The bodies had to be burned. As much as it hurt the survivors, it was a necessary step on Zlithia. The dead could and would return as undead if corpses were not disposed of correctly. It took some doing to get the men and women off the gruesome tree-spears but eventually the survivors managed it. The dead were carried to the pyre.
Of the 14 hunters that went missing, the adventurers recovered three including Nyx’s brother, Arx. Nyx cried in grief, in happiness, and then in grief. It took a lot of Brivaria’s left over mana to get everyone stabilized and she’d be fixing injuries the System decided health wouldn’t for days to come.
Silas had survived. The reporter fell unconscious shortly after using the healing potion so he missed most of the fight after his dramatic attack on the demon. Brivaria could see that he wanted to ask for all the details but he did them a kindness but holding his piece in the moment. There would be time for talk but now there was only mourning.
Kseniya had survived. She was very badly hurt and it took most of Brivaria’s mana to heal her. The winged girl was honestly surprised the snake woman had lived through what she had. The snake woman’s tail suffered many horrible wounds from the demon’s scythe and her body was in even worse shape when the angel got to her.
“I could not make a certain little angel and her cute, cute doggy sad, you know?” she had said as Brivaria healed her. Fresh tears then erupted in Brivaria’s eyes and she hugged the snake sorceress. Many “there, theres” were said and then the lamia had shooed the winged girl away.
Duncan and Rory had fought until their dying breaths. Silas promised to tell the tale of the heroic brothers. It was all he could do yet it didn’t feel like enough. Nothing did. The two men had come to Pemburne on their vacation but dropped everything to help Nyx find her brother. The catfolk girl was lost in grief and guilt over their deaths.
The gaborn’s gear was sorted. Their personal possessions were buried alongside the pyre. Their supplies and packs were given to Arx and the other hunters. The group would need the food on the trip back. The healing potion Rory possessed went into Brivaria’s inventory along with his mace. The mace had a slight enchantment as did Duncan’s axe. Nyx took the axe. It wasn’t a weapon suited to her from what they knew of her class but no one would gainsay her over it.
The funeral was short. Everyone took turns talking about the dead. The surviving hunters spoke of their fellows. The adventurers spoke of Duncan and Rory. The words were of little comfort to the living but they were necessary.
Trixie made a circuit between Silas, Kseniya, Nyx, and Brivaria. The golden sunchaser did her best to lighten the mood as only a dog could. Silas offered Trixie scritches and thanked her for being such a good dog. Kseniya told Trixie she was a cute, cute doggy and that the snake woman would stop being sad. Nyx hugged the warm golden the same way Brivaria did sometimes. When Nyx cried into her fur, Trixie let it happen and nuzzled the cat until the tears stopped.
It was Brivaria the hound spent the most time with. Brivaria had walked away from the battle with the fewest injuries. A hole through her chest was not a small wound but it was nothing compared to the traumas the others endured, both physical and mental. The dog seemed to sense that the winged girl bore a different sort of wound.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Brivaria protested. She’d come into the tent to keep the dog company until sleep came. Trixie had other plans. The golden pooch laid herself across Brivaria’s lap and stubbornly refused to move. Her gentle, brown eyes kept looking up at the angel with worry and concern no matter how many pets and scritches were provided. Brivaria sighed and surrendered. She let the long strokes of her hand across the golden’s soft fur calm her. The blonde girl then did the thing she was dreading. She pulled up her System screen.
Name: Brivaria
Race: Angel
Class: Apprentice Shaper of Flesh
Level: 32
Stats: Health 68/68, Mana 0/129, Stamina 89/89
Attributes: Physique 55, Endurance 34, Arcane 61, Spirit 64, Awareness 34, Presence 68
Active Skills: Current Control, Defensive Bulwark, Healing Touch, Wind Formation
Passive Skills: Flesh Sculpting, Infernal Seed, Inventory, Lesser Flight, Lesser Shapeshifting, Lingering Decay, Rest, Traits (Angel)
Magic: Light of Decay
Affinity: Corruption, Decay
Unspent Skill Points: 1
Seeing her new skills took her back to the battle. The storm of decay had readily accepted her as a suitable vessel yet it would not stop feeding the demon. Her new friends were dying before her eyes and when she wished with all of her heart to save them, something had answered her prayer but it was no god nor choir of angels. It was something far more sinister.
She was gaining levels from the spell. The life that flowed from the adventurers, the dying hunters, and the forest was exhilarating. System notifications appeared one after another while she tried anything and everything to shut it all off. None of it worked. That’s when the voice whispered into her ear. All she had to do to save them was spend her skill points in the way the voice told her to.
The first point went into a little skill buried in her angelic skill list that she’d never seen before. Somehow her eyes had always moved past it. If she could pretend it didn’t exist long enough then perhaps it would have disappeared. Not now though. She’d taken that skill and it would haunt her forever.
Infernal Seed (Passive)
You were born with infernal ancestry but lack the many gifts and blessings such ancestry would normally provide. Taking this skill will grant you a portion of those gifts and bring you one step closer to your true nature. While this skill will do nothing on its own, it will unlock new racial skills, strengthen similar skills and evolve on its own if and when the time is right.
The moment Brivaria selected it, she felt something inside herself shift. It was as though something had been done which could never be undone. She’d gained something but she’d given up something else forever. She’d also witnessed an event that she’d never seen or even heard of until that moment. A skill she possessed downgraded itself. Holy Bulwark changed to Defensive Bulwark.
Defensive Bulwark (Active)
Raise your shield to block an incoming blow, reflecting the force back upon the attacker. Mitigation and reflection scale with physique and endurance.
What made Holy Bulwark so amazing had been its spirit scaling. This skill was weaker in every way. Worse, it was reminder of what she’d lost. Every time she opened her System screen, it would be there. She would never forget what had been.
Next the voice instructed her to take Affinity (Corruption). This was first key component to save her friends. Affinity was a rare skill that could give the owner a preternatural talent with an element, substance, or even concept. They gave a small boost to affiliated skills and tilted one’s class advancement toward them. High level angels would sometimes have the Affinity skill for holy, light, healing, and a smattering of others.
No angel had corruption as an affinity. Corruption was, at its core, about twisting one thing to be something else. It served to violently reshape the world to the wielder’s desires and was never a tool for the noble and just. Yet it was the very thing Brivaria had needed to control the ritual magic. The fact that her one affinity had evolved to have decay made the process even easier for that was the ritual’s original purpose.
The second key component the voice had insisted upon was something the winged girl had already planned upon taking—Apprentice Shaper of Flesh. The class felt right as soon as she selected it. The granted skill, Flesh Sculpting, settled into place alongside Lesser Shapeshifting. While the two did not merge, she knew they worked together strengthening one another.
Flesh Sculpting (Passive)
Transform and reshape your appearance as desired. Certain changes may impart both mundane and supernatural abilities. Gradual and minute changes will cost no mana. All aspects of this skill scale with presence.
There were so many exciting possibilities with this new skill from the scaling to the explicit mention of gaining abilities yet all Brivaria could do in the moment was sigh. She felt the price was too high, far too high. She replayed the events and tried to look at things she might have done better. Maybe if she’d healed Silas immediately then he could have made the difference but would Kseniya have then died? She just didn’t know.
Regardless, it was only with the proper affinity and a class the ritual somehow recognized that she was able to exert true control over it. It was like the ritual needed an owner and only by being more qualified to control it was Brivaria able to do so. Was qualified even the right word? The angel wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure about a lot of things. She was still herself yet not.
“What do you think? Am I still me?” the winged girl asked. Trixie took that as all the motivation required to get up and start licking Brivaria’s face.
“Ah, dog breath,” she while playfully fighting off Trixie’s attention. Eventually she ended up hugging the big, golden hound. Maybe something had changed but Trixie’s opinion hadn’t.
“I’m glad you’re okay.” The dog’s fluffy tail made soft, thumping sounds as it wagged.