Threads of the Soul

As the boiling sensation slowly started to subside and the ugly, black veins receded from his face and back down his neck, leaving him handsome as ever, Seth was finally relieved of his painful transformation once more. It was really starting to become a pattern, every time something good happened to him, it had to come with torturous pain and him getting laid out on his ass.

At least, he hoped this was something good. It would be just awful if he went through all that and it was something bad. Like a magic blood born disease.

Internally cursing himself for putting that red flag out into the universe, Seth let out a low, long groan before hacking up a mouthful of blood. The blood that splattered against the ground was not crimson, but was black as tar. Even its consistency was like tar, so viscous and thick that it could hardly be called a liquid at that point.

"Uuugh, That can't be healthy."

The puddle of tar-like goop that had replaced his blood didn't seem to be content with being spat onto the floor like that. Like a living thing, it began to wriggle and squirm. Stretching one side itself out, it dragged the rest of its 'body' behind it, as it squirmed across the floor like a worm.

Crawling its way over to Seth's body, desperate to return home. As it touched his hand, it was rapidly absorbed into his skin, just like the progenitors blood had once down, and returned itself to his veins once more.

Before he could feel relieved, or disgusted, by the revelation of what was squirming around inside of him, a clawed hand clamped around his throat once more and lifted him from the ground.

Seth let out another groan as he was lifted like a rag doll, his back slammed against the wall as he was met with the furious face of the draconic woman. However, before her rage was mostly contained and performative. But now, it was overflowing from her like a fog of seething bloodlust.

Scales formed along her cheeks as her eyes turned to slits, the irises glowing with intense magical power that bore down onto Seth once more. Her teeth, which she was bearing in her intense rage as if she was ready to rip his throat out, were lines of wicked daggers that would make a T-rex insecure.

"WHAT DID YOU DO! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HIS BLOOD?"

"I didn't do anything!"

Seth shouted back, feeling the iron-like fingers pressing against his neck. Yet, despite the clawed tips of the gauntlets and the crushing grip she had Seth felt... fine. He didn't register it at first, but when he spoke with such ease despite his situation, he realised that there wasn't really any pain from her grip.

He could certainly feel it, but she was much more angry than she was previously yet he felt much better now than he did previously. The sensation on his neck was less like the crushing grip from before and more just general pressure, like he was wearing a slightly tight turtleneck.

Come to think of it, he didn't even feel pain when he hit the wall either, but he knew for a fact that he did actually hit it. So what gives?

He wasn't the only one to notice this discrepancy, it was obvious to the Dragon Lady who was hoping to hear him choke and struggle, yet got none of what she wanted. Despite that, however, the strange occurrence seemed to reduce her boiling rage to a mere simmer.

Tilting her head, her glowing eyes trailed down to Seth's neck, as she twisted her hand to force his head up so she could get a proper view at his throat. And she was not the only one curious about the sight.

Controlling his long legged, spider-like puppet, Seth had it loom over the draconic lady's shoulder and gazed at his neck which had turned entirely black.

The same viscous, tar-like blood that he had spat onto the floor was now covering the entirety of his throat. It created a thin, constantly shifting and undulating film between his vulnerable flesh and her deadly, metallic claws.

Whenever she clenched her hand or dug in her claws, the black blood would shift its thickness in response, Moving like a living thing eager to protect its host.

It didn't just form along his neck, but seemed to have spread from his chest, prompting the Dragon lady to rip open his shirt to look at the source of this strange black river. However, as soon as she saw Seth's chest, she immediately released her grip and staggered back slightly.

Her rage was completely gone, as her face was a wash with something Seth truly had not expected. Fear.

"C-Child of the Unending?! That's... that's not possible."

Her eyes were locked open, looking more like a deer in headlights instead of a fearsome dragon, as she stared at Seth's bare chest. Not because of how incredibly cut he was or how amazing his body was, he didn't have the dehydrated 6 pack abs most would require for that kind of look.

Instead, her feet stemmed from the symbol etched onto Seth's chest, right above his heart and peaking out from underneath his prosthetic's harness.

Etched onto his chest was a rune, one that seemed to be composed of millions of smaller runes like a style of dot painting. Even with his, albeit remedial, studies into the art of runes, Seth had absolutely no clue what the tiny runes said, or what they made as a whole. But it seemed she did, and had provided him with a translation.

Although it just left him with more questions.

However, he never got the chance to ask such questions. Still looking at him as if he was a long dead corpse come to life, the Dragon lady turned on her heels and immediately dissolved into a cloud of shadows.

As soon as the cloud dispersed, she was gone and Seth was alone once more in his laboratory, with only his puppets to keep him company.

'Child of the Unending? What even is that, and why does it feel like I've somehow stepped into the realm of yet another cult? Honestly... What is with my life and cults?'

Seth shook his head in annoyance and let out a long, exasperated sigh. He rubbed his face in an attempt to shed the stress and confusion, only to pause and pull his hand away.

Gazing at it curiously, he raised an eyebrow and flexed his fingers before curling them into a tight fist.

Reeling his arm back, he punched the nearby wall with all of his strength. He didn't dare use his mana to enhance it, but even without it his strength was considerable. The wall crumpled on impact, letting out a small cloud of dirt and dust as he punched a hole into solid stone like his name was Kyle.

Yanking his arm out of the whole, since he had punched down past his elbow, Seth opened his hand and examined it again, as well as examined the black goop that was receding from his hand.

It had covered his hand like a glove, and was now slowly retreating up his arm and back towards his heart where it had originated from. The entire process was completely autonomous, Seth didn't have any say in the matter. In fact if he wasn't watching it happen, it would be hard to know it was even occurring in the first place.

With a few more punches, and even a headbutt or two, Seth was able to conclude a few things. Mainly, whether by a new facet of his biology or some symbiotic entity residing within him, the process was utterly instinctual and seemed to respond to physical trauma just before it happened.

For some reason however, it only protected his actual body. Even though it originated from his heart every time, and spread across his body to cover the affected area, it refused to protect his metallic arm. The arm was tough enough to endure Seth's abuse on it's own, a trait he had ensured when creating it, but it was a curious thing to not nonetheless.

Another thing was that, Whenever it covered his head, it always remained clear of his eyes. It would cover his head like a mask, but never cover his eyes. He didn't know if this was because it was incapable of doing so, or simply 'choosing' not to for some unknown reason. But Seth wasn't quite ready to try and stab himself in the eye to test it without knowing he wasn't going to lose an eye.

Using his perfectly fine, non stabbed eyes, Seth took a look at his stats. He was curious to see how they ended up after all of his elemental score increases. He had been upgrading his bio and soul scores over the last few months, but it was less than he could have been doing. He was mostly busy and didn't have much time to do hunting like he used to be able to do, and had inevitably fallen behind his companions.

He wasn't the only transcendent anymore, but maybe these elemental increases would help in some way he hadn't discovered yet or his defensive, second skin would at least help keep his real body safe so he wouldn't have to worry about it as much.

[Name: Sephtis 'Seth' Quinn

Species: Gaian Hybrid

Biological Score: 570 Elemental Score: ???

Spiritual Score: 720 Psychic Score: 250

Mutation - Puppeteers Thread, Spirit Animal, Resonant Threads

Requitals: Life Lantern, Ravens Raiment, Expeditious Ratreat, Grizzly Reminder, Kiss of Death, Requiem of Blood, Weavers Curse, Veil of Shadows, Midnight Mantle, ??? Heart]

Bonds: Omelette, Bob]

Seth quickly scanned the stat screen, before landing on his current elemental score. Or that's what he would say if there was one. Instead there were simply three question marks, which were constantly glitching and flickering on the illusory screen in front of him.

'Huh...'