Hordric stood and leaned over Alex who was still sleeping and proclaims. “Hey, wake up. I can hear the guards.” He looks down at shredded skin on Alex’s back, which has also begun to swell badly and winces.

As soon as Alex wakes up, he sleepily glances at Hordric who is holding a bottle of basic with a straw. He takes a deep breath and instantly begins to cough as he inhales some of Hordric’s prana that’s floating in the air. Once he manages to absorb the alien prana and stop coughing, then he concentrates on cycling the prana. He begins to force the prana from his core to the wounds to carry on with their healing. He watches Hordric while he does this and notices that as Hordric breathes out some prana is expelled.

Hordric sucks in his breath. “You want to be careful about doing that. The glow from the prana is hardly visible but one of the guards may still notice.”

“I’ll make sure I’m careful, but I do have to actively concentrate on forcing my prana into my wounds for it to work. So, if I stop so does the glowing and the prana rushes back to my core.” Alex stops cycling his prana and grunts when it rushes back to his core. “See.” Hordric nods.

Alex slowly rolls onto his side on the shelf and looks at the door. He considers the method he has apparently devised, which could have massive potential. On the other hand, he’s still doing it without really understanding why it works. Right now he deduces that his body absorbs about a quarter of the prana it generates. He also doesn’t seem to be breathing out any prana as Hordric does, but he notices that the prana in the air seems to be thicker around him.

He again begins to cycle as he continues to study the prana floating in the air from Hordric. He can sense prana in a new way now and this has allowed him to notice differences, but has this also made him react more violently to it? He didn’t react so fiercely when he first used his prana under the guidance of Mistress Lyrei and there must have been other prana in the air at the time. He contemplates how the alien prana makes him react and he furrows his brow and focuses his entire attention on imagining how he identifies the differences in each person’s prana.

Alex stops forcing his prana as he observes a cluster of Hordric’s prana drifting near to him. He braces as he decides to inhale it. He can feel the prana as it is sucked into his lungs and the resulting discomfort of it not belonging to him. The prana collides with his throat and the lining of his lungs, causing him to hiss in pain and then his own prana begins to surround the invaders.

Hordric looks anxious. “Are you alright? Why have you stopped pushing prana to your wounds?”

Alex gasps. “I’m fine, just trying to control prana.”

Sweat drips down Alex's face after an hour of converting all the alien prana he has breathed in. Just as he prepares to stop and see if he can move to an area with less prana, a cluster of Hordric’s prana in his lungs seems to be absorbed directly into his channels and move towards his core. The moment it enters his core and mixes in with the other prana he feels like someone has stabbed a red-hot knife into his chest. A spasm makes him roll off of the shelf and slam his injured back onto the ground, which sends another spike of pain shooting through his body.

“Are you alright?” Hordric asks in concern.

Alex grits his teeth as he gathers the fragments of his shattered concentration back together and tries to look at the alien prana in his core. He nods and rolls onto his side as he mutters. “I’m just going to lie here for a moment and let the pain pass a little.”

“Okay, just let me know if I can do anything to help.”

Alex nods again as he begins to concentrate on his core. The alien prana contained there did not feel that alien anymore. It still felt different from his prana, but not totally different, more like a stronger flavor of his own. He tries to sense the differences and realizes that his prana seems to have changed to reflect Hordric’s, it didn't save him from the pain though. On his next breath, more of the alien prana is inhaled and it goes directly into his channels, but it still feels like someone lit a fire inside him for a brief instant.

The door to the cell abruptly opens and a guard steps in. His gaze locks on Hordric who instantly fell to his knees and bows. The guard briefly looks down at Alex lying on the floor and then steps back to the side of the doorway without saying anything.

An elf enters holding a small bag and wearing a scarlet robe rather than armor, he gazes at Alex before turning to the guard. “Why have been sent to look at this merchandise? I thought I was attending an injured guard?”

“It’s by order of the Baroness. He was punished yesterday by the steward of Revenue and Taxation with a whip that had been coated in the leaves of the stinging bush. This merchandise is also suspected of being a berserk.” The guard responds mildly.

The elf scrutinizes Alex. “Ah, so this is the one everyone’s talking about. Well, I can’t attend to him if he’s on the floor. You dwarf assist him onto the platform.”

Alex pushes himself up from the floor and manages to get to a standing position, but then his knees buckle and he almost falls back to the ground, strong arms grab his body and hold him up. Alex looks at Hordric and nods in thanks as he guides Alex back to the shelf. Alex gently settles and Hordric helps him lie down on his front before resuming his position on the floor.

The elf approaches and Alex notices that he brings a different flavor of prana with him. The elf leans forward to inspect his back. “The powder appears to have stopped the bleeding and the wounds have begun to close.” He straightens and opens his bag, extracting a small device then turns to the guard. “I’ll need to scan his back, here hold this.” He says handing him the bag.

Alex feels the prana emitted by the device fall on his back. The sensation vaguely reminds him of the prana that was used to heal his wrists. Alex watches the new prana in the air around the elf and consciously breathes some in. As soon as it enters his lungs, he begins to violently cough causing the elven man to step back frowning.

“Hmm, there might be some infection. There also appears to be quite a few fragments of the leaves embedded in his skin. If they are not removed they will cause a burning sensation to persist, probably for a few years. They will also make the healing take longer and cause scarring.” He turns to the guard. “What were the Baroness’ instructions?”

“You are to ensure that there is no evidence that the merchandise was ever whipped.” The guard replies.

The elf checks his device again. “I see that he has not had his prana signature recorded. Why is that?”

“He’s from Terra.”

The elven man moves over to the guard. “Oh, that explains it. I’ll record his signature when I take some samples in case he is proven to be a berserk.” He places his device in the bag and extracts a new device then returns to Alex. He pushes the device into a wound on his shoulder. Alex is still coughing whilst he tries to absorb the new prana and barely notices the additional pain. There is a buzz as the device digs into Alex’s flesh and seems to take a bite out of his trapezius muscle. The resulting scream briefly interrupts his coughing.

The elf again inspects his device. “Okay, I’ve recorded his signature.” He then pauses and glances at Alex. “Hmm, I would like a bigger range of samples, but this will have to do for now.” He turns to the guard and takes another device that is shaped like a pistol from the bag while putting the one he’s just used back inside. “Now this is going to be extremely painful.” He then looks over to Hordric. “Dwarf you’ll need to hold him in place.” Hordric stands moving over to the shelf and he then leans onto the top of Alex’s legs.

The elf stands over Alex and grips the pistol-shaped device. He then points it at the wound located at the bottom and presses a trigger. There is the smell of ozone, which is instantly overwhelmed by that of burning skin. Alex screams and begins to thrash while Hordric leans down harder to hold him in place. After a further ten seconds, of his back being burnt, Alex thankfully falls unconscious. It takes a further five minutes for the elf to finish and the cell is filled with the stench of burnt skin.

The elf goes back to his bag and extracts a pile of packets and drops them to the floor in front of Hordric. “You’ll need to care for him for a few days. Sprinkle the contents of a packet on his back both morning and night. It’ll help heal the wound and stop the scarring.” He then takes the bag from the guard and walks towards the door. He stops just before he exits and turns to the guard. “Make sure he gets basic with a double dose of restoration for the next three days.”

Once the elf had left the guard turns to Hordric. “You’ll tend him each morning and evening, but you are to still join the rest of the merchandise during the day. You have until I get the basic and return to tend to his wounds.” The door pounds shut as the guard departs.

Hordric picks up one of the packets and moves over to the shelf. He gazes down and winces as he sees the expanse of red raw flesh. The elf has burnt off the top layer of skin to remove the thorns from the stinging bush stems and leaves. He opens the packet, and then beings to sprinkle the contents onto the raw flesh, there is no reaction from Alex. He then picks up one of the empty bottles that held basic and fills it with water, placing it on the floor next to the shelf.

After a while Alex comes around and shifts on the shelf, and he suddenly lets out an explosive hiss as his back flares in intense pain. He stops moving and flicks his eyes around the cell and except for some packets and two bottles of basic in one corner, everything seems normal, but there is no Hordric. He gently shifts to the side of the shelf while gritting his teeth and looks over the edge and notices the bottle. He slowly reaches down and lifts it so he can use the straw to take a few mouthfuls, and discovers it only contains water.

After he puts the bottle down, he closes his eyes in concentration. After a few minutes of reflection, he decides that the level of pain in his back has definitely reduced, but it’s still incredibly painful. He begins to cycle his prana and forces into his back and the pain reduces to a point it’s tolerable.

As he pushes the prana around his body he remembers some of it entering through his lungs and being directly absorbed. He tries to feel his prana and he’s certain that it has changed to be similar to that of Hordric’s. He senses the prana in the air of the cell and he identifies three different flavors; the first and most prolific he recognizes as Hordric’s; the next is near the shelf and leads to the door and he recollects breathing some of it; the last is only near the door and is very sparse.

He inspects each and tries to understand why they aren't compatible. Is it something that happens normally when each person cycles prana? Or is it like DNA and inherent to each person? And why does no one else seem to react to the alien prana in the air? Is his method so powerful that it causes him to be more sensitive to other pranas? He knows so little so isn’t able to understand what is correct.

He relaxes on the shelf and starts drawing the prana in the air through his lungs and using it to boost his own, forcing it to heal his wounds. After a few tests, with the resulting coughing fits, he’s able to absorb any of the unknown prana by surrounding it with his own. He gets to the point that he no longer needs to consciously focus his prana to do this and it just seems to become an instinctive reaction when his lungs detect the invaders.

Alex is not sure how long he has been absorbing prana when his stomach loudly grumbles and he realizes he’s very hungry. He gazes over at the basic in the corner and contemplating how he will manage to get over there. He tries to ignore his hunger but soon realizes that he needs to have something to dull the feeling, so he checks the bottle of water and finds it empty. He reflects that the prana healing his wounds is probably draining his body’s reserves.

He sighs and picks himself up from the shelf with a loud groan. He manages to get into a sitting position, but has to stop for a while until the pain in his back subsides. He gingerly begins to stand moving as slowly as he can before shuffling over towards the bottle of basic. He arrives gritting his teeth and slightly hunched over as he tries to ease the pain. He begins to bend his knees while trying to keep his back as still as possible. He manages to use the wall to help keep his balance and eventually manages to grasp both of the bottles of basic.

It feels like it takes him a lot longer to return to the shelf and resume his seat. He manages to open the first bottle of basic and uses the straw from the water bottle to drink it. He notices that as he drinks the basic is not as thick and has a slightly different taste. He also realizes that the orange bottle has two white stripes running down its length. As the basic settles into his stomach he begins to feel his prana focus there and this is shortly followed by the sensation of a different type of prana being present. Except this prana did not feel alien, rather it feels like it has no taste.

He senses this new prana move with his own as it cycles around his body, but as soon as it reaches his wounds it seems to be totally absorbed. This is followed by a cooling sensation in those areas and a noticeable reduction in pain. This just raises more questions. Why does this tasteless prana not react and cause pain? Why is it not converted by his own? Why does it only get absorbed by his wounds? Alex stops thinking and focuses fully on forcing as much of his own prana into his wounds at the same time. He smiles as the pain has now reduced to the level of discomfort.

After a few hours, he sighs and opens his eyes to grab a drink but finds both bottles of basic empty. This causes him to pause as he gets an idea about imagining the air being a part of his prana cycling. But, quickly rejects the idea as he doesn’t know what could happen and could result in something a lot more painful. He then hears footsteps approaching and scrambles to resume his position lying face down on the shelf while he stops the cycling of his prana and grunting in pain when it all suddenly returns to his core.

A few minutes later the door to his cell opens and a guard steps in quickly glancing around before stepping back out. Hordric then appears holding two more bottles of basic with two white stripes, his gaze checking the corner with the packets, before quickly glancing over to Alex and noticing the three bottles. He walks over and picks up a packet, while still carrying the bottles, then approaches the shelf and placing everything down.

Hordric gasps when he sees Alex’s back and he quickly glances back to the guard. “I’m not sure what was wrong with that dandy but what he did was beyond cruel. The stinging bush causes the worst kind of pain, like being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time and it causes swelling and if left it seeps into the skin for long term suffering.”

“No chatter.” The guard commands.

Hordric nods and pick up the packet and opens it, and then sprinkles the powder on Alex’s back. “Okay, done.”

“Alright let’s go.” The guard declares.

After he was alone again Alex sat up and let out a curse as his back spasms in pain. He quickly moves some prana to his back on instinct and feels the pain subside. He then drinks one of the bottles of basic before he closes his eyes in an attempt to capture the cooling feeling. After a couple of hours, his fatigue gets the better of him and he tries to make himself as comfortable as possible on the hard shelf before he falls asleep.