Act 52: Enlightening Magic And Darkening Resolve

--- Jon ---

As the night wore on he found that he couldn’t really bring himself to stop reading as he continued through the book on Demonology through the night. Learning the details of a number of things that he’d gleaned from his previous interactions with Demons, and through his work with Artemis against the Horror.

(‘Now if one is to study Demons one must come to define what a true Demon is.

Demons themselves are born from an odd crossing of magical and spiritual energies, in such a way that a more spiritually existence would latch onto the magic and use it to form a body not dissimilar to that of an elemental. With this body being based upon the spiritual imprint that Demon has either constructed itself or had constructed by whatever fool idiotic enough to worship these parasitic entities.

Similarly to an Elemental a Demon is bound to its Conceptual origin as the source of its power, and must seek out more of this element in order to gain the power necessary to maintain themselves. In fact for the earliest part of their life cycle Demons can be considered a form of Elemental for Concepts of a less physical nature be they spiritual or mental. The fact that they are born from more abstract Concepts is likely what enables Demons to divert so far from their more physically inclined cousin’s life cycles and develop their more spiritual or mental nature.

Though one should take note that due to this Elemental origin, the anathema of a Demon’s origin element, will disrupt and harm the Demon’s physicality to the point of causing spiritual damage. A fact one must always remember when dealing with a Demon.

Now the detail that most easily differentiates a young Demon from an Elemental, is the fact that a Demon is capable of developing multiple Concepts if given enough time to grow. Which is why even if a Demon were to be born from the Concept of Wraith it would gain dominion over physical might or fire, or one with an origin of Fear grow to gain control of Shadows.

But worry not for infinite growth in these Demons, for while they can amass immense power similarly to an Arcane’s development of new Conceptual affinities, a Demon is largely limited to Concepts at least tangentially related to their existing ones and each new concept takes an ever growing amount of power for a Demon to bind to th-’)

His reading was eventually interrupted by Pix giving him a light zap.

“Uh, what’s up?” He blinked, before yawning.

The little fair gave him a glare before pointing to the window where he could just see the morning’s first light pouring in.

“Right… guess I’ve been reading longer than I thought…” Which was a bit odd given how little it felt like he’d read. (I must be more out of it than I thought…)

Scene Consequences

-Thanks to DeSade’s books gained 2XP to Demonology instead of 1.

-Due to recent events Trait Triggered: Insane Beast or Mad Man, Still A Hunter.*

--For studying recent prey gained 1 additional XP to Demonology.

---Currently: Lv. 3 (6/8)

*A/N: I know I didn’t say but you got 1 more use of this, over the next 8 Turns.

---

When he eventually managed to wake up, he wanted to continue reading the book on Demonology but Pix refused to let him, instead zapping his hand any time he tried to touch it.

After the fifth time of this happening, he finally gave in as he ran a hand down his face and let out a sigh. “Fine. Alright, you don’t want me reading that book anymore,” (today) “what would you rather I study instead of the Demon that lives in our city?”

The little fairy narrowed her eyes at him and looked like she was getting ready to give him another zap, before pausing to blink and stare at the little charge of light magic building in her hand.

Letting out a chirping sound she began to wave her hand through the air while drawing little shapes with it, before firing off a couple of weak zaps at his Demonology book.

“Fine, fine, we can study your light magic a bit more but don’t zap the book.” He told her as he blocked the zapping with his arm, not even feeling them. “This thing is like sixty years old, books that old can be pretty fragile.”

Pix looked like she didn’t particularly care for that detail, and so he kept himself between her and the book as he moved towards his stash of them, before quickly replacing the old book with a much newer one. More specifically one of the notebooks Miss Edna had given him, with a number of details about the little fairy’s magic and how it worked.

There was knocking at his door, where he found Miss Edna standing and watching with a curious look. “Heard a bit of a ruckus going on in here, what’s up?”

“Pix wants me to study her magic instead of what I was in the middle of working on.” He explained, hoping he could avoid telling her what he was studying given what his second parent thought about DeSade’s magic lessons.

“Oh, Jon.” She gasped with no small amount of scandal. “Have you been neglecting your little lady? For shame.” Miss Edna shook her head with a disappointed look. “I thought we raised you better than that.”

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the older woman’s grin and Pix’s look of vindication.

“I’m not neglecting anyone, if anything I spoil her.” He argued, half heartedly.

“I’m aware.” Miss Edna laughed, taking the notebook from his hand. “Heaven knows you can’t say no to a pretty girl. You could give my ex a run for his money on that one.”

“Which one?” He scoffed, knowing that was a long long list.

“The one I still talk to.” Miss Edna gave him a light bop on the head with the notebook, before using the rebound to snap it open. “Ignoring that carefully cultivated snark, as your magic teacher it is my responsibility to teach you any magic I can.”

The older woman gave him a mischievous smile as she snapped her fingers, sparking a light at the end of them. “Let's start the lesson, shall we?”

Scene Consequences

-Jon has gained the Light concept and can now use [Light].

-For learning how to use a new Concept gained 1XP to Occult.

--Currently: Lv 8 (2/18)

-Pix has gained a level in Zapping and Light Scripts.

--Currently: Zapping Lv. 7 and Light Scripts Lv. 3.

---

“Hmm, I almost forgot how quickly you pick this stuff up.” Miss Edna admitted as they wrapped up their lesson on magic, the three of them having migrated to the living room at some point.

“I’m only picking it up this fast because you’re my teacher.” He pointed out, knowing full well that even if he was a bit ahead of other people who’d been practicing magic for as long as he had, it was only because of Miss Edna and DeSade teaching him the basics.

“Ha! If you ever meet my sister, be sure to tell her that.” His magical mentor told him. “Even after winning my bet with the camp and choosing to keep it open, she still doesn’t believe I’m a ‘responsible mentor’ or that I shouldn’t be allowed to ‘teach the kids’, ‘you’ll corrupt their minds’, bleh.”

“But haven’t you had the camp for like, fifteen years now?” He frowned. “Shouldn’t that more than prove you can be a teacher?”

“Eh, my sister is a stubborn bitch.” Miss Edna shrugged before smirking. “It runs in the family.”

“Hmm…”

“Anyway, since we’re on the topic of teaching and magic, why don’t you tell me about what you’ve picked up over the last few months?” Miss Edna asked. “I mean you said you were working on something earlier?”

“Uh, yeah.” He nodded, thinking fast. “I’ve looked into Script Craft a bit, figured out this potion to help Pix maintain her magic, enchanted a couple things like a flashlight that can find lost things.”

“Oh, might want to grab one of those for myself.” Miss Edna smiled, encouraging him on. “I’m always losing things around my house.”

“That’s because of all the clutter around your house.” He reminded her, because while her house didn’t look messy there was so much stuff in it that it was hard to tell at times. “I mean you’ve got how many storage rooms in your house?”

“Bleh.” The older woman stuck her tongue out at him. “I have a system, and half of those are for business purposes.”

“You wouldn’t have lost things if you had a system.” He pointed out.

“Meh, I find things eventually.” Miss Edna dismissed. “But come on, all of that’s pretty straightforward. If you’ve been working on a project it’s got to be something really interesting.”

“Well… I’ve sort of figured out how to do a weak summoning without a catalyst.” He threw out, thinking that was the most complex bit of magic he’d done outside of enchanting his axe. Something he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to remind Miss Edna about him needing while under her watch back in Blackwell.

“Ah, summons.” Miss Edna nodded. “I’ve got a few of those, but it was never really my cup o’ tea. Much more May’s thing. I always preferred either building things with my magic or getting up close and personal to lay the smack on some fool trying to get fresh.”

“Yeah, well… you called it the magic of friendship in your notes and well… It’s never wrong to have more friends.” He explained, feeling a little embarrassed about it.

“Hmm, no. No it’s not.” Miss Edna nodded before flexing her wrist and causing a swirl of light to gather in her hand. When the light eventually dissipated there was a small owl clinging to her finger. “You’ve met Hoots before.”

“He’s a contract?” He blinked. “I thought he was just your pet owl.”

Hoots gave him an offended look.

Miss Edna shook her head as she ran a finger over the little owl’s head. “Nah, Hoots here has been my familiar for… Oof, almost sixty years now. Figure if I’m going to be here for a while I should probably keep him nearby so he doesn’t get lonely.”

“Well, he’s welcome here for however long you two want to stay.” He assured her.

“I know.” Miss Edna grinned. “And just so you know, as long as I’m here I’m happy to give you a lesson on any magic you can think of. After all, how often do the two of us get to hang out outside of Summer, huh?”

“Not nearly enough.” He agreed wholeheartedly.

Scene Consequences

-Grown a bit closer to Miss Edna.

-Miss Edna will now auto-assist Jon with any Magic not involving the Dark Arts. Alternatively, Jon can ask for a magic lesson having her teach him a specific type of Spell, Perk, or enchantment herself but removing most of the bonus XP she’d usually give.

--Note: Miss Edna cares more about Jon’s well being than his magical development, and thus instead of training Jon at her max ability she will use half-her Rank and restore a bit of Mental Health each assist or training action.

---

He sat in the hospital room alone with his Ma, his fingers tapping against the side of his chair as he stared at her and waited.

The only thing he could do according to Miss Edna, at least if he didn’t want to cause more harm than good. And while he didn’t doubt her given how much she knew about magic, he was also fully aware of the fact that as knowledgeable as she was in magic she didn’t know everything about it. Especially if he were to dive into some of the… Darker means that DeSade had made available to him.

(Though there’s no telling if any of that will actually help fix Ma…)

The tapping of his fingers continued to echo throughout the room, matching the steady beat of his Ma’s heart monitor.

(Maybe there really isn’t a cure for this outside of time… Maybe I really can’t do anything this time…) He forced himself to admit after an hour of listening to the heart beat.

He thought back to Halloween on the police station rooftop, when he’d tried to get Pix to fix his Ma and she failed. Something that he didn’t blame her for given how she’d tried her best. (Maybe if I’d had more healing beyond Pix’s I could’ve done something… Anything to keep the venom from setting in…)

He doubted the Mending scripts he’d made with Pix could accomplish much, but at the same time his thoughts couldn’t help but drift to the few healing spells and methods he’d seen both Miss Edna and DeSade employ while they were all dealing with the Corrupted.

There may not have been much more he could’ve done to help his Ma this time, but the next she was injured like this, he would have a means of healing her.

Scene Consequences

-Ma is still comatose.

-Jon will gain a bonus to all actions improving his healing abilities until his Ma wakes up.