《The Many Faces of Ghosts and Gods》 Bargains Walter woke up wet, his clothing soaked through and clinging to him. That was not how he had expected to wake up, hell he hadn¡¯t expected to wake up at all. He went to bed firmly believing he wouldn¡¯t open his eyes again and it had brought about an odd sense of calm. An odd sense of peace that can only be found when walking when walking a knifes edge and not knowing what would happen when and if you slipped. It had brought with it a freedom that he had not felt in a long long time, if ever. So when he slowly opened his eyes and saw¡­ Nothing and he was lost. There was no loving family, no highway to hell, and most assuredly no stairway to heaven. Instead there was blackness. A void. And it left Walter confused by the darkness that surrounded him. Confused by blackness so deep that it defied his mind and terrified him on a primordial level, his brain sending him into a panicked overdrive. Or at least it would have if not for the second thing he noticed. Because as terrifying and unknowable as that darkness was it was the pressure that sent his mind into spirals. So much pressure that he could not move his limbs or shift his head. Like the hand of god gripped him and had started to squeeze. He had wanted to scream then but as he opened his mouth water the temperature of blood rushed into his mouth cutting off any attempt to give voice to his fear. What¡­ What¡¯s happening here? His internal voice sounded oddly calm to him, even as he tried and failed to thrash about and break free of the force that held him firm. Why don¡¯t I feel like I''m drowning? How am I even still conscious? What¡¯s going on? He knew on a fundamental level that his body should be craving oxygen. Hell he could feel the tepid water in his lungs even now, it was a visceral sensation. One that he knew should bring pain in one form or another. But oddly enough it didn¡¯t. Other than his inability to move he felt fine. Better than fine even. He wasn¡¯t in pain. His mind wasn¡¯t clouded. He might have been locked in his own body like it was a prison at the moment but at least he wasn¡¯t suffering. It was in a word, refreshing if a tad terrifying to be sure. And then suddenly there was light, almost blindingly bright given the darkness that had surrounded him but heartbeats before. The void around him suddenly illuminated, and filled with shadows and darting shapes. And the closer he looked, the clearer he saw the more he wanted to tear his eyes from his skull and let his sanity shatter into a million tiny pieces. For what he saw there were no words for. No way to comprehend the chaos of the beings or being he saw. It was massive. He knew that. How massive was a question Walter couldn''t answer as for some reason his mind could not put limits on it. It was everywhere about him, in him even, holding him in place even as his fruitless struggles against the forces that held him finally ended. Who was he to struggle against something so overwhelming? Walter felt as if he was nothing when confronted with this thing. This horror. This¡­ God? Less than nothing. He felt as if he was about to be unmade. His history erased. His mind and presence wiped away. And then it spoke. It¡¯s words. Its voice felt more than heard. They slithered through his mind, over his body, and into his soul. Oddly modulated, as if hundreds if not thousands of creatures where speaking the same words at exactly the same time.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. "WALTER WILLIAM WARD I SEE YOU, I KNOW YOU, YOU ARE A VICTIM OF NEGLECT, YOUR SOUL RAVAGED BY LONGING. YOUR DEATH WILL BE NETHER SWIFT NOR PAINLESS. YOURS IS A DEATH MARKED BY ACHING NEED SO IT MUCH LIKE YOUR LIFE FALLS WITHIN OUR DOMAIN." The water shifts and dis embodied eyes swim and ungulates forward. They come in all sizes, in all shapes, the only thing in common among them is their focus. Which was on Walter. "WE ARE THE STARVED ONES. WE ARE THE DROWNED GODS. WE ARE THE NEEDLE THAT ENTERS YOUR VEIN AND GIVE YOU SWEET RELIEF ONLY TO LEAVE YOU HUNGRY. WE ARE THE LOVER THAT SPURNS YOU FOR ANOTHER. WE ARE DESPERATION GIVEN FORM. WE ARE STARVATION GIVEN SENTIANCE. WE ARE BOUNDLESS HUNGER. WE ARE LIFE''S GREATEST FEARS. WE ARE WHAT DRIVES LIFE TO DO BETTER. AND YOU WALTER ARE MARKED BY OUR TRIBULATIONS. STARVATION AND A NEED SO GREAT THAT YOU WERE CALLED HERE TO OUR REALM. YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN. YOU HAVE BEEN CURSED. SO WE ASK YOU A QUESTION. WILL YOU BARGAIN WITH US, WALTER WILLIAM WARD?" For the first time since his arrival he questioned his sanity. Am I going crazy? But no¡­ people crazy enough to hallucinate this wouldn''t be lucid enough to question it, would they? Safer to think this is real anyways. The water moves and somehow Walter knows that he can speak. That his voice would be heard and for the first time in a long time he laughs. ¡°I don¡¯t see why not, I¡¯m dying and honestly anything you have to offer would be better than the hell I was living through. What are we bargaining about?¡± Why aren''t I afraid? I should be pissing myself but¡­ I Just can¡¯t bring myself to care. Which is a good thing at this point I think. Concerning but good. The eyes grew closer circling Walter faster and faster as he spoke. Excited. Agitated. Lost in thought. Honestly he had no idea what was going through the creatures mind. All he knew was that he was being offered a chance to be something more than what he was and he would be a fool to deny it. The horror sighed, there was no mistaking that sound even coming from a thousand seperate directions and voices. ¡° WE OFFER YOU POWER. WE OFFER YOU LIFE. WE OFFER YOU A SECOND CHANCE AND FREEDOM FROM YOUR PAIN AND SHAME. ALL WE ASK FOR IN RETURN IS SERVICE. ALL WE DEMAND IS YOUR FATE. DECIDE.¡± Being some kind of lacky for a being he couldn¡¯t really comprehend didn¡¯t sound too bad at that point. Hell if it came with power and a second chance at life how could he say no? Anything was better than laying trapped in bed for years on end. Trapped in his own mind, unable to even speak with the nurses that took care of him. So he spoke the very first words that came into his mind then, hoping against hope that he wouldn¡¯t fuck himself. ¡°Why the hell not. It¡¯s not like I have much to lose.¡± The eyes stopped suddenly and something invisible wrapped around his face as his jaw was forced open. ¡°THE BARGAIN IS STRUCK. POWER FOR SERVICE. FREEDOM FOR YOUR FATE.¡± The voice rang with finality and something slithered into Walter¡¯s mouth and down his throat and all he could do was scream. But no one that cared was there to hear him. Then almost as if in response to his screams a word¡¯s appeared in his vision. Not obscuring it, just making themselves known and no matter where his frantic eyes jumped the word¡¯s followed. ____________________________________ NEW QUEST: ( GIVING UP THE GHOST) You have bargained with a strange and powerful being in the hopes of securing a better future for yourself. To bad you didn¡¯t ask for specifics before agreeing Out of his Depth With a groan, Walter woke up and like the last time he dared open his eyes¡­ He was exceedingly moist And oddly enough naked as the day he was born but had that been the oddest thing he may well have considered himself lucky. Waking up naked was not something he had expected, not that he had expected anything in particular but damp earth was close to the bottom of his list of things he wanted to wake up in no matter how comfortable it might have been. Walter sat up feeling more than a little odd. Like he had just woken up from a nightmare. Manic with a side of jittery fight or flight energy. Oddly it Ifelt almost cathartic to Walter, as if he was truly alive. And then like a sledgehammer it hit him, he had moved. He hadn''t twitched. He hadn''t fidgeted. He had sat up. He had willed his body to move and it had ( GIVING UP THE GHOST) COMPLETE You have bargained with a strange and powerful being and not only walked away alive but retained your sanity. Complete body repair. Patronage of The Silent. 1 copy of soul bound contract. "A soul bound contract? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Glancing about Walter found that he was smack dab in the center of a rather large cave. Or is it a cavern? I can''t rightly remember the difference. Regardless the cave was massive, roof at least twenty or thirty high with stalactites as thick as his waist. But as captivating as that was it paled in comparison to the towering mushrooms and thick carpets of moss that glowed in every color of the rainbow. Pink fluorescent fungus the size of minivans dotted the landscape, pools of stagnant water filled with glowing yellow algae, walls dotted with clusters of undulating lichen the color of fresh blood. Walter blinked and nearly fell down as he slowly turned observing his underground pipe dream. ¡°What the hell is going on here and why in gods name am i surrounded by psychedelic fungus.?¡± As if in response that same disembodied screen appeared in front of his face. He reached out to touch it, his finger passing through the space as if nothing was there. In fact no matter where he looked, up down, left, right the screen followed. It shimmered. It shifted. But always it followed his line of sight. ¡°Some sort of¡­ Hologram? What is this Star Trek?¡± There was text on the screen, or at least what he assumed was text. The characters making up the words were unfamiliar, almost like a combination of Egyptian hieroglyphs and old Norse runes. Slowly over the course of a few seconds though the odd almost alien words changed into his native english which he started reading. ________________________________________________ WALTER WILLIAM WARD RACE: Human (Outsider Variant) ARCHETYPE: N/A LEVEL: 0 ATTRIBUTES: Strength: 3 Agility: 4 Stamina: 3 Willpower: 10 Intelligence: 8 Presence: 6 COMBAT SKILLS: N/A LIFE SKILLS: Cooking: 35Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Cleaning: 32 Mathematics: 21 History (Earth): 26 Academics: 17 Empathy: 13 Socialize: 14 Intimidation: 19 GIFTS: Mark of the Silent (Soul Scar) Descendant of Babel (Racial Ability) Twinned Soul (????) ¡°Huh.¡± Walter glanced around suspiciously poking and prodding his surroundings looking for just about anything that would make sense of his surroundings. Hidden cameras. A head injury. Aliens. Anything but the memories that haunted him of that weird in between place filled with monsters. He looked at the screens. He looked at the lsd mushrooms and all the undulating fungai. ¡° I must be going nuts. Right? Right.¡± He looked back to the giant tree sized mushroom, blinking slowly. ¡°Like, I must be going crazy. This is a drugged out dream. I''m still stuck in my bed. There''s nothing here and i''m just living my last moments in drugged out bliss.¡± And then suddenly another screen appeared next to the first. NEW QUEST: (Mush Room) You¡¯ve unintentionally disturbed a small colony of Saperlings. Defend yourself. Experience ¡°A quest? Like¡­ A game? What the actual hell? Owe!¡± Walter yelled and fell backwards as he felt something sharp stab into his foot. Glancing down at where he had stood he saw what could only be described as a walking mushroom. Looking like nothing more than a one and a half foot portabella with stubby arms and legs ending in tiny sharp fingers and toes he yelled and scooted backward, his naked rear dragging in the cool mud. ¡°A mushman? What the hell!¡± It stalked forward moving at something best described as a crawl. Lacking eyes , a nose, or any real facial features Walter had to wonder how it knew where he was. Though that thought was short lived as he felt yet another stinging pain in his back. Looking back he saw another of the odd mushroom creatures this one actually slightly smaller than the first. He threw his arm back swiping at the creature as he scrambled to his feet. Surprisingly the mushman was sent flying a few feet, only stopping as it hit one of the glowing mushroom trees almost seeming to disintegrate on impact. Saperlings: 1/10 Defeated ¡°Okay¡­ Okay I can do this. I can do it no issues.¡± HE looked back at the first mushroom creature that had attacked him a small smile crossing his face. ¡°It¡¯s been a while since I''ve played football¡­¡± Hiking his leg back he hopped forward a step and kicked the faceless creature full in the stock sending it even further than the first and much like the first as soon as it hit any actual resistance it melted into thin error, leaving only a small cloud of spore where it had been. Saperlings: 2/10 Defeated ¡°TAKE THAT YOU EYELESS FREAK!¡± Letting out a small laugh Walter let his leg drop to the ground before he collapsed onto his knees panting at the minor exertion. And closer to ground level with his heart pounding in his chest he felt his first taste of fear in the new world. The mud around the mushtree in front hom started to quake as ever so slowly more Saperlings climbed from the mud and slowly if methodically made their way towards him. First one. Then two. Then three tell there were eight of them slowly wadling after him. Rushing to his feet Walter was at a loss. One or two would have been no issue. Hell Walter was fairly confident he could take four of them without any difficulty. But he was already feeling sluggish and the stinging pain in his back and foot felt the same if not worse. ¡°Did those fuck¡¯s poison me? I mean come on¡­¡± Looking behind him he saw that the next nearest mushtree was closer than he thought, but he somehow knew that there would be more of these¡­ Creatures around its base. So he steeled himself glanced back at the approaching ¡®horde¡¯ and steeled himself for the pain to come. As the mindless creatures grew closer Walter jumped as high and as far forward as he could his bare feet coming down in the leading Saperlings, crushing them into clouds of dust and spores. Coughing once he stumbled backwards shaking his head as he kicked out his foot smacking into another of the creatures. Saperlings: 5/10 Defeated Eyes watering all Walter could do was ignore the pain shooting through his body and fight on. Feet flew in haphazard fashion killing the creatures left and right, but the sting the creatures inflicted on him seemed to grow as he killed them and he slowly lost the feeling in his lower body though he retained control of his limbs. Finally with one last kick he fell forward using his body to crush the final mushroom creature as he was completely and utterly out of energy after only a few moments of conflict. He couldn¡¯t feel his lower body and it ever so slowly seemed to creep up his body as he lay in a cloud of spores. Saperlings: 10/10 Defeated (Mush Room) COMPLETE The Saperlings proved to be tougher then you expected but you managed somehow. Experience Skill gained Unarmed 1: You know that your body is a weapon, at least so long as you train it. LEVEL UP. Level 1 obtained. 5 Attribute points gained. Weighing of soul(s) initiated. "Wait. What does it mean by souls?" Archetypical All Walter knew was pain. All he was, all he could be was tied up in agony. All around him the colors swam, twisting and distorting in ways that only the insane could comprehend. Which made sense as no man, sane or otherwise, could live through what happened next. His body Twisted. Writhed. Danced. As something undulated right beneath the surface of his skin. ¡°Hello.¡± A voice spoke and Walter heard it. Felt it. Not with his mind but with his body. It reverberated through him, the base of it caused his bones to shake and his mind to blank. And with dawning horror Walter began to sob. The voice, it came from within him. From his deepest parts. Crawling from within his chest and echoing about his body before it finally escaped through his ever thinning skin. And then he felt something pushing, as if it wanted to be birthed into the world. But as hard as it pushed something kept it bound within Walters body, a barrier that went beyond the physical. ¡°Hello. Is this the right flesh language? I can¡¯t remember the last time I spoke words with meat.¡± Walter¡¯s tears slow and with a gulping breath he brings his shaking under control as the pain starts to subside. As the thing beneath your skin slowly stops moving. ¡°P¡­ Please stop. To loud. To loud. Hurts.¡± Walter can¡¯t help but whimper as the voice echos about inside him, his ears near to rupturing by the volume of the unseen voice. ¡°Hurts? IS that what this is? Pain? I had forgotten. ¡° The voice grew softer or softer tell it was right above a whisper and right below a murmur. Comfortable, if distorted to the ear. ¡°IS our discomfort gone? I sense a difference but do not understand how flesh works.¡± There was a deliberate pause. A tense silence. ¡°Flesh is confusing.¡± Something pushes at his insides and Walter winces, but other then the odd feeling the pain does not come. ¡°Please. Please stop that.¡± The¡­ Thing writhed inside him. And he sensed confusion. ¡°Stop? Stop what?¡± The flesh of his abdomen dances as something hard and sleek pushes from behind his eyes. ¡°That. Stop that. You''re moving¡­ Inside me?¡± He almost cries as the feeling grows stronger. And he presses his hands to his eyes. And then suddenly it stops, though some of the pressure. The weight. Remains. ¡°Th¡­ Thank you. Please just¡­ Thank you.¡± With a deep breath and a shake of his head Walter colapsesses to the ground shaking. Wondering for what felt like the hundredth time in that same hour what the hell was going on. ¡° You are welcome Walter William Ward. I failed to take ownership of this flesh vessel so you retain the right to self determination.¡± He blinks. ¡°I yes thanks for that¡­ What¡­ What are you?¡± ¡°I am one of the Hungry Dead. A champion of the Lord of Starved ghosts. I am one of legions dead to deprivation and hunger. I am a Wraith.¡± ¡°I see. I mean. I don¡¯t. But okay. I wait¡­ What?¡± SOULS HAVE BEEN WEIGHED. WALTER WILLIAM WARD YOU ARE A TABULA RASA. A BLANK SLATE. YOU HAVE IN YOUR THIRTY-TWO MINUTES OF LIFE NEVER MADE A CHOICE OF SIGNIFICANCE. NO SIN OF YOUR OWN MAKING MARKS YOU YET YOU HAVE CONSUMED AND PURGED THE SIN OF OTHERS. YOU ARE A REDEEMER OF THE DEAD. NO ARCHETYPE DETECTED. ONE COMBAT SKILL DETECTED. ADVANCED LIFE SKILLS DETECTED. GIFTS DETECTED. PHYSICAL AGE THIRTY-THREE MINUTES. AGE OF SOUL IN CURRENT ITERATION TWENTY-EIGHT SOLAR YEARS. DETERMINING ARCHETYPES¡­ DUE TO THE MARK OF THE SILENT, A SOULBOUND CONTRACT, AND HIGH WILLPOWER ARCHETYPE SELECTION IS LIMITED. REMOVING DISALLOWED ARCHETYPES. REMOVING BANKER. REMOVING CHEF. REMOVING BUTLER. REMOVING ARCHIVIST. REMOVING HISTORIAN. REMOVING BUTTLER. REMOVING PUGILIST. REMAINING ARCHETYPES: WALTER WILLIAM WARD PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR ARCHETYPE. WHAT PATH WILL YOU FOLLOW?This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°This is unexpected.¡± Said the voice. ¡°I will help you choose.¡± Honestly, Walter had no idea what he thought. He was lost. Lacked information. And to top it all off he appeared to have been taken to a new world where some sort of video game logic held sway. In short he had been isekaied. ¡°So let me get this straight. I made a deathbed deal with the next best thing to a great old one. Was ¡­ Possessed-¡± ¡°Technically I failed to posses you. Much to my shame.¡± ¡°-and now I have to decide on what I am in this world? What Archetype I fill? Good god if I turn into a chuuni I may well have to kill myself.¡± Walter looked panicked for a moment then laughed. A manic sound conveying little actual mirth. ¡°Oh god it¡¯s already started. Deep breaths Walter. Deep breaths. I have no idea what to do. Which seems to be my life now.¡± ¡°Luckily, I can provide guidance. As I failed to take control of this flesh suit it is in my interest to garner your good will. And prolong your life. Ask and I will attempt to answer.¡± ¡°O¡­ Kay. First off, what can I call you? By what name are you known? Honestly I have no idea what you actually are other than some sort of poltergeist.¡± The pause that followed was longer than Walter hopped but shorter than he feared. ¡°I¡¯ve been known by many names but some have called me¡­ Elliot.¡± ¡°Elliot? The not so friendly ghost? Got it. Thanks. Okay. Not exactly what I was expecting. But I¡¯ll take it.¡± Elliot,because he now knew it was Elliot writhed just a little within him. A sense of satisfaction emanating from the being. ¡°Yes, my name strikes terror in all who hear it. Be thankful meat mortal. I will keep you safe. I will guide you. Yes. yes.¡± Walter finds himself nodding as he¡­ It? Speaks. It obviously wasn¡¯t trustworthy, but any input. Any at all was better than none, even if it came from a untrustworthy, other worldly, possibly hostile being. ¡®You gotta make do with what you¡¯re given.¡¯ ¡°Okay Elliot, what can you tell me about Archetypes? Do you have a suggestion as to which i should choose?¡± ¡°No one can make suggestions in regards to archetypes. It is forbidden. They represent you and what you will or might become.¡± More slithering. More pressure behind his eyes. ¡°But I can tell you what little I know about the Archetypes you are deemed worthy of.¡± ¡°Of the four you have access to, the Cultist is the most common. They are those that venerate a concept, person, or being most would consider dark or at least questionable. This is not to say they are evil, just that their religion or beliefs often go against standard morality. Conceptually this is the only difference between them and those who fall under the archetype of the Priest. Though on the whole Cultists due tend to cultivate more varied abilities such as transformation, summoning, and the like as opposed to their mainstream counterparts that tend to gain healing and shielding abilities more often than not. But they are powered the same. Through personal sacrifices such as gold, memory, or the most common and potent. Blood. Life force.¡± Walter nodded his head. The Cultist sounded somewhat like a more offensive healer. Something that could fight if needed or they wanted. Though the cost of using those abilities sounded rather extreme. Or at least they could be. He honestly didn¡¯t like the idea of sacraficing his life force or memory. ¡°The Contractor on the other hand gains power from an outside source, gathering eclectic abilities that could be just about anything. From flight and teleportation, to energy projection and enhanced senses. It all depends on the contracts they hold and the beings they contracted with. In your case, you already have a contract with the Lord of the Hungry Dead which would result in rather powerful abilities tied to his realm and purviews such as summoning wraiths and spectors, to manifesting spectral tentacles. The costs vary, but in most cases contractors give over some of their free will in order to gain their powers. h/aving to perform favors for their patrons in return.¡± So something of a grabbag that one. While it seemed he had a hand up there, Walter was not sure if he wanted his fate tied more with that being from the place between places. He already owed it more than he could imagine. He knew he would be called upon by that¡­ Being to repay it. Giving the creature more leverage might well spell his doom. Though the power on offer sounded¡­ Enticing. ¡°The medium is probably the rarest archetype you have available. Few meet the necessary prerequisites. Fewer still would tie themselves to the dead in such a way. But those that do gain something unique. Not only can the speak and interact with the the dead, which outside of necromancy and necromongering is extremely rare, they are able to manifest and force into existence portions of the realms of the dead. This is due to their nature and their connection with spirits. While they can mimic other schools of magic, everything they do is powered by those that died before.¡± He may have been missing it, but of all the Archetypes this one was by and far the most confusing. What did it mean to manifest the underworld? Did he command the spirits of the dead to do his bidding? Or did he channel the powers of the underworld? Honestly it wasn¡¯t vary clear, but it was more than he had before. ¡°A Hex is rather interesting in your case. They represent those who suffer from a karmic imbalance. Bad luck if you will. While i know little of you, I do know you have excellent luck as I am here and you retain control of your flesh puppet. With that being said, a Hex can inflict their nature on others causing misfortune to befall their targets. They can at times even steal the fate of others to use themselves. OF all your Archetypes, the Hex is the most nebulous and undefined as their abilities are dependent on circumstance and chance. ¡° Walter blinks and lays back, sprawling in the drying mud. Not caring that he looks like the poor mans clayface. He somehow knew that he had to make this choice now. That nothing else could happen tell he defined who he would be here¡­ But he had so little information. So little knowledge and he was running out of time. And yet one of these options rang clear in his mind. Resonating with him on a level that was profound and horrifying. His body, as if under someone else''s control reached out and sealed his fate and he hoped beyond hope that in the future he would not come to regret his choice.