Tom watched the coming cloud with dread as he tried to work out a plan. This tiny enemy was nothing like what he had predicted.
When he had planned his build and hatched his strategy to make a difference, he had workshopped in his mind what these first couple of days were going to be like. He had expected there to be annoying tools like Jeffrey and then smarter people like those currently around him. His imagination had placed him as being one member of a larger machine. A tiny cog within the group, doing his bit to contribute from the relative safety of a sizable population. His weakness being offset by the admiration that his work effort would draw. Everyone in the top million would appreciate someone grinding their way to power.
There were supposed to have been a hundred-plus dedicated fighters around him. The entire group stranded, not on this desolate plain, but within a forest, jungle, or mountain climate. There would be threats like boars that the others could take down and that would cause an immediate flow of materials. Food, pelts, into clothes and they would have time to chop down trees to create shelters. By sunset on the first day, Tom had expected for the group he was with to have both food and shelter, along with a growing sense of belonging to a community that shared the same aims as everyone else.
He was supposed to get the opportunity to grow into his build without being in mortal danger. Others could protect him till he got strong enough to influence the world and weigh the scales in favour of humanity.
That was not happening.
Instead, the majority were throwing up barriers and huddling away while he the person who had invested the most in the future was standing outside to meet what was coming and was wondering whether he could develop resistance to the insects or if his mana reserves would keep him alive once they started stinging him. If he did not have Touch Heal, then he would be amongst those hiding because the simple fact was that any two stings from those hundreds of insects would be enough to kill him. With the add-ons he had earned to Touch Healing, he was hopeful he could do a lot better.
Behind him, the barriers were not up; there were gaps everywhere.
“We need to buy them time,” Toni said bravely. “I’m going to attract them to us.”
“What?” Harry asked in alarm, but it was already too late.
Toni had her hands up, and she pulled a chain out of her robe. It had a purple crystal on it, and even without identification skill, they all knew it was a mana store. The palm of her other hand was held flat, pointing up to the sky, and then a twister of wind emerged. For half a second, it was small and almost indistinct; and then more magic tore into it, and it became a raging force of nature that rose four metres above her.
The wasp cloud was now close enough that he could see the individual insects within it. There were thousands of them — maybe tens of thousands. So many that they could hear the buzzing, and the swarming fiends were targeting the still open structure that the others were trying to build.
Tom’s respect for Toni skyrocketed. If that cloud got into the shelter, dozens would almost certainly die. Potentially the entire group would be wiped out; and so, Toni had come, despite the personal danger, to turn them aside.
Sweat running down her face, she tilted her palm, and it looked like the effort was akin to shifting a mountain.
Crack.
The whirlwind left her hand not as a self-contained twister but as a shearing wind. It ripped past the gaps in the tent just as the leading insects in the cloud dove downwards. Despite being resistant to wind, they got blown off course. The gale kept going, sweeping around the mass of bugs like a twenty-metre-wide hand that then squeezed its fingers into a fist and compressed the cloud, trapping the insects before tossing them to the side.
Toni collapsed, and the hand of air that had briefly seized the horde of insects dissipated. It had done its job, and the cloud — instead of being directly in front of the gaps — was now positioned so that Tom and his group were between them and the shelter.
The buzzing intensified as the insects stabilised their flight from where the air had thrown them. Not a single one looked damaged; and then, en masse, they swarmed toward him.
Fear clutched his heart. He knew how potent their venom was, but just like Toni had bought the others time, he needed to do the same.
Please DEUS!
He hated himself for giving the prayer; one, because of what the GODs collectively had done, and two, because DEUS’s powers were restricted by the rules, anyway. There was no divine intervention coming to save him. Instead, there was Touch Heal, Spark and his mana crystal, of which some combination of them had to be enough to stop the insects from getting into the shelter and to keep him alive.
The vanguard of the swarm reached him. Only a few, and all Tom could do was to futilely wave his spear to persuade them to retreat. He did not dare to use his mana, as every single point was going to count. He felt spikes of pain on his leg and face. Healing Tranquillity kicked in.
It was not just this group that they needed to worry about. It was all the surrounding insects. They had fought back and escaped these plains, which meant he had to acquire immunity to their venom. The poison was too virulent for the group to flee while getting stung. “Don’t heal me unless I’m about to die,” Tom ordered.
A wasp got into his mouth and stung his tongue while he was talking.
Tom suppressed the instinctive reaction to spit it out and instead used his tongue to move it to the side.
He bit down. It was briefly like biting a hard-boiled lolly. For a moment, the structure held, and then it shattered under the pressure his bite was exerting.
Within his mouth, he shifted his tongue. First to press it against his teeth, then against the roof. Multiple spots hurt, showing that the insect had got off more than the one sting. His legs were aflame, his face burning in numerous spots.
Tom checked his mana. Twenty in his personal pool and just under seventy in his crystal.
The rest of the cloud must be around him, and he still needed to stop them from spreading out and getting into his tent.
Forty mana. Tom decided it was a lot to channel through the Spark spell, but he hoped it would fry enough of the insects that they wouldn’t get in amongst the others.
Please generate enmity. Another useless prayer that he hated to resort to.
ZAP!
His control of the simple spell was almost unsurpassed. Every day for forty years, he had practised this spell for hours to turn what in its most basic form created a small static electricity effect into something far grander. An actual weapon that could be employed against the small and the massive alike. Forty mana was a lot more than the basic Spark spell used. Combine that with his efficiency, and you represented a nasty surprise for the unwary.
Tom’s skin was covered with insects, and that’s where the spell started. Not from the tip of his fingers but from every bit of exposed skin. Then it spread out like a wave and fried the insects that were biting him. Then to the ones flying nearby. His immaculate control forced it to bypass his companions, and it expanded in a glittery web of fine wires. For an instant, a sphere of electricity around two metres wide surrounded him.
Every insect inside the sphere, or which touched it, died.
For a moment, he was not getting stung, and Tom smiled.
Then the venom from the hundreds of stings seconds earlier spread. Tom let himself fold over and lie on the ground, knowing that even without future attacks he was going to struggle to heal through the damage already inflicted.
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Harry’s mana ritual surrounded him, which would help, and he had the mana to purge the ninety-three stings that Healing Tranquillity had identified. Though he suspected that there were more, because some must have overlapped. While he could purge those stings, his instincts warned him that was not the right choice.
Immunity.
His mind reminded him of the thousands of hives they could see from where they stood. The cloud had come from one hive, and it might not even have been all of that queen’s workers. You did not need to be a genius to realise that most of the group with whom he had emerged on Existentia was incapable of fighting these insects. What could a blacksmith do? How about a sword fighter? Let alone a berserker type, and even most elemental classes would be helpless. The beasts were resistant to flames. It was only someone like him with his lightning abilities that could do damage.
This threat was one of timing. In a year’s time, when everyone had rounded out their sets of abilities, this situation would have played out differently. At that point, a handful of people would have insect-killing spells, and multiple individuals would possess lightning, and even the melee fighters might have developed some whirlwind-style attack which, while not designed for wasps, could at least be slightly effective against them.
They were not there yet, which meant it came down to him. He needed immunity so he could use his limited magic and Spark to kill the insects instead of having to dedicate it all to healing himself.
Tom made his decision. He hoped it was right, but he had to give his body a chance to develop natural immunity. He abandoned his extremities to focus exclusively on his brain, lungs, and heart.
Time seemed to slow down as Healing Tranquillity helped him.
Life support.
That was all that mattered and anyone, who had watched medical dramas knew what the vital organs were, at least in the short term. Keep them going and he would survive, especially in a land of magic.
He focused inwards, but even with time slowed, it was alarming how quickly he was losing control of his muscles. One after another succumbed.
The die had been cast.
There were no second chances, no do-overs; his only choice was to endure.
As he fought through the mounting pain, he fervently hoped that his fate dump had been enough. They were vulnerable to lightning, which was good, but he also counted on fate to have also mutated whatever venom they used to a form that he could gain immunity to, given the constraints of his allies and his mana pool.
Any other outcome meant that fate had failed and his group had been doomed from the start.
His mana ticked down steadily. Dimly, he heard screams around him. Everlyn bullying Harry into creating another ritual circle.
Regular shouts for healing.
He tuned them all out. He had his own internal battle to fight.
His own mana dropped to single digits, so he started drawing on the crystal.
Its reserves went from almost thirty to fifteen, and he switched back to his personal mana. Only five points had regenerated.
His power was fading too quickly. The amount of healing was outpacing his regeneration.
He wondered if he was still getting stung or if someone had dragged him into the shelter. He could hear voices, so some people remained alive, but his brain was too addled to understand what they were saying. There was no pain because he could no longer feel anything, but he existed in a dangerous fog. He had long since lost feeling in his skin, and there was so much venom already in his system he couldn’t tell if incrementally more was being added.
There was an endless tide flooding through him. Encroaching on his territory.
His mana kept dropping. Did he need two lungs?
Nope.
He pulled back his defences. Left lung and heart. That was it.
Breathing, heart beating.
Tranquillity slowed his heartbeat.
It was unnatural, but it was needed. Twenty beats a minute — just enough to preserve his life and it had the extra advantage of slowing the spread of venom via his blood.
The crystal emptied.
His personal store ticked down.
Only four mana left. If it declined to zero, he was dead.
It dropped to three.
Everlyn was screaming. “Harry needs a healer! Harry needs a healer!”
There was the sound of a hammer hitting the ground.
Back to four as regeneration gave him an extra point, then down to three again as he had purged the venom, slowing the heart.
“Good job, Thor.” Sven said cheerfully. The others were alive, and it almost sounded like they were in control.
“Watch the markings,” Everlyn yelled.
There were sounds of running.
“If you’re not doing anything useful, then get to shelter. We can’t afford to waste the healing!” Everlyn was yelling.
A flash of healing rushed into him right over his heart. It was not particularly well-directed and petered out almost immediately.
For a few long seconds, he did not have to do anything.
His pool increased to four.
“Crazy bastard,” he heard Michael say.
Everything blended together. His mana ticked down, and then Michael or Everlyn would hit him with a brief flash of healing that would let him recover some more, and then it would tick down again.
By the feel of the magic that touched him, other healers were involved, but there was never any sustained healing. Just abrupt flashes over his heart. It was like they had worked out his strategy and were only trying to supplement the key areas. Their approach had done enough. His mana pool had stabilised.
“They fucking love him.”
“Like when I was with my wife. Mosquitoes all went for her. I would never get bitten.”
Tom knew they were talking about him, but there was nothing he could do. All of his focus was on staying alive for a few moments longer.
“We need to move him.”
Mana ticked up to six. With the regular bursts of healing, he was making some progress.
Hands grabbed him, and he felt himself being carried. Extra venom flowed through him.
Five, Four, Three, Two.
He stopped moving. Still lying on the dirt.
Another blast of healing hit him.
“Not Useless after all,” Jeffrey’s voice reached. “He’s like one of those electric lights that fry the bugs in the backyard.”
“Piss off, Jeffrey, you’re not wanted,” Tom heard Everlyn snap, and if he could have, Tom would have smiled in response.
A tick up to three.
The venom kept flooding in. There was so much of it, that whole immunity thing was looking more unlikely. The venom in his internal senses remained as potent as ever.
Michael’s focused healing hit him.
“Shit. The buggers got me. I need healing,” Sven called out.
Mana ticked up to four. For a while he had felt like he was stabilising, but he seemed to drift backwards.
“Harry, get another energy drain up.” Everlyn shouted. “There’s too many. He’s being overwhelmed.”
“Reduce the amount of exposed skin.”
“They just get under it and keep stinging him.” Everlyn was yelling at someone.
“I need a healer,” It was Jeffrey this time. “Rob got stung. He needs healing. Michael,” Jeffrey was insistent.
“No.”
“Do you have mana?”
“Tom needs it more,” Michael answered back calmly.
“Rob’s dying. Don’t you have an oath.”
“Get someone else.” There was another flood of energy as Michael healed his heart.
“Why are you healing Useless? Rob’s dying.”
“PISS OFF Jeffrey,” Everlyn yelled. “Use your goddamn eyes. The only reason we haven’t been overwhelmed and killed is because Tom’s acting as a lightning rod for them.”
“Useless is a lost cause.” There was a pause as Jeffrey was yelling away from Tom. “Michael, Everlyn one of you… why aren’t you responding…”
Silence.
“It’s too late,” an unknown female voice said.
“Damn it.” Jeffrey cursed. “Rob’s dead. That’s on you, Michael. We’re going to have a long talk later.”
The argument was both heartening and horrifying, but Tom was glad that Michael and others had kept him alive; and by the sounds of it, he was struggling so badly because he was continually getting healed.
“I gave an order,” Jeffrey was yelling right near him. “Why didn’t you listen!?”
Tom felt more healing flood through him.
It let his mana tick up to five.
“Because you’re an idiot,” Michael said coldly.
“I’m an idiot. Rob was rank nine, and he’s dead when you could have saved him. Useless is a three.”
“Four,” Michael retorted.
“So pathetic I can’t fucking tell.”
“You’re getting in the way,” Everlyn snapped.
“Get him out of here,” Michael yelled.
There were sounds of a struggle which faded away.
There was a blissful silence for a while.
“What do you think Tom did?” Everlyn asked quietly.
“Don’t know,” Michael answered. “Cast some spell to aggro them. All we can do is keep him alive. And kill as many of the insects as possible when they come to sting him.”
“It’s weird how, once they’ve landed, they’re so vulnerable,” Everlyn mused.
“It’s Harry’s rituals,” Michael said authoritatively. “They’re sapping the insects of energy.”
It felt like the waves of venom were getting stronger. Tom tuned everyone out to focus on the fight occurring around his heart and lung. His mana yo-yoed.
Four, three, four, three, two, three.
It was all about the drift of numbers. He could hear people talking, but he no longer understood what they were saying. He was delirious. The only thing that mattered was stemming the spread of poison. Brain, heart, and lung, he repeated the mantra. It was all that he could focus on.
He was moved for about the thirtieth time. Then his body felt heavy.
“Good. Keep him warm,” Michael said.
“Is he still alive?” Everlyn asked nearby.
Michael laughed. “I can’t heal corpses.”
“I don’t understand how?” Everlyn continued. “His vitality is under forty.”
“I very much doubt that’s still the case,” Michael speculated quietly. Energy flooded his heart.
His mana ticked up to seven. “As for how he is alive. I don’t know. Tom only knows the most basic spell, but he is incredibly efficient with it.” There was a pause. “Did you see how his leg flops? Completely paralysed. All he’s doing is keeping his heart and lungs working.”
Tom tuned them out once more.
His mana reached seventeen, and he started directing his energy to healing the rest of his body. Bit by bit, the spaces he controlled expanded. The other lung, neck, and mouth muscles. More and more undirected healing hit him. At least three people other than Michael were contributing regularly now.
“How are you feeling, son?” Michael said from above him.
“Thirsty,” he croaked.
Water was trickled into his throat. He choked on it. “Easy there.”
Tom opened his eyes. He was under shelter, and it was dark except for a couple of wisps of light floating nearby, allowing him to see a small amount.
He shut them again. He had stabilised. “I’m going to check notifications.”
He retreated to the system room.