The Mother of Monsters

Teyva’s elated outburst startled Azrael enough to have her looking around for the source of a new danger. It was only when she realized what Teyva had said that she knelt down with a questioning look on her face. Teyva was so excited she could barely contain herself, even then she knew it would be next to impossible to explain leveling up in a reasonable way. More than that, explaining attribute points? Speaking of which, fifteen? Was that because she had gone through multiple Racial ascensions? It seemed a little broken to her but she wasn’t about to complain about it.

Her eyes drifted over to the black pools still bubbling nearby. That had been the first group of enemies for this quest she had encountered and just one of them had done a sixth of her health in damage and had crippled her regeneration with a single attack. She exhaled, this was going to be way harder down the road and she needed all the advantages she could get. She rubbed her face and turned to Azrael who was starting to look antsy.

“I have to rest for at least an hour,” Teyva began. Azrael’s eyebrows went up.

“Why?”

“Afterward I’ll be able to use more Aspect Shards, I’ve been given another one as well,” That put her at four. She frowned. If she was able to unlock one ability per aspect each level and was only getting one Aspect Shard per level, eventually she was going to have to start making even tougher choices. The five she had obtained from the tomb had been a good foundation but going forward she was going have to think it through a lot more.

Azrael made a face but nodded, looking at the black pools thoughtfully. “No more are coming.”

“I don’t think more will unless we go further,” Teyva said, thinking back to how encounters worked on games back at home. It was possible this place was following a similar set of rules. She hoped that was the case at least and it wasn’t waiting for her to take a nap or something. Azrael seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding back toward the edge of the clearing.

“Let’s retreat a little at least,” She said. Teyva didn’t argue but instead got to her feet and made her way over.

Nephral’s tail flicked left and right as she walked and she reached up to stroke his back; “Thank you for the save, by the way, Nephral. Good looking out,” Teyva said.

“A mere whim of fancy to point out the Azar woman’s situation, she seemed overwhelmed,” He said with mock contriteness.

Azrael shot him a glare and came to a stop just at the edge of the trees, sitting down and crossing her legs. Teyva gave her an apologetic look and sat down next to her, falling back and staring up at the sky. She could see the blue of the sky through the breach between the great tree and the forest around it. The eerie purple leaves framing the bright blue, like teeth around a mouth.

She closed her eyes and did her best to relax managing to drift off to sleep after a few minutes.

Teyva found herself once again in that black void. The vastness stretched out beyond her, dark clouds crackling around a purple glow in the distance. She was more awake this time, more aware, she could feel her limbs and turn her head. There was no ground beneath her feet but she didn’t feel the sensation of falling. She was adrift, a mote in the cosmos. She took a breath and opened up her stats and started to review. She wasn’t going dawdle this time. She poured her points into willpower and influence, putting them to twenty-five and twenty-three respectively. She watched her MP climb to one hundred on the nose as she dumped her points. Grinning ear to ear.

She pulled up her abilities and examined the changes. Damage increases across the board as well as MP costs. She didn’t want to blow an Astral Shard on another passive so soon but that [Wisdom of the Sphinx] was sounding pretty good all of a sudden. She reviewed everything quickly, making sure she was satisfied.

Then she moved to her abilities.

It would do for now. She was finally starting to see the results of her work. The percentages of her attributes were going up and soon she’d get a free point in one or two of them. There wasn’t much more she could do at this point so she closed her stats and assented when the prompt for confirming her changes popped up. She needed to wake up fast just in case trouble came. The rising feeling followed and she saw herself hurtling toward the surface, cresting towards the waking world again.

She woke with a gasp, taking in a deep lungful of air as Nephral howled and jumped off of her chest. She blinked a few times, looking up at the sky and sighing with relief when she saw that the sun was still out. She rolled over to her side and coughed, it felt like she’d died and respawned like back at the tomb. She rubbed her eyes and looked up to see Azrael staring down at her, concern on her face. She just smiled and gave her a thumbs-up, pushing up into a sitting position and pulling out her [Old Satchel]. She glanced toward the entrance to the cavern and felt a greedy hunger well up in her gut.

“This would be a great place to grind,” Teyva muttered.

“Grind?” Azrael asked.

“Train,” Teyva said, “Over and over against those Wightlings.”

“You’re mad, why would you do such a thing when we could go down and find the source?” Azrael asked.

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing. Though I don’t even know if it’ll work. No more of those things have showed up since I fell asleep, right?” She asked.

“No, it’s been quiet, thankfully.”

“Damn.” Teyva said, chewing her thumb, “That would have really given me a boost if they respawned…”

Azrael shook her head and got to her feet, stretching and adjusting the position of her sword on her hip. “Well if you’re done talking nonsense, what next?” She asked.

Teyva called Nephral over and stroked his head; “I’m going to pick some more abilities,” She said, pulling out three more Aspect Shards and holding the first up. She selected Labyrinthian and turned her focus on [Wisdom of the Sphinx]

[Create Wall] had been the obvious choice at first, but the passive increase of her mana costs as she leveled up had demonstrated to her that she needed to find a way to cut those costs down, even a little. She selected [Wisdom of the Sphinx] and the shard dissolved in her hand.

“What did you pick, dear mother?” Nephral asked, looking up from his comfortable spot in her lap.

“Wisdom of the Sphinx,” Teyva said, scratching beneath his chin. He purred with delight and flapped his wings, easing into comfort.

“A magnificent choice, mother,” Nephral crooned.

“Why did you choose it instead of Create Wall?” Azrael asked.

“My mana costs are going up as my abilities get stronger, it’s almost like I’m being limited to the number of times I can use a power regardless of how much mana I have at my disposal. I need to increase my output somehow,” Teyva reasoned, “Sure I can pack more of a punch but if I can still only cast Pale Bolt seven times, then that eighth shot I might need could be a big difference.”

Azrael nodded; “A valid point, what next?”

Teyva popped another shard and squeezed it, calling up the Facsimile Tree. This time she considered the previous fight. The attack from behind had left her on the back foot and she hadn’t been able to find a way to hold off the Wightling as it came her way. She needed a way to hold the damn thing still long enough to put her blade arm to work. She looked down at the weapon sticking out of her forearm and nodded to herself, selecting [Grasp of the Mimic].

“Grasp of the Mimic, this time,” Teyva said, rubbing her chin with her free hand.

“Ah, because of the Wightling that Azrael let get away,” Nephral quipped.

“Quiet you,” Azrael hissed.

“I am simply making an observation about mother’s thought process, I mean no offense,” Nephral lied.

“Nephral, behave,” Teyva warned, looking down at him. He turned away and licked his paws, going quiet. She pulled the third shard she could use at this level leaving her with only one left and pulled up the Pale Dawn Tree. With [Grasp of the Mimic] and [Chill Touch] she could comfortably handle one enemy at close range at a time, ensuring she could trigger an instance of [Chilling Weakness]. It wasn’t a full guarantee but it was as close as she was going to get.

She selected [Withering Halo].

As soon as the shard dissolved, her skin started to glow.

“Oh, that’s going to be inconvenient,” Teyva said as Azrael burst into laughter.