Adamant Blood 450

“The most important thing to know is that you cannot use healing magic on him at all,” Addavein said, standing beside Mark in the hovervan. “I don’t know this man, Cade Waterson, but I do know of Grand Mages, and when they Break their Bindings the reasoning is always similar, and the fallout always falls along certain lines.”

The hovervan was packed with just Mark, Addavein, and Sunder and Stitcher.

The Winter Ball was still in full swing underneath the do of Domal’Takela, looking like lit-up parties happening between large stretches of darkness, with strips of light from the trams, from various outdoor areas, and from people, connecting all the light to each other. The actual structure of Domal’Takela on the horizon was lit up enough to make it look like the sun still shone upon that tumble of dragon-sized white stone

The sky beyond the glass overhead was full of auroras, and the moon.

First Imperial Hospital was straight ahead. They’d be there in 5 minutes. Walaria was already there. Mark imagined she was probably getting so dical assistance herself due to her injured arm with that loose black bandage, and Mark almost kicked himself for not trying to heal her of that earlier. He was a healer, after all. He could heal most things! Why didn’t he even offer? Or just do it. Normally, he just did it, healing everyone near him simply by virtue of them being near him, though he did ask pretty much every single ti. All paladins were trained to do this, and Mark might not have been a paladin, but he still had most of the training.

Mark had never dealt with a Broken Binding, though. No one did. Not really. People just diedwhen their Binding broke, and especially when they broke it themselves. Apparently, this ‘Cade Waterson’ had managed to hold onto life for a lot longer than anyone expected. The Second Princess had originally given Mark a deadline to figure out ‘Binding Switching’ of 24 hours, about 7 hours ago. Now, Mark only had 3.

That 24 hour estimate had been way too generous, apparently.

And now, in the flight to the hospital, Addavein tried cramming in more information about Bindings, hoping sothing would help Mark heal Cade. And yet, Mark was 100% sure that Addavein was much more interestedin seeing if Mark could manage to make another soulhouse in another person. Mark was sure that everyone involved in this was interested in Cade for reasons beyond the man’s own life, too.

For his own part, Mark wondered how much he cared about the guy’s life, versus this lure Thrashtalon had thrown down. Did Transcendent Body, Mind, and Soul really make a soulhouse? Mark hoped they did, because if they did then Mark could give a lot of people soulhouses, and thus Aluatha could fend off Okuana’s threat of war withoutgoing to the dragons ORhaving people Contract with demons.

… Maybe that was Thrashtalon’s endga.

If Cade Waterson lived, if he thrived with the Transcendent series of Powers inside of him, if the best outco happened, then he was going to be protected by the Empire. If Thrashtalon thought he could… what? Steal Cade’s potential soulhouse for others? That was probably not going to happen—

“You are distracted?” Addavein asked.

“Sorry. You were talking about Binding fallouts?”

“Yes… Just don’t heal him. I know you would try, but you would hurt him faster. Broken Bindings no longer have the safeties that normal Powers have, and this Waterson boy had Water Shaper and Water Manipulation. He probably Broke himself trying to combust the water inside of others, which is the most normal way to Break Water Shaper. They likely have him drugged and sleeping, as well, so waking him through healing him would likely cause him to cascade into self-destruction.” Addavein asked, “Now what were you thinking about?”

“The problem won’t be this guy. Sure, he could be a Thrashtalon plant, or any number of things. Even if he dies, Walaria is going to ask to continue trying this Transcendent thing with others, and I’m going to do that, just because I can see that having immortal warriors of Aluatha is better than the alternative of falling to Okuana, or dealing with dragons, or demons. So eventually Thrashtalon will get what he wants, which is, I assu, soone with an immortal triple-Transcendent Binding who is Contracted to Thrashtalon’s demons.” Mark finished with, “That’s what I was thinking.”

Addavein said, “In my professional opinion, learned from dealing with demons for a long ti, unless you know their goal or their specific outcos they desire and you’re actually interacting with them constantly, then you should ignore what you cannot control and focus on what you can control. When Thrashtalon’s ploy eventually cos into the light, then we deal with it. For now, the battle before you is the one of saving the life of a warrior of Aluatha. Breaking the Binding is a delayed, horrific death for many, but it’s also going out in a blaze of glory to save that which you can save. Mostly, it works. Mostly, such people die instantly. So if you can save him, you will have saved a hero from one of the worst deaths imaginable.”

Mark nodded a little, breathing in the Good and out the Bad—

The hovervan jostled.

The guys up ahead called out 30 seconds to landing.

Mark focused.

And then they were landing at one of three hoverpads on top of a grand hospital that was a lot smaller than Mark imagined it should have been, but it was still 5 stories tall and it covered a kiloter of land on the edge of the glass do of Domal’Takela. An entry portal to Domal’Takela was set into the glass high overhead, and Mark imagined that many people had ergency flights into this hospital through that entryway.

Walaria stood beside the hoverpad, still wearing her witch’s battlegown with all her silver ornants. Her black armcloth was gone, revealing reddened skin.

Mark stepped off of the transport before it fully landed—

“Don’t try to heal him,” Walaria said, as she started walking toward a large pair of open doors set in front of a tunnel leading down into the hospital.

Mark walked beside her, saying, “Addavein told a few things about that. What part of his Binding is broken, exactly? Water-combustion?”

Then they were in a tunnel in the hospital, heading down an empty hallway, past a nurses’ station with a bunch of people working if they were working, and bowing if they were able. Doctors in white coats were here and there, and so of the doctors had on white mage robes instead of coats. The difference was small, but it was a difference, easily noticed and usually with the sleeves. Doctors had normal sleeves. Mages had big sleeves. These mages here all seed to have sleeves with little pull strings in them so that they could tighten them up when they needed to actually do bloody-type work.

Signage overhead pointed toward surgery, imaging, and other such locations. The place was Earth-modern, but with a few exceedingly rich Daihoonian details, like the marble floor and the space, and the sll. It slled sterile, but not nearly as strongly sterile as hospitals usually slled—

They passed the main ergency surgery centers, stepping into a different wing of the hospital that was for longer term care.

Mark hadn’t been in a hospital in a long ti. Not since he was recovering from the mana-flavoring incident that put him into a coma, before his Tutorial. He barely rembered that, because mostly he was in a coma, so was he actually rembering anything at all? No. He was imagining things. He hadn’t been in a hospital at all. Being here, in a hospital, made him imagine mories that never happened.

They passed through a large archway that contained a pressure in the air, keeping sections of the hospital air-quarantined; separating short term ergency care from long term care.

Most of the hospital was long-term care, because most injuries and cancers and otherwise were easily healed with magics of all kinds, both through Pantheonic thods and through actual healing magic Talents. Mark saw so Pantheonic imagery on the walls, mostly Freyala with her wings and Hearthswell with her basket of fruit. Mark felt other Unions in the air here and there, so yeah, there was real healing happening here. But for the stuff that was too hard for healing magics, there was alchemy and therapy, and so that's what most of the hospital consisted of.

Mark already knew not to go healing people as a matter-of-course in this part of the hospital.

Art held on the walls. Big windows had nice views. People walked and hobbled around, each of them making do, as circumstances allowed.

Mark kept his Union very contained.

People stared at him, at Walaria mostly, and at Addavein, with his tail swaying behind him and his cloak of wings around his shoulders. So people tried to bow, but they were injured, and it was the thought that counted more than the act.

And then Walaria brought them to a hall where the windows were covered in black cloth, and a doorway held between those windows. A pair of guards stood by the door and so old man stood on the other side of the hallway, holding a cane and wondering what was happening beyond the guards. The old guy saw Walaria. He gasped and bowed his head; the rest of him was too stiff to bow at all.

The guards opened the doors and Walaria strode through into a small, false-light courtyard garden, open to a fake, dayti sky. The whole room was maybe 10 ters cubed, with a single tree in one corner and little bushes here and there. At the center stood an ancient-looking white stone table, large enough for a person.

A man lay on that cold slab of stone. He had IVs going into his arms and a machine beeping out his status. 110 beats per minute. He was unconscious, but also in pain, and the sweat on his body kinda floated off of his body, into the air, and then popped like steam bubbles. That steam swirled and ca back together here and there forming ice chips and then water droplets and then steam, once again.

The IV drip was not saline or any sort of water, Mark realized at a glance. It was grey shavallian. Diluted, for sure, but still shavallian. It was kinda working, but not really. Mark imagined the ‘off switch’ of Cade Waterson’s Binding had been one of the first parts to go when he Broke his Binding.

Cade was dying, his vector barely present at all.

The witches Pearl, Amy, and Uva stood to the sides, and a doctor in white mage robes stood beside the patient.

That doctor almost panicked as he called out, “Don’t try to heal him!”

“I have been made aware. Thank you,” Mark said, standing over Cade’s body, looking at the damage with all of his senses, his Union still very controlled. “And people wouldn’t be in a hospital if Union could heal them.”

“I see your Union touching him,” said the doctor, calming down but still firm, adding, “Do you think you can actually do this miracle?”

“We’ll find out,” Mark said.

The doctor was uncomfortable with that, but he had mostly made his peace with the extre nature of today’s experint.

Mark focused on the patient.

Cade Waterson was blond, with a warrior’s physique. He had lacerations to his chest, stomach, and legs, all of the long wounds pointing in the sa direction, looking like they were made by a clawed hand of indeterminate size. Probably so sort of Shaper Power and not a clawed hand at all. The surface healing was crudely done, and blood seeped out of the wounds to join the droplets of water bursting in the air, and against Mark’s skin.

Cade’s body jostled as he hit Mark with his droplets, the counter force of his Shaping pushing him away. It seed he was automatically attacking everything near him.

He had probably been a very difficult patient, and he was still ntally fighting sothing, his vector curled inside of his body and warring with sothing… so mory. Maybe the goblin infection? No. He would have died long before now if he had been infected with goblins… Probably.

Maybe he had been infected with the Bite, but then he had ripped it out of himself?

Mark surveyed what he needed to survey, giving voice to his thoughts, saying, “Okay. So him attacking is good. I was wondering if we’d need to get him to co to sohow, but he’s doing that on his own. I can do the rest from here. Is he infected with goblins? What is he fighting?”

The doctor took a half step forward, but no closer. “He cleared the Bite himself but his dream was shattered due to that clearing. He’s fighting a war with goblins. It’s a common end-stage scenario to Broken Bindings when it cos to those who fight goblins, because he’s re-tuned his Dream toward killing goblins. That’s how he got rid of the infection and how he cleared the goblin threat at that harbor.”

The doctor was very, very worried about the patient, in a way that Mark didn’t want to explore right now. It was a lot more than a professional-type worry, though.

“Okay,” Mark said, looking down at Cade in a different way. “So he didchange his deepest mory at the core of his Binding, too. I’m going to be ripping that out—”

“Will he rember anyone? Anything?” the doctor asked, in a fatherly sort of way. And then he added, “I… I can’t lose all my boys in one night.”

Mark looked up at the doctor. The doctor had tears in his eyes.

Yeah. He was the father.

Mark suddenly guessed at the arc of transmission of information that got Cade Waterson to be noticed by Walaria at all. That arc of information passed through this father here. Was he a doctor here at this hospital? It was highly likely. Grand Mage for a son, too. Water Powers tended to run in families. Water mana people usually had healing powers, which made them highly successful doctors and otherwise if they had either enough power behind them or enough training. So yeah. Doctor and healing mage for a father, here at First Imperial Hospital.

Big deals, all around.

But Mark’s patient was his patient, no matter where he ca from or how he ca to be sitting in front of Mark.

Mark told the father the truth, “I have no idea how much he will rember. I’ve never done this before, and this is all experintal. But I did just get a cram session with Understanding magics and under this Empire’s top necromancers, and I did manage to throw together so undead experints, ripping Bindings in and out of them, and the undead were fine. I’m also a decent healer. So yes. I think I can do this, and yes, there will be unintended consequences. For starters, he won’t have Water Manipulation or Water Shaper anymore.”

Cade’s father listened deeply, his vector flexing at Walaria and Addavein and at Mark. He steeled himself, and said, “Yes. Just… Just…” He went quiet. “Yes.” He looked toward Walaria and bowed deeply. “Thank you for this chance.”

Walaria acknowledged the doctor, and then she stepped nearer to Mark, looking at the patient with him. The droplets of bursting water and blood never touched her. She asked, “How will you proceed?”

Mark said to pretty much everyone in attendance, “The only thing I’m not sure about is where to start; on the Mind, Body, or Soul. His body is—” fucked up. “—not healthy. His mind seems fractured, and his soul is falling apart. Disturbing any one of them might cause the whole thing to crash. So I’m leaning toward installing Transcendent Body first.”

Walaria said, “Go with Transcendent Body. The girls and I will step in to stabilize him if needs must, but he will start decaying fast no matter what you choose.”

The necromancers Sunder and Stitcher held back. Addavein said nothing. The witch girls remained to the side, and the father ntally pulled back, adopting a persona of professionalism.

The father offered, “His Body Power Level remains decently strong, so replacing that might allow him to keep… most of himself.” With tears wicking away from his face, kept separate through his own Power, the father remained calm-looking as he added, “Hopefully.”

“That was my initial assessnt made outside of seeing the patient’s actual issues, so… Yes.” Mark said, “I’m going to begin now.”

Walaria nodded quickly and then she stepped back. Pearl, Amy, and Uva stepped to the sides, and Uva gently suggested the father step further back as well. Soon, Mark was the only person near Cade Waterson, and everyone else was 4 ters away. Walaria did sothing to the space beyond that, her vector curling in the air around them. The solid black curtains in the windows seed to turn darker.

The vectors beyond the room vanished.

Mark hadn’t thought about people spying on him, or interfering, but he was glad Walaria had thought about that.

Mark took a breath, and then, with half-lidded eyes, the dream overlapped with reality.

Cade’s little waterbursts touched Mark like little sparks of a dying fire.

Mark followed those sparks, inviting them into his dream.

And then Cade was there.

He was a ss of a broken soul.

Mark held out Transcendent Body with his right hand and he placed his left hand into the dying fire that was Cade Waterson. Cade reacted in reality with an undirected attack that broke against Mark’s adamantine flesh, and than Mark used that attack to pull at all of Cade in a heartbeat Union of Fragnted Binding and Transcendent Body.

It was like pulling down a cobweb.

Everything suddenly collapsed, all at once, and Cade’s heart stopped, his brain flickered—

Mark Unioned with life, with the lightning of firing neurons and with the very nature of existence itself, forcing Cade to remain with them as he ripped out cobwebs and slipped in Transcendent Body, like slipping an octopus into a fleeing soul. Mark’s thoughts drifted, barely, as he fell deeper into the dream, as he forced Cade to remain alive in the smallest asure of that reality.

Transcendent Body flowed into the half-corpse, and suddenly the heart started and the dream faded, just a little. Mana, lost and fragnted, began to slip into its proper place, as a dream at the heart of Cade Waterson began to coalesce once again. Was it the sa dream? The sa mory? As before? Who knew.

And then Cade’s mind fragnted further and sothing epheral began to fall away from the body, even as wounds began to heal on the living corpse. Mark knew the issue instantly. Cade didn’t have enough mana to make Transcendent Body function. Brain death was coming, and Mark was pretty sure his soul was leaving him under the strain trying to keep Transcendent Body intact.

Ti for Transcendent Mind.

Mark Unioned with Transcendent Mind and Transcendent Body, pulling out the Binding keeping Cade’s body functioning and installing a stopgap to stabilize his mind. The body could be healed later. The mind needed to remain strong.

The father yelled sothing outside of Mark’s capability to hear. Sounded angry. Sothing about how Mark was killing him. This much was true, technically. Cade’s body suddenly stopped, but his brain was functioning well. Yes, eventually the body would die and the brain would follow, but the brain was now very resilient against damage, and Transcendent Mind was a much more focused Binding with a whole lot less going on, so Cade’s body and soul could actually handle that.

That epheral thing leaving Cade’s body stuck around, like clothes drying on a line, held onto that line by the firm clips that were his mind.

Mark learned sothing, he supposed. Brain first, and the rest will follow. He was sorry such learning had to happen in this kinda setting.

Soone stopped the father from coming forward, and Mark focused on healing the mana inside of Cade’s newly-functional brain with a Union of Energy and Entropy so as not to disturb the body with excessive healing.

The mind suddenly flared to life, fully online, as Transcendent Mind coalesced fully like a brightness in the darkness—

Cade ‘woke up’ in front of Mark in the dream, on the grass outside of his Binding House in his soulhouse.

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Cade looked at Mark, and from here it was going to be physically easy, because Cade was fully inside of Mark’s soul, for Mark had fully enclosed him with his astral Body. It was not going to be emotionally easy, for Cade, because Cade’s living, wakeful mind flashed with a thousand questions at once, his eyes staring with fear and wonder, his vector struggling to free itself.

Mark spoke in the dream, and in reality, saying, “Have no fear. You’re at First Imperial Hospital near Domal’Takela, and your father is with us, overseeing your Binding surgery.”

Cade blasted out questions with a mind that had too much to say, too fast, and that wanted to know more.

Mark couldn’t even hear the questions, so he said, “Quark? Can you talk to him? Tell him so basics?”

Quark stepped out into the dream, already speaking rapidly to Cade, who responded even quicker in turn. Within a second Cade’s worried vector turned quiet, secure, and full of lancholy. Transcendent Mind was not a speedster Talent, but the mind always worked faster than the body, and Minder’s minds exemplified that nature most of all.

Mark said, “Your body is dead right now, but we’re going to fix that, too, before your mind follows.”

Cade’s fear returned.

Quark said, “I, uh, did not tell him that, sir.”

Mark said, “No worries, Quark.” And then he told Cade, “I’m going to put you back to sleep now. Please relax.”

“Okay,” Cade said, at a normal speed, fear in his voice, body wavering like sand in the wind that was Mark’s domain. “Thank you, sir.”

Mark nodded.

And then Mark pulled out Transcendent Mind, and Cade’s mind fluttered into sand, as Mark put Transcendent Body into him and his fluttery body beca sothing solid, filling out from the place that was his mind. Mana equalized into the body and the body beat with life once again.

“The mind is asleep again, and the body is stabilized now,” Mark said, mainly for the benefit of onlookers. “I will keep Transcendent Mind out of him until the end, so he will wake up slower.”

Before the mind woke up from the body being able to support it, Mark took Nothing from Cade, and put in Transcendent Soul.

As the sandcastle of Cade’s existence beca more solid, as his mana filled out his Soul Binding, Mark continued with the final piece.

A Union of Life, taking Nothing and giving Transcendent Mind in turn.

Three Transcendent Powers filled out Cade Waterson’s Binding, solidifying him into sothing truly solid, but dim. He didn’t have enough mana to support all of them at full power, so they were all terribly weak. His overall Power Level had crashed back to nothing, no doubt.

Mark pulled out completely, dismissing the dream and stepping away from Cade.

Cade remained on the white stone, his wounds sealing up slowly but surely, his mana stressed trying to keep up. He was probably still very wounded but he could be healed now, and so Mark did a small Union of Good and Bad, breathing in the Good for both of them, and then breathing out the Bad. Goblin-green spread in one of his wounds and the father yelled, terrified, about goblins. Mark was already healing that, though, pulling Corruption from Cade and giving the Purity of adamantium to him.

Green acid spilled out of Mark’s skin, dissolving small portions of his clothes, but soon the corruption stopped coming and Cade slept soundly under a Union of Good and Bad. So of the shavallian in his blood disintegrated under Mark’s Purity, and so of Cade’s astral body woke up and flexed outward instinctively, but the IV was still there, still dripping silver-grey poison into his veins, and soon Cade’s astral body turned limp.

Walaria asked, “I would like to have Quark’s recording of the event, Mark.”

Mark rolled his shoulders, stretching a little as he said, “Quark; send it now, please.” And then Mark took stock of his surroundings.

Addavein stood by the father, letting go of his wrist, and the father rushed Cade, collapsing onto his chest, saying small words of love and prayer, gripping healing flesh. Sunder and Stitcher stood further away, looking on, talking in small words to each other about what they had seen. Pearl, Amy, and Uva were around the room, standing in a triangle formation with Cade and Mark at the center, but Walaria nodded to them and they ford a line behind their ntor.

Cade’s vector was fully internal, but he was breathing easy, his wounds were sealing up, and he was no longer detonating water droplets in the air. The shavallian IV had fully shut him down, too, so that was a very good sign that his Bindings were very intact.

Walaria asked Mark, “The Mind was more important than the Body?”

Mark broke it down, “All of the Bindings are pretty much the sa size, but the Body was trying to heal all of the body at once and that was too much for the remnant mana that Cade had to start with, so it was failing completely. The mind was smaller and more easily healed, so I should have started with the Binding for the mind, first. I didn’t know that, but I saw the issue as soon as I could and so I fixed it. A case could be made for how the Soul should have gone first. When the soul solidified in my house I was able to keep him together a whole lot easier. I think trying to keep Cade’s Power Level intact with a solid Body first was a mistake. He’ll just have to regrow his Power Level from scratch, now… What’s he at, Quark?”

“PL 8 estimated,” Quark said, from on top of Mark’s shoulder—

Cade’s vector flexed outward, groggily, and he lifted a hand, weakly. He touched his father’s grey hair, and the father laughed and cried and held Cade’s hand, and Cade opened his eyes. For a mont, everything was good. And then Cade saw his father, and tears fell as mories surfaced, as he tried to sit up.

“Are Ellis and Owen… Oh gods.” Cade sobbed, “They’re still dead, aren’t they?”

“But you’re alive, Cade!” the father proclaid, holding his son’s hands, his son’s shoulder. “You’re still alive!”

Walaria stepped away.

Mark followed, glancing backward for just a mont.

And then they were in the hallway.

The others were still in the courtyard.

The door closed, separating them.

Walaria told Mark, “We’ll keep him under observation and shavallian for a while. He might appear at the Ball tonight, or not.” She moved on, asking, “Was that difficult?”

“No. It was easy. I think the houses are purposefully-made to allow immortal elves to switch out Powers at-will. We heard as much in the elven lands. So I think I’ll be able to make a book of life, soon. Maybe after I experint with Necromancy directly. I’m thinking I need to make a full copy of a person out of Death mana so that they can re-inhabit it at-will, or however it might work. Not sure.”

“I suspect they’ll have to Worship you for you to collect their souls upon death. Not actual worship, mind you. But Worship, the language of gifted power, and to determine where souls go upon death.”

“… Oh,” Mark said, “Uh… Yeah. That tracks.”

Walaria moved on, “We have criminals. I want you to remove their Skills so that we don’t have to lock them up or care about them beyond normal enforcent. We’ll figure out a way to get you lots of Healthy Bodys to give them in turn, so they’ll be able to live actual lives once again.” She added, “And now that we know you can do thisI would prefer to never see you in any physical danger ever again, but I know that it will happen, and that you want it to happen, so where are we going from here, Mark?”

Mark made a Big Decision, saying, “I want Resurrection from Jessie Stills and I want to give it to Eliot. I want Crystal Tower to reinstate us as Hero/Villain Program participants. And I want to make powerhouses for the war, so that there isn’t a war and so that we don’t have to resort to dragons, or demons. And I’ll strip Powers from criminals ifthey agree to it.”

“I’ll consider it, I’ll make it happen, and Yes. As for the criminals, you should reconsider your stance on actively removing Skills from criminals, even if they do not want it. I assure you that the first of many people to volunteer for such removal will be those who simply cannot live normal lives as they are, and who are criminals rely due to their Powers. They will be lining up to have them removed.” Walaria glanced toward the courtyard room, saying, “Do you want to observe him for a while?”

“No. I want to know if the goblin corruption was the trick, or not.”

“Could have been, but likely not. You already know how to heal that.”

Mark nodded, feeling a whole lot better as the situation seed to be winding down. Mark said, “I’ll observe with Addavein for a bit, until at least he’s satisfied, then I’ll head ho.” Mark glanced at Walaria’s reddened arm. “Do you want healing with that?”

“It’s not an injury of my own but one I must bear. Good work tonight, Mark. Do you want another Understanding Party with the Imperial Necromancers?”

“Not yet, but later. Thank you.”

Walaria nodded, and then she took her leave, stepping away and opening a door to elsewhere—

For a mont, a great pressure flowed out from that open doorway, swirled around Walaria, and then that vector touched Mark. It was the gaze of a dragon, or a kaiju, or sothing of a similar stature, and it was highly protective of Walaria in that mont, moving to contain and protect her as she stepped into its domain. Mark’s hackles rose. And then then Walaria stepped into a grand, imperial hallway beyond the door and the presence vanished, pulling back into the imperial palace beyond.

She shut the door.

And Mark was alone in the hallway again…

Mostly.

Two guards and that older man were still there. They had been there 10 minutes ago, too. The guards shuddered a little, one chuckling nervously now that the great pressure was gone, and then he realized that Mark was still there so he stood up straight and tall and went quiet, just like the other one had remained this whole ti.

The old man let out a bellowing laugh. “Holy gods of Light and Dark! You’re that Blackvein fellow, ain’t ya! You got his webweave on underneath your suit, don’t ya? I recognize the white lines!”

Mark grinned, looking down at the regrown black underneath his acid-eaten white shirt and white suit. The bright white vis-lines on the black webweave were visible on his arm, and by his cuff. “I got self-repairing webweave but the clothes kinda lack in that regard.”

The old man grinned, pulling at his hospital gown, ass hanging out his backside, saying, “They got more of these down the hall if you need one.”

“I’ll manage. Thank you, though.”

And then Mark went back into the courtyard to check out the scene from afar, like the others.

Soone had wrapped Cade in a hospital gown and he sat on a bench to the side with his father, talking softly about very personal matters.

Mark stood with Addavein, the witch girls, and the necromancers, quietly asking anyone who could answer, “See anything concerning?”

“He doesn’t have a fulldemiplane,” Sunder said, definitively, and with both hope and disappointnt in his voice and vector.

Addavein humd, saying, “I believe thatwas the demon trick; he doesn’t get a house until he Contracts with a demon, and now everyone knows that is what Thrashtalon was really promising. It’s a coin toss whether the Empire agrees to archmage Cade with a Contract now, because the Empire wants more soulhouses under its control, but any such Contract will be on harsher terms than a Simple Contract, because now we know what to avoid with so specific wording.”

Mark frowned. “Ahh… Not sure how to feel about that, actually.”

Addavein nodded, and added, “He’s still going to be an incredibly strong power, with a natural proto-demiplane, and his astral body seems uncommonly dense in a way that will unfold more and more as ti goes on. I’m guessing that he will be an archmage in terms of mana and power withoutbeing an archmage at all. The term for such people is widely out of date, but we used to call them demigods.”

“… That’s good?” Mark asked/suggested.

Addavein nodded a little; unsure. “All I can say is that he will be a much better Grand Mage, if only for the depth of power he can now produce. It’s still Water Mana, by the way. Not Adamantium.”

“Heavy water,” Stitcher clarified.

“It’s different from the normal Water that it used to be,” Sunder said, still staring at Cade, across the courtyard.

Addavein humd, agreeing, “Heavy water. Also known as Abyssal Water or Dark Water, though those terms have always been outdated… ah.”

Addavein went silent.

Cade and his father had finished talking, at least for now, and their vectors had been pointing toward Mark since he had co back into the room. Cade stood up under his own power, though his father still tried to help him stand. His hospital gown slipped this way and that and his father pulled the tie around his waist and gave him a bit more dignity, or at least as much as could be had in the mont. Cade took a breath, blue eyes staring at Mark, and then he ambled toward Mark, his feet carrying him easier and easier with every step. It wasn’t far to go, so that helped.

And then Cade was 2 ters away, and he said, “Thank you, sir. Please tell how I might be of service, how I might make this new life worth living once again, and I will strive to serve in whatever capacity I can.”

Mark said, “Heal yourself, figure yourself out, and, when you’re able, you will rejoin the front lines for the oncoming war. Hopefully Okuana will simply need a demonstration of the powerhouses we’re creating in order to reconsider actual war.”

“Of course, sir…” Cade had sothing to say, but he wasn’t sure how. He glanced at Quark's silver blob on Mark’s shoulder, but he remained silent as he once again locked eyes with Mark.

Quark said nothing, either.

Everyone noticed it, but nothing beca of it at that mont.

“Please speak freely,” Mark said.

“Thank you for a second chance at life, sir,” Cade said, completely ignoring Mark’s offer to speak freely.

… Mark added, “I have heard of your brothers, and so of what you did against the goblins. I am sorry for your losses.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Mark departed.

Addavein joined him, though Addavein paused at the guard stationed outside of the room to ask them what sort of overwatch program they were going to run on the patient. The guards said sothing about standard overwatch for recovery from shavallian; separation from others, open spaces, no manacles, and a gradual release from anti-magic.

Mark bade Pearl, Amy, and Uva farewell, wished Uva good luck with Sally, and then he said goodbye to Stitches and Sunder.

Soon, Mark was on the tram with Addavein, riding back toward the Green House. They were alone.

“So what was that hesitation with Cade about, Quark? What didn’t he want to talk about?” Mark asked.

Addavein humd, also wanting to know the answer, and also wondering when Quark had had a private conversation with Cade. Addavein hadn’t been party to the conversations happening in Mark’s soul space, after all.

Quark said, “Once he got past the surprise of not dying, he was angry at being denied Water Shaper and Water Manipulation. But I outlined what he was being offered in turn, and he seed to accept it, and then I told him about you, and he knew you, and he wants to separate from Aluatha. He feels he has given them enough of his life and he absolutely is not going to give them his immortal life, for he is an immortal now, or at least he believes he is, based on what his Transcendent Mind was telling him. He said he watched your shows, sotis, for his family is from Earth, primarily. They like superhero culture and abhor noble culture, aside from Noble Obligation.” Quark clarified, “Mostly, he was furious at his Powers being stripped from him, but he decided that wasn’t worth being angry over.”

Mark nodded a little, accepting that for what it was. He’d be pretty mad if he died and soone else put other Powers into him and then resurrected him, but it’d be a hard day in hell before he ever actually voiced those opinions out loud, to the person who resurrected him, especially if the new Powers were potentially better.

Mark said, “That explains his hesitation to actually speak his mind.”

“I’ll have to look up his family,” Addavein said, sounding rather pleased with the whole day. And then he added to Mark, “This is a big day, Mark. You don’t have the experience to know how big of a day this is, but it is a big day.”

Mark rolled his eyes, saying, “I think I know what it ans to be able to choose your own powers, but whatever! What are the best high-powered combos of Powers out there?”

Addavein grinned, showing off sharp fangs, as he said, “Ohhhh… There are so many nuances and possibilities out there that to na any particularly good combos would be difficult. Such naming would be doing a disservice to the unnad. But! I’ve always been partial to paired Powers, going off of opposite sides of the Power Hex. Natural and Body, Shaper and Arcane. Mind and Arch. Mind and Arch is truly the most dangerous one, because you’ll have all the capability of so Manipulation Power, and the Mind to know how to use it properly. That said… The biggest gatekeeper of True Power is not just the Powers themselves, but also having a person who keeps going until they reach higher and higher, and then further beyond.” Addavein told Mark, “Like you. You could have stopped at any point in ti, but you kept going.”

Mark smirked a little, the pressure of the night falling away. He asked, “Give a real answer, Addavein. I want specifics.”

Addavein laughed, then began, “You’ll have to go back to Bittercap Mausoleum for more Transcendents—”

“Of course.”

“—But there’re tons of places to go to rip random Powers out of specific monsters, in the hope of getting specific Powers. It’s not sothing that anyone ever really researched, but off the top of my head there’s Ocean Shaper, which is the major upgrade over Water Shaper, and that’s located in the waters south of the portal to Earth, out of New Tokyo. Just a few of those as well as any sort of Water Manipulation would be enough to secure the oceans against Okuanan aggression for a very long ti. The skies are a different matter, but…”

Mark listened, Addavein talked, and as the sun rose in the east and glinted gold and drove the auroras of night out of the sky over the do of Domal’Takela, it felt, to Mark, like the sun was rising on a totally different world. On a better, more self-deterministic world.

Mark had once lanted about how he had been dood to a low Brawny Power. He had gotten his False Tutorial readout and then he had smashed his bike on the ground, and spent an hour trying to fix it before he pretty much gave up for the night, and then he tried to figure out sothing else.

Mark had ended up how he ended up.

And now he was here, with the capability to decide his own Powers, and to decide the Powers of others.

It felt… right.

Exactly right.

The only thing that stood between him and everything he wanted was a whole lot of shit, so he just had to keep trudging, never stopping. Like Addavein had said; most people stopped.

But not Mark.