internal improvements.

The tension that had been lingering within the Nash seemed to melt with the obnoxious laughter of the Shaman. Considering I'd felt the same when she'd kicked the crap out of Eurus, I certainly couldn’t say anything. As for the Anemoi...

"Wait!" I said, pausing as something got within range of vibrosense. A heartbeat later, two other somethings got picked up on the ripples around me. They were moving painfully slow, but even as beat up as I was the combination of Harmonic Sinews and practically put up flashing billboard signs. With my senses locked on a target, I felt Fievil stir within my mind. The closer I shuffled to the source, the clearer the picture became.

For all intents and purposes it looked like a steel rod. Except for the end of it that was bleeding water and releasing silent sparks into the mound of soil it had created upon landing. If I didn't know better I would have guessed it came from a robot, but instead I knew it was just Eurus' arm. Somehow. "But how..."

"Their Threshold makes them closer to human!" Sharon shouted, her voice easily carrying even as her people continued to carry her off. The schadenfreude was strong in her voice. "I don't think they will be coming back for some years yet!"

"Would you... like us to retrieve it, Master Vanguard?" One of the humans in my group asked.

"Actually," I said, glancing down to where I'd rested Fievil on the ground. "I know someone that could do with a meal."

Reading my mind, Fievil tugged on my mana just enough to form the wispiest of bodies I'd seen. His internal stores were fumes, so I didn't hassle the Totem about it. The brief time healing had let me get back to a meagerly respectable 11%. What did surprise me was that the Totem floated over to my woven bracelet and nudged the avian Totem to join him. The Air Totem seemed hesitant at first, but at the insistence of the more powerful Totem they both left their Shards. Together, with Fievil taking the lead and the larger portion, they tore into the Primal Elemental limb. It was a macabre display that captured the attention of the entire group of healers, especially when a much more solid looking Fievil looked up to glare at something coming closer.

I'd already noticed it. Two half powered spell chains for formed before me. "Blobby, would you be so kind as to... deliver these for me?"

The slime, who'd gone back to stealth mode with the crowd of healers around, eagerly rushed forward. Two appendages formed, each grabbing one of the materialized hunks of selenite, before unceremoniously tossing them overhand at two inconspicuous looking places. A dark puddle no one would have looked at twice considering the hurricane that had just passed, and a chunk of stone broken off some nearby structure that was covered with a sweat of moisture. Even half powered, the offensive magic tore the lurking elementals a new one.

While the other Primal Elementals in Eurus' entourage had been confirmed dissipated, or outright killed by the other defenders, the Condensation Air Elemental and the Bleak Water Elemental had been missing since I'd taken them down. With their power cut down to near nothing, the creatures seemed to have been hiding. Of course, the allure of a piece of their former Q8 boss was too much to ignore and had in turn led to their deaths. There's probably a lesson in there somewhere.

With a small pulse of power, took shape around me as the Pith of the Elementals flowed into my body. It wasn't necessary, strictly speaking, but with the state of my body it wasn't worth the risk. For a moment I was concerned my Over-Overhealed Affliction would get even worse, but the energy just did its thing refreshing my own fatigue along with some minor healing. I wasn't feeling like a million bucks, but I was more Ulysses S. Grant than the Andrew Jackson the fight had left me as. Getting to a Benjamin would still take a while.

As if pulled by the energy of the deceased Elementals, pearlescent particles floated off the arm being consumed by the Totems to join the stream of energy. The brighter particles were like small suns of condensed power, their higher Quotient origin plain to see. I didn't even realize one could take energy from a still living enemy. Though I suppose elementals, by their very nature, have incongruous bodies. Something to look out for with Billy.

With a sigh, the last of the energy dissipated and the avian Totem as well as Fievil looked leagues more real than they had been even before the fight against Eurus.

Once the two Totems returned to their Shards, I motioned for the group of healers to continue forward. I kept only half an eye on the lengthy walk back to the Nash hospital, instead I finally allowed myself to take in the full extent of changes to my Status.

Subject: Ronan Terrigan

Health: 48% (Extensive Afflictions)

Mana: 1%

Metier Quotient: 6 (77%)

Dreg Accumulation: 0%

LPS: Wildwood Bunker, FL

Communications

Party

Skills

Traits - (88% Banked)

Attributes - Growth Quantified

Skills:

Offensive Freeform

- /

-

-

Defensive Freeform

-

-

-

Miscellaneous

-

-

-

-

-

Traits:

Limestone Skin (Striated Dermis)

Quake Osseum (Tremor Frame)

Slurry Ichor (8%)

Harmonic Sinew (Diffracting Tissue)

Attributes:

Strength: 2.48 > 2.62

Mobility: 1.69 > 1.78

Perception: 2.44 > 2.66

Refinement: 1.87 > 1.91

Containment: 2.69 > 2.74

I glossed over the injuries, considering how vividly aware of those I already was, before letting a triumphant smile reach my face. The Attributes from assimilating Diffracting Tissue, as well my general improvements were some of the highest I'd ever gotten. On top of that, the Pith gains from the elementals and my overdrawn --even after the Corporeal Tribulation deduction-- left me within tossing distance of Quotient Level 7. It was validation of the last few days in a tangible way that really got the blood pumping.

Despite how much stronger me and Fievil were, the memory of the smackdown I'd taken at the hands of Eurus, even without access to their hurricane size Influence field, was at the front of my mind. Risking myself to help protect Ocala and the Outpost had been worth it, but it was just the beginning. Every step I took further down the path of magic showed me how little I know and just how much more the world had left to show.

With the hurricane out of the way, it was time to focus on the threat lurking within the city. And from the sounds of it, my friends have already taken that first step. Things weren't clear by any means, but if we held on to each other a path forward would present itself. It was my job to bulldoze the obstacles too stubborn to move out of the way... even if it involved politics.