《Grey》 Prologue + Chapter 1 It was funny how fast my own perspective changes, I worried so much about death. That it was the end, I never expected, however, death was only the start of the torment of existence. I lived a life or normality, neither good nor evil in my own humble opinion. I lived when I could, skiing, diving, and the occasional martial arts, not because I was in love with the activity, nay I did it to feel in a way. Diving showed me the wonders of the deep, skiing the rush of adrenaline, and fighting brought the pleasurable pain of competition at the most primal level. Yet now as I exist, after death, with naught but my own thoughts and memories I realize how much death really sucked. Remembering the thrill is the worst part. I cant say when I lost track of time, as I never really had anything to base it on, I knew that if I tried to count, well that''s an easy path down the rabbit hole. Especially since my mental state at the beginning was panicked, to say the least. It is quite terrifying feeling truly nothing. I briefly spent some time pondering over some of the things I witnessed in life, the idea of magic and eastern fantasy took a significant portion of this time, as it was the only idea I had that had a chance to help in this situation. I soon realized however that unlike in the stories in which this situation was skirted around, or at the beginning of the story. I had no senses, ergo I couldn''t will anything to occur. It is truly hard to define true nothingness, harder still to keep a sane mind, perhaps I haven''t I do not know anymore. I''ve come to realize, that my mind stays the same, yet it is drifting. I have an ego, I have thought, desire, memory. Yet I have gained something indescribable. Not strength, but it may lead me there if I lived. Not intelligence, not hope. Perhaps mental fortitude would be the closest, I felt the change inside myself, for all that pain is worth and dreaded, this was worse. I eventually settled on a thought that gave me a modicum of hope. All that existed, changed. I still existed, I still thought, perhaps my change would come. All I could do is wait. Chapter one - Change When the change came it was quite noticeable. First, there was nothing then there was. It was a sensation of pulling, not unlike being enveloped by a cloud and then being pulled. The next awareness I had, it had switched quite cleanly between nothingness and complete darkness, with a shallow white glow coming from the opaque black and glossy ground. ¡°You should not be¡± not a voice per say, more intent that I felt.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Why am I then¡± I questioned back, I had no answers. ¡°I do not know, but you are and we must remedy your situation¡± This time there was a voice, containing some mirth within its tone. Again I did not notice when or how, but my surroundings changed again, the background remained unchanged, yet I was now something with a shape. A floating ball of navy blue and silver energy, about half a foot in diameter. As well a massive face had appeared, in what could only be assumed as the sky, features undefined yet it''s rotating, yes rotating eyes, stared at my ballness with a curious intensity. The eyes themselves, the only clear feature, they had dual pupils and had many black circles and symbols dancing inside of them, highlighted by the almost oppressive red and purple flood lights that seemed to be hidden somewhere within. ¡°Well that''s a relief, I assume it''s been¡­ a while, I have been getting bored¡± I approached the situation with a cavalier attitude. Pure white is exposed to this world as the giant opens it lips slightly in a smirk, revealing its condo sized pearly whites. ¡°Indeed it has, although it matters not, I assume you like some others of your previous existence are aware of the concept of reincarnation?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I said lightly, a single word with a slight hunger to it was my only response. His teeth made a more prominent appearance as his grin widened. ¡°Good, I am in need of a scion, in the mortal world of the ascended.¡± he said it in a way that assumed I should know what it meant, I did not. ¡°Are you a god?¡± I ask. ¡°In the sense, I hold great power...yes¡± It answered after a short pause. He continued. ¡°I can no longer interfere within that plane, or risk the ire of my colleagues, of course, I shall not explain my reasoning to you as of yet, you would not understand, all you need know is that I will send you to this new world in exchange that you become my scion¡± ¡°I''m leaning towards yes, though due diligence is proper, what would this entail¡± curiosity killed the cat. But a forgiving giant doest mind apperently. ¡°In layman terms, a new lease on life while having what could be called a life goal, and the chance to ascended, maybe even to my level.¡± He said this casually, almost like a person from earth, I almost forgot I was talking to a giant floating head. He explained that in this world there lived power, not magic or qi. Power had many forms, including magic and qi, but they stemmed from it. Intelligent life here had the unique ability of having their body and soul as one, using the soul one could draw in power and then using a technique, could form it into what is commonly called their energy(woohoo descriptive), which was then able to be controlled and used for various purposes depends on what it now was. When I asked more questions he merely chuckled and said ¡°The fun part of life is discovery, you shall find out later¡± With his teeth fully shown he chuckles again, this time it feels like each chuckle is a thunderclap, dramatic huh. And with that, the black circles and runes in his eyes glow gold and I feel sent away, into a warm fluid darkness. Chapter 2 - Birth Chapter 2 - Birth Now I will say that I am glad that I did not gain some supernatural fortitude skill from the offset, as I was conscious when the only major event in my life happened, birth, which I conveniently was passed out for, well psuedo passed out I remember a lot of screaming. Since then, however, time, had again passed like nothing since the time I met the face till now, a week after birth. Only a week after birth I could not confirm many things, the one thing I could, however, was the very apparent fact that I wasn''t human. Now I was given this realization when I could finally open my eyes and saw myself located in a stone room lit by torches, and little wolfmen sleeping on the cloth covered floor. While simian in form the prominent features on each child varied. Some had tails, I did not. Some had full on dog face while others were more human looking, I can''t exactly say wolfish feature as at the current moment all of us were mostly just fat little things, baby. Having a lot of free time to observe my surroundings I had inferred a few things. One the adults of this race wore clothes, indicating I wasn''t born into a species of mindless monsters, that would have been...difficult to deal with. Two, the culture here is most likely going to be very strange to me, I mean I still haven''t met or seen a mother or father figure, and neither had the others around me. One thing that irks me is that I don''t fully know what I look like, no mirrors. All I could tell so far was that I did look mostly human, I could feel my face was human, in fact, the only real change from a human form I had was the fur that covered everything but my torso, said fur was black with grey highlights. As well over my heart, I had a tattoo or birthmark. The only reason I was not concerned as to its reason was the fact I recognized the eyes that were depicted. My only worry is what those with knowledge of this world would do with it. Yet I am brought some comfort by the thought that I doubt big face McGee, would put into a place where I would be taken advantage of. Since there was no indication of when I would start being raised instead of being locked in a room full of pups, I decided to try and figure out power. It may be a questionable decision but I feel I need the advantage during feeding time, which consists of a 10 lb slab of meat being thrown into the room, we are wolves for sure. In fact, the only reason I got some food was using my new found claws to my advantage, and the fact none of these pups had experience kickboxing. Returning to the topic at hand I decide to go with a cliche, meditation. Finding a comfortable position, one more away from the rabble, I close my eyes and slow my breathing while trying to feel something new. It''s surprisingly easy as I feel a slight pull and suddenly I can see the same ball of blue and silver that I was when dead, my soul. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I spent some time simply observing the phenomena, After spending around an hour, or near as I could tell in a stone room, I got tired at looking a the slowly spinning ball, so I went in search of the power that was mentioned. I tried a few different strategies. Trying to spread out my mystical senses did nothing, as did try to breathe it in, although that did lead me to discover it. When trying to breathe I once again became aware of my actual body, yet I could still feel my core, the ball. Puzzled I felt a feeling, I let the feeling take hold of me and I felt the ball rise, from its original position from the middle of my chest to outside my body floating above my head, and suddenly I could feel what was meant by power. It was a presence the was both archaic and new, transmutable yet stable. It broke all the rules yet abided by and controlled the rules. I felt the gush of stimuli, and also knew this was likely caused by the face, an early start gifted to me. This feeling also told me this was the last interference in this world he could make for a time. Shaking this from my head I returned to the task at hand, I could feel the excitement of something new bubbling in my stomach as my core slowly started to pick up speed. It was at this time quite a few things happen all at once. First of all my core drew in the grey looking power which then was strained through the colors and into my body. I could feel the stream of energy traveling down my body like a cold liquid. They came to rest in my stomach, partitioned from each other, silver and blue. This event was accompanied by of course intense full body pain and the door smashing open revealing the face of a startled wolf person, she stared at me as I tipped over from my sitting position and passed out. POV - Alicia ¡°What do you mean you''re leaving early?¡± My irritation was palpable as I questioned my fellow caretaker. ¡°It''s fine, we don''t need two of us to watch pups, and besides I''m bored,¡± Bryant said smiling showing his disgusting teeth. ¡°Fine¡± I grumble, shifts better without him. He chuckles and leaves, leaving me alone. I hate watching the litters, especially as it was a punishment. Sighing I return to my book, waiting for feeding time. It was the only highlight of the day, watching children be vicious gives one a certain pleasure she thought with a slight smile. Well, I was going to return the book until I felt the vibrations of awakening in the pup room, that wasn''t right, not at all. Awakening happens at the full moon, with a lot of preparation. Immediately standing up and rush to the door, cracking the stone in my hurry. It better not be a fae fucking with shit, I do not want to deal with that. Fucking fae, chaos bringers. They never leave kids alone¡­ My train of thought stops as I open the door, scaring a few of the pups close to the door, and I see the reason for my anxiety. Not hard to locate, seeing as all the other pups were staring at the biggest of the litter with his core floating above his head. For good reason too, the fucker was a dual enigma, the vivid two colors confirming her assertion and it looked like a mage and warrior classification too. Her jaw dropped as the pup spasmed and collapsed to the side, ahh the awakening is a bitch. I walk over and check him over, nothing life threatening is my verdict, it''ll just hurt like a bitch waking up. ¡°Ouste¡± I mutter, a crass word undeniably but one that fit the situation. I dash to the guard room and ring the bell for the captain, I can''t deal with this. Chapter 3 - Knee Rockets and Coolio Powers Chapter 3 - Knee rockets and coolio powers I woke up to pain, full body pain. Grimacing I sit up and see that I''m on a bed and that I have grown. What was once a toddler is now a small tween. Either wolves grow fast, I did something really fucked up or I''ve been asleep a while. My questions in my head seemed to have summoned the answers in a few short moments as the door opens and what seems to be larger than life human. Around 7 feet tall from I could surmise, a second look brought the impression, sharp. His clothing, his face and somehow the sword at his waist screamed sharp. He looked at me as if I was some math problem that he had been working on for hours, rude. Then he moved, flicker more like and was in front of me, in his hands were two stones said stones were then pushed against my forehead and a stream of information rushed into my head. More magic yay. When I looked around again, or at least when I was cognizant enough to think to look around again, the man was gone. The two stones seemed to be what this world called an education system, I somehow had a new language and basic history in my head. The information was weird, I had to think of a subject and question first before I knew it, but the information was there nonetheless. Said information gives me a better worldview. I am currently within the elven nations. My species as it turns out is not a strong one, politically. Years ago to stave off extinction my ancestors went to elves in exchange for protection, the offer was accepted and from the on when a wolf reached maturity they were trained and contracted to an elf as a bodyguard. To my surprise while the elves did live in the forests they were by no means the chosen of nature, they were more rampant in expansion than humans, the only reason deforestation is not a thing is due to regrowth magic. Scriptures, which is the way of cultivation here, are focused into warrior, mage, elemental, support. Warriors focused on the physical, mages on manipulations of the universe through symbols, elementals controlled an elemental force and support had taming, healing and ranged skills. Intelligent life had a hard limit of being able to use two scriptures, as well as a single support scripture. I also came across the phrase enigma, those born with natural power having no need for scriptures, yet was not denied them. IN other words I had my inborn ability plus whatever three I found in the future. By assumption I think I may receive special training and placement. When I got up I fully examined my physical changes, specifically those caused by my powers. First of all I had a new sense of perception of myself, my physical body. It was stronger, the feeling was palpable, I grabbed the leg of a nearby wooden table and squeezed, it shattered. Already 2 weeks in I was stronger than on earth, I smiled. Second of all for the truly exciting thing, my powers. As soon as I thought of them like new limbs I felt I could use them. The silver pool was what could be classified as a warrior type. It naturally represented weaponry, strength, speed and armor. I called for it and like a new limb I could feel my use of it was clumsy, but it still worked. I gained a slight aura of silver, my forearms and hands had a thicker aura that eventually thickened even more until it had the shape of a clawed gauntlet. In awe I waved my arms around and hit the wall with my claws, they left 2cm deep lines in the stone. Breathing out i released the energy, as i had noticed the silver in the pool lessening. I rested for a bit watching/sensing my silver reserve. It filled slowly over the course of an hour till it was the same amount as before. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Next I used my second ¡°new limb¡± the navy blue energy. With a closer inspection I discovered instead of purely navy blue it was a slightly lighter shade of blue with streak of black weaving through creating a multi-colored aura. The feeling of using this limb was much more taxing. Instead of just a pure enhancement it was really like controlling a new limb. I gained a perception around my body, in which I could bring my power from inside myself into the real world. It was easier expunging it through skin, but I could still do it. When the energy appeared the temperature in the room raised, the power itself was toned blue-black but seemed as if it could decide what form to take, fire or lightning seemed like the two main energy forms. All in all it looked beautiful. Eventually after toying around I could force the energy into lightning or fire and control it from there but its default form was both. I ended up making ribbons of fire swim around my perceptual space, which extended about a foot from my body, while the lightning danced across my skin. Lightning didn''t do so well in a stable held form, it was however good for blasts of power and again physical enhancement. I spent hours just toying with my new powers, the door was locked so there wasn''t much else to do in the stone room, thanks to the mirror I found I also saw my eyes glowed with the respective powers colors when in use, cool. My other thought was that this sort of treatment of a child was strange. But then again I could see the benefits, any child left alone long enough would develop the need for a connection, which is probably how they plan to inspire loyalty to whoever you are assigned too, elf wise. Well fuck it I''ll be the weird one. My plan for social contact was to be silent, but not weak. Since they didn''t treat pups like regular children I would not act like it. Still waiting I activated both powers at once to see the effects, as it turns out my natural powers compound with each other. Each power was easier to use like the silver energy was a conduit for the blue-black. The enhancements were stronger as well as the potency of the elemental power. Coincidently it was when I was doing this that others just walked into the room to see silver, blue and black colored pup. One looked at me like I was a freak(I like that one), one had a poker face and the last chuckles. ¡°Awe little pup,¡± said the chuckling one, and ruffled my head. Now even in my last life, I didn''t like patronization, still, don''t. So in full power form, I gave him a sweet smile moved close and shot my knee up. His pale face and new kneeling position settled my agitation. I forgot how much I loved being a punk. Grimly POV When I walked into the enigmas room I was not expecting he would already be practicing, good instincts. When the pup shot his knee into Mason''s crotch I became even more pleased, a born alpha. Not even deigning to notice my seconds pain, I greet the young pup. ¡°Are the stones information properly working?¡± I asked ¡°Yes,¡± A succinct response was heard after he deliberated for a moment. The voice was young and crisp. ¡°Good, come¡± I turned on my heel and left the room, time is not meant to waste.