Forged Legacy

“That looked just like the light when I got my weave.” The woman said.

“It burned like it too,” Julian remarked as he inspected his forearm. “It's a tattoo of me kneeling to feed that potion to you… so weird.”

Harvey moved closer and saw an amazingly detailed tattoo of Julian kneeling to feed the ruby red liquid to Hannah. Their bodies were drawn in shades of black and gray, with a golden glow surrounding the potion like a halo. It was stunning, and he couldn't help thinking about his own disturbing set of new ink.

What was your name, by the way?” Julian asked.

“Hannah. Hannah Heyward. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you guys hadn’t found me.” Her tone darkened as she looked down at the corpse near her feet. “It was so fast, I barely got a shot off before it was right on my heels.”

“Well, you’re safe now. I’m Julian Romano, and this is Harvey,” Julian said with a reassuring smile, reaching to shake her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Hannah,” Harvey added, wiping his sweaty palms on his robe before shaking her hand as well.

She was shorter than both of them, standing maybe five-four, with an athletic build of compact muscle that reminded him of Cleo. Her long hair flowed past her shoulders in a stark mix of platinum blonde and bone white, the strands blending like frost over silver. One eye was a brilliant emerald green set in living, healthy skin. The other gleamed a cold teal ringed in gunmetal gray. The marbled patches ran across her face and down her neck, splitting her face in two. She looked young, probably around his sister’s age. A quiver sat on her shoulder, but her bow was nowhere in sight. There was a steadiness in her grip when she took his hand, a hint that shock hadn’t erased her aim entirely.

“I feel… stronger,” Julian remarked after a brief pause.

“Did you get any notifications?” Harvey asked. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel·fire.net

Julian appeared to stare into space in front of them, making Harvey assume he was looking at a screen that only he could see.

“I leveled up. A screen like the mirror appeared, saying my class, Warrior, is level 1. I got 2 Vitality, 1 Endurance, 2 Strength, 1 Willpower, and 2 Free Points. Not sure how I am supposed to use those…” Julian muttered as he looked intently at the invisible screen in front of him.

The trio waited another moment as Julian examined his status. A minute later, another warm glow entered the array of ink covering his body, accompanied by a pained grimace.

“Turns out I just had to think about where I wanted the free points to go, and it worked. I chose strength and endurance.” Julian announced. “I also got a mark called Born Protector.”

“A mark?” Hannah asked, “What’s that?”

“Not sure, it showed up under the Legacy section on my status screen. It’s been a few years since I had much time for video games, but it definitely feels like I’m living inside one,” Julian replied

Julian looked intently at the empty air in front of him again before muttering something about sharing the screen, and a sheet of blue light appeared for the others to read.