As soon as Tiddles had left Kyto and Sniffer, they began their journey back towards the house; they could not have had a chance to approach the town if the volume of Geblex Tiddles had mentioned to them was correct. They were still making their way back when Kyto's display had triggered. He saw Tiddles's health bar plummet initially to 60%.
"Fuck, Tiddles is injured!" he said to Sniffer.
"How do you know?"
"His health bar just dropped massively."
"Shit, where is he?"
"No idea. The link only works to 500 metres or so on the display."
"How bad is he?"
"60% health." Kyto saw the bar drop again. "Make that 30%."
"What the hell is causing him so much damage in a single hit?"
"No combat log at this range. I can just monitor his health."
"Fuck we need to go find him."
"How? We have no idea where he is by now."
"But your display will trigger when in range. We know he was heading to town."
"Ok. But we need to watch for the Geblex."
They changed direction and began jogging towards the township. Kyto knew they were about two miles from where they were and hoped Tiddles would survive. As they headed towards town, Kyto watched Tiddles’s health slowly fall.
"He is down to 25% now," he said, panting from the exertion as he ran.
Sniffer had much higher endurance than Kyto and easily maintained a steady pace even when carrying his backpack. "We need to speed up," Sniffer replied.
"I know," Kyto replied between breaths.
They picked up the pace, and Kyto's lungs burned with exertion. The cold, damp night air bit at his nasal passages, throat, and lungs as he gasped for enough oxygen to keep his muscles going. He felt like his chest would explode.
"20%"
Sniffer sped up again, himself now starting to pant. Kyto was feeling exhausted. His lungs burned, his chest hurt, and his legs felt like jelly. They must have run the first mile in six minutes, the fastest he had ever run. The ground was uneven, and he struggled to maintain a decent pace, beginning to slow and fall back from Sniffer.
"It.......is.......still........dropping." he gasped out.
"Hurry," Sniffer said.
"I..........can.....not", Kyto replied, slowing further.
"Come on, run." Sniffer barked, "Can you not heal yourself or something."
Kyto had not even given it a thought. Would healing help him? He had no idea. He focused on his healing mana as he tried to stay with Sniffer; it did not help. He was not injured, unfit and inexperienced in running; his endurance level was not a stat he had ever really focussed on. It had only ever increased through natural progression as he had moved around as a tinkerer, and only the recent training he had completed with Tiddles was a focused attempt at improving his fitness. Mana was energy, though he had seen how it could be formed and combined. His brain was screaming at him as he ran, trying to tell his body to stop due to the exhaustion he felt. He forced his legs to keep moving stride after stride.
'Mana is a lifeforce; it is energy', he thought. How could he use it, though, was the question. He was now lagging Sniffer by a distance, and Sniffer began to slow down and shout at him to move on; they must only be half a mile away by now.
Energy types include thermal, kinetic, potential, electrical, mechanical, sound, and elastic. He could not think of a way to use his mana for every kind of energy he considered because it was magical. His display triggered.
Congratulations, you have discovered the true nature of mana as an energy source; its true potential can only be realised by accepting its magical properties.
Endurance side effects can be negated through the adaptation of mana, and only the wisest will ever realise its true nature. You can maintain your body's natural attributes if you have sufficient mana. Be warned, however - it does not increase strength or prevent injuries.
"Mana is everything, after all."
He suddenly knew it was no longer just strands but individual particles that made matter that could be manipulated as he wished he knew. Instead of creating strands as he had for healing, he focused on his pool and began to break it down instead. His mana pool began to decrease as his body absorbed the mana within. Not his body but his cells, muscles, fibres, tissues, everything began to flood with mana. He did not need to hold it in a pool; he was just a conduit and an extension of mana. Mana made him, mana was him, mana was everything. His legs suddenly no longer felt heavy, his breathing began to slow, the tiredness and pain receding from his body. It was as though his endurance had just doubled.
His pace increased, and he sped up again, beginning to pull back on Sniffer.
"What did you just do?" Sniffer said himself, panting heavily now.
"Hard to explain," he said as though he was now going for a morning stroll, his breathing smooth and even. He knew now how to manipulate the energy he released. It was as though he had suddenly understood energy from its raw source and could control it, but it was not energy. It was the mana being manipulated within him. There was no feeling to the mana or anything he could explain in words; it was just there and able to be manipulated.
They were nearing the township and could see the perimeter turning south towards the western gate when they saw the swarming forms ahead.
"Shit. Geblex." Sniffer said, coming to a halt no more than one hundred metres from them, their dark and gloomy forms only becoming visible as the night's cloud cover opened, allowing the moon's rays to streak through. They could not tell how many were in the group, but it was more than they could fight through.
"What now?" Kyto said.
Sniffer could see the Geblex scaling and swarming the wall further down.
"We climb."
Kyto looked at the stockade wall; the wooden surface was smooth with no visible handholds, but they had no option but to try. Sniffer ran to the edge of the stockade and pulled out the rope in his backpack. He quickly formed a loop and then swung it, throwing it up at the stockade spikes. He missed the first time, recoiling the rope again for another attempt.
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"They have seen us," Kyto said with a panicked voice as he saw a couple of the Geblex peel towards them. Sniffer missed again on the second throw.
"Fuck." he cursed, again recoiling the rope and throwing it again. The coil, this time, went over the spike at the top of the stockade wall. He pulled the rope taught and immediately began to pull himself upwards.
"Quick," he shouted.
Kyto turned and grabbed the rope and began to haul himself up behind him. His arms ached, but he again redirected mana into his muscles; it did not make him stronger; it just prevented the tiredness by flooding them with energy, allowing them to work within the limitations of his strength. The Geblex were within twenty metres when the first threw a spear towards them. It thudded into the wall a few feet wide of the target, and Sniffer was just reaching the top when a second spear thudded into the stockade, missing his leg by centimetres. He hauled himself up and over the spikes. Kyto was not far behind.
"Hurry!" Sniffer shouted.
The noise inside the town had erupted in the time it had taken them to reach the stockade wall and climb it. Shouting and gunfire started to ring out in the night. Tiddles’s health had dropped to 10% but seemed to have stabilised and even looked like it was going up very slowly.
"Tiddles's health has stopped falling at the moment," Kyto said.
As Kyto reached the top and swung over the stockade wall, he suddenly realised how high they were. "Fuck how do we get down," Kyto said.
Sniffer went to pull the rope up and over when another spear struck next to his outstretched hand. He pulled it back and lowered himself down the other side of the wall.
They were both hanging on and looking at each other. "Not much else we can do but drop," Sniffer said as he let go, pushing himself away from the wall slightly. He dropped like a rock with nearly a twenty-foot drop to the ground below. He landed with an audible thud on the earth and groaned loudly.
"Fuck it," Kyto said, doing the same. Kyto's acrobatics skill was relatively high, and although he had never jumped from this height before, he knew how to land. He absorbed much of the impact and rolled as he met the ground with the momentum he had pushed away from the wall. Sniffer was standing up, holding his knee, grimacing.
"At least it was grass on this side." Sniffer said, "Now, just the next fence."
They looked at the twelve-foot-high chain-link fence with the exceedingly nasty and sharp razor wire that topped it. "We are not climbing over that," Kyto said, digging in his jacket pocket. He pulled out his multitool and moved to the fence. He loved his multitool of all the tools he owned. It was by far his most treasured possession; he used it all the time, and, on this occasion, he opened up the pair of wire cutters it had. He started to work on cutting the fence. It was not easy as the tool was not designed to cut through wire as thick as the fence, but with effort, he was slowly able to cut the links and began making a hole they would be able to squeeze through.
Tiddles's health bar had reached 18% again and seemed steady. "He is at 18%." Kyto said as he worked on the fence, ' A couple more links should give them enough room to get through,' he thought as the first of the Geblex reached the top of the wall behind them, soon followed by a second. They croaked, and the first one threw itself over in anger. It landed awkwardly, and Kyto heard a snapping sound as it landed. It did not get back up but lay croaking weakly.
"Hurry," Sniffer said. The next Geblex landed much better, and as soon as it was upright, it pulled its club from a piece of cloth it had tied around its waist and charged at Sniffer.
Sniffer was no brawler; he had been in an occasional scrape but nothing noteworthy, and this beast running at him swinging a crude club in its three-fingered hand was the most serious fight he had ever been involved in. He swung his backpack off his shoulder and used it to block the club swing aimed at his face. The club thudded against the pack and was soon pulled back for its next swing; Sniffer again blocked the blow, feeling the impact down through his arms to his shoulders as he did. He noticed Kyto pulling the fence, peeling it back. He ducked and began to wriggle through the gap.
He again blocked the third strike, but the club caught his left hand this time as it swung from the creature's right. He screamed in pain as his hand was pulverised with the weight of the club head across the back of his hand. His display triggered, and his hand showed red immediately. He dropped the backpack and dove at the fence gap. The club swinging where he had just been stood as he hit the ground and tried to hurry through the hole, ignoring his burning hand as much as he could. He was halfway through when the club hit the back of his leg.
"FUCKKKKKKK," he screamed, Kyto grabbing him by his good arm and pulling him through. His display had triggered again, and his leg was red; his knee had already turned yellow from jumping off the wall. It was the leg that the Spylore had bitten through, and the pain he felt now was similar. The Geblex began to clamber through the hole as soon as Sniffer was clear. Kyto moved and kicked out at it as hard as he could. His foot caught a glancing blow as it tried to move out of the way and recoiled slightly back through the fence. It tried moving through again, but this time, Kyto was more accurate and caught it on the top of its head with the toe of his boot. It wailed in anger and tried to strike him with its claw. Kyto kept kicking at the hole and the Geblex, trying to get through. His display was triggering as he lashed out, catching the creature.
The Geblex continued to try clawing at him and pulling itself through, its three-fingered hands tipped with very sharp claws, which it must have used to scale the wall quickly. It couldn't use its club at this angle. Kyto kicked it in its shoulder, and it croaked in pain, releasing the club it had been holding tightly onto. Kyto bent and grabbed it, immediately swinging it at the creature and screaming angrily. The club connected with its head, and it let out a wailing croak in pain but still tried to get through the fence. He swung again, connecting with its side, its legs nearly through the fence, as it dragged itself across the floor. Sniffer could not help or do anything from where he was lying, prone his leg and preventing him from helping. He lay prone, and he knew that the crushing blow on his leg had at least broken a bone again.
Kyto swung again; this time, the club hit with a thundering strike, landing on the back of the Geblex's head. Its head was forced downwards into the ground with a sickening crunch as the rear of its skull caved in, squirting its gelatinous content across the ground as though squeezing a ripe berry. The logs and display flashed, but Kyto ignored them all. The Geblex lay still no longer a threat.
Tiddles health dropped to 17%.
"He is dropping again," Kyto said.
"Go find him," Sniffer said.
"What about you?"
"I have had worse. Now go."
Kyto stood briefly and quickly pumped some healing mana into Sniffer. It was not enough to fully heal him, but it was sufficient to reduce the pain, allowing him to drag himself away from the fence.
"Now go, will you," Sniffer said.
Kyto turned and ran towards the lights of the town. He was unsure where Tiddles was and only hoped he was going in the right direction. Off to the left and right, a couple hundred metres away, fighting was underway. The Geblex were inside the compound, and gunfire and the muzzle flashes of weapons filled the night sky. As Kyto reached the edge of town, Tiddles's dot appeared, and he headed straight for it. His health was now back down to 16%. Whatever was wrong with him was still affecting him. The town members were running past Kyto towards the Geblex as he ran the other way.
"Coward." A burly man carrying a machete yelled as he ran past him.
Kyto ignored the man, continuing towards Tiddles and cutting through the streets until he reached the centre where the barracks were located. He hurtled round the corner where Tiddles's dot was showing and saw him lying prone on the floor, not moving with Lars by his side as his health dropped to 15%.
"Lars," Kyto yelled.
Lars spun round, looking at him in shock. 'How?' he signed.
"Don't ask," he replied as he leaned next to Tiddles; he immediately formed his strands and began to push them into Tiddles, entering him, and as they did, he drew from his surroundings to fill his pool. His pool had dropped substantially when he had flooded his body and healed Sniffer briefly. He did not want to call on his familiar to assist him, but the bonus with Tiddles was he could see exactly where the injuries were in his body. He directed his strands as he began to heal him. Their combined skill bonuses healed the wounds he was suffering from; they were due to continual blood loss. Nothing compared to fighting the dark aura he had healed him from previously. His mana use was much more efficient, and his pool was manageable. The main bleed causing his health drop was sustained by an arterial injury, and once Kyto discovered and healed it, Tiddles's health began to rise exponentially. The many buckshot wounds were superficial, healing and sealing as he worked. He was back to 65% health in under three minutes, and his elemental core burned brightly.
"Can I?" Kyto asked Lars.
Lars nodded as Kyto drew from him. As large as it was with his bonuses, Lars's mana pool rapidly increased his pool, quickly overtaking his outlay. As Tiddles’s health reached 80%, he heard a growl.
"How did you get here?" Tiddles asked, coming around and seeing Kyto next to him.
"Long story," Kyto replied, continuing to pump his health back up.
Tiddles stood as he continued healing, flexing his rear legs where the shot had torn into him, rendering his hind legs immobile.
Kyto stopped drawing on Lars and finished topping Tiddles to 100%.
"Thanks," Tiddles said.
"We need to get Sniffer, he was injured," he said.
"Where is he?" Tiddles asked, worry in his voice.
"By the fence western edge, come on, let's go."