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Arcane Apocalypse ~ 43
🕑 Added 2024-10-02 16:00:17 +0000 UTC*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j4n2IAKjfXMrvV79cB_6PtxozEOLhobaiqcbU7uM/edit?usp=sharing
*****
[Name: Helene Vexley]
[Ancestry: Human (Storm)]
Storm Bloodline: Stormborne Pegasus Bloodline
Grade: High
Purity: Mid
Type: Partially Manifested - 100%
State: Partially Awakened Primary Bloodline
***
Mia stared at the screen her mother shared with her, and noted that strangely enough, Helene was still a human despite having what was clearly a high grade Magical Beast bloodline.
“The System didn’t want to fully awaken your bloodline?” Mia asked, more confused than anything. Still, a part of her was glad too.
It would have been weird as hell if her mother had turned into a winged horse.
“Seems that way,” Helene shrugged. “But I think I can push for a full manifestation on a higher Rank. I’d also have to purify my bloodline before that.”
“You also have some bloodline memories like Carmilla?”
“No,” Helene said, raising an eyebrow at the new information about the vampiress. “Vague feelings at best, that I might fully manifest the bloodline if I was stronger and had purified it. Dim instincts at best, no memories.”
Mia hummed, then pulled up her own Interface to compare her mother’s with it.
***
[Name: Maria Vexley]
[Ancestry: Halvyr (Arcane)]
Arcane Bloodline: Anachreon’s True Arcane Bloodline
Grade: Peak
Purity: High
Type: Fully Manifested - 100%
State: Fully Awakened Primary Bloodline
Secondary Bloodline: Stormborne Pegasus
Grade: High
Purity: Mid
Type: Subsumed - 0%
State: Subsumed to create [Lesser Featherweight Constitution]
***
“You were right,” Mia whispered, frowning at the system window before looking up at her mother. “My Bloodline comes from … the other side of the family.”
“So it seems,” Helene said, her mouth curving into that fragile smile it always did when her ex-husband came up in a conversation. “Did you at least get something from my side?”
“The [Lesser Featherweight Constitution],” Mia said. “Apparently the System decided to subsume the Stormborne Pegasus Bloodline to create it.”
“Why?” Helene wondered, gently sitting down next to Mia with a book on Bloodlines — a new acquisition from the Colonel — open in her lap.
“I think it thought having my other Bloodline at 100% purity would be better than a hybrid Bloodline,” Mia said, sighing. On one hand, the Bloodline came from her ‘father’, but on the other hand, it was awesome.
A conflicting pair of emotions brewed up a storm in Mia’s heart.
“I … still don’t quite understand it,” Helene said, brows pulled into a frown. “We read that book you have on your new race, and we did this book too. Still, I don’t know how or why you are what you are.”
“System shenanigans seem to be a valid explanation based off of this book,” Mia said, patting the Halvyr history book.
Finally, now that she got around to reading into it, Mia understood the difference between Fae, Elves, Half-Elves, Halvyr and how they were all connected to the Spirits.
Well, it was quite simple in retrospect. It all started with Spirits. Born as mere Sprites, they would climb their own evolutionary ladder over centuries or even millennia until they became Spirit Kings.
Spirit Kings were the first stage at which these spiritual creatures could have children the natural way. They could slice off little parts of themselves even before to create offspring, but those would just be sprites instead of true children of their own.
A Spirit King’s children would all be Fae, no matter what the race the partner of the Spirit King was. Or, they could be regular Elves, if the Spirit King didn’t feel like blessing the child at birth or wasn’t capable of doing so.
Each blessing cost the King, and in time they’d be unable to bless their progeny. Maybe that would be after the third child, the tenth grandchild or the hundredth great grandchild. It all depended on the power of the Spirit King.
These Fae descendants of the Spirit King would form his Court and the size of that court would be directly proportional to the prestige of the King in the Spirit Realm.
Mia still didn’t quite understand it, but the book implied that the size of the Court somehow magically strengthened the King too, as well as all members of the Court themselves.
Elves couldn't join the court, nor could half-elves. Nor could Halvyr for that matter, who were basically just half-elves the Spirit King decided to still bless for some inexplicable reason.
Only the strongest Spirit Kings or the most eccentric ones were known to have had Halvyr descendants, since it was practically a waste of power spent for the King.
After all, when they had a hundred new descendants being born every year and they only had enough power to bless one or two, choosing a child who was half-human would have been … suboptimal.
Mia was pretty sure, what with her having been born on Earth when the System wasn’t really a thing yet, that her own Spirit King did not bless her. Not personally, anyway.
***
‘In some specific instances, the Spirit King can be supplanted as the source of the blessing by another being of equal power. This can be an Archdemon, an Archfey, a Primarch, a more powerful Paragon or, as is the case for 90% of such circumstances, the System itself.’
‘Many scholars point to occurrences like this as evidence to claim the System is merely playing gardener with us all, planting seeds and seeing which would sprout into beautiful flowers.’
***
“Maybe it was just the Awakening or something,” Mia said, shrugging as if to put the matter out of her mind. It wasn’t like she could dial up the System’s customer support and ask them for an explanation. “Doesn’t matter. Even the book states that a blessing given in such a way cannot be taken back. It’s a part of me now, so no take backsies … or something. Anyway! I have to run or I’ll be late for the hunt. See you later mom! Love you!”
“I love you too sweetheart,” Helene said softly, pulling Mia into a quick hug before she could flutter away. “Be careful. I know Carmilla’s going with you, but you never know in this world. If you see something you aren’t ready to face, feel like something’s wrong or even just feel too tired just run, okay?”
“Of course mom,” Mia said, squeezing her mother back with her voice dipping into a soft tone. “You sure you don’t want to come? Even if you have the quest already, some action couldn’t hurt?”
“Not today,” Helene said, pulling back and holding Mia at arm’s length as she looked her daughter up and down. “I promised the Colonel I’d patrol a few circles around the district for him. Also … I’ve been told babying you would cripple you in the long run. Just, be careful, okay?”
Helene said the last part like it physically hurt her to speak the words. Mia’s eyes teared up, and she pulled her mother back for a crushing hug.
It had almost been a week since they killed the Juggernaut, and over the week Mia never once had even the opportunity to fight anything alone to fulfil the requirements of her Quest.
The group had been doing smaller tasks for Zeigler, like hunting down smaller groups of Marauders that broke through the perimeter the soldiers set up at the edges of the district.
Today would be different, though.
“I’ll be careful,” Mia reassured her mother. “We are only going into the woods and fields a bit outside the city. Carmilla can sprint back with me over her shoulders in half a minute from there.”
“You have your ring, the Elixirs and potions safely tucked away, right?” Helene asked, reaching down to tighten the fanny pack hanging on the side of Mia’s waist. “Do you have enough of them? I still have some left over-“
“I have four Elixirs mom,” Mia said, smiling serenely at her mother. She knew Helene had to get the worrying out of her system. “I claimed the second week’s rewards yesterday.”
“Good,” Helene said, nodding, patting Mia anxiously on the shoulder. “Alright, I’ll stop holding you up. Just make sure you keep those soldiers between yourself and the monsters even if you don’t want them helping until the last minute and promise me you won’t fight anything above level ten!”
“I promise,” Mia said, meaning it too. She had no intention of facing off against something of the Evergreen Juggernaut’s calibre alone just for a wand. She still had some sense that hadn’t been knocked out of her. “I’ll be back by eight! Could you prepare a bath for me? Pretty please?”
“Sure honeybun,” Helene said, a smile finally slipping back onto her face. “I’ll figure out how that magic rock of yours works and then get your bath going. Just get back before algae starts growing in the tub.”
That ‘arcane rock’ was what Mia begged the System for when she claimed the Ream Event’s weekly rewards. Either by pure dumb luck, or by some magnificent System God’s pitying grace, her prayers had been answered.
She got a rock. A rock that could condense water vapour into clean drinking water, and with time, even do so with ambient humidity. One just had to feed it some mana to work, then leave the rock covered in glowing runic script in a tub. It could even work by absorbing monster cores as fuel.
Which meant baths were back on the menu.
Speaking of, the group decided to exchange the Rank 1 core of the Juggernaut they’d forgotten about for more food. With none of them being artificers or whatever else crafting profession could make use of those gems, it was almost useless to them beyond powering their water rock.
Food, on the other hand, they were running low on and none of them were thrilled about the idea of starving to death, so they unanimously agreed to let Zeigler have the damned thing.
“Sure thing!” Mia said, gave a quick peck on the cheek to her mother, then ran out of the house. Carmilla already waited for her with a humvee parked just down the street, the soldiers who’d be accompanying them on this excursion sitting inside. “Sorry, we can depart whenever?”
“I’m ready too,” Carmilla said, her voice having become much more … silky — if that was the right word — over the week. Either way, she seemed more relaxed and at ease, which probably had something to do with the fact that Mia had given her half a syringe of her blood every day for the last seven days. “I think they are too, so after you?”
Mia smiled, then climbed up into the humvee with Carmilla plopping down next to her a moment later. The door slammed close.
The back of the vehicle had been clearly modified a bit to provide more space for transporting troops. Instead of just two seats being in the back, there were three pairs of them facing each other like two parallel benches in the back.
In the back sat three soldiers, a woman and two men, who largely ignored them for now as the girls plopped down onto the empty side.
“The seatbelts if you would, ladies?” The driver asked, looking over his shoulder with an easy smile. When they did as he asked, and so did the other soldiers, amidst a round of grumbling, the man grinned and stepped on the gas. “We’ll be there in a minute. Sit tight!”
Mia closed her eyes as the vehicle raced down the street, trying her best to ignore the dozen bumps and jumps throwing her around. Whoever gave a driver’s licence to the guy behind the wheels had dubious judgement in Mia’s opinion, but perhaps getting to somewhere fast instead of safely is more important to an army driver.
Opening up the Spell Tome in her mind, Mia went through everything new in there she wanted to use today’s ‘hunt’ to test. The main reason was of course that if by some miracle they stumbled upon a level ten monster she could finally complete her Quest, but her secondary objective was to test those spells.
She had four new Bolt variants to test and two entirely new spells from the Conjuration Lexicon. That was six in all, and while some of them were of … questionable usefulness, Mia thought most would serve her well.
The Rapid-Fire variant, for example, was her personal favourite Bolt variant to date. It broke down a single brick sized Bolt into a dozen pebble sized ones she could shoot out one after the other.
The speed was slower than her double barrel trick, but she still loved the idea of having a magical, semi-automatic rifle in the form of that spell.
Other variants were a ‘barrage’ one, which likewise broke a single Bolt down into a dozen smaller ones. Unlike rapid-fire though, this one blasted them all forward in a vaguely conical shape like a disastrously inaccurate shotgun.
The last two were a touch better than that, being a shockwave variant and a homing barrage variant. The prior broke the Bolt down into a very short ranged blast of energy with about as much power as a fart behind it while the homing barrage did as the name implied.
“What are you thinking about?” Carmilla whispered, and Mia only now noticed how uncomfortable the redhead looked. She was practically squirming in place for some reason.
Mia took a quick look around, noting how one pair of the soldiers were staring at the two of them with dangerous looks in their eyes. Their focus had been on Carmilla primarily, but with Mia looking at them the two stared at her.
For a moment their faces overlapped with another face, one Mia loathed with all her soul. That lecherous look, those humiliatingly objectifying gazes … they were all just far too similar to Arnie’s.
That cunt of a stalking sack of scum was why she’d moved back so quickly to her hometown after college. Why she practically didn’t exist on social media and why she’d cut contact with most of her acquaintances from highschool.
Some people just didn’t know what ‘no’ meant.
Mia’s gaze narrowed in repressed anger bubbling back onto the surface. She took a moment, just a short moment to think, to consider. These were soldiers, Zeigler’s men, the ones he thought would be fit to accompany the two of them.
The old man’s more overworked than a preschool teacher. Doubt he put much thought in it. Still, he’d be livid if … something happened to them. Calm, Mia. Calm down. Be civil. Be calm. Yes, slowly guide that clump of mana back into your pool, let the spell circle dissipate.
Mia let out a soft sight as her fury simmered back down, turning cold but not dying entirely. Meatshields, that’s what they were. Meatshields needed their heads to be proper meatshields.
They are not worth bloodying my hands just yet. Mia thought, huffing as she sent a frigid glare their way which seemed to amuse the pair.
The woman next to them though, a late twenties brunette with a severe frown on her face took the glare like a personal attack but then turned to the pair and froze.
“If you two numbskulls don’t want my boot so far up your asses that you can lick it clean then stop looking at our damned charges that way!” The woman barked, sending an apologetic glance towards Mia.
“Sod off Gwen,” one of the men said, sounding like he heard those very same threats every day from the woman. “We didn’t even say a word. No need to get your panties in a twist.”
“Hmmm, hmmm,” the other nodded, unashamedly looking Mia up and down with a sneer.
How did the fact that I can blow monsters to bits not discourage morons from acting like this? Mia wondered, studying those two dumb creatures sitting opposite to her. They had that dumb and dumber vibe to them, but with the added scumbag package. She hated them from the moment she laid her eyes on them.
“Sergeant, these two moro-“
“What?” The man sitting next to the driver turned, looking over his shoulder like he wanted everyone to just shut the hell up and let him nap for the remaining stretch of the journey. “I don’t know what the hell is the problem back there, but knock it off.”
“Yes, Sergeant,” Dumb said, still grinning at Mia.
Mia heard a growl next to her, and when she looked back she saw Carmilla with her teeth barred like a hissing cat, her face twisted into a malignant scowl.
There must have been something in her eyes, because unlike when Mia glared at them, Dumb and Dumber stiffened and averted their gazes. Even Gwen looked like she’d seen a ghost.
Mia suppressed a snort, then after she felt the duo looked sufficiently terrified she gently patted Carmilla’s thigh.
The leather leggings the vampiress wore made the pat’s sound clearly audible to the rest of the vehicle, so they knew it was what prompted the vampire to back off a moment later.
Mia glanced up at Carmilla, a coy smile unconsciously spreading on her lips as she watched the malicious glare melt off of her face. It gave way to a startled look, like the girl was surprised at what she’d done and finally a forced nonchalance took its place.
So she was squirming under their gazes when they were aimed at her but she was ready to tear into them when they aimed them at me?
Mia felt a fluttering warm feeling in her stomach and leaned into the vampiress, resting her head on the redhead's shoulder as she’d gotten comfortable with doing over the week.
Much to Mia’s colossal disappointment, Carmilla seemed denser than the core of a neutron star and her experience with romance of any kind started and ended at watching some romance movies.
Still, Mia was hopeful. She was really starting to like the girl and by now it was going well beyond just being attracted to her body.
Though the way she looked in her leather leggings and cropped jacket certainly did … things, to Mia. She’d have to thank Lina for that later.
The girl took it as a personal offence when Carmilla dressed up in some loose set of sweatpants and a hoodie. Lina had dragged the bewildered vampiress back to Mia’s wardrobe for some much needed lessons on style and fashion.
“I was thinking of my new spells by the way,” Mia whispered, just low enough so the others wouldn’t be able to make out her words over the roar of the car’s engine. “I’m excited to try them out. Didn’t you also have some new stuff to test?”
“Yeah,” Carmilla whispered, a hint of bashful embarrassment seeping into her voice. Mia guessed she was still a bit flustered about her earlier outburst. “I managed to finally replicate enough runes for another spell.”
“Oh, really?” Mia asked, her curiosity properly roused. “Am I allowed to know what the spell’s like? Is it a Water spell?”
“You’ll see,” Carmilla said, a teasing smirk tugging at the edge of her lips. “I plan on trying it out. What about yours?”
“Those shackles I told you of are one of them,” Mia said. Arcane Shackles had been the first of the two she had learned, and it was her first and only crowd control spell, one that would shoot out half a dozen arcane chains that’d tie up whatever she targeted with more or less success. “The other … well, I’d have told you, but now that you’re holding out on me you’ll have to wait and see too.”
Mia gave an imperious huff, putting a hint of arrogance into it that came all too easily since she’d gained her Bloodline.
“Mysterious, are we?” Carmilla mused, then shrugged with a smile. “Something to look forward to then. Think we’ll find a monster today?”
“I’m assuming you’re meaning a level ten one, right?” Mia asked, though it was more of a statement than anything. She leaned in to whisper an answer. “Supposedly someone in this squad of idiots has a Skill that lets them know the level of stuff. Should be much easier with them around than just killing everything and hoping for the best like we’ve been doing so far.”
“Well, that’s the first positive to having them around,” Carmilla said, her voice not quite low enough for the others to miss, nor was it intended to be by the unimpressed look Carmilla levelled at the three on the other side. “They might actually be of some use then, aside from being emergency rations for me.”
Mia rolled her eyes, but couldn’t suppress the smirk that came to her as the three troopers jumped in their seats.
“Fangs off of my men, little miss!” The humourless Sergeant shouted. “We are helping out of the goodness of our hearts-“
“You are not, you’ve been ordered to protect and escort us.” Mia cut in. “We on the other hand, don’t need to be here, aren’t part of the army and are barely getting paid for doing it. So if you don’t want to explain to Colonel Zeigler why two auxiliaries he managed to rope in to help you do your job want to have nothing to do with him anymore, then shut up and keep dumb and dumber here on a tighter leash!”
“You-“ the Sergeant turned in his seat again, but Mia just gave him an unimpressed gaze.
“We have arrived!” The driver said with far too much cheer for even half of it to be sincere. “Out! We have monsters to hunt people! Chop, chop!”
Mia held the Sergeant’s glare with an even look of her own for a moment, then nudged Carmilla with her elbow. The vampiress got the message and opened the door, then jumped out.
“One Sergeant has been on latrine duty for the last month for being an ass to us,” Mia said, revealing the fate of that moustached Hermann Zeigler shared with her with a smirk. “I think that shows who the Colonel values more out of the two of us. Now, as your driver said, we have monsters to kill so better get moving.”
Comments
Fi
❤️
ZephanyZephZeph
They're such a cute and terrifying duo. Bit of a strange date, but I'll count it. Threaten them, and they'll be bashful, threaten her partner and you either will be facing wrath of an arcane mage or progenitor bloodline vampire.
Stephanie Washburn
I'm normally against emergency rations jokes, but these guys have been successfully depicted as so creepy, I find myself less concerned.
