“An unsettling proposition even from the most generous of perspectives,” Casus chimed in. “What would that make her, then? Not a saint of Chernobog, certainly not an avatar. Once again, the nature of such empowerment would have been detected, and would directly conflict with any Zaveshian relic’s implantation.”
“A divine parasite, perhaps. Like a tarantula hawk wasp…” Krahe thought aloud. She sighed, deciding that since Yao had already dug up the truth, there was no point avoiding speaking of it. Nonetheless, she wouldn’t spill everything. Not that easily.
“As far as I remember, the only time I ever communicated with Chernobog was upon my incarnation. Hell, to call it communication is generous. A short time after I woke up, his voice blasted in my head commanding me to get out of Jas’raba, and that was that. Afterwards, when I looked inward, I never found anything like Chernobog, no connection to some greater power, nothing that felt truly alien or separate from me. There was always just… This.”
She held up her left hand and made it split open into a fanged maw from the palm to the elbow.
“This… Nauseating, Wound-like Grin. At first I thought it was a piece Chernobog had left with me on purpose. In retrospect, it was… I don’t know. An extra spiritual organ, maybe? It seems my Astral Body is abnormal in the extreme already, wouldn’t surprise me if-”
“What did you call it?”
“The Wound-like Grin. That’s what it looks like.”
“That, in my mind, is proof enough. Never once have I come across any such thing in relation to Chernobog. Always… Always curled horns, labyrinths, giant beasts representing unparalleled power. Your friend is correct, however - the absence of a word for what you are already gnaws at me.”
After a moment of thought, Krahe flatly stated: “Deiphage. God Eater.”
“Fitting. As for how exactly you might be able to-”
Krahe sighed, interrupting: “I think I already know, at least as far as what I can do right now is concerned. Give me a second.”
She looked inward, once more trying to query Chernobog’s Mystic Wisdom, this time in regards to how Yao’s Soul Furnace might be permanently mended. A vast deluge of information flowed, but trying to take it in felt very much like trying to drink a river. Nonetheless, she captured two vital nuggets.
“I can only grasp fragments, but… Permanently repairing your Soul Furnace will involve Thaumic Fusion - Anathemism - and… Something from Xaugeth. I don’t know what. I will try again later, but that’s all I can get for now.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
A spark of hope lit up Yao’s eye, and a smile curled her lips.
“Oho, the Land of Beetles and Moths? I shall have to look into that. As for anathemism, that will be a difficult one in my state. Perhaps with help…”
“I would happen to also have that covered, I can control thaumic fusion. Within myself, at the very least. There is no doubt in my mind that I will have to be far stronger if I am to involve myself in such an operation, though, whatever it entails.”
“Is that so? Perhaps an effect of your, ah… Deiphagy. I must admit that I am terribly curious as to how your unique constitution compares to the rest of mankind, but I lack the equipment to make such observations safely.”
Slowly standing up, Yao stretched back and forth. Popping and cracking sounds emanated from her with each motion. Krahe took the hint and stood up as well.
“Well, I am more than satisfied with the results of my gamble,” she said. “Ask what you will of me, I will see what I can do.”
Subconsciously stepping out of the ritual circle, she leaned against one of the talisman-plastered walls.
“I’m looking for two people. One killed a friend of mine, and another crippled me in an attempt to kill me. Both are assassins. One is Crescent Jezail, a Dead Night tiger, though I haven’t been able to confirm whether he is a customer of yours. The other is an unknown, but he used a life-saving talisman that formed a partial shell of talismans around his body,” Krahe explained, bringing out the talisman Garvesh had given her as evidence.
She only had to reach out, and the paper pulled itself out of Krahe’s hand and flew ito Yao’s waiting grasp.
“Paper Cocoon Talisman, one of my more popular pieces. Come.”
Going back down to the ground floor, Yao brought out a handful of tools from the desk. A jade bottle, a basin, ivory tweezers, and some other things. She shallowly filled the basin and dropped in the paper. Then, she flicked her wrist to extract a tiny, purplish blot of glowing ink that had escaped alongside all the red, and dropped it onto a blank paper strip. As this delicate process took place, she explained: “I do not make an active effort to collect the identities of my customers, but… Many of them either take no care to conceal their own magic, or simply identify themselves to me openly, and I happen to have a very good memory. My Paper Cocoon Talismans harness the user’s own magic as an ignition source, which results in a trace of it becoming embedded within them, and my Messenger Talismans are wholly powered by the user, causing a similar phenomenon. Thus…”
She raised the paper with the purple blot.
“...I can identify who is who even if they never give me their name. Well, if I get my hands on it before the trace dissipates. A few more days and this remnant would have been much less useful.”
As she funneled some of her own golden thauma into the paper and felt out the captured trace’s reaction, Yao hummed to herself, her brow furrowed as she fished around in her own memory. Finally, she turned her singular burning eye towards Krahe.
“Ah, I remember this one. Very pretty handwriting, but a disrespectful little lady. She came off like some spoiled brat that wasn’t ever smacked as a child. She is an Aspirant-ranked Silversword Agency contractor by the name of Eutropia. I am not wholly familiar with your CQF ranking system, but I believe that places her in the D-One to D-Three range, the low mid ranks.”