The Mother of Monsters

The two new heroes looked at one another, disbelief on their faces as Teyva stepped forward and put a stone into their hands. She took a step back and crossed her arms, making it clear that she wasn’t taking them back. She tilted her head to the right and shrugged, “Think of it as me giving you a sample of the kind of support I want to provide the heroes. You both know my motives, this is self-interest as much as it is helping you,” She admitted, cracking a small grin. “So why don’t you go for it?”

Mack looked down at the stone in his hand and then quickly pulled out his journal. He held it over the stone and Teyva’s lip twitched. It felt like Cycle had weakened their innate powers a little bit when they had been brought over. She hadn’t had any problem pulling up the prompt concerning the Aspect Stone’s she’d acquired after killing the Tomb Guardian. For Mack, on the other hand, only looked up as if he was reading a prompt a second after holding the journal over the stone.

I hope it levels up for them a little, She thought.

To her left, Azrael glanced her way with a raised eyebrow. Teyva responded with a small smile before patting her bicep. Azrael grinned and took a few steps back, leaning against the tree hanging over the small pond where the Rilks continued to drink. Myranda looked between the two of them with mild confusion before just shrugging and walking over to join Azrael. Teyva turned back to the pair as they examined the notifications that appeared in front of them. She waited for them to finish reading before they looked at her again. “Well? What are you waiting for?”

Delilah was the first to sit down on the ground, the sun beating down on them from above and the grass waving lazily behind her. She closed her eyes and cupped the Aspect Stone of Force in her palms. She let out a steadying breath as the stone began to dissolve in her hands, breaking up into tiny transparent bubbles that rippled in the air. The bubbles formed a cloud that rose up and around the woman for a heartbeat before abruptly changing direction, raining down on her like a thousand little pebbles.

Delilah let out a cry of pain and gasped, falling backwards as her body twitched and thrashed. Teyva raised an eyebrow, Right, I’ve never seen someone else actually absorb an Aspect Stone like I do, she glanced over at Azrael who watched the woman convulse and writhe without batting an eye. Myranda looked less dismissive, holding her hand over her mouth in a mixture of horror and disgust. Azrael’s seen me do it, I’m guessing this is exactly what it’s like.

Mack watched Delilah endure and swallowed hard before sitting down and repeating the process as she did. His stone, the Aspect Stone of Light, bloomed into tiny particles before burning into his arms, they raced into his body through his veins and set his skin alight. He let out a scream of his own and threw his head back, clenching his teeth as he tried to at least say sitting up through the process. It went about as well as one might expect. He was on the ground in about a minute, his body heaving at the aspect became a part of him.

Teyva relaxed for a while as they lay there, recovering from the trial. She shot her attention towards the Rilks who had stopped drinking and were watching the two humans with a bit of concern. She smiled at them and reached out through her connection to the creatures.

They will be fine, sweet ones, rest up, we’ll be leaving after some time.

The rilks looked up at her abruptly before turning back to continue drinking, their jumbled thoughts touching hers. She felt their appeasement and eagerness to resume their journey. The little ones always got so excited when leaving the nest. She smiled ruefully and shook her head as Delilah slowly rose from where she had been laying, rubbing the side of her head and groaning from the pain she had endured. When she finally came-to enough to focus on her surroundings she quickly pulled out her journal again. Her eyes brightened and she looked up at Teyva. “It worked!”

“Of course it did,” Teyva laughed, “How’d it go?”

Delilah took a breath to calm herself but her eyes were sparkling, “Oh, it’s perfect,” She said and made a gesture, “My first two abilities from the Aspect of Potency enhance either my own abilities or that of others I target. Have a look.”

The moment she finished speaking a prompt appeared in front of Teyva, shared by her new ally.

Teyva read through the two abilities and cleared her throat. They’re really good! Kinda scary actually, those bolts can even bypass my defenses. She thought, more than a little pleased by the outcome. “Not bad at all!” She said and took a step back. She held out her hand and for the first time in a long time she cast her most basic spell, a ball of pale white light formed over her palm. It glowed and swirled, giving off a coldness that drew the uneasy attention of the rilks.

Delilah seemed to know what she was thinking because she quickly got to her feet and held out both hands. Teyva shot a glance towards Myranda. 

Be ready to heal her.

Yes ma’am.

Teyva exhaled and gestured, the [Pale Bolt] launched from her palm and Delilah narrowed her eyes, her nostrils flaring as a small surge of mana burned within her person. Teyva could feel it gather and release just as the bolt collided with the woman. Myranda took a few more steps forward and then froze, Teyva blinked, “What?”

Delilah stood there, a transparent pane of glass in front of her, wide eyed. The glass seemed to tremble for a moment before crumbling apart. She let out a shuddering gasp and fell to her knees again, panting. “My mana,” She wheezed, looking a little green. “Half of it.”

Teyva was incredulous, “Only half?” Teyva blurted.

“My-my potency ability is passive,” Delilah panted.

Teyva raised her eyebrows, “Well hot damn, I figured it was a good choice, but not bad at all!” She laughed and glanced over at Mack who was still coming around. He slowly sat up and she looked over at the shocked Delilah, “How does it feel?”

The woman who had tried so hard to stay in the background since they’d met, who had an ability that was functionally useless without another aspect to support, beamed at her. “It feels amazing!” She said brightly and got to her feet before quickly remembering herself and bowing at her waist, “Thank you, your majesty.”

Teyva raised an eyebrow, “You can thank me by easing up on the formality while we’re out here like this. I’m just Ianna, your teammate, I-” She was cut off as a pair of arms wrapped around her arms and she felt the air get squeezed out of her. She blinked and looked down at the head of hair against her shoulder. She gave the woman a gentle pat on the back, “Sure, we can go with that.”

Delilah pulled back and smiled at her before they both looked at Mack who was staring gobsmacked at something in the air. His journal was in his hand. Teyva delicately pulled away from the woman and rest her hands on her hips, “Anything good?”

Mack just looked up at her with tears in his eyes. Yeah, we’re gonna have to work on the crybaby shtick, buddy. She thought ruefully as he tossed his prompt in her direction.

Teyva whistled, “Not bad at all, shame we can’t test it here,” She said with a grin. “How about we do a bit of hunting on the way?”

Mack sniffed and wiped his eyes, “Hunting?”

She waggled her eyebrows, “Gotta get those levels somehow!”

Mack and Delilah looked at one another and then back at Teyva before swallowing hard.

Off to the side Azrael snickered, “Welcome to the team, kids.”