Chapter 53
The Death and Rebirth of Mr. Charles Ashcroft
Now I will never say that my life is in any way shape or form normal, I mean I live in a ghost town, situated on the second floor of the ghost tower of what is the remains of Arcanarus University. By all accounts I should be accustomed to strangeness, and by most accounts I am. Given my sight, I am not distracted by the apparent translucent images that the majority of the citizens of the town of Crossroads have. To me, the citizens of this town are just as real, as any true citizen of the world, regressor or not.
Yet, I do have to say that for years I had a stigma surrounding my eyes. For years my eyes were a sign that I was a Shade Touched, as they glowed black with otherworldly sparkles of light. They were a sign that I was essentially marked for death as a Dark Elf, well not death directly. But rather I was marked for royalty, my eyes denoted that I should be taken in and subjected to a battle royale with other Shade Touched candidates, and if I survived I would be named a future queen of a fledgling Dark Elf settlement. Neither the act of ritualistic killing, or being made a leader of such a society was of any particular interest to me. As such I hid my nature, for years I hid my eyes behind my Engineering Guild Goggles, or EGGs as they are most often referred to as. They are the signature look of steampunk, and the number one factor that helps to separate this world from others. With my mathematical background, I always found the idea of using gears and pistons to generate force exceptionally fun, but I have now learned that math is a fundamental building block for most things in this world. Even looking back, I see that math is a core component of my spell creation, and ways I can use my magical prowess to turn the world in my favor.
Of course, all of this is a sidetrack from the current issue at hand. My current issue is that over the last few weeks, where I was taking Strange Elixir of Bloodline Cleansing, I never had to cover my eyes. Thus, when I underwent my bloodline awakening, I decided to continue without my EGGs, something that had up until a few weeks ago been a necessity. This was my first time going out since my transformation. Granted, I never went that far, in my case I merely went from my healing wing at the Mage’s Guild, to the building next door, Lucky’s Card Hall, which so happens to be the Thieves Guild headquarters for our town.
Lenny’s guards line the streets, and no less than two are set to escort me to and from the Mage’s guild. This is a precautionary measure, and part of how I was able to sway the town to allow a gambling establishment to be close to the heart of our fair town. Yet, this time something seemed off about my guards, as they seemed to twitch and make constant glances at me when they thought I wasn’t looking. Even after the awakening of my bloodline I am still blind, and can only see by my Angel’s Sight, which allows me to view the world in a 360 degree bubble around me. From this bubble I can see that the guards are gawking at me, oddly enough I can almost understand why. My inner light appears to glow both bright green and a brighter shade of purple, though I don’t know exactly why. Still the green nature of my aura apparently has played out in my eyes, as my eyes are now a radiant green. At least if Zero, my familiar, is to be believed. I don’t know what the green eyes means exactly, but they are at the very least a sign that I am no longer Shade Touched, so I don’t care and for the first time in six years I do not feel the need to wear my EGGs while walking around in public, it is quite freeing.
Now, I had been able to walk around freely before, but that was when I was on a timer, as I constantly had to keep track of my last dose of elixir, and make sure to take a new one. Now that I had not only altered my bloodline, but managed to awaken my new bloodline, I didn’t have a timer in my mind telling me how long I had remaining of my freedom. This was my sort of personal test to myself, to see if I had done enough to avoid both the curse of avoiding my old bloodline for so long, while also doing enough to have a completely new bloodline available to me. Knowing this was my first time out since my changes, I was of course paying extra attention to my surroundings. In particular, I was paying extra attention to the way people interacted with me, particularly when they thought I wasn’t watching. This was why I noticed how the two high level dark elven guards that were escorting me from the Mage’s Guild to Lucky’s Card Hall, gawked at me, when they thought I wasn’t looking.
Of course, being wary of them, I was ready to Teleport back to my room in the Mage’s Guild at a moment’s notice. Fortunately other than being creepy, and giving each other a few glances before looking back at me, nothing happened. This was good, as it meant I was no longer seen as a threat to elves, well at least not to dark elves, regular elves were a completely different story as I have not had a chance to meet one of them.
The minute we enter the hall, I am met with a number of changes. I had been avoiding going to the guild hall ever since Lenny tried to get me to be involved in the torturing of one of his guards who was sleeping around on one of his co-worker’s domestic partners. Apparently that was a huge red flag for Lenny, and while I do appreciate his want to uphold the sanctity of a domestic partnership, I do not feel that torture, or killing is an acceptable punishment. As such I had been conducting all of my Thieves Guild business through Glenn, we even made due with moving our reading meetings to my office at the Mage’s Guild. There was of course just one problem with this arrangement, as my office was terribly compact, also the acoustics of my office caused a weird reverberation when I tried to use some of my new voices I had been working on. This was why I was entering the Thieves Guild Hall for the first time in almost two weeks.
I did notice the changes, chief among them was the fact that everything was finally nearing completion. For the longest time the building had been under construction, and while some tables had been opened, they were only part of the floor. This time, it seemed that the entire floor was open. To follow this thought, I saw a banner that overlooked the floor.
Grand Opening Swap’em Holdem Tournament.
Seeing the banner, I smiled, it would appear that Lenny is trying to make amends with me, as he knows my game of choice is Swap’em Holdem, as my unique disability gives me an unfair advantage while playing this game against others. Not only do I know what cards everyone else has, but I am also able to identify the cards that are burned, basically I know all the probabilities and outcomes while everyone else is effectively playing blind.
“Good evening.” A deep rich voice calls out to greet me, as a cascade of shivers runs down my spine. It is Glenn, and despite talking to him daily, I still cannot get enough of his voice, I like it so much that I even unlocked a new skill.
Skill Gained: Mimicry has reached level 1. Skill Mimicry is a Dexterity, Personality, Sociability, Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower based skill.
While I am not as good at using the skill as I would like, I do feel confident enough to at least try out my new voice for Rahul, which I intend to base entirely off of Glenn.
“And a good evening to you, Glenn.” I say as I give him a courtesy. I don’t normally act in such a way to anyone, but while around Glenn, I almost feel a need to try to appear more sophisticated. I know, it is sad, I am in a child’s body and by all appearances I likely come across as a child pretending to be noble, but I can’t help myself.
“Madame, I have to say, you look quite elegant today. I would even say that your security detail would agree given that they haven’t left your side, even though they were supposed to wait for you outside our establishment.” Glenn says, a sharper tone coming to his words, though he never raises his voice at all.
At the admonishment, the two dark elf guards nod sheepishly, before turning around to leave. Though I would be lying if I didn’t notice them turn around to give me one last look. There is a pause as Glenn stares at the two until they are fully outside the establishment, only once they are gone does Glenn let out a breath and relax his posture. “Sorry that you had to see such a display.”
“No, that is quite alright.” I say, and I even catch myself smiling at the act.
Glenn pauses as he looks at me, then after a moment he shakes his head. “Madame, I must apologize for their actions, though I fear they will likely not be the only ones to make such a reaction.”
“You think so?” I ask.
“Yes, you were beautiful before, but now I feel you have gone beyond the scope of comparison. You all but radiate a vibrancy that is undeniable.” Glenn says, as he clearly seems to be flustered by my appearance.
Badump, badump.
His words cause my own heart to flutter.
“I am sorry. It is unbecoming of me to be this way.” Glenn says, as he gives a bow, before quickly turning about and leaving.
“No, wait.” I say, then I realize this is exactly like one of the scenes I was reading in Rahul and the Maiden VII, the one where the Duke’s daughter is rescued, and taken back home. Then once she is cleaned up of her wounds, then he is able to see her in her true form and beauty. At the time, I thought it was a clear play for the money and wealth on display, but here, the scene played out the exact same way, and I couldn’t help but feel a compliment based on the way Glenn had to leave.
So that is why Cryalla fell for him after all, I thought to myself as I realized my reason for being here and went to read to the blind. I know, it might sound like I was being charitable, and in a way I was, but I just loved these books so much that I couldn’t stop reading them. The fact that Reymel had more copies of as yet unread portions of the story were just icing on the cake. I also saw that the enchantments got more and more complex, but they all seemed to build off of each other. When I had time I promised I would try to break down that complex nature of rune crafting and compare it to the actual practice of real runes. There were some overlaps, but I somehow felt that the versions used by Rahul were functional, even if they were wholly unique from what was considered to be the standard practice for rune crafting. However the ones used by Rahul seemed to be more protection and combat based, versus the standard runes that were used to enchant functional items, like weapons and the like. Still, I had far too much on my plate to even begin to cover runes and their general makeup. Sadly, my delving into runes would have to be done at a later date and time.
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***
I left my reading club at the standard time and made my way to my debriefing room. This was the room where I would normally exchange my information for more Strange Elixirs of Bloodline Cleansing, while I no longer needed the elixirs, the experience was nice, and it was also part of my job requirements as the number two of the Thieves Guild.
Still rather than finding Glenn, as I had been hoping for, I was instead met by Ellia, while I knew she was a higher up in the guild hall, I had never had to deal with her directly before.
“Oh, is everything okay?” I asked Ellia.
“Yes, I was asked to fill in by Master Glenn, as he had a very important matter arise that he had to attend to right away.” Ellia said.
“Oh,” was all I managed to say to that, as I still didn’t know what to think.
CHOO-CHOO!
The sound of the train coming into town could be heard bellowing outside, as a soft and gentle rumble began to shake the ground.
“Do you have anything to share today?” Ellia asked.
“Well, no, nothing other than what I already shared with Glenn earlier.” I reply somewhat awkwardly.
Hearing that Ellia just nodded, “very good. We were able to confirm your earlier statements. I was informed to give you these.”
With that she held up a box of items while I also received a mental notification that I had completed my daily quest, twice.
Daily Quest (Repeatable): Thieves Guild Information Specialist: You have found yourself filling in as Lenny ‘Lucky’ Bigsly’s personal information gatherer. Each time you find out a piece of information worth sharing, make sure you tell Lenny. Conditions: Actionable Information Provided (2/1). Rewards: Experience (200), access to rare consumables needed for your Bloodline Quest.
Seeing the elixirs, I decide not to take them, as I am uncertain if they will deteriorate my current bloodline that I have finally managed to activate. “Thank you for that, but I will no longer require the elixirs.”
At that Ellia just looks at me oddly for a moment, before putting the box down. “Very well, that is all I need from you. Though I am to inform you that tomorrow at exactly this time is when we will be holding our grand opening Swap’em Holdem tournament, in case you somehow missed all the signs and fliers.”
I nod, “thank you.”
Then with that I left. I was about to leave the building when I saw that my two guards had been changed out, rather than the two men that had escorted me over, I was now met by two high level female dark elf guardians.
Upon seeing me, one of my guards began to blush slightly, while the other one just turned about and began walking away. Only once their back was to me, did their decorum slip and a slight blush also filled her face.
I was about to ask, but upon turning to the first blushing guardian that was by my side, I could see that she got flustered for a moment and quickly turned her head, as if she was caught staring at something she shouldn’t have. In a way, I guess I had caught her staring.
“Is something the matter?” I ask.
“What? No.” The blushing girl said, as she turned back to look at me, only to lock gazes with me, at least that is what I think she did before turning away again.” Again, as a dark elf I don’t have pupils or retinas so everyone assumes that as long as I turn my head in their direction that I am in fact looking directly at them. Joke’s on them, as I am looking at everyone, but regardless there is something odd about this.
Unfortunately, I am unable to ask anything else, before someone comes running up right towards me. Instantly my first guardian protector darts in front of the would-be charging suspect, while the second guardian wraps her arms around me in a protective gesture.
“Thank goodness lady Spiritlight, there is a patient that just came from the train that desperately needs your assistance.” The would-be suspect states. I recognize him as one of the Mage guild pages that are sent about the town. Upon seeing the missive, we begin to quickly make our way to my office.
“This is her?” A perfectly healthy elven companion asks, they are about to come near me, but think better when seeing the way my two guardians are protectively surrounding me. “Oh,” they say trailing off as think better about physically moving. “Please help them, they are dying.”
I nod at that, as I can already see the Blight has rotted this patient for years. The damage and extent of the injuries to this patient are beyond compare as this patient looks like they have been on death’s door for quite some time. Looking at him, I can almost see how his spirit has grown beyond that of his mortal shell. It is so odd seeing this man in this way. They are near death, at least that is what it looks like, but I only see this as an extra challenge. I know this patient likely risked a lot just by coming here as I can see the way the spirit resistance potion is not having the same effect on this body as it was for others who came before them. To put it simply they are dying. Realizing that, my heart begins to pound as I feel more excitement from this, than I have with anything in a long time.
The first thing I do is find a way to tie down the soul back to the body. This is done by using a lot of Spirit magic tendrils to grab hold of the spirit, first. Once the safety net is complete, I begin going to town on removing portions of the Blight. In the background I can hear Zero talking with the caretaker, but that is far away, right now the only thing that matters is this patient.
“Oh!” The man cries out, in the form of a light gasp after I break apart a particularly tough patch of Blight that resides over his heart. With that, I feel the spirit rise up like a helium filled balloon that was let go slightly, fortunately my previous working is there to catch his spirit before it can go anywhere. Realizing I am still safe, so long as I keep the one spell channeled, I continue my work. Minute after minute, hour after hour I work. I go so long that I don’t even focus on taking breaks, oddly enough I don’t need to. I know that when I worked with Mallory I had worked half as hard and had to take multiple breaks. Now, whether it is understanding what I am doing, familiarity with my spells and this condition, or a sign of my new Hermit Healer bloodline at work, the end result is the same, I am unstoppable. Or at least, I am able to focus with such single-minded clarity that only when I am over halfway done do I realize how much I have accomplished.
Of course, I don’t just stop at halfway, as I continue to keep cycling more and more drilling tendrils at the Blight, the more I create, the more scraps burn away to dust before my eyes. I mentally wonder how much of that energy I am just wasting, how much of this Blight could I harvest if I had a means to do so. I figure that if I could somehow charge a battery with this release of energy, then this man’s body alone would have been enough to charge three or four. At least that is how many more batteries he would have filled in comparison to Mallory’s far simpler healing event. Still that didn’t matter, the only thing that mattered was little by little, cleansed piece by cleansed piece I was getting closer to healing this person. I had not lost a patient, and while I was not one of those romantics that swore they would never lose one, I made it a point to not lose anyone that I could. That was why I went with so many precautions and safety measures before I even began. I knew this would be a lot on the frail body. Even now I could see how the spirit of this individual far exceeded the physical body it inhabited. Additionally the magic used to seal him was temporary at best, once the body was cleared, then the real work would begin. But I had time for that.
Gasp.
A faint wheezing sound could be heard as he audibly began breathing through his recently cleared right lung. Then a few minutes later he had the left lung cleared as well.
Every so often Zero would come in and wipe down my forehead to get all the sweat that was pouring down my face. This was a new event and likely due to my residual consumption of so many vials of liquid. Still I didn’t let the sweat stop me, especially as it didn’t stop my seeing the patient. Instead I just continued to focus. At one point I knew I had worked past midnight as I saw that both Zero and the caretaker were both passed out in the waiting room. Shaking my head, I just kept going, I knew that if I stopped now then the patient’s chances would go down to nothing. In fact, I was fairly certain the patient had died a long time ago, and it was just my stubborn refusal to accept fate that kept him there. I’m joking of course, he was alive, his body moved just as it was supposed to, especially once free of the Blight. Again, the only problem was that he didn’t seem to stay.
Finally, it was clear, the body was completely cleansed of all signs of the Blight.
There was just one problem, the spirit kept trying to float away.
“What?”
I said, as I looked at the man’s spirit. The body was moving, if barely, but that meant nothing if the spirit went away.
“HEY!” I shout at the ghost, trying to get its attention.
Snap, snap.
I even snap my fingers in his ghostly face, but that still does nothing.
“What, huh?” The caretaker awakens due to my antics, but I don’t have time. “Charles?” He shouts out, as pain fills his voice.
It doesn’t look good, that fact that he, a mortal can see both the body and spirit of his friend is likely something that only happens thanks to this being a spirit tower, and how truly close to death this man is.
Still, I am not done.
Taking one last deep breath, I begin to crochet his soul into his body. Weaving a long thread of spirit energy, I course it through his soul, then his body. The more I do, the more I force his actual spirit to begin to realign with his body. The head is easy, as his skull is the correct size as his face. While some of his features have shrunken in time, the skull itself is the correct size. From there I focus on the outside of the neck, then the shoulders, then the arms, the torso, the legs. All the while I weave hundreds and thousands of feet of this spirit thread throughout his body.
Then finally I am done, and I tie up the two ends, the beginning and the end with one intense fusion of spiritual heat.
Then I sit back and wait.
And wait.
The body is still moving, but there is something wrong.
“WAKE UP!” I shout, and calling forth spirit energy into my hand, in an effort of complete frustration I lash out and strike the corpse.
Smack.
It was uncalled for, at least that was the thought that went through my head immediately after the act, but then something miraculous happened.
“Wha? Huh?” The corpse, I mean my patient, Charles, began stammering and twitching.
Slowly, he began moving, as his atrophied body could hardly keep up with the changes he was showing.
Seeing that, I let out a long sigh of relief, then collapsed.
Instantly Zero was there to wipe down my head. While the attendant went to check on his patient, this Charles fellow.
Of course, I wasn’t alone, apparently the attendant had been speaking to not just one but quite a few people. One of whom happened to be the Guild Master.
“I see you have once again managed to do the impossible.” The Guild Master said.
“What?” I ask, my head swimming with how tired I am suddenly feeling. Now that I no longer have my single minded object of my attention, my brain begins to feel like it is scrambled.
“You successfully brought someone back from the dead.” The Guild Master states. I am about to argue with him, when I received multiple system prompts.
Hidden Quest Complete (Repeatable): Curing The Blighted: You have found a way to remove the blight from individuals infected with the curse of corruption. Cleanse everyone you can of the Blight and be rewarded: Rewards: Experience (100), variable.
Hidden Quest Complete: Raising the Dead: You managed to do it, to be the first person to bring back a person from the land of the dead, back to the living. Who knew the answer lay not with Life magic, but with Spirit magic this whole time. Rewards: Experience, New Spell (already learned), reputation.
Experience Gained: 1,000
New Spell Gained: Resurrection (C): A Tier IX spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight, to bring a spirit back from the dead.
Seeing the messages, I felt vindicated, no even better, I now had a means to bring back my parents. Should I ever find them, I knew it would only be a matter of will, before I brought them back to life. With this, I could do almost anything. Of course, my options weren’t done there, as there was still one more message that remained.
Hidden Spell Completed: Master Tier Spell Creator: You have pushed yourself to the limits of standard capabilities and beyond by creating a Tier IX or above spell. Rewards: Experience, a Badge, enhanced class Perk options.
New Feat Recorded: Master Tier Spell Creator (500). You managed to create a spell that was at the ranking of Tier IX or higher, wait until people ask you what it was. New Feat Recorded: Resurrector (250). You managed to bring someone back from the dead, your way just happens to be a bit more humane than the others.
Experience Gained: 1,000
Ding.
Level up.
Your level has reached level 25.
New Sub-Class option available.
New Class Evolution criteria met.
You may now choose one of the following to gain for your class advancement: A new Spell, A new Skill, a New Class Perk, or a New Class Specific Trait.
Seeing that message, my heart began to race as I realized a Class Specific Trait would be invaluable, and something that was likely as helpful, if not more than my Spiritual Doppelganger Trait, but my only question was what should I make it? Also, what was up with the messages from the badges, was it trying to start something?