Chapter Fourteen - 014After the lights faded, the grove seemed pitch black in comparison.
Felix blinked afterimages out of his eyes, only to see the Orit's toothy maw inches from his own. He fell backward with an undignified yawp. Blood and mud splashed up his arms and soaked into his pants. The giant beast huffed and panted at him but wasn't moving. Craning his neck, Felix could see a nasty would on the Orit's underbelly, dark blood and ropes of wet, grey intestines spilling out and pooling around a blade lodged firmly in the Sprout's roots.
HIS blade.
The Orit rolled a black eye at him, breath coming in pained gasps. "You...saved prey?" It's chest heaved as it thrashed weakly, blood oozing faster from it's wounds. "They are...meant to be...ours. Weak...worthless...they only exist...to be devoured. Why?"
Felix leaned against the Sprout trunk, sucking in heavy gasps as well. His Health and Stamina were less than 10% again, and his Mana no more than a sliver of blue in his vision. He didn't know what to say to the beast. Felix had no clue why he'd risked himself to save a creature that, even if they both survived, was probably going to be eaten by another predator in a matter of hours. But words came to his mouth anyway.
"Because....someone has to," Felix said, flushing in embarrassment.
The Orit however, had a different reaction. It became still, and it's black eye burned with a dangerous, bloody light. Teeth bared and streaked with it's own dark fluids, it snarled at him.
"What...are you?" It strained forward, unable to push closer, and snorted, a gnarly suction of blood and air. It's eyes widened as it whispered something.
"What?" Felix couldn't hear it, so soft were the giant beast's words. He leaned forward, caution warring with an uncomfortable sort of pity for the Orit. It was a messed up thing, but nothing deserved this. Its words were still almost too quiet to hear.
"You...should not be!"
Felix heard a terrible ripping sound as the monster lunged, and his weak attempt at dodging failed when his left leg buckled under him, too drained to move. The Orit's jaws crashed shut just inches in front of him, the force expelled enough to push Felix down into the bloody mud.
"Lost...one...!"
A last, guttural sigh and Felix saw the bloody light go out from the beast's eyes. The Orit was dead. Finally.
The plan had worked.
Huh, he thought, lying in the mud. This is usually where I pass ou--
A strange yipping cry woke him.
He was covered in mud, blood, and other things that were thick, grey, and...and chunky. Eugh. Carefully, eyeing his nearly depleted Stamina, he rolled onto his belly and squirmed toward his satchel. It had somehow gotten free and sat a few feet away from him. Falteringly, Felix pulled out some yarrow and flitweed, devouring them in a few quick bites.
Moments turned to minutes as he attempted to Meditate and put the herbs' regenerative properties to best use. Try as he might though, he couldn't maintain the necessary mindset for the Skill. But with enough herbs (all his stock) he was on the mend, at least.
Though Health and Stamina were nearing 50%, his Mana was still in the low teens when he heard that strange cry again. Felix glanced toward it, surprised to see the small creature that started all this hadn't yet run away.
Ah, of course. The Orit had crushed the cage of roots it had been hiding in, effectively trapping its meal.
With painstaking slowness, Felix got to his feet and made his way over to the roots. Each step was an effort, his sore muscles starting to cramp from the cold mud, but he pushed through it. Pain Resistance is probably part of that equation, he thought. Good thing I fell from that tree. A grim smile flitted across his face, but melted away just as quickly; for as he neared the trapped creature, he saw something else just beyond the Sprouts. It was a corpse, ravaged by teeth and claws, but pieces of it showed that it once had black and russet fur mingled with dark feathers. And it was approximately the size of a horse.
That could have been me, Felix thought with a lurch.
Golden eyes flashed in the shadows of the crushed roots before him, and he could barely make out a tiny form pulling back into deeper darkness.
"Hey, little guy, er, girl?" Felix cooed as comfortingly as he could. His shoulder was still in pain, despite the fresh healing and the rest of him was damn sore. But he knelt down in front of the roots and waited.
Minutes passed, but the creature did not emerge. Felix fished out a kelaar fruit and bit a piece off. He put it down into the roots, fitting it between the lattice work so it plopped into the dirt near the dark thing. "Here you go, I'm sure you're hungry."
The food sat there, untouched.
Felix sighed. He hadn't expected it to rush over and thank him, but...oh hell, he wasn't sure what he wanted. To comfort it? Felix shook his head. This place was as savage as anything he'd seen in nature documentaries, and it was probably used to this.
What am I doing? He wiped his face with a groan and stood up. Reaching into his satchel, he pulled out the rest of the kelaar fruit and set them down at the edge of the root cage. Using his hands, he gripped a few of the roots positioned as far away from the little creature as possible. With a grunt, he pulled them apart, ripping a wide opening in the roots. It was surprisingly easy, despite how tired he was.
With one last glance at the dark nest of roots, he hobbled away.
Shaking his head, he checked his notifications as he started back toward the Orit's corpse. He had a slew of skill ups, a remarkable amount really. Thrown Weapons Mastery and Acid Stream gained one level, while Stealth, and Influence of the Wisp gained two. Running and Fire Within jumped up three levels, Acrobatics gained four levels, Dual Casting and Dodge gained five whole levels, and Tides of Vellus gained a whopping seven levels.
Felix felt his mind thrum with a barely discernible music, a faint humming almost, as two more Skills crossed the unnamed level 10 threshold. Dodge and Acrobatics instantly felt more natural and easier to perform. If he wasn't so sore, he'd try a backflip. He'd always wanted to do a backflip.
+3 INT
+3 END
+2 DEX
+1 PER
+2 AGL
+1 VIT
+1 WIL
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You are now Level 12!
+9 to WIL! +6 to INT! +3 to DEX! +3 to END! +3 to PER!
You Have 15 Unused Stat Points!
Felix shuddered as a powerful heat coursed through his veins, entirely different than his Fire Within, flooding him with energy that screamed to be spent. He went from exhausted to wired in the span of four seconds, and it was a serious whiplash on his mood. He could practically feel endorphins pumping out, soothing his aches and worries.
"Whoa," Felix's eyes were wide. "That's a lot."
It almost made him feel better about ruining his new shirt. Almost.
Felix was glad Influence of the Wisp worked like he figured it would. Digging through the battle notifications, he found where the spell activated and smiled.
Target is Enthralled for 2 seconds.
Just as the Wisps had lured Felix into allowing them to land all over him, the Skill allowed him to influence the target's mind. Two seconds wasn't very long, but it was just enough to convince the Orit to keep running even as his lodged sword pierced its belly.