While she was justifiably horrified at the ordeal of the vampire Arkmis, but this only made her more sure in her decision. The Daedric Prince clearly had power, and she knew the rules he played by. He functioned similarly to the myths of genies in her original world. Meaning they would take your wishes and realise them in the darkest ways possible.
If you wished for gold, you might find yourself suffocating while buried in it. Or the gold would be from a dangerous lord's treasury, causing you to be hunted down.
If you wished for immortality, you'd be turned into a rock, or a lich, or have your soul sealed until the universe came to an end.
To Charlotte, the trick was to specify what you wanted so that it was impossible for it to be misconstrued. This was the method she'd use to have Vile heal her mother.
She steps forwards, just before the vampire's mangled corpse and kneels on one leg with Maria standing next to her, still blindfolded.
"I already know what you want, my dear. But how's about you tell me, so we are on the same page?" Clavicus asks, the statue's eyes looking as if they were glaring a hole into her soul.
Taking a deep breath, Charlotte looks up at the statue with cold determination, "I wish for my mother to be healed. To have her body, mind, and soul returned to how it was an hour before she'd been poisoned and cursed." she states, sure that the Daedric Prince wouldn't be able to alter such a request too much. Plus, if he did as she wished exactly to the letter, her mother would regain the years she lost, becoming both physically and mentally healthy again.
"Hmmmph! Now that's a tough one!... I may be able to grant your request, despite that mutt walking off with some of my power." Clavicus Vile grumbles something about a mutt that Charlotte wasn't able to easily pick up. "But first, I want to know what you can do for me?... What do you offer in return?"
...
"My soul." Charlotte answers simply, having already decided on this long before she set out on this journey.
"A soul for a soul... Girl, you have yourself a deal." he states, his tone darkening as boh Charlotte and Maria begin glowing.
Charlotte feels something odd extracted from her chest, its absence felt odd, and she felt a bit weak. But still 'normal' despite it all.
Maria on the other hand had a remarkably different response. The woman lets out a loud gasp as the light enters through her ears, nose, mouth, and other orifices. She was in terrible pain, but that was only due to having all of her cells die and rebuild themselves, younger and healthier than before.
Her glazed look regained focus, her dull blue hair regained its colour and lusciousness, she regained her womanly curves that she'd lost from her lengthened period of chronic starvation.
The glow around Charlotte ended far faster than Maria's. So the girl just watched her with a critical eye, not wanting to miss anything important. As far as she was concerned, this was her mother's rebirth. She wanted to memorize it, internalize it... Her mother would return to her.
*Thud.*
Not long after, Maria drops to her knees while breathing heavily, her eyes still scrunched up as she relived the recent pain over and over. But, she stilled as a small hand dropped onto her shoulder.
"M-mother?"
...
Maria turns her head, her eyes locking onto Charlotte. She didn't remember anything past the ball that her brother-in-law, Joseph de Gallia had hosted. Her daughter, Charlotte, had been with her... But now, she was on her knees inside an ominous-feeling cave with someone who looked almost identical to her daughter in front of her.
No, she'd been called 'mother'... This IS Charlotte... But, she looked older... Her height was slightly taller than it had been, she was wearing glasses and her eyes held both experience and tragedy... Most importantly, Charlotte was on the brink of tears as they looked at one another.
"C-Charlotte?"
"Mother!" Charlotte exclaims, the dams breaking as she jumps into her arms and cries. Letting all the hardships she'd experienced out as her mother hugged her tightly...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elsewhere, Michael, Tiffania, and Megumin were gathered in front of the Atronach Forge that was located under the College in the Middens. The small dais was already illuminated by hundreds of candles that'd been lit around it, and the preparations to make it operate properly had been gathered.
Most importantly, Michael hadn't even needed to borrow a Sigil Stone from one of the College's Masters, as he had found one while organizing the loot he'd acquired from Malyn Varen, the crazed former teacher.
The Sigil Stone had been placed, along with a pile of filled Black Soul gem, one Deathbell, one Hagraven Claw, a healthy pile of Void Dust, and some blood from both Tiffania and Michael.
To be frank, no one had any clue what'll happen if they used all of this. But Michael was sure it would, at the very least, be a cool explosion.
The list of ingredients wasn't finished yet however... Michael begins the ceremony, using a similar invocation to what Tiffania had used to summon Megumin. He circles around to the Atronach Forge and retrieves the last ingredient from his inventory...
The arm of the Void creature that attempted to pull them into Tiffania's faulty Teleportation Gate so long ago. It hadn't decayed at all, the arm looking like a large, misty black clawed shadow, one that'd been cut from the shoulder of a giant shadow creature.
Michael lays it atop the pile of ingredients and continues the chant, inwardly grinning as a steady glow encapsulates everything within the Atronach Forge. And before he'd even finished his chant, darkness appears and obscures everything within the ritual circle.
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The ritual concludes, with the trio finding themselves stood before what could only be called a puddle of shadows that sat in the centre of the Atronach Forge...
"Huh... Did we fail?" Michael questions, leaning forwards to get a better look.
"Maybe you summoned an invisible familiar!" Megumin says but is ignored as such a thing would be incredibly unlikely... Especially with the ingredients they'd used.
"If we did, I'm sure we could try again... We could get another arm..." she trails off as something rises from the puddle of shadows... It was thin, made from the shadows themselves, and around three feet tall.
The top of it leans over... And opens like a jaw... Except, it wasn't a jaw...
Michael feels a vein throb on his forehead when he sees the arm stand upright and create a 'mouth' with its hand that turns towards them, as if it were a sock-puppet or something.
"Michael, you should name it. Complete the ritual." she urges, finding the strange shadow-hand-thing kind of cute.
"Tetechun." Megumin offers from the side which has Michael deadpan at her. He wasn't going to let her ruin this for him like she'd done Kazuma.
Shaking his head, he turns towards the hand with a hand on his chin, "I'll call you..."
"I AM..." the hand suddenly says, its voice sounding suspiciously similar...
"What the shit... Why does my familiar sound like Darth Vader!?" Michael whispers exasperatedly to himself.
"I... AM!...."
"You are what, Tetechun?" Megumin asks as the hand continues to babble.
"I... AM." it answers, or doesn't, with the same words it seems intent on repeating.
Frowning, Michael steps closer to the Atronach Forge, "You are called Darth."
"I AM... AND. I AM-, CALLED... DARTH...?" the hand answers, sounding exactly like the emperor's right 'hand' man.
"Hmph, I think Tetechun suits you better." Megumin pouts.
With the hand accepting the name Michael had given it, the ritual circle fades away into dust, leaving just the puddle of shadows and the arm behind... The arm moves, the puddle following its base as it slides? towards Michael. It ignores him, however, instead, entering his shadow before disappearing.
...
Michael crooks a brow at suddenly 'feeling' his shadow. He couldn't move it, but he knew that Darth was in there. He takes a gander and drops a coin into the shadow, but is disappointed to find it clink off of the floor... No shadow inventory for him then.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the end, Michael was pretty happy with his new Familiar. While not 'cool' at least his voice was intimidating... If he had Darth talk while hidden in his shadow, he was sure whoever he was dealing with would shit themselves.
Everyone else liked him as well, Megumin, Illococoo... Though, he was pretty sure Tiffania only said so to pity him. To which he just pointed at Megumin, neither of their Familiars were perfect...
Derflinger was surprisingly the fondest of Darth. He'd been feeling a little forgotten since Michael would leave him propped up against his bed while he went to lectures and studied. While he was initially scared of Darth, after his fear cleared up the sword had basically ordered the hand to pick him up and start taking him places.
Michael hadn't known this of course, so when he started hearing about a strange hand going around the College with a sword, he was both surprised and annoyed. He'd had to reveal Darth to the Arch-Mage and write a warning on the notice board so that people wouldn't panic, scream and run when they encountered the peculiar duo in the hallway... Not that everyone read such notices...
To top it all off, the duo had been given a nickname... Darth Saber... Yeah, he'd been surprised at that one.
*BOOOM!*
Michael's brought from his thoughts as an explosion rocks the College, with him instantly up and sprinting towards its origin, hoping to god that Megumin hadn't done something stupid.
...
Fortunately, once he reached the scorched hallway his fears were swayed... One of the doors had been blown off of its hinges and was a blackened clump on the floor. A few Apprentices were already standing around and observing the scene.
A figure steps from the smoking-room, his flesh looking as if it were melting off of him... Judging by the looks of his robes however, the man seemed to be a Master of the College. Michael couldn't recognise him due to his face literally melting from its skull, but this laboratory belonged to Master Ralyn, so it was highly likely to be him.
"W-whyyy...." the figure burbles out, his melting lips bubbling as air escapes them. After that, he drops onto the floor, dead.
"Holy shit... That's fucked up." Michael mutters, the other Apprentices gasping and or fleeing from the scene.
The disaster wasn't completely over yet however...
"Hahahaha! Take that, 'MASTER!' who's the failure now!? IT'S NOT ME MELTING AWAY! OH? CANNOT EVEN HOLD YOURSELF UP!? WHAT A FAILURE!" an Apprentice, Hamelyn laughs maniacally as he steps from the ruined classroom, his robes scuffed and burned slightly, but the man himself unharmed from whatever had afflicted the master.
Hamelyn glances around at the few Apprentices still watching and sneers at them, "MORE FAILURES!? FINE! I'LL ALLOW YOU TO SEE MY GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT!" he shouts, his hands glowing a sickly green as he casts a spell. It spreads out like a thin mist for a moment before quickly dissipating, doing seemingly nothing... At least, that's what Michael thought, until the trapdoor leading down to the Middens crashes open, revealing hundreds or maybe even thousands of skeevers.
The large rat-like creatures have glowing red eyes, unlike the usual black you'd see. Not only that, these were slightly larger as well, they all swarmed towards Hamelyn as if he were the Pied Piper.
"R-RUN!" an Apprentice exclaims, prompting everyone else to scatter and run away from the tidal wave of rodents, leaving Michael behind to deal with it all...
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :
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