Vigor Mortis

Chapter 51: Twisted Love

“Shouldn’t we have changed for this?” I ask grumpily, descending down the stairs after Penelope.

She glances up at me, her grin gleaming in the dim light.

“Vita, please! How could you even think of doing forbidden blasphemies in anything but a black dress?”

I roll my eyes, declining to comment. Penelope had apparently bought an entire building for us to hole up our magical stuff in, one with a nice, expansive basement to boot. It’s well outside the rich district, thankfully, though to my irritation it’s on the complete opposite side of the city to the shack and our branch of the hunter’s guild. We get down to the lower levels, all dreary and cold stone. Penelope immediately sets about casting spells all over the place, though exactly what they are I can only guess.

“There. Done,” she eventually announces, dusting off her hands against each other. “At least, done to the degree I can do. We’ll have them shored up in a moment, though, because…”

Walking off into another room for a moment, she returns with some kind of wheeled table on which Theodora’s body rests, intricate tattoos covering almost every part of her skin. I do mean almost every part, too, and given my knowledge of that I’m forced to wonder…

“Why is she naked?”

“Hmm?” Penelope asks, raising an eyebrow. “Oh. She’s a corpse, Vita. We had to drain the blood, stitch up that neck wound, apply the spells to keep her from rotting, so on and so forth. Much easier without pointless fabric in the way.”

“Does biomancy work on dead bodies?” I ask.

“Well, not really, no. Most biomancers, myself obviously included, know a few precision-focused kineticism spells, however. Sometimes you just need to grab something in a body and move it around a little. Setting bones, removing arrowheads, etcetera. And biomancy can be used to delay decomposition, since that’s a biological process, mostly.”

She paces around the wheel-table, still grinning as she lectures me.

“Bodies like this one are often prepared for biomancy training. Teaching the little aspiring casters kidneys from the liver, as it were. So there are a few more I bought after Lord Erebus pushed the mage’s guild into getting me a teaching license. Anyone who finds a few corpses in our basement isn’t going to suspect a thing!”

“What if the corpses walk around?” I ask blandly.

“Well, they’ll probably figure it out, at that point,” Penelope responds, her voice equally flat.

“Right. Well, since Theodora is about to walk around, do you think she might want a robe or something?”

Penelope opens her mouth, closes it, and then opens it again.

“Well. Yes, I suppose I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll go see what I can find.”

I pull Theodora’s soul out while she’s off finding some cloth for our soon-to-be ally. A glittering, vibrant blue contrasts with lighting-shaped arcs of red dancing around it. It’s a striking soul that is among the largest and the most beautiful in my collection. I can’t deny I have a strong temptation to just eat it, but I’m equally curious about controlling it.

I wait for a moment, half-expecting something to seize control of my mouth and berate me for that thought. It never comes, of course. What would Penta say, though? What would Rowan say? That it’s wrong? She’s a person, so I shouldn’t do it? She’s not a person I know, though. She’s not my friend or my family. Perhaps more importantly… I need her. If she’s as talented as Penelope seems to think, she’ll probably be invaluable in figuring out my powers and how to refine them. Ironically, by forcing her to be dedicated to me, we have the best chance to figure out how to undo that dedication. Penelope is no metamancer and certainly no animancer. It might mess Theodora up for now, but the good it could do later…

Removing a shard from my soul, I push it into the orb that holds Theodora. With my senses far better than when I last did this, I can see my shard wedging itself inside, shifting and extruding root-like structures in and around the soul. Slowly but surely, my shard melts away until it is nothing but those twisting tendrils, fusing with the spirit and leaving it subtly changed. The process makes the striking soul even more beautiful, to my delight.

Penelope returns shortly after with a blanket and a smock, laying the former overtop the body and setting the latter nearby.

“Okay, got that taken care of!” she announces. “Now, I want to watch you do your soul trick!”

“I already made the Revenant soul, if that’s what you mean,” I answer, raising my eyebrow as she scowls a little at me. “You can watch the next one! I’m going to put this in her body now, okay?”

“Fine, fine. Make the magic happen, Vita.”

I shrug, pushing the new and improved soul into Theodora’s corpse. The body twitches briefly as the soul spreads within it until suddenly my Revenant’s eyes shoot open, Theodora sucking in a very unnecessary breath. Instantly her hand goes to her throat, eyes looking around wildly as she slowly sits up.

“W-what… happened?” she breathes. “Where…?”

Her eyes lock onto me and go wide. I wave at her.

“Hi!”

“V-Vita? I thought you… no. I’m… you’re…?”

“Are you quite all right, Theodora?” Penelope asks, approaching with a calm smile. “How do you feel?”

“N-numb,” Theodora answers, rapidly glancing at and away from me. “Did you save me?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Penelope answers smoothly. “What do you remember?”

“Well, there were… the slimes. And I was trapped. And then…”

She points a shaky hand at me.

“You killed me. And now I… love you? No, why would I…? I’m not thinking right. This is animancy, isn’t it?”

Horror and joy war on Theodora’s pale, bloodless face. Penelope glances my way.

“It’s the only way we had to save your life,” I say. “Sorry it’s not perfect.”

“O-oh, of course,” Theodora sighs, visibly relaxing at my words. “That makes sense, you… n-no! Wait!”

She almost immediately tenses up again, mana flowing into her soul as her fingers start to move in fast spell patterns.

“I-It’s not sensible at all!” she shouts furiously. “I’ll not—”

“Calm down,” I order, and she sags like a puppet with strings cut. I recognize a cancel command, channeled mana exiting her as the anger instantly leaves her. A tingle goes down my spine, smile twitching at my lips.

“S-sorry, Vita,” Theodora whispers. “I’m not sure what came over me there. I mean, I know what… I can tell you’re…”

She groans in frustration, clutching at her own head.

“How about you get dressed for now, and we’ll explain stuff?” I hedge.

Immediately, she moves to put the smock on as instructed. I hadn’t expected her to be this… lucid. Grig never cared that he was being mind controlled. It’s definitely weirder this way.

“Is she going to be alright?” Penelope whispers at me, moving slightly behind me to put my body between her and the revenant.

“How should I know?” I whisper back. “This is like the third time I’ve done this.”

“I can hear you,” Theodora says. “I’m not deaf. Somehow. I’m dead, aren’t I? My body’s not right. I… I can’t believe you two did this. Are you behind the Nawra as well…?”

“No!” I answer. “No, Theodora, this is just… I’m a natural necromancer, is all. I’m trying to save you! I just don’t understand how it all works.”

She finishes dressing, standing up from the table. Her bare feet show no obvious discomfort from standing on the cold stone floor, and her piercing eyes stare unblinkingly in my direction.

“A dubious claim. Show me.”

“Uh…” I glance over at Penelope.

“I’ll go get another corpse, I suppose,” she says, heading out of the room and leaving me with my unwilling servant.

“…Well, um, this is certainly not how I expected things to go,” I comment.

“…Yes,” Theodora says slowly. “Sorry. Perhaps I am overreacting. Or… maybe what you did to me is making me think I’m overreacting?”

“Maybe both,” I comment, shrugging. “We’re not going to hurt you or anything.”

“No… no, of course not,” Theodora murmurs, entirely to herself. “You’d never do that…”

The dead woman grabs her chin between her thumb and forefinger, eyebrows twitching as she tries to navigate her new, slightly foreign mental state. I watch curiously as her soul repeatedly sparks with anger, only to be choked by the twisting remnants of the shard I placed within her. It’s simultaneously exciting and disturbing.

“Here we are!” Penelope announces, bringing out two more corpses, an older man and— to my grim lack of surprise— a young girl that looks like she starved to death. I walk towards it immediately, pulling out Vitamin’s soul. Because, really, would anything else fit for the poor memory-stealer?

“Watch, Theodora,” I say, and her eyes gravitate to me immediately. “I’m not casting, it’s just a talent.”

Plunking the soul in the corpse, I wait for my monstrous slime-daughter to rise in her new body. Almost immediately, her eyes shoot open.

“Mom!” she squeals, happily leaping off the table and wrapping me up in a hug. “I’m not a rat anymore! Yes!”

Holy shit, it’s like hugging one of Lyn’s little ones. Except… colder.

“Hi, Vitamin,” I murmur, kneeling down to hug her back. “Sorry about the wait. Supposedly we have a safe place here, finally.”

“About that… could you double-check my work on the masking enchantments, Theodora?” Penelope asks. “I’m fairly certain I got them right, but I’m sure you could do better.”

“Safe? Safe how? How far can I go?” Vitamin presses.

“Just within these few rooms, for now,” Penelope answers. “And… sorry, if I can back us up here for a few moments. Did that Revenant just call you mom?”

“Of course I did!” Vitamin answers, grinning in Penelope’s direction. “She raised me! Get it?”

I snort, then start to laugh as Penelope and Theodora each send concerned looks my way. Grabbing the little one under the armpits, I raise her up to my shoulders.

“I already made that joke,” I tell her.

“What? No! That’s totally the kind of thing you’d just think and then keep to yourself because you’re awkward. So hey, am I really stuck down here?”

Wow, ouch. Kids can be mean.

“For now, yeah,” I answer regretfully. “Unless you’d rather be in stasis.”

“You’re using the masking formula so external detection doesn’t see hints of Necromancy,” Theodora murmurs, looking around. “They… should be fine.”

“Can you improve them in any way?” I ask Theodora. “I’m counting on you to keep everything here safe.”

She halts a bit.

“R-right. Of course. Yes. Well, there are a few weakness, actually. Let me just…”

She gets to work casting on the walls, and I scowl. She’s going to be trouble, huh? The Revenant seems to have no issue following direct orders when I give them, but…

“Don’t worry, mom,” Vitamin murmurs, picking up on my concern immediately. “I’ll keep an eye on her for you.”

I squeeze her leg in thanks, and she returns it with a hug to the forehead. Nothing like a slime with all my memories to back me up.

…I have the weirdest family.

“Theodora,” Penelope says smoothly. “I understand being less than enthused at the prospect of being an undead Revenant, but we are merely hoping to get your assistance with magical research. That is already a passion of yours, is it not?”

“I fled Skyhope so I wouldn’t be forced to do anyone else’s magical research,” Theodora snaps. “If this is the nobility’s way to… to press me into their work, it certainly shows me I was right to leave! I should have fled all the way to Maradin! I… though I guess I…”

She starts mumbling to herself, glancing my way as she struggles to fight the influence of my shard. This situation… I don’t like it. I mean, I do like it, instinctively, but it’s still bad. Firstly because it’s dangerous to our plans, but also… I feel no better than the slimes I just killed.

“Theodora,” I say, butting in. “Like I said before, I’m a natural necromancer. I have no way to revive you without doing what I’ve done to your mind. I don’t know how my power works. I know this isn’t fair to you, but you and I together have the best chance of figuring it out. If you help me learn more animancy, I can undo what I’ve done to you. Ideally, I want to learn to make you a living body again! Will you please help? If you prefer death, I can grant that to you instead.”

“You’ll… you’ll free me from this?” she presses.

“Yes,” I confirm. “One way or another.”

After a long pause, she answers.

“…Then I’ll join you,” Theodora says.

I felt the remnant of my shard pulse within her before her answer, but I smile anyway. That’s good enough for me, at least for now. We need her.

“Okay. Great. I’m really, really sorry that I, uh, got you killed. The slime in Remus technically did it, but… well I screwed up and gave him the chance. But hey, on the upside, at least you’re immune to Nawra now?”

She snorts, breaking out into a slight chuckle.

“Yes, that’s… well, I wouldn’t say I like the idea of being a soul slave, but it’s better, I’ll give you that. How are the others?”

“Safe, alive, and slime-free,” I answer. “Although… Litia is occupied by Templars, now.”

“Ugh. Well, it’s to be expected, even if it’s hardly ideal. Thank you for saving the others.”

I nod.

“The slimes, however, are dead. But uh… well I’m still a necromancer, so how would you feel about… uh, y’know, working with the one that controlled you? In separate bodies, of course. Two experienced metamancers are better than one, right?”

Theodora is quiet for a moment, her dead form not so much as twitching as she stares me down. Vitamin starts playing with my hair.

“…Have you already messed with the slime’s soul?” she asks. “To make her loyal?”

“Not yet,” I say. “But I’ll have to do that, it’s part of the process that lets my power make you a Revenant at all. I’ll happily let you get a good look at it. Your talent is something about analysis, right?”

“It… is, yes. I still seem capable of using it as well, even after death.”

I nod.

“We should test sometime if you can use it in a different body, I think. For now, though…?”

There’s a pause as the woman considers it, her thoughts unknown to me as she contemplates the question behind that stony gaze.

“Go for it,” she eventually murmurs.

I nod, pulling out the slime soul and a shard of my own and mixing the two together. Theodora’s eyebrows scrunch together watching with enraptured attention. When the soul is ready, I plunk it into the old man corpse. It’s an almost comical mirror to Theodora as the slime of the same name wakes up: hand on her neck, sharp intake of breath.

“W-what… happened?” the new revenant asks, voice raspy and odd as she sits up slowly. “Where…?”

The human Theodora immediately punches her in the face.