Like touching a live wire, once the connection started I couldn’t get away. My eyes slammed shut and I centred all of my focus on what was happening. The well of Spirit I had recovered was quickly being drained and it was all I could do to slow down the flow of energy from me to it. The source was clear because the connection didn’t only go one way. I saw flashes of a life lived before the dungeon.
I was Merownis. I hunted with an agile body alongside the strength of mana to catch prey, although the desolation of the world made such victories scarce. I returned to a jungle home, quiet and solitary. My days were spent with a community who cared for each other despite the distance created in their stoic culture. Many snapshots of a past which I knew may have never truly existed. I knew it wasn’t my past, but I had to fight to retain my individuality amongst the river of vivid visions.
Overwhelming the nostalgia enforced by these images was a different, more stubborn emotion. Merownis was looking ahead, ignoring the distracting remembrance. I pulled my consciousness from the stream and watched my party member. Determination and hope for a more concrete future made the sounds of the jungle fade away. The lack of depth to the incepted history became clearer, a painting of a real moment. I understood his anger. Within the confines of the System, nothing he did would be real. It would all be at the behest of a power he didn’t understand. His discontent was palpable. Merownis wanted more.
The System had created Merownis and the other Sundercats from mana and Spirit, filled them with memories they could never have lived and told them to kill humans. Namely, me. Through our connection I sensed that the System was presenting him with a choice of some sort, and that he wasn’t happy with his options. He was trying to choose something different. So, he was taking the strength to create a new path from me. I could only sigh and allow it, as I had planted the seeds for this choice with Severance and a dash of impulsive stupidity.
Like a spool of unravelling thread, I could do nothing but let Spirit from myself go into fueling whatever change was happening. Sweating from the sudden exertion forced on me, I started to worry. Insidious thoughts came to mind like, “what if I don’t have enough Spirit?” Or “This was a mistake.”
I rejected the mutinous angle of my anxieties and gave as much as I could all at once. To my surprise, the greedy connection stopped just short of completely emptying me out. I had resigned myself to another angry and painful tug-of-war with the System for survival but the pressure simply stopped all at once. I opened my eyes and turned to the café just in time to see the roof explode upwards as a gout of mana smashed outwards, destroying the windows and breaking the door.
Naea shoved her way out of my grip and zipped over with interest. I had grabbed her instinctually to protect her from the shrapnel. I didn’t expect a thank you, but I was glad I did it anyway because more than one large shard had punched into my back. At the wrong angle, one of those could have sheared off a wing. I thanked the System for my increased attributes as I came away with just a few scrapes instead.
“Is he alive?” I called over, only half-joking. Did I blow him up? The intrusive thought pierced the gathering cold from my emptied out Spirit Well. I shivered. I would need to gain a few skill levels to thaw myself out, but it could wait. The discomfort was manageable, and the more pressing issue of the café crumbling was more important. I groaned as I pushed myself to my feet and moved inside.
The walls had been scorched by pure mana, the searing force of its passage tearing away the paint and the base layer. The shell of the café was all which was left. “I don’t think I’ll be able to bibbity-bobbity-boo this mess,” Naea sighed sadly. I felt the loss, too. This place had been the source of… everything. Now it was truly destroyed. For all that, there was a shining beacon of energy still pulsating in the centre of the place. I didn’t like the creaking and groaning of the structure, so I picked up the dazed form of the large tigerman and jumped out the now open windows.
The force of my escape must have been the final straw for the café, which buckled and collapsed in on itself with a sad plume of dust. I dropped the heap of fur in my arms to the ground unceremoniously and watched as my safe space crumpled into a spider’s carcass with upturned legs of metal supports and a heavy body of rubble. It wasn’t Merownis’ fault. It wasn’t even mine, really. I still held it against him all the same.
Unable to avoid the backlash of such a heavy use of Spirit, I fell to my knees once the adrenaline passed. The frozen wind howling inside of me colluded with the loss of my sanctuary to steal my breath for a time. A lumpy mass of Spirit hung heavy in the air above Clive’s, slowly draining into the dungeon to claim it. “So that’s my limit…” I whispered, sizing up the complex magical weight. A paddling pool’s worth, and not much more. I shuddered and nudged the still prone form of Merownis. “You better have been worth it,” I joked. The words didn’t sound jovial, but I didn’t have the energy to care.
“I will,” came the pained reply, “once the fire behind my eyes dies down. Once it's over.” I grunted and kept my gaze on the Spirit clumped in the air. While it was getting smaller… wasn’t it also getting clearer? Merownis said this wasn’t over, and the magic seemed to agree, beginning to spin like a cyclone. Before I could do anything, the tip of the tornado shot down to the huddled form of the Sundercat. He became a vacuum for the power. Another second later and that same unknown force arced over to me.
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I braced, but the wave of pure comfort and warmth which washed through me was a startling shock compared to the beating I had been experiencing and expecting more of. As nothing could stay good for long, the voice of the System spoke. Hearing it again filled me with dread, the initial moments of the Shift bruising my mostly healed mind with images of death and panic. I rejected the fear, replacing it with fury. This was the personification of the end of the world.
“Party member evolution complete.”
The dense, complexly woven rope of Spirit which bound Merownis to myself grew taut before snapping, each of us pulling away a part of the whole. As with the light inside the café before, Merownis was suddenly aglow with luminescence. Though this was his moment of change, and most of the energy went to his evolution, the bundle of energy which came my way was full of the System’s intent. I accepted it willingly, not sure if I had a choice either way.
Achievement Unlocked - Companion Coach (World First)
Assist a companion creature to an evolution, either through providing materials or power. As the first in your world to perform this task, the rewards have been increased.
Effect: Allies receive a slight experience boost when near you
+2 Command and Regeneration per level, +1 free attribute point per level
Any issues I had with Merownis destroying the café and absorbing all my Spirit were gone as the achievement settled into my core. The size of the imaginary sun grew slightly and I sighed in contentment. “Did you just get another achievement?” Naea asked, apparently a little put out. “You didn’t even do anything!”
I didn’t bother explaining that I had just risked my life to give Merownis the power needed to complete whatever change was happening. I just lay on the ground with my eyes closed to avoid the glare from his transformation. Once the light died down, I blearily cracked one open. “You alive?” I asked.
“No,” Merownis moaned. I snorted, happy to let a few minutes of quiet pass before trying to move again. For all I knew, I would accidentally press a button and suck out the rest of my soul for some weird reason. Like that stupid staff-
I sat bolt upright.
The movement was too much, and I heaved, but didn’t vomit. A good omen. “Would you look after this one?” I asked Naea, already stumbling towards the treeline. A string of expletives was casually leaving my lips as I stomped my way over to the arena. The Adolescent Amphibian Attack Animals were waiting, though the other denizens of the forest were not gathered. This was a break in routine, for sure. I was a little sad not to have an audience because I was full of confidence as I walked down the steps towards the frustrating Jingu Bang.
I brushed my hand against its lacquered wood. I traced my fingers over the etchings marking their way partially down from the shaft. It was a beautiful piece of equipment when it wasn’t fighting me for control. The wood was smooth with a golden brown colouration. Both ends were adorned with a dark metal covering with weaving patterns all over. It fit in my grasp perfectly.
Work with me.
The just-replenished Spirit was once again mobilised alongside as much mana as I could gather. The magic combined, my strength of will joining the power of my magic to form a spear. At the tip of the spear was my intent, shaved down to a point. There was a manic aura hanging over me but I grasped the impulsive desires and wove them into my plea. I had been going about the problem all wrong. The Jingu Bang wasn’t looking for someone to defeat it and use it. It had its own Spirit, and more than anything what that Spirit had told me was that it liked to play games.
When I met the staff with strength, it happily fought against me while absorbing my mana to keep the game going. The staff was a lot like the Xaverweave Pouch, I realised. What I had thought of as taunting for days was just the childlike attitude of a playful monkey’s favourite weapon. The description of the Jingu Bang suggested it was no ordinary item, along with the everpresent tugging of Spirit which suggested an achievement was waiting when I managed to move it.
I hadn’t expected one from Merownis, but that very boon had lit an unstoppable fire under me. I wanted to leave the forest and push on. I wanted to escape the dungeon. This new world was dangerous but it could also be incredible. I wanted to see it, face those dangers and find the wonders beyond. I didn’t want to be a conqueror, despite what the sleeping dragon in my best might like.
Please, I beseeched the staff, neither of us want to stay here. Let’s go do something fun.
My hand leaning against the solid weight, I almost fell on my face as that ballast disappeared. Stumbling a few steps, I looked back to the centre of the arena, finding it empty. With excitement and a little confusion, I looked at my clenched fist. There, light as a feather, was the Jingu Bang, vibrating with power. For the final time before I crashed into the desert zone, the System gathered a dense cloud of Spirit and threw it my way. I closed my eyes as my core drank the energy greedily. I watched as rivers of multicoloured power flowed into the burning star of my core.
When I opened my eyes, the achievement was waiting.
Achievement Unlocked - Artefact Wielder (World First)
Certain items hold a weight beyond their physical presence in the world. Often, many versions of the same weapon or armour exist in different places upon the Tree. Artefacts, not so. This unique item is bound to you, and as its wielder, the weight of your soul grows. As the first in your world to perform this task, the rewards have been increased.