Selene sat slumped in the chair, not meeting Beren or Cheela’s eyes. Cheela was still poring over the Store, and Beren looked at Selene, though he said nothing.
Selene sighed, shook her head, and checked the notification she’d ignored.
[Ding! Skill Upgraded: Drain Life -> Vital Siphon.]
“So, it now allows me to drain from a target at range,” Selene pondered over the new skill. “How did that happen? I can store the vitality in my Inner Space, and draw it into my body when needed. I can also channel it into my minions to keep them going… Except it’ll destroy the undead. This doesn’t seem like a skill that fits my Path…”
She shook her head and waited.
----------------------------------------
“Alright,” Cheela said after a long while. “I’ve got something.”
“Let’s hear it,” Beren said as he sat up.
“So, when a Mask dies while within the Inner Space of a victim, they’ll usually leave behind an imprint of some kind, which would settle into it, and subtly change the person. They would eventually turn into a Mask,” Cheela said and glanced at Selene. “But, thanks to the doll we used, it should have drawn the Mask’s remnant spirit out. By burning the doll, we dispersed the spirit. Selene should be safe. Regarding the Mask at least.”
“So, the parasites are called Masks?” Selene asked as she sighed.
“Yeah,” Cheela nodded. “I didn’t know that before. The doll is called Mask’s Fall, which gave me the clue.”
“Right,” Selene nodded. “That means I’m good, right? You don’t need to keep watch on me.”
“Ah, yeah,” Beren nodded. “I guess.”
“Good, beca-,” Selene started but was interrupted by a sharp pain flashing through her mind. “Gah!”
Selene bent forward, clutching her head. The pain came in pulses, and they were increasingly painful.
“Selene!” Cheela exclaimed. “What’s going on? What’s happening?”
“I don’t know,” Selene muttered through clenched teeth. “It just hurts!”
“Describe the pain,” Beren said in a low voice.
“It’s like something deep in my mind,” Selene groaned. “I don’t know how to describe it.”
“Check on your Inner Space,” Beren advised. “Quickly!”
Selene didn’t respond, but she did as Beren said.
She passed through the fog, descending rapidly until she landed on the bridge.
The bridge was trembling, the golden parts of the bridge were pulsating, and deep cracks were spreading from where they met the dark bricks. Every part of her Inner Space looked to be breaking apart, even the fog looked to be in turmoil.
She looked around in a daze, the pain searing through her before she quickly returned to the real world.
“Something’s wrong,” she said, using the urgency of her situation to overcome the pain. “It’s pulsating and trembling.”
“Shit,” Beren grumbled. “Your Path is rejecting the Vital Energy. At least, that’s my theory. We need to find a way to flush it out.”
“But,” Cheela argued. “That won’t solve it!”
“What do you mean?” Selene asked as she stood on unsteady feet.
“The Vital Energy has become part of your Inner Space,” Beren said as he closed his eyes and sighed. “Fuck! Your Inner Space will fall apart without it.”
“So,” Selene said quietly. “What do I do? Just die?”
“No,” Cheela shook her head. Her eyes were glazed, but they darted around as she read through something. “We need to figure out a way to replace it with something that fits your path. I’m checki-... Shit.”
“What?” Beren asked.
“I’ve found it, but…,” Cheela said as she grimaced.
“But, what?” Beren said as he gritted her teeth. “For fuck’s sake, Cheela, spit it out!”
“It’s expensive,” she said, sighing. “It’ll empty our coffers completely.”
Beren remained quiet for a few seconds, Selene kept quiet as well, though she couldn’t stop a groan from escaping her lips. Beren closed his eyes.
“Fine,” Beren said finally. “Buy it. We’re invested already. We might as well go all in.”
He looked at Selene as he spoke, nodding slightly.
“Right away,” Cheela said, and a second later, a crystal appeared in her hand. “This is a Transmortal Pendulum.”
As she spoke, she let the crystal ball fall. It hung from a thin, almost invisible string.
“You activate it,” she explained. “While you try to channel the Vital Energy from your Inner Space. It will then latch onto the Vital Energy you channel, and piggyback on it to affect the energies in your Inner Space. It’s highly conceptual magic. Basically, it hypnotizes the energy into thinking it’s the opposite type.”
Selene nodded, then grimaced as another flash of pain seared through her mind. She reached out and grabbed the pendulum. She held it up, activated Vital Siphon, and injected some Spirituality into the crystal.
It started to swing back and forth, faster and faster. Selene couldn’t take her eyes off it for a long time.
She forgot the pain, the worry and fear as a cold sensation flushed through her body. Her face gained a deathly pallor as her temperature dropped. Her heart slowed down and she slumped backwards. Beren had moved the chair, ensuring that she fell into it, before he drew back.
Beren and Cheela glanced at each other.
“Are you sure this’ll work?” he asked.
“No,” Cheela shook her head. Her brows were furrowed and her lips were downturned. “But, it’s the only thing I could think of that might work fast enough. It’s lucky, in a way… Her Path is Death. That’s the only reason why this might work.”
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“Ah,” Beren tilted his head backwards before nodding slightly. “Because it’s her Path, her body might adapt to the lack of Vital Energy.”
“Yeah,” Cheela nodded, still with the same expression.
----------------------------------------
Meanwhile, within Selene’s Inner Space, the golden lines and details slowly changed. Like a wave, they turned white, with purple and black specks of energy floating within. Little by little the Vital energy was replaced, or changed into Necrotic energy.
The shaking and trembling slowly abated, and the pulsating flashes of light stopped. More and more, the Inner Space turned dark and gloomy. A deathly chill spread throughout, but Selene felt only comfort from it.
When, at last, the final bits of golden energy changed, her body felt a deep sense of relief. She opened her eyes and took in the world.
Beren, Cheela and the others were like blinding beacons of light in Selene’s eyes, but she didn’t shy away. Her vision had turned slightly pale as if she no longer saw colour. At the same time, the shadows could no longer keep their secrets from her eyes, and she saw the life force flow within the people around her.
[Ding! Skill altered: Vital Siphon -> Death’s Drain.]
[Ding! Skills merged: Death’s Drain, Undead Echoes, Dragr Resilience -> Death’s Legacy.]
Name:
Selene Parson
Race:
Human(Death-Touched]
Affiliation:
Earth
Stage:
2 - FrostShade Reaver
Level:
3
Credits:
27843
Stats:
Strength(STR)
30
Agility(AGI)
22
Vitality(VIT)
28
Intelligence(INT)
22
Wisdom(WIS)
14
Charisma(CHA)
3
Skills:
Shadow Strike
Adept
Domain of Cold and Shadow
Novice
Death's Legacy
Novice
Spirit Veil
Novice
“Nothing has changed,” Selene pondered a while. “Except the skills and the amount of credits… Meelara must have provided a lot.”
“Are you alright?” Beren asked. Selene noticed everyone had their weapons drawn once more.
“I’m fine,” Selene grumbled. “Why do you always draw your weapons on me?”
“Because it looked like you died,” Cheela said. Her brows were furrowed. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Selene nodded and stood up. “It didn’t affect just my Inner Space, though. I think it replaced all Vital Energy in my body as well.”
“Right,” Cheela winced. “I was afraid of that.”
“What?” Selene frowned. “You knew? I could have died!”
“Yeah,” Cheela nodded as she grimaced. “I know, but you would have died anyway. This way, it would have been painless. I knew there was a chance thanks to your Path.”
“Haah,” Selene looked up at the ceiling and dragged her hands through her hair. “Fine. Yeah, fine, alright. Thanks for saving me, I guess…”
Beren and Cheela nodded as the others calmed down.
“Now, we need to secure the city,” Beren said. “I’ll arrange for some patrols and teams to head out and start clearing the undead.”
“I might have an idea,” Selene smirked. “I noticed something before when I activated it. I can see, or sense the creatures in the city.”
“Yeah,” Beren nodded. “We were hoping you’d use that to guide our efforts. To help us avoid the more dangerous parts.”
“I might be able to do something better than that,” Selene smiled as she started walking to the throne. She sat down, placed her hand on the crystal and locked eyes with Beren. “let me try this first. If it doesn’t work, then I’ll follow your plan.”
“What are you going to do?” Beren asked.
“Get us some protection,” Selene grinned. She closed her eyes and extended her senses. She used the crystal, and the City Interface to sense the undead creatures in Hades. She took a deep breath and activated Death’s Legacy. She channelled the skill through the crystal and into the city. From the top of the spire, deep purple, white and black beams of light shot into the city below. It struck groups of undead, causing them to freeze on the spot. The beams moved to other groups and thus covered the city.
On the throne, Selene broke out into a sweat as she felt her Spirituality fall. Her Inner Space started trembling, which forced her to stop. Rather than wait, knowing it would be useless, she ordered her minions to clear the hostile undead from the city.
She took a deep breath and leaned back on the throne. She opened her eyes and noticed the crystal, which had been white, had turned purple with white and black specks floating in it.
“I wonder why this has purple as the main colour,” Selene thought. “The energy in my Inner Space is mainly white. Shit… My Inner Space has dimmed, I’m almost out of energy.”
She closed her eyes again and extended her senses. She smiled as she noticed something.
“There’s a lot of necrotic energy here,” she realized. “I can draw it back in, and circulate it with my minions. That should keep me going until I can level up enough to sustain it on my own.”
She met Beren’s eyes and smiled.
“It’s done,” she said. “The remaining undead are now friendly. They’ll protect the city against intruders, so long as I can command them.”
“Huh,” Beren frowned. “How are you sustaining that?”
“I’ve set up a loop,” Selene explained. “I draw the energy they release into my Inner Space, then supply them with more. It’s keeping me afloat right now, so I’ll need to advance soon. It’s almost like when I gain a new skill or something, but when I changed, I learned that my Vitality stats now affect my necrotic energy, which is what keeps me alive.”
“I see,” Beren muttered. “That’s good. Oria you’ll stay here. Mark, grab a few guys and fetch our people. Bring them here.”
“Yes, sir,” the two answer in unison. One remained where she was, while the other rushed off.
“You can make sure our people get free passage, right?” Beren asked as he turned back to Selene.
“Of course,” she nodded. “I’ve added everyone here as citizens and used the City Interface to flag them as friendly to the undead. Once the others get here, I’ll do the same for them.”
“Good,” Beren sighed and nodded. “We need to discuss our plans now. We need to gather more credits and expand our efforts. With the Disciples of Life searching for us, it won’t be long before they discover this… We need more fighters, more food and defences.”
“Yeah,” Cheela nodded. “We’ll focus on the external stuff, Selene. You deal with the city, and level up as much as you can, as fast as you can.”
“Will do,” Selene smiled, but it faded quickly.
“Will they betray me too?”