[Stamina buff applied.]
[Strength buff applied.]
[Vitality buff applied.]
Warmth flows up my legs and spreads through the rest of my body. I immediately feel more awake, more refreshed: stronger, faster, aalized. It’s a strange sensation, juxtaposing the ess of the water I feel through my boots. I guess I should have taken them off first, along with some of my clothes. But that might have disturbed Liz’s illusion, and somehow I don’t feel very bothered by the idea of weari clothing; it feels insignifit beh the healing warmth of the Springs.
[HP: 150/150]
[Bonus HP: 10]
Even as I watch the stat, the number slowly tio tick up. How does bonus HP work? I’m guessing it’ll mean I take a few more hits before feeling anything, but the meics of that seems odd. I turn back to tell the others they should bathe ier as well, but they’re already ahead of me. Liz and Darian are crouched at the edge; Darian cups water in a hand to trickle down one of her arms, while Liz spshes some over her face with a ugh. Ear is helping to lower Xamireb to the bank, while Xamireb gestures to his prosthetic. Quell, meanwhile, is staring ily at the water, eyebrows knitted in tration, chewing on a lip as he tips his head. I chuckle at the sight. Leave it to him for his first instinct to be schorly i.
I turn back to the springs. The trepidation I’d previously felt about entering the water is gone, now repced with a soothing calm. I instinctively know this water poses no threat. I’m not sure it would even be possible to drown in these waters. They’d try too hard to keep you alive.
I wade farther out, the water rising to my thighs, then waist. The instinct to y on my bad drift is strong, but I’m not here for a f bath.
Echo, are there any other effects the Spring is affeg on me? I ask. Specifically, about my Role.
[ive,] Echo says. [The Life ara within the Lifespring Oasis ot inflict buffs or debuffs on the user’s Role.]
My heart sinks, but I’m not ready to give up yet. I’m not talking about buffs or debuffs. What I mean is… this water be used to remove my Role?
[ive.]
Or ge it? I ask. Desperation is pooling in my gut, but I try to ig. Weaken it? Anything?
[ive,] Echo says. [Life ara ot alter a user’s Role.]
Faint disquiet threatens to swell within me, but I brush it away. Is there anything I do? I ask. Not just Life arum, but any kind of ara that could ge it?
[Affirmative,] Echo says, and the words fill me with relief. [The user’s role be ged under specific circumstances.]
What circumstances? I ask.
[Successful remnal synthesis may result ieration in one’s role,] Echo says. [Additional options include—
She falls silent.
“What does that mean?” I ask, fusion mixing with my trepidation. “Synthesis? What are those errors? Echo?”
But she doesn’t answer. I g my stats: they’re all still there. But the Bonus HP is no loig up, like I’m looking at a frozen puter s. Something’s nht. She’s never not answered me before.
“Echo?” I ask again, voice tight.
[Interface reset,] she says, and for some reason, this fills me with relief. She’s not even a real person. I don’t know why I was worried. But this eera still tinges me with unease. I sider trying to ask her about ging my Role again, but I worry that would trigger the same—or worse—response.
But ohing is clear: the Lifespring isn’t going to put a stop to my Role. I’m still bound to Quell, forced to protect him or pay with my sanity. I slump. I suppose there’s always the mages ba the Duneshade capital that might be able to help me. But somehow, I don’t think they’ll have any idea what to do about it either.
I tip my face to the moons, a out a deep breath. I am stuck serving Quell. I won’t be able to leave him. My freedom is still tied to the life of someone else. I try to my mind around these facts.
I feel disappointed, of course. Though not as disappointed as I think I should be. My autonomy is not my ow, my resignation is more tired than bitter. I don’t want to be bound to someone else. But if it has to be anyone… Well, I guess there are worse people to be forced to protect.
I turn back, looking at Quell. He’s seated cross legged at the edge of the springs, and has somehow produced a journal and charcoal. He pauses to dip a pinky into the water, then starts scribbling furiously in his notebook. I ugh quietly to myself. Yes, there are worse people.
I take a steadying breath, looking down at my hands. This isn’t the oute I wanted, but I’m not doh the sprihere’s still a sed curse I o address.
Though the bond I have with the Crimson Aegis isn’t a curse, I suppose. It was some sort of pact I willingly initiated, even if I didn’t uand what I was agreeing to at the time.
Holy, I’m irely sure I want to give it up. It’s creepy, but useful, and it’s kept me alive so far. But it’s also dangerous. Thirsty for flict. It tried to kill i people, just because it saw them as argets to be defeated. Even if it is useful, if I keep it around, it will only be a matter of time before I slip up and one of my allies is caught in the crossfire. It’s safer to end the paow before that ever happens.
Besides, I already promised stance I would hand it over if I could. If it’s a bargaining chip that buys me resources to find my brother, then giving it up will be more than worth it.
Do I think the Lifespring will actually help end the pact, though? After what just happened with Echo and my Role, I suspeot. But I’m here now, so I suppose I should at least try.
I summon the Crimson Aegis from my Iory.
It appears on my arm with a spsh. The Aegis looks arouedly. What enemy do we face today? What feeble wretch is in need of our prote?
[Ara buff applied to the Crimson Aegis,] Echo says.
I tip my head. That’s different. I didn’t know the shield itself could receive a buff. That’s pretty much the opposite of having an adverse effe our bond.
The Aegis’s presence balloons within my mind. Ah! This energy—this power is excellent. It feel itself growing stronger! Mightier. More formidable! No enemy will dare stand against us now!
I wince as the Aegis’s voice seems to boom through my head. Yep, it’s definitely not bothered by the water. the spring be used to corrode our bond? I ask Echo.
[ive,] she says. [While Life arum is often used in the formation of such a pact between individuals, and simirly be used to break it, the abilities of the Lifespring do not have su effect.]
So what is the Lifespring doing to it? I ask.
[A mana buff has been applied.]
Show me, I say.
A new dispy appears beh my current stats.
[on: Crimson Aegis]
[Durability: 100%]
[Mana: 5]
[Blood: 1%]
[Influence: 2%]
As I watch, the Mana stat tio jump up, and as it does, the Influeat also increases. 2% bees 3%. Then 5%. Then 9%.
The Aegis’s presen my mind bees more tangible. It’s eted. It needs more!
This isn’t right. I don’t know what these new metrics mean for the Aegis, but this clearly isn’t going to be the ao severing our bond. If anything, it only seems to be making it stronger. I o shut this down before it bees a problem or as hurt.
The Aegis catches my thought, aghast. How could I think such things? It is not a problem! And there is nothing wrong with hurting things! Hurting is how it protects people. Why would I want to stop it from doing what it’s meant for? Its purpose? No! It has all this new energy and power—it ’t just let it go to waste! It o use it. It has to. It will not let me stop it from being what it is meant to be—doing what it is meant to do.
The pressure in my mind is getting worse. The Influeatistic has risen to 24%. I still mentally push the Aegis’s mind away, but it’s growing steadily more difficult. Before it get any worse, I put the Aegis in my Inv—
No!
Lines of the Aegis’s magic stab in my arm. I let out a cry as the red threads burrow into my skin, drawing blood which quickly dissolves into nothing as the Aegis ps it up.
“What the fuck!” I grab the lines with my free hand, trying to yank them free, but they’re as unyielding as cables of steel.
Add it to my Iory, I think again. Put the Aegis in my Iory!
[Access denied,] Echo says. [User may not add living things to their Iory. User may not add self to Iory.]
What the hell? Is the Aegis alive now? Or—no—just being ected to me means it’s ected to something living. Fuck. This is bad. This is really bad.
The Aegis is also upset. Why would I want to hide it away when it is meant to be proudly dispyed? The nothingness is empty and silent and there is nothing io quer at all! It hates being forced into that pce. We made a pact. We agreed to work together to vanquish any who might challenge us. It will not tio be discarded at my whims!
The Aegis’s thoughts are amplified into my mind, but so are its feelings. It’s frustrated, afraid, and strangely antsy. Like the building magi’t just emp it, but overwhelming it—scattering its thoughts, whi turn is making it increasingly hard for me to think straight.
I spin back to the others, still obliviously healing their wounds and ing themselves up at the bank.
“Something’s wrong,” I call to them, wing as water spshes over the wounds in my arm, stinging each puncture point. I feel the magic trying to heal my skin, but the shield’s threads of magi’t let it close.
Quell looks up, his gaze shifting over to the shield now on my arm. “What’s the matter?” he calls back. They’re only a couple doze away, but now that feels far too close.
“It’s the shield,” I say. The Influeat is 39% and rising. “It’s abs magi the Lifespring, I think. It won’t let me put it away.”
Now the others are paying attention.
“Get out of the water,” Darian says. “That should stop it from abs any more.”
I lift up my arm, but the shield is so big that its lowest point is still beh the surface. I grab an edge with my free hand and awkwardly try to lift it over my head. It’s unfortable, given the angle of my arm that’s still strapped—and now stabbed—to the shield, but I mao pull it fully out of the water. The Mana and Influeats slow, but don’t stop. It’s not enough to just be out of the Spring: I o get away from it.
But there’s people in every dire. Will it sh out at anyone who gets within rahe Aegis is ag strange. Buzzing with energy and itg for an outlet. If I didn’t know aer, I’d say it’s drunk. It will attayo sees as a threat to me or my allies.
Though the Springs are still fillih a healing warmth, I suddenly feel icy cold. A stone has settled in my gut, and my throat is tight. What do I do? I have to get out of this city, away from people. But I’m at its epiter. This is bad. This is very bad.