Adamant Blood 447

Mark landed in an emotional whirlpool when they landed at the Green House, as small event after small event rushed at him, each little thing requiring his total emotional presence.

First, a trio of necromancers from Aluatha were there, each of them in so flowing black and grey robes. Addavein knew them all. Mark only knew one of them. Everyone knew the one that Mark knew, if they had spent any ti in the settlent at all, and if they spent any ti looking at the possibly-dangerous people with restricted powersets at the Arcanaeum. That category of researchers-into-the-dangerous included Lola and Sally and of course, Mark, who had last seen the guy when he was talking about that Ether Turtle.

It was the Spiritualist Tombsigh.

Rekaro Solari nodded at the Spiritualist, and Tombsigh nodded back; they would talk later about sothing having to do with the settlent, no doubt.

“Tombsigh!” Mark said, smiling a bit. “Hello again. I am guessing that Walaria pulled you out of the settlent at the last mont?”

Tombsigh nodded magnanimously. “Quite right, Mister Careed. I might not be a Skilled Necromancer, but I understand that you were pulling many different types of Skills from the undead hordes of Bittercap Mausoleum?”

“Ah? Is that what that place was called? Yes. I haven’t categorized all of them yet… Ah. That’s what you’re here for?”

Tombsigh and the other two guys bowed a little, as Tombsigh said, “Quite right. We’re aiming to tailor the Understanding Party to whatever you might have picked up, and I must say, when the news ca down that this was happening quite a many of my fellows hoped that you picked up the Skill that they have, for not many of us are actually Talented Necromancers.”

“One second,” Mark said. “System Call. Display recently gathered Powers.”

Animate Ghost, Animate Undead (x17), Black Fla, Conjure Death, Control Death (x2), Curse, Curse Monger, Dancing Dead, Death Beacon, Detect Death and Life (x9), Drain Existence, Exorcist, Ghost Body, Ghost Soul, Necromancer (x4), Possession (x8), Soul Kill, Spiritualist (x2), Transcendent Body (x2), Transcendent Mind, Transcendent Soul (x4), Undead Body, Undead Mind, Undead Soul (x3), Unseen Servant, Vampiric Body, Weird, Zealotry

Addavein, Rekaro, Tombsigh, and pretty much everyone in the area looked at the screen, or at least they tried to. The necromancers got really excited and Tombsigh gave a little ‘Huzzah!’ as he saw Spiritualist. One of the other guys saw sothing they liked, too, but the third one winced, missing out.

Then the third guy blinked, surprised. “Oh! Black Fla?”

“Oh my!” Tombsigh said, then he told Mark, “Black Fla or Skills like it is what caused the Death explosion from the Ether Turtle, when those Death Fires touched the Liquid Death cave.”

Mark said, “Neat. Didn’t see any ‘Black Water’ things down there, but the flaming undead was pretty hard to miss. Fun fight, too.”

Rekaro said, “That’s quite a haul for being down there for just an hour.”

Mark said, “When I went inside of myself to grab the ones that invaded , a whole bunch also tried to invade . They were a whole lot easier to kill in the dream.”

“I certainly saw halfof the fight,” Rekaro said, almost quietly, “I was quite worried a few tis there, but…” He trailed off.

Lola had sothing big to say to Mark, but she would wait.

Mark added, “Most of them didn’t invade , though, so I know I missed out on a lot.”

Addavein asked Mark, “Did you purposefully organize them alphabetically? Or was that automatic?”

“Automatic. I’ve been aning to organize them by category, first, but I just haven’t gotten around to it and I know what all of them are, anyway… Except I’m not sure what ‘Weird’ or ‘Dancing Dead’ are, and I thought I had a pretty good grasp of Powers. I thinkthey’re Arcane?” Mark added, “Curse is Natural, and I know that one. That’s a big one.”

The necromancers nodded at the ntion of Curse being a big one.

Addavein easily answered, “Most of everything you got is Arcane, including Weird and Dancing Dead. Bittercap Mausoleum tends toward Arcane monsters, though Body and Mind are always present everywhere. Curse always shows up with Elental Death stuff, and yes, that is Natural. The only Natural one there, I believe.”

Mark nodded a little, then he asked anyone who wanted to answer, “Do you guys know what the Transcendent Series is about? I noticed an Undead series, too, and I almost didn’t find the Undead Mind. I did notfind the Ghost Mind Power, but I was running out of ti, anyway. The Transcendent ones were very hard to kill until I pulled them apart in their souls.”

Tombsigh spoke like Transcendent wasn’t a large deal, saying, “The Transcendent Skills are exactly as you found them out to be; nearly impossible to kill. Mulch them, burn them, do anything to them that you can think of, they just won’t die until you rip apart their Binding, which sounds like that is what you did.”

Mark nodded, saying, “Ahh… I was thinking they were special in so way?”

“Sort of like Healthy Body but less physical,” Addavein said. “I have never seen anything with all three, though, so perhaps there is sothing there that we just don’t know about. Sa goes for the Ghost series and the Undead series.” He added, “What about the Party?”

The rest of the conversation was less interesting, mainly detailing ti fras and expectations for the Understanding Party. It would be Mark and about 30 Imperial Necromancers, though only 15 of them would have the Necromancy Skill, which was rather historically normal. For most of them it would be a normal get-together, and the room would have a lot of Elental Death flowing around it, so while Mark could invite anyone he wanted to invite, the ‘Imperial Necromancers’ suggested that he co alone.

“Addavein is, of course, also welco,” Tombsigh added, without missing a beat.

Mark asked about his Extended Protect amulets, and they, and Addavein, agreed that those would work well enough to protect anyone else who wanted to co.

Addavein was, of course, going to the Necromancy Party, even before Tombsigh said as much, but he didn’t need an amulet.

And then Tombsigh easily handed over so ‘light’ reading material in the form of three thick, ancient tos, wrapped in deeply-tarnished tal with golden writing on the front. They were listed as I, II, and III, and that was it. No other exterior markings. The books were impressive. The necromancers handed them over like they were standard fare. Like they had read them all a hundred tis already, or sothing.

Tombsigh and his fellows got back on the tram and got going.

Lola was next, drawing attention to herself, and to the situation, staring Mark down and saying, “I will be quick about this, because we are in a quick sort of ti. Necromancy is among the most dangerous of Powers. It seems almost ridiculous to speak of things as being ‘dangerous’ when all of that horror with Buckler and Lancer happened, but please keep in mind that Necromancy cannot be shared among others, either in word or action. It is very, very easy to kill and twist with Necromancy.” She added, “And the Collective has Necromancers from every single god of the Pantheon, ready and willing to teach you, Mark, and you as well, Eliot.”

Mark turned and saw Eliot standing there, and Mark felt almost embarrassed about not considering him and the Power Necromancer. Did he want it? Mark was sure he wanted Resurrection…

Could Mark talk to Jessie Stills, who hated his Power, and take Resurrection from him, in exchange for sothing that would allow violence? Jessie didn’t want to be controlled, and Mark had Necromancer right here, and the two should be… sort of similar?

Mark asked Eliot, “Want to see if Jessie Stills will take Necromancer in exchange for Resurrection, and see if I can get you Resurrection? Or sothing; just throwing out ideas, here.”

Eliot froze, and he was surprisingly unsure, but not for the reason Mark imagined. Rooting around in soone’s soul was dangerous, and Mark would have to do that to him to give him any number of Powers. Eliot said, “I don’t know, but only because I heard what Necromancy actually is from Addavein, when we were coming back. I… I need to think about it.”

Lola had a careful, curious reaction to that. She said nothing.

Addavein easily said to him, “Necromancy gets a deservedly bad reputation, but it’s just a Power, like any other. Plus, if you have it then you’re quite immune to the downsides of the Power, though there are fewer secondary-Powers to Necromancy than other Powers, as it is an Arcane Power.” He shrugged. And then he told Mark, “You’ll want to treat so of those new Powers like I told you to treat Parasitize and those other bad ones you pulled from the fish. In particular, Black Fla and Death Beacon. Those two won’t harm you, but people don’t live very long when they get those Powers, and it is notbecause they kill themselves.”

Mark picked up what Addavein was putting down; other people tend to kill those who had Powers that hurt everyone else just by virtue of existing. Mostly none of that happened, though. Or at least not that Mark could directly recall.

Mark asked, “What about Possession? I would think that would be a bad one, too?”

“That one is rather ta. Try it out! It’s a type of Astral Projection, and sort of like what Freyala did for you and I in the Battle for mphi.” Addavein gestured at the books I, II, and III, and said, “Quark should record those. They’re basically every single thing that anyone would ever want to know about the school of Necromancy. Even the terrible things. You’re not allowed to beco a public necromancer without knowing those and passing the course behind them.”

Mark picked them up, and said, “Ahh… That’s why the guys seed almost disgusted by them.”

“They probably have their own copies, held in confidence in special places, that they were required to read and read and read for years.”

The group shifted.

People moved here and there.

Minutes later, with Eliot’s help, in a crafting room, Quark was flowing like mithril through a scanner system, working the cara over the Necromancy Books and taking it all in. Mark asked about how public the books were, in an offhand comnt, and Quark said that the AIs had records of the books, but they were behind strict allowances that Mark did not et, until he scanned the books himself. Apparently there were a whole bunch of study guides out there, too, and they were available now that Mark was being inducted as a necromancer—

Isoko and Sally stepped into the room, together, providing a united front.

“Hey,” Isoko said.

“Hey, Mark,” Sally said.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not ant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Uh… Hello, girls?”

And then they were hugging him, and saying nice things about dangerous fights and how it would have been nice to have less bad things happen, and Mark felt truly loved. He cried a little bit for joy and for the love he was given, but then he talked about how he had already been in a war with the goblins, and didn’t they rember that? He was fine! He was great. He was a warrior, and fighting all of those undead things had been really fun.

“I guess…” Isoko softly started, her voice trailing off, her eyes turning away— And then she stared at Mark with tears threatening to fall, choking on her own words as she said, “I was the scared one.”

Sally confessed, “I’ve seen you dive into kaiju guts before, but those archmages…” She nervously chuckled, adding, “Fucking hell, man. Makes think that having archmages around at all is a bad deal! Imagine that! hating archmages!”

The sarcasm was as thick as adamantium. Mark had a good chuckle, and so did Isoko. And then Isoko started to cry softly.

Mark hugged Isoko again and she latched on to him. Mark tried to hug Sally, too, but Sally stepped away, smirking even as a few tears fell, and Mark supposed Sally was letting Isoko have this mont, which was fine, Mark supposed.

Sally said, “Addavein is all ready to yell at so dragons from Kabberjaw to get them onto Aluatha’s side for the war, and I think we’re going to need it. It’ll be better to ask for help—”

Isoko breathed deeply and pulled away, saying, “Not ‘ask for help’.” She wiped her face. “He said ‘Propose alliances’. Askingfor help automatically gives you a weaker position.”

Sally nodded… And then she looked at the Necromancy books, asking, “Who’s gonna join you in your house when you figure it out?”

“Ahhh, shit, I don’t know. That’s just… Fucking Buckler and Lancer! Could have gotten Capture today and then we’d already be there! But now I gotta do this Necromancy thing and probably four more steps besides.” Mark looked at the books, underneath the scanning cara and the page turner that Eliot had made. Mark said to the girls, “It’s not so bad, though. There are study guides available for purchase through Imperial Aluatha Mage Society and AI control, and I already got all of them.”

Sally and Isoko gave uneasy glances at the pitted, iron-bound books.

Isoko said, “I guess you wanted Forbidden Magics.”

Sally snorted.

Mark grinned. “Yeah, I did.” And then he sarcastically asked, “You think these count? I’m not sure they do.”

Sally happily said, “Just need to do so human trafficking and experintation to count!”

Isoko snorted. “That’s our whole plan with Blackleaf Industries, right? Traffic people to Secondary Baptisms and experint on their souls, all in order to make the next generation of true powerhouses?”

“You should use so more sarcasm in your tone when you say it that way,” Mark said, grinning.

Isoko said, “Yeah I felt the sa way when I was halfway through, but I had to finish.”

Sally grinned as she changed the subject, saying, “You should consider a secondary and tertiary loadout, which is freakin’ weird to say. But Necromancer and Curse goes hard as fuck.”

Isoko said, “There’s a Curser at Crystal Tower.”

Mark grinned as he said, “Hexbreaker! She’s one of two other people who can make kaiju, though her and Verdant Guardian can’t make them on Daihoon— Oh holy shit.” Mark had a sudden thought. “Is Hexbreaker one of the hidden Inheritors?”

Sally and Isoko weren’t nearly as convinced as Mark was, their faces mostly saying ‘no’ even before they actually said it.

Mark shrugged.

Sally said, “I thought that Castellan woman from New Tokyo that Addavein told you about… Whoever she was?”

Isoko said, “The Shapeshifter and Castellan, one of the backups for Hearthswell. Lacy. No accepted code na, no known history. I’ve asked about her but no one knows her, but everyone knows abouther when you get high enough in the organization. Grandma swears she saw her at least twice, and both tis during bad breaks in the wall. The Church of Hearthswell knows how to get into contact with her if they need to, even if they deny it all the ti. I understand she’s usually out doing her own thing, and most of the ti she isn’t even ‘she’, from what I heard.”

Mark humd. “Deeply reclusive, hidden powerhouse, and if she’s a Shapeshifter then she’s also incredibly resilient, so… yeah. I could see her being an Inheritor.”

“Of course the most obvious Inheritors are probably Nova Nexus and Glorious Man,” Isoko said.

Mark nodded.

And then Sally looked at Mark, deeply, and asked, “Are you really good? Like… not pretending?”

The concern, the love… Mark loved it. It was like standing in the sun after a cold night.

Mark said, “I’m good, Sally. Thank you very much for asking.”

“Okay good, because you looked fucking aweso out there, by the way,” Sally said.

“For what we could see of the 49 secondsof that fight, yes, you did look aweso,” Isoko added, kinda miffed. “That was fucking speed, man.”

Mark grinned.

Sally added, “Anyway, uh… There’s that Party-thing happening in 45 minutes? Eliot wants to go but he doesn’t want to go. You should ask him to go directly.”

Isoko nodded. “That’s the other thing we ca in here to say.”

“Oh! Yeah. Absolutely,” Mark said.

Sally continued, “I think you should consider so secondary or tertiary loadouts. Necromancer, so Mind Power, and Curse. That’s like the ultimate killer of… of anyone, Mark. Giant trees, too, to give one example.”

Isoko shook her head. “You gotta go for speed above all.”

Mark said, “Quark is in the Mind, and I won’t give him up for anything, and speed is important. I can kinda fake it with what I’m doing now but… Maybe a secondary loadout for making books of life, or… or whatever? … If I can even do that? I think I’d have to rebuild the house… I’ll think about it.”

Sally shrugged, happy to have planted the seed.

Isoko gave him another hug, and then they left.

Quark took another 20 minutes to scan the final parts of the second book and then all of the third book, and anwhile Mark started reading the first one.

It was basically a textbook for Necromancers, or anyone who had any sort of Death Mana-type Power, so, in reality, the books were a textbook more for Death Mana, though the largest application of such were Necromancers so the books had a pretty deep slant in that direction.

It was dense as fuck, but it had pictures!

“Thank the gods for pictures,” Mark said, flipping through and looking at diagrams of bodies.

Mark stopped early to get ready for the Understanding Party, and to go have a talk with Eliot.

“You wanna co to the Party?” Mark held up one of his Extended Protect amulets. “If you want to go.”

Eliot really did want to go, but he pulled back, saying, “No thanks.”

“… You sure? I will make this happen again later, if you want and if I need it, but today might be the only one we get. No one knows what tomorrow will bring… Except for Tiweaver, I suppose.”

Eliot had a difficult mont.

Mark let him have his mont, because Mark was thinking about sothing else quite suddenly. A while ago, Addavein had told Mark that he could call up pretty much anyone in the Two Worlds, and if they knew it was him, he’d get that phone call. It was the sa sort of situation of Glorious Man calling up anyone, and they’d take his phone call, too.

Mark wondered if Tiweaver would take his phone call… and furthermore, did Mark even want to get involved in that? Yes, Mark had t the guy during the Battle for mphi, when Tiweaver did his end-run, putting all the pieces of the world in order to ensure that humanity ca out ahead. So Mark already had a hook to talk to him, and because the stuff coming down the line seed just as scary.

Walaria, and therefore Aluatha, believed that World War Daihoon was coming down the pipeline, maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day, whenever. Soti soon; that’s all anyone really knew.

But Tiweaver might know more…

Eliot was still struggling with deciding to go to the Necromancer Party. He asked, “Addavein is staying here, right?”

“He’s going. Derek wants to go, but he’s staying.”

Eliot definitively said, “I’ll stay here and hold down the fort.”

… It seed Mark would have to have a difficult conversation.

Mark tried, “We’re going two tram stops away. It’s close! So… So don’t make your need for safety an excuse to keep you from trying stuff.”

Eliot’s brown face reddened and he suddenly shouted, “We’re not all fucking Adamantine Immortals, Mark!”

Mark instantly countered, “Do you want to be?!”

Eliot had been prepared to be angry.

Mark had been prepared to counter that anger with a solution.

Mark added, “Because I can figure it out! I can try. You only have two Powers and neither of them is a Body Power. There’s that Shapeshifter Castellan girl in New Tokyo, and I bet she has all the fun, and all the security she could ever need. I could ask Walaria for Shapeshifter. Or! There’s Necromancer, or maybe Resurrection if Jessie agrees and I can pull it off.”

Mark stopped talking.

Silence.

Eliot softly said, “No.”

“Okay,” Mark said, trying to be light about it, but that had been a deeply heavy mont.

And then Eliot said, “I want that house book.”

Mark nodded. “I’ll figure out how to get it for you, even if I have to fight Addavein for it.”