Chapter 7

  The sword is the soul of the samurai

  -Bushido proverb

  “Didn’t Healer Iyasha tell you to rest today, little brother?” The voice of my sister, úna, said from the dojo’s entrance. “Went to your rooms to check on you and had to track you down.”

  As I stood from my bow to Lorcan, I spun to face the door and gave another bow. “Sister,” I said, and when I spoke, I realized I genuinely thought of her as my sister, not Dean’s sister. His memories felt entirely mine, now indistinguishable from my own. I had an unanswerable number of questions about this and no one to ask. For the moment, I resolved to be Dean to the best of my ability, not for my sake, but to spare others the grief of loss. A grief I still felt down to the center of my being, a pain no one should ever have to endure.

  She stepped onto the polished wood dojo floor and bowed to the center, front, and Sensei-Lorcan. “Your status looks better, only a few lines still scrambled,” she said. “You pushed all your stats up by one and gained the sword skill. I saw that last run through the katas. That’s the best you’ve ever executed them. Excellent work. We’ll have you back to your old baseline in a few days if you can keep this up, little brother.”

  Sensei-Lorcan stepped close and put his hands on either side of my face, moved my head around, and I felt him use some inspection power on me.

  “Everything looks intact. Those status lines will clear up in a few days, I’m sure,” he said.

  My sister handed me a small, ornate wooden box inlaid with cherry blossoms and what I would have called a Celtic cross. My interface tagged the emblem at the same time my combined memories kicked up a name.

  Shan’torii- just roll with it, gremlin. SHAHN-tor-ee. The ancient gate has adorned the arms and armor of the Oketani for ten thousand spins of the Crown. Wear it with pride and do not dishonor your ancestors.

  “The injuries you sustained,” she said, “corrupted your status and the System reset you. Mom thinks that you’ll recover your stats with some work, and you’ve proven her right on that, but your aspects won’t have survived.”

  Sensei-Lorcan released my face from his grip. “I concur. I’ve seen this kind of thing before, if rarely. Those who somehow survive a catastrophic injury like yours, with extensive damage to the head, end up right where you are, Dean. It’s rare, and most don’t survive. You owe Fergus a debt for his unexpectedly successful battlefield healing.”

  “Yes, Sensei.”

  I flipped the lid of the box open examined the contents. Three gently glowing crystals sat on a black velvet cushion. Three basic aspects, one for each stat.

  Stamina(body)- a basic stamina aspect. It increases your stamina, gremlin.

  Perception(mind)- a basic perception aspect. This one in fun, gremlin. It increases your awareness of things around you. The most sought-after basic aspect for good reason.

  Willpower(soul)- a less common aspect, but no less valuable. It strengthens your will, makes you less likely to fail, and gives you the determination to carry on.

  “Thank you, úna,” I said and closed the box. “I’ll slot them in tonight.”

  She ruffled my perpetually messy hair. “We’ll get you fixed up and back to breaking hearts in no time. I have more for you, but you will want to go slow with adding them. Healer Iyasha says one per stat and he’ll need to check you over before you add more. Might cause some memory conflict problems if you go too fast. I see the question in your eyes and no, I don’t know what that means either.”

  Sensei-Lorcan half turned to leave. “It means do what the healer said to do, my student. Slot those three and report back to me at Shieldfall tomorrow.”

  My memory provided an image of the nighttime sky, the three inner rings thin strips across the heavens against a backdrop of stars, slowly fading as the light of Aurelium increased in intensity. Shieldfall is dawn on the rings of the Crown. Shieldrise is the onset of night when an energy shield selectively filters out the light of Aurelium, dimming her luminescence down to the level of a full moon on Earth.

  “Yes, Sensei,” I said and bowed. He turned and walked away further into the dojo.

  My sister grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the exit. “You will eat more and sleep at least eight hours tonight. That’s an order. Cook gave me a tray for you. It has at least five pounds of food on it.”

  When we made it to the hallway, she removed the tray from inventory and passed it over to me. “I’ll be there in the morning, too. Sensei favors you, so I need to make sure he doesn’t go easy on you,” she said. Her eyes narrowed and looked through me again. “Hopefully your status clears up all the way. I’ll see you at Shieldfall, little brother.”

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  I watched her walk away for a few seconds and felt genuine affection for her suffuse my being. I’d never had a sister on Earth.

  It had been some time since I was a teenager, and even when I was, I don’t remember ever being able to eat five pounds of food in a single sitting. I’d just done it, though, and felt like I could chase it with another full plate or two. At a guess, magical healing and my new potentially superhuman physiology had to get energy from somewhere. Food seemed an obvious source.

  I put the empty food tray into my inventory, moved to the spot in the middle of the room I’d used to meditate earlier, and pulled myself down to a seated position. I opened the ornate wooden box and placed it on the floor in front of me. Memory suggested the use of an aspect was a simple matter, just pick it up and accept the prompt that would appear in your interface, enjoy your new superhuman power.

  I picked up the stamina aspect stone and held it in an open palm in front of me. The gem felt cool in my hand and gave off a faint golden light. A single small gold thread shot from my chest and into the gem.

  Use aspect (Stamina) Y/N

  I selected yes.

  Apotheon activated!

  A half dozen more small golden threads spun out from my hand and wrapped around the gem obscuring it from view. A few seconds later the threads retreated into my hand. In my palm now rested a black gemstone that pulled at my vision when I looked directly at it.

  Use aspect (Aetherbound Stamina) Y/N

  I selected yes, again. The small stone, lifted by golden threads, rose above my palm and turned into a mist of golden light. Following my close to fully integrated memories, I breathed in deeply. When the small cloud of light drew near, my eyes focused more clearly and revealed what looked like tiny flecks of glowing glitter. A gentle warmth suffused my entire body, comforting and energizing. The intensity ramped up quickly and stopped short of being uncomfortable, then faded slowly. When the warmth dissipated, I felt as if I could run a marathon or climb a mountain. At the same time.

  Aetherbound Stamina- I don’t hate you, gremlin, but by the time I’m done you will think I do. Aetherbound Stamina grants increased stamina, health regeneration, and increased mana regeneration that scale with your Body. You may upgrade this aspect by feeding it other stamina-based aspects.

  The golden threads leapt from my hand and took ahold of the other two aspects still in the box. I tried to stand and move away, but my body wouldn’t obey my will. The stones, like the stamina aspect, burst into small clouds of gold glitter and rushed into my body when I inhaled.

  Use aspect (perception) Y/N

  Use aspect (willpower) Y/N

  I heard a short giggle in my head. It definitely wasn’t my giggle. Then came a faint whisper, “Yes, and yes, obviously.”

  Apotheon activated!

  Apotheon activated!

  Use aspect (Divine Lens) Y/N

  Use aspect (Soul Aegis) Y/N

  The whisper came with the sound of an angry keystroke this time. “Yes, and yes.”

  Divine Lens- a perception aspect that enhances all your senses and grants superior spatial awareness. It improves your focus, reaction time, and precision. This aspect will synergize well with Logos. They say ignorance is bliss, gremlin. With this aspect, you will forever be denied that escape. Upgradable.

  Soul Aegis- I almost feel bad for you, gremlin. Almost. Pain is supposed to be a warning to stop, a chance to re-evaluate your actions and learn. With this aspect, you will resist pain, fatigue, and gain resistance to fear effects, charm effects, and coercion effects. You gain passive resistance to soul damage and effects that attempt to suppress your soul. You recover quickly from stress, shock, and trauma. This aspect practically guarantees you will experience all three in greater than normal volume and frequency. Sucks to be you, gremlin. Upgradable.

  Control of my body returned, and the comforting warmth of the first aspect stone returned and ramped up to real pain. I felt my new enhanced aspect blunt it and understood the warning taunt in the notification. This power would allow me to endure through severe damage, and if the effect became more pronounced as it upgraded it could have unfortunate consequences.

  In the next instant, all my senses flooded my awareness. The light in the room flared, my skin felt every point of contact with my clothes and the floor where I sat, I felt the very slight air movement in my rooms, my nose told let me know that someone in the kitchen below just filled a sink with hot soapy water. My nose also told me I should shower before I slept tonight. I heard a dozen people walking in the hallways above and below my third-floor rooms. I heard conversations through the walls, heard the couple above my rooms doing the things young couples usually do. I breathed in through my mouth and tasted the air. Hints of my dinner lingered in the otherwise clean and crisp air.

  I adjusted my position on the floor and drew in a series of slow, focusing breaths. I pulled my senses inward, and they obeyed easily. My memory knew how to adapt and control a newly slotted aspect. Dean had a full set of five for each stat before his marn incident and thought himself more proficient than the typical noob with aspects.

  Between one breath and the next, my mind latched onto the control process and a burst of information expanded through my awareness.

  Logos activated- you gain insight.

  New knowledge about aspects, how to combine them, how to upgrade the ones I had, and about the best possible combinations to obtain specific meta powers, filled my head to overflowing. I felt Soul Aegis protect me from the backlash and spent the next thirty minutes meditating and doing my best to absorb the information.

  When I had it mostly under control, I stumbled to my feet and sort of walked, sort of fell towards the bathroom and a hot shower. A few minutes later, my face found my pillow, and I heard a distant feminine giggle before I dropped into a deep sleep.