Searching for Answers

I sat back and enjoyed my success, eating the oddly tasty cockatrice with some, now clean, water. Leaning back against a large rock (not trusting any of the exotic plants. Any of them could be poisonous to the touch for all I know). Nightmare had recovered from her shock, and seemed immensely pleased that I was able to perform such a feat so quickly, likely happy about being that much closer to her revenge, and had decided to have her minions disappear to... wherever they go when she does not need them. The two of us were just relaxing as she explained some of the more complicated forms of magic, mostly stuff that is traditionally forbidden. We are talking Summoning, Flesh-Crafting, Blood-Magic, and Necromancy. We decided to start with Flesh-Crafting, as it is the most likely to help with my current situation, unless I wanted to try and become some weird Lich-Tree-Thing.

On that subject, I have decided to add to my name. I am now Lignum Sanguis, The Tree of Blood! Fear my bloody wood! May all my foes kneel, mourning their loved ones, in its presence! It will be The Wood of Mourning, or The Mourning Wood!

An explanation on what I did earlier, plus gushing a little about it actually working; I can't believe it actually worked! By using blood as the reagent, I was able to have my hands serve as the symbol. The sign I made guided the "mana" to the tips of my fingers, which created a highly charged field of energy. Think of the trick with a spray-can and a lighter. I made my fingers the lighter, an oddly intense lighter. I felt the sudden influx of energy, almost like I was a living circuit being struck with lightning. While I had used hate as my emotion of choice in an attempt to power the "spell", there is no reason I can see for it having that much power behind it. If I had to guess, I would say that the "mana" for the "spell" is coming from elsewhere, with me serving as more of a medium than anything else, but where could it be coming from?

"Flesh-Crafting may seem difficult at first, but with the proper knowledge it is actually fairly simple. The most important thing, is to know the anatomy and biology of whatever you are working with. Once you understand the limitations of what you can and can't add or remove, you can find ways to circumvent those limits. Ultimately, you just need to know how you should go about altering them, as certain creatures can be very different from the norm."

"Then how do we start with the alterations?"

She smirked at me before responding with, "You already did the necessary spell."

"I did?"

"When you were performing that "Fireball Jutsu" of yours. The trick to it is the ability to heat and cool the parts being grafted, so you can choose how pliable they are."

"So... I literally melt the flesh, bone, or whatever I am altering when I go to mess with it?"

"No, you never want to go that far, just warm it enough to allow you to shape it, and remember to cool it afterwards."

"This is like blacksmithing with more bones involved."

"Precisely!"

"How is it that more people do not use this?"

"Not only is it forbidden, but everyone tends to think there is some big secret to "unlocking" the darker magics, as if these spells could only be cast after doing some blood sacrifice on the full-moon. It would not really be so hard to figure out if they just tried. The difficult part is trying to graft something on. If the part came from another creature, than you need some way of either altering one of the two in a way that would keep the creature's body from rejecting it, or tricking the creature's body into excepting it."

"And how do I do that?"

"One method is with a potion made from the blood of a changeling. Those creatures ability to alter their form seems to effect their very DNA. This makes them incredibly useful, so I suggest keeping the dismembered parts should you ever fight one. You could very well-"

Our conversation was interrupted, by the distinct sound of a twig snapping. I was already getting up to fight, while Nightmare just relaxed, still smirking.

Looking at where noise came from she said; "What a coincidence."

I did not get a very good look at it because of my poor eye-sight (It has just been getting worse, and the bark on my left hand is still singed), but I saw something with the basic equine shape run off into the forest. If that is a shape-shifter, then it could be my ticket to fixing this "cancer", so obviously I run after it. Our little chase was actually quite short lived. It seems sprinting and panicking are two activities to do not want to do at the same time while running in a forest so thick that it blocks out almost all light. What I am trying to get at is, it ran head-first into a tree. I finally managed to get a closer look at it. You know, I expected worse. Changelings were never depicted as being the sexiest of creatures in their true form, actually this bug-pony-thing is an improvement. It groggily opened its eyes, and started screaming.

"AAAHH! PLEASE DON'T DISMEMBER ME!"

.....

"Maybe." And with that, I punched it as hard as I could in the face to knock it out, and a few more times for good measure.

I dragged the no-longer screaming bug back to the pond. There I saw Nightmare standing with a calm smile.

"You knew it was watching us whole time didn't you."

"Of course, I just didn't know where precisely it was. I just needed it to make a mistake, then we would know where it was exactly. They are not usually that easy to scare though. This one seems to be quite young."

"Were you serious about the potion?"

"Oh that potion is very much so real, and I am one of the few beings with the knowledge required to make it."

I lay the changeling on the rock I was resting on. If their blood is capable of such feats, then I should be able to do marvelous things with a whole one.

"Nightmare, I need you to go inside this thing. I want details on its anatomy."

"Very well, I am curious as to what you have planned." With that said, she faded into a miasma and floated into the changeling's mouth. As she was searching through its insides, I was practicing my hand-signs trying to find the ones that would do what I need for this. Eventually Nightmare returned, and now it is go time.

"What did you find?"

"Their anatomy is very interesting. They are said to feed on love, and it is quite literal."

"What?"

"This creature is capable of stealing love from its prey through its horn, and that is their only source of nutrients that I could find."

I have to restrain my urge to shudder and/or recoil from the freaky bug monster. Now, most people would think; "What is so bad about that? Love is a positive emotion, nothing about it could possibly be wrong!" Unless you take into account that emotions are chemicals in the brain, meaning this thing is practically taking a straw to your head and sucking out your brain juices. This would leave you not only incapable of feeling love, whether permanently or temporarily I am not sure, but a chemical imbalance like that would leave you mentally and emotionally unstable, so, even if you do recover, you could have already been driven to complete insanity and/or even killed someone in a random bout of rage, or yourself in a bout of depression. I should of guessed from the insectoid nature. Bugs are cruel predators.

"What of its nervous system?"

"It does not seem to have one."

"Excuse me?"

"This thing is like one giant nerve with a shell. It is even capable of rearranging its organs."

Oh, this is going to be good. "Then this is sure to hurt a lot."

"What are you going to do?" Nightmare looks at me in confusion, as I make my sign.

Lets see if this works. My body is fucked anyway, so why not start making some alterations. For my first trick, I am extending the nerves in my left hand until very small points become visible from under the bark and now I- DULL THE NERVES! DULL THE NERVES! DULL THE FUCKING NERVES! I quickly bite my lip and make a symbol with my blood on my left shoulder; an arrow pointing down my arm with several lines wrap around my arm forming, what I hope it will work like, a wall. As I do what I can to fix my horrible mistake, I am relieved that it works. I blocked off all sensation in my left arm, while still being able to move it. This should be able to serve a dual purpose though. The arrow I drew on my should resembles the sign I used to spit fire. Focusing on my hatred for all living things, I activate the bloody markings... And my hand starts sparking with electricity.

The body moves because the brain sends signals to the muscles through the nerves. Those signals are very weak electrical shocks, so if I amplify the signal that reaches nerves that are not connected to any muscles they will shock whatever they come in contact with, in other words I can now electrocute people with my fingers. Time to test it.

As I approach the Changeling, it begins to stir.

"Where am I?" It said, still not fully awake, but I can now at least recognize it as a she by her voice. That is going to make my plan a little awkward.

"Witty one-liner." After my witty one-liner, She finally noticed me, and started to panic again. Thankfully this wasn't the "Scream and Cry" kind of panic, it was the "I'm going to die fighting" panic.

"Wh-What do y-you want from me!?" She yells as she gets in a stance that she seems to think might be menacing. Honestly, it just looks cute, until she lit on fire, green fire to be precise. Now that is interesting!

She stopped whatever she was doing, possibly horrified by the smile I was giving her. She just lit on fire. Fire comes from intense heat, which is molecules vibrating. She is able to command her body so well that she can rapidly vibrate to the point of lighting on fire without taking any damage from the heat. I want it.

"Well, if you must know. I want your body."

Both her and Nightmare just stare at me after that.

She starts to say, "Now, we can be reasonable about this. I am not that kind of-"

"Oh, you only wish I meant that."

"Then what do you-"

"You'll see." As I say that, I rush her with my still sparking hand. The result was rather interesting, as I have never seen someone ripple like they were made of water during a seizure before. Now to do my thing.

"You see, my body is going to fail me, and you could have the key to fixing this, so I decided, "If Nightmare can do it, so could I"."

Nightmare's POV

This... This is not what I expected at all. I stood there mortified as I watched him sink into the changeling! He started by pushing his arm into her rippling form, but there was no blood or breakage. It was like she was a new suit for him to try on. Slowly, he managed to fit himself, limb by limb, into her, until all that I could see was a changeling having a seizure. Eventually the rippling stopped, and a while after that the twitching. I was starting to think the psycho had managed to kill himself in his attempts, until the it started twitching again. The twitching turned into wild flailing, and it kept going for some time. When it finally stopped, it just got up, and I heard it speak with his voice.

"Ah, nice and comfy. Now, what is the next item on the agenda?"

What is this thing!