Augmented Aspects: Interlude VIII (Patreon)

Interlude VIII

(Trenton)

“I have an awakened Legendary Bloodline, meaning I have merits and flaws from both the Royal Bloodline and the Legendary Bloodline active within me, and trust me when I say this. Had I known what I was getting into before I joined, I would have abstained from this life of torture.” The voice of an obsidian black eyed Trenton Spiritlight was quoted as saying to investigative reports.

The reporter, wearing an old tweed suit and jacket that had been stripped of most mechanical devices due to their ability to corrode and disintegrate slowly when next to one of the Legendary Spiritlight bloodline holders. To help show this activity, a mechanical metronome on a table nearby can be seen slowly corroding away, but only at the fulcrum where the movement of the perpetual pendulum is observed.

“Before we get into your bloodline. Let me hear more about you? I hear you went for the purely hedonistic package, the Extreme Endowment, the Natural Lover, the Overwhelming Attractiveness and others were what you purchased to help make your transition into this world as easy as possible.”

“Yes.” Trenton said, not giving much else in the way of an answer.

“Can I ask why?”

“Because sex is awesome.” Trenton said, a slight smile coming to his face, revealing pearl white teeth that made Trenton look more like a shark out of water than an elf smiling.

“Right, moving on.” The reporter said, clearly getting creeped out by Trenton’s appearance. With that, he went onto his next line of questions, “can you tell us about your racial flaws?”

Scoff.

“For the price you paid for this interview, I will show you the flaws.” Trenton said, then with a quick motion he opted to display his flaws publicly.

Racial Flaw (Royal):   Magical Beacon: You are easy to notice by sensitives and true   practitioners of magic. Minus 20% to Stealth and Evasion type skills when   being actively sought by a magical practitioner.

Racial Flaw   (Royal): Magical Eyes: Your eyes are the true gateway to   your soul. With this flaw people can see what type of a monster you truly   are. Current Status: Obsidian Black (a True Hedonist).

Racial Flaw   (Royal): Children of a Magical Destiny: You and those of   your lineage will be able to awaken, or enhance, the magical potential in   those you meet (Maximum of Tier II).

Racial Flaw   (Legendary): Third Eye: You have manifested the power of Angel’s   Sight, and at this level of evolution have unlocked the legendary third   eye. No eye lashes or eyebrows, just a closed scar in the middle of your   forehead, then an eye. Note: If your rating in Angel’s Sight is Tier V   or below, you can use the third eye to see normally. If your rating in Angel's   Sight is Tier VI or above, you will need to use the third eye to take   advantage of your enhanced vision.

Racial Flaw   (Legendary): Magical Soul Aura: Your body, mind, and soul exist in   a state of heightened magical synchronization, a fact that is represented in   the aura you emit to others. Note: This aura, and its perceived   effects are directly linked to the Magical Eyes flaw observed with the Royal   Bloodline awakening.

Racial Flaw (Legendary):   Destructive Magical Presence: Your mere existence is enough to   slowly degrade basic tier mechanical devices and has a half-life rating   against intermediate tier level devices. Note: This is exactly the   same expected wear and tear that a mechanical device would receive while   inside an elemental realm of power.

“You can see that can’t you?” Trenton asks, a note of confusion in his voice, as he adds. “See, I am blind, all except in my third eye, but I refuse to reveal that one.”

“Are you afraid of the stigma associated with having three eyes?” The reporter asked.

“Wouldn’t you?” Trenton asked, his hands twitching as he was clearly coming down from whatever opioid he had been on before the meeting. “Besides, I have what is called double vision if I open my third eye. The whole world goes topsy-turvy, when I open my real eye, as such I am met with this muted black and white ghost vision.”

“Ghost vision, can you please explain?”

“Yes, I have as you can tell by the bloodline ‘Merit,’ of Angel’s Sight, but all it does is make it so my main eyes are effectively the blackened husks you see before you. Which lets me see everything around me in a limited ten-meter radius.”

“Everything?”

“Everything, though it all looks like I am dealing with ghosts. Honestly, this world is the worst thing that has ever happened to me.” Trenton said, clearly at a loss for his current status. Then pausing for a half second Trenton continued, “smoking helps hide the sights, making it so I have to rely on my touch, but that never lasts long.”

With that the reporter visibly perked up, realizing there was another thread to pull along.

“Now, I hear you have been with many women, all of whom wish to birth a child with you who might inherit either the awakened royal blood, or the Legendary bloodline of your race?”

“Yeah, but they are all ghosts.” Trenton says, his hands trembling as he was clearly distressed by the images that were coming to his mind, as he attempted to remember the past. “Despite how they look on the outside, they are just ghostly shells of people. Imagine shadows with faint outlines of gray walking round, that is what people look like to me.”

An awkward pause filled the air as the reporter clearly tried to figure out a smooth segway to the next set of questions.

Tick-toook.

The clicking metronome slowly grinded to a halt, thus proving the effectiveness of Trenton’s bloodline flaw against simple machines. Seeing the machine, the reporter seemed to remember that there were some more questions that he had previously lined up, for just such an occasion.

“Now, I do hear that you have made quite the side hustle for being able to Awaken the magical abilities within others?” He asks, clearly drawing on straws trying to salvage what is left of this interview.

Trenton, just shivers, before collapsing back and giving a defeated answer. “Yeah, I can awaken the magical potential in others. Big friggin’ woo. Come to me ladies, let me fondle your ghostly bodies and you too will be able to cast Tier II magic. Money or the spice, that’s all it takes girls…”

By the end Trenton was clearly close to either passing out, vomiting, or both. Seeing the state of the subject, the reporter quickly got up, grabbing his broken metronome, or at least attempting to, before he shook his head and just left it there.

Then looking over his shoulder, the reporter looked to the other people who were gathered.

“You got all that right?” The reporter asked.

“Yeah, probably the lamest Legendary bloodline ever.” The large man in a pin striped suit said.

“Lame, but entirely necessary. With him, we can clearly make it so a perk of joining our guild is that everyone will at least be a Tier II magic user.” The reporter says, his calm façade slowly slipping away as the entrepreneur businessman in him came out.

“What should we do with him?” The large man in the pin striped suit asked.

“Throw him back into the dungeon. So long as he doesn’t realize he is being held prisoner, meaning so long as we keep him fed, and satiated, we can move our guild to newer and better heights.” The reporter said.

***

(BiPrism News Anchor)

There is a pause, as the scene showing Trenton Spiritlight being pulled away from camera slowly fades to black, revealing BiPrism’s primary news anchor front and center.

“Yes, there it is, the follow up to our special on some of the problems of Bloodlines. Here it is clear that the Spiritlgiht Bloodline while all but guaranteeing magical prowess might be more of a curse than a blessing to most.” The narrator began.

“Also, after hearing about the ability of Angel’s Sight, our team has done a full expose. Obviously, the ability for Cassiopeia to gain news happening from all over has been legendary, but we now have proof of just how legendary her abilities are.” There is a slight pause, as news anchor lets that sink in.

“For this story, we want to take you back to a few months ago. Just after Cassiopeia Spiritlight left the Arcanarus Tower, and first set out to the Legrand Empire.”

With that the scene behind the news anchor switches to show Cass hopping from location to location, and ultimately stopping a mile away from the Legrand Capitol building. Cass stood like a superhero waiting to enact justice, surveying the city from the top of a nearby skyscraper. There in the background was the setting sun that showed Cass brilliantly facing at a forty-five-degree angle away from the capital building. While she stood, two pearl white tears formed in her eyes, and then solidified and fell to the ground.

Clink, clink.

Cass stood there, at the top of the building her fists clenched tight, as pain washed over her face. Then after a second, she let out a breath and nodded to herself, before Teleporting away.

“Here we have what was referred to as at the time as the betrayal of tears. Where Cass after having heard of how the Legrand army decimated the Maltese faction, where both Gollum and Hector were listed as casualties, she stormed the Legrand Empire and looked like she was about to exact vengeance. At least that was what we thought at the time. As everything seemed to line up to that. I mean here we have the image of Cass clearly in the Legrand Capital, where the Capital Building can clearly be seen in the background.” With that, the image rewinds a few seconds, to just before Cass Teleported away.

“But notice the slight flaws with that logic. First, the Capital building is clearly to her right. Now we know that she is blind, but normally she does tend to face in the direction where her mind is focusing. Which was why our team went ahead and did a little digging. We did overlays of important people in Legrand at that time, the most prominent being her estranged son Trenton. At the time he was noted as being on the far edge of the capital, more than ten kilometers away, so that theory was clearly cut out.” The news anchor said, but then held up a hand to pause everyone from what they were thinking.

“I mean, at the time it made sense. She had heard her two childhood friends had passed away, while she was the only one who could have resurrected said friends came back too late to make a difference. This even went to the fact that not one tear, but two tears were shed. But this theory never made sense to us, for why would she go to Legrand of all places if she wished to resurrect her friends. So, we did some digging, and what we found might surprise you. Now this is all speculation at this point, but we did digital overlays.” With that the scene once again switched, showing an image of Trenton from far away, and in a “ghost” black and white silhouette vision at over ten kilometers away. Then that image overlayed with a ring around Cassiopeia, showing that if her range of vision was in fact ten kilometers, then based solely on the angle she was facing, she would be directly looking at her estranged son Trenton.

“We wanted to pose this to you. As poetic as the idea of tears being shed in a foreign land for two fallen comrades might be. What if Cassiopeia Spiritlight came to Legrand, only to find her son engaged in these activities.”

With that there was a direct time overlay where it showed Trenton surrounded by blurred out naked women, while he smoked from a giant opium filled hookah.

The two images lined up, as tears came to Cassiopeia’s face.

“What if the betrayal of tears were not shed for fallen comrades, but for something far more prophetic. What if they were shed for the loss of her son to opioids for a second time…” The narrator said, before the screen around him went entirely black.