The Fusionist Book 2 -- Chapter 25

(Here's one last chapter this week before I start back with Scorched Time tomorrow!)

Chapter 25

The library was only a 5-minute walk, but it felt shorter because there was so much newness around the park and that portion of the gigantic building that they had yet to explore.  Larek’s head was on a swivel as they made their way to their destination, as he received a better look at the park and the differing training sections and the odd-looking arena in the distance, as well as glancing at the different students walking past them on their journey. For a wonder, his height wasn’t as noticeable to many of those that saw him, as everything was on such a grand scale that he really didn’t matter all that much.

Naturally, there were exceptions to those who saw him and had that look, but for the most part they were few and far between. Whereas at Crystalview he had been extremely noticeable as he stuck out in the smaller Academy, here at Copperleaf he was just another student to most of the people living in and around the building.

What caught his attention even more was when they ventured closer to the Martial side of the gigantic structure. Hundreds of Martial students—or trainees, as he heard they were called—were outside fighting in a few sectioned-off areas like he had seen the day before from a distance. With his closer proximity, he was able to see not only how quickly they moved, but also how strong they seemed based on the sound their wooden practice weapons made when they impacted a shield, armor, or even flesh. Grunts of exertion and pain echoed across the park, easier heard now that he wasn’t hundreds of feet or more away, and he inwardly winced a few times as he saw a particularly potent strike hit some of the trainees with brutal savagery.

Yet, they all got up or kept going even after being knocked down – or even temporarily knocked out. It was obvious to him that most of those he saw, especially those that were fighting in their duels or spars or whatever they called them, had the Body Regeneration Skill, which allowed them to keep going when any normal person would’ve called it quits. He could certainly see the purpose behind all of the fighting, as it would undoubtedly improve their Skills over time just like Mages improved their own by casting spells or creating Fusions; despite that, it was a bit more intense than he preferred. Seeing that was a reminder that all of the students and trainees at the Academy and Fort were there to learn how to kill monsters, which was, again, something that he didn’t have any desire to do if he could help it.

He now knew that he wouldn’t back down if it came to a fight against whatever emerged from a Scission if not doing so would endanger his friends or other helpless students, but he currently had no plans to go seeking out monsters to slay.

As they got closer to their destination, Larek started to look away from the Martial trainees, but he abruptly stopped as something caught his attention.

“What’s wrong, Larek?”

He didn’t look at his small, tree-like roommate as he answered. He didn’t want to look away in case he caught another sight of what he thought he saw. “I’m fine; I think I saw something.”

All three of his friends stepped up next to him and stared at one particular duo of trainees fighting close to them. One was a young man from the Kingdom with thick muscles wearing a brown, hard leather chestpiece with flexible sleeves, a leather helmet with a metal noseguard, and a pair of leather leggings; he was wielding a wooden shield and a spear, reminding Larek a little of Crester from his carriage ride away from Garventon.

The other was a relatively tall young woman with long, vibrant blue hair, perhaps slightly older than the man, wearing a chainmail top with a leather underlayment, no helmet, and a pair of very short leather pants, leaving most of her legs bared from halfway down her upper leg. She was wielding a massive wooden sword in both hands that had to be at least her own height if not taller, and was a good 8 inches wide; even though it was wood, he could tell from the sound it made as it was whipped around that it was also quite heavy, perhaps with a central core of metal underneath the wood.

It was obvious from the fight that she had enough Strength to wield the heavy, oversized sword, but she also had the Agility to move quickly and avoid any retaliatory strikes against her rather dark skin. She practically danced around her opponent, swiping the heavy sword in cuts that moved his shield out of the way to strike against his body or simply tried to overwhelm him with powerful strikes that he had difficulty blocking fully.

He did end up blocking most of them and preventing himself from being hurt, but he was also unable to do much to the woman in return. She was too quick for him to take advantage of any openings that might arise, especially when he had to concentrate on not being smashed into the ground or being injured by a sweeping cut.

None of that really mattered, nor was it what caused him to stop and stare. Instead, it was a flare of… something that seemed to emerge from the woman briefly that caught his attention. As he stood there watching the two continue their fight, he finally saw it again, a reddish aura that surrounded the woman’s arms for a half-second before disappearing. He wasn’t sure what it was until he saw her suddenly swing her wooden sword hard enough with a downward cut that it practically blurred to his sight.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one that couldn’t see the blade, as the young man was unprepared for the strike; he had just attempted to counterattack after a previous side-swipe, leaving him completely open to the woman’s overhead assault. He barely had time to twitch the shield an inch toward the incoming blade, but it was too little, too late. The heavy wooden sword smashed into his shoulder, barely missing his head, and even from at least 150 feet away, Larek could hear the hollow crack of bones breaking. The Martial trainee collapsed to the ground under the force of the attack, screaming with the incredible pain of his upper left chest essentially being crushed in the process.

“Penelope! What have I told you about using your Crushing Force Art in spars?!” Now you’ve gone and done it,” came a voice of an older man that Larek just now realized had been watching over the different fights with his arms crossed over his worn, dark leather jerkin. He was currently running over to the area where the young man who had his chest crushed was collapsed on the ground, his screams suddenly cutting off as he passed out from his excessive injuries, and he did not look happy in the least. “You know we don’t have a healer from the Academy here right now!”

As for the woman, Penelope (according to the shout Larek heard), she stepped back in horror, dropping her weapon to the dirt as she held her hands up to her mouth in distress. “I-I’m sorry, I-I didn’t even plan to do it; it just happened—”

“Shut up, girl, and help me assess his injuries,” the older man shouted, whom Larek assumed was some sort of instructor, even as he skidded to a stop next to the unconscious trainee. Even from a distance, it was plain to see that he was extremely messed-up, with blood starting to leak out onto the ground, likely from his broken shoulder and perhaps rib bones piercing through his internal organs, muscle, and skin. Larek had seen some of the Healing specialized Mages perform some incredible healing feats, but even he wasn’t sure if they could save him.

“Ah, hells,” the man said, shifting the young man’s body so he was lying down in a better position than how he fell. “We’re losing him.”

“B-but, his Body Regeneration should kick in any time—”

The young woman with the blue hair appeared nearly in tears, and the instructor’s next words only seemed to hasten them.

“Sure, if his Skill was at 50 or above, he might be able to heal from something like this; as it is, he’ll be dead before it could even start to fix even some of the minor problems.”

“Then we can bring—”

“Trying to transport him to the Academy for healing will just make it worse.”

Tears that glistened against her dark cheeks in the failing sunlight suddenly had Larek’s feet moving of their own accord. At that point, the commotion was starting to draw a crowd as they stopped their fights and began streaming toward the downed trainee, worry and curiosity drawing them like bees to a field of flowers.

“Larek, what are you doing?” he heard Nedira shout as he moved quicker than the others, who he could hear following him.

“I have no idea,” he shouted back, recognizing that it was only partly true. He knew that he wanted to attempt to heal the mortally injured trainee, but he wasn’t sure if his Healing Surge Fusion would be able to fix such damage. It was designed to speed up the body’s normal healing regeneration, but the amount of broken bones and internal damage he had seen happen was extensive.

“A Mage? Wait, are you a first or second-year?” the older man asked as he looked up at Larek approaching at a run, his boots pounding against the dirt of the park where the spar had taken place.

“That’s not important,” Larek said, sliding to a stop only feet away from the horribly wounded young man on the ground. Actually, he’s more boy than a man now that I can get a better look at him. And the injuries are worse than I thought. I hope this works. “I’m going to try and heal him.”

“You can heal?”

Rather than answer, he fell to his knees and sat back on his lower legs, reaching down to his boot and reaching inside, pulling free the anklet he had hidden inside. As he held it under his hand and quickly pressed it against the boy’s broken chest, he activated the Healing Surge +3 Fusion, feeling the effects pass through him momentarily as he let go of the wooden accessory, surreptitiously shoving it into a tear in the leather chestpiece so it was in direct contact with his skin. He continued holding his hands over the upper body of the trainee, feeling the blood adhering to his fingers as the leather spilled it out, but he ignored it. While he wasn’t actually doing anything by keeping his hands on the trainee, he was attempting to sell the fiction that he was casting a spell rather than using a Fusion.

The knowledge that he had a Healing Surge Fusion, the same one that caused problems back in Crystalview, was something he would rather keep quiet for the time being. As he had considered with his new Advanced Fusions instructor, the information would eventually come out, but he was hoping to be fully entrenched in his learning before that. He didn’t want to give them any excuse to kick him out or potentially transfer him back to Crystalview, after all.

From his position over the older boy, not quite a man, he could see that the trainee wasn’t breathing, but could still see and feel that there was life still within him. After about 10 seconds with no visible change, he despaired that it was too much for the Fusion to heal, but suddenly there was a dull *crack* as a bone underneath his hands shifted back into place, followed by another and another after that. After 30 seconds, a good portion of the area near his anklet had reformed, including where his heart was located, which he took as a good sign – until blood began pumping out of this body again as his vital organ began to pump again.

He continued to improve over the next 30 seconds, but Larek could see that even though the trainee had Body Regeneration, the Fusion was starting to consume his body; any fat seemed to disappear underneath his skin, and even his visible muscles began to shrink as it was essentially eaten away to fuel the healing process. A little over a minute, the older boy’s skin seemed shrunken in places, and Larek started to pull away the anklet, afraid that he would end up killing him in a completely different way. The injured trainee still had a portion of his shoulder that hadn’t reformed yet, but the worst of the internal damage seemed to have been repaired.

Thankfully, the boy chose at that time to wake up, coughing up blood as his lungs began working again and he attempted to sit up; Larek snatched the wooden anklet away and deactivated it, slipping the bloody accessory into his pocket as he sagged backwards, feigning exhaustion.

“He’s not out of danger yet, but that’s all I can do,” he told the older man, who was looking at Larek with a thankful and almost perplexed expression on his face. “You should be able to transport him now and get a real Healer from the Academy to assist the rest of the way.”

The instructor nodded and pointed toward a group of other trainees standing nearby, watching in awe as the one who had nearly died seemed to have miraculously survived. “Pick him up and—gently—bring him to the Healer’s quarter at the Academy.” As those he pointed to picked up the still severely injured boy, the man turned to Larek and said, “Thank you. I’d never hear the end of it if Duke Scorewood’s boy was killed during a practice spar.”

He was a Noble? Now that he concentrated on it, Larek could feel the Nobleness inside of the trainee being carried away.

“I was just doing what I could to help,” he said, getting to his feet, brushing the dirt off his robe. “He’ll need rest and plenty of food after he’s finished being healed, but the other Healers at the Academy should be able to take care of that.”

“I will see that it is done,” the older man responded firmly. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did; what is your name, by the way?”

“It’s Larek, and like I said I was just doing what I could to—”

There was sudden movement at his side as he saw a flash of blue hair and dark skin appear in front of him, before he unexpectantly felt a pair of arms slide around the back of his neck, followed by a pair of lips pressed against his own.

Book 2 Chapter 26: https://www.patreon.com/posts/fusionist-book-2-83010017