I sit up slowly, a dull ache fills my body but at least I don't feel like I'm burning from the inside out.
I glance down at my hands, seeing some faint red around my left index finger. There's also a small cut.
Ah. Right. I didn't fix that cut.
Oh well.
With a dull flash I summon Rendal's journal, and crack it open with the help of a bookmark I had left in it.
On the page is a large red hand print and some text.
"This concludes the section of blood magic that should be reasonably safe without any form of magic or magical blood. Once you complete the 'Rite of Magical Ascendance', please place your hand here."
A low groan leaves my lips as I reach out and place my hand on the symbol.
I flinch back with a low hiss, my hand being cut once more.
I hold my palm upwards as I gaze down at my hand, a grimace on my face as I can see further pages unlock and more text being written.
'lets see about healing some of these injuries.
I focus on the blood in my hand.
A faint golden glow appears on one of my stabbed fingertips.
'huh?'
I cast the spell again... and again... and again... and again.
Only by the fourth casting can I see what's happening.
Blood is being consumed, yes, but...This healing cantrip is barely taking a drop.
A grin crosses my lips as I continue channeling the spell over and over and over again. The cut on my palm begins steadily healing drop by drop.
Eventually, after about a minute I am left with a perfectly unmarred hand. Most of the blood has been used up as well, leaving me with only a small red tint- which I get rid of with another two castings of the spell, practically washing the blood from my palm.
I slowly clench and unclench my fist as I cup my chin... there are no pins and needles... only the dull ache from presumably my strained veins and-
I glance down at my stomach in shock.
Now... let me just say, I wasn't fat before, just sort of an average unimpressive kid.
But now? I have tightly compacted muscle, not quite a six pack but I can definitely see some definition on my stomach. I look to my arm and flex it for a moment, eyebrows raising slightly as I can see a visible bulge in my bicep far beyond what I'd normally expect.
"Hah?"
Turns out my body got a bit of a tune-up... neat... that must mean the aches are more or less just soreness from 'working out'.
I still feel a little light-headed... it seems 'Cure Minor Wounds' doesn't fix blood loss.
I swipe up the book and look over the page to see what has changed.
"The ritual seems to work as I theorized; your blood is roughly 20-30 times more magical than it was before which will allow us to make use of some more magical intensive rituals and spells. At least now you won't need to carry around entire pints of blood to cast even the most basic spells.
Additionally, you should be slowly and naturally building a natural magic pool for you to use for your magical abilities so we can move on from this blood magic as swiftly as possible. It should take anywhere from 4-5 years for it to reach an acceptable level, although continuous use of magic via blood magic should hasten the process by a not so insubstantial amount."
I... could probably use my blood to cast 'first level' spells now from my dungeons and dragons books... and that means 'Keep Watch' is within my grasp! I can basically make myself a noctus cape! Hell yeah! That's added an extra eight to ten hours to my day right there!
Of course, I can't do anything really substantial or strenuous during those eight to-ten hours, however... reading is NOT strenuous.
I'll likely need to test and see what is 'acceptable' exertion that won't break the spell. Running would likely do so, but walking to the bathroom? I don't know.
I begin quietly reading from the book, seeing what had been unlocked on the next pages.
It notes that the first thing I should do with my new power would be make a 'blood orb' out of a diamond to store my 'life essence' for casting spells.
And fuck it. I can see the appeal.
That's let me cast spells basically whenever I wanted- provided I bled on the orb in private- but the blood I would need for that is probably more than that ritual I just did that nearly caused me to faint.
I am jarred out of my thoughts as there's a knock at my door... which is odd...
The book disappears from my hand as a voice speaks through the door.
"Uh... Jayden are you up? We need to... talk..." Missy calls out quietly.
"Give me a second to put on a shirt." I reply as I sit up and walk over to my dresser, slipping on a hoodie that's still fairly loose despite my increase in bulk.
"Alright." I call out as I flatten a few creases and adjust the sleeves. The door creaks open a moment later revealing the blonde.
She slowly steps in and glances to the bed as I sit down on it.
She wanders over and takes a seat beside me, touching her fingertips together briefly before letting out a long sigh. "Jayden... I'm a parahuman. A ward. But you already figured it out, hm?"
"Yeah..." I agree after a moment.
"I'm... I'm sorry I didn't tell you." The girl whispers. "I was told not to... but... I can kind of see how it'd be... really easy to figure me out- and- and I know that's not an excuse!"
She brings her hands to her head. "Ugh! I feel like such an idiot now!"
A quiet sniffle leaves her nose as she- she actually begins tearing up. "I-I just didn't want you to get hurt... the PRT said the more people that didn't know I was a ward, the better... and- and- that sometimes villains might go after someone's family... and I don't know what I'd DO if I lost you!"
She continues in a small voice, tears dripping down her face. "It was a mistake... I-I'm sorry... please don't hate me. I-I'm so sorry."
"Missy." I sigh before reaching out and placing a hand on her shoulder. "I don't hate you, annoyed that you thought I wouldn't realize anything was amiss when one: my sister suddenly looks like she wears makeup all the time, two, she moved to THE wards school-"
"Arcaida Isn't a wards school-" She weakly protests almost on reflex only to let out a long sigh as I raise an eyebrow. "Alright... it's... a wards school..."
"And thirdly, spends pretty much ALL of the time out of the house, leaving me alone with the two bickering children that are our parents."
"You... you could have joined a club at Clarendon... that way you wouldn't be in the house that much. But... I still shouldn't have left you... they just- I just... wanted to help people... I wanted to save people Jayden... I've got these powers- Shaker Nine- which places me at almost the top of the scale of parahumans... since I've got these powers... if anything bad happens that I could have stopped- and- and I don't... it's my fault."
I sigh, tilting my head briefly before shaking it. might as well rip the band aid off.
"Ah. Issue with that. I needed all of my time... because, well, you guessed it. I'm not even going to bother hiding it. I've also got powers." I flop back, gazing up at the ceiling. "So. What now?"
"Do you want... to join the wards?" Missy slowly asks.
"Ah. My powers aren't very... photogenic." I admit after a moment.
"You're a... tinker, right?" The girl mutters. "You keep buying weird stuff online."
"I've given it some thought honestly I'd say I'm more of a trump." I answer. "Basically... around six months ago I awakened a power to summon 'books' and said books are basically just like... magic grimoires."
"Magic... Grimoires." The girl repeats with a flat expression.
"Yep. The issue was that I didn't exactly have 'magic' so. I did the only thing that I could with the resources I had. Blood Magic."
"B-Blood magic?!" The girl hisses.
"Oi. Stop thinking I sacrifice people and steal their blood. I used only my blood."
"That- IS that why you always look so pale and sick all the time?! You've been bloodletting yourself?!" The girl exclaims.
"Ah... yeah?"
"Jayden what the fuck?!"
"Oh, I'm much better now, Missy." I wave off. "I didn't go to the Prt with my powers because- well- they do sound evil, but I likely would have never gotten anything done. The past six months have been me gathering things to fix that... and I did. Last night."
I look to my hand. "My blood is now worth roughly twenty to thirty times what it was originally. Plus, if all goes well, I'll gain a little pool of energy I can use for my abilities so I won't need to stab myself anymore."
The girl looks genuinely horrified.
"Missy." I deadpan. "It's fine now. I'm at a point where I don't NEED to do it anymore. I can see your worry. Stop it. Please."
"My brother was killing himself slowly and I didn't even notice." She whispers.
"Killing myself?! What? No! I have a few healing spells... which I am now able to use far more freely because, like I said, magic blood."
"I'm such a shit sister." The girl whimpers, clutching her head, tears begin to prickle at her eyes.
I wordlessly reach up and drag her down so we're both laying sideways on the bed, our feet hanging over the edge and touching the floor. "You're spiraling. Listen to my words, Missy. No more of my blood is needed. I've got other things to do now."
She breathes heavily then exhales. "Why didn't you go to the PRT... you- you could have been given blood!"
"Because it's not very PR-friendly." I state. "Also it needed to be my blood last night... and my blood was more valuable for this stuff even before that."
"Who CARES about it being Pr friendly?!"
"The Prt." I deadpan. "It's... literally in the name. PR-T. I was also on a time limit, Missy. I needed to get what I did done before last night... the blood moon."
"Which is why you bought those rubies... and the... trees... you didn't need the trees... you needed sap which is like... tree blood... and the amber is just fossilized tree sap." The girl quietly mutters.
"Pretty much." I sigh as I sit up. "Come on. I want to show you something."
I calmly walk forwards out of the door of my room, I can hear the girl slowly following after me.
It's... pretty late. Eleven. Almost noon. But it's a Saturday so who really cares. Mom is at work. Dad is probably also working... so it's just us today.
"Man. Why don't mom and dad Divorce already?" I sigh suddenly. "Why are they being so stubborn? Why do they need to make us miserable as well?"
"I don't know." The blonde agrees a frown appearing on her lips.
"Like, I can get why Dad's pissed. I can completely understand it... he got cancer and mom betrayed him in the worst way possible. That was just... horrible... I know for a fact I would never forgive someone if they did that to me, but... he dragged us into it... and that's when I lost all the respect I had for him."
"Yeah..." She whispers. "They suck."
With that we step into the back yard, I make my way to where a few flowers are growing behind the tool shed.
There's also the numerous jars and the metal sheet.
The blood has been completely burned off it- which I'm thankful for as Missy would probably freak the fuck out.
"Ah. I need to pick that stuff up." I grab the discarded pocket knife in the grass and fold it up before tossing it on the metal sheet with a clang that causes the blonde to flinch.
I turn to the five flowers.
Two white, one grey, one yellow, and one brown.
"This right here is kind of what I've been working on."
"Flowers?"
I raise a hand and summon a book before holding it out to the girl. It's the moss-bound pages of the Lexica Botania. "This book's all about flowers and shit."
She opens it. "There's... nothing here?"
"Ah. Only I can read the books? That's a shame." I sigh. "These are mystical flowers, basically. I used a special fertilizer on totally normal seeds to give these flowers some magic."
"Then- Then why didn't you use these flowers instead of your blood?!"
"The fertilizer needed magic, Missy. Thus blood converted into magic." I answer.
"Oh..."
"Yeah." I groan. "I read through seven fucking books, Missy. That one was the most promising because the flowers can generate 'magic' and store it outside my body, but I was stopped right at the starting point because I needed just a little magic."
"Oh, and for the record, before you think I'm delusional or something. I don't think this is actually magic like Myrrdin. I just see something that seems to be mimicking what I would call magic and I'm basically just saying 'if it quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, let's just call it a duck'."
"Or, y'know Myrrdin was right and powers are magic. That's something I'm not ready to unpack." I huff as I turn back to the flowers. "My biggest issue now is the fact that it takes time for these things to grow, and I'll need to convert the petals into another flower and let that grow."
"I'm pretty sure I saw a spell in one of those books that cause plants to bloom faster but... you're not going to let me, are you?"
"What? Let you cut yourself again?! No!" She looks up from the book she was examining..
"Missy, it could probably save months if not years of work." I deadpan. "Roses take anywhere from a year to three to bloom, lillies take on average four. I legitimately can't get anything done until that happens."
"I don't care. I won't have you cutting yourself!"
"Ugh." I sigh before turning away. "Would you accept it if I had some sort of safeguard? Like... I don't know, some healer cape in the same room? You're friends with Medicia, right? Wait. You're friends with Medicia the fucking Pharmaceuticals tinker! She could have totally crated me like a pill that made me produce more blood!"
"No!"
"You're kind of being unreasonable here. People donate blood all the time. How is this any different?" I frown.
"Because their blood is being taken by trained professionals!"
"Okay. Let's just get a trained professional, then." I shoot back.
The blonde just simply crosses her arms and glares, there's a slight pout on her lips.
"Fine. Fine... let me just show you the power- not today-" I raise a hand and stop her as she starts to open her mouth. "But another day when I'm fully rested. I need time to read through that blooming spell as well."
"Jeez. It's like you think I slit my wrists or something, Missy. Frankly with the amount of blood I need now I'd be able to get it with one of those diabetes finger stabby things fairly easily and people do that all the time. Several times a day."
The blonde simply grumbles under her breath.
[Split]
I lazily spin a closed pocket knife between my fingers, we both stand in the dark, mom and dad both went to sleep over an hour ago.
It's been about a week since we've both been honest with each other, and I'm honestly kind of surprised that Missy hasn't gone to the PRT yet... but... I guess she hasn't been drinking their Kool-Aid that long.
I'm glad... I might have been a little miffed at her if she instantly turned around and forced me to join the wards...
She might have messed up a bit by not telling me, but I can tell she's genuine in trying to make it up to me. Especially the fact that I have a power that I have to harm myself to use. I sort of thought she'd immidiately turn around and go 'Help! My brother hurts himself!'
"Alright. Watch." I flick the blade out and do the smallest cut on my index finger, just enough for a single drop of blood to appear.
"See? That's it. Now." I turn, the blood evaporating as a faint glow appears around my hand. "This little thing- according to the book- is called 'druidcraft'. It's the weakest level of any spell I can do, level 'Zero' with each level beyond growing in magnitude of cost and effect."
The grey flower seems to twist as it begins slowly growing. It grows about an inch then stops.
"This power can do four things which I choose as I activate it. The first? Create a small sensory effect that can predict the weather in the next twenty four hours, perhaps a golden orb for clear sunny skies, perhaps a few drops of water for rain, maybe even a few flurries for snow."
"Next? Create some harmless effect like falling leaves, a gust of wind or a smell. After that is the ability to light and snuff out small fires, such as a candle."
"The final one, and what I am doing now, is something that causes seed pods to open, flowers to bloom, or something along those lines. I'd need to cast it several times to get what I need, but I'd imagine you'd be pretty cross with me if I did that so I haven't."
"I would." The girl frowns.
"Now. I'm going to seal the wound with another tier zero abilities I learned. Which of course, requires another drop of blood." I massage the base of my finger for a moment, causing another drop to steadily form.
With a small golden glow the slit on my finger is healed, I wipe the minor rididual blood off and show the girl my hand. "See. All healed. It's no big deal."
She seems to carefully inspect my finger, a frown still on her lips. before she quietly grumbles and turns away. "Let's go back inside... it's late... and you have no idea who might be watching you out here."
"Fine fine." I wave off.
"I still think you should go to the PRT." The girl gripes.
"At this point? Now that I can actually do something? I may. I'm just... not sure how they'd react to a parahuman that needs blood. It's not very Pr-friendly."
"You can heal." The girl stares. "There's only like... ten parahumans I can think of off the top of my head that can heal. All but four are villains. And all but seemingly Panacea have some annoying drawback or condition to their healing. Like Medicia's isn't true healing. she can make tinkertech medicine that promotes faster natural healing. There's also that one Protectorate guy who can make basically potions... but you need to drink over a liter of the stuff to get any effect at all."
"Then there's that one goat ward that can take injuries and stuff onto himself and slowly lessen their effect. But that's about it... I mean, there's that one-eyed villain bitch who can give temporary powers to people. But she only counts because one of the powers she can grant is a form of regeneration."
"Wait, you're talking about Othala? Isn't the empire classified as 'rogues'?"
"Pfft. Yeah right." She scoffs under her breath. "For PR purposes."
"Another question." I begin slowly causing the girl to blink twice and turn to look at me.
"Yes?"
"Did the Prt really name your friend 'Medicia' as sort of... an homage to Panacea? Sort of just like a 'Hey, the PRT can do it too!' Sort of hero?" I ask.
"..." she stares for a moment. "Alright. So, the one bad thing about being a Ward is definitely the Pr department. They're an absolute pain. But the perks outweigh the annoyances!"
"Just think! We can start going to school together again!"
I let out a low 'tsk'. "True... but... from what I've seen in the books I'm probably going to almost immediately want to change my look because I'll be diving into a tinker-adjacent thing once my plants grow. I don't know if they'll give me enough time to actually do what I need before they throw me to the front and center as the 'new ward'. Especially if I have a healing power."
"But... you need blood to use the healing power." The girl slowly states.
"So?" I mutter. "I doubt they'd care that much."
"But- but you could do that one thing you talked about, right? With the fire flower and the stone bowl filled with magic?"
"I can, but those will take time to grow." I admit. "Plus the pure daisy will take time to infuse normal stone into the stone I need for that."
The girl tilts her head. "But... wouldn't it be better to do it under PRT supervision instead of our backyard where any nosy neighbor could look over our fence, see those weird plants and be all 'Wait. That's not a normal flower and is that a bowl of glowing liquid'? Then people know that you are a parahuman."
"I mean... fair. But on the other hand you do know that I could legitimately pick out every single parahuman in the city in a police-style lineup with ninety-nine percent accuracy because of the whole 'Hey, we're hot' thing, right?"
"The point is to create a degree of separation. The villains probably see it too, but if they attack anyone in their home- especially a hero- then Legend takes a quick jaunt over from New York and atomizes them. It's the same for all the cities with 'Ward School's. Like the one in Texas with Eidolon, Washington with Alexandria, and Hero at North Dakota."
"That... doesn't necessarily protect you if you're not a part of the PRT though... but I'll admit, you're definitely safer because I'm here." She puffs her chest out a little, seemingly proud that her mere presence is likely protecting me from a lot of headaches in the form of villains busting down our wall and kidnapping us.
It's probably more of 'Hey, this city's like... the city where they teach Wards, right? It'd be a bad idea to go after any kid, right? Because there's a not so small chance they're actually wards and if we hurt a ward out of costume that means we get atomized by Mr. Laser one city over.'
But she is kind of right that a lot this bullshit could be streamlined by having the PRT drop materials into my lap...
"I'll think about it." I sigh. "I'll fully admit that I'd enjoy an excuse to get out of the house."
"Right?" The girl sighs.
"That ward school... they have dorms, riiiiight?" I ask slowly.
"They do... but I never asked for one because I didn't want to leave you alone with them." The girl nods slowly. "They might not let us move into any because we live in the city."
"Counter-point. I'm a healer." I smirk. "I'm not above using that to get what I want... especially when my healing requires my blood, sweat, tears, and more blood."
"Jayden I sincerely doubt they'll let you stab yourself to heal! They'll probably just fast-track you into making that magic pool or whatever and have you draw your energy from there."
"Well okay." I raise my hands nonchalantly. "But to get to that point quickly, it'll take a lot of blood probably."
"Wait- does that- does that mean you want to join the wards?! Really?!" Her eyes practically shine.
I shyly scratch the back of my head, glancing away. "I guess it could be fairly beneficial... probably easier that sneaking around and using my money to buy things."
Realistically I'm probably just going to use them until I get to the point where I can cast fifth-level Cleric Spells... at that point?
Plane Shift becomes an option.
Plane Shift becomes THE option.
Might stick around until I get 'Create Lesser Demiplane' though.
"YES!" The girl cheers only to quickly clap her hands over her mouth and look around.
It is still the middle of the night, after all.
"I'll call my handler in the morning!" She beams.
I place my hand on her shoulder before she can rush off.
I point at her, a serious frown on my lips. "Tomorrow's Sunday. Wait until Monday... so I can skip school."
She blinks twice and lets out a small huff, an amused smile forming on her lips. "Fine... Monday it is."
[Endsplit]