CONFESSIONS OF A VAMPIRE PRIEST

Beatrice

"So what magic do you specialize in?"

She wrapped herself around my left arm and cuddled up to me before saying, "I personally favor augmentation magic, but I can do other things too," and she held her hand out and a small sphere of energy began to form in her hand before it condensed into a motionless sphere. The sphere began to bubble as if something were about to burst from inside. She gripped the orb and the boiling points popped at two opposing ends, jutting out from the sphere was a wooden spear. One end was smooth and perfectly cylindrical. The other end was sharpened to a point. "You can use arcane theory to produce a small ecosystem. You can then manipulate the variables in the local atmosphere to introduce fertilizer and seeds into the ecosystem. With the energy you manipulate acting as an enhancement for the wood, it begins to grow at an incredibly fast rate.

"Of course, you have to adjust the variables again so that it forms into a spear, but that's about the gist of it. I always prefer functional magic."

"Wow," and I was always amazed at what more modern spellcasters could do. Where I had no power of my own, people like her could face the world head on, with the power they built for themselves. "And for you to become a wizard at such a young age is even more impressive."

"My country has many gifted students," she said. "It's nothing special, really."

"It is though," I said. "There's a huge difference between a student and a real wizard."

She went silent for a moment before she said, "You're a different sort of magic user, aren't you? Are you your parties healer?"

"You could say that," I said. "I'm the dedicated healer and debuff specialist of my adventuring party."

Beatrice dismissed the spear. It faded into nothingness. "What's it like, using dark magic?"

"It's not for everyone, that's for sure," I said. "But it works for me, you know?"

"Yeah, I get that."

"You're not offput by me using dark magic?"

"Of course not," she said as the clouds covered the sun above us. A few people walked by as she continued speaking, "I can get why people can be fearful of it, but there's always fear towards what people don't understand. I feel like it's the same way with any magic. I might not be able to shatter bones with my mind, but I can still enhance my body so that I'd have the power to smash through stone. It's all perspective."

"That's a really positive way to look at it."

"Just realistic, I think. There will always be stigma, but then again, there will always be people that think it's bad to progress into the future," and we ended up at the entrance of some library. It was a candid place. The entrance looked like a box unfolding, with intricate floral inlays spreading from a red, double sided door that had a sign that read Welcome weary traveler.

Stepping inside, it was much bigger than it looked from the outside. Several bookcases had several levels to them. She led me deeper into the bookstore, towards a back area where there was a small and secluded place to read.

"There is a book about toxins around here that's been on my wish list for some time now," and she began eyeing the books. Occasionally, she would take a book unrelated the one she wanted, flip through and power read a few pages, and then put it back. "If you still fancy treating me to that book, I'd appreciate that. The author's name is also Beatrice and the title is: toxins can be your friends."

"Interesting name," I said and I began my search with her. "So why the interest in crotoxins?"

"I just wanna brush up on some alchemy," she said. "I heard that viper venom can be used as anticoagulant drugs. If viper venom can be used for benefit, then other toxins must be useful as well."