(II) Blessing

30 (II)Blessing

Adam grimaced.

The Composer noticed, and her expression fell. She clearly hadn't expected that reaction. “Does that mean something else on the surface?” she asked.

Adam sputtered. “No, it's just… Shiv, why the hells are you so calm about this?”

“Because I don’t really know what a Blessing is supposed to do?” Shiv admitted.

Both the goddess and the Young Lord stared at Shiv.

“But… how? You have gods, no?” she asked.

“We have an entire pantheon!” the Young Lord almost snarled. “What do you mean you don’t know what a Blessing is supposed to do? Haven’t you… attended…”

Now, it was Adam’s turn to wilt under Shiv’s glare. “Attended what. Finish the sentence.”

“The… the sermons at the Auroral Church…” Adam winced.

“I might have. But when a War Priest and his congregation beats you within an inch of your life and leaves you bleeding and whimpering on the steps when you're barely ten, you get the message that you’re not wanted by the gods.”

“You should have reported that,” Adam muttered. “My father—”

“Would've needed to hear it from one of his guards. And they were more likely to continue the beating than to help me.”

The Young Lord was now borderline ashamed. “This isn’t who we are. When we save Blackedge… there will be changes. My father—”

“Things have already changed,” Shiv said, rolling his eyes. “I have a Path now. Composer, would you please explain what a Blessing does to me?”

“A Blessing is an infusion of divinity upon a soul,” the Composer began, her fingers nervously fidgeting against her harp. “It allows one to call upon miraculous powers: powers that are beyond even the confines of the System.”

“Beyond the confines of the System…” Shiv breathed. “That sounds… potent.”

“Yes. And exhausting.” The Composer sighed. “In your time here, you must have noticed some faults in my culture, in my city. I have yearned to do more. And even succeeded in some regard due to my unique nature. But the System is absolute. Though we are not fully born within its boundaries, we remain its conduits. Anything we do in these lesser dimensions strains against its might, and to push overmuch against its power often results in dire consequences. Even for the divine.”

“That’s why you can’t just change things?” Shiv asked.

“Partially. The other reason is…” The Composer’s lips quivered slightly. “Valor,” she said, addressing the Legendary Pathbearer. “Do you find me an incompetent goddess? A blind one?”

Valor said.

Shiv and Adam looked at her in surprise.

“I failed. I did not notice the vermin living in my own web, feasting on my children—wearing their

She shouted suddenly in a burst of anger. Shiv stepped in front of Adam again, blunting the effects once more.

The Composer flinched again. “Oh, I’m—”

Shiv held up a hand. “It’s fine, but if you have another moment like that, I need to ask that you contain me, because my Momentum Core’s almost full. I don’t want to go through all this trouble shielding Adam only to leave him a smear on the ground in the end.”

“That… might be merciful right now,” Adam said, wiping away the blood that was pouring out from his ears.

“Ah.” The Composer winced. She quickly played a few notes—melodies that washed through the Young Lord and bathed him with light. Adam’s expression quickly went from pained to relieved to euphoric. “Sorry. Sorry again. I am just… infuriated,” she continued. “About how they can just… break into my home and do this thing right in front of me! And how I failed my children! I was supposed to see! To know! And it took… took blind chance and the goodness of two literal strangers to come upon a Quest I had no knowledge of and halt the crisis.”

A long sigh escaped from the Composer. “I wish I was… wiser. I wish I was older, as old as my enemies. I wish I was stronger. I wish many things when my people pray to me. They think I am more mighty than I actually am. But at times…”She clutched her harp tighter to her chest. “At times, Valor, I feel more lost and fearful than they. I wish I had more resolve. I wish sometimes… I was more like you. You earned your Legend. But godhood is not a thing that is trained into you.”

Shiv considered her words for a moment. He looked at Adam—and thought back to the last day. He remembered all the times he envied others for traits or powers he didn't possess, like Harkness’s monstrous power and endless abilities, but even just Adam’s ability to fly, and so many small reminders of his own inability before that.

Valor said. He paused.

The Composer grimaced. “Am I? This entire ceremony, it felt like… like I was just playing to the crowd. It was a performance. And they didn’t even question me at all. They just accepted my words… Only my anger and my gratitude and my grief are genuine. And the owl… I should have struck her down.” Shiv opened his mouth to speak, but she continued. “It matters not that she is now a Legend. I am divine. She was in my home. I should have protected it.”

Valor said, addressing the goddess. His voice gave the clear impression that he had spoken similar words countless times before. And that he personally understood them to be true.

The Composer’s lip curled slightly. She seemed melancholic, then. “Oh, Valor. If someone had told me four hundred years ago that I would one day be so comforted by your words, I would have laughed and tried to flay them with my lyre.”

The goddess’s eyes widened. “You have…” She looked at Shiv and nodded. “This one… He definitely has passed your Trial of Death-Descending, but the other…”

Valor said.

Shiv nodded. “I think he just called you stupid, Adam.”

The Young Lord punched Shiv in the arm using a limb constructed from water magic. Shiv refused to budge. “That just means I have potential.”

“The potential to disappoint.”

The Composer eyed the two surfacers as their bantering resumed. A relief passed over her features. “Yes… I… Here. Witness my gratitude, oh—”

“Wait. Hold,” Adam said, his expression flickering. “I… I thank you, and am honored. But I cannot accept this.”

Shiv scowled. “You can’t?”

“Why not?” the Composer asked.

“Because I am a child of the Republic, goddess,” Adam said, decorum returning to him. “Though I understand now, after staying here for some time, that there have been… held by my people, and with what we know about the Abyss, I am still sworn to the Ascendants. They are the gods of my people, and my family is favored by Thaen, the Starhawk. To bear the divinity of another god within me is an affront to my gods. I humbly beg to be rewarded another way, if it does not offend.”

“Ah, I see,” the Composer said, her expression turning severe. “I feared there would be a matter such as this…”

Valor scoffed.

“That is not the issue. The issue is the declaration.” Adam’s posture was unyielding. “I am sworn to the Republic. Faults and all. And so I will not turn or spite our protectors. No matter the consequence.”

Valor practically growled.

“Valor.” The Composer’s statement was heavy but serene. “It is fine. I understand. And can honor this request. I will not force anything on you, Adept Adam. I will not force anything on anyone. That is not the kind of goddess I wish to be.” Shiv looked at the Composer, and read a slight bit of hurt from her features. But she bore it well. “As for another boon… Ah! I have just the thing.”

Suddenly, the Composer dove, reaching into the silken threads that lined the walls and ground of her home. Every strand she touched gave an utterance of noise, and Adam regarded Shiv in the meantime.

“You will accept her Blessing?” Adam asked.

“Don’t see a reason why I shouldn’t.”

“It will be seen as heresy…”

Shiv sneered. “Oh. So nothing changes for the Omenborn. Adam. Let me make one more thing clear. I’m doing all this for you and the people in Blackedge. Georges. The ones who don’t have it coming. Your father. But the Republic and the Ascendants are nothing to me. Just as I was nothing to them. After this is done… I’m my own man for good. I’ll do what I want and go where I wish.”

The Young Lord studied Shiv for a moment longer. And gave a brief nod of acceptance.

“And here!” the Composer said. She bore a large grin as she held something clutched in her massive fingers. As she brought it closer to Adam, the Young Lord took a step behind the Deathless, hiding his body behind the Diamond-Shelled shield. “Oh, come now, don’t be scared. You’ll love it! I heard the sisters say you are practically a Master with a bow! That they haven’t seen someone shoot so fast, so quick, and so accurately all at once.”

Adam paused behind Shiv, then stepped out with his shoulders back and head held high. He took a step closer to the Composer, like a child drawn forth by praise. “Well. I am not even a Master of the bow yet. Not like my father. But the bow is in my blood. And name. We earned it. Did you know that? It became our name due to the deeds of my ancestors.”

“Well, then… I believe a heroic lineage deserves a Heroic weapon.” She brought a finger close, and Adam gasped. There, like a speck atop the Composer’s fingertip, was a finely made bow. Its body was shaped from nightglass, and it had an entire ensemble of strings, each shivering with mana. Shiv could feel Psychomany, Biomancy, and Pyromancy fields expanding out. To his astonishment, each of the strings were Adept-Tier as well—nearly ten times the size of his Biomancy’s mana field right now. “Now, each string is infused with an Adept-Tier mana enchantment, so it took some time to assemble this weapon, but I have been told that you are versatile, wise, and have more than a few magical skills—eh, Adept Adam, are you crying?”

“No,” Adam said, coughing hard. “I just… An eyelash got in my eye.”

“And a tear is on your cheek,” Shiv muttered.

“You shut up,” Adam said, pointing at Shiv without looking at him. “Your lies and slander are not needed right now.”

The Composer’s grin turned smug. “It is okay. It flatters me to be so good at gift-giving.”

Adam looked up at her, and she nodded, allowing him to leap from their balcony onto her hand. “I will petition the Auroral Council to recognize you as a god of the Republic if I can,” Adam said, hiding a sniffle as a sneeze. “They will know of your boundless generosity and… and understand the kindness of spiders. I’ll make it illegal to step on them. I promise.”

“Oh, that’s very sweet of you! But we’re… not actually entirely spiders…”

“I don’t care. That’s how much this means to me.”

She smiled down at Adam.

When the Young Lord returned, Shiv saw that the bow was magnificently sculpted as well. It bore the shape of a Weaveress’s limb, and it had a lens on the side. As Adam looked through it, he sputtered. “Farseeing? This bow has ”

“Well, your father is the Dread Horizon, so I thought…”

“I will build a temple in your honor in the Republic! Even if it takes centuries!”

Now the Composer was almost blushing. “Master Shiv…” she said, moving to him.

“Let’s see the Blessing. But… this won’t allow you to misshape my soul or anything, right?”

The Composer cringed. “That is… beyond both my desire and ability. It also sounds horrible. No, this is just a gift. An infusion of my favor and melody upon you. Here. Listen carefully.”

And she began to play, strumming specific notes on her harp as they pulsed through the world. Then, strings began to snap. One after another they soared through the air, snaking like winged serpents, until they circled around Shiv. Adam took a step back, stepping out from the enclosing strands as they coiled around and finally sank inside the Deathless. But even after the Composer stopped playing, Shiv could hear the melody inside himself—tense, frantic notes that drove his focus to new heights.

Blessing Gained: Song of the Vigilant - Allows the Pathbearer to maintain absolute focus while the song is active. The song will expand out from the Pathbearer as a web and form a Resonant Perimeter.

As the song settled inside of Shiv, he called upon it, and it began to play aloud within his being once more. It was like the strings were in his very soul now, bound to him on some fundamental level. He found his attention sharpening with the notes, his mind focusing, pushing aside all sensation, all distraction.

Shiv thought. His spells had been broken more than a few times by him getting hit or dying in the middle of combat. This might just resolve that issue. What he found more fascinating was the Resonant Perimeter. It was like a musical web of vibrations mapped over the world. Judging from Adam’s blank expression as he followed Shiv’s gaze, the Deathless was the only one who could see the web. The perimeter seemed to expand as far as the song could travel, and it layered over everything worth noticing. More than that, he felt the movements and positions of various entities in his very soul.

After a minute of playing, Shiv also felt an extreme exhaustion pulling inside of him.

“You will need to let yourself recover after using a Blessing,” the Composer said. “It grows easier to channel a spark of the divine when you rise through the Tiers across multiple skills. But overchanneling can lead to some… ugly consequences.”

Shiv shrugged. “I’ve died before.”

“But can your soul reform from being shattered?” the Composer asked.

That made him pause. He stopped the song, but the strain still remained. “How long does it take to recover?”

“That also depends on your strength. Be wise and careful, and my song shall reveal to you all dangers, visible or hidden—and give you the vigilance to strike them down.”

“Thanks,” Shiv said, grinning despite the strain he felt inside. “I think I’m going to get a lot of use out of this one.”

Valor finally said.

“Hm? Oh, yes? The soul fragments. Now, I said before, I only have a few—”

the dagger intoned.

The goddess merely nodded, and descended again.

“I don’t know about you,” Adam said, still marveling at his new bow, “but I feel like I got a better deal.”

“We’ll find out soon, won’t we?” Shiv said.

Adam paused. “What are you implying?”

“I don’t imply. You wanna see if that bow can put a hole through me.”

The Young Lord’s eyes lit up with excitement. “I do not want to hear any blame if I slay you, Omenborn.”

“I’ll do my best to leave your limbs intact when I get my hands on you, Young Lord.”

Valor declared, his voice stern.

Adam rolled his eyes. “I told you before, I am Academy-trained, dagger. If there’s anyone who needs instruction—”

“Here they are,” the Composer breathed. As she rose, Shiv felt a surge of in the air. Something that was almost like the warmthof vitality. But it was changed. It was more. It felt almost like how he did when he was a Revenant. “Two vessels containing pieces of your soul. They took a while to fully stabilize, but you may bind with them now.”

She released something into the air. Both Shiv and Adam cocked their heads.

“Is that…” Adam began.

“A skeletal arm and a skull?” Shiv finished. “No… They’re shaped like it, but I can’t sense anything with my Biomancy.”

Valor said, his voice lined with anticipation.

And then, Shiv felt a flow of power rush through the air. It surged, binding the skeletal arm to the skull and the dagger. Slowly, all three parts came in alignment, with the limb socketing under the skull to clutch the dagger in its hands. Shiv watched as a rippling spell of pure white flashed along the blade, and magical veins crept up, fusing all three vessels into one.

Immediately, a sphere of mana crashed into Shiv. He could feel a new presence now—one of Adept-Tier Pyromancy. Pyromancy that ignited twin fires within the skull’s sockets and let it hold itself aloft by constantly projecting a stream of propulsion from below. Valor’s voice rang out, heavy with relief, like a man waking up from a long nightmare. Despite it all, Valor’s tone quickly composed itself, only letting on a muted satisfaction. The skull and arm bowed first to the Composer, and she returned the act with a cheerful smile.

Then, Valor regarded both Shiv and Adam. Shiv watched as the magical flames with the skull crackled to a new intensity.

“It’s kind of a newer development,” Shiv said.

Adam scowled at Valor. “What do you want me to do?”

The Young Lord gave Shiv a look and shrugged. “Well. I was intending to try out this new bow on the Omenborn but—”

Valor’s eyes flashed. A burst of blinding brightness made both Shiv and Adam cry out. As the blindness cleared from Shiv’s eyes, he saw Valor clenching the strings of Adam’s new bow, with a dozen elemental arrows nocked and aimed at the Young Lord.

Adam blinked and growled with anger. “That—you—”

The Young Lord clenched his teeth. The Composer looked on at the scene with a hint of distaste.

Valor slowly let the strings go slack.

Valor dropped the bow back on Adam and turned to face the Composer.

“Yeah, Valor?” Shiv said.

Shiv shrugged. “Sure. But I won’t make it easy if you’re going to try to kill me.”

Valor chuckled amiably.