Hare of Misfortune

Not having a clue what the girl was on about, Rachel let her ramble while browsing the sobering notes the legend made. Anthony’s face pacified as he watched her process the very personal information—the medical papers now made sense. A lot about what she was hearing about legendkin now clicked, painting an even grimmer vision of the future than Rachel had projected.

Red, eclipse-like eyes rising to Anthony, she whispered, ”You’re sure all of this is connected; couldn’t you be reading too much into the fairytales? There are healers I’ve heard about—myths and legends that could change things.”

Zoe glanced between them before staring at the paper in Rachel’s hand. ”Wait. What are we talking about?”

Anthony worked around his jaw, his cheerful mask finally falling to show hollow eyes that shifted to the spear by the wall. ”I hope you’re right... Amelia was already suffering from a rare type of cancer called chordoma—it’s a malignant bone tumor, and if what I’m reading about the tale of Diarmuid is true... I’m afraid I might have made it even worse...”

Zoe shrank in her seat at the emotion that touched the man’s voice, and he leaned forward to show a melancholy smile while staring at the spear beside the wall.

”I’ve practiced with a spear since I was a boy... My mother hated it, but my uncle was a master; the days I spent watching him were some of the most magical memories I have of how he moved, and I took it as my mission to keep his style alive when he died... I never thought my love for spears would cause this kind of trouble for Amelia. Tell me my assumption is wrong.”

Rachel’s mouth tightened, her vision falling to the book beside him, unable to say it while drawing the same connections as he had from everything she was learning about the other legendkin. The silence stretched for several seconds as she carefully thought about how to phrase her response.

Could becoming a legendkin really have affected not only him but his loved ones, as well? What does that say about mythickin and my own change?

Her eyes moved between each progressing arrowed line. Diarmuid was a famous spear hero who protected an ugly hag during a storm, allowing her to use his bed as he guarded her. In the morning, she turned into a beautiful, enchanting fairy who offered him one wish, and Diarmuid asked her to be his wife.

Anthony met Amelia in the alley of the spear school he taught part-time at in Miami after she ran away from home upon learning about her cancer; of course, she didn’t tell him that at the time. He was unable to leave the filthy, malnourished woman to live among the garbage, so he’d invited her inside, getting her clothes, food, and showing her general kindness. He even offered her the back room until she was ready to talk.

He was enchanted by her smile after she cleaned up and shyly exited, accepting his kind offer, but it wouldn’t be for another month before she began to open up, and things budded from there. Rachel had to interpret some of the written information, but he’d laid out a timeline and comparisons.

They had a fight earlier this week about a new treatment, and she told him to leave. Now, filled with guilt, Anthony had seen blood three times throughout the week and thought about his fiancé, sparking dread in the man; Diarmuid had done much the same in his tale after his argument with his wife before discovering that she’d disappeared from their home, so he saw it as a bad omen.

The legend had broken Amelia’s rule of not talking about her illness, just as Diarmuid had broken his promise to never mention the fairy’s ugliness. Thus, he feared his transformation into a legendkin had caused her cancer to mutate into something far worse, and the result of the cure Diarmuid obtained was tragic.

”...We’ll need to confirm it to be sure... To open up this Legend Quest, you have to participate in a few quests and something else it’s not showing you; I’m guessing it will display it after you meet some requirement, but you fear that if you do nothing, she’ll die anyway? Am I right?” Rachel asked, looking up at his downcast face as Zoe fidgeted in the oppressive atmosphere.

”Basically... Diarmuid’s stories all end in tragedy,” he mumbled with a humorless chuckle. ”You think you’re useless, Zoe? What kind of a hero am I if this fairytale is my base? I don’t know what to do—I don’t care much for what’s happening in the world... I just want to be sure I can make Amelia happy and keep her alive. Judging from this,” he grunted, shoving the books off the table to hit the carpet, ”there’s not a damn thing I can do to make that happen.”

Rachel slowly nodded, her mind fixating on one of her Feats. [Bringer of Misfortune]... If Anthony’s legend affects those close to him...does mine? If I do have an understanding of the law of misfortune, then I’ll use it to change fate... This will be an excellent test to see how I can use these abilities.

Rising to her feet, she moved to the ground, motioning for them to follow her. ”I don’t want to place my bets on speculation. Let’s brush up on each of our skills, and then we can decide what to do next; a lot is developing around us... Where is Amelia hospitalized?”

”HCA Florida Mercy. Why?” Anthony asked, his illuminated green eyes radiating strength as they snapped to her. ”Are there problems there?”

”No, thankfully,” Rachel said with a reassuring smile. ”In fact, it’s being used as a National Guard outpost; it was one of the first areas that was secured.”

”Thank god...” he breathed, rubbing his forehead. ”You want to get into our Feats? I haven’t selected any since I wasn’t sure what would happen if I activated them.”

Rachel’s brow furrowed. ”How...did you know to turn off the auto-select?”

Anthony showed a small smirk. ”I’m a chemist. The first thing I did was test out what had happened to me, ask questions, and develop theories.”

”Fair enough,” she chuckled. ”A reasonable decision, given your situation.”

Comparing notes, Rachel learned that there were stark differences between legendkin and mythickin. Most notably, they had a Feat called [Quest’s Draw X], which transported them to dimensional fields to build them up to fill the shoes of their legend.

Zoe asked if loot was involved, but according to Anthony, nothing indicated there would be any upon entering the meditative state to check; it seemed designed solely to sharpen their skills and upgrade their weapons. Yet Rachel theorized he might unlock other items as he leveled that were related to his legend.

Currently, he had two legendary weapons; however, their attributes were sealed, meaning they were without effects until completing two quests. Anthony’s Stat Sheet had many similarities to hers:

* -- * -- *

Force:

Power - Above Average

Strength - Above Average

* -- * -- *

Defense:

Toughness - Above Average

Resilience - Above Average

* -- * -- *

Dexterity:

Speed - High

Agility - Above Average

Quickness - Above Average

* -- * -- *

Energy:

Constitution - Above Average

Stamina - High

Endurance - High

* -- * -- *

Tenacity:

Elemental Resistances - Above Average

Physical Resistances - Above Average

Control Resistances - Extremely Low

Penetration - High

* -- * -- *

He was far more well-rounded than Rachel, yet she beat him in Power, Speed, Agility, Quickness, Constitution, and most definitely Control Resistances, which shocked Zoe and her.

”How can a legend have such lousy Control Resistances?” the cat-girl asked, using a piece of paper to write everything down. ”Aren’t they supposed to be, like, paragons of willpower?”

Anthony forced a chuckle. ”Eh, well...in one of Diarmuid’s tales, a princess gives him a love potion, and, eh...yeah, another tragic story. Umm...you two aren’t going to do anything shady, right?” he slowly asked, his vision sliding to the dubious cat-girl.

”Huh?! No! No! I’m a scaredy-cat—for real—I don’t have the brass to pull something crazy like that! Wait...not that I would if I had a potion—I’m just saying!”

”Uh-huh,” Rachel mused, nudging the embarrassed girl’s shoulder.

”No! Seriously! I would never!”

”Haha. Just checking,” Anthony snickered. ”You’re too easy, Zoe.”

”Stop bullying me! I’m already a freaking domestic cat; how much further can I fall on this totem pole? Look, my Stats are a joke!”

* -- * -- *

Force:

Power - Below Average

Strength - Below Average

* -- * -- *

Defense:

Toughness - Low

Resilience - Low

* -- * -- *

Dexterity:

Speed - Above Average

Agility - Above Average

Quickness - Above Average

* -- * -- *

Energy:

Constitution - Below Average

Stamina - Average

Endurance - Below Average

* -- * -- *

Tenacity:

Elemental Resistances - Low

Physical Resistances - Low

Control Resistances - Low

Penetration - Above Average

* -- * -- *

”All I’ve got is a tiny bit of Speed, and my abilities are so...blah! I even have less than you guys for my base, and not a single one is maxed. Scammed!”

* -- * -- *

Base Feats:

[Claws I] - F-tier - Cat

[Sprint I] - F-tier - Cat

[Bestial Instincts I] - F-tier - Cat

[Bestial Senses I] - F-tier - Cat

[Catlike Nature I] - F-tier - Cat

[Cat Vision I] - F-tier - Cat

* -- * -- *

[Cute Charm I] - F-tier - Domestic

[Survival of the Meek I] - F-tier - Domestic

* -- * -- *

”Only by one,” Rachel tried to console, yet it only got worse as the cat-girl gave her a dirty look.

”I can only select one Equipped Feat while you and Anthony get three! Legendkin and mythickin OP,” she grumbled, staring a hole through the sheet she’d been crafting. ”What were yours again, Anthony?”

”Let’s see...to be fair, I only have one maxed Feat; Rachel got the good rolls, huh?”

”For real! She’s turned into a total bunny babe—you know what I mean,” she huffed as Rachel opened her mouth to correct her.

”Eh... Everyone has different tastes,” Rachel tried to redirect, knowing she wasn’t convincing the leery-eyed cat-girl.

Anthony snickered. ”Rachel’s right. I’m not much of a bunny-girl fan, myself.”

”Uncultured swine,” Zoe sniffed. ”Cat-girls are on another level, but you can’t diss bunny or hare-girls! Right, Rachel?”