Far away, there were more existences that awoke at the same time.
They were almost the same as Steve, off by a little bit. Six more light beings, scattered around.
Six more Voices, accompanying them in their journeys.
These six could be described in one phrase.
Tabula Rasa.
Interestingly enough, they all awoke at the same time. Though after that one moment, their journeys began to vastly differ.
“This doesn’t seem good?” Steve was hesitant about his new situation. “Why is this happening to me?”
“Well, your body is slowly adjusting to the new climate.” the Voice helpfully answered. “It’s normal to feel a bit of fatigue at first, then recover your energy later.”
“That’s well and all… but can you tell me why this bug is inside me?” Steve tried again. Steve couldn’t exactly see inside of himself, as it was way too bright, but he could vaguely feel something inside of him.
“Ah… Oh! I remember now. This bug is one of the common insect types found in this place. I think it’s called a Cockroach.” the Voice seemed happy about reclaiming some of its memory. “I think it likes you!”
“I…I don’t think that’s the case.” Steve stated his opinion.
As of this moment, Steve began to feel warmer inside. It was a lot warmer than the sunlight, that’s for sure. The feeling was extremely pleasant.
“Hold on, I’m beginning to feel something inside. I feel… great!” Steve exclaimed. “It must have something to do with this cockroach!”
There was no reply from the Voice this time. Steve felt that this was a bit odd, so he tried again in the form of a question.
“Does it have something to do with this cockroach inside of me?” Steve asked.
“Yes! I believe that it has something to do with energy. You are currently absorbing its energy, fueling yourself as a light being.” the Voice continued. “Energy has many uses in this world!”
The feeling was getting warmer now. It was getting a bit too hot for Steve’s liking. Steve also felt himself grow larger as his vision expanded a little.
“I feel too hot.” Steve stated. “What should I do to fix this problem?”
This time the Voice was hesitant. It didn’t remember, once again.
“Well… You could maybe try to expel the energy. But it really isn’t a problem, Steve! Take this energy and use it to expand your energy pool a bit!” the Voice let it all out as it struggled to reclaim it’s memory. “Try it, Steve! Imagine your inner energy pool and use the energy inside of you to let loose a small Shock at that tree right there.”
Steve focused on the tree and tried moving his ‘inner energy pool’.
Nothing happened.
After a minute of trying to focus his energy, he got disheartened.
“Try visualizing it in your mind as a fog and imagine it turning into a small lightning bolt!” the Voice piped up.
Steve followed the Voice’s directions. Suddenly, a lightning bolt arced out and hit the tree, making a small smoldering dent. Smoke immediately started rising up from the artificially created dent.
All of a sudden, Steve heard something drop from his being. He focused his attention on it and found out that it was the thin, long carcass of a cockroach. It looked smaller than before, but Steve wasn’t all that sure. A small wave of exhaustion swept over Steve. His light had visibly thinned, signaling that he had used his energy properly.
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“So…what should I do now?” It had been five minutes since he had shot the lightning bolt. Steve just sort of floated there silently with the Voice until he finally decided to ask.
“I’m sorry, I’m not able to discuss that with you.” a quick reply from the Voice answered his question. “There’s a firm blockage of anything related to that kind of thing!”
Steve’s thoughts were still in a jumble, as if there were something missing. He didn’t have his memories and had trouble forming coherent thought.
By now, Steve had fully recovered from his earlier stupor and was going over the course of events from today, because those were the only memories that he had. He had been woken up twice and launched into a bizarre world of color.
He was a light being, something he had a nagging feeling about, and could shoot out lightning from his body. By now, the beginning smallish smoke had turned into a larger smoldering within the dent in the tree. He checked the countdown timer once more, just because he could. It read:
4 Days 23 Hours 3 Minutes 55 Seconds
Steve felt that this timer was important, so he decided to ask.
“What does this timer do?” Steve wondered out loud.
“This timer counts down the Initial Beginner moment!” the Voice happily said. Steve guessed that he had bored it again with the wait.
“Make sure you understand all your evolution choices and collect enough energy for the big moment!” it continued.
Steve thought about this and went over the listing once more in his head. He turned the mental page and read down the list.
Page 2:
11Beast-man12Vampire13Dragon14Orc15Dwarf
The list went on and on.
“Does each evolution require different amounts of energy?” Steve directly asked the Voice again.
“Yes! Some evolutions are more powerful than others, so the base energy necessary for the change will be greater!” the Voice answered. “I can list them out in terms of most to least energy required, if you would like!”
Steve agreed, and opened the newly rearranged list in his mind.
Now the list looked a bit different. It read:
1???2???3???4Dragon5Undead6Elf7Slime8Turtle9Goblin10Human
“I can’t read the first three choices,” Steve stated. “What does it mean?”
As he asked this, the smoke from the tree grew even bigger as the tree started to catch flame. Steve and his Voice paid it no mind as they continued their conversation.
“I’m not too sure either, but I think these three paths must be better than a dragon!” the Voice exclaimed.
“Interesting… well, I guess I can start focusing on gathering energy then.” Steve thought of something. “By the way, what should I call you? I still don’t know your name!”
A loud yell sounded, breaking the moment.
“I’ve found it, it’s over here!” another voice sounded out from behind the smoldering tree.