Black Blood III (Solo)
Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 9:41 pm
70th of Ash, 121 AS
Dark blood stained Lyra's hands as she sighed and tossed another dead rat off to the side. It had been cut open, entrails sloshing out with a splattering sound as it hit the floor, but Lyra ignored this as she reached for the next rat in the cage. This one as the rest had tried to resist, but with a flick of her thoughts she silenced its complaints and it became quiet and docile when she picked it up by the scruff of its neck and laid it flat on the table. She did not even bother wiping the surface of the table clean before strapping the creature in place, activating the runes on the table that came to life in a blaze of blue light.
The success of the previous portion of the project had been short-lived. While the black blood was accepted in the short term, over time the body rejected it and the creatures died in a rather violent fashion. It wasn't unexpected, in fact, Lyra had known it was a possibility, but what it meant was that the body had to be more than primed to accept this sort of change. It had to be crafted specifically to contain the odd mixture of her essence. So she had set to work, one rat after another for five whole days, much to a frustrated Naila's dismay.
The rat still lived as she began to cut into its body, carefully peeling back skin and muscle to reveal bone in various places. Small pins were used to keep the flesh pulled back and taunt, and she had marrow gum, bone salve, and tendon threads prepared just in case. Alchemy could be performed inside of a body, which she had proven in her last experimentation. Now though she knew she needed to go to the next step.
A small metallic instrument with a thin needle was used to carefully scratch pictographs into the surface of the bones themselves. Rats were smaller, their bones more fragile than a larger species would be. A frustrating fact that Lyra had faced as more than one rat had been left mangled when she pressed just slightly too hard with the point of the necromancy stylus. The designs began simply. Necromancy pictographs overlayed with glyphs for strengthening and preparation. She wove lines around the bones that linked back to the primary pictograph that was steadily forming, but the very center was left open and blank for the final steps. The idea had come to Lyra while reading one of the older tomes of necromancy she had delivered to her from the Circle's library some time ago. She had read the book cover to cover and had glossed over the sections regarding remembered artifacts. She had tried her hand at that branch of the world magic the year prior and found the entire thing taxing and the end results unpredictable. She had thought to never touch the topic again, yet a thought had occurred to her.
The pictographs required for remembered artifacts were on the surface simplistic. They delved into the memories that lay trapped in the organic materials, drawing out traces of the soul and manifesting them into some effect. The Circle of recalling was drawn directly on the surface of the thing created from living creatures, and its use was most effectively harnessed when the creator of the artefact knew the history of the thing they tried to recall. That method was unreliable at best, for no matter how much one tried she could never know all that had occurred in another life. Those soul fragments, traces of the person who was contained in flesh used was also highly important. Some traces leftover were stronger than others, and when trying to recall from an artefacts past with necromancy those fragments which were the strongest, often defining traits of that person's personality or life, would be pulled out first. Even with the way of the soul, the end item of the artefact creation product could not be certain... but that was not of concern to Lyra. What was important was the ability to recall those fragments at all, that essence of a person.
She focused with an intensity that would be frightening were she not alone. The soft scratching of metal on bone continued, and as she worked a steady stream of her essence flowed out and into the pictographs as they were created. The pulled on her knowledge of necromancy, alchemy, and scrivening as she went, using her rune of magic to listen carefully to the symphonies of the rat in order to determine when the change began. Steadily she was infusing the bone with glyphs that hummed with her aether, and when she finished with the last circling glyph she moved on to the centermost pictograph which was the most important. Directly in the center of the expanding schema, Lyra drew a sigil of catalyzation, but it was altered so that it formed a spiraling shape reminiscent of a serpent. The sigil expanded out and crossed over the pictographs from before, and in portions where other empty spaces were Lyra layered in similar sigils of stabilization and dormancy. Then at the very center of it all, there was a small circle, a combination of the sigil of several sigils Evolution, Preemption, and Reconstruction.
Lifting her tool Lyra could feel the energy of the pictographs warping, barely stabilizing each other like a dam ready to burst. It was then that she picked up a small, thin needle with a thinner black liquid in it. Condensed essence, but less viscous and slightly transparent. Her eyes were wide, breath stilled as she inserted the needle and slowly, carefully depressed the plunger and the liquid was forced into the marrow of the bone. When all the liquid was inside Lyra pulled the needle and quickly passed a hand over a blue gem, activating the largest stabilization sigil on the table before stepping back. She didn't move for several long, agonizing seconds. The rat twitched, its body trembling slightly, but nothing else occurred. From where she stood she could see the glyphs on the bone shining, warring with one another as energy passed quickly along the pathways Lyra had drawn. Seconds turned into minutes but eventually the energies faded, and the bone turned slightly grey in color.
There was a sense of relief but quickly Lyra quashed it and stepped forward once more. The final part was the most crucial of all. Once more she began to carve, carefully twining the next scripts around the existing ones, connecting a few loose connections she had intentionally left. The shape of the Circle of Recalling began to make itself known, but like the others, Lyra twisted it so that it connected with the alchemical sigils of dormancy and evolution. As she did she continued her magical song as threads of her aether spilled out, weaving in traces of Mesmer related to remembrance, feelings of nostalgia, and she wove that sensation into the magic itself. She remembered from her readings that it was possible to create permanent modifications by the use of remembered artifacts and creating something called an Addendum. Lyra had taken that concept, and instead of putting a new organ inside of the rat, Lyra direction turned one of its own bones into such an artefact. This one, however, was now heavily infused with her own essence, so as she created the Circle of Remembering she focused on parts of the artifact that were linked directly to her, to her essence. She drew out the sensation of her, connecting with the dormancy sigil which now activated as within the Marrow the infusion steadily began to take place as new blood cells were made. This time though as the infusion occurred the black blood would come from inside of the body, from a created artefact that was her, that the body remembered as being her.
Lyra continued this process for the entirety of the rat's skeletal system, taking extra time in the largest bones before moving to add additional glyphs that expanded the schema outside the bones to the other organs of the body. She added connection glyphs that linked the entirety of the circulatory system, the heart, and other organs back and gave them a sense of remembrance, weaving in the concept that the black blood was a part of the body, it was supposed to be there, that it should not be fought against. As she did this she once again activated the table and flipped between sigils as she had done previously when she had simply injected the blood. This time the body was more than primed, it thought of the black blood as a part of itself, and as she finished Lyra smiled and stepped back.
The rat was alive. The process, long and arduous, was complete, and with slow motions, Lyra closed up the creature and bound its wounds. She then carried it to a new cage well away from the others, and set it over another sigil of stabilization. She would have to watch it carefully, but this time she thought she had gotten it right.
Dark blood stained Lyra's hands as she sighed and tossed another dead rat off to the side. It had been cut open, entrails sloshing out with a splattering sound as it hit the floor, but Lyra ignored this as she reached for the next rat in the cage. This one as the rest had tried to resist, but with a flick of her thoughts she silenced its complaints and it became quiet and docile when she picked it up by the scruff of its neck and laid it flat on the table. She did not even bother wiping the surface of the table clean before strapping the creature in place, activating the runes on the table that came to life in a blaze of blue light.
The success of the previous portion of the project had been short-lived. While the black blood was accepted in the short term, over time the body rejected it and the creatures died in a rather violent fashion. It wasn't unexpected, in fact, Lyra had known it was a possibility, but what it meant was that the body had to be more than primed to accept this sort of change. It had to be crafted specifically to contain the odd mixture of her essence. So she had set to work, one rat after another for five whole days, much to a frustrated Naila's dismay.
The rat still lived as she began to cut into its body, carefully peeling back skin and muscle to reveal bone in various places. Small pins were used to keep the flesh pulled back and taunt, and she had marrow gum, bone salve, and tendon threads prepared just in case. Alchemy could be performed inside of a body, which she had proven in her last experimentation. Now though she knew she needed to go to the next step.
A small metallic instrument with a thin needle was used to carefully scratch pictographs into the surface of the bones themselves. Rats were smaller, their bones more fragile than a larger species would be. A frustrating fact that Lyra had faced as more than one rat had been left mangled when she pressed just slightly too hard with the point of the necromancy stylus. The designs began simply. Necromancy pictographs overlayed with glyphs for strengthening and preparation. She wove lines around the bones that linked back to the primary pictograph that was steadily forming, but the very center was left open and blank for the final steps. The idea had come to Lyra while reading one of the older tomes of necromancy she had delivered to her from the Circle's library some time ago. She had read the book cover to cover and had glossed over the sections regarding remembered artifacts. She had tried her hand at that branch of the world magic the year prior and found the entire thing taxing and the end results unpredictable. She had thought to never touch the topic again, yet a thought had occurred to her.
The pictographs required for remembered artifacts were on the surface simplistic. They delved into the memories that lay trapped in the organic materials, drawing out traces of the soul and manifesting them into some effect. The Circle of recalling was drawn directly on the surface of the thing created from living creatures, and its use was most effectively harnessed when the creator of the artefact knew the history of the thing they tried to recall. That method was unreliable at best, for no matter how much one tried she could never know all that had occurred in another life. Those soul fragments, traces of the person who was contained in flesh used was also highly important. Some traces leftover were stronger than others, and when trying to recall from an artefacts past with necromancy those fragments which were the strongest, often defining traits of that person's personality or life, would be pulled out first. Even with the way of the soul, the end item of the artefact creation product could not be certain... but that was not of concern to Lyra. What was important was the ability to recall those fragments at all, that essence of a person.
She focused with an intensity that would be frightening were she not alone. The soft scratching of metal on bone continued, and as she worked a steady stream of her essence flowed out and into the pictographs as they were created. The pulled on her knowledge of necromancy, alchemy, and scrivening as she went, using her rune of magic to listen carefully to the symphonies of the rat in order to determine when the change began. Steadily she was infusing the bone with glyphs that hummed with her aether, and when she finished with the last circling glyph she moved on to the centermost pictograph which was the most important. Directly in the center of the expanding schema, Lyra drew a sigil of catalyzation, but it was altered so that it formed a spiraling shape reminiscent of a serpent. The sigil expanded out and crossed over the pictographs from before, and in portions where other empty spaces were Lyra layered in similar sigils of stabilization and dormancy. Then at the very center of it all, there was a small circle, a combination of the sigil of several sigils Evolution, Preemption, and Reconstruction.
Lifting her tool Lyra could feel the energy of the pictographs warping, barely stabilizing each other like a dam ready to burst. It was then that she picked up a small, thin needle with a thinner black liquid in it. Condensed essence, but less viscous and slightly transparent. Her eyes were wide, breath stilled as she inserted the needle and slowly, carefully depressed the plunger and the liquid was forced into the marrow of the bone. When all the liquid was inside Lyra pulled the needle and quickly passed a hand over a blue gem, activating the largest stabilization sigil on the table before stepping back. She didn't move for several long, agonizing seconds. The rat twitched, its body trembling slightly, but nothing else occurred. From where she stood she could see the glyphs on the bone shining, warring with one another as energy passed quickly along the pathways Lyra had drawn. Seconds turned into minutes but eventually the energies faded, and the bone turned slightly grey in color.
There was a sense of relief but quickly Lyra quashed it and stepped forward once more. The final part was the most crucial of all. Once more she began to carve, carefully twining the next scripts around the existing ones, connecting a few loose connections she had intentionally left. The shape of the Circle of Recalling began to make itself known, but like the others, Lyra twisted it so that it connected with the alchemical sigils of dormancy and evolution. As she did she continued her magical song as threads of her aether spilled out, weaving in traces of Mesmer related to remembrance, feelings of nostalgia, and she wove that sensation into the magic itself. She remembered from her readings that it was possible to create permanent modifications by the use of remembered artifacts and creating something called an Addendum. Lyra had taken that concept, and instead of putting a new organ inside of the rat, Lyra direction turned one of its own bones into such an artefact. This one, however, was now heavily infused with her own essence, so as she created the Circle of Remembering she focused on parts of the artifact that were linked directly to her, to her essence. She drew out the sensation of her, connecting with the dormancy sigil which now activated as within the Marrow the infusion steadily began to take place as new blood cells were made. This time though as the infusion occurred the black blood would come from inside of the body, from a created artefact that was her, that the body remembered as being her.
Lyra continued this process for the entirety of the rat's skeletal system, taking extra time in the largest bones before moving to add additional glyphs that expanded the schema outside the bones to the other organs of the body. She added connection glyphs that linked the entirety of the circulatory system, the heart, and other organs back and gave them a sense of remembrance, weaving in the concept that the black blood was a part of the body, it was supposed to be there, that it should not be fought against. As she did this she once again activated the table and flipped between sigils as she had done previously when she had simply injected the blood. This time the body was more than primed, it thought of the black blood as a part of itself, and as she finished Lyra smiled and stepped back.
The rat was alive. The process, long and arduous, was complete, and with slow motions, Lyra closed up the creature and bound its wounds. She then carried it to a new cage well away from the others, and set it over another sigil of stabilization. She would have to watch it carefully, but this time she thought she had gotten it right.
