Surge was used to getting injured, it seemed that he and luck didn’t get along. Luck came through when he really needed it, but it seems that it also constantly reminded him of his fragility. He surveyed the other members of his team, and none of them needed healing. “Good thing we came here early, we’re gonna need the extra time to heal before we go any further.�
“You mean you’re gonna need the extra time to heal,� corrected the smiling smuggler.
Surge was embarrassed, he really blew it this time and everyone knew it. His face went flush red.
“Don’t be so glum, chummer,� chimed in the metal Ork. “Besides I need a break and we need time to search the cave, if it isn’t here we know it is at the 4th cave.�
“We weren’t exactly quiet,� admitted the Troll as his smoking LMG was finally cooling. “The other team or the corp could come looking for us, let’s hide inside the cave and hope they assumed we ran away.�
***
It took a day to search the cave and determine that there was nothing here but rotting nagas and hungry runners. It took another day work up the courage to eat the MRE’s they brought and be ready for another nights work in the middle of the [redacted] mountains.
“At the risk of knocking myself out, I’d like to try something. I’m going to summon a powerful spirit to help us. The Spirit of Man I’m going to summon can do almost as many cool things as I can, and will be very useful for keeping us out of sight while we approach the last cave. If they are looking for us, hopefully we’ll see them first.� With that Surge closed his eyes and the cave entrance began to whistle with an unearthly wind. A ghostly outline of a man appeared briefly before the summoning was complete, Surge moved his hands and his lips as he spoke to the ghost. “Luck is with us. This spirit is curious and willing to serve us for some time, and he didn’t hurt or get angry with me at all. I’ve requested that he conceal us while we travel outside towards the last cave.� Surge then gestured a spell, shook his head and then repeated the gesture again and pointed it at his focus on his belt. “I’m ready if you all are.�
Using the satellite view they’d received from their late hacker friend they traced out a route to the cave that would keep them along the tree line and out of the open as much as possible. “You guys take the point,� Surge suggested to the smuggler and the metal Ork as they approached the mouth of the last cave.
“I’ll cover the rear,� offered the troll as he readied his LMG.
“Nothing here so far,� noticed the Ork.
“Let me check the Astral Plane.� Surge did. He closed his eyes and focused on the mirror world that his teacher had called the Astral Plane by using his sixth sense to see magical auras and all life contrasted against dull gray emptiness. “Oh FRAG ME, some dog spirit coming right for me!� Surge raised his arm and pointed at the air in the darkness of the cave, illuminated by the glowing angry Spirit charging right for him on a path taking him between his point-men and still in the Astral Plane, meaning only Surge could attack it until it chose to materialize in the Physical world. “Gah!� grunted Surge as he twisted his hand from a pointing gesture to a palm-up, fingers locked as if gripping the heart of his victim in the open position he favored for his 2nd favorite spell, Mana Bolt. His other hand repeated the gesture of his first except he held it against his chest and faced the palm toward the spirit and twisted the left side of his body behind the right side in a defense posture. He then relaxed his posture, signaling both that the spell was complete and the threat was over to his companions. Before he could speak they all saw two more spirits in materialized form charged towards them.
The metal Ork charged the left spirit and swung angrily at it, his normally vicious attack dulled by the half formed Spirit. The Irish smuggler grinned wide as the 2nd spirit charged him and the Troll got off 2 quick completely inaccurate bursts before it was on him. The first dog flexed for a breath attack and hit the metal Ork and the smuggler with a cloud of poison. The smuggler steeled his grin and shut his mouth as he switched to his internal air tank, but his metal friend wasn’t so lucky. “Not all of me is metal, that hurt!�
The smuggler didn’t like his chances using his fists, so he began to unload the contents of his clip into the Spirit form, as the bullets past thru it they only partially seemed to hurt it. Surge decided the metal man was in over his head and decided to fire off a Mana Bolt at it, repeating his earlier pose with a cackling laugh of joy. They finished the first spirit and the second followed soon after. They relaxed and looked behind them to see if the other team had heard them, Surge kept his eyes forward, scanning the Ork’s injuries. “You aren’t bleeding are you?�
“No, but I could use a short rest, an hour to get this poison out of my system.�
“Me too,� Surge admitted. “I got a little headache when I lost my focus on that last spell.�
“What about the other team, surely they heard us that time.� The Troll said to no one in particular, staring into the darkness.
“Wait a second, if these dogs are his he knows we are here; and if they aren’t his this might be the cave we are both looking for. I’ll have my spirit search for them while we rest, they can’t be that far away.�
***
After they sat down to rest, they could hear more dog spirits further in the cave growling, but unwilling to approach them, it appeared… at least for now. About 40 minutes passed when Surge jumped to his feet. “Uh oh,� he announced, “my spirit got attacked and we’ve got incoming on astral.� It both pleased and bothered him that his companions couldn’t see what was happening. As Surge watched the mouth of the cave for the Spirit and the other magician following it, he saw them approach and unleashed his readied Mana Bolt. He gestured, grunted, but the magician’s spirit form just shrugged it off. He was really insulted, and scared, when the magician scanned the room and the auras he saw, including Surge’s. Knowing he had only one more shot at the magician before he flew away at the speed of thought, Surge readied an overcharged Mana Bolt, his veins roaring in pain as he released the spell on the enemy magician, but they held. His hands shock from the force of the mana as he resisted the backlash of the spell, but he stood firm and relaxed his posture with the successful cast of his spell and flawlessly absorbed the backlash. The enemy magician was not so lucky in deflecting the spell as he had the first, in fact he seemed to take nearly the full force of the spell. 'Damage to your spirit, or your astral form or whatever you call it, appears on your meat body' his teacher had told him. Surge allowed himself a cheer of success because he knew he just dealt the other team a crippling blow.
Before escaping the enemy magician left a gift, two bound Fire Spirits and ordered them to kill Surge. Instinctively, Surge dropped his vision back to normal forcing the spirits to materialize in order to attack him, since he is no longer active on the Astral Plane. They followed, changing from a pure spirit form on the Astral Plane and manifesting in the physical world and appearing as 2 towering infernos in roughly humanoid shape. Surge commanded his own spirit to use its fear power on one of the fire spirits, and it immediately ran away. His team reacted instinctively, already warned of danger by Surges gesturing, cheer and finally recoil in terror. They opened up their attacks, bullets and fists of fury on the remaining spirit, but not before it engulfed Surge, burning him badly. They killed the first spirit before the fire would have killed Surge, and he collapsed to the ground in pain. Fighting back the urge to scream ‘Why me?’ he bit his lip and warned his group, “When that spirit comes back it could kill me if it hits me, whether or not I heal now.�
“Take this,� the troll handed Surge his oversized fire insulated armored jacket. Surge draped it over his own armor and then took a deep breath, bracing for the mental pain of casting a powerful healing spell and trading physical damage for a hopefully lighter temporary stunning headache. Surge’s luck held, removing all but the sign of a first degree burn and taking only a slight mental punishment from the backlash of the mana that had just healed him. “Okay, that went better than expected. I’m less likely to die now; just keep that other flame off me and we can go after the other team.�
“You are still injured,� commented the metal Ork.
“Like me their magician will need hours to shake off the heal spell he will surely cast when he returns, and days to finish healing back to full strength, and now we know the exact location of the other team’s hideout; the first cave with the dead Barghests. And I’m much better off than he is, so the advantage goes to us.�
“Here it comes,� the smuggler spotted. The Ork was already charging at it and swung wildly, tripping on his offleg and missing the spirit entirely, falling out of its path. Both the smuggler and the troll opened up their guns on the spirit, and Surge used a weaker Mana Bolt, holding onto his heal spell with part of his mind as he used the other to attack, and the spirit’s flame went out and it disappeared.
The Ork’s stumble turned into a sprint for the cave exit the spirit had just come from. “Come on, let’s go collect the bounty!�
“You mean avenge the death of our hacker friend?� Surge offered as a correction.
Already outside the cave, the metal voice echoed as he beamed back, “I can’t hear you over all your bleeding, pick up your intestines and let’s go!�
Surge glanced at the smuggler who he knew had vision recording on because of the subtle smug on his face. “My ghost will cover our approach, you and I will put pressure on them from a distance. Let’s go.�
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