by Bruce Sentar
The onslaught finally began to overpower him; he threw kicks and punches trying to ward off their terrifying jaws. But, surrounded by so many bodies, he couldn’t get enough momentum from his hips and shoulders to make them more impactful.
Continuing to fight, Dar still managed to hold his own, but it was a bloody and messy fight. A soft ribbon caressed his shoulder, and he had to adjust his swing so as not to hit it. Sasha’s ribbons continued to move around him in a ball, working to slow some of the hellhounds and give him a bit of room to breathe.
It worked, giving him a momentary reprieve, but it also drew the beasts’ attention to the source of the ribbons as soon as they burned.
“Sasha, get back damnit!”
He wasn’t sure if it was some sort of predator instinct, but based on their focus, they had identified a weaker target. They changed their attacks, working as one to try to get around him to take her out.
It quickly became far more difficult to protect her. It would only take one hound outmaneuvering him to bring this fight to a disastrous end.
New ribbons caught a nearby hellhound, tying it down for a brief second before the hound burned through it. Skewering it through the throat, Dar killed it before it could recover and move. Pulling back the sword, the entire blade glowed red hot.
Dar moved to the next hellhound that was using the moment to get around him, swiping with his arm and sending it flying backwards. Shifting into a battle stance, he did a quick sweep of the cave. There were five of the hellhounds still fighting, but only a few were dead. The rest were injured and lingering in the back.
The largest hellhound stalked forward before lunging into the air. Unable to punch or kick enough to fight the forward momentum, Dar held up his sword to catch it, but the beast turned, clamping its jaw on the sword, with what looked like a smile in its eyes. The intelligence of these beasts was just a bit too creepy for Dar.
The sword started rapidly heating up in his hands, leaving him unable to move without giving up his weapon as the rest of the pack darted for Sasha.
Decision made, Dar threw his sword and the hellhound back. He moved to intercept one of the charging hounds, punching it in the waist. The beast cracked against the wall and Dar roared in pain. It felt like his knuckles were going to melt off his hand.
Desperation crept in, adrenaline the only thing giving him the energy to continue battling, and Dar let himself sink deeper into the fight. He ignored the pain, grabbing the hellhounds one by one and throwing them around and against the wall with bellowing shouts of victory.
Everything became a blur of rage as Dar fought.
His hands blistered and bubbled under the heat, but he was only vaguely aware of the pain. The smell made him realize the extent of the damages more than the pain, which he was sure would come. But this was the price to live, and his focus right now was on winning this battle, whatever the cost.
He continued moving with a savage efficiency foreign to him, killing each remaining beast until there were no more. Smiling, he stood, savoring the victory.
There was something primally satisfying about fighting. But the momentary sweetness was short lived, as the adrenaline in his body began to subside and agonizing pain took its place.
“Ah!” He doubled over, clutching his hands to himself carefully.
He stared ahead at the cave wall, taking deep breaths through the pain and working to mentally prepare himself for what he was about to see.
The breaths didn’t help much, the smell of his burnt flesh permeating the air.
Slowly looking down, he nearly threw up on the spot. His hands were reduced to red, blistered claws. His skin had cracked up his forearm, the tattered flesh blackened and curling away from his body. Gagging, he mourned his hands, a small wail escaping him.
“Dar.” Sasha ran to his side and laid her hand on his back in an attempt to comfort him.
But faced with his hands, there was little comfort she could provide.
“We need to clear the cave.”
Sasha’s mouth dropped open. “Why are you worried about that?” she said in an accusing tone.
“I didn’t do this for freaking nothing,” he growled.
Dar wasn’t angry at her, and he shouldn’t have said it like that, but his emotions were churning through him, and he was taking any outlet he could get.
Sasha backed up. “I’ll bring them out.”
“Wait. They are going to be too hot; Cherry might be able to help.”
Sasha continued to frown at him, but she did as he asked and ran out of the cave, casting a worried glance behind her.
“Damnit.” Dar put his head against the cave wall. He had hoped she had another restorative potion, but he could already see it in her eyes that she didn’t. Maybe the count would have one; he didn’t think there’d be anyone else in town that could afford them.
Cherry was his last hope.
He wasn’t sure how long it had been before the dryad was brought in, her innocent facade still intact. Her face flinched briefly when she saw Dar, his hands clear for her to see, but it wasn’t enough that anybody else would notice.
“Did you want a cherry?” she asked.
“Maybe later, but not right now.” Dar smiled, playing along.
“Lug, I don’t think she’ll be able to help.” Sasha frowned from behind the dryad.
He shook his head. “I’m pretty sure Cherry can help get the corpses out of the cave, can’t you, Cherry? If we move them out of the cave, we will have a dry place to weather out the storm and keep your tree safe.”
Sasha couldn’t see that Cherry rolled her eyes, who clearly didn’t feel his cover was adequate but satisfied enough to help.
“I’ll do my best for my tree,” she replied.
She kneeled and touched the ground. Green shoots grew and started to carry away the hellhound corpses, but they charred quickly, each only making a bit of progress in moving the bodies. It started to look more like a small army of ants moving the bodies than green vines, but it worked. After some time, all the corpses had been carried out of the cave.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Dar settled in on the ground, leaning back against the cave. He’d done it, but in the process, he’d become useless to the village.
“Lug, come with me. Let’s get out in the light where I can look at your hands better.” She choked back a sob. “We’ll put some salve on them and get them healed.”
Dar could still feel them, and as long as he didn’t move much, the pain settled to a burning ache.
Cherry gave him a look as he got up to follow Sasha; he didn’t know what it meant, but it was clear they needed to talk later.
“The rest of the group is coming. Sit down.” Sasha pinned him with a glare as he sat on a nearby rock. In the gloomy storm-lit light, his hands looked even worse, Dar had to turn away. Looking at them was too much.
The rest of the survivors from the village were passing by, barely sparing them a glance as they hurried into the cave, eager for respite from the storm.
“I’m going to touch them; please bear with it.”
Nodding, Dar braced himself. He felt a cool gel lightly touching his hands, but even that made him hiss in pain. Her touch paused at his hiss, so he muttered out, “Keep going. This is going to hurt regardless.”
Sasha gave a pained nod and continued until his hands were covered in the goop, then seemed to have a roll of bandages in her hands.
“Where does all that stuff come from?” he asked.
Sasha pushed her skirt aside to show a small, brown pouch strapped to the top of her thigh. “Spatial pouch. It’s very expensive, but very helpful.”
“That means someone has a dao related to space?” He kept the conversation going partially just to distract himself as she started wrapping his arm.
“Yes. It’s another powerful dao. I’ve only ever heard of one demon possessing it, and she has made and sold many of these pouches, but they are still exorbitantly expensive.”
Dar nodded and then winced as the movement shifted his hands. “If we can get a restorative potion in the city, we can fix my hands, right?”
Sasha didn’t meet his eyes. “Restorative potions can heal an injury, but they don’t reset incorrectly healed injuries.”
He felt a cold splash of water to his hopes. As if to make things worse, he felt a rain drop and saw another darken his fresh bandages.
“Looks like we don’t have long,” Sasha said, wrapping the last of his fingers.
“Can I have a moment alone?” Dar asked, feeling the need to just think for a bit.
“Sure, Dar.” She kissed the side of his cheek, taking him by surprise. “I wouldn’t have survived without you today. I’ll make sure we do what we can for your hands when we get to town. There are so many paths to the dao; we might find another demon who can help.”
She walked away and Dar saw a lock of green hair peeking out from behind a tree. He looked back to watch Sasha enter the cave, staring after her.
As she reached the opening, she paused, her hand on the side of it. She glanced back, catching him looking. The beautiful witch blushed and gave him a wide smile before entering the cave.
Dar looked at his hands and thought about what that meant of his life expectancy now. Even if Sasha was being flirty, accepting her would just lead to harm. He couldn’t do that to her.
A slight rustling sounded near the tree.
He sighed. “I know you are there, Cherry.” He waited, and sure enough, the dryad emerged. But her happy expression was gone, replaced with a glare.
Exhausted, Dar leaned back, groaning, “Not you too.”
“Idiot.” She grabbed his hand roughly, causing him to yelp in pain. “There were many things you could have done besides fight a pack of hellhounds with your bare hands!”
“We were out of time! They were going to get to Sasha, and she couldn't have fought all of them. And the villagers were all about to be soaked by this storm.” As if to help him with his argument, the soft patter of rain started on the leaves above them. “See? It’s not like I had planned it.”
“Yeah, I can’t imagine someone who can control silk to be very effective in killing a hellhound,” Cherry scoffed.
“I—”
“Stop, before you have a pity party.” Cherry held a finger to his lips. “I brought the hellhounds over here, so you can do with them like you did the direwolves. I hope it will be able to help you?”
Vines pulled away, revealing a mound of the hellhound corpses.
“Did you see what I did to them?” he asked, wondering how much of his secret she knew.
Cherry grinned. “Nope, that’s why I’ll watch this time. I want to see just how you make a dozen hellhound corpses disappear. But if you start eating raw meat like a savage, I’m out.”
He paused, taking a moment to consider before showing her. But he finally decided that, if she meant him harm at this point, she was clearly powerful enough to do it, and she had shared her secret with him.
Stepping up to the bodies, Dar felt for the inner world behind his navel. Taking a breath, he focused on the hellhounds and drew them into his inner world. It was easier this time than it had been before, and he smiled at the small victory.
When he went to sleep, he would work to bury them and feed the dao tree.
“Interesting,” Cherry said once he was done. She had waited quietly the few minutes it had taken him to take all the corpses away.
“There you have it. Mystery solved.” Dar smiled and turned around, showing nothing had really changed.
Cherry was already bending down to peer at his stomach, or better yet, the surrounding runes. “Incredible. Just what did Lilith do to you?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I can feel something.” Cherry put her palm on his navel, and he could feel a wash of mana enter his inner world.
It swelled, and he could feel his inner world drinking up the mana that Cherry had used.
She leaned away and gave Dar a look up and down. “Take care of your hands; Lilith clearly went to a lot of trouble for you. I don’t know what she had planned, but she’s clearly invested heavily into you. I’d hate to see whatever she knew, and was preparing for, fail.”
Feeling the weight of the warning, Dar just nodded. Raindrops began to fall more heavily on him, and he winced as they landed on his wounded hands. Leaning forward to protect them, he headed back into the cave before his bandages became soaked.
As he entered, Sasha was there waiting for him and instantly set to work fussing over him and bringing him to an area she had set up for him to rest. He tried to deviate from her, ushering to go check on the rest of the townspeople first, but she wasn’t having it. Dar was too tired to argue, so he let her tuck him in to rest.
Settled in and laying on Sasha’s soft thighs, everything that had happened that day weighed on his mind, but somehow, he still found himself drifting off into a deep sleep.
Chapter 10
As he opened his eyes, Dar found himself back on the neatly trimmed lawn of his inner world. The dao tree had grown considerably since he’d last entered. The sapling had now transformed into a three-foot-tall tree.
Dar was no arborist, but the tree looked healthy and thriving. Looking closer at the small buds that he’d felt the potential dao characters from, they hadn’t changed at all since feeding the direwolves.
“Guess I need to feed it.” He shrugged, having nothing better to do with his time. He needed the sleep and figured he’d be here for a while.
When he looked at the hellhound corpses, he remembered his disfigured hands. Looking down, he was surprised to find them unblemished. Apparently, in his inner world, his body was whole, no matter the state of his actual body.
“That’s good.” He smiled, enjoying having functioning hands again. He had been a bit nervous at how he would plant the bodies without them. But as the thought occurred to him, he realized he still didn’t have a shovel. He really needed to work on that. In the meantime, he got down on his hands and knees and once again began digging into the black soil.
Learning from the end of his last efforts, he didn’t bother to dig a true grave. Instead, he just made a small divot and then sprinkled the corpse with dirt as he laid it in the indentation.
It seemed to have been enough for the ones he’d left last time, and he hoped it would work again. That would save him tons of time in the future.
Finishing with the fourteen hellhounds, he dusted himself off and stood up, studying his handiwork. Satisfied with it, he looked around, wondering what he should do to fill the time while his body rested.
Strolling along the wall and gate, he tried to scale the walls, wanting to check out the area beyond, but the walls were entirely smooth.
He couldn’t find any footholds to use to get the leverage he’d need. He tried using his legs to jump, but even with his enhanced strength, he couldn’t clear it.
They seemed to stretch before him like some video game boundary.
Finally giving up, he wandered back to the tree to see if any progress had been made on the hellhounds. As he approached, he smiled as he spotted the first flower breaking out of one of the buds. It was a warm orange color. Drawn to it, Dar leaned closer, and as he did, he could feel a warmth radiating out of it.
Before his eyes, the lumps in the dirt shrank down, like the tree was soaking them up. At the same time, the center of the flower began to form a small berry that slowly grew until it became a small, round fruit the size of his fist.
He couldn’t read it, but imprinted on the skin was a dao character, repeated over and over. Staring at the fruit for a while, Dar was conflicted on what he should do.
A second bud grew with the same dao, but it stopped before it formed a fruit.
It likely contained a dao related to the hellhounds, but he still wasn’t entirely positive what would happen if he ate it. Would that become his primary dao? He wasn’t sure what the dao even was.
&nbs
p; Plucking it from the tree, Dar stepped back, sitting on the ground and staring at the fruit in his hands. The tree had been pretty clear in its visions so far; the fruit was meant to be consumed, but he was still uncertain.
He wanted to ask Sasha about it, but Cherry had been clear that the type of power he housed could be enough to sway even friends to turn on him. Sighing, he leaned back, laying on the grass and trying to decide his next move.
Cherry had been surprised at his ability to pull the bodies into himself and had clearly believed it was all part of Lilith’s design in whatever enchantments she’d put on him.
So, this too must all be part of her plan. While following blindly wasn’t really his thing, he had no reason to believe that this fruit would cause him harm.
Sighing, his decision started to firm into resolve. There were no guarantees, but this seemed like the right course of action. And he’d already become disfigured from weakness; he could use some extra power in whatever form it would be.
The fruit crunched as he bit into it. It was unexpectedly delicious, the juices swirling against his tongue and filling Dar’s body with a warmth, almost like alcohol.
His mind buzzed with errant thoughts and a feeling of something just at the tip of his tongue. Smiling, he hesitated less this time, quickly taking another bite. The feelings only intensified as he continued, and he smiled, enjoying himself.
As he popped the last bite into his mouth and licked his fingers clean of the juice, he felt the moment that the dao’s knowledge settled within him. It was like he had understood the very underpinnings of heat his entire life, despite that seconds ago the concept of it had been completely unknown.
This was the dao of heat.
He didn’t want to test it out inside of this inner world, not sure what it would do, but he could feel instinctively that he now had some sort of command over heat like the hellhounds had.
“Amazing. This… this means I’ve stepped on my own dao path?” Letting out a yell and pumping his fist, he sat for a moment taking it in. With all the newness of this world, he had finally figured some of it out.
