4.9

The quiet conversation slowly became indistinct, and at some point, he managed to fall asleep. August wasn’t sure if it was the pain his body was in, the danger Kalter presented, or the odd time of day in which he slept, but his dreams were riddled with terrors.

Being chased through the forest by demons with too many arms and white holes for eyes. Being buried beneath them as they finally caught him. Suffocating in the dark with just the endless pairs of white circles—

“August?” Rittan murmured. “Are you awake?”

August found himself back in the waking realm, covered in sweat and in just as much pain as he had been in when he first slept. The odd mechanics of the regeneration started after he woke up, meaning that it likely hadn’t healed much.

“I’m awake.” August managed, “Help me sit up?”

Rittan slid a hand under his back and helped push him back up into a seated position, and helping him avoid contracting too many muscles in the process. Once he was upright once more, he lifted his head.

“Thanks,” August said, “Have you two come to a decision on whether I’m secretly a ‘Child of Gaia’ in disguise yet?”

Kalter, apparently on the other side of the [A-Frame Hut], made a noise of frustration at the name.

“There are a variety of reasons as to why you are not one of them,” Rittan said simply, “How is your chest?”

“Same as before, healing should be kicking in now,” August said, reaching for the pile of unfinished arrows.

Rittan frowned but made no move to stop him. Kalter, still out of sight, spoke up.

“You’ve mentioned healing twice now,” Kalta said quietly. “What are you referring to?”

It was the first non-confrontational thing she’d said since the summoning, and August made sure his voice was even when he spoke.

“Did Rittan tell you about the HUD?” August asked.

There was a moment where she didn’t say anything, perhaps annoyed that he had answered her question with another question.

“You have access to some form of Gaian technology that overlays words and highlights objects around you,” Kalter summarised. “It allows you to summon Voithos, Tame the monsters on this island, and provides knowledge on construction.”

“More or less,” August said, pulling one of the branches onto his lap. “It’s gamified a lot of things as well—making things, crafting items, fighting—it all give experience, and when I’ve collected a certain amount, I gain access to strange abilities.”

“Healing is one of those?” Kalter pressed. “How does it work?”

There was a moment where he thought he shouldn’t reveal that kind of information to her, but the reality was if she decided to kill him, he wasn’t going to have time to sleep it off—he’d just be dead.

“A twenty per cent boost to health regeneration, after waking up, for a duration of two hours. It works for people on my ‘team’ as well, so Rittan gets the effects of that one.” August clarified. “The abilities are highly specific, and I’m not sure about the technology used to do it—I can’t feel it working, and there’s no visible effect.”

“Rittan?” Kalter said expectantly.

“I don’t think I have access to the abilities outside of the one he just mentioned,” Rittan said, “After August recruited me, it has given me access to certain mana manipulation techniques.”

August could hear her stand up, and a moment later, she rounded the front of the [A-Frame Hut] to stand beside Rittan.

“You are able to perform Mana manipulation?” Kalter said, surprised. “How is that possible?”

“The process is beyond my understanding,” Rittan admitted, lifting a hand up in front of him. “I simply know that I can do things like this—[Bash].”

Rittan’s hand lit up, just as it had the first time, and he spread his fingers, watching as the Mana visible spun between them. August gave it a glance before returning his attention to the [Flint Knife] and continued to whittle away at the branch.

“It seems to work via voice activation,” Rittan continued, “I can also feel the presence of it in my hand, which is not something I could do before I was decommissioned.”

The pain in his chest may have lessened a shade or two since he’d woken up, but he might have just been acclimating to the pain—he couldn’t be sure.

“No Voithos could do such a thing,” Kalter said, staring at his hand with wide eyes. “If we had access to this back then...”

Rittan closed his hand as the Mana faded into wisps.

“Perhaps,” Rittan agreed, non committally. “It may just have made the situation worse.”

Kalter narrowed her eyes at him before glancing down at August.

“Why did you give these abilities to him?” Kalter said.

August started to turn to look up at her and then flinched as his chest protested the movement. He sucked in a breath and then waited until he thought he could speak again.

“August?” Rittan said, concerned.

“It increases our chance of survival if all of us has access to the most amount of options possible,” August said slowly, pressing his fingers against the most painful area. “I gain nothing by refusing to share. The more prepared we are, the stronger we are as a group, the stronger we are as a group, the higher the chance that we don’t get killed and eaten by monsters.”

“Rittan told me already—you have only known him for a single day,” Kalter said, frowning. “You would arm a stranger with this kind of power so easily? Wizards do not sound very intelligent.”

August felt his anger flare up again.

“Fuck you,” August shot back. “What’s your answer here? Horde the power in case of betrayal? Wait just long enough for all of us to die because you’re scared?”

Kalter’s lips pulled back in a snarl.

“Please stop it—both of you,” Rittan chastised.

August blew a breath out of his nose in an attempt to push away his frustrations—It wasn’t like he didn’t understand her point. Hell, he’d had the same worries going into this and about summoning more Voithos. The chance that Rittan would go rogue was a very real threat, but there wasn’t an easy solution.

He should have asked more about Kalter before he summoned her; he’d put way too much faith in Rittan’s choice. ‘Pushed back against our decommissioning,’ was some very different framing from ‘a violent revolutionary who may or may not kill them both on arrival.’

Either way, she was here now, which was the situation they had to deal with. Violent or not, it was simply more effective to share the power now and hope that the circumstances would be enough to keep everyone working together.

August didn’t want to die so he wouldn’t misuse the power; Rittan didn’t want to die again, so he would follow suit. He followed the thought all the way to Kalter and found himself stuck for a moment. He didn’t know what her goals were, but revenge on those who’d killed her seemed likely. Perhaps she would work together with them, long enough to reach that revenge.

“Listen,” August said, doing his best to dispel the dissonance in his thoughts. “I want to go home, but it’s looking less likely by the day. If I can’t go back to how my life was before, then the only thing I can do is push forward.”

August placed the finished [Shoddy Arrow] on the ground and picked up another one.

“Your past has nothing to do with me,” August said, digging the [Flint Knife] in too hard and ruining the shaft. “If you want to stay here and work together, then learn to make the distinction between the Children of Gaia and me; because I’m not going to answer for the crimes of a race of insane wizard scientists that I couldn’t give a fuck about.”

Kalter’s face was a curious mixture of puzzlement and frustration.

“August,” Rittan said quietly. “I’m sorry—”

“It’s fine,” August said, cutting him off. “I’m cranky because my chest hurts—I’m moving forward; you should both do the same. [Recruit].”