Going through the tent cover, Veronica went to one of the cots she had set up and placed Ritalassa down. When Jack came in, she looked at him and went to her knees in supplication. "Forgive me my lord, for the things I failed to reveal to you. There is no excuse for my actions, please punish me as you see fit." Jack had stood in silence for a long time before he sat down on a cot.

"Sit down Veronica." He said in a stern voice, and Veronica sat down on the cot next to Ritalassa. "That woman called you an Awakened, and mentioned I was some sort of Herald. What did she mean?"

Taking in a deep breath Veronica said "The story of the Awakened begins in the Kingdom of Sevaris. It was a fairly minor kingdom which only had one thing of significant note. It had a fairly large mana spring from which aided their magical growth. They soon became known for the quality of mages they had."

Recalling the story, her Master had told her she continued "The Mages grew in power and soon took over the kingdom. Divine influences were gradually eliminated, the only god that was tolerated was the god of magic. It was during this time several people began to receive visions from a sleeping god about the Great One. They called this sleeping god the Herald."

"The Mages saw the visions as a source of power, for within them were fantastical ideas that improved the kingdom's magic technology by leaps and bounds. However, another group believed that they should follow the values shown by the sleeping god for that would please the Great one."

"What happened then?" Jack asked.

"Unfortunately I don't know everything. I was unable to complete all my training before my master died. What I do know is the Magic party began to perform horrendous deeds. It was the work of corruption. They viewed it as another source of power and combined it with magic. They ultimately developed a way to transform their entire body into magical energy. Very similar to how gods are formed, Seven Archmages undertook the procedure yet they also added corruption within themselves."

"What happened then?"

"Their primal urges took them over, and they became living embodiments of them."

"Like lust?" Jack said.

"Yeah, they adopted the names of what they now embodied. The Awakened who followed the values of the Herald fought the mages but lost, making them flee across the world. Soon the Kingdom of Sevaris ruled the entire continent and threatened to dominate the world."

Veronica went silent for a moment and said "The Awakened took a gamble and conducted a ritual to summon the Great One. When she appeared, the seven were ripped from their power, and the world went into a period of darkness. The armies the Kingdom of Sevaris had made went uncontrolled. The Awakened were severely damaged and went into hiding, waiting for the Herald to awaken."

"I believe I can recognize why you would think I am this Herald, but the truth is not as simple as that. Did you lie to me when I asked you about being lost in the forest?"

"I apologize for misleading you My Lord, for while I did say I was lost before your guidance, I did not mean I was lost within the forest. I did leave the caravan I was with, however I did so because I could tell you had awoken. I went to the most likely place I assumed you would appear in the world."

"How did you know that? It was only by chance I decided to make an Avatar."

"Was it My Lord? In every one of your dreams we could see you acting upon a world. It was a different world, but we knew when you awoke you would step upon our world eventually. As such, there is a limited number of places you would likely seek out first. The Temple you were fixing my lord is one of the Great Ones long lost temples. If I had been incorrect, I would have just sought you out somewhere else."

"For someone expecting me you sure looked surprised when you discovered me, and you fainted when we first met."

"Forgive me My Lord, while I am an Awakened, I have not had the chance to see a vision. My Master was the last one to receive a vision from you. She failed to inform me that you would be naked."

"I see. Then did you figure out what happened to me at that brothel?"

"With the knowledge I have now, it's pretty apparent now. But at the time it did not even occur to me. I have heard of soul parasites, but I could not even anticipate you being weak to them. How it got into you is a complete mystery to me. I will do everything in my power to extract it from you."

"I think I do know when it attached. It was when I busted open that old treasure box that was in the lake. I was assaulted by an intense sense of greed. I fought it off, but while I was distracted the lust parasite must have attached itself to me. Can you tell me what happened to your Master? What about the ritual they were attempting to do with Lord Attomas when he was a child?"

Thoughts of her last master sparked a sadness within her. "Over the years the Awakened split into several groups each with conflicting goals. Some of which abandoned the values of the herald. They became preoccupied with fully sealing away the remains of the Archmages. My Master disagreed with these tactics and went her own way."

"Years before that the betrayer was a disciple of my masters master. She was infected by her choice by a soul parasite and ended up killing her master, and heavily wounding my master. I don't know the exact ritual they were attempting with Lord Attomas, but if I had to guess the Hawke family likely has a special quality to the blood that enhances seals."

"When I was a child, my Master found me and opened my eyes to your grace. While I was not blessed with your visions, I could feel you as priests can feel the touch of their god. Unfortunately my master passed away due to ill health before she could impart all her knowledge of the Awakened to me. In truth I am only Half-Awakened, for I have not completed the ritual for the full awakening."

Jack nodded thoughtfully and met her eyes and asked "I thank you for telling me this now, but why did you feel the need to hide this from me?"

Shame for failing her lord washed over Veronica and she lowered her head "In truth I did not want to give you a reason to abandon me. When you did not recognize me as awakened, I did not see the need to point it out. Which I now see is just me being fearful of your reaction. Which only became more pronounced when you looked at me with distrust."

"I am upset that you did not trust me enough to reveal this to me, but I understand. In the future, I won't expect you to reveal all your secrets to me, but I do ask if it involves me to please let me know. What is this fully awakened ritual thing?"

"I don't know the full extent of it. It was a secret. I suspect however based on your powers, it was a form similar to that. It is possible you can find more information at my masters hideout."

"We will have to take a look later." Jack glanced over at Ritalassa and asked "You've been silent all this time Ritalassa, how have you been doing."

Ritalassa waved a tentacle and said a bit despondently "Look at my edge of my blade! It's ruined."

Veronica picked Ritalassa up and unsheathed her while she was moaning, and Jack looked down at the blade with confusion. "Am I overlooking something?"

"When I swung Ritalassa at Erica the Betrayer with the intent of cutting off her arm, she bounced off. There is a dent on her blade from the hit. I have been unable to fix it." Veronica said pointing on the edge where it was dinged up.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked in a concerned voice.

"Yeah, I'm not hurt, but look, it has ruined my ideal form." Ritalassa waved a tentacle in despair. "How can I bear to be unsheathed? My beauty has been forever tarnished." 

Jack coughed and said "You look good Ritallassa, you just need to see a blacksmith and you will be right as rain."

Thinking for a second, Veronica shook her head "My Lord it will be a bit more difficult. You will need a blacksmith that can work with magical blades. You will likely have to go to a capital to meet one."

"Don't worry Ritalassa. I also have a User that is a Blacksmith. How is your summon Inky?"

"Scared out of its mind. While the physical damage was only temporary, he still remembers the horrifying incident. He is refusing my summons for the moment. I can still speak with him, it's going to take some coaching to get him to come out."

"That is sad to hear. I do hope he feels better."

"Me too. Meantime I'm going to pick up a new summoning skill. I'm also almost at level ten of my summon familiar skill so I should be getting a new familiar soon too. You know, that fight jogged some of my memories. I remember I was at a fort near our border when I saw that cloaked man. After that I'm still blanking, but I feel like that man is the reason I'm like this today."

"Do you know anything more about these seven archmages?" Jack looked towards Veronica.

"No, other than they went mad from the power and sought to dominate the world no." She shook her head and was about to say something else when Riley called into the tent seeking Jack.

"Yeah?"

"Megan would like to speak with you now."

"Alright." Jack stood and looked down at Veronica "I'll speak with you later." He headed out and left Veronica to her thoughts. Deciding it was a good opportunity, she looked over her status.

 

 

 

Veronica saw Jack had updated her background. For the moment she began thinking of way's she could help Jack. Turning her attention to the remaining ten free skill points she still had left, they would have to be enough to find a solution to help Jack. Jack currently had three things that put him in danger. First the gods posed a threat to him. Second the archmages were proving that they were still active, and finally himself, both from the parasite that was in his soul and his own ignorance. He just wasn't that good at evaluating people.

What she required was some way to anticipate the danger and forewarn Jack ahead of time or strike down the problem herself. Looking through the skills, she didn't see what she needed until a skill related to her bloodline caught her eye.

 

 

 

While it wasn't as good as she wished, it would still be a good way to warn her of things she may not promptly see. Taking it, she felt a strange cold feeling wash over her, and then it was if she opened another eye. Shadows on the edge of her vision danced around.

Looking around the tent, she was startled when she saw a dark elf woman sitting on the cot next to her rubbing her hands along Ritalassa's blade in a really creepy manner. "Who are you?!" Veronica said startled.

"What?" Ritalassa said in confusion. The Dark Elf looked up at Veronica and frowned. Then she disappeared.

"I just saw some dark elf ghost rubbing her hands all over you." Veronica told Ritalassa.

"Ha ha yeah you're just trying to spook me."

"No, I was being serious." Veronica said, "I just got a new skill based on my bloodline. I was looking around and saw her rubbing her hands on you."

"Okay, what did that dark elf look like?"

Thinking back to what she had seen, Veronica said "It looked like a Dark elf wearing a negligee. She had pure white hair, with a blue streak in it."

"Wait a second, did this dark elf have a red left eye?"

"Yeah, now that I think about it, it did look red. Do you know her?"

"Yeah, she was my stalker."

"Your what?"

"My Stalker. My father assigned her to keep watch over me, but I found she was a bit too obsessed with me so I dismissed her. Only for me to find she still followed me all over the place. Is her spirit following me now as well?"

"It appears so. What do you want to do?"

"Can you speak with her?"

"Maybe. I'm not sure how this whole spirit thing works."

"Well maybe you can ask her what happened to me, and we can get some information."

"I don't know, she was giving me quite the evil eye. I don't think she likes me."

"Oh she probably just is having one of her jealous fits. You just need to explain there is nothing between us and she will cool down."

"What is her name?"

"Mieara Knarg"

"So did you have a lover when you were not a sword?"

"Oh no. I was strict on myself. I didn't have time for all that romance nonsense, but looking back on it, maybe I missed out on some things. What about you?"

"For me, there is and only will be My Lord." Veronica stood and said "I'm going to get something to eat. If you feel cold, it's probably her touching you again."