Everything was perfect, easy. Nothing was wrong in the entire world. As Ander floated, he realized it wasn’t the void anymore. A diffuse light managed to pierce through the thick syrupy liquid in which Ander was suspended. A vague thought of drowning came through his mind, but he dismissed it. Everything was too perfect for something small like drowning to be a concern. But then he felt a bump, and a bit of a rush as though he was on an elevator going up. He bumped gently into something hard and smooth. And then he stopped moving. And then it was like he was in a car moving backwards. And then in an elevator again, this time moving downwards.

With each move, the perfection was disturbed just a little bit more. Until a final bump jarred the perfection completely apart. Ander opened his eyes to find himself in a capsule full of a clearish syrupy liquid. The walls were off white and were glowing from some sort of light on the other side. Ander, finally thinking clearly, didn’t know how long he could last in here. He wasn’t breathing, his lungs were either empty or full of this liquid. He stretched out first his hands, and then his arms, finding the capsule, the egg he now realized, too small to fully stretch out. He pushed out against the egg wall with his closed fist, finding a protrusion of bone covering his knuckles. The bone scraped against the inside of the wall of the egg causing flakes to fall off into the liquid inside. He then hit the egg as hard as he could. He couldn’t hit hard, he couldn’t wind up properly and the stupid syrup, egg whites, kept him from building up momentum. It was enough however, and a small hole was formed. Of course none of the liquid drained out, being so thick, but he was able to widen the hole until he could pull himself through.

He barely made it, flopping to the ground exhausted, realizing now that he wasn’t in his body from earth, this body was new and weak. Without warning, hands grabbed him, and suddenly liquid was pouring all over him. The hands moved and scrubbed, violating even his most private areas. Fortunately, they also seemed to remove a film covering his mouth so he could finally gasp his first breath in the new body.

After a few seconds, the hands left him alone, clean and laying on the floor. Ander blinked. There was so much going on. During that entire experience he had forgotten he could see. It took focus to actually interpret what his eyes were telling him. He lay in the space between several eggs. It seemed as though a bunch of large eggs had been set out in a grid pattern. Some were open like his, and some still seemed pristine. Of course he couldn’t see much from his perspective on the floor, and so he tried to stand. And was reminded how weak his new body actually was. It took some doing but with the help of the eggs next to him he finally made it to his feet to realize that he was in a large stone room.

On one end of the room was a series of giant barrels, like you might expect to see in a medieval brewery, but a whole lot more of them. On the roof was a giant primitive gantry crane operated by tons of pulleys. Where he stood was an open part of the room currently occupied by eggs sitting on round cushions. He could see other people both laying on the floor, a few standing like him, and a couple small teams of attendants rushing around to tend to the recently hatched individuals. Finally on the end of the room opposite to the vats was another open space. Six beautiful women sat in a circle around an inscribed pattern on the floor, and an absolute giant of a man stood nearby. The man had to be over seven feet tall, so one of their nobles then? The man smiled at Ander and beckoned to him. Ander stumbled towards him, and fortunately it felt as though he was gaining strength by the second.

As Ander passed the final egg, another group of attendants approached bearing bundles of cloth. They supported him as they dressed him, she was still too weak to stand without significant concentration. And in short order, he had been dressed in trousers, a shirt, socks, leather boots, and a big enveloping woolen cloak that consisted of a part that could hang down and could be pulled around to cover his entire body, as well an an extra bundle of cloth that sat around his neck and could be pulled up as a hood. The cloak seemed to be an undyed off white, and man was it warm. With everything going on, Ander had not realized how cold it was in this room.

“Come here hatchling.” The giant, noble, whatever he was, told him. The voice was deep and gentle, welcoming in a way that Ander had not ever felt before. Ander obeyed, and the noble led him to the circle and invited him to sit down in the center, between all the women. Ander couldn’t stop looking from face to face, each one more beautiful than the last. His awe continued to grow as their voices, so sweet and clear, rose up in song. The odd part to Ander was that he didn’t feel a single ounce of physical attraction to any of these women, which was odd. He was definitely into girls before he died. Did reincarnation turn him gay? No, he felt no attraction to anyone else in the room, and that giant was certainly good looking enough to make even the straightest arrows consider turning for him. Wow his mind was wandering, weren’t beautiful women singing to him? Ahh, yes, the women so beautiful he wanted to worship at their feet. Oh, oh no. He wasn’t gay, he was a simp. A fate worse than death. He shook his head trying to get his thoughts under control as the singing came to a crescendo.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Witch Coven: Wives of High Lord Torden Is attempting to grant you a skill.

Skill: Ancestral Memory

Do you wish to accept this Skill?

Yes / No

Yes has been chosen by guardian High Lord Torden.

Congratulations, You have gained Skill: Ancestral Memory.

Skill: Ancestral Memory has high compatibility with Skill: Personal Memory.

Would you like to evolve these two skills?

Yes / No

Ander saw the High Lord’s eyebrows raise in surprise as he looked at something in front of him that Ander couldn’t see. A blue screen maybe?. The High Lord Torden looked at Ander for several seconds before prodding at the air in front of him.

Yes has been chosen by guardian High Lord Torden.

Evolving skills…

Evolving…

Evolving…

Congratulations, you have evolved Skill: Ancestral Memory and Skill: Personal Memory into Skill: Walker of Memories.

Walker of Memories:

Epic

While meditating you can reach out to your ancestors and experience what they experienced first hand. This skill retains the abilities granted by Ancestral memory and personal memory, namely knowledge of culture, language, etiquette, money and other things necessary to navigating life as an Exodari. However, by experiencing memories first hand you can both gain and train skills.

Ander’s head was spinning as knowledge seemed to flow into his brain. Several full languages, as well as customs from a dozen different peoples all crammed themselves into his head at once. Suddenly he could understand the women’s ongoing song. It was a prayer of sorts to The Creator, whoever that was, asking him to give Ander the skill. He also realized that The High Lord had spoken to him without Ander knowing the language. Somehow, the understanding of the words had transmitted directly into his mind. As soon as the singing stopped, one of the groups of attendants came and helped him to his feet. Had he fallen down? No, no, he sat willingly.

Ander heard one of the men, all the attendants were men he realized. The man at his left shoulder was growling at him, and Ander realized he had been trying to sit back down. He stopped resisting the men, and they walked out of the circle.

The men quickly took him out of the room and to a location with lush carpet, where there were a bunch of fully clothed hatchlings sitting or laying looking dazed. Several of them seemed to be trying to stand up or crawl around, but they all looked exhausted. Ander was exhausted. They set him down on the floor gently, and left.

Ander felt like he wanted to sleep, but though he tried, his eyes stayed wide open. He felt like a bug eyed baby trying to understand the world for the first time. Which, of course, is exactly what he was. And he was also hungry. What did he do in this circumstance, cry? None of the other hatchlings were crying, but some were trying to walk.

At that point he saw a table at the other end of the hall laden with food so much it drooped at the corners. Ander immediately had to swallow the excess saliva as he rolled over to his stomach. With great difficulty he pushed himself to his hands and knees and rested there for a moment. Then with great effort he pushed himself to his feet. He staggered and managed to stabilize before he hit the ground. This felt like he was in high school, and had gone over 200 pounds but so much worse. Is this what really fat people felt like? He staggered forward, making a beeline for the food.