ELDRITCH NIGHT (Rough Draft)

Chapter 40: Chains that Bind

The pain was intense but was also satisfying. It was like the smoldering ache of torn and tired muscles after a good workout. It burned, and yet it relieved an itch that I didn't know I had. Energy poured through me with the intensity of a pump forcing hot water through cold veins, reinvigorating, and giving life to what I hadn't recognized as dead.

I screamed from surprise and from pain, but it was a quiet scream that barely passed my lips. My body shook, and my muscles felt fatigued and weak. My eyes couldn't focus, and everything around me became a haze of colors and spinning light.

"What is happening?" I asked.

"Quiet," said Telvy. "You're ruining my concentration. Do you think mana surgery is easy? You wouldn't want me to mess it up my first time, would you?"

I couldn't see her, but I heard a tisk as a faint and blurry form shook its head. "Could ruin my confidence for years."

"First tim..." I couldn't finish the sentence. Instead, I found myself retching as clutched at my stomach. "It burns."

As the pain increased it brought with it a feeling of strength and energy. My muscles felt twitchy and restless, like they needed to be used or else they might burst. My whole body began to vibrate as if building up to something, they energy was growing but it had no way to be released.

When it felt like I couldn't contain it anymore, it stopped as if nothing happened. I relaxed and slumped to the floor.

The first thing to return was my vision, but it was different than it had been a moment before. Everything was more vibrant, and I could see shades of color that hadn't been there before. Even the tiniest objects, such as the screws in the railings around the deck of the ship, could be seen in perfect clarity.

Strength flooded my limbs, returning to me a sense of confidence that I hadn't realized I had lost. The world had turned into a nightmare, and only the enhancements of the system had allowed me to face those terrors on equal ground.

Calibrating.... System Initializing. Basic Stats... Adjusting....

Lines of text scrolled down in front of my eyes. The words came fast, and I barely had time to pick out a few of them as they disappeared beneath my field of vision. I saw the first signs that my skills were returning when the blue glow of mana became visible in my hands.

I could feel and see the mana around and within me. The blue glow stood in sharp contrast to the deep black tinged with flickering red that represented the skeletal lines of eldritch energy that I had built up within me.

The air around me was almost empty of both types of energy, but Tyldy was like a beacon. The Peacekeeper mage was a raging inferno of blue and green flames that spun around her like a wild storm. It was a beautiful sight, but humbling. Every spell I had ever cast would not equal a tenth of the energy the woman held within her.

More notifications began to appear, but I set them aside for a moment to open my status screen. As the translucent screen appeared before me, I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding.

It was back. I was back.

Augustus Finn

Class: Hierophant of the Elder Ones

Level: 14 (3/11)

Health: 95

Stamina: 90

Mana: 204 (306)

Vitality: 21

Endurance: 18