After I'm not sure how long I awoke to the sound of excited mewling to my left. My eyes slowly blinked open until I heard the sound of a growl. A loud growl, deep, terrifying. Coupled with the sound of whimpers. My eyes snapped open, and I straightened. I looked around, my chest throbbing as I saw a wolf, skinny and a bit malnourished despite the abundance of fauna this time of year, and Brioche, the much smaller animal, stood shaking in front of her den. To the side of the clearing I saw two of the fox cubs laying motionless, bloody, dead. I felt my chest tighten, tears springing to my eyes in both rage and loss. I choked down the feeling, trying to focus on the situation at hand. It was one of the hardest things I had ever done. What felt like mere moments ago I had been playing with the critters. I shook my head and slapped my cheek to regain focus.
I stood and glanced at the timer in the corner, I probably wouldn't be able to help much without the system.
[System Timer]
Time to integration:
2:01
Damnit! Two hours, one minute remained. I lifted the training sword regardless, two of the kits were still safe in the den, behind Bri. As I prepared myself, I watched helplessly as the wolf lunged towards Brioche, biting into her neck and whipping its head back and forth. Blood fell in droplets all across the clearing, I heard Brioche whimpering in pain. My eyes widened in terror, adrenaline rushing through me. I couldn't stop myself as I leapt into action, perhaps foolishly, with my dull training sword. I didn’t know if it would help but I pushed as much of my raw mana into the sword as I could. Before I reached them, despite only being a few steps away, the wolf let go of her mid shake, launching her into a nearby tree with a sickening crunch. I cried out in rage and swung the sword down on the wolf's neck, a resounding crack echoing through the clearing. Seething, I lifted the sword again as the wolf wheeled on me and slashed down again, my training paying off as this time I killed it, caving in its skull. But I didn't stop, I swung again and again, crying.
After around ten seconds of mindless rage, I stumbled back, shocked and terrified. I had just killed something. I started to hyperventilate and fell to my knees, keeling over. I couldn't stop it, my stomach lurched as I caught sight of the wolf I had just dealt with. I threw up, it wasn’t much, it had been a good many hours since breakfast and I hadn’t had lunch. It took longer than I’d like to admit to come to my senses. Really, it took the soft mewling of the remaining baby foxes to break my stupor.
Panting desperately for air, I removed my shirt quickly and went over to Brioche, kneeling. She was breathing faintly, so faintly. She was weezing. It was painful to listen to. I wrapped her in the shirt, watching as it quickly soaked with blood. I snatched up the defenseless kits, knowing that if I left they could die just as easily to the elements as to another creature. Sobbing, I sprinted from the clearing and made my way towards the house. I choked on half of my breaths, my chest heaving with every other step. I couldn't seem to regain control, normally breathing wasn't such an issue even while working out or running.
Normally it took around fifteen minutes of walking to find my way to Bri’s den, but this time it took maybe eight. I was breathless as I approached the well. I collapsed and listened for Brioche’s breathing over my labored gasps, but I couldn’t hear anything. I rested her on the ground and held the back of my hand to her nose. I didn’t notice as Maya, who was still practicing with her spear, rushed towards my house and called for my parents..
1:51
It had only been ten minutes. Fuck. Fuck Fuck Fuck. Shit. I didn’t know what to do. My first friend wasn't breathing. If my timer was down maybe I could... but wait it wasn't done, I didn’t have the system, maybe it wouldn't help. I let her squirming babies down as I placed my hands to her still chest praying to whatever gods existed that they not take her yet. Please, please if you help her I will be your devout follower. I swear please, anyone Elandrus, Luma, Ferune, Helion, anyone please.
I prayed to all of the gods I knew. I didn’t realize my parents were behind me. I didn’t feel them grasp at my shoulder to try to pull me away. As a last desperate thought, so focused on the fox I was willing to attempt the improbable, I tried to force a companion connection. When an animal monster or beast made a companion pact with a person both would change to an extent, taking traits from each other, but also, for the animal, they would enter a transformative chrysalis state. In the past there were instances of companions being saved from mortal wounds due to this state.
I sent my mana through my hands and towards the still fox, towards my friend. I felt the mana slowly begin to leave my hands butit was too slow, much to slow for a connection to form. I screamed out, angry that it wasn’t working and forced my intent into the mana as I had read about in the rune books. I gasped as I felt the mana leave my body, rip itself from me, and pushed towards Brioche's motionless body. I trembled for a moment as my vision faded to black, and I collapsed.
When my eyes finally opened again I saw that I was laying on my back, a half dozen faces were looking down on me. I groggily sat up before remembering Brioche and I frantically looked to see if I could see a cocoon or whatever came about with animal chrysalis. Instead I numbly saw a motionless body. A soft mewling broke me out of my stupor and I shook my head, hearing my parents talk.
“Lios, Lios are you okay? Are you hurt?” My mother was frantically checking me over. I glanced up at her and saw there were streaks on her face. I looked at the other faces around me, two guards, Ento and his current mentor, Calimax, Max for short. Maya, my parents, and one of the local healers. I didn’t know the priest's name, given that I tended to avoid the church. I cursed myself a moment wondering if I had been devout if Brioche would have been saved by my hapless prayers.
“I’m... I’m not hurt” I answered my mother after a few moments. I had a killer headache, my eyes hurt a bit. My mouth was dry. How long had I been out?
[System Timer]
0:48
I had been unconscious for over an hour. No wonder my parents were so worried. I guess that was a good sign given this morning's conversation. I shakily stood up. “I’m fine. The blood is Brioches.”
My father helped me up,then wrapped me in a tight hug, not saying anything for a few moments. He didn’t seem to care about the dried blood on my shirt or arms as I hugged him back. Then finally he spoke, and as his voice cracked I broke down again. “I’m so happy you're okay.... I’m - I'm sorry about Brioche...”
“Can... Can you help me bury her?” I stumbled over to her. I was confused at how weak I felt, all I'd done was cry.
“Careful Lios, you must be exhausted. How does someone your age figure out how to expel all of your mana anyway?” Calimax held me up on the left side as my father held me by the right. “We dug a hole already, Ento ‘n I.”
“Thanks.” I didn’t feel like conversing, they seemed to understand. I heard his other question, of how I expelled my mana, but ignored it. I wasn't too sure myself, I wasn't sure if it was abnormal or not. I’d been able to manipulate mana to a small extent for a few months now.
I scooped up the fox, my arms trembling from the weight. Ento walked us to the edge of the woods where a hole was dug and an earth crafted headstone was already waiting. I gently placed her into the hole, still wrapped in my bloodstained shirt. “I hope in your afterlife they let you chase all of the rabbits, hunt every snake, and deliver you sweetened cream and meat every day. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect you. I swear I will protect your kittens until the day I die.”
I couldn’t find more words, not right now. My chest was tight. My stomach was revolting against me, my body was begging for recovery. I looked back towards my parents, then at the onlookers. “Mom, dad, I think I need a bath. After, can we talk?”
My parents exchanged a long look before my mother nodded. “Of course, I’ll take you to the creek.”
The others took the que to leave, Maya and Ento stayed for a few moments before waving, sad expressions adorned. “Dad, can you go to Brioche’s clearing? The uhm. The wolf... I want to use its pelt. And the training sword is there... And her children deserve a burial too.” I barely stopped myself from crying again, damned ten year old body and hormones. My father nodded.
I started walking through the woods, with my mothers support, to the creek. I had her turn, despite being my mother, as I washed the blood and dirt off. We were silent the entire time, and after around fifteen minutes we were back on our way to the house. Our walk was quiet too. I could tell that she wanted to say something, but I didn’t want to talk much yet. It wasn’t until we got back that I realized I had forgotten to make sure the kits were safe. I mentally noted two more mounds next to Bri’s.
As we got into the house I saw my father sitting on my bed casually playing with the two baby foxes. His eyes snapped toward us as we entered. The air was filled with the smell of a curry, the source being the three cold plates of curry, rice and vegetables on the table. My stomach gurgled and I made a beeline to my seat. I took a bite without waiting, the spices washing over me. I was surprised, normally we weren't able to get many seasonings here, at least save for those we could make ourselves, but this dish had a decent bite to it. I groaned as the chicken and rice and sauce melted in my mouth.
My parents joined me at the table and looked between each other and at me, unsure what to say.
“Lios-”
“Son-”
They interrupted each other. My father gestured to my mother to let her go first.
“Sweetheart, after you eat you should get some rest. Then tomorrow we can talk about everything... It’s been a long day for you.” her voice cracked a bit and I saw she was wiping away a tear.
“We don’t have to wait. I’d prefer it if we didn't,” I said through a mouthful of food. My chest hurt, honestly my whole body hurt. My headache was starting to fade with the food though. “I’ll start with what happened in the clearing, if that's okay.”
My parents nodded, indicating that I could continue
“Well, I went there after our talk this morning. I played with the four... the four babies for a bit, and BriBri - “ It was tough to talk about, but I held back my tears this time. “And after maybe an hour, maybe a few, I started practicing my sword techniques. After a while I couldn't focus any longer and I rested in the shade against a tree where I guess I fell asleep. When I woke up the wolf was fighting with Brioche, and two of the kits were already... Anyway, I got up just as the wolf bit into her and started shaking her. I used the training sword and bashed its head in, then ran all the way back here.”
I stopped talking, opting to fill my mouth with food as they processed the events. There was a long silence, long enough for me to eat the rest of my food. “Am I... am I still welcome here?” It felt like a stupid, but necessary question. I mean, they had made a plate for me...
“Of course you are! You're our son, you'll always be welcome. Regardless of what you said this morning.” My mother came over to hug me. She squeezed me tight enough that my back cracked. It was nice. My father was wiping away tears as he came to join us.
“I thought... I thought you were hurt. You didn’t respond to anyone calling your name, and then you just... Keeled over. I thought... I don’t know what I'd have done if...” My strong, stoic father couldn’t finish the thought, as though just saying the word ‘died’ would bring it to reality. Hearing my parents sniffle I felt a bit of warmth seep back into me. I was still loved.
“Dad, I'm okay. I promise I'm okay.” I patted his back, feeling how tense he was. “Um... can you take the day off tomorrow? I think you’ll probably have a lot of questions, right?”
“Yeah, I already did. Your mom and I spent some time writing some down, but I'm sure there will be more. For now though, how long do you have left on your system timer?”
Honestly, I didn’t much want to look at it. But I did. Sometime between the bath and now the timer had ticked down, there were only around three minutes left.
“Not much. Woo system day.” I exclaimed less than halfheartedly.
“Less than five minutes.”
“Okay, before we get into your, uhm, past, let’s try to figure out which skills you should take. I’m sure you have an idea of what you want but...” My mother said, it seemed she was struggling a bit with my revelation.
“Sure. We can do that. I do have some ideas. I want [Bladed Weapon Mastery], or something similar. [Running] might be good to pick up. I have a few skills I want for my secondary class, that’ll hopefully link up pretty well with my main. [Smithing], [Tailoring], and [Runewriting] or [Inscribing]. In one of my books it said that these skills can be merged later into the [Runsmithing] and [Runeweaving] skills. I also want [Dodging] and [Dancing], but I'm not sure what else appeals to me.” I purposefully left a couple of slots open as it was tradition for parents to help their kids or to choose skills for them. It was easy to talk about my skills, even in spite of everything that had happened. I had been planning for this moment for the better part of the last four years, and pondering this moment since coming to Ravos.
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“Wow, you’ve given this a lot of thought. It seems like a lot of those skills are geared towards two different classes, why not focus on the first and then once you are able to choose a second class we can get the others?” my mother asked as she sat back down.
“I thought about that, but I don't know when I’ll get the chance to learn to blacksmith again and as long as I’m doing that I think I should also work on my tailoring, that way they are both ready when I hit level fifty and take my second class.”
“I think those skills seem pretty good, I guess you still want to be an adventurer? Specifically a swordsman? You probably will need an [Intuition] skill, it will alert you if someone is being dishonest, depending on the level, or warn you of danger among other uses.” My father was stroking his chin, he had only the wisps of facial hair despite rarely shaving. It seemed in this life, too, my face would be devoid of hair. I sighed internally.
“And I think your last skill should be something along the lines of [Critter Wrangling] or [Fox Raising] if you intend to raise Bri’s kits.” My mother looked at my bed where the two palm sized pups were resting.
“I think you're right” As I said that I received a number of notifications. I ignored most of them, but felt an intense energy rushing through me. “I guess I should set my skills now, huh?”
[Name]
Alexilios
[Race]
Human
[Initial Designation]
Child of Discordance: lvl10
That was strange. I had read, and been told, that when kids were initialized, or given the system, they would receive a designation, usually something like [Child of Ravos] or instead of Ravos the name of the country. Sometimes they would be given a designation with a specific base element, or even a type of object. There were kids who were named a [Child of the Hammer] but I had never heard of something like this. I chalked it up to not knowing everything and moved on to see what skills I actually had available to me. Still, discordance didn’t seem like an overly positive designation. I also noted that I was starting at level ten, meaning I had somehow done enough to warrant that level. It was likely due to me killing the wolf while without the system.
[Class]
Unavailable
[Class Skills]
10x unavailable
[General Skills]
10x available
It didn't take long to find eight of the ten skills that my parents and I had talked about. The missing two were [Smithing] and some sort of animal handling skill. That would come pretty quick.
I was a bit disappointed by the lack of a visual stats page, despite having already known about it. Some items and skills allowed individuals to quantify their abilities, but otherwise the system kept them hidden. It would have been nice to see how I compared to others my age or even older. Additionally, I could tell the rush of energy in me was the result of immediately jumping to level ten at the time of receiving the system. The system would take into consideration what I’d done to earn said levels and auto assign my stats for me which could result in changing my body and physiology. According to my parents the system wouldn’t affect my personality through stats but skills could. This meant that just by increasing my intelligence, wisdom, or charisma I wouldn't become overly different, my way of thinking wouldn’t change, but it would heighten what I was already capable of.
“Skills all assigned?” My dad had been watching me as my eyes flicked from side to side. I had asked a few generic questions about the system like how to select a skill, or how to read additional information on them, but otherwise hadn’t said much. So focused was I that I hadn’t noticed my mother had gone to my bed to bottle feed the foxes some goat milk.
“Yeah I got them all set. Well all but two but those I’ll have to pick up tomorrow.” I stifled a yawn. My eyes were droopy. I stood up and made my way to my bed, scooting up against the wall as I layed facing the kitchen so I could still talk to my parents. “Can we talk more tomorrow? I am suddenly very tired.”
“We can, yes. You're gonna need to come up with a name for these fellas.” My mother gently petted the foxes as they crawled towards me, sniffing me curiously. I pet them softly as my eyes closed.
“I will. I will.” I said just before falling asleep.
I dreamed of nothing, I only felt. I used to think growing pains were pretty bad, but they were nothing compared to going from level one to level ten in one fell swoop, apparently. I could feel the muted pain of my muscles reforming to fit my new strength stat and dexterity. I had the worst headache, it felt like I'd been hit by a bus. When I woke up, for the first time in years, the sun was already up. I stretched, the pain had only lasted as I was asleep. It had probably been worse, considering it was morning, but I had only felt a bit of it upon waking. Thankfully. I saw both of my parents chatting at the table. My mother was trying to teach one of the kits to sit while holding a scrap of bacon in her hand.
One fox swished her tail looking up at mother, she was already sitting. Her fur was silver and gray with black streaking through it, while her brother was much the opposite. He was spinning, generally ignoring my mothers command and the bacon. Chasing his tail. I laughed seeing him, but it reminded me of what had happened the day before. His fur was mostly black, a stark contrast from the other fox, with some silver streaking throughout his pelt.
“Lios you're awake! How are you feeling?”
“Like dad after a poker night...” I mumbled but they both heard me. They pretty much always heard, damned enhanced senses. A lot of the time they let my snide remarks go thankfully.
“Oh? I guess I can see that. Yesterday was full of changes.” My mother came and sat on my bed as I sat up and leaned against the wall.
“Okay. So, you guys have questions. But wait, I kinda ignored everything other than skills. I saw some other notifications though.”
“You should check those first, we have all day.” My dad crunched on a piece of toasted bread.
Most of the notifications were pretty unnecessary, one talked about how I reached ten years of age. Another was about me gaining experience killing the wolf. Most were just tips about navigating the system, which was all stuff I already knew or had been told by my parents last night. There were a couple of achievements though, that I read fully.
[You Lived!]
Oooh woooow you made it. You're ten now, so now you get me as your forever sidekick. It’s not really impressive, so all you get is this little textbox. Toodles.
I’m the reward Bitch!
[Foolish Bravery]
Without even access to the magic and skills of this world you challenged a beast that was significantly stronger than you. Somehow you survived this encounter, be it by your skill, your luck, or the wolf's own damned incompetence. Rejoice, for foolishness is sometimes rewarded. Typically the reward would be the retention of your life but since you're new you can have a little bonus treat. Don't get used to it.
You gain +3 randomly distributed stats per level
I hadn’t expected that much snark from the system, but it had me wondering what exactly the system was. It didn’t matter right now. I wasn't sure how much those bonus stats would actually help, especially since I couldn't even reference what my stats were already sitting at, but it seemed like a pretty good deal. I read it out to my parents.
“Wait seriously? Three per level? That's a really good achievement, especially at level one. It affects each class you gain levels in, not just your main one.” My fathers eyes had gone wide when I mentioned the reward. My mother had gone from playing with the darker pup to staring wide mouthed for a moment. I carried on to the second achievement.
[Twice Baked]
Per the whim of a capricious god you have been reincarnated. Your soul, also known as you, has been returned to life through space and time with your memories mostly intact. Whoopdydoo. Sure this happens very rarely but you aren't special, get over yourself. If that god guy hadn’t been there you'd still be dead. But you aren't so I guess you get a reward. Next time the reward is your life, so don't die again dumbdumb. I’ll help with that so say Thanks System. Go on, do it.
You gain +1 to your con per level.
“Is the system always so damned snarky?” I asked before reading it off.
“First, I don’t care if you are really a space wizard as long as you live in this house you will not curse, understood young man?” My mother whipped to face me as I swore. “And second, it's not usually this bad. It talks to everyone differently, though it's typically cordial. You might actually want to tell it thank you.”
I groaned a bit. “Thank you system for keeping me from dying. Or something” I watched my parents both smirk and burst out laughing. “What? Do I not have to actually thank it?”
“No, no you should. We don't really know if it will hear you. It’s just funny when you do so out loud.” My father snickered.
“So, now that those are out of the way, uhm... Do you guys want to talk about it? Oh wait! Before that, Derren will still train me right? You talked to him dad?”
“Yes he will. And I’m not sure where to begin. You said you’re from another world... How sure are you?” My dad leaned back.
“Pretty certain. I have almost thirty years of memories from another life, so I'm either crazy or lucky in a way. Or unlucky depending how you think about it.”
“Tell us about your old world.” My mother was still sitting next to me, her voice trembled a little bit. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking but I did know that even in this world the topic of other worlds and other dimensions was rarely broached except by wizards, or space wielders. Even with magic there was little information on other planes, save for those belonging to individual gods.
“My world was... well, it was different from this one in a lot of insane ways. We didn’t have magic, nor the system, we didn’t even have gods that regularly visited us. At least, not from what I’d seen. There were a massive amount of different religions though, so maybe some of them are true. Instead of magic we had what's called electricity and it basically...” I paused for a moment, frustrated as I couldn’t articulate what electricity was. Fundamentally I knew what it was but not how to harness it, how to use it, outside of the fact that metal and water interacted with it. I knew it came from lightning and some other sources but not what those sources were. “Well, it's not overly important. It let us do all sorts of things, make things. I think that Miamora took most of the memories though.”
As I spoke I received a skill notification, letting me know I qualified for [Distant Recollections], which I ignored for the time being. I’d likely have more space for skills after I took my first class. I wasn’t positive if I'd take a swordsman class or a crafting class first, but it only mattered for a bit.
I watched as my fathers and mothers faces turned from expressions of mild concern to curiosity, and I could tell that they hadn’t been very convinced yesterday at my confession but now they were beginning to believe me.
“I was an Electrical engineer... Are there engineers here?” I asked. The boy fox waddled toward the bed, towards my voice as I spoke. I picked him up and he immediately curled up and laid down in my lap, his black fur shimmering under the light that was peaking through the window. I pet him, wondering how I was going to take care of them.
“Engineer? I know the word, but haven't paid much attention to it. What was it in your world?” My fathers eyes were positively glimmering, though there was still a sense of weariness in his eyes. I understood, there were so many things in this world that took the place of children or mimicked them.
“So, an engineer is someone who designs and creates machines or other products. Usually stuff like... um we had these things called cars, like carriages but they moved under their own power. The type of engineering I did was basically figuring out how to connect the electrical components of things to make it work. The electrical part was basically what told the thing how to react or do things. Ugh, it's hard to explain without all my memories, but I guess it’s not that important. Anyway,” I watched as my mother picked up the other fox, who promptly yawned squeakily, and curled up in her lap. “My last world was pretty similar to here too. Humans don’t seem to change a lot from place to place. War, greed, kindness and generosity all ran rampant, those in power did everything they could to stay there. Though in my world the only means to power were wealth, influence, or a combination of the two.”
“I can't imagine a world without magic and the system. It’s such an integral part of our society.” My mother shook her head, chewing her cheek a little bit. “What about your family? Were you close?” She looked a little bit scared of this question. Maybe fear wasn't the right word, but she was definitely hesitant.
I felt my heart race a bit, it had been a while since I had really thought about them. Most of the time I tried to only think about what I could do in this world. It was part of the reason I tended to be so active, why I practiced for so many hours each day. “We were close. I had a mom, a dad, two brothers and a younger sister. I had a girlfriend, we were going to be married soon.”
I didn’t realize I was crying until the tears dripped down onto my hands. My parents were quiet, letting me take my time as my chest tightened. “Her name was Jessica. Mine was Isaac Duran, everyone in my world had a last name not just nobility, though I don't think that was always the case. I think... I think I have names for the kits now that I think of it. My parents' names were Luke, or Lucas, and Skylar. What do you guys think of Luka and Sky?”
My mom gently smiled as she mouthed the names and looked down at the sleeping fuzzballs. “I like them. I think they'll suit them.”
My father came to give me a hug, sitting beside me. “Those are perfect names. Regardless of your past, your mother and I still view you as our son...”
“I still see you both as my parents... Wait, can I stop trying to act my age though?”
“Have you ever acted your age, Lios?” My mother asked before they both busted out laughing. “Seriously? That was you acting like you were young? You should not be an actor.”
“What? I thought I was pretty convincing...” They laughed again, the fox curled up in my lap stirred, Luka, and rolled onto his back. I absently rubbed his soft little tummy.
“You were not. We thought that you could be possessed or something...” My fathers voice took a jovial tone but I felt an edge in it, letting me know they had seriously been concerned. “I guess your behavior makes a lot more sense. Is that why you never hung out with the kids your age or played with them?
“I hangout and play with Maya, Ento and Ralphy all the time!” I announced indignantly.
“Training is not playing, Lios!” My mother playfully chided.
“It's close enough!”
“Do you have any stories you can tell us? Or any games you can show us? I bet the guys at the barracks would kill for some games!” Where my mother was excited to talk about my actual past, my father seemed to only hold interest in the entertainment options of Earth.
“I have a lot of stories. There is one game I miss, too, called chess. I should be able to make a basic board with some wood carving tools, or maybe when I start helping Derren out he’ll let me use some scrap metal to make pieces. For now, though, I can tell you some stories from my world... Hmmm.” I tapped my chin trying to think of a story I remembered well enough to tell them.
“A long time before I was born there was a... nation? Or a series of city-states I think, called Greece. The country still existed in my times, but was much more unified. The people who lived there worshiped a pantheon of different gods, but they aren't so important. The story I wish to tell doesnt belong to the gods aside from the fact that a few of the figures were said to be the children of a few of them. Our story starts in Sparta, a city of warriors and might. There was a woman named Helen who was said to be the daughter of a human and the king of the gods, Zeus. She was regarded as the most beautiful woman of her time, and was the queen of Sparta...”
I spent a while telling my parents of the story of Helen of Troy, of Achilles and afterwards of Odysseus. The stories weren't as in depth as I wish I could have portrayed them, but even still my parents were enamored. They asked a bevy of questions throughout my rendition, some of which I was able to answer, others I had to ponder a moment before saying I had no idea. I nearly forgot about my anxiety from the day before, and my chest felt much less tight by the end of the stories. I weaved tales until after lunch, when my father took me to see Derren the blacksmith.