Limits

Yagaroths were water based creatures, land, was not their domain. Yet, I couldn't lose them. Even worse, the distance was getting shorter. 'I'm not far away from the location, of my hidden bag with the Yellow Dust. I just need to retrieve it and then… End everything' I thought. The Avians were relentlessly trying to slow me down, I decided not to stop and shoot anymore. This would only shorten the distance between me and Yagaroths.

My set of clothes became rags at this point, it offered almost no protection. The Formations placed on the set, seemed to weaken or disappeared completely. 'I can already see the location, just a bit more!' I thought and ran, like never before.

When I finally arrived at the place, where my bags were hidden, I quickly dug them up and opened one. The Yellow Dust started pouring out. The amount created a small hill, when the bag became completely empty, I threw it to the side and placed the other bag onto my shoulders, then ran.

When the Avians saw the mountain of Yellow Dust, they instantly stopped. Some started retreating, while other waited in the air, scared to approach. The Yagaroth army was getting closer to the pile of Yellow Dust, while Avians tried to make them retreat, but no Yagaroth listened. When I was about 300 metres away, I took out a cloth and wrapped it tightly around an arrow. With the arrow prepared, I lit it.

When the Avians saw this, they gave up any attempts of persuading the Yagaroths to retreat, and fled as far as they could. The Yagaroths got closer and closer to the pile, and thought nothing of it. None of them stopped or retreated. 'This is your doom' I thought. I took aim, and shot my arrow. "Swoosh!". The arrow flew through the air, and landed in the pile of Yellow Dust.

"BOOOOOOOOM!"

The moment I released the arrow, I started running again. The blast from that explosion, would be much more severe, than the one I released upon the whole horde of Corpse Dogs. When the arrow arrived, the sky lit up and became bright from the explosion, my ears rang and hurt a lot. Then the blast of hot air hit me. "UGHHHH!!"

I flew through the air like a rag doll. I almost lost consciousness, due to the impact alone. I was alive, thanks to the distance, but also because, I turned around at a last possible moment and shielded my body, using my arms and legs. My arms were broken and scorched, from the impact. Fortunately, the bones didn't shatter and only broke.

When I finally landed, the sole protection on my back, was the added armour in my clothes. Thankfully, it survived the attacks of Avians. The first impact slowed me down, but I didn't stop and bounced back into the air. I bounced like this couple of times, then finally stopped. "Cough..." I coughed out some blood. The pain was real, my arms broken and I had difficulty breathing. My legs were not broken, but hurt like hell and were also charred. I couldn't pick myself up whatsoever.

Frosty transformed into corporeal form, and quickly started using its breath, to freeze some parts of my body. 'That lizard is not stupid at all, coldness can decrease my pain but also preserve the wounds' I praised Frosty in my mind. 'But, Frosty also suffered some damages. I can see scorched marks on it, as well as some bruises' I thought. When I looked at the place, that used to contain an army of Yagaroths, there was a huge pit in the ground. The skies and land, were clear of any living creature, there was nothing in sight, but the pit.

I asked Frosty with some difficulty "Can... you... take out... some... medicine... from my bag? Ugh". Frosty stopped and nodded its head, quite worried. After a while, Frosty showed me all the bottles, I had in my bag. I pointed with my eyes "Give me this on to drink, I need to recover fast". Frosty opened my mouth and poured in the medicine. I looked at another bottle and said "Smear this one on me, it will allow my wounds to heal faster".

Frosty did whatever I asked it to do, without complaints. After about 15 minutes of resting, I could see something flying in the air. 'These bastards are back. I need to leave, now!' I thought and slowly picked myself up. Although my legs hurt like hell, I still managed to stand up. I said "Let's go, we need to leave. The Avians are coming". Frosty nodded and followed after me, it didn't return to my hand, as a tattoo.

While walking away, I said to myself "Wait you fucking birds, when I break through the Inner Limit, your race is doomed!" and left in a hurry. The Avians didn't chase me anymore, they simply flew in circles, around that huge pit, created by the explosion. I limped forwards, while Frosty acted as my support. I couldn't use my hands, so anything I needed, Frosty had to take care of it. I was glad to have Frosty with me, it never complained about doing anything for me. It knew, how much everything hurt me.

While we walked, I said "Thank you. It seems, I needed you more, than you needed me". Frosty shook its head and made some noises, then smiled. I thought 'Maybe both of us need each other'. We walked for a long time, until I wasn't able to see the Vulture Cliffs in the distance.

I said to Frosty "Let's take a break, I will need you to treat my arms. But don't worry, I will tell you want to do". Frosty nodded its head, but I could see that it was afraid a bit. I told Frosty the instructions of healing my broken arms, and explained what medicine to use. Frosty was an intelligent lizard, it remembered all the steps, so we went straight to the point.

"Begin with my right arm first. You need to locate the broken bone, and then align them. This will hurt me no doubt, but just focus on the task, don't worry about me". Frosty nodded with determination and started the procedure. The 1st try was unsuccessful. I screamed in pain "AGH! It's wrong! Try again!".

Frosty's confidence disappeared after the failure, but it still tried its best. After a while of agonising pain, Frosty finally managed to align the bones properly. "Haah…. Haaah… Now.. apply the medicine.. then wrap it… with sticks…" I had to take breaks when speaking due to the pain. Frosty applied the medicine, then wrapped my whole arm using cloth and sticks.

After some time, the pain subdued and I could finally think straight. "That was the 1st arm, the left one is next. But before we do anything, let me rest. I want to have a breather from that pain". Frosty took out some meat from the bag and brought it to me. I said "It's raw, I don't eat raw stuff…. I need to make fire". Frosty Shook its head and pointed at itself. I said "You want to make fire? Hmm, alright, I will teach you".

I continued "There are a few way to make a fire. I will show you the easier way. There is a flint in my bag. When you scrape it with metal, it will produce sparks. I also have some dried leaves and grass, that can be used to start the fire. You will also need some sticks or branches on top of the dried grass or leaves, in order for them to caught fire and sustain the burning process. Try it out, it's not that hard with that special flint".

Frosty nodded and took out all the things required to make fire. I then tried the flint and managed to create some sparks. After a few trials and errors, Frosty managed to light the fire by itself. I said "Good job! Who know, maybe I will teach you more things, like the Art of Medicine. You can use your hands just like human can, although you have less fingers, so learning the Art of Medicine, shouldn't be that difficult for you".

Frosty had mixed feeling about that. I said "You don't want to learn? I'm not forcing you, but imagine if we are in similar situation in the future. If you knew how to do all those things, you could treat me without my instructions". Frosty thought about it and nodded its head.

I said "I'm not going to teach you everything, if you don't want. I can only teach you the necessary knowledge. For example, how to make medicine, or which herbs to collect. How to treat simple wounds or broken joints, stuff like that". Frosty then nodded again, it seemed that it wanted to learn the basics only. 'The basics are good enough. If I happen to faint, Frosty will be able to start fire, make medicine or treat me, in case of emergency' I thought.

I then taught Frosty, how to roast the meat. While I was fed by Frosty, I explained some basics, about medicine making and treatment. Of course, while my mouth wasn't full. With that, we rested for some time and chatted, or rather I talked and Frosty listened, until I decided to go to sleep and rest properly. 'I need to sleep a bit, before Frosty attempts to repair my 2nd arm. I'm not a great fan of pain' I thought and closed my eyes.