Grand Game 492: Memories

79 Days Left for Brokering Peace in Sector 12,560

You have lost 10 x rank 4 nether protection crystals, the seeking eye of sylvana, the spectacles of ward seeing, a mirror shield, Asmod’s Suit, a champion’s belt, icefang, and healer’s friend. 

Anriq set off for the nether-infested sector early the next morning—alone and with little more than some enchanted crystals for protection. I’d loaned him the seeking eye, too, and had tasked him with mapping out the sector’s terrain and discovering the location of every stygian nest.

It was a dangerous mission, but one which Anriq assured me that after his many days in the selfsame sector, he was well-equipped to take on. It went against my nature to send others into danger in my stead, but I sent him anyway, however reluctantly. 

Delegate, I reminded myself. Must delegate.

The twins set off at nearly the same time with Adriel and a small group of wolves for company. Terence wore Malikor’s armor—those pieces he could—making him an unmissable red target on the snow-white tundra. 

On hearing of Malikor’s prowess, the young swordsman had been more than a little besotted, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he pursued a paladin Class himself. With Asmod’s armor, the mirror shield, and the champion’s belt, he was well-equipped to do so, anyway.

Teresa was still dead set on becoming a druid, and after giving the matter careful thought, I realized icefang would suit her better than me. The twins’ mission was a simple one: gaining their bloodline Marks. Adriel had more than a few ideas about how they could go about that. In the lich’s day, acquiring your Marks was something of a ritual, and according to her, it was all about finding the right situation…

Nyra also left the den. She took with her two sleds, each pulled by a different team of arctic wolves. Her task was at one time simple and complex: leveling up, gathering supplies, and generally aiding the Pack in whatever way she could. Both she and I were hoping this would deepen her Wolf Mark.

Lastly, there was Ghost. Not about to be left out, she too set out to train her skills. That in itself would not have concerned me. Her choice of targets, though, did. The pyre wolf was intent on hunting down the tundra’s yetis. And while her nature and flame attacks made her admirably suited to such a task, it also left her vulnerable to the yetis’ own attacks. Which is why I’d made sure Sulan, Oursk, and Aira accompanied her.

That left Safyre and me as the only players remaining behind to guard the den—not something that was strictly necessary. And besides, I thought grumpily as I sank down cross-legged on the bed of furs I’d prepared, soon I am going to be in no condition to guard anything. Which was why Safyre had insisted on staying behind in the first place. 

To guard me.

“You’re sure you don’t want to venture out with the others?” I asked her for the tenth time. 

She shook her head firmly. “No. Someone has to make sure you’re alright.”

“Duggar and the rest of the dire wolves can do that well enough,” I pointed out.

Lifting her right arm, she pulled back her sleeve to display the farspeaker bracelet she wore. “Someone also has to be on standby in case any of the others get into trouble.”

I nodded, conceding the point. 

Every group that had set out had a player wearing a matching farspeaker bracelet—only Ghost’s group didn’t, of course, but the dire wolves had their own means of communicating. Safyre’s set consisted of four bracelets—I’d returned mine to her—and now Anriq, Nyra, and Teresa each wore one.

“And besides,” the aetherist went on, “I’m curious.”

I raised one eyebrow. “Curious?”

“To see how all this works,” she said, gesturing to the Blood Talisman in my lap. “This is my first chance to witness your blood magic at play.”

“It’s not blood magic,” I muttered, but I knew she was only teasing.

She smiled. “It might as well be, given everything Adriel says it can do.”

“True,” I admitted, taking up the talisman in my left hand. I glanced up at Safyre. “Remember I might be out for as long as three days, so don’t start worrying before then.”

“Nice to know I have your permission to do that this time around,” she said with a straight face.

I grimaced. “You know what I mean.”

She laughed softly. “I do.” Reaching out, she squeezed my hand. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” I murmured. Closing my eyes, I willed my intent to the Adjudicator.

It was finally time to get my next blood memory.

✵ ✵ ✵

Contact established between Blood Talisman and the anointed Wolf scion, Michael. Reading the candidate’s blood signature...

My breathing still and controlled, I waited patiently. Above me, I sensed Safyre hovering. And she was most definitely worrying already. I chuckled. “You couldn’t even—”  

I broke off as another message unfurled in my mind.

Scion, your blood is ready for its second awakening. 

Remember, the blood of an ancient is a fearsome thing. Memories of traits, skills, and abilities lie long dormant within them. When sufficiently awoken, your blood can be made to ‘remember’ its ancient lineage and perform feats you had not thought possible before. Do not forget that blood memories are powered by your blood itself and consume neither psi, mana, nor stamina.

It is up to you to determine which of your blood memories to awaken. At this time, you may recall either 3 lesser blood memories or 1 greater blood memory. 

Lesser memory: Ancestral Knowledge. Your blood recalls ancient knowledge. This blood memory grants you a once-off boost of +5 ranks in any skill of your choice. Note, attribute thresholds still apply. This is a generic blood memory. 

Lesser memory: Blood Pet. Your blood can infuse your pet. This blood memory will grant you the ability: duplicate. It can be used once per day to grant your familiar all your own skills, abilities, and traits for one hour. This is a generic blood memory.

Lesser memory: Rabid Blood. Your blood can infect the minds of your foes. This blood memory turns you into a carrier of a mind-affecting disease that is highly contagious. Henceforth, direct contact with your blood will cause your foes to become deranged and confused. This blood memory is unique to Wolf.

Greater memory: Blood Harvest. Your blood can reap your foes. This blood memory will grant you the ability: level drain. It can be used once per day to leech 1% of an enemy player’s levels. Leeched levels are permanently transferred to you. Note, this ability only works against players slain by yourself. This is a generic blood memory. 

Greater memory: Blood Puppet. Your blood can enslave your foes. This blood memory grants you the ability: enslave. It can be used to permanently dominate a foe whose level is equal to or lower than your own. Note, you may only have one enslaved subject at any one time. This is a generic blood memory. 

Greater memory: Alpha’s Command. Your blood reinvigorates your allies. This blood memory grants you command of the power word, rally, which consists of two stages: clarity and invigorate. Clarity dispels all negative effects of every ally in a 100 yard radius, while invigorate imbues them with a buff that fully replenishes their health and energy pools over 60 seconds. The power word can only be used once per day and is unique to Wolf. 

Choose which memory you wish to recall for your second awakening.

“Ah,” I exhaled, my eyes still closed.

“What is it?” Safyre demanded, her voice strained.

“Nothing bad,” I assured her. My lips twisted. “Just an excess of choices.” Ignoring the insistent throbbing of the Talisman in my left hand, I recited aloud the descriptions of the blood memories on offer.

Safyre whistled softly. “That is a dilemma. Those lesser memories sound nearly as tempting as the greater ones. And you said you can pick three of them?”

“Yes, but the memories the Game will offer when I consult the Blood Talisman again might be entirely different.”

“I see,” Safyre muttered. “That makes things tricker, I suppose.” She paused. “Which way are you leaning?”

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “The lesser memories are tempting, especially considering that I can have three of them and their effects will be doubled by my champion trait. There is also my commander trait to consider. With it, I can grant my Wolf followers a lesser variant of the blood memory.”

“But?” Safyre prompted, seeming to sense there was one.

“But the greater memories’ effects will also be doubled and shared, and according to Adriel it’s the better option.”

A drawn-out moment of silence, then, “I would heed the lich’s advice if I were you.”

My eyes almost snapped open in surprise, but I caught myself in time. Both Ceruvax and Adriel had warned me not to disrupt my connection with the Talisman once I started my blood awakening. The consequences, they’d informed me, could be disastrous. 

“Really?” I asked aloud. I wouldn’t say that Safyre didn’t like Adriel, but there was definite friction between the pair.

“Really,” Safyre replied dryly. “Adriel and I might not see eye to eye on everything, but I don’t pretend to have her level of expertise when it comes to this—” a wicked laugh—“blood magic stuff.” Her tone grew more serious. “Besides, if blood memories scale in the same manner as abilities do, the high-tiered options are invariably better.”

“That makes sense,” I allowed. “Then, too, greater blood memories are only the second tier.” There were three more beyond them—godlike, ancient, and ultimate.

Safyre repressed a shiver. “Yes, and I can only imagine how powerful they are.”

I chuckled. “So that narrows my options down to three.”

“Two,” she countered. “Blood harvest sounds nice, but its use is strictly limited. Once you hit level three hundred and can no longer attack players, you’re going to struggle to find anyone to employ it against.”

She was right. I wasn’t all that far away from level three hundred, and while I had no doubt the blood memory would speed up my progress to that milestone, once I became a Power in truth, the only viable targets for blood harvest were other Powers—and they were not the sort of foes I expected to be battling on a daily basis.

“The other options are both nice,” she continued, “but of the two, I’d say blood puppet is the better.”

My brows rose. Again, she’d surprised me. “Why do you say that?”

“Well, from the Game’s description it doesn’t sound like the buffs from the alpha’s command will apply to you.” She laughed ruefully. “And it’s you, we’re talking about here. How often do you think you’re going to go into battle surrounded by an army of allies?” 

“A valid point,” I murmured. “Then, too, my champion trait will probably synergize better with blood puppet than it will with alpha’s command.” 

“Exactly.”

At a guess, my champion trait would increase the power of alpha’s command by doubling the reach of the spell or halving the time it took to reinvigorate my allies. It could also increase the spell’s stages, but I had no idea what the additional stages might do.

Whereas when it came to blood puppet, I foresaw only two ways the spell could be made more powerful: either by changing the level limit applied to the spell’s victims or by doubling the number of subjects I could enslave. Both changes would be immediately useful.

I inhaled. “That decides that then. Blood puppet it is.” Reaching out to the Adjudicator, I made my choice.

Blood awakening initiated. Activating fallen scion essences…

…

…

The energy I’d siphoned from the fallen scions in the Ritual Combat Circle—lying dormant in me all this time—abruptly burst free of their confines and seeped into my blood.

Setting it afire.

“It’s begun,” I gasped, as my limbs began to contort, and my muscles started to lock up. Falling over, I curled into a ball. “R-re…mmember…. wha-at… I… said. T-thr-ree…,” I began, mangling the words as I forced them out through a suddenly uncooperative jaw.

“Three days, I remember.” Safyre placed a soothing hand on my forehand. “Don’t worry, I have everything well on hand here, Michael. See you on the other side.”

I tried to nod or otherwise acknowledge her, but the fire raging in me reached a crescendo and I knew no more.