Chapter 13 #2
Eadwolf struck at Harald’s arm. There was a flash of something under his skin. A darkening, a hardening, as if his body had momentarily become other just a moment before contact. Eadwolf’s blade struck at something as hard as rock and bounced off.
“Oh, wow,” breathed Harald. “I didn’t even summon that. It just… happened.”
“Stand still,” said Eadwolf, and began to circle Harald, striking at him with the flat of his blade again and again. Each blow was rebuffed.
Eadwolf picked up speed.
Just as he was beginning to think the boy was truly a prodigy for Level 9, his next strike cracked into Harald’s ribs and caused the boy to leap away—not in pain, but in confusion.
“That one got through.” Harald stared down at his side. “Didn’t hurt, or more like, I didn’t feel any pain, but it hit me faster than my… armor? Could manifest.”
“Makes sense,” said Eadwolf, sheathing his sword.
“And in that it’ll be weaker for now than your old Aegis.
That was a full shell. Protected you at all times.
But it drained you tremendously as a result.
Your new Form? It’s more efficient. Reactive.
You only protect what needs defending, but if the blow arrives faster than the reflex can react, it’ll get through. ”
“But that’ll improve with levels?”
“Of course.” Eadwolf studied the young man with Wolf Sight and then Hunter’s Mark. “But you’re no longer repressing your true nature. I can see it now. You’re letting your power flow through you. Be you. It’s who you are, now. Part shadow. Part abyss. Always and forever.”
“Always and forever,” whispered Harald, but he didn’t sound thrilled.
“That was the easy one. Now. Much as I’ll regret this, let’s try your Imperium. Tell me again about the constituent powers.”
Harald repeated what he’d said about Black Halo, Tenebral Surge, Abyssal Attunement, and Demonic Edge.
“Nasty set of powers,” said Eadwolf when he was done. “And I could sense from afar what you were trying to do to Lady Hammerfell, but again, you’re still trapped in your old way of thinking. Summon it.”
Harald blanched. “Now? On you?”
Eadwolf laughed. “I’m not made of spun sugar, boy. I can’t evaluate it unless I experience it myself.”
“All right,” said Harald dubiously. He backed away a few steps, and then the world around them shifted.
The lawn, the night air, the world around Eadwolf suddenly felt like it had gotten sick.
The lights didn’t go out so much as thin, the moon growing distant and gray, the silvery light on the grass dulling to lead.
The natural sounds of the city at night grew muffled, losing their sharp edges, such that even Eadwolf’s Predator’s World felt blunted.
The air didn’t grow so much cold as it did heavy, weighing down on his shoulders.
Eadwolf blinked and tried to steady himself. He felt the first bubblings of nausea ripple in his gut, but he focused on Harald, studied him with his powers.
Even as he used Wolf Sight and Hunter’s Mark, a growing sense within him told him to go, to leave this place. The very land did not want him here.
“Enough,” he said, voice thick.
The air cleared, the moon brightened, and Eadwolf felt as if he could breathe deeply once more.
“Interesting. And…” Frightening, he wanted to say, but caught himself in time.
“It looks like you’re not clear on this power, either.
Let’s see: your Attunement was contact based; it needed your blade to work.
Edge was a ranged attack. Tenebral Surge covered everything, but only for a flash.
And Black Halo was sustained, but only destroyed, no drain? ”
Harald nodded.
“Each, then, did something the other couldn’t.
And you had to keep switching, picking, choosing.
But you realized that they could be combined.
But you’re not truly combining them. And here’s where I think you’re tripping yourself up: the new consolidated power does all four things at once—or should—but at a lower individual intensity than any single one power did. ”
“I thought it was supposed to be a step up?”
“It is,” laughed Eadwolf. “Are you kidding me? Sure, your new power isn’t focused in a directed arc, or explosive, or concentrated in a cloud of glass shards. It’s all four at once, continuously, at a reduced power level but with vastly increased coverage and persistence.”
Harald still looked skeptical.
Eadwolf sighed. “It’s almost become an aura.
But that’s why I think you’re not weaponizing it as you should, as it’s still an Active.
You establish control over the battlefield.
Once you initiate this power, it continuously molds the land around you.
The battlefield doesn’t return to normal after an attack.
The air stays thick, the nausea grows, the doubt…
“ Eadwolf trailed off, musing. “But you’re lacking the Active attacks. You need to focus on those. Use Imperium again, but this time focus on me. Focus your aggression. Will Imperium to react to my presence.”
“All right.” There was no hesitation this time. “You ready?”
Eadwolf stepped back, briefly regretted his life decisions, then nodded.
The air curdled once more. The moon seemed to recede and grow muted. Weight dropped on his shoulders, and his senses dimmed.
Harald was a dark figure, menacing and steeped in darkness.
For a moment all was as it had been, Eadwolf’s breathing becoming gradually more labored, his limbs growing slightly stiffer, and then the darkness formed around him, like ink poured into water, and pain flicked across his skin as the black cloud became a wealth of edges.
Eadwolf used Flea’s Leap to bound up and out of the darkness, alarm bright even as Eternal Hide began to heal the wounds. But for a moment there, it had felt like a dozen wire-thin blades passing over his skin, scoring through his clothing, slashing him apart.
He landed ten yards away in a crouch, the pain already gone—but Countess Sonora’s lawn had changed.
The very air was alive now in a way it hadn’t been moments before.
Harald was gazing about himself in wonder, and from him a great exhalation came every few moments, like a pulse.
As if Imperium itself was breathing. And as the first, then the second, pulse washed over Eadwolf, he felt his vision blur, his sense of balance skew, his nausea rise—and then it diminished as the pulse left him.
Eadwolf rose to his feet.
Tiny motes of glittering dust floated slowly through the air. Wolf Sight warned him as to the danger they presented. Despite himself, trusting in Eternal Hide, he reached out to cup one such mote as it floated by.
It cut through his palm like a razor.
Eadwolf hissed and released it, letting it float on, his cut immediately sealing over. His eyes widened as he took in the battlefield anew. Gleaming motes like flecks of glass drifted gently in random patterns. Not a blizzard, but enough to be a persistent, unavoidable environmental lethality.
Another pulse washed over him, and for a second he felt vertigo, his vision darkening, and then it was gone.
“Enough!”
Harald seemed to come back to himself and released Imperium.
The moonlight brightened once more.
“Damn, Harald.” Eadwolf tried to make himself sound proud as he strode toward him, picking at his own slashed clothing. “That was quite the jump in power.”
“No, you were right.” Harald looked thoughtful.
“Abyssal Imperium is all the powers before, just blended and… continuous. I was thinking of them as still being in there, separate, I guess, and just needing to be accentuated or something, but, when I focused on my anger on you… it all kind of blossomed. Like a flower.”
“Like a flower, he says,” muttered Eadwolf.
“Are you all right?”
“Fine.” He forced a grin. “But I’d not want to stay inside your Imperium for long.”
“I imagine not. The Black Halo… I could feel it. Where before it was centered on me, right, a ring with me at the hub, now it was just… everywhere. Drifting though my controlled space. Making the whole area feel like it belonged to me.”
“And those pulses?” Eadwolf couldn’t control his curiosity. “That was new.”
“Tenebral Surge, I guess. Yeah.” Harald scratched at the back of his head.
“Before… never mind before. Now it feels like my heartbeat. Like Imperium breathes. And when I exert my will, I can unleash them. So, I guess they’re not totally constant.
But it felt like I could just keep generating them. Forever.”
“And the drain? Could you feel your power pulling at me?”
“Yes. Abyssal Attunement, right. A gradual but very slight drain.” Harald considered. “Would be incredibly effective against a lot of enemies all at once, right?”
“I mean…” Eadwolf’s mind blanked on the right way to praise that development. “That’s formidable.”
“Yeah.” Harald still sounded stunned. “Though I doubt it would have changed anything against Brianna.”
“I don’t think it would have. But that’s not the point. You’re still learning how to inhabit your new powers.”
“Absolutely. Thank you.” Harald’s eyes shone. “I’d love your insight on my Well of Starless Dominion. I’m sure I haven’t wrapped my mind around that one yet.”
“Well of Starless Dominion,” muttered Eadwolf. “Even their names are terrifying. Fine. Tell me about it again.”
Harald did so. Recounted each power, how it had felt to use it in the past, right up to how the Starless Maw had tipped the battle against an overwhelming foe at House Celestara in his favor.
“But now, when I use it, I can feel the Well open within my chest, within me, but it feels… I don’t know. I tried to manifest the Abyssal Grasp against Brianna, but they felt… wrong?”
“Hmm.” Eadwolf sighed. “Show me what it can do.”
“Right.” Harald rubbed his hands together, stepped back, then winced. “Apologies in advance.”
“No worries.” Eadwolf took a deep breath. “Ready when you are.”
Harald took a deep breath and opened his soul well.