B2 Ch. 14 To Fight Death.

Set ablaze with proof that all this was making a difference, he took a few steps away from the troughs and settled down into his meditative pose.  He fixed the guidance Ichiro had given him in his mind once again.   Everything he had endured and everything still to come, was all fuel.  All of it would change him, forming him into something but what that would be was not clear.

Without actively choosing to, Tilly entered into his breathing pattern.  He settled into his meditative posture and started replaying the two combat scenarios Ichiro had led them through all morning.

Nearby, Ichiro’s serious expression softened into a genuine smile as his eyes started to trace out a change in the network of reality and intent being re-woven around the human.

Tilly was caught completely by surprise at how clearly he could recall that morning sparring session. At some points, he couldn’t help but flinch as his mind brought back the recent events in terrifying detail.  It had to be the system augmenting whatever it thought seven levels in Meditation were worth.

Refusing to miss the chance this new ability afforded, he forced himself to experience the whole morning again, step by step.  He needed to understand what was happening in their combat exchanges on a deeper level. He didn't have time to put in thousands of hours learning the intimacy of combat, so he needed to squeeze every drop out of the opportunities he had.

Each time the memory of a painful strike tried to scatter his focus, he fought not to pull away, attempting to take in every lesson the pain was there to teach him.

Several cuts along his right shoulder enumerated in great detail that he was overreaching with his right-handed attacks.  Brutal strikes against his turned-back told him that spinning in front of a faster opponent was idiotic.

Slowly, the painfully immersive review of his morning training session deepened his understanding of the advantages and shortcomings of his combat style.  Right now, he was shock and awe.  Take the initiative with surprise and depend on the bonuses he got from his Mantle to try and out-damage his target.  Trying to go toe to toe with an experienced opponent over any length of time especially one who was not Corrupted would be suicide for him without a party.

He was so focused on squeezing out these insights that he didn’t even notice the flame before him as it grew larger and more intense, tugging him deeper and deeper into his internal world.

Unlike his attempt the previous night, he did not fight the cacophony of soldiers and drills playing out all around him.  Instead, he allowed it all in, letting it seep into his awareness, as it joined everything else in the flow of Tilly's breathing.  In, Hold, Out, Hold.  In this way, he was learning to be deeply present as his external and internal worlds were slowly experienced, processed, and integrated.  Breath by breath the mornings painful, and at times even traumatic lessons became a part of him.

At some point in the process, even the sharp memories of the morning training session faded away, and there was only the Flame growing incrementally more intense as he sunk deeper.

He didn't have to tough this training out.  He didn't have to ignore the physical and mental toll such a grueling regimen inevitably took on his mind. That is what old Tilly would have done. He had spent a lifetime running from pain, shoving down fear, and moving forward.  Doing so had demanded insidiously little of him in the moment, and exacted a terrible price over a life time.

Get a little harder.

Get in, do your job, get out.

Don’t stop moving, don't let it catch up.

He was beginning to understand the enormity of the trauma he had held back over the decades.  It was like an ocean that threatened to drown him, held back by the cinderblocks of his own slowly calcifying heart.

To feel was to crumble, and behind that wall, swimming in his ocean of pain like a shark, was Corruption.

What could he do?  To destroy the wall was to lose control, to invite in the beast.

To his shock, he even began to see cracks where facing his fears internally had begun to let some of that fear and pain through-

“HUMAN! Where is the Human!!”  A panicked shout entered into the flow of his surroundings and called him up from the depths of his soul.

“Lord Hiro is hurt and needs the human now!”  The voice continued to call.

Tilly’s eyes snapped open, finding Ichiro already looking over, deep concern written all over his face.  Tilly followed his eyes to find the nearest drilling formation pointing in their direction for a panicked guardsman.  Then Ichiro's eyes flashed back a space near Tilly only to have Threstus arrive there in a blur, skidding to a stop in the spot Ichiro had anticipated.

His face was grim,

“I just got the news, and I’m heading to get the priestess.  Lord Hiro returned covered in wounds, and many of them Corrupted.”  As soon as Ichiro nodded in acknowledgment, Threstus blurred off.

Tilly didn't wait, but leaped to his feet running toward the messenger, who caught his approach and turned to lead, running ahead,

“Come! The Wardens sent me from the other end of the grounds!”

Groups of soldiers quickly moved aside as the guardsman and Tilly ran through.  Ichiro pulled ahead of them in the first ten seconds and was already kneeling next to Nyuk and Kuro when Tilly and the guardsman arrived less than half a minute later.

Tilly baseball slid next to Ichiro, as Kuro explained in a rush.

“There were already things coming to investigate us by the time we arrived at the gap with Lord Hiro last night. Their ability to move seemed slow to our augmented perception, but there was a group of at least thirty of the things-”

“They were called, Corrupted Strigoi, all around level 35 and they were led by a level 75 Strigoi Devourer.” Nyuk cut in to explain.

“They would have been able to enter the Boon area before we could have returned with more forces.  So Lord Hiro commanded us to watch and report whatever happened while he went out to meet them.”

“Lord Hiro was Incredible!”  Kuro shouted, before looking down and choking out a sob.

“He unleashed some attacks unlike anything I had ever seen at the bastards and many never even made it to him. Then the leader turned and tried to flee, but Lord Hiro chased, taking many of these wounds to make sure no word of our disposition left the field.”  Nuyk continued.

While they had been talking, Ichiro had removed much of his father’s armor, revealing numerous bites and tears on the Lapin’s body. Far too many of the areas showed the familiar black veiny signs of Corruption.  Hiro’s breathing was shallow and had slowed down to less than 5 breaths a minute.  This was worse than what they had seen from the Naga’s poison in the city.

Even as his mind cataloged the wounds, Tilly began to kindle his Flame’s Renewal ability deep in his chest.  As it activated, he fought to hold it back and build the intensity of the flame even further.  Tilly didn't know if the limits placed on the ability were for the target's protection or not, but he did know what death looked like.

Lord Hiro only had a few minutes left.

He held back his breath, fighting to increase its intensity without changing its nature. Then, just before he felt the ability start to deform into something different entirely, he exhaled explosively, sweeping the trajectory of his breath down the length of HIro’s body making sure to leave no wound unaccounted for.

The invisible magic of Flame’s Renewal left Tilly's lungs and immediately burst into blue and white flames, showering Hiros form.   At the sight of the white flame, Ichiro’s eyes flicked up to Tilly, before nodding in thanks and locking back down on his father.

Tilly began to wince, as unlike in its typical iteration, the ability began to burn across the surface of the lapin’s skin causing physical damage.  Damage that the Lapin could hardly afford.  The tongues of flame flickered and danced as they honed in on the infected wounds and began to sink into the putrifying flesh, hungrily chasing, and rooting out the infection.

The sizzling pop of seared meat rose from the wounds and they all watched as corruption and Flame, spent themselves in mutual destruction.  By the time it was through, the wounds were completely cleared of infection, but the Lapin's skin was left molted and rippling in the places where the flame had rested. Perhaps most disturbingly of all, Hiro hadn’t reacted once as his body was set temporarily aflame.

*Cough* “Doesn’t anyone have a health potion?”  Tilly whispered out through a scorched throat.

“No, Jonathan Tillman.  We never had many and those that we did have were all used in the fighting to protect our people’s escape.” Ichiro whispered back, searching the air around his father for some sign of hope, as Hiro’s breathing became even weaker.

Tilly reached over to the lapin’s wrist and felt for a pulse, as Hiro suddenly took a long shuddering breath, and then stilled.

Radial pulse was absent.

“Oh Goddess!”  Kuro moaned,

Tilly immediately slid into position near Hiro's chest, putting a hand to the carotid and watching for any signs of chest rise…

Nothing and nothing.

“Ichiro, I don't know if this is going to work in this world, but we are going to try it anyway,”  Tilly said forcefully in his still gravelly voice.

“When I say so, close your father's nose and breathe deeply into his mouth, twice.”

The Lapin’s head whipped around to him and nodded swiftly before shuffling into a ready position near his father’s head.

Tilly doubled up his palms over the base of Hiro’s sternum and began to pump his chest.  As rote as these motions were in Tilly’s muscle memory, he was immediately thrown off by the inflexibility of Hiro’s chest.

Of course, this tough motherfucker must have a bunch of points in Endurance.

Tilly bore down with all of his Strength and finally felt his sternum and bottom few ribs pop out of place.  After that, with much more force than normal, he was able to get into rhythm and compress Hiro’s chest.  At thirty compressions, he called for Ichiro to breathe, the lapin complied immediately, while more and more soldiers crowded around the scene.

Tilly kept pumping until he hit another thirty, at this point covered in sweat from the effort of attempting to compress the Lapin’s heart through such a sturdy rib cage.

“Breath again Ichiro. Then everyone Shut UP!”  Tilly yelled at the murmuring crowd.

Ichiro puffed two full breaths into his father’s mouth, and Tilly confirmed the chest rising along with lung movement before he reached up and felt for a pulse.

He held his breath… Nothing.

“Ichiro, we are going to go again, I have seen someone come back after fifteen rounds of this! I’m not going to giv-”

BOOM

An explosion ripped open the space behind Tilly flinging him forward and scattering the crowd behind him in all directions. Tilly rolled with the force of the blast a came to his knees as he turned to face whatever had just hit them from behind, both hands holding his hatchets.

Standing there, wreathed in blue flames was Erash.  Tilly didn't know how she had gotten here so fast, but he sagged in relief when her eyes zeroed in on Hiro's prone form and she rushed forward bringing her staff to bare.

Her eyes flashed and she muttered an incantation as blue flame flowed from her staff and washed over the lapin's body. When nothing changed, she cursed under her breath and started again, this time her voice carrying something far deeper.

The words were incomprehensible to Tilly, but hearing them caused his teeth to ache and his eyes to water.  The air surrounding the Priestess and Hiro began to thrum with power as the flame on her staff flashed in rhythm with the heavy syllables of her words.  Ichiro ignored all of it, still watching his father with fierce concentration.

Then there was a green flash and the packed ground under Hiro loosened, turning darker and richer.   It shook and moved like a living thing, reaching up and pulling the lapin into its embrace, fully covering him in fresh loamy soil, which immediately sprouted wildflowers.

All eyes went to the Priestess who sagged against her staff, her spell finished.