Vignette - Elementalist (wind)

“What path have you imagined, Candidate?”

“I dream of flying, to soar over the world in perfect freedom. I want to command the winds and ride the storm. It’s all I have ever dreamed of and I will give up much to make it work. I will specialize in this one area, pulling and purifying energy from the magic field to make my own. I will store it in my aura and I will form that aura into wings of wind and at last soar.”

Chapter 18

“What happened Regi?” Timothy moved out of the doorway as he asked.

“The damn jungle is a death trap! A large panther type critter jumped on his back and mauled him.” Regi didn’t stop moving while he talked, carrying the right front pole of the stretcher.

“Jenney, I need you!” He yelled between gasping breaths. Looking about urgently.

“I’m here, move out the way please people, I’m here!” Jenney slowly swam through the crowd, gently pushing through the densely packed spectators. Careful at every turn. Still she was not a small woman and those who could pushed back fearing she would not be so gentle with them. A fact that did not go beneath her notice considering the tightening around her eyes.

Reaching the stretcher she felt his pulse while urging them to continue “Over to that corner, I have a table for food prep. It’s the only table we have made so it will have to do.” Her hand moved from the man's wrist to his forehead “Mother Bless us, he’s burning up!”

The crowd moved out of the way as much as they could in the crowded shelters. Their eyes followed the passage with morbid fascination mixed with no small amount of fear. That could be them on the gurney. There were no more take backs. Death was final and no one was sure how effective their healers would be.

Timothy could understand the concern, but it would not help. He snagged Papa Joe’s attention and made a small gesture to the crowd. It was enough.

“Enough people! Give the poor man the illusion of privacy. If you have a moment let your prayers be with him. Here, Hannah, Jorge could you string a bolt of vine cloth up for a curtain?” He gestured to a man and woman sitting against the wall right next to the table. They nodded and stood up while he turned sharply to a few heads staring in through the makeshift windows. “Lewis, I see you there. I’ll let it slide this once since Baxter is your brother, but if you abandon your post again you could get us all killed! This is your only warning. Guards who abandon their posts for a look see could get us all killed!” His voice petered out as he dragged Lewis through the rain and back to his post. The rest regretfully turned away and tried to give what privacy they could.

Only five remained. Six with Baxter lying on the table. Mama Patty had Dr. Jenkins by the arm. Helping the 90 year old woman to a seat beside the table. She was not too stable on her feet anymore, but she was one of the most useful doctors they had, despite being a norm. She had been a doctor in a small town a very long time ago. Making do with what she had and what she could find instead of relying on high tech in a modern hospital. Small remedies and mechanical closures were what she knew and knew well. Much of the why’s of her practice simply slipped away when she tried to think of them, but the basics of cleaning and closing wounds were still within her grasp.

Regi laid it out with a lowered voice “It had hooked claws, we didn't notice till we ripped it from his back, taking chunks of flesh out with it. Arthur had to use a skin joiner to seal the cuts. He would have bled to death already without that. But we didn’t clean the wounds and the chunks missing… “ he trailed off with a grimace.

“Take a deep breath Regi, don’t let them see you panic.” Dr. Jenkens spoke quietly without whispering, still she was not audible over a half dozen feet away. She said it with compassion but there was iron in those old eyes of hers. She had seen too much blood in her day to let it through her for a loop. Her voice rose to a much louder level as she began to organize the area. “Call over Carrol if you would. She was a registered nurse and she can be my hands, call Arthur or one of the military lads over as well. The military trains everybody in first aid. Somebody else, get me clean water in bulk. We will need to reopen the wounds and clean them.” Ma Patty moved off to get Carrol before Mrs. Jenkins finished talking.

Timothy carefully backed away to make room. He was not going to be useful when it came to the medicine, but he could handle the water at least. He carefully stepped across the crowded floor as he made way to his temporary work area. Just a pile of wood, rock and glass in the corner at this point, with a few enchanted tools neatly lined up on a blanket beside them. He grabbed the water purifier, a “Concentrate” brick maker and his Joiner.

Make Blocks, stack them in a square barrel shape with a cavity beneath it for a fire. Then join them all together. Working water heater.

They already had some wood water pitchers made, that would work to fill his makeshift tank.

Need to make a larger tank soon anyway for everyone to drink from. The water purifier won’t help if no one uses it. As always his mind was running full speed off on tangents while his hands continued their assigned task.

The tank was built and filled not long after the makeshift surgery was ready. Baxter was on his stomach, four weird blue and purple swelling splotches marked the injuries on his back. Blood sealed in, but with the flesh missing underneath it was not looking healthy.

Jenney had her stone ‘cauldron’ set up next to the table with a fire roaring underneath it. Timothy could only shake his head as she carefully diced, ground, pressed and many other actions he didn’t have a name for, multiple different plants and flowers into the smoking pot.

Bringing her a pitcher of water Timothy finally caved to his curiosity “What are you up to Sis? That looks like an oversized dandelion. Is flower power supposed to help Baxter?” Despite his doubts he responded to her gestures with alacrity and poured the water in.

“I know what I am doing Tim, each of these items, yes including the flowers, will help with blood loss or infection. The pretty flowers are a Yarrow relative not dandelions,” which might help if he knew what yarrow was.. she held up a foot long leaf in a fold of cloth, careful not to let it touch her bare skin. It was a leaf, fuzzy with spiked fronds… three of them. Jenney confirmed it a second later “This is a near-nettle, I don’t recommend touching it. Before the change it was unpleasant. With magic in the mix… just don’t. But swelling and itching are not it's only aspects. When cooking I can isolate the parts I want and combine them into something bigger than the sum of its parts.” Her hands didn’t stop moving as she talked. Adding more plants and stirring what was already in the pot. The magic field pulsed in time with her stirring, winding into the pot like cotton candy onto a stick.

He hoped it would be enough. A last kiss on Jenney’s cheek and he took his da’s advice. There was too much work to do, and the man on the operating table was not the only life on the line today. “Come on Regi, I need your help and you are just in the way here” He grabbed his arm and dragged him away… at least that was what happened in Timothy’s head. Reality disagreed. At 140 lb and standing 5’6” he rebounded like a yoyo when he tried to move the 6’4” and 260 lb Regi anywhere he didn't want to go.

“Reginald!” He resorted to a low blow to get his brothers attention. Getting eye contact he kept his next words very quiet. “You can’t help him now, but you can help the rest of us. Tell me about the cat, how did it get to you, what can we do to prevent it from happening again?”

Regi took a deep breath, then exhaled it in one quick rush. “Alright, you’re right. I’m just getting in the way.” He followed Timothy back over to his corner while thinking over the question, “the cat, it had a chameleon effect to its fur. We never saw it above us and even when it jumped on Baxter we still couldn’t clearly see it. It even blended with his clothes!” His large hands twisted a thick chunk of wood into splinters as he talked, white knuckled despite his calm recital.

He took a quick drink from the water pitcher nearby, before continuing “It’s claws must have some kind of narcotic on them as well. I pricked my finger long after it was dead. I couldn't feel it, even with blood dripping down into my hand. I didn’t even notice I was cut.” he took another moment to think. “It’s primary prey is probably the hogs. They absorb impacts so this critter doesn't kill with a bang. It attaches itself to your back then slowly bites down. I imagine the hogs die without noticing a thing. Baxter and him were about the same size so that didn’t work this time. Its weight knocked him over, and that tipped off the rest of us. Still we wouldn’t have been able to bring him back alive if the cat had quickie crushed his spine. Its slow, crushing bite gave us time to intervene.”

Timothy jotted down notes on a wooden plaque sheet, carefully listing out the points and the description before offering the “pen-is-mightier” to Regi and indicating a blank spot on top. “Can you sketch out a picture of it for me? maybe a general size and weight as well?”

Timothy continued on as Regi started to sketch “We need one of these for each of the dangerous animals we find. I already have fairly detailed ones made for the giant boars, ja-raptors and the rest of the ones we saw in the tutorial. When I know enough about them, I should be able to condense a rune for that species. Then I can make an alarm that lets you know when one is within a set distance. I figured out most of it already but I didn’t quite manage to finish it in the tutorial. I have an alarm rune already, but condensing a species rune is hard, I don’t even have one for humans yet.“

“Still” he looked at Regi “I have hope and a plan.” He smiled sadly and waited.

“Snort…. Alright little brother, you made your point. I have many other men I need to keep safe. As deadly as it is, we can’t just hide indoors. We need too many things that the jungle provides. From the mushrooms and berries for food to most of Jenney’s healing plants. Not to mention all the wood and vines.“ Regi nodded again, decision hardening his features “I will figure it out.”

“Before that, get some more of these tablets out. Let me describe what else we saw in there. It may be a death trap, but it is a spectacularly beautiful one. Siren like.”

Regi’s descriptions were intense even if his sketching was… less than stellar. The jungle had an enormous ecosystem dense with living creatures. Far, far denser than old Earth. There was a limited amount of food on old Earth after all. With magic supercharging the plants it trickled up into a truly vibrant and animal dense ecosystem. Far more beautiful and deadly than what came before.

There were brightly plumed birds, purples and yellows with a truly awe inspiring violet crest that sang like a siren of myth, luring animals (and nearly people!) to their death. The massive fruit trees the bird chose as a nest had a ring of bones surrounding it. A chilling witness to how the tree became so large and heavy with fruit. Creatures sat and listened, enthralled, until they died and became fertilizer for the tree.

This was just the tip of the iceberg, they had not delved deep into the jungle. Simply grabbed branches and vines from the edges and merely peered into the shallows. Even with just that they had been forced to fight off constant attacks. Snakes, birds and finally the large chameleon-cat.

“Regi, you mentioned all these animals. Reptiles, avians, mammals and even carnivorous plants. I didn’t hear you mention any insects.”

“...I didn’t pay attention to them if they were there. Too many larger, more obvious things to worry about. Maybe they aren’t there? Hell there was a palm sized hummingbird-esq critter eating away at a partially rotted corpse. More small birds of various colors eating fruits and maybe spreading pollen from flower to flower… No, I don't know enough to guess. We will have to wait and see.”

Finishing the last sketch, Regi marched off to check the sentries leaving Timothy to do what he had grown used to doing. Boring but necessary repeat enchantment.

Every day he tried to add to the number of Essence Light Charging boxes. Each one took over an hour and a half of his time, yet once made they became a constant source of ammunition. A full storage card and a quarter of an additional card per day per box. Thankfully the glass storage cards were only 20 min of work each. Not to mention the ones that had been discharged needed refilling. He was keeping ahead of demand… so far.

Still, everything took time! More shovels, more joiners, water purifier ‘pipes’ and motion absorbing wards! All of them were incredibly useful but he only had so much time and so much willpower to spend. Every moment of his day he was pushing out enchantments until his head nearly burst. Then eat, sleep and do it again.

He tried not to grouch about it. It was a temporary thing. Just until things settled down a bit, then he would have time to study and improve on his magics, like the species runes. Not just be a factory for the existing ones. If things ever did settle down.

He was starting to wonder about that. Then again, he wouldn’t have any more time if he was dead.

So get a stable base set up. Fortified and with self sustaining food supplies. Then he could rig up a wizard tower (wizards simply must look down on the rest of humanity. sniff) and get back to his real love.

He was finishing the last few lines on a new glass storage card when he heard the first scream. A single voice raised in misery that was not left single for long.

Grabbing an ELR he bolted for the uproar. He had to struggle through the packed room, but holding a gun helped with that, even when you were not terribly large. A high pitched female giving voice to true agony lit a fire under him and he found a speed he didn’t know he had. He rushed from the shelter and passed the similar shelters around it on his way to the unfinished portion of the walls.

Despite the rain a small crowd had already formed by the time he got there. Despite the screaming he could still hear the distinctive sound of an ELR discharging repeatedly “Hss...Crmt, Hss...Crmt.” Discharging into the river itself, he decided, based on the water vapor rising over the crowd.

He reached the banks scanning for the threat… and barely held on to his lunch. The body of a child, maybe eight years old, was being dragged down into the river. Already partially eaten it was surrounded by a horde of foot long fish, piranha like they ripped more flesh away as he watched. A number of dead fish floated belly up on the surface, but the body and the rest were already too deep and beyond reach of the Essence Light blasts. It boiled away big chunks of water with each shot. But a river is a river. It filled back in far too quickly.

Timothy sighed and glanced around for an explanation but the sobbing mother was not capable of anything at this point. He could not say he was thankful for anything related to this but there were other witnesses. They said the boy had climbed down the embankment to fish. A crude wooden pole bore witness to this, stuck partially on the bank a bit down stream. An innocent enough thing for a young boy to do, but the fish in the river were not merely threats to things in the water. He fished for them and they did the same back. They spat out a hard jet of water that knocked him from his unstable perch and into the water below. The results he had seen for himself.

Squirting Piranha's… what next?

He had swam in this river for a morning bath all during the last 2 weeks of the tutorial. Memories of many a pleasant swim now tainted by the accusing eyes of a dead child. He walked away. What could he say or do? They were rushing the walls up as quickly as possible, but they just didn’t have time to finish yet. Even if they had been finished would it have stopped a clever boy from trying to fish? He couldn’t say.

The world was not a forgiving place. A small, understandable mistake, and a boy was dead. The first death in their settlement.

But not the last…

That child had probably lived in a subdivision merely two weeks ago, experienced time as opposed to seven years elapsed. Safe and encouraged to run about in the backyard or neighborhood, to explore a little bit and do the things most young boys do.

Things that were a death sentence now.

He could help make this area safe, but he could not make people stay in it. Frankly, he didn't want to try. To walk and breath safely in only a tiny chunk of land was not living. It was merely surviving. Surviving beat the hell out of the alternative but they needed to reach for more. He didn’t want to preside over a zoo for humans. To live behind clear walls as they stared out at the passing beasts.

He didn’t have any solutions. Not yet. Maybe not ever. The world was not a place where people could act without thinking. Even if they thought deeply and reacted quickly they might still get the short end of the stick. If they did neither they would have no chance at all.

One gravely wounded, another dead, and only a day in. A hell of a start.

Morosely wandering, he at last made it back to his workstation. Now host to a simple essence dirt slab propped up on four thick legs of the same material and a hard simple chair of wood.

With the threats piling up he felt more threatened than ever. He needed to recreate his rune of self. His old one had to be de-synced, decommissioned in the tutorial. He wasn’t permitted to take any of his original creations out after all. Only what he could make in the last two weeks.

The new one would take some time and was a severe drain on his willpower. But it was a valuable ‘oh shit’ tool if something went wrong. Perhaps even more valuable for peace of mind. Fear was the mind killer after all.

It was also a key tool for his sacrificial magics. He only gained from losing something if he did not have to lose it. Right now ageing was inevitable. Everyone did it and that meant he would gain no willpower from doing so.

However, if he made the rune now then all of his future aging was preventable. He could choose to age just like everyone else.

Choice.

It made what was once inevitable into an eternal source of willpower.

Of course, one of the reasons it would work is that growing old sucked. He had seen enough of that from his family. Aching joints and hair loss being only the more obvious examples.

He sighed and shook his head. Reaching for an unused stone and his tools he prepared to start on the experiment again. Staying young forever was a huge temptation. Resisting temptation was a huge source of willpower. Willpower in sufficient quantities could keep them all alive.

Simple in concept.

It would take a lifetime of effort to achieve.

He chuckled darkly to himself.

Maybe several lifetimes.