Crow

I made my way towards the severs' entry point, that the Shade pointed out to me. I had to search for a while, because the location was not that obvious. When I found it, I wasn't happy. 'This guy... ' I thought. What he called "an entry point", was a large opening in the ground, covered by a large metal grate. The worst part was that, there was a constant stream of murky water, flowing below the entrance. 'No other option really. I have to go this way' I thought, and lifted the latch. Fortunately, I didn't have to lift the whole grate, as it was pretty much attached to the ground. There was an access grate, that could be lifted. That was, what I lifted up, then jumped inside.

What greeted me, was a stench hard to describe. What I jumped into, was a large pipe, which carried the murky water outside of the city. That was what I assumed, because the murky water had to go somewhere. 'I haven't seen any pipes outside of the city. It either goes to the Sludge Factory, or somewhere even further' I thought.

The pipe was big enough, for me stand straight, with some room to spear over my head. The problem was not the space, but the smell. It stank like shit, and I had to walk in that thing as well. I walked against the flow, as this would take me to the inner sections of the severs. I checked the map, and I seemed to be in the right place. I had to walk forwards, until I encountered some intersections. Some walking later, the pipe became a tunnel, and I didn't have to walk in that murky stuff anymore.

I followed the map, and started exploring the severs. The severs were quite big, checking all the tunnels, passages and whatnot, would take me a few days. After searching for about a day, I managed to find something. 'There are signs of a fight here. This is bad, they must've found him already' I thought, and rushed forwards, trying to follow the clues, that were left behind.

I soon arrived in a large open area, which seemed to be used as a collection point, of all that shit flowing through the severs. Multiple pipes extended from the walls, and spewed out the murky water downwards. I couldn't see any clues anymore, so I decided to check the whole place out. I looked around, but didn't find anything. No bodies, signs of fighting, nothing. I called out "Crow, are you here?".

Besides the murky water, falling from the pipes, I heard silence. 'Where can he be? Did they take him away?' I thought. All signs pointed to that location, but no one was there. I stood there for a while, and though about possible outcomes. Then I heard "Nex?". I immediately turned around, and looked up. There was a small hole in the wall, and the sound was coming from there.

The crevice was about two metres away, from the ground. I jumped up, and entered the crevice. Inside, I saw Crow. I felt anger, when I saw him. "Who did this to you?", was the first thing I asked. Crow was in a very bad state. No only was he missing an arm, his body, was also cut in many places. From the looks of it, he was barely able to survive. Crow asked "Nex, is that you?".

I walked over, and checked his wounds. 'This is bad, he is very weak' I thought. Not only was his left arm missing, his eyes… I asked seriously "Crow, who did this to you?". Crow shook his head, and didn't reply. I was angry, but I had to calm down. Crow needed help immediately. My medicine wouldn't be of much help to him. Shades didn't use medicine to heal themselves. Instead, I took out some meat, and said "Open your mouth". Crow did as I asked, and opened his mouth. I fed him some meat, and said "Eat, I will feed you more". Crow ate, while blood poured out from his eyes. I said "Can you open your eyes?".

Crow shook his head, and replied weakly "They are gone… They… took out… my eyes". My hand crushed the meat that I was holding, into smithereens. "Where is your arm?". Crow shook his head, and replied "I don't know… somewhere below". I fed him more meat, and jumped down. I needed to find his arm, and attach it back. I couldn't use the medicine on Crow, but I could use poison. Shades could absorb the poison, while medicine was actually detrimental to them.

I went around searching the debris, and finally found Crow's missing arm. 'I will have to attach it, the sooner the better' I thought, and returned to Crow. Crow seemed much better, even though his arm was missing, and he could no longer see. I said "I have your arm. I can attach it, but it will be painful. Before that, we need to get you healed up". Crow asked a bit stunned "You can attach arms?".

I replied "Yes, I even attached back my own arm. It's an old story, I will tell you in the future". Crow was currently in the form of a Shade, not attached to the corpse. I checked his arm, and noticed that Shades also had similar structure to that of human body. The veins, nerves and such, were in different places, but the bone and muscles were pretty much the same. Of course they differed in colour. Shades had grey muscles, while their bones were pure white.

I said "It will hurt a lot, so be prepared for that. I will make a poison, and try to numb the pain. Although, I don't know if it will work on you". Crow nodded, but stayed quiet. I had loads of herbs with me, and although I couldn't make the real Trantum Solution, I could use replacement herbs again. 'Last time, I used winter season herbs. This time though, I have spring and summer season herbs. There shouldn't be a problem' I thought.

I made the solution, as well as poison. The poison was created from Antal Shroom. It could paralyze me, so it should be able to paralyze a Shade too. The poison was an Extract as well, while the Trantum Solution was sticky, but didn't seem to possess any side effects. At least, none that I could spot.

It was also the first time, I was making an Extract from Antal Shrooms. After the whole process, I got about half a litre of Prime Antal Shroom Extract. I walked back to Crow, and asked "How do you feel?". Crow replied "A bit better, but...". I said "Don't worry, I'm about to attach your arm. Take some meat, and eat it. You need to have loads of energy". Crow nodded his head, and took the meat. He slowly ate the meat, that I was giving to him. When he had enough, I prepared for the procedure. While I was doing that, I gave him the Extract, and said "Drink this. Because you are a Shade, poison doesn't affect you as much. Drink all of it, I need you to be pretty much numb". Crow nodded his head, and drank the whole bottle of Prime Antal Shroom Extract.

After a while, Crow exclaimed "This poison is very strong! My body will not be able to absorb a lot of it. I can tell, that it will work". I nodded, and said "Good, let's wait for it to work. Then we can start". We waited for a bit, and the poison paralyzed him. Crow said "It works, I can't move at all". I nodded my head, and started the procedure.

I had to position the arm properly, then open the wound, and connect everything. I already had some experience, and because I wasn't doing this on my own arm, it was much easier. Crow still felt pain, even though the poison paralyzed him. But the amount of pain he felt, was much smaller compared to doing it raw, without any poison. I connected his bone, nerves, muscles and veins. I then stitched it together a few times, and wrapped it in bandages with some sticks, to stiffen the arm.

Crow fainted from the pain in the middle, but was still alive. When I looked at the fainted Crow, my fury resurfaced again. 'They will die for that' I thought. I was barely able to keep myself sane, while waiting for Crow to wake up. When he finally did, I gave him more food, and asked "What about your eyes?".

Crow shook his head, and said "They took them. Maybe they will even display them, for other to fear them". I asked the question again "Who did this to you?". Crow replied "You can't win with them. They will kill you, or cripple you too. You already helped me enough". I repeated myself, but more seriously this time. "Tell me, who did this to you?".

Crow was a bit stunned, and said "I don't want…". My Aura exploded, while I lost control of my anger. Crow shouted "Nex! Stop! You will end up like me!", but I no longer listened. My Aura became heavier and heavier, as my anger reached its apex. "Do you think, I'm that weak?! Some pieces of shit hunt you down, and you want me to leave them alone?!". Crow replied with difficulty "No, I…". I continued "Not even a fucking Shade King, will be able to escape my wrath! All will be beheaded!!".

"BOOOM!"

My Aura exploded, and then silence. The walls of the crevice, exploded outwards, and created even bigger hole. The murky water flowing from the pipes, became disturbed, and stopped flowing for a second. The time itself, froze for a second. Soon, the Aura disappeared, and the murky water started to flow again. My anger, and hate made me break through my Inner Limits. I only realised that later, when Crow said "You… You broke through?".

I was still angry, but when I heard Crow's question, I woke up from my anger, and looked around me. Then I noticed, the change taking place inside my body. It felt, as if my body was reorganising itself. As if the organs, muscles, veins and whatnot, began rearranging themselves. I could feel boundless strength, and vitality coursing through my veins. Flowing towards all my organs, skin, muscles, bones. Then another "Boom!" sounded, but it came from inside my body. As if a wall, that prevented me from going further, just crumbled.

My anger completely disappeared. As if it was there, to fuel my breakthrough in the first place. Crow sat there, unable to comprehend what just happened. I said "It seems, that I did break through. I reached my Inner Limits". Crow didn't know what to say, but I knew "Now, tell me. Who is responsible for all this? Don't you think, I can take care of myself now?".

Crow woke up from his thoughts, and smiled for the first time. He said "It seems, I found a really good friend. It was the leader of my group. Some of his men, tried to hunt me down, but were unable to. Teron came down here himself. This was the effect. I don't want you to suffer for me, but it seems, I also don't have a choice, and I need to rely on you". I replied "You did a lot for me too. You stayed a friend, even though Avians and other chased after me. I own you that much".

Crow smiled again, and said "The group that I belonged to, is called Overseers. I don't have anything on me, as they took all my stuff. Someone outside will tell you, where they are located. It will be faster, than me explaining it". I nodded my head, and said "Stay here. I will be back soon, with a new pair of eyes for you". I then jumped down, and ran towards the exit.