The path
avoided – 0.4
After watching the small helicopter fly away west through
the storm, the man rode his motorcycle slowly up the slight embankment to the
highway. The figure that had crawled out
from the wreckage was leaning up against what was left of the car.
“Definitely not
from around here” he thought to himself as he saw the man’s business suit,
now soaked with rain and blood. The
blood was coming from a pretty good head wound, as well as deep cuts in his
face and arms. That’s when the rider saw
the shredded pants leg and the mangled flesh underneath.
He put down the stand for his bike, but left the engine
running, and slowly approached the injured man.
As soon as the rider stepped in the direction of the
wounded man, he began screaming in a panic, desperately trying to scoot away on
his three good limbs. The rider raised
both his arms, trying to calm the panicked man.
It wasn’t working, and he was now causing fresh wounds to his hands as
he scraped along the shattered glass and splintered metal in a desperate
attempt to escape.
The rider finally reached up, and pulled down the deep
cowl of his long coat, to reveal his face.
Raising his hands back up, he said, “Inila, niye toka sni iyecetu (1)”
Another round of distant lightning illuminated the
rider’s face enough for the driver to see that he was a man, an elf, and wasn’t
trying to harm him he said, “Wh…who…. Whe… where did the bear go?!? (2)”
The rider drew a heavy caliber pistol from its holster on
his thigh, and ducked behind the car. “A
bear? Where?”
The driver looked very confused, “I… it was right there!”
he said pointing back in the direction the rider had just come from.
The rider looks down at the driver. His pupils were fully dilated, his skin pale
and waxy. “He’s in shock” he said to himself re-holstering his pistol. The rider dropped his backpack on the ground,
“Caje taku nitawa… cate sice (3)… uh,
sorry… What is your name?”
“Wa… wha… what?”
“Your name, what is it?
I am known as magazu (4)… Rain,
my friends call me Rain.” He said as he unpacked
the Medkit. Once it was powered up, he
waited for it to synchronize with the weak Matrix signals out here in the
Badlands. When the read outs began to
scroll, Rain splayed the fingers of his right hand rapidly, which triggered
three augmented reality screens to pop up into the elf’s view.
The driver looked
up at his rescuer and started laughing.
“Rain… hahaha, because it’s raining… hahaha.”
Rain looked up at
the sky to fight the rising ire within him.
Feeling the large cold drops fall on his face, he refocused his mind.
“Um… right,” he said
with a sigh, looking back down to his patient.
The leg was spurting blood. The
Medkit confirmed his suspicions that wound needed to take priority. He started to tell the man what he was getting
ready to do, but the driver’s head had sagged to his right. “Unconscious…
at least he’s not feeling the pain right now” Rain thought to himself.
Rain set his left
hand on the man’s forehead, and raised his right to the heavens, “Atkuku ki
Wakan Tanka, awayaye leciya le wicasa. (5,6,7)” He felt the familiar sensation of mana
collecting, and flowing through him, and into the man. When the sensation eased, he re-examined the
man’s leg. The blood had ceased gushing
from the severed artery, but just to make sure, he took off the man’s belt, and
fashioned a tourniquet
just above the shredded flesh.
Now that he had more time, he dressed the rest of the man’s
wounds (8). When he could, he would sit up higher to try
and see if the helicopter was going to return, or if anyone else might be
driving along the isolated highway. Once
he had dressed the wounds he could see, he sat back on his heels and raised his
face and hands to the sky, and began to pray, “Atkuku ki Wakan Tanka,
canl waste kage le wicasa zaniya”. (9)(10)(11)
Once he finished his prayer, he remained with his face to
the sky so that he could enjoy the sensation of the thunder storm on his face
for a while longer. After several
moments he lowered his arms, “Pilamayaye
Atkuku ki Wakan Tanka”. (12)
After he finished
putting all of the loose kit away, he returned the medkit to his backpack. Reaching under his long coat, he withdrew a
thirty by twenty centimeter tablet. With
practiced ease, he taped the sequence in.
“It’s been a while… I hope they will take my
call” he said to himself.
-=-=-=O=-=-=- -=-=-=O=-=-=- -=-=-=O=-=-=-
-=-=-=O=-=-=- -=-=-=O=-=-=- -=-=-=O=-=-=-
(1)
(ee-nee-lah), (nee-yea) (toh-kahn shnee)
ee-yea-chay-due) (ee-yea-chay-due) //
Quiet, you are going to be alright. – in the Lakota language
(2)
English Language test [Intuition (4) + English
(1) = DP 5] – [6,6,3,3,5 – 3 hits]
(3)
(chah-zjay)(dah-kue)(nee-dah-wah)… (chahn-day
shee-chay) // What is your
name? Sorry…
(4)
(ma-gh-as-zue)
(5)
Casting
Stabilize Spell, level 4 – [Spell Casting 4 + Magic 2 = 6 DP] – [4,5,6,2,2,5 –
3 hits]
(6)
Resist
Drain, Shaman – [Cha 3 + Will 5 = 8 DP [2]] – [4,6,5,3,2,1,6,2 = 3 hits, no drain (note: drain would have
been physical, because the number of hits, exceeded his magic ability)
(7)
(ah-dkue-kue kee) (wah-kahn dahn-kah)
(ah-wahn-yahn-yea) (lay-chee-yah) (lay) (wee-chah-shah) //
Father (his/her) God watch over
this man
(8)
First
Aid check [Skill Level (1) + Logic (5) + PQ, Quick Healer (2) = 8 DP] – (6,3,1,4,2,6,2,3
= 3 hits)
(9)
Casting
Heal Spell, level 4 – [Spell Casting 4 + Magic 2 + PQ, Quick Healer
(2) = 8 DP] – [5,4,6,1,2,4,4,1 – 2 hits]
(10) Resist Drain, Shaman
– [Cha 3 + Will 5 = 8 DP [2]] – [1,2,6,6,1,5,1,6 = 4 hits, no drain
(11) (ah-dkue-kue
kee) (wah-kahn dahn-kah) (chanl wah-shday) (kah-ghay) (lay) (wee-chah-shah)
(zah-nee-yah) // Father God, please
make this man well (in health)
(12) (pee-lah-mah-yah-yea) (ah-dkue-kue
kee) (wah-kahn dahn-kah) // Thank You father God.
-=-=-=O=-=-=- -=-=-=O=-=-=- -=-=-=O=-=-=-
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