The first thing that Jack needed to do was concentrate on the using mana flowing within him into his internal passages in order to reinforce his brain. Carefully focusing on making it both sturdier and more malleable at the same time. It needed to be strong enough that small brushes or errors wouldn’t damage anything too badly while still able to be shifted and changed to suit his needs.
After getting the balance correct, he worked to make it into an automatic system. As he did, he felt two of the presences fully spread out into his body. They were still there but no longer following his mind. Rather they seemed to be doing something to augment his overall vitality. The watery one felt like it was somehow encouraging regeneration or restoration, while the leafy one did something that involved the heart, lungs and brain.
While Jack couldn’t fully decipher just what they had done and were doing, he decided to ignore it and press on. The Agier had accepted the sacrifices and thus would be only working for his benefit in the manner agreed. Besides by this point if they weren’t and had decided to break or destroy him, he wouldn’t be able to deal with it anyway so there was no point in worrying.
Having set up his body as best as he could, Jack moved most of his concentration onto his external passages. Keeping half an eye on his internal ones just to make sure what he put together didn’t start failing. What he had needed to do with the internal workings was dangerous but easy enough to do. What he was going to be attempting with the external passages however, was both dangerous and difficult. Before anything else he would need a comprehensive scan of brain which he would then overlay with what changes needed to be done. From there he would then embed his brain with numerous runes that would mirror and enhance what had been done to him before.
The parasite had made it so that Jack’s negative memories were enhanced to be vivid and unforgettable. In fact, they were so enhanced that they even included aspects that he had been unaware of before. Some very careful testing over the past few months had shown him that for those memories his brain actually utilized a small amount of his mana without any input from him in order divine the events of the memory. It then took all of the information discovered and made it part of his experience.
Jack’s hope and desire was twofold. First, he wanted to make it so that all of his memories would be able to do the same thing, allowing him to more easily remember information and possibly even discover things that he had missed in the moment. And second, he wanted to make it so that when he no longer needed to be dealing with a certain memory it would fade into the background like his memories had before. Hopefully making it so that his memories would still make up who he was and who he wanted to be, but feeling certain emotions such as sadness or anger, would no longer force him to recall everything horrible from his life in vivid excoriating detail causing a devastating emotional spiral. In other words, his goal was to turn what the system had done to him from a curse into a boon.
As the mana from his external passages washed over his brain, Jack winced. He had managed to scan everything like he wanted, but at the same time, he had also given himself a rather fierce headache. He had used far too much power. He had gone through the excruciating pain of forcibly expanding his passages because his natural aptitudes were too poor to be able to sustain and accomplish what was needed for the ritual. The only issue with having them expanded like that was, just as had happened with his attempt to close the door, Jack had no experience dealing with the heightened level of power. He was so used to using extremely detailed visualization to compensate for his lack of ability that now when he had more mana available it caused the effects to be far more pronounced than he wanted.
To Jack this was a rather unexpected complication. He had not even considered the possible negatives of such an increase, only the positives. As he realized this shortcoming of his plans, he pondered on just what to do. There was no way that he would be lessening his ability to visualize. It was something that he had worked so hard for and so long at that it was literally ingrained into the way he viewed magic, and if he tried anyway it was likely that it would cause more problems than it would fix.
Instead, he decided that he needed to visualize his mana being split into smaller sections rather than all of it being dedicated to a single task. Much like he would occasionally split the pittance of power he had in the past in order to use both internal and external casting at the same time. He now needed to do the same but with what was being used in just one type of passage. Splitting parts of what he was using externally to do more than one task as well as even keeping some mana in reserve.
Concentrating, Jack divided the amount that he was using externally into thirds. Sending it once more toward his brain. This time instead of only scanning he would also make an outline of just where the changes to his brain were and where he needed to put runes of his own. As he began to create his template overlay for his brain the brown and shadowy presences seeped forth into his what he was creating as well as into the scan results. Each presence highlighting its own individual sections.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Jack looked on as some portions of his template subtly shifted with the colors creating altered runes and even what looked like lines telling him where to cut parts of his brain. Jack paused for a moment as he considered just what was being shown.
After a moment he nodded. The runes and sections that the brown light had emphasized seemed to deal with the memory retention and divination aspects of both the scan and the template. Meanwhile the parts that shadow had surrounded were his theorized runes for allowing such vivid memories to be stored and recalled without them needing to be constantly at the forefront of his mind, as well as a part of his brain that he was unsure about. Considering the fact that whatever was being shown was most likely only for his own benefit Jack changed his template to match what he saw before slowly and carefully getting to work.
Jack lost all sense of time as he worked. All that existed was the slow methodical movement from one task to another, interspersed with episodes of danger and frantic corrections to stave of death. The longer he worked the better he was able to handle the augmented power and thus the more he could safely channel into each task. At some point during everything, he ended up fully filling his external passages just like he had his internal ones.
Jack didn’t know how long it had been but with a light slash the final rune was complete. With that every bit of work that he needed to accomplish was done. There was a pause as if the whole universe was holding its breath and then came a thrum that could only be felt and not heard. Mana poured into Jack’s body like a waterfall. Far outpacing any attempt he could possibly make to purify it. It slammed painfully into his passages. Just as Jack started panic, there was a second thrum and suddenly all of the mana coming in transformed into what almost felt like a gentle cloud. There was still just as much and it came no slower, but it was as if it were being filtered by something to make it easier for someone to absorb and purify.
As quickly as he could, Jack worked to change it over into his pure white luminescent mana. While he was doing so, he could see that all of the incoming mana had taken on an icy cold tint like that of the final presence. The one who had simply observed instead of helping during any other portion of the ritual.
Eventually, the mana tapered off and stopped, leaving not even a single wisp of mana left in the area around him. Jack opened his eyes and found that he had at some point during the ritual he had collapsed onto the floor. His attention had been so concentrated on controlling the mana that he hadn’t even noticed what his body had been doing. Jack attempted to stand and found his arms unable to support him, falling back to the ground with a pained groan. Jack closed his eyes before firming his thoughts. His entire body ached and his throat felt like it was on fire. Even so he would not give up. If he could not stand then he would simply finish the ritual from his position on the ground.
Opening his eyes, he attempted to speak only to realize that his throat would not cooperate. It felt like someone had taken steel wool and scrubbed the inside of it. Swallowing painfully, Jack tried again, only managing to get out a few indistinct sounds. Coughing slightly, he spat out a small bit of blood.
A light exhale and second painful swallow and Jack tried speaking for a third time. This time he managed to get out a word. “Test”
It was quiet and his voice was harsh but it was a word that could be understood. Jack smiled self-deprecatingly, it amused him that after everything, he ended up struggling so much at the end with what was the easiest portion of the entire ordeal.
Swallowing a third painful time Jack forced himself to speak in the harsh whisper that his body could manage. Pausing every so often to catch his breath, spit out some blood and swallow as best he could.
“I thank you oh ancestors who answered my call. Those who blessed me with their aid to fix my broken mind.
Xuiveria who resides in the east, lady of the healing home, I thank you for helping me keep my body running and brain whole even as I sliced into it.
Dercors lord of history, I thank you for showing me the errors within my runes and for helping me see possibilities that I hadn’t even considered.
Noctuver lady of the night and shadows, I thank you for also helping me with my runes as well as showing me hidden damages and dangers that I hadn’t even known about.
Vitaeramus lord of the revitalizing breath, I thank you for keeping me from crossing to the other side and bringing back from the brink, even as my foolish mortal hands pushed me there time and again.
Bertrand, lord of the frozen hunt, he with whom I share a name, I thank you for your blessing and help with the mana my body needed to complete the change. Without which I would have fallen short at the very end.
I thank you oh lords and ladies. Thank you for your assistance in granting me this new lease on life. Glory be to your names and to the Agier.”
As he forced out the last few words of the ritual, the circle glowed brightly one final time before the light vanished, plunging the room into darkness. With a sigh of relief Jack allow for himself to follow suit, laying his head down onto the ground and letting the darkness take him.