That night E4 barely got a wink of sleep. Marcus and Marissa arranged for her to stay at a nicer inn, but without the gentle sway of the train or the noises of the rails she had a hard time getting any rest. The fact they had prepared a feast for her, full of all kinds of foods that could grant skills, hadn’t helped. Unable to sleep, E4 spent the night practicing her flesh fabrication subversion until she drifted off. As the dim predawn lights began to brighten and the singing of birds brought her back to wakefulness she took a few minutes to pray and read a bible that had been left in the drawer. It was one of five different holy books, all of which were covered by a layer of dust.
“I suppose Myst folk aren’t that religious.” she chittered, realizing what she had done a moment later. She ran her tongue against her teeth, finding they had already begun to loosen in preparation for the next set.
E4 considered wearing her maid outfit, but then eyed another outfit Marissa had given her the day before.
The dress was long, going a bit below the knee and was worn with a pair of pants. Both were tan, the pants solid while the dress was in a shifting pattern of darker and lighter. As E4 manipulated it in her hands it seemed to shift, an effect of the materials interacting with Aether. The salesman had promised that if she held still it could make her practically invisible. E4 focused on the dress, and nothing happened.
A quick shower later E4 got dressed, and while the dress was comfortable and hopefully durable it did not make her harder to spot. The strange shifting of colors didn’t stop, though as she moved left and right she noticed their directions tended to follow. She also noticed that the section where her apron would normally be remained a bit lighter, as if it was still there in spirit. “So it’s kind of like cheap active camo, I guess that might help.”
Donning a pair of knee-high boots and her wig and hairband, E4 next examined the cape. Why Marcus had insisted on a cape E4 did not know, though she had spent the night before impregnating it with tiny solar receptive cells. As she picked it up the formerly tan cape now was covered with small green spots, evenly spaced so it was clearly intentional rather than just mold. As she put it on she felt it link up with her. Just below human hearing it began to resonate with her.
[[Solar cape: A cape made with the most useful building material, human flesh. In areas of decent light this cape generates resonance. ATP: 7/7. Consumption: sunlight. Signal 1. Resonance 1. Max signal 2. Upkeep 1 ATP/day. Cape cannot generate its own ATP and will go into hibernation unless it resonates with something else.]]
As she checked the pop up she pulled up another skill, something that took 2 years to figure out on Earth now relearned in a week and performed with a gesture. She next checked her knife, and the crossbow she had been lent, hoping Marcus wouldn’t examine what she had done to them too closely.
[[Twin fang knife: A knife that resonates with its wielder. Can project a telekinetic field as well as ravager toxin or other poisons. May be used as a focus for certain subversions. ATP:7/7. Signal 1. Max signal 5. Efficiency 50%. Upkeep 1ATP/day]].
[[WiseMind wristband: A local node used to gather information and transmit it back to Mara for analysis. Capable of independent research and analysis for surface level information. ATP: 20/20. Consumption: Oxygen/nutrients. Signal 2. Resonance 2/hr. Max signal 64. Efficiency 75%. Upkeep 1 ATP/day plus cost of research]].
[[Bone Die: A simple looking die which can bestow insight and foretell the will of Mara, The Bitter one. ATP: 100/100. Signal 1. Max signal 64. Efficiency 100% Cost: 20 ATP]]
[[Tendon repeating crossbow: A crossbow that uses numerous muscles and tendons to boost power. Regrows bolts automatically. Bolts are naturally loaded with ravager toxin. ATP: 20/20. Upkeep 1ATP/day. Signal 1. Max signal 20. Capacity 10 bolts Efficiency: 50% Cost 1 ATP/5 rds (takes 3 seconds to regrow 5 bolts). If bolts are provided cost 1ATP/100 shots]].
Next E4 checked over her other kit, a backpack with several pockets for various gear and a sturdy bag for medical equipment, which E4 planned to supplement with her Flesh Fabrication subversion. With a final gesture E4 checked herself.
[[E4, formerly Erin Johnson. Occupation: Maid, Surgeon. (Hidden: First Fang of Mara). MIST rating: Unknown. Time until molting: 1 year (estimation).
Skills/Subversions: Fast Fabrication/Flesh Fabrication. Null/ATP conversion. Healing Hands/Regeneration. Telekinesis*/Telekinetic claws. Aetheric edge/Ravager toxin. Null/Innate Human mimicry. Null/bio-lightning. Null/metabolic fire (dormant).
Note: skills marked with * predate entering The Myst and may operate differently. Subversions are Mara’s influence pushing a skill in unusual ways. This place has many variables and I am still parsing out how they work.
Consumption: Myst, oxygen, nutrients. Output: ??? of Aether. Signal 1. Resonance 1/minute. ATP 4/minute. Personal biome at 100% integrity. Current Adaptation System: Red Queen. Progress on a more convenient display mechanism: 3%- Red Queen]]. E4 checked to make sure she was connected to all her weapons. She could send messages to them through the same signal she used to power them, though at signal 1 that was as simple as telling the blade to stop creating poisons or triggering the crossbow to generate new bolts
“Well, better get out there.” E4 swallowed nervously. She heard rustling and whipped around, only to realize it was just her tail against her dress. “By the blood, you lose your tail for a few days and forget it’s there.” She quickly wrapped it around under her skirt. “Ok, here we go.”
The inn was just a block away from the guild, and to E4’s surprise it seemed everyone was already up and about. The sun was just rising, and yet vendors were already calling out, selling wares and trinkets. E4 patted her purse, something she hadn’t quite gotten used to carrying. She hadn’t needed money previously, but Marissa insisted she have at least a bit. E4 wasn’t going to turn it down.
The guild hall was a bit more festive this day than it was the previous day. Three men in near identical skull caps and leather armor were drinking from large mugs while sharing some sort of chip and dip. P2 was sitting at a nearby table nursing a mug of something and looking strangely pale. Patterson was sitting at another table with what looked like a pile of robes. As E4 approached he waved her over.
“E4, right on time. Bartender, a fish sandwich for my friend here.” A woman dressed in a tan dress with a white apron gestured with her hand and returned to the kitchen. “E4, meet Ophelia.”
The bundle of robes looked up, and E4 was surprised to see a scaled snout looking back at her, emerald eyes just as bright as her left one looked back. The woman had snow colored scales accented with silver horns on her head and what E4 hoped was a friendly smile, though given the sharpened needle teeth she was a little worried. The slight snout she had gave her plenty of room for them.
“E4, meet Ophelia, the last survivor of the previous search party.”
“Oh I love what you’re doing with your camo, that is going to be useful, but doesn’t it make you tired?” Ophelia asked. To E4’s surprise while Ophelia had a high pitch voice it wasn’t as high as her small size implied, and she spoke without an accent despite her fangs. There was an odd lilt to it though, a bit like when speaking resonant with someone who did not share a common language. She noted a quarter second between the words Ophelia spoke and her own comprehension, as if the words were out of order and her mind could only parse the sentence after it was finished. With a gesture Ophelia’s robes began to shift in the same way. As she moved E4 noticed she wore a necklace full of charms made from wood, bone, and turquoise.
“Oh, I thought they just did that.”
“You’re putting off a lot of Aether doing that, are you training a skill?” Ophelia asked. “If you’re doing that you should invest in some capacitors, so you can store it for later. Patterson says you are a healer?”
“Yes, I was a doctor on Earth, and I’ve had a crash course in healing in the Distant Shores.”
“Yeah that’s a trip. One day you’re in a hospital bandaging wounds and listening to heart monitors, with the biggest worry being which doctor’s going to corner you in the drug closet or if you’re going to catch what’s going around. Next thing you know you’re getting chased by monsters while trying to find a seven leafed plant that the textbooks swear can stop someone from turning into a vampire if you steep it boiling water with a silver coin.”
“They have heart monitors on your world?”
Ophelia gave her an insulted look as her tail twitched against her chair. “Seriously, just because I’m covered in scales and commune with the Earth, or Myst, doesn’t make me a savage. What makes more sense, living in caves and growing your food locally or dredging cursed oil from the ground to ship plants grown in one country to another to be packaged and shipped to another country to be eaten? We had the same technology level as your 1980’s, we just didn’t spread across our planet like a cancer.”
“Didn’t, or couldn’t?” Patterson asked, patting Ophelia on the head.
“Ki,” she scoffed, “You try becoming a superpower when creatures 3 times your size regularly walk your roads and see you as breakfast.” She playfully swatted his hand away. “So, let’s see your cards.”
“Cards?” E4 asked. She took out her guild license.
“No, your skill cards. When you got measured after being charged you should have gotten them.” Ophelia replied, producing 7 playing cards, each depicting a small kobold doing something. The top one showed her flexing, and displayed a MIST score of 3, 8, 6, and 4. She paused when she saw E4’s blank look. “You didn’t get measured?”
“We got the commission before I could.”
“Devil’s handkerchief.” Patterson paused, coughing. “That is unfortunate, and no reader here because all hands went chasing the monster. Well we know you have healing hands.”
“Can you shape Aether with it?” E4 eyed Ophelia. “It’s a second tier skill. You heal enough people, and you practice manipulating raw Aether you can do stuff like this.” She made a hand gesture with one hand and extended a sprig of pine needles with the other. An odd humming discord clashed with E4’s resonance. Hesitantly E4 reached out to touch the plant
[[Raw Aether encountered. Unknown power. Signal 15, resonance 0.]] Immediately E4’s cape began to grow long fronds of ferns, her crossbow fired on its own into the floor, and her knife let out a loud buzz. E4’s skin rippled as her muscles twitched and bulged before returning to normal. [[Unknown phenomenon detected. Minor cellular damage had been reversed in ways similar to regeneration protocols.]]
“Woah, what was that, was that magic?” Ophelia fixed E4 with a death glare.
“Do. Not. Call the results of my Aether shaping magic. It took a lot of work to shape raw Aether into useful forms. I took no shortcuts, I accepted no patrons.”
“I meant no offense.” E4 replied, but Ophelia wouldn’t look her in the eye. “Seriously, I realize how dangerous that stuff is. Nearly blew off my arm the first time I tried.”
“You tried shaping raw Aether, within your first week? What have the Eagle-Woods been teaching you?” Patterson asked skeptically.
“I was… you know, I’m just going to stop talking.” E4 concluded. Discussing subversions, which she was not ready to bring up with Marissa or Marcus, were definitely off the table with strangers she barely knew. She received a dopamine based pat on the head for her discretion.
After breakfast the group gathered in a circle.
“Alright men, our goal is clear.” Patterson spoke, his voice in high spirits. “The city is under threat by an entity known as the Screaming Dread. This creature is known for its sonic attack, so you have been given ear protection. Now I don’t have to remind you, but only use this protection against the target. An ambush is a horrible way to die.” He pointed out his associates. “Alright, P1 and P2, you’re in charge of these three. You guys, Mor’ris Gho’hau and Sna’cri, you are now P3-5. Beside me are Ophelia Ferro and E4.” E4 noted the men looking at her. “I am sure I do not have to remind you gentlemen that we are hunting down a dangerous creature, we are not going courting. Also I will allow no abuse of Ophelia here. She is Aether Blessed first kobold second and you are to respect her as such.”
With that Patterson led them to the gates. E4 flinched as the guards examined his card, but they were waved through without issue. They walked in a loose group following a path Patterson indicated. As they traveled E4 saw men riding large oxen loaded with wood. Strange saddle bags that seemed shrouded with Myst rode along side them, yet none of her companions commented. Suddenly a cry went out.
Immediately E4 had her dagger in one hand and extended her claws in the other, both humming slightly. Patterson had out his rifle, while Ophelia had out her staff. The Myst folk took a few moments, P1 drawing a large spear while P3-5 fumbled with large axes which looked to be repurposed wood axes. Quickly E4 caught sight of a group of kobolds in thin leather armor beating on a Myst folk with clubs.
“Um, do we,” Patterson raised his rifle and his rifle lit up with crackling electricity before blowing the head right off a kobold. “Guess so.” With a telekinetic push she lunged for a kobold 5 meters away, and with a precise swing of her dagger she opened the creature’s throat. E4 expected a welling of blood, she did not expect it to evaporate on contact with the air.
[[Skill: Telekinesis*. Host can move small objects at range using their mind. Physical gestures may help the process. Subversion: Telekinetic claws*. Host may sprout claws which are further sharpened by telekinetic blades. Due to the nature of The Myst these count as Aetheric weapons. This can also be done on the feet, fangs, and tail. Skill: Aetheric weapons. Weapons wielded are tipped with Aether to better cut through creatures of The Myst. Subversion: Ravager toxin*. Host produces a venom from their claws, tail, saliva, and blood. This venom causes numbness, muscle weakness, clumsiness, and euphoria in high doses. Due to the Aetheric nature this toxin is treated as Aetheric.]] E4 eyed the kobold as it disintegrated, leaving only a skull and the club it was using as a weapon behind.
There was no time for contemplation, as more kobolds seemed to pop out of holes in the ground. With a gesture E4’s crossbow was up and she fired a shot into one before slashing another as her crossbow reloaded. She ducked under a clumsy swing and planted a bolt into the offending kobold’s kneecap before removing his arm in a fountain of myst. With a casual gesture E4 pointed her wristband at the creature and scanned it as it died.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
[[Phenomena captured. Connect to Mara for analysis, or begin research immediately.]] E4 eyed her options quickly. She could task a part of her mind to study it slowly, or feed the bracelet some ATP to kick start the process. It would offload a good chunk of the work from her mind onto it, though it would still work similarly to cloud computing. Alternatively she could feed it more ATP and have the bracelet work overtime. She estimated it would take 1 hour for 1 ATP, or half an hour for 3. E4 chirped and noticed 1 ATP vanish from the bracelet. The resonance between herself and her cape altered as both began to refill the missing energy. The bracelet also began sipping her blood, restoring itself using its own methods.
A club to the back of the knee brought E4 back to reality, and she immediately retaliated with a claw to the face, nearly decapitating the kobold. A quick step left the kobold that thought it was sneaking up on her over balanced as it swung its club, and a moment later its face was sporting three parallel scratches. With a cry of annoyance it raised its arm, yet its muscles strained against the weight causing it to cry out in alarm. A moment later it lost its head.
A blinding flash followed by a crack of thunder announced the end of the fight, as lightning dropped out of the sky and vaporized one of the kobolds. The remaining offenders turned to run, Patterson dropping one with a shot in the back and Ophelia calling a bolt of lightning into another, then another. The Myst folk just stared, slack jawed at the display.
“Don’t just stand there, go collect the spoils.” Patterson announced, breaking the men from their trance. “Good help is hard to find.”
E4 managed to salvage her spoils, loading the bones and such into a bag, though as she did her stomach started to growl and her isopod’s legs began to extend through her gums. A pop up indicated how many calories she could harvest from the remains, and how many minerals. Given mostly only bones were left it was mostly minerals. E4 took a deep breath, sucking in the dense Myst. Immediately she noticed it catch in her throat. E4 coughed twice, before a pop up informed her of what she suspected.
[[Caution: Dense Myst must be diluted before it can be converted to ATP.]]
“Does is have to be converted before being turned into flesh though?” E4 asked.
[[Research is ongoing.]]
“Easy, cough it up.” E4 felt Ophelia put a hand on her shoulder, realizing she must have been chittering, and Ophelia thought she was coughing. “Don’t try to breathe it in all at once.” E4 felt Ophelia casting a spell, or shaping Aether as she realized the term should be, and immediately her cape went berserk. Long strands of grass and moss burst forth, tangling around Ophelia’s arm. Immediately E4 reestablished control over it with a low clicking sound and the extra material dropped off. “An entangling cape! Where did you get something like this?” Ophelia exclaimed excitedly. She spun E4 around. “Was this your bargain? Where did you get it.”
“Um, no. It was…”
“Developing sticky fingers already, some kobolds never learn.” Patterson teased. “That cape was a gift from her mistress, don’t go trying to steal it.”
“I’m not trying to steal anything.” Ophelia replied. “You must be thinking of some other kobold. I’m not like those idiots who do nothing but steal and place traps in mines.”
“You’re telling me you’re not carrying 12 bear traps in your spacial pouch at this very instant?”
“6 and several tripwires, that’s different. You can’t be a kobold without traps. It’s a part of our culture.”
E4 quietly removed herself from the back and forth, as Patterson and Ophelia continued bickering like a married couple. She checked her cape, ensuring the shaping hadn’t done anything beside disrupting its signal. [[Personal biome 98% (repairing)-Red Queen]].
“Anyone injured?” E4 asked the Myst folk who were just finishing collecting the spoils.
“I’m good.” P1 replied. P3-5 echoed the same. All eyes fell on P2, who was just kind of staring. “Hey P2, what’s going on?”
P2 didn’t respond for a moment, before snapping back. “Did you say something?”
“Yeah, are you injured?”
“No, I am fine.” He replied, before suppressing a cough. He tapped on his chest. “I got struck in the chest, but my armor caught it.”
“If you’re sure, I’m here as a healer after all.” E4 replied.
“I told you I’m fine. It’s nothing.” P2 lied. E4 knew he lied.
“Well if he’s fine he’s fine.” P1 replied.
“Ok, everyone ready. We’ve still got a ways to go before we can set up camp.” Patterson announced.
As they traversed E4 noticed Ophelia had managed to get behind her, and was eyeing her cape with far more interest than E4 liked. As they hiked the terrain began to get rockier, with Patterson having to jump onto some rocks and help the men to climb them. As he worked E4 noticed that even though the men were bulkier than he was, and wearing full kits, Patterson had no problem lifting them. E4 accepted his help, then looked back at Ophelia.
“You might want to step back.” E4 did, and just in time. Ophelia took a moment, before breaking into a sprint and throwing herself to the top of the rock. “4/10”
“Four?”
“You didn’t do a flip. You savages have no sense of style.” Ophelia rolled her eyes, but both were smiling.
“Are impossible physical feats a kobold thing, or an Aether Blessed thing?” E4 asked. “Because I can’t jump that high.”
“It’s a skill I have, doubles my speed when making leaps so I effectively have a 16.” Ophelia replied. “I started with 30 charge goat roasted in 20 charge hot peppers, but I spent some time in a volcanic region, and with all the leaping I had to do my 2nd tier skill became more focused on leaping than running.”
“The human maximum is four, so our little druid here can leap inhuman distances and heights.” Patterson replied. “The average is 2, and our Myst folk assistants probably have a Might of 3 from chopping wood all day. As you tier up it’ll get higher. Now let's get back to work, we want to make camp before it gets dark.
As the ground became rockier E4 was glad she had gone with thick boots rather than the black shoes she wore when on the train. She noticed her companions wore similar, with the exception of Ophelia who wore a form of moccasins. Taking a moment to assess her companions E4 noticed that P3-5 were all doing alright if a little winded, P1 was fine, and Patterson looked as if he had just finished his warmup before a sprint. Ophelia she couldn’t tell, seeing as she hadn’t studied kobold anatomy, but she wasn’t breathing hard so she guessed the woman was fine. P2 bothered her, his movements were steady, but his face looked pale as death.
“This spot seems good.” Patterson finally decided, choosing a hollow space between two rocks. “We can set up a wind break here and be fairly protected. Ophelia, you’re on bone duty.”
“As if anyone else could manage.” Ophelia replied.
“What’s that?” E4 asked.
“I’ll show you, follow me.” Ophelia replied, walking off to one side. “You know how the standing stones attract the Myst and create a relative calm spot.” E4 nodded. “Watch.”
Reaching into her bag, which E4 noticed was etched with countless runes that actively shaped the Myst surrounding it, she pulled out a series of small bones etched with runes and adorned with small gems. Immediately she felt a chill as Mara took interest. Ophelia worked quickly, stabbing the bones into the ground, adjusting the depth to predefined lengths as denoted by the markings on the bones. “How do you know how deeply to push them?”
“Markings and experience. You have to feel how the bones push back on the Myst, and how The Myst reacts to them. Once you get a crafting skill high enough you get a sense of how Myst and Aether interact with objects.”
It took E4 a few tries, and even with Ophelia’s help she couldn’t get the bones quite right. Ophelia made a few gestured, causing her eyes to glow, and she began giving E4 directions. After a solid hour of no progress Ophelia directed her to go help make dinner.
“Can’t get it?” Patterson asked, and E4 shook her head sadly. She quickly started a fire with a small bit of electricity from her dagger, making sure not to use her hands this time, and began to feed it sticks. A few gestures and a bit of telekinesis allows her to move a lot of air without risking herself getting burned. “Don’t feel bad, Ophelia has a skill with Aether that few folks can match. Shaping raw Aether is very difficult, especially in a combat setting. It’s an innate skill that few get.” He patted his firearm. “For those of us who don’t have years to spend on Aether shaping we have guns. All the hard parts are done ahead of time, just aim and shoot.”
E4 stared into the fire for a moment. “Do a lot of hunts involve camping?”
“Mine do, but most don’t. There are a few regulators who never leave Los London, those that do tend to just ride the trains and deal with problems as they come. A few take contracts, or work for patrons.” Patterson shrugged out of his coat, then his shirt. E4 immediately noted that under his noble exterior the man was jacked, with muscles that seemed to be sculpted from granite. Fishing around in his gear Patterson reached for his bag, which E4 noticed was covered with even more runes and patterns than Ophelia’s. From it he pulled a large bowl and foldable stand which he quickly adjusted to the height of the fire. With a gesture the fire suddenly changed color to a rich red, the purpose of which escaped E4. “Going out into the bush is a challenge, stalking your prey, taking the time to learn its pattern, it reminds me of the days of my youth. The time when man could go into the wilderness and make a name for himself, no need for petty politics and licking the boots of patrons.” Fetching a cutting board and knife he got to sorting the ingredients for the soup. A few moments later his ears perked up. “P2, bring the water in here.” His assistant entered and dutifully poured the water into the pot while Patterson began adding ingredients. “E4, do you mind chopping this?”
“Sure.” E4 made a gesture and the stalks of charge celery floated out of Patterson’s hand. With a few waves of her claws they were quickly diced. “Done.” Patterson eyed E4 blankly. “Um, did I do something wrong.”
“I thought you couldn’t shape Aether, yet you just chopped vegetables with blades of air.” Patterson’s eyes narrowed.
“Actually, that was telekinesis. Everyone has it, right? It’s how we channel Aether into our blades, creating an artificial edge over top the metal blade.” E4 pulled her dagger and a transparent coating formed, and then she noticed a tiny transparent edge around the blade, and a second edge coating the telekinetic edge. “Um,”
“That is not how the Aetheric Edge, Aetheric weapon, or Aetheric blade work. I know not how you are doing that, but it is certainly different. If I had to guess, you are making a weapon from telekinesis, and running Aetheric weapon through it.” His face hardened, his expression grim. “Surely Marcus and Mason did not teach you this. Are they teaching telekinesis on Earth these days?”
“Yes, a few of us have learned it.” E4 replied. “It’s harder to learn without Aether, but it’s doable. It’s a bit like I’ve been using a flintlock rifle for the past decade, and I’ve just gotten a revolver.” Patterson's look went from worried to ice cold.
“Barrier’s up.” Ophelia paused. “Hey Patterson, what’s with the look?”
“Ophelia, keep an eye on E4.” Patterson proceeded to throw out the celery E4 chopped. “E4, go keep watch with P3.” E4 took a confused look but stood. “And before you go,” He extended a piece of the celery to her. “Eat it.”
“Ok?” E4 popped it into her mouth and swallowed. She didn’t taste anything strange. “If there is nothing else,” She curtsied as The Myst instructed and went to find P3. “Ok, apparently I’m supposed to keep guard with you.” She spoke as she found P3 just within the ring of stones.
“Ok.” He replied. E4 waited for him to say anything, or to try to strike up conversation, but he did not. She did her best to keep watch, yet she regularly looked behind her and kept her ears open. P2 left the tent, a notable limp developing in his left leg as he left the presence of Patterson, before abruptly disappearing as he approached Ophelia’s tent.
After an hour Ophelia came out to relieve P3. “So, seems Patterson isn’t too pleased with you.” She spoke, a pair of bowls of soup in her hands. “Something about making a deal with a devil?”
“Wasn’t me.” E4 replied. “Exodus 20:3. You should have no other God before me. I don’t know what I did to set him off, all I did was chop vegetables with telekinesis. Maybe I should have washed my hands first, but I wasn’t actually touching them so I didn’t think it would matter.”
“I see, so no bleeding from the eyes, no cursed sigils appearing on your forehead, no eyes suddenly turning red?” Ophelia asked.
“I have hetero-chromia if that counts.” E4 replied, hoping it wouldn’t.
“Shouldn’t, but it might if it comes from a patron.”
“A patron, you mean like Lady Eagle-Wood?” E4 asked. “He didn’t seem to have a problem with Marcus or Marissa having a patron.
“He doesn’t like it, but Patterson knows how to pick his battles. She’s human, and the only hold she has over her kids is money. Not all Patrons are Myst cursed humans, some are just creatures of The Myst, or worse. Also she pays them in money, not in supernatural power that binds their soul to her will.” Suddenly E4 felt her heart skip a beat, not that her innate human mimicry would allow others to notice. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to admit to making a deal with something?”
“Well…”
“So you have a patron. Patterson’s going to love that. Mind sharing who?” Ophelia asked, yet E4 remained silent. After a moment she extended a bowl of soup to E4. “Oath of secrecy, typical. Hungry?”
“Sure I,” E4 raised a bit to her mouth, and immediately felt an explosion of euphoria from her mind. Her fangs seemed to reach from around her teeth, as if they could somehow drink the soup faster. In response E4 immediately threw her soup to the ground.
“You don’t like it?” Ophelia asked, before noticing the fangs. “E4, what’s up with your teeth?”
E4 started hacking it up, with a gesture throwing up anything that might have been in her stomach. A few memories trickled into her mind, hazy and indistinct. A child, his name, Ice’Cr his first encounter as a child with some manner of frozen horror, then the memories were passed. “It’s got human flesh in it!” She gasped
[[Skill: Psychic* Sense the world through unusual means. May manifest in precognition, retrocognition, or other means. Subversion: Genetic memory. Host may consume parts of other creatures to learn from their DNA. Consuming the brain may allow for memories to be recovered at increased risk of prion formation. Note: Regeneration protocol can reverse SOME prion formation at great expense.]]
E4 continued to hack up as much as she could, not risking even a scrap remaining. She immediately felt her horns through her wig. They were still small, no aberrant growths or new points.
“Woah, easy.” Ophelia put a hand on E4’s back, a gentle green light covering her hand. “What was that?”
E4 took a deep breath and thought up a lie. “When I took a bite, I just, I became convinced it was dangerous.” She gripped her head as if in panic, which was not hard since she had just been panicking. “Haven’t had a panic attack in a while, caught me off guard.”
“Ok, deep breath.” Ophelia spoke softly. “First of all, the guys all just finished eating the soup, so unless Patterson specifically poisoned yours it’s not poisoned. Second, what was that about it being human flesh?” She nudged E4 with her shoulder playfully. “You eat a lot of humans?”
“No, I like living.” E4 replied. Ophelia smiled at the joke, but E4 wasn’t joking. “I saw someone who did once, a group of them. They became convinced they could eat the minds of great scientists and learn their secrets. It filled their minds with prions, and soon that’s all they could think about. They grew horns that would split each time they ate someone. By the time anyone realized what was happening they looked like prize bucks and fought with the ferocity of a dozen starving rats.”
“Is that going to happen to you?” Ophelia asked. “Serious question, I don’t want to get eaten.”
“No, no I only got a few memories, I don’t think there’s much risk. I have a skill that specifically mentions removing prions, but it also specifies it comes at great expense.” E4 replied, shaking her head. “That shouldn’t happen unless brain matter got into the soup, but I guess Myst makes that less important.”
“Shoot.” Ophelia poked her own soup. “So, how sure are you,”
“The name of the person was Ice’Cre, short for Ice Creeps Beneath the Door.” E4 replied. “They fear the cold, because it reminds them of a monster that broke into their house when they were young.”
“That sounds sure. I also think that was the name of P2, who I recently noted is missing a few fingers.” She sighed and dumped the soup. “So, I’m still hungry, and I’m not trusting Patterson’s cooking. Want to go hunting?”
“We have to keep watch.”
“You keep watch, I’m getting food.”
E4 watched as Ophelia dashed into the woods. Within 15 minutes a rabbit came running out, the size of a Rotweiler and with a bear trap gripping one leg. E4’s crossbow was up, and a bolt was in the air before the rabbit could make a single meter. Ophelia was right after it, a brace of smaller rabbits in her hand. Each rabbit had the telltale circle of tooth marks from a beartrap “Nice shot, do you think you can skin these?”
With a gesture of her left hand hands E4 produced 7 blades while with her right she held her kill with telekinesis, and the first rabbit was butchered in a minute flat. Despite the speed not a bit of blood was lost, a bowl of telekinesis catching every drop. Immediately the entire thing began to evaporate, the Myst that made up the flesh and bones returning to The Myst even as a good bit was turned to Aether in a scintillating fog. Of the blood, it resembled a broiling pot. Ophelia reacted quickly, drawing a strange looking knife from her pocket and tapping the flesh. Immediately it stopped evaporating. “I don't suppose your mistress got you a butcher's knife, did she?” E4 shook her head. “Well then, this is a butcher’s knife, it stops the things it cuts from vanishing. It’s pretty much worthless in a fight, since its entire purpose is to stabilize Myst rather than destabilize it. Yet if you’re hunting it’s a lifesaver. It’s also good for harvesting materials from creatures of The Myst.” She smiled. “Speaking of which, you should probably practice carving more neatly with your claws. We’ll get a good payday for the Screaming Dread one way or another, but if we can get some good parts it’s even more valuable.”
E4 eyed the tool. “Mind if I take a closer look?” Ophelia handed her the knife, and with a gesture E4 wrapped it in a telekinetic field. She took a few moments, eyeing the sputtering sheen of Aether that formed and dissipated on the edge as the etchings on the blade directed the surrounding myst. Now that she was looking closer, they resembled circuits hidden within oddly shaped blocky runes. With her other hand she began trying to copy it with her claws.
“Are you doing what I think you’re doing?” Ophelia asked. “You know that takes days of practice to learn, and the butcher knives are like a chip.”
“Then I’d better get started.”