Sworded Affair

Chapter 57: The Lost and the Damned

This is an incredibly weird feeling, Emma thought, as she watched her younger self skip through the corridors without a care in the world. With old walls featuring flaking paint alongside lockers beginning to show hints of rust; the scene itself was unexceptional amongst the perennially cash-strapped dwellings of public education, but all of it was screaming familiarity at Emma, for all that she couldn't recognise any of what was happening in the vision.

"Em! You're here! See, Chase? Told you she'd come, no way she'd flake out on us."

An older, black-haired girl grabbed young Emma by the arm, practically dragging her out of the school and down a side street. Someone Emma had once called friend; though not close enough that she could recall a name immediately, nearly four years on.

"Fine, fine, looks like I owe you ten. More puffs for you."

Loose grip, holding fingertips instead of the forearms, Emma shook her head. Easy to break free and snap a wrist on the way out.

It was strange, not to hear a rebuttal from the System, or Edith she supposed, remarking that the average thirteen year old did not receive instruction in close combat against armoured opponents. Young Emma already knew that much, her parents having spent a decent sum getting her lessons in self-defence for reasons only recently becoming apparent, but she had no reason to distrust her friends, right? Emma honestly couldn't recall. Rounding four tight corners in quick succession, she realized the impromptu group were heading towards the housing estates; areas that had become synonymous with crime and poverty for reasons so complicated that people did Doctorates on the subject.

"Here we are!" Chase declared, grinning widely as they emerged in a run-down car park, currently home to a baker's dozen of wrecks and a single, mostly-clean white van.

"Welcome, welcome!" An adult man in a trenchcoat greeted them in an exaggeratedly posh accent, stepping out from the back of the van. "How can the candy man help you fine boys and girls today?"

"...Mister, are you like the bad men the telly warns us about?" Young Emma asked, slowing down as she spoke for the first time. "Are you a nonce?"

"Oh god no!" The man recoiled, disgust writ large on his face as Emma's two companions began to cackle uncontrollably. "No, no, it's not what it looks like! God, is that what people have been thinking when they look at me?"

"You drive an unmarked white van and call yourself the candy man," Young Emma retorted, mercilessly sticking the knife in.

By now, Chase was having to brace the unnamed girl; the latter of whom was laughing so hard she looked to be on the verge of falling over.

"I sell drugs, okay!" The candy man explained, a most aggrieved expression on his face, as though he'd sucked a lemon. "Weed, coke, mushrooms and pills of all kinds, I sell them all, and I don't do kids! God, is that what strangers thought of me? I've only sold to people I knew until now. I need to change the name, and repaint the van, don't I? Chase, Catherine, stop laughing!"

"Maybe stop wearing the trenchcoat too," Catherine gasped between gales of laughter. "Nonce!"

His intervention didn't help as much as the man had hoped; as it was a very long time before everyone was coherent enough again to hear his sales pitch properly.

---

Young Emma scratched her head, staring at the selection of illicit substances in the back of the van. Elliot (formerly known as the candy man) had explained what each drug did, ranging from fairly minor relaxation to far stronger effects; mostly for her benefit, as she'd realized both her companions already had their favourites. She'd dutifully brought fifty pounds along, the accumulated savings of half a year of minor chores, and it seemed both her companions had roughly similar amounts; not nearly enough for a bit of everything, and thus she had to make up her mind based on her limited life experience so far.

"How many mushrooms will this get me?" Young Emma eventually asked, waving the fifty pound note in her hand. "I love mushrooms."

"For fifty quid? I can give you a quarter ounce." Elliot replied immediately, palming the note before she could change her mind and replacing it with a pre-sized bag.

"That's what, seven grams?" Young Emma calculated, opening the bag as her older self nodded along from the shadows.

"Pretty much, give or take a few milligrams," Elliot agreed, busy working the makeshift cash register hidden inside a supposed fuse box. "Not a bad start to share with some friends, cut it in three for a relaxing- what are you doing?!"

Elliot shouted as he looked up, far too late to intervene as Young Emma ate an entire quarter ounce of magic mushrooms for her first ever experience with drugs. Now, since Emma wasn't viewing the memory from a first person perspective, she couldn't see exactly what hallucinations were gripping her younger self. She got a good view of the aftermath though; as Young Emma began to sweat and sway in place, pupils dilated and her breathing increasingly rapid. Her legs gave way seconds later, Catherine and Chase both grabbing an arm before she could fall. It was a completely natural reaction to seeing a friend falling, and would have been correct too were it not for a single unforeseen factor.

"Monsters! Help!" Young Emma screamed, fearful beyond reason for very poor reasons.

[Extreme mental duress detected.

System reboot initiated.

Date/Time ERROR underway.

Ambient ERROR below ERROR threshold.

Weave ERROR

Date/Time ERROR

Genetic material detected, sequencing underway.

Emma Knight, 33rd generation lineal descendant of the founder.

User access granted.

User status: Poisoned, Confused, Insane.

Class selection modified.

Highest statistic: Willpower

Willpower above minimum threshold.

Willpower above talent threshold.

Willpower meets ideal threshold.

Restricted class lock: overridden.

Chaos Conjurer class unlocked.

Emma Knight - Level 1 Chaos Conjurer

Race: Human

HP: 100

Mana: 500

EXP: 0/100

User status: Poisoned, Confused, Insane.

Spell and trait election randomised.

Spell selected - Eldritch Miasma (Cost: 50 Mana, 1 Living Sacrifice): Plant a Seed of Chaos within the sacrifice, turning them into a portal for lesser demons to emerge. Sacrifice cannot be higher Level than the caster.

Trait selected - Snuff Out the Light: The area within {2 x Current Level} meters of the user is permanently shrouded in darkness, impenetrable to mundane sources of light.]