Perception check made.

DUCK!

Eric found himself curdling up protectively over a stunned-looking Rica and her suddenly screaming child a heartbeat before the air cracked with the boom of gunfire and the twang of crossbows, barely registering the dull thud of lead shot smashing into his back, or the blistering heat of death tearing through him as the air rang with Nelly’s screams.

“He’s down! Strip him clear!”

“I got the girl. Fuck, where are those wands?”

“Fuck the wands, grab that asshole’s backpack. He has a fortune in gold!”

“Fucker’s not dead. I got a critical hit. He should be dead!”

Words that were meaningless cackles of discordant sound against the scream in Eric’s soul, looking down at His girl, staring up at him with confused, terrified eyes, hand going to the tear in her throat, spurting blood.

And Eric was already sprinting back into the ice cream shop before his girl could do more than blink and brace her screaming child, as Eric pressed a terrified hand to her neck and willed her blood to hold.

Concentration broken!

Iado skillcheck successful!

And before he could expend even a precious second sealing the rent on his dying girls neck, not one but two aberrations to existence, aberrations with their scraggly beards and hard angry eyes glaring at Eric like ravenous wolves eager savage his corpse, did all they could to slam him to the ground, and tear free his pack.

“Hand it over motherfucker, and we’ll let you—“

Words that were cut off in geysers of blood as Eric’s white-hot blade tore through the air, ripping through enchanted rawhide as if it were paper before sending his foe’s ugly head cartwheeling through the air, a look of comic confusion on his features as he blinked once, twice, just long enough to catch sight of Eric furiously disemboweling the second shrieking would-be thief before crushing rigid steel helm and the skull underneath like a cantaloupe before the light finally faded from the dying rogue’s eyes.

And only then, surrounding by the shrieks of Blue Corp waitresses and the stunned gazes of professionals and even adventurers, caught flat-footed by the raw display of savagery in the blink of an eye, did Eric finally find the precious second he needed to press his hand against his girl’s neck and will with all his heart and soul for the spurting wound to finally stop bleeding. Which it did, only when he sliced open his own lip and smeared his own blood on top in a moment of desperate inspiration, immediately pinging the most potent restaurant goer among the handful still there. “Ten thousand credits if you guard these two till I return!” Eric cried out, sensing more than seeing the stunned reflexive nod before dashing back out the door as Nelly’s shrieks took on a desperate timbre.

Heart roaring in his ears, Eric pivoted and rolled as he darted back out the door to the crack of multiple black powder muskets being fired, only a scattering of lead shot and quarrels smacking against his armor from crossbowmen and mustketmen on the adjoining rooftop in this part of the Blue quarter clearly designed to give a homey friendly shopping vibe, with plenty of foliage and modest three story structures that were all too inviting to would-be snipers.

Snipers Eric paid no mind to, knowing there were at least 6 seconds between volley and reload for the muskets, far longer for the crossbowmen, unless they were doubleshot… which he suspected they were, and their wad had definitely been spent, as the bolt still lodged in his abdomen made itself known.

A distant muffled sensation, an intellectual awareness that damage had been sustained, numb before the terror flooding Eric’s veins.

Not for himself, but for the girl he was racing toward even now, being brutally savaged by a snarling beast of a man, built and kitted like a barbarian though without any trace of movie-worthy heroism. Just the hardened pock-marked features of a savage killer, face twisted in a mask of glee as powerful muscles bulged with each savage thrust into Nelly’s abdomen, reveling in the simple savage pleasure of overpowering and ripping open a desperately struggling girl as the smaller furtive man beside him focused on the true goal, cutting free the elegant reinfoced wand bandoleer Nelly had taken such joy in trying out under the warm gaze of the proprietress, less than an hour ago. And it was probably for the sake of that prize alone that Nelly was brutally disemboweled as opposed to suffering a dagger to her heart, the ambushers not wanting to risk a prize worth hundreds of thousands of credits.

All this Eric processed in the blink of an eye, thanks to his inhuman Quickness, Finesse, and Perception synergistically increasing the pace of his thoughts when adrenaline flooded his system, even if his actual intelligence was still so appallingly lacking that he had failed to account for the possibility of and prevent this ambush that could well cost him a girl he loved and her best friend.

The hell he’d let it come to that.

He howled his fury against the very possibility, his voice seeming to echo and magnify across the whole city block, both murderer and thief freezing for the precious second Eric cried out for, so desperate was his need to shape the world to his will through the vessel of his Essence.

His fearsome cry Dominated the psyche of his foes for just long enough for Nelly to curl up and twist under what should have been a throat-slicing coup de grace, even with a dozen rents in her abdomen, forcing the snarling barbarian to change tactics and lift his massive steel-toed boot with killing glee before blinking in wide-eyed surprise as the white-hot blade of blazing steel that had just ripped open his chest.

The shorter furtive man, however, was already spinning away, as if warned by some danger-sense equivalent perk, sparing Eric a single terrified glance before sprinting down the tarmac for all he was worth.

Before being sent crashing to the ground with a shriek, when a tactical backpack with over 125 pounds of gold slammed into his back, crushing multiple organs including his spine.

Desperately clawing hands struggled to pull himself free, bandoleer suddenly forgotten, desperate just to breathe.

“Halt! You are in violation of the non-aggression pact within the Blue Quarter! Surrender, or your life is forfeit!” And the desperate sobs the low-life gave were those of a drowning man given unexpected rescue, though Eric didn’t waste another second’s thought on the bastard, all his attention now on the wide-eyed Nelly, looking up at him with a desperate bloody grimace.

“Thanks, hero. Too bad you couldn’t have come a few seconds earlier though, you know?”

Eric swallowed the lump in his throat. “Shut the fuck up and relax, Nelly. And please tell me your Vitality is 20?”

“Fifteen, asshole. Remember?” she said with a teary-eyed groan. “Just fifteen.”

Eric grimaced, not caring that eyes widened with horror when he rubbed a hand soaked in his own blood from the convenient abdomen wound he had suffered over her own perforated flesh, roughly flipping her over when she cried out in protest.

“Hold the fuck still, Nelly. And say or think as hard as you can that I have permission to do whatever’s necessary to save you!”

She jerked a nod before her body fell into spasms.

Maybe it was growing affinity with his gifts. Maybe just the desperation of the moment, or maybe it was the blood he had smeared on his friend. Either way, when he shouted for her flesh to heal in a voice that was more plea than command, Nelly’s flesh strove to obey.

You have successfully forced all wounds closed. External blood loss has been negated. Internal blood loss has been halved.

Congratulations! You have learned a new Essence Related Skill: Dominion’s Command!

Command your foes to kneel. Command your allies’ flesh to seal! Weaker opponents must save versus contest of Wills to resist your orders. Even a single rank lets you throw lesser Classers off-balance! Note. This skill boosts Blood Mastery Healing affinity! Prerequisite to healing application: You must first anoint your target with your blood.

Congratulations! Healer’s Aid is now Rank 2!

You are now better than ever at synergizing your gifts to save the lives of your friends!

Nelly gazed up at him, her eyes filled with dazed wonder. “Eric? I feel...better. What did you do?”

Eric, however was busy scanning the rooftops and windows for hostile gazes or a sniper’s scope, as if his life depended upon it.

Because maybe it did.

His heart skittered for just a second when he caught sight of a crumpled Morgan, though his hyper-acute senses at that moment not only detected the rise and fall of his chest, but the steady heart beat as well. The kid’s nose had been smashed to a pulp by a blow that had sent him collapsing to the ground.

But at least he was still in one piece.

Now to make sure that they all stayed that way.

It was only after he was sure that the rooftop snipers had fled, sure that his friends were well and truly safe, with the street only now filling with Blue Corp security, that Eric bothered addressing the familiar face even now peering at him so intently. A man who caused a handful of scowling agents approaching Eric with hands on blaster wands or batons crackling with lightning energy to halt in their paces as Agent Caliban himself flashed Eric a tight half-smile.

“I’ve been looking for you, Eric Silver.”

Eric flashed a tight hard smile of his own. “And now you’ve found me. Could we please hold off on any interrogation until my friends are stabilized? Please tell me there is such a thing as a healer in this world? Because my girl’s throat was torn open and I’m going to check on her right now.”

Eric turned on his heel and headed towards the ice cream parlor.

“Wait!” Snapped one of the guards.

“Eric! How about you first retrieve your anomalous artifact that the System refuses to recognize first? Your flaming sword of fire is burning one of the suspects to a crisp! We’ll do our best to assure to the safety of your girl, you have my word on that,” said Caliban in a half-placating tone, glaring and forcibly lowering the arm of the guard who paled at the look Eric gave him for half a second, before schooling his features back to icy calm, knowing the elf Caliban restrained was just a guard doing his job.

Eric took a deep breath, forcing his racing heart howling for blood to calm. “Sorry,” he muttered, quickly reclaiming his blade, paying no mind to the wide-eyed stares he earned as his blade slid harmlessly back in it’s sheath.

“How did he not burn his face or hands, just sheathing that thing?” One guard muttered.

“How the hell is his sheath not erupting?” wondered the other.

But Eric was no longer paying either any mind, racing back to the parlor in the blink of an eye, crashing to his knees with relief when he saw the pale silvery light emanating from the hands of an actual bonified System-sanctioned healer.

Eric swallowed the lump in his throat, blinking back tears as an elderly elf in the blue corp uniform rested his hands on Rica’s chest, the panic in her eyes fading, her breath easing as she flashed a relieved smile. “Thank you,” she whispered.

The elderly elf nodded, the soothing silver light gently receding. “You are quite welcome, child. Fortunately, the bleeding was staunched before you had reached critical blood-loss by a technique unfamiliar to me… though clearly quite effective.”

Rica’s eyes crinkled in a beautiful smile, despite the pallor to her normally caramel features. “You have my gratitude, sir healer. I don’t suppose you know where my child?… Ria!” She all but sobbed when a smiling Eric put her in her mother’s arms, having claimed her with a nod from the healer’s assistant doing his best to soothe a child less than happy to be held by strangers...though she was happy enough to see Eric, a gleeful smile on her cute, pudgy, and much to Eric’s horror, blood-stained features.

“Don’t worry, the child is in perfect health,” assured the healer to a much relieved Eric. “The blood on her isn’t her own.”

Eric swallowed, even as he kissed Rica’s sobbing brow. “We’re alive, beautiful. That’s all that matters.”

She swallowed thickly, flashing a trembling smile. “I agree. What about Nelly? Morgan?”

“Morgan was knocked out by a blow to the face. He seemed stable. He has no class, no powers, he’s damn lucky our foes treated him as a distraction to be ignored, nothing more. As for Nelly...” He sighed. “She’ll be okay, I think. Especially now that we have an honest to goodness healer in our camp. I got to her in time.”

Rica’s eyes widened. “Shit. Did those bastards hurt her?”

Eric’s gaze hardened. “The man who robbed her is now in custody… and I can promise you this; the bastard who hurt her will never be hurting anyone again.”

His girl trembled, before her gaze hardened. “Good,” she said. “The asshole got what he deserved.”

Eric flashed a humorless smile. “Let’s hope Blue Corp feels the same way.” He lifted his eyes to meet the healer’s gaze.

“Honored life-giver, could I trouble you to take a look at my friends, one of whom is in desperate need of care?”

The older elf flashed Eric a tolerant smile. “If you mean the girl known as Nelly Stone and the boy known as Morgan, I am heading to them the moment the commander gives the all clear. Unless… you yourself are in need of my services?”

“I’m fine,” Eric quickly assured.

“You have it,” said Caliban, choosing that moment to speak. “One of the snipers has been caught, trying to leave the quarter. The other two are nowhere to be found.”

“Good,” the man said, leaving with a final nod to Rica, and for Eric. “You and I should talk,”

he said with a smile. “Unorthodox healing methods happen to be an interest of mine.”

“Of course,” Eric said to the parting figure, before turning to Caliban. “I guess it’s time for another debriefing?”

His quip earned a tight smile from the tired-looking Elf.

“But first...” Eric turned to meet the intent gaze of a group of potent-looking adventurers who had been quietly witnessing everything from the rear, though Eric had no doubt that they could have sprung into action in a heartbeat, if needed.

Eric flashed them a grateful smile. “I believe I owe these gentlemen a good 10,000 credits.”

“Indeed you do,” said a woman wearing form-fitting scale mail looking much like Eric’s own, save that it was made of a silvered alloy, as opposed to essence-infused greater beast hide, the Classer armed with a wicked looking montante secured to a backsheath, as well as a saber at her hip.

“My name’s Annie, by the way.”

Eric couldn’t help grinning. “Name’s Eric. And thanks for the support, Annie. It’s good to see that there are exceptions to that no armor rule.

“There certainly are, so long as you refuse to let Lady Gray dictate etiquette, as if we were all members of her Royal Phoenix adventuring corp,” Annie snorted. “Of course, she and I have an understanding, and you’re a complete unknown. And she was in here with her family.”

“And so was he,” noted a wiry man wearing ebony leather oozing the essence of shadow, the man radiating explosive power with a recurved bow secured to his back and a saber identical to the girl’s at his hip. “And as it turns out, it was a damn good thing he was wearing his armor, or I doubt he or his family would have survived.”

Annie nodded, gazing curiously at Eric. “I don’t suppose you’d mind sharing just how high your Vitality is?”

Eric furrowed his brow. “Does it matter?”

The pair of men hovering almost protectively before the ones who had spoken, kitted in steel with shields unashamedly worn out in full view, frowned curiously at Eric.

“You do know you have a pair of crossbow bolts sticking out of your back right?” Said the rightmost one, twin to the other. “And it looks like one just forced itself out. Fascinating.”

Eric grimaced. “Yeah, I just felt that,” he acknowledged, while deliberately turning to face Caliban. “I don’t suppose you can show me how to move my balance from one card to another?”

Caliban sighed, rubbing his head. “That’s normally outside our purview. We are working under significant limitations. But considering what’s in your tactical backpack...”

Eric’s gaze hardened. “I know I can trust that what’s in there will remain in there, and not be subject to any confiscatory or ‘holding’ policies...”

“Of course.” Caliban looked faintly offended by the very idea, before gesturing to the girl. “If you’ll hand me your card, I’ll personally see to its enrichment.”

Annie nodded. “Works for me. I’ll be back tomorrow.” She gave Eric a friendly nod. “You got a cute family. If I were you? I’d make peace with whatever faction’s gunning for you. Either that, or take them out altogether.”

She flashed a hard smile, before handing Eric a card. “One thing I don’t like are assholes who think it’s okay to tear up one of my favorite shops. If you’re looking for protection and you can foot the bill...” her hawk-like gaze went to the set of Adept tier wands on Eric’s bandoleer, by some miracle undamaged. “And I get the feeling that you can, then Annie’s Mercs has your back.”

Eric dipped his head, graciously taking the card. “Thank you, Annie,” he said.

She nodded and left with her crew, Eric now giving Caliban his full attention.

“I guess it’s time for that debriefing?”