World Filter

Jonathans Pov.

The drums beat at a constant rate drawing Jonathan from a peaceful sleep. The world came into focus with excruciating detail. A throbbing headache pulsed at Jonathan's temples and the scent of dust, sweat, and blood filled the room.

Hesitantly, he cracked open an eyelid.

A bedroom took shape and a small amount of light leaked in through the closed curtains burning his eyes. Nausea hit, reminding him of the hangovers he used to get after a night of drinking with his mates. After a second he realized the sounds of the drums were two sets of heartbeats. Both beat at different rates, one was strong and constant while the other was gentle and inviting.

Looking around he realized it was Mark and Sammy.

Suddenly their situation hit him and he instantly went on guard. As his muscles tensed up and shooting pain traveled along his whole body, especially near his spine, ignoring it he got up.

As he did, some more details of the room came into focus, Sam was currently passed out on the one and only bed in the room. She looked pale but he remembered that Mark had said she was stable before he had passed out.

Mark was currently setting cross-legged in meditation and for the first time since waking Jonathan noticed one of his shields surrounding all three of them.

Tension slowly eased from his form, they’d made it out. Jonathan himself had very nearly not, but these two had come for him, and good thing too because he was not sure he could have killed that thing alone. Jonathan snorted in relief, there were only a handful of people left in this hell that he still trusted. The rest of the family could rot up in their Manhattan penthouses for all he cared, with the exception of Gran who hated that poisonous place. Next was Sammy but she was a given, they’d been together since they were kids. She’d long since earned his confidence.

Finally, there was Mark, the guy had earned more of Joanthan's respect in the last few days than those brown-nosing ‘family friends’ had in all the years he’d known them.

Looking at them Jonathan noticed that both of them had black veins beneath their skin. Frowning he looked at himself. He had them too, but his were faint compared to theirs. Comparing them to the other two he realized that Mark’s case was the worst but as far as Jonathan was concerned, they were alive and that was all that mattered.

Jonathan also noticed his skin was littered with cuts. He knew right away they were compensation for enforcing his will onto the world. The world had just made sure he played by the same rules he forced on others. He was glad he’d managed to get the Aura to respond back there. Shaping it into what he wanted always felt like wrestling with a stubborn animal.

It had a mind of its own, oftentimes escaping through the walls Jonathan built and getting into the outside world. Especially when he let his emotions run wild.

Over time he became better at reining it in but when Sam had been hurt like that, he felt his Aura fall in tune with him. It wanted to make the fucker hurt as much as he did and in that moment they had worked entirely as one. The result was his Aura had brought out who he was, into the real world.

It was difficult to explain and he wasn’t like Sam or Mark who often chatted about forces and methods to their magic.

To Jonathan, Aura was simple: it was strength, but it was also an embodiment of one's beliefs. And as such, there were as many different flavors as there were people.

Which reminded him, what happened to the squad? Sam would not have left them without orders, but unless they had remained within one block the comms would not be able to reach them. Trying the comms anyway he got no response.

Next, he looked for the emergency radio to contact Homebase and remembered he’d had it clipped to his backpack in case of updates from Command, as it didn’t work in the inventory. However, he must have lost it when the Guardian had used him as a sledgehammer.

Whatever Mark had done to shield him back there had lasted the first five or so of impacts but eventually gave out on the last two buildings.

They had been issued two satellite radios by Command but Chris would have had the other. Jonathan's shoulders slumped in exasperation.

They were miles away from Homebase and had no way to communicate, in enemy-infested territory.

Which reminded him of something, the mark. How were they still safe? Pulling up the menus he looked for the message that Sam had spoken about.

Skill acquired: Embodiment

The user's comprehension of Aura has reached the first stage. Walking the path has shown you how to physically impose your edict on reality.

Effects will vary depending on temperament and intent.

Maintenance cost is determined by your paths(Aura) willingness to assist you.

The strength of this skill is based on the user's Aura attribute.

Reward: You are the first user to gain this skill in your sector. +2 Aura per level.

1 x Corrupted Guardian Wandering Blight [Miasma - 3]cleansed[20]

Dividing rewards among participants (Mark Young[6] and Samantha Dureal[6])

Congratulations on delivering the killing blow to [Wandering Blight]

Rewards: 1x Silver rank mystery chest (Mana)

Roll: Yes/No

Warning! You have landed the killing blow on one of the seven Guardians of the First Rite.

All future Guardians shall receive an increase in difficulty.

You have been marked for 24 hours

No guardian may be slain during this time.

Rite progression: 4/7

Yup, he had it, so what was going on? Looking up his eyes fell on the barrier surrounding them. Mark must be doing something to stop it, he’d said something about a ward before.

His eye flicked back down to the message.

“Four?”

Jonathan frowned. Someone else in the sector had managed to kill one of the guardians. He didn’t know if he liked that information or not. Eventually, he decided to think of it as good news, one less thing to deal with, even if it was kind of a letdown that he didn't get to fight it. That 'Wandering Blight' had almost killed him, but hell it was an amazing fight. He'd grown so much from it. They would have to find whoever had killed it eventually though. Sam made it sound like they needed all the pieces, but honestly, that was a problem for later.

On the bright side the skill was welcome and so were the rewards. He was pretty sure he felt his Aura jump so it must have given him attributes for his previous levels too. Rolling the silver item he started to read what it said.

Item acquired: Medallion of Convergence(Weapon)

At the same time, Sam started to stir. Closing the window he moved over to her. When her eyes fluttered open she groaned in pain.

Moving over to her, he grinned.

“If you are in pain, you’re alive, right?” he said, throwing one of the lines she had once used on him in her face.

She just gave him one of her dry looks and sat up.

When Jonathan had dropped from the use of his skill, all he could do was to use [Prana pulse] to make sure he wasn't dead. What he saw was a damaged and exhausted body that was on the verge of breaking and Mark had no help to give. Not to mention he could sense the Corruption pulsing out of him in waves. Mark studied it for a moment and came to the conclusion that the system was amplifying his natural Corruption and sending it out, kind of like a dinner bell. It confirmed what he had thought when he had possessed the mark. The more Corruption one had the stronger the signal and looking at his condition he was full of the stuff, they all were. Concentrating he tried to estimate how much Jonathan and Sam were sitting at. Near as he could tell Sam was at 40% and Jonathan was around 65%, both were worryingly high

Checking his own he saw his Cv was sitting at 28.16%. Looking at the other two he tried to work out what had happened. Corruption usually transferred through open wounds so it was no wonder Joanthans was higher, he had taken a lot of hits. Then there was the explosion that had hit them all. Sam had been hit once and that was not with the bladed end of the spear so the rest should be from the explosion. That meant that the Guardian's final ‘fuck you’ had raised their Cv’s by around 35% but then why was his Cv so low. He had protected himself with his shield but that had not lasted for long before being blown away.

Mark smiled. This confirmed it, the only conclusion he could come to was that his original theory on Corruption being affected by one's attributes was correct. Large amounts of Prana offered one protection against Corruption forcefully entering their system.

Looking at Jonathan he saw the waves of Corruption growing in strength almost like the mark was slow to start up and then ramped up the longer you had it. It would explain why they had not been attacked the moment Mark had killed the second Guardian.

Well if Jonathan couldn’t stop it right now maybe Mark could in the meantime. Scraping together the last of his strength Mark dropped a dome around them. Expanding his will he used his Resistance to transfer it to the edges of his spell and attempted to ward the whole area. It was manageable but this would take his full concentration to cover the area. It worked at first but Mark soon realized the pressure inside his construct was building. The mark was outputting too much and soon enough it would begin to escape his hold.

Clenching his jaw Mark reached over and took hold of Joanthans wrist. The only way to lower the pressure was to weaken the source and Mark knew just how. [Draw corruption] began to transfer Jonathan's Cv to Mark. He kept a close eye on the surrounding pressure, and as soon as it was at a level his construct could handle he stopped the spell, but by then his Cv was already sitting at 68.96%.

Mark tried to breathe as fresh pain tingled across his spine, fading into a dull ache that gripped his spine. The hunger was stronger than ever.

Dropping into [Meditation] he fought to keep the Corruption contained under the dome. Minutes began to blur into one another and time lost all meaning as the Corruption battered his ward. His Prana regeneration was cut in half but slowly his reserves grew and just when he was just reaching full there was conversion in the room.

His conscience slowly came around to the sound of Jonathan saying something about being alive. As he opened his eyes he saw Jonathan and Sam talking and he heard her say.

“Ha. ha. Very funny. What’s the time, how long was I out?”

Coming to completely, Mark frowned under the renewed pressure of the mark, it had been growing in strength and was now letting out constant waves.

Source: Mediation (+6 Prana, +12 exp points)

“Not too sure but it's still afternoon so-,” Jonathan said.

Mark chose this moment to call Jonathan.

“Yo dude, can you help me here? We need to get your Corruption contained”

“Sure thing,” he said as he came over.

Mark explained the basic idea of the ward. Sam had leaned over and listened to the description with rapt attention.

While he didn't look confident, Jonathan gave it a go. The first few attempts were a little clumsy, but then all at once the Corruption disappeared.

“Good job! I can’t feel it at all” Mark said relieved as his will began to relax.

Jonathan was frowning

“Wait… I don’t think that was me”

Mark checked again, and there was nothing coming from him. Then he stopped and realized his Prana was almost full, as in it had regenerated to that state naturally.

“Wait how long did you say we were out?”