Limits

The voice of someone I rather not hear, sounded from behind me. "So you survived that. I wonder if this was luck or you have very keen senses" she said. 'Shit, I can't get away from her nor can I kill her. What am I supposed to to?' I thought as I ran as fast as my body allowed me to. Then I felt something coming again. I jumped much faster than last time as I wasn't as shocked as before. The blast of wind still knocked me back but I didn't fly through the air like the previous time.

I barely picked myself up and didn't even look back, I started running straight away. The woman chasing me said "So, it wasn't due to luck. You can really sense my attacks. How interesting. It's a shame you will die today". I didn't say anything, My mind was focused on running only. I had no strength or time to respond to her bullshit.

Then I felt it again but this time, it seemed much faster and felt much more dangerous. I jumped to the side as much as I could but in the end, half of my right arm was cut off. "AAAAAAAGHH" I screamed from the pain and landed on the ground, gasping for air. The blood gushed out of my arm or rather whatever was left of it and the pain was immense. I screamed constantly due to the pain but I knew I had to stop the bleeding. I tore a piece of cloth that I had on me and quickly tightened it around my arm. It wasn't easy to do that either. As soon as I touched the wound, the pain became even greater. It was to the point where tears were flowing uncontrollably from my eyes.

The bleeding was no longer as severe as before but I felt extremely weak. I lost a lot of blood due to that. I stumbled forward like a dying man on a desert. I tried to get away, keep moving as far as I could. I then heard a faint voice of someone new. "Leave him alone, he is at the verge of dying anyway. We need to catch that Eterian and because of your games, it ran away pretty far" someone said. Then I heard the voice of that sword woman "You are one lucky bastard but I guess you will die anyway. Enjoy the rest of your miserable life".

I moved and moved until I was unable to move anymore. The pain and exhaustion was unbearable. I took off my bag that seemed to weight a tonne and took out some food. I needed energy in order to survive. Even though they left, I still wanted to survive. I ate everything I had and some of my energy returned but the pain never disappeared. 'Now I'm crippled. I need to get the other part of my arm back. With my knowledge of the Art of Medicine and the books I have, I should be able to connect it back together'. I went back to the place where half of my arm was cut off.

After a little search, I managed to find it and threw it into the bag. 'The bag will preserve my arm for a bit at least. I need to get out of here first, then I can think about attaching it. I shall remember that day. If we ever meat again, I will take your head!' I thought and moved east. I wasn't about to go the same direction as they did. I went the opposite way.

I traveled for the rest of the day. The pain subdued a bit but it was still very painful, especially if something touched my wound. Even a branch that I accidentally brushed past, caused a lot of pain. I had no more food and I was in very poor condition so large fights were out of question. Fortunately, I still had my other hand and I could throw my daggers. I managed to find and kill couple of normal wolves. I then collect their meat... eventually. Making the fire was not easy either. I used both hands to make the fire in the past but because one was not there, I struggled for almost 20 minutes to make the fire. With the fire lit, I roasted the meat and ate on the spot. The energy I used up increased due to the blood loss as well as constant traveling.

The wound was no longer bleeding which was fortunate but there was also a problem. 'I have no tools to stitch my arm together. I need needle and a thread. Needle I could make from a bone somehow but a thread? Where would I get that?' I thought. Then a sudden idea hit me. "Tendons! Those are very flexible but sturdy as well, maybe this will allow me to stitch my arm together" I said out loud.

Of course, I wasn't about to use my own tendons but a wolf's or bear's should work as well. At least that was what I hoped. I already had couple of them killed and tendons were present in every wolf. I threw some long tendons into my bag and then I had to make a needle. 'The needle has to be short but not brittle. I don't know if making one from a bone is possible but I have to try' I thought and took out the Corporeal Structure book. The book contain a chapter about bones and I should be able to find a suitable bone there.

After searching for a while, I came to the conclusion that the best bone for making a needle, would be one of the rib bones. It was elongated at one side and I could easily grind it down as well. It was flexible as well, it could break but the flexibility should allow for sewing without breaking.

I then remembered something. "So what if I sew it together? I still need to make it function as before. I have to connect all the nerves and whatnot. Otherwise my arm will be there just for show" I thought out loud. 'I have that book about the nerves, maybe this will be of help to me' I thought. I had too many things to prepare. I had to take it step by step. 'I have the tendons in my bag, that can be scratched from the list. I also need the needle. I should do it now while I have the wolf's rib cage' I thought and went towards one of the wolf carcase.

I removed couple of rib bones and brought them back to the campfire. I had no hand to hold the bone with and at the same time carve it with my dagger. I decided to use my feet as the means of holding the bone as I carved it into the needle. After a while of fiddling, I was finally able to carve a needle but it was a bit too thick. I started the process from the beginning, on another rib bone.

After 4 tries, I finally managed to make a needle thin enough. I placed all the needles back into my bag. I figured that I might need the other needles in the future as well and they were quite sharp too, just varied in thickness. With that accomplished and my stomach mostly satisfied. I thought about the herbs needed in order to stitch my arm back.

'I have a few healing herbs with me, those can be used after the procedure. If I make a paste, it will not be as effective as properly produced medicine but hell, it's always better than nothing. I wish I could heal it now but if I did that, then stitching my arm back together would be even more difficult. I can't let it heal' I thought. My thoughts then continued 'I also need something to numb the pain and something to clean the wound'. It was evening already and I wasn't going to move out now, this would have to wait till the next day.

The last part was the procedure itself. 'I need to figure out how to stitch my arm together properly. I need that arm to work as it did in the past' I thought and took out the Nerves and Pressure Points book. The book wasn't very thick and when I skimmed through it, about half of it was about nerves in human body while the later part was about pressure points.

I was not interested in pressure points at the moment. I focused on the "Nerves" part of the book. The first few pages contained descriptions about the nervous system and how it operated. On the 5th page, I found a diagram of all the nerves in human body. There was a note as well. It said "This is an approximation. The nerves in each individual will have a bit different locations". 'At least the book specified that. Having that diagram is useful nevertheless' I thought.

I went couple of pages further an bingo. There was a larger diagram of a hand. 'Great! I now have an approximate diagram of the nervous system in my hand. I just need to find out how to treat nerves. If the book doesn't have it, I still know it's possible. Nick said he could do it, so can I!' I thought and read every page attentively.