*Thump*

Alex felt his heartbeat throughout his entire body. Even as he watched Mai pull the knife out of his chest, he could think of nothing but the beating in his ears.

*Thump* *Thump*

Something was pouring out from the hole in his chest, and it wasn't just blood. Wisps of gray energy pulsed out of the wound in time with his heartbeat. The barrier between body and soul was broken, and life energy flowed through the gap and into his body.

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

The rush of energy healed the knife wound almost immediately, leaving a fresh scar over his heart. The tide now stemmed. Alex tried to stop releasing lifeforce into his body. Unfortunately, each beat of his heart would reopen the barrier and allow more through.

Alex tried controlling the energy inside his body, but it wouldn't follow his commands; it began using itself up trying to repair the damage done to him by the trip here. He felt stronger than ever but weaker in the ways that mattered.

The life force coming from his soul was draining, slowly killing him. Already, his arms were growing numb even as his fingers dug into the ground with superhuman strength. Alex tried to calm down and control his breathing, but that was harder than it had any right to be.

*Thump* *Thump*

Eventually, his heartbeat slowed, and the drain lessened. Still, he could tell it was still happening, and the Spirit he could feel in his soul was terrifyingly low. Alex took that emotion and pushed it down, entering the mindstate he used whenever he fought.

Start with what he could do.

Alex followed the next pulse of energy his heart released and managed to watch it as it flew through his body. He tried several times to contain the pulse or redirect it, but his efforts barely nudged it.

Start with what he could do.

*Thump*

Alex could absorb sound.

The next pulse, Alex reached out to the energy and absorbed it into his heart. Using the same feeling that had allowed him to absorb sound waves for as long as he could remember.

All subsequent waves of Spirit were absorbed into the heart before Alex used that power. Alex dug into his 'store' of Spirit and shoved it back into the hole the next time his heart tried to release more.

"Haaaaah." He breathed out as the feeling slowly returned to his body. Alex could feel the slight pressure on his heart that the makeshift barrier was blocking, but he honestly couldn't bring himself to care at the moment.

He was so tired.

—

Alex awoke to the feeling of his life slowly draining away. It was not the best feeling in the morning, but it certainly got him out of bed.

Or at least off the pile of leaves he was sleeping on.

"Shit." He cursed to himself before hastily repeating the process he had used to save his life. With another temporary block in place, he could finally get up without fearing for his life. Looking around, Alex spotted Mai leaning against a tree very close to where he was sleeping.

He wondered if she was worried he would somehow die in his sleep… Well, it almost happened, so Alex guessed she had the right idea. He did some stretches only to realize his leg felt completely fine, and his arm only occasionally twitched in pain. That was good because, in all the excitement, Alex had snapped the stick he was using for a splint.

That Spirit stuff was pretty potent. Unfortunately, he didn't think he could use half as much as he had last night for the foreseeable future. Checking his reserves showed that he had barely gained anything while sleeping, though that might be due to him leaking some out this morning.

Alex shook his head and took one last look at Mai before deciding to let her sleep for now. Turning around and walking away, he was interrupted by the sound of a voice.

"You're awake." Alex turned around to see Mai staring at him with open eyes.

"Ah." Alex had forgotten to silence his movements in all the excitement. "Sorry about that. I was trying to let you rest."

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Boosting herself up, Mai looked almost ready to go. "You shouldn't; we need to get moving now if we hope to avoid their patrols." She walked around and quickly disassembled their little camp while continuing to talk. "If you're right and they have information about my mission, then the longer we take, the more they can prepare for us."

Alex sighed and briefly considered saying something about self-care before remembering that it would be a little hypocritical after last night.

"What about br-" Mai threw a small sack of something at Alex while saying. "We'll eat on the way." Before they left, Alex grabbed what little he had, which amounted to his broken electronics wrapped up in a hoodie and the sword he had stolen.

Alex didn't enjoy his Jerky as they set a fast walking pace; slowly, the surrounding forest turned into grassland, and he admired the natural sights. In the past, he hadn't really left the Chicagoland area; he was too busy ambushing Empire shipments or just patrolling the streets and learning more about his power.

There was the one time in the Brookfield Zoo, but Alex didn't like to remember that. Plus, it hardly counted as a natural sight when he had destroyed the machine responsible for it himself.

While they walked, Alex resorted to loudly singing random internet songs to himself and then absorbing the sound. There were more efficient ways of gaining stores, but it was what he had for the moment.

"I was going to say something earlier, but what are you doing?" Mai asked. "The noise around you fluctuates oddly, and things that should make noise don't."

They would be fighting together, so Alex guessed he should explain.

"Do you have enhanced hearing?" Alex asked back, and she nodded. This was the first time someone had questioned him about this. "My power works by absorbing sound," He explained. "But I haven't had the opportunity to charge it in a while, so I'm trying to do it now."

"You can store magic?" Alex shrugged; for all he knew, powers really were magic. "Perhaps that is why you were able to use it in the isolation field." She trailed off, probably thinking to herself.

"While we're on the topic of powers." Alex cut in, hoping to get some answers. "Could you tell me some more about how to use Spirit?"

Just keeping some of the energy blocking the path would only work for a while. Eventually, he would need to sleep again.

"Very well, though I do feel the need to caution restraint. Any practice at this point could still kill you." She replied, her tone serious.

Alex agreed and then explained what he had done to stop the flow. Mai was surprised, saying that absorbing Spirit was usually a more advanced technique. Though admitting she had been trained with many others and that most people used different methods initially.

The easiest method was to train in controlling the Spirit and allowing it to flow through your body and then back into your soul. However, that would have been difficult with injuries that naturally drew the energy in to try and heal them.

The amount of Spirit was also an issue. Alex could barely feel the amount he had regenerated in hours of walking across the grasslands. It was actually getting slightly annoying; he wasn't used to walking through the tall grass.

"Training," Mai stated bluntly. "Use it up, and your soul will learn to produce more." That was all she said on the subject. Apparently, there were many ways to use it up, but Mai recommended martial arts.

Alex hadn't trained in real martial arts since the Empire took his brother away.

Something caught his attention in his zone of absorption.

"Wait," Alex called out, and Mai froze. Quickly, he stopped absorbing the surrounding sound. Usually, he would keep an ear on the surroundings, but all the conversation had distracted him. Reaching out now, he could feel smaller humanoid shapes running with their heads just beneath the tall grass.

The moment Alex dropped his absorption, Mai fell back into a combat stance and drew her weapon. "Kobolds!" She shouted, surprised to have been so caught off guard. "Watch out for their ranged attacks."

Alex decided to apologize later and hefted his stolen sword; it was much easier with two hands. As he got in a decent combat position, he felt one of the little monsters bring some sort of pipe to its face and point it at him.

*Thump*

The seal between body and soul broke as Alex dove to avoid the dart launched from the blowgun. Another small lizard-like humanoid thrust a makeshift spear that scored a cut on his shoulder as he tried to stop the leaking energy.

"Fuck it." He could deal with that later. Reaching out to his power, Alex could tell Mai was busy with four enemies, so he wouldn't be getting any help soon. He used his sword more like a club to fend off a few more attacks from the melee kobold before he was forced to dive out of the way of a second dart.

He barely had enough sound for a disabling blast, much less one that could do more than stun. Though, with this energy pulsing through his body, did he really need that?

The two kobolds were relentless and surprisingly coordinated. The melee one would only get close to capitalize on the openings made by Alex being forced to dodge darts. If he was going to take advantage of his enhanced strength, he needed to disrupt their coordination.

Alex maneuvered his way until both enemies were in front of him, then whistled. Boosting the frequency and pitch, then guiding the sound into both their ears.

One dart flew wildly off course, and Alex took advantage of their surprise to burst forward and slash at the nearest one. The sword acted more like a club in his inexperienced hands, but the strength behind it was more than enough to slice scaly skin and send his enemy to the ground.

The ranged kobold was, for some reason, already retreating, and Alex had to consider what to do. He didn't know if this thing had more friends in the grasslands. The thing might have been trying to run for reinforcements.

He held up his hands and prepared to use the last of his reserves to amplify a snap enough to stun the creature.

"Don't bother." A glowing black knife flew past Alex's head and homed in on the fleeing kobold. Striking it in the back of the head and finishing it off.

Alex turned around to see Mai standing there, wholly uninjured. Around her, he could still see patches of shadow curling around the forms of four dead kobolds. At that moment, he vowed to try and learn some of this magic for himself.