“Loneth! It’s us, open up! There’re no more attackers out here.”

I was trying to raise my voice just enough to be heard inside the building but not have it carry; we had enough unconscious people on our hands without adding more. Not to mention the sect members that I was sure were going to wake up at any moment.

“Maybe they all knocked each other out?”

“I hope not, Dee; we don’t have a lot of options for places to go. Especially with this lot.”

I stuck my thumb out and gestured behind me at Reff and the many Riffa clones stood with people in their arms.

“Perhaps-”

Toria’s comment was cut off however when the sound of the door unlocking echoed out over the mostly silent street. I readied myself, but with no warning from Instinctive Precognition, it was more of a reflex than anything else.

The door cracked open, and I saw Loneth stood inside wearing a scowl that could have curdled milk. She looked none the worse for wear, though her eyes did flicker up and down the street before she said anything to us.

“You’re not mad, like everyone else? I suppose you can come in then, since you paid. Though, who’re this lot, the unconscious people?” The proprietress gestured at Reff and the sculptures. “I’m not running a Void damned hostel. Or a hospital.”

“Come on, Loneth, it’s chaos out here, and we need somewhere to put them until we can figure something better out. It’s not like we can bring the entire city here.”

“Thousand coins.”

I was sorely tempted to just try to barge my way in, but I had no idea if the guards were still about, or even how strong the woman was. And after all, she did own the building.

“Fine! Let us in, I’ll pay you once we have everyone settled.”

Darina looked like she was about to say something pointed to the innkeeper, but she held her tongue in the end, probably because we really had nowhere else to go.

*

***

*

It took about ten minutes to get everyone inside the City’s Edge and settled down. This was partly due to the number of people involved but also because of the blood spatters and broken furniture inside, as we had to clear the latter out and work around the former.

Once we had everyone in place, Toria said she had an idea and vanished up the stairs. Darina was checking over her patients again, though I noted she gave far less care to the sect members we had fought outside than to the others we had collected.

“With piqued curiosity, how is it that you are sane and reasonable, Loneth, when most of the city seem assailed with unreasoning aggression?”

The question came from Riffa, who had just finished storing the sand from most of her puppets; she had left several out to act as guards, along with Reff, who was now stood inside over the unconscious sect members in his molten armour, arms crossed.

“I was out of the city when whatever that was happened, helping repair a wall at the Forge of Flesh sect. They’re a proud bunch, and good fighters, but they’re better at building muscle than walls. Anyway, I got back to the city about an hour ago and came straight here, found the bloody useless guards I’d hired unconscious or dead, so I threw the bodies out back and locked the unconscious ones up in the drunk cage.”

“Drunk cage?” I turned to Darina where she crouched before Loneth could answer. “Dee! There’re more patients! Some of the guards here survived. Sorry, Loneth, you were saying?”

“I was saying that they’re in the drunk cage – it's where we put guests that drink too much and start to break the place up until the Blood and Bones can come take them away.”

“So, there’s what, a jail cell in here somewhere?”

“That’s right, though I know what you’re thinking and its full of guards at the moment. Never expected to need to lock half an army away.”

I was about to make a suggestion about future plans for expansion, but that was when the healer wandered over, a light smear of blood on her cheek.

“Where? How many?”

“This way, I’ll show you.”

Loneth and Darina stomped over to yet another hidden door and vanished through it. I was considering what to do with myself when Toria reappeared in the room, the bag we had purchased at the bazaar held in one hand. She walked over to Reff, and I joined them a moment later.

“... Think we could use them to keep the sect members asleep. I was asleep for more than 12 hours after taking one; they won’t last forever, but it gives us time to figure something out.”

“With cautious optimism, I that is a good idea, Toria. They should not awake as one, and it should not be difficult to force them to swallow if they come-to and prove to be... uncooperative.”

“Yeah, good idea, Toria. We’ll need to maybe see if we can find the guy who sold them to us, see if he’s got any more, provided he’s... you know. Sane. We also need to check out the Blood Guard as quietly as possible; if we can maybe draw them out and away, we could sneak in and maybe lock them out, use it as a staging ground with more space.”

“I doubt he’ll still be in the bazaar... Hunter.”

“Yeah, me either, but you never know, his stall might be. Tomorrow?”

“With advisory caution, I think it best if we go today; if this condition persists, the destruction will only increase.”

Riffa spoke up from just behind me and I jumped slightly, still on edge.

“I really need to meditate; my abilities are pretty thirsty.”

“With pointed reason, will you be ready tomorrow?”

“... No, probably not.” I hated to admit it, but my channels were really starting to prove a liability; as long as I had been able to space out my fights, I had been fine, but it was a problem that would only grow worse as I moved to the Foundation and Pinnacle stages, as Experience needed to be refined multiple times.

“Then I’ll go today; the untrained should pose no danger to me, and despite being slower than you... Hunter, I am faster than most cultivators of my level.”

“With pained regret, I would like to accompany you, Toria, however I fear I would only slow you down. I am not far from attaining the Foundation, at which point I would have more confidence in keeping up, but I am not quite there.”

It was news to me that Riffa was closing in on the Foundation stage, though it was certainly welcome. It did make sense though; both of the risi siblings were much older than the rest of us, and Riffa was fairly competitive with her brother, who had achieved his advance only a short while before.

“Wow, congrats, Riffa, that’s great news! Especially now.”

“Agreed. You have my congratulations, Walking Sand.”

Reff did not bother to speak, merely reaching out and hugging his sister warmly, clearly keeping the heat of his armour from burning her, his expression unreadable beneath the mask of molten stone.

I was not thrilled with the thought of Toria venturing out alone, but I knew it was probably necessary; with the city in the state it was, we would likely be splitting up much more often than was usual, in order to cover different functions like scouting, guarding and healing.

“I’ll go now. I should not be long.”

I nodded once and clapped her on the shoulder.

“Alright. Good luck, Toria.”

The religious apprentice offered a nod in return and pulled a new breastplate from storage, slipping it on and tightening the straps. I had not known she had another breastplate, and was about to ask why she had not donned it earlier, but I realised that it did not really matter, and dismissed the thought with a mental shrug.

The siblings wished her good luck as well, and she left, with me locking the two sets of doors behind her.

“Guys, I’m going to meditate... I just want to talk to Darina about something first. I’ll catch up with you later?”

They both offered me a sharp nod, and I went looking for the healer.

*

***

*

I found her down a corridor on the other side of the door she had vanished through, stood outside of a large cage with half a dozen bloodied and bruised men and women lying at the bottom of it.

“... they should be fine, but we might need to move them to the other room; if they wake up, there’s no way of knowing whether they’ll just start attacking again.”

“Then why would I want them in the Void blasted common room?”

“Because it’s easier for us to knock them out again there.”

“We also have some sleeping pills, if they’re needed. Toria’s gone looking for more.” As I inserted myself into the conversation, I earned a glare from Loneth, though not from Darina, which was refreshing.

“Toria went out? Why didn’t you go with her, Hunter?”

“I’m low on Praxis, which is what I wanted to talk to you about, actually. If you’re finished?”

I looked between them and Loneth rolled her eyes hard before reaching into her jacket to fish out an intricate key, which she used to unlock the cage, all the while muttering to herself. Taking this as an official end to their conversation, I gestured with my head for Darina to follow me and we made our way to the level with our rooms, before settling in mine.

“What’s so secret that we had to come up here, Hunter?”

“Well, you know how we both have more channels than are normal?”

“I do.”

“Well, mine are proving to be a pain. I don’t know about you, but I end up using a lot of Praxis if I have to push myself in a fight, and it takes so long to recover that I’m useless if I have to do it too many times in a row.”

“I mostly use my extended channels to provide the same amount of energy faster; it allows me to heal myself and others at an increased rate. I could use more, I suppose but I’m not sure it would provide the benefit you get from your own abilities.”

“Right. Well, what I’m about to say may still help you long-term, but it’s something that I’m probably going to need sooner rather than later. You know I got this arm when I was off-world?”

I held up my crystal and gold prosthetic and Darina nodded impatiently, indicating for me to get on with it.

“Well, the guy who made it is from a world where they don’t cultivate, they do something else. It takes a lot longer to gather energy, so they concentrate on efficiency. My arm is based on that, and uses less to do the same, while it amplifies additional energy used. And I’ve been studying it. I think that I can apply what I’ve learned to the rest of me, but it involves drawing... more channels. Which killed me the last time, or at least should have.”

“You want me to keep you alive while you redraw your channels? Are you insane? What am I asking, of course you’re insane.”

“Well, the thing is... I’m not completely confident that it will work. I have a vial of the serum V used to keep me alive the first time, but only the one, so I can’t really test it. I was hoping you could keep me alive, or bring me back, if I try it on just my other arm? As a proof of concept?”

“This is idiocy, Hunter, even for you. Channels are not drawn with Praxis, you could blow up your arm, or your Core. You should wait until we return, so that my Master can oversee the process.”

“I wish I could, Dee. But I need the reduced costs now, and I need to do it while my healing isn’t working, because it’ll only get harder once it is.”

We sat in silence for a long moment, my hands held palms up, and Darina glaring through me as she chewed her lip.

“Fine. As long as you limit it to your arm, I should be able to stabilize you, as long as you can keep control of your Praxis; the first time this happens, it is a driven process that you guide, but this time, you will need to be that force, and if you lose concentration the energy could slip out of your control.”

I had some experience using my Praxis, will and intent to draw patterns inside of me, and it had been agony even doing it on the surface of my Core, so I felt a deep dread at doing that again – and not just directing, but driving the process – in my flesh. The first time had been far more painful than the torture that preceded it, eclipsing it to the point that I did not even recall most of V’s actions. But it was something I needed to do, or I had the feeling I was going to find myself in very deep trouble.

“I understand. Let’s do it.”