Chapter 93: New Ink
ck swirls of ink rotated around Lnd’s crow tattoo. It moved through his skin like a worm in soil or a dolphin swimming through a swamp. Fit with bramble and thorns, the new tattoo wrapped itself into the crow’s talons like a wreath, giving the bird a proper ce to stand. Still it shifted through different designs, some organic, trees and bushes, others abstract like broken slivers of dark iron.
It moved and changed, never resting for more than a few seconds before moving through his skin again. It didn’t hurt any longer, not that Lnd cared. No, he was too focused on the smug expression his crow tattoo had taken on.
The small bird asionally pped its wings or silently cawed, obviously happy with whatever changes were ripping through its host’s body.
“You alright?” Glenny asked.
Honestly Lnd didn’t know. He wanted to say no. He wanted to exin that he felt more vited than he seemed. Yet he couldn’t. He knew he should, as an unknown magical item suddenly bing one with him was usually cause for concern. But the Lord of Curses seemed to be happy with this <em>change</em>, so why shouldn’t he?
Unless his Lord misled him and actively sought to end his life, Lnd couldn’t bring himself to worry about the tattoo. Not when he had a hypothesis to what the tattoo actually was. That was forter, though. When the ink finished moving around and when he could actually activate the magic it held.
“I think so,” was all he said.
“It’s not hurting?”
“Not anymore.”“What does it do?”
That, Lnd hesitated to answer. He had an idea, yes, but he didn’t want to say it aloud. Not because he thought hispany would make fun of him or call him mad, but rather because if he exined and turned out to be wrong, then well… the disappointment might be worse than being incorrect. Still, he couldn’t just not answer.
“When the ink was within the scroll, it was a summoning circle. A ritual, one that summoned something I did not recognize. And well, it might be the same but just on my hand.”
Floe, and her massive size, rxed. She had rushed to Lnd when he screeched in pain, but seeing that he was <em>fine</em> now, she backed up a bit. Humans were warm blooded after all, she’d hate to kill the boys by lowering their body temperatures just from being adjacent to them.
“In matters such as this, I have found the best course of action to be research,” she said. “I would advise you <em>not to </em>try and summon the tattoo’s ability. Not without more understanding.”
Lnd didn’t answer, only looking from the mother bear to his hand. Glenny, however, did. “What do you mean? You think it might be dangerous? I thought summoning rituals had safeguards in ce for the caster?”
“They do,” Lnd muttered with a grimace.
“Correct,” Floe replied. “But Lnd and I both did not recognize the symbol in the scroll. What happens if the ritual summons, say… a demon? Or a voidling? Those safeguards you spoke of are for <em>lesser</em> beings, those that can be summoned with household objects as opposed to the more dastardly.”
“Dastardly?” Glenny asked, looking between the bear and his friend.
Lnd answered, “As in sacrificing people, magical monsters or beasts, or…” he said the next word with quiet aversion, “<em>souls.”</em>
Floe nodded along, hearing every single word. “Souls. Yes. Just like the ones <em>you</em> summon and extract.”
Would the Lord of Curses be that sadistic to use souls for something like that? Lnd honestly didn’t know, not when he could consume souls for power. He knew, however, that the soul was reincarnated when he did that Would it be the same for the tattoo? Would the Curse Lord celebrate something like that?
Thinking back to the kindly old woman that appeared to him in his Dream Ceremony and first contract with the Lord of Magic, Lnd didn’t think so. She seemed to care about him and his well being, surely she’d know that using a soul for such a reason would only break his heart. He couldn’t, <em>wouldn’t</em>, ever use the summoning tattoo if that was the case. Legacy and Lord be damned.
His mind went to his newest spell, Soul Fire. He had yet to test it, but what if it was the same? What if <em>igniting a soul</em> to use it as ammunition was the same as—
“Lnd!”
He spun, finding Glenny only a step away and staring in worry. “Sorry. Got lost in my head.”
The rogue gave a rueful smile. “I get it. Weird powers swirling around your body. Trust me, I get it.”
“I guess I’ll figure it all outter. Maybe I can ask the Huntress for her thoughts?”
Even as he said it, Lnd knew such a conversation to be a spite riddled misadventure. While the Huntress <em>might </em>have an understanding of odd potential powers, did he even want to ask her? She had made it clear she was looking into his Legacy specifically, and the longer he could keep her in the dark, the better. Or at least he thought.
“Why do that when you can just send your parents a letter? Don’t tell me you ran out of that fancy courier set?” Glenny asked.
“No, I’ve still got plenty. But they are back in the inn in Frostford.”
Glenny snorted at that. “That was a lot of ‘ins.’”
Lndughed at that, the gnawing pit in his stomach finally fading. Then the realization came over him. “Did I really suggest that I should talk to the Huntress over my parents?” He shivered.
“Might want to heal yourself, man, you’re losing it.”
Both boysughed at that. A few minutester, a violet halo of dark energies formed around Lnd’s head. A momentter a pure and natural energy formed at the tip of his finger and suddenly his burnfelt <em>a lot </em>better.
“You might want to practice with that il, Lnd,” Glenny offered, holding out the <em>unignited</em> weapon.
Lnd took it haphazardly, the short link of chain jostling. He gave it a cursory <em>swing</em> before frowning.
“Just think <em>‘ignite’</em> or something.”
Following the instruction, Lnd did just that. Instantly the weapon zed to life and he felt his internal mana dip a bit. It wasn’t enough to make him worry, nor enough to force someone like Jude or Glenny to have to rely on alternative enchantments to activate. The weapon, while shy and chaotic, would serve him well enough.
That was, if he could actually find a use case for him, a mage, to strike someone with a melee weapon. Defending himself was one thing, a shield could do that, but a il? Could he even swing it fast enough to hit a proper warrior or duelist?
“I feel dumb,” he said to the open air, receiving a chuckle from Floe.
Glenny gave him a sarcastic smile. “Now, watch me. ils, while not a weapon I’ve used very much – or at all really – have some special properties. ils are weapons meant to strike around guards, shields, and or parries. Wide sweeping strikes after a short wind up.”
Lnd gave him a nk stare. After a few more minutes of instruction, the two were mock dueling. It was slow and tedious, mainly because Lnd had abysmal strength. Like two thinly tree branches, he raised and lowered his arms above his head, getting used to the weapon.
Eventually mock dueling turned into quarter speed repetitive motions which then evolved into half speed sparring. Glenny defended with odd conjured weapon structures, none of which resembled daggers or swords. Simple shapes, squares, rectangles, anything that resembled his glorified weapon of choice.
As much as this was practice for Lnd, Glenny found himself straining to maintain his powers. The low speeds mixed with the, forck of a better word, <em>weak</em> attacks, proved a good regime for the young rogue. He didn’t need to focus on his footwork, faints, or powerful strikes and could instead entirely work with his conjured <em>weapons.</em>
As they continued, Lnd grew more confident and threw wilder and different strikes. It wasn’t <em>just</em> what Glenny originally taught him anymore, now he changed up the pace of their sparring with <em>moves that just felt right.</em> At least, they did until Glenny parried the ball and chain, throwing it out of Lnd’s hands.
“Ah,” the Legacy of Curses muttered.
Floeughed across the arena.
Glenny let go of a crimson pitchfork looking weapon, letting it fade from reality. “Overzealous. I like it.”
Lnd couldn’t help but smile at the fun he was having. Tiring fun, yes, brutish fun, yes, not his cup of tea fun, yes, but fun nheless. He took his time picking up his il, allowing Glenny time to conjure a new weapon.
The rogue, throughout all of the sparring, had focused on <em>molding</em> his weapons like Floe hinted at. He wasn’t sure if she knew of his power or if her wording was nothing more than a figure of speech, but regardless, his Sightless King power responded well to the <em>molding.</em>
But as he tried to form his newest creation, something just wasn’t right.
“Molding… <em>molding… </em>y? Pottery?” he mumbled under his breath.
Pottery, ceramics in particr, were brittle. They broke under slight force, no doubt being useless in a real battle. He pushed at his power with that in mind, the crimson construct fracturing under the slight pressure. He frowned, finding the weapons aspect exactly as he imagined.
He needed something more, something stronger, something as malleable as y, something like… like…
Almost face palming, Glenny grit his teeth. Metal, white hot metal. Metal fresh from a forge, ready to cool and harden after being formed to shape and tempered.
Envisioning a weapon in his mind’s eye, Glenny focused on his power <em>forging</em> the power in his hands. He mentally hammered, chiseled, sharpened, and polished his handiwork, setting it into reality. The familiar crimson power took to his wishes, forming a simplistic replica of the il Lnd held.
Oddly enough, the red spiked ball was bursting with heat – like it had just been taken out of a forge.
“Wow!” Lnd whispered before clearing his throat. “That’s cool and all, Glenny, but I’m not sparring against you if you are going to use that. I’ve already been burned once today.”
Glennyughed.