Chapter 53 - Oh, You’re Back

  Alex blinks, taken aback at Corvus’s intensity. “I don’t… I…” Alex stammers, mind going blank for a moment when put in the spotlight so suddenly. Not to mention his mind still trying to process what he’d just seen. “Give me a sec.” He needs time to think.

  Uril’raya shifts his position behind Alex, pulling his knees under him to sit a little taller so he can wrap his arms around Alex’s shoulders and rest his chin atop Alex’s head. “What’s got you so flustered, Lord Corvus?” He asks, his demeanor casual despite the use of formal address. The crow-demon doesn’t answer, his attention completely locked on Alex.

  The lesson had been intended to simply allow Alex to feel the skill’s activation and signature more clearly. The goal had been to give him stepping stones towards accessing the magical enhancement passively, rather than focused. Instead, something utterly unexpected had occurred. And Corvus is intent on finding out how it happened.

  Despite his apparent urgency, Corvus does give Alex time to collect himself. He doesn’t have to wait long, but every heartbeat feels like an age. When Alex does finally speak again, he has the full attention of both Corvus and Uril.

  Alex takes a deep breath and brings his hands up to rub his face. “OK, where to start. Um…” He leans his head back against Uril’s collarbone, thankful for the contact, and sighs softly. “I tried to do what you said, use the skill like I had been. So I focused it onto Hara.” He begins to describe what happened, the process of examining her, and then the realization that the skill was affecting his mind as well as the senses. Corvus’s attention never wavers through the explanation.

  “So when I noticed the mental effect, it’s like the perception-augmentation’s ‘target’ changed. I started doing what you said, tracing the energy, and then everything went weird.” He explains the moment everything inverted, the perspective change and suddenly being able to see the inside of his soul. “It took me a moment to figure out what I was seeing, but I’m pretty sure I was looking at my spirit, my will, and the framework for the skill.”

  When Alex pauses again to collect his thoughts and catch his breath, Corvus finally provides some commentary. “I believe you are correct. What you describe is similar to the interpretive metaphors used by the scholars who examine and study the inner workings of souls, abilities, and Animus. It is remarkable that you stumbled onto this method of self-examination.” Corvus sits back, still watching Alex, but some of the intensity has bled away.

  Alex nods. “That isn’t the weirdest part though.” Alex says, picking up the thread again. “Right in the middle of the skill, there was like…” He pauses, searching for the right word. “It was like a whirlpool sucking in the energy from my spirit. And when I looked into it, it was like looking into my soul again, from already inside my soul.” He snaps his fingers as he finds the word. “Recursive! It was like a recursive loop.”

  He wraps up his explanation by describing the ‘hollow’ portion in his spirit, and the way he’d ended the skill’s spell. As his voice falls quiet, the only other sound in the room is Hara’s muffled snoring. Corvus rubs at his beak, examining Alex thoughtfully. And through it all, Uril had remained quietly supporting Alex.

  “How long was I in there?” Alex asks after a few moments, looking between Corvus and Uril. “Felt like hours.”

  Uril chuckles. “Oh, it was about five or six…” he trails off, mischievously allowing Alex to fear the worst before relenting, “...minutes.” Alex huffs and gives Uril a poke in the ribs for the trouble, but then both laugh softly and settle in again.

  “Was it really that short?” Alex asks, getting comfortable once more. Seeing Corvus nod to confirm what Uril had said, Alex hums to himself. “So the mental processing boost from perception-augmentation is really impressive then.” He tucks that detail away for later, confident that it would be very useful at some point.

  Corvus taps the side of his beak, then sits forward again. “Do you believe you would be able to engage the skill in that manner again?” He asks, tipping his head to the side to regard Alex with one eye.

  “Probably, I think.” Alex answers, then testingly reaches for the power again. But his face blanches and he starts to tremble. To his shock and horror, his spirit doesn’t respond. His will, his intent, can’t stoke the flame to action again, resisting his efforts. “I… I can’t… It won’t…” His voice comes out weak and wavering as a wave of exhaustion slams into him, the backlash finally catching up.

  Uril lets out a startled sound, catching Alex as he collapses against Uril’s chest. “Hey, whoa, are you ok?” He asks, holding Alex up so the human doesn’t completely fall over. He gives Alex a little shake. “Alex? Alex, what’s wrong?” The concern is etched onto the goat’s face as he looks up from Alex to where Corvus is still calmly watching.

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  “He will be fine. Lay him down for the moment.” Corvus instructs, waiting for Uril’raya to ease Alex down to lay out on the plush cushions. “The act of turning the skill inwards on himself simply caused a more substantial energy draw than Alex is accustomed to. He will recover with a bit of rest.” The crow says, attempting to reassure the fretful incubus.

  Uril props a pillow under Alex’s head. His friend… no, his boyfriend, the thought makes him smile softly… isn’t quite unconscious. Alex’s eyes are open but unfocused, drifting around the room aimlessly, and his lips twitch as if trying to say something. Corvus doesn’t seem worried, and that somewhat mollifies Uril’s own concern.

  He’d heard of spirit-backlash before, but had never seen it. Animus fueled souls would never need to worry about it, and he’d never seen another Faded use their spirit enough to even get close to that limit. Seeing it happen so suddenly to Alex was enough to cause Uril to fear losing the precious connection he’d just found.

  Prime Corvus had paused mid-word in his conversation with Gravitas. And the Apex succubus doesn’t like feeling ignored. “Corvus! Cooooooorvus…” She says with her voice lilting into a sing-song tone, waving her hands in front of the Carrion Lord’s black-beaked face. She huffs indignantly, scowling at Corvus’s statue-still form. She’d done everything shy of actually touching him, or telepathically shouting at him, and nothing had caused him to do so much as blink.

  As soon as Alex had pulled inwards with the skill, his entire focus had been directed solely through the splinter. The boy had stumbled across a use of the skill that usually only the spell-wrights take the effort to learn. Even Corvus himself had never made the effort to do so, there simply had never been a need. And yet Alex’s explanation of how he achieved the feat was so simplistic as to be absurd. It worked, regardless.

  With Alex settled and resting, Corvus’s attention is able to relax a bit. Alex is in good care with Uril’raya, and there is nothing more to be done at the current moment. That’s when he becomes vaguely aware of a nattering drone and shifts his attention back to his prime self.

  “..ergrown chicken! Tar-Dipped Pidgeon! You insufferable feathered fuuuu… Oh, you’re back!” Gravitas exclaims, immediately pivoting from her vulgarity-laden tirade and plastering a smile across her face. “What the hell was that about?” She asks, propping her hands on her hips.

  The only reproach for her behavior that Corvus deems necessary is a long-suffering sigh. But that acknowledgement is enough for Gravitas to count it as a victory. “Come on, spill! What grabbed your attention hard enough to pull you away from me?” She needles at him, then uses her brain rather than her mouth for a change. “Wait, did something happen to our boys?”

  Corvus nods. “In a sense, yes.” He informs her, but withholds explaining further just long enough to see the corner of her eye start to twitch as she gears up for another verbal barrage. “I had attempted to coach Alex on how to better utilize the perception-augmentation spell. It is one that fits his nature particularly well. And while he may have failed to accomplish my intended lesson, he succeeded in performing something far more interesting.”

  “So they’re safe?” She asks, holding up a finger to interrupt for a moment. When Corvus nods, Gravitas subtly relaxes. “Ok, go on.” She says, leaning in to listen.

  Even the mounting danger of the bomb just beyond their tunnel’s mouth seems to lose its appeal as Corvus recounts the event. Gravitas listens with rapt attention, hungry for any clue to help her explain why her Title insisted she be involved with the kid. When Corvus describes how Alex had twisted the ability inwards, her eyes go wide.

  Only after Corvus falls silent again does she speak. “So he’s been strengthening his spirit by pushing himself way past normal Faded limits, and then still manages to catch the backlash of triggering a spell-function that costs more than his spirit can normally give.” She shakes her head, she knows Corvus isn’t lying because that’s something The Carrion Lord just doesn’t do. All the same, it’s nearly unbelievable.

  “That does appear to be the case.” Corvus answers dryly. “But tell me, Gravitas, why are you so interested in my charge?” There’s no reproach in his tone, no suspicion or threat. Just a wry curiosity.

  Letting the mask slip for a moment, Gravitas sighs softly and shrugs. “I don’t know. My Title urged me to do something, and seemed satisfied when I aimed Uril in your boy’s direction. You of all people understand the pull our Titles can have, particularly mine. A compass that always points towards influence for me. I honestly don’t know why he’s important, but something about him is.” She shrugs again, slipping back into her carefully curated socialite facade. “Why else would I be hanging around with a dusty old bird?”

  Corvus lets a soft cawing chuckle slip from his beak. “For the briefest of instants, I had feared that you were slipping into sentimentality.” He teases her back just a bit with a smile in his eyes. “As long as you are not attempting to interfere with his potential growth, I see no reason to dissuade you from playing your games.” Corvus cocks his head thoughtfully, then adds, “Your particular brand of influence-seeking might actually prove to be mutually beneficial."

  Snorting at the joke, Gravitas offers The Carrion Lord her hand, which he takes. “As long as this fool,” she thumbs over her shoulder with her free hand, “doesn’t wipe away all the territories around New Europa when his bomb goes off.”

  Corvus rubs his thumb over the back of Gravitas’s hand. “He is no fool. The Cultivator calculated all of this, and over-engineered everything far beyond any common chance of failure.” Then Corvus’s eyes narrow as a thought occurs to him. A moment of internal contemplation settles his mind. His ‘The Guide’ Title offers no resistance to the idea, so he pushes forwards.

  “Partner with me on this. While he is hardly unique within the grand scope of Hell, I feel that Alex is poised to do great things. I can not offer him direct aid due to the nature of my Deal with him, but nothing is preventing me from acting indirectly for his benefit.” He begins to explain, watching as Gravitas’s lips quirk up into a subtle smirk. “Let us work together and see where his path leads.”