Mageblood

by Christopher Johns

  She made to stop me, but I ripped my hand away from her and stalked away. Her shouts to me to stop and listen to her fell on deaf ears. I muted her whispers, and those of the rest of the party too just to be safe. I knew they would mean well, but I couldn’t take it right now. I was being petulant, and I knew it, but I was hurt.

  I almost sprinted to Ori’s smithy, giving him my order, and paying the fee outright. Ten gold seemed like a lot, but I was okay if that was the cost for both of the items. The most expensive one being the sword, since it had to be a special metal alloy that they had little of, and was difficult to make.

  After that, I went to Ophira’s and spent more time making other types of dye. It was simple, mind-numbing work, but it helped to soothe my aching soul.

  I shouldn’t have been so crappy to Mona. I’d been a real jerk, and I was acting like those guys who called a woman names for not being interested. I couldn’t shake that I was feeling worse and worse.

  I bought seven vials of the tincture from Ophira at a discounted rate of one silver per vial.

  She hugged me after the sale, muttering, “I am not one for physical contact sometimes, but you seem to need it this moment. I am free to talk and guide you if ever you should need it.”

  Ophira has offered to become your friend.

  Do you accept? Yes / No?

  I accepted the request. “Thank you.” Then turned to leave before I felt a hand on my shoulder, Ophira frowned at me and offered me a single vial of some clear liquid.

  I took it and saw the description.

  Heart’s Bond Dye – This single-use item shows the user’s emotions to the world in a colorful display. (1 use)

  “I made that so that I could see how much you were truly enjoying yourself, but I would like you to give it to your friend as a token of truce if needed. It will allow you to know how she feels. Or her you.” I tried to pass it back to her with a shake of my head, but Ophira pressed my hand back. “I will not train you further if you do not accept it. I can make others. And as soon as you see the colors, you will know what they signify.”

  “Thank you, Ophira. I’ll consult you as often as I can, and I’ll be back as soon as I can be for more training.” She smiled and waved me out of the shop.

  The sun’s light faded and fell in the west, so I opted to log out then.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I opened my eyes to the suddenly dull, dreary real existence that was life outside of Mephisto’s world.

  The light was on, and there on the floor, sniffling and sobbing in her pajamas was Mo.

  Great, I sighed to myself.

  I opened the portal door just enough to grab the towel on the table and cover myself before stepping out. I hadn’t brought that into the room—she had.

  “Hey—” I opened the door, and she looked up at me, standing and coming forward until she could pull me into a hug as tight as she could.

  “I’m sorry.” It was the only thing I could think to say as she sobbed and hiccupped into my chest and shoulder. Her tears dripped onto my chest. “I’m sorry, Mo.”

  “It’s not… just, you.” Her chest spasmed against mine. “My fault. It’s all my fault.”

  “Hey now,” I tutted at her softly. “I am too. I’ve been a jerk, and I know it. You know it. I should have never done anything I did the other day. I’m so sorry.”

  It took a few minutes of hushed “it’s all right,” to get her to calm down enough for us to hold any semblance of a conversation.

  “What’s going on with us?” She whispered into the air, her normally wild hair seeming tanner and tamer than usual as she shook her head in disbelief. “I haven’t been entirely honest with you.”

  I stilled, looking down at her carefully.

  “Mom had cancer,” she whispered, the gravity of that one statement floored me. All I could do was stare at her while my heart plummeted into my stomach like an atomic bomb.

  The world started spinning, and suddenly, sitting up was a labor of sheer willpower.

  “It’s gone, Seth.” I looked into her green eyes refilling with tears, and she whispered it again, “She made me swear not to tell you, and I only found out because I read a letter that she had left out. That’s why she was teaching me because she was worried that she wouldn’t have too much longer with us.”

  “How long?” I tried to get my mouth to move, and say more but it’s all I could muster.

  “A few weeks, it was in the early stages, but her sister Kara had died of it swiftly, so we thought the same.” She hiccuped again. Her shoulders shook, and she looked up at me with a small, sad smile on her face. “Her appointment was to check and see how bad it was progressing, if it was and they would be able to get to it if it had slowed, but…”

  “But what, Mo? Is it worse?”

  “It’s all gone. They confirmed it today, and I just found out. Mom’s been gardening in the back yard to kind of come to terms with it, and now it’s just gone as if by—” She tried to find the right words but seemed to be having serious trouble.

  “Magic.” I finished, things connecting in my mind. “The game is somehow changing things outside of it.”

  “What?!” She hissed; incredulity written all over her face. “That’s crazy.”

  “People spitting flames all over in populated places?” I challenged her, needing to stand and move with the realization beating across my conscious mind. “Me being able to see magical auras like in the game? You being able to use Allure outside of the game? Yes, you’ve done it, don’t you try and deny it, you do it without thinking. And now this?”

  She stayed quiet, then shrugged and threw her hands up. “You’re not going to give that up, are you?”

  “No! And now this?” I threw my own hands out to my side. “The signs are all over and that guy telling us to get stronger faster? How does that not mean something big is coming to you?”

  “It just sounds so unbelievable, Seth.” Her voice had a sense of calm to it now. It did look like she had calmed down quite a bit. She wiped her eyes and averted her gaze so that I could at least put on the mesh shorts that I’d had folded on my little table.

  “Crazy or not, that’s what I’m going to be trying to prepare for.” I scratched my head nervously as I considered what it could mean for the group. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going to be doing everything I can to get stronger and prepare for what is to come. We need to get mom into the game and my folks, if possible.”

  “Can that happen?” Mona asked softly. “It took months trying to get these portals together with us, and this is happening now, Seth.”

  “I’m not sure.” An idea occurred to me, and I tapped the support function on the console of the portal.

  A ringing sound emanated from it, and a calm voice answered, “Mephisto’s tech support, this is Kevin, how can I help you?”

  “Hi Kevin, Seth here, I wanted to ask—can other people play the game from my portal?”

  “Unfortunately, not, Mister Ethelbart, the portals are keyed to the owner, but ordering a twin for the portal isn’t difficult. Expensive—but not impossible.” The man’s smooth voice didn’t sound too contrite, but that was fine. “All purchases would need to be handled through our purchasing department by phone or online.”

  “Thank you, Kevin, I appreciate your time.” It had been a little odd that he had known my name, but then again, I did call from my pod, which kept track of my medical data.

  Once the call was complete and I hung up, I immediately went to the purchasing site for the game and ordered the premium package so that a second pod would be brought to Mona’s home and hooked up on Monday.

  “Seth, that’s ridiculous, there’s no way, and that’s thousands of dollars—” Mona’s worries were valid but finishing that thought wasn’t necessary.

  “My money is your money, Mo.” I growled softly, a saying I told her often. “And if I’m right, we need all the power we can get, and I want Ma taken care of.”

  “What a
bout your family?”

  “I haven’t been able to reach them on their phones when I tried.” I shrugged. “May seem callous, but they are in third world countries with their travels hidden and secret even from me to keep them from being targeted by unsavory folks. I’ll send them an email and see if they get it in time. I can only hope they do.”

  “They always were pretty secretive as well,” Mona agreed, then frowned. “You said that I use my gift outside the game. How did you mean, and when was this?”

  “Normally, at times when you wanted something, or when you’re feeling vulnerable,” I frowned, thinking about it. “Like when you had asked to share a bed the other night. When you were asking, I got befuddled and said yes because the effect was there.”

  “So, you didn’t want to?” Her face was unreadable as she asked.

  “I would have anyway, but it felt like I had no choice, and then after that, I was acutely aware of you.” My cheeks warmed deeply, trying to stamp that down.

  “So, you were attracted to me, but only because of that.” Something in her expression fell, and I sighed.

  “I’ve always known how special you are, Mona, I just saw it differently because of that. Don’t worry, it’s okay. I know it’s not on purpose. And I will still come over tomorrow to help you look around your dad’s office.” She looked down, then stood, and turned to walk out. “Mo?”

  She stopped but didn’t turn around. “Yeah?”

  “You okay?” I paused, stepping closer to her. “Are we okay?”

  Still turned away from me. “Yeah, Seth. Of course, we’re okay. I’m not mad anymore, and our friendship is more tried and truer than ever. I’ll let mom know that dinner will be tomorrow, and we can have you come over a little earlier to help me get in there.”

  “Ma has it locked again?”

  “Yep, but we both know where she keeps the key, so it’s no worries on getting inside dad’s office.” She walked out of the room, and I followed her out.

  “You don’t want to stay?” I couldn’t help feeling like something was still wrong.

  “That was a lot to take in, and I wanna get out of here before mom starts blowing up my phone.” She turned to face me, a smile in place, and her eyes closed. “I love you, Seth. You’re the best friend anyone could ask for.”

  “I love you too, Mo.” That set my mind at ease. “I’ll see you in the morning in-game.”

  With that, she smiled and left the house.

  ***

  I had tried to reach my folks again with nothing working, so I opted to send them that email detailing what I had found and that they needed to get home so that I could try and get them into the game as well.

  I doubted that they would understand, but they had an easy time supporting me, and usually, if I worried over something, they heard me out.

  I ate a light breakfast, then logged in, the countdown to come in a blur, but once I was in the game, things cleared up. As if stepping out of a fog.

  Eight hours of sleep had seen me back twenty-four hours later in this world, and as the world darkened, I found myself reaching out to Thea.

  —Thea? You up?—

  —If you plan to come and see me, do so. I’m training with a friend currently, but she would be more than happy to train with us— She sounded out of breath but excited at the same time.

  Since I had been over by Ophira’s, I was a little further away than I might normally be, but with it being dusk, there weren’t too many people out. I jogged to her place, a little warm-up if I was going to be fighting and training with a friend of hers and clambered my way over the fence to find Thea standing there with a hand on the latch.

  “Oh, that was swift.” Her smile grew as she gave me a friendly thump on the shoulder. “Kyvir, come, let’s introduce you to my friend.”

  We walked from the side of the house to where the training circle was, and in it stood a slight woman who looked to be human but for the golden scales that traveled down her face neck and shoulders. She wore what looked like it could have been a kimono, but it was shorter slightly, showing her legs and shoulders as she moved through her own forms.

  “This is the friend you spoke of, Thea?” The woman’s husky voice reached us, and there was something haunting to it.

  Her floral-printed short kimono, cream-colored red and green plants growing around black sparrows fluttering toward a golden dawn, settled and rested against the smooth swell of her thighs. Her gaze, as golden as the scales surrounding the bridge of her eyebrows and sweeping from her cheeks down like some kind of makeup on her ebon skin, swept to me. I could feel her scanning me as a threat.

  “My name is Kyvir.” I moved forward to offer her my hand, and she only smiled as my foot entered the circle.

  “Prey.” Her slight upturn of thin lips widened savagely, showing sharpened teeth. She grasped my hand and whipped her body around, throwing me over her shoulder into the center of the ring.

  I landed with a grunt of pain that turned into a growl a heartbeat later. “What’s your deal, lady?”

  “This is Minh Lei, and she has a problem with men, so I figured you being here would help you both,” Thea called out, “She can’t kill you, but getting your weapons out would be highly suggested.”

  I thought about drawing my sword, but something sharp sliced the air next to my head, and I scrambled away from the scary lady wielding a weapon that looked like a glaive.

  “Yes, draw your weapon, prey—show me that you are a worthy hunt.” Minh’s pupils, slitted black depths thinned vertically, and she paced forward.

  I dodged her next stab by rolling and popping up into a low stance. Since she wanted to use a glaive, so would I. I focused on where the weapon would be if I had it equipped and grabbed for the spot on my back.

  My hand met the solid handle of the glaive, and I whipped it over my shoulder, aiming the bottom blade at her shoulder.

  She snarled and stabbed forward with the blunt end of her own weapon, catching me in the stomach. I had set the system notifications so that when I entered a training circle, my damage notification shut off, then turned on automatically.

  I came up from being doubled over for a second too long just in time to stop her attack with the handle of my glaive. She was too good with this kind of weapon, but I was better with a sword.

  Gripping the middle of the individual sections as if I was about to make a stand made her fall back a step, giving me the room I needed to disengage the lock with a flick of my wrist. I yanked my right hand away from my left and twisted, guiding the weapons apart as I bolted forward.

  I kept them together just enough to give her the idea that my reach would be limited and that I was unversed in the weapon’s use. It paid off.

  She struck at the center of the weapon with her own, hoping it might stop my forward advance, but the weapon split, and her weapon sliced into the ground.

  The sword in my right hand sliced diagonally across her chest, her backpedaling keeping it from being a deeper cut. Still, the kimono split where I had sliced, and her face became an unreadable mask, her almond-shaped eyes narrowing dangerously.

  “I think now is the best time for me to actually step in.” Thea tried, but Minh fixed her with a glare so pointed I thought she would start bleeding where Thea stood outside the circle.

  “I like that weapon; who made it?” Minh called as she stabbed her own glaive into the ground.

  “Ori and his people,” I answered as I flipped the sword in my left hand so that it faced the right way up. “It’s the first of its kind, I’m certain they would make you one if you ordered it.”

  “I will see that I do.” She pulled out a set of long daggers wrapped in red silk, and I frowned. That wasn’t a smart idea, I had swords.

  Then she flicked her wrists, and they spread out, turning into fans.

  “Well, shit.” Crestfallen, I resolved to fight my hardest. I had gone through learning to use the weapon with both hands, so I was confident I could fight with them, but
both at once would be a challenge.

  Her immediate and relentless onslaught had me moving all around the training circle and weaving my blades through so many different kinds of forms that I felt like my arms would fly off in a moment.

  Her left leg snaked out, the bare foot slamming into my solar plexus, and lifting me bodily off the ground. My perspective flipped, and I watched on my back as she brought her right foot around and above her head in an axe kick aimed at my head.

  With no breath left in my body, I lashed out with my leg, kicking one of hers out from under her. While she fell, I did my best to get a sword into her. She dodged the main attack, and I brought my left arm up and stabbed with the sword in it, cutting into her shoulder.

  The fan in her left hand sliced toward my throat and neck, and then I felt nothing.

  You have died.

  I stood suspended in darkness.

  “Ah, here he is,” A familiar voice echoed from all around me. “My mageblood.”

  “Mephisto?”

  “He remembers his benefactor!” The voice’s sinister tone lightened significantly in delight. “Tell me, how do you like your power?”

  I thought for a moment, I did like it. Though I wasn’t sure I liked him.

  “Yes, the power is interesting, though why am I now an Aether Vampire?”

  His physical body popped into view, the same as it had last time, his long arms lifting into the air, “Because of the delicious chaos it will create!”

  “Isn’t your job as an AI to create balance and content?” Even as I asked the question, I had a hunch I was wrong.

  “I am Mephistopheles, Harbinger of Chaos and Lord of the Demons.” The man grinned, his voice deepening to a boom. Then, his grin widened, his fingers steepling in front of his body. “But I am not one to see my people to success—it is the struggle I desire. The strife it creates. I feed off of all of you. And you have figured things out.”

  “So, I’m not wrong.” He shook his head, creepy grin still in place. “Why are you telling me this?”