Chapter 103 - Pain

It felt as if a thousand steel plates were stacked on top of her, crushing her against a hard surface. Her limbs were strapped down and nailed. Her head pounded, panicked from the absurd amount of pain in every part of her body. Her insides were just as bad. Throat squeezed shut and dry as a desert, stomach about to explode from the inside.

“Ah, you’re awake!” an enthusiastic voice said beside her. “How are you feeling?”

Vivi couldn’t respond. Her heart thumped a thousand times a second, body trying to fight back the pain from the inside. It seriously felt like she was going to die. Lucius! she screamed in her thoughts. Ether!

“Ah, yes, coming right up,” Lucius said. He pushed a slight amount of ether into her body, around fifty wisps.

Slowly, the explosive sensations inside her began to calm down. The feeling of being crushed improved to just being squeezed. Vivi lay perfectly still on the bed, making sure that no surprises were awaiting for her if she decided to move a limb.

Holy mother of ether… Vivi thought. Lucius, please never let me experience that again.

“Sorry, I thought you were recovered enough to withstand without ether,” Lucius said. “Looks like you’ll still need time to recover. Your body is so damaged that even existing without ether hurts you.”

The ceiling was low and familiar. Vivi woke up in her own bedroom behind Gaven’s kitchen. The room was exactly as she’d left it. She didn’t have many belongings, but her colorful rock was left on the nightstand. Eem had given that to her, and Vivi decided to keep it.

The woman in the room was panicking. She was grabbing some sort of potions from a small rack. Vivi took a moment to figure out who it was. Dark skin, short brown hair, and an alchemist’s coat…

“Feni?” Vivi asked. She pushed herself to sit. “What’s happening?”

“Lie down,” Feni said, immediately pushing Vivi back down. Vivi was too weak to fight back. “You’ve been a hero, but you nearly got yourself killed. You’re forbidden from more heroic deeds until you can run without ether again. Drink this. It should help with ether exhaustion.”

Feni slightly lifted Vivi’s head and poured a vial full of some yellow liquid into her mouth. A floral taste surprised Vivi, until a bitter aftertaste reminded her that she was drinking a potion. She was forced to take five more gulps.

With the potion downed, Vivi coughed repeatedly. Just as she thought she was calming down, another cough came. By the end of it, her eyes were watering. She lay down, staring at the ceiling. Feni offered water, which Vivi drank eagerly.

“How do you feel?” Feni asked.

“Awful,” Vivi admitted.

She wanted to get up and get to work. Either in the smithy, or back to practice. Anything. Vivi just wanted to help and progress in any way she could.

But she honestly didn’t think she could. Not unless she abused ether further. That would have been a stupid idea, even for her standards. She knew she was in no shape to smith proper weapons. Trying to push through would only slow down her recovery.

She hated falling ill. It was the worst thing ever. She knew everyone else was working, living through tough times. She couldn’t do anything to help. It was the opposite. Her falling sick caused trouble for others.

Vivi had never expected to wake up in this bed. If her memory was at all correct, Zand was totally destroyed. Defeating the Death Tyrant had cleared the dungeon, stopping respawns from happening. Above, the Twilight Shaman had destroyed the hub. Had Aang’s hub survived through all of that?

“How long was I out?” Vivi asked.

“Three days,” Feni said. “You woke up miraculously fast. But you’ll still need time to rest. Preferably at least a week”

“Lucius, how long will it take before I can stand?” Vivi asked.

“Maybe a day or two,” Lucius said. “If I focus really hard on healing you.”

Feni sighed. “You’ll risk yourself to more injuries. Just rest.”

Looks like I’ll have to… Vivi thought. “What’s happening outside? Is it bad?”

“The immediate crisis has been averted,” Feni said, though her expression was dark. “Most nimrods survived. The dungeon is everyone’s home for now. Do you remember what happened before you fell asleep?”

“I defeated Uundref in the sewers,” Vivi said. “He found our runeswords and wanted to turn me into a slave. I killed him.”

Feni nodded. “You’re a hero for that. Eem was the one that found you. It’s thanks to her that you’re alive.”

Vivi smiled. Of course. Eem was the one that saved her again. Vivi owed a lot more than just fish to that little fiend.

“Lucius said that the hub was totally destroyed,” Vivi said. “The Twilight Shaman pillaged the place. Nimrods escaped into the dungeon.”

“Yes, the Twilight Shaman is still there,” Feni said. “It decided to set the hub as its outpost. Anyone that tries to exit the dungeon is promptly killed. As a result, nimrods are stuck inside the dungeon with no way out and no way to ask for help. Gangs aren’t fighting monsters anymore, as nothing is respawning. They’re fighting for food sources instead. Mostly fishing spots. The dungeon doesn’t offer much food. It’s going to take weeks before someone arrives to investigate.”

“Which gang is in control?” Vivi asked.

Feni looked away from Vivi’s eyes. “You shouldn’t be worrying about this. Just focus on rest.”

“I’d like to know,” Vivi said. “What’s happening outside? Is everyone okay?”

“If I tell you, you’re not going to rest,” Feni said. She turned away. “Just go back to sleep.”

Vivi grabbed Feni’s hand and pushed herself to sit. She gave Feni a serious look. “I’m too exhausted to get up anyway. Is everyone okay?”

Feni hesitated before speaking. “The Hollows are recovering. Rohan is awake but barely walking. Alisa is in a coma. We think she will live. Ven can only move one arm, but he’s awake. Aang is bruised, but he’s forcing himself awake. He and Ven have been taking turns defending the Union.”

“Are we being attacked?” Vivi asked.

Feni bit her lip. “We’re being sieged.”

“By who?” Vivi asked.

“Nimrods,” Feni said. “For a moment, all gangs worked together to escape from the Twilight Shaman’s attack. The moment nimrods realized the immediate danger was gone, and that Zand’s Stewards were no longer in charge, the nimrods stopped working together. The dungeon has become a territory war.”

Vivi raised her eyebrows. “Seriously?”

“The Union was hit the worst,” Feni said. “Other gangs immediately seized our outposts and attacked our members. Union members have either been killed or pushed back into Aang’s hub. All remaining Union members are holding on in the hub. Aang and Ven are still strong enough to defeat anyone that tries to attack, but we're too injured to attempt expanding outward. We’re slowly being starved of rations.”

Vivi sat there in surprise for a moment. She certainly hadn’t expected this. The nimrods had an opportunity to work together now. They weren’t oppressed by guards anymore, forced to fight for ether. But they fought anyway. The first thing they did was spark war against each other.

“Nimrods will be nimrods,” Lucius said. “Fighting is all they know.”

She bit her lip. “If not the Union, who’s in charge?”

“Information is limited,” Feni said. “I’ll tell you everything I know. There are four main gangs. Bwern’s gang is the largest. Anyone who is strong enough has been invited to join. As a result, he has by far the most territory. Andre’s blue cloaks are still alive. They’re silently protecting their turf. Then there’s a third new gang, consisting of wolves. It’s led by a man named Andorr. They’ve taken control of most of the hidden dungeon, and they’re also keeping the guards imprisoned. Ironic, how the most trustworthy wolves are the first to betray the guards.

“With the three hundred ether limit gone, gangs are focusing more on their elite members rather than the number of members. Bwern has at least two maxed out warriors. Andre is strong, and Andorr is probably maxed out. We don’t know much about him.

“Then there’s the Union. With your runeswords, our elites are definitely the strongest. But our strength extends only to our elites. Average members get defeated by Bwern’s men. As a result, the Union has been pushed to Aang’s hub. We have the least space out of everyone. Down here, we have no food sources, and other gangs are blocking our way out.

“Still, Aang believes the Union can recover. The dungeon should have enough food sources for all nimrods if we start sharing. According to Aang, there’s farmland beneath the Death Tyrant’s arena.”

“I see…” Vivi said, biting her lip.

“That’s all I can say for now,” Feni said. “Nimrods are starving and fighting each other for food. It’s cruel, but nothing unusual. The best you can do to help is to sleep and recover. Aang needs strong members.”

“Thank you,” Vivi said. “For taking care of me.”

“Of course we’re taking care of you,” Feni said. “Get back to sleep now. I’ll stay here, and I’ll make sure you don’t start walking too early.”

Vivi gave a slight nod. She lay back down, her head facing the low ceiling. She closed her eyes, and the room went silent.

Her attention shifted to her sixth sense. She felt the weird void core hidden within her. The wisps were idle, slowly recovering, but the core was hungry. Tendrils fluttered idly around it, as if the core was trying to grab something from its surroundings.

Vivi still wasn’t certain how she felt about her new core. The void ether hadn’t killed her, but using them had taken her senses away, at least for the duration of the fight against Uundref. Vivi had won despite Uundref’s countless years of practice. She hadn’t defeated him with a trick. She’d been faster, stronger. All thanks to Death Sense.

The hundred void wisps in her core were slow to recover. Only ten of them had recovered during her two days of rest. Ninety were dim. The void wisps seemed to work somewhat similarly to regular ether.

We’ll need to figure out how to gather more void wisps, Vivi thought.

“You’re not worried about their dangers?”

Vivi took her time responding. Well, we’re still alive. You seem to be just fine.

Lucius let out a wry smile. “You’re growing hungry for power, aren’t you? You’re hooked.”

What? I’m still just a cursed runesmith. Are you saying I’ve changed?

“No,” Lucius said. “You’re not wrong. The void wisps are seriously powerful. We’ll at least need to figure out how exclusive that power is. How hard are the wisps to gather? Is it harmful for us to use them long term?”

Aang needs strong elites, Vivi thought. With the void core, we might be the strongest hunters on the fourth level. Gathering void ether shouldn’t be too difficult. Monsters consist of mostly void elements. We’ll need to master this power.

Lucius appeared curious. He smirked. “You really are growing hungry for power.”

Vivi gave him a look in her thoughts. She’d learned to do that, it seemed.

“That’s not a bad thing,” Lucius said. “Being strong is useful for a lot of things.”

Vivi sighed. Just focus on healing me, please. The sooner we recover, the sooner we can get back to work. There’s a lot we need to do. Aang needs more runeswords. A lot more. And I need more practice. I couldn’t read Henric’s attacks in Paradise at all.

Lucius wore a funny smile. For some reason, Vivi wanted to roll her eyes. Being sick placed her in a bad mood. Best if I just get to sleep.

Hopefully she wouldn’t be out for too long.