Chapter 64

Spirit Prayers

“What?” Nayali asked not quite understanding what had just been asked of her.

“Could you pray to the great forest spirit and offer up this bounty?” Lykan asked again in a slower tone. This time making sure the concept of what he was asking was carried.

Nayali fought against the idea immediately, but her mind slowly wandered back to the few logical points. She had been raised to be monotheistic, that there was only one true god for the Azani. To go from that to praying to a spirit was a bit much. Even if the spirit in question had done more for her directly than her absentee god ever had.

Thinking about it for a second, a burning resentment formed in her gut as she realized she not only wanted to change her fealty but that she hadn’t believed in her god being the truly benevolent being everyone claimed.

With a few more stray thoughts, Nayali nodded to herself and then began the process.

“Oh, great forest spirit hear my prayer and take these slain beasts as an offering. May their remaining power provide for you.” Nayali said, as she spoke a warm burning sensation formed in her chest. It was warm at first, the warmth of a true believer.

Then something unexpected happened.

The burning sensation began to continue getting hotter and hotter until finally something shattered and broke from within her body. That is when the pain began.

Curse Applied: Mark of the Heretic

Mark of the Heretic: You have lost faith in the one true god and actively flaunt another being before The One True God. Repent now or forever bear the Mark of the Heretic. Penalty: -5 Power. Removal of all gifts and blessings received by either you directly or because of your blessed lineage.

Curse Applied: Blessed Lineage (Removed)

Blessed Lineage (Removed): Your family had been blessed by The One True God. Penalty: All your progeny will be considered infidels to the faith and able to be cleansed. Removal of perfect children blessing.

Panting.

Nayali was panting on the ground when she came to. She was surrounded by strong warm arms and the scent of musk, sweat, and blood. Surprisingly the act of being held, and the scent of Lykan being so close was enough to help her mind calm down, at least to begin with. She had known that The One True God was very jealous and despised the other gods and goddesses. But to think such an act would happen due to praying to a spirit?

She wondered what if anything she could have done differently to avoid this fate? Then thought better about such questions.

There was a weird itching sensation on her forehead. Without thinking about her actions her hand went up to absentmindedly scratch at the sensation. The moment her finger touched her forehead, she first felt scabbed over skin, and then an intense burning sensation.

Wincing Nayali pulled back her finger.

“I wouldn’t do that. We will need to treat it here shortly.” Lykan said as he gently placed his hand over her wrist. With that Nayali opened her eyes, only to see that Lykan’s face was within a few inches of hers.

Being so close, a strange sensation filled her body as she tried to get away, only to realize she was still being held in the gentle, but firm embrace of Lykan.

Badump. Badump.

Nayali’s heart raced at the relative closeness.

She wanted to get away and was able to easily get out of his embrace. Lykan even helped her to a sitting position. Once up she felt her forehead again, this time going from further away from the part that itched. She moved her fingers until she started to feel rough skin that was painful to touch. As soon as she got there, she began tracing her fingers around the shape to see that whatever mark was on her forehead was in the shape of a circle.

“It’s a mark of the heretic.” Lykan explained.

“The what?” Nayali asked, removing her hands as she turned to Lykan.

Lykan for his part didn’t flinch away from her, but instead made it a point to stare her directly in the eyes as he spoke.

“The mark of the heretic. I thought such marks were figments of stories. But apparently, they truly exist.” Lykan said as he continued to peer into Nayali’s eyes.

There was warmth and sadness in that gaze.

“What does it mean?” Nayali asked, reaching up once again to try to touch around the still burning mark in her forehead.

With that question Lykan grimaced. “We have two options. The first is to get your god to take away the mark. This will likely require a great sacrifice or action. Or you need to find a second God to take you in and get them to remove the mark.” Lykan paused for a second, “I will point out that the latter is a lot tougher to accomplish. Nothing is worse to a new perspective god than a heretic. Especially one who had been as blessed as you had.

Hearing this, Nayali felt shame at first.

“That said, I can’t help but feel this is all my fault. Had I not pushed you to make that prayer, then this wouldn’t have happened.”

Hearing his words, Nayali felt warmth in her heart. Far more warmth than she ever had from her god. At least if you include the time before whatever was in her had burst. The truth was, she had always disliked The One True God and his militaristic ways. In a way she was glad she had finally broken free of his yoke.

She was also glad that Lykan didn’t seem to mind, at least he didn’t grimace or flinch away when looking at her.

“What do we do now?” Nayali asked as she rose to her feet. She didn’t want to think too hard about the injuries she had sustained, nor what that would mean going forward. Instead, she just wanted to put her mind towards a task. Also, she had the feeling that spending too much longer here would attract the attention of even more wandering bands of monsters.

“Let’s go to the next pillar.” Lykan said.

Hearing that, Nayali made to give Lykan back his sword, but to her surprise he just held out his hand to stop her as he deftly removed the scabbard with his other hand. Nayali was more impressed with the dexterous movements to realize what he was doing until he handed her the scabbard for the sword, he let her borrow. Seeing the scabbard Nayali felt a treble in her voice as she asked. “For me?”

Lykan just nodded.

“I need to practice my unarmed combat anyways.” Lykan mused. Then a thought crossed his mind as he asked. “What happened to my bow?”

Hearing that a wave of panic filled Nayali’s mind as she looked around. She remembered being given charge of the bow while Lykan dealt with the dread bear, and then the pillar. After that he had collapsed, and she lost track of it when the pack of chamelovores arrived. There had been so much going on that she had forgotten.

She looked around, to see the tell-tale shape of the black bow a few dozen paces away. She went to get it, only to be saddened when she saw the bow’s string was broken. While getting a standard bow string would be no big deal, getting a string strong enough to fire an orcish war-bow was out of the question.

Seeing the broken string a little bit of the light in Lykan’s eyes faded. Lykan then took off the quiver from his back to see that of the remaining arrows, most were bent or deformed in some way. From the look of the quiver and the now apparent claw mark one of the chamelovores Lykan had fought struck him from behind and managed to get the quiver instead of him. It was a lucky break, though now Lykan was officially out of weapons.

Realizing that of the three weapons Lykan had taken with them, all were either broken or in her hands Nayali tried to refuse.

“I can’t.” She said, trying to give the sword back.

Lykan shook his head. “You need a weapon. Your meridians are breaking every time you use mana. While they will heal in time, you still need to take it easy for a while.”

Hearing that and the genuine concern in his words Nayali nodded, realizing that Lykan wanted her to be able to defend herself if possible. While she had managed to fire off an electric blast that was powerful enough to take down both chamelovores that had been facing her, it had still been an immense strain on her body. Also, there was now the fact that she had the mark of the heretic, which also had a stiff penalty waged against her.

When she thought about everything, it made sense that she took the sword. Especially as Lykan could clearly handle himself when it came to unarmed combat. Just how hard did he have to hit, to leave craters in the thick skulls of his opponents? Nayali asked, but then thought better of such lines of questioning.

In the end the two packed up what they could of their belongings that weren’t destroyed. At this point it was one bed roll that had somehow avoided being trampled on, a few canteens, and a pair of skinning daggers. The daggers were not suitable for combat, one thrust from either Lykan or Nayali would be more than enough to cause the blades to buckle and snap.

Nayali had originally taken the knives to skin and harvest meat from fallen enemies. Yet, the great forest spirit made such an item obsolete. Maybe we could use it for trade? Nayali mused as she also strapped the two daggers to her left side, while the sword hung off her right hip. She looked absolutely menacing, especially compared to Lykan who himself was down to torn clothes and fighting bare handed.

They made their way relatively quickly to the second pillar, only having to dispatch a few beasts that thought they were a free meal.

Each time they killed a beast, Lykan had Nayali offer up the prayer of offering to the great forest spirit. At first, she balked at the idea, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized she didn’t care. It wasn’t like she could be declared a double heretic, right?

She prayed. Each time she prayed the beasts were taken away and the blood and viscera that covered their bodies was removed immediately. There was only one problem.

Lykan had been acting strange. He would always try to push the pace faster as if something important would happen. He also made sure to keep his back to Nayali.

At first Nayali thought it was just her own insecurities creeping in, but the more she noticed the actions, the more she realized that Lykan truly was avoiding her. Is it because of my Mark of the Heretic? Nayali thought, as she absentmindedly touched the healing scar at the top of her forehead, while she followed after Lykan.

***

The two arrived at the second pillar just before midnight. While both had a higher understanding of Meditation, both determined that after this pillar they would take a break. What Lykan didn’t say was that despite his maxed-out Regeneration, he was feeling the effects of some form of corruption on his body. The cuts he had suffered from the chamelovores were not healing. Or they were, but they were becoming infected.

Not wanting to concern Nayali he kept well ahead of her, setting the pace and the route to the next pillar. As he had not wanted her to see the infection that was clearly taking hold of the cut along his stomach.

His one goal was to get to the pillar and pray that the great forest spirit would have enough energy after having a second linked pillar in the area, that she would be able to heal his wounds. He also hoped that she would have enough to heal Nayali as well. While the mark on her head didn’t bother Lykan, it seemed to bother Nayali a lot. Even with the marking she was beautiful, though he did suppose that to go from being a once in a generational beauty to one who had been cast out as a disbeliever was a bit jarring.

While his recent progress had been a series of ups and downs, he felt relatively confident that he could take on the next pillar. At least he felt he could if it was like the protections and tests around the first pillar.

Looking at his attributes he prepared his mind and body for what he knew would come next.

Name Lykan Vov'Vita Race Human Class Valiant Wanderer Age 17 (Unageing) Attributes Base Plus Modifier Total Strength (8+9) 17 Awareness (9+9) 18 Mobility* (10+9) 19 Intelligence (8+15) 23 Power (9+15) 24 Skill Base Plus Modifier Rating Universal Linguist (Maximum) Spear Mastery (Maximum) Sword Mastery (Maximum) Aerial Combat (Maximum) Stealth Mastery Novice + (Silver) Beginner Ambuscade Mastery Novice Bow Mastery Expert Quick Step (Maximum) Unarmed Mastery Beginner + (Silver X2) Adept Qi Infusion Adept + (Silver) Expert Universal Literacy (Maximum) Regeneration (Maximum) Meditation (Maximum) Qi Cultivation Expert + (Epic) Sage Qi Resistance Expert + (Epic) Sage Focus (Maximum) Aerial Movement (Maximum) Survival Mastery Novice + (Silver) Beginner Surveillance Mastery Novice + (Silver) Beginner Master Crafting Expert Abilities Base Plus Modifier Rating Energy Absorption (Maximum) Energy Sensing (Maximum) Energy Control (Maximum) Qi Absorption Beginner Qi Sensing Novice + (Epic) Beginner Energy Alter (Maximum) Qi Control Novice + (Epic) Beginner Qi Alter Novice + (Epic) Beginner

It was clear from the recent advancements in his skills that the fighting of the different beasts all helped to increase his combat abilities. While the true interactions with the pillars helped improve his use and understanding of Qi. While he still didn’t quite understand what Qi truly was, other than a secondary power source that was completely different from mana. He could identify it and its impact on the world more readily now. In fact, it was his increasing ability to detect Qi that helped him make a direct path towards the nearest dark pillar, as the Qi it was radiating seemed palpable to his senses. The closer he got, the more he swore he could taste it, like the taste of sawdust on the air. It was either his heightened ability to observe and detect Qi that was causing this taste to form on his lungs, or his infection had spread farther and faster than he had expected and was now causing sensory issues as well. Regardless of the reason, he could more easily feel and even detect the Qi coming from the dark pillars. This much was true as he entered the clearing to identify the next pillar and the corrupted beast that had taken refuge from its constant waves of power.

Seeing the beast before him, one thought came to mind. Not another one. As part of the hope that had been filling Lykan left as he stared at the massive beast before him.

Seeing the look of shock come over Lykan’s body language Nayali couldn’t help but wonder what would cause such a reaction. Knowing that they were close, she decided to walk up next to Lykan only to see the great beast before them. Seeing the beast, a pulse of true fear filled her body as she realized what could cause the normally unflappable Lykan to react so poorly at a task before him.

The two looked on in horror as their minds tried to come up with a plan on how to proceed.