Infinity Legends

Chapter 13: The Healer

Kramen opened his eyes in shock. His hands quickly ran against each other, verifying that his palms were no longer scorched. Then he ran his hands over his eyes, making sure the blinding effects of the electrical burst were no longer affecting him. He pressed his carotid to verify his heart was still beating, then patted his entire body to, surprisingly, find no broken bone whatsoever.

He had sworn he had seen the dreaded permadeath menu a second ago, asking if he wanted to create a new character, but now, in the blink of an eye, he was laying on the floor before the Trial Spire, surrounded by his companions.

Kramen looked at Arlak, then Takol and, last but not least, the supposed healer. Gurmonya Bearius.

“How?” was the only word Kramen could muster.

“You were right!” Gurm giggled, then bonked Kramen’s head with her crystal-topped staff. He flinched, then massaged the struck portion of his forehead as the magician continued speaking: “This isn’t a healing crystal, this is a time crystal?”

Still dizzy by being bonked and, more than that, being recently dead, Kramen took a second to process the information, but the pieces slowly fell into place. Yes, the purple hue around Gurm’s staff would suggest dark-matter so pure it had not been tainted by foreign bodies and elements, being entirely able to touch the space-time continuum. He just had no idea a player could have those abilities… though come to think of it, that would explain a lot of the riddles he faced going up the Spire.

“You slowed time so I would be able to climb the handles and the cables,” Kramen finally concluded.

“Half right. I slowed time so the energy wouldn’t get to the handles, yes,” Gurm nodded. “But when you were climbing the ropes, I didn’t slow time down, I sped you up!”

“Giving me time to react… Brilliant.”

“She also froze you mid-air to complete that jump on the gears!” Takol said, tail wiggling in excitement. “It was awesome! Never seen anything like it!”

“It’s a pretty new skill tree,” Arlak said.

“Okay, but one question remains unanswered,” Kramen pushed himself to his feet.

“How I healed you?” Gurm asked. “Easy. I didn’t. I just made your body return fifteen seconds in time, to when it wasn’t looking like French fries… Humm… I could go for French fries.”

Kramen scratched his bald head. Yeah, that made sense. A very unusual healing method, certainly, but also highly effective… Unless, of course, there was a limit to that.

“How far back in time can you move something?” Kramen asked.

“I’m still leveling the skill, but I can do twenty to twenty-five seconds,” Gurm spoke.

“I won’t lie, I’m impressed. Very ingenious. But I can see as many pros as I do cons here,” Kramen was pacing from one side to the other, hands clasped behind his back. “The upside is that your healing method differs from most other healers. It can throw rivals off their game. You also double as both healer and booster. When not healing, you can speed allies up or slow enemies down…”

Gurm nodded, then spoke: “I can heal more damage at once than normal healers. They heal one wound at a time. I can heal all the damage and negative effects you took on the last twenty seconds, no matter how hurt you are!”

“You’re living proof,” Arlak pointed to Kramen. “Heh… Living… Barely.”

“But can you heal damage I took more than twenty seconds ago?”

“I… No. Not yet.”

“Then that’s a problem. What if you’re not near a teammate when they get hurt?”

“I can get there quickly!” the purple alien said, visibly retracting into her hood. “I can speed myself up too.”

“That’s a good point,” Takol nudged Kramen.

The bald human cyborg stopped, deep in thought, scratching his bare chin. He had to confess the possibilities her powers opened were intriguing to say the least, but he still felt very uneasy about having such an unorthodox player filling a role as vital to a team as healing.

“Fine, I’ll give you a chance,” Kramen said at last, and the cloaked mage jumped up and down in excitement.

“Did you hear it? He’ll give me a chance!” Gurm jumped onto Arlak, hugging his broad hairy neck while Arlak smiled awkwardly. Too awkwardly. Very unlike Dana. “I’ll play in the big leagues like you!”

“Hold on,” Kramen raised a hand. “I didn’t say that. First, I’ll need to test you in real combat, and I’ll want to meet you in real life.”

“Then come on out, already!” Gurm said, then vanished in an intense flash of light.

She had just logged out.

Kramen threw a confused glance at Arlak, who just shrugged and, in a similar flash, logged out too.

***

Barry blinked rapidly, his eyes adapting to the sunlight coming through the windows of the Crooked Goose, much brighter than the stormy atmosphere of Amocci. On the chair beside him, Luca too removed his helmet, pulling up his mass of blonde locks into a blown-out mess.

Across the table from them, Dana already had her helmet on her lap, and sitting just beside her there was a girl with long braids falling over narrow shoulder. A girl who could be no older than thirteen. She bounced excitedly on her chair and smiled broadly at Barry, her braces shining and her chubby cheeks pushing her freckles into her gleaming green eyes.

“Gummybear?” Barry felt his jaw drop.

The girl nodded frantically.

Barry looked at Dana, deadpan.

Dana winked at Barry.

Luca looked at everyone to try and understand what on Earth was going on.

“Guys… Who is the kid? Where did she come from?” Luca asked.

“Hi!” she waved at him. “I’m Julie, but everybody calls me Gummybear! I arrived with my bike while you and your friend were traveling to Amocci. Are you the funny lizard man?”

“I… am?” Luca hesitated, then looked at Dana and Barry. “I’m not any less confused.”

“This is my little sister,” Dana ran her hand over Gummybear’s hair, and the kid pushed away from her older sister. “She’s building up to be a big FSL hit just like her big sis, ain’t’ya Gummy?”

“Yes! One day we’ll be on the same team, but that Laserburn guy says I’m not old enough…”

“I mean…” Barry rubbed his hands together. “You are very young.”

“Just as old as you were on your first cup with us, kid,” Dana folded her arms over her chest and lifted an eyebrow towards Barry. “What if we said you were too young back then?”

“Besides,” Luca turned to Barry, “you seemed ready to give the girl a chance when you just saw her as an ugly mysterious space wizard.”

“Hey!” Gummybear slammed the table. “Gurmonya Bearius isn’t ugly! She’s pretty!”

“And she’s got your temper too,” Luca smiled at Dana, then turned to Barry. “Gotta say, I have a good feeling about this one.”

Barry stared intently at Gummybear, his eyes digging into her soul as she returned a blushing girly smile. Then he looked at Dana, who bit her lips in anticipation.

“Okay…” he said with a long nod. “But I won’t go easy on you just because you’re a kid.”

“Wouldn’t want it any other way!” Gummybear smirked deviously, then opened a big smile. “Now can we celebrate with fries and milkshake, Dana? Pleeeease?”

Dana chuckled, then looked at Barry and Luca, who just smiled and shrugged.

“Okay,” Dana said standing up. “It’s Saturday and you were a good girl this week.”

“Yuppie!” Gummybear sprinted out the bar’s door, leaving the three grownups by themselves.

Dana turned to the two men. “You boys coming? I still have a few hours before practice.”

“When you’ll steal my System back?” Barry asked.

“When I’ll steal your System back.”

“Then sure, we’ll go,” Barry said, nudging Luca. “There really is a lot to celebrate.”