17.2

Sorry for the delay this weekend. I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head zombified. The VA is disputing a number of my claims while at the same time admitting I have the conditions I claim. Now I have to slog through the battle of proving my military service exacerbated them.

I love the military, and I regret not staying in. Still, the advice I would give for anyone before they leave is to make sure you have everything medical documented to Oblivion.

Lower back pain? Document.

Ringing in the ears? Document.

Bronchitis? Lung damage? Neuropathy? Sleep apnea?

And the list goes on.

Unfortunately, the system works, and to my eternal irritation, is slow.

Once you are out of the service, the VA will fight tooth and nail. They will try to claim you got every condition in the tiny fraction of life between when you left the service and when you file for disability.

Even if that logic doesn’t make any sort of sense.

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1rst Year Eve Likes Life Summoning (Y.E.L.L.S.)

“Your evil stepmother seems unhappy,” Eve said as Charlotte rejoined her by the corner she’d staked out. Charlotte shrugged as she took a seat in Eve’s recently vacated chair. As the banquet progressed, tables and chairs appeared as if by magic. It was a subtle way for those in the nobility to mimic royalty by holding court at their tables.

From what I can see, there are four factions. Eve thought as she sat down to Charlotte’s left. Charlotte’s, Duke Zienfer, Luvec, and the neutrals.

It wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to see that whoever the Duke favored, the neutrals would follow. Eve suspected they were holding out for the best concessions possible. That would be unfortunate for the neutrals in the long run. Charlotte would have no problem promising what they desired. It would only give the calculating young lady time to prepare the cooking pot properly. Once the neutrals were no longer needed, everyone knew what happens to frogs boiled in water. The same situation would play out for those who hadn’t thrown their support to her when it mattered, Eve expected.

Turning, she noticed Charlotte looking at her from the corner of her eyes. Eve raised one eyebrow in question, and the younger woman said, “Speak freely. I control the Air around us. Neither my father nor that lecherous scarecrow can hear anything without my blessing.”

“Oh?” Eve queried her Witch’s Dust, receiving an affirmative to the question. “I didn’t think my gift would show results so soon.”

“Wherever you come from, it is clear your people studied the Air. It is not the sort of study one can do, no matter what their genius can do, either. No, the information from your gift tells of the accumulation of millennia of systematic methodology.” Charlotte said with a cute little expression of confusion.

“Well, we’d eliminated most wars by the time I was born,” Eve said, slowly sinking back into the memories. “There were still people that needed killing, but large-scale war mongers tended to have a short shelf life. After the first World War, people were pretty much sick of it.”

“World…War?” Charlotte said, confused.

“Indeed,” Eve responded.

“How does an entire world go to war?” Charlotte asked curiously.

Eve took a sip of her wine flute. It was a serious question and deserved a serious answer. After mustering her thoughts and checking with Nota, she said, “Little problems become big problems if left alone long enough. Eventually, a spark sets the entire forest ablaze.”

“What was the spark?” Charlotte asked as she gestured for a servant to bring her food and drink.

“There was an assassination. It provided the flame that exploded into madness. From there, a charismatic individual took advantage of the opportunity to rise to power. They instituted a piece of dogmatic machinery that gave rise to horrific abominations.” Eve paused to take a sip of her wine flute. Gazing out over the assembled nobility and merchants, she doubted any of these wealthy individuals would see a battlefield. They would send others to die in their stead, keeping their soft hands clean.

“What happened after that?” Charlotte asked as her food and drinks were plated and placed on the table

Eve made sure there were no problems with the food before she said, “A majority of the world powers aligned themselves on one side of the conflict or the other. Those who wanted specific ideologies allied with each other to better their nation’s goals. The dictator who rose to power was gradually pushed back on all fronts until he had no more chances. Cornered, with the full might of the world closing in, he committed suicide, or so the story most of the world knows goes.”

“Oh? You know what happened?” Charlotte’s eyes sparkled with joy.

“As part of my training to serve my nation, the real story is told to us. It is a test of faith, to see if what we have learned is embedded too deep to change.” Eve said as she stole one of the chicken nugget magical fantasy versions from Charlotte’s plate with telekinesis. “The leader who drove the world to madness wasn’t a human. They were a machine sent from a distant star to drive our world into shattered pieces. According to what I was told, it was a common practice of warfare. From my planet’s information services could find out the species that sent the machine were wiped out.”

Charlotte gasped in surprise and said, “What killed them?”

Eve smirked and said, “The star they lived next to went supernova.”

“Supernova?” Charlotte asked, hanging on Eve’s words.

“Indeed, it was a Type-II explosion and wiped the entire species out,” Eve said. She stole another morsel of food from Charlotte and said, “I always thought that was rather convenient, but after finding out about my brother’s power, it made complete sense.”

“Is your brother strong compared to you?” Charlotte asked as a noble from her faction approached the table.

“Yes,” Eve said, ending the conversation. She turned her attention to the younger woman and spotted Bloodwood stalking Raven. The younger girl had been commiserating with her friends and was now separating from them.

I have some business to attend to, will you be ok without me? Eve sent it to Charlotte.

Yes, I’ll have Uncle Ralph take over guarding me. What’s the issue? Charlotte asked while keeping up small talk with the young man who’d approached and sat at the table.

Bloodwood appears to be stalking that friend of yours. Eve replied.

If you have the chance, deal with him permanently. Charlotte responded in a chilling tone.

Eve rose gracefully and moved into the crowd before pulling an optical shield and a look-away charm onto herself. She gave an affirmative through the mental link before stalking after the professor. A flicker of power along Witch’s Dust removed her presence from the very Air. It wouldn’t do for Swift or the Duke to detect her.

Child's play was exiting the party through one of the doorways leading out of the banquet hall. Eve moved securely, knowing she was closest to the invisible possible. Bloodwood held her attention as she watched him stalk the younger girl. For some reason, Raven didn’t seem to notice his presence. After a moment of thought, Eve realized what had happened.

He's got some type of effect running that manipulates the blood in a person not to notice him. Eve thought, impressed with the trick. The only downfall is people like me who’ve shifted their blood into something else.

With the liquid dust form pumping through her veins, Eve was immune to Blood-based sorcery. What had started as a trick to annoy Justin served double duty now. There was no doubt in her mind that Bloodwood had more tricks to play. Unfortunately for him, they wouldn’t work on her. Not unless he could change his image of pulsing crimson red tide to something else. Even then, such a change would take an abysmal amount of time to occur in the lower Tiers.

She watched as Charlotte’s friend suddenly paused, freezing in place. Bloodwood made a small gesture with his hand, and the young girl started moving forward again. Eve observed the girl noting how her body no longer moved with the assured grace of a young noblewoman. Instead, the girl’s steps looked like puppets moving to their internal voice.

Following behind the duo as they walked through the hallways was dull but bearable. Eve snapped to attention when they finally made it to the eastern tower. Standing at the entrance to the stairwell was the vampire she’d missed earlier.

The heavens genuinely exist to favor a gorgeous woman like myself. Eve thought in ecstasy as the chance to tie up a loose end presented itself. I’ll have to rip the place apart now; clearly, something was hidden for her to show back up here.

Bloodwood and the woman had a short chat, showing that, if anything, the man wasn’t a supporter of bloodsuckers. Eve had thought the vampire’s feminine wiles trapped him, but it didn’t happen.

Well, it wasn’t like she could always expect the enemies to be completely enthralled by a lovely face, perky tits, and an hourglass figure. As soon as the group of three separated with Bloodwood proceeding up the stairwell, Eve grinned. Her luck was even better as the vampire woman walked directly toward her.

Eve saw the exact moment the vampire realized something was wrong with the supposedly empty hallway in front of her. It was too late, as Witch’s Dust wrapped the vampire severing her spinal cord at the neck. Within moments another reverse summoning circle had been built. A silver flash later, nothing remained of the vampire except a slight depression in the carpeted floor.

Special delivery. Eve sent Kudzu along the mental link. A feeling of grumbling affirmation filled her mind as her green ally got to work on the new resource. She noted to take a day soon and meet with the others. Currently, her main body was lying in a rune-covered silver box. To send her consciousness back, she’d need to secure this end of the link with something similar.

Without that safety precaution, it would be almost impossible to find Charlotte’s world again. Kudzu’s offshoot would alleviate that problem. At least in theory. Still, for now, only things bound directly to her soul could provide precise locations. Setting aside the matter, Eve proceeded up the stairs.

Moving through the rooms she’d created, Eve found Bloodwood in the room designated for the professors. She slipped inside and was completely unsurprised. Bloodwood had stripped the younger girl of her clothing and was in the process of removing his own.

Eve’s eyes grew half-lidded as she controlled her anger. This was the darker side of society with magical powers. Fortunately for Charlotte’s friend, she had enough value that stopping this was worth it.

She sat on the table and waited patiently for Bloodwood to finish disrobing. Men were always easier to unbalance when they were naked, after all.

A few seconds later, Eve gave a polite cough as Bloodwood prepared to walk the younger girl into the bathroom area. The professor spun around with a face of a shock to stare directly at her revealed form as she dropped the spells keeping her unseen.

“Oh, I appear to have gotten lost,” Eve said serenely.

Bloodwood gaped for a second before casting the same spell at Eve as the one used on Raven. She watched his outstretched hand with interest while nothing happened to her. Making a go-ahead gesture with her hand Eve said, “Try again. Some men have trouble performing without clothes.”

“Bitch!” Bloodwood said, snapping in rage. “I was just about to get some stress relief!”

“Oh! You couldn’t get it up with maids from the castle, so you needed to…what? Kidnap a friend of Charlotte?” Eve said, letting derision enter her tone.

“The maids are higher servants than me, and they all have Air magic tangled around their bodies. It’s like a massive sign saying keep away from anyone that can see it.” Bloodwood said as he shot sharp shards of spiked blood at Eve.

She didn’t even bother dodging as the blood impacted her Witch’s Dust shielding. The result of fighting a Vampire Progenitor was clear. Her shield devoured the blood leaving no trace.

“Ah, thank you. Now I can say under truth stone, spell, or whatever they use in this backwater planet that this was self-defense.” Eve said politely, even as the older man looked grim.

Bloodwood crafted a sword out of his blood and started to close the distance. Eve looked at the ridiculous man and said, “Seriously?”

Snapping her fingers, Eve broke the tether controlling Raven. As soon as the younger woman was free, she took a deep breath and screamed. Bloodwood looked confused even as he continued approaching Eve.

“Ah, you forget where we are. Considering you’ve been a partner of Swift for so long, I’m surprised. Did the lack of available partners melt your reasoning so badly?” Eve said, moving into hand-to-hand combat. She usually wouldn’t do anything like this, but the reason for her actions became precise moments later.

Guards burst into the room, their sight filled with Eve valiantly defending Raven with her bare hands. Even as the guards rushed to assist, the witch’s hands blurred into a series of fatal strikes. The sharp double crack of elbow and neck signaled the end of Bloodwood’s plans.

As the professor collapsed at her feet, Eve looked at the guards and said, “Ah, my error. I tried to take him alive, but I appeared to have failed. Mistress will be most unhappy.”

The lead guard looked down at the corpse and wisely chose not to comment.

Eve turned to the troubled younger girl, Raven, and enveloped her in a hug before whispering, “Charlotte always cares for her people.”