Modification gained!
Rune cast < $Plug.in$ < |Mark of the Belong to None|
Creating skill: Consuming modification {output{ !
Skill gained!
Taste the forbidden
Celia’s new skill slammed into her mind with an overpowering wave of knowledge. Designs and formulas used in the construction of runes. Dark techniques which forged weapons and armor and more. Every bit of knowledge about every piece of ‘technology’ that the parasite she had just eaten had ever eaten. Which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn’t much. But it did teach her a few basic runes.
Runes, which were the names of the magic symbols that the Parasites had used against her. There were four that she now knew in total. Ice, fire, gravity, and lightning. And with the knowledge of the runes came a basic and very rudimentary understanding on how to twist them into actually applicable forms. Like a blast of fire, or making basic shapes of ice and very simple things along that line.
So, as a test of sorts, Celia constructed an ice rune slashing her fingers through the air to form the general shape. And with it she formed herself a chair. A very simple, yet sturdy looking, chair. She then took a seat in her simple blocky chair, and quickly discovered that she was - in fact - quite a bit wider than she thought she was. And that she probably shouldn’t have given it armrests.
Fortunately a quick application of fire, from a rune and not her candle hearth, saw her melted free. Hips happily enjoying the ample breathing room standing provided them. And well, one thing led to another, and Celia soon enough found herself staring at her own reflection in a mirror made of ice and floating a foot off the ground via a few gravity runes placed at its corners.
The woman she saw looking back at her barely resembled what she expected to see.
She was bloodied, had four arms, and was seven feet tall. Her old somewhat petite figure was buried under several layers of scale, leather like armor, and - she didn’t want to say fat - softness. Her hips were wide enough to make her feel like a human shaped vase. And a very bottom heavy one at that. Then there was her butt, which was definitely not small. Nor was her middle, which was at the very least kinda chubby.
All in all, Celia was a much heavier woman than she remembered being. Heavier than the last time she checked. And a lot heavier than when she was still human.
And that thought gave her pause.
When had she fully stopped thinking of herself as human? A part of her wanted to say when she met Jonah. A smaller, far more cynical part said when the parasite got to her. The other her’s however, had a very different answer in mind.
The first evolution. They said. Back when we were born.
Celia didn’t argue it. Though, she wasn’t sure she fully agreed either. In fact, she wasn’t sure she even wanted to know if that was true or not. So, she returned to her reflection, stared at her singular eye for half a minute, and finally allowed the mirror to melt away. The ice it was made up of consumed in a burst of flame, runes and all liquefying into a puddle at her feet.
And she found Haet standing in the doorway beyond. His huge hulking form casting a shadow over the door. Eyes stalks slowly taking in the wrecked state of the armory. Everything from the fallen racks to the missing weapons and bits of shrapnel littering the floor. Before his gaze returned back to her, standing in the middle of it all.
“I can explain.” She said, hands raised innocently. “There were some… parasites. And, well, I, uh, took care of them for you guys. Oh, and I found the sword you bought me!”
Haet blinked. “Parasites?”
“Yeah. They, um, had like stingers and a, uh, centipede like body. Do you know what a centipede is actually? Nevermind, but they had a lot of legs and I think they were eating some of the weapons in here. Well, they did.”
“Ah. Haet knows. Vermin. No name but vermin. Good.”
And then, without another word, Haet walked off. Leaving Celia alone in the armory for a second time. Only for her to leave the room behind not long after herself. Following Haet back to where he kept watch over the still unconscious form of Dreg. Fallen companion laid out atop a table of bone.
There, they remained in silence. Not a single word spoken between the two as they gazed upon Dreg.
Celia did so with regret. A budding feeling of failure taking root in her heart. Whispering into her ear how she had failed him, how she had failed herself, and was no closer to the portal she had initially come to find. Which was true. It was a fact she couldn’t deny. She had failed. It was her fault that Dreg was in this condition. And she was no closer to the portal then when she got here.
Yes, she was stronger. Less of the woman she had been before. More capable. But at what cost? And more importantly, if she was no longer even human, did getting home even matter? Was it worth it?
Celia! Calm down. We can ask ourself these questions later, for now you nee-
“Haet has question. Where from?”
“Like, where am I from?”
He nodded. “Always speak of home. Says it different. Not like Beyond. Haet… curious.”
And so Celia started talking about home.
