9 Chapter 9

In that singular moment when he felt like the life of the only friend he had after becoming a rock was threatened, Jacquard managed to do what he had been tried and failed to do. He had used Jean's body as a conduit for his akram, allowing him to not only protect jean and take care of the ganie that had probably been coming to feast on the body of his friend but to also heal him too, which was a welcome surprise.

After the first ganie had been sent flying, Jacquard had spent some time closely watching the hairy creatures that had gathered in the room although they were well hidden Jacquard could clearly 'see' each and every one of them.

They numbered exactly sixteen and were hidden in tunnels they had formed behind the walls of the cells, and they seemed to be able to see through the walls, and the darkness –something that Jacquard wasn't aware of on account of his special energy vision.

After realising that they weren't going to approach him, Jacquard turned his attention to other things, such as probably using his akram to heal Jean from whatever he was suffering and even possibly wake him up from his slumber. And he had just begun to channel akram into the body of Jean when he realised that he didn't know what to do.

Sure he had done it before, but he had done it out of instinct and had not paid attention to the things that were going on when it had happened. He soon began to experiment with different means of getting his energy to enter into Jean's body.

He could move the akram in his zebenisu however he wished in his body but once he tried to make the akram exit from his body he would be met with some form of immovable wall in his path. Yet when he examined his body he couldn't see anything that would stop the energy from flowing out.

Such a thing excited Jacquard –trying to find solutions to the problems he encountered during cultivation– and he would have loved to throw himself into finding a solution for the problem but the movement of the ganie put him on edge.

The once spread out ganie had gathered around Jean. Some looked down at them from them from the top of the chain, while others had gathered around Jean's feet looking at Jean with what Jacquard could only describe as desperate hunger. There was only one of the ganie that was not part of the group. It laid a little way off watching what was unfolding.

It seemed to Jacquard that this ganie that was separated from the group was the most intelligent, he could feel it as well as a hidden sense of dread, and that was what scared Jacquard the most.

This was the first time Jacquard was feeling this sense of dread. It was different from the one he felt when he was facing the joint attack of the elder council, it was much more sinister. It contained a sense of prideful confidence, like the small creature had planned his demise and no matter what happened he would still end up dead, and it filled him with an incredible sense of dread.

It was at that moment Jacquard realised that he wouldn't want to face this small hairy creature anywhere, and it was also at that moment that the first ganie attacked. It jumped directly from the top of the chains, bypassing the other ganie that had stood in its way and landed directly on Jean's head. Its hairs moved quickly and began to try and pierce through Jean's skin, secreting the corrosive slime once more.

Before Jacquard could react he already felt the akram in his body pulse out. It invaded Jean's body, pulsing through his body, encountering the ganie that sat on Jean's head and sending it flying into the roof. It hit the roof with enough force to turn into nothing but a splatter, yet that didn't seem to discourage the others, who took that as their queue to begin to attack.

The ones on the chain who were closer to Jean ran down as quickly as they could, running towards his head. Those that were behind could only rush towards other parts of Jean. Some lost their footing in the scramble and tumbled down to the floor, others who fell managed to grab hold of the yemephu's fur, using that to hang on while their hairs tried to invade the Jean's body.

The ganie on the floor didn't waste any time before joining the fray. They stood on their hind legs and leapt, grabbing hold of Jean's leg before proceeding to climb up his body; also hoping that maybe they might have a chance at the head.

A vicious fight took place on Jean's head between five ganie. Claws struck out against and blood was drawn, one ganie after the other was pushed off until only one remained, it settled on the top of Jean's head before also attempting to use its hairs to invade Jean's skull.

The effects of the battle were immediately seen, all the ganie seemed apprehensive and many of them no longer tried to get to Jean's head, instead they chose to settle down wherever they where and attempt to invade Jean's body. The few that still made their way to Jean's were sent flying from there after a short battle with the one on the top.

Jacquard who was watching it happen from the sidelines was both happy and scared. After the first pulse of akram had been sent out he had discovered something that made him quite happy; he didn't have to act in order to prevent the ganie from harming Jean with their corrosive slime. This allowed him to sit back and study how the energy left his body and maybe come up with a solution for the problem he was facing, what he now considered to be his second bottle neck.

Although he was scared by the number of ganie that had gathered on Jean's body, he wasn't truly concerned, since he was sure that it was something that an akram pulse would fix. What truly concerned him was the fact that that sinister looking ganie was still laying to the side, not coming to attack Jean like the others, yet not completely leaving the vicinity.

Jean knew it was absurd that he was scared of such a creature yet he couldn't shake off the feeling that when it made a move it would shock him. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do about it and he threw it to the back of his mind, waiting for the next akram pulse to happen.

Shortly after the last ganie seemed to have settled down, the akram pulse seemed to have finished its cool down and immediately shot out once more. The ganie that had successfully secured its spot on Jean's head was shot off, slamming into the roof with enough force to turn it into a splatter beside it predecessor. The ones on his arms were also shot of although much to Jacquard's surprise, with a lot less force than the first one.

Jacquard watched in horror as the energy from the akram pulse reduced, sending ganie flying at ever decreasing speeds and distance until it reached the point where it couldn't even affect the ganie that were hanging onto Jean's legs.

Jacquard could only watch in silence as the ganie who were still on Jean's legs rushed up towards his head. A short battle took place as the strongest among them asserted its dominance and took its place on jean's head. What was even worse was that most of the ganie that had be shot off during the last akram pulse were recovering and scampering to take back their spots, which had mostly been filled by those who had previously been unable to find a spot before.

Though the situation was bad Jacquard, Jacquard had already tossed it to the back of his mind and was preparing to start making heads and tails of what had happened when the pulse was released. After all the greatest shock he had received had been watching the energy from the akram pulse quickly decline, everything else had been well within his expectation, and he was sure that after a few more akram pulses not only would he have understood how to externalise his akram but all the ganie would have been taking care of.

But then the ganie that had been laying on the floor a little way off stood up, and then Jacquard knew that things weren't going to be as easy as he thought.