The Void
Olea Munroe
“Ugh, what happened?” I asked of the empty air.
No answer, great.
Taking stock of my surroundings I noticed that I had no surroundings. The place I found myself in was emptier than the rundown Blockbuster Video on the other end of my hometown back on earth. No shelves, posters, floors, ceilings, or walls. Everywhere I looked was utter blackness, or a lack of blackness. Weird thing to think there, was it black when light was both present and absent? I was not sure how to put into words what I was not seeing. The whole of this place I now found myself in was devoid of all things. I felt myself blinking slowly but the vision before me never changed, shifted, or wavered in any way.
There was no sound outside of a constant droning vibration that I could feel saturating the area surrounding me, I could feel it reverberating in my very bones. Like the feeling you get in the back of your throat when you hum at a low level, but all over. There were other comparisons I could use but they may be less acceptable in use across the broader spectrum of the people I would bother explaining it to.
Hey, I cannot help it. I am just going to plead temporary insanity as I am still unsure of whether this is real.
Speaking of reality, what the hell has been going on?
I remember only bits and pieces of the things that I have experienced over the course of however long I have been out of it.
I remembered my flying friend, my bonded companion flying off after days of the same exact conversation playing out. How did I not know I had had those discussions so many times before? I recall at the time not having a memory of things during that in-between state where I was conscious or was it cognizant… Regardless, I should have known something was amiss.
I moved to pull up my status window; it failed.
“What the actual…” It felt as if I had done it correctly but somehow the process halted as it was put into motion. It was as if an engine had begun moving but as soon as I began the process an outside force, or lack of force caused it to halt.
The air around me shifted suddenly as a sound like stuttering thunder on a stormy night erupted from all around. It took me a moment to realize that it sounded more akin to very loud, and very deep laughter.
“Not sure what you find so funny, but could you stop hiding so I can at least glare at you for being rude?!” I shouted into the emptiness around me.
Slowly as if drawn in time lapse video, color returned to the world around me.
Rolling pastural hills began stretching in all directions, even as a vibrant green began to climb the grayed-out grasses that had sprung into being. Large trees unfolded from the earth below as small rocks erupted at varying distances across the field. It was as if the entire area had just become real.
A thought struck me then, a memory from not so long ago.
“Help-chan!?” I called, daring to hope.
I remembered in the vision I had received when speaking to my imaginary friend. I am aware that imaginary would not be correct as he seemed quite real, but what else could I title something that only known to me, or could only be perceived by me?
Anyway, in that vision I had seen the world being born from nothing as time stretched ever onward. This was similar, while at the same time being sped up to a larger degree. It lacked the weight of time that the original vision possessed.
Another rumble shook out across the sky that was just now becoming a deep shade of blue with streaks or indigo and orange. The sun came to life on the horizon as the source of the refracting colors was revealed, with the light came a vast shadow stretching across the land.
I turned to the left and saw a large form stretching out before me. Glowing in the light or the lowered sun was an immense reptilian body. Its legs were crouched low as if it were kneeling before me or stooping to investigate my small frame. Rising behind those shoulders, was a lengthy expanse of scaled flesh that ended as the frame of the giant beast began its descent back to the earth as I am sure its tail was somewhere behind the wall before me.
It felt a lot like staring at a cat poised to strike front, you knew there were larger legs behind the smaller ones you saw, and you also knew that it had a tail somewhere back there that was surely moving back and forth as it pondered the best way to pounce.
This cat though, yes, I know it was a dragon but the moment I started thinking of cats they just stayed there. How could I not as I truly felt as if I were the damned mouse in this scenario.
It heads the size of an English tour bus was turned slightly revealing one side of its face, along with one large eye that was large enough that I could stand upon it’s scaled ridges and not be able to touch my hands to its brow.
It occurred to me then as I saw the lengthy neck stretching behind that head to join between the shoulders of the beast that I realized my sense of proportion was off. This thing was massive.
“I do detest that name, Young Olea.” Came the deep rumble of a voice from the barely moving lips of the creature before me.
It took my brain a few seconds, which I will admit seems fast for me these days, to register that it was remarkably similar to the sound of my faithful friend during conversation. I had thought that Help-chan was a musically tinny voice in the beginning but as time had passed, I recall that the voice had slowly grown to a deeper voice, with a fatherly timbre.
“Is that you? You got big.” I said, highly intelligent I was.
“Yes, and no.” it said.
“Ok then, what does that mean exactly?”
“It means that, while you have dubbed me with that name, it is not me. The entity you knew as Help-chan, for whatever reason you picked such a droll name, no longer exists. It has been subsumed by my greater consciousness upon its return to my body.”
“Did you kill him?” I demanded.
My near shout was greeted with more thunderous laughter as the ground shook beneath me. The ground only seemed to shake as my body was thrumming with vibrations while the soundwaves created by such a creature merely speaking passed through my frail frame.
“No, child. The intellect you dubbed as Help-chan was a splinter of my true consciousness. It was a part of me, lacking in the full vastness of my knowledge and the power within my soul. It was a shadow of my own ageless wisdom and power, cut down to such a small scale so as it could be housed within your mind as you grew. It was returned to me the moment you hit level ten.”
Level ten? I was only level six, wasn’t I? This was starting to make my brain-meat hurt. I again tried to call up my status but was greeted with the sensation of it already being present, or near present.
The confusion must have broken past my world-class poker face as the dragon chuckled again before continuing to speak.
“A lot has happened to you as of late, child. I shall explain.”
Smoke wafted out of the dragon’s nose and rose to the sky shifting as it went to display various scenes of the past, my past. Some of the images and scenarios tickled the back of my mind while others were completely foreign in nature as if they were part of an ephemeral dream that I could no longer recall while at the same time they were glaringly and obviously my own memories. I just could not remember when or where they had occurred.
“You have been serving as the host to a foul curse, you still are. Currently there are people striving to cleanse your body of the taint from Apathy.”
“You mean the fourth god, that Apathy?” I asked, barely remembering a conversation I had with John.
The dragon’s head rose in a nod, “The very same. You were infected by one of the foul beats on the road before his arrival, as weak as you were then the curse found no resistance and easily infected your pathways, corrupting your very nature.”
“So, the people trying to save me, where are they?” It was the first of many questions in my mind, “Also, where are we?”
“Ahh yes, those people are currently here and not here. You are currently in the great void, a place of everything and nothing. The birthing realm of the cosmos where reality was shifted and shaped before being pinned into place forming the tapestry that is your current universe.” Another swirl of the cloud of smoke revealed titanic planets shooting off to distant reaches before slowing to a stop and then starting again in an orbit around a trio of central stars.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“So, what you are saying is that they are here while I cannot see or sense them as I am somehow elsewhere?”
Again, my confusion was a little more obvious than I was comfortable with as the dragon seemed to sigh. A great gust of warm wind shooting across the field and rustling the grasses as the trees swayed lightly.
“In the simplest of terms, you can consider this a dream-state. I sense you have already attempted to access the greater system of the One, that will not work here. Time has no meaning so the actions you attempt here will be halted as soon as they begin to take form in the outer world.”
“How is it that I have advanced so far in levels? I seem to recall that I was only level six last I checked.”
“You have not been yourself for the past month, it has been a long time indeed. The nature of the curse that was affecting you prevents access to the greater abilities of the system, a feat which is only possible due to the divine nature of the one who cursed you.” The dragon took a deep breath before continuing, “The moment you reached level ten I was shunted from your consciousness, this happens for everyone upon reaching that level of power.”
“So, you’re saying everyone gets your version of newbie help?” I was thinking that I was special by having my own personal dictionary assistant this entire time, but it seemed as if it may just be a global help system for newbies, or as the tier system indicated, novices.
“All sapient creatures have a version of assistance from birth until they near their second rank, this is why most people of Kalydren refer to the second rank as Capable. We who are tapped to assist can only do so until they near this threshold as to remain longer would negatively impact their growth and ability to develop independent thought.”
“I see. Do you often involve yourself in this system of assistance then?” Was I hoping for a nugget of information to validate my own brand of specialness? Yes. Did I feel like I was being a narcissist for attempting to pin that merit on myself? Yes, and I also do not care right now about what that may say about me. Everyone wants to be special.
“I do not. I was tapped this time specifically to guide you and two others, while limiting the amount of guidance and help I could offer. Each of you has changed my structure in our initial interactions to shape how I assist you. As an explanation, the first thing you told me to do was to avoid spoilers and let you figure it out yourself.” A soft chuckle escaped the dragons’ lips again, I caught a small glimpse of some extraordinarily long teeth. “That statement prevented me from giving you more detailed information about certain skills and paths that you will discover later.”
“You mean to tell me that I could have gotten the equivalent of advanced tooltips for all my spells this entire time, and I screwed myself over in the first five minutes of life?” I was mildly shocked at my own stupidity; sure, I had thought I was dreaming for just a bit and had also been in a state of sorts, but I had not realized until now how utterly stupid it was to have handed off the keys to the library as it were. As I began to wonder at what I could have missed I asked, “Does that mean I can’t access those things now, did I lock myself out of learning things about the system later?”
“No, no it does not. You simply need to research it yourself now. I will no longer be there to boil down and condense the information for you, though at the same time you have access to a much wider amount of information than you know. I was there filtering out a great deal of things to help you stay somewhat focused on your day-to-day.”
“Oh. Alright then. What else can you tell me about what is going on out there then?” I had a feeling I may need to know what was coming if I were to escape whatever the hell was going on. “Also, back to that leveling stuff, what happened to me being a six and suddenly being level ten?”
“Oh, yes. Currently there are several priests of the three working on a ritual to remove your tainted essence. This ritual will slice the rot away from your core and your pathways, thus freeing you of the curse. The downside to this is that you will lose access to the assistance granted to you by the Three. Upon waking you will need to anchor yourself to the Three once more, and through them you will be anchored to the One.”
“Excuse me, what assistance? I thought you said you would not be there with me anymore; also, will I ever see you again? I did not even know you were a damned dragon this whole time!” I would not confess to this super huge dragon that I was mainly interested in going for a spin around the world on dragon-back. Nope.
“You and your fellows were granted the assistance of the divine instructor. You remember me saying that other people needed trainers and teachers to access advanced skills, correct?” The question must have been rhetorical as the dragon continued after taking in another world moving breath. “You will no longer be able to learn new skills until you return to a church and offer prayers to reignite the tether that has dimmed between you and the Pantheon. Until that time, you will only be able to advance in the skills and spells you already know.”
“Aren’t I already in a church? Why can’t I just jump-start those prayers right now?” I asked. Surely, he had said we were in a church, couldn’t the priest even help me with the whole prayer thing, I had no idea how to do that. Nope, not me. I had never really had the time or desire to pray to a god or gods on earth, it did not seem as if they were truly looking out for the little people back there.
“You are currently in a church yes, though as of now you are outside the flow of time. Sadly, when you manage to awaken out there it will be too late to offer your prayers as you will no longer be in the church. You have a trial ahead that you must endure before you can make your way back to a proper place of significance to reignite the tether.”
“Are you saying I am in danger? What kind of trial will it be?”
I had thought I could just wake up and do a little speaky-speak to the divine air of the church and be done, moving steadily on my way to liberation and fun, I was mistaken.
“I cannot say as it will shape the outcome in a way that is not within my ability to influence. Just know that you should already possess the skills needed to survive, even if you lack the potency now. Remember you have advanced quite a bit since last you were aware.
“You did it again, how do you know I have the skills needed? Also how much have I advanced and how?” The lack of the systems assuring words before my eyes was really making me annoyed, something so absent in my previous life having already become a needed drug for my well-being may have been cause for some to investigate but I could not bring myself to care at the moment.
“Oh, yes. While you were slumbering in your own mind, trapped as it would seem, the curse was controlling your body. You slaughtered entire ecosystems of lesser beings. Hundreds of small defenseless creatures were slain by your hands as you fought and lost repeatedly against the curse inside of you. A great deal of that power was siphoned off and delivered to Apathy as you progressed, but you gained an immense amount of experience nonetheless.”
“Wait, you’re saying I went full-on Murder-Hobo?” The thought had crossed my mind when I first started leveling, but I had held off that avenue of actions as I wanted to enjoy life and not be neck deep in offal and blood for weeks just to advance on my own path.
“In essence, yes. Apathy used your body as a means to accrue power in a way that would align with your definition of ‘Murder-Hobo’.” Stated the dragon, I could have sworn I could detect a note of derision for the term in his voice.
“Is there any way you could maybe, I don’t know, let me access the system screen to see what you mean?”
“Hrmn, I suppose I could.” Said the dragon. “Time will begin moving again when I do this, and you will be returned to the waking world. Remember what I have said as it will be some time before we can speak again. Assuming you can make it that far.”
The skies flickered above as the ground shifted underfoot. The grass became gray for a moment before fixating again on their vibrant green.
My brain caught up to the words spoken by the dragon and I suddenly became aware of what they meant, yet before I could shout out to my one time friend and ask him to wait or even to say goodbye I was greeted with a screen before my eyes and then the world returned to the empty void it had been when I came to. What I saw displayed before me was a shock to my mind.
You have slain multiple enemies of a level lower than your own.
You have slain multiple enemies of a level greater than your own.
The list of enemies slain is omitted as the number is too large, you may review these with a thought as your convenience.
Total Experience Gained: 125,500.
You have advanced to level 7: Minor regeneration bonus applied, one free attribute point gained, three free skill points gained.
You have advanced to level 8: Minor regeneration bonus applied, one free attribute point gained, three free skill points gained.
You have advanced to level 9: Minor regeneration bonus applied, three free attribute points gained, six free skill points gained.
You have advanced to level 10: Minor regeneration bonus applied, one free attribute point gained, three free skill points gained.
You have advanced to level 11: Minor regeneration bonus applied, one free attribute point gained, three free skill points gained.
You have advanced to level 12: Minor regeneration bonus applied, three free attribute points gained, six free skill points gained.
You have reached the maximum level for the Novice Rank; greater rewards wait for you at the rank of Capable.
Experience Until Level Thirteen: 4,500.
Your soul has undergone a level of strengthening:
Removing Seals on Triumvirate Soul: Abilities Unlocked.
World Map and Soul Vault.
Advance further to empower yourself and unlock more abilities.
Name: Olea Munroe
Level: 12
Archetype: Flighty Undine of Healing
Age: 16 Winters
Health: 153/153
Mana: 174/174
Stamina: 176/176
Attributes:
* Strength: 10
* Dexterity: 13
* Constitution: 10
* Charisma: 16
* Intelligence: 13
* Wisdom: 10
You have Fifteen Attribute Points Remaining
Experience Till Next Level: 4,500 remaining of 25,000.
Skills: Twenty-Four skill points remaining.
Stealth - Rank 1
* Pierce - Rank 1
* Sneak - Rank 1
Piety - Rank 3
* Armor – Rank 1
* Command – Rank 1
* Conjure Elemental Spirit – Rank 1
* Create Food – Rank 1
* Create Water – Rank 1
* Cure Wounds – Rank 2
* Detect Aura – Rank 1
* Detect Magic – Rank 1
* Dispel Magic – Rank 1
* Protection from Evil – Rank 1
* Vigor – Rank 2
* Water Breath – Rank 1
* Water Walk – Rank 2
* Wind Walk – Rank 3
Triumvir Soul Skills
* Vessel of Souls
* Soul Link
* Dowsing
* Forum
* Shared Senses
* World Map
* Soul Vault