Jasper glanced over his stats quickly, noting with pleasant surprise that he had picked up a few more levels in Kas̆dael’s subclass. I guess she decided to reward me, even if I did kind of cock it all up.
Jasper tossed the points into inspiration and willpower and watched in surprised satisfaction as his essence and stamina skyrocketed far past what he had expected. The value of the stats after a hundred must go up again, he realized.
After messing around with the numbers a little, he came to the conclusion that the value of each point in inspiration had doubled once again, now adding 80 essence. It was a welcome boost to his mana reserves, although he had the sneaking suspicion that whatever new spells he received for his class change would require a lot more essence. With the last of his business concluded, he could no longer delay the inevitable. Knowing all too well what was coming next, his hand shook slightly as he closed the menus.
Jasper Welles
Exp: 17/5000
Health 1800
Stamina 4600
Essence 7000
Heritage(s)
Greater Djinn
Acolyte of the Secret Flame
Level: 96
Level up: x0
Hand of Kas̆dael
Level: 6
Level up: xO
Titles
The Blood Runs True
Betrothed of Kas̆dael
Survivor
Champion of Sappiya
Blessed of Hurbas̆u
Stats
Racial Traits
Class Abilities
Class Abilities
Weapon Skills
Strength 50
Scion of Flames
Shooting Star
Scales of Justice
Improvised Weaponry I
Endurance 50
Uplifted
Purge
Scourge of Despair
Sling V
Vision 20
The Broken Shackle
Eternal Night II
Hand of Judgment
Glaive VI
Inspiration 105
The Bramble Crown
Fiery Shackles II
Dagger III
Willpower 110
Locked
Seraph Burst
Charisma 38
Heart Stopper (Undead)
But the blow he was bracing for didn't come. Instead, Kas̆dael grabbed his chin, pulling his eyes up to meet hers. “Before you go, we need to talk.”
Jasper’s heart was still racing, every nerve in his body on edge, but he met her gaze cooly. “Those generally aren’t words any man wants to hear from a woman.”
Kas̆dael rolled her eyes. “I am your mistress, not one of your little vixens.”
He managed a weak chuckle. “Actually, those words aren’t so different where I’m from.”
Her lips turned down in a frown, but the light in her eyes shone more with regret than with any trace of irritation. “Tis not a pleasant thing that we need to discuss, but it is necessary.”
She paused, waiting for him to respond, and he swallowed hard, nodding quietly. Damn, she sounds serious.
“I need you to be prepared for the possibility of dying again as part of this mission.”
“No, nope, no way.” Jasper shrank away from her, as his fingers subconsciously crept up his neck to the faint scars where his head had been severed the last time. “I almost died - I mean, I did die - I mean,” he faltered struggling to express the horror that the mere thought of the Sea of Oblivion inspired in him. His skin crawled as the memory of wandering mindlessly along those icy shores flashed through his mind. “I was almost obliterated. I can’t face that again.”
Kas̆dael patted his hand. “I know it’s a lot to ask, and I hope it won’t be necessary, but if my suspicions about Yas̆gah’s identity are correct, she has not yet fully crossed the threshold to ascend to true divinity. Instead, she stands on the cusp, a ravenous demigod devouring whatever souls she can come across - whatever souls the brotherhood offers up to her. We must insure that she does not succeed in her plans.”
“And you want to offer me up?!” He protested, trying to snatch away his hand. “Hell no. Aren’t the souls of those consumed by the cultists utterly destroyed? Not dead as in the “wander like a mindless animal around a sea of destruction with a slight chance of being resurrected” dead, but dead dead?”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Normally that is the case, but I am no paltry adventurer. If Matqa wants to devour souls, then shall I give her one to feast on.” Kas̆dael grinned wolfishly, a savage light shining in her eyes, and for the first time Jasper caught a glimpse of the terrifying being that inspired such devotion in doomsday cultists.
“I'm afraid she'll find it a bit hard to digest though.” She placed a gentle hand on his cheek. "I cannot promise you absolute safety, but I believe I can protect your soul and, at the same time, use it to poison her plans."
Jasper shook his head again, feeling betrayed as he stared up at the goddess. “I don’t want to die. I already did that and, believe me, it wasn’t all it was cracked up.”
She grabbed his chin again, forcing him to meet her eyes. “Matqa’s plan must be stopped." Kas̆dael spoke her words with a quiet conviction he had really seen from her. "This is not some matter of petty divine pride, of simply wanting to keep her out of power; Matqa's plain is a real threat to the very order that sustains us all. You have in your world weapons of terrifying power - nuclear, I believe you call it?”
Jasper nodded slowly, “Yeah. How do you know about that?”
Ignoring him, she continued. “Allowing Matqa to ascend would be like letting a dangerous, megalomaniacal psychopath have their own personal arsenal of warheads. In the face of grave danger, sometimes sacrifices have to be made, but I promise you, I will do everything possible to insure you come through safely. If my plan works, you will die, but you will not die."
After a long, silent moment, Jasper shrugged his shoulders helplessly. “It’s not like I have much of a choice, is it?”
Kas̆dael shook her head. “I will not force you, Jasper; that is not my way. But I have faith that when the moment comes - if it comes, that is - you will find it within yourself to make the right decision.”
He didn’t respond as she finally pulled him into her embrace, not even screaming as her hand tore out his heart.
With a shaky breath, he opened his eyes. Ihra was standing over him, having insisted this time on keeping watch. “Well, did you get anything good?”
He took a moment to compose his thoughts, trying not to dwell on what Kas̆dael had asked of him. He just wasn't ready to talk about it.
“New racial trait,” he grunted, trying for the first time to activate the ability. He had never cast a spell using his stamina pool before, and he found the new mana type responded slightly differently than essence. Whereas his essence flowed through him, like a calm, steady mountain stream, the stamina moved more erratically, resisting his initial efforts to corral it. But eventually, he managed to snag a strand of the essence, forcing it through the runes on his hand as the spell activated. “Bramble Crown,” he whispered.
A thin, rough bark quickly blossomed from the pale, blue tattoos on his hands. The bark spread rapidly across his body, covering his torso and limbs in a protective film, although it did not - much to his surprise, cover his head. Nor, for that matter, are there any signs of thorns. Mostly pale, the streaky white bark reminded him of the picturesque birch tree, but it was not all what he had expected.
“Is that…the bramble crown?” Ihra asked hesitantly.
Jasper moved his arms slowly, pleasantly surprised at how much mobility they offered. It might have looked like wood, but it certainly wasn’t constraining. “Yeah, I’m not quite sure what the crown in the name is referring to. Maybe something from a future evolution? Or maybe just because it's a perk connected to the royal family?” He shrugged. “Why don’t you hit me?”
A momentary flicker of confusion passed over her face, but Ihra complied with his request. Almost faster than he could see, her hand flickered out, catching him directly in the nose.
“Ouch,” he yelped. He leapt back, holding onto his bleeding nose, as he stared at her accusingly. “The armor. Hit me in the armor. Why would you hit me in the face?”
She blushed. “Oh. I thought it was one of those armors that improve as you get injured, you know, like a bloodied build?”
“Well, actually,” he admitted, “I suppose that's not the worst idea, but,” he examined the thin bark that covered his body again, “it doesn't seem to haven't gotten any thicker. Just trying hitting the armor this time.”
The initial tests were quite unsatisfactory. The wood splintered and chipped quite rapidly beneath her blows. Ihra was strong, certainly stronger than the average level of the population, but Jasper couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed. “I don’t get it,” he complained ruefully. “Kas̆dael said this was a prized trait of the royal family, but honestly, the armor seems like crap, especially for the high casting cost.”
“Maybe it massively improves on evolution?” She suggested tentatively.
“Maybe.” He flopped into a nearby chair, idly letting a small trickle of fire flow across his fingers as he gazed discontentedly at his new perk. As the fire brushed across the wood, the thin white bark darkened, but not as if it was being burnt. Silver strands spread across its face wherever the fire touched it. “Wait a minute.” Willing more essence through his hands, he allowed the fire to spread up his arms, turning the white bark into a constellation of silver and ivory. “Try again.”
This time the armor held. Sure, it eventually gave way beneath Ihra’s blows, but it was more than strong enough to turn at least the first few arrows that came his way. “You’d think the description would tell you that,” he groused, but truthfully, Jasper was just glad the trait wasn’t a waste of an upgrade.
“True, but as a family trait, that knowledge is probably expected to just be passed down. Do you think-" Whatever Ihra was going to say was cut off as a series of sharp raps echoed off the thick wooden doors of the manor. Or, at least, that was what Jasper thought at first. He waited a moment for one of the servants to come and open the door, before remembering that they had already departed for the night. The raps echoed through the room again and, heaving himself off the cozy couch, he headed for the door. The old wooden door of the manor creaked loudly as he nudged it a few inches open, peering outside cautiously.
No one was there, and he opened the door a little further, swiveling his head from side to side as he looked for any sign of visitors. Do they play Ding Dong Ditch in Corsythia?
As he held the door open, the rapping sounded again, but this time he could tell that it was definitely coming from further inside the house.
“Uh, Jasper?” Ihra’s voice drifted out to him. “You might want to come and see this.”
Closing the door quickly, he rejoined her in the salon. But the room had changed in the few seconds he was gone. A small section of the wall had disappeared, replaced by a gaping maw of darkness.
"What happened?"
Ihra shrugged. “Not sure. As soon as you left the room, this little panel in the wall just opened up.”
Jasper approached it cautiously, peering through the small hole. Barely more than a foot and half in width, he could see a cramped flight of stairs leading down into the darkness before he retreated back into the light.
Again, the knocking sound rang through the room, this time clearly drifting up from the darkness pooling beyond the panel, and just for a moment the image of a man appeared. Too tall to properly fit in the cramped space, his shoulders so broad that he was forced to crouch diagonally, the translucent figure turned to face them.
Jasper stumbled back, his heart beating rapidly as the ghost stretched a single hand out and, silently, beckoned them to follow. It vanished a moment later, and the knocking begin again. He stared down at the dark passage, dread pooling in his heart. But the knocking would not cease, and it became clear what he needed to do. “Damn it,” he sighed, grinning ruefully at Ihra. “I guess we’re going to have to see what the ghost wants. Hopefully, it takes after Casper.”
Ihra shook her head, a bemused grin on her lips. “One of these days,” she threatened, “one of these days, I’m going to tie you to a chair and make you tell me everything about your world till it actually makes sense.”
“Good luck with that,” he jibed back.
“Hey now, I’m stronger than you, so I like my chances. Plus, you would want really want to use your spells on a friend, would you?” She batted her lashes exaggeratedly, and Jasper burst out laughing. But a moment later, his eyes were dragged back to the dark tunnel as another series of raps echoed up from the shadowed corridor. “I guess we can't just keep it ignoring,” he said reluctantly, not enthused in the slightest about venturing into the darkness again away. He waved his hand at the tunnel, gesturing for Ihra to proceed. “Women and children first.”
Ihra’s eyebrow quirked up. “Oh? And why am I being lumped in with children?” Her tone was still mostly playful, but there was a subtle undercurrent of irritation.
“Uhh-” Rather than finding a response, Jasper decided to take the lead, plunging into the darkness. I never thought I'd be as dumb as a horror movie protagonist, but here I am. Despite his doubts though, the frantic beating of his heart was already beginning to calm down. He had no way to explain it, but somehow, in that split second of seeing the ghost, he had gotten the very strong impression that it meant him no harm, that it simply wanted to show him something. He would have just to hope his intuition was correct.
It was a tight squeeze into the passage and, like the ghost, Jasper was forced to edge down sideways, inching his way down the narrow stairs. The passage was roughhewn, the walls so haphazard that he doubted they had been made professionally, and his armored tunic scraped noisily against the rough walls of the passage whenever the confines narrowed. Fortunately, it wasn’t a long trek into the darkness. The steps quickly curved, torquing into a tight spiral, before finally opening up into a small room.
He let his essence spill across his hands, lighting the room up, as he searched the room in vain for any sign of the ghost. But the shadowed corners hid nothing but cobwebs and dust. Indeed, the room was entirely empty save for a small bed, a desk, and its accompanying chair. And one more thing, he realized after a moment. Laying on the desk, covered in a thick layer of dust, was a small, leather-bound book.
The book quivered as Jasper reached his hand toward it, bouncing up and down on the wooden desk, producing the now familiar knocking sound. He yanked his hand back, staring down at the book uncertainly. Is it a mimic? Some sort of cursed object? The thumping ceased as the book stilled and Jasper reached out his hand again, but Ihra grabbed his hand. “Let me get it. I’ve got higher vision than you, so if it’s trapped I might be able to avoid it.”
The book remained inert as she grabbed it, unwinding the leather knot that bound its cover. “Well?” he asked.
She hesitated. “It’s just a journal, but…” She flipped through the pages more quickly. “I think you'll be interested in what it has to say. Might just give you some of those answers you’re looking for.”