Chapter 227 - Artifacts (1/2)

”Is this me?” Laz had seen signs that he was changing. His skin had turned a grey color for a while and he even got those strange tribal tattoos that started growing longer. But this? This was like all of that, only worse. Even his hair was longer and there were strains of white mixing within the black. He didn't have a mirror, but he felt like he looked monstrous.

”This is the you if you could fully utilize your abilities. You are not at this point yet. You also lack a good environment to be able to go all out. If you are able to burn energy at the same rate you restore it, your body would become like this, permanently.”

This was a shocking revelation to Laz. He had seen others change, like Ruby and Leona, but once they stopped using their energy, they would revert back. And even then, although the changes were intense, they were simply changes and not a full body switch.

But that is exactly what this was.

”How does this happen? And a follow up question, where are we?” Although Laz was surprised by his changes, he had experienced much in the past few years. Just this wasn't going to be enough to distract him from the fact that where they were was obviously not earth.

”Fer now, let's get back, shall we?” With a swoosh of her cane, Laz felt the world light up again and he was once again sitting at the table in the strange room, facing the old woman.

”That was crazy. Damn...” Laz was pretty amazed by that. Whether it was real or just an illusion, it certainly felt real.

”Dat was thee world of the untamed. A dark and desolate place of spirits and all manner of creatures. Were we there? Were we not? Who knows.”

”Such a straightforward answer,” Laz commented.

”Truth is relative to the individual. What I said was de truth. What you believe is yer own business.”

”Have you ever noticed that you lose your accent when you speak?”

”Ma grandens ave een making me practice a wee bit to let others listen to me better. Not ma fault if I mess up.” Suddenly, the old woman's accent took a heavy turn and Laz could only now appreciate the work that went into her speaking as clearly as she did.

”Anyway. What's with that stick?” Laz asked, eyeing the black walking cane with a silver skull on it.

”Hmm. If yee be wanting to know, yee shall have to put forth a spot of coin for it. We read the stars fer the mortals and the heavens fer the children of gods, but that doesn't mean we run a charity service here.”

”You had no problem telling me about the realms and spirits and such?”

”The spirits needed yee to know. I just relayed the message. But this?” The old woman held up the cane.

”This is a bit of secret info that wasn't easy to come by.”

”Fine. How much?”

”Not money young friend. Money is easy, but strange things, like this room? That's what we want.” The old woman gestured at the room they were sitting in, as though showing off all the strange oddities that had been collected. Her tone also became nicer, calling him young friend instead of boy. This obviously had to do with the fact that it was now business and not just a freebie.

Laz understood. He was curious about the cane, only because it reminded him of the strange sword he had. He wasn't about to show her the sword, so instead, he just wanted to know what she knew in general. The end result would kind of be like googling symptoms without visiting a doctor, but at least you could get a general idea of the situation. As long as you didn't sit there and think you were dying of a sore throat.

With the price discussed, Laz simply reached to the strange little pouch on his belt and pulled out a twig. He then set it on the table next to the strange crystal ball and leaned back. The twig wasn't very large, only measuring around thirty centimeters or twelve inches. And besides being grey, it didn't look special at all.

Seeing Laz place a twig down on the table, the old woman began to frown, as though the boy in front of her was making a fool out of her. But, she held back her initial comment and decided to look at it anyway. After all, she was both a practitioner of Vodun and a business woman. She wouldn't just dismiss something as being worthless without first seeing for herself. It was because of this mind set that she had found many opportunities that others missed.

She wasn't disappointed.

Picking up the twig, the old woman first noticed it was many times heavy than she had anticipated. The stick had to was a good three kilograms or around six pounds. For something so small and innocent looking, she knew right away that the stick was special.

As she held it, she rub her fingers along the stick before bringing it up to her face and smelling it. Watching her, Laz was equal parts intrigued and weirded out. He knew how he would check something like a stick, using his hands and maybe his spiritual sense. But watching this old woman do it was an experience. He even wondered if she was going to lick it.

”You seem to have a question on your mind young friend. Feel free to ask,” the old woman encouraged Laz while still examining the stick.