The Bloodforged Kin

Instead of turning, Luna just rolled to the side again and Zavier laughed in satisfaction as the snake behind her rocketed into the space where she'd previously been, biting hard into the snake that had been in front of her. Luna's Luck skyrocketed for a second as the two snakes began fighting, then dropped again as they untangled themselves and turned to face her.

Luna stood there in a crouch, knife held in front of her protectively. Her chest heaved as she shot Zavier a worried look. He only returned it with a confident nod. Her face grew more steadied and she turned to face them again. The three combatants launched themselves at each other in the same motion.

Zavier gasped in shock and lurched forwards but wasn't quick enough. Luna caught one of the snakes in a fist and struck it with the knife, its head falling in a spray of gore. Then she screamed as the last snake buried its fangs into her thigh.

The world stopped. Zavier couldn't move, his eyes focused on the only thing that mattered - the snake hanging fast from Luna's thigh, blocking her every attempt to rip it out of her leg. His chain whipped backwards and he used all of his intelligence to focus in on that one moment. Time slowed for him and he could feel a headache coming on as he put all of his mind towards the task of processing information as quickly as possible. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his chain arcing painfully slow through the air, the beautiful curves glinting brightly in the sunlight. He opened her health bar in the group chat and saw that she was at 46% but was dropping fast enough for even his increased perception to see the change. His mind raced in desperation but no fixes came to mind. Nothing he had or could do would save her from the venom pumping into her veins. Luna's face was a frozen rictus of pain that stuttered his heart.

A spotlight of hope bloomed in him and he looked at her experience bar. 96%! How much had she gotten in this fight? He quickly ran through the kills she'd made so far and crunched the math faster than any of his Excel sheets could do. It just might be enough! But she had to be the one to do it. If he helped it might not be enough.

His head was on fire now and the world was turning red. Dark splotches were appearing in his vision. He dropped into regular time and shouted.

"YOU HAVE TO KILL IT! KILL IT LUNA! KILL I…"

Zavier fell to the ground, darkness taking him.

Battle Alchemist, Level 6

Zavier woke up with a start and jumped to his feet, flinging his chain forward with a lightning-fast reaction.

Only there was no chain in his empty hand. His vision came back to him and he saw he was in the living room of his house, his family on their feet and staring at him with wide eyes. His brain hadn't caught up yet and his head pounded like he'd taken a bat to the skull. He put his face in his hands with a groan and collapsed back down onto the couch.

What have I done? The thought hit him before he could even focus properly. She could have died. I pushed too far.

"Luna?" he croaked.

"I'm here, dad." He felt gentle hands settle on his shoulders. "I'm okay."

Zavier breathed a sigh of relief that burst into a quick sob. He reached up and pulled her into a hug, then calmed his breathing and opened his eyes again. His family was there, staring at him with concern.

"Cass?" he asked, turning to face him. Cass was wearing a makeshift sling and his face was slightly pale. Zavier went to the party menu to check Cass's health but it wasn't available. Nothing he could do could make it come up and the request to initiate a new one didn't seem to go anywhere.

"I'm okay too, dad," Cass said. "Chloe fixed me up."

Tess sat down on the edge of the lounge chair across from the couch and answered his unspoken question. "Chloe and Owen rushed over when they heard the yelling. I guess Chloe's class is a Battle Alchemist, which lets her make all types of concoctions. One of them is an honest-to-god healing potion like in your fantasy novels. She gave one to Cass and it sealed his wound. It didn't heal it all the way but it stopped the damage. The rest will just have to heal naturally," she finished.

"Let me see," Zavier said and tried to stand up, only to fall back down on the couch. Cass walked to him and pulled his shirt up so Zavier could see. There was a scar with jagged edges and the skin was puckered, but the hole was sealed. "How do you feel? Does it feel hot or like you have an infection?"

"No," he replied, "just sore."

Zavier turned to Luna. "Let me see your leg."

"I'm fine, dad!" she laughed. "I leveled up from that last snake and it took care of the poison."

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Zavier didn't miss the worry on Tess's face. "That was irresponsibly dangerous, Z," Tess said.

"I'm fine, mom!" Luna said but stopped when she saw the look on her face.

"She did great, Honey," Zavier said, then hesitated. "She... needed to do this. If I step in every time, she'll never be ready." Even as he said it, he could hear how weak it sounded in the face of what had almost happened.

"And you couldn't help her?" Tess's voice was hard and louder than she normally let it get.

"No," he said quietly. "I couldn't. Not if she was going to learn to rely on her abilities when I'm not there."

Tess's face was a mask of frustration, anger, and concern but she just huffed and stood up quickly, moving into the kitchen to start banging cookware around as she prepared dinner.

"You okay dad?" Luna asked.

"I'll be fine, Honey," he said. "Just have a son-of-a-bitch of a headache. Can you get me some Tylenol?"

Luna moved to get it and Cass just kept staring at Zavier. "Everything okay, son?" Zavier asked.

Cass was quiet for a minute, his fists clenching and unclenching before he finally spoke. "She almost died, dad. You could have stopped it but you didn't." His voice trembled with a mix of anger and hurt, his eyes reflecting a depth of emotion that cut through Zavier.

Zavier felt his defenses rising, his headache feeding his frustration. Why don't they understand? But looking at Cass's face - pale, hurt, afraid - he realized this wasn't about understanding. This was about fear.

"Cass, I can't be everywhere," he said, his voice softer but still strained. "If something happens to me, I need to know you can protect her. I need to know she can protect herself."

Cass went pale at that and his hands started shaking. "So it's my fault? I get shot by my own sister and now it's my fault I couldn't protect her from the snakes?"

The second the implication left his mouth, Zavier hated how it sounded. Damn it, that's not what I meant. "No, son, that's not—"

But Cass was already standing, the sling in his hand becoming a bunched-up ball in his fist. For a moment Zavier thought the teenager was going to take a swing at him. In his current condition he'd just have to take it. Then Cass stormed out of the room, his bedroom door slamming shut.

Luna looked down the hallway as she passed the pills to Zavier. "What was that about?" she asked.

Zavier just shook his head and downed the pills without water. I handled that terribly. "It'll be fine, Honey. I need to get some sleep."

Sleep came fast and ragged, chaotic dreams filled the space. He felt like his head was on fire again but all attempts at getting control of his subconscious failed. Just as everything reached a crescendo it faded away into a blissful blackness. Zavier heaved a relieved sigh and floated in the stillness.

"We warned you this could happen." The voice came from everywhere.

Zavier realized that in this space he couldn't muster the emotional responses to be surprised. "What could happen?"

"You've overloaded your synaptic pathways. You scaled your mental processes to a level beyond what your brain could handle and now you've damaged some of them."

"Did I have a stroke?"

"No, you're beyond those concerns. But the damage will take time to heal. You should check your PED," the voice said.

Zavier pulled up the stat section of his sheet and saw what they were referring to.

Zavier Torres, Level: 7

Core Stats:

STR: 12

AGI: 12

END: 13

INT:

21 (15)

LUC: 12

CHA: 8

"What does that mean?" he asked with alarm.

"Due to the damage you've incurred you're effectively at a level 15 Intelligence. Still appreciable by human standards but well below what your levels should allow."

"Will this heal?"

"It will, with time."

"How much time?"

"Undetermined. We're still becoming familiar with your physiology. Those restrictions will no longer apply after you've reached level 10 but until then you're still heavily influenced by your biology."

"What if I level? Will that heal it?"

"Undetermined, but unlikely. The System is able to heal system-caused injuries or minor physical injuries that it is familiar with. The human brain is far more complex than standard muscle or bone tissue and therefore unable to be corrected by The System without substantial adverse risk to the person."

"So what does this mean for me?"

There was a pause before the voice continued. "Undetermined. You're in uncharted territory here, Zavier. We're allowing something we've never allowed before and, as such, the results and effects are not able to be predicted. We must admit that, although we are curious and hopeful that the results will be favorable, we also determine very high odds that you will essentially implode under the strain of unrestrained advancement."

"So you expect me to die," Zavier said with finality.

Another pause. "Yes," the voice responded with equal finality.

For a moment, the clinical detachment cracked. Tess. The kids. What happens to them if I'm gone? The thought of Luna facing down creatures without him, of Cass trying to protect his family with a damaged arm, of Tess having to be both parents in this nightmare world - it made him want to claw his way back to consciousness and apologize for everything.

But the cold logic reasserted itself. If he succeeded, if he could unlock The System's secrets, he could give them advantages no one else had. If he failed... well, at least they'd learned enough to survive without him.

I just hope they understand why I had to try.