“What is taking her so long? I mean does it really take that long for her to walk from her room here?” A voice still tainted with youth griped as it’s owner sat with his arms crossed, a frown carved on his face. His brown hair was modestly styled which clashed with the clothing he wore. The dark blue pants and jacket were seemingly covered in gold thread, silver buttons and other ornamentation.
“Jeff, calm down. Maybe she needed to dress herself up a little?” the white clad youth next to him spoke as he set his teacup down. His look was much more subdued, especially next to his friend. Simple white samite cloth pants and jacket with a tasteful embroidery of silver vines and leaves that spread a palm-width from the the edges of the cuffs and seams. If it wasn’t for his black hair one may mistake him for a manservant instead of someone of noble blood sitting next to the other boy.
Jeff only snorted through his nose, “We’ve been engaged for the last fourteen years and I’ve yet to see her wear makeup, or even wear something modern. I swear she goes out of her way to dress like a peasant.”
“That’s only because you dress so much like a peacock that no one would choose to compete,” the voice floated into the room from the door behind them. They looked back in surprise as it seemed familiar but it sounded more prideful than they were used to. “So which of you two is the one who is breaking off the engagement exactly? I’ll be honest, after taking that ice bath in the pond a few days ago I’ve forgotten pretty much anything unimportant.”
Jeffrey's face turned a deep shade of red as veins started to bulge in his neck. He stood with the speed of a thunderbolt, “Who are you to talk about importance you shameless cripple?”
“Jeff-” the black haired boy started before Emma’s hand waved to silence him.
“You’re a visitor to this manor and yet you yell like a braying ass and claim I’m the shameless one? I can see the blood must run thin in your house to produce such a waste of a noble.”
The red face started flapping like a dying fish while the boy next to him suppressed a chuckle. The two had known each other for years but it was rare that Jeffery was scolded, especially so harshly.
“You ungrateful cripple! I came here out of respect for your father to handle this properly and yet you only know how to insult me and shame my family’s bloodline!” He circled around the couch to approach her directly.
The smile on Emma’s face was one of someone looking down on a small dog, “You claim I don’t know how to dress like a noble, call me shameless and have twice now called me a cripple yet only know how to claim to be the victim. Such a poorly trained dog.”
“You fucking whore!” He was closer now, only a pace away when he began to holler. “I came here only because your father’s name. No noble would ever want to marry such a crippled girl like you and yet you act like you actually have some authority here! I should beat some sense into you!” His hand raised to slap her, but she was quicker by a hair.
The sound was like a lightning strike when she slapped him. There wasn’t the power in it, but it was faster than his movement and made his head spin as his eyes goggled in shock.
“This isn’t my father’s marriage, it’s mine. As such I’m making the choice here not him. And frankly no woman should have to marry such a poorly trained mongrel like you. You bark and bite far too much. Frankly I’m doubtful of the fact that you’re actually house trained.”
The sound that escaped his throat was like the roar of an enraged beast when he turned back and slapped out with all his power, the surge of a sixth Refinement level power surging through his hand when it struck her, knocking her sideways across the floor. Her body had gone limp the moment he struck her, the force of someone who’d completed the refinement of their muscles more than she could stand up against. Shaking heavily she stood up, her movements like a newborn deer as her body tried to stand under the rattling it’d gotten. After a moment she stood just as straight and proud as she’d before he struck her. Blood was pouring from one side of her mouth as the cuts in her mouth opened wide to bleed freely. Her eyes met his with a clear sense of suppressed fury. There was no fear of the man who’d struck her, just plain anger of his attacks on her pride.
“Since we only seem to come to blows, I believe we can now count this engagement as broken. Please remove yourselves from my house before I have you thrown out with the rubbish.”
His eyes glared murder at her, but the gold eyes didn’t falter under his pressure. “You’ll regret this.”
A smile like a blood splattered flower in bloom crossed her face as her red-stained teeth became visible, “I’ll return your words to you because you’re the one who needs the reminder more than me.”
The black haired youth followed behind Jeff with an amused expression, only pausing to bow to Emma. “You’re quite the woman.”
She frowned as he left, “What in the three realms did that mean?” Shaking her head she chose to forget the strange comment and walked back to her living quarters, nursing the swollen palm print on her face.
That night she ate dinner slowly and with a lot of swearing as the slightest brushing of food inside of her mouth caused her face to throb in pain. When she finished she placed her fork down and looked at the maid who stood nearby, “Tomorrow I need to see Father as I’m sure he’ll want to discuss the annulment. Please ask him for the best time to see him.”
Amelia looked at the girl with surprise but didn’t refute her, “Yes Miss.”
It was half past breakfast when she stood outside her father’s study, her hand hesitating to knock for a moment as she mentally prepared herself. She knew she wasn’t the same child that the man inside that room had raised, and it made her a little nervous. Would he see through the fact that she was a different person who was only trying to be Emma despite not having any memories of the poor girl’s life? Would he even notice or care?
The latter thought made her heart twist a little as she considered the thought of a parent not even noticing that their child had changed. It was a feeling unknown to her before that moment and it pressed guilt the size of a mountain down on her. Could she ever be forgiven for pretending to be that girl? Could she really even explain it if she tried?
Forcing her emotions back below the surface her face smoothed back out into an expressionless mask as she gently rapped the door with her slender hand.
“Enter.”
The room was well lit by a large window on the far wall. A broad shouldered man with a heavy beard sat at the desk that faced her, his eyes focused on the papers on his desk. “You cancelled your engagement?”
“Yes.” Her voice did not waver as she spoke, her voice sounding more like she was agreeing about the weather than her now cancelled marriage.
His pen stopped writing as if the response surprised him. His deep blue eyes looked up into hers, trying to figure out if the girl in front of him was the shy and timid daughter he knew. “Why?” The question was simple but his voice was full of weight as if he was trying to pressure her with just his voice.
“A man who can’t respect me doesn’t deserve to even warm my bed, much less be my husband.” The tone was as if it was just quoting a simple fact and caught him off guard. Losing her memories really had changed her more than he expected.
A moment later he chuckled, “Interesting reasoning.” With a small wave of his hand he motioned her to continue, “Expand on your logic for me.”
One eyebrow raised, perfectly accenting her gold eye, “It’s simple Father: as the youngest child I’m not in the position to inherit the estate or the family; additionally I’m not a person who has great wealth, nor am I someone with great martial prowess. After losing my memories in the fever I can’t even claim to be someone with great scholarly knowledge, nor am I someone who even knows how the world works. Even with the gift of medicinal knowledge I have it’s more like having the greatest collection of recipes but not the understanding of how to actually prepare a meal. All I have is my pride as the daughter of this house and family and as such I must uphold that pride at any cost.”
It was the truth. Well most of it. In the last few days she realized her choices in the past to never get involved personally in the world had left her sheltered and uneducated. Her lack of practice involving the actual use of the medical knowledge she possessed left her unable to properly use it herself, and her lack of martial practice has left her without the skills to fight even if the body she was in was healthy. She was basically a blank sheet of parchment with only the pride of a goddess to guide her and as such she chose to uphold that pride no matter what. It was all she had and she couldn’t just abandon it for anything.
Inside she could feel relief as she noticed he was smiling at her. “It seems there was some blessing in your lost memories then. You aren’t bound by your old timid nature and it’s pleasing to see you finally adopt the pride of a noble. As such I’m giving you the free reign you need to grow from here for as long as you show actual progress. I can’t promise you large monetary support as this is not a rich house, nor can I offer you great protective strength as we don’t control an army to do so. But if it’s in my means I’ll fully support you as long as you can grow.”
Her brow creased slightly as she was puzzled by the man she was calling ‘Father’. Had familial love really that strong between them in the past? It seemed doubtful since she was consigned to the servant’s quarters to live and even her own sister was allowed to run amuck without being restrained. So was he looking for something else from her? No matter. With no love of her own to give him she didn’t see a need to push the point further as she couldn’t allow herself to grow old and do nothing. There was a reason she was a mortal now and even if she didn’t remember it, she needed to push forward to unravel it. The only way she could do that was if she began training and awoke the talent buried in the body she was confined in. Only then could she merge the powers of magic and blood to create Divine Force without facing the wrath of the Heavens.
Only she didn’t yet know how to yet train those powers, only that by fusing them in her body could she unleash the divine abilities she used to have innately. It wasn’t even clear at what level she could begin to fuse the abilities, nor when they could actually allow her to once again act in the manner of a goddess. As such she needed to study everything. She was too ignorant about everything. It was easy to be fearless without knowing anything, but that was a short path towards death. She needed knowledge to allow her to support her own pride, lest it get her killed before she could complete her goal.
“I only request access to your library, and to join the martial training with the house guards. My current level is too low to require anything else at this time.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Naturally you may borrow any books you wish, but without Blood Force how can you train?”
It was her turn to smile, her lips turning up just slightly, “Since waking I’ve started working with Doctor Leigh to create a medicine that can soften the scar tissue on my Blood Gates so they can finally be opened and allow me to train properly. To stimulate them so late in life I’ll need to push myself far beyond what I can currently do, so at the cost of looking like a fool I wish to train with the Guard. Each of them are at least first Bronze rank and only by putting myself against the wall can I exceed the limits of my current self.”
His eyes flashed with excitement but he forced himself to be calm. If she could really begin to train properly then he may have a true hidden chess piece to use to increase the family’s power. Yes, nurturing her would be good as long as she showed results. He had no need for anyone useless, even someone who shared his blood. He forced himself to adopt a face of concern as he probed her further, “And what about your sister?”
“She’s only at the Fifth Refinement stage. Her ability to harm me will be short lived, I assure you.”
He caught himself unconsciously nodding to her matter-of-fact tone before he caught himself and stopped. ‘Only’? To reach the fifth refinement stage by sixteen was considered to be peerless genius and a girl who was still crippled was saying that she’d pass her in a shorter amount of time? Even with the heavenly medicinal knowledge bound in her head could she really do it? Wouldn’t such a training pace defy even the heavens themselves?
He found himself to be weighing her words with more seriousness than he would have ever done in the past. Was it her confident tone? The assured look on her face? The way she carried herself with pride and dignity? Or was it the fact that she’d been favored by a goddess, not once, but twice in her life? He couldn’t decide but he knew that regardless of the reason why he felt that she was not speaking arrogantly, but plainly and honestly made him want to bet on her abilities to match her words.
He opened his desk and took out a small lock box before counting out a few bills. “In that case here are a few Gold Leaves. Go and buy some appropriate equipment for training with as I doubt the guard equipment will fit someone with your small frame.”
She walked forward and took the four bills from his hand, trying to determine if he’d given her a lot or a little money to aid her. “Thank you?”
Catching her confusion he couldn’t help but let out a deep laugh, “That’s right, you don’t remember this do you? The currency commonly traded are known as ‘Leaves’ from the fact that they were once made of paper covered in a thin leaf of precious metals which helped replace the use of heavier coins. Now the leaves are backed by a kingdom’s treasury and only represent the original currency and are made of an enchanted paper and written on with the use of copper, silver or gold, each representing a different amount. One hundred copper leaves is the same as one silver leaf and one hundred silver leaves is the same as one gold leaf. For an example of cost, typically the average meal of beer and a slab of roasted meat only costs about ten copper leaves.”
Her expression regained its previous almost expressionless look as understanding made the matter of the money clearer. “Are there different denominations of bills as well?”
He nodded, “Indeed. One, five, ten, twenty and fifty leaf bills exist for all three currencies, and hundred leaf bills exist for the gold bills. Furthermore the leaves are generally equivalent regardless of which kingdom you spend them in, but depending on a number of factors the exchange rate between kingdoms may change.”
She gave a slight bow in respect of his time, “Thank you for the lesson Father. I’ll depart to the market then as I seek to start as soon as Doctor Leigh has the medicine ready.”
After she left his firm face softened, “She resembles her mother so much more than she used to. It’s a shame that she had to lose herself to become stronger though. Ah, this old man is looking forward to seeing how far she can take this family.”
Not everyone who knew appreciated the changes of the Eighth Miss though, chief amongst the household being the Sixth Miss, Julianna. Several feather pillows, plates and even he top half of one of her bed posts had been destroyed in her rage in the last day. The shame of the family not only had the spine to talk back to her but to break off her own engagement without discussing things with Father? Who in the heavens did she think she was?
“Such a shameful waste of our family’s bloodline wants to challenge me? Fine. We’ll settle this permanently. I can’t continue to allow a cripple to drag our family down anymore.”
Seizing her sword she left her room to go practice. If she was going to teach the wretched girl a proper lesson it needed to be one that would leave her unable to ever try and stand up against her and the family name again. For that she needed to push herself to the Sixth Refinement level and complete the tempering of her muscles so she could crush the hateful waste completely.
As Julianna was beginning to plot and train, Emma was not standing in the market, but in front of the Temple of Healing. Her temple. Or rather one of them. The market was still an important errand but deep down she hoped this place could give her some answers on why she’d been sealed into a mortal body.
Her booted feet strode with confidence into the large building of marble and gold, ignoring the scurrying form of Amelia who was desperately trying to keep up without exposing her own Blood Force. Since when did the Young Miss have so much speed? The look on her face was one of confusion and concern as she watched the way the girl looked unhurried despite moving quick enough to cause her skirt to flutter as if she was floating along above the ground. As she was ultimately left standing behind at the entrance in confusion at the upright and straight back that the girl had compared to the slouched and timid look she once carried.
The inside of the temple was simple, with several rows of oak benches filling most of the open floor space, a deep blue carpet running down the center breaking the rows in half and the front of the room containing a simple marble altar below a statue of her. Or at least an artist’s interpretation of what she looked like before she was bound into Emma’s body. Needless to say she didn’t approve of how large they made her chest and hips, or the fact that she was depicted half shod like a girl working in a brothel. The face was a close match though, at least as close as it could be. She could guess that it was based on descriptions of her visage from her scant appearances to mortals. While she never personally visited the mortal realm it didn’t stop her from sending a small portion of herself down into their dreams to visit them with either knowledge of a cure, or personal healing when she felt like performing her role.
This had undoubtedly created a reputation of being a fickle goddess who preferred to not meddle in the mortal realm, but that was unimportant now as she was being forced to increase her meddling to a level never before seen by any of the deities.
Her feet finally stopped at the altar as she looked up into the stone eyes of the statue of herself and tried to sense something. Anything that could help answer her questions.
A candle that marked the hours slowly burnt down in the corner and after staring for an hour did she turned her eyes away as she bowed to the statue. Her face that was hidden by the motion hid the look of longing on her face for a moment before she was able to force it away and finally raise her head.
As she turned to leave the soft mewl of a cat stopped he, and she turned back to see the misty white body of a Ghost Cat on the altar, it’s own gold eyes staring into her own. Those eyes were unmistakable, as only the servants of her sister, Delia, ruler of the underworld, had the gold eyes of a deity. Only in this case they were changed from the nearly ethereal feline to an unaging existence that worked to convey messages to and from the underworld and the heavens. For one to appear in the mortal realm, much less in her own temple was no small accident, but rather something deliberately done by her sister it seemed.
“Greetings to the messenger of my Sister.” Her voice spoke not the mortal tongue, but the ancient language of the gods as she bowed to the cat whose edges were more like the wisps of mist on a lake than a solid outline making it hard to see where the cat ended and the surroundings began. The cat likewise bowed back, but did not present a message. Instead it jumped into her arms in a trail of white mist that followed it like the trail of a comet. The creature was surprisingly light in weight, but the touch of it’s body had the chill of the grave in it, that made her mortal body unconsciously tense up.
Taking advantage of Emma’s moment of surprise it immediately bit down on her wrist with enough force to drive it’s teeth through her skin and drained her of a mouthful of blood, forming a blood contract. The simple act of blood sharing was used mostly by beast trainers to form bonds with their beasts allowing them to communicate, though in that case it was usually done by draining a small amount of blood into a container and mixing it into the food of a beast while performing a ritual of sealing. It was rare for a beast to drink from the body directly to form the contract, much less for one to initiate the ritual on their own. A brief red glow passed over them and the ritual was completed without any input of her own.
“What is the meaning of initiating a blood contract?” She frowned as she looked at the creature that was curled in her arms, noting that the chilled feeling wasn’t there anymore.
Baby sister proved it was Delia who sent the cat to her temple. Only someone like her could call a tens of thousands year old woman ‘baby sister.’ And while it didn’t answer any of her questions it felt good to know that there was someone looking after her in some fashion. “Remind me to thank her in the future then. Now I’d rather you sat on my shoulder as pushing you into my bosom like this only looks like neither of us has any sense.”
Without a word the cat climbed up onto her shoulder and rubbed its cheek against her face.
“Do you have a name?”
She puzzled over it for a moment before deciding, “Well Ghost Cats aren’t really male or female so a name based on gender seems rather pointless.” She tapped her chin with one of her slender fingers as she puzzled over it for a moment before just going with the first idea that came to mind, “How about Spook?”
“Well then, let’s go. I need to go and purchase some equipment to train this body with.” She’d switched back to the common speech of the mortal realm, but Spook still understood her the same, which would help her not stand out as much. Though having a contracted Ghost Cat was going to be fairly noticeable regardless what she did as not many, to include those who studied Death Magic, would actually contract a low level beast like a Ghost Cat. Even the most debauched noble tended to leave them out of their collections only for the fact that the creature was formed from the energy of the dead and lived in graveyards and ancient battlefields where they would chase the Spirit Mice that tried to eat the dead bodies, and attack any mortal who tried to defile the graves. It was rare to see them anywhere else and with such a negative association of death and the grave they tended to be looked down on as being useless as a contracted beast who only carried ill fate for any who had them.
The partially ethereal creature suited Emma just fine though as she was widely known as a crippled waste in the capital and even if the choice in beast was odd, it wouldn’t attract as much attention as having a more powerful beast would. Instead a beast that could hide in the shadows, and slip through even the smallest spaces would suit her better. With Spook at her side she could gather information and reach spaces that she couldn’t normally, which suited her far more than something that only knew how to fight. Right now she didn’t need something that only could fight. Something that could help her watch her back was better right now.
As she left the temple Amelia stared at her in shock, “Young Miss, there’s a Ghost Cat on your shoulder!” The poor maid’s eyes were turning red as she restrained the tears of worry that threatening to form.
“I know. The Goddess Delia sent it to be my contracted beast.”
“But Miss, to be marked by a Ghost Cat is a sign of death!”
Her gold eyes pierced into Amelia’s, “Are you saying a Goddess would gift me a contracted beast only to kill me? Don’t be ridiculous. Besides, everyone besides the deities dies eventually, why should I bother with worrying about it?”
Amelia’s mouth flapped open and closed twice before she could speak, “As you say Young Miss.”
Emma chuckled at the creature’s mocking of her maid without explaining it to the woman as she turned onto the road to head towards the market.