Sell you a Bridge chapter 136

Arkham Asylum December 14th 2010 10:00 PM EDT

The  actual pain from the transformation hit me after I repeated the words,  but suffice to say it wasn't as bad as I expected. Somehow I got the  feeling my devil transformation had made this easier, like the two were  especially compatible or something. Still, there was a wave of freezing  energy inundating my bones as the "half ghost" transformation altered me  at a fundamental level.

Not  just muscles or bones, I could almost feel the alteration down to my  cells somehow. Like the cellular make up my body had come alive and was  roaring in satisfaction. Despite the overwhelming sensation though my  cells seemed to adapt as it happened. Something about my devil  physiology was open to change, like it was naturally predisposed to  being altered like this in the depths of my biology.

It  took about twenty minutes for the change to complete and the  alterations to finish taking place, and by the time it was done I was  leaning against the wall of the closer panting harshly through clenched  teeth as I did my best to ignore the pain. Once it passed I brought up  my character sheet in my mind. My species had changed to "Ghost-devil,  Abaddon bloodline" and my stats had SOARED.

A  hundred and one strength, up from the fifty one I'd had before. A  hundred and fifty dexterity and a full two hundred and fifty vitality.  My point value had tripled, jumping up to twelve hundred. I  felt...absolutely fantastic. The explosive power in my body was  impressive as hell sure, but it was the vitality that really made the  difference. I felt immortal, no, more like invincible, like aside from  killing me, nothing could even hurt me.

I  suspected it was a side effect of my Pride, so I clamped down on it,  but I did enjoy the sensation. I exhaled heavily as the last of the pain  vanished, and my breath came out as a cold swirl of icy mist energy.  Aside from that I saw the inside of the closet brightly lit by some kind  of green glow, but despite searching everywhere I couldn't find out  exactly where it was coming from.

I  finally had the presence of mind to open a mirror and look at myself,  though, and I quickly realized the glow WAS my eyes. A ghostly pair of  green irises stared back at me, softly illuminating the world around me.  As I focused on them however, the light dimmed. I nodded in  satisfaction, I was a thief, having bioluminescent eyesballs I couldn't  turn off would have been kind if inconvenient.

Aside  from my eyes my hair had changed too. The formerly pitch black locks  were interspersed with streaks of white. Based on the email I'd expected  the transformation to be the kind you turn on and off (though that  wasn't actually specified, just sort of implied) but this wasn't that.  I'd been altered irrevocably, but I really couldn't bring myself to be  upset about it given all my new power.

It  seemed odd that being half dead would make my vitality surge up so  high, but upon cutting myself a bit I realized that my cells had become  more malleable and adaptable as they were altered, allowing them to  reform and heal more easily. With concentration I could even stretch or  change my body. I mentally added training with my new capabilities in  the Outer Body trace to my list of things to do.

My  next move was contacting Jim with details. I mentally sent a quick  recap of the ritual to my mentor, having been too shocked at what was  happening to do it while I was down there. Plus I'd have been lying if I  said I hadn't worried I might tip them off somehow with the stones.  They were almost undetectable, sure, but almost only counter in  horseshoes and hand grenades.

When I finished filling him in he paused for a while, before finally responding. "We wait." His voice sounded cautious, but firm in my head. "With  so many Amazon's nearby we can't afford to challenge them head on. Our  best bet is to wait until the last moment and let them whittle down  their own numbers. Before the ritual is completed we strike disrupting  the ascension."

I understood his point but I couldn't help but worry. "Is  it a good idea to let Circe get so much stronger? The Mark channels the  power gained into the magic user who cast it, she'll be getting notably  stronger over the next few days, and we already might not be able to  take her. I got another upgrade and I'm as confident as I've ever been  but even I have limits."

Jim's internal sigh sounded tired. "It  shouldn't matter. As long as the ritual is active it'll take a  considerable portion of her power and attention. She may get much  stronger, but we'll only be facing a fraction of her power in any case.  As long as our timing is carefully controlled we can hit her at her  weakest and disrupt the ritual.

Zee's mental voice joined in. "It  should work for the same reason waiting will work to begin with.  Stopping or interrupting a ritual like this can have dire consequences.  If Circe tries to break away from it mid cast to bring her power to bear  against us she'll suffer a terrible backlash. I think that's one of the  major reasons for the siege to begin with. Not just to hide from the  gods, but to distract all of us."

I grimaced but mentally sent an impression of understanding, the sending version of a begrudging nod. "Fine. We wait. But should we leave? There's no real reason to stay here now that we know what's going on." Honestly  I was much less worried about being in Arkham than I had been before my  change and if we did stay I'd just use the time to train anyway so it  didn't matter to me, but I felt like I should ask for Zee and Artemis's  sake.

The pause on the other end told me that Jim was as uncertain as I was, but in the end he decided against leaving. I  don't believe we should, no. We've managed to infiltrate this place in  such a way that I don't expect our presence to be revealed. Circe wasn't  down in the ritual chamber from what you said, so she must be hidden  amongst the inmates as we expected, keeping watch. No, I believe we  should stay and keep an eye on the situation, in case thing's change  unexpectedly."

That  made perfect sense. One of the hallmarks of a good thief was patience,  and despite his lackadaisical attitude about most things Jim WAS a  master thief. He could lie in wait as well as anyone. Whether he was  casing a target or gathering information undercover my mentor was the  type to keep his eyes open and not move until he needed to. He was like a  snake that sat poised to strike until the perfect opportunity.

Everyone  confirmed their understanding of the plan and got back to their  business, and I sat down and crossed my legs inside the closet and I  closed my eyes, entering my Outer Body. I wanted to test out my new  abilities, and I suspected they would use points if I accessed them in  reality. The Outer Body trance required knowledge of my enemies and  careful study to create a simulation to fight against, but it should  work fine with my own powers, which, despite not having tested them yet,  I had an instinctual grasp of.

As  I appeared in the darkness of the Outer Body void I closed my eyes, a  feeling that was odd given I already had my eyes closed in real life,  and focused on my new powers. Much like my devil bloodline I could feel  strength hidden in the depths of my body now. Cold and eerie power that  reminded me of death. Despite the creepy vibes though I was far from  unhappy, the power was perfectly matched to my own inherent abilities  and would be a perfect addition to my combat style.

I  tested out my basic abilities first, the ones that were on the tip of  my metaphysical tongue. Invisibility was the easiest. It had much in  common with my stealth skills. I was used to not being seen and tapping  into that was childs play. I could think of multiple ways to use this in  situations where my shadow skills wouldn't be suited. Shadows couldn't  always be found at all times. Shadow form was obvious and attention  grabbing in the light of day, and this new ability would fix that,  giving me more options.

Along  with the invisibility came the intangibility. Another flip side to my  shadow power, lacking substance was something I was more than accustomed  to. It was to my invisibility what my shadow form was to my ninja  sneaking skills. The other half of the whole, and between the two power  sets it expanded my potential as a thief exp0onentially. Next came the  constructs. Burning structures of coldly glowing ectoplasm that could be  used alongside my shadow constructs or even in conjunction with them,  training with those would be the labor of months if not years, so I put  it on hold for now.

The  blasts of energy were just a manifestation of that, so in the end that  left only the most useful and terrifying of my new powers. Duplication.  Out of all of my new tricks, this one was probably the most dangerous,  and definitely the most versatile. The ability to make more of myself  was invaluable. With my shadow dancer and shadow form abilities I could  change size, but as I'd seen in my fight with monkey boy true  duplication was beyond me.

He's  demonstrated in that battle exactly how useful the ability could be  though. Especially for someone like me who could teleport and explode  out with an exponential burst of strength. Duplication was the cherry on  top of the assassin sundae that was my powers, and it was more than  enough to push my combat abilities to an entirely different level. I  concentrated on the void and summoned a copy of the Warlord and one of  Myrina, pushing them both to attack me at once.

They  did, and within seconds I died, obviously. I hadn't grasped my new  powers yet exactly and the two of them were a terrifying combination.  Still, it gave me insight I needed to sharpen myself, so I did it again.  A second time they came at me, and I used my intangibility and  teleportation to try to maneuver between them, once again getting cut  down in seconds but once again discovering new insight into how I could  do battle.

I  was going to be here waiting for days, and I had nothing but time in the  Outer Body to get this right. By the time the ritual began I wanted to  have grasped as much of my new capabilities as humanly possible.  Demonically possible? Whichever. The point was I had training to do and  plenty of time to do it in. I still had to do my exploration since we  were still casing the place, but now that was easily solved. Without  even opening my eyes in the real world I conjured a duplicate with only  twenty points, and incredibly weak version of me, and sent him out to  explore.

Whereas  someone else would need to use their own essence to create a duplicate  and weaken themself, I could use points and avoid the issue altogether.  My duplicates could be just as strong as myself without expending any of  my personal energy aside from points. I was even more driven to learn  how to use this power properly now. I grinned to myself as I conjured a  version of monkey boy from the void. If I wanted to learn to fight with  clones, why not learn from an expert. Time to start my training in  earnest.