Vina walked silently back home with Etana. She was deep in thought at Samire’s words. Etana seemed equally contemplative. “Why was Samire looking so intently at you?”

“I… I think he was warning me.” Vina said softly.

Etana looked at her intently, “About what exactly?”

Vina hesitated before answering, “I’m not entirely sure. Maybe he didn’t want me to make a map because the place I arrived at should be kept a secret? Maybe someone can see where I’ve been and understand the path I took to get here?”

Etana’s eyes opened in alarm, “How does Samire know you? Do you think The Watch could figure out who we are by the path you walked?”

Vina shook her head, “I really don’t know. Why don’t we pick up a couple of books and you can create a map? You can tell me what it shows.”

“I think I can try that out safely.” Etana said after some consideration, but Vina could see some doubt in her eyes.

“Does she have her own secrets?” Vina wondered to herself.

They headed to a book binder in the market, barely able to catch him before he closed for the evening. He was quite happy once they had purchased several books. Together they ran to an open field and sat down, watching the sun begin to set.

Etana looked at the book for a moment and then opened it. Vina resisted looking over her shoulder, not knowing the proper etiquette anymore. After a moment Etana spoke, “I see the concern. The Atlas Compendium does not only show the area on the map of where you’ve been, but it also shows the last ten days of your physical location as drawn by a line.”

Vina absorbed that before speaking, “So it would show almost every step I’ve taken since the first day I’ve arrived.”

Etana smiled, “Even I would be really interested in seeing that.” She sighed soon after, “I guess you should really wait to make your map until the ten day period is up. After you’ve been here for ten days, that history of your movements will no longer exist. I’m sorry Vina, but I have to go. I have something else I need to do alone tonight.”

Vina nodded and they said their farewells, agreeing to meet again the next morning. Vina headed for her home, knowing she had another session with Ebba. However, when she arrived, Ebba was not there. She headed into her home and waited long into the night for Ebba to arrive, but she never did.

Vina was feeling extremely exhausted, having not slept much the night before. However, something was itching in the back of her mind. She was forbidden to practice Blood Runes without Ebba, but they had not said anything about learning other blood skills. Vina recalled seeing the two skills in Ebba’s book: Blood Sense and Ichoric Conversion. She had no idea what either of these skills did exactly, but Vina was determined to figure out Blood Sense.

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She pricked her finger and squeezed a drop of the blood onto the table. Having absolutely no idea what to do, Vina leaned close to the droplet and stared at it. She squinted and focused hard, but nothing happened. When that didn’t work, Vina held her pricked finger close to the drop and activated Blood Call for the first time. Nothing happened once more.

Vina was confused. The skill was supposed to allow her to absorb her blood as if she was a blood rune item herself, but it wasn’t working. As she contemplated this, Vina realized that Ebba really was right. The lantern was not absorbing blood by itself. If Blood Call was supposed to let her move blood back into her body, surely the Blood Runes skill must be letting her move blood outside of her body. She was just doing it subconsciously every time she fed the lantern. She still believed something was different about the lantern though, and she couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

Vina tried focusing on the blood, mentally telling it to move toward her finger. She thought she saw the droplet shift as if someone had blown on it but it didn’t actually move. Vina explored other methods, trying to figure out how she actually moved the blood in the lantern previously. She suddenly felt something move inside of herself. It was a sensation like when her heart beat and she could feel the blood pass through her veins, but the movement was not in time with her heart. She focused on the feeling of her blood pumping through her veins. One heartbeat after another, Vina felt her life essence travel through her veins. Between the beats, Vina felt her blood obey something else.

Vina grabbed onto that thing within her and commanded it. The droplet on the table slowly moved across the table and hopped onto her finger. Vina barely felt it, but the pressure in her veins told her she suddenly had more blood flowing through her body. She gasped for air, not realizing she was holding her breath. Blood Call had worked, but something else had also happened.

New Skill Learned: Blood Sense. Blood sense is a passive skill and will not gain levels. Quest updated: Learn Skills 3 32/75

Vina had a hard time breathing as Blood Sense activated for her. She was suddenly intensely aware of her entire body and the blood coursing through it. She felt the blood as if her entire body was submerged. It was warm and wet. The pressure exerted on it by her heart was exhilarating. She felt as if she had gained a new sensation within her veins that tickled her every time her heart took a beat. She stood up, feeling the pressure in her veins drop as the blood pooled in her legs. The next time her heart beat, she could feel it fight to push the blood back up into her body. She felt no dizziness with this, just a sudden awareness she once lacked.

Vina felt alive, and alert in a way she had never felt before. Not even attributes could match what she felt now. She danced and spun around in a way only someone with her level of agility and skills could, feeling her blood race through her body at the exertion. “This is amazing!” she yelled above the sound of the blood in her ears.

Vina suddenly stopped. She felt something in her backpack that wasn’t there before. She could feel a small part of herself within. She took out her lantern and set it on the table. “My blood?” she said questioningly to the lantern. Vina cut her finger once more, no longer caring how much blood she spilled.

She pressed it to the lantern and immediately felt it pulling in her blood. But this time she felt something else. She felt a deep connection to the sensation of life leaving her body. When she gave all she could, she used Blood Call and pulled her blood back out of the lantern. The lantern resisted for a moment, but it soon gave up. She waited until she had pulled more than she had put in. She smiled and pressed her blood back into the lantern once again. Back and forth she played, the lantern becoming an extension of her circulatory system.