Conference Room 3 was one of the smaller public spaces in EDEN’s large resort configuration. It featured theater style seating and a stage for presentations. I stood on the elevated stage and watched the nervous looking women of various races filter in and take seats, leaving the first three rows completely empty except for two elven women sitting front row center stage. These were of course Tuara and Kitha, both still seemed cautious but now a definitive excitement also animated their sharp features. The other thirty eight women either sat hunched fearfully or clutched each others’ hands, likely prepared for exile or worse.
In their minds they were worthless freeloading sponges. That sentiment was clear from the reports Tabula provided. Many had begged to be given work cooking or cleaning but unfortunately EDEN’s automated subroutines generated a variety of AI driven staff that performed these duties. They were weak, lost, broken, and without purpose in the wake of having their homes and innocence violently stolen. An expectant silence filled the room and shook me from my musings. Alright, fuckin’ showtime I guess.
“Thank you all for coming.” I began, I was surprised by the volume of my voice until I realized that Jade was using illusion magic to amplify my volume. For all her attitude she was insanely intuitive when it came to helping me. “I know that you all are shouldering an incredible amount of suffering from your past that no magic can heal, and also a terrible amount of uncertainty about your future.” I let all the compassion I felt for them into my voice, and panned my gaze back and forth, making eye contact with any who lifted their faces. “The former can only be healed with time, but the latter we may address here and now with no mixed words and proper action.” I paused, letting the words sink in and saw the visible effect I was beginning to have. “First, let me spell this out. You are not our burden. You never cried out for us to rescue you. We are saving you because we wish it. I say ‘saving’ and not ‘saved’ because you are not safe until the weight of your past stops strangling your future. With that in mind I want to introduce someone.”
I held a hand out to my side, and Niiya appeared there as if by magic. Even though her features were now striking and she carried the heavy feeling of a powerful being, she was still small and cute. I had asked her if she was comfortable with this after she had stuffed herself with fried chicken and she had agreed. I nodded to her and she spoke. Thankfully Jade’s magic carried her tiny voice clearly to all in attendance. I wasn’t sure how she would tell it and I listened carefully.
“I’m supposed to be dead.” She began, staring hard at the crowd with large golden eyes. “Wolf monsters killed my papa. They killed my mama. They killed my brother. They bit my arm and hurt me alot. Gray found me. He healed me with magic drinks and killed all the monsters. He gave me magic cake that made me feel better. I got to meet miss Tabula, Jade, and Rain. I remembered how to smile and laugh even though I was still sad. I didn’t think Gray could give me any more and that was okay. I had enough already.”
She stopped and focused for a moment. The crowd gasped as a thick plume of ash poured from Niiya’s right hand. Something formed in the ash and then the plume receded and disappeared. She was now holding a thick steel full helmet, one worn by the knights she had decimated in Filam with her Ashen Nightmare skill.
Hold the damn phone! She could store and recall objects the skill absorbed!? That made my Astral Vault look childish. Oh we would be experimenting with this later you better believe it. Niiya continued and I shook off my surprise.
“I was wrong. Gray made me strong. In the summer I was too weak to run and play outside with my brother. Now...” She held the sturdy helm up before her in both hands. The solid steel offered no resistance as shining claws bit into it. She then proceeded to twist and crush it like an empty soda can. She dropped the ruined helm to the floor with a thud, and then it slowly crumbled away into ashes which drifted back to her dark skinned hand and were absorbed. “Now... I can play. My old terrors are my new toys.”
She finished and looked up at me to see if she had done well. It was above and beyond what I had hoped for, and for a moment I was speechless. I picked her up and hugged her tightly, I heard a familiar sound from my past life but it was my first time hearing it in Ragnofheim.
“You can purr!” I couldn’t help but laugh.
She blushed and wriggled free before running off stage. Hope I didn’t embarrass her too much. I cleared my throat and reminded myself that I was in the middle of something. The crowd didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact their fearful looks had been replaced by open curiosity and even a few warm smiles.
“All of that was to show you what I would like to offer you. I have a skill called Soul Brand. If you accept it, I don’t know exactly how it will change you. I do know that it will make you much stronger than you are now. It will also mark you as a member of my family for life. You will no longer need fear demons and mere beasts, and if you ever find yourself in peril I can come to you no matter the miles between us. This world has cast you as victims until now. Today you can cast away that identity and begin a new life, just as I did and just as Niiya did. I can begin right now, do I have any volunteers?”
Two hands front and center shot up immediately.
“Tuara and Kitha come on down!” I nailed the Price is Right announcer’s voice by the way.
They held hands all the way as they walked around to the stairs and approached me. As one they knelt and bowed their heads. Ugh. I held out my hand toward Kitha and activated my skill.
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Rename
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Shadows formed around Kitha, covering her form in inky blackness. Her transformation took far less time than Niiya’s had, yet the results were no less stunning. Her skin was dark, like black sharpie dark, and her eyes had turned a shade of ruby red that I couldn’t stop staring at. Her hair had gone from light brown to platinum white. Her expression was one of ecstasy as she felt the new power flooding her body. Uh oh. I made a dark elf. Shit wasn’t that bad!? One look at Tuara dispelled my fears, she was looking at her aunt with awe and not a little envy. The rest of the crowd shared in those emotions and there was a sudden rush of movement as the crowd began lining up at the base of the stairs. My cautious smile vanished and my mouth dropped open as I returned my gaze to Kitha. She opened her red lips, revealing perfect white teeth, and then she spoke. Her voice was angelic.
“T-Tuara... I can speak! I can speak!” The rest of her words were lost in sobbing and Tuara crushed her in a tight hug. She gently let go a moment later, and Kitha locked her eyes onto mine. Her voice was almost too beautiful, it was haunting. She made Adelle sound like a trashy couple arguing at a dog fight in fresno.
“I can never repay this gift, but I swear that I will spend all of my remaining days trying to. Truly I wish to stay by your side, but even if you send me away I will defend your name and spread tales of your greatness to the corners of the world.” It was a heavier vow than I wanted to deal with but I couldn’t blame her. I had shared similar thoughts about my half assed goddess after all.
Once the excitement settled enough for me to continue I repeated the process on Tuara. She also evolved into a Dark Alfar. The summon dire beast, anti magic area, and shadow form abilities seemed to come with the evolution. Instead of witching words (still not sure what that one does) she gained a skill called Negative Energy Thread. I had seen various other ‘thread’ type skills and most of them summoned an animated string that did a certain damage type. They were all extremely dangerous and could shear through armor and flesh like butter. Negative energy thread sounded even worse than those.
The next thirty-two women were human, and they all evolved into Cambions. Their appearance remained human, or rather a perfected version of what a human would look like. It was clear that a Cambion had the power to seduce on a high level. However they each had the ability to assume a demon form with exponentially higher stats capable of flight and various powerful infernal spells. If they ever learned to fight as a group, they would be terrifying.
After the humans were five cat folk women. I expected to see more Ash Huntress evolutions like Niiya but instead they became something called Hellcats. Ash Huntress must be an evolution further up the chain. Their bodies grew in height so that even the shortest of the five was nearly six feet tall. They gained a large amount of base physical stats along with a panel of skills tuned for physical combat. Their ultimate ability was called White Fury, and applied the highest physical stat boosts of anything I had seen so far and the ability to teleport short distances much like my Shadow Wings skill. In a hand to hand situation they would be able to put pressure on even me for a short time.
The last woman I had only seen once. She was exceptionally shy and never with the others. I was honestly surprised she had come to the meeting at all. I had heard in passing that she was a rare creature known as a carbuncle often considered to be a simple fairy tail among human communities.
She was very small, closer to four feet tall than five and weighing no more than fifty pounds. Her eyes were large and pink in color, her ears were elfish but much longer, and her skin was pale and freckled. Her limbs were thin and knobby, and even the smallest clothes we could buy in town looked baggy on her. The one feature that caught my attention the most was the glittering blue gemstone embedded into her forehead. She didn’t exactly fit The Warlord’s assumed type, he must have kept her around for some other reason. No matter, she was here now and a promise is a promise.
I held out my palm to begin and she flinched.
“Are you scared?” I asked, feeling like a moron the second I did. Of course she was. Even good change was scary.
“I already have one...” She said barely above a whisper. “But my master is dead.”
That caught me off guard. If she already had a Soul Brand, what would a second one do?
“I don’t know what this might do to you in that case.” I rubbed my chin as I said. “I understand if you refuse, and you’ll always be welcome here and never judged either way.”
“Please try it.” She straightened her small frame and answered firmly.
“Understood. What is your name?” I asked routinely so I knew what to name her when prompted.
“I wasn’t allowed one. My master said names are too dangerous to give to slaves.” She looked timid once more. “If I am to be given a name, I want the one you choose for me.”
“Soul Brand.” I didn’t delay any further.
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Blackness obscured her form just as it had with the others. This was an expensive transformation so my hopes were high. I tried to remember what an Almiraj was but couldn’t and just waited patiently.
The first thing I remember about Sapphire’s transformation was her eyes. Where the whites should have been were deep and brilliant blue, and the irises were blazing neon pink. The gemstone on her forehead was still sapphire but had evolved into a spiraled unicorn horn. Gone was the gangly waif body. In its place was a beautiful and lithe woman in the prime of her life. Her skin was so light as to seem translucent, and an air of power accompanied her striking new features. This had to be the most fantasy thing I had seen yet in this fantasy world. I hadn’t yet told her what her name was, and before I could she spoke.
“Sapphire.” She said with a wide smile. “That is my name.” There was an unnerving level of confidence in her voice now.
Many of the women were now staring in shock at Sapphire, and something told me it wasn’t just a matter of her appearance.
“What is it?” I blurted when I couldn’t handle the tension any longer.
“She’s an Almiraj, my master!” Kitha was the one to finally speak.
“Yeah? And?” I prodded.
“They have been extinct for a millennium.” Tuatha carried on the explanation. “The celestials used all the might of the upper realms to defeat them in The Unity War.”
That sounded like developers fixing an exploit more than anything else, and suddenly the whole ‘Forbidden Magic’ category was sounding more ominous.
“The Almiraj Empire was one of infinite wealth, and power beyond imagining. They were on a route to unify and enslave all of the realms before the celestial intervention.” Kitha breathed. “This woman should not exist.”
“How cruel.” Sapphire said coyly. “I hold no such ambitions. That is, unless this man desires it.” She amended with a wink.
“That’s a big negative good buddy.” I said patting her on the shoulder. “If you’re willing I am a little curious about your new skills and would like to talk about them later though.”
That seemed to make her very happy and she nodded excitedly.
I was about to call the meeting over to let everyone get used to their new bodies in their own way when Tabula materialized next to me.
“Raj and Hurstag have sent a message. Two emissaries have arrived in Ariel’s Gate from Crown City. They have requested an audience with you.”
I felt a grin spreading across my face.
“Invite them here.” I said, excitement growing in my voice. “Set the welcome mat just like we discussed.”
“Certainly Mr. Gray. We will perform our parts perfectly. I was also able to make enough modifications to this configuration’s code to accommodate Yugal as you requested.”
“I would be lost without you.” I said, and meant every word. Yugal could be included in the plan now. That realization led me to another idea. “Tell Raj to stall them until morning, we will meet them after dawn.” I looked around the room with fresh eyes, at the impressive force of newborn powerhouses, distilled by the kingdom's own injustice. I basically just gave little Bruce Wayne superpowers and cloned him forty times. Ohh the things those emissaries would see...