Chapter 31 - Luca's awakening

[A/N: Did a small retcon, and allowed Damian to keep the catalyst Ylva gave him on loan. Forgot he'd need to channel myst for this.]

With his bleeding hand hovering over Luca's face, Damian used his other hand to grab his head and send a blast of myst through his body to wake him up. Although this was the first time for him to awaken anyone, he knew the basics, like their need to be awake initially.

Luca's eyes flew open as he gasped. Instinctually, he tried to sit up and assess his situation, but Damian kept him down. As an actual awakened, and a surprisingly powerful one at that, he could easily overpower this unawakened Moonkin.

"Calm down, Luca," Damian said emotionlessly, grabbing the man's head and pushing it down.

"Wha— What is happening?! Who are you?!" he cried out in a panic, his eyes swivelling around the room. He tried to move his limbs but immediately realized he was restrained. Although he couldn't see it, tendrils of shadow were wrapped around his wrists and ankles.

"If everything goes fine, I'll be your progenitor soon," Damian said calmly, now actually moving his bleeding hand over the man's face, his expression unreadable.

Finally realizing what was going to happen, Luca panicked even more. An awakening was exactly what he wanted, but not like this. Not from a stranger! The scariest thing for someone like him were the imprinting years, when a progenitor had influence over their scion.

Being awakened by the Feral Chargers leader was not ideal, but… at least he knew what he'd be in for. Who knew what he'd have to deal with when it came to this stranger?! What kintype even was he?!

Unfortunately, his panic was pointless. Damian rammed the bloody cut on his free hand into Luca's mouth and started speaking the words of awakening. Or, rather, he was simply repeating after Nova, the AI in his head. He hadn't actually had the chance to memorize them yet.

'I need to ask Mom to teach me a little more about awakening later,' Damian muttered in his mind, even as his mouth never stopped repeating after Nova. 'I don't even know why these words are necessary… especially since we were apparently created in a lab.'

His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed Luca was starting to show signs of change. The bones and muscles under his skin started to wriggle and shift, but after glancing curiously at Luca's face, Damian didn't notice any kind of pain. Only the same panic as before.

"Looks like you might have a normal awakening. Lucky you, and good news for Luna," Damian chuckled with amusement, showing a clear lack of care for Luca's wellbeing.

Luca was barely listening to Damian's words as his mind began to focus on the changes in his body. At the same time, Damian's eyes also started scanning across those parts of Luca's body not covered by his shabby clothing.

To be honest, he still had very little idea of what he'd actually become since his awakening. His mother claimed he'd become a new type of Eldkin, but… so far, he hadn't noticed anything beyond a significant increase in physical prowess.

'Let's see if you can tell me some more about what I am,' Damian muttered curiously to himself.

Luca's body went through several cycles of changes, all of which were recorded by Damian's Nova for future reviewing. The changes a body went through during awakening could reveal a lot about that kintype's incarnate form, and Damian was very interested in this.

He wasn't surprised to see wriggling around the nails and fingers, as Bloodkin had talons, and Moonkin had claws, so it was natural to assume he would have something similar. The same went for the legs, where obvious hock joints occasionally seemed to form.

He also noticed several patches of fur and leathery skin that appeared and disappeared. "I suppose that means I'll have both?" Damian pondered thoughtfully, curious about the defensive properties that might entail.

Luca's face occasionally elongated a little as well, which was to be expected, as both Moon- and Bloodkin had snout-like faces in their incarnate forms.

The really surprising changes came from Luca's forehead and back, however. The former showed bumps and ridges that rose and fell, making it clear that something was happening there, but it was unclear what. Meanwhile, the changes on his back were similar bumps and ridges, but longer, and they appeared symmetrical on both sides.

'Neither Moon- nor Bloodkin have anything like horns…' Damian murmured to himself, his thoughts first focusing on Luca's forehead. 'Perhaps something related to my third bloodline?'

Turning to his first scion's back, Damian raised an eyebrow. "As for these… could those be the beginnings of wings? Bloodkin do have wings, but they are attached to their underarms, not coming out the back…" His eyes panned over to Luca's restrained arms. "Although… I don't see anything like those…"

For another fifteen minutes, Damian continued to note several big and small changes that Luca's body went through, making sure to note down each of them. Meanwhile, Luca was having a far easier time than Damian did. He remained in a panicked state, but he wasn't suffering or fainting.

The most interesting thing that happened during this time was that Damian felt a strange mental connection form between himself and Luca. It wasn't anything overwhelming, but more like an itch in his brain that told him exactly where Luca was.

Supposedly, this was the connection a progenitor could use to influence their scions, although Damian wasn't particularly practised in this yet. He'd need to ask his mother for lessons later.

Fortunately, nothing seemed to have gone wrong. After those fifteen minutes, the wriggling stopped, and Luca's body settled down with the man himself still perfectly conscious.

'This is how all the Bloodkin awakenings I've witnessed went, too,' Damian thought to himself with self-satisfaction. 'It seems Luna will be fine, but… I should make sure.'

Taking his hand away from Luca's face, Damian looked at his victim curiously. "How do you feel?"

Breathing heavily, his wide eyes full of panic and fear, Luca looked at Damian. "Wha— What did you do?!" His limbs were straining as he obviously tried to get away from Damian, but the shadowy tendrils continued keeping him in place.

"What do you think I did…?" Damian smirked at the ridiculous question, before unconsciously adding a certain kind of authority into his voice. "Now, answer my question."

Luca parted his lips to provide a snappy, panicked response that formed in his mind, but… couldn't. Struggle appeared in his eyes, but he stuttered slightly… "I— I feel… fine. Stronger than ever…"

"Good!" Damian nodded, satisfied with that outcome. His hand was thoughtfully stroking his chin as he started sending waves of myst through Luca's body to inspect every single bit of it.

Meanwhile, Luca seemed confused about why he'd answered Damian's question… but he quickly realized the reason. At that point, there was really only one thing he wanted to know: "Why me?" he gulped, knowing his life now essentially belonged to his kidnapper, at least for the next few years.

"Hmmm?" Damian muttered, looking down at Luca as if only now remembering he was even there.

"Oh…" he then shrugged indifferently, a cold look in his eyes. "Because you, Luca, are absolute trash."

Before continuing, he extended his hand and formed a dagger of blood. "You raped your little sister, fled from your parent's wrath, and continued to prey on those weaker and younger than you."

"And now…" Damian continued, twirling the dagger in his hand and aiming it for Luca's chest. "You get to die for the sake of someone with a better heart than either of us."

Before Luca could fully grasp what was happening, the dagger buried itself in his heart… His eyes were wide, filled with pain and unwillingness. "How… could this…"

Gasping, he breathed his last breath. Thus, Damian had killed the first scion of his new kintype.