Alex carefully edged away from the drop. Once she was a few meters away from the drop she pushed herself up onto her feet and started walking along parallel to the edge.
The air was impossibly fresh and cool, although annoyingly damp. Not long after starting her walk, she had to stop and cough again. She grumbled non-words under her breath, and leaned against a tree. Unfortunately, the tree she leaned against must have been a rotten one because it collapsed and shattered under the weight of her body releasing a mist of foul smelling dust into the air.
Another coughing fit, which left her in tears. Now she stank as well, which, if there were other monsters would be inconvenient. She wandered morosely, hanging her head, along the cliff, until she heard the distant sound of roaring water.
She looked up - she noted as an aside that she seemed no closer to the dark mountain than before - and quickly spotted a waterfall. Now that she had a goal to walk towards, her steps were filled with more energy but she soon realised that it was actually quite far away.
And there were awkward rocks and other rotten trees in the way.
So far though, she had at least not run into any monsters, or even overly large insects. Her spear made for a passable walking stick. She tried to enjoy the walk despite the stench clinging to her and the other... matters.
One foot in front of the other. Don't think about pink elephants. Alex snorted when that thought drifted through her fouling mood. It was a moment of brightness, but as if the universe (multiverse?) had it out for her specifically, a fine drizzle started up a moment later.
Too weak to wash away the smell, it made the air intolerably damp. In moments she was both too hot and too cold, between the damp air and the sweat. She wanted to scream.
She looked around, but there were still no people. No monsters. No animals.
She threw her head back and screamed, shrill anger tearing out of her throat. She lashed out with her spear at a nearby rotten tree, and another and another...
She had, at some point, arrived by the waterfall. A trail of devastation lay behind her, and she was starving. Thirst left her mouth dry. She examined the rushing water, and had enough presence of mind to start stalking up the stream, which terminated unnaturally suddenly in a perfectly calm pool of water. At the far end, a pale stone rose out of the ground, utterly at odds with the rotting woods surrounding it. An odd symbol carved onto its surface leaked crystalline water into the pool.
All of this flashed through Alex's mind while she plunged into the pool. A moment later she was hissing, and scrabbling out of the water. It steamed slightly against her skin which had gone from pale to angry red in an instant. At least she no longer stank.
"Who dares?!" A squeaky voice exclaimed from atop the rock. Alex turned to look at it properly, and picked up her spear which she had dropped when she took the plunge.
A blue coloured frog sat imperiously atop the pale stone. Alex stared at it. It slowly turned to look at her. "Monster! How dare you despoi-" Her spear shot through the air at the creature.
It leapt aside. "How dare y-" She sprinted around the pond and her spear came down again. The frog jumped into the water. She turned, as it crawled out on the other side. Then it turned and slapped its hands together. The water turned frothy, and large bubbles rose from it, shimmering with an ominous blue radiance.
They drifted towards Alex, and her spear snapped out, popping the nearest of them. It erupted into a spray of water that stung as it drifted over her.
"Ha, foul fiend!" The frog crowed. "I will PURIFY you." Alex just growled. "I'm going to roast you, frog" She hissed. She started walking around the pond, carefully avoiding the bubbles that were drifting out from it. Unfortunately, they still burst against the nearby trees, slowly filling the area with a burning rain.
The frog... didn't move. It kept its hands pressed together, only turning its head. "Can't move?" Alex asked, delighted. Her spear flashed forward, and in the last instant, the frog dodged.
Or rather, tried to dodge. [Spear-Fishing], apart from including some basic techniques, was very good for hitting things that moved suddenly. The frog jumped, Alex twitched her shoulder, and the spearpoint hit the frog in the leg.
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It collapsed, feebly, and Alex lashed out one last time with her spear.
The moment the spear pierced its heart, the frog exploded into blue light, which streamed through the air and back into the pale stone.
You have banished a [Pure Waters Spirit] of [Low] Rank. +1AP.
A measure of power flowed into her soul along with more discomfort. The power, in effect, demanded to be spent. Alex pushed it into her blood almost reflexively. She cursed. "Where the fuck did that come from?" She grumbled. "And now I have no food." She complained, then looked suspiciously at the water.
Touching it still stung. "What even is this?" She groaned. [Identify] slipped out of her mind.
[Identified: Pure Waters Spring. Effects: +20% damage to monsters. Contains purified water.]
The voice that spoke in her mind contained the same soothing, monotone vibe as Justice had in the void. "Vibe's a word" Alex muttered to herself, then froze. She had always imagined herself reasonably well put together, and yet not even a day into this new world she was muttering to herself.
She turned and looked at the stone, nudging the pearl that was [Identify].
[Shrine of a Pure Waters Spirit.]
"How informative" She grumbled, walking through the now thoroughly muddy waters towards the shrine. Then she punched it. Her hand came away slightly bloody. She punched it again. Two bloody marks not unlike eyes sat on the shrine.
"Gods are real" She muttered. "Or spirits at least. Argh!" She smashed an nearby tree with her clean hand. Her hunger was making it hard - almost impossible - to think, but she had an inkling, a thought that refused to verbalise itself in her mind into something she could act upon.
"Can I even eat a spirit?" She grumbled, scowling at the shrine. A tinny, imperious voice sounded from it: "Of course not, foolish monster." She punched the rock. Blood spattered it. "SHUT UP!" She screamed at the shrine. She smashed her fists into it again, and her blood hissed as it ran down the side of it.
She tried identifying the shrine again - perhaps it would reveal some weakness. Instead a surprising bit of information entered her mind.
[Partially corrupted Shrine of a Pure Waters Spirit]
"Monster! What are you doing?!" Alex just punched it again, more blood dripping on the pale stone.
[Identify] she commanded, in her mind.
[Partially corrupted Shrine of a Pure Waters Spirit]
"Not enough?" She grumbled. Then, finally, her earlier idea crystalised. "Right. Spirits and things like... Justice as an entity implies Evil as an entity..."
She shrugged. "Or at least I hope it does. Um. Oh, ye ruinuous powers... Behold my offering?"
Perhaps it was her hunger, or her general misery, but she did feel as if her surroundings suddenly grew more foreboding, shadows strectching out and bending in unnatural ways. She swallowed, but her mouth was horribly dry. She told herself it was from the long day, and because she hadn't had anything real to drink.
"Monster! What have you done?!" the spirit cried out. The strange halflight, she realised, was rapidly mellowing into a dim orange radiance. A moment later, her blood on the stone turned completely black. The stone began crumbling, and the frog leapt free of it.
Alex lashed out at it with her spear, completely instinctively, and it was impaled whole. It wriggled at the end of it in a distinctly non-froglike fashion as the shrine collapsed to dust. Finally, it went limp.
You have slain a disruptive spirit. Justice awards you +1AP.
You have acted in the service of Evil by slaying a Spirit of the Land. Look in the pond for your reward.
Again, the AP was spent almost instantly. Alex shivered, and cautiously looked into the pond. At first, she saw nothing, save for her reflection.
Her short dark hair framed her pale face. Her too large eyes which until yesterday (if such a thing could meaningfully be said to exist after the void) had been blue were now a startly green colour. Her thin lips were chapped and dry, and her nose seemed to have shrunked. All in all, she barely recognised herself. It was like looking into a funhouse mirror, and it filled her with loathing.
Then, she spotted a flicker of something in the depths of the pond. A skeletal hand grasped a lantern. Gingerly, she reached out, scattering her reflections. This time, the water did not burn her. She propped her spear, and the frog at its end, up against a mangled tree stump, and carefully lowered herself down into the water.
The lantern was held fast in the skeletal hands, unnaturally so. She finally managed to pull it loose, staggering back from the sudden release of force.
[Identify] She commanded, looking at it. A handle of some sort of dark wood held up, by several wires, an odd metallic stricture with a single vicios spike of much darker metal or stone.
[A Tarnished Lantern. Consumes Spirits or Aura for an [Unknown] effect.]
She stared at it. The voice of Evil had called it a reward... and surely it would help her. If it didn't, and she was wrong it was likely that starvation would follow. After all, she had found nothing edible in the rotting woods.
She carefully fed the corpse through the wires of this lantern, and onto the spike. For a moment nothing happened, and she felt her stomach sink. Then, the spirit burst into eerie green blue flames. Flickers of dark red and brown flashed through it, and slowly she felt strength return to her limbs as she gazed at the magical fire.
Alexandra Johnson
Faction: Monster
Subfaction: Itinerant
Species: Human
Blood: 12(+3.6% Endurance, +12% Bloodline)
Bone: 10(+3% Tool Use, +10% Aura)
Flesh:10(+3% Technique Efficiency, +10% Regeneration)
Blessings: [Identify(Justice)]
Techniques: [Spear-Fishing]
Equipment Slots: [Weapon: Spear][Offhand: Tarnished Lantern]
Bloodline: First Serpent