Halfwitch/Snippets
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
A Threat
It is early afternoon when Kay leaves the Solomon's Key Library. She carries her laptop bag, filled with printed pages of information on Ink and more than a few pages copied from arcane texts dealing with time, tethering, and spell creation. Earlier in the morning she'd called over to a nearby shop and while she could have them send her order over via Currier she instead wants to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.
Earl Constant, an alchemist, peddles his wares a few streets over and Kay counts him as a friend. Checking her phone Kay sees she should be just in time to catch him before he closes for his afternoon break. The blend of purified Croatoan soil, powdered silver, and sea salt will be ready and waiting when she arrives.
Humming, Kay walks slowly but surely. Her breathing is slow and steady, a smile upon her lips. Though life is in turmoil that doesn't take away the joy she feels. She is alive. The Key is growing, New friends also means more family. Alert, her eyes scan as she makes her way down the second block and across the next street. That's when she feels it. She's being followed. Again. Her steps barely falter, Kay knowing she shouldn't let on that she knows there is someone there. So she doesn't dare speed up. She can't run so instead she keeps a steady pace, trying to exude confidence even though she feels anything but.
One block left, one street to cross, before she will find safety in her friend's shop.
She doesn't make it.
Midstep a psychic blast, a scream of sorts, slams into Kay's mind. It halts her breathing and makes her eyes burn. A stormy sea that threatens to capsize her sanity she immediately loses the ability to function normally. Her bag slips off her shoulder, hitting the sidewalk with a clunk, and she stumbles from sidewalk to grass. No solid, coherent thought is able to form. Her Pocket D teleport chip is in her pocket. Her Keystone is there, too, and her comm is in her ear but she can't use any of them. The pain smothers it all. It's worse than the psychic emitter Aistair had used against her. At least then she could think and understand.
Her eyes close, explosions brilliant behind her eyelids. Knees buckling she drops to the ground, palms of her hands pressed to her temples. The world around her ceases to be and it's like she's awash in the sea, tossing and turning in wave after wave of psychic power. Trembling she nearly wets her pants.
“This is just a taste, something to wet your pallet in anticipation of what's coming.” The voice is thick with violence and threat, heavy in the air. The words are choppy, heard through the curtain of power weaving through her mind. “Consider this a preview, a promise. None of you are a match for me and nothing you can do will thwart my plans. His plans. Our plans.”
A searing pain on the top of her left hand makes her cry out. It burns. Once. Twice. Three times. “Remember and be afraid. Be very, very afraid.” The venom and hatred in that voice is poignant, obvious. The physical pain is repeated on her right hand, again three times. Then the mental assault is gone. No more voice, the cloud lifting from her mind and leaving it with a dull ache. Kay can breath again and she does, down on all fours gasping and choking as she tries to regain control. Her body trembles and her eyes, working again, see what's making her hands feel like they are on fire. Three upside down V's burned into the skin on the top of both her hands. The flesh on the edges is raw and blackened.
It's Ink's trademark, her calling card. Her symbol is exactly as Kay had seen it on the Warehouse and building wall merely days before. Two lines of chevrons.
Once she is as back to normal as she can be, Kay stands on wobbly feet and wipes at her eyes. She grabs her bag and flies the rest of the way to her friend's shop. She picks up her order and teleports to the D, shaken up and unsure of what to do next. Time. She needs time to process what's happened.
