Serenity tried to drop the device, but he couldn’t let go. It was like the device was stuck to his hand.
He cut off the flow of magic to the device, both mana and essence. Either might have been enough, but it was easier to do both.
The noise fell down to a tolerable background level. He couldn’t actually tell what any of it was now, but he could still hear something. It would get annoying with time, probably, but at least it wasn’t screaming anymore.
“What did you do? It’s not supposed to trigger the bonding unless it’s in the right location.” Tek tapped the device, then tried to slide a fingernail under it. That felt like she was poking him with the fingernail, rather than trying to get between his skin and something else. “Yeah, it’s bonded, but not well. It’s still completely external, it’ll be easy to remove. Follow me.”
Serenity followed her. If she removed it, maybe that annoying background noise would stop.
Was that first feeling, the screaming noise, what she meant when she said “kind of overwhelming”? She wasn’t joking; it might actually be enough of a downside to be worth giving up the chance to see the electronics nearby; how useful could that really be? The people he needed to fight didn’t use electronics.
Wait. See the electronics. See through electronics. Cameras were electronics. Maybe he could see again?
Never mind his doubts. It would absolutely be worth learning how to deal with the noise. Especially if he could cut it back to a mild background buzz like it was right now; this was tolerable. He didn’t think it was even going to improve his Pain Resistance, so it couldn’t be that bad.
Tek led Serenity into the room he’d appeared in, then to one of the benches. She set a device Serenity didn’t recognize against the chip and it grew cold, then she tapped the chip with something else. A moment later, she used a pair of oversized tweezers to grab it and lift it off Serenity’s palm.
His palm stung a bit, but didn’t seem damaged. He wasn’t certain if he was happy or not that the buzzing disappeared as well; if he could have used the device without it being permanently stuck to him, it would have been better.
She handed it back to him, and it seemed inert. “It doesn’t seem to be damaged.”
Serenity wasn’t looking forward to learning how to use it, but he already knew he wanted to. The modern world was unforgiving to those with limited sight, especially when it was recent and they hadn’t learned the tools to help them cope. That was at the most his second priority, though. “Tek? How do I leave? I really want to go home.”
“Hm? Oh, just ask. I interrupted your journey so I could ask you about being my Champion. It’s sort of on pause right now, this sort of discussion doesn’t exactly take time. I don’t understand how it works, that new voice said it’s like the Tutorial whatever that means; it’s not like I get to go to the Tutorial so how would I know?”
“On the Champion thing, I’m taking that as a “not right now”, by the way. I may ask again in the future. You’re definitely my kind of person, plus you know magic. How could I pass that up?” Tek smiled and tilted her head. “So. Continue on your journey now, use the chip, more cookies, what do you want to do? I probably have some milk to go with the cookies. If it’s still good, I tend to forget about milk, uh…”
Serenity needed to learn not to get Tek started, or he’d never hear the end of it.
The answer was easy, though. The cookies were good, he did want to use the chip, and even more than that he wanted to go home. If this was outside time like the Tutorials, the answer was even easier. “How about all three?”
Tek stared at him for a moment, then laughed.
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Serenity had the worst headache he could remember.
Well, except for the time he was shot in the head in the Tutorial. And the time he’d nearly had his head flattened - it was a good thing that draugr had limited need for a brain; he’d found out that reduced pain sensitivity wasn’t no pain sensitivity. And then there was that one hangover in college.
Okay, it wasn’t the worst headache he could remember. It did make the list, unfortunately.
It was painful enough that he didn’t want to eat, which was unfortunate. They were good cookies. Serenity looked up at the hooded man, since he was the only one who hadn’t had any cookies yet. “Don’t you want any?”
The figure shook his head. He still hadn’t moved from the corner he’d been in when Serenity entered the room the first time.
“I kept some, I’m not sure how many Rhea sent but it’s plenty for the two of us, even with saving some for your parents. Rhea makes the best cookies.” Tek took another bite. “No, I take that back. Rhea makes the second-best cookies, and she’d agree with me. She’s the one that took me to … what’s his name. I don’t remember, but he’s the only god I know who actually runs his own restaurant.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean you, I was asking…” Serenity turned back to the hooded man in the corner. “What’s your name? I don’t think you were introduced.”
The man didn’t move or speak. After a moment, Tek did. “I should check you for side effects. There isn’t anyone else in this room. It’s just the two of us.” She headed towards the door to the hallway.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Serenity looked at the hooded man and the woman on the couch. He was pretty sure the woman on the couch was on her third cookie. What was going on here?
The woman’s smile had an odd quirk. “She can’t see us. The gods can be blind that way, the same way mortal man can, and Death and I can be hard to see. Tek can only see those who have chosen to become personified; Death and I have not, however many times people have tried to give us names to bind us.”
“Say the rest.” The hooded man - Death? - sounded a lot like the Nightmare Wraith to Serenity, distinct and clear yet heard by the mind rather than the ears.
The woman sighed. “Neither Death nor I have a Champion on Earth. Death will offer to none but you, and he expects you to refuse so he will not ask himself. I find you interesting, so I would welcome you as my Champion. If you do not accept, I may find someone else.”
Death was correct; Serenity wouldn’t even consider being Death’s Champion. He wanted to move away from Death. “Who are you?”
“Call me Tyche.”
Serenity vaguely remembered that was the name of another god, but he couldn’t remember which one. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever known; the headache was making it harder to think.
Tyche sighed in frustration. “Lady Luck. Do none of you study the classics?”
“I don’t mean to offend you, but I don’t think I should rely on luck,” Serenity offered. “There’s too much to get done. I need to set things up so that misfortune isn’t enough to ruin everything. Luck won’t prevent what’s coming.”
Tyche’s smile became wider as Serenity spoke. “That’s not offensive at all. I agree, you shouldn’t depend on me. I don’t want people to rely on me for everything. I do want to see the occasional giant bet that wins or fails on the slimmest of chances, but I also want to see the everyday odds that make that chance matter. My Champion doesn’t rely on luck, he or she makes it. It isn’t always good. I’ve had Champions that fly high until disaster strikes and Champions that prepare for everything. I’ve had Champions set out to save the world or rule it, Champions who wanted revenge or to rescue a friend. The goal isn’t important. All I ask is that my Champion makes things happen, so that luck can shine, good or bad.”
That sounded interesting in a way, but terrible at the same time. “I think we’re not a good fit.” Actually, Serenity thought he’d prefer to be a champion for Tek and serve as her guinea pig. At least he knew she’d be trying to help him. He wasn’t so sure about Tyche.
Serenity wasn’t reassured as Tyche’s grin grew even more pronounced. “I admit, that’s what I hoped you’d say. If you’d accepted, I’d have had to give you the boring blessing. We’re closer than you think, and you’ve always had a bit of it, but you are the perfect person for this. Oh, this is going to be so much fun! Enjoy your Luck! I’ll be seeing you!”
Tyche vanished, still holding one of Rhea’s cookies.
[Title Awarded: Tyche’s Mark]
Serenity took a deep breath and looked at the Title.
Tyche’s Mark
You have been marked by Lady Luck. Interesting things will happen around you. They may be good or bad.
This Curse removes your Luck and Luck % attributes and suppresses all Luck attributes that would affect you (directly or indirectly). Instead, Luck is in flux around you and unlikely events are more likely to occur when you are nearby.
That wasn’t as bad as he’d feared. Not that he could do anything about it, anyway.
“You want to change the future. Now you will always be at the center of events. Choose the events you wish to affect carefully.” Death faded, but Serenity could tell that he still stood there; he simply wasn’t obvious anymore.
Serenity shook his head. This was something to deal with later. Right now, he needed to find Tek and tell her to send him home.
He headed down the hallway and found Tek fiddling with something in the workroom. It looked sort of like a Star Trek tricorder. Apparently she’d forgotten - no, now she was pointing it at him and scanning him. She hadn’t forgotten he’d seen things she hadn’t.
“I can’t find anything organic that’s wrong, but did you know that your brain isn’t actually organic? At least, I don't think it is; it doesn't seem to register quite right, I get this odd error. I need to upgrade this thing once I know more about magic. I’m not sure how you’re moving, much less alive.” Tek tapped the machine, adjusting something, then scanned Serenity again.
Serenity knew that people would be debating what the term alive meant soon enough, once more people on Earth knew that Life wasn’t the only animating Affinity; undead gave enough questions to that, though many people ignored them. It was elementals that really made the question difficult. Serenity was technically an elemental, but that was a conversation he didn’t want to have with Tek right now; she talked too much. “Can you send me home? It’s time.”
Tek put the tricorder down and examined Serenity. “Sure you won’t accept?” At his headshake, she waved her hand and Serenity was back in the darkness of his journey.
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Serenity was standing on an empty brick sidewalk. There didn’t seem to be anyone around, but the warmth on his skin told him it was daylight.
It was quieter than Tek’s space station. He could hear the road and the sidewalk; they were both man-made technology, but they did not have much to say so they were not loud. He could also hear the clothing and gear he wore; he had to concentrate to pick them out, but he could. He tried to block them, instead.
Serenity took a step forward and staggered. He felt weakened, like something was draining out of him. A look at his Status told him what it was - mana, essence, and stamina were all slowly bleeding out of him as he stood there. His stamina loss was slow compared to his mana and essence losses. It was unfortunate that those were the more important ones for him.
It reminded Serenity of being on a planet that was just a little too low Tier for him, but he was only at the top of Tier 1 in attributes. A human shouldn’t have any issues at a single Tier above the planet.
But then, he wasn’t human, was he? His mana was more concentrated than Raz’s, and he had more of it than he should for his attributes. He should have thought of the problem earlier; until the planet grew, he’d be limited. At least he’d stabilize soon if that was the problem; the loss was slow, after all, so he wasn’t over by enough to be in any danger.
While he was still looking at his Status, Raz appeared.
The two of them waited while Serenity tried to figure out a way to know where they were. Finding a street sign wasn’t enough on its own; he couldn’t see the words and Raz couldn’t read them.
Katya didn’t arrive.