The suit icon flashed yellow almost immediately. I needed to act now. I used Powered Strike, doubling the power of my next attack, then augmented it with Lunar Strike.
My sword burned a brilliant white, and the Ichneumon became further incensed. It opened its mouth wide to spit again, and I struck. My sword bit into the soft flesh in the monster’s chest. My blade tore through its ribs, filling the vile beast with celestial light.
The beast raged. A claw found a gap in the ribs and raked across my chest. The bone armor fell away and my HP dropped.
I used Edge Dancer and stabbed through my protective cage, catching the beast in its chest and throat several more times. My strikes didn’t seem to bother it nearly as much as they should have. I sank my katana through its sternum one last time, and my sword became wedged there. Despite all efforts, my final attacks seemed to do the Ichneumon little harm. But the white light of my first attack still glowed from the cavity in its chest, and as I stared, fumbling for my wakizashi, I noticed the light was rippling outward into the beast’s body.
In one final flurry of strength, the Ichneumon hissed at me and turned to flee. But it was already dying. Its limbs began to shudder, and it fell on its back. After a few moments of twitching, the beast went still.
I’d done it.
I climbed out and approached my kill. I had to use my full strength to tease my katana free from its sternum. Then I studied the beast, having the luxury to do so now that it wasn’t trying to kill me. Its foul face was twisted in death, the long fangs that had killed so many times protruding over a half a foot in length and dripping with poison.
I gagged. Even among the stench of the swamp, the monster reeked of decay.
In the center of its belly, a reddish bulge caught my attention. When I scraped away the mud that covered it, I saw that it was a pouch in the Ichneumon’s abdomen, approximately where it might carry its young if it had a partner to reproduce with. The skin was glowing faintly, and I knew exactly what was inside.
Cutting it open with my sword, the bright glow of a mysterious gem emerged. I fought the desire to vomit as I reached into the gaping pouch and pulled out the Ruby of Souls.
As soon as I touched it, a portal formed just ten feet away—my ride home. But I was a hunter, a Pathfinder to be exact, and I had a few more tasks to complete before I headed out.
I spent an hour harvesting as much as I could from the monster’s body before packing up my things and trudging toward the portal.
This time, when I emerged, I was still very much covered in mud. The wyverns all gasped as they saw me fall to my knees, clutching their precious stone. It was oval in shape and bigger than a melon.
Teldaine, the Queen Matriarch of the Sirrushi wyverns, shouted in surprise, “Hana! You’ve done it. You’ve saved our people!”
The wyverns began to writhe in excitement, and a keening noise came from their throats. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I walked forward and set the huge gem down in front of the queen and returned to Pachi.
The instance shuddered and then collapsed, sending a shockwave up the tunnel. As the magic faded, hundreds of red motes of energy emerged, racing toward the Ruby of Souls and filling it with more light. The gem shone brighter than ever, and the queen explained that it was the souls of the fallen warriors returning to the gem.
Pachi greeted me from a distance. You smell awful. I am glad you are done. Now you must find a bath before you kill us all with that stench.
I laughed, agreeing with her, then sighed, letting the pressure of the day slump away at last.
It took a few hours for the wyverns to calm down and make sense of the situation. A feast was to be thrown in our honor and, more importantly, I was shown to a hot spring where I scrubbed the filth from my hair and body.
Clean and rested, we met back in the palace’s great room, and many more noble and high-ranking wyverns attended as a feast was prepared.
Disturbingly, as the feast began, many of the elders lined up and gave their own ancient souls back to the gem as well. The wyverns collapsed to the ground when it was their turn, a single red spark leaving their body and entering the gem. Then soldiers would bear away the body to burn elsewhere, and another elder would step forward, a smile on their faces.
I was busy watching the last of the creatures fall into a heap before the gem, their soul spark finding a home again inside the ruby, when the queen spoke beside me. “Some have been bound to the world for more than a hundred years. Never in living memory, and rarely in our records, have any of the dragon kin been separated from their soul stone. Each tribe has one, and even in war, the stones are not targeted.” She paused. “For retrieving the stone, we owe you much.”
I wasn’t sure if she’d paused in order to give me a chance to request anything specifically, but I figured at this point, it was worth a shot. “Queen Matriarch, I was wondering if I could ask for a favor?”
“Anything that is within my power,” she answered at once.
I squinted, feeling awkward, but asked anyway. “I need twenty wyvern scales. I was wondering if I might ask for some, as it seemed logical that your people might shed them occasionally.”
The
