Clay opened the door of his abode. A huge bag strapped over his left shoulder and chest. Letting it fall to the side, a loud clattering resounded through the house, underlining its weight. Circulating his shoulder, he sighed.
By now his aura penetrated, through the whole house. Feeling for a moment, he sighed in relief when he didn’t feel any noticeable amount of essence. His aura reached two dozen meters by now and was still steadily growing, the same went for his liquified essence.
There was a sense of accomplishment when he felt inside him and thought of the last six days. It didn’t take nearly as much effort as Clay expected to reduce the flame inside of him to mere embers. Due to this he not only gained more essence, then he burned, his recovery also increased exceptionally.
Clay wasn’t sure himself if he just found a sweet spot, but slowly burning essence like he did over the last few days, caused not only his refinement to accelerate enough for him to regain one eighth of his reserves, but also to steadily supply him with enough vapor to form a considerable aura.
His aura was actually slowly reaching a point where it would be hard to hold on to it. But Clay took it as an opportunity to train. He had to hold this aura at all times, even in his sleep, if possible.
His current aura was the result of only a single day of slowly burning essence. It helped him a lot in sensing all the smaller beasts hiding in the city. He actually hunted so many over the past few days that his area seemed to be abandoned or specifically avoided.
Looking at his river, he didn’t feel all that worried about not finding enough beasts, there was a sense of satisfaction lingering inside of him. By now, his river of essence reached a newfound peak. He had plenty of essence to refine into liquefied essence.
Still, there was one thing that worried Clay greatly. It was Mia’s poison. He still didn’t find a way around it, but there had to be one. If not, then he had to make one. Over the last few days, he remembered one crucial thing that aura could be used for – a shield. Mia’s poison was of supernatural cause, so it felt logical for Clay to seek a supernatural solution.
Shortly before Jim… died. They found something interesting. Jim was able to compress his aura close enough to his body to form something similar to a shield. In theory, Clay just had to guide his aura closer to his body, reducing the space it moved in, which in turn made it denser.
This dense aura seemed to generally absorb the effect of any other form of energy, be that kinetic, heat or anything else. It was almost adaptive, reacting to sudden peaks of dangerous energy stronger, then too smaller ones.
Concentrating, he pulled at his aura, willing for it to come closer. It slowly moved to his body, condensing with every additional meter, but Clay knew it had to be as close as a few centimeters for a shield to form. When it shrunk to a meter, he reached his limit.
When he tried to move it closer, is just rippled before snapping back. He was doing something wrong. It was so easy to spread aura out in comparison, the only challenge there was to hold the aura in place. Okay, that was a little misleading, he didn’t actually force his aura to a stand still, as it always moved, he just slowly rotated it around his body.
Originally, Clay thought he just had to have better control. The larger the distance or the denser, the harder it was to pull or push his aura after all. But that didn’t explain why Jim was able to do it.
He smiled, when he remembered how he ‘tested’ how this aura shield worked with Jim. In comparison to himself, was Jim actually able to form a shield, but Clay knew for a fact that his control over essence was by far better, then the one of Jim, so how was he able to do it?
Do you always have to think complicated? Whispered Jim, as if he was next to him. Turning to the side, Clay was bewildered. Did he finally lose it? Shaking his head, he tried to concentrate on his aura again, but the phrase resounded in his mind.
Complicated? He thought to complicated, but how could he do it easier…! It suddenly dawned on Clay, as he praised Jim in his mind and focused on his aura again. But instead of pulling all of it at once, like when he pushed his aura out, he just pulled a small fraction of it. Like a magnet, the rest of the aura followed the small stream of aura that effortlessly came closer to Clay, until he strained when it came as close as a few centimes.
Deciding that this was already a major success began, Clay to guide the small stream of aura, around his body, his aura stubbornly following the small stream like a snake that was pulling its body along. Why didn’t he think of this sooner?
There was no need to pull all of his aura at once. Aura always moved in one, continues flow, like a river. If he controlled a small part, the rest would be pulled along. This of course prolonged the time it took to form his aura, but this way he at least could form an aura shield. He had to start with condensing one part and then slowly guide this flow along his whole body until everything was covered.
It eventually stabilized at a distance of about ten centimeters, which was far closer, than Jim ever achieved – not to insult him in any way, Clay was very thankful to him, without him, he wouldn’t even have succeeded in forming this shield.
If Jim felt comfortable and enveloped in his normal aura, then this shield was comparable to an armor. It pressed heavy on his skin, but not in a discomforting way. He felt protected, like he was more robust.
Clenching his fist, he could feel the aura adapting and following his every movement. The connection was a lot stabler, compared to when he pushed his aura out. At first, it was quite hard to maintain the flow around his body, but with every passing second it became easier.
In a sense, it was much more natural to hold his aura close the body than pushing it out. He instinctively knew where to guide the aura along his body.
The feeling was quite magical, like he had an additional limb he didn’t realize he could use. Pushing his aura out was very useful in sensing other beasts, but was practically useless in battle, at least when he was alone.
The only reason why he could use his aura against the fight of the ants, was because he remembered that the one with the most essence, was a commander ant, the general he had to eliminate. It was actually quite hard to discern different sources of essence, if they were so closely packed together.
Focusing on his aura also was never something natural for him. He knew that he could feel it far better than anyone else he had met, but he still had to focus on it when he wanted to use it. It wasn’t comparable to his current aura, that felt more like an extension of his body.
Forming his aura into a more than successful shield, Clay wondered if he should test it. He was still rather hesitant to return to the toxic area that almost costed him his life, but what other choice did he have?
He still had plenty of daylight left and also had no other urgent matters that distracted him, so he figured he might as well be done with it. Standing up with a grunt, he tightened the coat around his body. It was getting colder and Clay had long switched his clothes to something more comfortable.
He was wearing simple jeans, a black pullover, with a gray t-shirt, while his shoes were the same (mostly because Clay had trouble finding a pair that fitted). The most useful item he found was the thick gray coat he wore.
It should not only prove as a good protection, when he got attacked, but it also had plenty of pockets and most importantly fitted like a glove. He never really wore a coat before, but this one just fitted perfectly, and Clay quickly grew attached to it.
Without needing much else besides his weapons, made Clay the short journey over to the infested area. In only a few minutes, he was close, being at full guard the whole way. As natural the shield around him felt, he still felt exposed knowing that he couldn’t sense his enemies beforehand, especially because he hadn’t yet tested what that shield of his was truly capable off.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Taking a deep breath, he turned over the last corner, seeing the street before him that halfway through was littered with countless corpses of all kinds of beasts that shared one thing among them – the strange deep purple batches covering their body from top to bottom.
Carefully making his way deeper into the street, he fully concentrated on his shield. He was fully enveloped, not a hole in his defense, if he was correct then he should clearly feel the poison as soon as it touched him.
Soon the foul stench of the corpses reached Clay’s nose. Just like the first time, he passed some corpses and then eventually reached the poisonous area, but strangely he made far more progress this time compared to the last time. He didn’t smell anything sweet, so it should be fine, but he didn’t dare to relax.
Without notice, something comparable to a slam hit his shied, reducing some of it powers. Smiling, he fully concentrated on the feedback he felt. He could feel how the poison gathered around him, clinging to him, as if drawn to the shield.
Shortly, his whole body was surrounded by poison, pressing on his shield from all sides, eating away at it. Both energies seemed to nullify each other. He could feel how his whole shield rippled. The density reduced by each exchange, if this continued he wouldn’t be able to hold on for long.
It was obvious by now that he wouldn’t be able to reach Mia, so he quickly started to run back to his house, but even if the surrounding poison stopped growing it also didn’t seem to stop clinging to his shield, as if they were glued together. A shudder ran through Clay’s back. That was bad!
He didn’t expect the poison to follow him, as if it was sentient. He kept running, both the poison and his shield gradually reducing each other. Clay never extinguished the embers burning inside of him, but the produced essence was too small to keep up with the consumption.
He soon reached his house, barricading himself inside, the poison still clinging to him. He returned to the couch from the first time, sitting in a crossed legend position. Fully concentrating on keeping his shield up.
It held on for a few more seconds, but eventually it thinned and was overwhelmed, scattering through the air. Immediately holding his breath, Clay hoped that would, work, but the poison still moved directly through his nostrils into his body. Feeling the sickening sweet smell caressing his nose, he directly stopped preserving his essence, reducing the suppression on his flame.
He directly felt how a new rush of energy shot through his veins and without Clay having to find the poison his essence found it first, clinging to it and absorbing it, while the poison did the same. His reverses were still very low, so he still suppressed his flame to about half its usual size.
Thankfully, the poison was far less potent than the first time, while it was also considerably reduced by his shield. It also seemed like that his own essence built some sort of immunity as Clay neither had to find the poison nor had to concentrate on fighting it, his essence moved fully on its own accord.
This continued on for a while before the poison was fully purged from his system. Looking over his reserves of essence, Clay heaved a heavy size. He almost burned everything he had painfully gathered over the past few days, but he didn’t feel too upset.
Witnessing how the purging of the poison proceeded this time gave Clay an idea. Instead of fighting the poison, he will just build an immunity against it. The poison only seemed to be able to absorb essence when it gathered to a certain degree, and that could only happen inside the body.
If he somehow was able to absorb the same amount of poison, as the poison absorbed his essence, then they would nullify each other. His absorption was already very close to that stage, so just a few more repetitions of this and he should be completely immune.
***
Two weeks have passed since Clay had the idea. He only knew this because of his alarm clock, for himself felt the past two weeks like one big blur. While he certainly was able to absorb the poison, it still messed with his senses.
Each and every single day just consisted of him, attracting a small amount of poison, reducing it until his shield failed, cleansing the poison, eating and sleeping. It was so mind-numbing that Clay at some point just ran on autopilot, not noticing his surroundings, at least until yesterday.
After his usual purging session of the poison, his head finally cleared in the middle of the night. At first, he didn’t understand where was up and down, but eventually he remembered and when he looked at the date it was already the first of November.
Too tired to think, and his headache too heavy, he just slept until the next day. Once he was fully awake, he directly returned to the poisonous area. His reserves never went far above a tenth, but he had to test something.
Feeling the poison enter his body, waited Clay with a mix of anticipation and nervousness. He had no shield up and also didn’t burn any more essence than usual, just using the embers that were always on.
The poison unobstructed entered his body, Clay clearly feeling it coursing through his system, having developed a sense of feeling it over the past few days. Like always it gathered around vital organs like the lungs, heart and so on, but then it suddenly stopped, something that never happened before.
Usually the gathered slug would start to burn, absorbing the essence of the surroundings, but this time it just rested inside his body, not doing anything. Carefully, he guided the essence that he normally used to form his aura around the poison, firmly gathering around it.
When he determined it grew sufficiently, initiated Clay an assault. The moment his essence started attacking the poison, it suddenly flared, similar to that of a beast that suddenly got awoken.
Essence and poison both fought bitterly, absorbing each other until his own essence came out on top, not growing, but also not shrinking. Seeing this breathed Clay a sigh of relief. It was a full success. The poison was neither able to identity him as a threat nor do damage once he started to purge it.
Internally, he knew that it wouldn’t be good to let the poison just rest and accumulate inside his body, but that would do for now. He could finally go look for Mia. Venturing deeper into the intoxicated area, Clay found the surrounding environment changing considerably.
The houses had, at some places – especially those of wood – the same strange deep purple patches as the corpses. Speaking of the corpses, noted Clay that the further in he went, the worst the corpses rotted and decomposed until even bright plants of similar color grew out of them, using the body as fertilizer.
Touching them they felt normal, looking like grass or fern, some especially old corpses had bushes growing out of their remains reaching far over the corpse, into the ground. They were poisonous considering their origin, but it was strange to see that the poison that killed all of these beasts also gave life to all of this vegetation.
It was almost like a complete new ecological system was forming. It was quite fascinating to witness, especially now that the poison was harmless to Clay.
The deeper he went, the more noticeable the transformation, some plants leaving the corpses connecting with each other over roots that creeped all the way to the surrounding houses, ensnaring them. They grew along the walls, through the floor, slowly creeping their way through the surroundings and claiming more land for themselves.
In just a few more weeks, this place could turn into a completely new forest, that was never seen before, one that originated completely from this supernatural poison. Following the thickening vegetation, Clay soon stumbled over a house, as inconspicuous as any other.
At least inconspicuous when one ignored the fact that the house, was entirely covered in roots, from floor to ceilings, to walls and interior, at some parts walls already broke, splintered into several pieces that were held together by complex structures of roots.
To the left of the house was a garden, in the middle of it a huge tree, surrounding it a thick wall of thorny bushes trying to obscure what laid within. It was the central part of the whole ecological structure, the origin of it all.
Cutting easily through the bushes with his sword, Clay entered the garden. The ground was almost completely covered in thick roots that all turned to a tree – that must have been at least ten meters tall – connecting with it like a complex networks of arteries and veins.
Besides the tree stump grew patches of flowers, and even if Clay was not well versed in botany, he was fairly certain they were a species from the infamous wolfsbane. He recognized them because they were native to Churchville. There were only a few plants his parents warned him about, but wolfsbane was the first and most dangerous on that list.
Taking a deep breath to calm his mind, Clay immediately regretted it as the cloying smell filled his nose. Screwing with his senses, until he was able to suppress it.
Walking closer, he had his mouth open speechless at the sight before him, he stretched his arm out before halting in midair and letting it lifelessly fall down. He wasn’t entirely sure what he expected to find when he eventually found the source of the poison, but it still came as a surprise.
Before him stood a tall tree off what was once a normal oak tree, now an entanglement of vines crossing over countless branches, while deep purple leafs grew wherever was space.
Embedded into the stump itself was a vaguely human figure, the head leaning to the side resting against the stump, which was also the only part that wasn’t so densely covered in roots. Coming closer, he noticed how the stump itself wrapped around the body of not any human figure, but a girl, securing it safely in place.
Pushing a few loose roots aside, Clay fortunately saw how the skin underneath, pale and pristine, stayed untouched like a flower. The clothes that the girl may have had were rotted away long ago.
Most disturbing was the singular thick root that sprouted from the bottom of the tree, crawling from the ground over the girl’s right foot, slinging around the leg going upwards to her stomach until ending in her chest – drilling itself deeply into it.
The root itself shimmered in a deep purple light, that seemed to pulsate similar to that of a heartbeat.
He finally found the person he was looking for. He had found Mia Hawk the goal of Clay’s hardship, and yet he couldn’t keep himself from losing his composure. Looking over her embedded figure in the tree, there was only one feeling settling in his mind – sorrow.