A Jaded Life

Chapter 1359

It took me a little over a day to help Jess get back onto a somewhat even keel. It took some promises, a few attempts to talk sense into people, and even a couple of threats, especially the threat to withdraw all support from Maggie’s community and simply leave them to their fate, to force the people to give Jess the space she needed. It was only now that I realised how much my reputation and my sheer, overwhelming power had protected me from the social and peer pressure. Well, regarding peer pressure, it was difficult to exert it on someone without any peers. As the joke went, if you can only sit in the company of your peers, the peerless will always be forced to stand.

But that was an issue for another day.

Now that I had mostly dealt with Jess and her issues, I was back in my shelter and prison. The first order of business was checking in on my guests. The revenant was still in pieces and had continued to pull itself together at the expected rate, but my test-subjects were a little more active. Luckily, they seemed to be in good condition, even if Lisa looked a little bored. Alice and Xander, on the other hand, seemed to be doing their best to emulate rabbits, or maybe it was just an effect of bad timing, but the pair was, well, they were busy. Busy, loud and very enthusiastic, to the point that Lisa looked almost sleep deprived.

Unwilling to just let that go, I reached out, causing Lisa to tumble into the shadows and back out, only that she was now in the living space I had prepared for myself. It wasn’t overly elaborate, nor did I have any ostentatious objects stored in this area; it was just the replica of a comfortable, modern living room. It even had something resembling a television, though the effect was completely different.

On one wall, I had hung a large sheet of conjured crystal, inscribed with a large number of runes that, amongst other things, allowed me to easily link a scrying construct to it. That effectively served as both a window and a television, making the space feel less confined. I could link the crystal window to a scrying construct sitting atop the mountain above, making it look like a simple window, or I could move it elsewhere, giving me a nice window into Canada's quickly recovering nature.

And there was a lot of nature, likely fueled by the Change and the introduction of Astral Power, growing faster, larger and vastly more diverse than it had ever been. Well, at the same time, I was fairly certain that there had been larger differences between creatures throughout history, though some of the special abilities the various critters had gained might just prove me wrong. After all, how would one rate the difference between a normal deer and one that could shoot rainbow lasers? Or a reindeer that could fly, though those didn’t have a red nose, as disappointing as that was. They had crystal hooves and sparkling antlers, similar to those of the rainbow laser deer.

At the moment, the crystal window was linked to a scrying construct I had placed in a tree overlooking a nearby meadow. Some of the snow out in the open had already thawed, maybe due to the nearby formerly burned land, maybe simply because it was out in the sun, making the area a prime grazing spot. Even now, a relatively small herd of deer, maybe some thirty or forty animals, were having a meal there. It wasn’t completely peaceful, as I could faintly see the outline of some sort of predator lurking in the shadows between the trees, but that was just a part of the cycle of life.

Predators had to hunt, or the prey species would grow too large in number and cause devastation. It was a small miracle, or maybe intelligent design, that this hadn’t happened during and after the change, given how depleted the natural predators had been and how many formerly domesticated animals had gone back to the wild. Or maybe it had happened elsewhere, and this area had been spared due to pre-change circumstances, I wasn’t sure.

After Lisa tumbled out of the shadows and landed on her backside, she briefly started to cuss and grumble before her mind managed to catch on, and she realised what had happened.

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“Lady Jade,” she greeted me, rolling over and getting into a kneeling position. It was a slightly weird habit she had cultivated. She always knelt when meeting me, unless and until I asked her to take a different position. It felt a little weird, especially when she got that breathy, almost worshipping tone in her voice, but I wasn’t sure what to do about it.

“Lisa,” I returned her greeting, “Take a seat,” I pointed over to the couch, while I remained comfortably seated on an armchair. It wasn’t my throne, but it was almost as comfortable and not quite as ostentatious. She sat down gingerly, her eyes flickering around the room, taking in the ambience and decor, making me hide a grin at the awe on her face. Though given that the rooms they were living in were almost as convenient and comfortable as this room, I wasn’t sure what she had been expecting.

“Did anything interesting happen these last few days?” I asked, deliberately keeping my voice completely casual, “I’m afraid I was occupied elsewhere,” I added, only now noticing that Lisa’s eyes had flickered over to the crystal window and seemed to be fixated on it.

“Not really,” she shook her head, her eyes focusing on me for a moment, before going back to the window, making me realise that she hadn’t seen the open sky since I had taken them in. “Alice and Xander have started a relationship, well, they are banging, but otherwise, it was pretty boring,” she paused for a second, still staring out the window.

“Where are we? This doesn’t look like Colorado,” she asked, her voice wavering with emotion.

“That’s because it is not,” I shrugged, “The shelter you are living in is in Central Canada,” I told her, not seeing any issue with telling her this.

“What?!” she gasped, her eyes going wide as she stared at me in disbelief. “How can we? How? What?” she stammered, doing her best to formulate a coherent question, only to fail miserably.

“That thing with the shadows,” I began, a smirk curling my lips, “Let’s just say, I can do quite a bit with it. It’s a very useful trick,” I told her, not going into details. Which was probably for the best, given that even that little tidbit made me worry that her eyes were going to fall out of her skull any moment, they were so wide.

“Incredible,” she whispered, “Could you teach me?” she pleaded, the desire to gain a measure of control and freedom palpable in her voice.

“Maybe,” I shrugged, knowing full well that I wouldn’t teach her that ability without some assurance that it wouldn’t be used against me. “Let me check something,” I offered, not even waiting for her response. Instead, I started to gently poke her soul, checking her affinity for Darkness Magic.

Her magical affinity in general wasn’t bad, maybe even a little above average, but it wasn’t linked to Darkness. She’d make a decent Water Mage or something similar, but that was about it. Unless I made her a Warlock, which would also eliminate any worries about loyalty. If I imbued her with a magical symbiote, I would own her, body and soul.

“You could learn magic, but Darkness Magic will be fairly difficult for you,” I explained, noticing her face fall, “You also need to understand that magic, just as any Path of Power, isn’t something you can casually walk on. It takes time, effort and dedication, even if I’m fairly certain that the current state of the world makes it easier to learn, at least when it comes to the basics,” I warned, hiding a grin when I saw her interest diminish in real time.

“Isn’t there some easier way?” she asked, a slight whine in her voice.

“Power always comes at a cost,” I shrugged, “Normally, that price is paid over time, by dedicating yourself to the Path and expending effort to walk it.”

“But that’s not always the case, right?” she asked, showing a moment of shrewd insight. “You said ‘Normally’, that means there are abnormal situations,” she insisted, making me grin for a moment.

“True,” I nodded. “And at that point, the question becomes what you are willing to pay? What are you willing to sacrifice for power?” I challenged her, noticing that her expression was far more interested and pensive than expected when someone was faced with that question.

“What can be sacrificed?” she asked, and suddenly, I realised just how opportunistic she was. As long as the price was right, she’d be willing to do quite a bit for power.

It would be interesting to explore her limits, maybe push them a little. Just for the sake of idle curiosity.