Chapter 2

When light returned, I was standing in the middle of a broad, open space, shrouded in fog. The grass under my feet was soft, springy, and a green so bright it seemed unreal, somehow. I looked around for a handful of seconds, taking in my surroundings, and finding… Nothing else of note. Glancing down at myself, I felt that my usual slacks, button-up and tie – a little rumpled from the state of my life – had been replaced by plain brown cloth, cinched at the waist with a fire-red sash. When I turned back forward, however, there was a plainly-dressed woman in a simple, long brown robe, nearly identical to mine, even down to the fire-red sash that bound her waist. Her hair was set in a simple plaited braid of similarly copper-red hair. Her features were sharp, her skin pale, luminous against the greyish haze that surrounded us. She bowed to me, in greeting, her eyes bright and curious. “I am to be your Shepherd. Welcome to your tutorial. Our time here is limited, so there is much to tell you, and little enough time. Your mind commands your access to the System, and you may focus on a specific aspect of the interface to interact with it. You may access it by simply thinking of the System.” Her smile was as pretty as her voice, melodic and clear, her diction as careful as a sculptor, clean lines and artistry. She held up her hand to forestall me. “But there will be time enough for that, later. The System should have imbued you with some basic knowledge of your skills and abilities, which you will be able to investigate in more detail later. For now, what is most important is the foundation of the path you walk.

“Conflict.”

The creatures came forth from the fog charged heedlessly at me, three wide, slitted eyes alight with bloody murder, all long limbs and marble-white flesh, four arms ended in claw-tipped hands the size of plates. Their thickly muscled legs propelled them forward with incredible speed, tearing up clods of too-green grass as they came. I screamed, turning to run from the nearest, only to slam into the embrace of another. The agony was quick, and terrible, as claws shredded into my back and shoulders, ripping along my side and shattering bones with casual force. I felt as the first caught up to me, and joined in the frenzy. I screamed myself hoarse, unable to pull away from their shredding grip and-

Found myself standing in the center of the clearing, once more, shaking like a leaf. The lovely redheaded Shepherd frowned, her lips in a little heart-shaped pout. “You can do better than that. I’ve seen it. You would’ve killed that man if the Tutorial hadn’t taken you away. Where is your power now?” She shook her head, and murmured, “Again.”

This time their approach was faster, and no less terrifying. The fresh memory of pain clawed up my nerves like phantoms, and as vivid and agonizing as that memory was, it held nothing against reality.

The third time, I lunged between two of them, buying myself a little more space as I tried to flee for the edge of the fog. While I was more nimble than the monstrous creatures, I wasn’t faster in an outright sprint.

“Again.” This time her tone was diffident, disappointed.

“Are we going to stand here all day, or are you going to embrace this new world?”

Another grisly death. “If you will not embrace your power, I will simply leave you here.”

“Why are you insistent on letting them slaughter you?”

“Where is your power, now, David? Why are you afraid?”

This time I leapt forward, and punched one of the creatures straight in the head. While it staggered back, its’ two left arms swept out at me, claws catching across my face and throat. I died. Again.

“The old world is dead, David. Embrace your power!”

That was enough; too much. Far too much. When I found myself standing in the clearing again, surrounded by the bounding, pale-fleshed monsters, I screamed. All of the pain I’d felt over the seeming eternity since I arrived had broken open the floodgates within my mind. I howled at the beasts, throwing my arms open wide as if welcoming them to come and feast on my flesh one more time.

Instead, the air rippled and split, flames coiling out of emptiness like serpents, lashing out around me in a blind tempest of fury, withering the too-green grass and burning it to ashes. The flames threw back the fog around me to reveal a wall of trees, a perfectly circular clearing in an endless forest. The creatures dissolved, one by one, as the flames wrapped around them and seared flesh from bone, cracking their bones with the heat of boiling marrow. For an instant, as I opened my eyes, feeling the furnace-heat of the air around me, I glimpsed a knife-like slit in reality, as if an image had simply been interposed onto the air itself; there was an endless chasm of flame, like the heart of a star, roiling and twisting and frolicking in an endless dance. Suddenly, the image was gone, and only ashes remained.

I collapsed to my knees in the center of the clearing, panting, fatigue hitting me like a baseball bat, my shoulders aching as if I had just lifted a thousand pounds over my head. I wheezed, panting, the thundering of my heartbeat almost drowning out the Shepherdess’ words, her tone dripping with satisfaction.

“Very well done, David.” Her voice was soft, a sugar-sweet balm to the phantom agony clinging to my flesh, honey dripping from her tone. There was something about it that felt like the tone itself was a reward. Somehow, the honey lingered even unto her last word. “Again.”

‎

I was standing in the middle of the clearing once again, as awake and clear-headed as if I hadn’t just exhausted myself. The too-green grass was bright and pretty, springy underfoot; the only signs that I had just destroyed a half-dozen creatures were the piles of half-melted flesh and the reek of burnt meat. She looked at me with something akin to admiration. “A good first showing. However, such an attack would leave you utterly defenseless should anything else come along. You’ll need to practice your control.”

Another half-dozen of the creatures stepped forward from the edges of the fog, pausing for a moment, as if the burnt bodies made them hesitate. Then they charged.

A couple of times, I managed the tempest again, and though it took a little bit less of a toll on me, it still left me gasping and aching, earning a disapproving glance.

I managed to conjure up a single blast of fire from my hand, hurling it like a baseball at one of the creatures, and it blew a hole straight through its’ chest, sending it crashing to the ground. Unfortunately, I only managed to kill two more before the other three reached me, dragging me down in a vengeful pile of limbs.

I got faster with the balls of flame, managing to skewer four this time; a flame-clad fist dispatched a fifth, the burst of heat it emitted on contact blowing it backward as if struck by a car. My startlement, however, allowed the last to wrap its’ four lanky arms around me.

I didn’t make that mistake again. Four fell to firebolts, one to my flame-wreathed punch, and the last slammed into a wall of flames that I instinctively sheltered myself with, doing little damage, but staggering and igniting the creature. A last firebolt put it down with an ululating howl of pain, leaving me standing in the center of a ring of corpses in various states of destruction. I drew in a searing breath, the furnace-heat somehow refreshing to me, kindling a burning warmth that lingered in my stomach, suspended there like a little ball of flame.

When I looked up, the Shepherd was gone, and only the bodies remained. I sat down, coarsely, throwing my head back to catch my breath. I waited to see if any more of the creatures were going to attack me, but nothing appeared. With a few moments to finally catch my breath, I went back over the fights, the way it felt to channel and conjure the flames, the different ways I had used them. I closed my eyes and began to think about the System itself, and was startled when a semitransparent grey field took shape before me, just like the one that asked me to choose my path.

Name: David Miller

Path: Arcane Power

Class: Choice Becomes Available at Level 10

Level: 6 (+)

STRENGTH: 18

DEXTERITY: 22

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FORTITUDE: 18

VITALITY: 20

CUNNING: 20

PRESENCE: 18

WISDOM: 24

INTELLIGENCE: 26

WILLPOWER: 22

Points to Distribute: 25

Below it were a handful of headers, and they opened up in turn as I glanced over them.

TITLES: [Grand Fated]

SKILLS:

Fire Manipulation (Initiate), Unarmored Defense (Basic), Heat Adaptation (Basic),

(1) Choice Available

I squinted at the sheet in thought, mulling over the information spread out before me. I figured the practice with fire manipulation had made me better at it, so maybe Initiate was above Basic? And what the heck was a class? Curiously, I felt something drawing on my attention, and when I turned my gaze to the top-left, I felt something else there.

A series of notifications spread out before me, informing me that the creatures I had killed were called ‘Young Mistwalkers.’ I frowned at the name, worried by the thought that those things were only ‘young’. I shuddered to think what an adult one must look like. I had killed forty or so of them, though it didn’t give me any useful information like what their level was, or how much experience they gave me; just ‘experience gained’, and, every so often, a ‘Level up! +5 Free Points from Race’ notification. At the fifth level notification, it had an additional line.

Skill Choice Available

When I thought about that prompt for a moment, a list unfurled before me, laying out a series of options.

Fighting Style: You may choose to gain proficiency (Basic) in a martial fighting style of your choice. This will instill you with basic understanding of that style of fighting. Options: Two-handed. Dual-wield. Dueling. Bludgeoning Weapons. Slashing Weapons. Piercing Weapons. Unarmed Combat. Archery. Thrown Weapons.

Defensive Training: You may choose to gain proficiency (Basic) in a defensive style of your choice. This will instill you with basic understanding of that form of defense.

Options: Light Armor. Medium Armor. Heavy Armor. Shields. Evasion.

Elemental Training: You may choose to gain proficiency (Basic) in a single Elemental discipline. This will instill you with knowledge of how to access that form of Mana. You may not choose an element opposing your own.

Options: Water. Earth. Air.

Enhanced Perception (Basic): Gain Basic proficiency with enhancing your ability to perceive your surroundings. Your senses will become enhanced, effect scaling slightly based on your Wisdom.

While these options were all fairly plain and generic, the one that caught my attention most was the last one offered, the only one that felt like it was actually based on my actions.

Heart of Flame (Initiate): You have become experienced in using several different forms of attack with flames; your ability to deal damage with them is increased, effect scaling slightly based on your Willpower.

Grinning, I focused on the last option, and felt a sort of mental confirmation. A moment later, the list vanished, returning me to my basic sheet, with [ Heart of Flame] now sitting amongst my other skills. I thought about it for a moment, looking at my free points, trying to decide where to put them. Should I shore up my weaknesses, or see how hot this fire can burn?

A moment later, I sunk a careful ten points into my fortitude (I didn’t like dying much, after all) and all the rest into my Willpower. I was a bit surprised to see that the points were one-for-one, nearly doubling my Willpower to 37, and my fortitude to 28. I didn’t feel stronger or more durable, necessarily, but just kind of a general feeling of health. When I conjured a firebolt within my hand, however, it seemed to just snap into being, far more smoothly than before. When I tossed it casually toward a nearby tree, it struck like a bullet, digging a small crater into the tree, and setting the bark aflame, the sap within sizzling and popping as it burned.

I looked to the abilities I already possessed, curious to inspect them.

Fire Manipulation (Initiate): You are learning to control your affinity for Flame; a path which is focused almost solely on combat magic, immolating opponents with both direct damage and damage-over-time abilities. This effect is reduced when controlling flames you did not create, and does not function against flames created by the magic of others. Your skill with controlling Fire is increased minorly by your Willpower.

Unarmored Defense (Basic): You are proficient in defending yourself without the use of armor. While this grants you very little protection against direct attacks, it does allow you to utilize your Magic to defend yourself at the cost of Mana. Your defensive abilities scale slightly, based on your Wisdom.

Heat Adaptation (Basic): Your control over Fire magic comes with weak defense against such attacks. The effect of heat and fire against you is reduced slightly, based on your Wisdom.

Heart of Flame (Initiate): You have become experienced in using several different forms of attack with flames; your ability to deal damage with them is increased, effect scaling minorly based on your Willpower.

As I looked around for the first time in several minutes, I realized something; the Shepherd still hadn’t returned. The fog around me began to dissolve away, revealing more and more of the forest, and immense mountains in the distance. It was difficult to get any sense of scale, as I felt my vision was far sharper than it had ever been before, picking out crags and snowcaps on the distant mountaintops despite what was clearly a significant distance. I felt the pressure of my attention being drawn back to my Notifications and focused on it curiously.

Quest Gained

[Trial by Fire]

Survive System Initiation

There are many paths to Power: carve your own. There are many trials within the Tutorial area that may be overcome to grant various benefits. Sponsors are watching, and your performance may curry favor with them.

Rewards will be granted based on performance within the Tutorial.

May the Scribe witness your deeds.

Remaining Time: 29d 23h 59m