Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"What? Quit gaping and eat your food before it gets cold." The...woman said to him.

"And you gave me soooo much shit for the way I look." He replied.

"I'm your mother, not the other way around."

"Why did you choose... whatever you are?"

Everyone else remained quiet at the interaction between mother and son, politely ignoring the conversation going on around them as they continued to eat. The shuffling of plates and the muffled sound of chewing were the only sounds Drew could hear around him as he stared at the creature in front of him. The overall shape was passingly human, but the form definitely was not. Miranda's new skin-tone couldn't be passed off at all, while the skin-tone of his mother stuck out like a sore thumb that had been recently smashed in a car door.

Purple. There was no other way to put it, her skin was a light shade of purple. But that wasn't what pulled his attention the most. No. She had long, ridged, and blackened horns who's base sat between her hairline and her eyebrows. They pulled back, almost parallel to the top of her short purple hair, before rising vertically to sharp points. Her purple hair was darker than her skin-tone and cut short and parted to the side. Her ears were almost elf-like, but they sat more flatly against her head, and were almost dagger-like in shape.

If her eyes had distinct pupils, or an iris, he couldn't tell, as they physically glowed in a vibrant yellow-gold. While his own fingernails were pointed, hers were essentially talons at this point, as they were easily an inch and a half long, clearly looking like a claw or dagger instead of a nail. The rest of her seemed to be relatively human-ish, but it such a huge departure of the five foot two, seventy-one year old lady he knew. She didn't look old, nor young, there was almost a timeless quality to her.

Drew was not ready for such a huge change from his mom. He expected another elf, or a fairy, or something cute and pretty. Instead, she looked like a lavender demon. As she spoke, glimpses of two sets of canines could be seen poking out from behind her lips. Although the teeth themselves were white, the two sets of pointed canines were much longer than a human's and were more akin to something you'd expect to find in a large dog. The only thing that told him that she was truly his mom was her zip-up fuzzy bathrobe, and the slippers on her feet.

"I don't know, I just told the strange lady what I wanted when she asked." His mom replied.

"Her race is Fiend, Drew Wright." Spock interrupted.

"Thank you Spock. What exactly did you tell the tutorial guide, mom?"

"She asked what I wanted, and I told her."

"Yes, you said that, what did you tell her you wanted?"

"That I wanted my tv back."

A pin could have dropped and it would have been heard in the silence that followed.

"Mom...elaborate please, before I have a meltdown."

She sighed.

"The lady asked me what race and class I wanted, and I told her I didn't know, or care. I told her that I was pissed that my tv and my shows were going to disappear forever, so I demanded to speak with her manager. The manager didn't have the nerve to show their face, but they sent strange text messages to my vision and put them in my head. Then I had to repeat the same thing that I'd already told the lady to the stupid text message manager..."

"Uh-huh...go on..." Drew replied when she took a breath to continue speaking.

"The no-show manager said I had to spend all my boon things if I wanted to keep my recorded movies and shows and have access to new ones. So I gave him a piece of my mind. I told him what I thought about this stupid System coming and uprooting our lives, and taking away my retirement. I told him that it's bullshit that the only thing I enjoy outside of my family is being taken away. Well, he sure got the picture after that, and told me he'd fix everything if I used those boon things."

"Rightttttttt... and what happened after that?" Drew asked, his head between his hands as he rubbed his temples.

"Well, he was going to fix it the way a good manager should, so I agreed. Next thing I know, I have no body anymore and there was this hideous looking creature standing in front of me. The voice of that guide lady told me to make the creature more pleasing to look at. Let me tell you, it took a lot of work to fix that amount of ugly. I told her I was finished when I did as much as I could. Then I'm back in the living room naked! Can you believe that? Dropping me off at home with no clothes. What kind of lady do they think I am?!" His mom finished her story in a clearly aggravated tone.

"Okay, just... grab a plate and sit down and eat."

Drew was well past a headache and in full-blown migraine territory. What the hell had his mom done? His mind was processing the information, and bits and pieces of logic would filter through, but it still didn't form the full picture of what happened in his head. He decided it was time to bring in the expert.

"Spock...what the hell did my mom do?" He asked nervously.

"I cannot say with certainty, but if I had to make an educated guess?"

"A guess is better than nothing. Go ahead, lay it on me."

"I believe she may have forced The System to intervene and personally help her with the race and class selections. It sounds like the tutorial guide couldn't understand what your mother had wanted. Due to the extreme stress and emotions she may have been exhibiting, and despite the coping mechanisms in place, the guide felt the need to contact The System directly for guidance."

"I thought The System couldn't be called to intervene unless a greater boon was spent?"

"That is generally true, but the coping mechanisms should function flawlessly. Guides have direct access to The System, and can petition it for help if a great need arises. It would be my guess that your mother's emotional distress prompted the guide to petition The System for help."

"Okay... so what the hell happened after that?"

"It seems that The System offered her a chance to fulfill her desires in the only way it knew how. It chose the best race and class for her given her... emotional requests."

"So she ended up as some kind of demon thing? I didn't even see that as an option in the tutorial."

"She is a fiend. It'd be more apt to say that the race is a descendant of beings from lower planes of existence, and those of this plane, such as humans, elves, or others." Spock said.

"Dude, your mom is a fucking battle-axe." Mark whispered into Drew's ear.

"Great. A cross between a demon being from hell and a human. Plus she's like six foot tall now. So what happened with her class?" Drew asked Spock.

"Ms. Doris, do you perchance know what class you were given?" Spock asked Drew's mom.

"Class? No, I just got kicked to the curb here naked." She replied, mouth full of hotdog.

"Could you pull it up for me please? Just think of the word 'class' in your head and focus on it."

His mom finished chewing and stared out into space before the glow of her golden eyes dimmed slightly. Of course his mom would ask to speak to the fucking manager because she was pissed about her stupid tv shows. Who knew what she'd gotten herself into, and what he'd have to do to pull her out of it. He loved his mom, but she had given him a real headache. In truth, he was extremely worried about her. How would she end up coping with how she looked now? Plus, had she gotten the shit-end of the stick by getting stuck with her race?

"It says my class is 'warlock', whatever that means."

That got everyone's attention. All eyes left their plates as they turned to look at his mom for several seconds, before turning back to Spock, clearly waiting for an explanation. Warlock was not a starting class that any of them had been given access to. No. They had three different varieties of warrior, an archer, a healer, and a caster. That was it. So how did his mom end up with something completely different? And what had it cost her?

"Ah. I believe I understand now."

"Well, will you share, because I'd like to know what's going on." Drew said.

"The System singled out this race because it's one of the few across the multiverse that has access to additional starting classes. In this case, it's the only sapient race that has the option to choose warlock as a starting class. This is due to the... unique ancestry of the race. Ahem, as I was saying, the race has access to the warlock starting class, where as other races usually only gain access to a variant of it at their first or second class evolution. I believe it's this class's main mechanic that The System found as a solution for your mother."

"Alright, and what's the mechanic?"

"It's similar to your raise dead spell. The warlock class focuses strictly on summoning demons and beings of different planes, empowering and buffing them, and cursing enemies. It's similar to your spell, in that she can summon and control minions. The difference between the mechanic and your spell, is she's required to provide upkeep costs to maintain the pets, and the pets are intelligent and form a mutual contract with the summoner."

"Right, I'm following you so far, but I was given the option to purchase a summon imp spell in the tutorial. I turned it down because it mentioned needing magical components to do the spell. Also why does the mechanic fix my mom's issue with the tv shows?"

"Warlocks don't require components for summons, as it's the core function of the class, rather than just a skill. When entering into a contract, each being grants the other something they desire. Summoned pets for warlocks typically crave strength, experience, and knowledge. Thus, they are usually in the thick of battle, or looking for knowledge. Their planes are... less mana rich than ours, and extremely hostile. Growth on their home planes is incredibly difficult, dangerous, and takes a very long time, compared to the growth a being can experience here. But I digress, the short answer is, a summoned pet should be able to allow your mother's personal electronics to continue functioning."

"Wait, seriously!? How??" Drew demanded.

Everyone was leaning forward to closely listen to Spock's answer, even Drew's mom, as the mention of her shows pulled her attention in like the force of gravity. But Spock tilted his head in slight confusion before realigning it.

"Ah, there seems to have been a misunderstanding. Technology and electronics still exists within the bounds of The System, and there are many technologically advanced races. Integration of an already doomed planet takes these technologies away for about four hundred and thirty-nine earth years. After that, an integrated species may have the option to relearn them should they wish. Most integrated races choose to drop that as an option, as The System itself has alternatives for many such things."

"Great, so our stuff will break, but we could rebuild it in several hundred years if we chose to. But how does my mom's pets let her keep her shows?"

"Ah, that's a relatively easy answer. Demons, as you'd call them, love tv on an almost racial level. Outside of violence, it's really their only form of entertainment, culture, and enjoyment. It would be extremely simple for your mother's future pet to summon a tv from their plane, download her currently recorded shows, and allow her to have access to their version of live broadcast television shows."

"You're fucking pulling my leg. Demons, the beings we all heard about while growing up, the demons that are in our fictions and mythos, the ones that are so extremely evil... they love fucking television shows?"

"I do not jest. Although, it may be somewhat racially insensitive to stereotype that they love tv, in general, it is an apt observation throughout the multiverse. They produce many popular dramas, romances, and action movies and shows."

"Demons love tv. Because, of course they do. So, long story short, The System fixed my mom's problem, she'll get to keep her current recordings, and now she'll have access to countless channels of demonic programming beamed straight into a magically summoned demon tv?"

"Essentially? That's correct." Spock replied.

"Wonderful. Well you stay here, and help my mom set up her pet summoning. I'm going to go grab a beer and murder a bunch of mesquite trees until I feel better about everything." He said to Spock.

"Hey dear, why don't we all go with you? I'm sure everyone is anxious to try out their new abilities." Amber asked.

"Sure Boo Bear, everyone's welcome to join me in the genocide of those thorny bastards."