Ere’lur looked over her small village. The stone structures, so strong to human hands, felt like so much kindling. Two weeks the horrors had been clamoring at the fence. She pumped the well, her bucket ready to catch the water that was to come.
“Ere’lur, hurry up.” A friendly voice called. She looked over at Gol’cru, looking lovely in the long black dress of her maid’s outfit. It was old, repaired and handed down much like her own. Her long curly black hair hung loose behind her hairband and her yellow eyes seemed to glow with her usual cheerfulness. In her arms was a basket of eggs. “The sky grows dark, the rotters shall soon be up and about.”
“I will be there soon.” Ere’lur responded. She eyed the well. While the pump was far nicer than having to use a bucket, she looked in envy at the two silver prongs. If she were blessed she could grab those and have all the water she wanted. “Oh, if only I could swallow a soul.”
“You still on about that?” Gol’cru asked, stopping by. “Ere, you’re 19, if you were going to swallow a soul you would have by now. All blessed reveal themselves by the time they’re 10 or so, you know that. They taught us that in church.” She quickly stood beside her. “Besides, you’re too short.”
“But do you remember being 10? Maybe we were created last week with memories that stretch back these 19 years.”
“Maybe not five minutes ago.” Gol’cru teased back. “Just hurry up. According to Her’th’grav there will be a regulator coming by tomorrow. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to get picked. I’d hate to leave you behind because they thought you looked tired. No one likes a lazy maid.” Ere’lur went back to work, but Gol’cru remained. “Just think of it, no more this town, no more village boys trying to get into your skirts, no more worrying if tonight’s the night the monsters finally get you. Traveling with the Blessed, seeing the world, maybe even finding romance if you’re lucky. They say their trains are wonders of the modern world.”
“Oh, I agree.” Ere’lur replied. “But still, I don’t want to just marry a Blessed, I want to BE a Blessed. I don’t want to cook meals and listen to my master or mistress tell me about adventures, I want to GO on adventures.” With a gesture she produced a blade. “And if I have to slay a thousand rotters to get The Myst’s approval I will do it.
“And that’s why none of the boys approach you.” Gol’cru teased. “Better learn to be a lady quick, if you don’t get picked soon you’re going to be an old maid. That or the mayor will get you.”
Ere’lur went back to her work, and with a final pump managed to fill the large bronze bucket she was working on. As she reached to pick it up she noticed something small floating in the water. She reached for it, and her hand went numb as the thing bit her and crawled up onto her hand.
Immediately The Hymn sang in her ears, and she lifted the isopod to her eye.
E4 blinked, sitting up and nailing her head on the bunk above her. “Ow, what the,” She blinked yet even as the dream faded from her mind the darkness remained. She held her hands before her face, but she couldn’t see anything. “Did I go blind, or,” She put her hands on her head, feeling short hair and a smooth skull beneath. “No horns?”
[[Favor: 0. Lone survivor achievement has been replaced by unknown achievement]]
“Ok, that’s… bad?” E4 stood, checking herself over. Aside from missing her ravager features she felt alright. “But where am I?” She closed her eyes, and listened. The Hymn was more muffled than it was previously, but she could still hear it. It directed her to the door, where a light shone through.
“Ere’lur, what are you doing up?” A gruff male voice asked. She whipped around, reaching for her claws… except rather than claws her hand found a dagger hidden in her night clothes. Before her, sitting in an old rocking chair, a gruff looking hunter sat. In his hands he held a shotgun, though it was not aimed anywhere in particular. He did not look dressed for hunting, rather he wore a simple white shirt.
“My apologies Hir’th’grav, I was just… Wait, no, that’s not right.” E4 shook off The Hymn. “How did I get here? I was just,”
“Ere’lur, you still half asleep?” The man, Hir’th’grav asked. He raised his shotgun, “Or have ye’ been taken by a spirit?”
“What, no, I’m not Ere’lur. My name is E4,” She paused, and froze. She tried to remember, but couldn’t. She remembered everything from the time she awoke in her mistress’s car, and she remembered her life as Erin, but Ere’th’var was gone. A moment ago she could remember her parents and her village home, but now she could not. Instead of her father, she pictured Hir’th’grav the maid minder. Any woman in the village whose parents died was trained as a maid, in hopes that a blessed would take them in. “She’s, she’s gone. What, what’s going on?”
“Well someone’s eager, haven’t even been picked by a regulator and you’re already going by their names. Though I believe E is normally for engineers, unless you’ve been taking engineering classes from Tin’gol in the forge. You should go back to bed, my bones ache something fierce. The Myst is thick, and creatures lurk. Soon the Regulators shall come.” A loud BANG struck the door, causing both of them to jump. “Quickly, back to bed”
“What’s out there?” E4 asked, blade out. Her tail twitched, or the nerves that controlled her tail did. “Red, are you there?” She whispered, trying to speak resonant. It came out garbled.
[[Er…]]
“Maid, go back to bed. These things are dangerous.” The door slammed again, then again. “Dang, they heard us. Go back, lock your door.”
Unbidden a memory from Ere’lur crossed E4’s mind. A vision of a regulator, and despite the impossibility she could have sworn it was Mason, running their hand across their blade and leaving it sparking with electricity. She did the same, but with no reaction. The man smiled at her, and patted her on the head. E4 couldn’t tell if it was an actual memory or just an illusion of The Myst, but she did as the memory instructed, though she accidentally nicked herself and spread a line of blood along her blade. Immediately Aetheric snow began to crackle along the edge.
With another BANG the monster knocked the door right off its hinges. Hir’th’grav blasted it with his shotgun, and E4 heard the monster fall back, only for another to stumble forwards. Caught with an unloaded weapon Hir’th’grav hurriedly tried to reload, dropping the shotgun shell in his haste.
In that instant E4 saw the intruder and took barely half a moment to analyze the situation. The fallen creature and the still standing one were both humans, or had been. Both bore dull blue skin, as if they had frozen to death. Their hands had turned black, further hinting at frostbite. Their eyes lacked the shadows that most Myst folk had, yet their eyes had some manner of growth covering it. Each corpse allowed their mouth to hang open, though no saliva dribbled out, and both had a rough hole where their nose had been. Had E4 not been there the stumbling corpse would have grabbed Hir’th’grav long before he could have reloaded. Yet E4 was there, and she had a knife in her hand. With practiced ease augmented by her new body’s already practiced muscles she thrust the blade cleanly into the creature’s neck. She got maybe a few centimeters before her blade stuck, as if she had stabbed into thick mud. With a grunt of exertion she pushed forwards, unbalancing the corpse before driving her full weight behind the blade. There was a POP and both Aether and myst poured out of the wound as the corpse stilled. With another cry of exertion she forced the blade back out and stabbed into the temple of the other one before it could right itself. Her first blow was shallow, her second went right into the brain. An outflowing of Myst rushed past her, as if being pulled somewhere else.
[[Dense Myst detected. Accelerating growth]] E4’s eyes began to bug out, strange colors flashing across them. She closed her eyes, counting to 10.
“What are you doing, get back inside.” Already E4 saw more of the undead converging. Nearby she saw one break into a house, immediately she remembered it was the home of the Weaver family. She couldn’t remember much about them, but one detail stuck out in her mind. When she had lost her family Mrs. Weaver had made her a cloak. It was by her efforts none of the maids were for want of clothes. On some level E4 had to wonder if this wasn’t The Hymn encouraging her to intervene. On the other she was already sprinting towards the pair of rotten corpses.
“Hey numbskull!” One of the undead turned her, its pallid face blank, its mouth open in a moan. Immediately E4 slammed her knife through the roof of its mouth before ripping it back out in a shower of rotting teeth. With a gesture she threw a lightning bolt at the other, or tried. A small spark of electricity shot from her hand and struck the undead, but it did nothing more than burn a chunk of flesh and get its attention. It turned away to face her, and received a smack upside the head from Mr. Weaver. E4 took advantage of the opportunity to stab it right in the spot she had struck with electricity. Compared to the others, its skull was softer there and a second jolt carried through the blade resulted a rush of darkened Myst which exploded from its eye sockets.
“Spi’cr, are you alright? Anyone bit?” E4 asked, The Hymn supplying the name. She immediately recognized both occupants despite having never met them. One of the rotten’s arms began to twitch, which lead to E4 grabbing its arm and stabbing it in the joint once, twice, three times before it stopped. She took a deep breath, then another before panting at the exertion “You stay down.”
“Ere’lur, what are you doing out at this hour?”
“A bunch of corpses decided to kick in my door.” E4 noted the myst drifting off the dispatched corpses begin to flow with purpose out the door and down the street. “Bleeding havoc, I’m under powered for this. She lifted the door, eyeing how it was supposed to fit. “Think you can rig something to keep this from falling over?”
“We will think of something, but you should be,”
“I’ve got Aether now.” E4 was surprised with the voice, for it was not her speaking but Ere’lur. “And I’m going to do something with it.” She strode out, and immediately found the next group of undead. This one held eight, and one of them was armored.
“Red, can you hear me?”
[[Yes. Help limited. Isopod small- Red Queen]]
“Yeah, and how on Earth did it get in this body?” Immediately her mind went back to the dream, or memory. A sensation of wanting more, then a sense of an opportunity taken without reading the fine print. She hadn’t even hesitated when the isopod ate through her orbital socket. “Bleeding havoc, does The Myst know nothing about ravagers? It’s asking for a feral mixing two souls like that.” Her hands went to her horns, yet her skull was still smooth and lacking of horns. She didn’t feel any deviations, nor were there any voices in her head howling for food. As if summoned by her thoughts, her stomach started to growl.
“Hush, I’ll feed you in a bit.” E4 whispered, her tongue not willing to chitter in resonant. She jumped onto the roof of a nearby building, or tried. Her attempt at a telekinetic leap flopped. She settled for scrambling up on limbs that felt far too weak. “I haven’t been this weak since before I got an isopod. I’ll have to get tested to see what’s going on with this body.” She paused, making a gesture. No flames appeared in her hands. “Bleeding Havoc, back to square 1, or 1.5 since this body seems to know how to use a knife.” She paused. “Shoot, I’m going to have to apologize to her parents if they live through this.”
Creeping up on the rotter group was interesting. For one, her body felt normal enough but it was very different sneaking close as Ere’lur compaired to Ere’th’var. Ere’lur was slightly shorter yet more muscular. It didn’t help that she had gained a few centimeters during her charging, which she promptly lost in this new body. Peeking over E4’s hand twitched for her crossbow, four rotters were banging on an iron banded door while a rotter wearing a helmet watched. The other three had wandered off somewhere E4 noticed the watching rotten had armor on its arms and legs, but not its chest.
“Oh, you’re about to regret that.” E4 threw herself from the roof, and promptly landed half way to her target. “Fangs of The Lady!”
The helmeted rotten turned around, raising a blade in its rotting hand. The blade was rusted and pitted as if it had been resting in a mud puddle for years, yet that isn’t what concerned E4. Instead, it was the clouded eyes that it saw through.
“You’re myst cursed!” E4 exclaimed. To which the undead opened its maw, let out a shriek, and charged. Only a quick step back kept E4 out of its reach, and a quick slice with her blade caught it in the back of the knee. “Good thinking with the armor, but it sure does slow you down.” The undead snarled and the other four turned towards her. “Well, no emergencies in a pandemic. Catch me if you can."
Immediately E4 ran, the undead chasing her. Surprisingly the armored one managed to get to her first, its blade lashing out towards her head. E4 ducked beneath, stabbing it in its chest and piercing its unfeeling heart. Her blow slid cleanly between its ribs, and unlike the previous undead met little resistance. “Nothing huh? How about it I do this?” E4 kicked the rotten off her blade, and with a gesture of her hand fed resonance into the previous cut. Immediately the cells lurking among the toxin went to work, forcibly relaxing and numbing the muscle. To E4's surprise the blue of its skin seemed to writhe and make the underlying skin bunch up as it tried to flee from the wound. The leader stumbled, and that was all the opportunity E4 needed. She stepped forwards and plunged her blade into the thing’s spine, Aether burning through the nerves. The initial blow staggered it, and E4 rained down half a dozen more before on the eighth blow the creature’s head finally fell free. “Alright, now you four,” She gestured towards the other undead. “Drop.”
Instead E4 heard a low POP sound, and when she looked down a small oddly colored blob had forced its way out of the wounds. “What the blood?” Immediately the slime mold began crawling towards the nearest rotter. “Hey, none of that you!” She dropped, jabbing her blade into it, and the slime just kept moving. E4 tried stabbing it again, and again, but it kept ignoring the blow. E4 raised her blade one last time, but was forced to back off as two of the rotten attempted to stumble into her. She batted aside the first blow, yet it left her staggering and forced her to give ground to avoid the second. By the time she regained her balance the damage was done. The remaining rotten picked up the mold, and held it to its nose where it quickly squeezed in. “HEY! That’s my trick!” E4 eyed the other rotten approaching. “Blast it, this isn’t going to work. She heard a low Zip off to her right, and saw more rotten touch the electric fence. She noticed how they immediately lost their fingers, the fence converting some flesh to Aether and returning the rest to myst. The surrounding myst hung low to the ground, “That’s it! Hey Hymn of the Myst, if you can hear me, where’s the standing stones?”
There was no response, save a low chitering. E4 couldn’t parce most of it, but it gave her a general direction. Immediately she began running in that direction.
The standing stones were right next to the train tracks, which were just outside the electric fence. Dozens of undead milled around, thankfully on the outside of the electric fence. E4 whipped around finding the undead stumbling after her at their usual low speed save for the one who still had a face full of slime mold. “Come on, you can go faster than that.” And with that she bolted for the standing stones. Immediately she noted a lot of myst accumulating within, and grinned. For a moment she could almost feel her fangs in her mouth. “Hey Red, remember how Hel’en said if we sacrifice components to the standing stones we get extra rewards? How do you think it would feel about an un-living sacrifice?”
[[…]] E4 couldn’t parse my response, but it was both disapproving and interested.
E4 positioned herself next to the standing stones, in a gap between the pillars. She pointed at the lead rotter. “Hey, slime for brains, I’ve got a surprise for you.” The creature seemed to pause, its nose seemed to leak as if the slime was trying to escape, yet the rotten charged forwards heedless of the danger. Yet danger there was, and with one arm E4 grabbed the creature by the throat, letting the force of its charge carry them both into the center of the standing stones. She reached up, and listening to The Hymn her hands twitched.
In the next instant E4 was ever so glad for the ravager toxin in her system muting her pain receptors.
E4 was not sure how long she lay there, only that at some point the sun rose. Awareness came slowly as E4 awoke. She sat up, and managed to knock her horns on the bunk above rather than her head. Progress.
“What the, Red, you there?”
[[Ravager deployment at 100%. Host is still in uncharged state, yet a clever workaround is in the works. Mara thanks you for providing a wealth of knowledge on the ravager life cycle within the distant shores. I am glad you are not dead, or, not still dead-Red Queen.]] A low scraping sound echoed through her skull as her isopod shifted happily within its home. It was quite fortunate isopods don’t get clostrophobia.
“Good to have you back,” A low clinking sound caught E4’s attention as she noticed the thick metal handcuffs currently around her wrists. “Why am I under arrest?” She clicked the cuffs, and probed the lock with her telekinesis. They immediately fell off and she scrambled to put them back on in case someone checked. She stood, examining her surroundings. She was in her room again, wearing a thrown together gown that was more patches than fabric.
As she pushed through the door she was immediately stopped by two well built men, each bearing a spear, and one carrying a familiar blade.
“Why do you have my knife?” E4 asked. The myst folk shot her a shadowy eyed look and ran a hand through his beard.
“Ere’lur, you have really done it this time.” A boisterous voice spoke. Each of the men stepped aside as a fat, truly fat at least 200 kg, man waddled forwards. He had a short mustache and a pig like nose. E4 half expected his eyes to be cloudy but instead they were shadowed. He adjusted his monacle, “Skimping on chores and going out late, those I can forgive. Even refusing to warm my bed I can let slide,” He drew the die, “But stealing regulator magic, I can’t overlook this.”
“That is mine.” E4 exclaimed. She reached for it, but he quickly pulled it back.
“Nope, I’m keeping it. After all, I know you stole it. I don’t know how, but there is no way you could have gotten this legitimately.” immediately the die dropped from his hand, landing on a 1. He reached down to pick it up, yet his bulk prevented him. “Sku’re’he, get that for me.”
“You realize that’s a bargain right, keeping it will only bring you misfortune.”
“Well look at you using the blessed words.” He reached out and pinched her cheek, which earned him a bite on the hand. “Bah,” He slapped E4 across the face, which despite the force she barely felt. Aside from some lightning marks along her arms she was fully healed. “Get her dressed, the trains are coming soon.” He took a lock of her hair in his hand and sniffed it. “With any luck, one of them will have a taste in red head and you’ll be out of my hair. If not, then I will simply have you warm my bed.”
E4 looked him dead in the eyes, and returned a smile that hid the isopod leg fangs behind her teeth. “Of course Mayor Sha’ris. I shall wrap you a scarlet cocoon worthy of a black widow.”
“Hah, finally coming to your senses. Maybe I should hide you in the back.”
“Sir, we only have 4 maids without her, the regulators are expecting five.” One of the other men spoke up. “They’re going to ask questions.”
“Then get her ready. Do I have to spell it out for you.”
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
As the other men shoved her from what she qucikly realized was the town lock up back to the maid’s residence. Hir’th’grav looked at the men escorting her with surprise. “Get those off of her you fools, do you want the regulators to think we are trying to pass a criminal off on them?”
“She is a criminal, she stole regulator tools.”
“I got those from the standing stones same as anyone else.” E4 replied. This earned her a smack. Immediately her tail lashed out, catching the man sending him sprawling. She quickly curled up her tail before he could realize what had happened.
“She tripped me!” The man exclaimed.
“You fell on your own, damn fool.” Hir’th’grav replied. “Look at her, Ere’lur may be trained in the ways of the regulators, but you’ve got a quarter meter and 20 kilograms on her. Go, I’ll deal with her.” The two men turned and left, one of them sporting a still bleeding wound that he couldn’t feel. Even as he walked E4 could see Aether and myst alike spilling from the wound. “Ere’lur, are you alright?”
“I will live.” She smiled, the cuffs dropping off her arms with a CLANG. “I don’t think I’m wounded much, and I heal pretty quick.”
“Ere’lur you’re back. We were wondering where you were.” Gol’cru said. Ere’lur smiled, E4 following the instinct as she embraced her friend. “Where did you get those ornaments? They look a bit exotic, are you trying to stand out? Wait, never mind, we have to get you ready.”
E4 was quickly pushed into a cold shower, and dressed in an outfit that vaguely resembled the one she had worn for Marissa. As she adjusted her headband she felt a tinge of loneliness.
“Just have to make a good impression, and then I’m out of here and away from that pig.” E4 said to herself, adjusting her hair in the mirror. Her eyes shone slightly, one amethyst the other azure. They weren’t as bright as they had been, but they were definitely the eyes of an Aether blessed. She noted she had a cute button nose, which reminded her almost of Marissa’s especially with the high cheekbones. Ere’lur’s Raven hair had begun to turn red, though with black tips that E4 quite liked. With a little brushing she could hide her horns a bit, though it made her look as if she was wearing a strange wig. Her horns came out behind her ears, where they curled up into an incomplete halo.
Giving her dress one more look over she found the outfit was far from ideal. For one it was too big, causing it to sag in strange places. Her hands twitched, wishing she had access to her fast fabrication skill, but while she could almost sense it, she couldn’t quite trigger it. She could remember how her fingers moved, but she couldn’t replicate it. “It’s like I had a stroke and have to relearn everything.” She paused. “Red, do I no longer have regeneration?”
[[Regeneration protocol had been hindered, but not stopped. Flash fabrication is offline but flesh fabrication will work to some extent. The harvest-man subversion is completely offline. Currently it is limited to what you had on Earth, so losing an arm will require a large number of calories and at least a week to restore, as opposed to 18 hours. Also, I have an interesting piece of information. Several innate skills returned the moment your host body implanted the isopod, and all innate skills returned once you were struck by lightning. I am not sure if this is because they are truly innate to you, or because they come from Mara’s pact. Given the nature of being a ravager, I do not know if there is much difference for you, though other ravagers if they arrive or are created may vary. A number of subversion will still work without their corresponding skills though at greatly reduced levels and for far more ATP. Also you have a new achievement skill, which I will save as a surprise.]]
“Ooh, can’t wait. I’m sure it will be shocking.” E4 smiled at her little pun.
E4 was shown to her place next to Gol’cru and three other maids that The Hymn seemed reluctant to provide the names for. She noted they were all in similar gray and white dresses, which resembled a maid’s dress but with no frills whatsoever. She didn’t even have pockets in hers, something she decided to fix as soon as possible, skills or not.
A loud whistling sound echoed from the town, heralding the coming of the regulators. “Alright girls, just as we practiced.” Hir’th’grav tapped his walking stick, his shotgun attached to his back over a fine though worn blue coat, and they were off. E4 found she could easily walk in step with the tap tap of his walking stip. Despite the walking stick he moved surely and quickly, and memories bubbled up to E4 of him using it like a quarterstaff while she learned how to wield a dagger. The memory brought a smile to her face, even if she knew it wasn’t her own.
The whole town was out to greet the regulators, and in the light of day E4 noted the town was far larger than she had thought. She quickly estimated at least 400 homes, mostly single story or two story, and mostly made from stone. Ere’lur’s memories told her there used to be more, and they were mostly wood, but that changed when the undead started to rise. “Wait, when was that? The undead have only been coming for 2 weeks, yet hundreds of homes were converted from wood to stone?”
[[Going through your memories I noted several discrepancies. Ere’lur has memories of being a child and fleeing from rotter, of seeing her mother slain by a rotter, and of seeing a potential romantic partner being slain by a rotter during a date. In each of these instances she received quite a shock as she did not know what the creature was-Red Queen.]]
“Sounds like someone’s been messing with her mind. Better keep a close eye, if my memory starts changing, I’d like to know.”
[[Agreed, the manipulation of brain chemistry is my domain.]]
The maids were escorted to just outside the regulator guild hall, which E4 recognized as the building the rotters were trying to break into. Two trains were currently resting beyond the fence, one refilling from a large water town and another behind it. E4 quickly noticed two groups of regulators, and one of them looked very familiar.
“Hey, where did you get this?” E4’s heart skipped a beat as she heard a familiar voice, only for Hir’th’grav to take her hand and shake his head no.
“They’ll get to us, don’t worry.”
E4 smiled as she saw Marissa, now dressed in a blood red corset done up with black ribbon and a black dress beneath. Beneath she wore long black gloves and thigh high black boots, which E4 could tell because the left side of her dress had a slit high enough for her to see skin despite the boot. Next to her Marcus almost looked drab, a black vest and white shirt with black pants and his usual top hat and cloak. E4 watched the mayor begin to sweat as Marissa tore into him about something, then she noticed he was still holding her die. “Misfortune indeed.”
“Here they come.” Gol’cru whispered breathlessly. E4 quickly diverted her attention to a pair of regulators who were approaching.
“Alright, big smiles.” E4 smiled as The Hymn sang loud in her ears. She felt her eyes dim involuntarily, and just before she could shake it off a wicked thought appeared in her mind.
The two regulators that approached were both Aether Blessed, a man and a woman. The man looked the part of a seasoned adventurer, a thick vest bulged with pockets and equipment, a bandoleer held three rods, one silver and two bronze. His black boots matched with his black gloves, while his undershirt was a lighter tan than his vest. On his head, partially covering his curly black hair was a brown cap. On his hip he held a whip as well as a revolver. His eyes blazed with golden light. Substitute the rods for grenades and he’d look ready to venture into the darkest heart of Africa, a seasoned adventurer returning to his homeland to finally uproot the secrets that had once been but myth and legend.
The woman however came from a different genre. She wore long boots, but that was her only concession to practicality. She wore a low cut silk dress that looked delicate enough to fall apart if she moved wrong. The hem only went down to her knees, and was open on either side up to her hip. A quick glance from her dress to Marissa’s convinced E4 they might be competing. Her arms and legs were both adorned with flowing green tattoos which seemed to flow up her arms and to a round tattoo on her upper breastbone. E4 couldn’t see how the ones to her legs connected, but there seemed to be a flowing line that went from the round tattoo between her breasts and down her dress before reappearing on her hips and stretching down until they disappeared into her boots. She bore a similar tattoo on her forehead that resembled a flower symbol. Most noticeably were the horn hair ornaments that seemed to be coming from just in front of her ears, each tipped with jade and a small emerald. E4 would have thought her a jade beauty if not for her golden brown skin. Matched with her eye shape, and the black eye of Ra style makeup E4 could swear she was of Egyptian origin.
“Let’s see, who do we have here.” The man, The Hymn whispered the name Imnad Marked. E4 could see he was strangely uncomfortable. “Ok, first, you are all here willingly right? We’re not taking you from any happy homes are we?” E4 shot him a confused look while the other four all nodded. “Tarnation, I hope I never get used to this. Alright, show me your teeth.” It seemed an odd request, but E4 smiled as did the others. Imnad turned to his wife. “I can’t, Vienna, you mind taking a look.”
“Does my esteemed husband not wish to view the lovely young maidens before him?” Vienna asked with a polite smile, before spreading a fan before her face. E4 didn’t miss the complex looking symbols, part magic runes and part circuitry. “Very well, this mistress shall examine each delicious fruit and determine which tastes the sweetest.”
“You know how I feel about this.” E4 noticed him run his hands across his wrists, wrists which bore thick scars.
“Oh hush husband, they are here willingly and there are no chains on their wrists. They are but projections upon The Myst, just like anyone else here.” She stepped forwards, her emerald and golden eyes blazing with life. Unlike E4’s own heterochromia her irises were emerald on the outside and gold closer to the pupil, with a gentle transition between. E4 could sense the Myst entering her with every breath, and felt something familiar. Her horns twitched in the woman’s presense, warning her that the woman was unnaturally solid. She was dainty, with a model’s grace and figure, yet E4 could swear it felt as if the woman could bend steel beams with her bare hands and her skin was made from carved jade. “Lay your eyes upon this fanciful lily, does she not bear the marks of Terra?” E4 froze as the woman stared at her, and with a gentle hand parted her hair to reveal one of her horns. “Fair Marissa, mine eye has discovered something.”
“Coming.” Marissa shot the mayor a death glare as she handed over a stack of coin and took the die as well as a bag marked with a symbol E4 didn’t recognize. “What’s up Vienna? I thought we agreed you’d get first pick.”
“Examine this delicious young flower, does she not resemble someone you know? Perhaps a hint at your successor. Perhaps the Eagle-Wood family roots stretch even here.” A delicate yet cruel smile grew across her face. “Or perhaps it a branch shall soon bud.”
Marcus had arrived by that time and examined E4. “She kind of looks like you, maybe a bit shorter, but the face is different, the hair too. Her face looks a bit more like E4’s, and the hair color reminds me of her hair under her wig. Now that I think about it, doesn’t she look like a mix of you two? The ornaments are a bit odd, I didn’t think Myst Folks liked exotic ornaments.”
“They’re nice though, reminds me of a certain entry from Gargax’s book of fiends. Think she’s got some kind of mixed blood in her? Maybe The Myst is taking a liking to you Vienna.” Marissa replied, reaching up to touch one. Her hand slowly moved from E4’s horn to her hair, until she was cupping her head. E4 leaned into it, The Hymn encouraging the action. “Oh, I like this one, not afraid to be touched but look at her blush.”
“Mistress, I think we both know why that is.” E4 replied, burning off the shadows in her eyes.
“E4?” Marcus exclaimed, before Marissa embraced her in a hug. “What, how did you get here? We left you with Patterson.”
E4 eagerly returned the hug. “I missed you too.”
“Um, am I missing something?” Imnad asked. “Did she just swallow a soul at this exact instant, because that is some unbelievable timing.”
“My beloved, I believe this one has just returned from a trip to the cycle of this world.” Vienna spoke. “Tell me child, how much of The Myst’s grace did you burn to escape the teeth of the grave? Did the hand of The Enshrowded pull you from those still lands and place you here?”
E4 held onto her mistress for a moment longer before answering. “I had one favor.” She spoke, letting go. “I don’t think I have it anymore.”
“A single mote of The Grace of Heaven, to cheat the devouring fangs of death. Truly you are an unlucky sort. I fear your branches have been burned down to the root, only a stump will remain. Such tragedy is the norm in this place. Yet to return on the great wheel is in itself great fortune, and with a form unmarred or changed to one more vulgar.”
E4 gave her a look. “Um, I don’t quite get it.”
“Are you referring to reincarnation?” Marcus replied. “Those theories cannot be tested, the evidence is shaky at best.”
“And what would the late patriarch of the Eagle-Wood family say? Does he lie peacefully in his grave and decay,” She promptly lay both hands upon Marissa’s shoulders and whispered gently in her ear, “or chase the maid skirts even now.”
“That was different.” Marcus retorted as Marissa blushed. “We were using a highly experimental teleportation apparatus, and we were fresh off the great disaster with dozens of favor.”
“Um, fill me in.” E4 asked
“They’re talking about what happens when we die, do we leave The Myst for Heaven or Hell, or do we just end up lost within The Myst again?” Imnad replied. “It’s a lot of metaphysics and mumbo jumbo that Vienna would love to lecture you on for hours at a time.”
“Yet without an in depth knowledge of the dao how can one transcend the mere physical to a more perfected form. Do I not regrow my scales with every death, only to shed them for this current flesh? For the heart shall always unbalance the feather, unless through understanding one’s heart grows wings to embrace the divine.” She immediately began speaking, and at some point broke into another language E4 didn’t know but could get the gist of if she focused. From how Marissa’s eyes glazed over she didn’t know it either, though Marcus seemed to and tried to interject a few times.
“So long story short, sometimes The Myst can save someone from death, and sometimes it nabs their soul and shoves it in a new body.” Imnad simplified. “Seems like that happened to you.”
“It would be the second time, but I can’t help but worry. Won’t my body’s original mind reassert itself? I can already access some of her memories, will she return?”
“That’s just The Hymn messing with you, it feeds you false memories to try and get you to play along until you’re old enough to crack the yoke it places upon you.” That didn’t make the memories feel less real. “It should stop once you’re charged. On that note, how long have you been here?”
“Just since last night.” E4 replied.
“And you’re not charged, that’s not a good sign. Chances are you lost all your skills when you lost your charge, so you’re going to have to rebuild them.” He shrugged. “Tough luck, but it beats being dead.”
“So I’m as powerless as I was two weeks ago.”
“Months.” Marissa corrected. “It’s been two months since you swallowed a soul. Just be glad you didn’t have to start as a kid like Marcus and I did.”
“I disagree, being able to shape your innate MIST score lets you do some very neat things. Also taking a year or five to reshape yourself isn’t a bad thing after all the nonsense we go through. It’s almost like retirement, but as a kid rather than an old man. Come on, let’s get her charged then we can get to work on this place. If two regulators showed up at the same time it can’t be good.”
“There were a bunch of rotten here last night.” E4 replied, making the four other regulators freeze.
“Rotten? Like living dead?” Marcus asked. “Did they bleed black mist?”
“I don’t think so? They looked like living dead, but they didn’t have the black murk that The Screaming Dread had, and they weren’t full of souls trying to grab onto anything they could, so maybe they weren’t real undead? I’m pretty sure one was Myst Cursed. I was kind of focused on not getting grabbed, you don’t realize how much you rely on skills until you don’t have them.”
“Did you kill any of them?”
“A few, and one I tricked into the standing stones before cleansing it. It had some kind of slime thing that crawled out of a dead one and another rotter picked it up and snorted. Knocked myself right out doing that, might have even got an achievement out of it.”
“Darwin award I bet.” Imnad replied. “Come on, let’s get you charged and read. If they don’t have a reader Vienna can work a reading.” As he spoke he led the way to the building the armored rotten group had been trying to break into. He gripped one of the doors and with a heave pulled it open.
“Is that a bad one?”
“Actually it’s probably the best one you don’t tell people about, aside from pact skills of course.” Marissa added. “Blessed who have it are usually really powerful, or they are dead a lot. They tend to earn and spend favor the way we do Aether.
“It keeps a tally of all the stupid ways you almost died, and gives you a reagent bonus to your MIST score, but sadly it don’t… doesn’t stack.” He cleared his throat as a trace of accent slipped in.
As they entered the regulator guild E4 noticed it was far smaller than either the one Corvus oversaw or the one Arnold oversaw. There was a single room with a few tables and a job board. A near skeletal man stood behind a counter, and sitting at one of the tables playing with a canary was a heavyset man with a curly brown mustache. His face was covered by a hat, and he wore a plain white button up shirt and brown durable pants.
“Greetings Sir Puglist.” Marissa spoke up.
“Lady Eagle-Wood, fancy a brawl? Maybe you want a little something before the brawl, or something for the job after? He grinned a broken toothed smile. “Mayor Sha’ris reaped quite a bounty off your friend here, I know you already got some of it back, would you like the rest?”
“I figured as much, though I got the most important thing.” Marissa replied, holding up the bone die. As she spoke it dropped to the floor, bounced, and landed on a 17. “That’s good right?”
“Mostly.” with a gesture E4 pulled it back to her hand, where it floated for a few moments, spinning before stopping on a 15, then an 18, then a 20. “My thoughts exactly,” She replied, returning the die to Marissa. “Mistress, if you would hold onto it, I do not want to lose it again.”
“That’s awfully good telekinesis for an uncharged. Are you a juggler?” E4 gestured for more info. “Someone who uses thrown weapons. Usually uses reagents like multifold mushrooms or boomerang beans to automatically recover their weapons.”
E4 gasped as if scandalized. “Good sir I am but a humble maid!” E4’s eyes faded to shadow as she spoke. “I prepare meals, I mend wounds, and I clean up messes. In life I was a physician, and in The Myst little has changed.” Imnad gave her a concerned look, as did Marissa. Immediately her eyes flared back to life. She approached the counter. “So how do I re-register as a regulator. Do I need a death certificate or something?”
“No way.” The near skeletal man replied after E4 asked to register. “Mayor Sha’ris forbid me from letting you become charged Ere’lur. His words were, if that silly girl enters the guild hall have her removed.” He turned to Marissa and Imnad. “You’re regulators, get her out of here. Guild master’s orders.”
E4 tilted her head, listening to The Myst, as well as a bit of resonant. “Per the Regulator Accords, Page 234 in the eight edition, any Myst folk may declare they are Aether blessed and be granted the chance to prove their claim by becoming charged. This incurs a debt of 10 coin, which may be paid off within 1 year at any regulator guild.”
“And you, young lady, owe me over 100 coin.” A boisterous voice replied. E4 turned to the mayor as he approached. “Lou’cla, good of you to contact me.” He reached out and grabbed onto E4 by the arm. “So until that debt it paid you are not getting charged, and you aren’t going anywhere. You are spending every night warming my bed and if I decide to let you out I will do so at my discretion, not yours.” A low humming quickly got his attention. “Oh, and what are you going to do little regulator. I’m mayor here, you can’t do a thing.”
“Page 253, any Myst Folk attempting to restrict an Aether Blessed from recruiting a willing Myst folk or potential Aether Blessed is to be considered a creature of The Myst and no longer protected under the compact. They are to be declared malignant and destroyed utterly.” E4 recited, The Myst feeding her the info with strange insistence. “Any rules regarding the recruitment of Aether Blessed or Myst Folk must be made readily available at the regulator’s guild and prominently displayed with the mark of the lord. And what happened to you wanting me gone?”
“And I am the lord,” At his words and to E4’s surprise his eyes seemed to shift from shadows to the murky fog of a Myst Cursed, “so put your pretty little gun down before I have you put in the stocks.” A sleazy smile appeared on his face. “Though given your dress you might like that.”
E4 heard the slap and pulled away as he staggered.
“You’re on thin ice regulator.” He spoke. “Guards, seize her.” In an instant a four men in leather armor stepped through the door as if they had been conjured from the shadows.
“Now now, none of that.” In an instant Imnad had placed himself between the guards and Marissa. “You don’t want to go making enemies with the Eagle-Wood family.” He smiled. “Wouldn’t do to have a dozen Regulators drop down on this town and start digging up all the dirty little secrets you’ve been hiding Mr. Mayor.”
“You don’t scare me filthy mudskin.”
“Well now that just hurts, but you know what hurts worse? Getting blacklisted by the regulator guild. The dead are already rising, your town is dense with Myst. You’ve got maybe a few days before you’re overrun.” The guards paused, realization appearing on their faces. “You can try to arrest an Aether Blessed, but how many of you are going to die in the process? Like my friend just said, attempting to stop a blessed from being charged is a capital offense. Being Cursed might protect you, but they lack such protections. Even then, what happens when word gets out you killed regulators in their own guild hall? No more regulators mean no more coin. No more coin, no more trade, only the ever encroaching Myst. The dead walk Mayor, and they’re hungry for your flesh.”
“Your threats don’t fool me regulator. You’ll cleanse the stones like you always do, too profitable not to.” Mayor Sha’ris replied. “And if not, well I’ve got my own personal regulator to deal with that problem right…” He paused, realizing at some point E4 had slipped his grip and left him with seven small puncture marks that still steamed slightly within his numb flesh, “Where’d she go?” He turned to his guards. “Find her!” Immediately the guards stormed past them and into the guild hall. One grabbed the door to the basement, and let out a scream as his arm and a good chunk of his chest was immediately disintegrated. Hiding up in the rafters E4 watched as they searched. Within 20 minutes a good dozen guards were searching the guild hall, and she slipped out.
E4 quickly found a shadowy alley to hide in, slipping to a place The Hymn told her she would not be seen. A veil made from hair and her own flesh covered her head and horns. It had been slow going using flesh fabrication without flash fabrication backing it, but she had used her time well. No one stopped her, until she was almost to the fence.
“Psss, Ere’lur.” E4 turned to see another figure in a black hooded cloak. She approached close enough to see it was Gol’cru carrying a small basket. “Ere’lur, come here.”
“Gol’cru, seems I kicked the hornet’s nest.” E4 whispered. Gol’cru fished a cloak out of her basket, and E4 saw a few familiar looking bits within. A carton of eggs, her knife, and her Wise Mind bracelet. “Where’d you get those?”
“In preparation for working with the Aether Blessed Mayor Sha’ris had no problem with me cleaning his home in practice, and other things.” E4 winced at her words. “His guards had no problem with me entering his home, and for some reason they all left in a hurry.”
“I can’t thank you enough for these, I’m getting out.” E4 replied. “I can get charged at any large town, this place is dead to me.” She paused. “You should come too, I’m sure I can talk the Eagle-Woods to find you a place, even if it’s just temporary.”
“You sound sure of yourself.” She smiled. “Yet I believe you. It is said when a Myst Folk swallows a soul to become Blessed they gain the knowledge of ancestors passed. Come, I know a tree that reaches over the fence."
Quiet as ghosts the pair crept through the town. As they arrived at the fence E4 eyed the guild hall, and noticed the Mayor and a group of guards leaving it. “I have an idea, follow me and keep low.”
The main gate was made from thick wood crossed with metal bars that could be electrified. It was a massive construction, with the actual gate being a half meter thick and five meters tall, with a watch tower on either side. The doors could be barred with three huge bars made from steel. A small chimney from the left watch tower released steam and myst, powering the gate so it could be opened or closed far faster than would be possible by human hands alone. E4 remembered that there were supposed to be two guards on one watch tower and one on the other at all times, and more when it was dark or when there had been trouble. Yet since Mayor Sha’ris had thrown a temper tantrum and called all the guards to him leaving only a single guard stood watch, and he was watching the myst as if a horrific monster might lunge from it and seize him by the throat at any moment.
Thus he paid no attention to the two figures who walked right out the front gate.