Chapter 11

Layan moved fast through the woods heading for the river he knew was a half hour to the north. It was a deep cut river with high stone walls. There was a good chance he would be able find a cave. He made the river in fifteen minutes and his travel speed was that much faster than normal.

The water levels were low this time of year leaving a smooth flow of fresh water moving slowly from the east. Heading upriver Layan walked for another hour before he found a nice sized cave. It was only about four meters deep and the entrance was narrow enough that he would be able to block it with a fire or some stones from the river. He set out his pack and prepared his pot and cover to distil out some pure water and then got started straight away.

A few hours of work later he had enough water to make a start on getting rid of the filth inside him. Using stones to close off the entrance he made himself comfortable. Taking the distilled water, he entered his trance state and slowly started to drink the water while using his sight to shift a small amount of flux energy from his core.

The water and the energy had to be combined in a certain way. It was the energy which would draw out the flux corruption in his cells. The water was just the means of storing it so that he could get it out of his body. He sent the energy out to his cells before pulling it back and passing it through the pure water. The water had been changed just enough to have a flavor of his energy. It was enough that the atoms making up the distilled water would attract the flux corruption and it would then stay in the water and could be flushed out through the pores of his body as a disgusting black sludge.

The sludge then had to be removed from his skin with a scraper before it was burned. It was too dangerous to leave lying around. Anything it touched would quickly become another monster to deal with. He would then have to begin the whole thing again from the start.

The process took time and with as much corruption as he had it would be days before he could clean himself.

He worked through the night Cleansing, then expelling cycle after cycle. By morning he had made good progress and he was left with around half the corruption. The first half was the easy part though and it took many more cycles before he was able to be completely cleansed.

At the end of the third day in the small cave he had finally completed the task. He was clean and he could feel power flowing through his body. Without the corruption tainting his cells he was back in complete control and could once again exert 100% of his body's power.

Layan exited the cave leaving the putrid smell that he had stopped noticing since the first day and breathed deep of the fresh air. The smells on the wind were deeper and more than he had ever experienced. The light seemed richer and everything was just more than it was.

Sound was crisper and he was able to discern much more of the different noises. He started running through his normal training routine. Taking out his swords he wove them through a series of kata that he had developed himself.

The flowing movements adapted from numerous different martial arts. He was so graceful and smooth that the moments were like watching a dance. He slowly built the tempo until he was moving through the stances and forms faster than humanly possible. His form blurred at times giving the impression that he was moving from one place to another instantly.