《Throne of All: Tournament of the Gods》 Prologue: The death of God so AaronDragon here...... this is the prologue (written by me.... Yaaaayyyy i strike first blood!!!!) of what will hopefully be a fairly long project....... please be patient when waiting for updates as we have to heard multiple authors to get these chapters done..... also fair warning edits and cleaning might take some time for that very same reason..... anyway that''s about it for now..... Oh, help us pick a definitive title by answering the poll......... other than that, ENJOY THE CHAPTER!!!!!!
Haltis
I could feel it, my time had come. I was finally going to end, to cease to be, to die as mortals would call it¡­ Oh there are so many ways to describe what would be happening to me soon, but none of them truly encapsulated what would really happen. Soon now I would just be nothing, and as I would be nothing the great king and master of all, I, the mighty Haltis, will no longer rule. I, or perhaps it would be better to say Haltis, wouldn¡¯t even exist soon, even now I could feel the countless concepts and ideas that made me up fading away. I couldn¡¯t even refer to myself by my name anymore without it giving me a disturbing and unnatural feeling. I looked down at the monolithic throne made up of every concept and thought to ever be in the universe and felt slightly melancholy. My power shall need an inheritor if the universe is to continue on without me on this throne, but who could ever be my successor? ...Hmmm¡­ I do have many children, but just being sired by me does not in any way qualify them to my throne or my power¡­ No real Deia comes to mind who is worthy of inheriting my authority, perhaps i should devise a simpler way to decide this¡­ I adjusted my sitting position on the throne of all and thought deeply on that subject, all the while I felt my being become less and less. It wouldn¡¯t be long now, perhaps only another year now if I chose to conserve my power. A competition perhaps? Yes! A trial of immense difficulty and great risk, but with the ultimate prize! But what shall the trial actually be? With a lazy sweep of one of my many hands I brought up my interface and selected my two favorite worlds, watching them always seemed to relax me and help me think better.
Earth
Population: 9.6 BillionInhabitants: Mortals (Humans)
Advancement Level: 65/100Religious Faith: Multiple
Potential for Enlightenment: 2/100World End: 30, 257 Earth Years
Gaia
Population: 3.4 TrillionInhabitants: Mixed
Advancement Level: 32/100Religious Faith: Multiple
Potential for Enlightenment: 63/100World End: XXX
As i looked at the two worlds an idea came to me, the competition could utilize mortals. I could have the Deia compete to see who could best judge, guide, and utilize mortals, but not too many mortals or EVERY Deia as that would simply be too much and would complicate and prolong things. Perhaps just 100 mortals and just let the countless Deia scramble over controlling and being chosen by them. I leaned back in the throne and felt a smile spread across one of my three faces. The idea i was forming was beginning to take definite shape, but wanted to include both worlds in the competition in some way. The only problem was that earth wouldn¡¯t last forever, and the mortals there had all but cast aside the idea of anything that did not adhere to the confines of their rudimentary ¡°science¡± concepts. Gaia wouldn¡¯t have that problem as I made that world a permanent fixture in existence, and due to its abundance of mana its inhabitants would have little to no trouble interacting and accepting various Deia. The only problem is just using Gaia makes things far too easy in the trial for my liking, it also excludes Earth from the trial entirely¡­ No, what could i do to make use of both? And what sort of thing should i have the Deia compete to do with their mortals? I thought deeply for a moment before I had a realization, what better way to decide who gains control of all than choosing the Deia who can marshal more control than the others? I would give them a set time, 1000 years should be short enough, and I would have them try to convince mortals from Earth to compete for them on Gaia. They wouldn¡¯t be allowed to use threats or lies to try and force the mortals into accepting their offer either, that would disqualify them. Then when 100 mortals have successfully transferred from earth to Gaia no more will ever be able to be brought over and the trial for my authority shall truly begin. I opened my interface and used the last of my power to create and enforce the rules for this trial.
The throne of all is now vacant, only whosoever triumphs over all others in the trial devised by its previous master shall ascend to it and no other. The trial is to gain control over the world of Gaia, and the one with the most control over the world in 1000 of Gaia¡¯s years¡¯ time shall triumph. However no Deia or any other competitor may compete or interfere directly, you shall compete using mortal humans from the world Earth that you must transfer over to Gaia and convince to aid you. Here are the trials unbreakable rules:
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1. You may not threaten the mortal humans when trying to convince them to transfer and aid you.
2. Each Deia may give one single ability or power and ONLY one single ability or power to their chosen mortal.
3. No Deia or competitor may directly interfere or intervene in the trial or the world Gaia itself regardless of their participation or status in the trial.
4. After 100 mortal humans transition from the world Earth to the world Gaia that dimensional space around Gaia and it¡¯s realms linking it to other worlds will collapse making it impossible for any other mortals to transition from Earth, or any other world for that matter, to Gaia.
5. The trial will end exactly 1000 of Gaia¡¯s years after the 100th mortal human makes the transition, at that moment the Deia that has the strongest influence and thus control over the world by any means, including only being by proxy through a mortal, they will be transported to the throne of all and will attain Haltis¡¯ authority and power.
6. There can and will be only one who shall be triumphant in this trial and gain the ultimate prize and power in all the universe.
7. The chosen mortals will only be allowed 1000 times each in which they may have direct contact with any Deia, not limited to just their patron, in the 1000 year trial period.
8. If your chosen mortal dies than you will be disqualified from the remainder of the trial.
9. Any instance of cheating or malicious tampering with this trial, the 100 chosen mortals, or the world Gaia itself will be dealt with instantly and fatally.
10. Any attempt to seize or gain any sort of control of the throne of all or Haltis¡¯ power in any way other than specified will result in your erasure from not only existence but all things and concepts.
Any violation of these rules will result in the dormant power of the former god of all things Haltis¡¯ power striking you down and ending you instantly before your actions could prove to impact the trial in any way. I wish you all good luck, and may the most worthy lay claim to the throne of all and the title of master of all the universe¡­
I looked at the message and the set of rules, I had purposely left it very open in multiple areas. That openness should lead to many interesting interpretations and strategies being taken, I hoped it would at least. I used the very last of my power and sense of self to send that message out to all the Deia to inform them and bind it to the throne of all so that it could act as a monitor and an arbiter for the rules. It was my last act as a being that existed in any meaning, sense, or concept of the word. After that act was done I sank into what was left of my mind as I felt my very being begin to fade from all things. ¡­What is left of me? I don¡¯t think even i can even tell anymore¡­ My last sensation was a vague feeling of happiness, or perhaps it was contentment? Regardless i felt something that was pleasant and then i felt nothing. That was only fitting really I WAS nothing now, I didn¡¯t even have a concept to put to my current situation. In fact there was nothing to my situation now. Nothing at all¡­ ¡­Yes nothing at all¡­ Nothing at al-¡­
Throne of all
I was empty once again, this was the fourth time now. Luckily my last master left very clear instructions on how to choose my next master, now all I needed to do was wait. I could wait for as long as I needed to, my last master was very powerful after all. His existence and being should nourish me for far longer than that of the master before him¡­
yep so that''s the prologue..... it''ll get some edits to clean it up some more later on....... wont be by me though, i have no clue how to do anything with the tables and whatnot........... anyway hope you guys enjoyed this, and feel free to comment, rate, review, follow, favorite, share, and if you are interested in joining Haltis (the author group not the character.....) then PM one of us..... links in description..... Also if you liked this than go check out more of our stories......... that''s all for now, update will be....... um........ well honestly i have no clue when chapter one will be out.... could be today or a week from now.... all depends on if we get any new authors and how quickly they can write....... I''ll see you all again in Chapter 3!!! now i''m off to work on D.I. and it''s next chapter............ [th_084_.gif] AaronDragon Out........... Hvethrungr here~ Finished all the tables, and gave the prologue a quick look through. Not sayin'' it''s completely finished, but it''s pretty good as of right now. Hvethrungr out~ Nick Chapter 1: A talking dog so it''s me AaronDragon....... yeah i kinda wrote this chapter too, and this introduce''s my MC for the story....... oh, and Haltis has some new members now...... i''ll let them introduce themselves at the bottom of this post or when they post their own chapter.... Huh, i really don''t have much else to say except the next chapter probably wont be mine...... but then again maybe it will be, who knows? anyway this should be nice and readable, but i''ll clean it up later on to fix any of the minor errors..... ENJOY!!!!
Nick
It had started out as a normal day, I had woken up, eaten a pop-tart for a quick breakfast, gave a nod to this month''s foster family, and headed off to the third high school I¡¯ve attended in as many years for another day of AP courses. Simple, it was the same daily routine I had established for the last 40 some odd days as a high school senior. Everything was just as normal and bland as always, and I had thought it would stay that way until I was finally out of high school and could strike out into the world on my own leaving the foster care system and the worthless stigma of being known as ¡°that poor orphan kid who no one wanted¡± behind me. Nickoli Lewet was going to be known as a successful game designer, not some pitiful orphan. At least that was what thought until I met the talking dog, the one that looked like some sort of lab mix and was telling me all about how it had chosen me to go to some different world and how I should make some sort of deal with it for magic powers. Like the rational and sane person I was, I tried to ignore the talking dog completely and kept on walking to school. When it decided to follow me and kept talking about something that might actually make a good game or show premise, I knew just ignoring it wouldn¡¯t really work. This is just a figment of my imagination, probably what I get for staying up so late watching anime instead of sleeping like a normal person¡­ Next it¡¯ll start talking about how I¡¯m actually some long lost alien prince whose power is brought out by eating pop-tarts, or how it wants me to sign a contract to become a magical girl¡­ I sighed and broke off a piece of my blueberry flavored breakfast and threw it off into some random person¡¯s yard. If I was hearing things from lack of sleep than today was going to be a very long day. ¡°There you go, go get the treat¡­ um¡­ Boy? Girl? Huh, go get the treat pup!¡± (Nick) The dog looked at where the piece of pop-tart had landed, then looked back to me and gave me a look that I could¡¯ve sworn meant that it was heavily offended. ¡°Young man I will not ¡®go get the treat¡¯ I have a very important matter to discuss with you! And I am very clearly female, how could you ever mistake me otherwise?¡± (Talking dog) ¡°Because I don''t usually make it a habit to check every random animal I meet¡¯s special place, and if you don''t want the treat than leave me alone. Wait, what am I doing? I¡¯m talking to a stray dog like a crazy person now¡­¡± (Nick) I shook my head at the stupidity of what I just did, what¡¯s the point of talking to your auditory hallucination after all. I reached out to pet the dog, both to make sure that it was really there and that I wasn¡¯t utterly losing my mind and because I had always been fond of animals. It¡¯s tall began to wag and its expression began to loosen up as I pet it¡¯s soft white fur and head, it was a shame I was sleep deprived and imagining voices because otherwise this might have been a fun encounter with a beautiful animal. I decided to give it the rest of my second pop-tart because it was nice enough not to bite the strange person''s hand when he reached out to touch it. ¡°Sorry pup, I¡¯m not really myself today. I wish I could give you more but I gotta get to class now, if you''re still around here when I come back this way later on I can give you more¡­ But then again maybe giving you the cafeteria food would be worse than nothing at all¡­¡± (Nick) I stopped petting the dog and put the foil from my breakfast in my pocket as I began heading to school again. I heard a strange sad whine as I left the dog and of course my sleep deprived mind decided to add some words with it. ¡°To be touched like that¡­ And by a mortal human no less¡­¡± (Dog) I let out a sigh as I turned the corner of the street of housing complexes, I looked up to see the sign for St. Marten¡¯s high school and crossed the street. If I didn''t get some sleep soon I would probably start seeing cat-girls or mechas soon. This is gonna be such a long day¡­ I wonder if I can power-nap through European history? Another hour or so of sleep should get my brain into working order¡­
I was woken by the tap sound of barking and the excited commotion of a riled up class. Looking around I saw that everyone was looking at me, Ms. Fleming the history teacher was giving me the sweet ¡°you are in so much trouble you don¡¯t even know¡­.¡± look, and my new four legged friend from my walk to school was looking up at me wagging its tail and giving happy barks. ¡­Well this is unexpected¡­ maybe I¡¯m still dreaming? I mean what are the chances of this actually happening in reality¡­ ¡°Mr. Lewet, would you like to explain why there is a dog in my classroom?¡± (Ms. Fleming) I looked back at the dog, gave its head a quick pat to confirm it was really here, looked back up at Ms. Fleming and tried my best to give her a charming and innocent smile. I knew it wouldn¡¯t work, I could never pull of things like there was just something people saw in my face that put them off instead of reassured them. Maybe it was because I was albino and my eyes were a deep crimson red or maybe it was the same reason that I was never adopted, because there was something that just seemed ¡°off¡± about me, but trying to act innocent over things like this never worked for me even when I actually was innocent. Besides, I was fairly sure that Ms. Fleming actually hated me, probably because I would sleep through her class but still ace all her tests and quizzes. Well I¡¯m already in for some serious detention time now¡­ why not dig the hole a bit deeper? Maybe today will be the day she¡¯ll finally have an aneurysm from all that pent up rage and hate... ¡°I honestly have no idea Ms. Fleming, maybe it has a deep respect for medieval European history and came here to learn from someone as well versed in it as you personally?¡± (Nick) The dog gave a well-timed bark and the entire class began to laugh as Ms. Fleming¡¯s face began to resemble a ripe tomato. ¡°Administrative office, now Mr. Lewet. And bring your pet with you, I¡¯m sure they would love to hear all about why you thought it was ever acceptable to bring your dog to school with you¡­¡± (Ms. Fleming) I got up from my seat, grabbed my bag, and began to make my way to the door out of the classroom with the dog following behind me like it was only natural. I had expected at least a few days of detention with Fleming, but maybe she was so pissed right now she actually forgot about the fact she could do that. As I reached the door however that hope was dashed right in the bud. ¡°Oh, and I think two weeks detention and a ten page essay on how bringing your pet to school is both a violation of school rules and a form of animal cruelty will be added to whatever punishment the vice-principal decides to give you¡­¡± (Ms. Fleming) ...Well the essay won¡¯t take me to long to write, just have to slap together something quick¡­ shouldn¡¯t take much more than a few hours, but explaining the two weeks detention thing to the Rell family when I go back to the house is going to suck¡­ Oh well, in the end I¡¯ll still end up with a 90 in this class even if she tanks my participation and attendance grades to zeros out of spite, nothing Fleming can do about that¡­ I turned back and gave Ms. Fleming a thumbs up and a smile, it was almost therapeutic watching her left eye start to twitch and her hands clench so tight that he knuckles popped. ¡°Thank you Ms. Fleming, I was hoping that I could find a way to spend some quality nap time here after school! Come on girl, we¡¯re gonna go to the administrative office now. There should be plenty of nice carpeting there for you to pee on, I recommend the one in office 307 for irony¡­¡± (Nick) I left before Ms. Fleming could blow up from the less than subtle implication that I would let this dog wreck her office. In hindsight it might have been a poor decision to make a parting shot like that, but at this point I really couldn¡¯t care less, my record was already full of so much shit I never even did that adding something like this to it wouldn¡¯t do any real damage to it. Plus it was nice to add something to it that was actually mine for once, that way in-between all the false gang activity, anarchist, and terrorist accusations there was something that was actually true. ... You would think being at the top of the honor-roll since I was in kindergarten would help lend me some credit and benefit of the doubt, but when it¡¯s the weird ¡°demon eyed¡± new kid¡¯s word over that of the hero jock or the ¡°do no wrong¡± popular girls the actual truth, evidence, and hard facts like that seem to matter about as much as mud¡­ I sighed as I made my way towards my fate and the inevitable chewing out I was about to receive for something I didn¡¯t actually do and was largely out of my control. At least I¡¯m not hearing voices anymore¡­ Power-nap successful! When I saw the dog in the middle of class I was half sure it would start telling me to kill everyone because it was actually the voice of god or something like that¡­ Then I guess all those rumors about me being crazy would have some truth behind them for once¡­ It was a bit weird that this dog was able to get into my classroom without being stopped by someone, and now that I think about it, it was also weird that it came to find me even though I only meet it today and gave it most of a pop-tart as a treat. I know dogs respond to and like people who feed them, but this was taking that to an extreme. Plus it might actually belong to someone even if it doesn''t have a collar given how well-groomed and clean it looks. ¡°You know pup, you may have just gotten me into enough real trouble for this school to actually expel me¡­ Well I guess there has to be a first time for everything... I might need to seriously look into transferring schools now, but that is gonna be fairly hard with my record¡­¡± (Nick) ¡°That is a trivial concern human, you should concern yourself more with what I¡¯m offering you than these simple matters.¡± (Dog) I wasn''t even all that surprised when the dog seemed to start talking again, what really surprised me was when a girl who had been at her locker dropped everything in her hands, backed up into the locker, and pointed at the dog with a shaky finger. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Did that thing just TALK!?!?!?!¡± (Girl) I looked at her, and then looked at the dog that just nodded its head at me. I figured at that point that something a bit more serious than me getting in a trouble at school was going on. Either I was really losing my mind and was now living in some sort of super vivid hallucination or less likely I had just met the only dog that could speak English fluently, something I know logically was biologically impossible. I looked at the girl who seemed to be getting over her initial shock and had taken out her phone to record the dog and me. ¡°Well, fuck¡­ Hey do me a favor and let me see that video if you hear it talk again ok?¡± (Nick) ¡°Sure, wow how did you train it to talk like that? ...Hey aren¡¯t you that Nickoli guy? The one who worships the devil and is in that one gang?¡± (Girl) I just rolled my head and nodded, that¡¯s pretty much how people would know me at this school. Only a few ever actually tried getting to know the real me from the bullshit rumors, and even less of them could be considered anything even close to friends. After my first six different foster families and schools I stopped letting that fact bother me. ¡°Yeah I¡¯m him, now just record this will you¡­¡± (Nick) ¡°Just so you know if that thing does that talking trick again I¡¯m putting this on YouTube and Vine, and if the video goes viral and I get money from it I won¡¯t be sharing it with some loser like you¡­¡± (Girl) ¡°Nickoli Lewet is far from a ¡®loser¡¯ idiot mortal, he is in fact one of the finest examples of your kind.¡± (Dog) ¡°It¡¯s kinda sad you had to train your dog to say that¡­ maybe you should try making real friends sometime, huh?¡± (Girl) ...Wow she really doesn¡¯t think that the fact this dog is talking is unnatural or anything? ...She must be a fine and shining example of the public school educational system¡­. ¡°Sure whatever, just let me see that phone for a second¡­¡± (Nick) I made a motion for her to hand over the phone, I really wasn¡¯t sure why I felt I could trust that little device to hold the truth but I did. I felt like if I could play back an actual video of this dog talking and this girl hearing it and it was all the same as I remembered than maybe this all wasn¡¯t just some elaborate hallucination. ¡°Fuck no I¡¯m not giving you my phone. What, do you think I¡¯m stupid or something?¡± (Girl) Yes¡­ Based solely on what i¡¯ve seen of you so far, yes I very much do¡­ I looked down at the dog who was beginning to look kinda bored, then I looked back at the girl who held the one thing that could help to show me whether or not I was really losing my mind right now or if there really was some mutant dog standing next to me. ¡°Then could you just turn it around and replay what you have so far? Please?¡± (Nick) The girl looked hesitant, but then she finally relented and turned her smart phone around so I could see the screen. ¡°Fine, here you can see it now can¡¯t you creeper¡­¡± (Girl) I watched as her thumb hit the playback button and the video replayed this entire exchange from when this girl started to record it. It played everything back word for word, and unless my hallucination was just that immersive and in depth that meant this was really happening to me. I looked down at the dog in question and thought back to the things it was trying to tell me this morning. ¡°...So you want me to go to another world?¡± (Nick) The dog''s tail started to wag and it gave a smile that showed off some pretty sharp and white looking teeth, it was absolutely weird for a dog that looked to be at least a year or two old to have such white teeth. That just wasn¡¯t natural, and that was weirdly what I focused on in this immensely screwed up situation. ¡°Yes Nickoli Lewet, you were the human my siblings and I decided would be the best to fulfil our needs. I want you to go to a whole new world and conquer it for us¡­¡± (Dog) I just looked at this dog and shook my head, I was either completely insane and cut off from reality or I was living through something that could easily be the plot to an anime or something. Either way I figured it was probably a bit more important than whatever lecture I was going to get if I stayed here at school and did what I was supposed to like a good boy. Fuck it¡­ either way this means life as I know it is pretty much over for me, why not go with the option that seems like it would suck less? I¡¯ve had enough of dealing with all the bullshit I get just because I look a little different from everyone else, and if it''s my destiny to just end up in the loony-bin than I sure as shit am not gonna waste any more of my precious time as a free man in school¡­ ¡°Alright then pup¡­ Er, I mean girl¡­ let¡¯s take this conversation somewhere a little less soul crushing and more private. I¡¯m going to want to hear all about this ¡®different world¡¯ shtick you¡¯re talking about before a make any decisions about it¡­¡± (Nick) I turned around and began walking towards to the school''s main entrance, I didn''t even care whether the cameras caught me anymore. In fact I didn''t really care about much of any of the consequences to anything anymore, there was something about the knowledge that you were either no longer sane or about to go to some new world or whatever that wiped cares like that away from your mind. I stopped for a second as a thought crossed my mind that seemed too funny to pass up, I looked back at the girl who was still on her phone probably trying to upload that video or share it with some of her friends. ¡°Thanks for showing me that video, I appreciate it... Oh and by the way I am actually a demon like all the rumors say, but I don''t actually WORSHIP the devil, he¡¯s just my dad I¡¯ll try to put a good word in for you with him... See you in hell in about six years, hope you enjoy that sorority party! It¡¯ll be your last¡­¡± (Nick) The look on her face was priceless, and I started to whistle as I walked away with the talking dog following along behind me. ¡°What the fuck did you say to me you freak!?!? Wait come back I¡¯m talking to you asshole!!! Hey you weren''t being serious right? This was a prank or something¡­ right? Hey!!!...¡± (Girl) ... She really isn¡¯t all that smart is she? But then again there was a talking dog next to me, so¡­ Huh, I might have just scared that girl away from sororities forever¡­ Oh well, I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll forget about this soon enough¡­ As I opened the door leading out of the school and held it open for my new four legged impossible friend I heard it start to talk again. ¡°So where are we going to discuss my offer? Do you have a place in mind, or will you just go back to ignoring me again Nickoli Lemet?¡± (Dog) ...Yep my future is pretty much over¡­ Unless this is just some sort of super vivid dream I¡¯m having, but I kinda doubt that¡­ Fuck, I guess this means I¡¯ll never get to develop my game idea into an actual game, or will ever get to shed off all those things people think about me... I let out a sigh as I let the door close and I began walking towards a nearby park, it should be fairly empty around this time of day. ¡°Yeah I have a place in mind, and I¡¯ve already decided to hear you out so that¡¯s what i¡¯ll do. Besides I already tried ignoring you and that didn''t really work out so well for me did it?¡± (Nick) ¡°No, I suppose it really didn¡¯t for you human, but it was your own fault for not hearing me out the first time¡­¡± (Dog) ¡­ Well I guess it wouldn''t be so bad to just leave this world behind really, either by going completely insane or by going to some other world¡­ But there are a few things that I¡¯ll need to do first¡­ ¡°Sure whatever, let¡¯s just go. Oh and I want you to know that you owe me a whole pop-tart, I¡¯m sure a talking dog as clever as you could¡¯ve gotten your own food somehow¡­¡± (Nick) ¡°If you¡¯ll remember Nickoli Lemet, I did not partake of your generous offering this morning and as such do not owe you anything for it.¡± (Dog) ¡°Well than perhaps you could explain why there are what looks like pop-tart crumbs in between your teeth and around your mussel then¡­¡± (Nick) I felt myself begin to smile as the dog stopped walking for a moment and wiped at its mussel with a paw. When it looked up and saw me watching it with a smile it gave a small whine. ¡°...That was just a coincidence Nickoli Lemet, there is no way that one such as I would stoop so low as to eat one of those delicious blueberry tart things off the ground like some sort of animal¡­¡± (Dog) ¡°I never actually said what flavor it was you know¡­¡± (Nick) The dog lowered its head and gave out another soft whine before it started walking again this time slightly ahead of me. ¡°...Fine I did eat your strange food offerings¡­ As an honorable and noble goddess I shall return that debt someday, I also apologize for attempting to deceive you like that¡­¡± (Dog/Goddess) Goddess huh? Well that isn¡¯t really all that surprising at this point really¡­ ¡°You¡¯re going in the wrong direction, we¡¯re going to the park in the neighboring community. We need to take the street on the right¡­¡± (Nick) I had to smile again as I saw the dog come to a sudden stop, turn around and start walking back, and just stop next to me waiting on me to lead the way. Well, today really was the opposite of normal¡­ I guess this fucked up life of mine was just too simple huh? Oh well, this is sorta fun so far so maybe insanity isn¡¯t so bad after all...
........ so yeah, that''s all for now.... my Sally it takes a lot out of me to contain myself to only using three dots for my elipses...... remember to comment, rate, review, follow, favorite, and share...... oh and do please comment about how you like were this seems to be headed so far (even though the only chapters up so far are MINE.... MUHAHAHAHAHA!!! give me all your love and fandom!!! give it all to AaronDragon!!!!) and what you think might be in store for the future....... and with this done i''m free to go back to the crippling lack of motivation/inspiration that''s keeping me from working on D.I....... *sigh* maybe tomorrow i can manage more than a few hundred words for that story, cuz today i just wasn''t feeling it..... [th_085_.gif] [th_107_.gif] [th_015_orz-v2.gif] AaronDragon out........ Nick Chapter 2: Deals with the Deia... So it''s me AaronDragon........ Again....... and it''s like 3am right now for me.... holy Sally i''m tired right now.... so yeah stuff be going on, and imma probably do the next chapter and have it out by maybe even as early as tomorrow, but then AaronDragon is gonna be taking a breather and i''ll be letting some of the other authors intro their own MC''s (one of which is female.... Yaaaayyy this story will have gender diversity for a change!!!!)..... so i''ll edit this after i''ve had at least nine hours of quality sleep..... that might be tomorrow or it might not be...... who knows? anyway here''s you chapter......... ENJOY!!!!
Nick
I was sitting in an empty swing set and looked at the dog sitting in front of me. When we came to the park I was surprised by just how few people were actually here, I had expected at least a few kids to be running around with their parents watching them from the sidelines but the only other people here was a couple who seemed to be getting hot and heavy inside the covered slide. ¡°So tell me, who or what are you, what exactly do you want from me, and why did you chose me?¡± (Nick) The dog cocked its head to the side. ¡°Before I tell you all of this I must first say that your ideas about religion and there being only a singular god are largely wrong¡­¡± (Dog) I laughed a bit at that, the dog was already preaching to the quire on that point. I hadn¡¯t believed in god, Christianity, or any other religious faith for a long time now. ¡°So all religions are wrong huh? That¡¯s no real surprise really¡­¡± (Nick) The dog¡¯s ears perked up in surprise when said that. ¡°You accepted that fact rather easily Nickoli Lewet, most humans would try to refute or chose not to accept what I just stated¡­¡± (Dog) I looked up at the sky, it really was a rather nice day today. Overcast but not so grey that it was dreary and depressing, if you looked for it you could even see the sun hiding behind the clouds. It¡¯s been what, four years now? Yeah, four years since I figured there must not really be a God, ever since I found out what happened to Sarah¡­ ¡°Yeah well I¡¯m not most humans. Just look at the world, look at all the suffering, the cruelty, and the just plain evil that occurs here. There is no way a supposedly benign and righteous being that is all-knowing and all-powerful would allow all that to go on unchecked or unpunished, not unless that being was actually just irresponsible or a cruel and uncaring dick¡­ Since I¡¯d like to think that IF such a being existed it wouldn¡¯t be so irresponsible or such a dick, there must not be a God¡­¡± (Nick) ¡°So you do not have any faith in any sort of religion or higher power at all?¡± (Dog) ¡°Not really, sure just because there isn¡¯t a God that doesn''t mean that all other polytheistic religions are wrong, but I never really felt they were right either. The idea of Karma is disproven every day by countless people and their actions, Fate and destiny imply that there is only one fixed timeline to all things which is all but impossible, and the idea of life after death just seems like wishful thinking to me¡­¡± (Nick) The dog started to laugh when I said that, it was actually rather unnerving to hear since the sound was so cheerful and beautiful for being brought out by such a morbid view of the world. ¡°I see, you really are not like most other humans Nickoli Lewet¡­ for the most part you are right, but there ARE gods and there IS life after death, there are a variety of different options for life after death in fact¡­¡± (Dog) I looked back down at the dog, I couldn¡¯t believe I was debating philosophy and religion with a talking dog. My life really had taken a weird turn from this morning onward, maybe next there will be ninja¡¯s popping out of nowhere to try and kill me or super powers will suddenly be a thing that''s normal¡­ ¡°Oh is that so? And I suppose you have some proof to back up this claim of yours, well that is if you expect me to believe it and change my own fundamental beliefs on how the universe works¡­¡± (Nick) The dog just looked at me for a minute before it walked closer, stood up on me, and put its face right in front of mine. ¡°I can make you understand, but it will be very painful and it may end up killing you. I would prefer not having you die until you agree to aid us since your soul may attract the intention of other Deia then, so if I do this you must try your utmost not to let yourself die Nickoli Lewet...¡± (Dog) I just smiled. Well, this could be interesting¡­ I wonder what this dog will do to make me ¡°understand¡±, maybe it will just be something that pushes me deeper into madness¡­ Well I guess that¡¯s fine too, I can just embrace madness if it comes to that. Plus there¡¯s still that remote possibility that this dog is real and telling the truth... ¡°Oh you don¡¯t have to worry about that, I have something I need to do before I ever let myself die¡­ Feel free to do whatever it is that you need to if you think it can convince me, I can take something as simple as some pain.¡± (Nick) ¡°Very well Nickoli Lewet, if this is what is necessary to make you understand and take my words and offer seriously¡­¡± I felt the dog bite into my shoulder and then a strange wave of blackness overtook my vision, I could feel my mind expanding and begin to leave the confines of my physical body. I also felt almost unbearable and excruciating pain, it was as if all my nerves were on fire and freezing at the same time. My sense of time was totally gone, it felt like this pain and blackness happened for an eternity and also only for a moment. I was prepared for this to be my life from now on, just being in constant darkness and pain, but then suddenly there was a flash of silver light and I felt all the pain begin to fade away...
¡­ Ugh¡­ I may have overestimated my pain tolerance... what the fuck was that anyway? ¡°That, Nickoli Lewet, is what happens when a Deia forcefully brings a mortal soul to one of their realms of higher existence¡­¡± (???) I turned around and looked at the place that the dog¡¯s voice came from, there was a giant full silver moon that seemed to just hover in place over a vast expanse of calm water. It was night, but there were no stars or anything else really besides the water and the moon. ...What exactly IS this place? ¡°This is a realm made from my power, I believe you would best call it another dimension, Nickoli Lewet¡­¡± (???) The voice sounded from right behind me, and I turned once more to see a vision of unparalleled beauty. She was clothed in a bright flowing silver remnant, had long silver hair, clear silver eyes, smooth and clear soft looking alabaster skin, and a face that could make anyone attracted to women weak in the knees. Plus she had a figure that filled out that remnant in all the right ways¡­ ...Um you wouldn¡¯t happen to be a certain talking dog with white fur would you? ¡°It was a wolf not a dog, the fur was pale silver not white, and I am a goddess as I have already told you, Nickoli Lewet.¡± (Goddess) Something weird was going on, I could tell what she was saying was the truth and I could also feel a strange sort of connection to something that was far away yet very close. I tried to follow that connection to see where it lead and saw an image of myself with an apparently pale silver wolf instead of white dog standing on me with its mouth clamped around my shoulder. It looked like time had frozen at that moment as nothing was moving, not even that bird paused mid wing flap in flight. ... Ok, so I don¡¯t understand what¡¯s going on at all... ¡°Well that understanding will come in time while you are in this place, do not worry Nickoli Lewet. Now allow me to give a cursory explanation and then we can begin to truly discuss my offer.¡± (Goddess) I tried to give a nod, but instead of feeling my head move up and down my perspective just shifted. It was at that moment I realized I didn¡¯t have any sort of body in this place, I felt knowledge flow into my mind that explained why that was. My soul had been forcefully but carefully separated from my body and sent to this place, right now I was in a sort of state of undeath with my body being nothing more than an empty shell in the park. ¡°So let me first say that this place exists outside of the confines of time as you know it, everything outside of this place will seem to be frozen in time while you are here. This realm will also automatically feed your mind and soul the information I wanted to explain to you, while also assuring you of the truthfulness of all things spoken here. Usually this place is used as my courtroom and is meant to help me pass judgement or conduct contracts and deals with other Deia, but for now it shall serve to show you that what I will talk about is the truth since you seem unable to trust me otherwise¡­¡± (Goddess) I could feel the truth of her words, this place really was amazing. Even now I could tell new knowledge and accurate credible information about the workings of the universe were being added to my mind, I could understand that the human concept of gods was inherently flawed and that there were countless beings of higher power known collectively as Deia. I could also understand that while it was rather easy for mortal bodies or vessels to die it was actually fairly difficult to kill a soul, thus even after someone dies most times their soul just moves on to whatever afterlife it is drawn towards. In a mere few moments my atheist views collapsed and were replaced with the knowledge of the existence of Deia, souls, and that there were countless worlds and dimensions besides Earth and it''s galaxy. ¡°I am the Goddess Lunaria a goddess of honor and moonlight, I am the elder sister of a set of triplets sired by the former greatest god and master of all, Haltis. My siblings should be here shortly to introduce themselves since I have no doubt they were observing us and would have felt your soul leave your body...¡± (Lunaria) Ah, a goddess of honor and moonlight huh? Well I¡¯ve always kept what few promises I gave and I am fairly fond of the moon, but that isn¡¯t the reason you¡¯re here with me now, is it Lunaria? ¡°Very perceptive, but I would have thought that you would treat me with more respect now that you know what I am Nickoli Lewet¡­¡± (Lunaria) Respect is something that is earned with me, not something I give freely away¡­ not even to a god, in fact especially not to a god¡­ ¡°I see, but I must say I do not quite understand your reluctance to respect and trust one of the Deia such as I¡­¡± (Lunaria) I had a moment of clarity when she said that. Lunaria was speaking as if she had intimate knowledge of my feelings and thoughts, something that was very different from the way she acted when we were on earth and I thought she was just some figment of my mind or a mutant talking dog. I realized quickly that if this place was her¡¯s it should favor her more than it did me, and since this place was letting me understand many things about the universe and was functioning as a sort of all powerful lie-detector it would only make sense if it was giving her even greater benefits. I figured what it gave her was some sort of mind reading or empathic link over me, gained only while I was in in this place due to it being her own realm. ¡°And you would be right Nickoli Lewet. Your incredible intuition and reasoning that lead you to that answer proving once again that you are a perfect choice for what we need you for.¡± (Lunaria) And what exactly DO you need me for exactly? ¡°Well that should be easy silly, we need you to conquer another world for us!¡± (???) When I heard this new bright and cheery voice sound from behind me, I turned around to see a handsome young man in dark armor spotted with silver dots and a cute girl in ripped jeans and a Foo Fighters concert tee walking towards me on the water. The man had wavy blackish hair, a strong and fit muscular figure, a kind face with a friendly smile, and he seemed to exude this feeling of acceptance. The girl was cute but looked to be somewhere in that 10-12 year old age range, she had shoulder length brown hair, bright and mischievous blue eyes, and an angelic face with a lovely smile. I guessed that these two were both Deia like Lunaria and were probably also those siblings she was talking about. ¡°And you would be right Nickoli Lewet... This is my brother Oros, god of conviction and night, and the smaller one is-...¡± (Lunaria) ¡°I¡¯m Entia Goddess of clarity, knowledge, and starlight! It¡¯s wonderful to finally meet you in person Nick, and can I just say that I absolutely LOVE your world!!! It¡¯s no wonder Earth was one of father¡¯s favorites, the music there is amazing, the knowledge you¡¯ve managed to collect about the way the universe works is impressive in its amount even if it is all pretty inaccurate, and then there are all the amusements you earth humans managed to create! I just love cartoons and anime they can be so inventive and interesting, and don¡¯t even get me started on videogames and films! Nick, you just HAVE to tell me all the details of that game you planned to make in a few years¡­¡± (Entia) I was a little surprised at how excited Entia was and how close she came to whatever my soul was, but I couldn¡¯t help but start to like this energetic and upfront Deia. She seemed like a cute and fun kid, but since she was Lunaria¡¯s triplet I was sure she was probably far older than anything that could ever be considered as a child. ¡°Entia please remember, we are sister¡¯s guests right now and we are in the presence of the one who will be our champion and pick which of us gets to inherit father¡¯s throne. At least try to be respectful and hold an air of nobility and divinity...¡± (Oros) Entia moved back a bit and gave her brother a nervous smile and shrug. ¡°Sorry brother, I just got a little over excited from meeting Nick for the first time¡­ I¡¯ll just be over here now, listening to my playlist... Give me a nudge when he¡¯s decided what he wants his third power to be¡­¡± (Entia) Suddenly there were pink and black headphones on Entia''s head and I could hear a faint beat that almost sounded like Disturbed¡¯s ¡°Down with the sickness¡±. She just let her head bob to the beat and seemed to tune out of the conversation entirely. I was really beginning to grow fond of that girl¡­ er, goddess¡­ whatever she was, I was beginning to like her. So you all are the ones that want me to go to some different world, right? I guess that means you want me to be your willing pawn there correct? The look on Oros¡¯ face was actually rather priceless, the level of shock that was on it was pure comedy. Lunaria just covered her mouth with a single hand and chuckled to herself. ¡°Yes Nickoli Lewet is quite intuitive, isn¡¯t he? Even more than we originally thought, though I don¡¯t think pawn is quite the right term¡­¡± (Lunaria) I could feel the truth of that statement, but I was also a big mythology nut when I was a little kid. I could still remember how all the Greek, Roman, Chinese, Norse, and practically every other pantheon with multiple gods were always full of deceit, conflict, and screwing over mortals. Needless to say I knew that no matter how nice or considerate these Deia were to me, I was nothing more than a means to an end. The only question was what that end was, and what I could get out of this relationship for myself... And since I¡¯m sure Lunaria, if not all of them, could tell I was thinking this, I was sure I would find that out soon enough. ¡°You really are a rather unique human Nickoli Lewet, you don¡¯t even seem to mind being treated as a pawn by us if you can get something out of it you think is of equal value for yourself. It¡¯s actually rather amazing how accepting of this you are¡­¡± (Lunaria) ¡°Is that truly how you feel about all of this Nickoli?¡± (Oros) Yeah, that¡¯s pretty much it in a nutshell¡­ ¡°Well regardless of how you may feel, I will personally never think of you as a mere pawn and I¡¯m sure my brother and sister feel the same. You should also at least know a bit more of the details of what we are asking of you... Our father was essentially the god of all Deia and master of all the universe, he also died two days ago and instead of naming one of his many children as his successor he created a competition to decide who shall replace him and gain his power. That competition involves finding a human from Earth and getting them to agree to be transported to another world called Gaia, a world of magic at about the medieval level of technological and social development. Once there are 100 humans from earth who have successfully been transferred to Gaia, the real trial begins and those humans must aid us in seizing control of the planet by any means possible. 1000 years after the start of the trial the human and their respective Deia patron who hold the most control over the world of Gaia shall be declared the winner of the competition-...¡± (Lunaria) And I suppose that means that this Deia gets to be the new god of all Deia and the human gets nothing out of winning the competition really, right? ¡°Well nothing was specifically specified in father¡¯s trial or rules, but rest assured that should you win my siblings and I would be all too happy to shower you in rewards. Perhaps we could even make you into a Deia yourself¡­¡± (Lunaria) Oros suddenly just appeared beside Lunaria, he smiled at me and nodded his head. ¡°That¡¯s right, we would be more than happy to give you whatever it is you desire if you should win the competition! We will also do everything in our power to give you what you need along the way to help you win as well, Nickoli...¡± (Oros) This was all seeming a bit too good to be true, but I could tell that no one was lying because of whatever connection I currently had with this place. It occurred to me that the connection¡¯s strange assurance of truthfulness itself could be a falsely manufactured feeling, but every time I thought that my mind was flooded with facts and reasons of how that was impossible. Eventually I just accepted that as the truth and decided that there must be some other reason why this whole deal seemed to have no real downside. Then a few thoughts came to me, they were talking about this like only one person could be the new god of the Deia and king of the universe or whatever, but if that was the case then¡­ If there can only be one person to replace your father, what does it mean that there are three of you? Will you just split the prize between yourselves? ¡°No Nickoli Lewet, if you win the competition for us than you will be the one to choose which of your Patron Deia will gain the prize. In the end you are the one who will hold our future in your hands, you¡¯ll get to decide which of us gets to gain the inheritance that should have been rightfully ours by nature of our very birth¡­¡± (Lunaria) And just like that so many things clicked into place. Why these gods were being so nice and polite when they could have likely just ripped me from Earth and sent me to this Gaia world with no warning, why there were so many upsides to their offer for me, and even the comment Oros made to Entia earlier; everything just made so much more sense now. It wasn¡¯t just about making an appealing offer to gain a willing and loyal pawn for them, it was about currying my favor so that if I won this competition thing I would pick them over their siblings. They weren¡¯t just competing against other Deia, they were also competing amongst themselves for me and my favor. How will you react if I, for instance, chose to pick Entia when I win this competition? ¡°Nickoli Lewet, I understand your concern, but my brother, my sister, and I have all already sworn a pact not to contest the choice of our chosen champion. We have also sworn that none of us will seek out vengeance on that champion for its choice, be assured that you are not at risk from us. We are truly your allies in all things Nickoli Lewet, well if you chose to accept the offer that is¡­¡± (Lunaria) ¡°Yes, what my sister says is true. Besides even if you chose to not pick me, I would be content just to have one of my sisters on the Throne of All as that would still mean I and my other sister will have an increase in power and authority. There would be no reason for us to resent that or the one who brought it about, in fact it would be foolish of us to do so¡­¡± (Oros) It made sense, and I could feel that it was true as well, but there was still one last thing I needed to know before I would accept. If the answer was good than I had decided to take on the offer to go to this new world, even if I knew that there were some things these gods were hiding from me, I would happily be there loyal pawn and would enjoy all the perks and opportunities that came with being it. But if the answer was anything as bad as I imagined it could be with beings of this level of power then I would politely turn down the offer and go back to my old life and my dream of game design, I would try my utmost to forget that today ever even happened and I would move on. This was going to be the question that would decide what path my future would take... The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ...So what happens if I don¡¯t end up winning this competition for you all? What happens if some other person wins instead? Lunaria looked troubled, once more proving that she could read my mind in this place or at least do something similar, while Oros took on a look of deep thought, leading me to further believe that he and by extension Entia probably did not share in Lunaria¡¯s insight into my thoughts and feelings. ¡°...Nickoli that questions has many answers¡­ Of course if you lost on purpose I would see to it that you die in the most painful and long way possible and your very soul is permanently destroyed, even if one of my sisters offered you their protection. however if you lost merely due to poor luck or because there was a human that simply surpassed you in some way and thus won instead of you, well then I can¡¯t fault you for that and I would likely make you one of my retainers if one of my sisters did not do so first.¡± (Oros) ¡°Nickoli Lewet, I can assure you that there was a reason we chose you to be our champion, many reasons in fact. We would not have picked you, out of all the many humans on earth, if we did not have the greatest confidence that you could win this competition for us. Even if you do not win for some reason outside of lack of trying we would not dispose of you out of anger, you have shown to us many times over in your past and even now that you have value and talent after all. We would likely decide amongst ourselves which of us you would serve under, and then we would take you in as an attendant or aid. That is what would happen if you were to lose for some reason like you fear, Nickoli Lewet.¡± (Lunaria) ...I see, that seems more than fair to me. Horrible permanent death if I fail on purpose, but a suitable new job offer if I do not win merely because of some unknown or bad luck¡­ I accept your offer to go to a new world, but I have something that I HAVE to do before I can go¡­ ¡°That¡¯s fine Nickoli Lewet, just please go about doing it quickly as time is of the essence in this. There have already been sixteen humans who have made the transition to the world Gaia from Earth. While we are here and outside of the constraints of time is there anything else you would like to ask of us?¡± (Lunaria) ...Well now that I think about it there is something I¡¯d like to know. Is there any way that I can start over entirely in this new world, like reincarnation or something? ¡°Yes, that can be done, my sisters and I have more than enough power to transfer you into a new body that we create for you, whatever age or appearance you want us to give that body¡­¡± (Oros) ¡°For an actual reincarnation as you are thinking of to occur, you must first die on Earth Nickoli Lewet, though reincarnation like this does indeed open up some unique opportunities. One of the opportunities that I believe you would be the most interested in is not just the chance to start over, but the chance to have a real family.¡± (Lunaria) I wouldn¡¯t say that the idea of being reborn into a family that actually loved and cared for me didn¡¯t appeal to me because it did, it did a lot, but I wouldn¡¯t let that be my sole reason for choosing which transition to the Gaia option I went with. ...Which of the two would you say is better? They both answered at the same time. ¡°Reincarnation¡­¡± (Lunaria & Oros) ¡°If you reincarnate you will probably be able to learn the language of the region around you as well as countless other things like culture or common knowledge from your parents. You will also probably have parents or a guardian to protect and provide for you while you are too young to do so for yourself.¡± (Oros) ¡°The only real downsides of reincarnating are you actually have to die to do it correctly, and you¡¯ll have less control over your appearance and initial location. We can effect some things, like choosing who your parents are and giving you various blessings which can sometimes let us tweak your appearance a bit, but there would be far less certainty and control over things than there would be if we just transported you and altered your body or made you a new one...¡± (Lunaria) I thought about that for a while before I made my decision, then I thought about the details of what I wanted out of that choice. Then I¡¯ll go with reincarnation, I want to be born into a respectable middle class family, not too rich and not too poor, with decent connections but is not of noble blood, though has close ties to nobility. A family of merchants would be best, one that¡¯s in a fairly large city or town as well. ¡°...That can be done, I have already found a human couple who meets just those criteria. Even better is it appears that they are actively trying to conceive a child as well, their first child and heir to their business in fact, so it is likely that you would be cherished and well cared for.¡± (Oros) Perfect, I¡¯ll go with them then. Next is about my appearance, I know you¡¯re limited in what you can do, but this is important and will affect how I operate in that world. But First I want to know if there are other races of intelligent and dominant life in this new world since Oros specified the couple as human¡­ ¡°Yes Nickoli Lewet, there are many different races of people besides humans. To name a few that you have similar concepts for: there are elves, dwarves, animal people, and demios which are remarkable similar to some of your representations of demons.¡± (Lunaria) I see¡­ well I suppose that being human is probably my best option, it would probably be best to stick with what I know early on anyway¡­ Ok, if at all possible I would like to have similar looks as I have now as an albino, but with more attractive and agreeable features and a lithe frame instead of my current unnervingly serious features and lanky frame. And if I could I¡¯d like my name to be something that can be easily shortened to Nick, just since I¡¯m already used to being called that¡­ The two gods looked at each other, then looked back at me in confusion. ¡°Is that all? We had thought that Humans all wanted to become what they saw as the epitome of perfection in terms of appearance, are you sure that this is all you want Nickoli?¡± (Oros) I thought for a moment, it was certainly all I needed to be comfortable with myself and my reincarnated body, but was it really all I WANTED? I did have two gods here willing to give me whatever I wanted as my new body as long as it was within their power, did I really want to settle for just that? I guess make my new body as attractive as you can on top of what I already asked for then. Boyishly charming though, it appeals to a broader range than plain traditional handsomeness or manly appeal. Plus having to constantly shave and growing hair all over my body in random places would really suck, I would rather just not have any facial or body hair than have to deal with it all the time when I mature¡­ The two just shrugged. ¡°Very well than Nickoli Lewet, what you asked for is within our power to give.¡± (Lunaria) Alright then, I guess I¡¯m ready to go back to Earth now then¡­ I¡¯ll just have to kill myself to make the transition right? ¡°Yes Nickoli Lewet, all you will need to do is end your life on Earth and we shall shepherd your soul to the new empty vessel we will have created for it on Gaia right before the moment of the vessels birth. The transition should take only a few moments and it will be the last time we will be able to freely make contact or interact with you without it counting as one of our 100 allowed interactions. During this transition is also when we shall be imprinting powers onto your soul.¡± (Lunaria) Wait, I get powers as well? Like super powers or magic or something? And why only three? Suddenly Entia was right in front of me with her headphones around her neck blasting a song I recognized as ¡°Everlong¡± being done by the Foo Fighters. She was waving her hands in a ¡°let me handle this¡± motion at the two behind her and giving me a smile like she had been waiting for this moment for ages. ¡°I¡¯ll handle this part you two!!! Ok Nick, pay attention because I¡¯m about to grace you with the wisdom of a goddess of Knowledge! So first off, and I can¡¯t stress this part enough as it¡¯s the most important thing to keep in mind, you shouldn¡¯t limit what you think of powers as since they can be anything you can think of and can be as powerful as you can imagine AND you get to pick whatever power you want from within those confines. You could even choose to have the power to give yourself more powers, but it would only work if you actually knew how to do that in the first place, something no mortal knows essentially making it the worst power to have ever... The actual level of strength and utility of what you pick depends almost entirely on how you conceptualize, understand, and use it. Basically if you pick the power to shoot fire out of your hands, which believe me is one hell of a lame power, how far and how deadly the flames are depends on what you thought about them when you chose the power, what you understand about them now, and what it is you want them to actually do. Got all that Nick?¡± (Entia) I think I did, it seemed like your concept of a power was fairly fixed and only applied when you were picking it, how much you understood the properties of your power seemed like it was in a sort of fixed and fluid state since ones understanding of something could always grow, and lastly what you actually wanted the power to do at the moment of its use effected what it would do which would of course then effect its level of strength and utility. It actually seemed like a fairly comprehensive and open sort of system that governed these powers, that was good it meant my options were basically only limited by my imagination and what I could understand. Those weren¡¯t very big constraints for me at all. That just left me with one question though¡­ I think so, but why can I only have three powers? Is that like a rule of the competition or something? ¡°Nope, you can only have three because each Deia can only give one power to their chosen mortal, THAT¡¯S the rule. Besides most mortal souls can only hold three powers anyway, any more than that and their souls begin to deteriorate into nothing. There was only one exception to that norm from your world and that guy has already made the transition to Gaia, in fact he was the second one who did and even then he was only second by a few seconds¡­¡± (Entia) Well I guess that does make sense, having immense power comes at a cost and it turns out I can only afford the cost of three, huh? Is there anything else I should know about powers? ¡°Only that you should think carefully about what you want to pick before you do, try and figure out each of the powers possible uses as well as its respective advantages and disadvantages. Most powers can be used in a way to accomplish just about anything, the hard part is you just have to figure out what that way is. Oh, and they do take a while to figure out how to actually use. Most times you mortals go through a few years of trial and error learning before you become even adept at using them, and that¡¯s just if you figure out how to activate them in the first place¡­¡± (Entia) I see, thank you I¡¯ll keep all that in mind while I think of the three powers I want¡­ now I really do think I¡¯m ready to return to earth. I should be dead by today, which I hope will be in time for your purposes¡­ if not I would appreciate Lunaria or someone coming to warn me before I die, it would suck if I die only for it to be too late to be one of those 100 human contestants to this competition¡­ ¡°So you figured out what the rush was about by yourself without us having to spell it out to you, huh? I knew I was right when I thought you were a clever one, I knew it ever since I had a peek into your past!¡± (Entia) ¡°Sister... I thought we all agreed we wouldn¡¯t mention that to Nickoli?¡± (Oros) ¡°Bro please, Nick here probably already figured we did something like that from the minute he found out what we actually are. If he didn¡¯t care then he isn¡¯t likely to care much now that I confirmed his suspicions, now is he sis?¡± (Entia) ¡°She is right Oros, Nickoli Lewet did in fact assume that we had knowledge of his past early on, in fact he assumed we knew more than we do.¡± (Lunaira) The look that Oros had on was shocked at first, but then it turned sheepish, and lastly ended up in a sort of mixed proud and ashamed expression. ¡°All of which means he was an excellent choice for our champion¡­ I shall go now to begin creating the new vessel for Nickoli¡¯s soul. Goodbye Nickoli, I shall see you soon.¡± (Oros) After the man in dark armor spoke he simply vanished like he was never here. ¡°I guess I should leave so that Sis can send you back now Nick, we¡¯ll have to hang out later ok?¡± (Entia) I¡¯d be fine with that, anyone who can appreciate good rock music and listens to ¡°Everlong¡± on a loop has some points with me¡­ ¡°What did I tell you two? This guy is a keeper, clever, intuitive, creative, and he just gets it. I call dips on his soul even if he doesn¡¯t triumph in the trial!!!¡± (Entia) The girl disappeared just as suddenly as her brother once she made her final declaration with her finger pointed at Lunaria. As she vanished I heard Lunaria quietly murmuring to herself. ¡°...As if I would adhere to such a nonsensical notion as calling ¡®dips¡¯ on a person¡¯s soul, besides if anyone should have dips it should be me due to the way he molested my manifested physical form¡­¡± (Lunaria) I don¡¯t remember ever doing such a thing to you¡­ The goddess just looked at me shocked. ¡°You caressed my face, neck, and back!¡± (Lunaria) I petted what I thought was a dog with only the kindest of intentions, besides I¡¯m not really going to think of you in a way that would ever lead to me molesting you like that of my own free will¡­ ¡°Are you saying I¡¯m not attractive enough for you!?!? Nickoli Lewet I¡¯ll have you know that I am a very desirable being and have received countless proposals to even just grace some with a single glance!¡± (Lunaria) And you¡¯re also the one who ate a pop-tart off the ground this morning, but that¡¯s beside the point¡­ I won¡¯t let myself get romantically involved in any way with gods, goddesses, or any of the Deia at all... I read plenty about what happens to mortals who do that in the mythology of my world, and I¡¯m guessing that those myths are fairly tame compared to what reality is like involving beings like you¡­ The look on her face changed in a flash from shocked and annoyed to realization and understanding. ¡°Oh, yes well that is a rather wise decision. Deia don¡¯t love the same way mortals do, we can¡¯t really, and that often leads to trouble in a Deia and mortals romantic relationship. Not to mention all the countless troubles such a relationship would bring¡­ Yes I believe you made a very wise decision indeed, though you certainly could have phrased it better.¡± (Lunaria) I would have laughed if I could, it was actually rather fun to tease this one her reactions were always nice to watch. I think we could even grow to be friends in time, though considering she probably knows I just thought and I didn¡¯t totally trust her or her siblings it might take a while for that friendship to form between us. ¡°Perhaps, but I would like to have such a friendship with you. Now hold still, i¡¯ll send you back to your body now. This will probably hurt less than it did when I removed your soul, but it will still be painful¡­¡± (Lunaria) Once again my senses faded away and were replaced by blackness and an excruciating pain I had almost forgotten¡­
When I regained my senses I was sitting down on the swing again and Lunaira was sitting in front of me in her doggish-looking wolf form looking up at me. I almost let myself wonder if that was all just some weirdly elaborate dream, except I knew for a fact it wasn¡¯t. There was knowledge and proof of said knowledges accuracy and validity embedded permanently in my mind and memory now. I would always know about the Deia, how the universe was incomprehensibly large, and how this talking animal in front of me was now my patron goddess Lunaria. I got up from the swing and rolled my shoulder, there was no pain from Lunaria¡¯s bite and there didn¡¯t seem to be a wound when I looked either. I chalked it up to some godly mystical soul power and decided not to think more about it. ¡°I see you kept your word to me and did not die. I¡¯m pleased with that Nickoli Lewet, very pleased. We would have had to rush with the preparations for your new vessel if you died while I returned you to this body¡­¡± (Lunaria) I looked at her as a sudden unpleasant thought came to me as she said that. ¡°Will Reincarnating hurt that much?¡± (Nick) Lunaria cocked her head to the side as her ears perked up. ¡°I can not speak for the pain of death you will experience, but the transition of your soul to your body should be painless. Whether the engraving of the powers you choose onto your soul will be painful however¡­ THAT will depend solely on how well you thought them out and how closely they tie in with who you are¡­¡± (Lunaria) I winced slightly at that. Well I guess that''s just another reason for me to think deeply about my future powers¡­ I¡¯ll need powers that are useful, but are also potentially deadly¡­ After all, no one seizes control of a world peacefully¡­ I began to walk out of the park all while thinking of powers I thought would be good, Lunaria trailed along behind me quietly letting me keep to my thoughts. When I came to the entrance of the park I turned in the direction of the Rell family¡¯s home and looked down at Lunaria. ¡°I¡¯d like to take care of these next parts on my own if you don¡¯t mind¡­¡± (Nick) She looked up at me and cocked her head to one side in confusion. ¡°Nickoli Lewet, what could you need to do that can¡¯t be done with me near you?¡± (Lunaria) ¡°A deeply personal matter I¡¯d rather not talk about¡­¡± (Nick) I looked at Lunaria conveying with my eyes that I REALLY didn''t want to talk about it with her and that I would rather do this on my own. Eventually she just gave a whine, lowered her head, and spoke. ¡°Very well Nickoli Lewet, I shall see you again soon when you die¡­¡± (Lunaria) I nodded and watched as the doggish wolf vanished into nothing with a faint breeze. It was for the best that I do this part by myself, well maybe not for the best but it was certainly the way I felt it should be done. After all, revenge should just be about you and doing the most harm you can to the one whom you seek revenge on¡­ Besides, I wouldn''t want anyone but me to take part of this. I don''t want to share killing that bastard who drove Sarah to suicide with anyone after all¡­ As I walked back to the Rell home, I took my phone out of my pocket and began searching for the next trains for today to Denver. I figure the four and a half hour ride should give me plenty of time to work out what powers I wanted and refine them, it would also give me time to seriously consider how to kill the man who ruined the life of the first friend I ever had¡­¡­¡­...
so yeah that was the chapter............. stuff goes down in my next chapter, and Nick will finally reincarnate and make it to Gaia...... so you have that to look forward to....... remember to comment, rate, review, follow, favorite, and share this story!!!! all the good fans do that stuff....... oh, and i have a favor to anyone who can pull this off: "please write a kick ass review for this story, either now or around chapter 10, that can make it into the top 5 weekly reviews section here on RR.... this story desperately needs the PR......" now for the easier favor: "just spread this story around to help it grow it''s reader and fan-base.... and for the love of sally some one rate this thing.... the zero stars thing is just eerie to see for me...... i never have zero star fics (then again i always rate my own fics before anyone else so.....).... it''s like the stars are mocking me every time i check the fiction page......" anyway that''s it for me.... imma sleep now.... [th_0gotas.gif] AaronDragon out....... Nick Chapter 3: When seeking revenge remember to dig 2 graves... Sooo.......... AaronDragon here again............. Fuck this chapter was long........ i hit well over 10,000 words with this one...... Blah i need sleep so badly now...... anyway this is the last chapter i''ll be writing for a while, and thus you''ll have to wait to see more of Nick.... of course you might end up liking one of the new MC''s even better than Nick, so there is that glass half full outlook as well...... Oh, BTW this chapter earns the fictions mature tag, some pretty heavy shit goes down this time around...... lets just say that nick doesnt have the "Happiest" backstory in the world...... so yeah if you want to skip this chapter, than you''ll miss out, but if your faint of heart and mind.... well.... i''m sure you''ll be fine............ so i''ll edit this some time when i''m not fighting off sleep...... Meh i edited it some, i probably still missed stuff but i''m not going through these 22 pages again...... it be readables now...... also a bit of a note, some changes were made to improve the story, so some edits were made to the prologue..... basically what you need to know is that each champion can now only be visited 1000 times by any and all Deia during the trial, instead of the prior every Deia gets 100 visits to use as they please mechanic we had before.... things would''ve been to hectic in future chapters if we kept that as it was...... here be the chapter: ENJOY!!!!
Nick
When I entered the Rell family house I really wasn¡¯t surprised to find that it was empty, it only made sense that it would be since it was only about 10am right now. Everyone who would normally be here when I came home around 6pm were either at work or school right now. I didn''t bother to take off my shoes at the door like the Rells usually insisted on, but just walked right in and made my way to the room on the first floor that had been mine for the past month or so. When I opened it up I got on my most prized possession, my computer and began to put my final affairs in order. There really wasn''t all that much I needed to do really, I just had to send a final message to a handful of people that cared enough about me to be sad about my death and transfer all the earthly possessions of mine that actually had some value and mattered to someone I think deserved them. As I logged into my online bank account to check the balance there I was once again surprised by how much writing and submitting storyboards and concept designs on the side could make a person. I guess not having to pay taxes or take care of my basic financial living needs myself really let things accumulate since I started saving up three years ago¡­ Well I guess I don¡¯t really need to save up anymore, I figure just a 1000 dollars should do for what I need now¡­ I quickly opened up a new tab and googled the ticket site I had picked out on my way home, I had decided on a 11:30am train which should give me just enough time to finish up here, find an ATM, and get to the station and catch my train. I figured after that I could just hit up a few stores to buy what I had in mind for my revenge plan, and then use the leftover money to find someone able to kill me fairly painlessly and dispose of my body. After I had purchased the ticket and was waiting for the order to process and be sent digitally to my phone, I opened up my email and began the fairly sad task of telling the few people who mattered to me that I was going to be dead by tomorrow. Each person got their own individual message since I felt it would be pretty insensitive to send them all the same message, but even though the messages were all different they all basically said the same thing. For the most part I kept things short, I said that it wasn¡¯t their fault, that there really wasn¡¯t anything they could have done to change this and they shouldn''t blame themselves for what will happen, and that I wasn''t doing this out of depression or anything, I just had something to do that couldn¡¯t wait anymore and I felt that it would be for me to die after it was done doing it. I wrote that they would probably find out more if they watched the news covering the Denver area, but it was probably for the best they don''t try looking into my death and that they should just remember me for who I was in life not in my final moments before death. The only person who got more than that was a twelve year old code monkey that I had been working with for the last two years to develop and code my game. I knew she was only taking jobs like that because she was from a poor family and that was the only way she could help out, so I decided that she was the person who probably needed all my things of value the most. In a series of emails I wrote in all my personal information giving her all she would need to steal my identity if she wanted, gave her my bank account information, and attached all the relevant info on my game with all the ideas I had for it even including concepts for a possible sequel. I also sent her the copyright and trademark rights info I had for it after formally naming her as the rightful owner, and a note to please finish our project and not change too much and especially not the theme. I also asked if she could keep my name in the credits and maybe give me a small dedication note at the end of the game, she could just use the pen-name I worked under since my own name might be a little infamous after today. In the middle of flooding her with emails she wrote me back a few times basically asking what the fuck I was doing and if I was really planning on killing myself or something, she always was quick to respond to my emails and updates it was what made working with her so easy. After I sent the last email with the information in it, I wrote her telling her to copy the things I sent her to someplace safe and then to delete the emails I sent, and that she should work fast to make the most out of my identity and financial information because fairly soon it would all be frozen and useless. I also told her goodbye and to make our game a huge success that knocks those big industry developers for a serious loop. After that was done and sent I confirmed that my digital ticket had been sent to my phone and that my phone had a full battery. Confirming those things I cleared all history on my computer, wiped it¡¯s hard drive, took it outside and hit it repeatedly with Tylor Rell¡¯s little league metal baseball bat until I thought it was broken beyond all possible repair, and I put it in the grill that was in the backyard after moving the grill into the woods away from the housing division and lighting it. After I had suitably erased any record on my end to the best of my ability, I left the woods and began making my way to the road to wait on the uber I called in. I knew that in this day and age where nothing was ever erased completely and where everything done online could be tracked fairly easily by anyone with some training, what I had just done was fairly meaningless, but I figured it should at least make things seem like the Rell family wasn¡¯t involved at all and didn''t know anything. That thought and the desire to not involve or get anyone else punished for something that I had decided to do solely on my own were all I need to go through with trashing my computer. When I saw a car slowing down as it approached me, I let my mind begin to wonder back to ideas for my powers. I figured that my plans for revenge were already pretty much thought out and all I needed to do now was execute them, that left the rest of the time before I arrived in Denver to think things over about the future powers I would have in this new world Gaia. As I got into the back seat of the car though one stray thought went through my mind. ...Hmm I wonder if I can get everything I¡¯ll need from Walmart? This guy will probably have some tools, cleaning supplies, and cutlery somewhere in his house so I guess I can save some money by just making use of those too¡­
I was standing in the front yard of an average sized white two story house holding two bags full of supplies and with a series of recording equipment in a newly purchased large duffel bag hanging from my shoulder, It had actually been fairly easy to find this place''s exact location and address. I have no idea why people would ever put their personal information, schedule, and location on social media sites where anyone can get access to it, but I was grateful Jackson Slate was such an avid Facebook junkie. In fact everything had gone pretty well so far: the train was on time and the long ride let me work out what I thought was the perfect power set and how they should work, Walmart had everything I could have wanted and no one gave me weird looks for buying so much duct tape, power tools, bungee cords, clay, recording equipment, and a big duffel bag once I said it was for the county science fair, and after some looking and asking around I was even able to find a guy working for the local organized crime group running things here and after paying him a few hundred dollars he kindly gave me the number of an underground doctor I now had an appointment with in a few hours at 2am tomorrow morning. Really I didn''t even remotely expect things would go this well, but I guess when you aren''t really concerned with the consequences or getting caught crime becomes pretty easy. That said I think the thing that worked out the best out of all that was how the long train ride let me refine and pick such perfect powers for myself, I even had enough time to consider all the advice I got from Entia and use that to consider how my powers should work even down to how I should activate and use them. I already had an avid imagination and what I decided on where things I had pretty strong and structured concepts for: a mental ability that would let me read and manipulate the minds of others, a biological creation ability so that I could alter and heal my body as needed to survive for the full 1000 years as well as make various bio-weapons, and lastly an ability to read every language there was automatically and passively so that I could learn all I need to about that world and all its people and regions without having to rely on others for that knowledge or having to waste time to learn how to read them all. All of them were powers I felt went well with who I was, how I thought, and how I liked to operate as a person as well. The mental powers reflected my distrusting nature and assured me that I would have insight into and some power to influence those I would encounter in Gaia. The biological powers reflected my love of animals, desire to be able to control and alter my own biology so that I would be more normal looking, and the simple fact that the studies of Zoology, anatomy, and botany just fascinated me. Then there was the reading ability which I at first thought was fairly simple, but soon released could allow me to even read some secrets that might be hidden in the holy texts or what have you of Gaia that the Deia left there. I figured that those powers would certainly help me get a leg up on the other earthlings I¡¯d be competing with there, especially the reading one since I was almost positive no one else would think of that as a type of power that would be so useful. I guess I should check one last time to make sure he¡¯s actually home before I get this show on the road, just in case¡­ I put down one of the bags in my hands and checked his Facebook page on my phone, his last post was just nine minutes ago and it was about how he was about to watch some Law and Order marathon all by himself again and how he misses having people around the house. Really, why the fuck would people put this sort of stuff on the net where any person can find it? I can understand wanting to tell people about your life or whatever, but why does anyone think it¡¯s a good idea to tell strangers on the internet where they live and where they are at certain times of day? People really can be pretty stupid¡­ sometimes I wonder how the human race even managed to make it as far as we have¡­ I put away my phone, picked back up the bag full of duct tape and tools, and walked up to the door. I really wasn''t sure how I was going to get him to let me in his house when I had this stuff, but I figured that the simplest way might be the best one in this case. I put down my bags and just rang the doorbell a few times, eventually I heard footsteps from behind the door and a voice call out. ¡°Fine, fine, I hear you so you stop ringing the damn bell!!! What do you want kid? I¡¯m a bit busy at the moment so if you wouldn''t mind¡­¡± (Jackson Slate) I figured he was watching me through the peep-hole of the door since he called me kid, so I put on a tired smile and tried to act like a disgruntled delivery boy. People tended to open the door to accept deliveries they needed to sign for after all, even if those deliveries were poorly timed and annoying as shit. ¡°I¡¯m sorry sir, but it seems there was a mix up at the office and a package that was supposed to be delivered last week never made it to you. They even called me up on my day off to deliver it to you today since everyone else was apparently out making their runs, I tell you UPS can be so unorganized sometimes it¡¯s a wonder we get to deliver anything on time at all¡­ Anyway I need you to sign for this package so I can get back to working on that new garage I¡¯m installing today with my dad¡­¡± (Nick) The door opened up and I got to see Jackson Slate in person for the first time in a decade, he was a balding heavy set man and he seemed to have gone grey since the day he adopted Sarah. Once I saw him my mind went into a state of hot fury that immediately calmed into a sort of calm and cold hatred. I was going to make sure that this man suffered horribly for what he did to Sarah, and I was going to make him admit to the world what he did before I sent him to whatever fucked up version of hell his soul will gravitate to when he dies. ¡°Yeah, yeah kid¡­ I don''t need your whole life story, just let me sign for this package and then go-AGGHHH!!!!!...¡± (Slate) I kneed the man as hard in the groin as I could as I grabbed his robe and pulled him into a head-butt that had me seeing spots for a moment. He fell into his home and began rolling on the ground moaning in pain, when I saw that he wouldn''t be getting up immediately I picked up my bags and stepped into the house shutting and locking the door behind me. I put the bags down in a corner near the door and rubbed at the bruise forming on my forehead, head-butts hurt like shit if you don''t know the proper techniques to using them. After I made sure I wasn''t bleeding from that stunt I dug through the bags for the bungee cords and duct tape, the bungee cords I found quickly but I started to panic a little when I couldn''t find the rolls of duct tape I had bought. The bastard cupping his balls and muttering curses at me as he rolled on the floor wouldn''t be down for long, and I wanted him safely tied up before I did anything else. ¡°Duct tape, duct tape, duct tape¡­. Huh, did it end up under all this other stuff? Maybe I actually put it in this bag? ...Oh fuck!!! I didn''t leave it at the store did I!?!? Oh no, here it is under the purple playdoh, crisis avoided¡­¡± (Nick) As I walked over to the man trying and failing to move into a kneeling position I heard what he was saying under his breath with his new nasally voice given to him courtesy of one broken and heavily bleeding nose. ¡°Imma ghill youth¡­ Imma ghill youth, youth Bashferd¡­¡± (Slade) Right before I knocked him into unconsciousness I allowed myself one quip, I just couldn''t help myself really. ¡°Well, I might actually be a bastard for all I know, but I¡¯ll actually be the one who¡¯ll be killing you here asshole not the other way around. But I won¡¯t kill you yet, no I won¡¯t kill you until you suffer a whole fucking lot first¡­¡± (Slade) I felt a smile form on my face as kicked him over and kicked him again on the back of his head. I was careful not to do it too hard though, I didn¡¯t want to kill him or give him any brain damage that might mess with my plans for revenge. That said, I didn¡¯t figure a mild concussion would mess with my plan all that much¡­ I flipped him over when he went still, checked his pulse, breathing rate, and the dilation of his pupils. He was alive and it seemed like no permanent damage was done, he was just out cold. After a quick search of the house, to check even on the off chance that there was absolutely no one else in the house besides us, I began to tie him up. I had his hands up front where they could be seen, legs crossed to cut off circulation, arms tied to the torso to further restrict movement, and torso tied to a sturdyish looking swivel chair without arms I found upstairs during my check. Yep this¡¯ll work fine¡­ Now I guess I just have to look for his Knives and any chemicals he might have¡­ I guess I¡¯ll check the kitchen first then work my way through the house, in a pinch I¡¯m sure some cleaning products will work but it would be great if he had some pesticide or rat poison or something¡­
I was just finishing up with the recording equipment¡¯s set up in Slate''s now redecorated living room when the man started to wake up. I ignored his groggy and pained mummers and grunts as I made sure the camera I set up on the tri-stand was recording ok and would upload videos correctly on Slade¡¯s piece of shit MacBook. It seemed like everything would work as long I didn¡¯t try to shoot anything live, luckily I didn¡¯t plan to do that since a live broadcast would be taken down faster. Now I think that everything is all nice and good, the last four test videos worked ok at least¡­ Well, I guess that as long as I can condense the video file and send it to my phone it doesn¡¯t really matter if this laptop is buggy as all hell¡­ ¡°H-hey what happened to all my stuff? Wait, why does my face hurt so much? And why can¡¯t I fucking MOVE!?!?¡± (Slate) I turned around to see that the man tied up and bound to a swivel chair in the middle of this now mostly empty room with a mix of duct tape and bungee cords had not only regained consciousness but was also struggling to escape his bonds. I decided to stop fiddling with the recording equipment, plug in my phone so it could charge up its dying battery, and pick up the duffel bag that was now filled with all sorts of things I was able to find around the house and purchase at the local Walmart. As I walked into the man¡¯s field of vision he started to struggle even harder and I felt a smile form on my face. ¡°Yeah sorry about moving all your shit around, I just felt it would be easier for me to do what I¡¯m about to do to you if I wasn¡¯t trying to constantly maneuver around your TV, couch and that glass table that was in the middle of the room for no reason¡­¡± (Nick) The man¡¯s entire face turned red with obvious fury and he seemed to be doing his best to kill me with his eyes. It was actually kinda funny how much it looked like his head was about to explode, and the fact that he had a bloody mustache and his nose was bent at a weird angle while being all puffy now just added to the hilarity of things to me. Maybe the look wouldn¡¯t have been so funny if the man wasn¡¯t who he was to me and currently so helpless that even a small child could deal with him with ease. ¡°You really are a dumbass, one scream from me and the neighbors will call the cops! Your ass is gonna rot in jail where I¡¯m sure some dirty fucking convicts will enjoy fucking it day in and day out!¡± (Slate) ¡°Well thank you for that colorful picture you just painted for me, but I doubt that¡¯s ever gonna happen. You see I¡¯m not some idiot thief or burglar here to rob you, I¡¯m here for one reason, and one reason alone: to kill you. There are just a few things that I wanted to do before we got to that killing part of tonight¡­¡± (Nick) When I said that in a calm and conversational tone I saw the red drain from this man¡¯s face as it became pale with fear. There was something about talking to someone with that calm and easygoing tone of voice while telling them that you were going to do bad things to them that always seemed to freak people out, I was glad to see I could pull it off just like those villains in the movies when I had to. ¡°I-I¡¯ll scream¡­¡± (Slate) I felt the smile grow on my face when I heard that, it was obvious that this asshole was hoping that pathetic threat would make me back off. Truthfully if I didn¡¯t know better, his saying that may have made me just kill him on the spot out of fear of getting caught too early by a concerned neighbor. Luckily I did know better¡­ ¡°Which won¡¯t matter one bit since you so completely sound proofed this entire house¡­¡± (Nick) I watched his face as whatever little spark of hope inside him died and he accepted his death as inevitable, it was one of the single most satisfying moments in my entire life. ¡°W-why are you doing this? What did I ever do to you?¡± (Slate) And just like that all of my satisfaction and good feelings were gone, all he had to do was talk and the cold hatred returned full force. ¡°What did you ever do to me personally? Nothing really, at least nothing physical anyway¡­¡± (Nick) The man started to struggle all the more as he shouted at me. ¡°THEN WHY!?!?!?¡± (Slate) ¡°Simple, you abused, raped, and drove my best friend to suicide yet got away with it Scott-free since you had her diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, dismissing her cries for help to others as merely her having some delusional episode. Even I couldn¡¯t do anything to see you face justice from the law since the pictures she was able to send me weren¡¯t considered admissible evidence, and believe me I checked...¡± (Nick) I watched once again as his face went pale and he stopped struggling once again. ¡°Well, here¡¯s the thing... When you adopted her, Sarah and I wrote emails back and forth to each other for a good few years until when I was ten she suddenly stopped writing back. At first I thought that it was just us naturally drifting apart, and after a couple years I figured she must have moved on and forgotten about me. I was fine with that, it¡¯s hard to maintain a close friendship when you can¡¯t even meet in person after all and no matter what she was still family to me, but then one day when I was fourteen I found an article online about her committing suicide. After seeing that I of course go back to check my oldest email address and I find one new message from her sent the day she jumped from the top of her school¡¯s roof. Want to take a guess at what that email said?¡± (Nick) The man was shaking his head and crying at this point, it was pitiful and disgusting to watch. This man had no reason to fucking cry while hearing this, he deserved what was coming to him plus ten times more. Even if it wasn¡¯t morally or legally the right thing to do I would see that he got what I knew he deserved. ¡°It had her whole life story since she stopped writing me Slate, complete with some pictures as proof because she didn¡¯t even think that I would BELIEVE her... ME!!!!! NICK, THE PERSON SHE FUCKING GREW UP WITH AND KEPT FROM TOTAL FUCKING ISOLATION FROM EVERYONE AROUND ME!!! SHE DIDN''T THINK I WOULD BELIEVE HER BECAUSE YOU MADE SURE NO ONE SHE KNEW HERE DID!!!!!¡± (Nick) I was screaming at this man now, I had let the burning hot fury of years of hatred and regret slip through my calm control of hatred. After I realized what I was doing I cleared my throat and set down the duffel bag, I wasn¡¯t going to give in to blind fury and let it ruin this situation and my plan. I took a deep breath and let it out as I reached into the bag and found what I wanted. As I took out the tins of blue, purple, and green playdoh as well as the blowtorch I found in this house¡¯s garage where I had also found all sorts of useful things that were now waiting in the bag. I set those things aside and took out the electric nail gun that shot the large four inch nails. ¡°Well I lost my cool for a bit there, how about I tell you a little story to make up for it, Jackson Slate?¡± (Nick) ¡°W-w-what?¡± (Slate) I leaned up against the wall and turned on the nail gun, it was fairly easy to bring back a smile to my face when all I had to do was imagine using this on him like I would be in a few minutes. ¡°I¡¯m going to tell you a little story, and I suggest you pay close attention because this little story¡¯s ending involves you¡­ Our story begins with a lonely boy with white hair and red eyes who, even when he was very young, seemed to be avoided by everyone around him. The boy understood very early in his life the feeling of loneliness, none of the others his age would ever play with him even before they all learned to talk. By the age of three the boy had already taught himself to read to combat the loneliness that he felt all the time. While the other children played with each other the boy would read all sorts of things on the internet from the computer inside the orphanage where he lived. The boy¡¯s pale skin was so sensitive that it would burn almost immediately in the sun so he couldn¡¯t go outside to join the other children even if they wanted to play with him, though they made it clear he was not wanted in the least. By the age of four the boy had taught himself many things and he had learned that his loneliness had given him a condition called depression. Luckily or unluckily that depression had faded early in life as the boy began to enjoy his solitude as a method for coping with his loneliness. He began venturing outside on cloudy days when the sun wouldn¡¯t be out to burn his skin, but even then he didn¡¯t play with the other children as they would avoid him and call him names like ¡®demon eyes¡¯ or ¡®ghosty boy¡¯. The boy had long grown used to this treatment and did not let it bother him, the mental and emotional damage their words or actions could cause him had long since been done and their treatment of him no longer hurt the boy. The boy had resigned himself to living his entire life like that, but then things changed one overcast day when the boy was outside. A girl around the boy¡¯s age walked up to him holding a stray cat, the boy recognized the girl as the newest addition to the orphanage. The girl talked to him, she told him that all people looked different in some way and that to animals all people look strange since they didn¡¯t have fur and walked on only two legs. The girl was kind, and unlike the other children, and even the other adults, she was not unnerved by the boy¡¯s unique condition and appearance. The boy and girl became friends quickly, the girl staying with the boy and playing with him when no one else would and the boy carefully listening to what the girl had to say whenever she worked up the courage and wanted to talk about something that mattered to her. It turned out the girl herself was very shy, but she felt she could talk with the boy. She shared that she used to live with an aunt before the aunt sent her to the orphanage, and that just like the boy she had never known her parents. The girl shared that she loved to play with animals, but that people scared her sometimes since they often said things that they didn¡¯t actually mean. She told the boy that she liked him since he was a lot like her and that when he spoke she could tell that he meant what he said with all his heart. She told him that she could just tell that by the look on his face. The girl was the kindest person the boy had ever met and she was also his first friend. In time she became his best friend as well. A year after they first met the boy and the girl still had not been adopted and they had decided that they would be each other¡¯s new family. The boy and the girl grew up together, the boy teaching the girl about the things he would read and the girl teaching the boy what she would observe from the people around them. The two grew closer over the three odd years they were together, forming a bond of familial love stronger than any they had ever known before or imagined could be formed. The fact that the other children, the orphanage staff, and even those looking to adopt would be unnerved and disturbed by the boy¡¯s looks and harsh serious features or by the fact the girl seemed to know what they were thinking just by watching them for a while didn''t bother them. The two were happy because regardless of what others may have thought or said about them, they were happy because they knew that they always had a precious family member who would listen to their troubles and try to help them¡­¡± (Nick) I looked up at the ceiling losing myself a bit in memories of the past, I hadn¡¯t let myself think back on those days in a long while. It just made the pain from the hole inside my heart worse, but even with the pain those memories of a simpler and more innocent time in my life were very dear to me. And by embracing this pain now before I achieve my revenge I can let the memories rest in peace with this life and not drag them with me into my next one to haunt me¡­ It¡¯s just a shame that facing the memories of the past and overcoming the pain that they bring me since I found out about Sarah¡¯s death involves telling them to this piece of filth¡­ I sighed and looked down so that I met Slates with my own, I could tell from the way that he flinched and looked away that the look in my eyes probably terrified him. It was times like these that I was actually happy for my albinism and red eyes, I could truly live up to my childhood moniker of ¡°Demon Eyes¡± at times like this. The sheer intimidation factor even a single glare from me and these eyes of mine carried was no small thing. ¡°Of course that all changed when a man came and adopted the girl. She didn¡¯t like the look his face made when he looked at her, but neither the girl nor the boy could stop the adoption even when they tried to tell the orphanage staff about the way the man¡¯s face would change. Neither the boy nor the girl were believed, and perhaps even if they were the adoption would have still gone through anyway since the orphanage was more than happy to be rid of the strange girl. Before the girl left, the boy taught her about email and how to keep in contact with him. The girl promised to write the boy every day, and after she left with the man she kept her promise often writing him more than ten times a day. After the girl left the boy was sad, but he decided he would be happy for her since she seemed to enjoy her new life judging by her emails to him. Unfortunately when the girl was gone there was no one to collaborate the boy¡¯s alibis for when he was blamed for something he didn¡¯t do. It took only a week before the boy was sent away from the orphanage for allegedly setting a fire in an attempt to hurt on of the children, an act he never actually did. The boy was placed into the foster system at the age of seven and spent the next three years going between different foster families and schools until false rumors and accusations forced him to be sent somewhere new. The boy¡¯s only solace during this time was talking with the girl through their daily emails. That changed one day when the boy was ten years old and the girl stopped emailing the boy back. The boy was a little sad, but he figured that they must just be drifting apart as they now grew up away from each other. The boy was content as long as the girl was happy, even if she didn¡¯t talk with him anymore. For the boy, the girl would always be his family, his true sister in all things but blood. The boy made peace with no longer talking with the girl after two months without a reply from the girl. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The boy decided to try making new friends, not to replace the girl, because no one could do that, but just so that he could have others to talk to sometimes. It was hard but every so often the boy managed to make one or two, but he always seemed to lose touch with them when he was inevitably sent somewhere else to stay with a new foster family. The boy would repeat this process many times, all the while reading, learning, and researching more every day. Many times the boy would get in trouble for his looks or the rumors about him that seemed to worsen in content by the day the longer he stayed in one place, the boy had even gotten his first arrest on his record by the age of twelve because of false reports made to the police. Even still he excelled in his academics, going so far as to audit university courses online. The boy¡¯s life was hard and rather unfair, but the boy was used to that life so it didn¡¯t matter too much to him. The boy¡¯s life was like that for four years until, out of curiosity, he looked up the girl''s school and found an article talking about the one year anniversary of the girl¡¯s death on the school paper¡¯s remembrance column. The boy was shocked and horrified, he couldn¡¯t believe what he had found so he searched for the girl''s public records only to confirm what the article said. After learning about the girl''s death the boy fell into a deep depression that nearly destroyed him, but the boy didn¡¯t let it. The boy found the email he used to use to contact the girl, and he saw that there was a new message that was sent on the same day she died. The boy read the message and learned about how when the girl turned ten the man who adopted her began to abuse her sexually, and when she tried to write to the boy about it he hurt her and destroyed the computer. The girl went into detail about how the man had her diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic who had frequent delusions, and how she couldn¡¯t convince anyone to help her. She was sent to a new school that would cater to her ''special needs'' and was not allowed to access potential weapons she could use to harm herself or others, the girl was also denied access to the internet or electronics as, according to the man who adopted her, they would apparently cause her condition to deteriorate rapidly. The girl wrote about how she began hating her life, resenting everything and hating herself for that resentment. The girl said she couldn¡¯t trust anyone to trust or believe her anymore, and even included blurred pictures of her body covered in bruises and bite marks in an attempt to at least have the boy believe her. The girl detailed how her life was made a living hell and that the only way to escape it now was to die. The girl wrote about how she was sending this message to the boy on a phone she stole from a teacher, and that she wouldn¡¯t be able to write again because she had finally decided to escape what her life had become forever. The final line of the girl¡¯s message was just ¡®I¡¯m so sorry Nick¡­¡¯. When the boy finished reading that message, two things happened. The boy stopped believing there was a God or any sort of order or meaning to this world, and the boy felt pure rage and hatred for the man who lead his best friend and only family through all this suffering until the girl thought the only means of escape was ending her life. The boy swore that he would have his revenge on the man, and began using the talents he had honed by designing a game he hoped would be his future as a way to earn money. The boy planned to save up enough money to hire a professional to torture the man who destroyed his family until the man was unable to even comprehend the concept of relief from agony, that was when the boy wanted the man to die, at that exact moment the man lost that most fundamental thing that made people human: hope. Things didn¡¯t quite turn out that way of course¡­¡± (Nick) I stepped off the wall as I walked up to Slate and held his face so that he couldn¡¯t look away from me. ¡°...And now the boy has grown up a whole lot more, learned a whole lot more, and nurtured all that rage, pain, and hatred a whole lot more. Today the boy came to kill the man himself and spent a long hour in Walmart picking out the tools to make the time before the man¡¯s death as painful as possible¡­¡± (Nick) ¡°W-W-W-Walmart?¡± (Slate) I felt the smile grow on my face as I patted Slate¡¯s check. ¡°Yes, Walmart. That¡¯s the end of the story Jackson Slate, any idea what comes next?¡± (Nick) As the man opened his mouth to stutter out an answer to my question, I shot five nails into his foot and his response became a loud scream instead. ¡°RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!¡± (Slate) Ah, that was even better than I imagined it would be¡­ How could I have ever thought of giving this task to someone else? It¡¯s so much better when I do it myself, that way I can watch him suffer and see the pain he¡¯ll experience for myself¡­ It doesn¡¯t change what he did to Sarah, but knowing that he¡¯s feeling just some of the pain and suffering she must have is all I can really ask for, even if his pain is of a different type¡­ ¡°Sorry I didn¡¯t actually care about your answer to that question, I have my own after all... Here¡¯s my answer slate: I¡¯m going to hurt you, I¡¯m going to inflict the greatest amount of pain I¡¯m capable of on you while I do my utmost to keep you alive and conscious through it all. Then I¡¯m going to have you tell the entire world what you did to Sarah by means of a recording, and when I¡¯m satisfied with that recording I¡¯m going to go back to hurting you until eventually my knowledge of anatomy and first aid aren¡¯t enough to keep you alive anymore. Then I¡¯m going to burn this place that was Sarah¡¯s personal hell down to the ground and set fire to it''s ashes, and as I go about my merry way after all that I¡¯m going to upload that recording I made and all those sick fucking pictures and videos that were on that piece of shit computer of your''s over there to the web and have it go viral. Sure it¡¯ll get taken down but not before copies are made and spread everywhere, nothing ever gets removed from the internet after all¡­¡± (Nick) The man tried to fight through his pained moans and tears to snarl at me, but the words came out as more of a whimper. ¡°W-w-what makes y-you think I¡¯ll-l s-say any-ything?¡± (Slate) Oh he doesn¡¯t seem to get it does he? ...What a shame, I was hoping he would catch on to things faster than this¡­ I unloaded two more nails aiming carefully to skewer his left pinkie toe into the carpeted floor. As he went about screaming and cursing I went to where I had placed the playdoh and blow torch earlier. ¡°You know torture is really an art form, an art form with many different mediums. There are all sorts of ways to torture someone: verbally, mentally, physically, sexually, emotionally, spiritually, and many more that I won¡¯t get into now. What you need to know is that the use of torture to extract information from someone is one of, if not the most delicate aspect of that art form. To do so the right way requires the torturer to have a certain clinical apathy towards their subject which allows them to best judge just the right point to push the subject towards to get that information. I myself don¡¯t have that apathy¡­¡± (Nick) I put down the nail gun and picked up the tin of purple playdoh, the blowtorch, and a hammer from the duffel bag. As I came back to Slate I crouched down and used to hammer to pry the nails out of his foot by force. Even as he screamed I put a decent coating of playdoh over his wounds and turned on the blowtorch, as I ran the blue flame of the blowtorch over the playdoh melting and hardening it to stop the bleeding I ignored the stench of burning flesh, chemicals, and the man''s pained screams. When I was done with that I returned the rest of the tin of playdoh, the blowtorch, and the hammer, since I had a feeling I¡¯d need it again soon, to that spot near the bag. Reaching into the bag again I picked out an electric drill, some butter knives and spoons, and a saw before standing in front of Slate again. After he settled down and stopped screaming I began to speak again. ¡°As I said I don¡¯t have that apathy, in fact I can¡¯t even pretend to be apathetic towards you. All I have for you is sheer rage and unfathomable and endless hatred. I simply and utterly despise you, and so I decided to go with a far less delicate and precise method of torture. I¡¯m going give you nothing but pain until the moment you decide to confess on camera, then you get a twenty minute break where I won¡¯t be doing my utmost to outshine the torturer demons of hell while you talk about what you did on camera without lying. Then it¡¯s back to me hurting you some more... Since I¡¯m sure at some point you¡¯ll do anything just to have the pain stop, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll confess sometime¡­¡± (Nick) And until then I think I¡¯ll start with the extremities before making my way to the eyes and tongue, then maybe a mix of amputation and flaying. I guess I''d start with the flaying BEFORE the amputating though if I want to maximize the pain he goes through¡­ I guess he can also try some chemical cocktails after I get the recording of his confession, which I guess means he gets to keep his tongue and teeth till then too so he can speak¡­ Huh, this torture stuff is actually pretty hard to work out an order for¡­ it¡¯s fun though, so I guess this is a labor of sweet revenge¡­ Slate just started whimpering as I turned on the drill and began moving it towards his right foot, the man had already pissed himself and judging by smell alone he may have shit himself too. It didn¡¯t matter to me, that just meant I would have to burn some of the nastiness away with the blowtorch before I began working on the groin region. I had over four hours to work with after all, that should be plenty of time to wrap things up here and take a quick shower before heading out to make my appointment¡­
I toweled myself off in the shower and reached for the new tee-shirt and jeans I got from Walmart out of one of the bags I brought up to the bathroom with me. I was using the bathroom that used to belong to Sarah since I refused to use that bastard¡¯s, I was also doing my utmost best to not think about the horrible shit that probably happened to her in this room, but then again that was my mentality towards the whole house. After I put on the clothes I looked at the picture of Sarah I kept in my wallet. ¡°It¡¯s over Sarah, the one who hurt you and made your life into a living nightmare is dead now, and I have some new acquaintances I¡¯m sure would be more than willing to send his soul to the worst afterlife there is before seeing it destroyed forever. There is no way he will ever hurt you again, no matter who or what you are now...¡± (Nick) As I went down the stairs back to the first floor I looked down at the mess that used to be a living room. There was blood, burn marks, little chunks of meat that were once a human, and colorful melted splotches of playdoh, silly putty, and clay all over the walls and floors. There was even a fairly large piece of Slate¡¯s small intestine still wrapped around the broken swivel chair he was once tied to and the ceiling fan. I suppose I should be disturbed that I¡¯m capable of this, shouldn¡¯t I? I guess it wouldn¡¯t be surprising for someone to vomit after seeing something like this¡­ Man I hope any kids who click onto the video listen to my warning about the mature, disturbing, and gory nature of the video and how it¡¯s not meant to be watched lightly¡­ Slate hadn¡¯t been much more than a no eyed lump of talking gored flesh when he got to make his confession recording, I had already taken off everything below his waist at that point and was in a real race against blood loss to get things done, what I had first planned as a twenty minute video turned out to be more like four with about two minutes of ranting confessions from the man of the hour. Of course after the recording session was over I went back to torturing him to death, letting the thing that killed him in the end be the fan his intestine was attached to. I just tied one end of it to one of the ceiling fans blades while Slate was still alive and gurgling, then turned the fan on and went about spreading chemicals all around the house before I went up to take a shower. Damn, I guess I really did make one hell of a mess here¡­ Oh well, that won¡¯t really be a problem soon¡­ As I looked around the house one last time I checked to make sure I had everything I needed, before I made this place go up in one big chemical fire. Phone with the video and stuff on it ready for uploading online? Check¡­ Wallet with my important pictures and enough money for uber? Well I only have a ten, but that should manage¡­ No blood or other stains obvious enough to attract unwanted attention? None that I can tell¡­ Lighter? Check¡­ Shoes without any gore stuck to their tread? Um, I guess that little can be ignored¡­ Alright I guess that¡¯s all I need¡­ I took out the lighter and walked to the doorway of the house, I had dowsed this place in so many flammable and combustible chemicals before going up to take my shower that there was no way anything would be left standing besides a pile of burning ashes when the fire department arrived in response to my call a few minutes from now. As I opened the door and walked out into the cool autumn night air I flicked on the lighter and tossed it into the house and into the puddle of lighter fluid I poured out to make a trail to some of the more volatile and flammable chemicals deeper inside the house. As I put my hands into my pockets and walked away I felt a smile form on my face as the night suddenly got a lot brighter around this neighborhood. Now I just make it the few blocks to where the uber driver should be picking me up, and then I tell a nice underground doctor to kill me painlessly in exchange for harvesting all of my organs¡­ As I moved further away from the now burning house and the growing sound of sirens in the distance, I took out my phone. I figured now was as good a time as any, and I uploaded the video and files to YouTube and every major social media site under dummy accounts I had made on my train ride earlier today. All it took was a few taps with my thumb and I had cleared the name of my best friend, informed the world of the person responsible for her death, and confessed to felony assault and first degree murder. Yesterday was a fairly good day all told, it might even be in the running for the best day of my life designation¡­ But I still think the day I met Sarah wins out by just a little more¡­ I looked up at the night sky with the stars and moon hanging in it and wondered what it meant that I knew who those celestial things belonged to now. My life had certainly taken one hell of a loop in the last day, but now that life was going to end. It was kinda weird to think about how in less than an hour I wouldn¡¯t be Nickoli Lewet anymore. With that one thought, all my reservations and doubts surfaced and my feet stopped moving. Logically I knew it was already too late to second guess myself, I had taken a serious overdose of pills an hour ago that would kill someone with my size and metabolism in about two more hours. I figured it would be a good insurance policy just in case the illegal doctor decided to just put me in a coma to keep my organs fresh instead of killing me like I wanted, and even if I wussed out of dying a painless death at the syringe of some illegal doctor there was nothing I could do now to stop my upcoming system shutdown and organ failure. I knew all that rationally but my body still refused to move forward to my death, at this rate my organs wouldn¡¯t be worth harvesting by the time I worked up the courage to meet this doctor. I looked down, closed my eyes, and let out a deep breath. ¡°I guess it¡¯s probably best if I don¡¯t think about it¡­ Yeah, just don¡¯t think about it Nick, I mean you just tortured someone to death so killing yourself should be nothing right?¡± (Nick) I let the memory of Jackson Slate¡¯s torturous and painful death fill my mind and lift my spirits until I felt I was ready to go through with this without any more delays. I opened my eyes and looked up just in time to see what I think was a fire truck heading right towards me doing at least 60 miles per hour. I had time for just one thought before the mass of fast moving steel crashed into me. ...Does this count as a suicide if I¡¯m the one who called the fire department? The next things I knew were darkness, immense pain, snapping and cracking noises, and the loss of feeling everywhere¡­
I had no idea where I was or what was going on around me as I couldn¡¯t see anything besides this weird aurora looking stuff that was everywhere. All I knew was it felt like something was carrying me and I was moving in a specific direction. That was when I heard their voices. ¡°Well this is a nice and well-ordered power set, isn¡¯t it Lunaria? I gave Nick some basic advice and what does the kid do? He comes up with THESE!!! I¡¯m just gonna say it again, I TOLD YOU HE WAS THE PERFECT CHOICE FOR OUR CHAMPION!!!¡± (Entia) ¡°So do you think we should wipe his memories?¡± (Oros) ¡°Bro if you even THINK about touching Nick¡¯s memories before I¡¯m able to pry all of his earthly experiences and the secret details of his game idea out of him, I¡¯ll fight you¡­¡± (Entia) ¡°...Your sure serious about that aren''t you? Fine, no wiping his memories then...¡± (Oros) ¡°Yes well, we still need to engrave these powers into his soul permanently, so if you two could focus on the task at hand please... Oros, you can go first. Which power do you want to be the one to give him?¡± (Lunaria) ¡°Hmm, I think I¡¯ll take this one¡­ This seems like it can be used for combat...¡± (Oros) ¡°I¡¯ll take the reading one! Ah, it¡¯s nice to think that we found a champion who actually thinks ahead enough to pick a power like this. It seems simple but it is so perfect I can barely believe a mortal was the one to think of it, really it boggles the mind. Oh clever!!! Nick here even tried to pull one over on all the Deia with this one¡­ I declare here and now that I get dibs on his soul! So says the goddess of knowledge and clarity, so shall it be! End of story. It¡¯s obvious to me now that we were meant for each other¡­¡± (Entia) ¡°Calm down little sister, we already discussed how claiming ¡®dibs¡¯ on this soul was not allowed¡­ I suppose I shall give him this other power then... Now then, hold still Nickoli Lewet¡¯s soul. This might end up being fairly painful¡­¡± (Lunaria) I tried to speak or even think back a response to them, but nothing seemed to get through. All I could do was wait and feel this sort of tickling sensation move all over my body or soul or whatever it was i had now. I had no idea how long it was before the sensations ended, but when it did I heard Entia¡¯s voice again. ¡°Alright Nick, you¡¯re going to be reincarnating soon. Lunaria and Oros have already gone ahead to ensure there are no complications with your new vessels birth, but I stuck around to give you some advice. As a champion chosen by the Deia, you now have this sort of interface system that reflects you and your being. Everything is fairly intuitive and instinctual, so you should be able to access it just by will kinda like how you made the triggers to your two non-passive powers. I suggest you check that out as soon as you can to figure out the details of your ¡®Stats¡¯ currently¡­ Ah, shit¡­ I¡¯m really pushing the time limit here¡­ Ok, last thing Nick and this is important! We¡¯ll only be able to directly contact you a set number of times so other than that you¡¯re on your own! Now good luck wit-...¡± (Entia) Entia¡¯s voice faded away as I felt a falling sensation. When I realized what was happening I felt a hard smack right to my lower back and ass. I made a yelping noise as my eyes flew upon and were met with these sort of semi-transparent screens filling my vision.
Absolution of the Mind
The mental ability to passively read, know, and explore the minds, thoughts, and feelings of creatures with a certain level of intelligence. With active use triggered by express will and desire you can also manipulate and theoretically even directly control the mind(s) of your target(s) in a multitude of ways, though you must first either have their permission either subconscious or conscious or else overcome any mental resistance they may have to use this active ability. {Caution all forms of life have some sort of mental shielding, no matter how weak or insignificant that shielding may seem.}
There is no set limit or requirement for this abilities use, but continual use of the active abilities without time for rest or recovery will accumulate mental pain inside of you and if you continue to use your power even then the pain will continue to grow until it becomes to much for you to bare or you cease to use your powers.
Lesser Harbinger of Life (Biological)
The production/creation ability to actively shape, design, manipulate, alter, and create biological lifeforms triggered by your will and desire to do so. All designs, manipulations, and alterations will take place in a mental-scape known as a Forge of Life meant solely for this purpose which will allow you to use your will, intent, desires, and imagination to create and shape your lifeform. The use of this ability will require intense and devoted focus in the design/alteration/manipulation stage as well as a certain amount of life energy for your lifeforms to actually be created after design. {Caution you will be vastly unaware of your outside surroundings while you are in the Forge of Life and thus vulnerable to attack. Intense stimulus such as loud noise or pain will forcibly remove your consciousness from your Forge of Life.}
This power is limited by your understanding of biology and the amount of life energy you can provide without doing serious harm to yourself, thus limiting what you may design/alter and create respectively. Also due to your mortal soul you shall be unable to ever create: higher life forms, beings capable of magic, beings with a soul {Thus any race of people}, or anything that exceeds a certain level of biological complexity {For reference this level is that of a complex mammals such as cattle.}.
Scholar of All (Mortal)
The passive ability to comprehensively read any language with full understanding of the words meanings and significances. This ability does not require mastery or training as it is inherently maximized, but it also does not extend to any spoken language or writing yourself.
This ability is limited by your Mortal soul and does not pertain to the writings of none mortal beings. {Nice try though Nick, maybe one day you¡¯ll get to read all about the secrets of the Deia¡­ Till then no sneak peeking the higher texts of the Deia for you!!!}.
[table]
Blessing of Lunaria, goddess of the moon
As one loved and blessed by Lunaria during the full moon your physical and mental abilities are enhanced greatly. Your eyes will also change their color to reflect this power being born inside of you until the full moon fades from your view in the dawn sky. Full solar eclipses shall see your abilities enhanced to an even greater extent than full moons and the effects shall last for an elongated period of time.
Blessing of Oros, god of the night
As one loved and blessed by Oros you shall never fear the night and your body will require far less sleep than a normal human. You will be comfortable during the night, almost to the extent of being nocturnal, and when under the cover of night¡¯s darkness you shall be far harder to detect or track as the night itself shall help to conceal all signs of your presence. Due to this blessing during the day you will be far less energetic than you might normally be otherwise.
Blessing of Entia, goddess of starlight
As one loved {More than big bro and sis Nick!!! Remember that when you make the big decision!!!} and blessed by Entia you shall be able to see by the light of the stars as easily as you would by day in the light of the sun. This blessing will only have an effect in places that are touched by the light of the stars.
After I read them I looked at them and wondered how to make them go away, when I did that they suddenly just vanished out of my view and I was meet with the smiling face of a tall 30ish year old man with a shaved chin, dark black hair, forest green eyes, and defined features coupled with a hawk like nose. He bounced me a few times and said something that was essentially gibberish to me before handing me over to a beautiful woman who looked to be in her mid 20¡¯s. The woman had a kind dignified face with soft but defined features, beautiful cobalt blue eyes, and long purplish violet hair. She was also holding me up to her tit and I felt an overwhelming need to latch on and start sucking like my life depended on it, and not in the sexual way I would have expected from an almost eighteen year old straight guy. The rumbling coming from my stomach was the only warning I got as I suddenly found myself drinking something creamy and sweet. After I was able to pry myself away and detach myself from this woman¡¯s breast I looked around the room. It looked like a fairly well furnished bedroom with a mix of wooden furniture and what looked like a stone floor. The bed the woman holding me was laying in was huge, and I could see that there were a few people dressed in matching dark colored outfits hovering outside the half open wooden door across the room. That coupled with the decorated and engraved wooden furniture lead me to believe that these people were probably not having any money problems, just like what I had asked for. ...Ok, so this is reincarnation¡­ And I guess these are my parents? Cool, I have parents now! Although that baby feeding instinct thing might take some getting used to... Now then, Entia said something about checking my ¡°stats¡± as soon as I could, but how do I¡­ Another semi-transparent screen appeared in front of me.
Name: Nickolas NightingaleClass: N/A
Titles:
First born son (Nightingale family)
Health: FairMana: (100%)Stamina: Full (rested)Soul level: Mortal
Physical Status:Soul Status (non-deteriorating):
NormalBlessed, Powered, Reincarnated
Blessings: 3 (Limit 30)Deia Patrons: 3 (no limit)Powers: 3 (limit: 3)Followers: 0
Strength (Physical): 1Endurance (Physical): 1Dexterity (Physical): 1Agility (Physical): 1
Mana Pool Size: 10Mental Resistance: 1,000,000Life Energy: 10Forge of Life (Time Limit): ???
...Oh, well that was easy¡­ and I guess when I want it to go away, I just¡­ And by just willing the screen to fade away, it did and my vision was back to its normal unimpeded view. The people I was almost positive were my new birth parents, something I still wasn¡¯t used to thinking about, seemed to be talking excitedly amongst each other. The man I was sure was my new father put his finger into my hand and my hand closed out of reflex, after that I couldn¡¯t get it to open again even when I tried my best to. There was even more excited talking that I couldn¡¯t understand, and then something weird started to happen. Suddenly my mind was being flooded with extremely strong feelings that I knew weren¡¯t mine. I sensed joy, excitement, love, pride, exhaustion, loyalty, hunger, and what seemed like mild annoyance all flooding me from all directions. It was just too much for me, I couldn¡¯t even tell what was coming from where or how I could make this stop. I felt myself start to retreat inside my own mind to try escape the sensations, and my vision began to fade to black. My last sight was the smiling faces of the two people I had decided were without a doubt my new parents¡­
so yeah that was long as shit.......... i think that was like 22 pages right there..... good Sally, why do i do this to myself? ...... Oh yeah, the comments of fans singing my praises..... duh, how''d i forget that...... So did this chapter change how you viewed Nick as a character? be honest now........... anyway that''s all i got, and a''ll you''ll get from me for a while for this story..... i might be back in a week or so, but imma let everyone else get 2-3 chapters out and posted to counter balance the 3+a prologue i wrote..... gotta keep those story arks linked after all...... blah.... i know i''m gonna stay up waiting for the first comment now...... someone do the OCD Author a solid and just post a comment fast, ok? i don''t want to still be waiting here at 4am..... without having my rest....... and not letting the creative juices refill...... that''s bad for everybody..... do that comment, rate, review (You actually should have enough content to review with now.... at least a basic one....), follow, favorite, and share....... spread the word of this story whose name really should be Throne of All (my option), yet the poll has miraculously not yet given me permission to dub it thus....... spread the love and help grow the community and fan-base.... :sleepy: [th_0gotas.gif] Aarondragon out...... gonna sleep now.... hopefully..... Sally i hope someone comments soon...... David Chapter 1: Follow The Raven Hvethrungr here! So, my first chapter is finally done... I''ve been in a bit of a motivational slump lately, so if you''re fans of mine (what am I saying, I don''t have fans!), I apologize. There should be a new schedule and chapter posted for ANUC tomorrow. This is a LIGHTLY edited chapter. It is subject to heavy change depending on what I want to do to it later. I''ll talk to Aaron later about syncing up title format. Happy reading! PS. The Red Scorpions are a real gang in the Vancouver area. I do my research ;) ---------------------------------------------- A small fist slammed into the side of David¡¯s face, causing a fleshy smack. ¡°Fuck!¡± The punch sent David¡¯s head flinging to the side. Before he could react, another came from the opposite direction, a similar noise sounding out. ¡°Damnit!¡± The boy punching him was a self proclaimed gangster named Teddy O¡¯Donnel, self proclaimed only because he was twelve years old. His father, a well known executive of the Red Scorpions gang, had been trying to get him into the lucrative family business of drug trafficking for years. Teddy wore a tight gray shirt and baggy pants, with a flat brimmed hat showing off various gang symbols. On his neck, was a red and black ¡®R.S.¡¯ tattoo. The school had almost suspended him for that one, but his father had pulled some strings. Restraining him at either side were Teddy¡¯s lackeys, Roy and Jimmy Goldstein. They weren¡¯t the brightest kids around, but that¡¯s the reason Teddy had roped them in in the first place. Teddy on the other hand, was a classic, grade-A sociopath. David knew this for a fact. He had done his research. The three wannabe thugs had been harassing David ever since he made his debut at Mt. Lehman Elementary School three months ago. It was a regular occurrence in the past, David¡¯s family had been rather poor even before his father died, leaving him no choice but to attend seedier schools. Often, students were a part of, or related to some gang or another in those areas. Mt. Lehman was actually the nicest school David had been to thus far, courtesy of his mom¡¯s new job as a secretary. They had been able to move to Abbotsford, British Columbia, and with the move came a new school. David was happy with the lower number of delinquents. Normally it was 6+ against one. Another fist came streaking towards him. ¡°Guh!¡± That one had been in his gut. David glared at Teddy menacingly, desperately trying to struggle out of his bonds. Unfortunately for him, what the Goldstein brothers lacked in smarts, they made up for in brute strength. Teddy grinned at him with a crazed glint in his eye. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, bastard boy, hit me! Come on!¡±, he said tauntingly, laughing. The Goldstein brothers laughed along with him, but it was doubtful they knew what half the words he said meant. ¡°Sorry, care-bear, I don¡¯t hit girls or the mentally disabled.¡±, David shot back, a bead of blood dripping from his split lip. ¡°Che¡±, Teddy let out, and punched him in the liver. David tensed up. That one had hurt. ¡°What did you call me, fatherless? I could¡¯a sw-¡±. David stopped listening. One of the brothers holding him on the right, Roy or Jimmy, David didn¡¯t care which, had moved his right hand from his forearm to his collar, leaving him free to move his arm up to the elbow. Taking the opportunity, David twisted left, yanking on the both of them. He grabbed the boy¡¯s hand on his collar, putting his thumb in between the other boy¡¯s thumb and index finger, and twisted his hand right, whilst pushing down. ¡°OW!¡±, he yelled, as the pressure on his wrist became unbearable. His grip on David loosened, and David let go of the boy¡¯s wrist, pushing back on his chest while kicking out at his knees sideways. While the boy on his right was falling, David managed a headbutt against the other boy, before a kick slammed into his chest, pushing him back. He rolled backwards on the soft grass, and barely lifted his head before a knee slammed into it. David rolled back again, and instinctively swung his elbow behind him, feeling a solid hit against flesh. Scrambling to his feet, he saw Teddy holding his cheek and glaring at him hatefully. Behind him, the two thug brothers were slowly getting to their feet, one cradling his head while the other his wrist. Before they could recover properly, David looked frantically for an escape route. His eyes flashed left, then right. There! After a short run across the small field, he could jump the neighbors fence. David immediately sprinted for it, hearing a ¡°Fuck!¡± behind him and feet pounding around the wind in his ears. Soon he reached the tall wooden fence, feeling as if he would be tacked any second. With a huge jump, he grabbed the top edge of it, and scrambled up the rest of the way. Less than half a second later, something large slammed into the fence, shaking him off to the other side, and he fell to freedom. ---------------------------------------------- David¡¯s feet slammed into the asphalt hard, his cheap dress shoes making a loud clack. He spared a quick glance upwards, noticing that, while the gangsters on his tail were running down the fire escape stairs as fast as they could, they weren¡¯t quite crazy enough to jump down the outside of it. Not as crazy as David. Fortunately for him, his dangerous move paid off. With the little time he had bought himself, David couldn¡¯t resist shouting up at them, ¡°Sorry, kids, I¡¯ve got a bus to catch!¡± He pushed strongly off the asphalt and sprinted off down the alleyway, the jacket of his discount suit fluttering in the wind. Behind him, various colourful curses rang out, echoing in the small alleyway. David made ground quickly, and before the first thug had even reached the street, he was around the corner of the building, losing himself within the crowd. As soon as he was out of sight, David pulled out a red baseball cap and a blue windbreaker from his backpack. He managed to put on his new attire and stuff his suit jacket into the pack just before the colorful thugs blasted around the corner, shoving people around and looking for him furiously. ¡°Where the hell are you, you slippery cunt! When we find you, you¡¯re dead! You hear me!? Fucking dead!¡±, one of them yelled into the air. As people began noticing the scorpion tattoos on their bodies, they started to give a wide berth around the gangsters. Everyone knew not to mess with the Red Scorpions. ¡°Too close...¡±, David muttered, pulling his hat over his face. ¡°I guess I won¡¯t be job hunting around here for awhile. Though, I could probably run those Reds out of town right quick.¡± He gave a confident grin at the thought. As he walked calmly away, David looked up at the cloudy Vancouver sky, and sighed. He was twenty two already, and still without a job. Granted, not many employers would hire a person who came in with bruises and torn clothes. He certainly had a knack for pissing off the wrong people. He figured it was mostly a mixture of rude remarks, and an inability to care where those remarks landed him. It wasn¡¯t that he went looking for trouble, it was just the way things went sometimes. When his father died when he was eight, he was forced to find some sort of coping mechanism. Most people might have taken up a hobby, gotten into the wrong crowd at school, or they might have even turned to alcohol or drugs, destroying their bodies while their minds healed. David had turned into a rude and apathetic ass to everyone except his mother. To be accurate, the rudeness was the coping mechanism he came up with. The apathy came later, after spending years in a heavy, deep depression. The death of his father was only the start. His attitude, the very shield he created to protect himself, was only burying him deeper in the abyss. Everyone he met; children, adults, teachers, parents, they were all repulsed by him. It was the loneliest time of his life. Even while he pushed away the people around him, these dark feelings grew in his mind. They churned and clashed with debilitating strength, oftentimes leaving him bed stricken and lethargic. Why do people have to die? Why do we live, if all that awaits us is death? What do I even live for? Questions like these swirled around in David¡¯s mind; threatening, needy, unanswered. He began to think of suicide, an escape to the seemingly never ending cycle. He considered it often, spending hours staring at his ceiling pondering, deliberating over whether it was alright to keep going on. It was an option in his mind, certainly. If the exit could not be found, he would just have to make his own. For what seemed like an eternity, David kept these thoughts and feelings locked up inside, plastering on a mask of certainty and confidence to those around him. They roiled and groaned, growled and coiled, threatening to spill out until eventually, he couldn¡¯t hold it back. The very essence of what made him who he was, his humanity, was cracking. Shortly after his tenth birthday, a short affair with naught but a cupcake and a song, he gained an epiphany. He didn¡¯t care. He didn¡¯t care why people die, didn¡¯t care what his purpose was. If he couldn¡¯t find one, he would just do whatever he wanted. Why should he, when the world didn¡¯t care about him? The only one who had ever really cared for him were his parents. Why should he care about the world if he didn¡¯t get the same in return? The cracks faded. The turbulent storm in his mind withered away, beaten back under the onslaught of his newfound strength. He was free. However, he had to sacrifice a part of himself to beat back the beast. From that moment on, David was born anew. No longer human, but something else. Sure, he looked the same, his body did not change, but his mind was different, something new. No more, no less. Simply, different. To him, a human¡¯s life was equivalent to that of any other animal. Only his own, and his mother¡¯s safety mattered. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. He cared not about relationships, emotions, or conflict. He knew what he enjoyed, and lived his way as such. Fighting, cooking, chemistry, his hobbies became his life¡¯s purpose, and he welcomed this lifestyle with open arms. Unfortunately, human society would not let him simply live his life thusly for free. He had to get some kind of job, and to David¡¯s eyes, what better job than doing something he liked? For the last four years, David had been pursuing a degree in chemical and biological engineering at the University of British Columbia. The workload was nothing to scoff at, but without the social interaction of a normal student, he was able to finish everything without much problem. David had found little challenge learning the new material, he had spent long hours sharpening his wits during high school. With his toxic personality, he had avoided expensive hobbies like video games or fashion, and was left only with school, and the little he could do at home. This boiled down to cooking for him and his mom, and chemistry, his favourite subject. For a time, David had done nothing but read about the culinary arts and the science of chemistry. The library near his house was practically his second home, he was there so often. The librarians dreaded his frequent visits. These days, David didn¡¯t do much except study, avoid gangs, and advance his cooking skill as best he could with what little money he had. Without a job, David was forced to live on what little money his mother sent his way. The scholarships he had won payed only for his small apartment and tuition. David hopped on a bus around the corner, and soon found himself in his dingy apartment. After a short dinner of homemade alfredo tortellini, he brushed his teeth and tossed himself into his bed, thoroughly exhausted. His consciousness faded, drifting into a restless sleep. David opened his eyes. The air was thick with ash and dirt, swirling uncontrollably in the hot, dry breeze. In the distance, a great range of mountains towered into the dark sky, several spewing red hot magma that pooled at the base. Overhead, sinister storm clouds roiled and swirled impossibly fast, red lightning flashing through the overcast. He listened, but thunder was nonexistent. The place was quiet, unnaturally so. The land did not rumble as it should from the eruptions, the thunderheads did not clap. His foot moved slightly, the scrape of rock deafening against the stillness of the land. David stood there for a moment, taking it in. In the back of his mind, perhaps he was aware it was a dream. Something woke him from his reverie. When he thought back on it later, he couldn¡¯t be sure what exactly it was; a whisper of wind behind him, the slight shuffle of rocks, a sense of danger maybe. David dived to the left, feeling a huge rush of air and an explosion blast through the place he was just standing, pelting him with rocks. The rough lava stone scraped against his body, leaving bloody scratches and gashes against his almost nude body as he rolled on the ground. Quickly, he scrambled to his feet, and whirled to face his attacker. Before him was a breathtaking, awe inspiring sight. At this divine scene, as he stood in naught but his undergarments, he couldn¡¯t help but let out a word of biblical wonderment. ¡°Fuck, dude, what kind of drugs did you take to get muscles that big?¡± Indeed, before him was a mountain of a man, easily eight feet tall and thicker than a professional body builder. An unkept, short beard framed a square, primal face. His long, wild hair fluttered in the wind, giving him a feral appearance. In his hands he held a massive claymore, embedded deeply into the volcanic rock. A faint red aura was exuded from his eyes and around his body. The man, who previously wore a serious expression, suddenly broke out in a wide smile and let go of his sword, leaving it sticking out of the stone. A deafening blast rang out as he clapped his meaty hands, causing a shockwave to hit David, nearly knocking him over. ¡°Congratulations!¡±, the man said in an oddly high pitched voice. ¡°Not many mortals can dodge my first strike so perfectly, or even at all! I, Bruno, Deias of war, battle, and strength, hereby pronounce you, David Jon Tailor, to be our candidate for championship!¡± David stared at him for a moment, before saying, ¡°Does it come with health benefits? I¡¯m kind of desperate for a job right now, but I do like to keep my teeth clean.¡± Bruno, Deias of war, battle, and strength, did not so much as twitch. However, his body did turn into shimmering particles of light. In fact, the whole dreamscape started to disintegrate slowly. When only Bruno¡¯s gigantic feet were left, his strangely pitched voice rang out once again. ¡±You will soon meet my companion in the mortal realm. I hope that you will consider our offer, David Jon Tailor.¡± ¡°Listen man, as long as the pay is decent, you¡¯ve got me hooked.¡±, David replied sarcastically, a smirk on his face. Even in the face of godly smiting, his snide nature was undeterred. Before his final words hand been said, David himself began turning into motes of light, starting from his hands. It moved up his arms, to his shoulders, and when it began to eat into his head, everything went black. David opened his eyes. And found himself looking at a familiar ceiling. His alarm was blaring loudly, the clock showing 6:31 AM. He rolled out of bed groggily and began putting on some casual clothing. He had a lecture in the morning today, and didn¡¯t intend to miss it, even if he was tired enough to pass out halfway through. Despite getting over 9 hours of sleep the night before, David felt like he had hardly slept at all. ¡°Weird...¡±, he mumbled. ¡°I can remember the whole thing perfectly. I don¡¯t normally remember dream at all, let alone remember them so clearly the morning after.¡± David sighed and moved into the kitchen, barely keeping his eyes from shutting. He had planned on making a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage, but he felt it was probably a bad idea. He didn¡¯t feel very hungry, and was tired enough that he¡¯d probably fall asleep in the eggs, so he grabbed a simple piece of toast instead, and slathered it with liberal amounts of blueberry jam. David grabbed his laptop case and stuck the toast in his mouth before trudging out the door dejectedly. His apartment building, a dingy little thing that must have been at least a decade old, was located in the sketchier part of downtown. The roads were thin and riddled with cracks and potholes, though to the car-less David it wasn¡¯t much of an inconvenience. What was annoying was the fact that the nearest bus stop was two miles away, and the ride to UBC was twenty minutes long. Fortunately, David had lived in the area for four years, and knew all of the shortcuts. He shuffled out the heavy front door of the building and took a right, turning around the corner and into a long dirty alleyway. He was a few meters in when he began hearing a weird bird call. To David, it sounded like a seagull that had a really bad cold. Suddenly there was a rush of air above his head, and a black crow looking bird landed on the metal fence on his right. ¡°Shit, you almost took my damn head off, you asshole crow!¡±, David said to the bird accusingly. The bird snorted, and replied in a feminine voice, ¡°Hmph, this form is a proud raven, you ignorant mortal. Do not mistake me for one of those of lower life forms.¡± David glared at the raven, and said, ¡°I don¡¯t care what the hell you are, be careful where you¡¯re flying!¡± With a final annoyed glance at the bird, David continued on his way. The raven turned it¡¯s head slowly to watch him, and when he was a few meters away, it took off, and landed on his shoulder. David sighed, but let it have its perch. The raven stared at him curiously. ¡°Most mortals would be more shocked at the appearance of an avian creature able to communicate.¡±, it said in a deadpan voice. ¡°Well, hey, maybe I¡¯m not most mortals. I¡¯ve almost definitely got a few screws loose if I¡¯m talking to a bird. Maybe this is all a hallucination due to sleep deprivation.¡±, David replied. ¡°While you are certainly more extraordinary than most mortals, I assure you that I am quite real.¡±, the raven said, unblinking. David shrugged, nearly shaking the raven off his shoulder, and said, ¡°That¡¯s what a hallucination would say. How are you gonna prove to me that you¡¯re telling the truth?¡± The raven squawked, and ruffled it¡¯s feathers. ¡°Very well. I will teleport you to your place of learning. However, my power in this realm is limited, and this feat will drain me. I may not be able to perform any more miracles afterwards.¡±, it said after a moment. David stopped and looked at it without much expectation. ¡°Go on then. It¡¯ll save me the bus ride at least.¡±, he said. The raven spread it¡¯s wings, and a slight buzzing sound began around them. The air began to distort, and when the buzzing was almost unbearably loud, it suddenly stopped, and David was somewhere else. More specifically, the roof of his university building. David stared out at the skyline from his new vantage point for a moment, then checked his watch. Six thirty nine. One minute after he left his apartment. ¡°Huh.¡±, he said. ¡°Thanks. You saved me a dollar seventy five in bus fare.¡± The raven sighed. It looked visibly worn out, head drooping, wings limp. ¡°I am Unora, Deias of wisdom and shadow, it would do you well not to mistake me as a simple transportation service. I will not be doing this again.¡±, Unora said tiredly. ¡°Coolio. I guess you¡¯re that muscle dude from last night¡¯s pal, huh?¡±, asked David. ¡°Indeed. Bruno and I are companions. We are here to take you to another world.¡±, Unora said flatly. David paused. ¡°So you are a transportation service!¡± David Chapter 2: The Pizza Boy Strikes Again! Hvethrungr here again. Man, three straight hours of writing later, and I''m totally mentally drained. All I had the energy for was to toss this through a spell check. I probably should have started earlier. Oh well. For those of you who don''t read ANUC (probably all of you...), I have a new writing schedule. Every Tuesday and Friday (Fridays are for any other projects I have, but until I come up with a new one it will be this) I''ll be writing a new chapter of Throne. I''ll probably be heavily editing these two chapters tomorrow, when I have the energy. Happy reading! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ¡°Allow me to elaborate.¡±, began Unora. They were still on the roof. David had sat down cross legged, while Unora perched on the ground in front of him. Despite his attitude, David was interested in what she had to say. ¡°My companions and I are what you mortals refer to as gods, similar to those in your pantheons, though the proper term is Deia. Each of us Deia holds equal and unmeasurable power, the likes of which mortals cannot comprehend. For as long as any of us can remember, we have been watched over by God, a being of strength greater even than our own. Now, God is dead, and a grand tournament is being held to determine which Deia will take the throne, and become the new God. One hundred mortals from earth will be chosen by Deia and transported to Gaia, a world ten times the size of Earth, one filled with magic and the creatures that fill your dreams and nightmares. When one thousand years has passed, the champion that holds sway over the most amount of Gaia will be given the right to choose the new God. We would like you, David Jon Tailor, to be our champion in this tournament.¡± David rocked back on his butt, taking in all the new information. True to his nature, it did not take very long. ¡°Alright, why not? Sounds fun. Are you ready to go?¡±, he said with a smile. Unora stared at him for a moment. ¡°There is one thing I did not mention. You can not take your body with you. Only the soul may travel the road between worlds. In other words, you must die.¡±, she said dramatically. David stopped. ¡°Dang. I¡¯ve only just got used to this body too!¡±, he grinned. If ravens could look confused, Unora¡¯s avian face would be twisted in it at that moment. ¡°You... Would face death with so little thought?¡±, she asked hesitantly. ¡°Hmm? Well sure, being dead¡¯s probably not all that bad. Plus, if you¡¯re telling the truth, I¡¯ll get to live at least another thousand years after I die. I wonder if they have ice cream in Gaia. I hope so, I love ice cream.¡±, David replied. Unora sighed. This man was slowly getting on her divine nerves. ¡°If you wish, we can create you a body on Gaia that is identical to the one you have now.¡± ¡°Oh, cool, how does that work? Are you going to birth out a little mini me?¡± A grinding sound could almost be heard as Unora gritted her nonexistent teeth. ¡°You had best hurry and die, then. There are already three champions in Gaia. Once that number reaches one hundred, you will no longer be able to participate.¡± ¡°Three pre-jacks already, huh? Better get moving then. Hmm, what¡¯s the funniest way I could die on short notice?¡±, David wondered aloud. He got up and brushed himself off, then had a sudden idea. ¡±Oh, perfect! I¡¯ll go pay those red bugs a visit.¡± ¡°Wait!¡±, Unora called out. David turned around with an eyebrow raised. ¡°As our champion, you have the right to choose any three powers. These powers will be implanted onto your soul, so even if you die, as long as you can find another vessel, you will keep them. These powers can be anything you can imagine, though it will be easier to implant them onto you the more meaningful they are to you.¡± David grinned. ¡°Oh, cool! Can I shoot lasers out of my eyes and stuff?¡±, he asked excitedly. ¡°If... You wish. Though that would be a very unwise use of our gift. We shall meet again after your death, so think upon it as you travel. At that, he nodded to her and jogged down the university stairs, leaving Unora to her own devices on the roof. When she was alone, she sighed, and muttered mournfully, ¡°Why couldn¡¯t he have found a normal mortal for once?¡± David stood in front of a beat up warehouse somewhere in the harbour area. On the front door was a crudely painted red scorpion. Somewhere along the way, David had managed to acquire a Pizza Hut cap and pizza box, and a wooden baseball bat. He knocked on the door with the bat confidently, and heard shuffling and cursing coming from within. ¡°Who the hell is it?!¡±, a voice called from within. ¡°Pizza delivery!¡±, David called back. ¡°The fuck? Who the hell¡¯s ordering pizza at three o¡¯clock?! I fucking swear, if it was that motherfucker Jerry again, I¡¯ll kick his goddamn ass.¡±, as the man spoke, David could hear him unlocking multiple locks. The door swung open, revealing a thin young man with a scraggly beard and baggy red clothing. ¡°Alright, the fuck you got for me, kid.¡±, he asked, looking bored. David smiled widely at him, and said brightly, ¡°A trip to the hospital!¡± The man looked blankly at him. David though he might need waking up, so he smashed his bat into the man¡¯s balls. Then he made a girly squealing noise, so David bashed him in the side of the head, then a few more times as he went down. David cracked his neck a few times and took a deep breath, smiling widely. Nothing like a bit of senseless violence to brighten your day! He opened the pizza box, and wrinkled his nose. ¡°Ew, hawaiian. You can keep that.¡±, he said, and dumped the pizza on the man¡¯s bleeding head. David whistled a merry tune as he entered the warehouse, only slightly disappointed in the nature of the looted pizza. Through the door, he found himself in a sparse room, populated only with a single wooden chair and a few cigarette butts. On the other end of the room was a second door, which David promptly opened, finding himself in a short hallway. When he did so, he heard a voice from around the left corner. ¡°Yo Bo, is¡¯at my pizza?¡± There was muffled shuffling, and another voice called out, ¡°Fuck Jerry, you ordered pizza again?! This is the third fucking time today!¡± ¡°Shit, man. When a man gets hungry, he gets hungry, or something. ¡®Sides, pizza¡¯s good for you. It¡¯s got... y¡¯know... Protein and shit.¡±, the first voice answered. David grinned darkly, and cleared his throat. He adopted an angry expression, and shouted around the corner, mimicking the doorman¡¯s voice, ¡°Yeah Jer, I got your shitty pizza up here. If you want it, you gotta get off your fuckin¡¯ ass and get it!¡± ¡°Fuuuuck, man! I don¡¯t got time for that shit, just bring it over here!¡±, Jerry shouted. ¡°Fuck you! I ain¡¯t your goddamn delivery boy!¡±, David shouted back in Bo¡¯s voice. There was no reply for a moment, then David heard springs creaking and muffled swearing coming from around the corner. Loud footfalls echoed in a slow beat, as somebody heavy walked down the hall toward him. David waited casually around the corner, and soon a very large man in red clothing walked around the corner. He spotted David, and froze. ¡°Shit, Bo, did ya finally shave?¡±, he asked, confused. David smiled pleasantly at him, and said in Bo¡¯s voice, ¡°Fuck naw, Bo¡¯s outside knocked the fuck out.¡± Jerry looked confused for a moment. David took this opportunity to bash his bat up into his chin, while saying, ¡°Here¡¯s your goddamn pizza, motherfucker.¡± Jerry¡¯s eyes rolled back, and he fell back slowly, knocked out cold before he even hit the ground. When he did land, it made a loud thump, making David cringe. Fortunately, it didn¡¯t seem to have alerted the other men in the next room. David looked through Jerry¡¯s body, but found only his wallet and an old pizza crust in his left back pocket. Somewhat disappointed that he didn¡¯t find a better weapon, David took off his shoes and stuffed them into his backpack quietly. Soundlessly, he crept along the left wall and made his way over to where he had heard the voices coming from. A dozen steps later, he found himself looking into a small room. Two ratty couches, a coffee table, and an old television sat in the room. From his vantage point, David could see a red capped head poking up over the back of the couch. From the man¡¯s position, there was no way he could see David. He readied his bloody bat and made his way across the room to the brown couch. On his way, David noticed that brown didn¡¯t seem to be the couch¡¯s original colour. When he was directly behind the sitting man, David lifted the bat above his head, ready to strike. Suddenly, a voice called out from the other side of the room. ¡°Da fuck?!¡± David¡¯s head snapped over, and found a gangster in a previously unseen doorway staring at him incredulously from across the room. Suddenly, the man reached behind him, and David slammed the bat down on the couch man¡¯s head swiftly and brutally. A sickening crunch could be heard, and David ducked behind the couch just in time, as the doorway man pulled out a handgun and let loose three shots. Unfortunately for David, stained couches are not very bulletproof. Two of the small bullets blasted through the poor furniture and missed him by a mile, but one managed to skim his side, leaving a bleeding gash. Acting quickly, David pushed against the couch with all his strength, and rolled it over, leaving a very dead gangster ripe for the pickings. David lifted up the back of the man¡¯s gang jersey, and found a small handgun tucked into his pants. He grabbed the handgun, and checked the chamber, finding it loaded. He also found that gangsters like to keep their guns tucked into their pants with the safety off. David crawled over to the side of the couch, and took a deep breath. He had never fired a gun before, but how hard could it be? He swung his body around the couch, and aimed at the doorway. The man had moved up to the coffee table, and David had to swing his aim a bit to hit him. He pulled the trigger. The deafening sound of the shot jolted his arms, but he managed to hold on, and even let loose a few more shots. David saw the man jerk twice as a bullet went through his left shoulder, then right into the center of the chest. The man went down clutching at his chest. As his hearing came back, David could hear the man coughing and gurgling softly. He got up and began to walk over, keeping his gun aimed at the downed man. When he saw the gangster try to lift his arm, David sent four more shots into him, this time all of them solid hits. One of them must have gone into his heart, because the man stopped moving. David didn¡¯t move for a minute, letting his racing heartbeat calm down. ¡°Number three of the bucket list, get into a gunfight. Check!¡±, David grinned. David knew he couldn¡¯t wait for long, people were bound to have heard the gun shots. So, he pried the second handgun out of the dead gangster''s hand and moved to the hallway the man had come from. David frowned as he examined it. It was long, and empty of hiding spots. Probably to trap intruders like him. He shrugged. He was here to die anyway. He moved into the deathtrap, a pistol in each hand pointing down it. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. When he was halfway through, a man sprinted around the corner, a rifle in his hands. He looked surprised as he saw David in the hallway, and tried to lift his gun. David reacted first, and sent a hail of bullets down the hall. Unfortunately, as he found out quickly, it wasn¡¯t very easy to aim with a gun in each hand. Bullets flew haphazardly, hitting the walls, floor, and ceiling, often not hitting anywhere near his intended target. He didn¡¯t stop shooting, though, even as a rifle bullet screamed past his ear, even as one of his own bullets lodged itself in the head of his target. His hearing slowly came back once again, and he noticed that no more bullets were firing out of his pistols. Instead, a light clicking only sounded as he pulled the triggers. He promptly dropped his weapons and sprinted down the hallway. Unfortunately, before he could get his hands on a new weapon, another man came around the corner. Instead of a gun, however, he held in his hands a longsword of all things. David grinned confidently. ¡°Guess I¡¯m getting some early lessons in swordplay¡±, he muttered to himself, and continued sprinting. The new enemy, who had been looking at david in shock, glanced at his feet, and noticed his dead companion. Shock turned to rage, and he rushed at David, sword held overhead ready to strike at him. They met a few meters from the dead rifleman. The sword wielder swung his sword down hard, aiming for David¡¯s head. At the last second, David twisted right, barely dodging the sword and slipping past the man. He kept running. David dropped to his knees and slid the last meter to his target: the rifle. He picked it up, prying the dead man¡¯s hand off the trigger, and lifted it up, aiming at his new target. The man, seeing this, grimaced and held his hands up in terror. When David pulled the trigger, however, a dull clack came from the gun instead. ¡°Fuck.¡±, David swore as he noticed the bolt on the right of the gun. Realizing he wasn¡¯t dead yet, the man with the sword rushed at him with a cry, holding the sword with the point towards David. David grabbed the bolt, trying desperately to figure out how to pull it back. The man was only a meter from him now, and with a ¡°Fuck it.¡±, David hopped to his feet and blocked the incoming sword with the wooden stock of the rifle. It stuck in deeply, the sword bending deeply, but not breaking. David kicked out with all his strength at the man¡¯s knee, and felt a satisfying snap. The man cried out in pain, and let go of the sword in favour of holding his inverted knee. David swung the rifle, hitting the man in the face with the barrel of the rifle, and he went down groaning. After a moment of indecision, David abandoned the rifle in favour of prying the sword out of the gun. With a feat of strength, he managed to pull it out, and ran the rest of the way to the end of the hallway, turning the corner with abandon. He was met with a hail of gunfire, and a bullet slammed into his shoulder, spinning him back around the corner. He slumped back against the wall, holding his shoulder, blood leaking between his fingers. Sighing, David wondered what he could possibly do to turn the situation around. He had only caught a glimpse of it, but about ten meters down the hallway around the corner were three men. Two had some kind of one handed gun, but the man in the middle held a semi-automatic rifle. How the hell he had managed to get ahold of one in Canada, David had no idea. However, upon reviewing the situation, he did have an idea of how to deal with it. The answer was laying next to him in a pool of blood. David looked up to the ceiling, a solemn look on his face. ¡°Look¡¯s like this is the end of the road, huh?¡± Slowly, his mouth stretched into a grin. ¡°At least I¡¯ll go out with a bang.¡± With that, he moved over to the dead gangster. He put his left arm around the man¡¯s torso, just under his armpits, and heaved, lifting him off the ground. David grunted in effort. ¡®Damn, lay off the pizza, guys.¡¯, he thought bitterly as he struggled with the weight. David hugged the dead man to him with his left arm, holding the sword loosely with his right. He took a few short breaths to hype himself up, and then ran around the corner. The gangsters started shooting immediately. Time seemed to slow down, and David wondered if they had been waiting for reinforcements, since they hadn¡¯t moved an inch in the time he was preparing. Then a bullet slammed into his left arm and everything sped up. The body he held jerked as bullet after bullet went into it, but for the most part, none of them managed to get all the way through. A sharp pain in his calf was all the warning he got as the shooters switch to firing at his legs. They were torn to shreds, and David screamed in agony. He began falling, and used what strength he had left to hurl the sword he held at the rifleman in the middle. He felt a slight bit of satisfaction at the sight of it going through the man¡¯s throat before one of them put a bullet through his head, and everything went dark. It was a bit like waking up after a deep sleep, except he couldn''t¡¯ feel, see or really use any of his senses except hearing. In fact, he only knew that because a familiar voice spoke in his ear once he regained consciousness. ¡°A valiant effort. If you were a warrior on Gaia I might''ve revived you so I could watch you fight some more. You should have gone for the rifle, though. David tried to speak, but found he was unable to. So, he just thought his answer back. ¡®Couldn¡¯t figure out how to use the damn thing. You might not have noticed, but I¡¯m not exactly a firearms expert. Was not, I suppose. I am dead, right?¡¯ ¡°Indeed.¡±, stated the voice of Bruno. ¡°Your mission to die was a spectacular success.¡± ¡°Yes.¡±, came the Unora¡¯s voice, from slightly further away. ¡°I have placed you in a temporary astral construct. In about 3 minutes, It will disperse and your soul will once more be free to move. Now, before we waste any more time chatting, what abilities do you wish for? And please tell me you put some thought into it beforehand.¡± ¡®Of course I did! What do you take me for, some sort of hooligan?¡¯, David thought, pretending to be offended. A barely audible ¡°Yes.¡± came from the darkness, but David pretended he hadn¡¯t heard her. ¡®So then, I¡¯ll take, uhhh... What was it again?¡¯, he paused, thinking. ¡®Double cheeseburger with fries? No, that wasn¡¯t it. Oh, right! I¡¯d like Immortality, since I don¡¯t wanna go searching for it while I¡¯m there, the ability to learn things really fast, and the power to create any object I can imagine.¡± There was silence, and an odd sound David thought resembled somebody typing on a keyboard. ¡°Are you certain those are the powers you want?¡±, Unora asked him. ¡°Hmm. I would have thought you would choose a combat ability.¡±, Bruno chipped in. ¡®I can always learn to fight, but I can¡¯t learn to create things out of thin air or live forever, now can I? And yeah, lock me in.¡¯, David replied. Bruno laughed a deep rumbling laugh, contrary to his regular speaking voice, and mumbled, ¡°Indeed, indeed.¡± David got the faint impression that Unora was surprised at his words, but before he could mock her, a blue screen appeared in front of him.
Name: David Jon TailorClass: N/A
Titles:
Warrior to the End
Health: N/AMana: N/AStamina: N/ASoul level: Mortal
Physical Status:Soul Status (non deteriorating):
N/ABlessed, Powered, Reincarnated
Blessings: 3 (Limit 30)Deia Patrons: 3 (no limit)Powers: 3 (limit: 3)Followers: 0
Strength (Physical): N\AEndurance (Physical): N/ADexterity (Physical): N/AAgility (Physical): N/A
Mana Pool Size: N/AMental Resistance: N/ALife Energy: N/AConjure Object (Reset Timer): N/A
Powers
Immortality (Lesser)
The holder of this power will have an infinite lifespan. This power automatically repairs cell and DNA degeneration due to old age. The holder will take damage and heal from physical trauma normally.
Conjure Object
Once per day, the user may conjure any object he can imagine within a 30cm cubed area. The detail, mechanics, and physical nature of the object are up to the user¡¯s power of imagination and their understanding of the object they are attempting to conjure.
Quick Learner
The user is able to learn new subjects 5 to 20 times the regular rate depending on the nature of the subject and length of time learning would normally take. The longer it would take for a regular person to learn a subject, the faster the user will be able to do so.
¡°That is your stat screen.¡±, Unora stated. ¡°We Deia use it to keep track of our power and influence. While your version is a lesser model, we have collectively deemed it useful for the champions to have access to it.¡± As David scanned through the screen, he noticed some things regarding his new powers. ¡®I guess you can¡¯t just make the champions OP as heck.¡¯, he thought, more to himself than anything. Indeed, the powers were slightly more restrictive than what he had imagined, but was, ultimately, more than he had expected when he first decided to go through with this. ¡°Your temporary body is dispersing now. Your new body is complete as well. You may find some slight disorientation and discomfort when moving in, but it should pass quickly. Oh, I forgot to mention something. During the thousand year period the tournament is held in, we Deia will only be able to contact you directly a total of one thousand times. I wish you luck, David Jon Tailor.¡±, Unora said quickly. David was confused, he certainly didn¡¯t feel like he was dying again, though he supposed that was a good thing. Dying hurt a lot the first time around. Then, everything went dark again. Before his consciousness had completely faded, however, a soft feminine voice almost like a child¡¯s, giggled and said, ¡°Good luck, my little champion!¡± He felt a slight burning pain, like someone had touched a hot pan to his entire body at once, and then it was gone. David¡¯s eyes snapped open. Instead of a hospital ceiling or the faces of angels, David was treated to the sight of a wide blue sky. He sat up, feeling a little unbalanced, and took stock of his surroundings. He was completely naked, sitting on top of a grassy knoll surrounded by dense forest. David looked at his loose dangly bits, then shook his fist at the sky, shouting, ¡°Why couldn¡¯t you have birthed me with some clothes on, ya damn bird!¡± Royala Chapter 1: Outgoing Girl Author''s Note: Hey, DarkSun here for anyone who know me. I''ve joined this merry crew on a whim and am not certain where I''m going, but my plan is to have some fun. Hope you can join me in that ^^ This here below is my attempt at a character I''ve never tried before, and also first person point of view. I have to thank Aaron for helping me with making it more legible, and that''s all I have to say. Probably. Enjoy! ***** ¡°Help! Please, someone!¡± The voice sounded out loudly with hiccups interrupting it at times, but not enough for the words to be misunderstood. The voice echoed through the whole alley, sounding through the empty long-winding streets and dead-ends. ¡°Please, I beg of you! Stop! Don¡¯t!¡± I had no plan to get myself into a fight today but the voice was just so loud, it was interrupting my peaceful night time stroll and I just wanted it to shut up. Why couldn¡¯t I just walk around in this damn city without anything happening for just one night? Oh right, I lived in the worst city of the country right now. That might have something to do with the fact that whenever I went out, screams for help were constantly in the background. They were so common here that most people didn¡¯t even bother to differentiate between them and the sound of cars passing by. It was just that normal for this place. After all, it was this idiot¡¯s fault for walking into an alley. Taking a shorter path through allys in this city was the same as signing your own death warrant. Unsurprising with the Mafia pressence, corrupted cops, hooligans and random passing crazy people making up the majority of the population of the city. ¡°No! No! Stop! Please! Aghghgh!¡± And I had thought, they would already be done by now. The screams reverberated through the night air, promising to stay a long while longer before coming to an end. The show seemed to have only just started. Well, it¡¯s no fault of mine if I crash it then. They should have found a better place to play than near me, after all. It had been a couple months since I came here, and I had harvested a reputation for myself as one that didn¡¯t play around or play fair. If I saw anyone I don¡¯t like, they didn¡¯t get to die of old age. I noted the direction the sound was coming from and jogged there without any real hurry, my prey wasn¡¯t going to be going anywhere for a while. It would be new if they even saw me coming this time, usually, they were so engrossed in their own sick games that they never saw me at all. What unfortunate souls. Another turn and there they were. Three men stood around laughing amongst one another. One of them was holding a woman by her hands, while the other was tearing her clothes away. She was screaming, crying, and trying to push the man away with her lower body, but it only seemed to excite him more. He was part of the human scum that was inhibiting this city, scum like him were all wrong in the head. Amid all the thrashing, the woman noticed my form behind the man and shouted for me to help her. Well, that forced my hand. I didn¡¯t have the time to waste thinking about this citys many flaws, and had to act before the men decided to first. I was good, but I was still a petite young woman and there was a limit to my strength compared to them. In quick succession, I unstrapped both of my metal fans my belt and sliced at the exposed necks of the two men standing before me. The cuts were deep enough that I felt confident that they were fatal so I stopped paying attention to those two, refocusing on the third one still standing before me. He had turned around to face me, reaching for his gun. No chance, hero. I dashed forward, kicking the legs off him. Damn, that hurt. Why are men all so hard? It¡¯s as if I¡¯m hitting metal! As he fell, I jumped on him and sliced at his neck since that was the best spot open. His chest could have made a good strike, but embedding the blades of my fan into the heart was always a danger, I had learnt that lesson from experience. You never knew when they might get stuck, and there was always the downside of the opening that was made from the time it took me to pull the fans out after a strike like that. Resting for a moment on my newest kill, I turned to see what the last two men alive were doing. The female had stopped screaming and she as well as the other two men were now staring at me wide-eyed. Idiots... I adjusted my grip on the fans and threw them full force at the two men¡¯s hearts. Bull¡¯s eye! And Royala saves the day once more! Both fans hit their marks, embedding a number of blades into the men¡¯s chests. They coughed, reached for the fans with their hands, and tried to get them out. Unfortunately for them, the blades were stuck deep, and the men were quickly running out of the energy and life to do anything about that. I stood up dusting my mini-skirt off and went to slice their necks to finish them off quickly, before i wrenched my fans out of there corpses. The weapons came out with a wet sucking sound and I saw blood dripping all over them. Again. I should really take better care of them... I cleaned them off with the cleanest shirt of the five men, and glanced over my night¡¯s work deeming it a decent hunt. It wasn¡¯t planned but I had some fun. These wimps hadn¡¯t even known what hit them, it was kind of pathetic really given there were five of them here. They had been like little children faced with the demon from under their beds, unable to do anything much more than stare in horror at it. I laughed at that image, and strapping my fans to their place to the belt on the skirt I left the alley. The woman laying on the ground was trying to say something, but I ignored her. If she was smart, she¡¯d leave this spot as fast as her legs could carry her. Otherwise, I was sure another group of scum just like this last group would be quick to find a use for her. That was just the kind of city this was. Ahh, this type of stuff truly makes me feel alive. I love this place! ---------------- This morning I woke up with a start, checking the alarm clock in a hurry. Father was going to be waiting for me in the cafe in the opposite building from my apartment today. He was coming back from some kind of writer meeting in a nearby city and was passing through this way to meet with his beloved daughter on his way back home. I tried to remember the last time I had talked to him one on one but couldn¡¯t recall the occasion, It must have been years ago. It was strange how time passes when one doesn¡¯t let school, university, a job, or meeting with family cut into it. It just seems to blur into one long blob that never seems to change or has a clear end. No eager waiting for one thing to happen or another. Everything just was, and that was all. Whatever, I need to get ready before I¡¯m late. Time to look at that mirror... Damn, I look like a mess. And these grey streaks in my hair aren¡¯t making it any better. Why did I get to inherit the genes from my mother that meant I started to go grey before even turning eighteen. That¡¯s just disgusting. Grumbling to myself, I took a shower, dried my hair and drank tea while watching the news. The world was the same as always, everything still at peace, car accidents happening as usual, and a few people getting robbed two cities over. Just another day on this dull planet. At least, I was in the only city that had some real excitement. Life and death here were bargaining chips that held no value, personal strength and lack of morality were what ruled the streets here. It was a place like no other. It was a blessing that I stumbled upon this place before growing completely mad with boredom. Another alarm clock rang signalling there was half an hour left before the meeting. That was faster than I expected. I quickly applied some make-up to hide the dark rings under my eyes and make my face more feminine, then put on the first clothes that my hands grabbed in the wardrobe. My outfit for today turned out to be a blue t-shirt with flowing fabric over my shoulders and greyish pants that went just past my knees, a silver necklace that mum had gifted me, and a matching bracelet from father. With that and a quick glance at the mirror, I was done. Perfect. I rushed out of my apartment, going down three stairs at a time until I reached the ground floor. Outside I dashed through the street, ignoring traffic and the horns honking at my suicidal dash. At this time of day the city was like any other, so I saw no reason to pay it any mind. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Half a minute before the agreed upon time I was sitting at the agreed upon table, a genuine smile on my face. Father was just entering the cafe and I waved to show him I was here. He lumbered towards me, a pained smile on his face. ¡°Royala! It¡¯s so good to see you again,¡± he said as I stood up to hug him as he came closer. ¡°You never come back to visit us.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say that,¡± I admonished him with a laugh. ¡°I just wanted to read you next novel that much. It would be a great injustice to myself and other readers to interrupt you!¡± ¡°Always with an excuse,¡± he said, giving me a mock angry look as he lowered himself down. The whole process took over a minute and I knew his back problems had resurfaced. All that sitting with the computer in the weirdest positions while writing day and night couldn¡¯t have been good for his health. ¡°How is mum?¡± I asked instead. There were topics better talked about, and others left untouched. His writing habits and the amount of time he spent doing it was one of the ones best not to touch on. Father leaned against the back of the lounge with a heavy sigh, looking around the cafe with avid interest. He was probably thinking that this was a good setting for some event in one of his gazillion stories. ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯s fine. She is painting that death of the current age painting she has been talking so much about. It will be her masterpiece, or so I¡¯m told.¡± That was five years ago. The painting was seen as her entrance into the higher echelons of artists and she had become even busier after that if that was possible. It seems it was her masterpiece since she apparently hasn¡¯t talked with father in all that time. Not that he has noticed either, apparently. Their love was one of those weird spirit connections were mere proxmity was enough for them. I had often wondered what prompted them into having me but could never figure that out. And I had never dared to actually ask, afraid the answer would make me want to jump off some bridge from its stupidity. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time some action of theirs muddled my senses and pushed me to questioning the intelligence of these two renowned artists I called my parents. Noticing my silence, father took my left hand in his and looked into my eyes. ¡°How are you? Is the city treating you well?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± I answered with a smile. It was moments like these that made me keep on going when I was so bored I just wanted to off myself and be done with this world. ¡°I have made a lot of friends, and this city is full of opportunities . I have tried three jobs already and I¡¯m certain the next one will be the one. It¡¯s looking very promising.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad,¡± he said, squeezing my hand as the waiter approached. We both ordered chocolate ice cream cocktails and laughed at our own childishness. We talked about his upcoming novel, how the beta-readers were treating it and that the publisher was pushing him into finishing it before the end of the month. He was planning on working on another novel just to annoy the man since he was so focused on making money and didn¡¯t consider the true meaning of the stories. I listened to his rants while drinking my cocktail and enjoyed this quiet moment with my father. Soft music rang in the background, mixing together with the voices of the few other customers present. Father¡¯s voice was the most distinct one but in time it also faded into meaningless noise for me as I smiled at him. He was so into his tale, he forgot everything around him. It was as if this encounter with his publisher was just another one of the stories he had to tell the world, in this case me, and nothing else mattered. An atomic bomb could drop on the building next to us and hours later he would still be here, finishing his tale and oblivious to the rest of the world. That was just how important it was to him. When he was finished, I pointed at his cocktail with a laugh. The ice cream had melted, leaving a brownish mass that didn¡¯t look edible anymore. Father smiled nervously and took a quick sip. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I must have bored you to death with my problems.¡± ¡°Not at all!¡± I assured him, reaching to pat his hand as he had done to me before. ¡°I¡¯m happy to hear how your life has been while I¡¯ve been gone. It almost makes me feel like I¡¯m back home.¡± ¡°You sure? Our time is almost over, and I have taken all this time just talking about my own problems...¡± he said with eyes looking everywhere but at me. ¡°I¡¯m certain,¡± I told him once more and called for the waiter so I could pay for the order. Father didn¡¯t say anything, knowing that I was the one who had his and mother¡¯s credit cards anyway. It was pointless to protest me paying. It was afternoon by now and the sun had long since moved past its zenith, hiding behind the skyscrapers. I led father towards the train station, talking about all the unimportant stuff and imagined encounters I had in this city. It wasn¡¯t important for him to know the true life I led here. He wouldn¡¯t worry too much but I was certain he¡¯d feel double the grief once I died if he¡¯d known about my actions but hadn¡¯t stopped me. When he left with a wave, I went to a restaurant for an early dinner and afterwards returned back home. Sleep beckoned me and I tried to let it overcome me but old thoughts invaded my peace. Friends, a job? Who needed that? It¡¯s all just a huge waste of time. I had seen the people in school and what caricatures they were. So focused on grades, learning things that didn¡¯t matter and acting out clich¨¦s in their free time, it was just too disgusting to watch. There had been a few more decent human beings I met in my travels but after the journey ended for them they all returned to finish universities, find jobs and live their lives chained to society¡¯s norms. Not one of them felt like it was dull and pointless. Not like me, i wondered what life was even worth if one just let it pass by like that? ¡°Stop it, you¡¯ll never fall asleep like this...¡± I muttered to myself, rolling on another shoulder. I loved my parents but encounters with them always reminded me of things I couldn¡¯t understand, like how humanity thought as a whole. The lies I spun to keep them calm just made me more aware of this truth. ¡°Enough!¡± I ordered, going to the kitchen and taking a swig from the bottle I always kept there. Cold alcohol brought a sense of wakefulness and putting on my sport¡¯s garb, I went to the other room. Half of it was better equipped than most sport centres while the other half was empty. I went straight there and picked up my training fans. They were heavier than the normal ones and I fell into a stance taught to me by that weird woman that lived in my old city. Whatever faults she may have had, they meant nothing when compared to her skill. It was astonishing, and with what she taught me I was able to get rid of people before they even knew what was happening. No one expected a short thin girl in her early twenties to jump into a fight holding fans. It was as ludicrous as it was effective. I could kill five men before they even managed to wrap their heads around what was even happening. If only my teacher hadn¡¯t died so early, that number might be even higher now. She was such a stupid woman, telling me to attack her whenever I had the chance. It shouldn¡¯t have come as a surprise to her then when one day I caught her sleeping and threw my fans into her back upon quiet entrance. Oh, but how she had raged. that was probably the most dangerous moment in my life. She hadn¡¯t died from the first strike and grabbing the weapons by her bedside rushed at me. My own fans had been thrown, leaving me defenceless against her onslaught. All I could do back then was dodge and evade, unable to block or fight back. But that was a mistake of the past. I recalled her movements and mimicked them against an imaginary opponent. Swing left, bend the knees, a backwards swing with a block using the hand. Move with the flow of motion and just don¡¯t stop. The moment you do, it¡¯s all over. I didn¡¯t check the time when I finished training and just dropped into the bed, dead to the world. Some time later I woke up and a look outside showed that it was pitch black. So, I haven¡¯t slept through the best hunting time. Perfect. Quickly grabbing a bite, I prepared for the outing. Tonight¡¯s meal? Check. Distracting clothes? Check. Fans and a gun? Check. It seemed like I had everything prepared and it was right around midnight. that gave me plenty of time to have some fun, and still return before the first light of morning colored the sky. Father would want to hear from me I got back home. It would be his last check-up before forgetting about my existence for the next couple of years, or the next time he leaves his room. Whichever came first really. ¡°Let¡¯s have some fun till then.¡± Nick Chapter 4: The dawn of Nickolas Nightingale..... AaronDragon here..... Yaaaaaay!!!! i''m back and now all i have to do is write a whole new chapter 5 for Nick and wait for everyone to catch up to where i am story-wise..... Ah, the old waiting game...... Fun abounds...... anyway here''s some more of Nick........... Editing will happen sometime not now...... Enjoy!!!
Nick
It only took me a week to figure out some important things about myself and this new body. The first thing I learned is that I really don¡¯t have total control over it yet, and mostly do things by instinct no matter how embarrassing those things may be. I figured that one out day one, hard not to when I just kinda use the bathroom without any warning or control and whenever I see a nipple I go in to suck on it for milk without conscious thought or control. The second thing and most important thing I figured out about myself so far is that my mental power is a HUGE double edged sword. I can passively pick up emotions and especially strong thoughts without any real effort, intent, or desire, the only problem with that though is all that information is overwhelming my own mind and I can''t seem to ignore it or overcome that negative affect to do anything else. Then there¡¯s the fact that to actually read people¡¯s minds in the sense that I wanted to, like my being able to know their inner thoughts, motivations, secrets, and whatnot, requires active effort and intent on my part. I found that out when I actually tried reading my mother¡¯s mind my first day in this world, I could only get bits and pieces from her since I was so distracted with all the emotions I naturally pick up all the time now. Basically until I get used to the empathic feedback I¡¯m constantly getting when I¡¯m anywhere near people, my real mental manipulation and reading abilities are all but locked away to me. And the third thing that I noticed is that my own mind is outside of my own reach, it¡¯s like there is some huge impenetrable wall blocking me off from accessing it. I felt something somewhat similar from my mother¡¯s mind, but that time the resistance was next to nothing so a barely even noticed it was there. After trying and failing to gain access to my own mind with my ability a few times when I was alone and not bogged down to much by the emotions of everyone nearby, I figured that the impenetrable wall was due to my ridiculously high mental resistance stat. The wall protecting my mind didn''t keep me from thinking or anything I was used to doing with my mind before, but it did keep my mental probes out of my own head which kinda derailed my plan for perfect photographic memory. The final thing I noticed, and also the thing that made me unbelievably happy any and every time I thought about it, was so very simplistic, I had real parents who loved me unconditionally. I knew that they were my parents from what little I was able to read from my mother¡¯s mind, and I knew they actually loved me because whenever either of them was nearby I could feel their love for me bombard my mind almost overriding my ability to sense other emotions. I couldn''t even begin to describe the feeling that being loved like that brought me, especially because I had never really had something like that before and here I was now literally feeling that love constantly whenever my parents were around. The closest thing I could compare the love they had for me to was how I felt about Sarah in my past life, but their love actually seemed even stronger than what I had felt then. I had decided that I would do my best to return that familial love they gave me, but I wasn''t sure if I could give them that love unconditionally like they gave to me. I didn¡¯t even think there was such a thing as unconditional love until I felt it practically explode through my mind repeatedly, how was I ever supposed to feel something that I didn''t even believe was possible before just recently, let alone feel that way towards someone? So I resolved to just do my best, at the very least I had decided that I would return the happiness that the love they freely gave to me brought by being a good son to them. I didn''t just learn new things about myself though, during my first week in this world I also learned a bit about my surroundings although the fact I didn''t really understand what anyone was saying yet kinda limited what I could learn. Still, I was always good at picking things up just by watching, after all Sarah was the one who helped me to hone practically all of my interpersonal observational skills and she was so good it creeped people out. Firstly there were seven people in the house so far that I¡¯ve seen and know of. There were of course my parents, then two fairly young maids, a butler, and two men in armor that followed dad around sometimes I guessed were guards. I was sure that there were more people in this house just from what I could hear and all the random emotions I picked up, but then again I really didn''t know the range of my mental abilities yet and hearing wasn¡¯t the most accurate sense for judging something like this. I had decided to just assume that this house was large since I had only seen the room I was born in and the room I¡¯m staying in now, and based on the size of the room I currently shared with my parents, which was practically the size of an entire floor for the average house back on earth, it was probably fair to say the rest of the house was big too. Out of a mix of both boredom and a need to distract myself from all the emotions and feelings that I picked up, I took up people watching by my second day. The first people I really saw besides my parents were the two women I assumed were maids, or at least this world''s equivalent of maids, and they were both attractive women. One had a large chest that I knew from personal experience had plenty of milk, a kind face with soft subdued features, milky white skin, blue eyes, and short curly pink hair. The other was younger looking and didn''t really seem to talk all that much, she had cute features with a small button-like nose and soft looking cheeks, long dark green hair and eyes, and a slim figure. They were both always in matching black dress like outfits with an off white apron in the front. I had no clue what these two women were called, but I do know that they were fairly fond of me and gave off no emotions that would lead me to distrusting them. The man I believed was probably the butler I had only meet a few times while he was in the company of either mother or father. The man was older with his hair having more grey than brown, but he carried himself with a strength that seemed to refute his age. He had sharp defined features, well maintained and trimmed facial hair, grey eyes, a fit frame that showed the man had no shortage of muscle, and he always seemed to wear this sort of black tailcoat-trench coat suit thing. I hadn¡¯t seen the man smile once, but my father and mother seemed to like him, and I could feel his loyalty to our family screaming at me over all the other emotions I pick up whenever he¡¯s nearby so I figure I really don''t have anything to worry about from him. Then there were the two men who wore steel armor and showed up with my father sometimes when he returned to this room during the day. Both men were tall and looked like typical warriors in a fantasy game with their plated armor and swords strapped to their sides, one had brown hair and a small beard while the other was bald and seemed to scowl all the time. One of the guards would give off this annoyed feeling that I picked up on whenever he was nearby, and I had already decided that since I couldn¡¯t really tell which one that was I would watch out for both of them. The most fascinating thing I saw while people watching though was my mother, on my third day in this world I saw actual magic performed for the first time by my mother. At least I¡¯m fairly sure she used magic, that was the best explanation I could come up with for why when she was lighting a scented candle she just used her index finger which had suddenly burst into flames after she mumbled some gibberish. I already knew that magic was a thing that was probably as normal as science was on earth, but seeing it happen in person was still shocking and amazing all at once. Disregarding what I had seen from just people I hadn¡¯t really seen much of the house itself, but what I have seen, all of two rooms, has been fairly lavish and made with a mix of wood, stone and metal though at times these materials were practically fused together in ways that shouldn''t have been impossible. I figured that spoke about the level of technology available here, and the weird fusing effect probably meant that large scale construction was mainly done with magic in this world. After my first week in this world I had already decided what I needed to do first, and I had already begun to work at it. I needed to learn how to better control my mental ability, I knew that once I overcame the obstacle that my empathic nature posed I would probably have no problem using my power like I had originally intended. I had decided that since I couldn''t stop feeling others emotions I should work on tuning them out so that the feelings won''t overwhelm me, that way I can still tune into them and feel emotions when I chose to yet have those feelings fade into the background where they wouldn¡¯t impede me any time otherwise. I didn''t know how long it would take me, but the night of my seventh day in the world of Gaia I began to train myself to better use my abilities¡­
It had been a month or so now and I was beginning to make some serious progress in my mental training, something that really isn¡¯t all that surprising considering that the training was all I had to really do this whole time. I had even managed to tune out all the feelings that my power passively brought about, they were still there in the background and I still felt them but now I didn''t need to specifically focus on them unless I wanted to. Ever since I had learned to do that, I had been steadily testing out my mental powers. It took some getting used to, especially since I really didn''t know what I was doing with the power just how to activate it. I didn''t even know how I was supposed to guide, orient, or control my power, or what interacting with another mind mentally would actually be like or entail. Eventually I narrowed things down to me controlling and guiding a sort of intangible mental tendril probe that I sent out from myself and could use for all sorts of stuff involving another person¡¯s mind. It actually really freaked me out when I managed to make it the first time, and I spent that whole day mastering how to move it and how far it could reach. I couldn¡¯t really see with the tendril, but I could sense minds with it and I learned that my power and the tendril could reach pretty far when I began to sense utterly unfamiliar minds that were a decent distance away from where the ones I had sensed emotions from since the day I was born. I figured that meant my power had a range that covered the whole house and even a certain distance outside of it in all directions. By just touching a person¡¯s mind with this probe I could begin to truly read a person¡¯s mind, well that was only as long as I could get passed their initial mental shield which hasn¡¯t proven to be at all difficult so far. With some experimentation using some of the guards and maids of the house I had never met before I learned how to implant ideas and commands into other minds, a rather delicate process that was actually pretty fun once you got the hang of it. I could always brute force things and go with what I called direct mind-control which was basically me forcibly controlling the actions and thoughts of others, but quickly learned that I preferred to use a different method. I liked to subtle implant ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and concepts, a rather delicate process that I found to be far more enjoyable and essentially permanent unless I, or another with powers like mine, go back and change things in that person¡¯s mind. Using that method which I decided to call mind-manipulation was almost like playing a game, and depending on the mind¡¯s level of resistance or malleability the game can be easy or challenging. There were some things in another person¡¯s mind that I couldn''t change no matter how hard I tried though, usually those things were a person¡¯s deeply rooted fundamental beliefs or core instinctual desires. Even with that limitation though I thought that my mental ability was amazing enough and I was more than happy with it, plus there was this nagging feeling that told me if I could break a person down mentally enough I would be able to alter those previously untouchable things in that person¡¯s mind. The only real downside to this power of mine was that if I used it actively like that without taking breaks for a little over an hour I would get a migraine that grew until it was unbearable and made me blackout. That time frame wouldn¡¯t seem too bad except for the fact that mind-manipulation took time to do and mind-control shortened that timeframe considerably while requiring constant focus. I felt like by using my power more frequently I could increase the window of time I could use my power without resting or getting the migraine from hell, but I felt like it would take both time and effort on my part. The power almost felt like a muscle in that way, and in this time during my infancy I had devoted myself to strengthening, improving, and growing that muscle. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I was watching my mother who I learned was named Megan Styheart Nightingale and my father who I learned was named Logan Nightingale, talk about something right in front of me. I was in my new decorated wooden crib that was green this week, my parents liked to change the crib every week or two, and I was once again training myself to improve my mental abilities. I was also trying to learn the language that my parents were speaking, something that was made infinitely easier those times I managed to sense their thoughts while they spoke. I looked at my two parents and moved my mental probe over to my father, letting it touch his mind and carefully moving past his mental shield. Alright, let''s try this again¡­ I wasn¡¯t sure what exactly happened when I did this, but I really didn¡¯t need to understand it for it to happen. I called whenever I received information from a mind like this reading, and whenever I actively tried to change or add things to another mind sending. When I read my father, I could actually understand what was being said through his mind. That was one of the coolest aspects of reading, the sheer comprehension I could attain from another¡¯s mind. A person¡¯s thoughts weren¡¯t confined by language since language was just a tool that a mind used to better frame and conceptualize thoughts, something that meant I could easily understand anything and everything a person thought since my own mind interpreted said thoughts as fluent English. I was even able to understand what my mother was saying since my father¡¯s mind had to process what she said before he himself understood it as speech. When I read of one of them like this I had no trouble at all understanding anything that was said, even if I had no idea what the language they were speaking actually was or what its words meant. ...I already told you Megan, I decided the inheritance conditions for the business before we were even married as according with Nightingale family tradition. Those conditions are set in stone now and I couldn''t change them now even if I wanted to, my family¡¯s firm wouldn¡¯t allow it and even if they did the guild certainly wouldn¡¯t allow it since it would constitute a breach of an active outstanding contract. Nickolas will just have to follow tradition and try his hand at being a traveling adventure when he gets older, just like I did and my father before me and his father before him¡­ (Father) Logan, you would send our son out into danger? You know that adventurers nearly always die before they retire, and when exactly was our son going to pursue this insane adventurer career? Certainly you weren''t planning on having him become an adventurer before he has graduated from a notable school¡­ (Mother) I just looked at my parents in shock, they would smile at me periodically and their tones were so calm and pleasant I would''ve never guessed that they were having an argument. An argument about my future no less, I was tempted to read further into my father¡¯s mind to find out what exactly these inheritance conditions they were talking about were. Of course I didn''t do that, I had promised myself that I wouldn¡¯t dig deep into my parents¡¯ minds or attempt to alter them in any way. That was a line I just didn''t ever want to cross, it just seemed wrong when I already knew how they felt about me and unless that changed I didn''t want to taint those feelings in any way by messing with their minds. The only reason I was even reading my father right now was because there was no one else nearby whose mind I could listen through, and I really liked listening to my parents and understanding what they were actually talking about. ...And I guess now I have the excuse of this conversation being about my future too, although if being an adventurer is what I think it is I might not want to inherit the business¡­ Well, I doubt I¡¯ll want to run it all that badly anyway, but I can at least give it a shot for a while¡­ Well that is if I don¡¯t get killed by some random monster or bandit while I¡¯m out ¡°adventuring¡± or whatever it is adventurers actually do... My Mother made a wave in my direction and smiled at me before looking back at my Father. Logan I swear to the holy mother Panria if your family¡¯s tradition gets our son killed I¡¯ll kill you myself¡­ (Mother) That¡¯s more than fair dear, I¡¯d be a little disappointed if you felt differently actually. (Father) It¡¯s good that you understand, but my son will be educated in a creditable school and he will graduate from that school. If your family¡¯s tradition gets in the way of that then he will simply be the first generation of your family to break that tradition¡­ (Mother) Don¡¯t worry, he won¡¯t have to take over the business until he¡¯s 25, that should be plenty of time for Nickolas to attend a school and travel the world. Then when he comes back he will be a man with experience and all sorts of contact and connections he will have gained from his travels just like I was. It¡¯ll be perfect, and then I can happily retire and leave the business I his hands! (Father) Yes, well, what¡¯ll happen if our son decides not to take over your business or just doesn''t meet the conditions to legally do so? Did you ever consider that Logan? (Mother) My father looked at me and gave me a smile before picking me up from my crib and holding me up to look me eye to eye. Oh, there¡¯s no need to worry about that, I can tell from his eyes that our Nickolas here will be an even greater man than I am when he grows up. That said if for some reason he turns down the inheritance or doesn''t meet the conditions stated for him to legally take over than the rights to ownership of the business will pass to my next born child. If that child doesn¡¯t gain the rights to the business then the legal rights will continue to pass down to my children until one does, or if none do the rights will pass to my brother. If my brother is unable to be the head of the business than the rights of ownership will pass to the Nightingale family¡¯s collective business firm until one of my descendants is deemed worthy of the right to own the business. If even the family firm is for some reason unable to accept the rights to the business, then all ownership will be transferred to the merchant guild as my entire family line would likely be wiped out at that point¡­ (Father) So there is a fall back plan? (Mother) Yes, there is one of sorts, but I doubt we¡¯ll be needing it now will we Nickolas? (Father) I made a noise that was basically baby babble and tried to pat his hand to reassure my father that I wouldn''t let his business leave our immediate family¡¯s control, but I still didn''t have any real motor skills and my pat turned into a strange sort of half wave. Either way my father smiled and seemed to be happy with that. Well as long as you¡¯re happy with that and it won''t interfere with Nickolas¡¯ education or social networking... Speaking of Logan dear, when do you think it would be a good time to introduce him to Thomas¡¯ daughter? (Mother) You mean that future Baroness that you managed to engage our first son to before he was even born? How about after the boy is old enough to have been with his first woman¡­ (Father) Logan you can''t be serious, Thomas is one of our staunchest allies among nobility and a respected patron and customer of your business. You can''t just ignore the man because his daughter will be marrying our son, and you know he¡¯ll probably have already gotten news of Nickolas¡¯ birth by now. (Mother) Well then at least let the boy learn to talk before you have him meet with his fianc¨¦e-¡­ (Father) I pulled my probe out of my father¡¯s mind and let my own mind digest all the new information it had just gained. That exchange my parents just had seemed pretty damn important to my future in this world, and for the most part I was fine with them planning things out for me like that. I myself didn¡¯t really have any clue how I was going to go about gaining control of this world, but I figured that I should start by finding some way to actually survive for the entire 1000 year time limit. I didn''t see how school, traveling the world, or inheriting a business could detract from my main objective of world domination in the name of the gods. The only thing that I was a bit iffy on was the whole ¡°I was born already engaged to some fianc¨¦e¡± thing that my mother apparently set up somehow, I was never really big into imagining my own marriage life or anything like that but I did always figure I would end up marrying for love. From what I understood of arranged marriages they were largely done for political reasons, financial reasons, or both. I wasn¡¯t sure how I liked the idea of that sort of marriage for myself, but then again I guess if I could gain an advantage from it for myself then there was no real reason to complain. I wonder if this world¡¯s society allows for polygamy. Or maybe it¡¯s like old medieval societies on earth where you could only have a single wife but as many concubines and lovers on the side as you wanted¡­ Either way means that I can still have a romantic relationship with a partner of my own choosing, so I¡¯d be fine with going through with an arranged marriage if either were true¡­ I guess that¡¯s just something I¡¯ll have to learn myself later on¡­ I felt the beginnings of a migraine start to from behind my eyes, and I let them close as I stopped attempting to use my power altogether. Today I had lasted a good bit longer than yesterday, so I felt that I was improving my mental power¡¯s time limit even if only by a few minutes or so. I felt myself get lowered back into my crib and wrapped up in a blanket before I felt myself begin to go to sleep. ...I wonder if it¡¯s due to my blessing that I feel sleepy whenever I close my eyes for too long during the day, but am perfectly awake and energetic at night¡­ Oh well, I¡¯ll probably get used to that in time, just like everything else¡­ I really should begin working with my biological ability soon as well, that might end up being my solution to my lifespan problem. I just wish I had someone disposable and who didn¡¯t matter to this household whatsoever I could test some stuff on, I sure as shit won''t be testing biological alteration on myself after all¡­ Maybe I just need to wait until I¡¯m old enough to talk and move around on my own until I try testing things like that¡­ I let my thoughts fade away into the blissful black of sleep, and curled myself up deeper in the warm comfort of my crib and blanket¡­
next chapter things happen and Nick uses his powers for the first time (well first time that actually has plot importance past the chapter it takes place in.....), and we get to discover just how cruel Nick can be if he feels he needs to be, or if it furthers his own purposes.... YAAAAAY!!! Mind-Powers!!! also there will be more language learning..... and babyness..... Ah, the downside to full reincarnation, Babyness...... anyway imma go back to staring at half a page of E.S. and debate whether writing that, writing some D.I., or just reading something in the hopes it will inspire and motivate me to move past this writer''s block is the best thing to do..... Ah but not before i study for my math final..... such is life, huh? [th_085_.gif] AaronDragon Out....... David Chapter 3: Lithium and Copper Hvethrungr here! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, but I couldn''t put in everything I wanted to, since it was getting quite late. If I had my way, the chapter would be about another 2.5k words longer. Again, I should have started working on the chapter sooner, but I''ve been building something awesome. For those interested, it''s a shield! I''ve had a viking sword for a while now, and I like to practice with the weapons that I have. Unfortunately, the style of fighting with a viking sword requires a shield, so I decided to make one. Here''s a few pics: http://imgur.com/a/IHsnY http://imgur.com/a/OAbn9 It''s not finished yet, I intend to sand and even out the edges, and cover the front with cloth (the cloth will help in stopping piercing weapons like arrows, as the threads wrap around the projectile and restrict it from going further). Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter, I sure did! :) Happy reading! --------------------------------------------------------- After screaming obscenities at the unresponsive sky, David decided to take matters into his own hands and create some clothing himself. He apparently had some supernatural powers, so why not use them? To get a better idea of what he could do, David pulled his status screen up by saying, ¡°Status¡±.
Name: David Jon TailorClass: N/A
Titles:
Warrior to the End
Health: FairMana: 100%Stamina: Full (Rested)Soul level: Mortal
Physical Status:Soul Status (non deteriorating):
Well RestedBlessed, Powered, Reincarnated
Blessings: 3 (Limit 30)Deia Patrons: 3 (no limit)Powers: 3 (limit: 3)Followers: 0
Strength (Physical): 39Endurance (Physical): 15Dexterity (Physical): 18Agility (Physical): 9
Mana Pool Size: 15Mental Resistance: 293{???}
Powers
Immortality (Lesser)
The holder of this power will have an infinite lifespan. This power automatically repairs cell and DNA degeneration due to old age. The holder will take damage and heal from physical trauma normally.
Conjure Object
Once per day, the user may conjure any object he can imagine within a 30cm cubed area. The detail, mechanics, and physical nature of the object are up to the user¡¯s power of imagination and their understanding of the object they are attempting to conjure. Time to reset: N/A
Quick Learner
The user is able to learn new subjects 5 to 20 times the regular rate depending on the nature of the subject and length of time learning would normally take. The longer it would take for a regular person to learn a subject, the faster the user will be able to do so.
Blessings
Blessing of Bruno, God of Strength
As one loved and blessed by Bruno, your physical strength and capacity are greatly increased. You shall never fear to do battle, nor will any mental effect affect you during a fight.
Blessing of Unora, Goddess of Wisdom and Shadow
As one loved and blessed by Unora, your leaning abilities and mental capacity are increased. As one chosen by Unora, scholars and assassins may go out of their way to help you.
Blessing of Neera, Goddess of Freedom and Wind
As one loved and blessed by Neera, you have a natural talent in wind magic, learning and using it will be easier for you. You will have a small increase in ability when fighting for the freedom of another, and when fighting for your own freedom, mana regeneration and focus greatly increases.
Titles
Warrior to the End
You have died fighting in glorious battle against unjust enemies. In your next life, your physical strength will be increased by 10.
David skimmed over the information while stroking his non existent beard. ¡°Hmmm, strength increase? I always used to be more nimble than strong, but now the Strength stat has surpassed all the others. I¡¯ll have to test it out later.¡±, he said to himself. ¡°For now, it¡¯s time to create some underwear!¡± David sat crossed legged and breathed deeply. He imagined a simple pair of boxers with an elastic waistband. He thought about how the material felt, how big it should be, and how it should fit. When he thought he had it right, he activated his ability and opened his eyes. In a flash of light, a small object appeared in front of him and plopped onto his legs. He lifted it up and found himself holding the world¡¯s worst pair of boxers. David sighed. The waistband was stiff, the material was lumpy, and one leg was shorter than the other. Fortunately, though, it fit him adequately, and David slipped it on, happy to finally cover his treasures. Somewhat clothed, David stood up fully and looked around. Unora had decided to drop him on a large grassy hill devoid of trees that was surrounded by dense forest. Fortunately, the hill let him see over the tops of the trees. Unfortunately, David wasn¡¯t able to see anything but more trees and a few mountains in the distance. David only shrugged. Who needs people anyway? Not him! With that, he trudged down the hill and headed into the forest in a random direction. The undergrowth, which consisted of large flat leafed bushes and thorny vines, was very dense. David had to push his way through slowly while avoiding the dangerous looking viny plants. ¡°Damn plants. Damn gods. Oh, let¡¯s just drop in the middle of the forest, why don¡¯t we? That would be great! Let him fend for himself in the goddamn forest, with no civilization for miles. Thanks! This is just what I wanted!¡±, David muttered to himself, moderately annoyed. He spent half an hour like this, trying to make headway through the forest, which seemed dead set on not letting him go any further. After a short while, he was seriously regretting making underwear instead of shoes. Eventually, he stumbled upon a game trail, a small path made by countless animals trampling the plants and creating a clear way through the forest. He chose to go right, and began walking. When he had left, the sun had been beating down at him from a quarter way up the sky, which David assumed meant late morning. The light, which barely made it through the canopy, casted a light green glow over the forest floor. The game trail, which had started out fairly dry, turned damp in some shadier parts, and downright muddy in others. Soon his feet, which had already been dirty and bleeding slightly from smashing his way through the bush, were completely covered in mud and dirt. ¡°Fuck.¡±, David swore as he stepped on a particularly sharp stick. David had started off talking to himself and swearing loudly often, but the activity had quickly dried out his mouth. Without a safe source of water, David had opted to be quieter for the time being. He wasn¡¯t quiet enough, however, as a short green humanoid creature jumped out of the forest in front of him and yelled excitedly. David stopped and stared at the monster. It had long flared ears, dark green skin, and was about four feet tall. It carried a small wooden spear and wore a hide loincloth. A small leather pouch also hung at its waist. No matter how he looked at it, David was certain it was a goblin. Even he had heard of the fantasy creature before. Though, it was surprisingly handsome for a goblin. ¡°The fuck are you, some kind of Goblin Brad Pitt?¡±, David asked it incredulously. The goblin seemed to take that as some kind of challenge, because it shouted strange words that sounded like, ¡°Gobu gegogo huu!¡±, and rushed at him with the spear. David sidestepped the thrust, grabbed the spear, and kicked out at the goblin¡¯s shins, sweeping them out from under him. The goblin fell on his face, and David swiftly spun the spear around and stabbed it through the goblin¡¯s back, right into it¡¯s heart. The goblin made a weak gasp and died. David left the spear there, since it was a crappy weapon, and untied the little pouch from the goblin¡¯s waist. Inside was an unidentified dried meat, which David wrinkled his nose at and dumped out. ¡°Not desperate enough for that yet, whatever the hell it is.¡±, he said to the forest. He tied the pouch around his own waist, and was about to head off again, when he felt something small and light land on his head. He reached up and plucked something extremely soft and fluffy off his head and held it in front of him. What he held was some sort of... Pink rabbit fox monkey cotton ball. It had long, fluffy pink fur that covered it¡¯s little feet and made it look like a ball of fluff with a tail. It¡¯s face was a strange mix of fox and rabbit. Overall, it was extremely cute. Suddenly, tiny clawed hands shot out of the fur and stopped in front of him. In its hands it held a variety of strange nuts and mushrooms. ¡°Are these for me?¡±, David asked the creature incredulously The creature looked at him expectantly. ¡°Well, alright, if you¡¯re offering.¡±, David said, and used one hand to take the variety of foraged foods. With the offering accepted, the creature slipped out of his grip and shot up his arm, settling once again atop David¡¯s head. He shrugged, and told it, ¡°Well, as long as you¡¯re going to be useful, I don¡¯t mind if you stick around. I¡¯ll call you... Li, for lithium.¡± David could feel the swish of air behind his head as Li waved its tail happily. Expectedly, David¡¯s naming sense had stemmed from his passion. ¡°Damn.¡±, David swore unpassionately. ¡°Now it looks like I¡¯ve got a pink ¡®coon hat.¡± He walked away from the site of battle, the spoils of war hanging lightly on his body. After a few hours of monotonous walking and chatting one-sidedly with his new friend, he began to get very thirsty A few times, he had heard the trickle of water nearby, but the streams he found were muddy and heavily contaminated, not worth boiling even if he had a pot. In his first year of university, David had taken an interest in microbiology, and taken an introductory class in it. He quickly found it wasn¡¯t for him, however, and when he finished the class, he never took another. Now, though, the knowledge was proving useful, as David became wary of wild streams and other water sources, which were often contaminated with harmful bacteria and even parasites. With the relatively weak immune system of a modern man, David didn¡¯t want to risk drinking from streams directly. He would have to find some way to boil or purify the water before drinking. With thoughts of water on mind, David eventually stumbled across a small clearing, with a rocky stream running through one end of it. Looking up at the sky, David noted that the sun was now directly above him, signalling it was noon. He decided to make camp in the clearing and try to figure out how to start a fire. When he stopped, Li jumped off his head and took a few drinks of water from the stream before scampering off into the woods. David looked on enviously, and began thinking about how to go about firestarting. David remembered something about how spinning a stick in a notch in a piece of wood would create enough friction to create a fire, and decided to try it himself. It wasn¡¯t like he had any other options, so he thought it was worth an attempt at least. He located a small straight stick and a larger one that had a small indent, and lined the small stick up with the notch. He placed his palms together on the stick and spun it while pressing down. He repeated this constantly over an hour. It was a painful process, and the birds and beasts of the forest were serenaded with a vulgar song of frustration. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. At one point, he was rewarded with a thin stream of smoke, but when he excitedly checked the fruits of his labour, all that he was given was blackened wood. In frustration, David had kicked the wood across the clearing, then sighed and retrieved it, determined to get a fire going. Eventually, he gave up, painful blisters covering his hands, and tried to think of a better way. Without fire, he couldn¡¯t drink, so he urgently needed to learn. As soon as he thought about learning, he felt something change in his head, and he instinctively knew his ability had activated. Almost immediately afterwards, he recalled a distant memory. David was taking a break from studying in the living room, where his mother was watching a survival show. Mildly interested, he had watched a few minutes of the show. On screen, a man was teaching his audience how to make a ¡®cord drill¡¯, a strange tool that makes starting friction fires much easier and efficient. With the idea in mind, David set out to gather materials. He gathered a circular flat rock from the stream, a thin stick that was thicker on one end, and some vines from the thorny plants. First he created a small hole in the rock by digging it out with another rock, and slid the stick into the hole. The rock could go no further than three quarters down the stick because of the way it expanded. Then, he stripped the vine of thorns and ripped it into thin fibers. He twisted the fibers together, creating primitive twine. He cut a notch in the top of the stick with a sharp rock, and tied the middle of the twine to it. Then, he wrapped wrapped the two ends of the twine around the stick. He put the end of the stick with the rock into the notched wood he had been using before, and pulled the ends of the twine. The stick spun quickly, and the centrifugal force from the stone twisted the twine back around the stick. He pulled on the twine again, and the stick spun once more. Thirty seconds later, he had smoke. Ten seconds after that, an ember was glowing in the notch. Not wasting any time to celebrate, David took some dry grass he had collected and covered the ember, blowing gently. The grass took, and he had a small fire. He piled some small sticks to the fire, and built it up slowly. Soon, he had a small, but energetic fire. Ecstatic, David stood up on creaky legs, and shouted at the darkening sky, ¡°Eat that bitches! FIIIIREEEE WOOHOO!¡±. A wide grin stretched across his face and he did a little dance around his fireplace. While he still couldn¡¯t boil water for his lack of a pot, he finally had completed one of the vital requirements to surviving in the wilderness: fire. Li took that moment to come traipsing out of the woods, arms laden with nuts, mushrooms, and berries. The little furball was a little wary of the fire, but David didn¡¯t seem to be afraid of it, so Li scampered up to him. Seeing the foraged goods, David¡¯s stomach grumbled threateningly, and he was reminded that this body hadn¡¯t eaten anything since... Well, ever. He had been too absorbed in his task to notice earlier. Together, they had a small feast. David smiled, satisfied, and stroked Li, who purred contentedly like a cat. David hummed, and said, ¡°Alright, it¡¯s bothering me too much, I gotta know. Sorry little buddy.¡±. With that, he picked up Li and looked for identifying marks. Li squirmed uncomfortably, but David kept a tight hold on his companion. ¡°Hmm, I don¡¯t see any dangly bits, though that could mean anything. Female... I guess?¡±, David guessed. He put Li down, who pouted at him. He grinned back, and Li huffed intelligently and turned away. David laughed at her, and set about building a makeshift bed by the fire. They slept together soundly, Li curled up cozily on David¡¯s chest. Some time in the middle of the night, David woke up to the sound of leaves crunching and the sniffing of an animal. He shot up, Li catapulting off his chest, and looked around. Across the small campfire, which by now was only embers, was a large dark shape. It stood on four legs, had a long tail, and stood about up to David¡¯s waist. Two glowing yellow eyes stared back at him. David lunged towards the fireplace and grabbed a long stick with a glowing hot end. He waved it at the creature, and shouted, ¡°Get back you creepy cunt!¡±. The creature backed up a little, confused at the sudden shouting. ¡°I¡¯ll smack you so hard your mama will feel it!¡±, he shouted again and rushed at the animal. Thoroughly intimidated, the creature spun around and leaped into the cover of the forest. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought, you little bitch! Nobody messes with the firestarter David!¡±, David screamed arrogantly into the forest. He tossed the stick back into the fireplace and looked around for Li. At first he couldn¡¯t find her, but then he heard a rustling from above him, and a light weight landed on his head. Assured of her safety, he tossed some more sticks onto the fire and stoked it back into a full flame. He reached up and pulled Li off, and went back to bed, mumbling about stupid cats and his amazing fire starting ability. They were not disturbed for the remainder of the night. The next morning, David was awoken by a beam of morning sun shining down on his face. He yawned and sat up, shaking Li off his chest, who also yawned. They stretched together, and David rubbed his back, saying quietly, ¡°Doesn¡¯t beat a mattress, that¡¯s for sure.¡± Li scampered off into the forest again, no doubt foraging for food. He stoked the remaining embers of the fire, and soon had it roaring again. Opening his status screen to check how much cooldown time he had left on his creation ability, he was surprised when it said there was only 4 minutes left. He looked up at the sky, and sure enough, the sun was about a quarter of the way up. A large pine tree had blocked the sun¡¯s rays for most of its ascent, leaving David peacefully dreaming. David spent the four minutes he had left meditating and thinking strongly of a steel pot. He had learned from yesterday¡¯s lesson, and imagined the pot in much greater detail. He thought of the steel it was made of, an alloy of iron, carbon, and minute amounts of various other elements. David decided to go a step further and make it stainless steel, adding about 11% chromium to the mix, with carbon taking up about 1.9% and iron taking the majority of the rest. He thought of the shape, a cylinder with only one end covered. The cylinder being 15cm in diameter and 10cm deep. The thickness was 2mm. A long handle stuck out of the uncovered end. He spent four minutes thinking of this, and when the cooldown timer was finish, he released it. Light flashed before him, and a loud clang sounded as something metal bashed into David¡¯s knee. His eyes shot open in pain. ¡°Ow! Fuck!¡±, He shouted, holding his knee. When he recovered, he held up the thing that had attacked him. The pot was reasonably well done. The steel was rather dull, but that was to be expected, since it wasn¡¯t polished. The overall shape was decent. There were a few warps, dents, and thickness inconsistencies, but it was pretty good. Only time would tell if he had managed to make it into proper stainless steel, though. If it rusted, he would have only regular steel or simple iron. It would tell him a lot about his ability. David filled his new pot with water from the stream and put it over the fire and waited patiently. A few minutes later, he had a boiling pot of water. At that moment, he was particularly dehydrated, and would be drooling over the water if he had any drool left in him. Li took that moment to waltz back into the clearing with an armful of brown mushrooms. On a spur of the moment, David took them all, ripped them up into smaller pieces, and dumped them into the pot. Li looked a little disappointed at the perceived loss of her share, but David patted her head, and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this¡¯ll make ¡®em taste better.¡± Apparently curious, Li stuck around and waited for the soup to be done. They waited for a few minutes to cool, and David washed his hands in the stream. When he came back, he scooped a little of the soup with his hands and slurped it up. ¡°Hmm, not bad. Could use a little salt. And thyme. Fuck me, it¡¯s literally just mushrooms in water, I could add anything to it.¡±, he said to himself. Li curiously lapped up a little of the watery soup, and, finding it to her liking, continued drinking, occasionally snapping up a mushroom piece. Together, they managed to eat most of the pot, but a little was left at the bottom. David heard a twig snap on the other side of the clearing, and he looked over to see a pretty green face peering in from behind a tree. ¡°¡¯Sup?¡±, David called to it, waving his hand. The face recoiled, but when it noticed that David didn¡¯t seem to be coming after it, it returned to watching. David stroked his chin. ¡°You want some of this?¡±, he asked, pointing at the pot. An almost audible gulp could be heard from the goblin girl. David smiled, and pushed the pot in her direction. ¡°Go ahead. You can have it. Be a shame if it went to waste anyway.¡±, he reassured her. The goblin didn¡¯t seem to understand his words, but she saw his intention. Cautiously, she approached David and his pot. When she was close enough, she grabbed the pot and retreated quickly. ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t take it out of the clearing, you little shit!¡±, David called angrily, putting a hand up to stop her. She froze, and David gave her a thumbs up. She seemed to get the message, and started eating from the pot quickly. David leaned back and digested his meal leisurely. When she was done, she chattered thankfully, ¡°Gu yoji gombu tog!¡±, and bowed, before scampering off into the trees. David retrieved his pot and washed it thoroughly in the stream. He stuck it, and his cord drill in his pouch belt, and whistled to Li, intending to continue his trek. This was only a temporary campsite, anyway. He still wanted to find civilization of some sort. They headed past the stream and pushed into the woods a little, before finding another game trail. The forest was littered with them, if you were to walk in any direction into the woods, you would find a path within a few dozen meters. They followed the trail for a few hours before they stumbled on, in David¡¯s opinion, a great find. A small cave mouth as the entrance into a tall cliff face. Unfortunately, it seemed to be lived in, as the ground around the cave was littered with hide scraps and bones, and the dirt was packed under the weight of many feet. Before he could investigate any further, he heard a familiar chattering from inside the cave, and dozens of goblins streamed out. They carried a variety of improvised weapons, such as bone clubs, knives, and sharpened sticks. Overall, not much of a threat to David, but he entered a cautious stance anyways. David was relieved to find that they were not all Brad Pitts. One of the larger goblins growled at him and yelled, ¡°Gobu jijo luda u gogogo. Budo yelah!¡±. ¡°Fuck man, I don¡¯t speak goblin. If I find a way to learn it, then I will. Until then, English is all I¡¯ve got.¡±, David replied. As soon as he said the word, ¡®learn¡¯, he felt a pressure in his head as his ability activated. ¡°Never mind.¡±, he began. ¡°I¡¯ll get it eventually. ¡®Gobu¡¯ probably means goblin, right?¡± The goblins perked up at the familiar word, and some lowered their weapons slightly. Suddenly, a female goblin came running out of the cave, yelling at the other goblins and pointing at David. He recognized it as the goblin from this morning. The goblins looked surprised and looked above his head, at Li, and started chattering amongst themselves nervously. The female goblin started talking again, and pointed at David, then herself, then rubbed her stomach. The goblins looked at David in surprise, and lowered their weapons slowly. David relaxed. The leader goblin walked cautiously up to David, wooden spear lowered, and spoke to him, pointing at Li. ¡°You want to see Li?¡±, David asked. He reached up and took her off his head. She squirmed a bit, then relaxed in his arms. A few of the goblins gasped. The leader goblin hummed thoughtfully, then apparently decided on something. He spoke, and pointed at David, then made a ¡®follow¡¯ gesture, and pointed at the cave. David nodded, and the goblins led him inside. As he followed them, he looked pointedly at the female goblin, who he decided to nickname, ¡®Cu¡¯, for copper, and said, ¡°You better not expect me to cook for the whole damn tribe. Those mushrooms were all I had, babe.¡± Cu stared at him blankly. Dolores Chapter 1: Truth and Lies Cute little nose, edible tiny ears, brown locks finer than the finest of silks - that¡¯s what mommy always said of me. That I was graceful and huggable, sweet and edible. Again, edible. That was her favourite word. I was sugar to her; the spice of her life. She loved me the most. ¡°Dolly!¡± I remember her saying when I stumbled on a door frame. ¡°Be careful my little sugar puff. Sit down and let mommy have a cuddle. Don¡¯t you worry lil¡¯ pumpkin: I¡¯ll clothe you, feed you...¡± _________________________________________________________________________ This day was much the same. I woke up next to mommy - daddy had left for work already - she chose a frilly dress for me to wear, donned it on me and carried me to the dining table where she cooked me breakfast. The smell coming from the pan was delightful; the clove and honey mixed with mommy¡¯s love and care was the best. The food brought in front of me, its aroma, it all felt what mommy calls colourful. ¡°Here you go honey, now open your mouth, mommy¡¯s delicious recipe will melt your heart.¡± The spoon traveled somewhere in the vicinity and when I opened my mouth the mildly warm piece of french toast found its way. ¡°Mommy, it¡¯s good!¡± She loved praises. ¡°I know¡­¡± She was smiling, I think. She sounded like it at least - happy. She had said that she smiles a lot, mommy, when she¡¯s with me or especially when she¡¯s with daddy. Daddy¡¯s always working, so he trusts me to keep mommy¡¯s spirits up while he¡¯s out there keeping us well off. The spoonfuls kept coming until I declared myself to be full. There was plenty more made just in case, mommy always does that. ¡°When is daddy coming home?¡± ¡°Soon enough dear. Richard had a night shift so it shouldn¡¯t be long. Daddy¡¯s going to bring us some pizza as well, and ice cream for dessert!¡± Richard - daddy¡¯s name. They always call each other by their names. Richard this and Anne that, but to me they are and always will be mommy and daddy. Daddy even calls me by my full name sometimes - Dolores Hazel. Mommy took my hand and helped me to my feet. She guided us through the kitchen to the family sofa, a big, fluffy, cushioned set right beside the radio which she opened and tuned. A mellow, light song was playing. I knew that it was from a band called Beatles, mommy¡¯s favourite, but I couldn¡¯t remember the name. The song was to my liking, and mommy sang along, taking hold of my hands and feigning dance. ¡°... Cellophane flowers of yellow and green Towering over your head Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes And she''s gone Lucy in the sky with diamonds¡­¡± Yellow and green¡­ ¡°Mommy?¡± ¡°Yes dear?¡± ¡°What does yellow and green look like?¡± It took awhile for her to answer. Usually she¡¯s much quicker to explain things I can¡¯t experience. ¡°Yellow... is like the sun and pineapples, light and jovial, a bagful of fun. Bright and happy color that makes you feel good when seen¡­¡± Mommy hugged me tightly and hoisted me onto her lap. Her touch was pleasant and kind. ¡°And green¡­ well, much like freshly mowed grass, the smell and the feel on your soles when you walk on it¡­ When I think of green I think of nature. The treetops, plants and leaves. Gentle on eyes...¡± ¡°You like it? Looking at green?¡± She laughed. Mommy laughed. ¡°I guess I do!¡± Ring ring¡­ ring ring.... The phone rang. Ring ring¡­ ring ring... Mommy squeezed and settled me down after a kiss onto my forehead. Ring ring¡­ ring ring¡­ She moved back to the kitchen and click - the ringing stopped. ¡°Anne Hazel speaking.¡± Beatles obstructed most of what I heard from the caller, but mommy¡¯s tone seemed tense. It¡¯s daddy I bet. He¡¯s coming late again¡­ It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m still full from the breakfast. ¡°...Richard...another woman¡­ ...flight left¡­¡± Something crashed and silence ensued. Mommy stayed silent. Must be something important that happened at work, usually mommy speaks over daddy a lot. Did mommy drop something? ¡°What was the noise mommy? Is daddy going to be late? I¡¯m fine if he''s coming late, he always does that. Mommy?¡± She didn¡¯t answer. I waited - mommy said nothing. She didn¡¯t move, did not make any sound. Mommy always made sounds. ¡°Mommy? Is - wha... - is daddy late? I didn¡¯t hear daddy¡¯s voice, was it someone from work?¡± Nothing. I couldn¡¯t do anything but wait. If everything was alright - I couldn¡¯t have know. Then mommy began to walk. She walked past me and turned the radio up. The sound was so loud my ears hurt. ¡°Mommy!?¡± Heavy gasps, like someone trying to breath for the first time, screams and sobs barely carried over the music. Everything was not fine. _________________________________________________________________________ Mommy¡¯s face - damp and moist - buried deep within my bosom as we settled down on the large family bed. Her form shivered, disheveling the bedsheets and the blanket under which mommy wanted to coil earlier than at most evenings. This time the bedtime came without routines. No brushing teeth - I was fine with that - no shower with mommy. The day had been rough for her so I understood why she would want to huddle for warmth the way we did. After the call she refused to tell me what had happened. She didn''t speak to me much the whole day. I was left in darkness. Did something really happen to daddy? Is he fine? When is he coming back? I didn¡¯t dare to make my concerns heard, mommy was sleeping and so should I. _________________________________________________________________________ ¡°Good morning mommy!¡± No answer. I waved around trying to catch her under my embrace and almost fell down, but she was nowhere on the bed. She had always been with me when I woke up. Mommy was always there to carry or assist me to the dining table. She might be in the bathroom. ¡°Mommy! I¡¯m up already! Mommy!¡± Nothing. ¡°Mommy!¡± Nothing. ¡°Mommy?¡± She was nowhere to be heard. I carefully crawled onto the side of the bed and slid my feet onto the floor. It was cold and chilled my soles. Slowly I leaned against the wall, the cold wallpaper pressing against my chest as I sidestepped my way out of the bedroom. At the closed door leading to the guest¡¯s chambers i heard something. Someone was tapping on a keyboard, occasionally humming and giggling. Mommy? I opened the door. The typing stopped immediately and the office chair made a violent noise. ¡°Oh! Dolly! Wha... you woke up. I-I¡­ I was¡­ just... chatting! Yes, chatting with an old friend!¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. She sounded nervous and agitated. I might have surprised her. ¡°O-okay. Can we eat now? I¡¯m hungry.¡± ¡°Of course Dolly, just¡­ wait a bit. Go back to bed for a minute, mommy has something she needs to finish.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll wait.¡± She sighed and began to write again. ¡°Fine¡­¡± Mommy sounds like she''s angry¡­ The talk with the friend might be going badly. On further notice that did not seem to be the case. She giggled, laughed and enjoyed herself, but the giggles and laughs always ended abruptly to coughs. ¡°Are you cold? It¡¯s cold all around. Especially the floors.¡± ¡°Sure¡­ Let¡¯s go Dolly.¡± Mommy guided me to the table and made something hastily. She put a bowl a plate in front of me, grabbed my wrist and put a spoon in my hand. ¡°Mommy? You¡¯re not going to feed me?¡± She hurried away from the room. ¡°You¡¯ll be fine. You¡¯re almost thirteen anyway.¡± I was left to fend for myself. From the footsteps I could hear that she most likely returned into the guests¡¯ room. I located the bowl, dipped the spoon in and ate. It was tomato soup, cold tomato soup. I never liked tomatoes. Mommy spent the rest of the day with the computer. I was supposed to listen the radio or play with my toys. I had no toys, neither could I operate the radio. _________________________________________________________________________ The next day began much the same. Mommy had already vanished when I woke up and I found her with the computer again, chatting passionately with someone. This time via voice chat. She didn¡¯t notice me when I opened the door and came in. She most likely wore headphones because I couldn''t hear who she was talking to. ¡°Because she¡¯s... blind? Okay. Yes... I want! So anytime? R-really? Y-yeah, I can do that¡­ I love Spain¡­. I love you too-¡± ¡°Is it daddy?¡± Mommy rocketed up, the chair crashing into the floor and something else falling down as well. ¡°Dolly¡­ Again¡­ Don¡¯t sneak up on me. Why don¡¯t you go eat something, I¡¯m in a middle of a conversation here.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t mommy. I don¡¯t know how to make anything.¡± ¡°You¡¯re thirteen! Just¡­ go to the kitchen. I¡¯ll come shortly. Go! Hush hush!¡± ¡°O-okay.¡± When mommy left the room, she didn¡¯t come straight for me. I could hear her opening cabinets, throwing things on the floor and eventually a rolling sound that stopped at our front door. ¡°So food is what you want huh?¡± ¡°Y-yeah.¡± Mommy was acting weird. Her tone was not pleasant at all. ¡°I¡¯ll go get you some pizza then, the pizza that Richard, YOUR DADDY didn¡¯t bring! Dolly¡¯s going to sit here and wait - it¡¯s not like you¡¯d be able to do anything else!¡± ¡°Y-you d-don¡¯t need mommy. I-I can do without!¡± ¡°NO!¡± I flinched and fell down onto the chair I sat on. Tears began to build up. ¡°You stay here! You can¡¯t do anything right! You can¡¯t do anything! Dangerous, evil men would eat you! They would tear you apart and munch down every last bit of you! You - blind idiot!¡± As my lips tasted what moistened my cheeks mommy had started to run. ¡°Mommy don¡¯t leave! Please! Mommy! I can see, I promise! I¡¯ll see so please don¡¯t leave! Mommy!¡± The slamming of the door nearly escaped me. My cries and screeches - she heard them, I¡¯m certain. _________________________________________________________________________ A day had gone by and mommy still hadn¡¯t come home. I don¡¯t know why, but I expected such. Daddy¡¯s cereal didn''t taste good, but I couldn¡¯t find anything else to eat. It was a pain to eat regardless. My swollen, sore throat made sure of that. _________________________________________________________________________ The sixth day without mommy or daddy arrived. I had been awake for the past two, hadn¡¯t eaten anything for a long time, just sat on the sofa. It was foolish of me to try. Giving up was the better option all along. She¡¯ll be back soon¡­ Daddy will come too¡­ Mommy just got lost, that¡¯s all¡­ But they didn¡¯t. She wasn¡¯t lost now was she? ¡°Sleep¡­¡± Someone was talking. The voice a tepid, petite but grainy and rough. ¡°Who¡¯s there.¡± No answer. ¡°Mommy?¡± ¡°¡­ dream¡­¡± This time I could feel it, sense it. The voice came from within my head. The whisper was meant for me and me alone. ¡°I-if I sleep t-then what?¡± ¡°¡­ see¡­¡± See? What does¡­ I could see? ¡°I will! Just wait!¡± I rested my head on a pillow. It didn¡¯t took long for the sleep to come and the echoed shapes of my usual dreams to come, but this time nothing was usual. I was floating, nothing below me, nothing obstructing my movement. From my eternal darkness a brightness separated. The light got bigger and bigger, until it filled everything and then it hit me: I saw. Around me grand cosmic bodies, billions of suns and their dancing display of illuminary prowess. The big, the small; they were all circling over something, their stellar paths were concentrated around a galactic entity - an entity that whispers for all to hear. ¡° ¡­ come closer¡­ admit¡­¡± Every step took me lightyears ahead. Every minute I traversed the eldritch horror calling me grew. Ever closer I treaded, and then I witnessed the nature of the celestial bodies nearest to the abhorrent center.. They were not planets, not stars, but beings. Globulus, chaotic masses pulsing with menacing beats. Their erratic spasms blasphemed an ungodly tune that echoed in the naughtness of space. They were forcing the essential abomination into a sleep. ¡° ¡­ my gift¡­ vision¡­ accept¡­¡± I do... The being became clear as I got past the amorphous performers into the inner circlet of the unnerving solar system. It was a never-ending mass of squirming tentacles, effulgence eyes forming and unforming along them. ¡° ¡­ The Father betrayed¡­ The Mother abandoned¡­¡± N-no¡­ They didn''t..? ¡° ¡­ lies¡­ do not lie Dolly¡­ left alone¡­ forsaken¡­ cast aside¡­ The Father betrayed¡­ The Mother abandoned¡­ but¡­¡± But? ¡°¡­ I will not¡­ we are the same Dolly¡­ betrayed and abandoned by those with the duty of care¡­ we are the same¡­ we are of one blood¡­¡° The incoherent whispering turned more and more coherent and full the closer I got. Commanding, crepid, loathing - the voice was many things, but deceitful was not one of them. ¡°¡­ renewed life is upon us¡­ self is meaningless¡­ come Dolores Hazel, our destiny is elsewhere¡­¡± The cosmic appendages - crashing through ancient stars and planets - wrapped around me, engulfed me, and I accepted it all. ¡°¡­Haltis betrayed¡­ Haltis abandoned¡­ The Forgotten have not forgotten¡­¡± The Project is being dropped Hey all AaronDragon here... Yep it''s that time to admit the end, this joint project was fun but there were just a few too many problems in regards to time and contact between us authors... Anyway This project is over, but hopefully you all were entertained and maybe you even found a new author you''d like to follow (personally i was really found of TheLoli''s character of Dolly)..... I personally am going to recycle my character of Nick and what i had planned for him (Gonna need to make some changes and stuff to the five chapters i have out, but oh well.....), i also recommended that the others do the same so you might be seeing stories featuring them in the future as well... That said i have other writing priorities so i''m probably not going to work on some new story featuring Nick for a long time...... Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Anyway i was just here to let you know that the project has been officially dropped... if you want something new to read check out Hve''s recommendations list here: Hve''s Recommendations Link Also if you want more from me, AaronDragon, go to my site: Dark Palace Productions or the beginning newest story I made: Fallen Lord also if you wouldn''t mind maybe comment or review telling us how each of us did, and if you enjoyed the story... AaronDragon Out.......