Tread Lightly – Among Monsters And Men

Swimmer - Very fast in water and water rejuvenates the user, healing both wounds and fatigue. Commonly appears among sea creatures and Mermoa.

Priest - Able to cast simple Ether prayers, Heal, Rejuvenate, Purify, etc. Common among Hierophant Bears and Clerical Wights.

-Excerpt from the Prime Sigils Manual.

The ground disappears beneath my feet so quickly as my body groans in denial of the Ether I’m flooding it with. I move so fast that I almost don’t react in time to attack the man. I jump and slam my knee into the man’s back and as he reels and falls forward, I slip the blood-wire around his neck. Thanking my even further enhanced physical precision that allows me to pull off this absolutely inhuman feat, I slam the man into the ground and tighten the blood-wire around his neck.

I tighten it as hard as I possibly can. And boosted my Physical Strengthening, especially this stronger version, I pull very tight. But it’s only tight enough to stop him from screaming, not from fighting back.

The man is on his stomach and is being pressed into the dirt by the knee I have slammed into his back. Unable to turn and look at his assailant, the man with a leather jacket that I’m only now noticing, swings an elbow backward at me.

Still surprised by my successful takedown, I don’t notice the elbow. It slams into my side like a freight train, knocking the wind out of me. The shock makes me lose focus on my current skills that I am supplying Ether to, and I am only able to salvage and continue Physical Strengthening just barely before the man acts again.

Even with my blood-wire around his neck and knee into his back, the man, with an obvious Ether-enhanced strength, pushes off the ground and stands with my still hanging on his back. Only in this position do I realize that this man is an entire foot taller than me, but this just makes me pull the wire even tighter in hopes it will drop him.

It does not.

Unable to make any louder noise than a quiet grunt, the man flails for a moment. Then while struggling to breathe he tries to figure out what to do. And then he makes a decision.

The man whose back I have a knee wedged into stands tall and holds me tightly.

Oh shit.

I feel him begin to leverage himself forwards, and as he does so, I wrap my legs around him for stability and leverage before I tighten on his neck with my wire. Then he does the last thing I expect. He jumps back into the air and slams himself, and me, into the hard dirt beneath us. And because I am on his back, I take most of the force.

For a split second, my vision goes white and my mind goes numb as I withstand the inhuman crash that is impacting my body. And when it recovers enough for me to see I realize that the man is continuously slamming me into the ground. I panic for a moment until I realize that even in my shock, I never let go or untightened the wire. I subconsciously kept it going.

Without Physical Strengthening this man might have just taken me out in one hit. This realization makes me focus as hard as I can on two things now. My flowing Ether and the wire that I’m wrapping around his neck.

Every time the man slams me into the ground, my world goes white, and just before the next impact, it recovers. I marshall all the energy I can in my body just to increase the flow of Physical Strengthening. I hope it can protect my body a bit more from this beating and take this guy out faster.

And so for the next half a minute or so, it’s an endurance contest. Me and my blood-wire around this guy’s throat versus him and his insane brute strength slamming me into the coarse dirt beneath.

He slams me so many times that I become unable to breathe by the fifth, so I just close my eyes and tighten the wire so much that my hands begin dripping with blood. I don’t know whether it’s the blood-wire breaking or my own, but I just keep holding it with all my strength.

And by the time I can no longer count the times I’ve been slammed and my skull begins vibrating in acute pain, I feel a heavy weight on my body.

I did it. I finally truly helped Edmund. This guy was so strong. At least a 2nd Sigil right? My relief makes me lose focus on my Physical Strengthening. And I instantly feel the comedown. Intense pain wreaks havoc on my body which is followed by a deep enervation and exhaustion. I gasp, but cannot even get a full breath due to the weight on my chest.

And so, unable to move, I just lay underneath the dead man as I look at him.

He looks like a rough and brutal man. Scars all over his face and hands. But what really draws my attention is the thick line of circling his neck. The blood-wire did that. I did that. I struggle to flow Ether in my body as it begins to resist my will, but I push through and activate Chain Eyes.

And I don’t know why, but this time, I feel so much less guilt. Maybe because of the murder not being worthless. Not being pointless. The last time just felt like desperation, but this time was to help Edmund.

I wish to know at least a little about the man I just killed. Maybe that will lower the guilt even further. With my new sight, I see something new. There are five chains on this man as well and they appear a tad bit more solid than mine and orange. So he was a 2nd Sigil. Or at least probably. 1st is red, 2nd is orange, and 3rd is yellow. Just make sense.

The only question is what are 7th, 8th, and 9th. Because we run to the limit of a rainbow which is purple at 6th right? I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll find out someday.

After laying still for a few moments in my exhaustion and thoughts, I hear some fighting and hollers in the distance by the campfire that quickly dies down.

Then, another minute later, I hear a familiar pair of boots approaching. And a familiar voice.

“I know yur’ not dead Wyatt. I can sense yur’ damn blood. You barely lost any. Get up.”

I try to reply while being squished, and it comes out muffled.

“Can’t. Lost handle on the skill. Too tired. Huge migraine.”

I hear him sigh and can even imagine Edmund shaking his head.

“Damnit boy. I told you not to drop it. The first use is always the worse. Normally lays newbies like you out for a day or so.”

And after his complaint, I feel the weight on my body drop as the dead man is lifted off of me. Edmund whistles in surprise before putting out his hand.

“Whowee. You did quite a number on him. Look at that neck! You about tore it off. Did you increase yur’ strength further?”

I nod as I clasp his hand and am nearly instantly pulled to my feet. And just as fast as I’m pulled up, I begin to fall back down as my wobbly legs won’t keep me up. Then before I actually drop, a hand catches me by the shoulder.

“Damn boy, that’s impressive. You went to what, the second step? Maybe even third to do that. Yur’ damn Sigil gave you the Ether limits of a 2nd Sigil. You might be able to just push it to a greater version from pure volume. What a monster. Now, this is most certainly a bad idea, but it’s the only one that will keep you on yur feet. Restart Physical Strengthening. It’s always worse to use it while still suffering from yur’ last use, but well, yur’ gonna drop anyway. Why not do it even harder.”

I barely grumble out a reply.

“Okay, I’ll try.”

Then I spend the next minute doing my best to ignore my splitting headache to restart a small but not subtle flow of Ether back around my body. Instantly I feel a bit of relief and power return, not quite as much as the first time, though that’s obviously due to my overuse. Not just that, but the pain within my bones and body recedes quite a bit. Now able to stand, I look back to the campfire to see the aftermath of the Bloodhound.

It looks like a tornado of blood passed through and I can barely stand the sight. It reminds me of when Ma had me butcher our pigs one year for food, but oh, so much worse. There are several men torn apart and cut in half. And when I notice a woman’s head that was thrown into a campfire I look away, back to Edmund.

I voice my disgust.

“Did you have to kill them like that?”

Edmund looks at me. Then looks at the bodies. And he turns back to me with undisguised melancholy.

"You ain’t ever been outnumbered before like that kid. And there are no easy and nice kills in war. And that’s was this is. A war against the demons, monsters, and maniacs in this world. Sometimes it gets brutal. Especially when yur’ like me and yur’ main tool and weapon is blood. I just keep myself from using other people’s. Hard to use it if they ain’t willing. Affects the mind. Yur’ just gonna have to get used to it sadly.”

I nod in understanding before walking away from the massacre. I don’t even think he needed my help. Then, I see him stumble in the corner of my eye. As quickly as my body allows I move over to him and try to help.

“You alright old man?”

He shakes my hand off. But I can see how pale his face is. He used too much of his own blood fighting. He did need my help.

“I’m fine Wyatt. Just a bit tired. Thank you for taking that big ol’ guy down. He was definitely their vice leader. Would’ve been quite the hassle for me.”

Again, I nod, but this time lying. I know he’s not tired. I’ve felt extreme blood loss before and it’s not fun. Siphons away all your energy and thoughts. We gotta find those Hunters he mentioned soon so the old man can rest for a bit.

“Where are those Hunters you said you sensed?”

Edmund looks around in confusion then he answers.

“I don’t know. They’re gone. That’s odd. Even if they died, I’d still sense them fading. Unless…”

Frustrated by him not finishing his thought, I blurt out.

“Unless what?”

He looks at me and continues. 

"Unless they were cloaked somehow. Whether that’s good or bad I dunno. My nose is quite good, but not infallible. I’ll keep my senses up for a bit longer to see if they reappear. Anyways here take this, holster in yur’ boot. Never know when you need an extra or hidden gun.”

Edmund pulls out a small four-shot snub-nosed pistol and hands it to me. I take it and do as he says. It’s a single action, so I don’t really have to worry about accidental fire while hidden. But just to be safe, I take out the fourth bullet in the chamber that the hammer rests on like Ma always told me to. Don’t even want to risk it.

I didn’t see that snub-nose earlier. Where did he get it? I subconsciously glance over at the still-lit campfire and I get my answer.

So what’s next? We gotta find those other Hunters soon. Even if they’re cloaked somehow like Edmund said we should still look for them right? I voice my opinion to Edmund as he wraps a bandage on his right forearm.

“So… what do we do now? Are we gonna go look for the Hunters you sensed? Because I know I’m tired, and you look like a pale ghost.”

Edmund just looks around as if he’s sensing our surroundings like a dog with a good sense of smell. Then he turns back to me.

“Yeah. That’s probably a good idea. We won’t last quite much longer before exhaustion will take us. The last I smelled of them was towards the northeast. Before we go though, you need any more of my blood-bandages?”

More of those healing wonders? Of course. Maybe it’ll lower a bit of my pain. And it won’t hurt to ask for more right?

“Yes, please. And could I have a few extra? You know I get hurt pretty often.”

Edmund snorts with some modicum of laughter before pulling out three wraps of bandages and tossing them to me.

“Yes, yes you do.”

I fumble and catch one, but drop the others due to my body’s current all-encompassing weakness. Then I bend over and pick up the two I dropped as I hear Edmund chuckle nearby. I go to wrap one of the bandages around my torso underneath my roughed-up shirt. When I pull up my shirt to look at the damage, I gasp.

My torso, sides, and hips are covered in blue and black bruises that have already formed. Compared to the injury, I feel very little pain, only a dull throb throughout my whole body. I guess Physical Strengthening reduces pain as well. Or am I just flowing in too much adrenaline to feel these bruises?

Either way, I suck in a quick breath and wrap the incredible healing bandages around myself, trying to cover each of the darkest and worse bruises. Even as I put on the bandages I can feel the dull pain lessen. When I finish and pull my shirt back down, I hear a snicker and the click of a lighter. Thinking it’s Edmund laughing at me, again, I turn to look to my side.

And there is a smiling man lighting a cigarette while leaning against a tree. He is wearing dark clothes, and brown boots, and has a black bandana covered in clouds around his neck but not over his face.

After lighting the cigarette, but before taking a hit of it, he looks me dead in the eyes and acknowledges me, using my name that few know besides those that lived near Ma and me, and of course, Edmund.

“So, you’re Wyatt Graves. Don’t look like much. Certainly not like the monster your father is. But that’s how you all start right? Before you descend into madness.”