Chapter 38

Part 1

“Ugh…” Collapsed onto damp soil, I worried something could seep into my back wounds. Agonizingly rolled to my left; pain bit back along my arm with a vengeance! My forearm was so horribly broken; any pressure sent ripples of agony across me. That near bottomless pool of energy the seed of Yggdrasil provided was busy pushing mana throughout my battered body to heal various wounds. I was left slowly, awkwardly, squirming around in the mud like a fish.

“Fate, bro!” Jordie, Mack Attack’s own, ran over to me with enthusiasm; flipping into discomfort the instant he beheld my clawed hand.

“Stay back for now, ok? I’m absolutely soaked…in both water and mana. If Bryn’s still out there, he could come back and attack at any moment.” Though I said that, my gut screamed the fight was over. My last kick had not only dislodged Bryn and Gossamer from the ice wall, but tore that thin headed familiar asunder! Frayed up to the former biceps, fire hose like polyester wrapping around those four horizontal icebergs disintegrated into flakes of mana. Only orange hands shaped like a flower head remained.

“Yeah, bro. I’ll keep my distance until you…put away the claws.” It’d been a while since I last used those unpleasant deadwood talons. Everything wavered around them, air, mana, my own spirit; that new frigid aura pulsating of each finger, warped even my vision with otherworldly energy.

(Can I even bite these off like before?) I wondered. Cold vapor wafted off my hand slowly, so I decided against it. Quaking suddenly, the earth beneath us rattled! Something was approaching! (Can’t get up!) Rocking from side to side on the ground, I was barely able to roll onto my stomach and push up with one arm! From the forest’s dark depths, a bulky gray nose attached to matted and charred brown fur entered the clearing. Following those, an old ally reared its head, the hill ogre! “Oh…hey buddy!”

“What the fuck?!” The Mack brothers retreated behind their cameraman, BB, who drew his gun!

“Relax, guys!” I stepped in between them all! “This guy’s a friend. Right?” My smile was reciprocated by the cryptid so wide and tall he could fit several of us in his mouth, still having room for a cow or two. “Phew…” Again, I sat back onto the squishy soil. Even that much exertion made me lightheaded. “Bramble.”

“Yes, Young Fate?” The dogman approached, satisfied the battle had reached its climax. “Well…I am to assume you have sensed what I have, yes?”

“Yeah. I sense Anesha.” On cue, the witch emerged from the forest…more disheveled than I’d seen her! Jacket, dirty. Hair, splayed out across her head. Neck and wrists, fitted with a collar and cuffs?! “Uh…” Before I could comment, they disintegrated into fragments of mana and floated away.

Anesha silently sauntered into the clearing, eying the ogre, Jordie, the Mack Attack crew, then Bramble, and me. She sighed, shook her head, took a deep breath, and then sighed again. “I have not the time to insult you. What injuries have you sustained? New ones.”

“Oh…uh…lacerations to my thighs and shoulders, and…” I held up my broken left forearm, and a noticeable twitch ran across the witch’s furrowed brow.

A tight pinch to the bridge of her nose; it was as if Anesha crush her own nasal cavity in frustration. “Uh…” Jordie began…only to struck be down by a fierce glare from those reddish-brown eyes! The guy clammed up hard, shrinking into his expensive sneakers.

“Do not speak. I can tell exactly what has transpired without need for a narrator.” Anesha looked down her nose at the hill ogre, despite it being more than twice her size! It shook its head vigorously, backing into the woods for safety! “I will assume Bryn was after these fools for some reason. You attacked him, the battle went on nearly as long as my own, and finally, you managed to overcome him.” Spot on.

“Yeah. Uh…” Both Jordie and the hill ogre basically begged BB and Bobbie to stay quiet as we continued our impromptu debriefing. “You did want me to fight alone, right?”

“I did. Congratulations on following orders correctly.” The patronizing applause I’d grown to expect from Anesha didn’t come!

“…I can assume you beat your guy too, right?”

“I did. I ended Killian Dufort.”

“O-oh.”

“Something you failed to do.”

“I…did I?!” Even with everything behind it, I couldn’t kill another person. Frustration on the surface was in opposition to how I felt deep down; relieved.

“Feel not upset. He also has been dealt with.” Any swelling relief, snuffed out by the cold witch. “Then, as of now, half of our mission has been completed. Honestly, to believe that we both still stand here…truly a wife’s tale would not stand so tall.” For some reason, Anesha seemed pensive.

(Was she effected by having to kill people?) All sympathy I could feel for the witch would immediately be blighted by my life’s situation, so I let that concern roll off my back.

“A hospital.” Surprisingly, Anesha looked to Jordie, having zipped his lips like a child!

“…” He didn’t respond, simply trembling in place while maintaining eye-contact.

“…Answer me, you twit!” Anesha shouted and stomped her boot!

“Huh?! Oh! Uh…y-you want a hospital?”

“Was that not what I said, you daft man?”

“There’s a hospital in town. It’s less than a half an hour by van from here, and our truck’s close by.” BB spoke up!

“Oh? Am I to assume you will be transporting us?” Walking right by Jordie, disappointing him, Anesha turned her attention to BB.

“Yeah. We’ve got to get Bobbie looked at too, and my mom’s a nurse there. So, we can get a little priority and…secrecy if you want.” A grin formed on the beautiful witch’s face.

“Your name?”

“Bernie Begum. Everyone calls me BB.” Extending his hand for a shake, that smile flipped into a frown.

“Put that away, and do not consider touching me.” BB did exactly that, not needing even the smallest amount of context or further explanation! “Bernie, was it? You do seem competent at the very least. We shall be in your care.”

“I’m Bobbie!” The older brother of the Mack Attack team jumped in, still holding his own injured shoulder. His attempt at a handshake too, was met with befuddlement by even me!

“…Does stupidity run in your family?” She asked Jordie, still recovering from embarrassment.

Part 2

Anesha and I sat in the back of Mack Attack’s spacious and well-furnished van. Despite sitting on the floor, a freshly cleaned rug beneath us and cushioned pads offered comfortable stability. Comparing our van to theirs was like going from a cheap motel to a five-star resort, and I was bubbling with envy!

During Bramble’s time in the caves an odd camaraderie was fostered between the dogman and hill ogre. We bid them farewell as the familiar went about absorbing the seed’s mana left behind, not worrying for his safety. “We’ll get you guys there soon, so just chill in the back, okay?” BB had all but taken over as the defacto leader and liaison with Anesha.

“Excellent, Bernie. Now if you would, I need time to meditate.” Anesha and my seats were close to each other, uncomfortably so. Fearing my shirtless body could brush her side, I back away slightly. I didn’t want to be launched out of the cabin by that touch-phobic witch. “Do not move, fool. I will absorb your mana.”

“You will?” She’d never done it before. (I must reek of mana right now.) Arguing with her would’ve been impossible, so I just tried my best to maintain our personal space.

Anesha closed her eyes; fading into meditation so deeply that if the witch wasn’t sitting right beside me, I’d have lost track of her. “So…” Jordie chimed in, having remained respectfully silent while sitting in a seat opposite us. “You guys had one hell of a fight, bro.”

“Tell me about it. I…I won in the end.” Bittersweet victories were becoming my norm, which made me crave something less hollow. “Sorry. I’m just a tiny bit…”

“Tired? I get you bro, trust me. When me and the boys work the soup kitchens, we end up dead tired…kinda a bad comparison, huh?” His laugh was big and genuine.

“You guys work soup kitchens? I didn’t know that.”

“Gotta’ give back, bro! Plus, charity work is its own reward, right?” I hated being envious of Jordie Mack. He was more deserving of my admiration, but that little piece of pettiness helped me maintain the delusional idea of competition between our channels.

Warm liquid dripped onto my arm. I looked down, seeing blood droplets. When I tracked them back; it was Anesha’s that had sprung a leak! She remained deep in her meditation, even with blood pouring down her chin! “Holy shit! Anesha! Are you okay?!”

“Silence! And do not move. I am forcing the seed’s mana to internalize!” Her face turned red with veins flared up around the temples. Unaware of the process, I wasn’t sure if she’d normally be in such obvious distress while internalizing mana. We continued on in silence until reaching the hospital. Once finished, Anesha basically collapsed onto the van’s floor! “Go, make it quick.” Lethargically waving her hand, the witch couldn’t even sit up right while barking orders. “Leave your shirt and coat! I care not if you walk through the hospital in your undergarments; your clothes reek of mana.” I kept on my pants.

After masterfully avoiding explanations of my injuries, by beating around the bush until the doctor got tired of asking, I got a cast for my arm. Other procedures to address the various wounds across my body were also heavily urged, but ultimately rejected. As soon as the doctor turned their head, I stuffed stained rags, sheets, and bandages in the operating room into my pockets. (I’ll burn all these as soon as I get the chance.) Cleaning up my blood and containing the seed’s mana was more stressful than anything else that night. (That should handle the cleanup. The bill didn’t bleed me totally dry too! Mom’s health insurance comes in handy every once in a while.) The doctor’s office charged me and sent me on my way.

Outside, the nightlife hadn’t subsided. Even with our deadly battle only a few miles away, Whispering Hills remained festive. Pedestrians drunkenly danced about from bar to bar, while others revved the engines of their muscle cars and motorcycles. The city’s raucous mood was ceaseless! It was reassuring to know that life would always move on; at the same time, knowing it could do so without me ate at my heart. Across the water though, Gold River looked nearly deserted in contrast. Only a few lights shined, and hardly any sounds from the peninsula could hope to pierce the booming riverside town’s mixture of music and partying. On my way back to the van’s hiding spot, that being the parking lot of a closed strip-mall, people around my age zoomed across the Gold River-Whispering Hills bridge toward the parties. Seemed like Whispering Hills was the party spot for all the young adults in the area.

“Fate, bro! Over here!” Jordie called from down the embankment. Doing my best to stumble downhill, I joined the group just as Bobbie Mack had also returned with his arm in a sling; we almost matched. Anesha still was laid out in their van’s back. “She said to give her a few more minutes, bro.” I had no idea that internalizing mana took such a toll on Magekin.

“Are you okay, Anesha?” She rolled to her side. Through bloodshot eyes and with a groan, the witch didn’t bother sitting up while speaking.

“Forcing mana to internalize faster is already exhausting, lo’ doing it with the seed feels akin to forcing an icicle through one’s veins. Does that sate your constant lust for edification?”

“…I feel like you’re reading my mind sometimes, but I guess I’m just really obvious with how I’m thinking.” I conceded. “Oh, got the claws off!” Another mission accomplished. Between seeing the nurse and the doctor, I’d worked my fingers under my shoes and dragged all the bark out of my flesh. “It hurt like hell, but I got them all out.” Wrapped in a bloody cloth, five pieces of talon shaped petrified tree bark radiated cold air. “So, what are these? Before they just were strong and sturdy, now there’s…something weird. They’re cold.”

“Cold? Hand them to me.” Still within the dirty rags, I handed off the discarded talons. Anesha just laid on her shoulder looking over the claws with only slight intrigue.

“You’ll want to make sure they don’t touch your skin. I think they work like dry ice or something. They instantly froze Bryn’s water magic as soon as they made contact.”

“Hmm.” And she didn’t listen! It was only a prick of the finger, but Anesha touched a claw to her index finger…and nothing happened. “I have my reservations about saying this, however, these claws, why did you not use them since the sporusis battle?”

“Ripping out my nails to make them come out sucks…and now, there’s something weirder about them. They’ve got a weird…aura.”

“A weird aura? Would you say they cause a wavering simply by existing near them?”

“Yeah, I felt it, bro!” Jordie loudly chimed in, causing Anesha to thumb her temples in pain!

“Idiot. Fate, as the seed grows stronger, your abilities shall too. Those claws are similar to legends of trees which grow within the frozen lakes of the underworld. Spirits are skewered upon their branches and entangled in their roots, freezing for all eternity; suffering beyond the point that all screams leave them…or so they say.” Ominous words evocative of that sensation the talons gave off. “Away from you and the seed, these branches are nothing more than petrified bark. They do not create mana, nor hold any, they’re lifeless. Mayhap even anti-life.” Another thing to consider with the seed’s ever-growing power, which brought a thought to mind.

“What about that blast of energy from the fight with the sporusis? I haven’t been able to do that since, at all.”

“I do not know. It was a buildup of mana, and the aftermath left the swamp more saturated than any murky water or noxious gas could. It took Bramble many visits and long hours after that battle to cleanse the swamp. Even so, trace amounts of the seed’s mana remained. Presumably you can perform it again, lo’ it would require your own personal intervention. You facilitated it and can do so once more.”

“I…don’t think I will.” Just doing that mana blast before had destroyed almost all my teeth, the tendons in my jaws, roasted my throat, and charred my tongue. Recovery took longer than any other injury I’d ever sustained, so I wasn’t in any rush to reuse it. “Think I’ll stick to the kicks.”

“Fair.” Anesha handed me back my claws. Without bothering to sit up, still, she then turned her attention to Jordie Mack and his crew. “First off; you, idiot, strip.”

“Me? Bro?!” Obvious confusion struck the group. I had suspected something like that was going to happen, honestly. Jordie helped me to their van, and I’d basically rolled around in the dirt with him.

“Yeah, so…since you probably got some of my blood on your clothes, you’ll have to dump them, clean yourself, and probably burn them. Sorry, I know it sucks—”

“No prob!” Before I could even finish my apologies, Jordie was down to nothing but his expensive designer sneakers! “This good?” Beaming like nothing happened, the upbeat video maker stood proud, bare-assed in the woods.

“…I am not sure if I should praise you or be pensive of further involvement with such individuals.” Irony seemed to escape Anesha. “That look on your face, what nasty remark has popped into that perverse mind, Fate?”

“Me?! N-No! I was…just…does he have to burn everything? I’m pretty sure those are expensive.”

“Don’t worry about it, bro! I owe you my life…hm? Oh! Pinky!” Approaching from a bush, the squonk hopped up to its friend with glee! It was an odd and sweet scene. A six-foot tall, well-built, good looking, blond man in nothing but his sneakers and his fat, short, wrinkly, gray pig, kangaroo monster joyously embracing!

“Jordie, man, here. At least put on some pants.” BB, proving himself reliable again, handed Jordie a pair of shorts to put on. “So…Anesha, what’s next?” Bobbie sulked in the van’s front seat, disliking that he was being excluded by Anesha.

“Return us to the old hunter’s home. Fate, direct them.” That was a shock.

“You mean we’re staying here?” I’d expected that Anesha would want to move. With all the commotion between our battles, eyes being drawn toward Gold River was inevitable.

“Think. You are battered beyond belief, Bramble is still drawing in the mana from your fight, and I need time to process the seed’s mana. We would be starkly at a disadvantage should we come across any battle whatsoever.” All true. “We have a decision to make. Either we stay here longer, potentially bringing the other 2 Magekin our way, or we go on the offensive again. Should we chase after them, there is still the possibility of apprehending them before they are prepared to face us; lo’, we shall not have the time to be fully ready nor healed.”

“…” I had to consider the next move carefully. (I don’t want to put anyone else in danger, but if I go charging along with my arm and body the way they are, I’m as good as dead. There are no guarantees. A mistake could end up costing me, or someone else, their life.) We’d experienced the smallest fraction of success, but getting too full of ourselves was a horrible idea. “I think we should stay.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I’m still healing, and if I don’t know how long that will take. Plus, rushing Bramble and you along would be a bad idea. We need to heal up as much as possible before another fight with Magekin! Um…you agree, right?”

“I do. In fact, that is in line with my thoughts…more or less.” There was more behind that statement than I knew at the time. “But yes, we shall return to Arnold’s home. Drive us, Bernie.”

“Right-o!” We all returned to the van, and BB noticed one of his stars in a huff. “Um…what’s wrong Bobbie?”

“Tch!” He sucked his teeth, emphasizing his discontent. “It’s just this is the second time we’ve made a big trip, and nothing came of it. First the train yard, and now this! We got a channel to run, right? Hey, Jordie, let us film the little monster!” The second Bobbie turned around in his seat to properly lay eyes on the squonk, it disappeared into a mist of tears and sweat. “Ugh! Well…how about you, goth girl?” He referred to Anesha! “How about you join us on a ghost hunt or for some challenge videos? I bet the audience would love ya’!

“Film me and I shall rend flesh from your bones.” Simple, but effective. “I do not wish for the world to have footage of me, as of now. Someday soon, you shall all know me, but as…” She paused. A frog in her throat, or cat got her tongue, neither felt correct. The witch had filled out a test sheet, and just before handing it in, realized she wanted to change every single answer; maybe that was right. “A goddess.” I’d never heard her say it so…feebly.

Part 3

We arrived at Arnold’s home. The distinctly silent and lonely dwelling was comforting, as I couldn’t feel a single prying eye laying on our backs. “It’s pretty late. How do we get in without waking him?” I hadn’t bothered to get Arnold’s phone number and felt wrong waking up an old man by banging on his door in the dead of night. Though I had reservations, I elected to calmly, and respectfully, knock lightly on the door.

“Wake yourself, you codger!” Anesha booted the door!

“Huh? Oh, ya’ kids made it back.” And Arnold answered without issue!

“Did you expect us not to?” The two had somehow matched their awkward personalities.

“Gotta’ expect the worst every time. That way, ya’ don’t get surprised. Anyway, if ya’ coming in, come in. Don’t waste the air conditioning.” Anesha simply walked by the old Native American hunter, taking a few seconds to unlace her boots, grunting and rolling her stiff shoulders along the way. “You kids with them? I ain’t got no more rooms, ya’ hear?”

“Oh, no! They’re just dropping us off!” Arnold looked to the Mack Attack crew. I quickly stepped in to keep from upsetting our already gracious host! “Thanks again, guys.” Though Bobbie was still pouting, Jordie and BB smiled back.

“No prob, bro! Hey, if you need us, hit me up! Send a DM; I started following your channel’s page, so we can message!” The younger brother yelled back, waving as they drove up a quiet wooded night road and out of sight.

“…Looks like ya’ made it back, kid. Good job.”

“Heh! Thanks.” For once in a long time, I felt accomplished. I walked through the front door and immediately felt my body droop with adrenaline leaving me! My shoulder, knees, hips, and arms suddenly weighed more than any sporusis body or concrete ceiling.

“Fate.” Anesha called from the steps. She’d pulled off her jacket, and boots, showcasing reddish bruises swelling on her pale skin. “…Tomorrow will bring challenges, some we cannot prepare for, so sleep well tonight. You did acceptably, lo’, that should not inflate your ego.” Off she went to shower, I assumed.

The evening ended. I won my battle. Bryn Wooton was defeated, and I’d protected BB, and both Mack brothers. In turn, half of our intended targets had finally been culled, and dark tides receded. Yet, the waves that would crash against the shores in turn would be devastating! Anesha and I hadn’t realized how mired our paths were becoming, and I hadn’t noticed how lost my own ‘partner’ was becoming.

End of chapter 38