It took quite some time, but I eventually grasped what Merlin meant about gathering the essence from the body of the wolf. If I did something funny with my eyes – like doing one of the Magic Eye books that were popular when I was a kid – I could see these ugly red glowing blobs floating above both halves of the animal.
The effect was creepy as all hell, especially with the sun starting to fall. Apparently, what I needed to do, according to Merlin, was pull that red light into my body and then . . . well, the way he put it, I needed to think about it for a bit.
“Mate, I’ve spent many a long hour pondering my choice to put things in my body that were probably a bad idea. Like Tom Barnes, the first year of uni.”
I sense there is some sort of underlying sexual innuendo here rather than it being a statement of fact. Should I be laughing?
If I was going to remain sane in this new world, Merlin would have to develop a sense of humour, or I would need some new friends. Speaking of which . . .
“Should we be worried about the army coming this way? Do you know which way they will be heading?”
I would rather you focus on gathering this essence rather than worrying about the world’s trials. Remember, the reason why I am in this predicament is ignoring opportunities like these in order to run off and save people.
I sensed Merlin had issues about our situation that he probably needed to work through himself. I tried to move the conversation back to safer ground.
“What happened with my hands back there? You said I should push my Qi into them?”
Cultivators, even ones as newly awakened to the path as you, can have a significant level of control over their Qi. Moving energy to your fists to temporarily increase your strength is one of the earliest usages most talented children learn.
Ignoring what I sensed was a touch of passive-aggression there, I pressed onwards. “But I didn’t move it on purpose. My hands suddenly were hot and I was strong enough to rip it in half.”
I may have . . . given things a bit of a nudge.
“How?”
When I pulled you into this realm, I needed to anchor this fragment of my spirit to yours. That gives me some — limited — access to your Qi. Not enough to do anything impressive, but I can certainly, for example, manifest a small fireball, or briefly pause time, or guide a small amount of energy to where it is needed in your body.
“Apropos of nothing, I have always thought ‘The Host’ was a far better novel than ‘Twilight’.”
Ah. I do recognise that reference, my dear. No. Nothing like that, I assure you. On the three occasions, I have used your Qi thus far, it has been for an outcome you desired. I merely facilitated your wish. And even doing that has left me significantly exhausted. Please, believe me, I will not be taking control of your Qi against your will.
I was pretty sure Eddie Brock may have had similar conversations. But that was a problem for another day.
“So, what’s the deal with” — I gestured towards the two red spheres still floating in the air above the pieces of the wolf — “absorbing this stuff?”
Cultivators can increase their amount of available Qi by, over many years, meditating and reflecting upon the nature of life and existence. Slowly, but surely, each cycle accumulates more and more energy, and those that choose that path can progress in that way. On the other hand . . .”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“Oh, let me guess, you can kill loads of things and drain the Qi out of them until you’re King of Qi hill. I’m going to call that The Highlander approach.”
It is an awful lot more complicated than that, and it is important to combine both approaches to cultivation. But yes, one of the quickest ways for you to . . . the only words I can find in your vocabulary to adequately explain the process are ‘level up’. Does that make sense?
“Mate, ask the continent of Tamriel if that makes sense. I’m all about the level up.”
I didn’t think the silence that followed was one of awe.
***
Merlin had said I needed to “breathe the essence in”. Which sounded gross when he put it like that, but then again, I was covered in crusted wolf guts, so who was I to judge?
We’d been trying for hours — and I was getting dangerously close to hyperventilation — when the sphere on the right-hand side twitched and then flew straight into my mouth. I gagged and then swallowed the unexpected red energy down. “Yep,” I thought. “Exactly like Tom Barnes.”
You need to visualise what happens next.
I closed my eyes and mentally tracked the journey of the wolf’s Qi into my body. The only way I could make sense of it was that it was like a blob of red paint being poured onto a pristine blank canvas. I knew — I have no idea how, but I did — that this sheet of white represented my spirit. The red paint, the absorbed wolf’s Qi I presumed, had simply plonked itself down in the middle of my canvas.
I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to be doing next.
Then, as if out of nowhere, the redness was surrounded by a small pool of liquid that I instinctively knew was my Qi. It was purple, which had always been my favourite colour in my paintings, and within a few seconds, it had completely overwhelmed and mixed in with the redness, seemingly absorbing it into a slightly bigger blob.
Then I was back in the real world, looking at a second orb of red floating above a wolf’s carcass. I sucked that one down much easier this time. It hit the blank canvas with a Pollockseque splat, and was assimilated much quicker in the same way. To my untutored eye, my pool of purple liquid felt more substantial than it had before pulling in the wolf’s red light.
Interesting. How did your mind make sense of that process?
I explained the painting metaphor: that the red colour was absorbed into the purple liquid.
Well, isn’t that quaint, my dear? For me, it was like adding tiny drops of water to a giant ocean. As the end approached, I just couldn’t find enough water to pour into it to make it overflow. Without that breakthrough, I died.
I didn’t know what to say to that.
Although I think we are going to need to seek to progress more from violence than prayer, it would help if you spent time meditating on what you did to the wolf. Think about the sensation of Qi being channelled into your hands and how you then pulled the wolf’s essence inside you. Take your time. You’ve accomplished more in an afternoon than most people achieve in their lifetime – if that doesn’t prove you were the right person to put my faith in, nothing will.
But I wasn’t really listening. A voice, not Merlin’s, was whispering in my mind. It was getting quite crowded in here.
“That army. Where will they be heading next?”
It’s an invasion force. They’ll follow the route of the fyrd back to the various villages. Why?
I was suddenly overcome with images of a woman with kind eyes stroking my hair. Brothers and sisters playing with me in the fields. A house. Friends. A lost father whose last action was to keep me alive.
“They’re heading to Wulfnoð’s village. We have to stop them.”
Stop them? It’s an army, my dear. You may have a newfound talent for disposing of wildlife, but don’t think for one moment you are ready to confront even a small group of people, let alone armed ones. Please don’t fall into my trap. If we’re going to achieve anything, we cannot be distracted by minutiae.
An image of my sister’s face suddenly replaced those of Wulfnoð’s family. I’d never had much truck with having a conscience during my life, but there had been moments when the horror of explaining my actions to Zizzie had stopped me from straying too far off reservation. If the whole point of staying alive was in order to keep her existing, I was damned if I was going to do things I’d be embarrassed to tell her.
“If you want me to ever speak to you again, do not describe people in danger as ‘minutiae’. We don’t have to fight the army, but we need to warn Wulfnoð’s family what’s coming.”
I started to run before realising I had no idea where I was going. ‘Merlin, which way?’
There was a pause before the wizard replied. So be it.
And we blinked out of existence.