The contract fell into place with more ease than Emily thought it would, she glanced up, and Ariandel smiled in her direction.
“Well Miss Emily, it is wonderful to have you on board. I'll have Citta lead you to your living arrangements, and we shall begin tomorrow. I’ll get to work on locating the individual you’re looking for, and we go from there. Meet back here in the early afternoon as I need time to make the arrangements you requested. I also want to give you some reading material for overnight study.”
Emily nodded at this as a stack of pages appeared on the table.
“Please protect that information with your life as it pertains to my research.”
Emily picked up the bound stack of pages and flipped through it, noticing a complex array of runes and explanations. She grunted and looked up at the grandfatherly bear.
“It's a pleasure doing business with you, I hope this will be a short but fruitful exchange.”
Ariandel got up, and the scene shifted again as the setting changed around them. She found them moved back down to the base floor.
Emily glanced around at the interesting decor and tried to locate the door.
“Just a moment. Here take this.” Ariandel produced a metal pin with a red ribbon coming off it.
“This will show that you are not to be bothered while on the outer campus. Please keep in mind that I will have to answer for problems you cause, so act with prudence”
Emily looked down at the badge and couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her face as she pinned it to her chest.
“Don’t worry Ariandel, I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to me”
Ariandel looked relieved with a hint of concern still in his eyes, but he smiled as the door leading out of the tower appeared.
“Marvelous, reassuring to have another educated mind on this issue, I guarantee you won’t regret this.”
Emily nodded as Citta followed her out and they made their way into the road.
Glancing back Emily could make out the excited grin on her face.
“Well, I am so glad Master Ariandel liked you so much. He would not have offered such good conditions if he did not.”
Emily nodded.
“I’m not used to this type of welcoming treatment, but I’ll take it where I can get it.”
Citta hummed.
“Oh, if you are talking about all those rumors about Blood Mages, don’t worry we won’t let that affect our judgment. You’re receiving the same respect any Mage would in Lorthil. After our business is over you should spread the word. Lorthil has always wanted to deepen its connections with the Weeping, but they have remained stubbornly unresponsive until now. Oh! Not that you’re stubborn Miss Emily!”
Emily pursed her lips, there was a misunderstanding here but she wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Emily remembered how scared Ashe was when she thought she was a Blood Mage, so either there was a trick here somewhere, or the higher-ups were more willing to bend the rules when it came to dealing with unmentionables.
The documents Emily had on her were given because he believed her to be some high-ranking Mage who could make sense of them. She could only bluff through so much, but hopefully, Ariandel found Alex before things got too problematic.
Cupcake had waited patiently outside and the moment she saw Emily she padded over to sniff at her.
Emily ruffled her coat and nodded to Citta, leaving her on tenterhooks as they boarded the carriage again.
They traveled in relative silence for about ten minutes and when they arrived Citta opened the door for Emily while holding out a key.
The street beyond did not contain any towers around, but there were a couple of small stand-alone houses with simple refined features. The street felt more like a culdesac with four other houses arranged neatly in its corners and in the center a statue of Ariandel, or at least a similar-looking Silvaren had been erected.
Emily stepped off and noticed the main street out down to the rest of the city just nearby. When she turned back to look at Citta Silvaren and grinned a toothy smile.
“This is Master’s guest lodging, so you pick any house. While in possession of that badge, you’re free to come and go as you please, just make sure you’re not late tomorrow.”
Emily nodded as she took the offered key and turned towards the house. The carriage already pulling off and heading back the way it had come.
Emily snorted as she looked at the four near-identical houses and sighed.
A lot had happened today and she could hope for nothing more than a bath to get rid of the weeks of travel.
Making her way over to the nearest building she slotted the key in and opened the door. Cupcake scented the air and scampered into the living place after Emily, even though the entrance was probably not designed for her bulk.
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The first thing Emily saw upon entering the house was a tasteful common room that led off to two bedrooms and what Emily thought was a bathroom.
Dumping her pack in the hallway Emily made a beeline for the washroom while Cupcake made herself at home on the large, expensive-looking upholstery.
Turning the corner Emily looked in to see a decent-sized tub for bathing and when she moved over to it she saw a valve of sorts. Hoping that was what she thought it was, Emily fiddled with it and eventually figured it out. The button depressed and sparkling warm water began to fill the tub from the ground up at an incredible speed. Where the what was coming from, Emily didn’t know, but it mattered little as it almost brought a tear to her eye.
Stripping off her rancid clothes, Emily clamored into the stone bath and sunk down into the water. The warmth immediately elicited a sigh of relief as her muscles groaned in pleasure. A fascinating menthol smell came from the water as though oils were mixed in, causing Emily to breathe deeply.
Some noise came from the living room as Cupcake got comfy but Emily let it all fade into the background as she relaxed in the quiet calm.
Without intending to, Emily realized her consciousness had fallen into a state of deep relaxation, and that had called the stars to her reflexively.
Though it was strange, this time, rather than them coming to her, with their usual excitement, she found herself drifting towards them and quietly slipping into the field in her mind.
What she saw was interesting. Instead of the stars wandering around like fireflies like they usually did, they were all revolving around a single star. As though it were the eye of the storm, calling all the others into its well of gravity. Even her established consolation, the Scarlet Sister was not immune to the pull. It fought against the pull of this star and it was then that Emily realized what was happening. The single star was slotted in one of her passive slots, so there was really only one culprit here.
Void plagued.
The title had shown up from nowhere, and because of its highly temping passive Emily had slotted it but it seemed to be the focal point for this strange phenomenon.
Emily watched it for a couple of minutes to see if there would be any changes but nothing seemed to move from its orbit so she made her presence known to the stars.
This caused a chaotic reaction, as all the stars seemed to wake from whatever spell they had been under. The moment they realized she was there, they exploded in all directions, excitement evident as they whirled around Emily, happy to see her.
The only star that did not move was the one they had been revolving around just seconds prior.
It remained fixed like a north star.
Its defiance irked Emily, so she called to the star personally, and while it shook slightly, it still refused to move.
Emily's laughter bounced up and out into the endless night sky, her joy at the challenge sending a ripple through the grass around her.
The soft laughter turned malevolent as Emily stood, her gaze transfixed on the glimmering star.
Nothing in her world would ever be allowed to defy her, if it did, she would destroy the entire space and rebuild it brick by brick.
The space trembled as Emily's consciousness expanded out reaching for the star with barely contained rage.
All the other stars scattered to the corners of space as her anger caused cracks to spread through the skies and earth.
This place was not one of words, but action, and as Emily reached up and plucked the struggling star from its spot in the sky her intentions could not be anymore clearer.
‘You work for me!’
The star was ripped free from its space in the skies and slammed down into Emily’s palm. It trembled trying to break free but was unable to escape her caged hand. Then Emily began to squeeze the struggling star. Its light began to wane as though being eaten from within.
Cracks spread out over its surface and it spluttered out, fading until it was nothing more than an ember in her palm.
Emily somehow knew that if she did this she would lose access to the title, it would cease to exist and so would its passive, but she would rather that, than it think it had any right to ignore her will.
This was her inner world and it was the one place she had absolute control, nothing would ever be allowed to violate that sovereignty.
Emily was about to extinguish it completely when she felt it concede to her.
The dying star flickered and stopped its struggle, going lax in her hand.
Emily stared down at it with a thoughtful look and halted her crushing force. She slowly rescinded it, allowing for the star to reignite somewhat. Her gaze spoke volumes.
‘You get only one’
If this little star tried to step out of line again, even for a moment. Emily would not hesitate to snuff it out completely.
She let go of the ember, allowing her stars to rush in and gather it, their glowing forms sheltering the battered remnant. As they carried it away, Emily lingered on its defiance. Had it tested her resolve or revealed the cost of her power? Either way, she would not tolerate insubordination—not from a star, not from anyone she ruled over, not even from herself.
Emily lost track of the ember amongst the numerous flickering lights as they rearranged themselves into words.
‘48 - third threshold released at rank 50’
Skill threshold released at rank 50
Active slot: Scarlet sister - access to the Scarlet sister skill tree, along with the Blood Mage skill tree.
Increased learning speed when consuming blood, this is further increased if the blood is given willingly. Increased learning speed when studying blood wards.
Passive slot: Explorer - Increased learning speed when engaged with new environments.
Passive slot: Mercenary - Increased learning speed when accepting missions for coin. This is further increased when in proximity to the sub-species[Rime wolf].
Passive slot: Void plagued - Increase learning when one is lost.
Emily frowned at the words. They didn’t show much change, but one detail made her pause. Her rank had been shooting up ever since Void Plagued had been slotted. Even though she was still half-inclined to get rid of it, she couldn’t deny it was likely the reason behind her rapid ascent in rank.
Sighing, Emily decided to leave things as they were. Rather than delving deeper into her consciousness, she rose and surfaced into the light.
Opening her eyes, Emily glanced around the bathroom and quickly noticed the water was still quite warm. Yet, her new body required near-boiling water to truly relax.
Climbing out of the bath, Emily retrieved the cleanest set of clothes from her pack before heading over to Cupcake to unsaddle her. Once more comfortable, the beast curled up on the sofa in a tight ball and refused to budge.
“Come on, girl. I’m going out to see some of this place. Want to join me?”
Cupcake's response was a single eyelid lifting before closing again, followed by a gentle snore.
“Guess I got my answer,” Emily snorted.
There was a small kitchen area in the common room, but the problem was the lack of food in the house. To be honest, Emily craved something fresher than wax-wrapped provisions or dried jerky. Gathering her coin purse, Emily stepped out into the street with an urgent quest at the forefront of her mind: find good food.
Blood points: 301