Sell you a Bridge chapter 69

Slaughter Swamp August 2nd 2010 12:30 AM EDT

The  aftermath of the spell left me feeling drained. It was odd because I  hadn't taken any magic into myself or used any of my own, but the sheer  act of moving all that power was like lifting a heavy weight. I was  exhausted as hell. The circle was gone of course, burned up in the  ritual, from what I could tell those bones came from creatures that  didn't exist and not all of those stones had real world counterparts  either. With them having exploded and burned up there was no chance of  recreating the ritual for someone else.

Which  given the ramifications of making a new race of people with magic was  probably good all things considered. As Zee had said the character sheet  had split into two identical sheets and each one had filled in with  details. The girls themselves were in a kind of energy cocoon where the  circle used to be, presumably being transformed into a new race of  elves. I skimmed over the designation for the race itself. Race: Elf- Heavenly Punishment Tribe.  The character sheets were more dungeons and dragons than the bare bones  level up screen from the dungeon and they had plenty of information.

There  was even a little lore section. Apparently Heavenly Punishment Elves  were divine hybrids. Their ancestor had been a goddess of love and  death. Sort of a "so beautiful it hurts" "love is a weapon" kind of  lady. Aside from a natural disposition for archery and an inborn ability  to teleport short distances, they were considered the most deadly and  beautiful warriors in the elven kingdoms. Their beauty was a fatal lure  for any mortal and any offense was punished with a taste of their holy  lightning.

The  race was defined by their fierce beauty and deadly speed and strength,  though they were something of a glass cannon. Moved fast and hit hard  but only a bit more durable than a normal person. As divine descendants  Heavenly Punishment Elves didn't age past majority and because of their  love goddess ancestor could decide when they wanted children, though  they were limited to one baby per century. I was in awe. The details of  this race were amazing, everything I'd been hoping for and more.

They  had potent magic, though Zatanna's sheet included something called a  medulla jewel which Artemis didn't have. I wasn't sure why but I  suspected it had to do with her old evolved human race. Homo Magi were  apparently distinct from magic using humans, though Zee never mentioned  having a gem in her brain. Still it meant she should still be able to  use her old magic style, which literally none of us had bothered to  consider before she jumped into the ritual. I heaved a mental sigh of  relief it worked out, I couldn't imagine what her dad would have done to  me.

There  was some sex appeal stuff too and their charisma apparently had a native  ten per level increase. It was currently sitting at twenty one and  thirty respectively after the transformation. Zee's was higher, probably  because she was a more gregarious and friendly person as well as being  just objectively better looking. Not that Artemis wasn't gorgeous but  Zatanna was the kind of woman men wrote songs about. Even Artemis  admitted Zee was prettier than she was. It seemed like the native  transformation had tripled their base charisma.

Doing  the math I cackled internally that the ritual apparently rated them out  of ten and Artemis had been a seven. I was going to tease her  mercilessly for that. The whole holy lightning thing was kind of  amazing, apparently a mix of the lightning from the bow and the holy  nature of the angel belt mixed with the divinity of the girdle. It  seemed like a powerful skill and I was anxious to see them use it. They  also each had three native abilities, with the holy lightning and  teleportation being two.

The third  was called fatal attraction, it provided a flat damage increase equal to  their charisma. I imagined that was a mix of The Butcher's cleavers  death aura and Aphrodite's Girdle. The relative fragility of their  bodies was also somewhat offset by the resistances from the staff, which  basically made them tougher against anything but physical damage. I was  really jealous of them honestly, I kind of wished there had been enough  energy for me to take part in the ritual.

I  made a mental note to get a transformation ability for myself. I'd seen  a really cool fallen angel one from some goth forum, but it had been  crazy expensive. All in all their new stats were nothing to scoff at.  Aside from charisma which sadly I didn't actually have, their abilities  were all heavily boosted. Vitality was their lowest stat at a flat ten,  with magic being highest for Zee at fifty and dexterity being highest  for Artemis at thirty. That medulla jewel clearly had a crazy effect on  Zee's magic. Artemis had twenty five strength and Zee was at fifteen,  and her magic was at twenty while Zee's dexterity was the same.

All  in all they were both way stronger than me, and the fucking magic stat  increased damage as well as capacity so Zee was basically a walking  cannon. I was foreseeing a much easier time clearing level three. As I  stared at the sheets, comparing the new stats and descriptions I felt a  subtle shift in the energy around me. The ambient magic in Slaughter  Swamp was basically bottomed out though I could sense it starting to  ooze out again, but even the thin energy around me was starting to  writhe and shift. I turned to see the cocoons beginning to dissolve. The  transformation was over.

I  headed over to greet them bringing over the character sheets with me.  The dissolving of the cocoons seemed to speed up as the proximity of the  sheets grew closer, like they knew it was time to wake up. I admit I  was a bit excited to see how this had all turned out. As the energy  melted away the two girls stepped free of the cocoons. As I took them in  I was admittedly shocked, they both looked amazing, Artemis was so  gorgeous now that it was almost painful, though contrary to her wishes  she apparently hadn't gotten a bigger butt.

But  honestly I barely even glanced over her, my eyes were drawn to Zatanna,  and they would not move. My girlfriend happened to be pretty much the  epitome of my taste in women, she was perfect to me and I literally  couldn't think of a more beautiful woman, but her new features were so  overwhelming that I literally almost fell to my knees. Like Artemis her  body hadn't changed, whatever charisma did it wasn't the old book  standby of bigger tits. But despite her body being mostly the same she  was a completely different person.

Her  skin was still milk pale, but it looked somehow softer, like it was  silk, and her hair rolled over her shoulders like pitch black  thunderclouds of curls. Her eyes were still blue, but they'd gone from  that stunning cerulean to an almost glowing electric blue that seemed  almost alive and crackling. Like that holy lightning was dancing in her  irises. Her lips were soft and delicate like rose petals, but full and  her cheekbones were sharp but not overpowering and lead up to her new  pointed ears.

She  looked like the worlds most beautiful storm in human form, and I found  myself so mesmerized I barely noticed the changes to her body until I  forced myself to look. The impact was a bit less honestly, yes she had  the body of a goddess, but she always had, her breasts were a bit  perkier and her legs were more toned under the fishnets but the biggest  change was the kind of feline grace she moved with now. She saw me  staring and smiled wickedly stepping up to drape her arms around my  neck. She leaned up and gave me a slow deep kiss, before pulling back  and biting her bottom lip as she stared into my eyes.

Her  face was flushed with excitement and something about kissing her was  intoxicating. Like I was drunk on her or something. When she spoke her  voice was still sweet and friendly, but it had a more musical quality to  it. "This is...amazing. I feel amazing. You are amazing. I don't know  how you did this but I know I've never heard of anyone doing something  like this before. I feel like so much...more." She pulled me in for  another deep kiss. "The chance to be a part of something like this. To  feel this. I can't put it into words."

Artemis  made a gagging sound off to the side. "I feel so overshadowed. I'm  super hot now, though apparently being an elven sex goddess doesn't even  take you up a cup size, but I have to stand next to...that." She was  grumbling but I knew her well enough to hear her happiness in her voice.  Artemis was excited. I passed them each their paper. They snatched them  from me and pored over them, comparing notes and ooing and ahhing over  their new powers. Artemis was very jealous of Zee's magic score. "Damn  Zee, what's with this medulla jewel thing?"

Zee  mostly just looked confused. "I...don't actually know. I've never heard  anything about it before. I don't think daddy has one, or at least he  never mentioned it." She grimaced. "Speaking of daddy I somehow doubt my  new species will thrill him. Luckily I have a shit load of magic power  now, I should be able to swing an illusion or something. I'm totally  jealous of your dexterity though, mine must be low because I was so unathletic before." She shrugged. "Either way thank you both. I respect  your need to keep some things secret but letting me part of this means a  lot."

Artemis  shrugged and pulled my girlfriend into a hug. "Hey don't sweat it.  We're the only two Heavenly Punishment Elves in the world. That makes us  sisters in a way. Besides you're sickeningly infatuated with Morgan and  he's basically my brother anyway so you'd be family sooner of later  anyway." She shot Zee a wink, drawing a dark blush from my girlfriend,  made even more obvious by her incredibly pale and delicate skin. Much  like everything else she did, the blush looked pretty damn fetching on  her.

But it  seemed to be an after thought. She seemed mostly touched by Artemis's  declaration. She stared at her with joy on her face for a minute then  pulled her into a tight hug. "I've always wanted a sister! We are going  to have so much fun! Thank you, thank you, thank you." It was easy to  forget how isolated and alone Zee had been kept for her whole life,  locked up in that big spooky house. It broke my heart to see how excited  something like this made her.

Artemis  for her part hadn't had the best luck with family and she looked joyful  to have another shot, hugging her back tightly. I made a decision then.  Zee was officially onboard whether she knew it or not. My power had  turned her into a completely unique race, the first of her kind, and  that meant we were all on the same boat here. Given how happy she ways  about Artemis's declaration and how helpful she had been here I decided  to do something I'd been incredibly torn about doing.

I  was going to trust her. Artemis was the only person who knew about my  power, but I'd decided to share what it could do with Zatanna, if  nothing else she might be able to tell me more about it with all her  magic knowledge. I just had to hope I was making the right choice this  time. I cared about Zee a lot, and she wasn't Annabel. I'd been  observing her steadily with my aura sight to make sure, something I'd  never bothered to do much with Annabel, and I trusted her. It was time  to let another person in on my biggest secret.