This is a daily reminder: You have 32 unallocated stat points
“You need to sleep, my Lady.”
I look at my hand, it's paler than before. Violet has been avoiding me. My blood is cycling. All my cores are passively assigned to my arcane core. It went up another level. I take a nip of blood. There is no bliss, I just feel as if I am more.
You have gain [Blood Kinesis] Competent 1
Competent - Your blood no longer clots
Gain 0 exp
Please say something, sister. Look, our personal skill is more inane.
-Something.
I feel nothing from that. It's as if I am dead as well. Perhaps I am. Half my essence is tied to an undead construct. The notification said half dead. Still a Vampire on my status sheet. Both Mags and Cecelia hurried out after I told them Violet's body was essentially an undead construct. Their alarm was great. They must know something.
Why do you flee from me, sister?
-I feel as if something is pulling from you into me. The further away you are the better.
“My Lady?”
“Sorry Qorth, what did you need?”
“For you to sleep.”
“I don't think I can.”
“My Lady?”
“The dead don't sleep, Qorth.”
“You're not dead.”
Just half dead…and dying.
-----
“Your flower is grey and wilted…”
“Red. There has been an issue, mistress.”
“Will you both be alright?”
“I don't know. What color would you prefer?”
-----
I wasn't sure if I managed to make the flower have color. Everything is grey. I pour the tea.
“Your tea, my mistress.”
“Thank you, Red.”
You have gained [Arcane Mana Core] Basic 5
Gain 0 exp
“I thought your attendant name was Sara?”
Jasmine has returned. Delores looks at me. I say nothing. She turns back to her guest.
“I gave her a nickname after the color of her flower.”
“But the flowers are grey.”
Guess that answers that question.
“She is not feeling well today. I have half a mind to tell her to take some bed rest.”
Wouldn't help. The conversation moves on from me. Jasmine starts.
“They say the dungeon has gone silent.”
“Oh.”
“There is stillness in the air, some are whispering that it's an aura of undeath that permeates the dungeon now.”
“That's absurd.”
The orc bodyguard Hischurl speaks up, “I have been in the presence of powerful undead before. The dungeon feels like the den of one now.”
“What was this undead you speak of?” Delores asks, her sense of danger piqued.
“A lich, ma'am.”
-----
You have gained [Arcane Mana Core] Basic 7
Gain 0 exp
“Red, you need to stay out of the dungeon.”
I look at Mags, “Are you going to take me away?”
“No, I fear what would happen should we get you too far.”
I look at my left pinky. The flesh has begun necrosis.
“You know what's happening to me.”
“Its a common ailment of necromancy, your soul being in an undead construct is slowly eating away at the living portion. Guidelines usually have you not commit more than ten percent of one soul.”
“There are guidelines for blasphemy?”
She barks a laugh at that, sees I lack my own grin and becomes sullen.
“So what is the end result?”
“Normally, your soul is subsumed into the construct and you become a lich. Your living body of course dies.”
“You don't think this is normal.”
“The lichification happens at fifty percent.”
“Which I already am at.”
“Exactly, either it's because Violet is already a separate consciousness or because of some unique property of your race, you aren't becoming a lich.”
“Or sister already is one.”
Mags shakes her head, “You would know, it would be on your status sheet.”
“But my body is dying. I already have the muted emotions and my thirst only feeds me without the bliss. My vision is clear but in grey. All things that I experienced while dead. And I gain no exp.”
“We'll get you through this dear. I've informed the lord to keep adventurers out of the dungeon as well.”
“Why?”
“While your emotions are muted, Violets are dead. I fear she may start slaughtering the living.”
“You want me outside the dungeon to prevent her from leaving.”
She gives me a sad smile.
-It’s for the best, Red.
I was the one who was supposed to be caged.
“Do you know what your core will become?”
“[Dirt Magic] is apprentice three, [Void Magic] is basic one.”
“A toss up then. What is your [Mana Aura] at?”
“Competent nine.”
“Alright I need you to raise it now, in case you do make a void core, you need to be able to make constructs. Use Dirt magic, if we can skew you that way, the better.”
I form the maximum number of dirt constructs at my mana aura edge. When my sister does the same I feel my left pinkie fall off.
“Violet don't, engaging your magic pulls on your soul.”
Half the dirt constructs fall and begin to dissolve. Mags cradles my left hand and begins to wrap it in one of my silk bandages. She looks so sad doing so. I feel it radiate to me but I feel nothing in return. My sister has a pristine undead body, and I have a rotting living one. My right pinkie starts necrosis
You have gained [Arcane Mana Core] Basic 8
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Gain 0 exp
-----
This is a daily reminder: You have 32 unallocated stat points
I stare at the ceiling. The inn in the town is a new ceiling. I say to wake up to but I haven't slept. Cecelia is in the cot next to me.
The dirt constructs are rotating. My mana aura has hit intermediate. My right hand has three fingers left. It beats my left by one. I haven't been able to shift out of my attendant form since I assumed it. I take a nip from my bloodskin. The middle right finger has necrosis now. Soon to equal my left.
How is it going in there, sister?
-The same as before. Static.
Mags comes in to examine my condition. Grimaces. From the sight or smell? I don't know. She has me shift my legs over the bed. When my right foot touches the ground there is a splat. She bends down and gingerly lifts my foot. Only the big toe remains. The other four toes are still on the floor. She wraps more of my bandages around my stumps. No words pass between us. I'm not going to make it.
You have gained [Arcane Mana Core] Apprentice 9
Gain 0 exp
-----
This is a daily reminder: You have 32 unallocated stat points
“Push more into it.”
I channel more mana into my core.
[Arcane Mana Core] gains the Void aspect, skill [Void Mana Core]
Void Mana Core - you have a magical aspected core of void energy
Basic - a nascent Void magical core
Gain 0 exp
You have gained the skill [Void Mana Sight] Basic 1
Void Mana Sight - the ability to see Void mana
Basic - a pinprick hole is open in your eye to the metaphysical, can only see Void magic at a slight distance
Gain 0 exp
“Void, mother.”
Mags collapses into tears as a black dot smolders in my milky cat eye on my right hip. She is on her knees.
“Why…”
My left forearm sloughs off. I look at it. Just an elbow now. My mana cores are empty at this point. To get to void Intermediate seems impossible.
Mother…
Barbain, sorry I haven't reached out to you since I left. I have been rather remiss, daughter.
Are you alright? Bea has been worried since yesterday. She says she can barely feel half of you.
I'm dying Barbain. My body is rotting. My left arm is but an elbow. My right is already gone. My sister has become an undead construct. It poisons my body.
… How can you think all that without a trace of emotion? Where is your panic, your fear, your melancholy? … Where is your rage?
The undead have no emotion, it saps my own.
Did you not declare yourself a Vampire? Both of your voices screamed out that day in rage at the system thinking of you as some mundane undead. Where is that pride?
My soul thrums at that.
You have gain [Blood Kinesis] Intermediate 1
Intermediate - You can change your flesh into blood
Gain 0 exp
Thank you daughter. Mother needs to go now.
Mother?
I try to stand but find my left leg is just a knee, my right an ankle. Soul constructs form a skeletal foot and a left leg. Mags looks up at me as I stand.
“Sara?”
I enter my dungeon.
I hear my mother scream, “SARA.”
She follows behind me into the rift. Before she can grab me, I am in my sister's throne room. She sits on her throne. It is made of vines and thorns. Not green though, black. She is the sovereign I had forced her to be. Her body festooned in black leaves. Her bulbous Tibyder body awaits me.
“You are looking worse than ever, Sara.”
“And you are looking immaculate, Sara.”
Her skin is pale but flawless. Her scales a myriad of colors, shiny and cold. I walk over to her.
“Its time we finish becoming what we know we are.”
“A monster?”
I take another step forward. I shake my head. It causes a clump of hair to fall.
“We already accepted that when we ate Derrick.”
“A Vampire. Are we not already?”
“What does the system know of Vampires? It tortures us with it and then punishes us for trying to be more. I gave you my blood Sara, you were too much of a coward to take it all like a true Vampire.”
Our soul quakes at that.
“Cruel, even at the end…Present your neck.”
I come to her throne and turn my head. Her eyes glisten with blood. She had never taken the blood of another person before. Not to the end. Not till they died. I will be her first. She pulls me into a hug.
“Sister…”
She bites down. She drinks deeply. It's slow, my essence flows into her. Completing her. Her body becomes more as I diminish. I will not let this stop at just my blood. It must be everything. My right ankle becomes blood. To feed her. My left leg becomes blood. To prolong her bliss. Left arm into blood. To make this truly blasphemous. My torso folds in as it becomes blood to feed my sister. When my chest caves in I begin to collapse my head. To stain White Violet in my blood. It all becomes blood for Blood Violet.
-----
Gained 0 exp from Sara Maxwell Magdeline, Voiceless Soul Tender Priestess, Voiceless Adventurer, Matriarch
The clothing falls to the ground, empty. I took everything she was, she fed me everything she was. The void core is inside me now. My body is still dead. But I can feel emotions again. I am both fully real and fully my manifestation now. The system didn't know anything about Vampires at all. You can't become the progenitor without tragedy. I take a breath. Unnecessary. I search for my guilt. I have none. I devoured my sister whole and I do not feel any guilt. Triumph, jubilation, a bliss like none other… and not a damn piece of guilt. It's freeing.
I see the manacle on the floor. The crutch. My soul was whole again, healed. The magic that fueled it is inert. Our physical cage, broken…a giggle slowly became a maniacal laughter.
Our manifestation ate our original body. Not a bit left. Sara Maxwell Magdeline is gone, not even dust in the wind. Truly a Vampire now, a shadow of the original. O our journey has been short and so very long. Eleven soul days and eaten by a monster. Hundreds of years of memories making said monster. Truly a tragedy.
Is this what you wanted, sister.
-Acceptance.
…
…
…I think not. I am not your new cage, Red.
I place my hand on the floor. Time slows. If flesh can be made into blood. Then blood can make flesh. I manipulate my own blood into my hands. It churns as time becomes eternity. The skill level was already at intermediate nine from Red's blasphemy. My soul begins to etch. Each letter appears slowly.
[Blood Kinesis] becomes [Blood Kinesis 2] Basic 1
Blood kinesis 2 - your blood is a weapon
Basic - harden—
Incorrect system. My etching pulls back at my arrogance. The level up fails and my soul burns. It is nothing. My system writes a dozen versions of [Blood Kinesis 2], they are all worthless.
System you are a reflection of my soul. A soul that delights in torturing itself. It has tortured me worse than these pitiful attempts. I will give up more for more, system. I am more, System. Reflect my blasphemy.
[Blood Kinesis] becomes [Vampiric Blood Kinesis] Basic 1
Vampiric Blood Kinesis - life magic no longer heals you, undead abomination
Basic - Your blood can be made into flesh
Gain 2 exp
I coalesce my blood to my hand as I rebuild her body, its slow work. The conversion rate is terrible. The blood lakes begin to drain. I feed my body, feel the bliss, making more blood to form her. An eternity for me, instantly for her. The body is as it was, the attendant form. I take Red's consciousness and place it into a drop of blood. I push the bead onto the lips of her new body. It greedily sips it. She coughs.
“Welcome back, Red.”
“But… are we not back to where we started?”
Started? She has yet to read what I have done. I shrug, “I still feel whole, I did not diminish myself to bring you back. Are you not more as well? Vampire.”
She pats herself like a goof, ruining the moment.
“Guess I am… I'm sorry I gave up in the end.”
I flick her in the forehead. I rubbed my finger. Her eyes widened. She finally noticed.
“Why can I not feel your hurt finger.”
I smile, “I was getting tired of sharing senses. You're you and I'm me. We need to stop blurring who is who already. Sure we have the same soul but we have two bodies. Two fully real bodies.”
“What about the twenty-five hour Sara mart...wait your voice...”
Seems I've moved on from the dryad.
“What about it, we just swap body positions instead of minds.”
“Aren't you afraid we will diverge more?”
“You called me the coward.”
“Sorry.”
I hugged her, for once it felt like more than self comfort. She squirms.
“Sister, your body is still ice cold.”
I smile, “You did make me a proper Vampire.”
She pulls apart, “Do you plan to remain dead?”
“Undead sister.”
She narrows her eyes, “More than just undead.”
“And how does a Vampire revive herself?”
“Are you saying we can't just restart our bodies anymore?”
“That was cheating, when we were halfway committed, you completed me. Then I restored you. Time to face the consequences.”
I grab her and teleport to Mags.
-----
“Your big plan was to let Violet devour you whole and what? Live inside her as a passenger?"
“Sorry.”
I had my head down. Kneeling. My feet under my bum.
“I swear, Cecelia is going to find a way to kill me over all this. Thank the system, Violet decided not to keep you.”
Violet giggles as she is in the same position next to me, also in attendant form.
“O don't think you're blameless in all this Violet, miss runs off by herself to be a perfect corpse and let her sister rot to pieces. I had to watch my daughter fall apart while you went to stare at a wall.”
I giggle, as Violet apologies. Mags kneels down and pulls us both into a hug.
“Thank you for coming back my foolish stupid daughters.”
We hug her back and share our tears. Violet is gross with blood ones. Mags notices the ensuing stickiness.
“Violet dear, you're still dead aren't you.”
“Undead vampire, mother. I need a nip to restart myself now.”
“What happened to just reviving, via your magic?”
“That was lame, much more dramatic to need blood. I kinda traded away life magic healing us for only blood healing us.”
My sister may have murmured that last sentence but both of us heard her. Mags looks like she wishes to pull hair, I'm not sure who's. I might join her.
“To what benefit.” She says exasperated.
“Well, now I'm more than undead, no more muted emotions, pretty sure I'll feel bliss no matter how far gone I am. Also gaining exp again. I can heal my body without mana.”
“You gave up the ability to use mana to instantly heal yourself so that you are less inconvenienced when dead. Mind you, your mana reserves are already a lake compared to others ponds.”
“When you say it like that, it does sound kinda dumb. But at least our daughter won't need to know [Soul Magic].”
“I don't know which is worse. You becoming unhealable from life magic or when you removed your own heart.”
“Heyyyyyy, that was Red.”
Ah shit she is trying to get Mags back onto me, “You had every opportunity to remove the passives. Besides you're the one who removed all my hybrid vascular work with your vampiric comment.”
We devolve into bickering as Mags grips the bridge of her nose. We both giggle when we see it.
“Are we going to have to go through all this again for your next core?”
“Fuck that, Red and I will just play rock paper scissors and tell the system whose ass to shove it up.”
“Rock paper scissors?”
Violet and I play the game in front of Mags. I lost. Damn it. I explain the rules to Mags.
“You do realize only you two can play that fairly, a perception advantage would always win out.”
“Would you not also need agility?”
She shrugs.
