The Grimoire’s Chosen (Worm AU/Celestial Grimoire)

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

Back to Jason, who is feeling very conflicted.

-x-X-x-

It was the next morning and Jason still wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about what had happened the night before. Needless to say, he hadn’t gotten much sleep. Thankfully, Carol hadn’t been around this morning to scowl at him for burning the candle at both ends or something, and he’d been able to wave off Crystal’s concern relatively easily.

Oh sure, he wished he could talk to someone about what had happened, but it certainly wasn’t going to be Crystal. Where would he even begin? He’d have to explain his powers, and how he’d decided to patrol around her sister’s apartment complex, oh and how he’d inadvertently run into a prostitute having a physical disagreement with a customer intent on not paying.

Only then would he be able to explain the current conundrum he was facing… that being the discovery of these damn ‘Feats’ he could achieve for extra points.

Frankly, it felt more and more like his power should have come with a damn instruction manual. Each of the individual powers he bought came with intuitive understanding of what they were capable of. He knew, for instance, how to use Flash Air better than he probably should have after only a few days of having it. He also hadn’t struggled with the Transformation Pendant or the Staff of Magnus in any way.

But where understanding of his bought powers came instinctively, the base power did not. He hadn’t known he could Bank a power until he’d finally thought to wonder why it kept giving him powers he couldn’t afford, and why he had to decline each power regardless of its cost. And now he was finding out that his power was pushing him to go out and do things. Cape things, in particular.

Jason doubted his power cared about whether he was heroic or not too. Just looking at the two feats he’d gained so far, it was clear that he would have gotten them whether he had malicious or benevolent intent. He didn’t complete his first patrol as a hero according to his power, but simply as a Cape. He didn’t become known as a hero by others, he’d become known as a Cape.

And boy didn’t that have its own terrifying implications to it. Jason’s sleep had been disrupted more by that second Feat than anything else. Becoming known as a Cape by other Capes… what exactly did they know? Who knew of him? Probably the Protectorate if he was being honest, but what had they managed to learn?

… If they didn’t manage to track down the prostitute he’d helped out, then they probably wouldn’t know much. The man who he’d called emergency services on behalf of hadn’t really gotten a good look at him, Jason was pretty sure. His jaw had definitely been broken, and he’d spent more time rolling around on the ground barely conscious and in a great deal of pain rather than staring at him.

Only the prostitute had actually gotten a proper look at his get-up… his incredibly amateurish get-up, Jason was now realizing. While the Transformation Pendant and the Staff of Magnus made for good accessories to make him look like a proper parahuman and far from your average person… the rest of his ensemble was clearly hastily put together.

Between his pendant, staff, and portals, nobody was going to mistake him as just some guy pretending to be a cape. However, they also couldn’t mistake him as anything but what he was… wet behind his ears and completely new to this life.

Ding!

Bind and Seal – Control – 400 Points

What the White Wizards cannot destroy or banish, they lock away where it can never escape. The Vaults beneath the Pyramid of Light are full of such creatures and artifacts. You have learned well from this, and now your mind is rife with knowledge of how to imprison what you cannot kill, mundane and magical alike. Not only do you have the architectural sense necessary to design prisons that no mortal in this world could escape without arcane aid, you are also versed instinctively in sealing spells taught to the Light Order by Teclis himself, strong enough to chain the Chaos Dragon Baudros in the depths of the vaults beneath the Pyramid of Light.

You now have 300 Points saved up!

On first read of his latest potential power, Jason can only be disappointed. Part of him had hoped, given the timing of the pull, that he would somehow get a costume or something… preferably one that wasn’t going alter his mind or something like that mask he’d pulled and passed on a while back.

On a second and third read of this latest power however, he has to admit he’s a little torn. On the one hand, he has no desire to trade his current plans for becoming some sort of Cape Prison Architect in charge of building the next Birdcage or something. For one, the Birdcage already exists and as far as Jason knows, is serving it’s purpose perfectly well. He has no reason to step on Dragon’s toes in that regard.

On the other hand however, the second aspect of the power is an interesting one. He didn’t know who the hell Teclis or the Chaos Dragon Baudros was, nor did he have any inclination of what the Light Order or the Pyramid of Light were. But being able to lock down villains such as the likes of Lung, who was the closest thing to a dragon their world had… well, that would be amazing, wouldn’t it?

At the same time, Jason finds himself looking to his Banked Power and reading it over again.

Don’t Give Up! – Source – 400 Points

Despair is the ultimate enemy of Magical Girls in this world - use too much power or dive too deep, and you’ll vanish forever. And life is full of plenty of hardships already without having to put growing up into the equation. It’s a good thing you seem built to deal with that, right? You’re good at holding onto hope despite things like your friends dying or breaking down, and though you may still shed tears, it will take more than a cruel and cold universe to make you fall to despair. Your willpower is boosted greatly by this, and emotion-based magic is just a little stronger in your hands to show for it. Just be careful - holding onto hope can turn into insanity if you focus too much on the impossible. But if something is possible? You’ll only give up when you’re ready to give up.

He’d put ‘Don’t Give Up!’ in his Bank Slot because it was what he’d rolled on the same pull that had allowed him to buy Staff of Magnus, so why not right? It had seemed like a waste to leave his Bank Slot empty, at that point.

But now… now he found himself somewhat torn. On the one hand, Bind and Seal sounded very good. A nonlethal option that would allow him to take down the worst of opponents. On the other hand, Jason wasn’t exactly oblivious to the world he lived in. Don’t Give Up! sounded like it was tailormade for surviving on a place like Earth Bet, and especially in a city like Brockton Bay.

He'd had his brushes with despair a couple times over his life. Hope had always seemed like a precious commodity that people like him just weren’t allowed to have. He would be lying if he said Don’t Give Up! interested him for exactly that reason.

Jason goes to pass on the Bind and Seal power, intending on banking Don’t Give Up! until he could buy it… only to pause as a sudden thought hits him and has him reading Bind and Seal over again.

He’d read ‘Chaos Dragon Baudros’ and immediately compared it to Lung because it was a dragon. But really reading between the lines, it sounded more like this Chaos Dragon was a lot bigger and badder of a threat than Lung could ever hope to be. Potentially… world ending.

Jason’s breath hitches and his eyes widen slightly at the thought that he might be able to seal an Endbringer with this power. It seemed almost impossible. Hell, like most people, Jason tried not to think too hard about the Endbringers. Behemoth, Leviathan, and the Simurgh… they were effectively world-ending forces of nature. They could not be stopped. They could barely be slowed down. And they were steadily destroying more and more of civilization with each passing year.

If you wanted to talk about something that one would need a literal superpower to avoid succumbing to despair, it was definitely the Endbringers. However, while taking Don’t Give Up! might help him stay strong in the face of the Endbringers, it wouldn’t let him put them down. In fact, nothing that he’d pulled so far seemed like it would let him put them down. Even his knowledge of Blood, Death, and Demonic Summoning Magics seemed woefully inadequate.

But what if he could seal one? What if he could seal all three?

Don’t Give Up! was a band-aid. Bind and Seal might be the cure.

With a mixture of hesitation but also resolve, Jason lets Don’t Give Up! go and replaces it with Bind and Seal. He was only a hundred points away from buying it too. Then, he would have a truly powerful way of nonlethally dealing with any threats to him or anyone else he cared about.

But first… he really had to figure out his costume situation, didn’t he? He really wasn’t sure where to even start with that though.

“You sure you’re okay, Jason?”

Blinking, Jason looks up to see Crystal looking at him worriedly. He realizes then that he was probably staring off into space for the last few minutes, torn as he was between what to keep in his Bank Slot. Wincing, he lets out a sheepish laugh and shakes his head.

“Sorry… just dead on my feet today. Honestly, I’m glad your Aunt isn’t around to see me when I’m not at my best. Might have burnt through whatever good will I’ve managed to garner with her so far.”

Crystal smiles sympathetically as she nods.

“Heh, yeah. She does like you; you know. You’re really impressing her, what with keeping up your work as her TA and also tutoring Vicky every night. But you’re probably right, Carol isn’t very understanding when it comes to other people having off days. Still, what has you so tired?”

Rather than answer that particularly loaded question, Jason decides to change the topic… and wouldn’t you know it, he has exactly the right kind of subject for them to discuss!

“You know, I’ve actually been meaning to ask you… where do you and your family get your costumes?”

Crystal looks a little surprised.

“Huh? Why do you want to know?”

Only belatedly does it hit Jason that asking such a question might seem suspicious. He’s quick to come up with a plausible explanation though.

“Oh I’ve just been seeing Vicky’s Glory Girl costume up close a lot since I started tutoring her. Mostly because she leaves it draped over her couch most of the time from the look of things.”

He delivers that last part dryly, causing Crystal to snort in laughter.

“Anyways, I just noticed how professionally done it is, and it made me realize that every time I’ve ever seen any of you guys from New Wave in the news, you’ve always looked amazing. But you’re an independent organization without the finances or backing of the PRT or Protectorate, so it left me wondering where you guys picked up such professional costumes.”

Crystal hums for a moment, before finally shrugging.

“Well, it changes. Like you said, New Wave doesn’t really have the backing and resources that the Protectorate can call upon. Won’t lie to you, sometimes the Wards’ costumes really made me jealous back in the day. We basically work with private contractors, most of whom I’m definitely not allowed to name because they aren’t Capes themselves.”

Ah. Yeah, that made sense. Unfortunate, but it definitely made sense. Jason tries not to let his disappointment show, but he might not have succeeded because Crystal gives a half-hearted shrug after a moment.

“I can name one though… Parian. New Wave has only started working with her recently, because she wasn’t active back when I was little and after she started her business there were a few years where Mom and Aunt Carol didn’t want to take the risk of associating with a rogue who might wind up going villain. But after she stuck around this long and proved herself, I guess they thought she was a safe enough bet. That Glory Girl costume you’ve seen at Vicky’s place is an example of Parian’s work for us, for instance.”

Oh damn, of course. Parian… she worked over on the Boardwalk, from what Jason recalled. She was literally a Cape who specialized in making costumes for other Capes. A Rogue who had had her business for years now without any notable incidents. She was the obvious solution to his problem… but she was also pretty damn expensive.

Outwardly, Jason gives Crystal a nod and a smile.

“Huh. Good to know, thanks for sharing.”

Crystal smiles and nods back.

“Sure, any time. I’m glad things between you and Vicky are going so well by the way, Jason. Though if you need my help or to bounce any ideas off of me, you just have to say the word.”

Oh god, just imagining Crystal finding out about him and Vicky made Jason want to blanch. Want to, but not actually. He manages to control his reaction and just shakes his head.

“Thanks Crystal, but I’ve got it under control for now. Your cousin is a handful, but she’s not that bad.”

Crystal doesn’t look entirely convinced, but she also doesn’t push him on it thankfully. As both of them return to their work, Jason finds himself once again contemplating the situation he’s in. He gets points for going out and doing Cape things, but last night was just a couple of wrong turns from being a disaster. He wanted more points obviously, in order to buy more than one in every five powers he pulled, but he also didn’t want to wind up in jail… or worse.

The clearest path forward to the most points and the fastest power gain would be to go use the money he’d gotten from tutoring Vicky to buy a costume from Parian. He’d be a little cash poor afterwards probably, but he had survived on less before.

However, was that really the BEST path forward? If he rushed on ahead, he might fall into certain traps he could have otherwise avoided if he took things as slow as he had been so far. Then again, maybe there was a middle ground to be had here. Maybe… maybe he needed to tell someone about all of this. He needed a second opinion. He needed to be able to bounce ideas off of someone else instead of slowly going crazy having them all stuffed in his head.

The thing was, there was only one person Jason could reliably talk to at this point. As sad as it was, even if Taylor Hebert had only started out as a coworker, she was now his closest friend.

If he was going to get a second opinion, she would have to be it. But did he really want to expose himself like that to anyone at this point in time?

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

300 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

• Bind and Seal (400 Points)

Jason's current powers:

• Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

• Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

• Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

• Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

• Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)