Chapter One: After Life
Congratulations, Earthbeing!
Eh? What?
The transfer and transfiguration process has been successful!
What process?
Welcome to Athilia!
Where?
Activation should occur in the next few moments. You may experience mild disorientation to begin with. This is normal and will soon pass.
I'm disoriented right now! What is going on?
Light. Blue light, just strong enough to cast the shadows into total darkness. A sensation of space. Cold. Damp. Air, trailing past like chilly fingers. Water drops splattering. The distant sounds of... wolves? And another sound, closer and annoyingly insistent.
"Maaaa."
I have no idea what is happening. Where am I? Why can't I move? And how can I see when I'm pretty sure I haven't opened my eyes?
"Maaaa."
You are in the world of Athilia, specifically on the continent of Bathotis, within the Aostea Kingdom, on the Eborth Plateau. You cannot move because you have not sufficiently advanced your level to gain that Power. You can see because your Core is equipped with basic senses.
"Maaaa!"
That's not the same Mysterious Voice as before. Who are you? What are you? What am I? What's that noise?
"Maaaa!"
This entity does not have a name. This entity is your Induction Guidance System. You are a first-level numen. That noise is being made by a young konboh.
"MAAAA!"
I'm a what now? I'm...
"MAAAA!"
I shift my senses, the effort leaving me dizzy.
"MAAAA!"
I'm... a rock? I'm a rock. I'm looking at a rock, and I know that it's me, and I have no idea what's doing the looking because I can't see or feel my proper body. I'm not even a particularly large rock, although I'm big enough that you'd need mechanical help to lift me. I've got three sides and a flat top, like a giant wedge of cheese. Well, a giant wedge of cheese, if cheese were a sort of pinkish-orange colour with faint veins of blue-grey and a texture like fine sandpaper.
"MAAAA!"
Why am I a rock?
"MAAAA!"
Oh, shut up!
I look around myself. Maybe I’m getting the hang of moving my senses, because it doesn't make me quite as dizzy as the previous time.
Next to me is a sheep. A very small sheep. A lamb? That's what baby sheep are called, right? It looks wet and kind of hunched up. Behind it is open space, a field, all grass and... more grass. And a total lack of other sheep.
It’s night. It’s cold. It’s raining. I can see not one but three moons hanging in a sky of stars I don't recognise. Not that the last part means much. I can recognise the constellation that looked like a saucepan and that’s it.
"MAAAA!" Such a loud sound from such a small creature. It sounds lost.
You and me both, baby sheep.
I'm a rock, in the middle of a field so large that I can barely make out any edges. Not a field at all, really. An open plain of long grass and stemmy plants bearing tiny, straggly flowers. There are trees of some sort, away in the distance to one side, the dark green pointy sort. In the direction I’m choosing to call "behind me," in the opposite direction to my pointy cheese nose, are the lumpy smudges of what might be mountains, too far away to tell if they have snow on.
"Maaa." The baby sheep sounds weaker. It’s shaking a bit and sort of sagging.
I'm a rock. What am I supposed to do now?
Get stronger.
What? How? What can a rock do?
[MINOR ROCK NUMEN
POWERS
Inconsequential Miracle (WP 1)
WORSHIPPERS: 0
WORSHIP POINTS: 1
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
INFLUENCES
None
DOMAINS
None]
That's it? A floating box with a depressingly empty list? This is the... suckiest dream I've ever had, and I really hope it IS a dream. I'm a rock that can see and hear and... do inconsequential miracles. Perform miracles? I think that's the right word.
"Maaa." The baby sheep was looking kind of droopy.
Oh well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Weird voice, Induction... thingy? How do I perform an Inconsequential Miracle?
Merely concentrate on your desired outcome. If that is within the Power level of the Miracle and you have sufficient Worship Points, the effect will be applied automatically.
Convenient. Pity I have no idea what "inconsequential" would allow me to do. I focus on the wet, cold lamb, and think warm thoughts. Warm and safe. Safe, and home, a place where I really wished that I was, too.
"Maaa?"
And quiet. Nice and quiet. Please!
The lamb lifted its head, then hopped up on top of rock-me, curled itself into a sheep loaf, and went to sleep. Steam curled faintly upwards from its wooly coat.
I felt... weak. Really, really weak, and dizzy. Like I was about to faint.
Worship Points have been reduced to zero. Existence will be terminated in 24 hours.
What did I do? Why didn't the Voice warn me? Why...
...I think I passed out there. When I swim back towards awareness, my surroundings are brighter. There is a bright yellow sun in the sky.
There's also a man. He's kneeling beside me, holding the baby sheep and... thanking me?
Worship Points received: 1
Termination process aborted.
Voice? Voice, what's going on? Why didn't you tell me what would happen if I spent all my Worship Points? Why am I still dreaming? Why is my subconscious coming up with such a useless tutorial system?
A Mundane is giving you Worship. You did not ask. I do not understand your other requests.
I should probably be asking all sorts of questions, but I'm struggling to know where to start. As the man with the baby sheep walks away, I try to get some answers out of Mystery Induction Voice, but the Voice doesn't seem to know why I'm here, what brought me here, whether this really is a dream, and whether I will ever get back to my proper life. I don't think it likes me much.
I think this is probably not just a dream. It's a nightmare.
It gets dark again while I'm trying to think up questions the Voice does know the answer to. Time behaves strangely, or maybe it's my perception of time that's strange. The bright yellow sun (Voice calls it Taoth Life-Bringer) drops over the horizon beyond the trees that mark the western border of both the Eborth Plateau and the Aostea Kingdom. Three moons rise: Islift the Blue Shadow, Prince Zrestia, and Brian.
A moon called Brian?
That is what the numen called himself.
Wait, what? Numen?
Brian is a level one hundred and sixty-two numen, with Dominion over the Domains of Storytelling, Chance, Alcohol, Projectile Weapons and Informal Sharing of Food.
I guess a Domain can be some sort of... concept, or skill? Or an activity that people do? It might be cool to have Dominion over something that way. Dominion over Money? Count me in! How many Domains can someone have, anyway, Voice? How do I get a Domain? Also... Brian is a gamer?
Most numen have only one or two Domains, but some have many. You gain Domains by increasing in Power, acquiring Worshippers and exerting Influence. I do not know.
Can you just… upload the manual to my memory, or something? It’s my dream, I should be able to make things happen the way I want to. Instead, this is becoming the most. Frustratingly fussy. Dream. Ever.
The distant birdsong is changing. Gradually, something else overlays the sound, then takes over from it. Voices. One high and childlike, the other deep and somewhat familiar. The shepherd who had taken away the lamb. As they come closer I spot them, the man holding the hand of a little girl as they walk towards me through the grass. It only occurs to me now how strangely they’re dressed. Layer on layer of brightly-patterened weaving, with warm hats fringed and tasselled with locks of wool, and embroidered boots with short pointed toes.
"Is that the place, Papa?"
I understand the words, just as I understood the man when he thanked me earlier. Now I’m concentrating, however, I realise that I don’t understand the words themselves, just their meaning.
"That's the place, Dee."
The little girl pulls free of the shepherd and runs to me, placing her small and slightly sticky palms on my front face. "Hello rock! I'm Deedee! Papa said you found his lost lamb for him. I've lost Bobo. Can you find Bobo for me?"
She pauses, her face scrunched up in thought, then continues. "Oh! I remembered. I brought you the best flower I could find, and my favourite stone. It's got shiny bits in it!" Her sticky little hands peel away from me so she can rummage in her dress pocket. Onto the top of my rock she carefully places a rather wilted, pale blue, flower and a smoothly rounded pebble.
You have been offered Tribute! Do you accept it? Y/N
Uh...Voice? What's Tribute?
Mundanes who hope to gain the attention or assistance of a numen may offer them a gift of some kind. That may be a physical object, the sacrifice of a living creature-
What?!
-or the swearing of an oath.
What happens if I don't accept?
Nothing.
And if I DO accept?
Nothing.
Uh... what? Then what's the point?
That is the way things are.
That sounds... off. Poor dream design. If I take the Tribute, do I have to help them?
No.
So... I can take it and just do nothing?
Yes.
Or I can take it and help them?
Yes.
Or I can NOT take it, and help them?
I... do not know.
What do I get out of it if I help them?
I cannot answer. There are too many variables.
Is this how I can get Worshippers?
There are too many variables.
Is this how other... numens gain Worshippers?
There are too many variables.
Is this one way that other numens have sometimes gained Worshippers?
Yes.
My subconscious is being vindictively pedantic to give me a dream like this. It's a very long dream. Maybe it's a coma? I don't remember going to bed. I remember... leaving to go to lectures. Maybe I was hit by a bus or something? And now I'm in a coma, lying in a hospital somewhere. Having a dream that's turning into one of the psychology professors' favourite thought-experiment style tutorials.
I want to wake up. I want to go home. I don’t want to be dreaming, I don’t want to be stuck in a coma, I don’t want to be… a transferred Earthbeing. Stop the dream! Send me back!
Unable to comply.
Why not?!
Your previous Vessel has ceased functioning.
My… Does that mean…
You are dead. Welcome to your new life.