An excruciating pain tore Takeo from the darkness, only seconded by his whole soul shivering under a ghastly shriek. His eyes shot open, his hands reaching his head for protection. The shriek continued, undulating and unabated, but the pain, that was something he could deal with. He pushed through, and his mind cleared a bit, allowing him to observe his surroundings despite his howling. He was like a spectator to his own impending death.

In front of him stood a luminous Worm the size of a bus, curling high on itself, only to fall to the ground a second later. It was mostly translucent, he could even see internal organs floating around the gelatinous mass. It was a disgusting sight, but he couldn't look away, especially the proboscis that HAD pierced his abdomen. So that's why I hurt, he observed, clinically. Yet there was something wrong with that thing, it was as if the tubulure of the proboscis had deflated and was now hanging limply, by his side. Did I do that? he wondered.

He mentally snickered, Got you good, have I? He turned his head, which required more effort, and saw that his two companions were lying just barely a meter away. They must all have fallen from the Door right in front of that thing and voilà. His friends were convulsing, and probably in pain too. Come on guys! he silently encouraged.

The Worm was still shrieking, trashing around. It seemed that his proboscis was something quite sensitive. He wondered if he could do something about it. He remembered his little blobular avatar, and how he needed to concentrate heavily on his hands to be able to grab his cable correctly. So he tried to do the same. The proboscis was right in front of him, not even a centimeter away, leaking some whiteish smoking fluid. He extended his mind hands toward it and tried to grab it. His body shimmered for a second, and he felt Pain, with a capital P. That demolished his concentration, and he was back to shrieking along his body.

But he wouldn't be undone by something as trivial as pain. Takeo's mind flared, the flailing of his Soul seemed to abate for a moment. Surprised by the result, he pushed some more. His body shimmered again, the thin membrane of soul energy that had been there when he had received his Seal reappeared and suddenly the shrieks were now muted. His body stopped trashing around and could now focus on the task at hand.

His friends were cramped in painful positions. He crawled toward them or rolled toward them whichever was easier. And just as suddenly both his friends and the monster stopped trashing. Ohoh... Not good! His friends were now lying lumpy on the ground, but Connor was already showing signs of waking. Furthermore, the massive Worm turned his bulbous end toward them. Dozen little antennas emerged from the mass, little eyes popping on the end of each. "Guys!" Takeo tried to shout, but could only cough it out.

The antennas were now firmly pointing at them, and a massive beak formed itself on that end. Ten, maybe twenty segments opened letting out a massive maw that howled its fury. But it could only curl a bit on itself, the Worm it seemed couldn't truly move. The luminous Worm's coloring varied from orange to red to blue in quick succession. "Shit!" came from beside him. Connor was already on his feet, a knife in hand.

"Takeo, my bow and arrows! and move away!" shouted the young man. Right, right! The Newcomer focused on his mind library and pulled out the requested items. They appeared right in front of him in a clatter. He even added the bone axe for good measure. He wondered if he could take Xander away, but he was already waking up. The young man looked around. They were in a cavern, the three Doors were there, behind the cursed Worm. Of course, none were lit. Just our luck... he lamented.

There wasn't much space, nor was there any gallery he could see. He chose to go the further he could from the Worm and popped away. Connor hadn't waited for him and was already running around, shooting arrow after arrow at every and any bit that looked sensitive, but his Gelatinousness didn't seem bothered in the least. The Worm flashing lights intensified, concentrating in a single ball on his fleshy body where a long protrusion built itself, a tentacle on which multiple little maws appeared. Fantastic. Xander had to roll away to avoid the first slam and quickly pushed himself up and Stepped back and forth to get to his sword that was on the ground. It's impressive how they can just jump into battle like that! he thought, impressed.

His sword was suddenly bathed in fire and he cleaved through the tentacle, eliciting a shriek from the Worm. But that shriek wasn't just a howl of pain, there was something else to it as both Xander and Connor were projected away, along with rocks and anything that wasn't bound to the cave. Takeo rolled a few times before coming to a stop, thanks to the cavern's wall. The bone axe had shattered not a meter away from him. Just my luck... He looked up and saw a shroud of fog forming around the Worm. What's going on now? he wondered, dejected.

"That seemed effective, think it will work again?" asked quietly Connor, between two pants. He was already back on his feet, his bow in hand. The young man was a bit jealous of both of them, they would fight, while he would be stuck here, unable to add anything to the fight. I need to find a way to help! he thought, frustrated. He couldn't even lift himself. He was back to being a cripple.

"I'll have to try. I'm already running dry, so it's got to be now!" He Stepped away. Connor followed, shooting a few arrows blindly in the mass of fog. The Worm was still shrieking, but it was muffled by the fog. The second clash between Xander and the Worm didn't even last more than a few seconds, as Xander Stepped back, his sword doused.

"Guess that answer it," said Connor, maybe with a bit of nervousness. "Any further idea?" he asked.

Takeo was reviewing the catalog of their possessions, but nothing from the Ring seemed to shout "deadly Worm killer." His Book was holding a few things by now, but rocks and cuttings wouldn't probably be of any use. His eye stopped on his dagger. "Do you think it is spiritual?" he asked. He summoned his Book, not waiting for a reply, and extracted the dagger from it. "There, try this one!" he shouted weakly at Connor, holding the dagger in front of him. Takeo idly wondered why his arm felt so heavy.

That thing didn't use to be that heavy... he thought, confused. He felt cold and light-headed. Connor took the dagger from him, leaving him in a daze. His arm fell to the ground. He curled up on himself, trying to conserve his warmth. What's happening? he wondered.

Something was wrong with my abdomen, of course. But not that wrong, right? his thoughts themselves dimmed as well. He didn't feel the next shriek of the Worm.

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"Takeo!" shouted Xander. "What's wrong with you?" Connor had taken the dagger and dashed toward the Worm in its fog. That thing was dangerous, even if it only lasted for a meter or two in reality, but when you stepped within, nothing made sense anymore. Xander felt really lucky to have made his way out. But beyond that, he wondered what was happening to Takeo. The young man had been acting weird since he had woken up. He had been slow, and sluggish. But when he saw the pool of blood, horror dawned on him.

Lord Robert, please keep him there for a second! He dashed toward the young man, grabbed his clutching hand, and pried the ring out of his already cold finger. He summoned his jacket and reached for his emergency pouch. He could barely see the young man breathing. He found the correct envelope. Please, please, please! he prayed. He opened the young man's mouth and forced the envelope content within. Again, he summoned the ring's content grabbed his spatial gourd, forced some into his mouth, and kept it closed.

He didn't quite know what he was doing, but he had to do something. He remembered they had found several other such envelopes during the Thorny Maze, so he grabbed another one and tried to find where he was bleeding from. The hole in his abdomen was ugly and terrifying. He didn't bother to think the why or how, he just emptied the envelope's Powder in the wound. He added a blood-clotting one for good measure and prayed some more.

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"It worked perfectly," came from behind. Connor spat something, "Well I had to dive a bit deeper than I would have liked, but it worked." Xander looked back and saw his friend covered in smoking white goo. Behind him, the fog was dissipating quickly, revealing the gored Worm. It was shrinking at a visible rate, its flesh melting away in puffs of smoke.

"What's wrong?" asked Connor, "You have such a terrible face."

Xander tried to add some levity he didn't feel, "You should see yourself..." he said. His eyes turned down toward the lying youth. "He might not make it," he said. "He got gored good."

That removed the smirk from Connor's face. "No shit? But he was away before it even began to attack," he exclaimed incredulously. "The Book is still floating, so he is still alive!"

Xander looked up, and indeed the Book was still there. He had totally missed it. "There is still time then..." he whispered. "I've filled him with whatever Powder we had, let's check the Reward, maybe there will be something in there!" he shouted.

He jumped to his feet and dashed toward the Doors. The two first were now lit. But he didn't care. He lifted the Chest lid and took out several Orbs and Jades he stored right away. A few Talismans, and a circlet. No Potion. No Powder. He looked at his friend, pleading. "Tell me you've got something better!"

Connor complied, he had a bunch of Orbs and Jades. A ring, and coppery bracers, and still no Potions. "Shit," he said. "There is still a chance if he wakes up. Or maybe we can open the Chest with his hand and peer through?"

Neither felt like it was a good idea, but they had to try it. They went back to the prone young man. "Give me back the ring, I'll churn up a stretcher." A very long minute later, a very basic stretcher was assembled of bones and leather. Xander gingerly took hold of Takeo's shoulders, and Connor took his feet. They lifted him for barely five seconds and gently laid him on the stretcher. Then, they moved him toward the Chest. Using the pedestal where the Chest was lying as a support, they had Takeo touch the Chest, and open the lid. His Reward thankfully appeared. "A fucking White Jade..." whispered Connor, both in awe and in horror. In there was a lone White Jade.

They lifted down the wounded and pondered their options. His Book had dutifully followed them. Both were shocked and unsure of what they could do. "Okay..." muttered Xander. "We have some time yet, right?" His friend acquiesced lost in his own thoughts. "Then, let's make build a fire, and warm him up."

Connor shrugged, "Not sure that's the best idea in a cavern without any aeration, but sure." He summoned some of their few reserve of dried wood and his lighter. In a minute, a little campfire was crackling. Xander was pacing around, checking their surroundings for any opportunity they'd missed. He recovered three Bright Orbs of Charisma, probably from the now-disappeared corpse of the Worm. There were a bunch of mushrooms in a corner, even some plants here and there. And just like their home, some fluorescent crystal provided light to this strange room. Besides that, nothing. The room was large enough to fit probably a hundred people. But it was empty.

"Look, if he wakes up, we'll have to have him check the Jades," said Connor. "There are a few Brown in there that might come in handy. There is another blue as well, Master said that they occasionally provided some healing. Maybe it will be enough?"

Xander felt like he was in a nightmare. He walked in a deep torpor and barely heard his friend. "Yeah, yeah, sure," he replied, absent. He had known that such an event could and most certainly would happen one day. But he had never thought it would be so soon. Nor that it would happen to one of his friends.

"Hey, Xander, you alright?" asked Connor, worried. "You're not going to faint on me, are you?"

Xander shook his head, "No, no, I'm fine. Just... I don't know." He sat down, his back against the wall, away from the light of the fire. "It's supposed to be my job, you know?" he said, his voice low. "I should have been the one to take the hits."

Connor sat down beside him, "You know that's not how it works, right? We're a team, and we're supposed to help each other." He summoned a gourd of water and some cheese. "Try to eat something." Somewhere Xander recognized his Master's teaching. That was what they were supposed to do when someone was breaking down. But he let his friend feed him anyway. He was too tired to fight. After a minute or two, Connor stood up. "I'm going to check on him. You stay here, or you prefer to come with me?" he asked.

For some reason, he felt a bit better, while not being better at all. But it helped. "I'll come in a minute." They both knew that this first leg of the Path would be froth with danger. But they had never thought that it would be dangerous that much. The possibility of death had been enunciated hundreds of times, by their Master, by the Sovereign, by their parents. But it had never been real. He stood up and walked slowly toward the fire.

"Do you remember how much Healing Powder he could take at once?" he asked, his voice still low.

Connor shook his head, "Two is already stretching it. I think his breathing is getting better, but I'm not sure. What do you think?" He shrugged. "Besides, I think we should remove his jacket, it's probably not helping. And clean the wound and bandage it correctly, alright?"

Xander nodded, "Yeah, yeah, sure." He was still in a semi-automatic mode. The prospect of stripping his friend bare and revealing the full extent of his injury didn't sit well with him. But that was something he had to do. He took a deep breath and steeled himself. Gently, they parted the jacket, revealing this once-white robe. With a swipe of his hand, Connor cut the jacket and the sticky robe. They peeled the pieces of clothing on the side. Revealing a fist-sized hole in the young man's pale abdomen. The wound wasn't bleeding anymore, but it didn't look good.

"His guts are intact and still within. That's a good sign, right?" asked Connor, hopeful.

The swordsman agreed. "It's strange even. It should have... it's like it's been cauterized, or something similar."

Connor grabbed the gourd of water and poured some on the wound. "I don't know, but it's not bleeding. All thanks to the Powder I'd say." With a gentle hand and a white cloth, he cleaned the wound. He summoned a balm and applied it to the wound. "It's not made for that kind of injury but it should help." But wrapping the wound was another matter. They would have to lift him again. "Better now than later if he wakes..." he said resigned.

Xander set himself at the head of their young charge and lifted him by the shoulders. Quickly, Connor wrapped the wound with a bandage, and then removed the remains of the jacket and robe from Takeo's back, and then added a blanket behind him, so that he wasn't directly on the cold ground. "There, that should do it," he said, satisfied. "Now, let's see if he wakes up."

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Connor had found it in himself to nap. Xander had stopped pacing around and had been pondering his options for the future, in an attempt to distance himself from his current situation. Whether or not Takeo would make it, he needed to be more prepared, and for this, they of course would need money, but also a better understanding of the world, better preparation, better gear, and filling their Seal.

He had missed the young man opening his eyes. It was a low whisper that had drawn his attention. "Water..." he had said. And Xander was by his side in a second. He shouted to get Connor's attention, and soon enough both of them were fussing over their wounded charge.

Xander kept his feelings at bay, now wasn't the time to break down. They had discussed his eventual waking with Connor. There were some priorities for his survival.

"Listen, Takeo," he said, serious. The young man's eyes had trouble focusing on him. "Don't move, just listen. Okay?" He blinked and formed a shallow nod.

"We will put Jades in your hand, one by one. We need to find a Healing Jade. Whatever the mean, but you NEED some true healing. Okay?" Connor was already pulling the Brown Jades, and the lone Blue they had found. "Think you can do this?" he asked, pleading really.

Another brief nod. "Let's begin then."

Followed a long and dispiriting series of "no", or even just "o". He was tiring quickly, and his eyes were closing more and more. But, finally, he said "yes". It was a Brown Jade, whose name and function they didn't know.

"Who must slot it?" asked Xander, "You or me?" If it was a self-healing... But they could understand the young man's reply. They had already removed his Seal-glove, just for this situation. Connor grabbed Takeo's left hand, forced him to grab the Jade between two fingers, and pushed the Jade into one of the empty Jade slots. This was a terrible sin they had committed, as the Jade clicked into place, forever bound to the young man. But they had no choice.

"Please! Activate it! Think about healing yourself, or feeling better!" asked Xander, and suddenly a reddish hue radiated from the wounded young man. But he didn't move at all. Panicked, Xander shouted and tried to get him to breathe. But he couldn't move the body, it seemed as if it had turned to stone. "What's happening?" he shouted.

But whatever they did, Takeo's body had turned into a statue, only the red hue seemed to move, like wisps of smoke. "I guess that means we wait some more," said Connor in a low voice. "Again, the Book is still there, and if that's truly a healing Jade of some sort, then he should be fine." He looked at his friend, "You should rest a bit, you know?"