Jaded Series (Books 1-2)

"No, Jin!" Karam yelled as he ran after her, limping slightly, but catching her in his arm before her head hit the ground. "Ray, help me, please!" he begged the Lover, who was staring in numb shock at the remains of the goblin that had almost killed him. "I need you to hold her and pull out the sword slowly while I cocoon the back, then the front."

Rayyan's head turned to look down at Jin bleeding out in Karam's arm. A brief moment of hesitation and conflict passed across his face before he finally moved and carefully took Jin into his arms, shifting to hold her in one while wrapping his hand around the sword's hilt. "Okay, just tell me when to pull," Rayyan said, looking much more determined now.

Karam nodded, placing his hand beneath Jin till he found the sword tip and said, "Alright, pull slowly." Rayyan did so, and once Kar could feel the blade disappear, he said, "Stop. Okay, just give me a few seconds." He quickly channeled his [Regenerative Cocoon] around the wound. His [Lifesense] could tell she also had a bleeding Bane on her, and the other cuts that were slowly closing on their own due to his [Healing Aura] and the [Refreshing Mist] still surrounding them, and his little lantern and candle providing additional healing support.

"Alright, take it out completely," Kar prompted, moving his hand around her torso quickly as he bandaged the wound with the silky gauze. Then he leaned in closer till his face hovered above hers and he softly incanted, "Breath to breath, of life not death; This is not the end, may you breathe again." He softly blew onto her grimy and sweat-covered face using the long cooldown of his [Breath of Life] Spell that he saved for the most dire of moments, as it restored an extreme amount of Jin's health, mana, and stamina.

"Why isn't she waking?" Rayyan quietly asked. "I can still feel her Aura, so she's not dead, right?"

"She completely drained her mana and most of her stamina," he replied, able to sense the status effect that was still on her. "She won't wake from the Mana Exhaustion until her pool is full again. I think… I think she's going to be okay, though. I'm healing her faster than the Banes are leeching health." He nodded towards the satchel slung at Rayyan's hip, mostly hidden under the camouflaging cloak, and asked, "Please tell me the back-up potions didn't break when you fell. She needs one of the Magical Maladies Antidotes."

"Luckily, the vials that these come in are stronger than that," Rayyan replied, shifting awkwardly as he held Jin and reached into the satchel with the other hand. Karam did feel a slight pang of jealousy at the convenience of having more than one arm, but he knew by this point it was similar to how a person with two might find themselves wishing for more just because of the task at hand.

He recalled one time when his foster mom was changing an infant and telling him in her frustration, "See? Even two hands aren't always enough for a job! Trying to hold Four still while wiping this mess on their bum and needing to grab the powder for this rash and the pacifier I left on the nightstand there! Now, let me borrow your hand and grab those for me, will you?"

Karam shook the memory from his head as he refocused, providing the same kind of help he had back then, popping the cork off the vial Rayyan pulled out, then he noticed how the Lover's hand was shaking. "Hey, you okay? Why don't you let me pour that?" he offered, holding his steadier hand out.

Rayyan looked between the trembling vial and the large outstretched hand for a long moment before handing over the potion. "Sorry," Ray whispered. "I guess I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed by it all. I think that's the closest I've come to death, even with the Kraken just the other day… It's like we're cheating by still being alive somehow."

Karam just nodded in agreement as he carefully poured the antidote into Jin's mouth, waiting for her to swallow in her sleep without drowning her in it. Technically, he didn't need her to swallow it all. Most potions just needed direct contact with a person to begin working. Sometimes, it would even be better to pour something like a healing potion directly onto a wound to make the effects more targeted, but drinking it usually ensured more consistent distribution throughout the body and maximized potency.

He relaxed more once he sensed the antidote take effect, removing the Bane and allowing the last of her wounds to close fully. An unexpected weight on his shoulder made him jump, but he relaxed again when Clover said, "Oh, hey, sorry to startle you, my Mountain Minion. Looks like you took care of things here pretty well, even if my Primary Minion pushed herself too hard."

"Where's Alim?" he asked, remembering who else was missing. Turning to look back to where the enemy base was, he spotted Alim beside the goblin that was still pinned to the ground by Jin's spear. Karam saw Alim lift what looked like a stone hatchet over his head and quickly looked away before he heard the strangled cry of the dying goblin, quickly cut off by the wet squelch of the stone failing to smoothly slice through flesh, yet forcing its way through anyway.

"We really need to buy him a proper weapon," Clover said from his shoulder, still watching the gruesome display he had no desire to add to his growing list of nightmares.

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Rayyan's face went rather pale as he made the mistake of watching. "I really want to get off this disgusting floor," the Lover murmured, finally looking away as he covered his mouth. "I don't understand why I feel like I'm going to vomit without an actual stomach."

A rumble and sound of distant splashing pulled both Rayyan and Karam's attention in the direction that Hadia and Liraz had run off to. Even Alim could feel the shudders in the soft ground and turned to see another Cultivating Guardian Home slowly making its way towards them.

Karam felt a shudder of fear course through him, wondering if that was the Fighters' base moving towards them, just like Pax had warned them all. Perhaps they had moved up their timeline? He quickly checked his bracelet, checking the notifications they had learned to silence, and confirming the boss had been defeated. There's no way the Fighters could have reacted that fast to the alert, could they?

Alim was running towards them, signing quickly, but Karam managed to keep up. "Head for the boss! Go through the portal where they can't follow us!"

Looking back at Jin lying unconscious in Rayyan's lap, he wondered if he should toss her over his shoulder to move her, since Rayyan still seemed like he might be sick at any moment. Alim fixed that question as he moved to take Jin himself, putting an arm behind her back and under her knees to lift her from Rayyan. Gesturing with just a tilt of his head, Alim urged them to follow as he ran back to where they had battled the Goblin Chief.

Karam and Rayyan both followed after him, taking in the sight of the transformed tree in surprise. It resembled a welcoming rest area to lounge in, serving as a mocking symbol of a community that should work in harmony with one another. Something they've definitely not been able to find within the tower, with friends being killed and feeling constantly hunted.

"Kar! Take my hand! I'm not sure if it'll put me in with you all!" Rayyan yelled as they approached the portal.

He turned to take the Lover's outstretched hand and pulled him through the portal together, stepping into a familiar-looking round room of white marble and alcoved walls with a pedestal in the center of it. Releasing Ray's hand, he moved to help Alim as he moved to an alcove to set Jin down.

"Are you going to trigger the pedestal?" he signed to Alim, remembering what happened the last time they were in a treasure room.

"No. I want to wait for Hadia and Liraz to join us. I just wanted us to be safe in case that base belonged to an enemy," Alim signed back, sitting back himself as he tried to collect himself more. "I'm worried that if we leave, we might get ambushed if those were enemies, but I'm also worried about leaving Dia and Li out there alone. We were supposed to meet them back at our base after securing the kill."

"We can't just leave them to either wonder what happened to us or get caught on their own by the enemy out there," Karam countered. "We need to go back for them. We can't just hide in here."

"Fine, fine," Alim signed, then waved a hand as if to try calming him down. "We'll rest up a bit. Wait for Jin to wake up. Maybe for the potential enemy to get bored or move on to the next floor before us. Then we'll go back for them."

Reassured by the promise, Karam settled himself down as well, focusing on trying to relax from the stress of the battle and not worry about his friends still running through the swamp. He didn't do a very good job of the latter.

Hadia watched from the front porch of the Speakers' base that Pax had claimed as the other members of her party fled from them and into the portal that had once been the goblins' tree. "I told you they'd panic," she said with a wave of her hand toward the group and a flat look at the man in black, his mask currently hanging around his neck to show his smirk. "We should have gone back on foot first."

Pax looked at her with those golden eyes as Liraz happily sat on his back, little blue hands hugging his neck like they'd never let him go again. "This is faster than on foot, and you have to admit this will be a hilarious story to tell later. Here came the reinforcements, a massive mobile base that was able to stomp on those tiny little green goblins—"

"Gobbies!" Liraz corrected, patting the little [Slime Companion] she had placed on Pax's shoulder.

Pax nodded and apologetically said, "Right, those green gobbies we were able to turn into slimy jelly, and they ran away from the help!" He turned his head to look over his shoulder and added, "You know that we're not going to join you all just yet, though, right? We'll drop you off at the portal to join your friends, then we need to continue with the mission we were on before running into you two."

"Are you seriously going to try taking on the Fighters with just the two of you?" Hadia asked in restrained disbelief. It had sounded insane the first time he had said it to them when coming across them baiting goblins across the swamp, and it still sounded like a suicide mission to her.

Pax met her gaze, and she saw his mask fall for just a few moments, the uncertainty in his eyes, the drop of his smile into a determined grimace. "Yes. We might not be able to do much, but I'm hoping we can take them by surprise enough to cut down some of their numbers and ideally escape fully intact. I'm not sure if we are meant to keep the bases, but Zen seems to believe that the Follow Mode is exactly for that reason. You need to tell your group to go back and get your base to the next level and bring it with you before settling on the next floor, whatever challenges it might bring."

She sighed in resignation and nodded. "Alright, I'll let them know. But I don't think Jin's gonna be happy knowing you're risking your lives just to buy us more time and shift the target of the Fighters' ire."

"Is Jin ever happy? I'm not sure I've actually witnessed that," he replied with a smirk.