Chapter Three: Our Summoned Prince
I opened my eyes once more and found myself in a different room. The same rough hewn, brown rock ceiling overhead and similar a lumpy mattress under me with a much finer woven light blanket covering my prone body than had been covering me when I'd awoken in the alcove. Tentatively I tried to move and this time I was unrestrained. “Status” I thought and the restrained icon was indeed gone. “Good, debuff gone, let's hope it stays that way.”
Finally, able to move, I prepared myself to see what I had become. “I don’t know what a Djinn is but I can already tell it’s going to be different. Now that I’m not restrained I can really feel and I feel very different than I did.”
The aches and pains of getting older I'd been feeling the last few years were gone. The stiffness of an adult life spent at a desk that even sleep couldn’t refresh any longer was gone along with the hitches, snap, crackles, and pops that had become much more pronounced a legacy of playing contact sports as a teen. It was amazing but as great as that felt, some things just felt off as I clenched my toes as I had hundreds of thousands of times I could feel that there were different muscles and sensations this time. I braced myself for the surprises that were coming and threw the blanket to the side. Looking down, I saw the changes for the first time no longer did I have a moderately overweight forty-five year old Caucasian male body instead I saw blue-gray skin covering a body a twenty year old fitness model would envy highly toned, with fibrous corded muscles, and without an ounce of fat to be seen. Casting aside the blanket fully, I was surprised once again, from mid thigh down were bird-like legs with black scales, feathers and ruby talons that belonged on a giant eagle or maybe a dinosaur. As my anxiety and panic started to rise I could feel my Psychological Endurance Skill kick in and felt the epinephrine just drain away replaced by calming serotonin.
“Still disturbing as hell but I can’t deny that it’s useful.” Taking another deep breath and looking around I took stock of my surroundings. I found that I was now in a medium sized room with a full bed at least twin sized, an armoire, a small desk with a chair, and a bedside table. Instead of just a mostly flat rock floor like the alcove had, this room’s floor was covered in what looked like tatami mats from a Japanese samurai movie, with a stout looking wooden door opposite of the bed. Paying more attention to the door I could see that it had what looked like an old fashioned turn knob but no lock or latch. The same gray-green diffused light illuminated the room since I still couldn’t find the light’s source. I suspected that it was actually a product of the Dungeon Vision Skill. “I really, really, really, want this to be a dream but everything is just too clear, consistent, and I'm just too aware of everything for that to be anything other than a pipe dream. So what the hell happened to me and where am I?”
Just as I was about to try and get up out of this bed and inspect the room more closely I heard a sound on the other side of the door. Before I could close my eyes and trigger my Visualization Skill the noise became an uncomfortably familiar voice.
“My Prince, may I enter?” a woman’s voice said from the other side of the door. “I have food and drink.”
“Shit, what do I do? I’m not ready for anything, stupid, stupid stupid.” I hastily looked around for a weapon or some way of defending myself. “If she were just some old lady the chair would probably do in a pinch but I really doubt it’s going to do anything against magic. If she put me to sleep once she can do it again. And it’s too late to try and bar the door.” With a mental snort I steadied myself and hoped for the best.
Pulling the blanket over my waist, I could at least pretend to have some modesty, and shifting myself so that my legs, my bird legs hung over the side of the bed just shy of touching the floor, an unexpected and heavy weight on my back threatened to topple me over backwards but I caught myself and leaned forward to compensate. I said, “Come in.” The door opened with a shushing sound as it slid across the woven mat and the old lizard woman shuffled inside with a basket in the crook of her arm.
“My Prince, I am glad to see that you have awakened.” shuffling the rest of the way into the room she slid the door closed once more and took the basket to the small desk. As she unpacked the food and drinks from the basket she looked at me over her hunched shoulder and spoke. “When you passed out immediately after the ritual was completed I was very worried.” She unpacked the basket carefully setting out the food just so. “In hindsight having so many in attendance for your summoning was not wise. I fear the crowd proved to be overstimulating. I beg your forgiveness and stand ready to take any punishment you deem fit.” Now hunched over bowing her head with arms spread, she waited.
Before I could decide what she wanted from me or what I should say, my stomach growled loudly enough to break the silence. With a startled laugh the old woman lifted her head.
“Perhaps we should talk after you have had your meal my Prince.” She stood aside from the desk and motioned for me to take the chair and eat.
I looked at her then at the food then at the chair then back at her I could see that there were slight traces and spots of blue fog or mist clinging to her. “Nope, still not a chance in hell I can take out a mage with an overgrown stick when I have no idea how magic works in this world.” She gave me a slight smile and a nod towards the chair as if she could hear my inner monologue which with magic who knows maybe she could. “No reason for her to poison me, probably, and I’ve got basically zero options so here we go.” With a mental head shake I hoped I wasn't about to die.
On unsteady and unfamiliar legs hunching forward like some decrepit old man trying to compensate for the weight on my back I wobbled over to the desk blanket clasped around my waist tightly with one hand. The five steps almost did me in and I more fell into the chair than sat. “Walking with a bird's legs and feet is very different from human legs and five steps aren’t nearly enough to get the hang of the difference. The extra backward facing toe and whatever was on my back is just too weird.”
The food was simple but smelled quite enticing. A small loaf of bread, a chunk of dark yellow cheese and some sort of cooked meat strips along with two bottles one an amber brown liquid and the other clear made up the whole of the meal but my mouth watered and my stomach rumbled in anticipation and in mere moments I devoured it all. The amber liquid was a type of beer I’d never tasted before; it had an odd sulfur tang as well citrus hints almost like eating a match soaked in orange juice. “I’ve never tasted anything quite like that before. There's no way that should be a good taste but world new, new body new, taste buds.” The clear liquid also wasn’t water as I’d assumed and the potent bottom shelf vodka-like liquor burned my throat and nose but oddly left me smelling roses or carnations.
My immediate hunger satisfied, I turned to look at the old woman and asked, “Can you tell me what’s going on? Where am I, who are you, and what happened to my body?” I said gesturing at the surrounding room, at her, and finally at myself. “None of this is…is right, I’d say I was dreaming but it’s all too real.”
Pausing for many long moments before answering “Those are all very good questions my, Prince,” She paused again. “You are now on the Sphere of Eirnath, I’m not sure which Sphere the Divine Mother called you forth from so I cannot say how near or far we are now from your former home. Perhaps more specifically you and I are in my home in the city of Ymata. Ymata is on the twenty-eighth floor of the Lightsend Dungeon. This floor is the home of what is collectively known as the Yamakai Clan. I am Elder Summoner Leema.” taking a brief pause she started again, “I summoned you here, by the will of the Divine Mother. The Quest given to me required that a Prince from another Sphere would be required and must be summoned on the five hundredth anniversary of the Twilight of the Gods and the one hundredth anniversary of the Divine Mother taking up the reins of the Sphere that the God’s dropped. As to your body I had no hand in it. The ritual found the best or most compatible form for your purpose and that is how you manifested.” She took a deep breath and in that pause I willed myself to speak.
“I’m sorry I’m going to need a hell of a lot more than that.” Scrunching my eyes tightly closed took a deep breath and pinched myself as hard as I could, I was shocked to feel pain as my fingernails dug into my skin. “Nope, not a dream or a trip…” I muttered to myself. Opening my eyes I looked at the lizard woman, no, Leema and saw concern on her face. “I know all of the words that you are saying but from the way you are saying them I’m sure that you don’t mean them in the way you do. The Divine Mother, Quest, summoned, dungeon, Yamakai Clan, Twilight of the Gods. I need more, I don’t understand.”
“Alright, my Prince, I will try.” She looked at me absently for long moments as she collected her thoughts then said, “The Divine Mother is the being that grants our Sphere an organizational structure and framework upon which we depend. She speaks to us, informs us of our status, tracks our skills and abilities and other types of progress and provides us with that information. On very few occasions She even issues Quests such as summoning you.” She paused but waived me off from asking further questions. “The Divine Mother is the Divine Mother. I know that is reciprocal and doesn’t really answer anything for you but the Divine Mother and her will can barely be understood by the mortals. She has revealed herself to the people of this Sphere for a century now and we are still learning about Her but what we do know is that She is the new order and organization of this Sphere. She gives us messages and codifies our very beings in a way that is different then the Gods once did but it is similar in some respects. Or so I have been told I am not old enough to have lived under the Gods. It is simply part of life now. No one can really explain Her or at least I can give you no better explanation and it has taken a lifetime for me to understand that much.” She produced a stick-like object from her robe and held it to her nose for a moment before continuing.
“The Dungeon is a giant series of underground floors in which the Yamakai Clan have taken refuge after being hunted nearly to extinction prior to the Twilight of the gods, by the other races of the world, the humans, elves and dwarves. The other races of the Sphere have always been hostile to what they call monsters or beast-kin. We have come to collectively call ourselves the Yamakai Clan since coming to live here in the Dungeon. Despite the efforts of some of our elders each group still retains their own names for their kind. My people are Kobold Folk.” With an almost painful expression and tone she said, “ and yours are the Djinn.” Pausing briefly she started to say something more but then stopped before continuing on another topic.
“Summoning is a type of magic that generally allows me or another summoner to bring forth a magical construct that mimics an animal, monster, or creature the Summoner knows or can imagine for a limited period of time. More long lasting or even permanent beings can be brought forth using complex and taxing rituals and magical formations. Today was a unique event, with the Divine Mother’s help I called out to the Great Spheres and possibly even beyond seeking one special being. The being that will be our Champion, our Prince, and you were the one that answered the call. The Divine Mother reconstituted you here in that body.”
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Though it was completely unintentional I could hear the emphasis on the ‘that’ as she said it. “That doesn’t bode well, nope, not at all what the hell is wrong with the body I’ve gotten stuck into?” I did not bring it up since I had more than enough to unpack from everything she’d dumped on me already.
Not wanting to risk stumbling or falling on my face trying to make it back to sit on the bed but also not wanting to keep such an obviously old woman standing for what would surely be a long conversation. I motioned her to the bed. “Please sit, I’d give you this chair but I haven’t quite figured out how to walk yet.” Eyeing me with confusion for a moment she eventually moved past me and over to the bed. As I watched her climb up into the bed to take a seat I noticed that the bed frame had been raised up on small blocks of stone that were sitting on the woven mat serving as carpet. With a shake of my head I refocused on the Kobold and said, “This is a lot to take in so bear with me.
“My Prince, I am at your service and I will do my best to help you understand.” She replied immediately.
“Ok, so I get that the Divine Mother is new-ish a hundred years I think you said but If She’s that new what came before and what is the Twilight of the Gods you mentioned?” I asked
“Before the Divine Mother took over after the Twilight of the Gods there was complete chaos for four hundred years. Without the Gods the rules of the Sphere unraveled and all the Races of the Sphere focused only on survival. Before that the Gods were the power that governed our lives and the rules of the Sphere.” She held up her hand and the small stick to forestall me. “The Twilight of the Gods also known as the Last Battle was a monumental war that took place between all of the Races prompted by the Gods. The Gods of each race broke eons of tense stalemate and finally started an all out war that sought to give dominion over the Sphere to one God and one Race with the annihilation of all others. In the end and to the horror of all, none were victorious. In the vast displays of arrogance and power they destroyed each other. Massive armies of each race led by the Gods’ Champions warred on the Sphere as the Gods warred in the heavens. In the end the centuries of war killed off untold numbers and the final backlash of the Gods' mutual destruction destroyed all but a remnant of all of the peoples of the Sphere and left the Sphere itself burnt and scarred.” She hung her head and made a motion with her hands that reminded me of the way a Catholic would cross themselves to ward off an evil memory.
After the brief pause she continued. “Even before the end, our people had fled here deep within the hidden Dungeon called Lightsend. Our few forefathers and mothers who could battle the Dungeon’s monsters and traps struggled mightily to clear a path floor by floor that the rest of our shocked and broken people could follow. When they reached the twenty-eighth floor, the fourth safe floor they could press on no further and fervently hoped that it would be deep enough. They survived and here deep in the Dungeon they heard the voice of the Divine Mother for the first time. To this day we do not know if any others of our kinds survived or what the surface world looks like. The time before the words of the Divine Mother was a time of chaos and those few warriors we had fully exhausted themselves and either died or forswore any attempt to delve in the Dungeon be it lower or back towards the surface. We have spent the last centuries in hiding, carving a life for ourselves and growing our numbers. Some of the races of the Yamakai are warriors by nature and temperament and have sought strength and others have sought power under the new laws of the Divine Mother. But only a very limited few try to grow strong enough expressly to delve into the Dungeon to either clear the seventy-seventh floor or return to the surface.”
Blinking hard trying to absorb the information. “Alright, let me get this straight. So the Gods you all used to worship, which were for sure real, ended up starting a battle royal winner take all fight that ended up killing just about everyone on the Sphere, Gods included and then this mysterious Divine Mother took over and now sends you messages and governs your lives? And, on top of that she told you to summon someone from the way beyond and you went ahead and used magic to do its bidding. Pulling me out of my home and body and dropping me here where I’m now supposed to be some sort of Champion Savior and lead you up out of this giant hole in the ground. Then what exactly take over the world?” My sarcasm was lost on her as she replied.
“To a certain extent yes, truly you are taking this much better than I was afraid you would after your initial outburst in the summoning chamber.” She sighed with relief.
“I’m really not taking it well. I feel like I'm in a dream or a hallucination, I can't quite shake myself free from and at the same time I know I should be taking it worse but I’m just not. I think the Skill the Divine Mother forced on me is making me cope better.” Scrubbing my hands through my hair didn’t have the same calming effect it usually did because even that action didn’t feel quite right. So I ended up just staring at her hands dropping into my lap.
“What Skill did She give you?” She asked.
Thinking back on the message my skills popped up before my eyes.
Skills:
Common: Comprehend Language
Special: System Interface (basic), Dungeon Vision, Visualization, Mana Sight
Racial Skill: Boundless (special)
Unique: Psychological Endurance
I noticed that the first unique skill that had shown error no longer showed Replaced with Psychological Endurance. I kept most of my Skills to myself just in case but told her about Comprehend Language, System Interface, and Psychological Endurance so I didn’t seem to be completely hapless.
“Psychological Endurance that’s not one I’ve seen before, you have the system interface so you should be able to concentrate on the skill and it will tell you what it does.”
Hesitating, as if this were the first time I’d used the system I focused on the unique skill and a definition appeared once more and then read the text out to her.
Unique: Psychological Endurance – the capacity to endure conditions of psychological stress and to cope with and manage stress reactions and to maintain levels of performance and remain clear headed.
“A truly remarkable skill to have especially for a leader and a warrior. That is quite the boon the Divine Mother has granted you and by extension to our people in the future.” She almost beamed with the news of the skill.
“It’s something alright.” I shook my head, looking down at the blanket still wrapped around my waist, “um this is probably going to sound odd well maybe who knows with the day I’ve had but can I get some pants? Because, I definitely feel the need for pants.”
Leema gave a polite cough trying unsuccessfully to hide a chortle. “Certainly, my Prince, some clothes were prepared for you while you were sleeping.” She stood up from her seat on the bed and walked over to the armoire and opened the double doors. On the inside I could see several sets of clothing as well as a mirror on the inside of one of the doors. She pulled out a short kilt or long skirt made of leather strips accented in bronze and a strange sort of backless, chestless, collared leather Gothic looking contraption as well as what looked for all the world like an adult sized cloth diaper with tie strings on either side.
“And what exactly are those?” I asked, perplexed.
“This is a battle skirt, the preferred type of leg coverings for Avians,” she held up the leather skirt, “and this is what is called a cropped bolero jacket also preferred by Avians with exposed back wings. The back back is open to allow your wings to fold and unfold as needed while still allowing you to wear some sort of covering for your neck, shoulders and arms. And this is an undergarment for Avians since putting your feet through normal pants of any sort is an extreme challenge. I'm told it is easier to have ties or buckles to either side.” She placed the clothing on the bed. “I’ll leave these here for you. If you need assistance dressing or need anything simply pull on that cord by the door and it will ring a bell for an attendant to assist you.
“Hopefully, I can manage getting dressed myself, Wouldn’t look good to be the Prince of a whole Clan and not be able to put on my own pant’s now would it.” I deflected her trying to figure out how to ask her for some alone time without being rude to the magic grandma lizard.
“That wouldn’t be the most auspicious start no. There is a formal presentment ceremony tomorrow evening. There isn’t much time for you to adjust, I am sorry. We will need to get you steady on your feet today, hopefully this morning. I will send up a promising young man who is to serve as your squire in an hour. He too is an Avian though without wings such as yours, he should be able to at the very least show you how walking works with Avian legs.” She walked by me, careful not to step on the blanket covering me. She opened the door once more, turning back briefly. She made a small bow and said, “My Prince, it has been an honor, one that I hope we can share many times in the coming days.” She then stepped through the door pulling it closed behind her.
Once the door closed behind Leema I let go of the blanket, grabbed the back of the chair and hobbled my way over to the door. I looked the latch over carefully to see if there was any sort of lock but as I expected there wasn’t one so I did my best to wedge the chair up under the latch to block the door or at the very least give me some warning of someone trying to enter. “Still won’t stop bullshit magic spells but at least she won’t be able to just walk in.”
Hobbling away from the door being careful not to trip myself up in the blanket I made my way to the clothes laid out on the bed. Flopping awkwardly down on the bed I grabbed the underwear and with some difficulty managed to get it slid into place and then securely tied one side then the other. The battle skirt was much easier to get in place. I didn’t even bother with the top at this point.
“I really hope there isn’t any sort of mind reading bull shit. spell in this world or at least that it isn’t targeting me. If I’m not safe in my own head I’m screwed. What the hell do I do? Do I play along and be a good little prince, do I make a break for it? If I do make a run for it do I have any chance in hell of making it anywhere. I hate not having any options or info, dammit, guess I’m going to have to play along for now at least.” I thought furiously to myself.
Slightly too loudly I said out loud, “Well, time to face the mirror and see what I look like now.” With one hand on the bed keeping myself stable I made my way around the bed to the armoire and opened the door.
Looking in the mirror I finally saw my head and face. “Well, damn.” Looking back at me was an angular chiseled blue-gray face with deep set eyes. The whites of my eyes were a little more gray than before but the steel blue irises hadn’t changed. I was beardless, well more precisely completely hairless, no eyebrows, no body hair whatsoever and what I'd thought I had felt on my head was actually long delicate thin black feathers with auburn highlights instead of hair. I also had a pair of short up swept ruby horns poking out from the feathers.
“Well I’m not ugly, I think, well I hope, who knows with this world. Still feel like things are at the same height around me so, guessing I'm still about five foot seven so at least I didn't get any shorter, wouldn’t have minded being a little taller heroes are supposed to be tall right, but damn am I ripped.” Turning slightly in the mirror so I could see my side and back I saw that I did indeed have wings as Leema had said I did. Tightly folded against my back they didn’t seem large enough to have any hope of lifting anything into the air and weren't much of a fashion statement either like anime angels or devils seemed to make out. “No idea how that’s supposed to work” I mumbled to myself feeling no real connection to the wings as anything other than a weight on my back they may as well be a backpack for all I could feel them. “Ok, lots and lots of differences, but is anything else the same?” I began to examine myself in more detail.
“Eye color check, face more chiseled but more or less what I saw in the morning minus the beard I’d had for the last ten years or so. No hint of any sort of beak thank goodness that is not a good look, teeth and tongue are normal except for color and no fangs so no vampire jokes, I so, so, so hope undead aren't a thing in this world. Two arms, two hands, and technically two legs and feet. Hands have five fingers each, but instead of the fingernails I’d had before now it looked like I had tiny sharks teeth for nails, they weren’t disproportionate and didn’t stick out far beyond the fingertips maybe three quarters of an inch, maybe, I could still make a fist, grab onto, or run my hand over things without scratching, puncturing or slicing but they still felt dangerous.”
“Time to figure out how to walk, I'll worry about the wings later.” For the next hour or so I estimated, given that there wasn’t a clock, or a watch, or a handy cell phone anywhere to be found to confirm. I worked on the mechanics of how my new bird legs worked and practiced with various degrees of success walking on my own two new legs.