Sell you a Bridge chapter 81

The Clock Tower August 13th 2010 8:00 PM

I  closed my eyes, focusing on the blazing numerals behind my lids. Three hundred and fifteen points. That was enough for me to finally get my next power. My epiphany in the battle with Leoric made choosing them  properly even more important, synergy was key, the more my powers meshed  and compliment each other the more they would bleed together in combat  and the more strength I could bring out in battle. This particular  ability was a perfect match for my current power set and I was anxious  to see what it could do.

I  glanced over at Zee and Artemis. As the only two people who knew my  secret they were the only ones who were aware something was going to  happen today. Another reason to carefully choose my abilities and make  sure they meshed was that I could pretend they were an evolution of the  powers everyone already thought I had. Shadow Dancing fit my current  abilities well. Despite the ease with which I could explain to others  Artemis and Zee knew where my powers came from, and I knew they would be  annoyed to miss my next upgrade.

Zatanna  in particular was nearly bouncing up and down with excitement at what  was about to happen, and it was hard not to smile at how cute my  beautiful girlfriend was when she was geeking out. I smirked at her.  "This isn't as dramatic as you're expecting. There won't be a flash of  light or some chorus of angels. I'll get a box with-" I checked the  email. "The dark blood of the divine lord of the dusk." I winced. That  was top level cringe, even for a weird goth cult scam. I wasn't excited  to find out what dark god blood tasted like. I was guessing not black  raspberry.

Zee  was giggling at my expression. "Oh gods, I knew your power worked on  spam, but I never realized how lame some of the spam emails you get  could be. That's so...edgy." I grimaced at that and she just giggled  some more, reaching up to pat my cheek. "Sorry baby, I know it's not  your fault." She sat up straight and folded her hands in her lap in the  chair next to me, adopting an adorably serious expression. "Go ahead.  I'm just an observer. No more comments." She raised three fingers in a  salute. "Scout's honor."

That  got an eye roll from me. "You weren't a girl scout Zee." I raked my  eyes over her body. "Though we could get you an outfit if you want." I  was cut off by a loud gagging sound as Artemis covered her ears and  closed her eyes. Apparently discussing role playing was TMI for my best  friend. Zee burst out laughing again, but not at me this time so it was  fine. Smiling smugly at getting one over on Artemis I resumed my  explanation. "Point is, I get the blood, drink the blood, get the  powers. Easy peasy."

Without  further ado I pressed the order button, having the small fee deducted  from my bank account automatically as part of the process. I'd noticed  most of the really in depth magic scams cost money, which of course made  perfect sense. This one ran me a hundred and fifty dollars, which was  hardly the most I'd paid for a perk but wasn't an inconsiderable amount  as far as scams went. I wondered if any ridiculous emo idiots had  actually paid for this stuff out of pocket. The fact that it worked for  me literally proved it was bullshit.

As  per usual there was a knock on the door. Zee jumped and Artemis just  smirked as I got up to go get my new power. When I opened the door I  found, as expected, a box. It was small and shiny matte black, with gold  traceries forming linked lines of bones along the edges, a morbid  filigree that made the tiny container seem larger than it was somehow. I  reached down and picked it up, bringing it inside. It was a pretty nice  box, and I made a mental note to store it in the closet with my  collection. I had a weird thing about boxes and kept the containers for  all of my more interesting powers.

I  set the box down on the table, and the hollow thud that echoed out from  the wood when it made contact echoed more than it should have. In a way  it reminded me of some of Jim's theatrics, but somehow less ethereal  and more...malevolent. I flicked on aura sense out of curiosity and saw  nothing. Not a lack of aura but an absence of anything in front of me as  a writhing mass of impenetrable darkness stretched across the table. I  turned that off fast, completely fine with not seeing the particulars as  I flipped open the delicate gold skull clasp held shut by a single bone  key between its jaws that I turned.

An  aura of frost and dark leaked from the box as it opened, and I was  almost drowned in the emptiness of the void as I flipped open the lid.  This was the first high priced power I had bought, and just from opening  it I could see why it cost so much more. It made me wonder how amazing  some of the even higher priced items were. At level six I had thirty  five points a day in income, but once I got to level fifty I would have  two hundred and fifty points. A few weeks would be enough to afford even  some of the higher ranked powers.

Shaking  the greed for more power from my mind with the mental promise to try  for quality over quantity if this was what it got me, I stared down at  the vial. It was...strange. The glass was relatively normal looking, a  long thin tube of the stuff, but the stopper was a tiny golden skull  sealed with blood red wax. The liquid inside was a thick black substance  that resembled tar more than blood, and as I watched it rippled  slightly without being touched, as if it was quivering in anticipation  under my gaze. Gross.

Well,  I was absolutely not going to sit around thinking about this shit, I  grabbed the vial, popped the seal, removed the stopper and tossed it  back. Then I screamed. Loudly. The blood was COLD. Not just chilly or  even near frozen, it felt like I was shotgunning a vial of liquid  nitrogen. My muscles seized up and I fell, the vial rolling from my limp  but twitching fingers as Zee caught me with a surprised gasp. I noted  idly through the haze of pain that the glass vial was fine, having  bounced off the floor of my room instead of shattering, but that was all  I had time for before the freezing pain climbed back up my throat and  reached my brain and my world dissolved into icy agony.

I  came back to myself being shaken. Zee was sitting above me with my head  in her lap and her beautiful blue eyes were streaming tears as she  cradled me, murmuring sweet nothings and stroking my hair, telling me it  would be alright. I wasn't sure how long I was out really. But I felt  different. Stronger. I brought up my character sheet and my eyes went  wide in shock. That small addendum on the email about strengthening my  physical body had been a gross understatement.

Twenty  five strength, twenty five vitality, fifteen dexterity, and FIFTY in the points stat. I cursed myself for an idiot. Of course there would be a way to raise my points income without the labyrinth. It was an outside  force not a part of my power. Strengthening my body past human limits  apparently made me strong enough to handle a higher points generation as  well. I sensed that it was of varying effect though. Adding stats to my  point total in the dungeon actually raised the requirements on my body  to do it naturally.

Which  made sense. Being a certain level of powerful would give me a higher  points total, but if having fifty strength woulds normally give me a  hundred points of income then if I already had two hundred points of  income it wouldn't do anything. That meant that investing in points was  still valuable because it helped me gain more to spend on more powerful  upgrades between jumps in my power. Though maybe not as exclusively as I  had been. It also meant my next power had to be much bigger in order to  push me past the cap that I would hit pouring points in.

I  decided to keep to two fifty as the max for points I poured in, saving  the rest for upgrades to things like my dexterity. It was only fifteen  points but it should help shore up some weaknesses. I also changed my  plans for my transformation. This made it worth it to save for something  bigger than the fallen angel. I remembered an email I saw about the  heart of an ultimate devil, and how it could remake you into a devil  yourself and turn you into a pure blood infernal hegemon. I had thought  it was too expensive at three thousand points, but with this new  information waiting seemed worth it.

My  introspection was interrupted by a sharp slap across the face and I  yelped, looking up at Artemis, who was glaring down at me in actual  anger. I saw her aura roiling with fear and concern, and having the sight up made Zee visible in it too, and that broke my heart. If Artemis  was afraid Zee was terrified. I could tell seeing me like this made her  imagine what her life would be like without me, and while I was pretty  sure she was being pessimistic I still felt terrible for making them  both freak out. Artemis saw I was aware and spat. "What the actual fuck was that Morgan?"

I  groaned and sat up my Zee seeming reticent to let me strain myself but  deciding not to stop me. I climbed to my feet and then immediately  slumped into the chair. My muscles were healed but tearing themselves  apart and reknitting themselves back together had wiped out all my  energy. I was fucking exhausted. In answer to her question though all I  could do was shrug. "Sorry Arty, I have no idea. None of my powers have  manifested that violently. That was on a whole different level. My only  guess is that it was extreme because it was such a huge change. I didn't  just get shadow powers, it refined my body."

She  looked upset, but Zee cut her off. "It's fine baby, we were just  worried. That was...I thought it would be cool seeing you gain a power  out of nowhere but I didn't like that one bit. I don't think I'll be  watching one of these again. You said it was safe because of your power  but I don't like seeing you in so much pain. Also maybe next time lay in  bed first." That was a solid point actually, and I made a mental not to  take and future upgrades laying down somewhere soft. I reached down and  pulled her up off the floor and into my lap, wrapping my arms around  her.

She  heaved a relieved sigh and rested her head on my shoulder, and even  Artemis was too freaked out to make a comment about us being sickening. I  was glad we had soundproofed my room for the conversion, just so Jim  didn't hear us talking or anything, otherwise everyone may have busted  in, I sat like that for a while, my best friend calming down silently  from where she had sat down on the bed and my girlfriend curled against  me in fright and finally I decided we had all panicked enough. I shot  them both a wide smile. "Well now that we got the shitty part out of the  way, who wants to see me test my new superpower?"