Chapter 46: Chapter 46
His spinal cord had been severed. His ribs had been broken. His lungs were torn apart. With wounds as exaggerated as his, he should have been dead instantly. Yet, he wasn't. Out of all the damning injuries he had, his body focused on mending his lungs and the channels through which they passed. All else was ignored, other than slowly repairing his spinal cord.
He was thankful for that. Though he could heal from most wounds, losing oxygen would kill him like any other. His heart needed oxygen to function, after all.
Jeanne, who was the least banged up, carried him back to his tent and immediately set a fire at his urging. Dane's lips were blue even though he was using Flynn's charms.
With the fire crackling in full force, Dane shivered, huddling up in layers of blankets. They were all tense. The panther could return at any moment, Dane thought, piercing the veil and anxiously looking around. It was an oversight.
Through chattering teeth, he said, "Since I thought that no creature would dare try finding prey in the night, I did not think there was a need to assign watches at night…I was wrong. From now on, each of us will take two-hour shifts during the nights."
"It's our fault too," Flynn said, cradling his stomach with gritted teeth.
"Are you okay?" Dane asked, concerned.
Flynn nodded. "No offense, buddy, but why aren't you dead yet?"
Dane laughed and then fell into a fit of coughs, unable to stop. "My Aspect makes me hard to kill," he said between them.
Jeanne shuffled between the two of them, helping them ingest painkillers and various medicines concocted by healers from his Clan. Dane refused. He could not take it when he was so injured. Besides, he would heal just fine anyway.
Silence ensued for some time and then it reigned supreme. Dane fell asleep in the embrace of wool and the smell of burning wood turned to charcoal.
***
Dane woke to the chill of the lightless early morning, cold, numb, and somehow tingly. Immediately, he greeted the world with coughs and raspy breathing. Finding reprieve a while later, he looked down at himself beyond his flesh, bones, and the veil. His soul was squirming like a newborn getting accustomed to moving. In torturously slow fashion, the tendrils grew, inch by inch. He could still not transform.
The metal plate of his armor was broken and needed time to repair in the safety of his soul, so along with Flynn's spear, he had dismissed it before he nodded off to sleep. He had also confirmed with Flynn that the Basket Blade had been dismissed.
None of the man's amulets or chains had broken either. Dane felt the only thing lost in last night's encounter was his sanity. The agony inundated through every fiber of his being. He did not understand how he could feel pain where nothing existed.
It wasn't just the parts of his soul that remained that hurt, but even the portions of what was gone. It was like a void. Hungry and filled with nothingness that burned like hellfire. Unfortunately, the 'hellfire' did nothing to warm him.
He nodded at Jeanne, who was taking the first watch, and said, "I'm going out for a bit."
Jeanne looked at him oddly, baffled. "Why?"
"A shower," Dane said, smiling.
Due to the Myriad Vial, there was no lack of hot or cold water, resulting in the trio using it for baths. Two of them would leave their safe space in the mornings while one used the privacy to shower. Although used sparingly, there was even shampoo, soap, or shower gel.
With extra buildings around them, he finally had absolute privacy to cleanse himself! He was filthy. Dried blood and drool stuck to his skin and hair, with sand irritating his skin. His hair was dry and coarse. If Eliana saw him so battered, she would laugh at him till the end of days.
With his mind torn between two hells, Dane limped across the building to the crawlspace. Painfully lowering his body, he made his way through it.
Standing up weakly, he drew in a cold breath. Outside, the war of the dead still raged. The sun had not risen yet, of course. For some welcomed yet baffling reason, they avoided the ruins. That grace was the only thing keeping them alive.
The world seemed to shake as sand blew, with dark figures clashing deep inside. Dane squinted his irritant eyes as the sand assaulted them. He clung to the shadows, crept along the old, weathered stone, and found a sizable building not too far from the camp.
After finding a nice, dark corner to stand in, he summoned the Bandit's Whistle and blew at it, sealing all the sound within the building, and then he summoned the Myriad Vial. A glass teardrop vial the size of his palm manifested out of a shower of dancing sparks, and he willed it to turn hot.
Then, he summoned the Gargantuan Sack. He took out a bar of soap, shampoo bottle, and conditioner as quickly as he could, shivering. After returning the sack to his Soul Sea, he instantly dismissed his armor and trembled against the cold. Nude now, he upturned the vial and let a stream of steaming hot water fall on his numb skin. Breathing out deeply, Dane let the water warm him as he continued to tremble.
The blood and drool slowly lost their thickness, sliding off with the water. After a while, he reluctantly dismissed the memory and picked up the soap.
He used the soap to scrub himself thoroughly before summoning the water-producing memory again, cleaning himself. Subsequently, he used the shampoo and conditioner to clean out his hair.
Finally finished with his shower, he begrudgingly dismissed the water, hastily dried himself with a towel, and summoned the Keeper's Half-Plate, feeling the warmth of the water dissipating rapidly.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone