Chapter 25 - Consequences
When Tect regained consciousness it was dark and dew had formed on the grass around him. At first he couldn't tell where he was, everything was black, then slowly the stars came into focus. Tect had never learned anything about constellations, but as he lay there unable to move he couldn't help but think how vast the universe must be. It took a few hours before Tect was able to move, when he did he was horrified, the shirt he was wearing was in tatters, and a large part of his chest was purple and black from bruising.
"Tect can you hear me now." Feelings of fear and regret radiate from the ring on Tect's right hand.
"Yes, but honestly I can barely focus through all of the pain I'm feeling." Tect grimaced as tears welled in his eyes, the effort needed to talk to Azulak was nearly more than he could take.
"I'm so sorry Tect, I honestly had no idea you would produce so much power. Most people get scared by the burning and punch too soon, I thought at worst you would break your hand."
"You thought I would break my hand and had me do it anyway? You sir are an asshole."
" I know Tect, I'm sorry. Honestly, I was hoping you succeeded but if not I was going to use it as an opportunity to teach you how to speed up healing using mana. Which I'm still going to show you because I'm afraid you may die if you don't."
"It hurts like hell, but why would I die?
"It hurts like hell on the outer edge of the wound, where the nerves are still alive. If you don't heal the nerves and blood vessels at the interior of the wound the flesh will die and begin to rot. I'd say you have a few more hours before the process starts, and a day at most before the damage is irreversible. Once it starts rotting it will poison you."
"Fantastic, just fantastic. At Least if I die here my family is safe. Maybe someday they will break the curse if they keep cultivating their physical abilities."
"Don't be such a shit. You have a massive amount of mana at your disposal, that is very clear now. All you have to do is concentrate the mana in the center of your wound about two inches below the surface of your skin. That's the most heavily damaged area. As you do I want you to visualize The renewal of spring rains, the scent of cool air, the smell of spring flowers. Anything that makes you think of new life and vitality."
"Fine, but if I die I want you to know. You're an asshole."
"Fine I'm an asshole, now get to visualizing."
Tect lay on the cool grass, his eyes closed, focusing all his mana into a ball just inside of his chest cavity. The ball was like water, it wanted to flow outward, it did not want to hold a shape, but Tect kept his concentration and stabilized it rather easily.
"Good, now visualize life and vitality."
Tect began thinking of spring rains, which lead him to thinking of his clan tilling soggy fields in spring when many of them would catch cold and end up sick.
Then Tect visualized the scent of cool air, except it was tinged with a sour earthiness. When spring came to the slave pens the goblins outhouses would begin to reek and new pits needed dug.
The Slave Pens never had flowers. Tect only got to see flowers on his way to work in the smithy and one of the few times he had been to Arnold and Julia's house. This caused him to think of those few humans whom he deeply cared for. Then the memory of his first time meeting baby Arnold, the look in the child's eyes when he saw Tect. He didn't know what a goblin was, he smiled at Tect and giggled. Julia let Tect hold Arnold, the little baby was massive in the still small goblins arms, and he couldn't stop the child from pulling on his ears. The smile on Arnold's face was the most beautiful thing Tect had ever seen.
"Yes, perfect hold that memory. It is imbuing the mana with the properties of revitalization."
Tect could feel a cooling tingle in the center of his chest that radiated outward. The feeling of pain had lessened, but Tect still couldn't move. It would be hours before he was capable of that. Still, Tect was fascinated by this healing process, it was nowhere near as powerful as the healing magics human priests were rumored to have, but it was something he could do so it was amazing to him.
"This is very good, it'll take a few days to get back to 100% but at this rate you'll definitely live."
"Just so you know… You're a horrible teacher. You should seriously consider how this turned out when you try to teach me things in the future. At the very least you could have warned me that over charging would lead to this. It probably would have still happened because I have no experience, but in the future it would be good information to have."
"I know, I'm sorry Tect. There is something you should know about yourself since I just found out myself. You have an unusually high mana capacity. If you were a human or an elf the best magic schools in the world would try to recruit you. The amount of power you put into that punch, if you were able to withstand it, would knock a dwarven steel gate from its hinges. If you trained for the next decade I think you would be a match for me when I was at my prime. Hell you may be able to kill me."
"Oh, perfect, once we get you a new body we can test that theory."
"Stop talking nonsense and concentrate on healing. It's going to be a long process to heal you, then we have to train that punch so you don't die."
Tect laid in the grass, the mana flowing into his wounded flesh started as tingle, but before long began to itch as his nerves regrew. Tect was still in pain but not nearly as bad, and laying here looking at the stars thinking of the only humans he considered family steeled his resolve. He had to train quickly. Arnold and Julia would be better off than a lot of the townsfolk, but if the food ran out, then their stores would make them a target for anyone desperate and hungry. Tect realized he needed to train quickly and go check on them. It had been a surprisingly short time since the goblins fled so the townsfolk would still be ok for some time. Hopefully they had managed to make some traps for the rats, and fish. The humans might not like it, but when you're close to death even rat meat tastes like a juicy fat steak.
A strange feeling was coming from Tect's ring, "They aren't all bad aye? It was the same way when the portals opened and all the refugees arrived. Most of them were just scared, there were more orphans than whole families, some had the horrible luck of stepping out of portals into deserts, or jungles. I think at final count 10% died within two days of arriving. Your ancestors did the best they could getting them sorted and settled. Hell some of the humans even started worshipping Kopal. In the end though, the Church of Lumnos, and even Lumnos himself couldn't resist the pull of jealousy. I think most people at the time just wanted to live quiet peaceful lives, It was only those who lusted for more power and higher status that brought about the downfall of the goblins. I think you should try to find peace where it can be found, but be careful who you trust."
"I will, Arnold and Julia are good people though. If I could I would like them to live here. I don't know enough about smithing to help my people advance in the skill so it would be nice to have Arnold here. I've been thinking about other skills we need to learn as well. Once we get out in the world again we will have to make some money to buy books on reading, writing, carpentry, so many things my people have never been allowed to learn."
"You're wise beyond your years Tect. I'm sure under your leadership your people will flourish."
Tect smiled, he didn't want to be leader any longer. His clan was better off with Moidra in charge. All Tect wanted to do was make up for all the years he failed to save his people, and all the lives that were lost.
The sun was just beginning to rise and Tect's wound was doing much better. The skin was still a sickly shade of green but was beginning to take on the emerald hue it once had. Tect began to roll to his side, the grass and stones beneath him had left deep imprints on his back. When the cool morning air hit them they burned but not terribly. Once he got his feet under him he slowly stood up. He was a bit wobbly and his chest and stomach hurt like hell, but he wasn't dead yet, and he was incredibly hungry. It took 20 long minutes to get back to his camp and when he did the thought of starting a fire gave him a headache so he took out the remainder of the star melon he ate before. After his long night of pain the sweet cool melon was the most amazing thing he'd ever eaten. Tect then crawled into his small tent and passed out.