Chapter 2: Lessons and Debts
I stood before Joan and Hadriel, feeling rather like an unprepared recruit on the first days of army training.
We were out on the white field behind the farmhouse. I was still shirtless and feeling a bit self-conscious, though neither of my teachers seemed to care about my bare chest, which helped some. Though it was a bit of a blow to my ego.
“Adam, honoured Hadriel and I discussed our plans for your training last night. We have time thanks to the Hallowed Sanctuary, but we must be careful to make the best of it. This discovery of your weakness will change things later, but for now, we can proceed as we planned.”
All in all, things had gone as well as I could have expected from telling them about my discovery. Neither of them had started calling me flawed or defective, instead, they’d started talking about armour and other preperations. It felt good to hear them talk like that, knowing they were in my corner.
“Okay, so what’re we working on first?”
My question was enthusiastic, but then, was that really a surprise? That was going to be my first real chance to play with my new powers, how could I not be feeling pumped?
“The first thing we shall be teaching you is flight,” The French saint explained. “As things stand your wings are both impressive and dangerous, but they greatly limit your agility. You cannot move, dodge and jump as you once did, even if you have grown strong enough to support them without difficulty. You have already shown hints of levitation and true flight, without the need for your wings flapping. If you can gain proficiency in this then you shall not only regain all you have lost, but also much more.”
Yeah, I could see the logic there. Having my wings made getting around the house a chore, in a real fight it would be a damned nightmare as things stood. Being able to levitate around like a superhero would completely flip that around.
“Right, so . . . how do I get started?”
“Well, myself and honoured Hadriel spent some time discussing how we use our own means of flight. Yours shall most likely be different, just as your power is different from ours, but there may be enough similarity to give you a starting point. Should that fail we can attempt something different.”
“Okay,” I nodded again. “So how does flying work for you?”
“In my case, it begins in my wings,” Joan explained. “When I wish to fly the power gathers there, suffucing them, then branching into my body, reinforcing it and strengthening the connection to my wings. When the process is complete I can move the wings as I want and carry my body along in any way I wish.
“I know that from that description it sounds like a slow and unwieldy method, but in truth it takes but a thought and comes as naturally as breathing. Nor does it simply make my body a puppet being pulled about by my wings. I can still move as freely as before, as you have seen in my training.”
“As for myself,” Hadriel commented, gesturing to her body. “I simply will my form to move through space as I wish, and it is so. If I wish to rise further then it shall be so.”
To demonstrate the red-winged angel rose three feet off the ground, then she started to rotate in midair. Strangely gravity didn’t seem to affect her. Her hair and, more importantly, her loincloth, still hung down as though she were standing on the ground.
“I do not need to build any framework, I merely grasp what is already there and move it as I wish. Perhaps something already exists within you that you can grasp? I am sorry I cannot provide further guidance.”
She said the last part with a grave look on her face, sort of like a soldier telling a commander that there was an army incoming they intended to fight. They didn’t know how much time they’d be able to buy, but they planned to do it anyway. It could have been comical, instead, I found her seriousness oddly reassuring.
“Okay . . . so I’ve gotta see if I can do something like that. Give me some time, okay? I’ll see what I can manage.”
Once they both gave me a nod I sat down on the grass and closed my eyes. This was going to be the first time I deliberately used my new magic. Time to see what I was made of.
Mentally I reached for the new force that flowed through me and was surprised at how easily it answered. It was just there, and as soon as I focused in on it I felt a connection, one I could reach through and direct it. I remembered what I had been told, and I started to look for something I could grab onto.
The problem was that I wasn’t finding anything.
As I looked into myself I could feel something, the problem was that it felt . . . hollow, empty even. It was there, running all the way through me, my wings, my body, my arms, my legs, everywhere. It wasn’t like the weird pathways I’d felt earlier, it didn’t feel that deep, not so much a part of me, but it was at the same time. Blast it! Even in my own head, I couldn’t properly put it into words!
It was like a . . . layer. Yes, that was a good way to describe it. My body, no, my existence, had layers to it. one would be occupied by my core, another would have the circulatory systems of magic and lifeforce, and then there was this one. It was there, ready and waiting, but it felt wrong, unfinished, empty.
Okay, if it was empty, then I’d have to see about filling it up. And I had a decent idea of what to do.
I felt my magic flowing through me, and then I let it flow a bit further. I let it out of the layer it had been on and let it flow into the empty part of me. it all happened so easily, especially compared to my sparking my magic. This was just something natural, something that might even have been meant to happen on its own. I could feel the hollow part of me filling up, and then something just . . . it was like stretching a limb that had gone to sleep or a stiff back. I could practically feel a pleasant crackling as everything was suddenly the way it should be.
The magic was there now, distributed throughout my body, and solid as a mountain range. All I needed was the ‘anchor point’, something I could grab onto, and I had a pretty good idea where it was. Was this what it normally was like for demigods? Just intuitively knowing? No, that wasn’t it. I didn’t know, but I had a strong hunch, a gut feeling. It was instinct rather than intuitive knowledge.
Right, so my centre of balance had moved somewhat due to my new wings, but I could still tell where it was. Making sure to keep the connection to my newly completed layer I carefully drew more magic from my new core and condensed it there, the streams coming together to form an overlap, a sort of knot of energy felt right, that was holding the whole thing together.
I took a moment, watching as nothing happened, and then I took my metaphorical finger off the framework I’d constructed and waited to see if it would unravel the instant it was unattended. To my silent excitement it held, the layers remained tied together, the connection rock solid. I poked it, my magic moving against the connection, actively trying to disrupt it. Nothing! It was working, so . . . I did the only logical thing and just sent the mental command ‘up’ at it.
Maybe not the smartest move, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
The magic that ran through every part of me, from toes to wingtips to the hairs on my head, responded to my mental commands and moved where I wanted. And it took me with it!
It didn’t hurt, which was a good thing, but at the same time, it was shockingly disorienting. It was as though I was being wrenched upwards, but at the same time, I was the one doing the wrenching! Of course, this was all rather peripheral thinking, all just background to the fact that I was suddenly FLYING INTO THE AIR!!
It wasn’t graceful, it wasn’t elegant. In fact, it looked like someone had attached an invisible hook to my spinal column and just yanked me up into the sky. I’m pretty sure that at one point I was upside down, my legs spinning as though trying to ride an invisible bicycle, my arms trailing behind me, and my wings wildly flapping like a rooster hopped up on drugs and probably a shot of adrenaline.
But it got better. That was mainly due to me panicking and shouting ‘stop’ in my head as loudly as I could. It worked though, and it’s best not to argue things shake out in your favour.
I found myself up in the air, my position still awkward, but steady at least. By the looks of it, my magic had readily responded to my wishes, and it only took me a moment to right myself so that I was effectively standing in mid-air. I probably should have paused there, taken some time to take stock and see how I could get a handle on it. Unfortunately, I was still too excited with my success, so rather than a slow and steady approach I instead elected to see just how far I could push myself.
‘Higher!’. ‘Faster!’. I wasn’t really using words in my head anymore, rather I was just pushing the concepts at the magic inside me, but that didn’t seem to matter, since it responded immediately. I was moving through the air with ease, my eyes fixed upon the distant blue of the sky. The wind was whistling about me and I could feel it in my face, but oddly it didn’t blow so hard that I had to close my eyes, rather it was just a gentle breeze. I wondered if that was some part of my power, something to ensure that I wouldn’t have the flesh stripped from my face if I went too fast. After all, it wouldn’t be practical to be cruising along at speeds normally reserved for military aircraft, then be blinded by some insect flying into your face. Then my eyes focused on the distant blue, and for a bit, I just stopped thinking.
More, faster, higher, that was all there was. I don’t think there exist words to describe the sheer rush of emotions that passed through me as I climbed higher into the sky. Freedom, absolute freedom, that was the best way I could describe it. For the first time in my life, it was as though there were absolutely no barriers in my way, as though I could go anywhere I wanted! I think some part of me knew that it wasn’t a rational feeling, that it was just . . . something like an illusion, or maybe a wish that I was a bit closer to. I knew I wasn’t free, not like that, there were still barriers and responsibilities that tied me, but for those glorious few moments, I could pretend otherwise, and have a good chance of believing it.
I think I might have been laughing, or maybe crying, I couldn’t really tell. All that mattered was the sheer joy of the moment, like a thing out of a most treasured dream.
And, sadly, like all dreams it ended.
I began to try to see how much agility I had in the air. I think I wanted to try doing things like loop de loops, or maybe some sort of barrel roll, or one of another dozen manoeuvres I’d seen fighter jets pull off in various action films over the years. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to try any of them, because the first thing I did was go to a more horizontal posture and try to do a typical ‘flying superhero’ pose. You know, the one where you have your fists thrust out in front of you as though preparing to act as a battering ram. Well, as soon as I took the position I instinctively looked down.
And it was at that point that I realized just how high up I was.
And . . . I suffered from a fear of heights, right? Well, as it turns out being able to fly doesn’t make those fears magically disappear, regardless of magic being what’s letting you fly.
I froze. It sounds simple, but believe me, it was way more complicated. My muscles locked up on me, as though I could avoid the drop beneath me by being so still that it wouldn’t notice me, then my mind followed. Up until that point, my mind had been racing. For a time that rush of thoughts had been subsumed by the sheer pleasure of flight, of freedom, but even so, they had still been there in the background.
That changed as I looked down and saw the drop beneath me. The long, LONG drop. That sight was enough that the frantic thoughts that had been dashing about in my mind all froze as if they had been turned into stone!
Simply put, I gave my brain the old ‘blue screen of death’, and then I fell out of the sky like a rock.
“ADAM!!”
Luckily, the shout snapped me out of it before I hit the ground. It was a voice I’d grown accustomed to heeding over my training, after all, failing to do so normally resulted in a wooden sword to the head. This time the urgency in the voice was enough to get me thinking again, and just in time to see the white field beneath me was getting very close very fast!
There wasn’t time for any sort of plan, all I could do was wrench on my new power as hard as I could in an effort not to smash straight into the ground.
I might have been able to avoid an impact altogether, but I still wasn’t used to my new wings. As I tried to get control my right wing involuntarily dipped, just enough to dig the wingtip into the soil and catch on a stone. My flight became a tumble, and then a rolling crash, my wings instinctively folding up around me protectively as I careened through the grass.
As I came to a tangled halt I looked up and gave my brilliant assessment of my first flight.
“Errr . . . that could have gone better?”
For a guy whose mind had just been racing along at speeds that should have left a race car in the dust, I was having more than a bit of trouble getting back to normal.
“There is room for improvement,” Hadriel agreed. “Even so, before you lost control you were flying quite admirably. You have both considerable speed already, and you shall gain manoeuvrability with experience.”
Okay, that wasn’t bad. Still, her words made me think of something.
“Are we going to be okay? I went up pretty high, I didn’t leave the Sanctuary, did I?”
I hadn’t asked Hadriel what the size of the protective spell was. I mean, she’d said they covered the local area, so it was probably at least a kilometre or so in radius, but how high did it go? Was it spherical, or did it look like a massive invisible cube? Or a pyramid? Or maybe it was like a massive invisible temple, complete with marble statues or their invisible magical equivalent at least?
“You have nothing to fear in that regard,” The red-winged angel assured me. “The Sanctuary extends great distances into the sky, you could easily have soared as much as ten times that height and still be within its protection.”
Well, the first part was good enough, since it meant I probably didn’t have to worry about accidentally flying out of the spell’s protection due to carelessness. Unfortunately, the image of flying so much higher in the way she described gave a quick flashback to that horrible moment when I’d turned on my back and realized just how high up I was. The thought of doing that again, only this time being ten times higher up in the air . . . well, I felt my stomach drop at the thought.
“Adam . . .?”
And of course, Joan would notice! So much for trying to subtly steer the conversation where I wanted it to go. Biting back a sigh I decided to take a moment to try and evaluate my situation rationally. I didn’t want to have to reveal my little phobia, but when I thought about it, did I really have a choice?
No, not really. Both of the heavenly agents were here to train me, and flight provided too great an advantage to be ignored. It added an entirely new dimension for me to manoeuvre in and was probably faster than anything I could do by sheer muscle power. Not to mention that simply going airborne would put me out of range of any close-quarters fighter that lacked flight ability of their own. Flying gave so many more options. Expecting either of these seasoned fighters to ignore such an obvious asset was ridiculous, which meant that sooner or later I was going to have to explain why I didn’t want to get too high. And if I didn’t want to look like a total idiot then ‘sooner’ was a better option than ‘later’.
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Still, that didn’t make this feel any less humiliating.
“Look, I . . . I’ve got a problem with heights, okay? When I was flying I looked down, saw how high up I was and . . . I just kind of blanked out for a bit.” I paused for a moment, my eyes dipping to the ground, not wanting to meet that of either of the two women. “Look, it’s embarrassing, but if we’re going to do some training then I figured you needed to know about this.”
I looked up to see that there was a distinct frown forming on Hadriel’s face, as though she was a normal young woman who had just seen a small stain on an otherwise perfectly white piece of clothing she’d just bought. Joan looked a bit more sympathetic though.
“Truly?”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “I don’t like to talk about it, but yeah. Heights . . . I can’t deal with them that well.”
“There is nothing for you to be ashamed of,” She assured me. “We mortals, no matter how we ascend in power, remain flawed and incomplete beings. I possess a fear of spiders that still lingers from when I was a little girl, one that stays with me even now that I wield the power granted to me by the Lord. Is that absurd? I have been trained to battle demons and rampaging monsters, yet I feel fear when faced with an insect that I can crush with my smallest finger?”
Really? Joan of Arc, a resurrected saint, was scared of spiders? The thought was so absurd as to be comical, but I restrained the urge to laugh. Instead, I took her sharing of her phobia in the spirit I thought it was being offered, as a show of solidarity, an acknowledgement that none were without some sort of flaw or weakness. I answered her smile with a grin of my own.
“Well, maybe now that I can fly I can get over it? I mean, if I can’t fall then maybe I can get rid of my fears?”
“A worthy goal, Adam. To overcome a weakness is a mark of strength.”
“Oh? Does that mean you’ll be looking to face some spiders while I’m up in the sky?” My tone was light, not meant to be hostile, but I confess to feeling just a bit of guilty satisfaction when I saw her give a tiny flinch.
“We . . . we shall see what the future brings us,” She replied. “Now, let us see what else you have gained besides the ability to fly. I do not imagine that such is the limit of either your wings or your halo.”
“Halo?”
The question popped out in a tone of utter confusion, and I confess that the first thing that came to mind was the computer game that Doug swore was one of the great works of art of the new millennium. Me, I wasn’t so keen on it. Sure, the games had some pretty decent storylines, but the gameplay didn’t really appeal to me all that much, something that Doug considered to be borderline heresy. For a moment I wondered why she thought I’d have a copy of the game on me, then I noticed the expression on her face.
“Did we not mention it to you?” Joan sounded a bit embarrassed. “I am sorry, in all the confusion after that demonic parasite and then with your sealed hunger . . . my sincere apologies. It must have slipped my mind.”
She gestured above me.
“It would seem that you have gained more angelic features than just your wings.”
I stared at her for a moment, then looked up, thinking of the ring of light that appeared above her when she transformed. What I found . . . wasn’t what I’d been expecting. What I saw was something closer to Hadriel’s metal halo, but far more complex. There was a beauty to it, but it was an alien sort of beauty. The way the components were hovering so close together, yet not touching, seemingly connected by strange shimmers that could barely be seen. There was something otherworldly about it, as though it didn’t quite belong here, but here it was anyway.
So naturally, I poked it.
“Huh, that’s cool.”
The pieces stayed in the air, only moving to follow my head when I moved. That aside there was no give to them, they remained rock solidly in place even when I pushed them as hard as I could. The individual pieces were also hard and sturdy, even the thin ones that looked like they should have been only slightly tougher than tinfoil.
I think that by that point my mind had sort of reached a saturation point when it came to shocks because the world seemed to be unfolding in front of me with an odd sense of unreality. First, I’d been flying, then I’d been crashing, then I’d found out Joan of Arc had a fear of spiders, and then I learnt I had a halo, I don’t think it was all that hard to see why I might be feeling more than a bit on the overwhelmed side.
“Indeed,” Hadriel spoke up, her tone serious. “That you have gained a halo speaks well for your future development. It means that you shall be able to control some of the more elemental forces of the world. This should grant you more options to use in battle, once you gain sufficient proficiency.”
I heard her words, but they didn’t seem to be really registering with me. Instead, I found my eyes drifting to the halo that hung behind her own head. Why was it metal instead of energy, like Joan’s? And for that matter, why was it behind her head instead of above it? Did that have some sort of significance?
“Adam?”
Joan’s voice, sounding concerned, brought me out of my distracted thoughts. I closed my eyes and gave my head a shake, trying to concentrate.
“Sorry. I got lost in my thoughts there. What was that?”
A small frown crossed Hadriel’s face, but it was quickly gone, replaced with a more considering look.
“I was commenting upon what other gifts you may have received with your Awakening,” She explained. “Lady Joan has told me that your appearance has undergone several changes, such as the darkening of your skin and the change of your eyes.”
“What do you mean?”
“There are some basic tests,” the angel continued, her eyes narrowing slightly. “They shall not denote your full power or potential, but they shall at least grant us a general notion of what manner some of your powers have manifested in. They are easily conducted as well, so how about it? We shall conduct the tests, then you may retire back into the domicile to rest and recover?”
For a moment I just blinked at her, confused as to what she might be talking about, then I realized just how exhausted I felt. Maybe it had been the earlier surge of energy that had kept me from noticing, but now it was hitting me all at once, just out of the blue.
I guessed that would explain my earlier fuzzy-headedness, but I was determined not to let it get in my way. Maybe it was a bit childish of me, but I’d just made progress with my powers, I wanted to know what else I might have gained. I just had to tough it out for a bit, then I could go back to my bed and collapse onto it.
Funny though, I still wasn’t hungry. How long had it been since I had something to eat? Something like two days now! The thought that one of my powers was no longer feeling hunger drifted through my mind again. I wondered if despite not being hungry I should still be eating. I didn’t want to starve myself to death just because I didn’t feel any hunger.
For her part, Hadriel just slowly floated over to me until only a couple of feet separated us. She then raised her right arm in front of her, as though defending herself with an invisible shield.
“Strike my arm as hard as you can!” She declared. “Be certain to put your best effort into it, I shall be able to gauge your current strength from it.”
For just a moment I considered protesting, saying that I was worried that I might hurt her. Then I realized I was being stupid. Yeah, I might have gotten a power-up, but was I really so arrogant as to think that I’d be able to hurt someone like a warrior angel with something as simple as a punch?
Nodding I placed my feet in as strong a stance as I could manage. My balance was still off, but I still gave it my best. My clenched fist hit Hadriel’s forearm and failed to move it so much as a millimetre. Even though her skin was soft, the muscle and bone beneath were so solid that it felt like I’d tried to punch a tree trunk. I felt a shock run up my arm, but strangely enough, there was no pain.
“Let me see your hand.”
It wasn’t a command, rather it was a statement of fact, her telling me how the world was going to be. Hadriel didn’t have charisma, at least not of the type that made you want to do what she said. Instead, she had something very close to it. You felt drawn to her because of her domineering manner, her seemingly iron-hard certainty in both herself and her place in the universe. I admit, the way she spoke did rankle me a bit. But however overbearing she might be I was willing to put up with it.
Holding out my hand it was quickly seized and inspected, my knuckles poked at, and then brought up to her eye level for closer scrutiny. As she did so I was suddenly very aware that I was standing right next to possibly the hottest woman I’d ever personally met, and she was not only fiddling with my hand, she was also wasn’t wearing very much. Oh, and due to her hovering a bit off the ground, as well as her natural height, her more than ample chest was positioned right at my eye level.
Generally, I tried to ignore how Hadriel was barely wearing more than the average bikini. Sure, she was beautiful, but she had ‘off limits’ built in. I knew she wasn’t trying to flirt or tease, but come on!
Turning my attention to Joan, and trying to distract mayself, I realised that she’d apparently been prepared to be active, but had never put on her armour this morning . . . which meant she was dressed in close-fitting leather leggings and a tunic that also fit her pretty snuggly.
It was just another layer of crazy to my situation. I was in the company of the two most beautiful women I’d ever met, and both of them were so off limits they might as well have been hiding in fortresses. Neither of them were trying to get my attention or be hot, but it was pretty hard for them to not do it.
Gods, once this was all over I’d have to think about getting a girlfriend.
“Your blow was a strong one, at least by mortal standards,” The crimson-winged angel’s voice interrupted my thoughts and brought me back to the matter at hand, literally in fact. “Very strong indeed. You are also unhurt, despite my flesh being more resistant to damage. You have suffered no injuries, not even small bruises.”
She paused, letting go of my hand and drifting a couple of feet back. Her eyes raked over my exposed arms and torso as though I were a new piece of equipment being inspected by a new owner, one that had high expectations of their purchase. Checking me out to see if I was worth the time and energy she was going to invest in me.
I had to say, that did wonders to flatten my libido. The knowledge that Hadriel, for all of her hotness, didn’t view me as more than a material to work with hit like a cold shower.
“You have both strength and endurance, though both of them are not as potent as they could be. Your strength is at the limits of mortal flesh, whilst your body can also endure punishment that would have broken it before. Your vitality seems to have been increased as well, which should lead to you being able to heal faster on your own. As matters stand you are as potent as a mortal could be in any of these aspects, the combination making you greater than a mortal could naturally be.
“This is a suitable beginning point, and we shall be able to build upon it as your powers grow.”
I blinked, my mind going over her words and realizing what they were implying.
“Wait! I’m going to get stronger? I thought that when demigods got their powers they just went up to their natural levels right away!”
In response to my question the crimson-winged angel looked at me as though thanking the heavens she had patience to spare.
“Adam, had the ritual been uninterrupted then that might be the case. You would have awakened to the full potency of your might and possessed all the intuitive mastery of your powers that other demigods enjoy. As things stand you shall need to build yourself up, not merely in your skills with your abilities, but also concerning your body.”
Okay, when she put it that way, I couldn’t help but feel like a bit of an idiot for even asking the question, but it still didn’t clarify the situation to me.
“What do you mean?”
“You have hidden powers yet to find,” Hadriel explained. “But you have also yet to reach the limits of what your flesh is capable of becoming. Though the more subtle uses of magic are not a skill I have cultivated I can feel the channels of divinity in your flesh. At this time they are slim and undeveloped, able to provide you with only moderate benefits. But in time they will grow, and your power shall grow with them.”
That I liked the sound of, though having to wait for it wasn’t as welcome a notion.
“Can we speed it up? Couldn’t we . . . I don’t know, inject more divinity into them and make them grow faster?”
It was Joan who responded, shaking her head even as she offered me a smile.
“It will not work, Adam,” She calmly stated, her smile both encouraging and a bit wry. “I know something of what honoured Hadriel speaks of, it is similar to the blessing that the Lord granted me in this body in order to possess the strength I now have. Channels of divine energy run through my body, increasing its strength and durability beyond the bounds of what mere flesh can be. You have those same channels in you, I can faintly sense them now that I know they are there, but they cannot be forced to grow. In time they will absorb energy from you to grow larger and fuller, and the strength and protection of your body will grow with them. Think of them as muscles that constantly exercise themselves, steadily growing stronger all the time. Were you to flood them in an attempt to force them to grow stronger they would rupture instead. At best you would sicken until they healed, and at worst you might cripple yourself and become unable to reach your full potential.”
I nodded, even as I felt confusion flash across my face.
“Okay, I get that, but what do you mean about channels of divinity? Is that like Chi?”
“Indeed,” Hadriel spoke, drawing my attention back to her. “Divinity is another of the energies that now flows through you.”
“So . . . I’ve got Chi, magic, and now divinity? Just how many of these are running through me? Do I even have room for them all?”
As I asked the question, I had a mental image of various coloured lines running through me, crowding each other out until they dissolved in a mess akin to the crayon scrawls of a child.
“I know it might seem strange,” Joan allowed, her smile now reassuring. “But there is no danger of them coming into conflict with each other. Though they occupy the same space they do not exist in the same phase, as such there is no chance of them meeting unless you deliberately try to make it so, and even then it will be a difficult task.”
“What do you mean, ‘the same phase’?”
“The reality that we exist in on the mortal plane is not a single absolute block,” Joan explained. “There are layers to it, and something that exists only in one layer cannot affect another. That is how matters work in regard to the different energies that course through you, due to their differing natures they occupy different layers, and so they all flow through you, but never interact unless you press them together.”
I nodded slowly, I’d felt those layers within myself, though I imagined those were different.
“So . . . how tough am I?”
I supposed that was the most important thing to find out, strength I could probably work out on my own, but knowing what kind of damage I could endure was vital. It would hardly do to think myself bulletproof, only to learn otherwise only after getting shot.
My question caused Hadriel to frown slightly, but not in annoyance, rather it was because she was scrutinizing me again.
“Lady Joan, you mentioned that our charge’s skin has grown darker since his Awakening, correct?” When the resurrected saint nodded she continued. “Some form of protection or invulnerability is not uncommon amongst demigods. In many cases, heroes or those of divine blood can gain greater protection by undergoing trials or tortures. For the Norse, it was Seigfred who gained invulnerability by bathing in the blood of a dragon. For the Greeks, it was bold Achilles who became nigh immortal by being bathed in the waters of the river Styx. In the lands of China, Sun Wukong was cooked alive in the furnace of a great Immortal but gained resistance and endurance without measure from it rather than succumbing to death. In all of their cases, their gifts marked their skins in some form.”
She paused then, her eyes rather pointedly looking at me.
“So, you think that’s happened with me?” I asked, poking my left bicep as I did so. It didn’t feel any more resistant than it should have, but I did notice that when I pushed my nail into my flesh I didn’t feel even a hint of pain.
“Perhaps, in time,” The angel allowed. “I can sense that many of the channels for your divinity run through your skin, so in time it will be strongly affected. There is a strong chance this will lead to you being protected, but it might also mean something else.”
“Like what?”
“Perhaps invisibility, perhaps being able to cast flames from your skin, there is no way to be certain. Not with the limited knowledge we have, but there are some tests that I can conduct.”
I wasn’t too sure about that. As soon as she mentioned experiments I got this mental image of her in a lab coat and writing on a clipboard while I was strapped to a medical table and getting poked with various sharp and pointy things. The inane thought reminded me of just how tired I felt. Sure, I’d managed to scrounge up a second wind, but it was beginning to flag a bit as time went on.
Still, I wasn’t out of energy just yet, so when Hadriel gestured for me to hold out my arm I did so. Mind you, I was taken a bit by surprise when she then proceeded to jab a nail into my forearm. Yes, I had done the same thing just a moment before, but even though her nails looked as though she’d just had a very expensive manicure they still felt as though they were made of iron and sharpened on whetstones. The nail of her index finger punched into my skin easily enough, causing a small trickle of blood to well up. I let out a yelp, more out of surprise than anything else, but was unable to pull away as Hadriel continued to hold my wrist. I might have become stronger, but there was no doubt that the angel was still well above me in that department, I might as well have been trying to budge a cast iron statue.
It didn’t really hurt all that much though. Sure, there was a bit of a sting as the nail broke my skin, but it faded quickly. Might that be a part of it, some sort of increase in my pain tolerance? I watched with a certain disgusted fascination as the red-winged angel flexed her finger, moving the buried nail about within my flesh. More blood came out but not a worrying amount, there was also some pain, but it was more like being pinched rather than stabbed, unpleasant, but bearable. After a moment she pulled her finger back, then looked me in the face.
“Your skin is most certainly more durable than it would naturally be,” She assured me. “It is hardly as invulnerable as that of Achilles, who could turn aside the blows of swords wielded by heroes, but it certainly feels much stronger than it should be. If I were to make an estimate I would say that your shin is now roughly as resistant to damage as leather armour of moderate quality. The flesh beneath your skin is also strong, more resistant to tearing and bruising than before.”
Again, she paused, her finger sliding across my skin to wipe away the blood on my arm, exposing the now scabbed over cut.
“It would seem it is not simply your endurance to harm that has grown, you also heal faster, though I am uncertain if this is a result of a direct power, or simply a side-effect of your enhanced vitality.”
Well, that was good to know. Sure, I wasn’t Wolverine, but this was something. Normally a cut like that would take as long as minutes to stop bleeding and scab over, for me it had only been seconds. It might not be enough to let me grow back chopped-off limbs, but it was worth something, right?
“This is good. We shall be able to hold back less in your training, also you will be able to recover faster as well. Between this and Lady Joan’s healing, we will able to make the most of the time that the Hallowed Sanctuary has provided us with."
I froze, and in that frozen instant I realized just how all those nice little details were actually adding up to a rather unpleasant final sum. Joan had been bad enough, but she was generally nice about it. Hadriel might have the whole ‘professional’ thing going for her, but a friendly disposition didn’t really seem to be on the cards.
Was it any wonder that I was seeing many bruises and much discomfort in the future?
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