Vina got to her feet and immediately felt the difference in her attributes. Her increased agility once again caused her to have a new spring in her step. Vina couldn’t quite place her finger on what the difference was, but she felt that all of her limbs were reacting faster to her requests and her movements were smoother. Vina jumped on top of a nearby rock and tried balancing on it. She easily balanced two feet, so she switched to a single foot. She had a minor wobble as she regained her balance in the transition.
Vina had never done ballet, but she next tried to emulate the single tiptoe stance she had seen ballerinas do. She was astounded at how solid she still was on her toes. Between her minor increase in strength and moderate increase in Vitality, her body felt amazing. Her senses were once again heightened. Her muscles were slightly harder. Her skin seemed healthier. “Are my teeth straighter?” Vina considered.
She also felt something else had changed within herself. Her class had given her something called a Blood Lake. She could feel it now, slowly gathering blood in her chest. She had a feeling she could flex something and draw upon what was there, but the feeling was alien. She shivered, not quite ready to explore this new sensation. Her class choice had changed her, and she was just going to have to learn how to accept it.
Vina tried to put the Town of Prosit out of her mind. She had no idea where she was going, but decided she should just walk. She held the spear in one hand and Priya’s note in the other. Part of her had hoped that by getting level six in Blood Runes, she would be able to read it. Unfortunately, the rune words only moved about a little slower.
She did pick up another word however. The rune word was Person. Vina considered for a while what this could mean. At this point she had learned only three other rune words: On, Off, and Seal. Vina marveled at the beautiful detail that her mother put into sealing just a note. “Do you think she somehow linked it directly to me?” Vina said to her lantern.
She had kept her lantern turned off while she walked. It had less than a full charge at this point, and she knew she would need its power every night she remained in the wilderness. Vina considered feeding the lantern her own blood, but decided against it. If there were more pilidar in the forest, she would need her health points. She would need a different source of blood to keep the lantern filled.
Vina activated a new skill for the first time: Listen. Much like Observe, Vina suddenly could hear everything around her. Initially the sensation was overwhelming for her mind, but she applied the same technique as she used for Observe. She tried to focus her hearing by imagining what she was looking for. She thought about scratches, steps, or scurrying. Her skill compensated and filtered out the other sounds. She walked for a while, just listening to the world around her. Then she heard something digging. Vina turned off Listen, activated stealth and tracking and stepped off the trail.
A short distance away, she saw a creature digging a hole. It was a mixture between a wasp and a scorpion, roughly the size of a very large dog. Its multifaceted eyes were large on its triangular face. It had a long abdomen that ended in a stinger that lifted over its body. “That stinger would go straight through me.” Vina thought to herself. She blanched at what she saw. Her instincts told her to get away. Instead Vina drew out her bow slowly and knocked an arrow, in defiance of her fear. She activated Scarlet Dance, pulled the string back, and took aim. Holding her breath, she released the arrow. It flew across the distance between them and embedded itself in one the creature’s eyes. To her shock, the arrow hit with such force it almost disappeared inside the creature’s head.
Craelid is affected by Bleeding from Dance of Death. Sneak Attack: Craelid takes 34% extra damage
Contrary to her expectations, the creature made no noise. Its legs skittered about in angry confusion. Its two needle-like arms tried reaching for the arrow, but they were not dexterous enough to remove it. Vina watched as the eye began to bleed profusely. She planned to fire another arrow, but in its search, the Craelid soon spotted her.
Vina stashed her bow quickly and swung her spear between her and the large insect. She kept Scarlet Dance active and turned on mobility as well. The creature rushed her with all of its speed. Vina raised her spear, but suddenly Mobility told her to move. Trusting this feeling, Vina stepped to the side. The massive tail and stinger of the creature stabbed into where she had previously stood.
Momentarily safe from the stinger, Vina ran to the side of the creature and activated Spear Slash. As before the spear swung from her shoulder and made a slicing motion against the creature’s carapace. To her surprise, there were only a few scratches. “Huh?!” Vina made an audible sound of confusion. She had no time to think though, mobility warned her again of an incoming attack. Vina stepped backwards this time. The tail once again slammed down where she was standing. She flipped her spear around and swept the shaft horizontally striking the long stinger of the creature. There was brief resistance and then the stinger snapped.
The creature yanked its tail into the sky with a jerk, still not making a sound. Vina took the opening and threw two knives into the Craelid’s face. One of the knives found its way in the other eye, the other bounced off the face armor. The Craelid flailed about in panic. Vina’s mobility skill warned her to stay away and she stepped back even further. While the Craelid thrashed around looking for her, Vina quickly checked her Scarlet Dance stacks.
Scarlet Dance Bleeding 4 of 10: Your target will receive 20% additional bleeding damage. It is 20% more difficult to stop these wounds from bleeding.
She was breathing hard at this point, having used so many skills at once. Her stamina was draining at an astonishing rate. She had seen Mobility use tons of stamina every time she listened to it. But the combination of Scarlet Dance and special attacks like Spear Slash had compounded her stamina expenditure, bringing her to just 30 out of 60 in only a couple of movements.
Vina suddenly remembered the other bonus of Scarlet Dance. She went over to a pile of blood nearby and stood on it. She immediately saw her stamina regenerating somewhat faster. Not wanting the Craelid to suffer, Vina took her bow back out and shot a few more arrows at it until it stopped moving.
You have slain a Craelid. You have gained 250 experience points.
Skill Level Up: Staves has reached level 2. Staves do 3% more damage and are 2% more likely to knock your opponent off balance. Skill Level Up: Archery has reached level 5. You are able to reload your bow 12% faster and bows do 20% more damage. You have gained a skill point. You have gained 110 experience points from leveling skills.
Vina carried her lantern over to the dead Craelid and placed it beside the body. She spoke to it, “I know you can suck this up yourself, so get to it. I thought you could do this only to dead bodies, but apparently it doesn’t matter if they are living or dead.” She watched for a moment, seeing the lantern did not immediately start pulling in the blood. After a moment though, the blood started to seep toward and into the lantern.
Able to relax a bit, Vina deactivated all of her skills, and turned Listen back on again. “If there was one of these things, there might be another.” she said to herself. She pulled up her skills page.
Where would you like to spend your Archery skill point? Option 1: Arrow Recovery: Arrows you recover are 50% more likely to not be damaged Option 2: Predator Eyesight: Active Skill. Far away things appear closer to you Option 3: Trueflight: Three times per day you may fire an arrow that will hit a target unerringly.
Vina read these options several times. Arrow recovery was the weakest of the three in Vina’s opinion. She felt she could always carve an arrow herself if she needed. She was torn between Predator Eyesight and Trueflight. Trueflight would give her a chance to hit a target no matter what three times per day. That could be a life saver. Predator Eyesight would allow her to see things far away. Vina often felt that sight distance was a limiting factor in her archery. She was torn between the two skills, but ultimately she selected Trueflight. She felt being able to definitively hit a creature would be more valuable to her in the long run.
As the lantern fed on the body, Vina considered the fight. She had learned several things and wanted to really learn from her mistakes. She thought using stealth and her bow to initiate combat was extremely effective. That strategy had disabled the creature before she even had to enter into a physical fight. She shuddered to think what would have happened if the creature was uninjured.
Vina also considered her use of Mobility during the fight. Having the ability to know when an attack is incoming and which direction to move to avoid it was a life saver, literally. However, it used massive amounts of stamina. She hadn’t checked during the battle, but she thought it used up to five points of stamina with each warning. She would need to use that skill more sparingly in the future. Especially if she fought something that attacked very quickly. It could wipe her stamina out in no time.
Vina stood and walked around to the side of the creature. She looked again where she had hit it with Spear Slash. She rubbed her hand against the hard carapace. “So… slashing damage is not so good against heavy armor.” Vina took her spear and stabbed the carapace. The spear didn’t go in easily, but she did see she had penetrated it.
That just left Scarlet Dance for her to consider. The active skill did not take any stamina unless she hit something and wanted it to bleed. She could have the skill active for just the stamina regen if she desired. The debuff it applied was also not immediately powerful. Vina looked around the battlefield. There was quite a bit of blood scattered around. “But if I get enough stacks, it seems to cause considerable bleeding.” Vina felt a bit bad about that. She did not want things to suffer. Vina walked over and stood in some of the blood and saw her stamina visibly increase its recharge rate again. She tried to understand how to use this to the greatest benefit, standing still did not seem wise to her.
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Vina picked up her lantern, seeing it was almost half full now. “Did you enjoy that?” She asked. The lantern didn’t respond of course, so she attached it back on her belt. Vina recovered her thrown knives and checked if the arrows were usable. They were all unfortunately broken or damaged in this fight and not recoverable.
Lastly Vina looked at her Blood Runes skill. Her progress toward level seven had increased in percentage from 10% to 18%. Vina muttered her displeasure, “Absorbing blood is giving less progress than it used to.” She considered for a while whether she should try to find more creatures to kill and fill up her lantern or find another way to level her skill. She desperately wanted to open Priya’s letter.
Vina finally decided on a course of action. Killing creatures and filling her lantern seemed the most impactful choice. She would gain experience, possibly improve her skills, and be safer at night. After activating her Listen and Tracking skills, Vina started her hunt.
~~~
By the time night began to fall, Vina had hunted several more creatures. She was shocked at the variety that she found. She had seen insects that seemed to have their parts mixed together, armored reptiles that walked like humans, and wispy creatures that seemed to float with the air. In every creature she found, there was always something off about it. None of them were fully recognizable for her and they all made her feel sick to her stomach. Nearly every single one had four eyes.
Contrasting the creatures she hunted, Vina could tell exactly what was the natural wildlife of Palitern. Most seemed to have extra limbs or body parts, but they seemed far more natural. They were understandable to her and they did not repulse her like the creatures. Vina reviewed her skill gains and was satisfied with the end result.
Skill Level Up: Spears have gained level 6. You can now attack 15% faster with spears and spears will ignore 6% of armor. Skill Level Up: Jumping has gained level 3. You can now jump 16 inches off of the ground. Skill Level Up: Tracking has gained level 4. Detecting the movements of people, animals, or creatures is 9% easier. Tracking may give additional information. You have gained 180 experience from leveling skills. You have gained 890 experience from killing creatures.
Vina found a spot not too far from the trail to set up camp for the night. Her lantern had filled nearly to 70% blood from her hunting today, and her blood runes skills were on the edge of leveling as well. Vina sat down and did her best to examine every object she owned that had Priya’s rune work.
Vina looked at her backpack first. She had never gotten a rune word successfully from it and it seemed that tonight would have the same result. Vina turned her lantern on and studied the runes engraved on it as well. She started with the word On and examined every rune surrounding it. They moved around in her vision incredibly fast, but she was able to track some of their movements now. Beside On there was a connector to the word Off. Vina followed the lines out with her eyes and examined the next rune word in the chain. She sounded out the letters in her mind before coming to a realization. “This is Soul!” she exclaimed.”
Vina pulled out Priya’s note, last. She applied the same strategy as she had with the lamp. She started with the word Seal and looked at the branching connections to other runes. “Is that word Finger or Hand?” she said to herself. She picked up her lamp again and searched for the same runeword. She found it connected to the words On and the word Off, but the connection was very far away. She got lost more than once in the maze of lines that connected each word. “It must be Finger then. I use my finger to activate the buttons”, she said consideringly. Vina received a popup window then.
Skill Level Up: Blood Runes has reached level 7. Blood runes can be drawn 30% faster and take 30% less blood to activate or maintain You have gained 75 experience from leveling a skill.
“Do I just place my finger on the word Seal to open it?” Vina asked the Lantern. Without waiting for a response, Vina pricked her finger until blood flowed and pressed it to the Seal runeword. Nothing happened though. It didn’t even light up red. Vina wiped the blood from the paper and to her surprise, she found the letter was hydrophobic.
Vina stared at the letter in deep concentration as she munched on some of the items she foraged today. With her seventh level in Blood Runes, the runes on the letter were calming down. They didn’t swim as much and Vina began to trace the paths that connected the words. She found that the swimming behavior prevented her from not only reading a word, but even if she could read the word, the connections between the runewords mattered. The context of a word would change if the connections to it were in a different order.
She saw several connections from the word Finger and traced them. She couldn’t recognize any of the connecting words, but there was a very strange one. It bobbed and weaved and danced around in her vision more than the others. She focused as hard as she could until her head began to hurt. There was something important about this word and she knew it. Then she caught two letters. A runic V sound at the beginning and a Runic A sound at the end.
Her vision suddenly started to go blurry, and she gasped for air. She hadn’t realized she was holding her breath for so long. She glanced up at her Stamina bar and saw it was down to just 10 points out of 60. Vina held a hand to her head, trying to steady herself. Her stamina slowly recovered and she began to feel better over the next few minutes.
Vina thought she knew what needed to be done. She did not prick her finger this time. She merely held her thumb on the word Seal and spoke aloud. “Vina.” The runes on the paper suddenly exploded in all directions. She was unhurt, but the effect surprised her. Before her eyes, the letterlock unfurled itself. The letter opened softly in her hands and Vina’s heart was pounding in her chest as she began to read.
Dear Vina,
Let me say you have accomplished something significant. It takes a special person to carve runes and an even more special person to read them. As you no doubt can tell by now, writing runes is easier than reading them. The fact you were able to read a seal this strong is a testament to your capability and determination. I am incredibly proud of you.
Vina, I’d like to tell you about your adoptive father. I have kept him out of my prior notes due to the sensitivity of the topic. Your father’s name is Shan. Seven hundred years ago when The Severing first started, your father was in contact with Trina. Shan said Trina seemed sad when he last saw her, but she had wanted to give him a gift. She placed onto his chest one of her aspects. She had given him the Aspect of Life and he became the first to be bonded with one of her aspects. This aspect gave him a long life and he lived the subsequent seven hundred years without aging.
When Trina vanished, Shan never gave up searching for her, and his passion was contagious. He was the one who gave me the Aspect of Travel. I wanted so badly to help him in his search for Trina, and we deeply connected . Over time, we grew to love each other as we jumped from place to place in our search.
Shan told me that several hundred years ago, he was the one who created an organization called The Watch. He found people who were unique and gave them twelve true Aspects of Trina that he had found. They swore to search for Trina as well and in the subsequent years, The Watch grew into the kingdom we know today. As time went by, Shan remained the same, but each person he gave the aspects to died from old age. Shan handed the aspects to new people each time this happened. The Watch grew so large that Shan could not manage all of its functions anymore, so he handed off portions of his responsibilities to those he trusted.
Sadly, The Watch never did find Trina and the centuries began to weigh on the organization and Shan himself. By the time I came into Shan’s life, his resolve was still strong, but The Watch’s was not. The current twelve owners of the True Aspects of Trina turned on Shan. As Shan tells it, they feared their deaths and were unwilling to repeat the cycle anymore. They knew someone figured out how to create fake Aspects of Trina and they demanded that Shan find a way to make copies of the Aspect of Life for them. One evening they became forceful with their demands.
Shan and I fled. A rather simple thing to do when you can travel via portals. Unfortunately, I had already created far too many portal rings for the entire world. Our desire to facilitate better intelligence gathering and resource deployment, acted as a net that could trap us. We could no longer remain within the territory of The Watch and found a place far away to be safe.
For a time there was quiet in our lives. We discovered you three girls in the strangest of ways. I’ve never seen it happen before, but I’ve read about it. You three popped out of a portal I made when I was heading to town. Imagine my surprise at you three babies just crying away. Shan thought I was joking when I told him what happened. He warmed up soon enough however. Despite his 700 years of living, he had never been a father. This was something new and new was incredibly rare for him. Oh how he cared for you three with such love.
But our family was not meant to remain this peaceful. The Darkness found us and we had to flee yet again. Shan had not told me, but he found something while we fled. He found exactly what The Darkness was after. The shadows did not relent in its pursuit and we began to run out of ways to remain ahead of them.
It was at this time that Shan betrayed my trust. Despite the lockdown, he figured out a plan for us to escape Palitern. With his help I barely managed to open a portal ring to another world called Earth. The moment the portal opened, Shan pushed you through and cut off his support. The portal shut before I could recover or follow you. I raged at him; my fury was like the sun. Shan refused to explain himself, and I took your sisters away from him.
Much like the letter I wrote to you here, Shan had slipped a letter into my pocket when I left. In it, he told me he had secured a way for you to return when you turned eighteen. He did not know exactly where you would return, but I managed to figure that out on my own. I spent quite a bit of time traveling about, making sure everything was in place to keep you safe. Even taking steps to ensure you would have proper armor to wear when you arrived at Prosit. He was but a boy when I saw him, but I think Pawld will do a good job when he takes over his father's trade. You should have seen his father’s eyes when I brought those Kaliter scales in!
Sadly this is the end of what I know of Shan. When my rage had cooled, I returned to where I last saw him, but he had left. I have no idea where he went, and I have no way of finding him now. I won’t give up though. I will keep looking and if I find him, I will let you know.
Your sisters are named Annalina and Etana. Yes, Shan loved names that ended with the letter A. They are currently in the town of Termily. Termily is one of many training towns for The Watch. They recruit new soldiers, adventurers, and agents from there. I was able to secure valid credentials for your sisters and their approval to be trained. They’ll be safe from the shadows, and The Watch has no idea of their connection to me.
Your sisters will be required to remain there until they are given approval to leave. Generally this happens at the age of eighteen, but in their documentation I’ve pushed their ages back by two months to give you time to arrive. Etana will have brown hair and Annalina is a redhead. I wish I could give you more identifying information, but no doubt much has changed over the last sixteen years.
Oh Vina, what an epic journey this has been. I think my ending may not be as I imagined though. The darkness still seeks me out, the Watch wants my Aspect, and no place seems safe for me. This may well be the last letter I write to you. I must focus on survival now. I want you to know, whatever happens, I will always be close to you and your sisters. Always.
I love you.
Love,
Priya
By the time Vina had finished reading the letter, she was crying. The love conveyed in Priya’s words overwhelmed her. Knowing that Priya herself did not know if she would survive broke her heart. How could she have gained such a loving mother only to never know her? Vina cried for the years she had lost with the family she should have been with. Her soul hurt with the pain of loss for a relationship she could never have. Her family was shattered by darkness and fear.