Wings and Symbols

Doctor speaking. Hello, everybody.

Kai and Royce are both doing fine. Can't say the same for Kareena. I've never heard of this Valravn thing before, but it's something I need to look into. I asked HELLFIRE about it. He told me he wasn't familiar with it, then accused me of being Fearist for assuming he knew all the other Fears just because he's a Fear. I can't tell if he's joking or not...

As for Kai's book, I've been studying it. It seems to trust me enough that it doesn't teleport back to Kai when I have it. I say "trust" because the odds of this thing being sentient in some way shape or form isn't off the table. What's more, Kai has noted it's started showing English writing recently, which implies it might be learning.

As for the teleporting, I'm still not sure how that works. I suspect the book may be able to access the God's Way somehow, but I currently have no way to properly test that theory.

It wouldn't show me anything at first, So I had Kai draw what it was showing him so I could study it myself. We were doing so last night. It was just me, Kai, and Kallaway at the time. Royce was off somewhere with Paris, doing something or other around the base.

Oh, yeah, Kallaway's holding up fine. He's still sore from his fight with the Biker, but he'll recover just fine. It'll take a while though. Descendant's heal at a pretty normal rate, unless they resort to literal cannibalism (don't ask). I've already removed the stitches on his face, and that wound is definitely gonna leave a scar. But it'll probably look pretty good on him.

Anyway, I was looking over the book, while Kai wrote some stuff down, when Elie entered the room.

"Hey guys," he said, holding up a case of beer. "I brought booze."

"My man!" I replied. "Hook me up."

He tossed me a beer, and offered one to Kallaway, who refused.

"Sorry," , Kallaway said. "Painkillers."

"Right," Elie said, cracking one open for himself and turning to Kai. "I'd offer you one, but you're like, twelve."

"No I'm not," Kai replied, a little annoyed.

"Still can't read the book?" Elie asked me.

"Not yet," I said. "Though, there is one party trick I haven't tried out yet..."

"Really?" Kai asked, curious.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. Kai gasped shortly after.

"Your hair!" he remarked.

"Oh," I said, opening one of my eyes. "That's not the only thing that's changed."

"Whoa," Kai said, taking in the sudden shift in my appearance.

Using the Black Dog's power, as with some of my other powers, results in some physical changes. In this case, my hair turns jet black and my irises turn red. I turned my attention back to the book.

"Ah!" I said. "It's working a little bit."

"You mean you can see what's in it?" Kai asked.

"Not all of it," I said. "It's still keeping some stuff hidden."

"How can you tell?" Kai inquired.

"The way this power works," I explained. "It's like an optical lie detector. I can see through lies and deceptions, pick up on secrets, and tell when somethings being hidden from me. And this book is definitely hiding more stuff from me."

"That's pretty useful," Kai said. "Why don't you just have that power active all the time?"

I gestured to my eyes and hair.

"Too noticeable," I pointed out.

"There's also the fact that he seems to only be able to keep one power active at a time," Kallaway added. "And he's in a near-constant state of using the Newborn's power."

I turned my attention away from the book to glare at him.

"How long have you known?" I asked.

"Ever since the incident with Tyler," He replied. "As you described it back then, using it grants you "enhanced understanding of both technology and anatomy'."

He then shot me a smirk, which seemed to agitate his facial wound, as he winced immediately after.

"'And a certain level of control over both'," He finished. "I saw some of that when we first met. When you were taking on all those Timberwolves, your fighting style focused of redirecting their attacks to hit each other."

I continued glaring at him.

"We also have some of your engineering feats," he said, gesturing to my Extractor. "I'm not trying to imply you aren't a genius. You absolutely are, or else you couldn't have constructed your old Extractor in the first place. But I think you've had a bit of help ever since gaining your first power."

"You are... annoyingly observant," I said.

"Well, whose fault is it that I have super-vision?" He asked, repeating his smirk/wince from earlier.

"Whatever," I said, sliding the book back to Kai. "I'm done with this for now. Elie, any updates on your end."

"I've been looking into this 'Valravn" character, but I haven't dug up much," Elie replied. "If we could interact with one of these followers of her, or at least get a sample to Extract from, me could make a lot more progress. But for now, I gotta apologize."

"Um..." Kai said.

"What's up?" I asked.

"A sample...," He muttered, rummaging in his bag for a moment. "...Too Extract from..."

That got my attention.

"You have something?" I asked.

He produced a single black feather.

"Would this work?" He asked, handing it to me.

I could definitely feel Eldritch energy coming from it. A new energy. One I didn't have yet. I felt a rush flow through me.

"It sure will," I said with a grin, as my hair and eyes returned to normal.

Kallaway leaned over to Elie and whispered, within earshot, "He totally just switched back to the Newborn power."

"Kallaway!" I snapped. "There is a sword concealed inside my cane, and we've just established that I can fuck with my opponent's movements! So would you kindly shut it!"

He gave me another smirk/wince and made a lip-zipping gesture.

I brought the feather over to my Extractor and placed it inside, went through the whole rigmarole of Extracting the energy, and raised charged Cell up to examine.

"Well, this is interesting," I said.

The energy within resembled a black, kind of foggy lightning, that seemed to be rotating in several directions in some kind of odd pattern I couldn't quite figure out at the time.

"I suspected that this Valravn might have a relation or connection to the Convocation, but the energy here has properties similar to the energy I've Extracted from both the Convocation and the Archangel," I explained. "But it also has its own unique factors to it that I'll need to examine further. I don't know what exactly Valravn is or where she came from, but I think it's safe say that she is her own Fear."

"So will studying it be able to help us save Kareena?" Kai asked.

"I can't say for certain," I replied. "Studying energy doesn't always turn up anything useful. Running tests on it might help a bit, but there's a bit more of a risk factor involved. I'll do what I can with what I've got, but you'll need to be patient and keep your expectations low."

"Okay...," kai replied, seeming a little dejected.

"In the meantime," I said, after giving them a few moments to themselves. "There is one thing I can definitively gain from this."

"What is it?" Kai inquired.

I retrieved my Vambrace and equipped it.

"A new power," I said, plugging in the Cell.

I turned it on, and felt the energy flow into my body.

"All right," I said. "One more to the collection. And still energy left over to study. Now, to see what this can do."

I gave the new power a try, and felt a great deal of power suddenly surging from my shoulder blades. I glanced over my shoulder to see a very large (I estimate about 7 feet long if fully extended, haven't actually measured) wing. It was pitch black, semi-translucent, and seemed to be composed of a shadowy mist, with a feathery texture to it. I checked my other side to confirm that there was a second wing there. I ran my hand along it, and my fingers were able to pass through it, with some resistance.

"Semi-corporeal," I noted. "Stand back."

Everyone retreated a bit, and I gave them both a good flap. A wave of black mist rushed out from the wings as I did, knocking everyone over and scattering some loose stuff I had lying around. Kallaway groaned in pain, and flipped me the bird as he pulled himself to his feet.

I stood in awe. These wings, despite not being fully tangible, had some serious flapping power behind them.

"I... I need to test something out real quick...," I said, letting my cane fall to the ground and teleporting outside.

I turned my gaze up to the sky. The sun had set. There was no traffic. No one out on the streets.

No one to see.

I tensed myself for a moment, before teleporting myself directly upwards, above the cloud-line.

I began to plummet downwards. As I did, I shifted my body so that I was facing the oncoming ground, and straightened myself to increase my downward acceleration. I could feel my momentum pick up as my body rapidly approached the Earth.

I then spread my wings and pulled my body upwards, shifting my direction. My momentum curved forward rather than straight down. I was soon flying in a straight line, rather than plummeting straight to the ground.

The adrenaline hit me like a fucking Nitrogen bomb.

There's no possible way I can put that feeling into words. For so long, I've required a cane to walk from place to place. Suddenly I was flying through the night sky. The most I got out of using the Intrusion's power to grow wings was a slight hover above a ground and a slightly lower decent. This was...

I've been around Eldritch bullshit for years, but this is the closest thing to magic I've ever experienced.

I must have spent at least an hour in the sky. Testing this out. Experimenting with different wing angles, trying out updrafts, how hard to flap my wings to get specific amounts of lift, when best to pull out of a dive, and all-in-all, just having the time of my fucking life.

Eventually, I returned to the base, where everyone was just standing outside, watching me have my fun while drinking. At that point, I had burned through my adrenaline, so I retrieved my cane, grabbed a few beers to go, wished them all goodnight, and headed to my room.

I fucking love these wings...