Chapter 2 - Deep down and alone
My Publisher has forbidden me from telling you whether or not I am writing this Story from beyond the grave, but I can tell you that I did not die in Chapter one.
So… what happened to me? Well, the next thing I remember is that I woke up on sand. I was wet. And cold. And EVERYTHING hurt like a motherfucker. On the bright side the System informed me of some of the recent events.
Congratulations! For surviving a fall from great heights without magical or technological aid you have gained the Perk [Feather Fall]
Congratulations! For surviving almost drowning you have gained the Perk [Iron Lungs]
Congratulations! For surviving almost freezing to death you gained the Perk [Flexible Insulation]
Congratulations! For spending 48 hours in a dangerous Place in complete Darkness you gained the Perk [Lesser Night Vision]
[Feather Fall]
You have greater control over your direction while in free fall. Your Body becomes better at distributing the energy of an impact after free fall. +5 Constitution; +3 Endurance; +2 Wisdom
[Iron Lungs]
You may hold your breath for twice as long. After oxygen deprivation sets in you have twice as long before damage sets in, both temporary and permanent. +5 Endurance; +3 Constitution; +2 Strength
[Flexible Insulation]
You may shift your comfortable, and survivable Temperature Zones down or up by 5 degrees. This triggers instinctively when near death. +5 Willpower; +3 Endurance; +2 Constitution
[Lesser Night Vision]
You become slightly better at seeing in Darkness. This is about the level of Night Vision a Dog has.
Congratulations! For surviving three near-death-experiences in one day you gain the Perk [Hard to kill]
[Hard to kill]
You are exceptionally resilient. Whenever you would die you instead start draining your Constitution at a rate determined by the severity of your condition. Once your Constitution hits 0 you die for real. Constitution lost this way is permanently gone
Okay… that… is a lot to take in. First I went to check my stats, as I had a suspicion about my latest Perk.
Statistics:
Strength+2=>
12
Constitution+5+3+2-4=>
17
Endurance+3+5+3=>
23
Willpower+5=>
16
Wisdom+2=>
13
Yup, there it was. I should have been dead for however long 4 points of Constitution was. That was a horrifying thought, but I didn’t have time to dwell on that. I needed to move. The question was where? I started by breaking up the task.
First: Get away from the deadly water.
Second: Find a way to get dry and warm up.
Third: Get the basic survival needs.
Onto Task One then. I started to crawl because standing is stupid when you are in utter darkness and anything could trip you. After what felt like 15 minutes of crawling I hit what felt like a staircase of smooth-ish stone. Crawling up it I could hear something like a soft humming coming from the front so I crawled toward it. Some time later I saw a purple-ish glow from around a corner. Thanks to that glow I had enough light to actually see so I stood up and walked towards the light. The glow and the humming came from a gem. A gem in the hands of a skeleton. A gem in the hands of a skeleton surrounded by arrow heads. I am sure there is a great story behind this place, but at that moment I couldn’t care less I had a source of light in front of me and it seemed portable. I went to grab the gem when a Message appeared.
[Uncontained, faulty Skill Gem of Karux the Mighty] is being absorbed.
Please stand by as Memories and Skills and Perks are being processed.
Gained Personal Perk [Magic Shmagic]
[Internal Mana Manipulation]+50=>
50
[Athletics]+15=>
21
[Gymnastics]+10=>
16
I promptly fell unconscious again.
So there I was. Unconscious again, which I am sure is super healthy for me. Not that I thought about that or even had any form of medical knowledge to differentiate between unconsciousness and sleep. I am getting off track.
I saw the story of a man.
Karux the Mighty’s POV:
My parents were both mages. And they wanted to pass their passion onto me. I learned about mana and magic day in and day out since I could remember.
I could not follow them for the life of me.
I wasn’t stupid or anything, I simply could not understand what they meant, when they said anything about ‘feeling the mana in the air’. I felt squat in the air. My parents were understanding enough about my predicament. Hurt and disappointed, but understanding non the less. They figured I’d just ace the written exam into a proper mage school and then they would know how to make me feel the mana. That was until I unlocked my child perk.
[Magic Shmagic]
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
You cannot feel ambient mana. That’s a fact. But if you somehow learn anyway you could use this: All magic effects produced by you are 20% more potent.
Should you manage to cast a 1st Tier Spell with ambient mana the downside of this perk will be removed and the upside will be strengthened
That was it for my magical career. I could have dealt with [Rowdy Child], or [Bookish Child], hells even [Curious Child] would have been better than this.
I was embarrassed. I didn’t want to tell my parents about this shame, about their … our dream that had just died. I wrote down my status screen and left my home in the cloak of night. I was off to find my path.
A year later I was a private in the army of some local baron. Nothing fancy, but another two months service and I was guaranteed citizenship in a town of my choosing and enough cash to start a life.
One day on the battlefield my best friend was killed. Nothing spectacular, it was war. I became furious and sprinted at his killer. People told me I ran inhumanly fast. I didn’t pay much attention to them. His killer managed to escape, but not without a nasty scar on his cheek and a chopped off hand.
A month later I saw him again. I charged him again. He was prepared. With a quick movement of his foot a spear rose from the ground. Perfectly angled to impale me at the last second before I could reach the bastard. I wasn’t having it. I had to kill this bastard. Nothing was going to stop me.
The spear pierced my leather armour, but it shattered on my stomach. I couldn’t explain why, but I didn’t care. My friend’s killer lost his head that day and I found my path. I would later realise what I had done. I had used what my parents had taught me to do, but not with ambient mana. I did it with internal mana. That still did result in the kind of splitting headache my parents described. I was finally able to be a mage. Even if it is different than expected.
Two years later I had not, in fact, become a mage. I missed the fighting and the adrenaline after my enlistment had ended. On the other hand, I didn’t want back into the military. So I became a Gladiator. I chose the stage-name Karux the Mighty, but soon that became my name, as people would recognise me in the streets. I did well in the arena. A lot of opponents get very confused when they find out that the ‘exposed flank’ they tried to stab was actually hard as steel and now they had overextended. That one never got old. My life was good after that. I had a …
James’ POV:
The memory ended there
I regained consciousness with a start. My face was lying directly on the stone which makes for an awful pillow. Somehow everything hurt even more than the last time I awoke. I was once again in utter darkness, but I now had an advantage. I was now a mage! An all-powerfull master over time and space. Or so I thought. Magic is not something you encounter in an isolated forest Village. Everything I knew about magic is from fairy tales and legends. Turns out the ‘Internal’-Part about my new skill was for real. I could feel a new sensation, a kind of Energy, of limitless potential. And that feeling stopped exactly at the surface of my skin. As I was now a literal expert, at manipulating said energy, I tried to test my skills by makeing my hand shine. I was promptly blinded by the supernova that was my hand. Also…Headache. Everything mana does has a mental cost. Think of it in terms of burning a log. Internally it is basically tinder or straw. All it needs is the command and BOOM! Fire. Ambient is like a freshly felt healthy tree. Sure it can burn, but you will need to put some effort into it to make it ignite. Lastly, trying to affect another living being directly with magic, a fireball is very much indirect, I am talking about mental compulsions and the like, that is like trying to ignite a log that someone else is actively trying to keep non-burning. Sure it can work if you use napalm and the other guy has a water pistol (by the way I love how inventive you Guys are when coming up with ways to horrifically murder one another).
Anyhow no matter how difficult it is to start the fire it will always need to consume to stay burning. That is Magic eating away at your willpower while it sustains whatever you want it to do. The hotter the Flame, the higher the fuel consumption. The feeling is hard to describe, but let me try anyway. If you overtax on magic it feels like you had to solve complex mathematical equations in your head, but the stress of that process is condensed into a short amount of time.
Having reminded myself of this fact that I should have considered since I have known it for all of 10 minutes, I willed specifically my Palm to glow as bright as a sunny day on ground level. That had the desired effect of giving me a flashlight while neither overwhelming my mind nor my eyes. The cave turned out to be some sort of temple or at the very least a structure built by sentient beings. Any kind of decorations were worn down by time, but right angles and the general shape of the hallway make it obvious. Also I was standing in front of a giant pile of rocks floor to ceiling. I am guessing the structure goes further in, but there was a cave in. Presumably whatever killed good old Karux was beyond the cave in as well. I have to admit I couldn’t care less at the time. I just wanted to get out. Outside I found the hole I fell through. It was brighter than before so it had to have turned into daytime by now.
Now I only needed a way to climb at least 100m of sheer rock transitioning into dirt at the top. I was almost despairing until I looked at my hand and got an Idea. I walked to a wall and pressed the non-glowing palm to it. I tried to pull it away, but it wouldn’t budge. It worked. I could make my skin sticky. After testing that yes, my palm could hold my weight by itself, I started to climb up. I would like to have a more daring story here, but the truth is that climbing is trivial if you have chameleon hands. About as difficult as ascending a ladder. And with that I finally was above ground for the first time in probably 3 days.
Escape the Cave. CHECK
Now I only needed to find my way home.
And survive the forest.
And find something to eat.
And probably find shelter … This was going to be a loooooong day.
First things first. Where the fuck is the village? I know we travelled north-ish, like north-north-west. So if I can figure out the Sun and the time of day I should be able to get back. Or at least get close enough, so that I can attract a [Ranger]-Patrol.
Judging by the sun it was either morning or evening. I would know more in an hour if it became lighter or darker. To pass that time without being completely useless I searched for something edible. After half an hour of very carefully searching around I found a bush full of berries that I knew weren’t poisonous. Since I have been starving for three days, I immediately started shoving them in my face and uh boy, it was bliss to satiate my hunger. After having had my fill I noticed it was getting dark, which means the sun is in the west. I wasn’t starving anymore and I had my directions cleared. Now I needed a concrete plan of action.
The trip took about 4 hours at a pace way faster than I could manage alone, because the seniors dealt with all the dangers before they could slow the group down. So I would assume I was going to take at least twice that to return and not be eaten by something. And since travelling at night was basically suicide, I resolved myself to spending the night right here. Now that Idea may be less stupid than travelling at night, but only by being probably suicide, instead of likely suicide. With some preparation I could downgrade that to just moderately dangerous. First I needed somewhere to sleep. I decided to bury myself under leaves with only my head sticking out, which I layed in my bush of berries. I had hoped the berries would mask my scent. Next I needed something for my skin to not stick out in the bush. I tried doing it with magic, but the colour disappeared when I stopped concentrating, so no good there. I needed some way for the magical effect to become mundane, so that it would stay. After some thinking I tried shifting my intent so that my skin didn’t become green, but that my skin would instantly start sweating green. That seemed to work, even if it felt disgusting. The green sweat stayed on me, and stayed green, even after I stopped maintaining focus. Anyway disguised as I was I tried to go to sleep, luckily I was exhausted and sleep came quickly. The less said about the amount of creepy crawlies I had on me when I woke up, the better. But on the bright side that little hiding trick earned me a rank in [Stealth] so you know? Silver linings and stuff.
I awoke pretty much with the sun so I had a good way of telling where east is. My plan was set into motion. I would travel in the direction of the village until dusk, where upon I would find a hidey hole and a source of food. Afterwards I was going to mark any tree in the area so that [Rangers] had to notice something was weird and investigate.
Of course within the hour of my departure I heard the howl of a wolf. I did the only rational thing and continued on my path, while praying to any god that would listen for the wolf to find something tasty between me and him, to distract him. The gods had other plans as it seemed. I saw the wolf not 20 minutes later, snarling … and looking directly at me. This whole experience just keeps getting better and better.
Okay, so what are you to do when getting attacked by a wolf? I had no clue. On instinct I tried climbing the nearest tree to move out of its reach. That would probably have been a good Idea, if the wolf wasn’t just so damn fast. Before I was even a metre up, it was already biting my leg. And I don’t mean nibbling. I mean the damn thing tore of half my calf muscle. That however presented a unique opportunity. See I could still feel the mana inside my torn of piece of flesh. The feeling was rapidly diminishing, but I was certain I could give it one command. And so I did. Burn!
It was quite the sight to behold. The wolfs mouth seemingly just caught on fire from the inside. It spat out my muscle and ran away. Surprisingly I didn’t have that bad a headache. Apparently I can ignite myself for very cheap. Yay! The calf muscle was obviously ruined, but more important was the wound on my leg. I tried commanding it to heal but it seems that mana doesn’t know what is considered healthy and what is not. Even commands like restore or close didn’t do anything. So I just did the minimum. Told the blood to immediately scab over and left it at that. Now I was going back with a useless left leg. After I found a crutch of some kind. Sometimes I really hate my life.
Congratulations! For punishing an animal that was eating you, by torturing it until it spat you out you have gained the Perk [Unappetizing]
[Unappetizing]
Your natural scent, taste and appearance becomes revolting to any beast that considers you a meal.
Well that would help, but it didn’t make me feel any better. That made me sound like the bad guy when I was literally about to be eaten. I opened my mouth to speak for the first time in at least 4 days. “Fuck!” that would have to be enough self-expression until I am safe.
Let’s not kid ourselves. You know what Adrenalin is and what it does. So do I. I didn’t back then, but I sure as hell could feel it. Or rather the profound lack of its numbing goodness as it started to recede. My leg hurt. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. I could tell my leg to be numb but that was a temporary measure. And I sure as hell couldn’t get any rest like this. The numbing only lasted as long as I concentrated. Welp. Can’t be helped. I got on my crutch and started walking. I didn’t really bother with staying quiet. If my new perk did what it promised there were only two options.
Either I got out of this forest unmolested, or I was going to get killed by a beast that considered me a threat but not a meal. One was good and one couldn’t be helped, so I soldered forward.
Walking with a crutch is surprisingly exhausting, even at a slower pace. As Dusk set in I was not confident that I came far enough, but I couldn’t go on either. It was dark and I was completely spent.
Sadly the world had no intention of letting me rest because I heard a growl behind me.
The Wolf was back. That Wolf. The one that just tried to kill me. And this time It didn’t look hungry. Something inside me told me that this beast wasn’t going to make the same mistake as last time. This time it would go for the throat. Lacking any offensive capability I did the one thing I knew from personal experience could do damage at a range. I pointed at the wolf and told the tip of my finger to shine as bright as possible. A lot of things happened at once after that. For one I immediately lost consciousness. Also my Eyes were completely fried. I even looked away and closed my eyes but it was just so damn bright.
So what happened? Well basically I just told a child to go wild with a credit card in a toystore. When you tell mana to do something it does it to some degree it can understand. The first time I cast a Spell my hand briefly blinded me, because I didn’t specify how bright I wanted it to be. Now telling it to go all-in was even worse. I was giving the mana permission to confiscate every tiny piece of my brainpower to shine. For a glorious instant my finger was the brightest object this whole forest had ever seen. The next one my brain decided to ‘nope the fuck out’. I really need to get my Willpower up, I was getting tired of blacking out every few hours.