“Change is so satisfying when you finally achieve it.”

“Yet, Change is never-ending unless you accept the inevitable return to Chaos.”

“In other words. When one Dream ends, begin another.”

#9 Quote - Of the Shamanistic Crafts and Rituals.

*

Dream Realm - ???

Sleep and Dreams, Hope and Nightmares.

I was given the first, not of my own choosing. But it is given, and I was undergoing it.

I knew I was sleeping. I knew for a long time that I was sleeping. Yet, no Dreams came to me.

It was a weird state to find oneself inside. Knowing, yet unable to do anything about it.

If Time passed, I knew not. If Time stood still, I knew not.

All I knew was nothingness. The nothingness of any stimuli. The nothingness of any emotion.

Yet, I was aware that I was aware, as if it was as plain as day, like every other.

I knew not if I went mad and imagined all this nothingness or if everything was true.

I knew not if there was a way to rid myself of this condition, whatever it was.

All I knew was that despite all this loneliness of nothingness, I was keeping my sanity when it should have long ago broken into shards before I lost all sense of myself.

Yet, here I was. Still experiencing this nothingness, this absence of stimuli or emotions.

For what purpose was this nothingness inflicted upon me?

Was this some ploy at relieving boredom for that Eldritch Eye?

Or have I just imagined all that happened to alleviate my own sanity in this nothingness?

There just had to be something. More of something?

Otherwise, I would frankly lose my own sanity and shatter into the nothingness that had been embracing me till this moment.

If Time passed, I knew not, but what was certain was that my thoughts kept cycling inside me.

They kept doing it for so many cycles I've long since lost count of them.

Then, IT came, The First Stimuli.

It was distant. So very distant. Soo distant that I barely recognized it even existed.

There was no denying it once I noticed it.

It became my beacon of Light, but it did not last long before the nothingness swallowed it.

However, I had a direction, a purpose, and a Goal worth striving for.

That's what I did. I strived for that distant phantom of Light, where there was no Light.

If I moved in this nothingness, I knew not.

If I was gaining distance towards the phantom Light, I knew not.

However, there was no alternative. It was to either chase blindly for this Hope, or accept complete assimilation into this nothingness.

So I chose Hope, as sometimes Hope is all that we ask for.

And my Hope did not disappoint me. A Distant Light manifested again in this nothingness.

It still felt so far away from me, but once could be called a delusion of a broken mind, but twice?

Twice is the sign to believe there was a way out of this nothingness.

So I ran and ran and ran and ran towards that distant Hope.

When it once more appeared. Closer, but still so distant.

Yet, it mattered not when Hope blossomed into a surety that something was out there.

Once more, the distant Light came, closer than ever before, but still distant.

However, I did not give up. I ran and ran towards the destination, but no matter how much I ran, there was no end. In fact, there was no Light.

As if all I had done before was but an illusion conjured by my failing psyche.

But I did not want to give up, not after all I have undergone so far.

So I ran and ran and ran and ran, not caring if I may have bypassed the origin of the Light.

I just kept going and going until a different stimulus came upon me.

It was…Pain. Yes, it was Pain. I remember it now.

It was pain that had reached me. But the Pain felt distant, as well.

Only the Pain felt different when compared to the Light.

It felt more personal and more foreign at the same time.

As if… it belonged to somebody else. Or something else.

Not giving up, I continued my endeavor. For how long, I knew not, but it mattered not.

Not when the pain resurfaced again.

This time it was more evident than before.

It came from my whole body, but the majority of it came from my back, or better said, the skin that covered my body.

For one moment, the sudden stimuli faltered my pace towards leaving this nothingness.

It took perseverance not to have my current pace vanish, but I managed to do it.

So my Journey from the Remembrance of the Void continued.

When the next time the pain flared, I was prepared, but the intensity was beyond anything felt before.

Pain steeped with emotions of Fear.

Fear that I knew very deeply. As I felt it every moment, I was aware of myself in this Remembrance of the Void.

Fear of the coming end, only I persevered, unlike the Fear coming from the Pain.

It was as if Time stood still for me. I felt its end coming and even felt it when it came.

I felt it all, no matter how minute, as everything passed through me.

The last moments of this small animal passed through me.

The last moment was accompanied by one image, a very familiar image of a Golden Maned Lion.

The image sparked memories to come forth. Memories of that short little life I lived attached to a little Honey Badger and his end at the same creature.

No, not the same. This one belonged to the same species, but it was not the same individual.

Instantly, my determination spiked. It spiked with a desire to leave this Remembrance of the Void, and I would not tolerate anything else.

As if this Void acknowledged my behavior and desires, a Light appeared in the distance.

It was my exit, so I ran to it and entered it.

When I did, it was not what I expected.

I did not arrive where I intended because all I saw was a white nothingness this time.

Walking around for a moment, I wondered what was going on.

“Cough”

“Yeep!”

I didn't even realize what came out of my throat as my soul left at that moment.

For how long I stood there unmoving without a twitch of intention, I knew not, but eventually, I did relax and turned around.

What I saw was definitely not what I expected to see either.

What I foreshadowed was for an Eldritch Eye to appear and stare at me. To corrupt me into one of its minions, or for some other nefarious purpose. I even expected it to send me back to the nothingness as I escaped it.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

But what my eyes gazed upon was none of those.

No. I gazed upon a human wearing a shiny black coat covering nearly his whole body. I almost imagine the squeaky sounds it makes as he repositions himself upon a red sofa chair made out of some unknown leather.

Ahead of him, a metal table with glass substituting for the top, and opposite the table was another red sofa chair.

For a moment, I considered just ignoring him. But his appearance was triggering glimpses of memories. Memories that probably belonged to me, I just failed to recognize what they meant at this moment.

Making my way toward him, I stared at his face.

It was strangely familiar, but the black no handles glasses interfered too much for me to recognize him for who he was.

However, that mattered less than his apparent size or the size of the furniture.

Coming closer, I stared at the giant human and everything around me again before deciding to seat myself on that soft and comfy-looking red sofa chair.

Yet, the moment my paw touched the soft squishy stuff and my claws dug into the leather, I realized my mistake.

For a moment, I understood. Then ignored it altogether before stabbing my claws onto the leather and pulling myself onto the seat.

Once I was done climbing the sofa chair, my ass touched down on the red leather, and my head gazed upon the individual.

We stared at each other for a moment before I voiced my concerns.

“Grrr.” Came out of my mouth.

With that said, I once more realized what I had become.

“Who I am is not important as it is for you to realize that right now, you find yourself in a Dream.” The man in the black coat remarked. “This means your current form while feeling easy and natural, is not your only option. Try remembering how you used to be.”

Conflict of interest arose inside me, but those got squashed, as I had this sense of trust between us.

So I did as he recommended and tried my best to remember who I was before I achieved this form.

It wasn't even that hard, but first, I had to recall everything I went through while in this life before remembering who Mir was in the past.

Once I did that, it was as if a door finally opened for me.

Another life flashed through my awareness. From childbirth to childhood, to adolescence, and finally to a man that defined the core of who I was.

All thirty years of life flashed and settled inside me. As if that was where it was meant to be all this time. If something was missing from my memories, I did not notice it, but I felt whole for the first time in this life, aside from acquiring a new body.

When my recollection settled down, I drew upon my humanity and envisioned my current body growing and shaping into that of a human.

It wasn't even that hard, but as I grew and grew, I felt discrepancies appear, so I tried my best to fix them by shifting some things here and there for a proper optimal work-life balance.

How I did what I did, and how I knew what to do was beyond me at this point. But once I opened my eyes, I recognized the snout before me.

It was the same, but slightly different.

Ignoring the man before me, I began to examine myself closer.

My arms and legs remained humanoid for the most part, as there wasn't a big difference in the joint structures between humans and Honey Badgers, number wise that is. However, as the best of the two worlds slapped each other, there were apparent differences.

In truth, I became far more humane than Honey Badger.

Still, as I watched the hard claws, I tapped my head and snout. I realized I was far closer to a Werewolf, only Were Honey Badger in this case.

Whatever, it's time to finalize the details.

I looked at the claws on my hands and imagined them retreating. When the claws became fingernails just a bit longer, thicker, and harder, I began touching the pads on the paws.

Soft. Very soft, but not too much to hinder tool usage. The pads can stay.

Done with them, I did the same to the toenails and examined the pads at the same time.

These feel harder as if I'm already used to walking.

Then it was time for details to be added.

Honey Badgers had no ears, only ear canals, so that is what I gave them. The inspiration was easy as dogs and cats had quite similar ear structures.

In this case, cats were the better choice as they looked cuter.

On the other hand, the Honey Badger's beady eyes changed closer to the human eyes.

I did that for a reason. The beady eyes of a Honey Badger were designed for panoramic view more than for depth of vision, as they were that much closer to the ground and needed so much more input from their nearby surroundings.

Still, I did not want to lose the night vision benefits, so I somehow fixed it all into one.

The overall head structure of a Were H.Badger I kept. Honey Badger's noses were quite good and definitely better than human ones.

Besides, I have already gained a Honey Badger body. I might as well embrace something new in this life.

After that were the vocal cords, but as I felt them, they had already merged into one. The sound that it produced was quite a bit higher than I expected, so I lowered it only slightly.

The unique thick and loose skin stayed as well. After all, why give up such a natural advantage?

The immune system also stayed out of my creative hands, as that was beyond me for some reason.

Therefore, the last finishing touch was my nether region, yet that was also the end of my stupor of… character creation, so to say, ended.

“Will this be permanent?” I asked the glasses-wearing human, who had observed me so far without a word, sending my way.

“No, that would be stupid. Your Dreaming right now.” He replied and shook his head. Yet before I could voice my complaint about doing this in the first place, he went on.

“But it will become a Blueprint for you to follow.”

The moment… Blueprint got mentioned… my current form lodged itself into my mind.

It was as if He took a stamp and stamped it into memory. With it, understanding hit me, but as I observed the Blueprint of a Humanoid version of the Honey Badger, I realized that the blueprint did not just possess the male side of the genealogy, but the female side too.

“What you do with the Blueprint is up to you. ” The Morpheous wannabe said. “The same applies to how you do it.”

Largely done with my body, I nodded. Then stood up and walked a few meters away from the sofa chairs. Then began to utilize the body's skeletal structure with large and small movements. When I noticed something not working optimally, I refined it slightly, and a similar change happened inside the Blueprint.

Only after I was done, did I realize that I only ever tested the human side for all this. The Honey Badger's animalistic side was yet to be covered.

However, I was stumped on how to represent a Honey Badger in this body, especially in combat.

There was just no way to compare them. The human body is the epitome of a longstanding line of evolutions that made it superior to other animals.

Yes. It wasn't as strong when looked at purely with physical prowess, but it wasn't that far behind. And the flexibility and range of motions a Human body can perform are staggering compared to other lifeforms.

Then, there was the physical adaptability to almost all environments. And tool usage, Much less on what would happen if Life Essence or other powers got tossed into the mixer.

So what was it again that made the Honey Badger so unique?

Its toxic and venom resistance? Check!

Its thick and loose skin? Check!

Its… attitude?

Yes, that's it. The biochemical setup to its fight or flight response is much more biased towards aggression and fighting instead of the balanced template that Humanity possesses.

Actually, now that I think about it, the strength of Humanity is not specialization but utility and generalization. It's how we reached the top of the food chain.

So would my current body be more of a human gaining the features of a Honey Badger than a Honey Badger gaining qualities of a Human?

Mmmm. What a conundrum. Actually, this is just a blueprint. Let's deal with the problem later.

Done with the extrapolation of my current existence, I make my way to the red sofa chair and have a seat.

“What now?” I ask this fake Morpheus.

“Now that we can talk. Let us have a serious existential talk about you and your existence.” The man said. “ First, you should know that You are not the real Mir.”

His… words made no sense, but I didn't interrupt him.

“I say that because I am the Myth. I am the Legend. I am the One and Only Mir.”

Surety and conviction radiated from him, which made me believe every word that came out of his mouth. Yet, that made no sense at all.

Then who am I?

“You are a Clone of mine.” Mir the fake Morphoues explained. “Specifically, you are the Me from before I became who I am right now. Now, before you say that makes no sense at all, let me tell you that you are not the only Clone of mine floating out there in Creation, and neither will you be the last. However, as you stem from me, I have devised a Legacy System for all of you.”

Smirking, he added. “What you see before you is that Legacy, or better said, a slightly altered Legacy, after your met with Mobius.”

Stunned and stupefied, I knew not what to say for quite a few moments.

Yet, the more moments passed, the more it kind of made sense. I was nobody in that life. There was nothing special to me, at least that I knew. Yet, here I am in a different world bonded to the Honey Badger species.

“So… you're not really here?” I ask after calming down enough.

Shaking his head, the man took his black no-handles glasses, and his Jade green eyes, soo familiar to my memories, stared at me.

“No, unfortunately not.” Mir, the original, said with a sad tone. “I am but a prerecorded message, reacting to predetermined already set conditions of your thoughts and words. The only reason this is possible is that I have had similar conversations hundreds of times. I mapped out almost all possible reactions out of myself for preparation of the Legacy System.”

As he informed me of all this, it all began to click into place.

My first appearance in this world, all the subsequent actions that led me to this moment, but then an Eldritch Eye popped into my mind.

Shudders that I had not felt in so long manifested down my spine.

“Please don't tell me that Eldritch Eye is Mobius?”

“Eh, don't worry about Mobius.” Mir, the original, replied with a smirk. “He's one of my Creations, but don't get hung up on appearances. He may look like an Eldritch, but he is not one. Mobius is a Nightmare, and He's got a heart of gold. It's also him that alerted me to your presence and situation. Through him, I modified your Legacy slightly, as going through what you did was not planned at all.”

Shaking his head, he shrugged to emphasize what he was saying.

“Everybody has bad luck at some point. It's a miracle you achieved what you did without the Legacy. Although, it nudged you here and there to reach Transcendence.” Mir, the original, annotated. “Otherwise, there would not be a Biological Blueprint for you. I only added that because of your special situation and what you were attempting to do.”

“Wait. Wait. Wait a second.” I shouted at him. “Let me sort all this out.”

At my prompt Time Out, he nodded and gave me the time., But my mind was already in overdrive from everything revealed to me.

Taking the extra time, I closed my eyes and extrapolated everything said so far.

I condensed it all, categorized it, examined it, and reached the ultimate conclusion.

I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ANYMORE. The past is the past, and I am already here.

I will just go with what I want and feel like.

Not like there is anybody that will stop me from doing it.

“Sigh!” Releasing everything outside. “Ok. With everything going on right now, what will happen from this point on with you… I mean the Legacy you.”

Nodding, he answered me. “Your case is a bit special. The Legacy will be completed in one fell swoop since you have reached Transcendence and there are no energy requirements.”

“Alright. What awaits me, Oh… Great Origin of ME.” I say, slightly venomously but also jokingly.

“Pfff” And he started laughing. “Yea, no idea what you said this time, but you triggered a laughing scene. Anyway, what awaits you, my dear little clone, is an Education.”

“Ed… Education?” I say really stupefied.

“Naturally, can't have you out there in Creation without an Education. I have standards to uphold.”

“With that said, we will start with the beginning of the beginning.”

“The biggest explosion on record.”