Shit. Shit Shit Shit.
My head throbs, my body aches, I feel sick to my stomach. There's an audible domestic dispute muted by the walls of my room.
I sit up, the room sways, I feel my insides lurch, an empty butter bucket sits beside my bed, presumably something for me to puke into.
My name is Jayden Biron. I died once and reincarnated. I am currently thirteen years old. Twin to one Missy Biron... who triggered two months ago.
Triggered?
Triggered what?
I clutch my head in my hands as the fighting continues, a low groan leaving my lips.
The headache lessens, the world itself seems to stop swaying like it's a massive boat.
'Oh... I'm in a world where superheroes exist...'
My sister is a superhero.
One of the teenaged ones.
A 'Ward'.
And my family...
Didn't tell me...
Wow...
That... hurts... to be completely and totally honest.
Do they think I'm stupid or something?
That I wouldn't notice how my twin suddenly goes from a fairly average girl to full-on airbrushed and edited looks like she were some sort of supermodel?
Parahumans when they trigger- er... 'Awaken'- become more attractive, it's a fact of this world.
This fictional world I now find myself in.
Triggering isn't... really a thing... it's awakening now... which kind of just happens because of high emotions now. Less 'worst day ever' now more of a coin flip. Be it uplifting news, intense focus in a sport, or something else like that.
Or, y'know... it could still be your worst day ever.
I think Missy had an event like that.
Wow.
My new parents fucking suck.
First the father gets cancer, then the mother cheats on him with his brother, he gets rid of our dogs, and it just goes on and on.
They put on this mask when we go outside, acting like we're a perfect nuclear family.
We get home and it's all shouting and using me and my sister as objects to hurt the other parent.
'oh, Jayden, your father forgot to pick you up' like she just didn't tell him that she wasn't going to be able to.
'Jayden, Missy, your mother didn't want to come here and eat with us, she's just too busy for us.' Be less blatant in your hatred of her, why don't you? I doubt he told her we were going out to eat either aside from like... a sticky note on the fridge merely to prevent her from calling the cops and saying that he was 'kidnapping' us.
"Jayden!" My brow twitches slightly as my door is thrown open.
I wish she would learn to knock.
"I heard you were sick- are you okay!? And-"
She flinches suddenly, then quickly looks over me, seemingly scrutinizing me deeply.
Her lips thin before turning downwards. "Are... you alright?"
From behind her I can hear shouting. My egg donor it appears to be. "What have I been doing?! I've been taking care of our son! Not like you care!"
"Oh so NOW you care about our son?! Where were you yesterday?! No doubt sleeping with your boss you fucking whore! Him staying out in the cold, waiting for his shit mother is probably why he’s sick in the first place!" And there is the sperm donor.
"Close the door." I deadpan. "I can't hear myself think."
My door slowly creaks shut, muting the voices... but we can both still hear them.
Missy walks over, looking over me with an inquisitive stare.
She places the back of her hand on my forehead.
"You don't have a fever... but..." She seems to observe my face closely. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine... better than a good thirty seconds ago where I was motion sick merely from laying in the bed." I grumble, bunching up my blankets and crawling back under them as the blonde takes a seat on the foot of the bed. "With mom and dad at work at least there's nobody here to fight over how the silverware goes in the drawer. When they’re here? Definitely not helping my headache."
"Have you noticed anything... strange?" She asks slowly. "Around the house, I mean."
"I've been in bed all day so I wouldn't know." I reply.
"..."
"..."
"o...kay..." The girl eventually mutters.
She scratches the back of her head briefly, glancing away. "You... know you can tell me anything, right?"
"I know." I simply nod.
"..." I can see a flash of guilt cross her face before she quickly turns away. "Right! Well, I'm glad you're feeling better, Jayden... I've got some homework to do... uh... I'll let you rest."
With that she quickly retreats from my room.
[Split]
I stare up at the ceiling, my lips a thin line.
'I am so fucked...'
A book rests on my lap. The title reads 'Lexica Botania '.
I have powers.
Yes, actual powers.
Magic powers to be specific.
Slight issue.
I have no magic.
Now, you might be asking 'didn't you just say that you have powers? How do you have magical powers but no magic?'
I can summon books. Magical books to be specific.
Magic books that teach me how to use magic.
Provided I have magic. As in a magical container.
I followed this book perfectly. I looked inside myself, meditated, breathed deeply, tried to feel that 'spark within'... and... nothing.
Not even a drop. It's not like I didn't give it enough time. It's like... an inherent knowledge that I just don't have it.
And fine, whatever, that's bullshit, but I can make this shit work if I try hard enough!
And for a second? I thought I found a solution. The Lexica Botania. The art of creating flowers to generate magic to store in mana pools! I could totally use this! The lack of magic wouldn't be nearly as much of an issue if I generated magic as a physical liquid that I could store outside my body!
Now. How do I get a mana pool?
Living stone.
How do I get living stone?
Create a magical flower to purify regular stone.
How do you make that flower?
Firstly, you need a 'petal apothecary' filled with water.
I could reasonably just substitute a bird fountain. Not a massive issue.
Next? A seed to become the catalyst for the 'Pure Daisy'. Once more. No issue. I could grab some seeds at the store.
After the seed?
Mystical White Petals. A fair bit of them. About two flowers worth.
Now. How do I GET. Mystical white flowers to get petals from?
Floral Fertilizer spread over the seeds of mundane flowers which are white in some way. Be it lilies or white roses, or something else.
How does one acquire floral fertilizer?
Bonemeal, A fair bit of RED AND YELLOW plant based dye- it has to be specifically those two colors- annnnnd magic to kickstart the reaction.
Fucking... magic.
It was soooo promising as well! The only issue with it would be the ludicrous growth time for all of the flowers I'd need.
But it had REAL potential. Such as transmuting objects into superior ones such as iron or steel into Manasteel.
A long sigh leaves my lips as I will the book to disappear. I've gone through like... seven books at this point. All of them completely unhelpful.
I can feel that my magic hammerspace doesn't have that much more to offer. After this there's another book and something that feels pretty large.
I summon the final book, hoping and praying for it to be even MILDLY useful.
"I am the great and powerful Wizard Rendall! I have many titles but Rendall Othric Balthazar is who I shall always be!"
"..."
This is more akin to a diary than a spellbook...
"I do not know how long it has been since I have written this, but if you are reading this, PROBABLY me. Something must have gone wrong. You know as well as I (Or you don't. You could have lost your memories or this book could have reasonably found itself into the hands of someone who is not me, in which case, allow me to say... Hello! Magic is real!) that I have filled this book with things to help me get back onto my own two feet should I be forced to pull a reincarnation gambit... AGAIN.
So. This book houses basically everything you'll ever need. Ritual guides, my notes from when I was still a student at the magical academy, or notes on just whatever spell might have caught my fancy as I traveled around.
Now, you know the deal, please turn the page and place your hand in the hand-shaped mark."
I turn the page and- well... he wasn't wrong. That is a hand-shaped mark. It's blue ink lettering in a palm-print shape.
I glance down to my palm, then to the handprint. 'so... I just put my hand there? Alright. Maybe this will let me use-'
My hand comes to rest in the palm print.
"FUCK!" I hiss as my hand twitches, I rip my hand back, glaring down at my hand.
It looks like someone slashed my palm with a knife then poked the tips of each of my fingers with a needle.
'son of a fucking-'
I rocket out of bed, palm facing upwards as I quickly make my way to the bathroom.
Opening a bandage with one hand is a flat-out pain in the ass. My hand stings enough to briefly tear up my eyes.
I finally manage to bandage my hand, one Band-Aid on each finger and a larger one across the palm of my hand.
That one is going to SUCK to scab over and heal.
My eyebrow twitches as I turn and trudge back to my room. I'm honestly thankful that I'm alone right now. Missy's at her 'club' and mom and dad's at work, leaving me alone in the house.
I stomp into my room, glaring at the closed book which I had tossed aside in my earlier pain.
I re-open it.
The blue handprint outline is now red, some red text has formed on the page. Presumably from my blood.
"HAH! Get pranked! I made those runes blue to trick anyone who isn't me into not thinking they were about to get their blood taken! Everybody thinks 'oh boy this is going to hurt' when they see a red hand print, but blue?! Blue is nice. Calm. And peaceful."
This Rendall guy's kind of an asshole.
"Between you and me, it hurts less when you're not expecting it. So this was more for your sake than my funny joke... Totally.
Anyways, we're kind of in a shitty situation. You have no magic at all zilch. Nada. Nothing. You're bone dry, Amigo, and there's not even a drop of magic in the air for you to piggyback off of.
SO! We've gotta do this the hard way. You know it as well as I... Blood Magic. Proceed to page 37461"
"Shit." I curse under my breath.
That... is going to be a pain in the ass. Or... well... hand...
I really didn't like getting my hand jabbed by this shitty book, but you're telling me now my path to power is self harm?
Also. Page thirty thousand? This book doesn't look like it has five hundred pages, let alone several thousand.
Flip flip flip. This is going to take a while... I wonder.
"Page Thirty seven thousand four hundred and sixty" I whisper into the pages.
I blink twice, watching the pages quickly begin to flip. A cacophony of rustling paper fills my room.
You know... this book is clearly magic... why the fuck can't I just use THIS to power whatever rituals I need?!
I let out a long sigh as the page I asked for slams open and begin to read.
"Blood magic in its most basic form is the art of transforming the crimson life-essence of every living being into a myriad of effects, powers, items, and even magic itself. I myself have not had truly that much experience in actually using blood magic, I'm not a masochist, after all, and I have large enough magical reserves to not ever need to worry about transforming blood- be it my own or that of another creature- into magical energy.
But. I learned this magic anyways as it could theoretically be one of the few methods to use magic in an otherwise magically barren world. Enough-so to at least allow me to get my feet under me in the arcane department... Rituals. Bound weapons. Alchemy. Spells. It should be more than enough to create a powerbase."
Before I get into this, let me just check the final item, maybe it'll give me something!
With a flash a large bag- shaped kind of like a duffelbag- appears on my bed.
I reach out and try to unzip it.
The zipper doesn't budge as a thought comes to the forefront of my mind...
I need magic to open this.
FUUUUUCK!
[Split]
Another pointless day at school. It used to be somewhat worthwhile, but with Missy moving up to Arcadia, the 'No this totally isn't like one of four places in the ENTIRE country we send wards to learn how to be a hero' school... I'm more or less left alone..
Now I'm just resting in my room.
I look down at my hand with a grimace, there's a faded red line on my palm. It still hurts. But it's scabbed over and has started to heal.
That has taken about five days. Five days of my hand aching every time I try and use a pencil.
Five days of reading that diary silently bemoaning every single small tidbit that makes this look more and plausible to work.
I don't WANT to cut myself to get any sort of power! What the fuck?! Why couldn't I have gotten some like... soul-power that let me convert my life-force into the magic I need at the cost of dying slightly sooner?
I mean, I could have TOTALLY find a way to fix that.
I don't like pain.
Pain sucks.
But it looks like the only way forward for me if I don't want to die horribly... is slicing my fingers, palms, and wrists to get that good-good red stuff.
The issue is just... how MUCH blood I'll need.
Not all blood is equal.
Animal blood is worth the least. Human blood is next. And MY blood in particular is the best for any blood magic that I personally attempt.
Of course I'm not including anything utterly impossible for me. Dragon blood is of course worth far more than even mine, but dragons don't really... exist... nor any supernatural creatures.
I... suppose I could see if Parahuman blood does something? I imagine that'd be worth more than random joe schmoe on the street.
Anyways.
According to the book, if a drop of animal blood is a 'One', a drop of human blood- or sentient creatures in general that do not have inherent magic- is roughly a thirty to forty, while a drop of MY blood for MY spells would be about a fifty.
Freshness also matters.
Right from my finger has about ten times the energy of something that has sat out for an hour.
SO. I need to either get into contact with a butchery or a hospital.
Issue with that.
Well, actually several issues with that.
I'm thirteen years old. I live with people. A hospital won't just give me a blood bag if I ask for it. I have no money to buy blood- let alone answer the questions as to why I'm buying it annnnnnnd... I'm thirteen years old. That last point demands restating.
My options?
I could go to the Prt...
But I'd imagine them seeing me as some sort of 'Blood Tinker' would ABSOLUTELY raise some red flags. Not to mention the whole 'magical plants' thing as I plan to get into that magical botany book as soon as I physically can. I'd likely never get ANYTHING done.
Frankly? I need some sort of building.
There's a few rituals I could do in order to speed some things up. But some of the materials are... kind of hard for me to come by.
First off. Blood Ruby.
I need blood rubies. several that's fairly large at that.
And Blood Rubies are apparently the RAREST and most valuable color grade of the gemstone.
Impossible.
That's the best ritual, the one that should theoretically give me magic... or at the very least make my blood a magical reagent comparable to the blood of magical creatures. That's not even mentioning all the other junk I'd need for the ritual.
There's some other rituals that can give me beneficial effects as well.
There's one that requires a few pounds of axolotl flesh... but those are critically endangered.
Not much better is one that requires four blue whale hearts eight giraffe and sixty-four hummingbird hearts.
Those seem to be the only other 'self enhancement' rituals that I can feasibly access as I am now. The first being something give me a mild regeneration factor and the second increases just how much 'blood' I can keep contained in my body and lets me more or less freely control my blood pressure.
The main issue with those three rituals is how much of my own blood I'll need in order to draw the ritual circle... also the space required.
'Ugh'. A groan leaves my lips as I rub my head, silently willing the book away... and not a second too soon apparently.
"Hey, Jayden?" My door swings open, causing my eyes to stray to the blonde who once more does not know how to knock.
"Knock first." I deadpan, placing a hand on my thudding heart. "You scared the shit out of me!"
"S-Sorry!" She winces, giving me an apologetic smile. "Anyways I'm going to take a shower... uh... can you listen for a knock? Some of my friends are coming over."
"Alright." I shrug. "I'll move to the living room for a bit."
I rise to my feet as the girl disappears down the hallway into the bathroom. I turn and walk into the living room and sit down, gazing up to the tv sat on the other side of the room.
A thought occurs as I reach for the remote.
That book... didn't specify if those pigeon-blood rubies had to be... natural...
Could synthetic work?
Synthetic gems in general are a lot cheaper if I remember correctly.
I could probably buy some with MY allowance.
Another hurdle would be that I need gold dust. I'm not exactly sure how much I'll need nor how expensive it'll be... I'm guessing anywhere from five hundred to a few thousand dollars worth. Then I'll need a piece of amber, then sap from a redwood tree... that'll be really hard to get... mainly because California is LITERALLY on the opposite side of the country.
Then the sap from a Yew tree and a Willow Tree
And finally, Rowan tree resin.
Ironically the Rowan might be the most important as it is commonly associated with protecting from 'Dark Magics'
And after that...
When's the next blood moon?
I guess I'll need to go to the library soon.
*Knock* Knock *Knock*
I tiredly wipe an eye as I stand up, making my way to the door.
I open it just a crack, before closing and opening it fully.
Two blonde girls are on the other side, the first slightly taller than the other, both have that airbrushed 'seems to be wearing makeup but it's actually all natural' look to them.
They're both probably parahumans.
Hell, I bet there's a not so insignificant portion of the population in Brockton Bay that IS parahuman because, as previously mentioned, Arcadia is one of four 'ward schools' a la UA from My Hero Academia.
"Are you two Missy's friends?" I ask blandly.
The first blonde is a bit taller than the second, she has freckles and bright green eyes. The other is relatively shorter, but her most striking feature would be that she has Heterochromia. One blue eye, one green.
Frankly? That must be a total bitch to disguise when they say 'its ward'n time' and go out to ward all over the place.
After all, how many people have Heterochromia?
More specifically how many people in Brockton Bay... who are also blonde and fair skinned.
"Yep!" The freckled blonde announces, her eyes seemingly sweep over me, seeming to study me. "That's us! You must be Missy's brother. She talks about you a lot, y'know?"
"Mn. I didn't." I reply as I step aside, allowing the two girls in.
"My name is Lisa." The freckled blonde smiles a slightly fox-like grin before she gestures to her friend. "And this is Riley."
"Hello?" Riley weakly waves.
"Pleasure to meet you. My name is Jayden." I nod once. "Anyways, Missy's in the shower, I've got to get to the Library to do a little research."
"Reeeesarch?" Freckle girl, Lisa smiles
"Worldbuilding for a novel I plan on writing." I casually explain.
I... actually do plan on writing one.
Could be a good excuse for Missy if she ever finds anything I've laid around that look arcane in nature.
"Bye." I offer a single wave over my shoulder as I click the door shut behind me.
[Split]
A blonde runs her hands through her wet hair, a sigh leaving her lips as she sits on the foot of her bed. She looks over to the other two blondes. "So? Lisa? Is he a parahuman?"
The freckled girl tilts her head, tapping her chin. "Well... going off his appearance alone... maybe? He was pretty tired, but he didn't walk like he had some sort of super strength or super speed. He just seemed... normal..."
"I actually didn't get much of a read on him, he seemed kind of... not quite irritated? More... distant?" Lisa shrugs. "Do you have any reason to think he's a parahuman?"
"W-Well..." Missy begins.
Riley cuts in with a small amused grin, eyes half-lidded. "Are you trying to find a way to say 'He's hot now' in other words?"
"NO!" The original blonde gasps, sounding horrified.
"Well... not exactly?" An embarrassed blush crosses her face. "It's not like... I'm attracted to him, it's like... seeing a stained glass window and thinking 'Wow. That's pretty' then realizing 'wait. Wasn't this a normal window when I went to school this morning?' It's not MY fault parahumans get prettier when they get their powers!"
"Well, if you won't say it. I will." The girl with heterochromia decides. "He's kind of cute... but I'm not sure if it's 'Parahuman' cute."
"I have power induced asexuality." Lisa huffs, crossing her arms over her chest. "But... his face is pretty symmetrical. Even if I couldn't get much of a... read... hm..."
Her face falls slightly, as she seems to ponder something, gazing at Missy.
"What?" The wet blonde raises an eyebrow, causing the thinker to snap out of her daze.
"Oh! Sorry, I was just thinking... ah... I don't exactly know how to say this... but... um... thinking on it... and more so reading you than him... uhhh..." Her voice dies out briefly as she tries to find a gentler way to word her suspicions. "And I may be completely wrong here buuuut..."
"What?" Missy deadpans as Riley slowly looks between the two. "What is it?"
"It's just that... uhm... you two don't really... share a similar facial structure? I mean, not as much as you should?"
"..."
"Okay?" Missy blinks. "I'm a girl and he's a boy. That makes sense."
"..."
"Seeing as how you aren't reacting you clearly don't understand." Lisa sighs. "What I'm trying to say is that it... could be possible that you're not... related?"
Missy stills, eyes growing wide. A barely audible whisper leaves her lips. "What?"
"But- but we're twins... that- you- you're wrong!"
"I could be!" Lisa quickly raises her hands placatingly. "That's just the impression I got from looking closer at the two of you.
Missy's eyes frantically dart around the room. "We've always been twins! How can we not be related! That- that doesn't make any sense!"
The freckled blonde raises her hands. "Hey, I'm just saying a random suspicion that popped into my head I could be completely and utterly wrong."
"You're WRONG!" Missy declares. "How could you not be?! Did my parents accidently swap one of us at birth? Did they steal a child?! Why hasn't this come up in bloodwork before?!"
"Have... you been to the doctor or the hospital... like... in a long time?" Riley mutters.
Missy's lips thin before she shakes her head. "NO! I refuse to think about this anymore! He's my brother! That's all there is to it!"