Chapter 218: Chapter 209 – Always Ask Permission

Fear. Pain.

Rissa was afraid and hurt.

It burned through the haze shrouding Serenity’s mind. He was angry. He didn’t know what he was angry at, other than whatever caused the fear.

He started to turn towards Rissa only to have his arm stop. He pulled harder and could faintly hear a squeal of overstressed metal, followed by a ping. Serenity ignored it. It didn’t stop Rissa’s fear.

You return

You are new

The voice wasn’t what scared Rissa. Serenity recognized it and knew that while it was strange and perhaps terrifying it was not inimical. More importantly, Rissa did not seem afraid of it. The Scary One was outside the circle.

Serenity rolled towards Rissa, but his shoulder tapped something above him. When he touched it, he realized it was food. Food and power. That could help. He grabbed it and it turned into a form he could manipulate, so he ate it quickly. With it gone, he could face his love.

You are you

A gift of growth?

Serenity wasn’t aware of the words, but he knew what they meant. They were a choice.

Protect. Safe. Rissa.

Serenity was still more asleep than not, but he knew what he had to do.

There was no thought involved.

Yes.

You are you

Be

Serenity felt the power he’d consumed and something more rush into himself. He felt whole and complete as he turned and lifted Rissa to her feet, then allowed himself to become what the Void had offered.

Rissa was there, and Curio. He was them and they were him.

He/they slid to the edge of the circle. That was where the Scary One had been.

The circle was a wall, it would not let him/them past.

It would not be allowed to stop him/them. For the first time, Serenity used his Ghost in the System title deliberately.

The circle would not stop what it did not know was there. He/they slipped over it.

Now he/they could see the magics outside the circle. There were three large living forms watching.

They caused the fear. They must be stopped.

He/they expanded faster than the two farther ones could run and engulfed all three.

They were they.

He was he.

He was they were he.

The fear was over.

He was tired.

He was they.

Serenity did not see the notifications that appeared as he fell back into a sleep he had never quite left.

---

Russ and Phoebe watched as Liam began the ritual. They’d known it would happen from the future Phoebe picked, but they still weren’t happy about it.

Russ was especially unhappy as he watched the two men come in from where they’d parked the van to watch and make sure nothing went wrong before or after the ritual. The two men still carried the dart guns they’d used to knock out Rissa and Serenity; Russ did not think they’d really cared if either survived.

The ritual itself was clearly up to Liam; he did everything himself once the two people were moved, even where a second pair of hands would have helped.

Russ couldn’t take his eyes off the screen as the ritual proceeded. He could see his daughter, and she seemed terrified. Liam finished his chant, took a deep relieved breath, and leaned forward to watch. The inside of the circle went dark, a perfect circle that could not be seen into.

Russ pulled his phone closer to him, only to have Phoebe tug on his hand so that she could see as well. Liam seemed surprised but interested, until the black smoke moved past the barrier. He turned to run and Russ could see the other two do the same thing before the black smoke suddenly expanded and covered everything he could see.

Phebe gasped and nearly dropped her end of the phone. “That wasn’t - no. The vision, it’s not there anymore. It’s not the future.”

Russ stared at the phone, hoping it would tell him something. There was no way he could get there in time to change anything now. It was already far, far too late. The image on his phone was his last lifeline to his daughter.

As the smoke cleared, he saw Rissa standing outside the circle, her arms around a figure that seemed to drink the light. Liam and the other two men were gone. Everything they’d worn and carried was also missing.

The figure she held did not look human; it did not even hold to a single form.

After a moment, it seemed to solidify and became Serenity, who slowly collapsed to the ground. He was visible again, but his clothes were still a deep, light-absorbing black.

Russ didn’t know to be surprised that he saw Serenity’s chimera form instead of his dragon form; he’d only seen the dragon once.

Russ looked up at his wife. “You’re not going to stop me this time. And I’d better not have to kill either of them because of this.” He was angry. Finding an acceptable path forward that met their goals was supposed to be what she was good at.

He didn’t want to kill either his daughter or her fiancee, but he wasn’t sure he’d have a choice. There weren’t many things that could do what he’d just seen, and most of them were utterly inimical to humanity. Several of them were inclined to take over people and pretend to be them, as well. He was half-convinced that was what had happened to Serenity, and it meant that it was likely affecting Rissa as well.

The only piece of hope he had left was his belief in Serenity’s strangeness. He’d have preferred to put his faith in Serenity’s strength, but he knew the power of rituals and some of the enemies that could be reached that way too well to trust strength.

No, if there was hope it had to be in Serenity’s ability to find a way around the pitfalls and make friends in the oddest places. He’d heard some stories from Rissa that gave him hope, but what little she’d said about the Final Reaper worried him. It was an opening.

---

Serenity had a terrible headache.

On second thought, he ached all over, even in places he didn’t think he had and wasn’t sure he’d ever even heard of.

He was in darkness, the same darkness he saw when he needed to evolve. He sometimes saw it when choosing a new Path, but it wasn’t required then.

He hadn’t been anywhere near maxing a path, and he’d been even farther from evolving; he hadn’t been putting anything towards his Core!

What was going on?

[External Species change accepted]

[Species altered: Subspecies: Void Kernel]

[Default/Base Form Retained: Subspecies: Essence Dragon (Hatchling)]

[Home dimension(s) required]

What? I’m from Earth, that hasn’t changed. Has it?

[Origin location accepted. Setting home dimensions]

You are reading story After the End: Serenity at novel35.com

[Dimensions confirmed]

[Species altered: Subspecies: Void Sovereign (Kernel)]

[Attribute added: Ambit]

[Minimum Ambit for successful actions not met. Ev available; increasing Ambit to local environment maximum]

[Sufficient Ev available. Increase other attributes?]

As if he’d ever turn down increasing his attributes.

Yes

[Local environment maximums met. WARNING: Mana and Essence over local maximum]

That wasn’t really a surprise. There was a reason his mana and essence pools weren’t full since he’d gotten to Earth unless he was in a ley line.

[Merge Performed:

Netissan mentirk of Void Calling

Gift of the Void

Human Liam Brown

Human George Miller

Human Robert Johnson]

[Marked for Protection:

Auspex/Time Dragon Rissa Latimer

Voidling (familiar) Curio]

Serenity didn’t remember any of that. Well, there was a vague dream of anger, pain, and fear and a notion that Rissa was in danger. What exactly had happened?

[Pattern imprint: Curio: Kitten]

What was a pattern imprint? Was the voidling going to act like a kitten now? Serenity had never had a kitten. He’d always had dogs growing up.

Serenity had sort of thought of Curio as either a kitten or a puppy; was that what it meant?

[Pattern imprint: Rissa Latimer: Not Required]

…oh thank goodness.

[Path Completed: Evoker]

When did that happen? Serenity could only assume he’d gotten a bunch of experience somewhere, but he didn’t remember enough fighting for that. Maybe he’d gotten it for something other than fighting?

[Next Path: Required: Species Path: Dhampir]

[Species Path: Dhampir damaged]

Serenity remembered when that happened during his evolution to Dhampir.

[Salvaging Path]

[New Path: Void Dhampir of Essence and Mana]

[Path Skills: Take Shape, Merge, Entwined Magic, Gaze of the Void, Aura of Magic, Void Protector, Mold Magic]

There were too many skills. Serenity had heard of Paths with nonstandard skills; he’d even had some. Usually they came with fewer skills, not more.

What were these?

Level 0 - Take Shape - You may assume the shape of any Form you know. Your personality and goals remain those of the Void Sovereign. Number of forms that can be known is affected by Ambit. Accuracy of learned forms will decrease with time; rate depends on Ambit.

Current known forms: Serenity (Chimera), Serenity (Hatchling Essence Dragon), Serenity (Void Sovereign (Kernel)), Liam Brown (Human), George Miller (Human), Robert Johnson (Human)

Replaces Basic Draconic Shapeshift

The note about accuracy caught Serenity’s attention; what exactly did that mean? Would they drift towards his own shape?

Level 0 - Merge - You may merge with another being. The merge may be contested. Success rate in a contested merge is affected by Ambit. Requires Void Sovereign form.

Two level 0 abilities. Did that mean the Path was simply recognizing something he already had? From what he’d seen earlier, he’d already used Merge.

He didn’t really care about the three humans, but he really hoped Rissa was fine.

Level 10 - Entwined Magic - You can mix Mana and Essence magic freely, to achieve effects not possible with Mana or Essence alone. Passive.

Serenity suspected he’d gotten this one because he’d already started working on what it meant and how to do it. That was a common way to get Path Skills.

Level 25 - Gaze of the Void - When you choose, you can infuse your gaze with the power of your connection to the Void. Effects vary. Power depends on Ambit.

Serenity didn’t know what to think about it. A fear attack maybe? Or did the Void have other abilities? If it was actually an attack, it could be very useful, but if he had to hold someone’s gaze to do it, that could cause problems.

Hopefully it wouldn’t be obvious it was “of the void”. Like so many other things he could do (and was), that seemed like a bad thing to advertise.

Level 50 - Aura of Magic - When you choose, you can reveal your Mana and Essence pools with your aura. Passively increases the maximum size and regeneration of your Mana and Essence. Increases the regeneration of others’ mana and essence at a slight cost to your regeneration rate. Easily sensed. Power depends on size and regeneration rate of mana and essence pools.

How useful this one was would depend on how much it boosted regeneration, mostly. Mana pool size was not that much of a limit yet, after all. It could be an exceedingly useful way to increase uptime; Serenity could even see it as a reason to keep himself a little ways back in larger engagements, to help people recover and go back out to the front lines faster.

Serenity had a sinking feeling that it would actually result in smaller maintainable Mana and Essence pools on Earth, even if the maximum was higher; after all, he already leaked both. Making them more available didn’t seem likely to slow the leakage down.

Level 75 - Void Protector - From your Void Sovereign form, you may envelop someone or something. Instead of choosing to Merge with them, you may choose to Protect them, giving them a layer of armor formed from your physical self. This may also leave a permanent Mark (consent required).

Serenity had a vague memory of carrying Rissa in himself rather than with his arms. That had to be where it came from, but when had that happened?

Level 100 - Mold Magic - You can alter magic that has been given a steady form. Passive.

Similar to Entwined Magic, this had to be based on his existing ability, but he’d have to use it to know if it was just for emplaced spells or if it could affect other things, like items. Even being able to twist a barrier spell would be useful.

Serenity gave another look over the list and wondered how useful it would be. The passives improved things he was already working on, so they would be useful but probably hard to tell. Gaze was hard to tell; Serenity wasn’t happy about “effects vary”. He couldn’t immediately think of a time when Protector would be better than being there himself, but there were probably some uses.

Overall, it looked like the sort of uninspired but solid foundational Path that no one really wanted to take but that everyone really needed at least some of. It was simply that the Path it put him on was one of using both Mana and Essence, which wasn’t something he had the theoretical understanding to do yet. Perhaps if he learned more about Essence he’d have a clue.

---

Status

General : Species changed, Core Progression increased, Path changed, Evoker added to Path History, Condition is Drugged, Ambit added, Attributes increased, used Ev