Big tallow candles were used to create a fire barrier at the mountain’s foot, right at its sole entrance. This was all done by William, in hopes that the giant flames would scare off the ferals. Just like they had once frightened Lucifer.
All of this effort was done to render the carved out passage useless so that the ferals would be forced to scale the risky mountainsides. A journey that would take them days and maybe for some it would mean the end. As for those avian species that weren’t presumably wiped out by Kaibalac, well, the only thing that awaited them would be a sword and a tired William.
Said brave soul, had just finished off the fire barrier. He had done it frantically as he feared the arrival of multiple nasty beasts. Alas, the many people they felled in the other tunnel must have been enough to keep them at bay…
Once the flames were fed to last at least a day, he traveled all the way up and found Thalgar where he had left him: Unconscious and equipped with an extra arm.
Said arm was gaining a bluish hue. It was never supposed to be there and thus it was not accurately connected to Thalgar’s blood vessels. Without access to the necessary supply of oxygen and nutrients, it was slowly dying off; making itself a perfect vessel for infections. An infection that could turn out grave enough to send even someone like Thalgar to his grave.
William glared at Kaibalac’s remaining body and wondered if its flesh was perhaps poisonous? But then again, what poison makes someone grow a third arm!?...
“No matter…”, he grumbled while preparing his sword for a downward hack. Before he let it sever the additional arm, he mused over how he should be nicknamed the butcher for hacking so many limbs off today… *CHOP*. The arm was cleanly hacked off.
Now, he just needed to stop the bleeding… William went down for a closer look to wrap a bandage around the area. But was surprised to see that the skin had sealed itself half-shut. Now it merely resembled a rough scrape across Thalgar’s hip. Nonetheless, William decided to wrap the wound. He used one of the fallen’s shirt as a bandage. And there! The job was done.
Quickly William retrieved from the patient. For while he bandaged the man’s stomach he saw not only flees gleefully jump around but crawling blood-sucking ticks as well. Unfortunately, the insects and crusty blood wasn’t the worst part of it... This person stank! Like to a shameful degree... Even for a roaming rogue!
A safe distance away from the man-beast, William commented, “Maybe, all along it was his hygiene that made him an outcast?... Err!”.
Almost as if he had said a prayer to the gods of purity, a shower from the clouds appeared to cleanse the wretch. Dowsing everybody on set. It was already cold up here to begin with, so as a precaution William forced himself to drag the corpse-like Thalgar ‘indoors’.
The dense clouds up above were mysterious and looming. They kept William’s attention for a while and with good reason. There was a flimsy darkness that danced within them…
Reluctantly William put Lucifer down, also a few meters inside of the cave entrance. Then he drew his sword and allowed his inner drums of battle to commence.
No matter if his whole being was weary, he had to welcome the winged intruders. So, step by step he approached the center of the flattened top. There he stood ready. His eyes were no longer wandering the heavens but focused on one sole spot of stone. They were left aside for later, as his ears were now used as his main sensors.
William had prepared himself mentally to face them alone. For he only had two options to choose from: He could either die here and now whilst fending off the enemy bravely, or he could flee like a coward and be torn apart somewhere in the dark cave-systems. Now without lights to guide him...
From the sound of basking wings, he could assume that there were three foes up high. They were not working as a group, this he could confirm when they one by one selfishly dove down on their living target. All of them were hoping to carve out the one they truly sought. But instead, they found that they were not the bullies. For one at a time, they were efficiently slain before their gritty claws could even touch William.
With all three dead around him, William sighed. Glad that these dinosaurs were merely what he would consider small-fry… The rain continued to wash out the stained stone floor. And then the heavy shower abated into a small drizzle. Leaving behind it a pond of reflection.
Inside of it was captured the image of someone worth admiring. William smiled at his reflection, not at all disturbed at how he looked, or rather… At how she looked… The golden sword was sheathed, its gleam not to be forgotten...
He was about to head in for some shelter, when the image of one of the sprawled out creatures, made him remember an important lesson he was recently told. And thus he quickly thought to himself: I should totally try to absorb this trios spirit energy!
It wasn’t as if Thalgar or Lucifer was going to wake up soon anyway... That was what he half expected… Thus, William used the remaining rain’s calmness to focus on his inner self. He searched and searched for the feel of his own spirit energy, but it was hard to find. So, he sat down in a relaxing pose. A pose that allowed him to rest and thus concentrate better.
“...!”, William huffed. He had found it at last. Now he just needed to shrink it and allow the foreign energy in?... With folded brows he tried, but to no avail. His spirit energy refused to shrink equally.
It felt as if he was trying to make a smooth ball out of hardened clay… But the experience was not fruitless. The few times he managed to create a void, he could feel outside energy seep into the space. This confirmation proved that Leonard’s teachings weren’t a lie but a viable technique. He just had to practice it more if he wanted to take others’ energies as his own...
Even if he should continue to practice on the spot it was too late, the energy from the trio had already dissipated. So, disappointed, William left the pond, unable to nail the process down on his first try…
His downcast eyes slowly moved up, the closer he got to the entrance. He was prepared to make a fire since his soaked clothes and the mountain winds were beginning to become a lethal mix for him. But he forgot all about those plans when his eyes connected with Thalgar’s…
Beyond his expectations, the other human was already conscious again.
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