1??????????????Soul Bound
1.1????????????Finding her Feet
1.1.7??????????An Extreme Response
1.1.7.19???????Metathiaxioniel
It was dark when she arrived, and the collar felt like it was strangling her and piercing her torn body. She calmly closed her eyes and spoke softly to herself.
Kafana: “This is but illusion. The pain is all in my mind. The body is neither torn nor whole. There is no body, just the self. Devil, my will is as strong as yours, you have no power over me.”
She was rather proud of the speech. She’d plagiarised freely, and practiced delivering it with conviction several times, before using Alderney’s code on her Crown and then logging in. She opened her eyes and turned on mage sight, willing it to show her what truly was.
The chain turned out to be a small bat-winged figure with fangs and a measuring gaze, like an auditor checking figures recorded by a one-man firm of builders responsible for a house that had just fallen down. It was wearing well-tailored garments, including a ruffled white lace cravat. There were traces of ink on its fingers.
She couldn’t see her neck, but feeling it revealed a piece of stiff parchment, attached to her like a talisman. Presumably a curse or contract of some sort.
Kafana: “Hello. What’s your name?”
Devil: “My name? That’s valuable information, that is. What are you offering in trade?”
She thought, carefully.
Kafana: “I offer to trade you full name for full name, and to sweeten the deal I throw into the pot an offer to not bad mouth you or reveal your name to other devils without your consent.”
The devil sighed: “Oh, you’re one of those. Yes, very well, hello-I’m-Metathiaxioniel-Who-are-you?” he spoke very fast, almost but not quite overlapping the words.
{Sys, repeat his name slowly for me, please.}
[Meta-thi-ax-ion-iel]
Kafana had always had a good ear for languages, and she concentrated on putting the emphasis and intonation in the correct place: “Hello Metathiaxioniel, I’m Kafana.”
Kafana saw his sour look and seized the advantage: “A word of warning: I may be currently in my spirit form, but I’m not like other spirits you’ve met. I’m a recognised Power, and you’d do well to treat me with respect and not try any more cheap tricks like that. People say I have a nasty temper. On the other hand, I’ve currently got nothing against you personally, and you might even gain some status out of this if I favour you.”
Kafana: “Now, you think about that for a moment, while I just deal with this trash.”
She turned until she faced a bright source of fire mana and then brought up her compass. Carrying on turning, she noted the reading when pointing at the air mana and at the light mana. She thought she could see, in the distance, what she now recognised as the Mage Tower, though it was hard to tell through the cave walls at this range.
She studied the sleeping figure next to her. Hard to tell, but she thought there were two spirits present in the body. She reached out for the familiar comforting presence of Vessel-Kafana and pulled, visualising shared mana streaming towards her. Yes, the connection was there and active!
{Sys, please overlay water and order runes on Kullervo’s head, together with an image of a baby firmly asleep in its cradle.}
She sang her sleep buff, and felt mana flow through her rather than out of her, as the spell activated. She turned her attention back to Metathiaxioniel.
Kafana: “Thank you for waiting. You know he’s about to be caught, right?”
Metathiaxioniel: “He was useful, got me a lot of souls, but I don’t care about him personally. The only downside is that it may be a while before they sell the sword on to another warrior. I don’t want to be late on my interest payments.”
Kafana nodded understandingly: “Right, right. You want to be your own devil, maybe even go up rank? More debt is the last thing you need.”
Metathiaxioniel: “Well, at least I get your soul. Plenty of lifespan left on it, not even mortgaged.”
Kafana: “That would help you, I agree. But alas, the situation is worse than you realise. You’re about to fall into the hands of the Priests of Cov, and not the corrupt ones either. They’re either going to break you up for scrap, or sink you to the bottom of the deepest ocean. You will never be wielded again, not though you live 10,000 years.”
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Metathiaxioniel: “The bastards. What have I ever done to them?”
Kafana: “Don’t worry, all is not yet lost. I’m willing to speak up for you, put in a good word, make sure you end up in the hands of a necromancer.”
Metathiaxioniel: “You would?”
Kafana: “I promise, the moment I respawn I’ll explain you helped me.”
Metathiaxioniel: “Hang on. You can’t respawn. Not while you’re pinned by that loan note.”
Kafana: “What do you suggest?”
The devil clenched his head in one hand, as though in pain, grimacing. “Ugh. I’m not sure. I’ll get back to you on that.”
A figure appeared, carrying a torch. It was Tomsk. He slowly mouthed “Love You” in her general direction, hoisted the sleeping figure over his shoulder and jumped back down off the ledge. Outside the cave a mage recast sleep on Kullervo to make sure it didn’t wear off too soon, then a group of them mounted up and cantered for the Alto and the bridge beyond leading to Centrale and the Sanctum.
Bungo and then Lelio joined them, and Herberto Landi, their force swelling each time. By the time they’d gone around the mountain above Alto and reached the bridge, there were over 200 mounted, and more on foot streaming in behind them, including many players who for some reason were double tapping their chest plates with their right palms as Tomsk passed.
{Minion, please ask Alderney what she wants me to do, and whether they followed the conversation I had with the devil in the bone sword.}
[From Alderney: {Kafana, good work on the sleep spell. I’m handling the media end, but pretty much everyone else is there at the Sanctum, waiting for the finale. And I do mean everyone. It is standing room only in there. Step 1 on the agenda is getting Kullervo to the mind team, to read him before he wakes. Step 2 is to split him from his Vessel and talk him through un-soulbinding the sword. Step 3 is to hand The Bone Sword over to the sword team, to learn what we can about it and verify the information from Kullervo. After that is Step 4, where you take an active role: deciding what to do next.} ]
{Minion, send to Alderney: Two teams? Good idea, I’ve been resisting all I can, and I think I’ve got the hang of this mind over reality stuff, but I don’t know how long I have left.}
[From Alderney: {Four teams actually. There’s a coordination team ready to help Lelio keep order, and an advisory team with representatives from different factions who feel they have a stake in the outcome, like House Landi and the auctioneers. And then there are bunches of players and other onlookers, who the priests are trying to keep clear of the area needed for rituals. A lot of folks hate the Immortals and want to see Kullervo die. Even more are here because they’re your fans, or want to say “I was there”. It’s been a big event.}]
The crowd in the plaza parted, leaving a wide passage for the horses, and the leaders of the man hunt dismounted outside the Sanctum. Tomsk carried Kullervo inside and, directed by Massimo, laid the sleeping body down upon a simple stone altar. Kafana amused herself by imagining the pretty boy being dressed up as snow white, poison apple stuffed into his mouth, being tended to by Jincan in a dwarf cap. It didn’t help much.
Vessel-Kafana was singing now, giving people buffs. Standing next to her were Isabella, Ruffiana, Wellington, Nafaro and a player she didn’t know named Kino.
{Minion: Alderney, who’s Kino and why is he on the team?}
[Alderney: Hard to tell, but Kino is a girl. She’s a member of the guild, The Path Less Travelled, and a fan of exploring. Took her name from someone who set themselves a rule to never stay in the same place more than three days. She’s on the mind team because nobody has as wide an experience of Divine Mountain and the varieties of magic there as she has. She’s pretty smart, a good negotiator and archer, but the big plus for us is that she’s likely to recognise people and places from Kullervo’s memories.]
Vessel-Kafana produced her purple gemstone and moments later Spirit-Kafana found herself joined with the group as they plunged into Kullervo’s mind. Some of them had been here before, but this time he was asleep. Ruffiana and Nafaro took the lead, shaping Kullervo’s dreams to bring forth the information they were after, the day he gained the sword.
=Kullervo stood upon the champion’s podium at the tournament as a bigwig handed him the prize. He picked it up to check its stats
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The Bone Sword (LEGENDARY)(CURSED)(ARTIFACT)(UNIQUE)
+50% Alignment with the element of Shadow
+10 Necromancy skills
Cursed: This sword is possessed by a Knight of the Abyssal Realm of Fire (lesser devil)
Cursed: to bond The Bone Sword, you must willingly place your own blood upon a deal with the lesser devil by piercing your flesh with the sword.
Cursed: If your willpower is not higher than that of the lesser devil, the bonding attempt will fail and he will put an infernal contract upon your spirit.
If you have bonded The Bone Sword then once per day, on a fatal or critical blow, you may order the lesser devil to place an infernal contract upon the spirit of your target if valid.
WARNING: The deal requires that the owner of the sword successfully place a contract upon a target at least once every in-game month. If you fail to uphold the deal, your own spirit will be forfeit, even if you no longer wield the sword. This deal only terminates if the lesser devil forms a deal with a new bonded owner of The Bone Sword.
Durability: INDESTRUCTIBLE
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With a triumphant curl of his lip, he pierced his arm. Moments later he planned to slay the bigwig. It would shock the crowd and that would make for good viewing. Start as you mean to go on. Fear was a choice. He no longer had any need to fear. He’d already experienced the worst life had to throw at him. Fear was for losers. It was always better to be the winner, even if the price was steep.=
Isabella, Ruffiana and Nafaro left his mind, disgusted. They’d got what they’d come for.