Chapter 278
Dark Karma
For a moment, I felt safe.
In this moment I felt like I truly had everything under control. Things were going off as planned, and barring the need to find a thirteenth nipple for this bundle of fur in my arms to suckle from, everything was going well.
The wedding was going off fairly smoothly, at least the fact that I had not been summoned back by Rune-ulacrum to fix anything showed that I was fine for the moment.
This meant that Penelope taking the form of King De’Arcaneri went off without a hitch. I also gave birth to the nine-month long nightmare that was my daughter’s pregnancy.
A pregnancy that I can’t help but feel secretly angry about.
Apparently, this child, the great granddaughter of Mallory was very rich, and had therefore made it so the rest of my family, well Gwen’s family, and therefore my grandchildren and great grandchildren would be taken care of, so long as I pass along the Spiritlight bloodline and family name to the new child. With that the contract was fulfilled.
I think that was part of why I purposefully made it so the act of birth was not accomplished. Instead, going through the much safer cesarian section route, making it safer for both the baby and the mother, but denying the child of the apparent 10% lifetime bonus that very few would have.
Yes, part of it was jealousy, I’m not going to deny that.
But the other part was that it wasn’t paid for.
I realize that now, as I am holding up the discarded fluff of dark death and spirit energy attuned pup that is currently held within my hands.
First, I knew that in order for this pup, this discarded pup, by Ms. Kujo to survive it first needed a name.
Somehow I felt that was the most important aspect, for named beings and creatures all have a higher chance of living than unnamed beings. Think about it, name one unnamed being that lived beyond one year? Can’t think of one, can you? At least I can’t think of one.
That is why, I look at the beast before me, and almost want to call her Spot, for she is a dark spot of death and spirit magic in a world that is normally devoid of such depths of magic.
But then I remember how everyone says that my naming is bad, and realize Spot is a terrible name for a pup that will grow up to rule these lands. And she would rule these lands, I could all but feel her potential. Despite being undersized and sickly, this pup had more than enough magical potential to bring these lands to its knees, assuming it lasted long enough to begin using magic.
I don’t know when animals can use magic, likely faster than humans could, especially as she would no doubt age in dog years.
But until then, I had been set up as this pup’s fairy godmother.
While I still bristled at the idea of being called a fairy godmother, like I was some sort of cheap wish granting creature only designed to show girls they needed to rely on someone more powerful to succeed in life, I did not falter in this case.
Here it was, this pup, not-Spot, was abandoned by the mother for being both sickly, and for not having a way to feed the pup.
Simple math told me there would be such a problem, thirteen pups, twelve feeding stations, all showed that work had to be done on my part.
Still I had to come up with a name for this future ferocious beast.
Holding the pup up so that it was within an inch of my face, I opened my third eye and stared into the pup.
Yep, everything was there, a strong heart, an oversized mana core, but weak muscles. It was clear most of the early energy went into building and maintaining the mana core of this creature, likely why it was so sickly.
“I’m going to say a few names, and I need you to react to the one that fits you best. Shadow?”
Confused.
“Okay, not shadow, what about Midnight?”
Sneeze.
The pup let out a big puppy sneeze, likely from inhaling pixie dust, but going to take that as a no. Particularly as I now have to wipe my face with soft puppy fur, to clean off the snot.
Waggle.
At least now the puppy is happy after being used to gently brush against my face.
“Okay, not Midnight. What about Umbra?” I ask.
Lick.
The dog just licked me. For a moment I take this as a sign of confirmation, but then instantly worry as I wonder if she just licked more pixie dust off of me?
“Okay, so we like Umbra, but just to make sure what about Draven?”
Less wagging.
With that the tail still wagged excitedly, but a little less so.
“Okay, not as keen on Draven. What about Obsidian?”
Gagging.
The pup chose that moment to begin gagging on some unknown substance.
A quick intrusive scan of my third eye showed it was a mixture of thick dog fur, blood, and pixie dust, great for any growing pup.
Telekinetically, I grab the tiny clump, and instantly the dog stops choking.
“Okay, so Umbra?” I ask again, wanting to make sure the pup was certain about this.
Waggle, waggle, lick, bark.
In the next second I have to quickly turn my face, lest I get wet dog tongue on my third eye. Fortunately, she just gets me on the side of my forehead.
“Umbra it is,” I exclaim.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Then almost imperceptibly, I see waves of golden threads weaving out from me to the pup.
In that instance, I see that only a few vestiges of dark karma remain.
It’s hard to see, but thanks to the light of the positive karma heading the pup’s way, I can finally see how close the pup was to death.
Though for a moment, I am confused as to why such dark threads remain on the pup, seemingly woven around its soul.
Then I remember the final problem.
“How do I feed you?” I ask.
For a moment I panic, as I don’t even remember to feed myself. If it wasn’t for my constant use of Spirit Sustenance to survive. The spell is large in that it still takes up 10% of my maximum mana capacity, but so worth it as I would have died a hundred times over by now without food or water.
Then looking at the pup, I realize what I must do.
Taking my finger, and placing it gently within the gummy mouth of the pup, I can’t help but feel it trying to suckle almost immediately.
With it I then open my mind and begin channeling a lesser version of my own Spirit Sustenance into the pup. I start with the full 10%, but quickly cut that off as it seems to be too thick apparently. From there I lower the consistency down to 1% and slowly work my way back up.
In the end, I have to get the trickle to 1.5% and that is enough for the small pup to feed and get that fat belly that all contented pups seem to get before passing out.
With the pup, Umbra taken care of and fed.
I feel a new quest taking form within my mind.
Hidden Quest (Complete): Fairy Godmother For Umbra (Ongoing): You have found a way to help Umbra, future destroyer of the plains alive and uninfected with the Blight. Continue to care for Umbra and ensure that she remains Blight free in order to prevent future calamities from unfolding.
Current Rewards: Karma Sight (Evolving Skill).
Future Rewards: Experience, Skill(s), variable.
New Skill Gained: Karma Sight has increased to level 1. Karma Sight is a Personality X2, Sociability X3, Perception X3, Intelligence X2, and Willpower X2 based skill.
Just reading the prompt, I exhale as I realize quite a few things are happening all at once. First, I got a skill as part of an ongoing quest chain. No experience, just the skill, which tells me that the skill might be very powerful.
At the very least, I can see this helping me improve my future interactions with the world around me.
For starters, I can finally see the distinction from the dark magic and the dark karma that surrounded little Umbra here. Focusing on the pup in my arms, particularly with my third eye, I can see that now only a few minor dark cords of karma are wrapped around the pup.
A quick glance at myself shows that I have quite a few dark bands. These are not the dense thick chain type tendrils that were overtly obvious to see earlier, but these are more subtle to see.
With this new sight I can see the threads going off both positive and negative to the different people and creatures around me.
Oddly enough more positive karma links bind me to the Kujos and their eagerly feasting litter of a dozen dire phase wolf pups than to my own daughter and in particular the baby within her arms.
A baby that is still frozen in time thanks to my apparent placing her in the arms of Gwen, before I went on to take care of my pup.
Pulse.
Then as if spurned on by my staring and lack of actions, I see the dark strands of karma that link me to Gwen and the new baby, my apparent grandchild, grow in intensity.
Yeah, apparently my feeling rushed and need for speed might have gotten me in a bit of tunnel vision.
Snap.
By quickly snapping my fingers, I break the final Time Stasis links that are binding both Gwen and the child. A child that is blessedly free of blood and viscera thanks to the cleaning functions of this room that all but obliterate dirt and debris, best invention ever.
“Wha? Huh?” Gwen says to herself, as she twists her head around and even goes so far as to open her third eye. Then with a startle, Gwen all but demanded, “why is it completely dark here?”
I am momentarily flustered by the question as it is glowing like a holiday seasonal house that has to get their own external power generator to power all their excess lights. Then I realize she still has some regular sight with her third eye open.
“Close your eyes and you will be able to see,” I reply, my voice cold as I go over and gently place my free hand on Gwen’s shoulder. Then before she can get startled and possibly drop the quickly growing child, I add, “oh and congratulations, it’s a girl!”
Gwen pauses, then looks down at her hands, and feels the slowly growing mass.
A mass that appears to be constricted by dark binding bands of dark karma.
It’s odd, seeing the way dark karma seems to affect people exponentially. Normally, there would be a one for one ratio of cause and effect, while Karma seems to be different. I wonder why that is, but then I realize, it is likely due to the fact that this child does not have the 10% bonus, and that will play an exponential cost to their future development.
So odd, I think to myself
“What is odd?” Gwen asks.
Apparently I was not thinking to myself.
“The way dark karma expands seemingly exponentially.” I state, staring at the child with my own third eye open, which allows me to see the way the cords seem to grow around the baby.
Instantly, I realize that I will need to fix this.
“Let me see her,” I say, holding out my hands to grab the child, so I can begin to try to undo the dark karmic fate I set in motion for this child. Part of it is due to the fact that I myself feel guilty about what I did in the heat of the moment, the other part is that I can see my own bands of dark karma growing as a sympathetic result of what I did to the child. Not a strict one for one, but I can see the cord that connects me to this child growing denser and darker as time goes on, I’m not exactly a karma expert, but I’m pretty sure that is a bad sign.
“No, I think you have done enough already,” Gwen says, defensively as she pulls the child closer to her body. Then as if noticing the slight breeze caused by such a movement, she reaches down and finds her Kingly uniform still open.
“What is this?” Gwen asked, “why do I have a tear in my clothes?”
“You were going into birth, and I helped.” I respond.
“Helped? You mean you cut me open and then what just didn’t even let me have any say in what happened?” Gwen demanded.
At that, I slightly shrink back, “wait, did you not want the help?”
“I didn’t want to be cut open and have the baby stolen from me. I didn’t want the first set of eyes on her to be the pack of wild animals. Also, is that a wolf pup in your arms?” Gwen was on a roll as she sounded more and more indignant. Even climbing to her feet while cradling the baby in her arms.
“Okay, fair points, all, but I need to see the baby,” I respond, reaching out my still free hand towards the exponentially growing child.
“Why so you can steal her?”
“Steal her? If I wanted to take her, do you think you would have her now? I just see something wrong with her that I want to try to correct before it gets too far along.” I respond, and as soon as I say the words I realize I might have said the wrong thing.
“Wait, something is wrong with my child?” Gwen asks, looking at her child as fear and confusion take over her body.
“I think there is something wrong with her karma, which I need to try to fix.” I respond.
“Karma? Something is wrong with her Karma?” Gwen asks, suddenly turning her full face towards me.
“Yeah, but I think I can fix it," I respond.
“Fix Cassandra’s karma?” Gwen asks, clutching her child even more tightly to her chest. Then she pauses as she looks at me, and then seems to come to have an internal conflict with herself, before she ultimately exhales and relaxes her grip slightly on the child. “You know you sound crazy. If anyone other than you spoke of a child’s dark karma, I would think they were crazy.”
Then Gwen paused for a second, before adding. “Actually, I still think you are crazy, but I do believe you in this case.”
“Hey,” I say, though I can’t really protest too much, as Gwen used that moment to push the child out to me.
At this point, I reach out my free right hand and begin trying to channel good karma into the baby. I’m still a novice with this form of energy, so I can see that much of it is being wasted. There is an excess flow that seems to flow down the right-hand side of the child’s head. I’m pretty sure that is going to leave a stain, I think to myself, but that mistake did give me a better understanding of how karmic energy works.
The best way to describe karmic energy is the straw and spray/devour method. With the slight spillage on the hair, I had the straw outside the spot where I wanted and thus caused it to pour out.
Moving closer, I pierced the straw into the skin of the child.
Stick.
There was the slight entry and I almost expected the child to cry out, but fortunately the child was still asleep at this point. Breathing, with a healthy heartbeat and empty mana core, but sleeping. This was perfect, as I then just focused on pushing and twisting the tiny straw into the part of the body where the 10% bonus was noted.
Unfortunately, now that the child was alive, this section didn’t immediately glow to my sight. Making this more of a guess work on my part. As such I began trying to pour in my good Karma into the child.
Glowing star.
Glowing triangular design.
Glowing diamond shape.
I instantly see a number of symbols light up in the child, but not the 10% bonus one. For a second I wonder if that is enough, but then I still see that while the dark threads of karma have stopped expanding, they are still there. To completely clear myself of this karmic debt I know I need to light up the correct symbol. Fortunately, with these three I know it was right around this area. Assuming these symbols didn’t move around that much, it should be here.
Glowing pentagon.
Nope, not that one, but still right there, just below.
Glowing birthday crown.
There we go, for a moment I wonder why that shape looks so familiar, but then I realize that is the exact symbol on my head right now. The one that grants me my own 10% bonuses.
Birthday Crown (Temporary Item): A crown given to a birthday girl with an awakened Legendary or above bloodline. While in use all experience gained is increased by 10%, all knowledge gained is increased by 10%, and all feats of accomplishment will be increased by a further 10%. Duration: Next 17 hours, 32 minutes, and 47...46...
Wow, so she gets that everyday of the year? That and the additional items that are still there.
Not quite certain what I broke or did, but that did seem to work as I see the cord of dark karma break apart and dissolve entirely from myself to the child.
Also, the bands of dark karma that had been growing on me, suddenly burst as well.
This is so cool, though looking down I see that I still have a lot of dark karmic threads binding me to a lot of people.
Fortunately, the threads that bind me to the Kujos, their innocent pups, and now my first grandchild are all clear.
Fifteen years old and already a grandmother, sounds unbelievable, but that is how life treats you. With that, I give a quick ruffling of the hair to let the child know I am done. I also note that the streaming karma does use that time to sink in.
“Is she okay?” Gwen finally asks, once I pull my hand back.
“Yeah, in fact I might have gone a bit overboard with that, but what she needed I fixed.” I respond.
I nod, as I feel a wave of exhaustion wash over me.
Four extra markings, I wonder if those are sort of hidden merits? Or maybe she will get to see those merits come to life? No clue, but I do think she will be fine, no better than fine, as she will have the blessings I could only dream of.
Hidden Quest Complete: Fairy Godmother’s Blessing: You have given your first blessing as a Fairy Godmother to a child. Resulting in the child having blessings that others could only dream of…
“No!” I shout, for as soon as I feel that message coming, I know it will come with a deeper message.
Before I can even see what is happening, I feel the world begin to slow down, as I realize I might have actually gone too far this time and possibly broken the world.
Looking around, I see that everything around me has frozen, while I am still able to move.
Suddenly I realize my worst fear, being stuck in here able to move about freely, without being able to interact with anyone. At least that is my first fear, until I realize there are plenty of books I could read while trying to deal with this, so I give myself a week.
But then I realize I am not the only one who is currently unstuck.
“Get over here!” An angry voice cries out, and pulls me through space and time.
Maybe I was a bit too dismissive of the week off reading books everyday…