Amanaris

***

Sand Strike Ability Score increase: 248 -> 251

Ranvir gasped awake, jolting into a seated position. Or, he jerked slightly upwards before settling, his stomach twitching uncomfortably and his back doing its best attempt at running away.

Groaning, he stilled himself. Lying in the dark space, he could suddenly sense how cramped it was. The loud sound his breath made at each exhale, how his arm was pressed into the stone.

Grit and sleep-stuff puffed his eyes, forcing him to blink as they watered. Stiffly, he raised his head to look at himself. Trails of… stuff had run down his cheeks and onto his chest and neck, diverting towards his injured arm and towards his side.

“I took the liberty of closing up your side as well,” Latresekt informed him. “Seeing as how it is now in my best interest to keep you alive.”

Ranvir groaned out a reply, causing Alexis, who was sitting a fair distance away, to shift. “Ranvir? You’re awake. The insect took the katapetra. I didn’t know what to do-“

“It’s fine,” he said, through parched lips. “We got any water?”

“Yeah, hold on a moment.”

Ranvir nodded, causing his head to throb painfully, and the world spun off its axis. Alexis shifted further into the cave, digging through the bags before retrieving a flask. She offered it to him, but he fumbled it and dropped it onto the stone. Wincing, he closed his eyes, trying not to feel the burn of shame.

Still, he picked up. His left arm, never hurt or injured, still didn’t want to resolve the situation for him. He could grab at the metal container, but not lift it.

“I got it,” Alexis said, after witnessing for a moment. Her hand briefly brushed his as she took the bottle from him. She fumbled for a moment, before finding his head and gently lifting so he could sip. Ranvir didn’t think it was necessary, but didn’t want to say anything in case he was wrong.

Instead, he grappled with the feeling so invalid, unable to take care of himself. Wounded after the battle, he couldn’t even take a drink of water. What would happen next? Would he need help with other stuff?

Was this how mom felt? Ranvir wondered. Made lesser for her inability to recover. Her need for help? Ranvir attempted to throw off the feelings, but they lingered like a foul smell.

“Thanks,” he said, forcing himself to focus on something else. At least, he had allies to assist him in a situation such as this.

“Don’t worry about it,” Alexis said, letting his head down.

“Nonetheless,” Ranvir replied, grunting as his right arm jerked. Pins and needles didn’t feel adequate to describe the sensation. Swords and arrows ran up and down the limb suddenly, causing him to let out a gasp of shock.

“What?”

“My arm,” Ranvir said with a groan. Each miniature twitch or turn sent another rabid sensation through the limb. “It’s coming back to me.”

“Its healed?”

“Something like that.”

“Barely,” Latresekt supplied, out loud for all to hear. Ranvir blinked, light ranging from red to yellow rising from his shoulder. It didn’t take a physical form like Loce, but kept to a vague haze. “This is a patch, a bandage, that ties the injury up and makes the limb temporarily usable. It won’t last forever. Outside it’ll hold for a couple minutes, but in here it’s only your body wearing it down so it’ll last a few days.”

“You can talk out loud now,” Ranvir observed, disquieted.

“That’s the spirit of war?” Alexis asked. “The one Amalia said lived in your head?”

“My spirit, but yeah.”

“I’m hardly a spirit of war anymore,” Latresekt added.

“Then what are you?”

“I am Latresekt,” the spirit of war proclaimed proudly. “Just like you’re Alexis.”

“I am also a human,” Alexis said skeptically.

“And I a spirit,” Latresekt replied, voice full of smug authority.

Ranvir groaned and closed his eyes. “It’ll hold?”

“It will. Even if we stay here until your own nature wears it away, I will simply refresh it.”

“Good,” Ranvir said. “I need to get moving.”

“No, you don’t.” Alexis and Latresekt said at the same time.

Ranvir, who’d barely sat up and already had his stomach curling in on itself, slumped back down.

“You need to rest while Amalia scouts and figures out the positions of the mercenaries,” Alexis said. “She told me to keep you down here, and I will! You can trust in that.”

Ranvir rolled his eyes, though she couldn’t see it in the dark. “I do.”

“Don’t mock me.”

“I wasn’t.”

“You rolled your eyes at me.”

Ranvir started to speak, but realized he didn’t have a good comeback. “How do you know?”

“Your eyes glow, dumbass!” Latresekt supplied. Even closed, she can see them through your eyelids.

“The evil spirit is right.”

“Damn right.”

“You two should not be getting along,” Ranvir groaned.

It took nearly a flare before Ranvir could sit up without fainting. Most of the time, he spent constantly sipping on the water flask. He could soon support himself, sitting up under his own might. It felt like a massive weight was taken off his chest and he could finally breathe freely again.

It also helped that the extra movement allowed him to see the little beam of light coming from their entry way. Even a little light helped his mood. The time passed in silence. At least, silence for Ranvir. Latresekt was surprisingly chatty. He couldn’t tell if it was the first time he’d ever seen the spirit in a good mood, or if it was something else. It was probably just happy to have someone else to talk with.

It took another hour after Ranvir sat up before Amalia showed herself. She appeared, annoyingly dry as always, silently. Dropping into the hole, she quickly moved forward in a crouch, somehow seeming to fit inside the tiny crevice easily.

“What’s out there?” Alexis asked.

“Mercy’s Redoubt has fully retreated to their camp,” Amalia said. “It looks like they’re hunkering down, ready to weather the storm.”

“Smart,” Latresekt said, still looking like hazy colored mist hovering over Ranvir’s shoulder. “I bet the creatures aren’t exactly relaxing at the moment.”

Amalia looked at the mist again. She’d been sending it long glances since she first popped in. “No, you’re right. The monsters are more active now than ever. It’s honestly getting a little difficult to get around without sparking a fight.”

Ranvir frowned. “There’s got to be a way to use this to our advantage.”

“There is,” Latresekt said, matter-of-factly. “I think it is time to brush up on your circle-theory, boy.”

“Circle-theory?” Ranvir asked. He knew what the spirit meant, the ritual circles Kirs had been developing before he’d left. “What good are they going to do?”

“We’re going to obscure ourselves,” Latresekt said.

“Would either of you care to fill the rest of us in?” Amalia asked, tiredly.

“The boy is going to show you a way to redistribute the mana within the fold,” Latresekt supplied. “Hiding both us and what we’re doing, while putting pressure on the mercenaries.”

Ahh, Ranvir leaned back with realization. “Gather ambient mana, then release it all at once?”

The spirit’s haze contracted once. The move was followed by a sensation of agreement. A spirit nod. “Specifically, recombine it into rain mana. I’ll show you the exact ratio.”

“Is that smart?” Amalia asked.

“No,” Ranvir replied. “It’s probably going to destabilize the fold, at minimum. We’re changing the basic properties of it, and pretty quickly too.”

“But it’s that or dying,” Latresekt finished.

“Alright,” Amalia sighed. “What do you need me to do?”

With Latresekt’s help, Ranvir sketched out a circle that accepted water and wind mana into a basin. Once the reserve was full, it would release all the mana into the atmosphere at once.

“One circle won’t be enough to affect even small-scale changes,” Latresekt said. “We’ll need many. Circles by the score. Ranvir can get around on his own, but we need the change to start before the fold opens.”

Amalia frowned, looking at the circle. “I… I can’t remember all of this,” she pointed at the basin. “How exact does it need to be?”

“Pretty,” Ranvir replied, remembering the trouble Kirs had with the same circle.

“Have the girl do it,” Latresekt said, turning to Alexis. “She’ll remember. You just need to get her around.”

“What? I- no! I can’t…”

“Then we all die,” Latresekt said, ruthlessly. “Too bad. We tried, I guess,” and with that, the spirit retracted into Ranvir’s arm. “Turn away. Do not give into her petty fear,” it continued speaking into his mind.

Ranvir rolled his eyes. “We need your help on this one, Alexis.”

Alexis glanced at him oddly, but didn’t respond. Amalia sighed. “Come, Alexis. You look like you could use some air.”

“Yeah…” the younger woman replied, clearly sensing that the conversation hadn’t been dropped.

With the two women crawling out of the hole, Ranvir flared his space power. The air took on a purple ambiance. It was a terrible light, but not near as bad as no light at all. He ran his thumb over his wounded arm, marveling at the sensation, how his limb continued working.

An uneven red band, the width of two-to-three fingers, ran the circumference of his upper arm. Where the crussor bit him. The flesh was still sensitive and red, but not painful or incapacitating.

“How did you do this?” Ranvir asked.

“Trade-secret,” Latresekt replied. “Really, it doesn’t matter. It won’t work outside of a fold, or even survive a powerful attack from a braced.”

Ranvir frowned at the spirit’s words, as he ran his fingers over where he’d lay. A slight divot in the stone perfectly matched where his arm had been. A similar smaller indent where his side had rested.

“Huh,” Ranvir grunted, running his tongue around his mouth as he considered what he was seeing.