Last Command of the Witheld Arc 1: Rebirth

Sarah Avery Vasilias, Great House Scion, Reborn Lvl 5

Skyland

The shards slid free of their wire fittings, caught in her anima. She used her right hand to awkwardly pick up each of the four ethershards and placed them directly over her heart. If she tried to absorb the ethershards through any other part of her body, the shards would just drill through her flesh until they reached her Etherheart. This would at least provide a bit of a shortcut. Sarah closed her eyes tightly and sunk her anima into the shards, all at once. As one, the shards pierced into her chest.

She didn’t pass out, though she did gasp and shudder, collapsing to her knees as the ethershards slid quickly and silently, cutting through her Starting Tunic and sliding easily into her flesh. Sarah did scream, though the pain was a pale reflection of the pain in her arm.

The burning in the stump of her arm suddenly increased, feeling like the flesh at the end of her stump was on fire. She shuddered and grabbed at it, gasping as she felt something hard and sharp burst out of the stump.

A metallic plate quickly covered the stump, suturing itself to her skin. Multicolored wires snaked out in serpentine undulations as black metallic armature materialized into a skeletal arm. The wires connected themselves to servos and synthetic musculature, quickly encased in thick armor. Sarah took a deep shuddering breath, unable to feel her left arm but still somehow able to control the strange robotic arm protruding from her stump. She swallowed and called up her Status sheet, needing to know what had happened.

Sarah Avery Vasilias

Race

Human

Rank

Reborn - level 5

House

House Vasilias

Racial Gifts

Great House Seal, Enhanced System Access, Unlimited Inventory, Willful, Never Unarmed, Fast Healing

Attributes

Dominion

3 [Dimension] / 20

Speed

6 [Lightning] / 20

Precision

4 [Bow] / 20

Growth

5 [Strength] / 20

Arcana

6 [Cybernetics] / 20

Tensa Pool

10.4 ks

Gear

Training Tunic, Sturdy Pants, Grippy Slippers

Grafts

The Edge That Cuts Anything [Dimension], Electrify [Lightning], Hyper-Zen Archery [Bow], Oni-Blooded [Strength], Power Arm [Cybernetics]

Well, that “explains” it I guess, Sarah thought, staring at the Power Arm entry. Awfully convenient that I would get a cybernetic arm immediately after I get my arm cut off. Why does everything hur—wait. Wait, nothing hurts! She took a shuddering, incredulous breath. It was true! Nothing hurt anymore, not even her arm!

System messages crowded one another, but Sarah ignored them for now. She stared at the sleek machine attached to her elbow. Her arm’s loss had been too quick to really comprehend and now, just as suddenly, she had a replacement. It struck her as ghoulish somehow.

She couldn’t feel anything on her left arm until right above her elbow where her flesh met the metallic armor of her new elbow and forearm. The cybernetic prosthetic went all the way to her shoulder, she was surprised that it fit as well as it did with no pinching or rubbing or anything. It was very strange because she was moving the arm as if she were moving her natural arm and it was responding but she wasn’t getting any of the haptic or sensational feedback that doing those movements normally gave. No soft brush of fabric on her forearm as the sleeve brushed past; no little itch on the back of her hand; no sweat trickling down her skin; just the cold responsiveness of the machine like Luke Skywalker’s hand at the end of Empire Strikes Back.

She took a quick moment to glance at the graft’s description in the System before she moved out. Sarah couldn’t afford to waste time or energy trying to learn her new grafts, especially against such a dangerous foe. She’d have to do this with what she already knew and deal with any more surprises (though she hesitated to call the miraculous and sudden materialization of a cybernetic power arm a ‘surprise’, but it’d have to do for now) as they came.

Power Arm [Cybernetics] – Arcana 6

Next Rank: 1 Uncommon ethershard; 1 Uncommon ethershard of cybernetics

Cost: Initial cost of arm is 5 ks. 1 ks reserve.

Cooldown: - (passive ability)

Description: You gain a fully functional cybernetic arm. If you are missing a limb, the Power Arm will replace that limb. If you are not missing a limb, you gain an extra cybernetic arm under your conscious control. The Power Arm’s strength is directly related to the Attribute it is bound to: raise Arcana to increase the Power Arm’s strength.

The Power Arm can deploy a small shield from the forearm which makes it enter Shield Mode. While in Shield Mode, you are resistant to slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing damage from physical sources. Enabling Shield Mode costs 1 ks/min. to keep active.

The Power Arm can be fitted with all cybernetic attachments and has 3 upgrade slots for additional functionality. Increase graft level to add more upgrade slots. If the Power Arm is destroyed, spend the initial cost to summon the arm and a new one will replace it.

Another System message was waiting for her when she stopped reading her Power Arm graft’s description. She saw that this was a message that she had ignored earlier and its contents made her stop what she was doing and think.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have completed the Tutorial Realm Quest. Do you wish to return to Nolm now?

YES / NO

I can leave. She almost reflexively selected YES. She hadn’t wanted anything so badly before. She flexed the fingers of her Power Arm, servos humming nearly silently as they bunched into a fist. She couldn’t feel it. Kimi-Lim’s face flashed in front of her as she had seen it when she’d been falling from the cliff: wreathed in sunlight and poking out from several meters above her. Kimi-Lim was probably dead. Sarah should be dead. She stared at the purple text box floating in her vision but couldn’t leave.

If there’s any reason for any of this weird magic shit, then it’s because I decide there is. Gammon was counting on her. Kimi-Lim, even though they were probably dead, might not be. Who would she be if she left? Would Griffin be able to tell? Would he still love her? Would she still love a man who could love someone who abandoned friends in their time of need? Would I still love myself?

Sarah nearly screamed as her left hand failed to grip the crack in the boulder yet again. It was a stupid stupid stupid idea to climb this fucking boulder with a hand that can’t feel anything! She couldn’t make a sound though. The manticore was almost fifteen meters below her, hunched over the crumpled, bloody form of Kimi-Lim. Sarah had spotted her move a minute ago, just a little. The manticore had promptly pounced on the slight movement, nudging at Kimi-Lim with a paw and watching the elf’s reaction.

The sudden increase in her strength, dexterity, speed of thought, and all-round well-being was an incredible boost to her ability to carry out her plan. She had never realized just how disadvantaged she had been with just one Attribute unlocked. For crying out loud, her tensa pool was now

The boulder that Sarah was clinging to was jutting out of the ground at a thirty-five-degree angle, looming precariously over the little stand of dead trees that the monster had landed in. It provided a little shade from the sun but judging from the deep gouges in the boulder closer to the ground, the manticore liked to use it as a scratching post. She was just about where she needed to be, just a few more feet and she’d be in position. She carefully inched another few centimeters down, trying to get to a foothold that would enable her to get the right angle for her attack.

She settled her foot on the little lip of rock that she’d decided to use as her next handhold when Sarah’s grip slipped. Of course, it was the left arm that slipped. She couldn’t feel the fingertips of her cybernetic hand so she didn’t feel when she grabbed a weakened handhold and it crumbled. It was just a momentary imbalance, quickly corrected, but that crumbling handhold knocked a pebble loose which clattered and clacked all the way down the boulder. With a Looney-Tunes-esque bit of luck, the pebble finally bounced right off the head of the manticore.

Of course, the manticore turned to attack whoever was above it. It didn’t even bother opening its wings, it just whipped its tail up and shot three quills in quick succession. Its inhuman eyes widened as Sarah abandoned her sneak attack and pushed off of the cliff, activating the Shield Mode of her new Power Arm. She’d taken the time to learn that function before she tried to face the manticore again. The arm projected a shield constructed of hardened light which was weightless but used up tensa to keep active. It wasn’t especially strong, but she could angle it with a thought, and she used that ability on the fly now.

She was only partially successful with the shield. None of the quills impaled her, which was the most important thing, but one had grazed her cutting a gash right under her right eye. A centimeter up and it would have taken her eye. Still, she didn’t let that distract her. Maybe that’s my Willful racial gift, she thought absently as she formed her anima into the Master Sword from The Legend of Zelda. She poured tensa into the one other graft she knew well: her Edge That Cuts Anything graft. By the time the sword materialized, she landed on the manticore, her feet driving into the monster’s shoulders.

The manticore roared and flinched, tossing Sarah to the side. Sarah flew through the air, rolling with the fall and coming to her feet in something like a ready stance. She briefly marveled at her incredible stamina and reflexes, thinking it must be the cumulative effect of unlocking all her Attributes. She reformed her shield by pouring even more tensa into it, and then immediately leaped to her left as the manticore slashed at her with a claw-tipped paw the size of a manhole cover. She had to be able to run her finger over the blade for her graft to take effect: she couldn’t just spend the tensa. The manticore didn’t seem inclined to allow her to run her finger along the blade, launching more quills at Sarah as it hissed and flared its wings, kicking up dust and rocks and nearly blinding Sarah.

Sarah caught a quick glimpse of Kimi-Lim—the elf was still, curled into a little ball and it wasn’t clear if they were alive or dead—before she had to duck and dodge again as the manticore slashed its other huge forepaw at her, She tried slashing at the monster with her sword and although she was able to hit the thing, its hide was too tough for her to cut through. She had to create enough distance to give her a moment to give her anima sword the ability to hurt it. The only way she could see to do that would be to put some cover between her and it. The manticore was too fast otherwise, its attacks too relentless.

Before she could do that though, the manticore pounced. She had no time to dodge, so she did the only thing she could think of as her emotions ran right past terrified and hopeless and arrived at rage. She was furious at the sudden unfairness of this whole situation. She’d lost her fucking arm chasing something called The Prize?! Well, she was tired of dodging and leaping around. Even if it meant that the monster would kill her, she was done running.

The manticore sailed at her in seeming slow motion. Sarah stuck her sword in the earth, set her feet, and turned just so to adjust her position as the manticore was still mid-leap. Just as it reached her, she positioned her hands so that they’d hold its jaws aside from her. Instead of being overwhelmed and born down by the immense weight of the monster, she felt something inside her explode into life.

Her muscles bulged and her skin flushed with blood, turning crimson. She felt her hair writhe and whip around as if it had a life of its own and her fingernails lengthened into hard, ultramarine claws. What the hell is going on?! She thought frantically. She was holding the manticore back almost effortlessly, though it snapped and howled and tore at the earth trying to charge through her implacable grip.

Oni-Blooded [Strength] – Growth 5

Next Rank: 1 Uncommon ethershard of Rage; 1 Uncommon ethershard of Spirit

Cost

Passive mode - None. Must have tensa circulating.

Active Mode – Variable 5 ks+

Cooldown: 10 minutes

Duration: 1 minute

Description: (Passive)You gain the strength of the Oni, a rage demon. You also gain its resistance to fire, poison, death effects, and uninfused damage.

(Active) In active form, your strength and durability increase proportionately to your invested tensa pool, and the damage resistances become damage immunities. Gain the Oni form.

Special Activation Condition: To activate the Oni-Blooded graft, you must be enraged.

She twisted and heaved, performing a textbook-perfect hip toss but somehow with ten times her normal strength. Instead of the maneuver being hopelessly comical, she managed to yank the manticore over her shoulder and hip and slam it down on its back. Sarah heard the distinct, dry-twig snap of delicate bones as the manticore’s wings were brutalized by the maneuver. It screamed and writhed, and Sarah leaped back, cognizant of its paws and tail. She yanked her sword out of the earth and used the momentary respite to run her finger along the edge, smiling in grim satisfaction as she saw the edge of the blade take on that otherworldly sharpness.

Sarah didn’t immediately attack the manticore as it writhed and thrashed on the ground, attempting to right itself without hurting its injured wings more. It was incredibly dangerous, acting erratically and desperate. She should be able to just bide her time and wait and the monster would eventually tire out. But Kimi-Lim was right there and any moment now, one of the monster’s claws would rake through the elf, or maybe a half a dozen quills would impale them. So, Sarah had to act soon.

She saw her opening when the manticore stopped its frantic struggles for a moment, its huge sides heaving as it breathed heavily. Greenish foam was building up at its blood-and-dirt-streaked mouth as it panted. She activated her shield on her arm and darted in, trying to slash at its unprotected belly. But the manticore anticipated Sarah’s move and kicked out at her with its back paw, nearly eviscerating her with its back claws. She managed to block the strike with her shield and then get out of there before it could attack again, but she couldn’t get close enough to make the mortal blow.

Sarah circled the creature, looking for another opening when it occurred to her that she didn’t have to dart in. I must still be in shock about my arm, she thought, I don’t need to use the Master Sword to kill this thing… Suiting thought to deed, she stepped back several long paces and willed her anima into a long spear, its tip the Master Sword that she’d imbued with her graft. But I can use the Master Swordspear! She lined up her thrust as the manticore writhed, then screamed and jabbed the spear at the manticore’s face.

The Master Swordspear sliced into the manticore’s face effortlessly. But the manticore didn’t just lay there and take it. She’d managed to slice into the creature’s face, but she flinched back, and the spear was jerked out of her grip when the manticore thrashed and jerked its head to the side, opening a huge gash on its face as it tore itself off her spear. Hot black blood sprayed her as it gushed from the laceration in the manticore’s face.

The monster managed to roll to its side, screaming as its wing crunched and popped under its weight. Sarah quickly reformed her anima weapon but had to dodge another hail of poisonous, arm-length quills that stuck halfway into the boulder. Sarah was astounded at the vast wealth of tensa energy she had to spend as she poured more tensa into her shield snapping it back into place just as the manticore lashed out at her with a forepaw.

Sarah took the blow on her shield, intending to angle it up and away, but she didn’t quite realize just how much her strength had increased as she was in this bizarre form. Instead of merely deflecting the blow, she slammed the manticore’s paw aside, dislocating it as she did. It fell back, limping and hissing, favoring the injured leg. Sarah didn’t waste any more time: she imbued her weapon with the Edge That Cuts Anything, feinted to the left, and then swept the blade around in a lightning-quick arc that neatly bisected the manticore in one short movement. More black blood fountained everywhere, smelling foul.

As the gore splashed everywhere, the huge rush of strength and energy Sarah had enjoyed drained away. She shrank back to her normal size, her skin losing the deep crimson color and her nails going back to their normal color and length. Sarah gagged in reaction and threw up, stumbling to the side and feeling weak and dizzy. The corpse of the manticore shuddered and fell still pumping black blood everywhere. A few seconds later, the corpse dissolved in a shower of sparkling light, spiraling upwards as the Tutorial Realm reclaimed the monster.

Once she recovered somewhat, Sarah went to check on Kimi-Lim and found, to her astonishment, that the elf mage was still breathing. She collapsed on the hard-packed earth next to Kimi-Lim, grinning as she saw the elf’s eyes flutter open.

“Are we dead?” Kimi-Lim asked, their voice somewhat strained. “Only, I think if I were dead, I wouldn’t be in as much pain as I’m in now.”

“No, we’re not dead yet. Somehow. I don’t want to stay here any longer than we have to… are you seriously hurt? Can we move you?”

Kimi-Lim smiled and shook their head, “Can’t move just yet.” They fell quiet for a long moment before they spoke again. “Why did you come after me? I was most likely dead. You should’ve died in that attack.”

Sarah sighed and collapsed onto the ground, letting the light shield go on her Power Arm and allowing her anima weapon to dissolve away. She didn’t answer for a long time, organizing her thoughts. Finally, when she did answer Kimi-Lim, she did so in a far-off, distracted manner, “You’re the first person I’ve met here in…a long time. And the first thing you did was save my life. How could I live with myself if I left you behind, whatever happened to you or me?” Sarah shrugged, “Because immediately after rescuing me, you told me you’d help me even though it’s way out of your way. Because you’re the kind of person who drops everything to help someone else and I think that’s pretty amazing. Worth saving.”

They were both quiet for a long time after that.

Eventually, Kimi-Lim said, “Thank you.”

“Any time.”