Waves of blood came crashing down from all directions, sending me careening into a deep abyss of crimson. Phantom hands started grabbing at my arms and legs, pulling me in all directions. Jagged and sharp nails dug in and ripped through my flesh. I tried to scream and pull away only to choke on mouthful of blood.
<…I thought you were going to see the world Starlight….why are you losing everyone!> Grandma Lulu exclaimed. Her ghostly form suddenly appeared in front of me. She grabbed me around my throat and started strangling me. <…YOU'LL LOSE EVERYONE! WHY AREN'T YOU KEEPING YOUR PROMISE!>
***
"GRANDMA LULU!" I screamed and flailed my arms, my claws popping out on a reflex. I felt multiple hands grabbing me and pushing me down.
"CHASE IT'S A NIGHTMARE! A NIGHTMARE!" Jane's voice screamed. The panic in her voice woke me up completely. I froze and blinked several times, the unfamiliar ceiling puzzled me but after a few moments I recognized the pattern belonging to the King's Glaive.
"Starlight, retract yer claws please…" Another familiar voice said calmly but sternly. I looked towards my left hand and saw my claws were pointed at Grandpa Seamus' throat. I quickly retracted my claws and moved to check for injuries only to have Grandpa hold a hand up to stop me.
"I'm fine Starlight." He quickly assured me then shook his head. "Though I have'ta say, most grandparents have ta worry about other things popping up with their teenage grandsons."
I frowned and looked away from my grandpa, embarrassment making my cheeks heat up. Grandpa Seamus laughed loudly at my reaction then slapped me on my back.
"Can't believe ya'd get so bashful with a little morning wood joke…well ya take after me so not so little…" He teased with a snicker.
"GRANDPA!" I barked then threw a pillow at him which he dodged easily and kept laughing. Jane's annoyed sigh was an unwelcomed reminder that she was here to witness my embarrassment. She was standing now
"Gag worthy jokes aside, Chase is awake. I'll let the others know. Seamus, can you catch him up?" Jane asked. Grandpa Seamus nodded then wiped away a tear.
"So everyone is okay?" I asked.
"Yes, thanks to you, Bo, and your evos…but I'll let Seamus fill you in…" Jane replied. Though the way she said the last part gave me pause. With that Jane turned and headed for the stairs that lead to the first floor of my personal car. Once she was gone I looked at my Grandpa and frowned.
"How long was I out this time?" I asked. Grandpa's expression turned contemplative and he looked to the side.
"Five days."
"Five days…must have been injured pretty badly then....well not too bad consideringmy usual." I replied. Grandpa Seamus shook his head.
"Ya didn't have a mark on ye' when we got ya back on the King's Glaive. Yer mana was drained completely." Grandpa said.
"Wait so I've be asleep all this time while my mana tried to refill itself? It normally only takes me one to two days!" I exclaimed.
"I know lad…according ta Jane and Bo yer mana capacity has increased." Grandpa said then leaned over and grabbed my right hand holding it up so the light could catch my farm crystal. I saw it immediately, new crystal growths on my hand and forearm.
"Oh shit!" I gasped, my breath catching in my throat. Grandpa Seamus grabbed my shoulders tightly and shushed me.
"Calm Starlight…it's not the Curse of Ra." Grandpa said calmly but sternly. I took several deep breaths while I looked down at my arm.
"What…is it?" I asked hesitantly.
"Adaptation…" Grandpa said mysteriously then touched my farm crystal. "…Bo said ya had a serious case of mana overload…ya let the mana damaged yer mana storage organ didn't ya?"
"I did…" I confirmed.
"Then ya modified it to increase the size."
"I added a shell around it that stretches. It contained the excess mana then my overload stopped." I admitted. Grandpa Seamus groaned then closed his eyes. He muttered something under his breath then opened his eyes and let go of my arm.
"Starlight, splicers are born with a certain mana capacity that is unchangeable...supposedly. That has been the one rule that has been broken by any splicer…until you…" Grandpa Seamus started then poked one of the new crystal growths on my arm. "…the extra mana in yer body flowed through yer mana veins and crystallized them. Bringing 'em to the skin, it started this three days ago and stopped yesterday."
I looked down at my arm and the new crystals spiraling around my hand and forearm. All of the new crystal were the same size as my mana veins and flowed up my arm in winding patterns before they disappeared just before my elbow. When looked at together with my farm crystal it looked like I had a shooting star on my arm, especially with the faint pulsating glow that traveled from the farm crystal and down the crystal veins.
"Looking at it with a calmer head…it looks pretty cool." I said, more to myself than my grandpa. After admiring my arm for a few more moments I looked back at my Grandpa Seamus with a serious expression. "There's something else you need to tell me, isn't it?"
"The King's Glaive was damaged by that infected woman's attack. However she drained the blasted train's mana did sumthin' ta the system." Grandpa said. I groaned and slapped my forehead.
"Of course….!"
"Couldn't do anything ta fix it while you were out cold. The train's bound ta yer genetic code." Grandpa Seamus explained.
"Then how were you able to do all these modifications to the train?" I asked.
"Adding new train cars and modifying a system 're one thing laddie. Rebooting a system is another." Grandpa Seamus replied.
"That doesn't answer my question…not really…" I said but shook my head then swung my feet over the edge of the bed. "…so we need to do a full system reset to get the King's Glaive moving again. Let's get this over with."
"Before we do that Starlight there's something ya need ta see."
***
"Starlight! Put the chicken leg down and c'mon!" Grandpa Seamus snapped as he looked down at me from the second floor of the kitchen car. I froze mid-chew, turned to look up at my Grandpa and swallowed.
"But I'm starving!" I whined. Grandpa sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"One plate! Then hurry up 'ere this is important!" Grandpa said sternly.
I didn't argue with him and piled a bunch of food the chefs made for lunch onto my plate then hurried up to the stairs to the second floor. When I reached the second floor I found grandpa waiting for in front of one of the walk in cooling rooms.
"Zhat's you want to schlow me in there?" I asked while chewing on a piece of brisket.
"Starlight….chew with your mouth closed." Grandpa Seamus chided. I swallowed then smiled sheepishly at my grandfather.
"Sorry…"
"After you and Bo killed the infected woman Jane had 'er corpse placed in here. The lass wants it to be studied when we get back ta Andromeda." Grandpa Seamus explained. I scowled then turned to look at cooling rooms.
"So that woman is in there?" I asked. Grandpa nodded and held a hand up to stop me from rushing inside.
"Her corpse is being watched by two yer evos." He said. I frowned then took another piece of brisket and bit into it while mentally checking on all my evos through the shared mental connection.
Jiggles and Grimm-Guard were back at Andromeda for security and to because of their responsibilities. Bone-lasher, Alpa'Nagia, Bahamut, Mzazzi and that Rune hound were inside my farm crystal. The only two that weren't accounted for were Bellial and Empress, though I could sense they were inside the cooling unit.
"Chase…you need to see what yer trying to stop…truly see the horrors of the plague…" Grandpa Seamus said then turned and opened the cooling unit door. A wave of frost and mist pour out of the room and Grandpa waved me inside. I swallowed the rest of my brisket and stepped inside.
The cooling unit room was larger than one would think. In the center of it sat a metal table with the corpse of the woman laid down on it. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her head placed beside her body, her eyes closed as a sign of respect. There were two other people in the room, it took me a second to recognize Alberto and Astrid fussing over the corpse. At the back of the room Bellial stood watch. His new humanoid form taking up less space than his transcended one but he still had to crouch slightly to avoid hitting his head, his wings tucked into recesses in his back.
"My lord! You've awakened!" Empress exclaimed as I walked inside. Alberto and Astrid both turned at Empress words. I stopped and looked around the small room, her new form was unmistakable and would have taken up considerably space.
"Ummm…am I hearing things? I thought I just heard Empress…?" I muttered.
"You're not hearing any voices. Empress is here." Astrid said then moved her hair out of the way to reveal a miniature version of Empress perched on her shoulder.
"YOU'RE TINY!" I yelled. Empress bowed respectfully then flew over to me and landed on my shoulder.
"Tis a boon granted to me by you my Lord. My glorious evolution granted me access to new mana attributes. I know not the name of the one I am using now but it allows me to change aspects of my physical form." Empress explained. She extended an crystallized wing and trilled lightly. "However considering this is a form granted to me by you my lord, I cannot imagine a way to improve on perfection so I simply use it to change my size to better fit the situation."
"Well that's handy…and explains what I saw on the battlefield…" I said then reached up and petted Empress on the head. I turned my allies to Astrid and Alberto then frowned. "What are you two doing here?"
"Well that's a fine way to greet someone who's been working the entire time you've been unconscious, Master Kingston." Alberto teased. I rolled my eyes then grabbed another piece of brisket off my plate and quickly ate it.
"Well excuse me for taking some time to get my beauty sleep after killing an enemy capable of fighting multiple true transcended evos and transcended evos at once." I grumbled sarcastically.
"We're conducting an examination of the remains, Chase." Astrid said then turned to look at the woman. "Well an visual examination at least. Since the woman was infected with the Curse of Ra we don't know if it's safe for humans to touch her."
"Then how did she get here?" I asked.
"I carried her corpse here Savior." Bellial spoke up. "It is why I did not return to your crystal, my savior. I did not wish to risk exposing you to the plague of possible."
"A little late for that Bell, I touched the woman during the fight several times. What's more I absorbed a lot of her mana…" I said.
"Ye don't have ta worry about the plague Starlight. You and the plague are intertwined. Ya can't be infected with it and you can't spread it. Yer evos were created an' modified using yer mana so they have immunity as well." Grandpa Seamus spoke up.
"Lucky you…" Alberto grumbled.
I walked over to the table and looked down at the woman. During the battle I hadn't really paid attention to her appearance, being more focused on keeping myself and Bo alive. She was of African descent, probably from one of the desert nomad tribes that roamed the Sahara if her clothing was any indication. She was young, a few years older than me if I was to guess.
Her body was covered in scars from blisters and boils resulting from the plagues earlier stages. There was a particularly bad one near her collar bone that must of hurt like hell when she was still alive. I steeled myself then looked at the woman's face, her eyes and nose were covered by a dark black crystal. It was a singular piece of crystal that looked more like a visor than a mutation caused by a plague.
"The crystal gives off the same feeling as your farm crystal, My lord." Empress said suddenly.
"That's because it is a farm crystal." I told her then looked at my Grandpa Seamus. "Am I right, Grandpa?"
"Aye…almost. Alike but different. That woman became a different kind of magic user than ye'." Grandpa replied.
"Different kind of magic user…" I muttered then glanced down at the woman. "…Not a splicer tied to the flesh arch-element. Her mana only had dark element, nothing else…which is tied to the space arch-element. A spacian…"
"Spacian…?" Astrid mused. Alberto nodded slowly while scratching his chin.
"Spacian…sounds better than infected people." He said. I turned to Alberto and Astrid then placed a hand on both their shoulders. I channeled mana into their bodies, siphoning some of their own before replacing it with my mana.
"Since I can't catch the plague; according to Grandpa Seamus; having some of my mana cycled into you should act as an inoculation." I explained when both of them shot me confused looks. They both accepted this answer easily.
"Ya don't have ta worry about me catching nothin' Starlight. I'm from one of the three villages, so I have immunity as well." Grandpa spoke up.
"Well that's a relief." I said then spared the spacian woman another glance before turning to walk out of the cooling unit room. "Then let's go and fix the King's Glaive."