Lydia Fear came today.  She wanted $1000 in return for her information.  How prosaic.  I was all set for some strange deal with consequences I couldn’t understand or something.  I think I like her.

But the news was disturbing.  The tattoo is the visual manifestation of a spiritual parasite grafted on to my soul.  It’s draining energy of some kind (Mana?  Life force?  Emotions?) for an unknown purpose.

It’s probably not going to stay the way it is.  Lydia thinks it might just be storing the energy, and when it has enough, it will do… something.  So it’s like having a time bomb hidden inside me and not knowing when it will go off or what will happen when it does.

That kind of thing makes it hard to relax.

Lydia thinks it was put there by someone on purpose.  She says I had to have been there when it happened.  (I guess that makes sense)  The person who did it had to have access to an unusual ritual.

I don’t remember much of that day.  I passed out and was in a coma while the tattoo grew, so just about anything could have been happening then.  I could talk to my dad, try to find out if he knew of anyone who would cast a spell on me, but we tried to figure that out when it first happened.  I’m not going to believe my dad’s been lying to me all these years, so that well is probably dry.

Supernal magic hasn’t done the job yet, but maybe now, with a better idea of what to look for, I can figure something out.  I’ll ask Delia if she has any ideas.  Otherwise, I’ll have to keep dealing with changelings, since they’re the only people I’ve found who know anything.

The snake lady offered to remove my horrible destiny if I gave her the tattoo.  So now I’m guessing that she has some use for the parasite.  Should I give it to her?  (If she’ll take it now.  Lydia also says I may have started the timer running down by finding out about the parasite at all)

What’s it eating?

Mana – Diesel or I would notice, I think.  I guess it might be tapping the hallow for really tiny amounts, but it doesn’t seem to be siphoning off enough to be noticed.

Essence – Same story.  I don’t think it could be doing that without someone noticing – although it might feed like a Spirit does by being exposed to the physical manifestation of its nature.  The parasite might be a spirit of battle or of magic or something.  If so, it’s not hurting me or my friends.

Life Force – Seriously?  I’d HAVE to notice that.  If this thing is so well hidden that it can drain life force and keep a healer from noticing, then probably nothing I tried to do would work on it.

Emotions – Other than Essence, this is my big bet.  Changelings are the people who have been able to pierce whatever shields it, so it’s only a little stretch to think it might be a faerie thing.  So thinking it might feed like they do isn’t too out there.  If so, then at least it’s not hurting anybody RIGHT NOW.  I still have to worry about what it’s doing to me, but it’s probably not a danger to my friends.

Chocolate – ??? now you’re just being silly.

What’s it going to do when it’s full?

Lydia says I should be worried.  And I am.  But there’s not much I can do yet, other than have the thing removed.  And I have this nagging suspicion.

Since I got the tattoo, it’s had two effects on me that I know of.  It drove me to Mythic city and keeps me here, more or less.  And it led me to all kinds of adventures.  Objectively, they were mostly pretty awful experiences, but I stopped monsters, saved people’s lives, and helped people.  What’s the payoff?  Why do that?

Then again, that’s just my interpretation.  I also got into a lot of fights and killed people (monsters).

The only thing I know for sure is that it’s important.  Grafting something to my soul, shielding it so Mages can’t seem to even sense it.  Too much trouble.

So for now, there’s no immediate danger, so I’ll wait to see what else I can learn.  I can think of a few ways to act now.  I’ll take the time to at least see if they’re practical and then decide.