Chương 55: Frequent Donor

Ch. 55: Frequent Donor

"Dor!" Strength renewed by the urgency, I pushed my foot off the ground and in one bound I made it to Dory. An errant energy beam had hit her after I didn't block them all. The power had been divided into how many coins had been put into the sling. If the blast had been any more concentrated, it would have wiped her out. Instead, the beam had resigned her to die slower.

"Drake…" She eeked out, her breathing rapid.

"Come on, Dor. I made you my champ for a reason. Didn't your constitution get better at all?"

"Bone marrow," her soft voice answered me"That was today. Fuck." Squonk approached, "I can double touch her, Will help?" Spiros shook his head and asked, "Is your constitution as pitiful as I would imagine?"

"It is," Squonk said. I placed my hand behind her head to protect her from the hard dirt.

"Tell me you're going to be okay."

"Drake… Nelo's good at that stuff."

"What?? What are you talking about?"

"Planning stuff."

"No… no, come on. Come on, Dor. I told you not to give up on me. I don't give up on you out there and… and we had a deal and you're welching." I looked over at Spiros. Tears streaked down my face as I said, "What can we do?" Spiros took a step back.

"I have healing all along my skill tree. You must have some healing spells." I stared at him blankly. I had been presented with those options on occasion. But since I became a god I had been leveling up solo. I would hide away from other people to do my battles all to gain experience. Constantly going from fight to fight. Instead of optimizing for the long run, I would just choose whatever helped me for that fight. With little regard for the future.

"I… I… I would choose things I needed in that moment, Spiros-."

"I understand," Spiros said.

"And I… I'm never fighting around people…"

"I know," Spiros' voice spoke softly, like he was addressing a child.

"Don't speak to me that way," I snapped at him. I opened my screen and said, "I-I'm due for a level up. I must be. I mean how much was this newest mission? It was huge." Save Dory from the Exleys. (10, 000 exp)"Yeah," I said "So do it. 10k would get me a few levels. Do it!" I'm sorry, hun. But you… haven't really completed that mission, have you?

"If you give me the experience points then I can complete the mission. Just give them to me, I can heal Dory, and I will have succeeded. Can't you give me the points… on loan?" That's not how this works.

"Why not!?" I yelled, "Why not help!? Why sit there and watch this all happen!?"

"Drake, that's how it's always been," Spiros said softly again.

"I told you not to talk to me like that." Squonk put his hands on me and said, "Let's shift our focus. Let's try to make her comfortable."

"Dory, Dor?" I tapped her face with my thumb as I cradled her head in my hand. She was nonresponsive. I placed my ear to her chest and there was still a heartbeat, although faint.

"She's weakened because of bone marrow," I chattered, "We have to get her… get her some bone marrow." I went to pick her up and Spiros stood up and said, "You think you could run at high speed along the air with her in this state? You jump from here to the next building and you'll snap her neck like a twig."

"What good is all this!? Why can't anything I do help? I am supposed to be overpowered."

"Says who?" Spiros asked.

"The-" I hesitated, not knowing what to say, "I am a god!" My voice boomed like thunder but cracked like lightning. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! I can help. Spiros and I both looked at the cursed item on my hilt. I pulled it out and stared into its eye.

"You can help, Bloodsucker? You can do it? It's not blood. It's bone marrow." Perhaps. Allow me to try.

"Thank you, Bloodsucker. Thank you," I said, relieved.

"Drake," Spiros said, "Bloodsucker is not made for bone marrow, and it's not made to give the liquid back. Doing some may gravely damage Bloodsucker."

"They said they can do it. You can do it, right, Blood?" Bloodsucker was briefly silent.

"Blood? You can do it right? If not, no big deal," I begged. The knife didn't believe that. Neither did Spiros or Squonk. If Dory was conscious and upright she wouldn't have either. The desperation in my voice telegraphed exactly how big of a deal this was to me. I can do it. No big deal.

"Yes! Thank you, Bloodsucker. Thank you."

"Do you even know where to stab to extract it?" Spiros asked.

"I'll figure it out." I hovered the blade over my knee and stabbed. I didn't stop until I felt the point hit something it shouldn't, then I kept pushing further. I've got it. I told Bloodsucker, "Okay. tell me when you sta- oh, dear mother of God!" That did not feel right. I could feel it extracting my godly bone marrow. The vial that was normally filled with blood dribbled full with a viscous gold yellow.

"Okay," I said, "Okay… fine." Fuck. that hurt. You hanging in there, Bloodsucker?" I do not feel right. No big deal.

"Drake, bone marrow was not compatible with its physiology. That was probably painful for Bloodsucker and now you're going to make it give it back? It's like bending a leg the wrong way."

"They said they were fine. Can we clean this knife!?" Squonk was on it. He had nabbed his first aid kit from his backpack and meticulously used an antiseptic wipe on the blade to clean it.

"I bring a first aid kit everywhere I go in case I need to risk going up some stairs or something."

"Thank you," I told Squonk. I held Bloodsucker over the circular bandage on the side of her thigh. I used it as a bullseye. The point pressed against the plastic fabric. My hand trembled. What if this doesn't work? WIll you hate me too?

"No, Blood. I'll be happy you tried. Be honest, is this going to hurt you?" Just do it. I nodded. I glided into her pale damaged skin. I went until I felt a wall. Something different than meat. I had made it to the bone. It would cost me no strength at all to rip right through her. With my most delicate strength, the resistance from the wall gave way to my herculean strength, and just like that the point of the blade had incised the bone.

"Okay… You ready?" I asked. The viscous gold liquid in the vial escaped through the handle. Bloodsucker didnt' say anything with the comms, but its eye winced as the operation started.

"This isn't natural for Bloodsucker Drake." Spiros said.

"I know. I'm sorry." The vial fully cleared. I pulled the knife out and Squonk immediately used his first aid kit to wrap up Dory's leg. He applied bandages to the incision point. All in all, It was a relatively clean cut. We three stared in silence around a dormant Dory. I finally had the courage to say, "Come on, sis. Come on. Come back to me." Her eyes remained closed. I placed my head on her heart. There was a beat. Soft but it was still there.

Spiros shook his head, "If this doesn't work, and it kills Bloodsucker too-""Shut up," I said.

"You're being selfish," Spiros whispered. My voice trembling I said, "I'm the god here. Not you."

"What if you aren't compatible?" Spiros asked.

"We're siblings."

"It's not just your blood anymore. Not just your bone marrow." I held Dory's face in my hands. Nothing was changing. I stared at the bandages on her thigh. I looked at Squonk.

"Take those off." He stared confused.

"Go on." Squonk took the bandage he'd just applied and unwrapped it. They had been bled on but when he revealed the wound… it had closed. I let out a miniscule breath. My eyes went back to my sister's. I watched as they slowly came open.

"Dor," I whispered it.

"Am I dead?"

"No," I said, "You're alive." She's okay? I held the knife in front of my face. His one eye was not looking good. Instead of the clean whites you might see, it was yellowed.

"You knew it would hurt you but you still helped." N-now she can k-keep… annoying you. It closed its eye, slowly, and opened it again. Was I a good knife?

"Best I've ever had." Maybe… I wasn't so cursed after all? I shook my head and said, "No, You were cursed. But you got better. I can only hope to be half the knife that you are one day." T-that's… impossible, Drake. You are not a knife..

"Not as much as you. Not by a long shot." Goodbye, friend.

"Bloodsucker," I twirled him in my hand, and pointed it at myself, "you're not going anywhere." I stabbed him into me. The knife drank from my rich blood and replenished its strength. My system went off with multiple consecutive dings. Secret mission unlocked, Frequent Donor Secret mission unlocked, Deeper Than Bone Bloodsucker is now level 3. Oh, and Drake? Don't think I forgot that you've now completed the mission. Calculating level gain…