The eyes of a god peered out of the broken weapons on the ground. Dozens of softly glowing red orbs reflected in the tall mirrored headstones. Zoe sat surrounded by eyes, as though a peacock burned around her.
She swatted an eye, but her palm only struck metal. The eyes wrinkled with an unseen smile. Flakes of rust drifted away.
“What…” Zoe said. “How are you…?”
Rue rolled his eyes.
“Your entire planet falls within my domain.” Rue’s voice hummed from the metal. A subtle whisper just for her. “Viewing you through metal is easy enough, even if you hide in a dungeon. Speaking of, are you going to fill your leveling void with the quest item?”
Zoe looked down at the fragment in her hands.
[Please select an element to incorporate:]
* [Mirror: Insight +4]
* [Stone: Dexterity -2, Might +2, Willpower +4]
* [Fragment of the Mirrorbell (Sound, Metal, Faith): Dexterity -1, Might +7, Vitality +4, Willpower +7, Insight -1 (Lodestone Title applied)]
Adding up the numbers, she couldn’t help but smile. The fragment would increase her stats four times more than any other option. Her Dexterity and Insight would suffer, but this was too great an opportunity to miss. The greed lit a fire of regret for her wasted earlier choice, though the system hadn’t displayed the option to integrate the fragment until she made the connection herself.
Was this a hidden method? More likely it was common knowledge for the aliens who ran everything.
Damn tutorial probably explained everything. But the tutorial wasn’t the only source of information.
“Is there something wrong with using this item?” she asked the eyes.
“Every action has a consequence.”
“You can’t help me more than that? What about me being interesting? You plucked me onto your table and burdened me with that quest. The least you could do is some advice.”
“There is only so much I can share, and then there is only so much I will share. Do not mistake this visit for something else, I merely wish to observe.”
Zoe glowered. The fragment weighed heavy in her hands. If a god came down to watch her, was this a mistake?
Or a more glorious opportunity than she realized?
“Maybe I won’t incorporate it,” she said slowly. “Maybe I’ll wait for a better opportunity. It can’t be safe if you want to watch.”
“One piece of advice,” he said. “That is more than fair. Would you like to hear it?”
Zoe wanted to spit in Rue’s many eyes, but she swallowed her pride.
“Yes.”
“Do not wait to incorporate your element. The longer you delay, the greater the draw of the void. The more danger to yourself and the people around you. If the void takes over, there is no coming back.”
She arched an eyebrow.
“You're trying to pressure my decision. Not subtly, either.”
“You stumble around a dark world full of cliffs and spit at the light. I gave my advice, now you must act.’
Rue’s tired eyes were a reminder of the ancient cosmic power he wielded. The power that let him steal Earth.
Zoe wanted to punish thieves.
She selected the fragment without hesitation. Her decision pinged out, and time crawled.
[Warning: incorporating the Fragment of the Mirrorbell will interrupt the Mirrorbell Dungeon Quest. Do you wish to continue?]
[Yes]/[No]
So the quest would change? What would that matter if she was stronger and able to face the coming challenge? She couldn’t doubt herself. Not after the ordeal of incorporating the rusted Metal. There were challenges to this world. She couldn’t avoid them, so she wouldn’t try. Did she wish to continue?
Yes.
[Warning: Incorporating the Fragment of the Mirrorbell will reduce dungeon stability. Do you wish to continue?]
[Yes]/[No]
Zoe hesitated.
The scraps at her feet vibrated.
“Look at you,” Rue’s eyes gleamed. “Incorporating enchanted items, changing quests, destabilizing dungeons, and it’s only your first week with the system. But now you face the fundamental question of our journey: what will you sacrifice for power?”
Zoe couldn’t speak. Her jaw moved too slowly. System notifications blinked through her mind in fractions of seconds. She could listen to these godlike beings, but if she wanted to respond…
Yes.
She needed the System.
[Unspooling Fragment of the Mirrorbell.]
Bright aura flared, stinging her eyes. The bell fragment glowed, unraveled into twisting, cascading rivers of bleached and milky steel. The tendrils surged toward her. A feeling of sick dread rose in her stomach as the world trembled.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
[Dungeon destabilized.]
[Black Star Incursion: 35%]
Aura speared her body. Seared her skin with a burning light. Rang through her skull like echoes through an empty church. The black gunk inside her body burned and squealed as the essence of the Mirrorbell subsumed her flesh.
Before, she took essence into her body and pushed out the foul toxins. Now, the essence coiled and spread itself throughout her flesh, while the foul toxins fled.
She was a battleground, torn apart, and coughing blood.
Pain fell into frigid numbing cold as her attributes surged. Her skin paled, her fingers trembled, and frosted breath blew past her rigid grin. The power was hers. A thin sheen of frost spread across blueing fingertips before steaming away.
Her flesh warmed, but her heart rate didn’t stop. She flexed a hand. Muscles and creaking against bones. The potential left her exhilarated and terrified. Her hand darted for a nearby rock. The piece of marble cracked under the touch of her fingers.
She frowned at the clumsiness. The Dexterity loss was low, but with the Might boost, her stronger muscles propelled her in a way she struggled to coordinate.
Her plans for maximizing certain attributes might have to change.
She picked up half of the broken rock and squeezed. It crumbled. Dust slid between her fingers. Broken pieces of rock scratched her, but they were mild cuts. Zoe let out a tremendous sigh and grinned. She could already imagine how much easier the battle with the Bone Puppeteer would have been if she had this strength.
Rue’s laughter shattered her reverie.
“Counting your spoils?” he asked. “I can’t believe you’re not scared.”
She scowled.
“I did like you said, didn’t I? I absorbed the fragment before the void did whatever it does. What else do you want?”
“You don’t feel it? No, your Insight is far too low.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The System is calculating your consequences.”
“What consequences!” Anger made shouting at a god seem wise. “I’m only doing this to survive the quest you gave me!”
“You accepted that quest, just as you accepted the consequences of your actions.”
The system filled her mind.
[You have internalized the Fragment of the Mirrorbell.]
The knowledge of the quest shivered like a dangling cyst inside her brain. It pupated, split.
[Dungeon Objective Updated: Assist Zoe Chambers in absorbing the remaining fragments.]
[Bell fragments absorbed: 0/3]
With the same uncanny knowledge of the System, she knew the entire party received the same update. They would all know what she did.
What would they think of her actions? She glanced over toward the fire. Joel leaned over Cassy. Bella and Anton were still out of sight, going through their rituals of integration, but neither of them had acted against the party.
The party she was supposed to be in charge of… Did that give her the right to take power for herself? She shook her head. No, she couldn’t have known what the consequences would be.
But the System was not done.
[Congratulations! You are the first person on your planet to change a quest. Title awarded: Quest Breaker (Increased chance of revealing hidden objectives).
[Condolences! You are the first person on your planet to be cursed.]
“Cursed? What does that mean?”
But Rue’s eyes no longer watched from the metal scraps. She leaned her sweat-soaked back against the cool marble stone as the cooling of her attributes spread.
[First to the soup pot is the glutton. You shall know them by the burns on their lips.]
[Title awarded: Gluttony (+1 to all stats, Hunger increased.)
Pain like hot oil splashed across her lips. She screamed, but the movement only split the bubbling flesh. She gripped her Skein and boosted her Vitality by instinct. Her skin throbbed as she burned Skein. The bruises across her flesh faded, but the pain in her lips only increased.
It felt like they were being sliced open with a fork.
She released her Skein out of a sense of desperate self-preservation. The pain subsided into a pure burning that drew tears from her eyes. She turned to face the mirrored tombstone.
Bubbling sear marks crisscrossed her lips. She traced the forming blisters with a gentle finger.
The pain was intense, but this wasn’t permanent, she told herself. Skein hadn’t helped, but she was a plastic surgeon. If she couldn’t figure out how to remove unsightly scars, then what was she even doing?
She tried to believe.
A calming breath slipped from her, interrupted by a choking sob of pain. She had an awful few days ahead of her, that’s if the wound healed normally. Hopefully, her advanced Vitality would assist her.
She tried to believe.
She placed her head in her hand, and exhaled again, trying to calm her breathing through the pain. Through the pain and the gnawing hunger. The void in her core sucked at her flesh. Insatiable.
She leveled up three times. Three empty slots for essence. Two were full, but the third remained hollow. It needed filling.
Or it would consume her from the inside.
A pinprick in her abdomen. An internal itch. A sharp pain that only grew as it swallowed her guts a pinch at a time. Black gunk trickled from her nostrils. Heat grew in the back of her eyes. Was this what the people on the plane felt after they said no to the System?
Right before they died?
No time to waste. She summoned her options.
[Level up! You are now level 6]
[Please select an element to incorporate:]
* [Blood: Vitality +4]
* [Mirror: Insight +4]
* [Stone: Dexterity -2, Might +2, Willpower +4]
Spattered about the grass, Cassy’s blood remained hidden in the faint light, but the smell lingered. Thick, tangy in Zoe’s nose as she inhaled and regretted her choices.
Regretted the way her body craved her next decision.
Blood.
A weak, mewling aura rose from the dried blood. Dark as garnet shadows, it flowed toward Zoe like a puddle. She fell to her knees and crawled closer. Her tongue extended out past burned lips to lap at the aura.
The hunger made her an animal.
She knelt by the river in a dark forest. A teenage girl alone but for the dogs. Slake the throat dry with thirst, not words. Did she even remember how to speak? Did she remember anything besides the forest?
The feeble aura rolled into her, and the cold of the essence diffused the heat behind her eyes. She spat out gunk, but the trickling from her nose stopped.
She felt human.
After all, what could be more human than overwhelming self-loathing and disgust?
She shuddered. Over by the fire, Bella sat beside Joel. Her face wan, but resolute. Zoe shivered. She did not relish speaking to them. How could she explain how she acted? She followed her instincts, was that such a crime?
Her lips throbbed, and she wiped away a tear.
It would help if she understood how they felt. Best know her party if she was to lead them. Maybe they wouldn’t care at all about her selfish decisions? She hid behind a tall headstone as Anton strolled over to the fire. His shirt and skin dripped with the ice-cold well water.
She could not make out their conversation, but she didn’t care about what they were saying. She needed to know how they felt.
What was the state of their hearts? If she knew that, perhaps it would settle the roiling emotion inside her chest.
[Consuming essence of Blood, Sound, and Faith.]
Every bone in Zoe’s body groaned as a terrible force gripped her. Her legs collapsed, and she fell to her knees. Gasping, unable to breathe as the energies in her body thrashed like eels in a bag. What was happening now?
[Technique forming…]