Sworded Affair

Chapter 142: Be Prepared

Emma returned home to find herself the sole occupant of the house. Noah’s coat and shoes were missing, making it clear he’d headed out again; either to arrange for a funeral or in the course of his ordinary duties. It was only the early afternoon, so Emma took it in stride; Noah had worked long hours well before the apocalypse hit, making his absence hardly out of the ordinary. What was unusual were the crates taking up space around the living room, claiming most of the space that wasn’t already taken up by furniture.

It took Emma a bit of careful manoeuvring to reach her usual seat, where a small note could be found in her Dad’s immaculate handwriting.

‘Elizabeth has been called away to join ongoing Empire patrols at the Strait of Dover. Precognitives have detected abnormal levels of mana across the English Channel, prompting fears of a military build-up. A show of force has been ordered on our side, to deter invasion in the lead-up to the Summer Solstice. Elizabeth is not expected back in Oxford before then.

In better news, the supply convoy headed to Woodstock will be departing tomorrow at Noon. A spot has been reserved for you on the outbound voyage, getting you close to Blenheim Palace. We don’t have anyone else who can keep up with you, so once the convoy drops you off, the rest will be up to you. Take the crates; I don’t know if you’ll need it all, but it's better to have and not need it than the other way round.

I’ll be out inspecting walls for the next few days; part of a second line of fortification being built, so I won’t be around to see you off.

Best of luck out there,

Noah’

“It’s probably for the best that I travel alone,” Emma concluded, after reading the note a few times over, checking for hidden surprises. “Having support isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but humans are just so fragile, and I won’t always be around to keep them alive.”

[Magical talent will blossom eventually, given time and a stable population. But the less a person had to start with, the longer the process will take; those who awakened in the first days or weeks were already just a small nudge away. Most will take months, if not years, and some will never manage it at all.]

“Skill issue,” Emma scoffed, never one to overly care about the plight of strangers.

Instead, her attention turned towards something more productive; namely clearing the living room of all that was now hers.

[Stored:

30x Meals, Ready to Eat

10x Bottled Mineral Water (2L)

3x Leftovers (Home Made)

5x Bag of Candle Wax (2kg)

50x Glass Jars

2x Stainless Steel Pot

Shovel

British Army Knife

Matchbox]

All told, it was an eclectic mix of provisions and equipment, all of which wouldn’t be out of place at a campsite, with the exception of the candle wax. Emma could see a use for everything, though she was most excited about the leftovers from dinner, as they were a guaranteed trigger for double EXP on demand. In an ideal world, she’d have liked a few more of them, along with perhaps some ammunition for her new gun, but given how busy everyone was, she was more than satisfied with what she got.

Deciding to use her last day at home productively, Emma headed into the kitchen, intent on making enough Hallowed Candles for herself and the house. Taking care to step over Saint and the dead rabbit she was skinning, Emma pulled out a pot and started filling it with water. Once it was filled most of the way, she set it onto the stove at a low simmer. Emma was tempted to have some leftovers before proceeding any further, but decided not to in the end; there was a chance of failure in the process, which would make for a terrible waste.

Next, six glass jars came out, placed in a loose circle on the kitchen table. This was where the recipe for Hallowed Candles deviated from what Emma had made before; her previous creations had followed mostly mundane instructions, barring the removal of light and a short incantation for the Black Candles, and the wax was otherwise ordinary. For the Hallowed Candles however, all of that went away, and the end result was more ritual than science.

Pulling out a bag of wax, she cut a thin slit through the corner and poured the wax straight into the jars, smoothing out the top of each with an open palm. Then, she grabbed a fruit bowl, and filled it to the brim with the blood of the conspiracy theorist she’d killed. Dipping a finger into the bowl, Emma grabbed the first jar and began to paint.

[Normally, this is where you use holy water, and invoke rites of protection, sanctity and purity. But since you’re using the blood arts, the invocation must be inverted. Ask for the heads of your foes, the fear in their hearts and the tears of their children, and all shall be well.]

“This is a lot harder than it looks,” Emma muttered, moving with exaggerated slowness to avoid smudging her writing.

She got better as she went, but it still took a good few minutes to write her desires sevenfold around the glass. By then, the water was beginning to boil, so she hastily switched off the heat to low, leaving the pot to simmer.

[The same again, on the other five jars.]

Each attempt was just a bit faster than the last, culminating in the sixth and final jar being painted twenty minutes after Emma first began. Taking the pot of water, Emma raised it to her lips and drank, forcing herself to keep drinking as she felt the not-quite-boiling water burn on the way down. She drank until the halfway point, whereupon she finally lowered the pot again, before adding the same amount she’d just taken in sacrificial blood, staining the water a pale red.

[A Hallowed Candle normally gives; safety and peace and bliss. Your variant, instead, is designed to take; first from yourself, and thereafter from your foes, to take everything they value and more.]

This mixture, Emma poured into the first jar filled with wax, up to the brim. Nothing happened, so she went to the next, and the next, and the next, until all six jars were filled to the brim. The final moment of completion was just that in the end, a single moment, too quick for Emma for the naked eye; in one instant, there were jars filled with hard wax and frothy red water, and then there were candles. Blood red, with wicks dark as the abyss, and a sinister smiling face carved into their sides by invisible blades.

[6x Hallowed Candle (Demonic) created!

50 EXP gained.]