Elia’s third loop began with something she would never have done in her life on earth: taking her concerns to the relevant authorities.
Even without concrete proof, Camille was one of the people who was already expecting some sort of incursion. It was easy enough to convince her that Elia knew something. But after saying everything she wanted to about Rhuna’s attack and her little murder-birdman, Elia had a feeling she had created more problems than she solved.
Camille finished her longest sip of wine yet. “Well. That is certainly a story. Intrigue, an invasion during a party, foes within our ranks. You should write a book. It might sell.”
“You don’t believe me,” Elia said, chewing around her bowl of seafood.
“Cheri, I will treat these claims for what they are, namely claims, unsubstantiated, and coming from an unreliable source. My spymaster will set someone on the case. That being said, you caused quite a panic at the banquet. Consider it a courtesy that I am holding the council from putting you on trial.”
“Who the fuck cares about some banquet, who cares about some council!?” Elia said a bit too loud. “I thought you were some sort of bigshot, can’t you just snap your fingers and make something happen?”
Camille smirked.
“I like the way you think. One word: Politics. I have been lobbying for more action for months, but people demanded proof, people demanded a reason to care. Furthermore, every dreg that we take from looting and farming duties and muster for war hurts someone’s pockets. Only now they even deigned to indulge in a defensive alliance with the witches, which means we have just started convincing them that it is in their best interest too.” She set down her glass with a dismissive sniff. “Try as you will, it is like pushing a mountain.”
Elia chewed her lip. “And what if I brought evidence? Say, a corpse from a soldier of Rhuna, found inside the safety of the pact’s homeland?”
Camille laughed dryly. “If you manage to produce the kind of evidence that will make the council shit their pants, I will personally carry you up and over mount Gatheon.”
That got her thinking. If Rhuna’s murder-bird showed up around when the party started, then it would definitely be too late to do anything. Really, she needed the proof on day one so she wouldn’t be knocked out for it. To do that, she needed better gear and more importantly, she needed allies.
Elia thought for a moment. “You know, I didn’t expect you to be so… reasonable. Karla implied you weren’t on the best of terms.”
Camille stared at her before pouring herself another glass of wine. “That girl. She is just like my sister was, you know. Always with her head in the clouds, not seeing the shit she’s stepping in, the shit I have to clean up. It didn’t help that her dearest mother planted those silly thoughts of heroism in her mind, or that… thing. Both make her a liability.”
“Karla isn’t that bad,” Elia said. Once she had looked at the girl and all that she had been given with a certain level of frustration and envy. But Karla knew that expectations were high, and the lack of permanent consequences pushed her onwards to ever more stupid risks. It was relatable, in part. “And besides, her shard of justice is crazy strong.”
Camille visibly flinched.
“Relax”. Elia tried to calm her down. “I’m on her side. I’ve been looking after her for months, I won’t stop now.”
The woman sniffed. “My sister wanted to save the world. She had tenacity, healing boons, and a reservoir that replenished on being hit. It made her all but immortal, and she chose to climb the mountain our prophecy tells us to. It was hard enough to ignore that thing taking up half the sky, but the first rumors we heard when we arrived in this place? ‘Find the grail and fulfill your every wish’. But my sister, she didn’t return, like so many others who wasted their lives. I will not have my niece die for nothing on some dead rock.”
“That doesn’t mean you should condone the rumors going about.” Elia sighed. “Sorry, we can have this discussion once Rhuna is seen off. She’s attacking tomorrow, and I can get you that evidence if you lend me some troops.”
“Out of the question,” Camille said.
Elia grimaced. “Alright. Then, could I perhaps get my friends out of the jail in your thieves guild so I can launch an independent investigation?”
“No,” Camille said. She leaned forward on her chair, possibly to intimidate Elia. She wasn’t feeling anything, the weight of responsibility was much more crushing than staring into her eyes. “Glossing over the fact that you shouldn’t even know where they are being held, if your information is true then my spymaster and I will have some very pertinent questions as to how you got a hold of it.”
“I’m an oracle. I can see the future.”
They shared a stare from which neither backed down. Camille then burst into a low, maybe-evil laugh.
“Oh, hilarious. An oracle. That means you have an epic-level boon, right? Which means you killed a number of demi-gods and their immortal servants to collect the shards, yes?”
“Where I get my information from doesn’t matter,” Elia hissed, keeping a straight face. “Three days after my arrival – two days from now – Rhuna will attack and you will need to be ready.”
Camille stood abruptly, “I will be the final judge on that. Until then, you are not explicitly forbidden from leaving your chambers. But do know that we will be watching your every move with interest, myself and others.”
She left, leaving Elia to question a whole heap of things she explicitly was forbidden from doing. Setting the obvious aside, her biggest gripe was that she couldn’t affix her souls, not without access to the pact’s attendant.
Elia rang the bell at her side and at once a familiar dreg entered her room.
“Sarah! My favorite semi-conscious guide. Who do I need to talk to to get my souls affixed?”
“Regulation… form…”
“Ah, I need to fill a form.” Elia nodded sagely. “Bureaucracy really is the death of progress. Alright, show me who is in charge of this form-business and I’ll slide you a bit of bacon when the party starts.”
The dreg walked and Elia followed, massaging her fingers where her many rings were still sitting, mostly unidentified. Another oversight she could rectify while on the way. First, the ring that had saved her life from a single lethal strike.
Amethyst Ring
A ring with an inlaid teardrop amethyst. Once was used to determine winners in duels between the knights of Loften. When a lethal strike hits you from the front, this ring conjures a shield of golden light to deflect the blow. Recharges over an hour from your reservoir.
Definitely a useful addition, though it was odd that it only protected against attacks from the front. This golden light stuff, that was definitely another form of magic, and by the wording likely conjuration. She still had her bunch of forbidden scrolls with her, but there was no time to dedicate towards learning their secrets.
Next up, a ring with a face like an aborted gargoyle.
Ring of the mighty Grug
Increases the weight you can carry.
That was probably the simplest description she would ever get from a magical ring. How much more could she carry, did it just make her entire pack lighter, did it nullify weight above a certain threshold? Either way, the shapes magic could take were fascinating.
After that came a simple ring made of a dark red wood carved into a circle.
Witchwood ring
A simple ring symbolizing the passing of a witch from infancy to adolescence when the curse of a witch first manifests. Some say it is red because when their god was slain, the sea turned entirely crimson.
“O-k. So, the water wasn’t always red. Neat.” She’d have to double check the source of every drink in case she was imbibing dead-god juice. Maybe she would stick to bowl water for the time being.
And lastly, the most modest of her rings.
Promise band
Twin bands of twine, one looped around the other. It remembers the first promise uttered within its presence, and breaks once that promise goes unfilled. Many soldiers once used these in place of oaths, so their wives would not wait for those that did not return.
“You could be two thousand and I’d still like you. I like you when you’re cool. I like you when you’re silly. I like how you’re still looking out for everyone, even though you always claim otherwise.”
Elia paused, her feet glued to the ground. The place where Karla had almost kissed her suddenly felt hot. She wasn’t certain how to answer it, not then, not now, and likely not in the future. But it was nice to know that not everyone was turned off by her, it was nice that even after two hundred years it wasn’t too late to make good friends.
Who knew that so few words could do so much?
----------------------------------------
Elia managed to evade her first encounter with Zane by simply following Sarah through well-kept streets and clean alleyways. She checked by Mahdi etc. as well, securing yet another ring of grace before moving on to her objective.
“Oh come on.” Elia said, staring at the door of a familiar small, off the side apartment. “Are you telling me I have to ask that creep Jerry for my permission slip?”
Sarah took half a minute to complete her nod.
Elia sighed. “Welp. Screw skirting the rules I guess, time to go full on criminal.”
She made sure no one was home, picked the pitiful lock on the front door, then snuck into Jerry’s backroom. The pile of blackmail was, to her unending frustration, completely gone, lost in between loops. Jerry seemed to be some sort of influential person, she’d have loved to have some dirt on him for future loops. She took that as a lesson to be more careful and bagged a smattering of different forms.
One of them was a ‘form for greater soul registry, purchase, and affixation’, which led her to believe that gaining power in its soul-form was considerably more restricted here than anywhere else.
“Maybe this is just the price of civilization?” Elia pondered. “Nah, this is just the rich-getting richer. My guess is they don’t even consider using grail shards to get back old friends turned dreg, isn’t that right, Sarah?”
Sarah groaned an affirmative, or perhaps a negative. Elia meanwhile had barely finished the sentence when she broke out in a cold sweat. Why hadn’t she thought of that until now? Of course the reason why Hall and Partlight were so strong despite being dregs was because one of their stats was protected by a shard. It likely was either body for the latter and spirit for the former because the sense stat wouldn’t have had the impact either of those would have.
But where were the dregs whose mind-stat was warded by a shard?
The answer was they didn’t exist because they wouldn’t be recognized as dregs. They would be just as aware and smart as they were when they were alive, possibly more if they had a greater soul to help them along. All this boiled down to one simple epiphany.
The Old Maiden could be saved. All Elia needed was one more lesser shard.
The thought alone propelled her up the hill, faster and faster until she was practically sprinting. She would gladly sacrifice one of hers to that end if she could. Since that likely wasn’t the case, it was a simple thing to become stronger, to reap her reward, and then slay Rhuna’s moonstrider.
“No entry,” A masked dreg at the top hissed. “Party hard.”
“This piece of paper says I can enter.” She proudly held up the relevant document. Everything was in its place, and the signature was masterfully forged. The dregs didn’t care one bit that it was fake, they simply stepped aside and didn’t bother her further.
“Levels and loot, loot and levels,” Elia hummed as she skip-skip-skipped across the old temple grounds, not even caring to stop and marvel at what made this temple different from all the others. What use was it to note the toppled pillars and piles of rubble, why worry about cracks if they were wide enough to jump over?
A crisp wind whipped her hair and then she stood before it. A tall figure sat on a cushioned chair, its features rough and brittle like crumbling stone. It looked kind of like one of Kasimir’s puppets, though Elia would have never mistaken it for one. His creations would never have looked so rough and… lacking love. This one looked mass produced. It also had no legs.
Its joints clacked and clattered as it turned about with its barely detailed head.
“Greetings, undead hunter and welcome to Calamity Temple grounds – which by the way, fucking SUCKS! I am the attendant Varus, and I have been awaiting thee, for thy arrival was as certain death, because dying is all you undead do these days.”
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Two voices, one body. She was likely not the first to liken one to a machine and the other to a grumpy teenager. More unnerving, it sounded like the voices were constantly overriding each other, fighting for dominance or just to be heard.
That could have been her and Rye.
“Alright,” Elia said with a small voice. “Lil’ weird. I just hope you weren’t waiting for me specifically, because if so, haha, sorry for the long wait. I’m only two hundred years late and all.”
The statue-person rumbled, shifting in its chair. “Hah! Yeah, no, you’re not at all special, pipsqueak. Thou art undead, and thou art closer yet to fulfilling thy prophecy.”
“I know that’s…” Elia closed her eyes. “I need to affix some greater souls. Take a look, and I’ll be out of your hair.”
“I don’t have hair,” the younger voice grumped, but took her two souls, Partlight and Yolon, without a fuss.
They floated like twin stars, the split attendant swirling them ponderously. Elia thought that maybe he was remembering something from long ago, though with that unchanging expression, no one could tell.
“Is everything alright or…?”
The attendant turned to her, and his tone reminded her all too much of a recording.
“Thou hast slain that rogue Yolon, keeper of the greater shard of dreaming. So dies a lord of stellar mind and less than stellar wisdom. Do not take it as an insult, ‘tis a great feat, for one such as thee.” For a while, Elia thought they wouldn’t say anything more, when Varus’ other voice added: “Hey, uh, what time is it? Actually, stupid question, rather: Is Rhuna still around?”
“Yes.”
“Fuuuck! Shit, I thought someone ought to have killed that – usurper, and returned what she had stolen. She punched me so hard it stuck me together with this stupid rock-robot. Our lives have since been intertwined and – would you shut up? If I hear another ‘thee’ or ‘thou’, I’ll fuckin’ sin!”
“I’m planning to screw with her plans a little,” Elia said. “If that makes you happy.”
Varus looked at her in an odd way.
“Just between you and me, you’re fused with a greater shard, aren’t you?”
“Nooo?” Elia said out of reflex. “Maybe. What if I am?”
He eyed her for another long moment. “Then thou ought to challenge her. The greater shard of form would mesh well with thy collection. Perhaps thou canst collect enough and even become like a god thyself? Woah now, ease down on the heresy. Wouldn’t want to get broken into even smaller bits than we are.”
Varus waggled with his leg stumps while Elia found herself reeling from yet another realization. Of course Rhuna had a greater shard, that was how she could shapeshift herself and anything else she touched.
“You fought her?”
“A lot of us did. Those who didn’t are the ones left - cowards, all of them”
“How does she fight, Rhuna. What’s her power like.”
The split attendant paused, seemingly in thought. “She fights like a boxer who knows they can take the blows. Her stone body is hard as steel and with her boon as flexible as water. She can use it seemingly indefinitely. The only limitation we did find was that she needs to touch people and objects to change them. As far as greater grail shards go, it’s a strong one.”
Greater shards. Were they a level above boons? “So, uh, about these greater shards, what can you tell me?”
“A greater shard is one that is given only to the greatest of gods – because no one else can really use it right. With it, they control a piece of the world – and the broader the piece’s territory, the stronger it is. But the problem is you are also responsible for that part. Thou must learn to control thy shard, to know its limits and its desired price. But without finding an exploit, they are so finicky, and that’s not to even start talking about the personality changes so much power puts people through and gah! Cannot recommend. Though I am impressed. You really do have a nice collection there.”
“Um, thanks?” Elia didn’t think that one greater counted as a collection. Then again, she did have two lesser ones. “So, about those greater souls...”
“Right, right – thou hast two choices to make, two greater souls to imbibe. Yet the vessel that is thee is full. Thou wilst have to make a sacrifice – and don’t we all love those?”
“I know, I know. Show me the stats, then I’ll decide.”
[Body] Soul of Partlight [Rare]
Partlight was a warrior who hailed from the sunlight shore before he was taken in by the Pontibat and given one of the twelve honorary burdens. He was destined to ascend and serve Aurana, yet he denied such an honor in favor of service to his order’s creed.
0/12,000 Great increase to Strength
0/??? Moderate increase to Tenacity
0/2100 Minor increase to Finesse
0/??? Minor increase to Constitution
Elia’s eyes goggled at the sheer amount of stats. Rare was a whole step up from uncommon and then some. “Is every increase in rarity level just… twice as good as the one before?”
“If you’re talking raw stats, then yeah. If you really want to focus your stats in, say, your body, you take a bunch of hybrid souls with good stats in the other ones. We call that off-maxing. Means even with just common souls you can punch above your weight.” Varus rolled one of his shoulders. “However, even a small soul is a great boon to the average mortal.”
“I’d be a lot more than average with this.” And in essence, it gave her a whole package deal of all the physical stats she was aware of. Strength was always great, but what really sealed the deal was the moderate increase to tenacity. Every attack made against her would have to go through her armor, then her tenacity just to damage her. Scratch that, they would have to hit her first. A minor increase to finesse scaled well with her [Cutting cutlery], though one thing did worry her.
“If I take this, I’ll have less constitution. Is that going to be a problem?”
“There would be an imbalance, yes. Thou wouldst become tired more swiftly, considering thy increased strength. But who cares, all you gotta do is kill the other guy fast.”
Elia nodded. Offense was the best defense. All her life had been a marathon, but with this, she could achieve the same in a series of short sprints. And Elia needed all the strength and stats she could get if she was going to do something about Rhuna.
“Alright. Swap that with my Forlorn Giant soul, then fill ’er up with as many souls as it needs.”
“Dang, that’s the talk of someone who’s loaded,” Varus said while he slowly weaved one soul out of her chest with one hand. The void it left felt like it would crush her from the inside, but before she could feel all her additional stats drain out of her, Partlight’s soul was already inside her and filled all the way up.
Soul count: x48,900
Her muscles swelled and grew heavy in a way she felt down to her bones. A tingling sensation reached all the way down to her fingers, which danced in her palm like ten little extensions of herself. But most of all, she felt a sensation of solidness settle over herself, like everything in the world just shifted a few steps closer towards being made of glass.
Elia didn’t find a mirror, but she knew that she was ripped. She pulled her tunic aside and preened at the sight of corded, strong but lithe muscles.
“If thou increases thy strength any further, thy souls will force thy body to grow, as it is the most effective way of manifesting thy power.”
“Woah. I love it.” Elia said. “Gotta ask Rye before I do any of that first. Now, if Partlight was rare and he got bodied by Yolon, does that mean Yolon is even rarer?”
The attendant shook his stone head. “My condolences. It is merely common.”
“WHAT!?”
He tilted his head, then burst into a loud laugh. “SYKE! Hah! That look on your face! Priceless. You’ve got another rare soul, which is both awesome, and also illegal after the pact’s raiding ban. They are scared that gaining too much power would make the pact a bigger target, which is just really a cowards way of thinking.”
“Yikes. Good thing I’m not officially part of the pact. Their rules don’t apply to me.”
The attendant grinned with a creak. “Thou art a determined undead. The gods surely favor thee. He means to say we like you. Now, soul time!”
[Mind/Spirit] Soul of Yolon the Lunatic [Rare]
Yolon was a great mind who studied the moon and found a fell secret within it. After surviving the Passing Knight sent from up high to claim his life, he renounced the authority of the gods and declared himself the emissary of the moon.
0/28,000 Massive increase to channel, moderate reduction to Subtlety
0/11,000 Great increase to Reservoir
0/??? Moderate increase to Flow
0/??? Minor increase to Processing and Conviction
Once again, Elia was speechless. “Twenty-eight thousand souls for one single increase?”
“The cost lies hidden – which basically means if you don’t know casting safety and take it, you’re just screwed man. I mean, who wants to summon minor tears in the fabric of reality just to sling some ice around in the first place? Conjurers are crazy man, all of them are.”
“Mhm,” Elia said noncommittally. “What do logic and conviction do?”
“Processing is the comparative function of the mind. If you’ve gotta think quick, or think hard, that is your choice. Conviction acts as a defense of your mind to the unnatural – basically, it’ll be harder to mind-control you. Unless you're fighting the god who has the greater shard of mind, or brains, ‘cause shards don’t give a fuck about stats.”
“The gods aren’t at the top of my hit list,” Elia said. “Put it in my spirit slot, and then I’ll take every upgrade besides that one.”
“Not that you could have taken it. Thy souls would have been insufficient.”
Soul count: x25,300
Seeing her souls drain so quickly hurt, but the reward for waiting was so, so worth it.
She let the power flow through her, though for all her skills, it was hard to tell what exactly was different. The mental stats were nice, but losing a moderate level of concentration would be distracting. Her reservoir increased quite a bit, and with the increased flow her spells would hit harder. Rye’s spells would. Gods, it was only a few days and she was already missing her little companion. She should check on her soon, right after getting a new boon.
“Hey Varus, I’m gonna roll a boon. Do you guys have any altars in case I screw up and need to re-roll?”
“Right down the corner. We have all of them.” Varus gestured towards the temple’s far wing. “Yes, all. Every god worth worshiping finds a home in our abode. You will find it to your right, past the shattered greater bowl of respite.”
Elia blinked. “O-k. Am I going to regret asking what happened to the indestructible bowl?”
“It was destroyed, like so many others, in pursuit of more mundane matters. Another undead once found it. Through it they called their companions and then there was a battle. And a pyrrhic victory. Take a guess why I know.”
That was a sobering realization. People could destroy the bowls that gave life to all undead. The pact had at least once and no matter what the reason might have been, it sat wrong with Elia. They were all the nourishment and hope she had known for the past two hundred years. Destroying them, well, she would be the last to say that it was blasphemy.
But just thinking about it made her sick.
“Hey mister Varus-attendant? Thanks. I’ll punch Rhuna in the face just for you.”
The attendant chuckled as Elia disappeared into the distance. “Good fucking luck.”
Name: Elia (& Rye)
Age: 221 & 22
Soul count: x25,300
Bone shards: [Common] x52, [Uncommon] x28, [Rare] x9, [Epic] x1
Undead cursemark: Swelling.
Slightly diminishes sense and mind.
Vessels:
[Body] Soul of Partlight [Rare] (Warded)
Your Body is strong, like an up and coming ascender. You have the constitution of a moderately athletic adult. You have the strength of a giant. You have the finesse of a practiced juggler. You have the tenacity of an adolescent giant.
[Sense] Soul of the Fane Eater [Uncommon]
Your Sense is slightly worse than the average human. Your sense of smell, touch and sight is average among humans.
[Spirit/Mind] Soul of a crystallized conjurer [Uncommon]
Your mind is scattered, yet quicker on the uptake than most. Your processing is as quick as a student on blue-shrooms. Your conviction is like a minor ward.
[Spirit/Mind] Soul of Yolon the Lunatic [Rare] (Warded)
Your Spirit is great, like an up-and-coming magi. Your reservoir is massive, like a veteran magi. Your flow is strong like a war mage.
Boons Elia:
1 – [Spirit] Psychometry [Uncommon] [Essence of Ego]
2 – [Body] Left Gauntlet of the Viper [Uncommon]
3 – [Body] Cutting Cutlery [Common] [Essence of Keenness] [Essence of Rending] [Empty Socket]
4 – [Spirit] Watercolor touch [Common]
5 –
Boons Rye:
1 – [Mind/Spirit] Dream-haze projection [Rare] [Empty Slot x2]
2 – [Sense] Threat music [Uncommon] [Empty socket]
3 –