Convergence: Eclipse Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Friend or Foe?

Read chapter 6 of Convergence: Eclipse by J.L.Hollingwell on NovelPedia.

Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow. It has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it. Living in the Light: A Guide to Personal and Planetary Transformation — Shakti Gawain Congratulations! Level Three achieved +1 attribute point allocated to all attributes +5 unallocated attributes points gained New Quest: Matriarch Slayer Exhausted, Laurie slumped back onto the ground and started to browse the level-up window that was projecting insistently over the sky above him. Before he could get any further than “New Quest”, he felt a sickening lurch. His health had dropped again. The realisation hit him like a stone between the eyes. The poison! It’s still active! He frantically checked his health points, watching in horror as they continued to slowly drop. Health Points: 30/80 Laurie jumped back to his feet, looking wildly around the clearing for anything that could help. Panic rose like bile, hitting the back of his throat. Health Points: 20/80 He was going to die. It was over. But I won the fight! How can I die if I won the fight?! There had to be something he was missing. The Matriarch’s body was still in the crater it had made when it fell, and a large part of the clearing was still covered in the thick web the Matriarch had shot at him during the battle. The tree at the centre of the clearing was now burning in earnest, flames licking up toward the sky, smoke billowing over the chest at its foot. Wait. Wait a minute! Laurie stopped dead, his head snapping back to the chest. He was sure that it hadn’t been there before. Laurie gingerly moved closer, hurrying as he felt the poison continuing to eat away at him. Health Points: 10/80 It was an old, antique-style chest, as wide as it was tall, made from dark wood with golden banding. Somehow the fire had evaded the chest itself, and the wooden panelling was unharmed. He inspected it as quickly as he dared. It could be a trap, but his ever-dropping health pushed him to reach toward it, heedless of the risk. It opened the moment he did so, revealing ten glass vials and some boots. Inside the vials were various coloured liquids: four bright blue, four vibrant red, and two clear. He inspected each, eyes darting from one vial to the next, hoping. Little floating screens appeared revealing that the blue vials were Basic Mana potions, the red were Basic Health potions and the clear were Basic Antidotes. Yes! Laurie snatched up one of the clear vials, ripped the cork from its mouth, and downed the contents in one gulp. It tasted like fresh spring water but was colder than anything he had ever tasted, colder than ice, if that was even possible. Laurie felt the potion moving down his throat and spreading outwards from his belly into his veins. He shivered as the cold spread through him, but it passed a moment later. Then, without warning, he felt his stomach twist, and fell to his hands and knees, throwing up a very dark green liquid that tasted foul and smelt worse. Laurie feebly crawled away from the disgusting mess he had made and sat, panting, his head in his hands. Let’s never, ever do that again. Laurie pulled his waterskin out and swilled his mouth, spitting the water out several times before drinking. He checked his health points again and watched to see if they would drop any more, but to his immense relief they stayed stable. Health Points: 4/80 That was too close. Laurie had never seen his health as low as this, and the realisation of just how close to death he had come was more chilling than the antidote he had just drunk. But the risk had got him to another level, and he had lived - even if only just. That was what he had to focus on. Laurie felt wrung out and tired enough to sleep for several days, but there was something else he had to do before h