Zero Potential: Chapter 31 (Patreon)

Chapter 31

“You mean my mother, Berrina Rose?” Terra asked, her words laced with a bit of curiosity, and confusion. In her past lives she had searched for words or reference to what happened to her family, only to always end up falling short of anything close to an explanation. Yet here she was able to find a clue, something that linked to her past and what really happened to her family. A family that had no graves, no plots, not even remains to be excavated, almost as if the two had never existed at all.

The Immortal that had been somewhat defiant a moment ago paused as recognition filled its face. The immortal stared at Terra and seemed to realize a few things were off from the Lady Rose he knew.

“Your hair, its brighter, and without your black streaks?” The Immortal said, staring at Terra in awe for a moment. Then holding his hands out, he began to rise up, slowly. As he rose like an uncoiling snake, he seemed to peer at different spots on Terra’s body and face, trying to find some level of deceit. Maybe a trace of illusion magic. Then he did something that Terra found incredibly creepy.

SNIFF!

The Immortal inhaled deeply, taking in the different scents of Terra. At first, he was confused by the different smells that were being taken in. Then shock filled his gaze as he realized something that he couldn’t help but blurt out.

“You’re a virgin?”

At first Terra wanted to deny the claim, as she had grown to womanhood in all her past lifetimes. Yet, she stopped herself as she realized that in this lifetime, she was in fact still a virgin.

“Yeah, I guess I am.” Terra said, somewhat disgusted by the idea that her virginity or lack thereof could be determined by a smell. Then a deeper thought hit her, as she realized that this likely had to do with most Immortals being bound by the need to drink blood. In fact, there were stories where Immortals were particularly covetous of virgins, often stealing them away, only to have them be rescued by the prince of a kingdom.

“You guess?” He asked, somewhat taken aback by the answer.

Terra for her part just shrugged her shoulders not really having a better answer to give than that.

“What are you doing here on my turf.” The Immortal stated, clearly changing the subject as the Immortal began to slowly slink away.

Terra could have stopped the Immortal but didn’t as she was certain that even if this Immortal went all out, he could do nothing about her. At worst, he would use some form of power to either get away or attack. An attack Terra figured she could take, or at least react to easily enough given how slowly the Immortal was moving earlier. As for an evasion technique, she figured the Immortal would use something like the one she had killed. A technique that was a half movement half spatial ability.

Realizing that there was almost nothing to be gained from the beast attacking her, Terra paused not wanting to state exactly why she was here, as she didn’t want to draw even more attention to Lady Montague, nor her children. Pausing Terra wondered if this fiend would try to take out little Mariana, especially with her now awakened Seer blood pumping within her.

At the thought of the monster going near Mariana, a spark of protective anger arose within Terra.

Slink, slice.

Terra’s blades slashed through the monster, but this time the creature had been prepared for a strike. Well mostly prepared, as the Immortal ripped a hole in space and jumped through before Terra could bisect the Immortal completely.

Instead, she left wounds that were deep enough to be fatal for any living creature.

Instinctively Terra looked off and to the right, where true to form, the Immortal landed. He slumped over on the top of a building, and nearly collapsed from the sudden escape measure.

Seeing that this one too could do a short hop teleport to escape made Terra wonder if this was something that all Immortals could do? If so, did it only work when the Immortal was threatened, or was there something extra to this, as it would not be hard to see the two Immortals that Terra had met working with and training each other to share survival abilities.

Just as Terra was thinking this, the Immortal cried out.

“I will tell the conclave about this. Also, your daughter is as good as dead now.” The Immortal shouted, his words carrying on the crisp night air.

“Still a virgin, you moron!” Terra shouted, clearly trying to point out the fact that she couldn’t have a daughter.

The Immortal paused, hearing Terra’s words but then teleported away again. It was clear that this Immortal had a much better handle on the Teleportation ability that so far every Immortal but her could use. Making Terra wonder if it was something that could be learned, or if it was something only a few could learn.

Terra stood there for a second, her mind trying to process everything.

Had her mom been an Immortal? If so, did she make some type of pact to avoid the area in order to protect her? The comments made by the Immortal seemed to imply that, as it was clear, his direct threat was likely meant to threaten her. Especially given how close they were to the Academy, the fact that an Immortal was lurking in the border town, all but implied that there was some reason why an Immortal would choose such an out of the way location to claim as their own.

Of course, Terra knew she had nothing to fear from this Immortal, as it was clear they were on a far weaker level than her.

Also, there were a lot more questions than answers that arose from her chance encounter with the Immortal. First there were apparently accords and a council that likely oversaw the accords. Then there was the almost primal way the Immortal became angry by her mere presence here. Almost as if there was some animalistic nature for Immortals to claim a targeted area for their own. For her part, Terra did not have such desires, as she didn’t seem to care about territories, or other Immortals being nearby. In fact, at first Terra had almost been excited about the prospect of seeing another Immortal.

Honestly, the more Terra thought about the situation, the more she questioned everything. Even the way the Immortal was able to determine whether she was a virgin by scent alone was unnerving. Thinking on it, again the only thing that made sense was that it had something to do with either her blood or a scent she exuded, but for the life of her, she could not figure out what the distinguishing scent would be. Of course, there was also the other major question. The question that since she was a virgin, did that have anything to do with why she could use magic as an Immortal, while other Immortals could not? Did this also mean that if she lost her virginity, would she also lose the ability to cast magic? This last part seemed farfetched, but at the same time most information about Immortals was vague, almost intentionally so, for obviously Immortals would easily hunt down people who made certain facts about their conditions known.

Thinking about it, the only true source of information related to Immortals that Terra felt would have the truth about her condition would be this conclave. But Terra also knew that anything she gained from the conclave would have to be considered suspect at best.

Shaking her head, Terra realized that if she let herself get lost in her thoughts then her cover of night would soon be gone.

Realizing she had plenty of time to consider future actions to take, Terra once again cast her sympathetic magic thread and then followed the trail through the small town to a large estate in the center of the main square.

Looking at the building Terra instantly recognized it, as the large provincial palace where elites and traveling dignitaries would reside while either passing through or trying to attend a ceremony or trial at the Academy.

Thinking on the layout, it made sense that this would be where Lady Montague would be housed, as it was an easily defensible position, and one that was well maintained due to how many dignitaries would need to have a place available at a moment’s notice that was fit for a king. Especially when said king had their own children attending the nearby Academy.

The building, while imposing from the outside was actually a lot less secure than one might originally believe. In fact, Terra had been assaulted and done the assaulting multiple times in this very tower. Especially when the being of ultimate evil made their move and began conquering different kingdoms on their way to conquering the Belaton Academy.

Taking a look up at the building, Terra looked for her path to the third story window. Just as she expected the weather patterns and erosions in the materials of the walls were just as she remembered. Activating her Obfuscation Aura, Terra made her way forward through the unaware guards. Then she began deftly climbing up the path that had almost become second nature to her taking over the years.

Her fingers and toes found gaps in stone that were barely large enough for the tip of her fingers, but even such grips were enough for her to climb. As she rose, she felt that her body had somehow gotten lighter, as if her mass that had always been a constant was now lighter and more easily manageable. Even the tougher grips with well eroded bricks and stones didn’t so much as budge in her presence. Part of this could be blamed on the fact that she was at her perfect form, that her body was not only at its absolute strongest, but that she was in the form that her body said would be perfect. Almost as if her density from her fifteen-year-old body had been all the materials available to create this her twenty-three-year-old form.

When thinking about it from the perspective of the curse not drawing in any more mass or weight during her transformation, it made sense as to why she suddenly felt lighter. She hadn’t in fact lost any weight, but her body had grown to its ideal shape, without all the added weight that normally accompanied such a transition. This was something that was hinted at with lore and myths surrounding Immortals, who were said to scale castles easily, and fall hundreds of feet, only to take off running once they hit the ground. While part of that ability to move after long falls was due to the regenerative abilities Immortals had, part of it could also be due to the fact that their fall was not as deadly as it would be for a regular person.

These were all thoughts racing through Terra’s mind as she easily scaled the side of the wall, but these thoughts all fell away as she entered the top floor room and saw the three figures slumbering peacefully in the oversized bed. A bed where in a past life Terra had lost her virginity to the whisky dicked prince, who had to sleep off most of his hangover before they could make their wedding vows valid.

Now in that same bed, Terra saw three people, two children and a woman that was so beautiful that it caused the very air within her lungs to be forcefully extracted. Then before she knew what was happening, on reflex she took in a full breath of air.

Gasp.

With that the golden skinned goddess began to stir awake, as Terra felt the new effects of her Immortal curse taking over. The woman before her was beyond gorgeous, and Terra could feel primal instincts kicking into her mind.

Lady Montague had always been beautiful, even seeing her on the side of the road, her face and features lit by a burning carriage backdrop, she had an intensity that was so fierce that it was almost magnetic. But that had nothing on the way Terra could see her now.

Then just as Terra was wondering what to do, Lady Montague arose to a sitting position and staring around the room her eyes focused on Terra. Even in the darkness Terra could see the ice blue of her eyes shining brightly. Before Terra could get too far into her own thoughts that were being corrupted by her curses Lady Montague spoke.

“Who, who’s there?”