《Synergy (World Seed)》


 Synergy (World Seed) Chapter 1

    I would like to say that this work was inspired by a friend, who told me that the world needs to know my story - but I cannot. This text is purely for my own self satisfaction, and possibly self-promotion. That said, however, it is, at the very least, an odd story.


    It begins in standard fashion - with a high schooler, who hates everything.


    My name then was Theopholus - and I was convinced the state hated me. As a child of abnormal abilities, I was removed from my parents and placed in what you would call a group home; it was populated entirely by a few children like myself, and other children whose parents had convinced the state that the problems surrounding their raising would be better handled by the state itself in its grand wisdom and compassion. In other words - we were the castoffs. It didn''t occur to me then to question the reasons for the similar treatment of the unwanted, troublesome children of the normal culture, and abnormal "gifted" children. All I knew was that in a terrible situation, I had the worst lot - you see, I was a warlock - well, a potential warlock. But even among these oddballs, I was a unique one. Unlike the extremely vast majority of others, I was unmarked by an element. When a child successfully tests as a warlock, he or she is branded by the element that they are most strongly attuned to. (Depending on what world you are from reader, you may have an assumption that this "element" is one of 4, or maybe 6. In truth, in this civilization, there were total of 251 recognized elements.) I will not include a description of all the elements and their powers - in truth, it would matter little to the rest of this story. I was the unknown - a brandless warlock. In all of the history of our people, not a single brandless warlock had managed to do anything of interest.


    In short, I was the useless one in a class of people feared for their power. Other warlocks-to-be were bullied from time to time, but if they successfully pointed out to the other children that their power would be great one day, they earned a measure of safety. What if a fire mage remembered the boy who held his hand in the fire? One day that same warlock could burn the skin off of his former tormentor, and few would say anything. But myself? I was harmless - and small and scrawny to boot. Then, came the day of freedom! I started attending what you would call a high-school.


    I won''t discuss the first three years. You can fill in the blanks for the most part - I had hoped to escape from my tormentors at a new school, but unfortunately they simply found more followers to impose their will upon and through. In my senior year I had withdrawn nearly as far as possible internally - and had become so boring to the proto-gang that I didn''t even get physically attacked more than a token once a week. I was a standard high-schooler besides that - the only warlock-esque ability I ever had developed was an ability to circulate my mana internally - a mist-type friend had taught me from his lessons for a week or so when I was younger, before she moved away to a warlock training academy. My hormones drew me ought of my shell enough to develop a hopeless crush on Seliena - the only girl in the class who would actually say "Good Morning" to me occasionally. To be honest, she wasn''t particularly pretty, which may be why she was able to acknowledge my existence. My boredom and mild level anguish led me to hope in a bizarre way for something, anything, extraordinary to happen. I wasn''t very hopeful it would be pleasantly extraordinary, but losing a finger to gangrene would at least be something other than bullying and inane lessons. Then, as you might have guessed, I got my wish. And yes, it was a her, and her name was Sanguine.


    Sanguine was introduced to us as "Miss Atonia" - a inspector for educational stability and growth for the government. She was rather remarkable - I believe every boy in the school who gone through puberty was interested in governmental programs for the first time. As someone who always hid though, two things deeply disturbed me - the first being that Miss Atonia was clearly hiding something. As beautiful and remarkable as she was, I noticed the attempt to appear - well - smaller - than she actually was. I don''t mean that in any obscene way, simply that the personality presented was incredibly less impactful than what was lurking behind it. Secondly, Miss Atonia terrified me by being interested in me. This also was not obvious - she treated me just like every other student, but for a child like myself, being treated as the same as the others was remarkable itself.


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    I won''t give you too many details - this is all introductory in nature - let''s speed through the subsequent kidnapping. I learned that Miss Atonia''s name was Sanguine simply because neither she nor any of the other kidnappers seemed to care at all about speaking in my presence. I knew enough to be beyond afraid at that point - I won''t go into the details, but when they cut my clothes off of me, they were not longer clean in any sense. What I cannot attempt to do in any way is present myself as heroic through this - if my captors had asked me a question, any question, I would have answered as best as I could. Outside of killing for them, there was nothing they could have asked of me that would have made me hesitate, and if I am honest, I most likely would have killed for them as well. Instead, they continued ignoring me, and while they systematically removed pieces of my body and collected the blood, I heard something about a ritual between my screams. Their cold lack of any emotion towards me somehow honed my desire to understand something, anything, about why my life was drawn apart in this horrifying way.


    Ignoring my screams, and not detailing how long it took, my fragmented mind understood one thing - that there existed something named a world seed, which was the source of being on this world, from simple existence to magic itself, and that my warlock ability was one that allowed for blood pacts; my blood, my body, it all would allow the very appropriately named, and dyed Sanguine to form a pact with the world seed of this world, and control it. I had one desire at this point - to fuck up their plans. I had been bullied my entire life, and the extent of pain I had suffered snapped some very important desire for self-preservation. My impending death could not matter less to me, except that it would help the sons of bitches that were ending me. This didn''t matter much, however, as I was chained securely, and my tongue had been removed already - there was no chance of committing suicide by swallowing it. Finally, I realized that I was being moved - Sanguine herself was carrying my hulk down a tunnel. I cannot tell you where that tunnel was, or how long I was in it, but at the end I saw only a bright light - shining from within a diamond of extraordinary size. It was not polished uniformly, or even colored uniformly - it was huge and unfinished, except for a gleaming spike on the top of it - a spike that I was impaled on a moment later.


    In my desire for revenge, I had been doing nothing but channeling mana inside myself for however long it was that I had been tortured, which is what saved me for a moment. Sanguine clearly had intended to pierce my heart with the spike, but instead my internal mana channels deflected it by merely an inch, and while the spike scratched the side of my heart, I was still tenuously alive, which is what saved me. My mana channel did not only deflect the spike, it also was pierced by the spike, and both my blood and my mana were liberally flowing down the diamond world seed as a whole; Sanguine, in her ecstatically anticipatory spellcasting, did not notice, and what was an entire litany of words, thoughts, and mana creations for her was as simple as a desire for me. On some nearly purely instinctual level I felt Sanguine attempting to connect to some ability within myself, and I felt more than heard or learned that it was binding magic. I knew that my warlock binding was what had made me the target for this madness, and that it must enable a connection to this world seed, so I wished - may I be bound to this seed.


    The brightness of the flash overwhelmed everything; I could not tell whether it was within my mind or within the cave, or simply it illuminated the world as a whole. I heard the softest of whispers as I faded - "you must tell me what you wish..."


    I wish to not be alone, I wish to live, I wish to find something beautiful.


    The next flash left no doubt - everything I sensed, everything I knew, everything around me burned away.

 Synergy (World Seed) Chapter 2

    The next portion of my story is difficult to tell. This is both due to the nature of my actions, and also due to nature of my mind during this time. Reconstructing what happened, some things are clear - I had learned both of the power of the world seed that was now blood bound to me, and how to utilize that power. My wish to not be alone had formed a bond, and my wish to live brought me to a new place. My mind was broken, first by the pain of the torture, then by the pain of my near death, and finally by the absorption of something far larger than myself into my own mind. Clearly, not only was I taken to another land - indeed, I found soon enough that it was another world entirely - but I also was healed. In a moment of clarity, I remember looking down at my body - naked, scarred, but once again complete, and entirely without pain. Then a wave of... something... floods memories. It may be power, or knowledge - I cannot say for sure. In my mind''s eye I see an island, full of the soft warmth of the sun, bright colors of flowers and animals. Today my heart aches for it''s beauty, and in my mind then a whisper sounded, fading even as it spoke, saying "come, look at the beauty you requested. Does this not heal..."


    AAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHhhhhhhhh!


    Then all I see is flames - I can remember the smells of wood and flesh burning, the feel of steam rolling in waves and scorching my skin, and through it all I can hear my own voice, both inside and outside my head screaming.


    The screams continued - subjectively it felt as though it was ages. What I cannot tell you is a narrative of that time - snatches are all I have. I had learned power, so very much power, in every conceivable way. Fires licked from my left hand and pure ice from my right - the air between it whipped and cracked with power.


    I remember cities burning.


    I remember deserts covered in falling ice.


    I remember fighting, covered in dark armor with my eyes covered, blades sweeping high and low, and savoring the smell of blood thick in the air.


    I remember suns turning dark.


    In it all I remember two sounds - the soft voice whispering "beauty?" and the harsh rasp of the scream, slowly becoming something else, a warcry?


    Some thoughts began to gain enough power to stay rooted in the swirling of the chaos within.


    What is this? Am I still myself?


    Have I become an evil even greater than that which caused me?


    Is there any beauty greater than this pain?


    Can I end this?


    Then comes the first clear memory. The seed, saying nothing, brought me to a world. As my eyes recovered from the ever-present flash, I heard no question, and sadness and the beginnings of despair came from the seed.


    I wasn''t alone. A man in front of me stood - even with my height. He radiated thoughts and emotions - hatred for the other choked him. His hatred for himself and his own actions was there, buried under a need to not be guilty, to not be ashamed, and it''s power was such that it could not be contained in the alcohol in his system, or the memories of lust and gambling in his mind. It overflowed his artificial banks and flowed into pure, undiluted hatred of the other - a flash of ears sharper and thinner than his, a thought of delicate hands and feet, and light skin - a thing, undeserving of personhood, the cause of all his evil.


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    All his hatred, all his self and other loathing slammed into me and reverberated with my own anguish and hatred - as his hand rose with a knife, I combined all destructive spells I knew together into one. This spell would have destroyed, not only this man, but the whole damned planet that could spawn such a monster - and then the seed within me pulsed.


    As the waves slowly floated off of me, I saw the sun glint of the steel in the butcher''s hand. And, caught in the slowness of the moment, I looked beyond the man. To the other - a boy, with blond hair and silver eyes, ears that were indeed thin and sharply pointed - he was on the ground, holding his arm up to try to ward off the blow, but in his eyes was not fear, but simple resignation. The next second dripped by as I saw the rest, the bruises, some livid beyond belief on his cheeks, some faded in layers. I saw his nakedness, and an abjection and shame deeper than even my own childhood. Suddenly, I did not desire to be alone - I wanted to hear this child''s voice. I wanted to know his story, and I wanted to convince him something better could come - and a echoes inside my own head said that I could not do so - what better could I offer him? The whisper spoke up against that thought - somehow weak and strong simultaneously, and told me that I could offer him togetherness, and protection - I could offer him hope, and the little pleasure of a quiet meal. Underneath it all, the whisper told me that it could offer these things to me, and that the boy would respond one day with care of his own for me as well. All I needed to do was to undo the darkness that slowly rose from my very pores.


    I hoped.


    As I hoped, I cut off the destruction - but as slow as time flowed, it moved swiftly enough that waves were already passing away from me, and I could stop their forming. Desperate, fearing to lose the hope I had so recently regained, I reached out and somehow seized them, but like a child in the tide, I was simply carried along in their strength. So I reshaped them; one slim finger of power I allowed to reach out to the man whose arm even now began to descend, but all the rest I hammered and grasped and rode and reshaped - I turned them, and drew them back in. As the butcher disappeared into matter finer than ashes, I felt the waves now buffeting within me. My pride would like to say I sat down, or that I gritted my teeth, or even that I threw up and released my bowels simultaneously; but all I did was drop limp.

 Synergy (World Seed) Chapter 3

    "Awake young one."


    Who are you? Are you speaking to me... I don''t... hear... words. What is this?


    "Do you not remember, child? We have walked a long road together. No, I suppose it is not surprising you do not remember."


    What do you mean? Could you be a bit... simpler?


    "Haha - of course Theo. Before you ask, my name is Zeraxes, and before you ask that question, yes, that was also the name of your world. Moving right along, yes, your world. There are many. I was the world seed of that place, and I am afraid I failed badly. Those you saw as the government, they were a cabal of very powerful wizards (yes, or warlocks as you call them, or wizards, or anything else we want to call them). Many years ago they managed to restrain me - they lacked one of your skills, a blood-pact mage, so they discovered a very clever alternative, they put me into, well, you could call it a coma. My skill passively allowed the world to continue rotating, kept everything in alignment and allowed life to continue, but I was not aware enough to interfere actively in any way. The woman named Sanguine was a frightening possibility that I could see even in my comatose state - the cabal was abusive, and cared little for any living under there power as you can attest, but that woman was actively, intentionally, and gleefully evil. Your torture was an artifact of that evil - she had no need to treat you as she did, it was entirely to tickle some desire of hers. In fact though, as it often is, her evil undid her. She believed you would be so broken as to not be a danger to her in any way, and so you stole her treasure away from her. If Sanguine had not bathed so eagerly in your blood, she could have simply put you to sleep, and your heart would have been pierced wholly on my spike. Doing so, by the way, would have allowed her to form a bond with me, and one that would have been much more terrifying than the one you requested. With your blood flowing over me, she could have enslaved me, and through me, the whole of the world of your birth. Any questions?"


    I will wait to ask them. Don''t worry, I have plenty.


    "Heh. Fair enough. Quite possibly you will have more by the end of this conversation. Hmm. Where was I. Ah... I had two choices in that moment - Sanguine was completing her spell to bind me to herself, exactly as you were completing your own spell to bind me to you. I chose you."


    I felt sorrow radiating from the being.


    "Know that this choice has consequences young one. I will do my best, as I have done thus far, to preserve you and others from them. But not all are within my power. I must tell you child, that your world is most likely gone. Unless the creator saw fit to replace me in the moment I bound to you, that world was left without a guardian, without a stabilizing force. Within moments all life would have ceased. But enough of this - I can feel your despair and sorrow rising. We will speak more soon. Like I said, wake up!"


    I opened my eyes to a forest - the sun had begun to rise, but the shade was deep where I was laying. Unlike the moment of healing I had felt long ago, now I ached, abominably, all over. But, blessedly, there was silence in my mind. I knew that the voice was still present, and I could feel it''s home, like a bubble in my mind. Cautiously I pressed a mental finger into the bubble, praying to who knows who that it would not snap and leave me alone in this unknown place.


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    "What is it Theo?"


    Oh! Uh. Well, I was wondering if this was how I could reach you... also, can I call you something other than Zeraxes. I... don''t know if I can bear to remember that all I know is gone."


    "Very well little one - you are more correct than you know." (Sorrow flowed slowly along the edge of that bubble inside me). "I am no longer Zeraxes. That place is either gone, or held by another. What would you name me?"


    Well - are you sure I should name you? It seems rather... presumptuous.


    This time I was sure of what I felt along that bubble surface - amusement, along with, strangely enough, relief.


    "I see you missed some things that I told you. I am bound to you know child. While the binding is not as strong nor as restrictive as the one that witch (in every since of the word) would have bound me with, I am still, in a very real way, yours. The ''bubble'' you feel is a real presence I have within you, and were you to cut your chest open you would find my old physical container within you, near your heart. Indeed, shards of it now have spread throughout your body, and even your blood. While I am grateful for your consideration, and hope you continue to maintain our bond as a friendship, you indeed have the right to bestow a new name upon me."


    ...


    My mind raced. Already some dark part of me coiled a little in anticipation; I could understand now the old Zeraxes'' relief at my earlier thoughts. If I so chose, there was a world breaking power within my grasp. Even as that little thought uncoiled, it was drowned in a furious tide of my memory fragments - I withdrew my mind as swiftly as I could from that place. Soon enough it would demand my attention, to understand, and be healed, but I could not allow guilt and shame to break me at this moment.


    Steward?


    Amusement rippled a bit around the bubble.


    "While I appreciate the sentiment Theo - I am not an position or title. I am a person, for all of our differences."


    Oh damn. I didn''t even... well, that makes sense. Err. How about... Stephanos?


    "I gladly accept this name, Theopholus - now, I will rest for a time. Do not worry, I will still be here, and still be near. If you are remembering better than you might wish, or the desperation grows too strong, I will sense it. Even if you simply feel the need to speak to me, you know now how to reach me. I suggest you attend to the little one who saved you, even as you saved him. He has watched over you and waited for some days now."


    Oh! I looked around, and found the silver eyes of the boy staring at me.

 Synergy (World Seed) Chapter 4

    The child didn''t move. Wariness showed in his face still, but there was something else there as well - a bit of hope perhaps? Indeed, his presence here reflected hope, as well as need. Were I him, I would have run immediately.


    "Are you alright?"


    I was shocked to hear his voice - I could understand his words. Apparently misunderstanding my silence and looks, the boy walked away. Disappointment slowly grew in my chest, only to change again to confusion, pleased confusion this time, when he reappeared. He had some sort of bowl, carved roughly from what appeared to be half of a fruit, and a handful of what I was hoping was the interior of that fruit. He came back, and sat next to me. Without speaking again, you lifted up the bowl, and placing his other arm around my shoulders he did his best to lift me up. I strained my back muscles as strongly as possible to help him, and together we got me sitting up, and sipping water. He then lifted the handful of fruit towards me; I could now see that it was resting in pieces on what appeared to be a few large leaves. I ate.


    Thank you friend.


    This time it was the boy''s turn to twitch in surprise; the fruit twitched out of his hand, and I could see that his feet moved in order to get him ready to run away.


    Please stay. I mean you no harm. I am sorry I didn''t respond earlier - that was quite an experience for me, and to be honest I didn''t expect either for you to still be here, or to be able to understand you when you spoke.


    "You... you aren''t a Rhoner then master?"


    My heart sank at being called master.


    I am not a Rhoner my friend; indeed, I don''t know what a Rhoner is. And please, don''t call me master. I would rather be your friend.


    Shock blossomed on the child''s face as he looked, oddly enough, at my ears.


    "How can you not know what a Rhoner is mast... sir? And... you are a master. Your ears..."


    Understanding was growing in my gut, and making it sour.


    I am not sure what I am child, but I am certainly not from here. I don''t want you to be subservient to me. Please, call me Theo.


    "I... I''ll try. Theo."


    I sighed, and sat up a bit more. I needed to get up and make sure I could still stand. As I pushed off the ground the child lifted up behind my shoulders without me asking him to. Gratefully I leaned on him and began walking a bit - he lead me downhill, until we were next to a quietly running creek. With his help I knelt by the creek, and reached out to cup water and wash my face.


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    I froze.


    The eyes that looked back at me looked familiar, but the face had changed. Wrinkles, small enough to belie old age, but deep enough to show pain ran through it. A wild beard grew unkempt on the chin. How had I not noticed a beard on my face? I touched my face... It felt strange, as if it was a mask. As memories flooded up, the whisper of Stephanos echoed in my mind.


    "Shush child. Let the memories pass. Your face was earned, and you will remember the earning one day. For now, accept that it is new - just as you are new. You are no longer the bullied child you see yourself as. You are a man. What type of man you are remains to be seen, and also to be chosen."


    Brushing away some tears, I stood again, and ignoring the child, walked slowly to a tree whose roots grew strangely above ground, but left a hollow space, almost like a chair. I gently lowered my aching body into the depression, and looked back at the child. He still hovered nearby. Hope seemed to have grown on his face, but the worry was still there, and I could see now that every moment I passed in silence grew that worry just slightly larger.


    Well then, what is your name child? (It felt strange to name him child - he must have been only a few years younger than the age I was... well... whenever it was I had met Stephanos. Or, at least the child appeared to be that young. My own age sank back down on my mind heavily.)


    "My na.. I... I..."


    He didn''t seem too upset; he wasn''t crying. He simply looked... confused. Was he trying to remember?


    "Trellen. My name is Trellen."


    Why did you hesitate so Trellen?


    "I haven''t used my name ever since..."


    Now his face had fallen, and small tears glimmered in the corners of his eyes. I hesitated to hug him - both for my own sake, and for the his. Who knows what his few years had held. Then again, given my youth, if I felt the desire to open my arms to this child and comfort him, perhaps he desired to be comforted even more. I compromised by opening my arms, but not drawing him in. He dove towards me and knocked my back into the roots hard.


    Easy Trellen! I began to say, but I could hardly hear myself over his wails. This child may have endured much, no, certainly had endured much, but he also had a vulnerability I could not remember ever being present in my own solitary existence.


    I held him for a time. Perhaps an hour. I wonder if his cries expunged more of his own sorrows, or mine.

 Synergy (World Seed) Chapter 5

    I awoke for the second time since the change. I was alone. Instantly panic swept through me.


    "Shhhhh. You are not alone Theo."


    As my breathing slowed down, I saw Trellen dipping the bowl into the stream. Without a word, he placed it beside me and ran off to climb a tree. Higher in the branches fruit was hanging, presumably the same that we had eaten yesterday. For a moment I worried about the child, but even as I did he scampered onto a branch, seized a fruit, and flipped over, eating it upside down. I snorted. The rascal must have grown up in these trees, eating this fruit. Putting him out of my mind for a moment, I pressed a mental tendril back into that bubble.


    Thank you Stephanos. Can I call you Steph?


    A chuckle. I chose to interpret that as a yes.


    Can we talk some more? I am still... unsure as to what happened.


    "Certainly Theo. Just know that I may cease answering questions again at some point. Your mind and heart need much more rest before you are ready to fully understand past events."


    I shivered slightly. Ominous though Steph''s words were, I couldn''t help but continue to wonder.


    What happened?


    Although sorrow was floating in that part of me that was somehow not me, I also sensed some amusement.


    "Would you like to ask any other general questions while you are at it Theo? About the nature of existence? Or the meaning of life?"


    I scratched my head. Fine, if he wanted to be snarky I would be more specific.


    How long has it been since... that day.


    Steph''s silence worried me.


    "Theo... it''s hard to measure. You have not been... well. I chose the lesser of two evils when I bound myself to you. It never should have been. It never should have happened to you. I am a world seed. Not only do I contain great power, but I contain knowledge of all magic available to the world of which I was the guardian and steward. As you know, Zeraxes was a world of magic. What you don''t know is that the cabal had been actively restricting it for quite some time. There were 251 members of the cabal. United together they had the power both to put me into a comatose state, and to cease their own aging process. They found ways to bind the whole of them as a power group to certain principles, and even in their madness and arrogance those principles held. Only children with power in one of their branches would be publicly acknowledged. They could not prevent other powers from existing, but by locking the power of each magician, they could ensure that only those they trained themselves had the ability to unlock their potential. Even then, the potential was sharply limited, to ensure that no magician ever grew in power to be greater than a member of the cabal. This is why Sanguine acted in such desperation; a mere political revolution would never have succeeded against their power. As to how she learned of my existence, much less my location, I can not say. Indeed, her presence in my chamber was astonishing. Only one other has ever achieved such a thing, the Earth element warlock of the cabal.


    But I have gotten distracted. What is important is that magic was richer and more powerful in that world than any other I had seen. In the moment you were bound to me, it all flooded your mind. As your rational thoughts were overpowered by the raw knowledge, your emotions and desires took full control of your soul, and after the childhood you had endured, followed by the agony and hatred from Sanguine''s torture, you were very nearly beyond my reach."


    What... what did I do?


    "I found you beauty, as you asked, Theo. You burned it. In your madness you destroyed world after world. I sought to show you some of the greatest sights in the galaxy, but you could not see them at all."


    How many did... I kill?


    "Worlds? None. Well, in the sense you many mean, many. But I seized each world seed and bound them to you. It seemed... right. They would have perished, or at least have diminished to near nothingness with the destruction of their charges. I am afraid, however, that my actions only made your madness deeper. Some of those worlds had life die out a very long time ago, but the memory of their magic remained. Each one was different, unique, and they all burdened you even more. If you mean how many people did you kill, you killed many. But I was careful - you were never placed in a location where those who would find you were innocents. Many of them surely did not deserve the deaths they received, but they were wicked one and all. Every world you were placed on was a world where evil that is as deep as a person can find had conquered. On some of them the world seeds were coerced, on others they were subdued as I was, and on a dark couple, they were world seeds that had turned against the Creator, and willfully served evil. In the end, however, your hands struck down thousands."


    Horror rose up along with my bile. I could retch, but the horror caught in my throat. My sight dimmed. All I wanted was to crawl away, undo it. Could I not at least pretend it was not so? I am not being hyperbolic when I say that my desire to live fled, and I did not pursue it. I knew that I did not even need to act, all I needed was to keep my eyes shut, and never move, and one day silence would truly come.


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    "But then you would not have me my friend."


    Something else rippled from the bubble, then exploded out. Love. Care. Concern.


    My heart unthawed enough to sense that Stephanos legitimately cared for me. He chose to protect me. While his choices meant pain for me, they also protected me from destroying more. I caught a thought from Steph in that moment. I don''t know if he meant me to comprehend it or not, but I understood that he could have ended me, ended us, at any moment. Indeed, bringing me to this place was a final effort. Above all though, what shook my heart was the knowledge, straight from his mind, that the decision to not end us was not self preservation on his part. Sanguine had misjudged him; had Sanguine completed the bond, Stephanos would have simply removed them both. He chose to save me. The destruction, although tragic, that I had blazed across a galaxy, was worth my life in his eyes. Although Stephanos cared for all, he accepted the end of some as tragic, those who dwelt deeply within evil. He had turned my destruction outward from myself into a lonely corner of existence, and then into a place that was condemned to judgement by the one he served, and then, in a last moment of hope for me, he moved me to this place. And then I understood.


    This place, it is close to the end, isn''t it?


    In the midst of all his riot of emotions in this moment, a pleasure at my understanding percolated through.


    "Exactly Theo. There are few innocents on this world. The seed of this place called me, and accepted the risk of destruction in hopes that you could be saved, but also that you could act as his weapon in this world. I brought you to Trellen, as he needed you most in that moment."


    But what happened? What changed?


    Stephanos paused before he answered.


    "That is a complicated answer my friend. Part of it may have been my words and emotions directed to you over that entire dark time, and certainly the Creator smiled on you. Your own choice in the end, however, caused the change. What made you decide as you did is hard to see. By tempering your judgement, and drawing the power back within yourself, you built walls. You acted instinctively, and it saved you from the backlash of the rage and anger induced power you had launched, but it also locked away all the chaos that had been swirling in your mind. You are again yourself."


    You said that there are other on this world that need help?


    A strong wave of pride floated up like currents of warmth from the Stephanos bubble.


    "Indeed! The challenge will be to unlock powers within you without allowing an overload, as happened previously. The seed of this world and a friend of his helped me devise a mechanism to do so."


    I swear I could see a happy, slightly ridiculous emotion spreading out from Steph.


    What is it?


    "Well, this friend of ours is a world seed named Earth - there is none but simple life and technology magic on that world. He told us of a development the more light hearted on the planet have created called video games. It just so happens that we think some of the mechanism could be nicely adapted to your situation."


    What are these... video games?


    With an almost childish glee Steph started blurting out facts. As near as I could tell, video games were an attempt to craft an alternate reality that these people had devised with technology magic. In building their alternate reality they created systems of rules, and one of the most common systems allowed the alternate reality avatar to grow in power as they gained ''experience'' through various actions. After untangling this much, I caught the end of Steph''s excited spiel - "And that''s why this is perfect! We''ll allocate experience representative of your mind''s growing control over new skills, from whatever seed''s realm of magic that you''ve consumed that you choose to practice with. As your mind has greater control and understanding, we can release even more knowledge for you to grow into! The coincidences are too great! One of the aspects of bonding to a world seed that you haven''t realized yet is that it is virtually impossible for you to be truly killed. You are bound to me as much as I am bound to you, and if your body is near death, I can simply teleport it to safety, and heal you again! Remember that I told you shards of me are embedded in your blood and body now? Well, those can be used to increase your physical abilities - we''ll simply define a growth rate for that based off of your ''experience growth'' as well! What do you think?"


    Well Steph, outside of feeling slightly like a puppet for some odd vehicle of amusement for you and these other world seeds, it sounds surprisingly effective. It will allow me to grow into my skills, and I trust you to keep me sane this time.


    "Exactly! All you have to do is consciously transfer the mental shields you constructed to me! Well, we have one more recommendation, as regards Trellen. We suggest you..."


    And then I fell unconscious.

 Synergy (World Seed) Chapter 6

    I woke up in a jolt - only to not even have the energy to sit up. Looking around, I saw the same shadowed tree-root-chair that I had been in supporting me still. Trellen looked at me, worried yet again. In his eyes I began to see doubt - rather than trying to analyze his possible fears, and worse yet, decide whether they were valid, I began to intentionally observe my surroundings more closely. My mind seemed focused, and lightened from a great weight; even to this day I remember what I saw in that moment. Trellen squatted two arm lengths away, a child with blond hair and silver eyes (and when I say silver eyes, I do not mean silverish, or grey; even in the bright white of his scleras, the shocking color of his irises fairly glinted with a metallic shine). When I describe him as elfish and with blond hair, please do not mistake me to say that he was in any way feminine. His hair was coarse and short, and his figure gaunt. His thin lips showed signs of pain lines around them, but also had a tendency to be turned up in wry humor, even as worried transversed his eyes. In my inspection, my eyes fixed on his ears. I had always felt up to this point (and still do) that ears are strange things at the best of times, and the longer we inspect them, the more alien they appear. Trellen''s ears, however, shouted "alien!" to me at first glance. They were just like normal ears at the lobes and through their centers, but at the tips, they formed a perfectly vertical triangle of cartilage. I am not proud to say that I gaped at them - until Trellen uneasily shuffled his feet and attempted to cover his ears with the barbs of hair nearest to them. He failed, absymally, but it was enough to snap my gaze away from the child''s head. He wore no shirt, and bruises overlay a surprisingly wiry frame. Sharp eyed readers are no doubt arguing that wiry and gaunt can hardly be brothers in a description of a torso, but in this child''s they were. Never have I claimed any level of mastery over anatomy, and this was an anomaly wholly foreign to me, but the child''s ribs were clearly visible, and so were muscles that were completely unable to hide, as there was no excess fat to be seen anywhere on his person. Clearly, this child had lived with enough to work, but not enough to enjoy, his entire life. He wore a type of pants, which were truly made of more patches than the original fabric, and were belted tight with a short length of worn rope. Just like his hands, his feet were uncovered, and while the base looked like my own feet, his toes stretched just further than they should. They had slipped past elegance, and had become, instead, just the slightest bit sinister.


    I shook my head. What exactly my new friend was I could discover later - in the sunshine (when had that happened?) I looked around and saw the glint of the softly flowing brook not ten feet away. Around it moss disappeared into ferns that covered the dirt. Rocks were scarce, and the many roots of the large trees were dappled in shade from the arboreal covering. Trellen and I had remained still long enough that the trees were coming alive again. Slim squirrels in their grey jackets skittered over boughs, and where they ran, dark colored songbirds winged away. Every now and again I spotted a bright shell of the fruit that had sustained me thus far in the planet.


    "Hello?"


    No.


    Stephanos seemed to understand. The voice inside my mind stayed silent this time. Perhaps I was weak, but I would not reflect any longer on the strangeness of my new self, and the holes in my mind, nor would I recollect the torture. For a moment, I allowed my mental self-image to lapse back to that of an awkward teenager, and decided I would explore this forest as that adolescent.


    Hey! Trellen!


    Don''t be shy. It''s alright. I''m startled, I won''t lie. I''ve never seen someone like you. If I understood you right though, the others who look like me have always treated you pretty shittily. I''m not them. Can''t say I''m not a bit of a jerk, but I''ll never hit you.


    He stayed silent.


    Come on! You saw what I did to that bastard back there right? I did it because I could see his mind somehow, and he hated you. I was hated for being a weirdo back where I''m from, and I won''t ever do that to anyone else if I can help it.


    The child started to slowly relax it seemed. His shoulders opened a bit, and a rock I hadn''t even noticed slowly dropped out of one palm. He started to look more like the little kid he was, and less like a hunted animal.


    "Do you want some more feraloupe then?"


    If it''s food, then yes.


    He handed me a bit more of the fruit. This time, the flesh hadn''t been pulled away from the husk yet. While the husk felt fuzzy and hard, the inside was soft and seemed to get softer as it neared the center of the fruit. I ate with no manners whatsoever, with juice splashing all over me as I grunted and tore at the fruit. This seemed to cheer Trellen up, and he ate the other piece of fruit with similar abandon, spitting out seeds now and again.


    "Are you eating the seeds?"


    I tried to grunt yes, which Trellen seemed to grasp. He laughed and pointed at me.


    "You can''t do that, or these trees will start growing out of your ears!"


    I couldn''t respond, and I didn''t want to stop eating, but I grinned back at him as I kept chomping and slurping. We finished or respective meals, and both dunked our faces in the chilly water.


    Damn. It felt good to not have any voices inside my head. Trellen seemed to value silence, and rarely spoke without me saying something first. Still, some things couldn''t be ignored. My self-image had slipped when I washed my face; it had taken extra work to get the sticky sweetness of juice out of my long beard hairs.


    Just then, I saw Trellen twitch his head, and fear sprang up on his face. He got up, and started sprinting for the nearest tree, but tripped on his second step over a low lying root. I stood to help him, and then something I can only describe as lupine and evil in nature appeared, standing over the boy.


    I''m not sure what triggered my next action. I don''t think I was, or ever became, a hero, but this boy''s life was precious to me. I had bought it, purchased it, it seemed to me, at a great cost, and it already had been a great reward to my soul.


    So I did something without thinking - I sprinted for the wolf. As I ran I remembered all the stories I had read as a kid, about plucky boys who fought big dogs to save girls, and won by holding the dog''s jaws open and kicking. I think I was trying to do this; instead, I had enough speed and mass to knock the wolf-thing off of Trellen, and then land beside it. Before I knew what was happening, my throat was screaming in pain, but soundlessly, as it was no longer attached to my neck, and my dimming eyes saw Trellen clambering back up a tree. I faded quickly.


    ---


    I woke up with a jolt. Immediately I scrabbled ungracefully to my feet, and grasped my throat.


    It was there.


    Was it a dream?


    My hands were still covered in blood though...


    "Can I speak now, Theo?"


    Yes! Of course you smug ass! What just happened!?


    "I sensed you were in danger - in game terms I resurrected you here, a safe distance away from the wolf monster that ripped out your throat."


    The pain lingered.


    So, you weren''t kidding? I can be resurrected... saved, if I''m in terrible danger?


    "Yes! Of course I wasn''t kidding! I''m a bit silly at times, but that will be good for you. You had a serious enough lifetime before now, you need a little silliness. But I am not a liar. Let''s not argue this now though... What are you going to do about that child?"


    When I looked up, I saw that this wolf monster, which seemed to be more agile as well as more strong then wolves I was aware of, had climbed up into the tree. Trellen, in his fear, had kept climbing higher, but now was caught on a high bough, just strong enough to hold him. The monster was pulling itself closer, and had cut off all escapes for the boy.


    Do you have any suggestions??


    "Well, as I was saying earlier, you now can adopt a class, or you can level up as part of the change that we have made to..."


    I ignored the voice. He was babbling on again about classes and levels when a child was about to die. I saw a roughly pebble shaped rock near my hand - wait, there were a few of them! I grabbed them all, and still mentally doing my best to ignore the voice that was now chattering about strength and dexterity, I threw the first rock. It fell well short of the boy and the wolf, and neither spared me a glance. I chucked another one. This one was closer, but now I was down to my last rock. In desperation, and I think praying to someone, I hurled this last one. As the stone left my hand, I whispered internally, Let me protect this child.


    A great number of fortunate occurrences coincided in just that moment. The monster had reached the weakest branches, and was having visible difficulties holding its weight steady. It had just pulled off of one paw to stretch towards Trellen, and the brave child was kicking at its head, trying to keep it away. In just that moment, the last rock bounced off of a branch above the wolf, and ricocheted down and struck the one front paw still on the branch. The monster grunted in surprise and snatched back the smarting paw - but this left it with only its rear paws holding it up, and it slipped and swung down until it was hanging upside down from the tree. Trellen, however, had fallen wholly from the tree in the moment of shock. I was just near enough to the child to catch him as he dropped, but his weight knocked me over, and a sickening crunch came from below my elbows as they struck with both my weight and Trellen''s landing squarely on them. Even as Trellen rolled away from me, and I saw white shreds of bone jutting from my skin, the desperate wolf''s claws lost their final grip, and it plummeted straight towards the ground. Unlike Trellen, the wolf had nothing to break its fall, and landed head first. An even deeper crack sounded, and the wolf gave a great shudder and rattle.


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    As my mind tried to catch up, and put aside the red pulsing pain in my arms, a bright light swirled around Trellen and myself, and my arms twitched. They itched furiously, but I was terrified to look at them, much less scratch them. When I finally did, however, I saw nothing but unblemished skin. I, of course, swung them around gingerly, but now nothing remained except that infernal itch.


    After scratching them vigorously, and ensuring Trellen was unharmed, I pressed my mind into Stephanos'' bubble. It was clouded, and I felt distinct grumpiness from it as I pushed my mental connection into it.


    What just happened?


    "Well, if you had listened at all it wouldn''t be so strange."


    What was the light?


    "You leveled up."


    What the hell do you mean, ''leveled up''?


    "How many times do I have to tell you... Oh, fine, just think ''Show Character Data''."


    As I followed the strange command, a blue screen appeared, seemingly right before my eyes. In a flash though, several more opened on top of it. As they settled down, I read through them.


    At the top read one that said:


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>NOTIFICATION</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>Congratulations! You have reached level 2!


    NOTICE: All negative states have been removed. (Broken Limbs healed)</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I swiped it away. Below it read:


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>NOTIFICATION</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>+271 Experience points award for death of Level 3 Wolf-Monster


    NOTICE: Experience for this monster has been split between two player characters that shared in its defeat.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Two player characters? I swiped this one away as well.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>NOTIFICATION</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>Upon the meeting of your blood, and that of the Elven child, Trellen Leopoldus, and according to your previously stated wish and command, an elemental blood bond of fellowship has been offered to the aforementioned Trellen Leopoldus.


    NOTICE: Acceptance of this bond will incorporate the aforementioned bonded fellow into your own character growth state.


    NOTICE: The aforementioned Trellen Leopoldus has accepted an elemental blood bond with you, Theopholus World-Traveller.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I paused here and looked at Trellen. It was tricky, as there was still a notification in the center of my vision, but I found a way to look at the boy out of the side of my eye. He was grinning, and made a distinct swiping motion of his own. Well shit. I sighed and filed that away as another conversation to have with him later, and returned to my window. I swiped away the notification of blood bond, and read:


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>NOTIFICATION</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>You have used 15 mana to create a spell. According to your wish and command, an attempt was made to create and use spell, Accurate Shot.


    Spell creation failed due to lack of power.


    Alternate attempt was made to create and use spell, Lucky Shot.


    Spell was successfully created and used.


    NOTICE: You have recreated the spell Lucky Shot.


    This spell requires a minimum of 15 mana to use.


    Activation requires aimed projectile attack.


    Spell results in undetermined fortunate effect, based upon desired purpose of projectile attack.


    Increased levels of power given to spell over time will allow for an increased degree of fortunate effect.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    So, in summary, I had instinctively activated power when praying and vocalising my desire to save Trellen while throwing the final stone. This had triggered a spell creation, which caused the lucky bounce of the stone, which in turn had protected Trellen. After this, when Trellen had landed on my, some amount of our blood mixed, and that same verbalized desire initiated a blood bond with the child. He must have accepted, somehow. The wolf had then finally dropped, and died, and the experience from the ''kill'' had leveled me up, and presumably leveled Trellen up as well. When we leveled up, both of us were instantly healed of our negative effects, and that brought us up to date.


    Reeling slightly from the overload of information, I swiped away that last notification, and found my status window:


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Character Data</td></tr><tr><td>Name</td><td colspan=''2''>Theopholus</td></tr><tr><td>Title Name</td><td>Title Status</td><td>Title Effect</td></tr><tr><td>Traveller of Worlds</td><td>Active</td><td>May learn and utilize any ability from explored worlds.</td></tr><tr><td>World Seed Guardian</td><td>Hidden</td><td>May recreate any previously known skill</td></tr><tr><td>Destroyer of Worlds</td><td>Hidden, Locked</td><td>Unknown</td></tr><tr><td>Returned from Madness</td><td>Hidden</td><td>May only recreate 2 skills per level


    - 25 Wisdom</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Strength</td><td>Determines striking force + carrying ability</td><td>12</td></tr><tr><td>Agility</td><td>Determines striking speed + movement speed</td><td>14</td></tr><tr><td>Dexterity</td><td>Determines striking accuracy</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>Endurance</td><td>Determines health</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td>Armor</td><td>Determines mitigation of damage received</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>Determines learning speed and capacity</td><td>20</td></tr><tr><td>Wisdom</td><td>Determines decision making abilities


    High levels allow for slowing of perceived time</td><td>-3</td></tr><tr><td>Soul Capacity</td><td>Determines amount of mana avaliable</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Soul Resilience</td><td>Determines mana regeneration rate</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Current Health</td><td>750</td><td>+15 health/second</td></tr><tr><td>Current Mana</td><td>15</td><td>+1 power/hour</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>Skills</td></tr><tr><td>Name</td><td colspan=''2''>Bind by Blood</td></tr><tr><td>Type</td><td colspan=''2''>Inherent</td></tr><tr><td>Requirements</td><td colspan=''2''>Mingling of blood of contract sponsor with blood of contract recipient (in case of non-blooded entities, mingling of interior mana may replace recipient blood)</td></tr><tr><td>Effect</td><td colspan=''2''>Formal relationship between sponsor and recipient, of many different types</td></tr><tr><td>Blood Bond Types Known</td><td>Full Bond: Theopholus - Stephanos</td><td>Friendship Bond: Theopholus - Trellen</td></tr><tr><td>Name</td><td colspan=''2''>Lucky Shot</td></tr><tr><td>Type</td><td colspan=''2''>Recreated (from Planet Seed Zeraxonos, Planet type Primitive Theocracy)</td></tr><tr><td>Requirements</td><td colspan=''2''>Minimum 15 mana to Activate, Activate with Projectile Attack</td></tr><tr><td>Effect</td><td colspan=''2''>Spell results in undetermined fortunate effect, based upon desired purpose of projectile attack - increased levels of power given to spell over time will allow for an increased degree of fortunate effect</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>NOTE: Due to level up, 10 stat points are available.


    NOTE: Due to level up, 1 skill may be acquired without study.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Well. I was now, what was it Stephanos called it? A "video game character", in my own little, and apparently deadly, world.


    Author Note:


    Hello any and all! I have a chart now. Feel free to give me suggestions, but particularly on how to format a chart better. Making that was killer, and it still looks rather off.