Failure and Acceptance (Part 1)

"Run for the trees!" Robert roared as he left a blur behind.

Seth cursed as he felt his hands trembling. 'I hate being right!' His eyes scanned the flock of Swifties quickly approaching in the distance. He clenched his jaw as the teens took off running in different directions.

"What are they?" Rachael asked as she ran next to him. "Why's the instructor so worked up?"

"They're Swifties," Seth grunted as he sprinted for the nearest group of trees. "They have a high body stat for a white tower and can accelerate quickly in straight lines. If those things hit you, it'll be critical damage unless you have a high body stat for a level one!"

Rachael's eyes went wide as she kept pace with him. "How do we kill them?"

"You need people with high body or power stats to damage them. Preferably both. If your body stat is too low to dodge them, you're screwed!"

Rachael paled as explosive sounds rang out in the distance! 'Robert is already engaging them. They don't stand a chance against him. It's the ones who ignore him we need to worry about.' Seth turned his head to look at the battle as several swifties vanished!

"Stay close to the trees!" Seth shouted to the few teens that had followed him. He quickly put the nearest tree between himself and where the swifties had been.

Thunk!

Seth winced as he steadied his breathing. He knew that sound all too well. A swifty had embedded its beak in the other side of the tree's trunk!

Crack!

A girl screamed as her leg was severed by a swifty that flew through her flesh, muscles and bone as if they were butter! Seth clenched his jaw as the girl fell to the ground weeping as she stared at her bloody stump.

Squawking filled the air as the swift pulled itself out of the tree that Seth had hidden behind and joined two others. As they circled the collection of trees, Seth's gaze went to the girl on the ground. He knew he had to act fast. It was a critical injury, and it wouldn't take her long to bleed out!

"What's your body stat?" Seth shouted as she turned to face him, her hand reaching for help.

"Please, help me!" She bawled as blood pumped out of her stump. "I don't want to die! I only have one point left!"

Seth winced at her panicked voice. He couldn't act rashly and had to confirm her body stat.

"Listen, stay calm so I can save you," Seth replied as he repositioned himself to keep the tree between himself and the swifties. "Tell me your max body stat. Quickly!"

"It's five. Please, help." The girl wailed as her eyes rolled in her head.

Seth cursed as he noticed the swifties preparing to launch another attack. 'I need to get her out of there. Divine Threads!' As they shot out from his left hand, he sent the one from his pink after the severed leg while making the others wrap around the girl's limbs. With a flex of his fingers, he yanked the unconscious girl and her leg toward him.

Thud! Thud, thud!

The three swifties quivered as they lodged themselves in the ground where the girl had been less than a second before. Seth heard the others squeal and choke in terror as he focused on reattaching the limb. His threads quickly stitched the leg to the stump before activating its healing ability.

Seth frowned as the healing ended. He had only used six points of power in these threads to stabilise the girl's situation without draining him. However, he didn't cancel his ability as the girl remained unconscious.

'I'll have to treat her like a puppet with my threads until we're safe.' Seth glanced around and noticed the horrified expressions on the others. However, it wasn't the near death of their fellow raider or the swifties that caused it. They were looking at Seth as if he were a monster!

'It's always the same.' Seth sighed as he moved his fingers to make the girl stand close to him. "Keep your eyes on the damn birds!"

The teens yelped as they realised the swifties had vanished. Seth scanned the sky until he found them. 'There you are.' His throat felt dry as they appeared to be setting themselves up to target him.

There was no point in asking the few teens with him if they could counter the birds. If they had an ability like that, they would've used it. 'What's Robert doing?' Seth cursed as the birds vanished again!

'Crap!' He threw himself sideways and made the girl do the same.

Thunk!

Seth's eyes went wide as he hit the ground! 'That was only one!' Suddenly, he felt his threads go slack as his skill was destroyed! Seth gasped as he rolled across the ground. 'The second one aimed for my threads! There's still one left!'

He grunted as he threw his right hand out while rolling into a crouching position. He reactivated his skill as he threw them out to reconnect to the helpless girl. His palms were sweaty as he yanked her toward him again, just as the third bird sliced the air where she had been!

Seth felt his t-shirt clinging to his back as he analysed the situation. 'I can't let them do something like that again.' He activated the healing ability in his threads to heal another point of the girl's body stat since he had been forced to use his skill again.

This wasn't the first time he regretted the single use of healing with each activation of his Divine Threads. If they could heal over time, he would've been able to do more.

"Watch out!" A boy called from his left!

Seth jumped slightly to the left while manipulating his threads to lift the girl over his head to land next to him. He gracefully made her land on her feet while ignoring his previous position.

His eyes scanned his surroundings for the other two birds even as he heard one of them crash into the ground where he had been. However, he couldn't help but freeze when he felt death closing in on him. 'Ah, they got me.' Seth cursed the helplessness that came with his low body stats as his mind understood what the birds had done.

The moment he had moved, the other two launched their attack after confirming where he would land. It was too late to avoid it. Seth instinctively knew that. He closed his eyes as he thought about his sister in his final moments.

"That was close!"

Seth's eyes shot open to see Robert standing in front of him. He held two swifties in his right hand and one in his left. It took Seth a second to realise they all had broken necks. His knees trembled as he felt the adrenaline wearing off.

"Oops, come on. Stay on your feet." Robert said as he dropped the birds and steadied Seth with his hands. However, Robert wore a grim expression as he glanced at the unconscious girl controlled by Seth's threads. "Don't you think you should put those away?"

Seth could hear shocked gasps and outraged conversations as other teens joined their group. Now that Robert had ended the threat to their lives, they felt more secure in a larger group.

"Mm," Seth mumbled as he cancelled his skill.

Robert gave him a concerned look as he studied the teens' expressions. It didn't look good, and one wrong move would ignite the brewing powder keg.

"Do you have enough in the tank to stabilise someone else?" Robert whispered as Seth regained his senses.

"Depends. What body stat, and how bad is the damage?" Seth mumbled on autopilot as his mind still reeled from his close call.

"Six, but they have one point left," Robert said as he clenched his jaw.

Seth groaned as he fell to his knees, shaking his head. His expression turned haunted as Robert clicked his tongue. That was when a girl approached carrying a boy with a hole in his gut.

"What's he waiting for?" She said in an eerily low, calm voice. "Ethan needs healing. He's going to be fine. Right? That's why you brought him in the first place."

The girl's emotionless eyes stared at Seth as she kept approaching. Her arms outstretched, offering the boy to him. Robert sighed as he grabbed her shoulder, forcefully stopping her from going further.

"I'm sorry," Robert said as he hung his head. "Seth used too much energy keeping that girl alive. He doesn't have enough left to save Ethan."

Gasps filled the air as many teens turned their gaze away from the dying boy. The girl didn't seem to hear Robert. Instead, she kept her gaze fixated on Seth.

"Hey, you're going to save him. Right?" She whispered as a few sobs broke in the crowd.

Robert gently attempted to take Ethan from her arms, but she didn't want to let him go. She kept holding him out toward Seth as the latter shakily looked up.

"I'm sorry, I can't do anything for him," Seth mumbled as he struggled to look the girl in the eyes.

"But, you're a healer." The girl whispered, her eyes becoming cloudy. "You're supposed to heal us. Why aren't you even trying?"

Seth swallowed as he listened to her accusations. He knew the girl already understood the situation. However, her mind was broken. She couldn't accept that the boy in her arms would soon die.

'This is the part I hate about being a healer. Everyone blames me when I fail to save someone they care about.'