In Loki's Honor

After I left Laila in the care of the were-kin women, I found they repurposed a dollhouse for me. Sitting on a wooden couch, I reviewed my Perk and Skill choices.

You gained the Strengthened Animal Shapes III (rare) perk. When you transform into an animalistic form, Increase your physical Attributes by 12.

You gained the Medium Animal Shapes (very rare) perk. You can transform into medium animals as well as the smaller ones.

You gained the Dire Animal Shapes (very rare) perk. You can shift into a stronger feral form of an animal as well as the normal version.

You gained the Fairy Godmother (very rare) perk. You can adopt a mortal child and grant her magical powers by permanently sacrificing your MP.

I felt pity for the little girl, Laila. She lost her mother and her father died helping me. She had nobody else to look after her. So I decided to adopt her, fairy style. The sacrifice of MP will be something I'll have to see if it works or not. Or how much MP I have to use. Even if it doesn't work, that is a pretty nifty perk to not take when I can. I have no idea when I'll be a fairy again.

I refrained from buying {Strengthened Animal Shapes} IV and V. It was two ad one points per perk respectively. My next perk would be {Speaking Animal Shape}. It was self-explanatory. The Souweaver perks had an addition that wasn't there before. I think someone is messing with the System. I won't complain.

You gained the Spirit Pact (very rare) perk. You can spend SP to make a contract between two willing parties. A living creature and a spirit. The spirit grants its power to the creature in exchange for sustenance and a 5% Exp tithe from the living.

You gained the Extra SP I (very rare) perk. You gain 1 more base SP per level.

You gained the Extra SP II (very rare) perk. You gain 2 more base SP per level.

You gained the Spirit Caster (ultra-rare) perk. You can lend SP to a contracted spirit to make it cast spells on your behalf.

I noticed that my race didn't give SP, and I suspected most Classes also had either a zero or a very small progression. Unless I guarantee a bonus now, I can very well find myself without SP in future lives. My SP Pool jumped to thirty-one thousand. And my HP was at twelve hundred, courtesy of using Soul as the main Attribute. At a cost of one hundred SP per ghost per hour, I could field a phantom army for a brief amount of time.

The Skill points were dumped in the Skills I had but I found a few new ones that were interesting.

You gained the Soul Weapons (ultra-rare) Skill. Spend SP to wrap a weapon with ectoplasm. This weapon deals normal damage to ghosts and incorporeal undead.

You gained the Sticky Threads (uncommon) Skill. Threads you create through biological or magical means are adhesive. Use the Skill rank plus half your weaving Attribute as the effective Strength. The threads do not stick to you although you can cling to them.

You gained the Throw Threads (uncommon) Skill. Threads you create through biological or magical can be thrown at a target up to Rank x weaving Attribute meters.

With that done, I created contracts with both ghost mages, which they eagerly accepted. With the casters of my collar bound to me and me fueling the energy they needed to dispel the damn tool, it was gone. My {Water Fairy Familiar} perk was still blocked.

I retired for the day. I needed a bit of sleep.

I woke up mid-afternoon. I spent the day telling tales of Lily to the were-kin, wolves, cats, rats, bats, even a few bears, foxes, and badgers. I laid the groundwork for their ethics and conduct. I gave them a two-hour lesson in t'ai chi ch'üan and to my surprise, two of them, one were-rat and a beautiful were-fox man gained the Skill from that lesson alone. They would spread the discipline among the were-folk and hopefully, it would help them in controlling the rage.

Finally, I went to find Laila to find her and her father's ghost and make her my fairy goddaughter.

"Laila. I will bind you to your father's ghost. He will be with you for as long as you wish, sharing his wisdom and power with you. He'll take a bit of your Experience, but I think the trade-off will be a good one. I will also adopt you like your fairy godmother. This will help you obtain a good Class when you gain your System."

She looked at me with crystal doe eyes and asked the hardest question of them all, "Silverstreak, why did my daddy had to die?"

"Can I show you some ghosts and ask them to tell their story?"

She nodded. "I can see my daddy?"

I jumped and sat on her lap. "Yes. Your father is one of them."

First came Sundamar. The elf mage told of his concern about the fairies and the human encroachment and shared one piece of information I did not know. The Queen did not want to give up her regio, that pocket dimension inside a tree. Then he turned to the arcane arts and found a way to forcefully move the fairies. The other mages were onboard his plan, but they would harvest as much pixie dust as they could before letting the fairies go.

I shifted to the other mage, Balanor. He told of how he learned of his master's research and their plan to capture the fairies, and he associated with the jewelry merchant to capture the fairies. They sent the bandit group and made a lot of money selling the fairies. He also told him he stole all the research on the collars from the academy. It was in the grimoires I destroyed.

Finally, the milliner. He said he was sorry he was the one responsible for the loss of Laila's mother. That he did what he could to make her happy but his ways were not the best. He sugarcoated the story a bit and told her he decided to do what was right and set the fairies free.

He faded, leaving the two of us alone. The girl looked at me, "Silverstreak. I heard the werewolves calling you their 'matriarch'. It means mother, doesn't it? If you become my fairy godmother, will I become a werewolf too?"

I shook my head. No. Unless you want, but that's a life of hardships. I can turn you into a were-jaguar, a cat just like me," I shifted into my feline form, a miniature kitten that fitted on the girl's hand. Then my hybrid form. "Not this size though."

Finally, I shifted back to a brownie but kept my tail and ears along with a black fur coat on my skin. "Did you see the exercises I taught the werewolves? If you master that Skill, you will live longer and may learn how to control your inner rage. Maybe that's it. Let me bless you."

First I made the contract between Laila and his father. She looked happy at the ghost of her father next to her. He sat and hugged her daughter.

Then I touched her face and focused on my inner wish.

I knew what I had to do. I kissed the girl's forehead.

Do you wish to make Laila your Fairy Goddaughter? You can grant her control over the feral rage for 10,000 MP.

I told yes. I felt my SP draining and the two mage ghosts I was bound to screamed and burned. They were sucked into my being and me too. I felt as if all my veins burned. I understood what was happening. I didn't have MP, but the mages could convert SP into MP. Through my link to them, they were consumed and their essence fused with me, then after burning open a whole venous system in my body, poured into the girl.

I fainted from the ordeal. When I woke up, I had a few notifications waiting for me.

Laila was appointed as your Fairy Goddaughter.

She was granted the Feral Rage Control (very rare) perk. She can remain in control when in a feral rage state, although she will be prone to act on it.

She was granted the Fairy Goddaughter (very rare) perk. You have a protector fairy. You gained +2 Dexterity, +2 Endurance, +2 Mind, +5 Luck.

You gained the Broken Spirit Contract II (curse, very rare) trait. You suffer a 20% Experience penalty.

You gained the Burnt SP X (disability, unique). You burned 10,000 SP. Your total Sp was adjusted. [1]

You lost the following traits:

Dead Magical Conduits (disability, very rare): Your magical conduits are dead. You cannot spend MP or use magic in any way.

Magicless (ultra rare): Your base magic Attribute is zero.

Greater Magic Deficiency (very rare): you cannot increase your Magic Attribute or gain MP.

Your MP was retroactively calculated.

I bottled a whole slew of surprising gawks for later de-packaging and processing. Maybe I did keep some of Apricot's ability.

"There. Now all you need is a little prick from my claw in a night of the full moon."

"There will be one in a few days," the milliner's ghost said.

I nodded. "Good. That will give me time to rescue the fairies. Although the knowledge of the collars is gone now. I might be able to chew through them. They're made of magic."

Magic eater works way better if I can put the magic in my digestive system, either by biting it or swallowing like Thor's containment ring.

I let her talk to her father's ghost and went away, lamenting the Exp penalty. At least it is listed as a disability, meaning it will go away when I die.

Alone in the dollhouse, I checked my status.

Strength: 1 - Dexterity 14 - Endurance 4

Mind 14 - Willpower 14 - Charisma 14

Magic 0 / 100

Ego ? 66 ~ 67 ? - Luck 80 / 100 - Soul - 89 / 100

HP: 1,200

MP: 69

SP: 27,026

When transformed, I gained eighteen on each physical Attribute.

I needed only eleven more points to hit the Soul cap. But although I had SP, I had a Magic Attribute of zero. My Class and Race description changed. Brownie [Silkie] gave me three MP per level, while Fae Soulweaver gave me one MP per level. The sixty-nine points of MP I had were the sum of that multiplied by my levels.

I needed points to dump in Magic. Or a perk to bind another Attribute to MP calculation as I had for the others. I would have to spend my future Attribute points on Magic.

But the moment of truth was upon me. {Animate Broom} was a spell that used ten MP per hour when my affinity was factored in. I looked at the broom and used the spell with the mental image of a rodent playing as a magician's apprentice tasked with filling a tub.

"Animate Broom!"

The shaft quivered and a hand sprouted. Then another. The broom did a happy jiggle and started to walk. My MP plummeted and my SP fell by more than a hundred points to cover for the deficit.

You created the spell Animate Broom Golem. Animates a broom golem that has rudimentary intelligence. It can follow orders but can't fight very well. Prone to repeating its task unless commanded to stop, Cost: 400 (200) MP per hour.

Heck. Neep will go crazy when I show him that. And it meant I could use all my magical abilities. And Nenandil...

My enthusiasm at unlocking my magic flopped. Nenandil wasn't here with me, and I deeply regretted that. She was there, trapped, and me here, enjoying some stupid magic.

I stood up and roared. Fucking fuckers fucking with my fucking life. Time to get serious.

I rushed down the catacomb corridors. Somehow, Adrian blocked my path.

"Where are you going, Matriarch?"

"Out. My people suffer, enslaved. I'm going to warn some friends to stay out of the mess that's coming. Then I'm going to liberate them."

"We are ready to help," the Werewolf King proudly said.

"Then help you will. I don't want any of the cubs doing stupid dangerous things. But they can help. I want the stealthier among you. This is not a crash and burn operation."

He snickered, "Crash and burn?"

"Yes. We need to be subtle, and I don't want the were-kin's involvement to be common knowledge. I have the ghosts for that."

"Then the honor will fall on the rat-kin. Their animal form is the smallest and their hybrid forms can walk silently and unseen."

"Yes, them. I want every were-kin available training t'ai chi. It is an important Skill that shall remain away from the general public. It will help you control the rage, hopefully."

King Adrian knelt. The other were-kin witnessing that knelt as well. They still towered over me. "It was a mighty gift, Matriarch. We are all grateful."

"I'm going. I need to use whatever sunlight I have left."

I went outside and transformed into a hawk. I tried but I flew too clumsily. Without practice, going at two hundred kilometers per hour is a good way to go to the next life. I shifted into my hybrid form and went the usual way.

My first stop was the temple of Yznera. When I reached the inner sanctum, an elf with green robes was looking at me. He was a handsome man with wisdom in his eyes.

"Old Soul, the Mother welcomes you."

Oh, right. The elves did call me that back in Fulgen.

"Did she tell you what I came to do?"

The elf smiled. "Yes. The Mother does not resent the use of Her name in defense of nature. She supports your cause of freeing the fairies. We will issue a formal declaration stating as much. Keeping fairies as pets or toys or slaves will become a sin under the Mother's eyes."

I shifted and waved my arms. House Magic flew and I cleaned the temple. "Tell the Mother that our covenant is renewed. As she stood by me, my kin and I shall stand for her. I ask she blesses my kin. Both the new and the old ones."

The elf looked away and up. He seemed to be listening to something. "The Mother said she will answer the heartful prayers of your kin if they are freely given."

Meaning, she wants to harvest faith from them first.

"I request you send a couple priests to live with my kin. My kin will select some of their youth to come here and train as acolytes. This way the faith of Yznera can spread among them." I looked at the same spot he did, "And if she can help them controlling the beast within with her gifts, that would be most appreciated."

The elf chuckled. Their musical voices were too beautiful and my fey self felt enraptured.

"Go with the mother's blessings," He waved me away. "I know you have a lot of temples to visit today."

"Right you are."

I went away and selected some ghost volunteers for the next leg of my plan. I gave each of them the power to materialize and sent them to the temples. All of them were to give a single warning.

The fairy slaves will be released. Your faith is asked to stay out of it and do not assist the slavers. Those that treated the fairies with cruelty will suffer our wrath for breaking Yznera's decree.

Some ghosts were banished. Some driven away. But the message was delivered. I stood on a tall bell tower as the first stars of the night shone. I looked up. I knew their eyes were on me.

So I delivered my message to them, in good old plain English.

"I'm coming to release the fairies. I'm going to murder the entire household of those that tortured or murdered fairies. Men, women, children, servants. Then I'm going to use their ghosts on the next. I see a single priest in my way, I'm going to purge your faith from this Empire. You stay out of my business, I stay out of yours. And I'm coming for the Empress. If you want to help me negotiate the release of the two hostages she has, that's awesome.

"That starts tomorrow. If you want to spare them the torment, send your divine messages, oracles, e-mail, whatever. The nice brownie is tired. Now, it's boggart time."

I let my rage flow. My indignation. My body grew to about three times my normal size. My skin became covered with silvery fur but the underside was pale gray. I felt tusks poking out of my lips. My hands had wicked claws. I looked at my reflection in the polished brass bell. I'd cleaned it before to pass the time and wait for the sunset. I was a semi-transparent furry goblin. Partially ghostly. I could move my hand through the bell but I felt some resistance. I looked like a bugbear from the old pen and paper RPG. Spectral. Wicked. I stood at about one hundred and thirty centimeters tall.

I shifted into my hybrid form. I was as big as Lily's werecat was.

I let my heart calm itself and meditated. I returned to my silkie form and went back to my dollhouse to prepare. Tomorrow. Tomorrow an empire will pay the price of hubris.

[1]: A bar above a Roman numeral multiplies it by 1,000.