Crusader King

Cades was woken up by an unbearable stabbing pain, although He had not really been asleep, he had simply been unconscious after being flung out of the hole as if he had been a ragdoll without any joints.

His left arm was utterly crushed and his left wing was quite literally ripped apart with it dripping from dark red blood, his chest looked like it had multiple broken ribs with some of them even sticking out of his chest, his legs were tilted in an seemingly impossible degree with a lot of white spots appearing of them.

He was stuck inside a humongous pine tree whose needles were of a unnaturally dark green colour, the trunk of the majestic tree was just as big.

Unbearable pain plagued not only his body but also his mind, he could barely think at all because of it.

After a few minutes of being stuck in that state he became capable of thinking once more, be it much less than he was normally capable of.

Cades realized that he would die if he didn't do anything and after a while he finally knew what he had to do.

The body of an ehetrian has been known as being incredibly adapt at utilizing magic but what many didn't realize was that the body of a species could also be used to make an artifact, such as for example a cloak made from a living shadow or a sword made out of the bones of an elder dragon.

But what would happen if that artifact, in this case a charm that strengthened or healed a being, was said living shadow or dragon.

It is very simple, the natural flow of magic within the being would undoubtably be interrupted and it would die, because it's body would not be adapt at the new flow.

Now, Cades didn't realize this in his barely conscious state, and neither would he have if he had been completely conscious, but if that being was already half dead and had the need for their body to be completely rebuild, then that body would adapt to being an "artifact".

Of course the runes that were needed for that to work would almost be impossible to conceive.

With his mind being resolved to at least try to do it he used his right arm, the only part that was even remotely able to still move, took his magic scalpel, ripped even more of his flesh off of his bones and began carving the runic sequence almost subconsciously.

He had been working on this specific runic sequence for a long time, although it was only in theory.

This was mainly because it was a very popular thought experiment with artificers to try and create such a sequence.

None ever succeeded.

His design mainly consisted of various mana absorbing runes that would absorb the mana of the surrounding and materials he had at hand, if he willed so.

The second part of the sequence being the utilization and holding of the mana, which could then be utilized for healing and enhancing parts of oneself.

Cades had worked on this for so long that he had absolutely no problems carving it, or at least his motor functions didn't have any problem with it, but with every little press of his mana-infused magic scalpel he could feel the currents running through his body.

With every wave of magic coursing through his body it broke down ever so much more.

He did not think, he simply carved, he did not know what he was doing, it was as if a invisible hand, unimaginably better than him at his own craft was leading his every move.

The carving took hours, hours of agony and pain.

His consciousness was lost multiple times throughout the process and yet his hands continued on carving, he did not even know half of what had written on his own body, but his hands seemed to continue on with their magnum opus.

Hours passed, however he had no idea how many, but when he finally regained consciousness his mind was finally intact and even the pain was at a bearable level.

Cades body was visibly regenerating, he could see that the bones were already realigned into their previous positions and slowly realized that his skin was not ruptured anyone.

When he took the risk and tried to move his left arm, he actually felt it moving.

His left arm had also regenerated, not a trace left of the fact that it had been gone.

The ribs that were once visible outside his chest were now back in their original places.

His wings still had trouble moving, but that was mainly because he was still stuck inside a tree.

After about one more hour he was finally able to push himself up from his weird position and subsequently stood up with shaky legs.

As he began further inspecting his own body while standing on a branch of the dark brown tree that now seemed to be even darker and definitely redder, he noticed that the mana inside the various ujos inside his pocket, those that he had been allowed to take with him from the artificing class, was completely used up.

Cades took a step, closed his eyes, and yet the expected pain did not come.

He took another step and finally looked down from the ancient goliath of a tree, the tree was truly huge, it seemed to be the biggest tree in a wide vicinity, it was reminiscent of a skyscraper in a urban neighbourhood.

Far away he could see something that seemed to be a outpost made of stones and blackened wood.

It was a fairly big structure, kind of similar to a simple tower with an outlook at the top, it was not that big, only about 40 meters, the outpost consisted of four such towers located in the form of a rectangle contacted by tall, wooden fences, about 20 meters in height.

The entire outpost was located in a relatively empty fiels and surrounded by trees, mostly pines on all sides.

As he saw that there was smoke and light coming out of it he decided to go there without even thinking about any other possibilities.

Cades walked up to the end of the ridiculously long branch with an unnaturally serene and calm mind, spread his wings and began his descend to the "outpost".