Those were some...interesting titles but Tyler wisely decided to hold his tongue. "Right, so you're a god. And a pantheon, huh?"
"Old God." Yarla intoned, holding up a finger as if to punctuate she was an expert on the subject, and perhaps she was.
"And yes, there was a pantheon. Before my sister staged a coup. She and her champions of light tossed us down and created a new order. One with her at the forefront. It was...trying times. And now, only a handful of us remain, locked in these chains that bind us."
She gestured at the golden links of holy metal that covered her torso. Tyler simply nodded as he leaned his head against the wall of the makeshift prison that kept Yarla, as well himself, away from everything else. In all honesty, he could imagine something like that happening. Especially given how the so called Holy Church had treated him, what with tossing him down and trying to kill him.
"So what now?" He asked, hoping the shackled deity knew what to do. Though he didn’t hold out much hope as she was, like him, seemingly trapped here.
But as it turned out, she just might.
"That's up to you. I took a look at your status, a shattered Class Card and shattered Ability Cards. Not fun. That’s the problem with lower levels. Were you at least Bronze Tier, then you would have no need for cards and thus, would not have any shattered ones. You could, in theory. find a Vellum Scribe to pull the shards out of your soul but well, that could kill you. That and I don’t see anyone else around here other than us, do you? Anyways, repairing the cards is an option certainly, if an expensive one. But I have a feeling you're a bit soured on holy magic?"
She grinned at his squinting eyes at the light joke at his expense. Or rather his singular working eye, as his other one was...well, for lack of a better word, missing. It had been ruptured on his fall and it was only thanks to the System's interference that it, along with his pierced heart and lung, had not killed him.
"I have an idea, a terrible one really but it's up to you to take the leap, so to speak. After all, unlike my sister I, for one, value free will and choice above all things."
Tyler pursed his lips, getting a sinking feeling in his gut, but nodded. It was better to take a risk, it wasn't like he had any other option, unless he wanted to starve to death down here in this dank, dark cave. That wouldn’t do. He was pissed and if you asked anyone back home, when he got pissed, he always sought things through regardless of the consequences.
"Go on. Not like I can do much if I don’t wanna die down here. Even if it is a deal with a devil, so to speak.”
Yarla tilted her head at his turn of phrase. "Well I’m no denizen of the Hellish Planes, but I guess that would be a phrase from your home world? Regardless, I’m getting off track. I'm not as powerful as I should be, especially since I am chained and have no worshippers left, and it will only be a few decades until I finally expire from lack of followers and my sister wins her pathetic little victory over me. When I die, my power and cultivation will be up for grabs for anyone. I'd rather not give her the satisfaction of finally ending me. Luckily, Fate seems to have sent you here."
Tyler held up his hand to stop her as he scrunched his face up at the mention of followers and worshippers. "Sorry, but I am not going to follow some...religion. I've never been much of a religious type, even back home. The only reason I acquiesced earlier with your sister’s church is that I had no idea what was happening to me and I was still in shock, so I kind of just went with the flow.."
Yarla simply intoned her words in a placating tone as she nodded in understanding.
"Of course, hatchling. I can understand that. I'm not asking you to form a cult or anything, unless you want to. What I am getting at is, I can fix your issue with what little of my divine power I have left. You would become a scion of sorts, a legacy of my power. Your skills and any Dao will have an inflection of my essence, albeit in small ways. It will grant you power, a seed of my own, ever so small. But it will grow with you and eventually you will gain strength unimaginable. Enough to take your revenge on those who would have left you for dead."
Tyler digested the words spoken to him. Should he take the offer? One one hand, he was kinda pissed at divine beings. It was because of THAT one, Yavera, that he had been betrayed after all. That he was whisked away from...reincarnation, he supposes. He stewed over his feelings on gods for a second. He could be petulant and refuse the offer, and just be content to sit and rot here until he withered away but no, he could push past his dislike of divinity if it got him the hell out of here. He wasn’t that much of a bitter asshole. Ultimately, at least this one was offering him a choice. Even if it wasn't much of one. And a small part of him, the part that was still a child, wanted to see just what being a scion of a dying goddess would entail. With a bit of effort and a wince of pain, he stood up and approached her, a grin slowly making its way to his face..
"Fine, I guess it beats laying in this hole and dying, right?" He asked sarcastically.
Yarla smiled back at him, grin matching his own as several of her tentacles writhed about in what he could only interpret as wagging.
"Indeed. Do you accept my gift?"
A system prompt appeared, this one a deep purple embroidered with inky black tentacles as opposed to the normal standard blue box.
You have been offered a gift from the fallen goddess, [̷̺̹͇̯͖̃̋͗͂̆͌́̏̕R̴͍͉͚̟̮͍̦̰̯̯͋͛̆͗E̵͍͐͂̈́̅̉D̶̛͈̩̜̪̑̇̏̍̒͝͠Ą̸̭̻͓͕̙͔̼͂C̷̦̞̓̈́͆̍Ṭ̸̛̠̰̼̲̪̥͂ͅȄ̷̖̉͛͛̄ͅḐ̶̤̮͇͎̭̼̀]̸̢͙̘͍͙̮̝̙͛̋̿͠.
Accepting this gift will reform your shattered cards but at the cost of changing your body and race for the foreseeable future. Do you dare make a deal with a devil? In Aurelia, choices have consequences. Choose wisely.
Y/N
The System seemed to put an emphasis on how dire this choice was if he took it. Hell, the damn prompt box was flashing slightly. Still, Tyler had made his decision already. It was time to put all his eggs into one basket. Not that he had many eggs. Between sitting here broken and bruised in a cave and staying human just to die of starvation or some other malady, and irrevocably changing what his race and body is but giving him power? THe power to take revenge and live? Well, the choice would be obvious to anyone with a damn brain. He would take the faustian bargain, come hell or high water. and exact revenge on his 'party' no matter the cost. So, he mentally clicked on the accept portion. He waited for something, anything to change. But nothing. He turned to Yarla.
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"So uh..."
Before he could say anymore, the being, or woman rather, was right next to him. She grasped his head and brought him closer to hers and then...she kissed him. Full lip on lip action, her cold flesh against his. Something slithered into his mouth, he was pretty sure tongues weren't supposed to be THAT long or thick. When he tried to pull away from the shock, he froze as black purple energy exploded around him and his body and soul were remade. Intense waves of eldritch magic permeated his battered flesh, remaking it into something more durable. His muscles writhed and spasmed, but he was kept in place by the divine might of the goddess before him. His soul, if such a thing existed, twisted in on itself and stretched wide. At least that was what it felt like.
His mana exited his body through hidden channels, the light blue mixing with the black-purple of Yarla's as it slowly became darker and took on a more indigo color. His damaged eye socket healed, replaced with something much better than a normal human eye. As an added side effect, his hair became a light gray, and his normally olive skin lost its saturation, almost making him look like he had taken some kind of sharpie bath. And that was just the physical changes as far as he could tell. As soon as it started, the...ritual ended and Yarla pulled her face off of his. Yep, that was definitely a tongue in her mouth. But why, WHY did it have suckers?! And why was it over ten inches long...
"That was the quickest way to transfer my power to you." She said, seeing his confused look. "Mana has a tendency to flow through bodily fluids more easily as it is, in essence, the lifeblood of reality. I could have given you my blood, but that would take too long. Now, in less dire circumstances, I would have done MUCH more."
Tyler stared blankly. Just what was she implying, he wondered. He felt his face heat up as the goddess giggled. Like an actual girly giggle. Christ.
"I'll let you look over the new prompts you have, but then we need to talk about more serious matters."
Taking her words to heart, Tyler turned inward to look at the flashing notifications that had become commonplace in this new life of his.
Due to Divine Intervention, the following changes have been made:
Your Race, Human (E) has become Voidborn (E).
Class [Apostate Mesmer (Shattered)] has been reforged into [Eldritch Scion].
[Slow (Shattered)] has become [Grasping Tentacles].
[Lethargy (Shattered)] has become [Wither].
[Holy Shock (Shattered)] has become [Mind Sear].
[Eldritch Scion]
Type: Class Card (Locked)
Rarity: Rare
Description: An Eldritch Scion is a legacy class chosen by a higher power from the planes beyond mortal realms, typically one aligned with darkness and void, but not always.
They inherit part of their power from their deity. As such, a new Secondary Attribute, Will, has been unlocked.
This attribute increases with points in both Intelligence and Wisdom.
All your abilities gain a benefit from Will while this card is active.
This class adds a passive effect of absorbing 5% of an enemy's accumulated experience and resources to your own if you deal the most damage to it and land a killing blow within melee range.
Every five levels past 10 also adds a 1% chance to add a random card from the enemy's Catalog to your own, if they have a card, during the consumption process.
Warning: This card is locked due to a deal you have made. If you lose this card, you will die! It can still evolve however.
[Grasping Tentacles]
Level 1
Type: Spell Card
Rarity: Uncommon
Description: Summon tentacles of void energy from the ground to grasp at an enemy's legs in an area, reducing attack, movement, and cast speed slightly for five seconds. If they do not move away within five seconds, they take damage and the tentacles vanish.
Effect of this spell scales slightly with Will and level of this card.
Cost: 35 Mana
[Wither]
Level 1
Type: Spell Card
Rarity: Rare
Description: Summon a rune of dark energy in an area.
Any enemy that steps onto the rune takes damage over time and the effect of armor and defensive cards is reduced while they are in the affected area.
Effect of defense reduction and damage increases per level of this card and Will.
Cost: 15 Mana, 15 Health
Cast Time: 0.5 Seconds
[Mind Sear]
Level 1
Type: Spell Card
Rarity: Uncommon
Description: Attack an enemy's mind directly with a beam of coalesced energy.
Enemies affected take damage over time as long as you channel this spell.
If two seconds pass, a ring of energy explodes from the main enemy and effects nearby enemies deal half damage.
Effect increases with Will and Level.
Cost: 10 Mana Per Second
As the rush of mana died down, Tyler collapsed onto his ass and thought over the new cards and class. In his opinion, it was a welcome change. Sure, he may have done a 180 in terms of power source, given he went from holy magic to what seemed to be dark power. But the abilities outshone that tidbit. Picking himself back up and shaking his head, he wobbled for a second in place as he got his bearings, his newly formed eye giving him vertigo for a few seconds before it passed and he felt as new as ever. Then he looked to the goddess who had given him his boon.
"What's next on the agenda then?"
She gave him a once over, then a sad smile as she formed a dagger from her power and handed it to him, its handle pointing forward from him to grasp.
"It's simple, you need to kill me."
Wow, way to spring that on him.