By extending his arm out of the shadows, he’d gained another twenty counts of time, but that had now expired, popping him back into the tunnel.
Right as the Prana Swarm arrived.
The horned beast locked its gaze upon Vir, completely ignoring the apocalyptic horror.
It can’t detect prana! Not two seconds in, and his plan had already fallen apart. The beast focused on him instead of the real enemy, dooming them both.
Vir Toughened his chest and forearms.
The animal Blinked and once again Vir was thrown sky high. Right at the Prana Swarm.
As he sailed through the air, he did the only thing he could—charge Dance. He’d never charged a Talent using prana in the air, since there’d never been enough to do so, but after training Maiya, he knew the process worked the same. He sucked blood from his feet up into his legs, but this time, he did the same with his arm, accumulating prana from all four of his limbs at once.
Vir launched himself into a roll the moment he hit the ground, leeching some ground prana to soften the blow with Light Step as he rolled right at the Prana Swarm.
The monster blinded his Prana Vision with its intensity.
Still not enough!
Dance hadn’t fully charged, and he didn’t want to risk a repeat of the last time he undercharged the ability. What if it threw him into a wall? What if it deposited him right into the middle of the Prana Swarm?
Instead, Vir did something dumb. He reached out and touched the Prana Swarm. If Prana Swarms were pure Ash prana, and if he depleted his arm of prana, then it stood to reason he could take prana from the Swarm.
He was right. And he was wrong. The moment his hand came into contact with the swarm, prana rushed into his arm, which prompted the swarm to begin consuming his flesh.
It was as if he’d fallen into a vat of acid, which jolted him into action before his arm was eaten.
Dance activated, sucking him into the embrace of the shadow realm.
Trapped inside the shadow world, Vir couldn’t even scream in pain. And after all of this, he’d bought himself only ten extra seconds.
What can I do?
For the second time in less than a minute, he found himself trying to devise a plan to save his life. Except this time, he had something he lacked just moments prior—he had information on the Prana Swarm.
The Ash Beast had only consumed his arm once he’d refilled it with prana. Until then, it’d ignored the limb, reaching out for the rest of his body.
Which means if I purge my body of prana… I might survive. But can I even do that?
Not once during all of his experimentations with prana had he tried to evacuate prana from his body. It’d always been the opposite—he’d spent so much effort to keep every morsel of prana he had.
But the more he thought about it, the more he believed it could work. After all, prana sought equilibrium with its surroundings, and right now he was forcibly keeping it in his body. If he just let go and pushed the prana in his body to the edge of his skin, it should automatically dissipate.
Once again, the issue was timing. Vir picked a distant shadow and moved his uninjured arm out, allowing time to begin flowing again, albeit slowly. He needed some time to purge his prana, and there was no better chance than when the Swarm was consuming the beast.
The Prana Swarm moved to the four-legged animal—the poor thing had no idea it was about to die.
Vir looked on, horrified, as the beast’s skin dissolved, revealing its muscles and tendons in slow motion. He looked away, unable to bear anymore.
It’s now or never, I guess.
Vir fully exited the shadow realm back into the tunnel, as far away from the Prana Swarm as he could manage.
Lying down upon the stone, Vir closed his eyes and released all the prana he contained within his body. The prana flooded out of him, dissipating into the ground.
For the first time in many months, Vir felt weak. But it wasn’t enough—not enough prana had left his body. He grasped whatever motes of prana were left and gently coaxed them along his blood pathways to his skin, where they could escape.
The Prana Swarm finished consuming the Ash Beast. It hovered for a moment, uncertain.
Then it turned and floated toward Vir, as if questioning whether there was a meal there for it.
Vir frantically searched his entire body, purging all motes of prana he could find. But while some areas of his body allowed him a heavy hand, he dared not attempt such a thing anywhere near his head. He’d seen—twice—what violently manipulating blood to his head did.
Which meant it took some time to get rid of all of that prana. Time he scarcely had.
The Swarm approached. And approached. And nothing Vir did swayed it.
Empty as he was, he couldn’t even use Dance anymore to escape.
The Swarm meandered closer and closer. And then it was on top of him.
Vir held his breath and chanted a mental prayer to Janak as the being passed over. It hesitated, stopping briefly over him.
He lay there for what felt like an eternity. Waiting for his executioner to decide.
But it seemed the Prana Swarm wasn’t interested. It lazily moved on, seeking greener pastures.
Vir finally allowed himself to exhale.
Somehow, against all odds, he’d done it. He’d survived against a cataclysmic level threat. A mythological being that was said to bring certain annihilation upon all those who encountered it.
He remained in place for another ten minutes, well after the Prana Swarm had moved on.
Only then did he allow himself to cry. He wept and wept until he could cry no more.
77TO WAKE FROM A NIGHTMARE
Vir dared not linger within the depths longer than necessary. Who knew when the Prana Swarm would change its mind and come back to snack on him? It was just a matter of time before he met his doom here, to one mythical beast or another. But before he moved on, he had to take care of his injury first. Namely, his arm. He’d pulled away quickly, so only his skin had been damaged, but even so, the pain was like fire continuously consuming him. And to treat it, he needed his sight.
As much as he wanted to keep his body purged of prana, Prana Vision required it to function, so he allowed his body to equalize to the ambient prana density. Vir still felt it strange that Ash prana existed down here in higher concentrations. He had to force himself not to stock prana within his body—the habit had grown so ingrained that he now found it more difficult to keep himself dry than full.
Without it, he felt weak again. Like he’d reverted to the weakened boy he’d been for most of his life. Luckily, this time it was only temporary.
Vir flared Prana Vision, then tore his shirt and retrieved antiseptics and soothing balms from his rucksack. As a prana scorned, he’d learned long ago just how invaluable such remedies were. They paled next to magic, but they could very well prevent a gruesome death from infection.
Clenching his teeth, he allowed the alcohol to drip onto his wounds, blinding him with pain. Despite his best efforts to remain silent, he let a groan escape his lips. An agonizing minute passed in silence. The Prana Swarm hadn’t noticed him. Letting out a breath, he applied his soothing balms, which lessened the pain, then wrapped the wound.
His arm was now serviceable, and thanks to his treatment, he soon wouldn’t notice the pain at all, though he did dread the amount the Brotherhood healers would demand to properly heal him later.
With the Prana Swarm moving down the tunnel, there was only one direction to go. Vir walked in the opposite direction, deeper into the tunnel, away from Valaka Amara, the city where he’d met Janak’s avatar.