The Mother of Monsters

Teyva awoke in a bed hours later. It wasn’t her room. Wherever she was, it was dark and she could faintly hear the sound of Azrael sleeping nearby. Her body ached and it was difficult even to sit up let alone move. She groaned, her mind swimming through her memories. She could vaguely remember the flood of prompts that had appeared when she was being carried out of the Arena. Her Sovereign Aspect had awakened and she’d gained three abilities in one go. She felt something heavy shift on her legs and looked down to see Nephral in his larger form resting across her ankles. His ear flicked but he otherwise didn’t move. 

Teyva lay her head back on the pillow and let out a low breath, so much had happened during the fight she could barely make sense of it all. She felt like she’d entered a whole other state of mind, hyperfocused on the fight. When the new abilities began to surface she had just rolled with it, using them without thinking. It was a little freaky how easily it had come to her, as if she’d been born for it. She rubbed her face and tried to go back to sleep. Failing that, she switched gears and decided to go through her prompt log. She hadn’t been in such a state before that she couldn’t remember everything that had popped up so she’d never had to use it.

 

“I leveled up three times,” Teyva murmured, “Damn. That’s a lot of shards,” She murmured, reviewing her rewards. 

 

She paused at the achievements, she knew what manifesting a Sovereign Aspect meant from her conversation with Thrake but it was still one hell of a thing to see. So she was an Aspect Being now, she didn’t exactly feel different from before. Her aches and pains honestly made it feel worse. She grumbled and moved over to her new Aspect. From its description, the new Aspect was going to adapt her other Aspects to her style. More notable was the fact that she couldn’t use shards on it, she’d simply gain the abilities from the Aspect as she leveled up.

 

“That helps,” She murmured, she kept running out of shards now that she had five aspects to spend them on. She turned her attention to the abilities that came with her Sovereign Aspect, looking them over with a critical eye. [Dominion Pool] changed everything, she could have more than one Behemoth out at the same time, more than one Elemental! She grinned and moved on. She rubbed her chin, [Multisummon] had a lot of possibilities, it could make for an excellent surprise attack. The most obvious use was creating four Darkeyes at once to expand her senses quickly. Her eyes fell on [Uplift Monster] and she glanced at Nephral. “I wonder if he’d notice,” She mused.

 

She sat up a little and held her hand out, giving the ability a try, “You deserve this little buddy.”

 

A faint glow rose off of Nephral and his body grew by a few inches but he otherwise didn’t budge from his deep rest. She smiled and drew out her journal, maybe it would work on him now that he was an independent creature.

[Nephral] - [Gnostisphinx Form]  - Companion - Level 13 < Elite > HP: 100% MP: 100% SP: 100%

“Not bad,” She chuckled, dismissing her Journal and pulling out some Aspect Shards, “We’ll make today your birthday.”

 

She was about to close her eyes and enter the void when she felt the thoughts of her mockeries stirring nearby. She glanced to Nephral and saw his ear flick again. Sending a calming thought to them she urged Queenie to come join her. The little creature skittered down from the ceiling, climbing along the wall and Teyva squinted in the dark to catch sight of the clumps of coins clinging to the wall above her head. She chuckled, at least they weren’t piling on top of her like they used to. Queenie hurried into her palm and Teyva lay back down. “Hello dearie,” She whispered, “You wanna be like Nephral?”

 

The tiny mother of many sent her a quizzical thought and Teyva stifled a laugh, “Of course you do.”

She cast [Uplift Monster] again and the creature fell still, shuddering for a moment and growing to the size of a hockey puck. The now large gold coin eyed her intently, its other eyes flicking around the room as if taking it in for the first time. It then turned all of its eyes on her. Teyva flinched a little when she heard a sinister hiss in the back of her mind.

 

This one is aware, mother. This one knows.

 

“Knows what?” She asked.

 

It knows of itself, of mother, of its children.

 

“Oh I see, congratulations Queenie dear,” She murmured, stroking the side of the coin. “You planning on having a lot of babies?”

 

This one will have the grandest swarm, may they one day number in the millions.

 

“M-millions?” Teyva blanched, “That’s a lot of work.”

 

Such is the role of a Queen, yes?

 

“I suppose so, hon, I suppose so,” She said and allowed Queenie to return to her protective nest. 

 

Teyva returned her focus to leveling up, closing her eyes for a moment and drifting into the void. As always she checked for Rani’s presence but was pleased to see that she was still sealed away. She spent her first set of fifteen points, ten on willpower and five on influence. She’d do the reverse next level. She opened her eyes and was thankful it was still dark. 

LEVEL UP! You are now Level 11 You have 15 (3 Base + 12 Racial) attribute points to spend. You must rest for at least one hour to use your attribute points. An Aspect Shard has been added to your inventory. You have gained a Respawn. You may unlock one ability per aspect at this level. Your [Travelers Journal] has been improved to the [Threshold] [Explorer’s Notebookl], you may now get additional information about creatures and objects you encounter. Your control limit for [Create Mockery] has increased to 110. Your [Dominion Pool] has increased to 110.

It was interesting that her control limit for Mockeries was separate from her Dominion Pool. She looked down to the small pile of five shards sitting in her lap. She turned her gaze to Nephral and found him rolled over onto his side, finally freeing her legs. She pulled her legs in and after some effort, forced herself into a sitting position. She sat alone in the dark, picking up one shard at a time and squeezing them.

Glasswalker [Pale Dawn] Pathetic Active Utility |3MP per panel

You create panels of hard, pale light to use to traverse difficult terrain. These panels are capable of holding twice your weight. They may be used to ascend or descend. The panels dissipate after 3 seconds after stepping off of them.

First, an ability she regretted not getting sooner. She hadn’t given it enough thought at the time but being able to create a staircase anywhere she wanted was ridiculously useful. She could give herself the high ground anywhere she wanted. 

Consume [Facsimile] Pathetic Utility / Self Healing | 10MP

You may consume the corpses of the dead to restore a portion of your own health based on the relative strength of the deceased.

Next an ability she really didn’t want to use herself, but she figured that with Mimickry at least one or two of her creatures would be able to benefit from it.

Passwall [Labyrinthian] Pathetic Active Utility | 50MP/Second

You temporarily become intangible, passing through solid objects and becoming immune to physical damage for as long as you are channeling this ability. When this ability ends you must be in an open space free of obstructions or suffer critical damage. While under the effects of this ability you cannot attack enemies and you cannot interact with your weapons or equipment, though they do remain on your person. This ability has a 5-minute cooldown.

This completed that tier of Labyrinthian and would open up new abilities to grab for her next level. It would also be useful in a pinch. She wondered if Mimicry would give it to any of her darlings as well.

Titan Blooded III  [Titan] No Rank Passive Enhancement

Your base Physique and Endurance increase by an additional 15 points.

That bump right there finally blasted her health up into the thousands. Grinning she moved to the last shard of this level.

Charm Gaze [Siren] Pathetic Active Utility | 45MP

Looking into the eyes of another creature allows you to temporarily charm them, swaying them to your side for up to one minute.

Easy pick, should help during melee combat and just dealing with unpleasant situations. After wrapping up that first set of picks she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, drawing her mana around herself before diving into the Void again.

LEVEL UP! You are now Level 12 You have 15 (3 Base + 12 Racial) attribute points to spend. You must rest for at least one hour to use your attribute points. An Aspect Shard has been added to your inventory. You have gained a Respawn. You may unlock one ability per aspect at this level. Your [Iron Compass] has been improved to the [Threshold] [Magic Compass], its accuracy has further improved and will now guide you to locations that you have been to before, it will also provide you with coordinates for teleportation if you possess the ability to teleport. Your control limit for [Create Mockery] has increased to 120. Your [Dominion Pool] has increased to 120.

Another dip into the void, another dump of points. She put ten into influence and five into willpower before resurfacing. She glanced about and saw that night was still holding on. She wished she had some kind of internal clock function within her user interface. She moved on to the next set of shards.

Stream of Cold [Pale Dawn] Pathetic Improves Ranged Attacks

All of your ranged attacks now count as being cold and necrotic damage.

Her last tier 2 ability of Pale Dawn wrapped it up nicely. She grabbed her next shard and squeezed it.

Dancing Weapons [Facsimile] Pathetic Active Utility | 35MP	You may give life to a number of non-magical weapons equal to your mana manipulation level. These weapons will float in the air and fight on your behalf until destroyed.
Assume Resistance [Facsimile] Pathetic Active Enhancement | 50MP	You gain a permanent [Capable] resistance to one magic type. You may expend the mana cost to change that magic type at will.
Predators Reach [Facsimile] Improves Grasp of the Mimic	You may now extend your transformed limb up to 5m.

The remaining Tier 3 abilities for Facsimile gave her some pause but she eventually settled for [Assume Resistance]. She moved on to Labyrinthian again. 

Improved Mind Trap [Labyrinthian] Pathetic Improves Mind Trap	Your mind trap now effects up to five targets within a 10m area.
Primary Gaze [Labyrinthian] Pathetic Active Attack| 68MP 10MP/Second	Select a magic element type, your eyes project a ray of that type of energy. This has a chance of causing an affliction based on the element type chosen. This attack deals 125 damage per second while sustained.
Create Chimera [Labyrinthian] Active Utility | 500MP	You consume up to three nearby summons, combining them into a single creature with a selection of their abilities. This creature lasts for 1 hour before dissolving.

She winced at [Create Chimera] it just didn’t sound like something she wanted to pursue. She might eventually pick it up to continue the Labyrinthian chain but otherwise she’d avoid it. [Primary Gaze] was just badass, so she picked it up immediately. Next was Titan, with only one ability left to pick until she hit level 15.

Summon Cyclops [Titan] Pathetic Summoning | 380MP

You summan an enormous one-eyed titan to fight on your behalf. The creature obeys your commands and will fight relentlessly until it dies or is dismissed. The Cyclops posseses an even balance of mana, physical strength, and durability. Only one Cyclops may exist under your control at any one time. (Dominion Pool Overrides This)

Another beast added to her arsenal, she smiled with satisfaction and hopped over to [Siren].

Song of Fascination [Siren] Pathetic Active Crowd Control | MP Cost Varies

Creatures that can hear your voice that are unable to resist your words are subject to the [Stun] debuff until your song ends.

The ability sounded cool though she’d never been much of a singer. Maybe this would give her the ability to do so. She just hoped she didn’t sound terrible. She looked down at her last shard and considered using it right away on her next level, she could hold off and give it some more thought but she had one more ability she wanted to grab. She closed her eyes again and began to meditate, drifting into the Void and spending her last fifteen points on Willpower. When she opened her eyes, light had begun to filter in through a window she couldn’t see on the opposite side of the room. She snatched up her last shard and squeezed it before pulling up the Siren list and snagging that last Tier 1 ability.

LEVEL UP! You are now Level 13 You have 15 (3 Base + 12 Racial) attribute points to spend. You must rest for at least one hour to use your attribute points. An Aspect Shard has been added to your inventory. You have gained a Respawn. Your [Bag of Holding] has improved to the [Threshold] [Magic Purse], and its capacity has been increased to 100. You may now loot multiple targets simultaneously in a ten-meter area. Your control limit for [Create Mockery] has increased to 130. Your [Dominion Pool] has increased to 130.

Subliminal Strike [Siren] Pathetic Active Defense | 67MP

Your hypnotic presence disorients up to three enemies in your immediate presence. An attack that would be normally intended for you is delivered upon one of their nearby allies instead.

“Done,” She murmured, and pulled up the top of her character sheet.

NAME: TEYVA AKURA		PLAYERID: IANNA
RACE: PRECURSOR LABYRINTHIAN	SEX: FEMALE	AGE: 22	TITLE: Titan Slayer
CURRENT LEVEL: 13 (77310/86000 EXP / Growth: 100%)		HP: 1207/1207 | MP: 1311/1311 | SP: 1185/1185
REPUTATION: WORTHY OF MENTION		ALIGNMENT: NEUTRAL
Physique:	86 (+12) (1%) Focus [Labyrinthian]	Endurance:	89(+15) (12%) Focus [Titan]
Willpower:	97 (+1) (14%) Focus [Pale Dawn]	Influence:	80 (+1) (82%) Focus [Facsimile]
Agility:	37(+10) (2%) Focus [Siren]	Skill:	44(+17) (5%) Focus [The Mother of Monsters]

“Nice,” Teyva laughed, “Now those are some good looking stats,” she said as she clenched her fists, feeling the strength in her body and the sharpness of her mind. She wondered if she was ready to take Rani on yet. She didn’t have time to think about it as Nephral stirred at the foot of her bed. He blinked a few times, raising his head and looking around for a moment before looking at Teyva. He gave her a considering look and then bore his teeth in a smile, 

“Good Morning, dear Mother,” He said.

“Good Morning, dearie,” Teyva said and held out her hands. He strode across the bed and rested his large head in her hands. She scratched behind his ears and looked him in the eyes. “Let’s go wake up Azrael.”