Stuffing my hands into my pockets, I confirmed my bubbling fear – the crystals I had brought from my cell has shattered, which meant a couple of things:

1) My nutsack of a nemesis in the burgundy robe was at the Foundation stage – and that sounded bad. I was not sure exactly how bad it was, but given it was near the end of the list rather than near the bottom where it sounded like it should be, it likely was not good.

2) This was probably going to get worse before it got better.

3) This was going to hurt.

“I will so enjoy teaching you all a guest’s proper behaviour – with torture, of course. Who said teaching can’t be fun?” He still spoke with that creepy, dead-on-the-inside tone of voice, and I flashed back to the state I had been after waking up – covered in blood, along with most of the tools that had been left behind. I knew this man had continued to cut into me long after I had fallen inside myself. I felt rage – and frustration – at being in front of him again, with escape so close at hand and my only method of fighting back lying broken in the bottom of my twisted pocket.

“You are a confident worm, I’ll give you that. But can you stand before the might of the Breaking Sky?” Sidona stood next to me, looted sword held upright and head held high – and given how tall she was, her head was up there.

“Oh yes, you are a member of that family, aren’t you? I heard there was trouble bringing you in - truly fortuitous that I caught you before you left. As for your supposed ‘might’, well – your family may stand upon the Pinnacle of this place, but they are not here, are they, little Path walker?”

“Hunter, get back.” Sidona’s voice was low and angry, a death’s head grin stretching across her face. I could feet heat rolling off her in waves as I stumbled back, Tang still held on my shoulder.

After a moment, the air turned scalding as blazing wings of blue and white flame erupted from Sidona’s back, filling the room before shrinking back, allowing her room to move.

For his part, my torturer - eyes narrowed against the glare of the fire took a single step back, eyebrows raised but with no other change in expression. He raised his hands to either side and with a shimmer of force, a sickly green energy rippled into existence, forming phantom fur and claws as he was raised off the ground, hovering inside the mould green body of what looked suspiciously like a werelion.

With the twinned roar of cat and flame, the two came together in a blur. Sidona’s wings propelling her forward like rockets, before they brought her to a lurching halt, folded oddly and flaring back up, causing her to flick about at strange angles relative to her flight, only visible to my eyes as she ran counter to her own inertia. The sound of her stolen sword filled the room, ringing against something over and over again, but still barely audible over the cacophony of the inferno.

Amidst the burning chaos of Sidon’a assault, her opponent barely moved, the outlines of his cat form blurring as he avoided the sword strikes and lashing wings by the barest of margins, still wearing the same dead smile.

I wanted to help – to do anything at all to help, but the display the two of them were putting on went far beyond anything I was capable of dealing with. Deciding the best use of my time as looking for the way out, I ran for the window I had seen - grabbing a wooden chair as I went. Coming to a stop a few feet from it, I used my momentum to hurl the chair with all my strength at the window. The chair broke – the window did not.

Cursing under my breath, I looked around knowing there had to be a door somewhere, but instead of finding an exit, I found another figure in black running at me down an adjacent hall, a flanged mace already held ready to strike.

I tried to duck out of the way, but even without the weight of Tang on my shoulder and with the advantage given to me by my Danger Sense, I stood no chance. The bladed head of the weapon hit high on my right arm, cutting flash and breaking bone. Losing my grip on my unconscious burden, I was flung bodily into the wall opposite, losing my breath and fracturing at least some of my bones.

Groaning, I tried to stand back up, the world spinning around me, but a hand locked around my neck and lifted me up, leaving my legs to dangle.

“Why don’t we just wait quietly for Voran to finish playing with your friend over there, and we can put you back in your cell. The man whose hands you stuck to his own face is a friend of mine, so I’m really hoping to spend some time with you later.”

I swing a punch at his head, but he blocked it casually, a chuckle escaping his lips.

“Wow, you are weak! We had a pool on whether you were hiding your true strength. How a cripple ever got one over on-”

With a choked snarl, I lashed out at him with my soul, and while I had tried that before – in the alchemist’s shop – and failed, this time the energy rolling through my centre responded.

The sharp smell of ozone filled my nostrils as the refined Experience rushed out of me, running along the channels I had just burnt into my body and exploding outwards in arcs of blue-white lightning.

My muscles locked all over my body as my nerves vibrated with the power running through them, and the hand about my neck tightened painfully, almost choking me as the electricity arced back and forth between us, even as it reached out to lick against the floor and crawl along the walls and ceiling.

After what seemed like an hour, the torrent guttered out, and my attacker and I both fell to the floor, boneless and slack. The smell of burnt hair and flesh replaced the chlorine smell of rampant electricity. I made it back to my feet – somehow – and looked around once more. My assailant lay smoking on the scorched wooden floor, the occasional twitch shaking his whole body. As long curls of smoke rose from his hair and clothing. My own body felt both raw and half-cooked and I could see a strange branch pattern drawn in red on my hands as I braced myself against the wall.

To my left, Tang lay below the window, still wrapped in his robe. Bending, I hoisted him back on to my shoulder with a grunt of effort, my flesh complaining at the misuse I had put it to. Staggering under the weight and my body barely listening to me, I started to move back the way I had come, my steps jerky and barely coordinated, again looking for a door. It was then that the still blazing form of Sidona crashed in to me, like a boulder from a catapult.

Together, we hit the window I had early failed to break – and we went through it. The clear pane fractured and broke apart as we blasted through it, the shards cutting into my hands and face, the robe Walker had given to apparently proof against mere windows.

Shocked exclamation could be heard all around us as we came to a stop in the middle of the stone paved street, the people about us stepping back in a hurry.

Sidona’s weight lifted off me, the movement grinding my broken bones together. Over the muted shock of the crown, I could hear the living missile calling out into the house.

“Thanks for the exit! I’ll be back with my family to repay your generosity, asshole!”

A hand wrapped around the fabric at the nape of my neck and with a lurch like a car crash, I shot into the air, carried skywards alongside Tang, my blood trailing behind us, bracketed by burning wings stretching out towards the horizon.

*

***

*

The cell I woke up in this time was really nice – the bed I was lying in felt like an incredibly supportive cloud and the room was filled with floral scents. A barred window was set into the wall next to the bed, large enough for me to see out of from my position lying down. I looked down on what I assumed was Everwood City and the vast forest surrounding it; my vantage appeared to be thousands of feet in the air, and I guessed I was in one of the towers I had seen stretching above of the city.

I tried to sit up only to find myself shackled to the bed, though they were strangely comfortable. I noticed a distinct lack of pain in the attempt, however and called up my quest.

Assignment Received... Difficulty E-… Time Limit: 6 days, 20 hours, 52 minutes.

Make your way into Everwood City, locate the creator of the Grand Harvest Body Refining Pill and ensure another cannot be created.

Good Luck, Alex. Make me look good.

Bonus Reward: Do Not Kill the creator, or allow his death within the Time Limit.

It did not look like I had been out as long this time, for which I was glad. I had been there on my new world for about a week already, but only spent maybe 2 days awake. I was sleeping almost as much as I had in my last life...

I heard a noise and I turned as the green lacquered door opened, and I noted the lack of unlocking sounds, a crude escape place already forming in my head, just in case it proved necessary. Through the door came a man dressed in a long black and gold shirt – I thought they were called changshan – and holding a tray with a series of bottles and bags set out on it.

Stopping just inside the door as our eyes met, the man blinked rapidly before smiling, his mouth bracketed by a neat black beard, in contrast with his bald head.

“A pleasant surprise! You are the first to wake, which is impressive given your injuries. Do you feel any lingering pain?” The man walked over and placed the tray on a small bedside table next to my head, before sitting in a soft armchair I had not seen.

Rolling my shoulders, I pondered the question as I checked my body as best I could while unable to fully move about.

“I think I’m fine, thank you. You mentioned others – Tang and Sidona, they’re okay?”

“Tang is the young man? He will be fine by tomorrow, once the medicine has had chance to fully act. Lady Sidona will take longer, I am afraid – the wounds she suffered are necrotic. I do not know how she made it to us, suffering as she must have been.”

“She seemed fine, I think? She had some bruises before the fight, but that was it.”

“Fight? You and she... fought?”

“What? Me, no. It was the guy who tortured me, V-something? He sort of turned into a cat – a green energy cat? They fought, and then I think he punched her through a window or something, which is how we escaped.”

“Escaped? You were prisoners, together?”

“Yeah, I was with Tang – Tang is Ben Won Ro’s apprentice – Ben Won Ro is an alchemist? Anyway, these guys in black grabbed us and we wound up in the same place as Sidona. I managed to get lose and cut her ropes, but the cat guy ambushed us on the way out.”

The bald man raised his eyebrows at the mention of Tang’s master and his arrows narrowed a moment in thought.

“I will send for Ro, to confirm your friend’s identity, and as a courtesy. He must be worried, and it is never wise to anger the Alchemists Association. Is there anybody we can contact on your behalf?”

“I’m Walker’s disciple – sort of - at the moment. They call him the Apex of Blades?”

“You are Lord... Walker’s... disciple?” His voice held a hint of incredulity and I waited for the inevitable cripple remarks, but for the first time they did not come.

“Only sort of. Other than him, the only other person in town I know is Aella, at the Steel Splinter? I don’t know if you’ve heard of her. I’m really new to town, I’m sorry.”

“You keep powerful company. I will send a messenger to Walker. You should know though, that if you are not speaking the truth... Lord Walker does not enjoy his name being used.”

“Yeah, I get it, I’m tied down ‘cos I might be lying and be with whoever grabbed Lady Sidona. I’m not. I’m just a guy who gets knocked out a lot.”

“Either way, I will make arrangements to inform those you have indicated. You will need to stay here until we can confirm your involvement, but no harm will come to you in the absence of confirmed guilt.” Standing once more, the doctor/gentle interrogator picked his tray back up and left quickly, the door closing behind him with a soft click.

I settled back in to the bed, knowing it would likely be a while before I saw anybody else. I hoped Walker had not given up on me – he had only known me for a few days, and there was no way it had not run through his head that I had been involved with what happened at the shop. It would really suck to lose what amounted to my only friend on the world.

Dismissing my negative thoughts – unwilling to let myself wallow – and turning my gaze inwards, I dropped down into my centre. Hovering just above my soul sea, I gazed in shock at my Focus. The last time I had seen it – when I had begun to burn my energy circulation system into my body – it had been mostly ephemeral, a pale shadow of my intent. But now, it stood solid and painted in technicolour, with thick cords of refined Experience streaming out of it in every direction. I had no idea how – Aella had said it would take at least a month of hard work, and here I was, days later the proud owner of what seemed to be a completed Focus.

My mind flashed back to just before my sudden exit, back at whatever place we had been imprisoned. I had used lightning – used my Focus then. It had hurt like hell, but I had done it. I really hoped it was not going to be that bad every time I used it – tazing myself to the floor in the middle of a fight did not seem like a winning strategy. I wondered if hurting yourself was a normal part of learning control, or whether it had anything to do with the way I had burned my channels. Or even just a fluke.

I left my centre, once more becoming aware of the world around me. Deciding to perform a small test, I pushed as gently as I could at the energy within me, trying to use as little as possible. It was a mistake – my back arched as my muscles once again spasmed and locked, held in place only by my kind shackles. While nowhere near as bad as the first time, it still hurt enough to convince me it was not a fluke, at least. I cut off the flow of power and tried to shake the ache out of my muscles.

“Okay, so far: My Focus is useless – unless I’m being grabbed by a single opponent. I should have listened to Aella...”

I turned back to my terrifyingly high window, gazing down at the city below and settled in to wait for somebody to let me up – or not.