Chapter 314

  Divining Mythical Bloodlines

  “Oh yeah, by the way, mother, when you get a chance,” Gwen my daughter and someone who I seem to have underestimated as a sneaky sneak began.

  Hearing her words, I can all but taste the deception in her inflection. This is the same type of deception that is playful, almost taunting. Basically, daring me, without the use of an implied threat to my own social bearing.

  “Hmm?” I quip, turning my head to face her, though she knows she already has my full attention based on the way my body posture has changed.

  “You really should get your Guild Rewards from the supply depot,” Gwen finished. As she spoke, I felt golden threads of karma reach out from me and head off into the distance, where I assume the supply depot was located.

  Now you know those times when you hear one answer to an unspoken question that sparks no less than three other questions, this was one.

  “What Guild Rewards?” I ask. By now I was really curious, because there was nothing I could recall needing and or wanting, but the threads of golden karma that seemed to stretch off into the distance implied otherwise.

  “Why these are the Guild Rewards you requested,” she answers with a non-answer, or misdirection. “In fact, some of the items were very hard to obtain, but fortunately after your recent contributions to the war effort, many oppressed nations by the Legrand Empire freely offered these ingredients to you as tribute.”

  Tribute.

  Just the word implies the same clear and resonating energy that I gained from the Teleiotís, while healing their injured and wounded.

  That’s when I realize it must have been, “from those that I Resurrected?”

  Gwen just shook her head, “no, while they too were grateful, this came from main land suppliers. People that are still surrounded by conflict.”

  Main Landers was the unofficial nickname of those persons who lived on the main colonized portion of the world. Which is odd, because a lot of those land areas that comprise that area also involve islands and other larger bodies of water, particularly to the far right.

  But hearing this, I am now more intrigued than ever as to what these Guild Supplies actually are.

  “Okay, so what are these supplies?”

  “The ones you asked for,” Gwen quips back in an excessively unhelpful way.

  “Well, in that case, I’ll just go there now.” I state, as I’m nearly at my limit for just how much Gwen is pushing my curious nature. I swear she is becoming more of a troublemaker each and every day, almost as if…

  I trail off, as my mind begins to contemplate that exact thought.

  Has she? I begin, and then turning to her I open my third eye and try to view directly into her. That’s when I see the tell-tale signs.

  Gasp.

  Just seeing the noted change in her blood, I inhaled deeply. But Gwen, unperturbed by my findings continues on as if nothing is happening.

  “You can’t, the depot isn’t open yet,” she begins and pauses, then just stares at me with a coy smile on her face.

  Seeing that smirk, I can’t help but feel shivers run down my spine as I realize that my daughter is going to be a pain here shortly. Particularly if she continues to develop these unique markers within her own bloodline.

  While she might not be able to follow me and my evolutionary path, that apparently did not mean that she was done with her own growth. Rather, she too could grow and expand to meet her own needs. Seeing her opening up on her own, lets me realize that Legendary bloodlines are just the basis for what the world will let you start off with, or what you should start off with.

  I’m assuming that when her changes manifest she will likely be able to take on her own unique last name. Or be considered an offshoot branch of the Spiritlight family. Sad, I have one Usurper in an ex. I have one Spiritlight who I’m still hoping for, but frankly Junior doesn’t seem to be pushing himself too much here. Then there is Gwen.

  I spend so long going over these thoughts within my mind that Gwen’s smug look slowly seems to fade, as she no doubt expected me to ask a question.

  “Well?” She asks with a hand on her hip.

  “Well what?” I respond, trying to wrap my head around the fact that my own daughter has begun to develop her own Mythical bloodline, and trying to understand just what that will entail. I’m assuming she will be some type of trickster Fae, but that might just be me projecting a bit on her. I wonder if she even realizes that she has begun this process on her own?

  Again, I’m so proud of her, as she has clearly done this all on her own. Well her own, and probably the hundreds of microbursts of radioactive particles that occasionally erupt from me might have helped expedite this process.

  Gwen just stares at me, and finally gets annoyed enough that she removes her hand from her hip and just spills what she expected me to ask about.

  “While you wait for the Supply Depot to open, you could always begin helping to train our soldiers so they are less likely to die when they enter combat.” Gwen suggests.

  Hearing that, I pause and realize why she was so persnickety.

  “Oh, I get it, I was supposed to ask when does it open, then you would say something along the lines of ‘after you get done training the new batch of soldiers’?” I reply making sure to Mimic Gwen’s voice and mannerisms exactly while saying her line. It took me a moment to catch up to her as I might have been a little bit distracted, but I did get there eventually.

  Annoyed sigh,

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  With that, Gwen lets out an annoyed huff, before shaking her head and responding.

  “Yeah, whatever,” she responds annoyedly.

  Seeing her like that, I let out a big joyful laugh, before swooping forward and giving her a giant pixie hug.

  “Oh, there’s my moody daughter, thank the Gods. I thought she had disappeared under that annoying trickster persona. But nope, she was just one distracted response away from her emo tantrums, there is still time for her yet.”

  Gwen fought back, or at least she tried to fight back, only to realize that my arms were a lot stronger than she expected. That and her position didn’t give her much leverage to work with, making the task of pushing me away just that much more difficult for her.

  For a moment she struggled, but then realizing that she couldn’t quite push me off, she did the next thing she could. With her face right next to my neck, she commented.

  “I will bite you,” she threatened.

  “Oh no, you will infect me with your teenage angst, forcing me into a permanent state of angst.” I respond, removing one arm to press against my forehead in an overly dramatic pose.

  Seeing the opening, Gwen squirmed and pushed, but to no avail. Even my one arm was stronger than her two.

  This is of course when we realized we were not alone.

  “No, don’t. I could not imagine what an angsty pixie would look like,” Penelope shot in, her tone mostly serious.

  Just as I was distracted by Penelope’s comments, it was Raygunnr the Teleiotís who cannot understand sarcasm who had the best line of everyone present.

  “I don’t know what she would infect you with, but I will work on a cure immediately,” Raygunnr began.

  Chuckle.

  Hearing Raygunnr’s overly serious tone caused me to laugh. Seeing as I was the only one present who could understand Raygunnr this made sense, but it also meant that I was distracted, with one arm, and that is when Gwen chose her moment to wrestle her way free and avoid infecting me with her angsty bite.

  Burble.

  Only once she was a pace away, but still within viewing range of my third eye did I see something disturbing. There was an audiological response of her body that drew my attention. There in the clusters of newly forming blood pathogens, I could see clusters forming and moving from within her body.

  Oh shnikes, I thought to myself, as I realized I might have cursed? Or maybe encouraged her future bloodline to advance in a way that could cause mutations based on biting? Such a change was possible, as it would likely be under one of the available flaws that would help to balance out the bloodline as a whole. While having a bloodline that transferred emo-type dispositions as a disease wasn’t unheard of, at least not in folklore, it did seem to be a bit of a stretch. Particularly as I figured that Gwen was heading down the route of a trickster? Which I assumed would be more fae like, but there were kitsune too? Or maybe she would just be a kitsune light?

  Chills.

  Just as I was thinking about her possibly being a kitsune, one of mythical nine tail foxes of legends, I realized something far worse. If she went down this path, and could infect others with emo-type disposition, then she would literally have made herself into the worst stereotype ever.

  “Oh no,” I begin as fear of what my daughter might become surged through me.

  “What?” Everyone, three voices and two Kujos all stared at me intently, hearing the sudden fear that was in my voice.

  “I have some bad news,” I begin, while staring directly into Gwen’s eyes, while reaching down and grabbing her hands in a conciliatory gesture.

  “Oh-kay?” Gwen begins, as she is clearly freaked out by my sudden change in demeanor.

  “First, let me congratulate you on awakening the ability to progress to a Mythical rarity bloodline,” I state.

  “How did you?” Gwen begins, as she is momentarily shocked by my revelation, but then just shakes her head. “Yes, I managed to get the quest prompt while you were… away.”

  She paused at the end, apparently not wanting to spark any PTSD or other related trauma from my time away. A fact that I am grateful for.

  I nodded, “well as you know there are balances to the bloodline. For the more power you strive for, the more limitations that will be put into place to help balance you out. This is the glowing mana, the third eye, etcetera.”

  “Did you just cay etcetera?” Gwen asked, her voice incredulous.

  “Stop that, focus, I’ve only got like three minutes per hour here and you are clearly wasting that time,” I state and then trail off, apparently only half joking as I just lost my train of thought.

  Awkward pause.

  “Where was I?” I ask.

  Gwen just blinks in confusion as she too was apparently lost by our own sidebar there.

  “You were talking about the balances and limitations in bloodlines,” Penelope helpfully supplied.

  Relief.

  “Phew, thank you,” I reply, turning to Penelope just long enough to smile, before turning back and monitoring the changes within Gwen. “With your comment about biting me, and my reply, I think we might have forced a future evolutionary change in you.”

  “A forced change?” Gwen and Penelope both ask, though right now I can only sense Gwen due to my third eye still being open.

  “Yes, a change that could allow you to transfer some type of emotional state through biting or saliva,” this will be one of those evolutionary flaws that has a benefit.

  With that, Gwen just looks confused, so I clarify.

  “Sort of like being a Colossal Pixie so you can interact with the majority of the world at roughly the same size and scale, but are unable to interact with other pixies,” I offer as an example before pointing to myself.

  With that Gwen nods in understanding.

  Seeing that she is still with me, I press on in my concerns.

  “Well, in this case, I’m assuming the bite will have some type of lunacy related. Either allowing you to inflict an emotional state, like being emo onto the person being bitten, or some other defensive measure.” I respond.

  “Okay,” Gwen responds, letting me know she is still with me and nodding her head.

  “There is also a chance that you could propagate your species via this bite. Or at least a weaker version of your bloodline, likely a Legendary or lower version,” I suggest.

  “Hmm,” Gwen responds.

  Taking one last deep glance into her blood, I do see the same exact markers that made me worried earlier.

  “There’s more.”

  “More?” Three sets of voices call out, letting me know that everyone is going to hear this apparently.

  “Yes, for I can see that you have awakened parts of a bestial side, while also exhibiting abnormal prankster like qualities.”

  “Look, I’ve finally gotten to the point where I can accept myself,” Gwen responds a bit defensively.

  “No, no, you’ve got me wrong,” I begin, “I think it is great that you have finally accepted yourself and this part of you.”

  I paused as a memory of a Gwen who one day loved joking, found out that her father left, and realizing that I needed help she changed. Flipped a switch in her mind. One second, she was young, youthful and ready to take on the world. The next she was mini adult.

  Realizing that this was likely her all along, but she had switched this part of her own being off, I want her to know I love and respect this change.

  “I’m glad you are finally able to express yourself but know that you are royalty.” I begin.

  Eye roll.

  The girl can’t even see, and has solid husks for eyes, but she still eyerolls me right here. Right when I am serious.

  “Your beast, the animal qualities that are awakening within you, that is a royal animal. Not some dormant wolf, or even a proud and domestic hippopotamus,” I add in the last one knowing that I loved hippos, while my daughter could never understand my fascination with the powerful defenders of their young.

  Scoff.

  “Okay, so what type of animal do you see me going as? A cat?”

  I am about to say no, but then pause as that might not be a bad idea, but then I pause and shake my head. “You are too active, no, I’m thinking of a more cunning animal.”

  “Like a fox?”

  “Yes, well and no, a Kitsune to be exact,” I respond.

  WHOOSH!

  As I say the words, I see golden threads pour out from me and encircle and completely envelope my daughter’s body.

  Shiver.

  Hearing my words, and feeling the surge of energy that just erupted between the two of us, Gwen’s body responds in the only way one would truly expect.

  Gooseflesh.

  Yes, her soft elven skin ripples for a moment as she can clearly hear the impact of my words. That or there might have just been a gentle breeze that caused the same effect.

  “Wait, a Kitsune?” She asks.

  At that I pause take one look at her, and see that the glow of her blood at the acknowledgement of that beast seems to glow brighter, as if resonating to the call of what she will become.

  “Yes, I believe so,” I reply still reading her energy pulses, but I’m fairly certain that this is the correct meaning of the responses that I am viewing.

  “You believe?”

  “Okay, what do you want? Me to say I’m certain? I just think that if you continue going down this path, that you will become a Kitsune, or eventually be able to evolve into one. Hard to tell how much you will change from this iteration.” I respond, hedging my bets but fairly certain she will at least have one tail, if not three or some odd number of future tails.

  “Okay, and this is a bad thing?” Gwen asked, her face still incredulous.

  “What, becoming a Kitsune? No that isn’t bad, why would you think that?” I ask, again clearly missing something. My mind is clearly wondering.

  “But you just said, that there was an issue. That in addition to her being a Kitsune, that her biting could pose problems.” Penelope interjected, once again helping me to maintain my thoughts.

  “Oh, that’s right, so yes, by doing this, you have the potential to become the worst thing possible.” I respond, remembering where I was going with this, all thanks to Penelope, guiding me back on track.

  Hearing my words, and knowing that I was being completely serious here, Gwen suddenly stiffened as she expected to hear bad news.

  Bad news that I was here to warn her about.

  “What’s that?” Gwen asked, her breath hitching as she realized I knew more than I was likely letting on.

  “Can’t you see, by being a Kitsune you will have naturally beautiful fur that will glimmer under the moonlight,” I begin.

  Everyone nods in understanding not wanting to talk in order to keep me from being distracted, a fact I greatly appreciate. Then I go in for the kill.

  “That along with the biting that can and likely will induce a form of emotional response and very likely be a way of transmitting the changing ability to others.”

  Pause.

  I let those words float in the air as everyone seems to take it all in. Then I say what is truly troubling me.

  “At this rate, if you keep this up, Susan Whittle will likely create another stupid series, this time based on glittery foxes that only come out at night.”

  LONG GROAN!

  “Oh, my Gods, mother, really?”

  “Yes, you can and very likely will find your likeness in a book where you are forced to be swooned by a creepy depiction of a living lich, I’m just warning you for your own health and sanity.”

  At those words, Gwen gives me the best response any truly caring parent could ask for, she groans so much that she is literally at a loss for words.

  Seeing her in such a state, I smile, knowing that I will likely force her to read this new glittery fox series.