27 – Last Night Before the Journey

“Oi lad, are you alright? You were mumbling something about action items and ‘per my last email.’”

I must have blacked out, because when I opened my eyes, all I could see was the four wizards staring down at me.

I shook my head and sat up. “I think so…” It felt like a lot of information had been downloaded into my brain, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what exactly it was about. The pain I had felt before was mostly gone. I stretched out my left arm and examined it in the sun. It looked pretty much as it had before.

“When you didn’t come out for lunch, we went looking for you. We found this by your side,” Bagavash said, holding up the little black book. “Don’t tell me you tried to learn an arcane art without us.”

I nodded. “I wanted to surprise you.”

Bagavash shook his head. “It’s not like we could have helped much, seeing as none of us have a void affinity, but we could have at least warned you about the pain of growing new meridians.”

“I don’t think I grew a new one,” I said. “I think I sacrificed an old one.”

I stood up and walked past the circle of wizards, looking at my two hands. For all intents and purposes, they looked the same as they had before. Had all that pain been for nothing?

No. A meridian wouldn’t show visibly on the surface of my skin. At least, I didn’t think it would. There was only one way to test it.

I channeled mana from my orb, this time bringing it through both of my arms, letting it split and flow in two distinct currents. While the mana coming out of my right hand was the usual color, the mana coming out of my left hand was pure void mana.

The two globs of magical energy floated in front of me, one white-blue and softly shimmering, the other black outlined in purple, like a tear in reality barely holding its shape. They hovered there for a moment, pulsing faintly, then slowly unraveled and dissipated into the air.

The wizards had gathered behind me, their boots crunching softly on the garden path as they watched in silence.

I turned to face them. “Punch me,” I said to Bagavash.

He laughed. “You must have hit your head harder than I thought. Come on, let’s get you downstairs. A little food will do you some good.”

“I’m serious,” I said. “Punch me.”

“Lad, but why…”

“Just do it.”

He shrugged. “Alright. But just remember, you asked for this.” Bagavash pulled back his brick-like fist. For a wizard, he was still a pretty massive dude. More like a bodybuilder with a whimsical beard.

He brought it forward with considerable speed, not like the lightning-infused punches I’d seen him throw on other occasions, but still fast enough to make the air shift around it.

I got my left arm up just in time, focusing a bundle of void mana to the spot where a gauntlet might be. I braced for impact, but when his fist struck, there was… nothing.

My left arm had completely negated the force of his blow.

I silently thanked the author of The Rite of the Black Meridian for such a useful art.

Bagavash looked dumbfounded. As did the rest of the wizards. “How did you…” Erl mumbled, trailing off as he stared at my arm.

“That’s a Tier 1 arcane art,” Myrl said, frowning. “You’re over level 90, Bag. You should have knocked him clear on his back.”

“Obviously, I didn’t hit him that hard,” Bagavash said, looking a little embarrassed. “I didn’t want to hurt the poor lad after he’s just been knocked out.”

“Try it again,” I said, feeling a little more confident in my new art, flexing my fingers and feeling the void mana move over the surface of my skin. “This time, don’t hold back.”

“Are you sure, lad?” Bagavash said, looking a little worried.

“Yeah. Just make sure you aim for my arm. I don’t think I have the speed yet to keep up with one of your full-strength punches, but as long as I can get my arm in the way, it should negate most of the damage.”

Bagavash shrugged again. “Here goes nothing.”

This punch was almost a blur. Luckily, he just went for my arm; otherwise, I didn’t think I could react fast enough to block it. This time I felt a jolt, like I’d been hit with a basketball or something, but certainly not a full-strength blow from a Tier 9 wizard.

“Incredible…” Bagavash whispered.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“I can’t wait to fight this guy during our morning spars,” Linli said, grinning.

“One more time,” I said. “This time, use that lightning fist art I saw you use on the zombies.” I wanted to see if Black Meridian could negate elemental damage as well as physical.

“I don’t know, lad,” Bagavash said, rubbing his jaw. “That one is designed to electrocute full-grown monsters. I’m not sure how I feel about using it on you.”

“Just try not to do it at full power. I want to test something.”

For the third time, Bagavash shrugged and prepared his fist to strike, faint arcs of electricity beginning to dance along his knuckles.

It was like a lightning bolt, quick as a flash. It hit my forearm with a resounding CRACK! This one had more force than anything he had thrown at me so far.

I was forced backward, my feet gouging long tracks in the path between the bluebell beds. Electricity crackled on my arm, crawling over my skin and biting deep. I could see the void mana, reaching out and negating some of it, but a lot of it got through. For a good thirty seconds, it felt like I had stuck a fork in an electrical socket.

“Couldn’t cancel out all that lightning mana, could you?” Bagavash said.

“Not yet,” I said, shaking out my arm as the last sparks faded. “But I think I can learn to make it stronger.”

“Still,” Bagavash said, “it’s an impressive art. One that will help you greatly in hand-to-hand combat. Nice work, Mark.”