<h4>Chapter 18: Paying the Price</h4>


    I opened my eyes to the sound of flowing water and birds chirping. I lifted my head and was immediately met with a stabbing pain in my chest. I moaned in pain – moving was not a good idea. Laying on the lush grass, I tried to figure out my surroundings. I couldn''t see the water, but I could see a rocky cliff stretching up. I could also see some crystalline formations on the cliff face.


    I slowly and very carefully changed into a sitting position. As soon as I did, I felt dizzy. My clothes, or what was left of them were stuck to my wounds thanks to all the dried blood. I couldn''t feel my left shoulder and arm. Fearing the worst, I tried to move it.


    That helped me learn two things: It was dislocated and several of my ribs were broken as they stabbed me. Again. Letting out a little scream, I stopped trying to move my body. First of all, I needed to do something about those broken ribs. Unfortunately, as far as I knew, even modern science didn''t have a solution to broken ribs aside from a lot of bedrest and not moving. Both of which weren''t viable options at the moment.


    But this wasn''t a world where modern science and medicine applied, was it? Sure, wounds and pain were very realistic – something I certainly resented Erik''s father for – but Alina was a healer, wasn''t she? There were ways to heal wounds without medicine. Magic existed. And I had a locked skill that healed wounds.


    I opened my stats panel and nced at the skills. There it was, ''Soul''s Respite''. I had two unused skill points somehow, so I quickly picked it and confirmed my choice.


    ''Heals the targets wounds. The amount and quality of healing scales with the amount of souls that have found respite with the Soul Keeper.''


    I checked my mana. I had 230 mana; Soul''s Respite needed 50 for each cast. I hesitated, was my mana even going to be enough? Still, this was the only way I had.


    I used the skill. As a big chunk of my mana disappeared, the souls I had acquired leapt out of my chest and swirled around me. They each brushed against my back and chest and with every passing, I felt the pain in my chest lessen, little by little. When all twenty two souls passed and then disappeared, I used the skill again as my ribs weren''t even remotely close to being healedpletely. Again, they lessened the pain, but it wasn''t enough.


    As I watched my mana drain almostpletely, I sighed in defeat. I think the broken rib was healed, but it still hurt to move. It felt like I had at least some cracked ribs still left in there. Hesitant, I stared at my mostly empty pool of mana. What was I supposed to do now? I didn''t know how mana filled. Every day I woke up, it waspletely full, but I couldn''t wait an entire night and day here. It was too dangerous, and I didn''t think I could survive an encounter with... anything, really. Not in the state I was in now.


    The thought of survival prompted me to look around. Now that I could see more than just a cliff face, I immediately recognised this ce. I was in that alcove up the stream from camp. I had found this ce the first day we spent in this world. It seemed safe at the moment. Seeing the crystal-clear water, I decided now would be a good time to wash away the blood, dirt and stink off.


    Ignoring the pain moving my body caused, I slowly inched closer to the water and dipped my hand in. It was cold and clean. Exactly what I needed. I carefully removed my clothes, taking care not to hurt myself more. Despite me being careful, the cloth was stuck to my skin with dried blood and pulling it still hurt. When I was finally done, I reached for the water and dipped my feet in. Swimming with a dislocated shoulder would be suicide, but the area near the shore was shallow enough to allow me to sit in the water.


    It was heaven,pared to what I''d been through. I felt the exhaustion and fatigue being washed away. I carefully rubbed the dried blood off my skin. Though I couldn''t see my back, I felt the coldness of the water numb the spots the creature dug its ws in.


    I allowed myself to rx a little, then slowly crawled out of theke. Now that my body was mostly numb, with a firm grasp, I snapped my left shoulder back in its ce. The whole forest must have heard my painful wails that followed that loud snap.


    Still feeling the pain, I took my old robes from my inventory and put them on. They were tattered and dirty, but at least they still looked like clothes. After washing my normal clothes, I put them in the inventory. I certainly didn''t want to be stuck with these heavy ck robes for long. I''d have to find a way to fix the tears on my other clothes, but they''d still be more useful than these robes.


    I slowly made my way to the entrance of the alcove. It was the first time I was taking a good look at this ce. It was basically just a ratherrge crack on a cliff face with water flowing out of it. If I hadn''t tried to find the source of the water, I''d never have found this ce.


    I suddenly stopped. How did I end up here after getting tossed around and almost eaten by that horned lion thing? I didn''t remember much of what happened after, aside from running blindly in the forest until I copsed. I must have somehow found my way in here in that haze. I smiled, at least in my almost-dead state, I was a little trustworthy.


    I slowly stepped out of the crack, into the dense forest. While walking in the forest wasn''t the best idea in the state I was in, getting myself to the protection of the crystal was paramount. I moved carefully, taking care to be silent rather than fast. It took me nearly an hour to get to the campsite.


    I stared in disbelief at the ruined tents and the destroyed chest. The crystal wasying on the ground, it had lost its shine. I could see several cracks on its surface. The earth was almostpletely upturned and the nts to the east were broken and trampled on.


    I stayed in the treeline. The only thing that could have done this was that horned lion. After dealing with whatever wounded it, it must have followed my scent to where it was the strongest – here. I looked around, trying to spot anything alive. There was nothing, not even birds chirping or rodents running around.


    I carefully stepped out of the woods, knowing very well this could be the death of me. Thankfully, nothing leapt out of the shadows to kill me. I hesitantly walked around the campsite. My hopes of using the crystal for protection until I healed were shattered. After a moment of pondering, I picked up what I could – the broken crystal, the cloth of the tents and some firewood that wasn''tpletely shattered into small pieces.


    After putting everything into my inventory, I looked around one more time. It felt... sad. Even though I didn''t have much of an attachment to it, the crystal had been protecting us the whole time. I couldn''t help but feel a little guilty for leading that creature here, even though it was unintentional.


    I slowly made my way back to the alcove. While itcked the protection of the crystal, it was well hidden and the only way that giant horned lion could get through was by jumping down the cliff. I was fairly sure even it would get hurt if it tried something like that. For now, at least until my wounds were healed, this ce would be my new shelter.