XVII. Buried under the Sand
It had taken them the better part of the night to catch up with the Princess Andromeda.
They'd turned off all the lights on the trireme and slowed down as they arrived near the gigantic cruise ship, taking advantage of the night to creep nearer without being seen.
"This ship is gigantic." Thalia mused "How the fuck are we supposed to find anyone aboard?"
"And the Mist is twisted." Luke added with a worried frown, mentally tugging on the magical veil
While neither he nor Thalia and Clarisse were as talented with manipulating the Mist that wixen god-born, or Bianca and Nico were, he still knew enough to realize what felt so strange.
"There's mortals onboard, lots of them. And monsters…"
"Fuck. Working with the Crooked One wasn't bad enough already, they're working with monsters too?" Clarisse cursed agitatedly
"We'll have to leave once your aboard." Dewin admitted with a worried frown – suddenly, he was regretting not having gone the extra-mile and added some invisibility runes on the trireme
"You've already helped quite a bit."
"If you're in trouble, take a life-boat, run away, and we'll find you." Percy promised "I think we're not too far from the place Poseidon told us about anyway."
Before parting, the Lewis patriarch had gifted them one last thing – by managing to charm a pair of sunglasses Clarisse told Chris had lent her to grow hotter the closer they got from the boy.
After that – the trio had manage to climb aboard thanks to the pilot ladder, while the Lewis-Jackson and their trireme faded back in the night.
The door to the deck was closed – but even a watertight door wasn't enough for Luke's fingers and his celestial bronze skeleton key.
They were on one of the crew deck – drab corridor with none of the decorations and comfort of the passenger area of the ship. Early in the morning as it was, the crew was starting to wake up and head toward work… Except, just like Luke had noticed, that all the mortals seemed in a daze, going about their business with empty eyes while repeating in a monotone "We are all enjoying ourselves about the Princess Andromeda. Have a nice day."
"I'm hating mind-control more and more." Clarisse grumbled – Thalia and Luke both nodding their agreement to the sentiment
Still – in this case, it was to their advantage, so they started to creep around, Clarisse focused on the sunglasses in her hand. It was as they were nearing the aft deck that things started to get strange again – the sea-tight door leading to the large maneuvering station slapped with a large warning sign claiming "Aethiopian Drakon! Do not approach without authorization! Do not feed without authorization!"
They let out a silent sigh of relief when Clarisse confirmed that the charmed sunglasses were still cold – but by now, it was clear they were going to have to go toward the passenger quarters.
And since they hadn't encountered the monsters and half-blood they knew to be aboard yet, it was pretty clear they could only be on that side of the vessel.
They exited the crew's part of the ship near the mall passageway.
There were monsters standing in groups, some talking about disembowelment practice, or commenting about how great it was to be on a ship with so much 'snacks' on board – while another laughed, and eyeing the trio with gleaming eye added that it was just too bad they were forbidden to eat the best 'snacks'. Clarisse had nearly lost it here and there, and had already her spear half out before Thalia managed to stop her. She'd settled on giving the Hyperborean cyclops a nasty glare as they passed them by.
A bit farther, there wasa group of Laistrygoninan giants cheering on a guy in armor that was hacking at a straw dummy wearing the easily recognizable orange Camp Half Blood shirt.
Even Clarisse was looking vaguely sick as their fellow half-blood eagerly slashed at the dummy -quite clearly aiming for vital spot.
¤.¤.¤
They didn't talk until they'd left the mall behind, then Clarisse let out a loud sigh, not finding anything more to say that "Bloody mad bastards."
Luke and Thalia nodded somberly – to think, while they'd been worrying about fighting against their fellow half-bloods, the deserters had been eagerly playing "maim the half-blood" with monsters!
They kept going toward the upper part of the ship, finally arriving on the promenade deck, where passengers were strolling, children swimming in the pools not too far away, and all sorts of people doing completely regular activities while repeating in a monotone how much they were enjoying their cruise – and of course, not batting an eyelid at the monsters mingling among them, casually talking about eating them for teatime…
They went past a cafeteria where dazed passenger were waiting in line side by side with monsters – there were hell-hounds, and empousai, and several others Luke had seen in books but didn't remember the name of just yet.
Then, the demigod started to feel colder – just as Clarisse announced the sunglasses were getting warmer.
"We're nearing the state-room." Thalia noticed on an emergency map
"Why couldn't them just drop him in a cell?" Clarisse wondered grumpily
Luke – couldn't help but agree. And worry.
Then the large, double oak doors opened – and the trio found themselves face to face with two hairy giant and a familiar half-blood.
"Oh visitors," Ethan said with a crooked smile "come right in, let's talk."
"Or you can give us Chris back and I won't introduce your face to the floor!" Clarisse contradicted him, spear sparkling red in hands
The dark-haired, Japanese looking teen didn't look too worried at the threat – which could be simple self-assurance, or thanks to the two giants flanking him.
"Well, if you insist!" Ethan took a step back, once more inviting them in "He's just here."
Clarisse was stuck between her dear wish of pummelling the traitorous bastard that was talking to them so condescendingly – and wanting to check on Chris Rodriguez, who according to the charmed sunglasses in her hand was indeed in the state room.
With an angry sigh, she collapsed her spear back to it's more portable form and stepped forward, Luke and Thalia on her tail.
The state room was beautiful, with huge curved windows giving a stunning view on the sea, mahogany furniture and a gigantic Persian rug on the floor. But as beautiful as it was, it was impossible to ignore the pervasive cold emanating from a gigantic, three meters long golden sarcophagus, inscribed with scenes of ancient cities in flames and Greek heroes dying all sort of ghastly deaths.
And collapsed by the sarcophagus' side like a dis-articulated puppet, the pale-white body of Chris Rodriguez, chest barely moving and eyes unseeing.
"You'll have to excuse Chris here, he's not quite himself since his little face to face with our leader." Ethan Nakamura said with a nasty, mocking smile
This time, there was no stopping Clarisse rage as she rushed toward the other half-blood. Ethan easily parried, proving that he was no slouch, the long blade of a katana shimmering in a color that wasn't quite Celestial bronze deviating the daughter of Ares' spear before it could hurt him.
¤.¤.¤
It had taken the two monsters a moment to realize their boss was under attack – and by then Luke had already jumped toward one, Thalia toward the other.
The two monsters, were over two meter tall, wearing nothing but a blue-jean. They had paws rather than feet, were covered in brown shaggy fur, with claws and snout instead of nails and nose – all in all, they were a rather good representation of a big foot or a yeti.
They were also very strong – though thankfully not too smart.
"Really," Ethan mused as he dodged around Clarisse's infuriated attack "I don't see why you're so angry. Shouldn't a daughter of the war god understand that there are some necessary sacrifices in war?"
"How the fuck was Chris a necessary sacrifice, bastard? He didn't want to come and the other traitor fucking dragged him away!"
"Yes, poor Chris had already agreed to join us, then he got cold feet." a sneer "Of course, our lord couldn't let something like that go."
"Bah, talk about a Lord, stuck in a fancy gold box." Clarisse mocked with more bravado than she was really feeling
The room seemed to grew even colder as she talked.
"Our lord is getting stronger!" Ethan contradicted her "Little by little, with each recruit pledging themselves to him…"
"A handicapped old man who already lost this war once and who needs to rely on confused children to be healed?" Luke taunted "You're really not making a very good recruitment speech."
"As if you have any room to talk! You should have been our leader, but instead you chose to run in the Greek gods skirts! You would have been greatly rewarded, and instead you chose the losing side!"
"Luke was only intelligent enough not to let himself seduced by false promises!" Thalia contradicted
While fighting, and trading barbs, the trio had managed to subtly change position. By now, all of them were right by Chris' side – and the terrifying sarcophagus.
Somehow, the three half-bloods hadn't needed to talk, to know what they had to do.
Grabbing Chris with one arm, Luke called "Maya!" and rushed toward the nearest window, sword forward.
At the same time, Clarisse had stuck her spear on the sarcophagus, screaming "Hit it!" at Thalia – before running toward the same window panel.
As for Thalia – she gathered all the power she could in an explosive burst of lightning, that course through the daughter of Ares' spear, directly into the sarcophagus.
The air grew colder, and more furious, and the spear finally gave up under the strain of the tremendous power coursing through it.
The explosion threw Ethan and his two monstrous bodyguard to the ground, all the windows blowing up but a moment after Luke had jumped out with Chris, Clarisse on his steps wildly grabbing his leg to slow down her fall. Thanks to the flying shoes, they managed to land on the deck several stories bellow them without getting too much hurt. As for Thalia, she had used the momentum of the electric storm to jump out too, as the day lightning could hurt her wasn't there yet – with a gust of wind, her fall was slowed down – and the demigoddess realized that for the first time she'd grasped the ability to use the winds she had inherited from Zeus.
Of course, with such a noisy, violent event, even the Mist was having problem keeping the mortals calm – not to talk about all the monsters that didn't need to be geniuses to realize that the bloody, running, half-blood may not be on their side after all.
They rushed toward the nearest life-boat, Luke and Clarisse cutting some half-woman, half-snake ladies in two while Thalia was cutting the rope holding the dinghy up.
The life-boat brusquely fell toward the sea, all holding for dear life. As soon as they hit the water, Thalia was looking at the engine and speeding away – cursing how slow the thing was.
Thankfully, it seemed they'd sown enough chaos in the cruise ship for them to need some time before they were able to pursue.
[Life Quest updated! A Thief's Downfall / Thunder Princess
Goal Complete: rescue Chris Rodriguez
Reward: +5XP
Hidden Goal Complete: damage the sarcophagus
Hidden Reward: +40XP, A Race Against Time perk unlocked]
[Hunt Complete: Scythian Dracanae (LV60)!
Reward: +10XP, unlocksScythian Dracanae's Fangs,Scythian Dracanae's Scales andScythian Dracanae's TailPerks]
[New Perk unlocked
Scythian Dracanae's Fangs (1PP): +5 to Poison
Scythian Dracanae's Scales (2PP): +5 to Physical and Elemental Resistance
Scythian Dracanae's Tail (10PP): grant the ability to change your lower body in a snake's tail
A Race Against Time (5PP): +10 to Battle Sense
Available: 17PP (Thalia: 26 PP / Luke: 12 PP)]
It took nearly two hours before the Lewis-Jackson trireme caught up with them, true to their promise.
¤.¤.¤
In that time, Chris had slipped in and out of consciousness, each time coming awake with heart-rending terrified streams, before devolved in a muttering, shivering mess of a teen who didn't seem to realize where he was, or who they where.
Each time, with untold amount of patience and kindness, Clarisse had calmed and soothed him, taking care of him until he fell asleep once more. Their quest was over, they knew – and just like the prophecy had told, they'd been to late to save Chris' mind.
All three heroes were battered, bloodied, and weary from the cold, disturbing feeling given by the Crooked One's sarcophagus – and they really didn't feel victorious, despite knowing that their desperate action before fleeing had quite probably set back the titan's healing quite a bit.
Percy, who'd dropped his brother to "Camp Fish-Blood", had been beating up himself for not going with them on the Princess Andromeda – until Clarisse had given him a sharp, yet not too hard hit on the back of the head "It wouldn't have changed anything, brat." she pointed out "I'm pretty sure Chris has been in this states for days." a shrug "Now if you have a some sort of restorative potion under hand to help him, I wouldn't say no but… Well I doubt it's going to be that easy."
"It isn't." Dewin agreed – he had done is fair share of work with the wixen hospital after all "But I don't think it's impossible." he nodded toward the boy, who was squeezing her hand in his sleep "If he's already able to identify what's safe and what isn't', even if only subconsciously, he can get better."
"I'll make sure of it." the daughter of Ares vowed seriously
"I can't apparate as long as we're in the sea of monster," the wizard explained "But as soon as we've sailed out of it, I'll drop you off to New York."
"Thank you, mister Lewis. You've been a real life-saver." Luke reiterated
"We're half-bloods, we've got to stick together."
The trio of questers shared a glance, all three thinking back to the half-blood so training to kill them. Sticking back together was good yeah – but how were they supposed to do that when some among them seemed so ready to turn their back on them?
That night, all three shared the same vision – watching through their dreams as Ethan Nakamura, looking pale and exhausted, was cowering in front of the damaged golden sarcophagus, the cold voice of the thing from the pit scolding him for his arrogance, saying it was what had cause this catastrophe. The lid of the sarcophagus had been splintered by the explosion of Clarisse' spear, and the body inside was worthy of a horror movie, looking like a half-decomposed, half-desiccated mummy, with whole parts of the body missing here and there. From within the dream, cold golden eyes, burning with hatred suddenly appeared in sunken orbits and a rotten, evil face, looking right toward them.
"Come to gloat, little half-bloods? Don't think this will delay me long! I'll be back eventually, an I'll take a particular pleasure in annihilating you and all those you love!"
They woke up drenched in sweat, Thalia dry-having, Clarisse looking like she was fighting with herself to keep the content of her stomach inside her body, while Luke, and Chris loudly wailing about the "evil, golden eyes".
The next day, as promised, Dewin had taken the four half-bloods back to New-York, proving to the two that knew the most about the wixen world that he really was quite powerful – few wixen were able to apparate hundreds of kilometers away with four people in tow after all, that's why portkey had been invented.
Despite Chris' state, and the mood-dampening news that the half-bloods choosing to turn coat were so eagerly preparing to kill them, there had still been a feast that day – Dionysus claiming "You're alive and you've dealt a hit at the enemy. Take it from the god of parties, it's a good enough reason to celebrate."
Dionysus – was right, they realized with some surprise.
¤.¤.¤
Bianca had enthousiastically explained how she'd taken care of Circe's Spa, forcing the enchantress to take magical vow not to use mind-control on her visitors, nor to shape-shift all the males without a goo reason – and no, because she felt like it wasn't a good reason.
She'd also pointed out that while making her employees near immortal as long as they worked for her was allowed, keeping the client from aging was a big no, and really, did she really want Hades angry at her?
The daughter of Hecate had been pouting – pouting! - by the end of it, but the fact that they hadn't just released the "bad pigs" nilly-willy thanks to Reyna meant that she was more agreeable to listening. The comment of the spa's client had helped too – most of the woman agreed that the island really was wonderful, and that just like the questers had said, they would have paid for such a service – it was the mind-control they resented, not to mention the loss of their partners for those women who'd accidentally landed on the island with a man they actually did like.
It would take a few months – but eventually, Circe would agree that this new model did work – even better, not having to maintain a near permanent mental control over the island meant she had more free time for her own hobby of weaving, and more magic to create new and better care packages for her clients…
While Thalia and Luke had headed back home to the clan, Clarisse, who just like Chris was a year-rounder, had all but moved in the infirmary in the Big House, where the other teen had been made comfortable since he was in no way able to take care of himself enough to just leave him be in cabin eleven. The healers, mostly Apollo and Asclepius' children, were rather thankful for the girl's help as Chris had quickly recognized her as safe – even in the middle of the worst of his crisis.
Dionysus had confirmed that the boy was quite mad, before pointing out, at the devastated look on Ares' daughter "Being mad is not the problem girl, it's being able to life. Right now his mind is broken, and something like that cannot be undone, but he can still heal and lead a good life."
The god of wine – had been rather stunned when that evening, beyond the food offering from his twin sons, he felt another one.
Then he realized that he had explained more clearly than usual the state of the mad boy, and that was why the girl was thankful – because he'd given her hope. Clearly, Adra had rubbed off him, because he really was starting to get attached to the brats…
¤.¤.¤
Luna had taken particular attention to Adra for this year's Beltane celebration – the green dress had been hand-embroided by the young witch, she was pretty sure, and she could swear that there were more fresh flowers and ribbon in her hair than in any other girl in the house – and given that it was a girl day for both Leifr and Alys, there were quite a few girls around on that day!
She, Carter and Pyxis had left during the celebration, since they were expected in Asgard.
The meeting wasn't held within the city itself, but in a more out of the way viking-style longhouse currently covered in yellow flowers – apparently the Norse too were starting to take on the old celebrations again.
There was the mouth-watering scent of venison coming from large fire-pits, kegs of ale and mead – but also bottles of Leifr's creation.
And the Wild gods and goddesses.
Barely twenty still powerful and sane enough to gather, from the nearly two hundred pantheon and local deities they'd visited.
Odin and Freya for the Norse.
Cernunos and Áine from the Celt.
Artemis and Dionysus/Bacchus for the Greek and Roman, the later having been authorized to leave camp and drink alcohol for the day thanks to Artemis and Adra both putting in a good word for him.
Neith from Egypt, who'd been quite difficult to convince to leave her territory as she was busy preparing a hide-out for "when Apophis broke free" – which proved that she did have some keen instincts, thought she appeared quite paranoid.
Shakti and Rudra from the Hindu – their pantheon was still thriving but they rarely stepped out of their frontiers. Still both were tied enough to the wild to see the wisdom in this meeting.
Nüwa and Nezha from the Chinese Celestial Bureaucracy, who they'd managed to contact thanks to Jade, since entering the Celestial Imperial Dream Realm was a chore and a half.
The Japanese Tsukiyomi and Amaterasu were pointedly ignoring each other, while Susanoo, rolling his eyes, had gone to chat with Rudra.
Huēhuecoyōtl, "Call me Hue" was an Aztec, and barely holding to his form anymore, growing see-through from time to time. How he even still managed to be somewhat sane and visible was anyone's guess.
Ma'ii, from the Navajo, who was intently talking with Hue.
Pinga, Amarok and Sedna from the Inuit, who was probably on of the pantheon among whom they'd found one of the strongest remaining bond with the Wild.
Anansi, whom they'd expected in Africa and found having tea with Baron Samedi, who was still quite healthy but not frankly a power-player as while very clever, the deity was barely more powerful than some local deities.
Speaking of local deities, they'd found some who, while it'd weaken them, had been able to leave their area. Mielikki had come, representing the Finish, and was currently talking with the Roman minor god Silvanus, who was looking a bit seen-through, and the Yakut Bai Anai.
¤.¤.¤
While gathering people from so many different pantheons at once hadn't been easy – as the food and alcohol started to flow, they all soon started to relax, even the more stand-offish soon realizing that – all of them were all of the Wild.
[Life Quest Updated! The Call of the Wild
Goal Complete: you've gathered the deities of the Wild (23/?)
Reward: 23*10XP, Call of the Gods, From the Wild and Atavism perk unlocked, +1PP/5 deities]
[New Perk unlocked
From the Wild (free for Adra): you've been blessed by the Wild
Atavism (free for Carter and Pyxis / 50 PP): there's blood from the Wild in you, and you can awaken it
Call of the Gods(5 PP): +10 to Wild Affinity
Available: 21PP]
[Specie updated from Witch to Half-Blood(witch/spirit)
You are now a wild spirit instead of a nature spirit]
[new Skills unlocked!
Sensing the Wild (EMP: WILD): already unlocked
Wild Unique Element Affinity: 1]
[Wild Auraunlocked (+5 to END, +10 to Sensing the Wild)
note that Wild Aura grows stronger when the Wild Affinity reaches 25, 50, 75 and 100]
Since she'd not completely change specie, Adra could feel the change but it was nothing compared to when she'd become a kitsune – though it was rather strange to suddenly feel so much more attuned to the deities around her.
For Pyxis and Carter – thankfully, Chaos Game hadn't triggered a radical change in specie, instead unlocking an Atavism perk… Because Adra remembered all too well how horrible it had been when a Quest Completion in her previous life had accidentally forced her through a premature specie change.
The feeling of her own body breaking down – wasn't something she could easily forget. She'd been saved only thanks to the spirits she'd adopted making a bargain with the gods on her behalf, and had still spent months unconscious while her body recovered.
Carter – must have been thinking about the same thing as he leaned fondly against her, seeming to suddenly need the physical contact to reassure himself she was still there.
There had been no big speech – even managing to gather the Wild deities was a feat, but making them sit down and listen to someone for too long -no way! Instead, those that knew what the meeting was about had gone around to chat up the other deities and explain about Odin's old hunts, and their idea to organize a big enough, all around the world, to momentarily boost the Wild and finally allow it to regenerate.
No matter how wild, chaotic or contrary some deities could be – just like Odin had said, all knew the Wild were fading… And as such convincing them to cooperate hadn't been that hard in the end.
Of course, preparing for such a large-scale event as a world-wide Wild Hunt wasn't going to be done in one day.
But now that they'd gathered once, now that they knew who else was still there – they would be able to cooperate, and be ready when the time came.
"Still," Hue had eventually been the one to point out what all knew "there's so few left of us. Will it really be enough?"
Adra, Carter and Pyxis shared a glance. It was a testament to how weakened the Wild was – that except those that already knew, none had been able to feel their true nature.
¤.¤.¤
All at once, they let go of their usual control on their aura, the call of "Old Ones" soon echoing on everyone's lips.
"We'll be the one calling for the hunt," Adra explained
"What about Magic?" Freya wondered -quickly getting a good enough feel of their power that she knew something was still missing
"The wixen world." Adra explained "They still remember the hunts of old," she explained, nodding toward Odin "if they know a hunt was called… They'll answer the call."
"Isn't it too much interference with the Mortal Realm?" Ma'ii wondered – but despite trying to be the voice of wisdom, it was clear she really wanted to be contradicted
"The hunt is about bringing back balance." Carter pointed out "While it will benefit us, the Mortal Realm will also gain from it so in the end, it's a bargain."
"This is going to be grand!" Cernunos claimed "It's been ages since we've done something like this!"
Around him – the other deities seemed to quite agree with it.
The party lasted early into the next morning, and by the time they each went home, all of the Wild deities were agreeing to meet again in the future.
"I guess the death deities had the right idea." Artemis mused as things were starting to calm down "Meeting gods from the same domain is more relaxing than I'd expected."
Adra nodded happily, eyeing Dionysus and Carter that were drinking under the table Tsukiyomi and Cernunos – her fiancé really was taking advantage of the fact that in the Dream World they could relax their hold on their power, and age themselves a bit.
The silver-eyed goddess turned toward Adra "Still, will you be alright calling for the hunt? Since you'll be the focusing point of our power, you'll bear the brunt of it…" she pointed out "And I know too much divinity isn't quite healthy for a mortal body."
"It'll be hard. Especially on Carter since he's the youngest." Adra admitted easily – there was no need to sugar-coat things after all "But it's not like we can wait for both of our magical maturity, all the current prophecies are indicating that win or loose, things will be over by the dawn of 2000, so it's better to do this ritual as soon as possible."
"I'm also going to go through atavism as soon as possible." Carter indicated "As a half-spirit, even as young as I am, I should fare much better." he mused while absentmindedly keeping his mug out of Cernunos' reach
"And it's not like the preparations will be done in a day or two." Odin, who was roaming the room and had happened on their talk, added "While us gods don't usually need complicated ritual to work our magic, with deities from so many different pantheon, things won't be quite that simple."
"Indeed." Adra agreed "Honestly, I may well need help from a deity of magic. While I do know my way around ritual crafting and arithmancy calculation, this is a bit too much for me."
"My specialty of runes won't quite cut it here, I'm afraid." Odin mused "But maybe Shakti? I don't often mingle with the Hindu pantheon, but from what I know she's probably the best suited to help among us."
Following Odin's advice, Adra had sought out Shakti. The goddess was rather strange to talk with, as she was a triple goddess – sometimes, her three personalities were all sharing the same body – and sometime, she was the goddesses Parvati, Durga and Kali.
As it turned out – she wasn't opposed to help, and even invited Adra to Nirvāṇa, the Dream Realm of the Hindu pantheon. Nirvāṇa was without a doubt the most lively pantheon's realm she'd visited – probably due to the fact that not only were there even more minor deities among the Hindu than in the Celestial Bureaucracy, but it was also the pantheon where chaos was clearly the most present.
¤.¤.¤
The place honestly reminded Adra of Shangri La in her old life, with lush, vertiginous mountains teeming with life, a multitude of floating island were the gods had their temple...
Parvati, Durga and Kali each had their temple, all three sharing the same island.
While the three aspects of Shakti were identical in looks, they were quite different when it came to their character, and even domain as goddesses. Parvati was a motherly goddess, calm and happy; Durga a fierce, protective, warrior goddess – while Kali was a violent, destructive goddess.
But all three shared their knowledge of magic as Shakti – and apparently preferred to think on magical problems while separated, as having several opinion worked better in their opinion.
Because she was the source of all the gods powers in her pantheon, Shakti was also quite busy – as such, it was rather difficult for her to find time to help, so Adra took to seek her out once a month, working with the founders at Hogwarts the rest of the time.
By the end of her third school year, Adra had the specifics of the ritual finally determinated. All the deities would need to be marked with a seal she'd crafted by leaning heavily on the knowledge from her cumulated previous life – a work of art that would condense all the intricate knowledge and effects of the ritual in one single symbol, unique to each god.
But before that – she would have to trace the full ritual, in a mix of blood from Pyxis, Carter and herself, in a place still powerful in the Wild. Now - she needed to find a place like that...
Strangely enough, the answer had come in a form of a satyr.
Adra had been arriving at Camp Half-Blood, the shadows closing down behind her – when she heard Dionysus snap at a satyr.
"I'm saying I'm not letting you punish that kid just because he's saying things you don't like! You've all been searching for Pan, shouldn't you be happy he's finally given a sign to someone!"
"Baaah! There's no way this vision is real! Groover has always had the head in the stars! A place full of the wild, our god speaking to him! Rubbish!"
"Uh. So you're just bigoted." Adra mused as she entered on the veranda were Chiron and Dionysus had been playing cards before the old satyr had interrupted them.
"Exactly!" Dionysus nodded "The Concil of the Clover Elder was created to govern the satyr while their god was missing…" he eyed the rotund looking satyr, who quivered under his glare "But it looks like they've been in power for so long they've forgotten to give respect where it is due."
¤.¤.¤
Adra could feel chaos gathering as Dionysus powers ensnare the goat-legged spirit for a moment.
"Do not test me again, Maron, or I won't be so lenient next time!"
"Of course my lord!" the trembling satyr assured, bowing hastily before retreating.
"So, what's this about a vision?"
"Apparently young Groover thinks he's hearing Pan's voice, and seeing the place where he's hidding."
"Well what's the problem then? Can't he just go look for him?"
"It's not that simple." Chiron explained "Because are the children of Pan, ever since the god disappeared there's been nearly no new satyr. Because of this, they're very protective of the young ones, and well, Groover is…" a hesitation "He's growing slowly, and clumsy, and not very good with his wild magic, so no one really want to let him engage in something so dangerous."
"Since when have the vision started?"
"The beginning of the year."
Adra raised an eyebrow.
A satyr that had started having vision when Artemis and her had started to visit all of the Wild deities – and Carter had helped nature all around the world – there was no way this was a coincidence.
Especially given that Carter too had complained about hearing a voice in his dreams ever since he'd gone through atavism and became a light spirit! The budding magician had taken some time before realizing it was a god calling for his help – but said god was so weak it was hard to pin-point him.
If that satyr really was hearing the same god – if it really was Pan…
Needless to say, Adra had immediately called for Carter – who'd appeared a moment later within a ray of light, and ability he'd unlocked thanks to his Atavism and gleefully trained with ever since.
Carter and Groover had been introduced – and the ten year old incarnated god and ten year old looking satyr had immediately hit it off, rather strangely.
While he was attuned to the Wild, Groover clearly had a great affinity for Nature – and very keen senses, as contrarily to the other satyrs, he immediately noticed that the magician was more than he appeared. He also felt something about Adra, albeit in a lesser measure…
Still, confirming that Groover had such good instincts and senses was all the confirmation the three gods needed.
[Life Quest Updated! The Call of the Wild
Bonus Goal Complete: meet with Pan's chosen
Bonus Reward: +10XP, +1PP]
"You are now under my direct orders." Dionysus indicated to the young satyr "You'll be training your powers…" he stopped the impatient child before he could protest "You'll be training as quickly as possible, because you need to find Pan, and a place still filled with the Wild before the summer solstice of next year."
The satyr's had seemed stunned at the sudden mission – but he was taking it very seriously.
Since he would have to venture out in the world, Dionysus had thrown him in the half-bloods training – many of the god-born wondering what this new whim from the god of madness was…
¤.¤.¤
After all, half-bloods grew faster, were stronger and quicker, not to mention their good instincts in a fight…
But what Groover seemed to lack in innate talent, he was making up for in sheer will. Sure, he'd never be a fighter – but he would learn to survive.
He went to the children of Hermes, and learned to fight dirty.
Since he was so bad with his reed-pipes that he couldn't manager the simplest wild magic – her went to the children of Apollo, to learn music.
And since they didn't need music to control plants, he went to the children of Demeter, to learn more about how they used their own powers in hope of finding a way that would work for him.
Because he would need to blend in the mortal world, and satyrs weren't really hidden by the Mist – he'd gone to the wixen district, and managed to convince Dewin to make him a glamour charm.
Carter had taken to kidnap Groover from the Camp during the week-end – and it was with the satyr in tow that he kept on going in the places where Wild Spirits had faded, in hope of helping them a bit.
The unique training – was doing wonders for the unique satyr, and within a few weeks it was becoming evident that he would be the strongest spirit of the Wild to have been born ever since the Wild had started to decline, centuries ago…
When the end of the school year arrived, Adra realized she'd barely given a though to the Lestrange and Crouch Junior – until Pyxis had informed her that they'd been spotted near Albania. The goddess had been a bit worried – with how quickly things were happening, she didn't even had the chance to think about what fourth year could be bringing…
Because yes, Dumbledore had confirmed to her that the Triwizard Tournament was in the works.
Deciding that all the ground work she'd already done, training herself and the children had school, and starting to upgrade the wixen world, would have to be enough for now.
Because as personal as her vendetta with Voldemort was – she couldn't afford to ignore the rest of the world either.
So while Carter was spending time with the Greek – Adra went to see the Egyptians; or rather one Egyptian Goddess.
¤.¤.¤
Adra hadn't noticed that there was something off with Neith the first time she'd seen her. But during the Beltane gathering, it became quite clear to her senses.
While her light madness didn't look out of place among the Wild deities, Adra, who was more tied to Chaos itself, could feel something more. The only thing she could compare it to would be that to her senses, the goddess felt like a shifted-sinistral – except that instead of having been forced to use her right hand instead of her left, she was over-using her ties to Nature rather than embracing her ties to Chaos. Just like Anubis had been over-leaning on his powers of Death when she'd first met him…
Of course, this was something that could be changed – but for that, she had to grow close enough to the goddess to let her understand that it wasn't a bad thing to have powers tied to chaos.
So as soon as she was out of school, she'd tracked down the goddess, in the ruins of Saïs.
Neith's placed looked rather empty – marsh, a forest of palm trees, bees hovering above the papyrus plants by the river side…
The goddess could be found in a clearing swarming with bees, where only a few pieces of an old mud-brick wall remained.
A a firs glance, the place was rather desolated.
It was forgetting that Neith was a goddess.
A goddess from a pantheon that had been much less forgotten thank quite a bit of the old ones.
All this power than felt so stilted in the goddess had needed an outlet – and this outlet, Chaos had found it by weaving illusions so powerful and lasting, the goddess had unconsciously created her own Dream Realm.
And this Realm was beautiful – her own temple still standing tall, in the middle of a complex at least a square kilometer large, with tall white walls, a golden gilded portal and a road lined with stone sphinxes leading to the river.
Of course, the Dream Realm wasn't quite complete – for now it's only inhabitant were animals and Neith herself. Sure enough, there were what appeared to be ancient Egyptian going about their life – but they still lacked the spark of life needed to truly awaken them wince the goddess herself hadn't yet realized her realm wasn't just a very good illusion of the days of old.
No matter – Adra was used to stubborn deities.
She came her few time by herself, hunting in the unique realm with its creator, talking about her life as they ate the bounty of the day.
Rising Neith's curiosity hadn't been too hard – on one hand, Adra currently lived with three other Egyptian gods, one of which she'd seen freed from they deeper layers of the Duat; on the other hand, she also had one of the best weaver spirit in existence leaving with her too.
Akhet had been the first to follow her to see Neith – the young god, who'd adapted quite well in the wixen world in the year since he'd been freed, had been eager to see Egypt again. As soon as he'd stepped foot in the marsh, Adra could feel his hole demeanor changing, but also his powers grow – clearly, this country was still the center of his pantheon's powers. It was no wonder he'd been so eager to come – it was like coming home for him.
He'd indulged the huntress goddess in her need to check if he was worthy by hunting him – all deities had their quirks, and Egyptians did tend to respect power.
Anubis had followed not soon after, realizing much faster than Akhet just what the "shadow of the old world" really was, but keeping his silence on it, knowing the goddess would need time to come to terms with her powers.
So instead of pointing out what had created the Dream Realm, he talked, just like with Akhet, of his own life with Adra, his better understanding of his powers. Akhet was far from stupid, and had quickly added to it – talking about learning about the wixen world, or the Kane's plan to free another god by the beginning of July.
Bast had come by eventually too, the two goddesses trading barbs yet somehow seeming to respect each other. She was the one, who talked to her about the Per Sesen, it's new student's… And the new way of the gods.
It took nearly a month before the curiosity of the goddess was finally strong enough to overcome her natural wariness.
¤.¤.¤
"Three Old Ones in our world." she mused as they were cleaning the bones of a roasted pigeon "And none of you have laughed when I said Apophis was coming."
Adra nodded silently, letting the Egyptian goddess say what she needed.
"You've changed a lot of things since you've arrived. With the younger pantheons… Norse, Celt, Greek and Romans… Trying to revive the Wild… But not only."
She threw her bones toward Padfoot, Blanche and Kagetsu, the trio, who'd already finished their own meal, eagerly snapping them up.
"You're preparing for his return, right."
"Not only his." Adra pointed out "There's already old enemies stirring among the Greek and the Romans."
"Is our world ending?"
"Would we really have wasted our time coming, if it was inevitable?"
Within a few days after their talk, the hunting goddess had decided to tag along back to the Per Sesen, to witness herself how the world had changed – and maybe, find a partner.
While she couldn't be seen by the mortals, she wasn't really bothered by it, content to just watch and observe in silence, absentmindedly knotting some yarn in macrame hunting traps and other practical items.
It was seeing Fiadh Quinn, the Irish magician who, in the six month since she'd arrived had made surprising progress in the control of storm and other chaos magic, that finished convincing the hunting goddess that chaos – couldn't be all bad.
Not if the Old One who'd been sent to help them used it with such great effects.
Not if a girl who, while brash, was also kind with everyone, and quite respectful of nature, could held such natural affinity for it.
Not if it could make her a home and a safe haven when she'd started to hide from the Per Ankh, when she'd grown lonely and had longed for the old days where the Per Ankh still worked with the gods, and Egypt thrived under their guidance.
Neith hadn't wasted any time – and within a week, she was drinking a potion brewed by the Irish girl.
[Life Quest Updated! Blood of the Pharaoh / Bright as the Sun / A Magical Sister
Hidden Goal complete: give Neith a body
Hidden Reward: +40XP, +2PP]
Fiadh and Neith – did have a close relationship like Tonks and Bast or Horus and Bill – but it was alright by them. Both were head-strong, and independent – and while the two were keeping in touch thanks to the telepathy all shesh learned once they started their training, the hunting goddess wasn't seen much, instead taking advantage of her mortal body to travel and learn about the modern world by herself.
She did stay for a few day after they sealed their partnership – to greet the latest god freed by the Kane family.
After some thinking, and some advise from Akhet, the Per Sesen had agreed on freeing Osiris next – while some had been wanting Isis for her mastery of magic, Akhet had had to point out that the goddess was very self-centered and power hungry. Convincing her to work with the Per Sesen was probably going to be difficult, and something that would work better if both her son and husband were already aligned with them.
Once more, a trip to the magical menagerie had been organized, the owner looking rather surprised to see them again -even moreso when they'd informed him they were looking for some kind of ram this time. As it turned out, the man did have a ram for them – a tiny, unbelievably cute thing who barely reached their knees, with light brown long fur and crystalline, curly, emerald green horns.
The creature was a magical breed, as his horns made quite apparent, and had to be sold with a glamour collar that would make it appear normal to mortals – it was a Shetland green, a breed rather popular for the crystalline horns of the males, and the variety of green fur they usually had; the little ram the were bringing home hadn't sold because of his brown fur…
This time, they would be making their ritual on the 8th of July, which was once more both a full moon and an auspicious day according to the Egyptian calendar.
As for the place – a new statue had just been installed in Derby, a two meter long, even taller, majestic ram. It had some rather clear Egyptian influence for those who knew where to look – among them sphinx like pose of the ram, or the way the curly horns made a crow around the beast's head.
[Life Quest Updated! Blood of the Pharaoh / Bright as the Sun / A Magical Sister
Goal complete: free Horus from his prison
Reward: +10XP
Goal complete: escape the Per Ankh
Reward: +10XP
Bonus Goal failed: escape the Per Ankh's notice
Bonus Goal complete: fool the Per Ankh
Bonus Reward: +20X, +1PP]
They'd prepared some diversion ahead of time, in order to try and slow down the Per Ankh when they started to realize something was going on -sending some shabti try a fake version of their ritual in France, Egypt, Germany and the USA right at the time they were starting the real ritual.
It had been rather power intensive, but thanks to Mary Ellis, whose talent as a charm-maker had grown exponentially since she'd started to train with the Per Sesen, they'd manage to store some power ahead of time to power up the shabtis.
Amos, who'd been preparing to head back to New York, had decided to stay to witness the ritual too – but after that, he was heading back to his home, and officially starting the Per Sesen Second Nome, having already taken care of all the paperwork needed to confirm his existence to the MACUSA and the ICW.
Osiris had kept an eye on the mortal world, especially since his son had been freed, as such he'd possessed the ram prepared for him as soon as he was out of his prison – all in all, this had been quite the successful operation.
¤.¤.¤
The king of the dead was a calm, wise man, who seemed to deeply enjoying the changes that had been brought by Adra.
He'd not wasted any time in going back to the crumbling Egyptian afterlife, and Anubis had been over-joyed to explain that now that it's true master was back, the realm was quickly coming back together.
He'd also explained that with such a big part of the Egyptian Dream Realm healing, he could feel quite a few of the minor gods that had managed to escape the Per Ankh's imprisonment were coming out of the woodwork - and since most of them weren't part of the afterlife, Osiris was pointing them at Horus, as quite a few hadn't realized he was free too, since he had quickly hidden his aura in order not to be found by the Per Ankh, since he was staying in the mortal realm.
Of course, Adra ha been rather eager to visit the Egyptian afterlife now that it was back to it's all days of glory, and was soon a frequent visitor with Sirius.
While the god of the dead was much too busy to find the time to explore the Mortal Realm – though he was quite happy to let his nephew enjoy his young and learn about life – the Potter Heiress had quickly pointed out that while regular mortals wouldn't be able to help him gain a mortal body, both Pyxis and her would happily perform a magical adoption… And any of the half-bloods of other gods of death would be able to perform a blood adoption with him, thanks to their shared ties with death.
Osiris had been thankful for the offer – and even if he hadn't yet taken them up on it, he was still dropping y the clan from time to time in the evening, visible to even the mortals thanks to the presence of Pyxis and Adra. Without much surprise, the Egyptian god got rather along quite well with Pyxis – but also with Remus and even Leto.
"You'll have to be the one to free my brother." he'd suddenly told her during an evening
Adra had eyed him with some surprise – it wasn't too hard to guess whom he was talking about after all.
"I've seen how you've helped Loki." he said – surprising her even more "And while my brother is quite mad right now, he's no Apophis, he was just fighting for what he believed when he killed me."
"And you don't resent him?"
Osiris sighed tiredly "My wife did scheme to force Ra to give up the throne and make me king." he admitted "And while he really needed to give up on his throne right then, she didn't go about it the right way. Seth had all the reasons to be angry."
He eyed the large clan, that was strewed out in the grass, shesh, wixen and half-bloods happily mingling.
"But right now the time to fight Apophis is coming again. All we'll need all our forces. Even Apophis. Even Ra."
"But Ra has faded!" Horus couldn't help but protest, a bit worried at the idea of an older god with just the same claim as him to the throne of the gods
"That he has." Osiris agreed "But he did it voluntarily. Which means there must still be a way to reach him somehow… And to fight Apophis, we will need him." he smiled reassuringly to his son "Your mother may have schemed against him, he never resented me, and he won't you. Once he stepped down, he did realize it wasn't his time to rule anymore, no matter what your uncle or your mother believe."
"I guess thirst for power really is our fatal flaw." the young god mused, with a self-deprecating smile "Even me."
"If you're wise enough to realize it, you will be a good ruler." Leto was the one to affirm "Besides, the Greek and Romans who'd been at odds for two thousand years are finally working together again… Isn't it past time this old grudge is resolved?"
Akhet hadn't agreed – but he hadn't disagreed either.
He would wait and see, he decided – if Adra had been able to bring Loki back from his hatre and madness, then maybe she really could do the same for his uncle. Maybe Anubis – could finally have a true relationship with his father…
Adra, he knew – was already thinking about how to do it.
"That's her thinking face." an amused Leanne pointed out
"Nope, that's her 'I want to adopt a new stray and I will, now I just need to find how to convince everyone it's a good idea'." Luna corrected, making everyone laugh
Adra had pouted, then mumbled something about borrowing the Kane's note on their ritual, and about how she'd probably need to change it to happen during an unauspicious Demonic Day to make it work better with the chaotic god.
¤.¤.¤
Then, in the middle of July, Bianca had come home claiming she may have found Voldemort's philactery.
Once they'd known he'd made a pact with Nergal, it had been rather evident to search for the god's temple – problem was, while it was well known that E-Meslma had been in the city of Kutha, the ancient city had left very little ruins behind…
Looking for the temple had been as easy a looking for a needle in a hay-stack. While blindfolded.
But Bianca, who hosted Ereshkigal, was quite determined to fight the god who'd been malevolent enough to steal his own pantheon's powers, starting by his wife, forcing them to fade far before their time.
So she'd explored the ruins of Kutha millimeter by millimeter over the years.
She'd stepped numerous on the ruins of what was thought to be an old quarry, though no one was quite sure what kind of rocks were really carved there given the nature of the ground… But it had taken her quite a while to realize that the quarry was a reversed, with the three levels closer to the surface having partially collapsed.
From there on, she'd started to look for the lower levels of the ziggurat, and had eventually noticed some wards, proving that she wasn't the first one to come to the realization of the place's true nature.
[Life Quest Updated! The Girl Who Lived / Fate Rewritten…
Bonus Goal Complete: find the E-Meslam
Bonus Reward: +10XP, Call of the Abyss perk unlocked]
[New perk unlocked
-Call of the Abyss (5PP): +10 to Shadow
Available: 25 PP]
Feeling how powerful the wards were, Bianca had port-keyed back home, and explained her latest finding.
Adra had immediately decided to come, knowing that if there was something of Voldemort down there, she'd be the one who'd notice it first. Then, Bill, who was like often these days having lunch with them before his training with the Per Sesen, had pointed out that he was trained for these kind of situation.
The trio hadn't wasted any time in heading back toward E-Meslam.
They'd been greeted by a gigantic, golden, eagle-like bird with a lion's head who immediately tried to shred them apart.
"That's an ugallu!" Bianca recognized "A storm beast, I didn't even know they still existed!"
Just as she was saying so, the creature vigorously flapped it's wings toward them, while letting out a loud roar, that echoed in the caved-in ziggurat – the echo soon becoming thunder as clouds gathered above the ugallu, lightning sparkling toward it's wings…
All three scattered, each in a different direction.
Adra called KageShin to her, thankful that she was finally tall enough to make use of her blade – and with but a though, called the large black wings she'd recently unlocked.
"Ho, very angel of death-y, I like it!" Bianca commented with a wink and a thumbs up as the girl rushed toward the monster, who clearly hadn't expected it but was still ready to retaliate
She disappeared in the shadows a moment before arriving in front of him, stepping out just behind him the next second, living it's front side wide open for Bianca and Bill while she hacked at it's wings.
Soon, the ugallu was loosing altitude – thought it still some lightning coursing through it's claws and beak.
Bianca expertly managed to raise a shield of shadow each time the sparkly attack were head toward her "Bah! I've been training with the daughter of Zeus for five years, I'm not afraid of lightning!"
Between the trio, the creature didn't last much longer, and was soon disappearing in a sandy explosion.
[Hunt Complete: Ugallu (LV50)!
Reward: +10XP, unlocksUgallu'sBeak,Ugallu's Scales andUgallu's TailPerks]
[New Perk unlocked
Ugallu'sBeak(1PP): +5 to Lightning
Ugallu'sWings (2PP): +5 to Egyptian Elementalism and Caellomancy
Ugallu's Feathers (10PP): can call and dismiss a cape of feathers that makes you immune to lightning (upkeep: 10MP/min)
Available: 25PP (Bianca: 16 PP)]
"Well," Bill mused "talk about a welcome."
¤.¤.¤
The curse-breaker had become far more serious once he'd found the wards, quickly confirming that they were mainly wixen magic – thought the demigoddess and Adra both could tell that there was some kind of corrupted holy powers reinforcing them.
The wards were quite nasty, but not the worst Bill had seen – and between the years spent working in Egypt and the recent months with the Per Sesen, it took him less than an hour to manage to pierce an opening in them.
With her ability to see magic, it was rather impressive to Adra, as she could literally see the hole in the middle of the complex pattern of deadly wards.
The opening led to a small cave, that rapidly became a descending, man-made corridor – they'd reached the inside of the ziggurat.
[Life Quest Updated! The Girl Who Lived / Fate Rewritten…
Bonus Goal Complete: enter the E-Meslam
Bonus Reward: +10XP, Tomb Raider perk unlocked]
[New perk unlocked
-Tomb Raider (5PP): +10 to Wards
Available: 25 PP]
While they were progressing with caution, the trio was also progressing rather fast, as it became more and more clear than someone had recently passed through, disarming most of the physical traps.
Between long spans of dark corridor, then happened on three rooms, each one smaller than the previous one. The walls were richly decorated in fresco that confirmed that this was indeed Nergal's temple – each level was representing one of the seven gates of Kur, the Mesopotamian after-life… And more importantly, each level was dragging them a bit deeper in a Dream Realm.
"This…" Bianca mused, the odd echo in her voice indicating that it was Ereshkigal that was speaking "I thought my realm had been destroyed when he tore me apart…" there was barely contained anger in her voice "But not only did the bastard stole my powers, he even took over my realm!" she shuddered in disgust "And now, it's corrupted, and I can't even imagine what happened to the souls of the dead if they've been stuck in here for so long."
Adra nodded, her eyes gleaming green and gold in the dark corridor – she too, had felt, as they ventured deeper, that they were headed toward an underworld.
One that felt just as dark and corrupted as the pit from which Kronos had escaped – if not even more.
She eyed Bill, and warned him "This is only getting more dangerous from now on. How good is your occlumency?"
"Good." Bill reassured her "It's part of our training with the goblins."
"Wise of them. Still, this place can make people loose their mind…" she eyed him "You're probably protected thanks to your link to Akhet, but if you start to feel like your mental shields aren't enough, tell me."
In the last room of the ziggurat, the doors on the wall weren't a painting but quite real – and guarded by a distorted creature, wearing the leftovers of what had once been an ancient, colorful tunic in the style of the Babylonians. What appeared to be miasma was flowing out of his mouth, making the air nearly unbreathable, its eyes were two empty sunken orbits, the rotten skin covered in scabs and boils.
Adra immediately unleashed part of her aura, purifying the air around her – while she had no doubt Ereshkigal would protect Bianca, she didn't know if Horus would have been able to do the same given that he didn't have any ties with illnesses, poisons or death.
¤.¤.¤
"Intruders." a gravely voice whispered loudly "Only the dead may pass."
Bianca's eyes widened as she take a closer look at the creature – and suddenly, beyond the disgusting appearance, she saw the echoes of a tall man, with golden eyes, wearing an ornate tunic, a reed stylus and large wax table in hand.
The table had long since dried, and was laying in pieces in a corner of the room – the stylus was still hanging by his waist.
"Namtar." she whispered "Namtar! What has that bastard done to you!"
The creature slowly turned it's head in her direction, before repeating "Intruders. Only the dead may pass."
It wasn't Bianca, but the goddess that was crying, a stunned Adra realized – and suddenly both goddess and half-blood were on the same wavelength, shadows creeping from all over the room and encasing the creature in a storm of darkness.
Adra rushed toward the girl worriedly – this quantity of godly powers – even for a god-born, she knew it was too much.
"Get away from here and go home!" she shouted to Bill "I can't gather enough shadow for a portal!"
The wizard immediately obeyed, melting into the shape of hawk and flying away as fast as he could – making a distant part of Adra's mind note that he really had made tremendous progress in Egyptian magic, as this clearly hadn't been an animagus transformation.
The largest part of her mind was focused on the girl and goddess both exerting far more power than they should – and she could already feel Bianca's body starting to burn out under the strain, and Ereshkigal starting to fade as she used up the last of her powers.
The storm of shadows was receding, and all that was left of the spirit that had once been the goddess' right hand was a polished stylus.
[Life Quest Updated! The Girl Who Lived / Fate Rewritten…
Hidden Goal Complete: free Namtar
Hidden Reward: +40XP, Stylus of Namtar (leveling-item) unlocked for Bianca]
Bianca, still just as much Ereshkigal as she was herself was smiling peacefully.
"Don't smile you idiotic girls!" Adra snapped "You're both dying and fading."
"That's all right." they mused as one "Death isn't something we're afraid of, and we know you won't let Nergal get away with what he has done. We're not needed anymore."
Adra's eyes fell on the stylus, gleaming gently in the dark – pointing at it she asked "Do you really think that's what he would have wanted?"
For the first time, the serene smile faltered, and they stretched their hand toward the small writing instrument, picking it up gently.
Adra held her breath – as she felt the spirit, so weak only she could feel it, finally manage to become visible now that they were holding his most precious possession.
"You've saved me once more."
"I've killed you."
"There are far worst things than death, as you well know."
Bianca/Ereshkigal nodded.
"Will you accept my last gift?"
Their eyes widened, as they realized that power was surging through the innocent looking item, and immediately understood what had happened – when he'd been taken over by Nergal, the goddess' loyal assistant had managed to hide away most of his powers.
And even when his mind has broken, and his body crumbled down, he kept it all hidden away. For three thousand year, he'd kept the powers of a time when he was the powerful right hand of the second most powerful goddess in the Mesopotamian pantheon.
Both the goddess and the half-blood she shared her body with knew there would be no coming back from this. They would be either dying/fading together or ascending as a wholly new being.
"While I will take care of Nergal…" Adra pointed out, knowing they needed one more push to make their choice "Don't you want to give him a punch in the face yourself?"
Pale white, shaky hand closed on the stylus, and dark eyes shone in resolve.
Bianca and Ereshkigal wailed, as their body finally gave up under the torrent of power. The shadows all around the room surged, gathering around them, and Adra could feel a mortal body dying – and a new immortal soul awakening.
Finally, the shadows condensed, just as another god arrived in the room.
"Congratulation, Hades." Adra said as a new body finally emerged from the shadows "Your daughter just merged with Ereshkigal and ascended."
[Life Quest Complete! Fate Rewritten…
Goal Complete: Bianca and Ereshkigal have accepted Namtar last gift]
ADRASTEIA LV 58 (14 YO)
BODY
Agility 18(40)
Strenght 14(26)
Endurance 14(22)
SPIRIT
Intelligence 12(49)
Wisdom 18(37)
Fortitude 12(33)
HEART
Empathy 15(25)
Perception 12(33)
Sociability 16(26)
LUCK 15(34)
PERK ACQUIRED (96PP spend, 25PP available)
Black First Rite (1PP): grants Easy Black Magic Potency (+10 to Easy Spells of Battle Magic, War Magic and Curse)
Moon First Rite (1 PP): unlocks Light Battle Aura (+10 to all damages)
Potter First Rite (1 PP): unlocks Sensing Skill up to 25 SP
Ravenclaw First Rite (1 PP): unlocks +10 to easy memory tests and +5 to Mentamancy Skill
Moon Aura (2PP): unlocks a battle aura that grants +10% to all damages when active, and drains 25 MP per minute active
Khonsou'Small Favor (2PP): grants Easy Shielding Magic Potency (+10 damages parried by Easy shield spells)
Thot's Small Favor (2PP): grants Easy Healing Magic Potency (+10 healing done by Easy spells of all Healing Schools)
Black Curse Magic Understanding (3PP): grants +10 to curse
Lovegood Divination Magic Understanding (3PP): grants +10 to divination
Moon Strategy Understanding (3PP): grants +10 to strategy
Peverell Healing Understanding (3PP): grants +10 to healing
Potter Transfiguration Understanding (3PP): grants +10 to transfiguration
Ravenclaw Rune Understanding (3PP): grants +10 to rune
Black Magical Potency (4PP): Grants +10% to MP
Lovegood Light Magic Seeing Ability (4PP): unlocks magic seeing skill up to 25
Moon Blood-stealing Aura (4PP): the Moon aura now allows the user to get back your Blood Skill % of HP per attack
Peverell Reiki Potency (4PP): grants +10% to RP
Potter Reiki Potency (4PP): grants +10% to RP
Black Heir (free): grants +5% MP, one free bloodline talent to be chosen (All Regen rate +5%)
Moon Heir (free): grants +10% KP, one free bloodline talent to be chosen (Atavism)
Peverell Heir (free): grants +5% RP, one free bloodline talent to be chosen (HP +10%)
Potter Heir (free): grants +5% MP, one free bloodline talent to be chosen (RP +10%)
-Slytherin Heir (free): grants +10% MP, one free bloodline talent to be chosen
Jack of All Trade (5 PP): +1 SP per level
Natural Genius (2 PP): double book learning rate (locks Hard Work Genius Perk)
A Father's Strength (5 PP):+5 to all Communication
Blood of the Pharao (5PP): unlocks all Egyptian Magics
Cyclop's Skin (2PP): +5 to Physical and Elemental Resistance
Slytherin Member (free): +2 WIS, access to the Slytherin Students Rooms
Gryffindor Honorary Member (free): +2 SOC, access to the Gryffindor Students Rooms
Ravenclaw Honorary Member (free): +2 INT, access to the Ravenclaw Students Rooms
Hufflepuff Honorary Member (free): +2 EMP, access to the Hufflepuff Students Rooms
Slytherin Knowledge (2PP): +10 to parselmagic
Ravenclaw Knowledge (2PP): +10 to seeing magic
A Spirit's Guidance (5PP): +10 to True Form
Cyclop's Lungs (10 PP): grants the ability to breath underwater
Gryphon's Wings (10PP): grant the ability to summon and dismiss wings
FIRST PATH - (+10% MP and RP, +5 to SPIRIT MC, +10 to Magic Skills)
AWAKENING PATH - (+10% to RP regen, +5 to HEART MC, +10 to Weapon Skill)