ULTRAMagic Prelude - Chapter 26
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Blood-Wraith was relaxing in his room of the palace, mulling over his thoughts about everything that had happened so far. Fortunately he was feeling a lot better, but his self-reflection was interrupted by Darkness swinging open the door with a smile on his face. “Blood! Can I borrow you for a moment?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Come, we’ll walk and talk.” Darkness led his brother through the halls, passing by the others. “...so my verdict is that you’re not invincible. You can’t die… I think, but your form can be damaged to the point where you’re forced to reincarnate and that would lead to complications. Did you notice anything at the Metal Oasis?”
Blood-Wraith thought back as they boarded a lift. “Well, my body did start to crack as I got battered around… the metal parts.”
“Did they heal afterwards?”
“Yeah. It was a bit uncomfortable while healing though.”
The lift was going deep below the surface. Everything was rocky with glowing veins all over the place. “Honestly I feel you need some armor, at the bare minimum. I think I got the perfect idea in mind, but we’ll need to do some testing. Plus you’ll probably feel a lot better knowing you got some form of protection.”
At the bottom, Darkness dissolved into the environment. “Hey, Darkness? Where’d you go?” Blood-Wraith asked as he looked around.
“Don’t fret, I’m all around you. Consider this my brain if you will. Shall we proceed to the training room?”
The chamber presented to Blood-Wraith was gigantic. It was made of white stone, with the veins pulsing in alternating colors. A rhythmic beating could also be heard. Platforms, columns, and steps appeared and shifted all over the place. Blood-Wraith was amazed by this and the beauty of the chamber as a whole. It was like he was in a different realm. He walked around until he encountered another pool of black goo, much like the one he had seen on the surface.
“I don’t have to get in, do I?”
“Yes, but it’s for a good reason. I need to study your… everything so I know what I need to do.”
Blood-Wraith took a breath and exhaled. “Alright, let’s get this over with…” The viscous substance quickly pulled him under. Once he was secure and comfortable, Darkness got to work. The procedure was gentle and careful, seeing what made Blood-Wraith tick. It tested his durability and briefly activated each of his alternate forms. Being inside the blood was weird and hard to describe. Blood-Wraith did not have a frame of reference for the experience, but could say that it was like a prolonged hug… that poked and prodded at him.
He shuddered a little back in the chamber. “That was strange… what did you find out?”
“You’re weird…” Darkness stated bluntly. “...but I do have something in mind.” A blob dropped down from the ceiling and began taking a humanoid shape. “This armor I’m crafting should keep you safe. It’ll also adapt to your other forms… well most of them.”
Blood-Wraith took the suit once it was finished and inspected it. It was stretchy and went up to the base of his head. “What’s it made of?”
“A mix of my blood and brain fluid… I’m aware of how weird that seems. Go ahead and try it on.”
The suit slipped right on and fit snuggly. After a couple seconds of smoothing it out, everything was ready to go. Sections of it began glowing red, contrasting with the black material. “Wow, It feels… I feel powerful, haha!”
“Now your armor can stretch and flex, but don’t push it. The idea is that it should toughen up in response to physical trauma while leaving your mobility unhindered.”
A facsimile of Blood-Wraith emerged from the floor and began punching him in the chest. He was amazed as the suit firmed up, yet he barely felt it. “Nice!” He then punched his double with the strength of his Might form. The suit was now black and green because of this. “Wait, what!?”
“That’s the other ability of it: You can channel the powers of your other forms. They won’t be as strong, but I figured it would come in handy in a pinch.”
Blood-Wraith thought for a second, then his suit went blue. Spider silk shot from his palm, cocooning his double. “That’ll come in handy… but what if I…” He then shot a fireball, setting the cocoon ablaze.” Whoa…”
“Hey now, that’s pretty clever. Speaking of which; Blood? I think you need a little training. Does that sound good?”
“Sure, let’s see what I can really do with this suit.”
Darkness was able to scope out Blood-Wraith’s skill level through his memories while he was in the blood… It was not good. It was a miracle that he survived the battle at the Metal Oasis. The plan was to run through each of his forms, then do some sword staff practice. To make things a bit more interesting, Darkness proposed naming the forms as they went along. Blood-Wraith welcomed this idea with open arms. Just thinking about it made him feel cool.
First up was Indigo Wolf. Not much was discovered outside of things that were already known. The form was fast, agile, and perceptive. They did find out that Blood-Wraith was able to do a sonic howl that could stun his foes, however. Violet Train was a great surprise. It took the form of a full sized, steam-powered locomotive. It could not do much other than travel. On the bright side, the channeled ability allowed Blood-Wraith to charge forward with great force. Darkness was a little confused, but it clicked once he found out who Corentin was.
Blood-Wraith adored Golden Dragon. It was a blood pumping experience to be that large and able to breathe fire. He also had the ability to shroud an area in shadow thanks to Leif. Moving onto Verdant Might, there was not much ground to cover. A lot had already been discovered at Aqua World. Regardless, Darkness taught Blood-Wraith some basic hand-to-hand combat techniques.
The last two forms were more interesting to accommodate. Azure Spider, in addition to its webbing and fireballs, could crawl up any surface. After a bit of target practice, Blood-Wraith was ready to move on. Last, but certainly not least was Ochre Serpent. He felt the most animalistic in this form. Aside from being gigantic, the serpent form could spit bursts of water. These were highly damaging upon impact that also gave Darkness a light headache.
“Well that was fun…” Blood-Wraith remarked as he went back to normal… or so he thought.
“Blood?”
“Yes? What’s up, brother?”
“Do you… Do you know what you currently look like?”
“Um, a fiery being with a metal body?”
Darkness brought down a reflective stone. “Are you sure about that?”
What Blood-Wraith saw was a six-eyed boy with brown hair, wearing his armor. This startled him. “I look like Sister and Desislav!”
“You’ve been pursuing ULTRAMagic by collecting soul fragments, correct?”
“Yes, I have.”
“Hmm… give me a second…” Darkness pondered this form, then had an idea. “I think this is your physical form, a vessel for your existence. I’m not sure about it though and doubly unsure what benefits this provides you at the moment. That you’ll have to figure out on your own. I could only see so much while I was inspecting you. It is interesting that all of your eyes still appear, I must say…”
Blood-Wraith was looking at his teeth. “Huh, I hadn’t noticed… Let’s go show the others!”
“Wait, Blood. We still got to…” He was already at the lift. “...fine.”
Back at the palace, Dragoslava was chatting with the others. “...Brenna has quite the voice. Personally I think she should’ve been a singer rather than a gun nut like me, but hey…”
“... funny coincidence given that I’ve heard you singing in the shower” Desislav pointed out.
Dragoslava blushed. “Ha, what can I say? She rubbed off on me.”
“You guys ever get that feeling that something just changed?” Tusk questioned.
Deimos nodded. “Fairly often. Why?”
“Hey guys!” Blood-Wraith said as he and Darkness entered the lounge. Everyone else was surprised.
“Blood, is that you?!” Dragoslava exclaimed. “What’s with the new look?”
“Wow, what is all this?” Desislav inquired. They all got up to look at Blood-Wraith’s new appearance.
Tusk was silent. Then he spoke. “You trained without me, didn’t you?”
“Yes… but didn’t you say you weren’t sure how to train me?” Blood-Wraith brought up.
Tusk tossed himself to the floor, throwing a fit. “SOME STINKING TEACHER I AM!” He banged the floor with his fist in frustration.
“It’s okay, you still have the battle at the Dark Grand Desert…” Deimos stated sympathetically.
“If you’re going to kick me in the seeds, then actually kick me in the seeds!” This… elicited giggles and chuckles from everyone. Naturally Tusk growled at all of them.
Blood-Wraith forcibly helped Tusk back up, his suit’s stripes having turned green. “You can still teach me stuff. All my brother and I did was run through my forms. We can still come up with stuff for me to do with them.”
“I suppose so… geez, what’s dad even going to think about this?” Tusk was radiating disappointment with himself.
Desislav patted Tusk on the back. “I think he’d tell you to stop worrying. Some things are out of your control.”
“I swear I’m heading back to the village after this. Don’t worry, I’ll be researching so I don’t have to do this again…”
“Haha, there’s the spirit, I guess.”
Deimos could sense how Tusk was feeling. “You never wanted to be a fighter, did you?”
“No, not at all. I want to settle down with Donia and raise a family… There, I said it.”
“Tusk, I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you and your people…”
“Deimos, stop. It’s alright. Something I took away from my dad is that actions speak louder than words. I may still be bitter, but you’ve come all this way to… You know what? All is forgiven! End of story.” Tusk then plopped himself down on one of the couches.
After an awkward silence, Blood-Wraith spoke up. “So I guess I have a human form thanks to my ULTRAMagic…” His stomach grumbled. “...hehe, I’m hungry.”
“That can happen after prolonged use of your magic in that state” Tusk pointed out.
Darkness clapped his hands. “Well good thing it's dinner time then.”
A hearty dinner was prepared since they were getting close to the Dark Grand Desert. The group would be at their destination the next day. Pressure was mounting, but everyone felt at peace knowing they were ready to go. Blood-Wraith still felt a bit of anxiety, however. He had learned more about his powers, but what if the Lich was even stronger now? Deimos figured he would stay at Blood-Wraith's bedside until he fell asleep to relieve these fears.
“He normally would try to come up with a plan to counter your forms, but he’s only seen two of them,” Deimos stated. “I firmly believe you have the element of surprise on your hands, Blood.”
“You know what? That’s what Sigmund said was our advantage…”
“Smart man, that Sigmund. I suspect he had already caught on to the fact that my other half has limited intellect.”
“What do you mean?” Blood-Wraith asked.
Deimos chuckled. “Remember what I said back at Aqua World about how the Lich is driven by desire? There’s more to it. When I was split off from him, I took his mind in addition to the emotions. You can’t have emotions without thought and you can’t truly think without emotions. It’s who we are and how we react to the world around us.”
“So that means…”
“He’s all brawn and no brain. He may remember how to use my spells, but don’t expect him to do anything creative with them.”
This made Blood-Wraith feel better. “So no sympathy for the Lich?”
“Not an inch. There’s nothing to feel sorry for in that empty husk.”
Blood-Wraith sighed. “I feel sorry for you, Uncle Deimos.”
If he had skin, he would have been smiling. “Thank you, Blood-Wraith. I will make things right, don’t you worry. Ha, I certainly have a lot of apologizing to do when we get back…”
“Now you don’t worry, because I’ll be there to support you. Good night, Uncle Deimos.”
“Good night, Blood. Sleep tight.”
Next: Chapter 27
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
Blood-Wraith was relaxing in his room of the palace, mulling over his thoughts about everything that had happened so far. Fortunately he was feeling a lot better, but his self-reflection was interrupted by Darkness swinging open the door with a smile on his face. “Blood! Can I borrow you for a moment?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Come, we’ll walk and talk.” Darkness led his brother through the halls, passing by the others. “...so my verdict is that you’re not invincible. You can’t die… I think, but your form can be damaged to the point where you’re forced to reincarnate and that would lead to complications. Did you notice anything at the Metal Oasis?”
Blood-Wraith thought back as they boarded a lift. “Well, my body did start to crack as I got battered around… the metal parts.”
“Did they heal afterwards?”
“Yeah. It was a bit uncomfortable while healing though.”
The lift was going deep below the surface. Everything was rocky with glowing veins all over the place. “Honestly I feel you need some armor, at the bare minimum. I think I got the perfect idea in mind, but we’ll need to do some testing. Plus you’ll probably feel a lot better knowing you got some form of protection.”
At the bottom, Darkness dissolved into the environment. “Hey, Darkness? Where’d you go?” Blood-Wraith asked as he looked around.
“Don’t fret, I’m all around you. Consider this my brain if you will. Shall we proceed to the training room?”
The chamber presented to Blood-Wraith was gigantic. It was made of white stone, with the veins pulsing in alternating colors. A rhythmic beating could also be heard. Platforms, columns, and steps appeared and shifted all over the place. Blood-Wraith was amazed by this and the beauty of the chamber as a whole. It was like he was in a different realm. He walked around until he encountered another pool of black goo, much like the one he had seen on the surface.
“I don’t have to get in, do I?”
“Yes, but it’s for a good reason. I need to study your… everything so I know what I need to do.”
Blood-Wraith took a breath and exhaled. “Alright, let’s get this over with…” The viscous substance quickly pulled him under. Once he was secure and comfortable, Darkness got to work. The procedure was gentle and careful, seeing what made Blood-Wraith tick. It tested his durability and briefly activated each of his alternate forms. Being inside the blood was weird and hard to describe. Blood-Wraith did not have a frame of reference for the experience, but could say that it was like a prolonged hug… that poked and prodded at him.
He shuddered a little back in the chamber. “That was strange… what did you find out?”
“You’re weird…” Darkness stated bluntly. “...but I do have something in mind.” A blob dropped down from the ceiling and began taking a humanoid shape. “This armor I’m crafting should keep you safe. It’ll also adapt to your other forms… well most of them.”
Blood-Wraith took the suit once it was finished and inspected it. It was stretchy and went up to the base of his head. “What’s it made of?”
“A mix of my blood and brain fluid… I’m aware of how weird that seems. Go ahead and try it on.”
The suit slipped right on and fit snuggly. After a couple seconds of smoothing it out, everything was ready to go. Sections of it began glowing red, contrasting with the black material. “Wow, It feels… I feel powerful, haha!”
“Now your armor can stretch and flex, but don’t push it. The idea is that it should toughen up in response to physical trauma while leaving your mobility unhindered.”
A facsimile of Blood-Wraith emerged from the floor and began punching him in the chest. He was amazed as the suit firmed up, yet he barely felt it. “Nice!” He then punched his double with the strength of his Might form. The suit was now black and green because of this. “Wait, what!?”
“That’s the other ability of it: You can channel the powers of your other forms. They won’t be as strong, but I figured it would come in handy in a pinch.”
Blood-Wraith thought for a second, then his suit went blue. Spider silk shot from his palm, cocooning his double. “That’ll come in handy… but what if I…” He then shot a fireball, setting the cocoon ablaze.” Whoa…”
“Hey now, that’s pretty clever. Speaking of which; Blood? I think you need a little training. Does that sound good?”
“Sure, let’s see what I can really do with this suit.”
Darkness was able to scope out Blood-Wraith’s skill level through his memories while he was in the blood… It was not good. It was a miracle that he survived the battle at the Metal Oasis. The plan was to run through each of his forms, then do some sword staff practice. To make things a bit more interesting, Darkness proposed naming the forms as they went along. Blood-Wraith welcomed this idea with open arms. Just thinking about it made him feel cool.
First up was Indigo Wolf. Not much was discovered outside of things that were already known. The form was fast, agile, and perceptive. They did find out that Blood-Wraith was able to do a sonic howl that could stun his foes, however. Violet Train was a great surprise. It took the form of a full sized, steam-powered locomotive. It could not do much other than travel. On the bright side, the channeled ability allowed Blood-Wraith to charge forward with great force. Darkness was a little confused, but it clicked once he found out who Corentin was.
Blood-Wraith adored Golden Dragon. It was a blood pumping experience to be that large and able to breathe fire. He also had the ability to shroud an area in shadow thanks to Leif. Moving onto Verdant Might, there was not much ground to cover. A lot had already been discovered at Aqua World. Regardless, Darkness taught Blood-Wraith some basic hand-to-hand combat techniques.
The last two forms were more interesting to accommodate. Azure Spider, in addition to its webbing and fireballs, could crawl up any surface. After a bit of target practice, Blood-Wraith was ready to move on. Last, but certainly not least was Ochre Serpent. He felt the most animalistic in this form. Aside from being gigantic, the serpent form could spit bursts of water. These were highly damaging upon impact that also gave Darkness a light headache.
“Well that was fun…” Blood-Wraith remarked as he went back to normal… or so he thought.
“Blood?”
“Yes? What’s up, brother?”
“Do you… Do you know what you currently look like?”
“Um, a fiery being with a metal body?”
Darkness brought down a reflective stone. “Are you sure about that?”
What Blood-Wraith saw was a six-eyed boy with brown hair, wearing his armor. This startled him. “I look like Sister and Desislav!”
“You’ve been pursuing ULTRAMagic by collecting soul fragments, correct?”
“Yes, I have.”
“Hmm… give me a second…” Darkness pondered this form, then had an idea. “I think this is your physical form, a vessel for your existence. I’m not sure about it though and doubly unsure what benefits this provides you at the moment. That you’ll have to figure out on your own. I could only see so much while I was inspecting you. It is interesting that all of your eyes still appear, I must say…”
Blood-Wraith was looking at his teeth. “Huh, I hadn’t noticed… Let’s go show the others!”
“Wait, Blood. We still got to…” He was already at the lift. “...fine.”
Back at the palace, Dragoslava was chatting with the others. “...Brenna has quite the voice. Personally I think she should’ve been a singer rather than a gun nut like me, but hey…”
“... funny coincidence given that I’ve heard you singing in the shower” Desislav pointed out.
Dragoslava blushed. “Ha, what can I say? She rubbed off on me.”
“You guys ever get that feeling that something just changed?” Tusk questioned.
Deimos nodded. “Fairly often. Why?”
“Hey guys!” Blood-Wraith said as he and Darkness entered the lounge. Everyone else was surprised.
“Blood, is that you?!” Dragoslava exclaimed. “What’s with the new look?”
“Wow, what is all this?” Desislav inquired. They all got up to look at Blood-Wraith’s new appearance.
Tusk was silent. Then he spoke. “You trained without me, didn’t you?”
“Yes… but didn’t you say you weren’t sure how to train me?” Blood-Wraith brought up.
Tusk tossed himself to the floor, throwing a fit. “SOME STINKING TEACHER I AM!” He banged the floor with his fist in frustration.
“It’s okay, you still have the battle at the Dark Grand Desert…” Deimos stated sympathetically.
“If you’re going to kick me in the seeds, then actually kick me in the seeds!” This… elicited giggles and chuckles from everyone. Naturally Tusk growled at all of them.
Blood-Wraith forcibly helped Tusk back up, his suit’s stripes having turned green. “You can still teach me stuff. All my brother and I did was run through my forms. We can still come up with stuff for me to do with them.”
“I suppose so… geez, what’s dad even going to think about this?” Tusk was radiating disappointment with himself.
Desislav patted Tusk on the back. “I think he’d tell you to stop worrying. Some things are out of your control.”
“I swear I’m heading back to the village after this. Don’t worry, I’ll be researching so I don’t have to do this again…”
“Haha, there’s the spirit, I guess.”
Deimos could sense how Tusk was feeling. “You never wanted to be a fighter, did you?”
“No, not at all. I want to settle down with Donia and raise a family… There, I said it.”
“Tusk, I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you and your people…”
“Deimos, stop. It’s alright. Something I took away from my dad is that actions speak louder than words. I may still be bitter, but you’ve come all this way to… You know what? All is forgiven! End of story.” Tusk then plopped himself down on one of the couches.
After an awkward silence, Blood-Wraith spoke up. “So I guess I have a human form thanks to my ULTRAMagic…” His stomach grumbled. “...hehe, I’m hungry.”
“That can happen after prolonged use of your magic in that state” Tusk pointed out.
Darkness clapped his hands. “Well good thing it's dinner time then.”
A hearty dinner was prepared since they were getting close to the Dark Grand Desert. The group would be at their destination the next day. Pressure was mounting, but everyone felt at peace knowing they were ready to go. Blood-Wraith still felt a bit of anxiety, however. He had learned more about his powers, but what if the Lich was even stronger now? Deimos figured he would stay at Blood-Wraith's bedside until he fell asleep to relieve these fears.
“He normally would try to come up with a plan to counter your forms, but he’s only seen two of them,” Deimos stated. “I firmly believe you have the element of surprise on your hands, Blood.”
“You know what? That’s what Sigmund said was our advantage…”
“Smart man, that Sigmund. I suspect he had already caught on to the fact that my other half has limited intellect.”
“What do you mean?” Blood-Wraith asked.
Deimos chuckled. “Remember what I said back at Aqua World about how the Lich is driven by desire? There’s more to it. When I was split off from him, I took his mind in addition to the emotions. You can’t have emotions without thought and you can’t truly think without emotions. It’s who we are and how we react to the world around us.”
“So that means…”
“He’s all brawn and no brain. He may remember how to use my spells, but don’t expect him to do anything creative with them.”
This made Blood-Wraith feel better. “So no sympathy for the Lich?”
“Not an inch. There’s nothing to feel sorry for in that empty husk.”
Blood-Wraith sighed. “I feel sorry for you, Uncle Deimos.”
If he had skin, he would have been smiling. “Thank you, Blood-Wraith. I will make things right, don’t you worry. Ha, I certainly have a lot of apologizing to do when we get back…”
“Now you don’t worry, because I’ll be there to support you. Good night, Uncle Deimos.”
“Good night, Blood. Sleep tight.”
Next: Chapter 27
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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