Misbegotten Memories

Hector saved Mick in the battle against the rat deviants. Twice. That annoyed him. Maybe he should be above petty resentment, but he wasn't. The asshole hurt one of his friend's feelings, mocked another for having the voice of a eunuch, and was generally unpleasant to be around. Hector would continue to protect Mick, but he didn't think he could make himself happy about the fact. The asshole should either be competent enough to protect himself or stay away from war.

It took about half an hour to wipe out the swarm of flying rats. One Jinn soldier died from a strike he didn't see coming, receiving a tusk to the back of the head that was an instant kill shot. Several Titans had minor scrapes from the battle, but their flesh was closer in consistency to hardwood than soft-flesh. Otherwise their group was free of injury. Though from time to time Hector did hear ominous coughing that brought to mind the last hours of Rodrick's life.

They continued on their patrol, moving eastward across a plain whose flora had been reduced to gunk littering the ground like unsightly stains. The Titans, other than the brothers Ajax and Nestor, watched Hector with interest. His method of handling the flying rats had been most effective. The monsters had been chewed up by his cables like frogs in a blender. It hadn't been pretty, to say the least. On the plus side, he was sure he got the most kills out of anyone during that battle even though he was far from the strongest person present.

Three more battles happened during the patrol. The next one involved a couple of bears with too many arms. All of them fell to Jinn weaponry before they got into close range. The fight after that was with another swarm of bat-rat hybrids and Hector jumped forward to eliminate the monsters with his grotesque method. Their final battle took place after they looped back to return to the Stronghold.

A lion with the tail of a scorpion began to stalk them, coming steadily closer in a tense crouch. The monster didn't manage to hide. Firstly, the Jinn among them had effective scanning devices. Secondly, the freakish lion was massive enough that each stealthy footfall caused a hefty thud that could be heard for miles. The monster's brain might be tapping into feline instincts through resonance, but they did not serve it well at all.

The combat against the monster proved fierce. An opening salvo of bullets, plasma rifles, and a rocket launcher made a lot of noise but didn't take down their foe. Then the close quarter combatants took their turn. Hector managed to take out an eye with a well placed whip of his cable, but he couldn't risk much more than that with the swarm of Titans on the monster blocking all direct lines of attack.

Esther's giant sword embedded itself in the lion's neck, then the Jinn cyborg leading their patrol climbed the mane to plant a plasma grenade into an ear canal. The lion didn't die immediately, but it was swaying too much on its feet to effectively defend from the swarm of Titans.

They returned to Stronghold Gamma in high spirits, though not in great health.

The periodic coughing had become endemic among the Jinn and Arahants. Even a few of the hardy Titans were breathing harshly. The sound bothered Hector more than he would believe possible. Though much time had passed, he still vividly recalled watching Rod decline during the dungeon surge. He never wanted to see a friend in that kind of situation again.

When the gate closed behind them, they weren't dismissed back to their bunker. Instead, everyone had to be cleared through medical. That took some time. The most critical cases were triaged ahead of everyone else. Then those who remained were split up according to type. Jinn went to see doctors. Arahants visited with ritualists. Titans received the attention of an Alfar healer.

Leaving the three Xian to wait. Leadership made it very clear that no one left the medical center until they were cleared for duty, so Hector didn't dare wander off. "Are we just waiting to see who is free first?"

Mick shrugged. "At Stronghold Delta they would send Xian through a Jinn scanner. I don't know what they would do if one of us needed actual healing."

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"It would be nice if we weren't last in line just to get a rubber stamp on our bill of health." Hector turned to Esther. "You were impressive out there."

"This from the rat flayer."

Hector rolled his eyes. "I'm good with my cables, right? Might as well use them."

Esther gave him an ironic half-smile. "You're going to pass me up before long. I wouldn't be surprised if you caught up to Matthias eventually. He's dead set on not using resources."

A door leading deeper into the medical center opened to release a petite brown woman whose presence hit Hector like a physical slap. She reached Mick first and reached out to hold his hand while she stroked the back of it. "Hello, hero. I am the Sage of Restoration. Just call me Restoration. What's your name? It's nice to meet you, Mick. How was your patrol?"

Hector could barely follow the conversation. Whatever Restoration did with her insight deeply disturbed him. Given her moniker, her insight was obviously something to do with restoring. To Hector, though, it made his head spin until he wanted to puke. He had to clench his teeth to endure proximity to the exercise of her sage realm.

When she finished with Esther and reached for his hand, Hector pulled away. "I mean no disrespect, Sage, but I don't want you to use your power on me."

"You need cleared for return to duty, hero."

"Our insights are incompatible."

Restoration tilted her head like a puppy as she looked up at him. "And what would your insight be that it isn't compatible with my own?"

"Chaos." He pulled in some from the surrounding environment using his aura to demonstrate.

Restoration tapped her lips with a finger as she considered him. "It's not incompatible. At least not in its current configuration. Interesting. Do you consider yourself a moral person, Hector?"

He shrugged. "Doesn't everyone?"

"I suppose they do." Then the tiny brown woman grabbed his hand and his stomach dropped at the dizzying pressure he felt. Fortunately, none of the promised change happened. Restoration pulled her hand back and tilted her head again. "You have taken no damage from the miasma."

"I'm a Xian, after all." Hector took a tiny step back to put more distance between them.

"So were your friends. They took damage."

"My body enhancement is pretty good."

The Arahant Sage nodded towards Esther. "Hers is better."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you, Sage. Maybe I'm just sturdy."

Restoration smiled. "Sure. We'll say that is the reason. You three are cleared for duty."

They grabbed a quick meal at the dining facility before returning to the bunker. Hector met up with the Titans in his bay and had to hear their jokes about his method of fighting. One of their number imitated how Hector would casually cross his arms as if bored while mayhem happened about him. They wanted to know how active he had to be with his domain. Apparently there had been some debate about that. Half thought he was doing something like an Arahant ritual, just setting an intent and letting magic happen. The other half were certain he was taking a hand in what happened.

"How could he be actively controlling anything? He didn't even look half the time!"

Hector laughed. "My cables are actively controlled. And the reason I wasn't watching the whole time is what we call it touch sense. I can feel things with my domain, so I don't need to use my eyes for targeting."

They peppered him with questions for a while before losing interest, which gave Hector a chance to jump back into his new cultivation routine. He spent about an hour doing mental, then another hour on domain, then an hour on aura, and finished with some traditional externality work. It was four hours straight of intense cultivation, pushing his energy reserves higher the whole time.

The Titans continued to come back to the conversation of Hector's capabilities. Many of his neighbors were sure that Hector was specialized for fighting smaller monsters. Ajax and Nestor assured them that Hector did quite well against larger threats as well, but many of the Titans seemed to find it insulting to think that a Xian could eclipse them so thoroughly in combat capability.

Hector had to fight back a grin when they spoke of him. He never sought out the spotlight, but it felt good to be recognized for his abilities. The days of barely being able to hold his own against monsters were far behind him. If he was able to keep his focus on cultivating chaos through every aperture possible, then it wouldn't be long before he was a true terror on the battlefield.