Awakening

Pain lanced through his leg as it hit the ground. He cursed himself. He should have felt that the ground was softer here. He looked up even though his gifts told him there was only about a foot and a half of brush and lightly packed earth around the hole that was about twenty feet above his head. Despite his young age he did not panic. He was a magua and a born priest. His major issue was it was very difficult to heal yourself. That is it was difficult to heal oneself with traditional powers or magics, while Necromancy offered alternate avenues of self-healing. He looked down at his leg. The suns rays shifting through from the hole provided enough light for him to clearly see the bone of his left shin jutting through the skin. The first thing he needed to do was to set the bone and stop the bleeding. He removed his light summer coat and then his undershirt. A small knife, used to remove bark from certain trees, was in his coat pocket. He removed the small knife and pulled it from its sheath. His hands skilled at cutting bandages carefully removed the shirt’s left sleeve. Once the sleeve was removed, he cut the leg of his trousers at the knee, He used the discarded pant leg to clean the blood from his leg. Then the “fun” started. He needed to push the bone back in his leg and reset it. He could use some of his gifts to complete the task, but it would still hurt like hell. He braced himself then used his powers to force the bone back into his leg. Setting the bone was tricky. Two long twigs that had fallen into the pit along with him, were pulled to him with another string of power. He chanted softly and magic straightened and strengthened the small sticks. He had already stopped the bleeding by closing the wound with a web of geo fuzed with a dab of the magic of Lenore to prevent infection. He lined the sticks up against his leg with the top portion of each stick about six inches above the knee and the lower half extending to his ankle. The shirt sleeve was used to tie the

upper section of the splint while the pant leg secured the lower portion of the splint. He encased the entire splint in geo and a hint of the magic of Gelo to form a pottery-like cast around the leg. He slowly shifted to his feet. He winced. It was no good. The bone needed time to mend before he could move. Even though his body healed rapidly it would not be immediate like he desired. Something inside of him stirred. He was accustomed to not being alone in his head, but this was something else. Something deeper and more profound. A need resonating from the core of his existence. Something he understood despite its novelty; he could heal if he had blood. He knelt and drew a sigil of summoning then reached out with the power in him that tied with comusa, the power of nature. His mind reached out and he felt a hawk. Somehow he knew it was the hawk he wanted. He pulled on the hawk’s soul and it obeyed. The hawk flew down and he held out his arm. Without thought his head shot forward and hollow fangs that had not been there before struck the bird in the neck. He did not need much blood. Instinct told him that only a drop would work. Instinct also drove him to pump some of his blood into the bird. For a moment he and the bird were one, then his mind was firmly back in his head. His mind latched onto a fragment of the hawk that swam in his blood and called to it. The world was distorted, he did not see color nearly as well as he had, but he could discern details with much more clarity. He jumped and pumped his wings, launching himself into the air. The experience was invigorating. For awhile he simply soared enjoying the freedom his new wings gave him. He could feel the other hawk. A moment's concentration allowed him to pull his perception back into his own head. He focused switched back to his eyes. After a little experimentation he learned to split his perception between himself and his thrall.

“I can’t shift.” a voice murmured in his head. He smiled. That voice had been with him for two years and last year a new voice had joined it. He only partially understood the connection he had to the voices, but he knew that they were tied with his powers. His whole existence as a magua had been in the shadow of the first voice, but now he had an ability that surpassed the voice. It was a victory of sorts. As he flew he noted that his leg was still broken, but he was also aware that his magic was still accessible. He started looking for prey. A live sacrifice could heal his leg. At the thought his talons morphed becoming hollow with valves that would open when an external blood source was available. His eyes locked onto a rabbit. It was not large prey, but its life would be enough to heal his bone, if not the tissue damage caused by the bone puncturing his leg. He was not sure how he knew what the life would buy, but he did. “A vampire lord is master of life exchange and your connection to Leo and Ruah lets you understand the power of a life.” The low masculine voice informed him. Though the feminine voice did not speak he could feel her curiosity and unease at the thought of sacrificing a life for healing, but since it was an animal she was not railing against the idea. He understood her discomfort, but the inner drive was insatiable. He dove, as only a hunting raptor can dive. His talons caught the rabbit and he swooped back into the air. Life flowed through his veins and intoxicating power caused his body to tingle. In exuberation he let the rabbit go. Its lifeless body plunged towards the ground and he swooped down and tore into the flesh with his beak. His talons caught the body before it reached the ground and pulled it back into the air. The third time he repeated the process the head was

severed from the body. He chose to catch the body letting the head fall to the ground. Thus, he flew, raining entrails and bits of rabbit over the woods. His next victim was a viper, he ate it with as much joyous abandon. After his third prey, a squire, the masculine voice spoke again. “Careful, the bloodrage will get you caught. Control that. You are healed.” I did not want to end the hunt, but reason and a concordance of voices in my head both audible and passive convinced me to heed caution, but in the body of a hawk, I knew I could not control the urge to hunt. I swooped down and landed in a small clearing I knew quite well. Once on the ground I shifted back to my human form. My clothes had vanished, probably in the pit, but I was fully healed. I looked down at myself. This could be problematic. It was not exactly proper to walk around public naked. As a child he may get by with doing so, but as he aged, he would need a way to compensate for the lack of clothing when he transformed. It took him about five minutes to fabricate clothing using the gifts granted him by Gelo and the powers of Geo he wove himself some clothing from strands of bark. When he was finished he dressed. He was pleased with himself. The weave of the fabric was as fine as any woven by a master and the fabric was light and supple. He looked up at the sky, the northern sun was nearing the horizon and the eastern star was about twenty degrees from the horizon also. He had about three hours of light remaining. He had time to finish his gathering and make it home before nightfall. With a light heart he went on about his chores.