Fredrick found himself in a strange place. Above him was a night sky portraying a vast cosmos of endless stars, galaxies and nebulas. The grandeur spoke of creation and might, it silently communicated greater, deeper, concepts than the mere matter it appeared to be made of. It was a breathtaking view, if he had any breath left to be taken.
In his mind, yet somehow below him, in the dark waters that did not reflect the heavens above, he had the vague sensation of his own body. He could see it falling over, lifeless.
He could see the bird in the water too, as well as the scattering remains of the Shadowstalker. Time appeared to have somehow slowed to a crawl, as barely any movement could be sensed.
Was this.. death? he wondered.
'You really gave your life for a bird? a bird that tried to kill you, no less?’
Startled, he looked towards the source of the voice. although if it was a voice was debatable, as it more so felt like a foreign thought, coming from somewhere other than his mind. The intangibles of intent and emotion were infused with every word.
It came from a flower. it was the red lotus that had cursed him. It floated on the other side of the surface of the waters. Its petals pointed down towards the realm of the living. It made him question whether he was the one beneath the water instead.
The sight made him halt his response, was he really about to talk to the first thing he ran away from? What he was trying to avoid?
Perhaps sensing his animosity from the silence, it continued after a moment:
‘
‘Come now, Enemies you call us in life, but what could I do to you here?’
‘I don't know, but your nature has been more spiritual than physical, considering where we are, you might have something you could do’ Frederick replied, ignoring the rhetoricity of the question.
‘That may be true, but here we are not enemies’
‘We’re not?’
‘No, unlike the shadowstalker, my survival, my goal, requires you to be alive, yet you threw it away carelessly, was it really worth it?’
The question made him pause, had it been worth it? No, not really, yet..
‘I'm not gonna lie: I imagined it to pan out quite different than it did. In that sense I guess it wasn't, but I don’t think it's so much about it being worth it as it 's about being who I want to be, worth what anyway? if the alternative is being something I don’t want to be... I think I'm losing my grasp on what “Worth it” even means right now’
‘“IT” is your LIFE! a life of challenge and joy! a lifetime to enjoy the spices and flavors of existence! you’re too careless! Do you not fear death?’
'Weirdly, I guess not, not after seeing.. this.’
He gestured towards the cosmos above him
‘I do not know what you see, but I fear for you, for your death’
‘Be that as it may, but what can we do about it now? I don't know if you noticed, but my heart is missing, my spiritual ghost heart, something, anyway.’
‘I could become your heart’
'You what?’
‘You heard me, bind me to your spirit, and I'll bind you to life once again.
‘‘That is gonna be hard no. This entire ordeal of running away was to avoid you consuming me.’
‘I'm not, and it's not like there will be much of a difference anyway. I'm already latched on to you,. I'm already a part of you. Not to mention: you're LITERALLY going to die if you don’t let me, as much as you’ve become enlightened and above the fear of death, SURELY you’re not so suicidal that’d you’d give up on life.’
Fredrick had to agree with Flower on that, he still wanted to live, but letting it become his heart? Surely that meant something, something more, but what could he do? He stared into the water, and at his body, searching. Something had to be possible.
‘You’re reluctant I feel it, but this is the only choice’
‘Actually, what about MY heart? can’t I take it back?’
The flower was stunned, parsing what sounded like sheer nonsense to it.
‘It's ripped out from you, it's what got you in this situation to begin with’
it finally said.
‘I know, but the notifications always tell me that I get stronger by absorbing the remnants of their spirit left behind. My heart is right next to me, wouldn’t I be able to absorb it back?’
‘It's contaminated by the shadowstalker, part of it is already being taken by the bird, and the rest is dispersing. One cannot live with half a heart, there is not enough to save you,’ It argued.
‘True, but you could make up for the rest right?, that way you don’t replace my heart entirely, something would still be me’
‘Perhaps, but it’s best not to, it's the vastly inferior option, the less optimal choice’
‘Inferior in what way? less optimal for whom?’
The flower did not answer the question, instead it spun around and moved its petals in contemplative annoyance, sending ripples across the water and the image of Fredricks body slowly dying. The silence stretched out and gave him all the answers he needed. In this space, where words were thoughts and feelings, no lie could be told. It refused to answer, for it knew it would not be to its benefit to do so. So Fredrick pressed it:
‘What choice do YOU have? you said it yourself: you need me alive, I will allow you to do what's necessary to keep me alive and no more’
Thoughts and emotions without words radiated from the flower. A greed for overtaking him entirely could be felt, and It was searching for a way to bargain for it.
Conviction ran against conviction.
Ironically, the actions that had put Fredrick at death's door now strengthened him. By willingly facing death in an attempt to be something he wanted to be, he found it easier to do so again. He refused to surrender himself to the flower, but It could not refuse to resuscitate him. it had already told it needed him alive, and he had told that death did not scare him. The threat of it could not tip the scales against him.
It held no cards.
‘fine’ it finally said.
‘I will make you a new heart, it shall be made from me, shadow, and the remains of your old one. I will do this, but know that it's not easy. To do it like that will interfere with the development of your spirit and you’ll need 1 additional level before you can advance it‘
Sensing no lies, as there could be none, Frederick accepted that. One additional level required before he could evolve, whatever that meant, sounded perfectly reasonable.
‘is not over between us, I will claim you sooner or later’
The Flower said.
‘I was already dealing with you before, with my stats I'm sure it's gonna be easy, eventually at least’ He replied
‘we’ll settle it in life’
It began making him a new heart.
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Raven felt weak. It could not feel its wings, and its balance was off. It could barely walk, let alone fly. Still it scrambled to get away. it felt too exposed. The human had killed the Shadowstalker. It felt it from the remnants strengthening it, but it knew more monsters would come, because the mark on him still loudly broadcasted the concept of Prey.
Why did the mark linger? The human was dead! Raven had even absorbed something from him, it could tell because now it too, to a lesser degree, was marked as prey. It could only curse itself for thoughtlessly using all its marks on him like that. They would lead the monsters right to it!
It could already spot a moving area of darkness in the distance, in the back of its head several sources of unnatural dread crept up. it did not have a long time to hide in.
Then Dread filled its mind entirely, and blood ran like ice through its veins. Another Shadowstalker had finally arrived. This one had significantly less darkness around it. The teeth were visible on display.
Raven was in a state of panic. It began running with all its might, but to its horror it was slowing down. The more it struggled to get away the more lethargic its body felt! It was the cursed sorcery of the shadowstalker, it had to be! It did not want to die there, but try as it might, there was no escaping this. A soft, but grotesque, laughter could be heard from the shadowstalker. It slowly reached out with its spindly limbs for Raven.
Then it howled in pain as it was being torn to shreds.
The human had awoken, and in an instant he had moved for the shadowstalker. Using his pointy stick he swiped across the remains of his campfire, hurling the glowing embers onto the Shadowstalker. His Sorcery infused the embers. Sparks of lightning flew between them as they shone brighter and roared louder than they had any right to. A nifty party trick to most…
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…but a devastating attack on a creature weak to light.
“Can’t believe i forgot to use my mana on the first one” Raven could hear the human mumble, though it did not understand the meaning of the words. It did understand a weak opponent though. With a “kraa” it spent another single point of mark on the monster.
All it said was kill.
“Thanks,” The human said.
A series of staps hit the monster before it could recover and reshape. A hand would appear there, a face would appear somewhere else, but they would all be hit before they could fully form, dispersing it once again.
The monster had been taken by surprise and it never managed to regain control of the fight.
At some points Raven could see tiny sparks of lightning come from the tip of the spear, causing extra amounts of damage to the limps that the monster would otherwise have almost fully formed.
The human, too, had figured out when to strategically use singular points of his Sorcery.
Then he got a good hit on its core, slamming it into the ground with an overhand swing.
When it weakly tried to get up and reshape he delivered the deathblow with a stap so on-center that even his stick could pierce, finishing it off with one last burst of lightning.
A moment of silence was enjoyed as the remnants of the 2nd shadowstalker dispersed into the air like smoke.
It didn’t last long. Raven could detect five more of them closing in, and the human, even with his lesser senses, noticed them too. “Ah fuck” and some more incomprehensible sounds came from him. He looked at Raven, said some more, a “Goodbye” perhaps? Then he turned and ran, only stopping to pick up the half-eaten from the ground.
Raven didn’t know what to feel about that, he had just abandoned it? Sure, it was the reason they got into this situation in the first place by trying to get him killed, but that wasn’t fair to leave it like that.
On second thought it supposed it was completely fair.
Fine. It had been a mutually needed alliance anyway. He had still killed Wolf, he could rot away for all it cared. The prey mark, that Raven had absorbet some off, was fading away anyway. Meanwhile the mark on the human would still last for a good while into the night, surely the shadowstalkers would follow him this time.
Yeap, it was better without him, it concluded.
Then he returned.
Around his waist was a bundle of bendy sticks, bendy enough to hold themselves together and the half-eaten pheasant which had been impaled on them.
He reached out for Raven, which now backed away kraa’ing in protest. What was the idiot doing!? He was marked! Now he would get them both killed! But its wings were still unresponsive, there was no escaping him.
He picked up Raven and put it firmly on his Bundle-of-stick-belt.
It was just in time, the shadowstalkers had arrived at his camp, closing in from all sides.
The human set off in a sprint away from the camp, dodging an attack from one of them as he passed by it.
Raven dug its talons deep into the wood as it held on to its dear life.
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As much as Fredrick was absolutely feeling good about himself for pulling off that ember-trick, he held no delusion of beating 5 of them at the same time.
Running it was!
Oh, and he was taking the pesky bird with him. It was way easier to pin down the shadowstalkers with its tricks, and he might as well force it to help him. Until that mark was gone, and they had well and truly escaped, their fates were tied together.
He was damn well making sure of that.
It was a bit difficult to focus when running away, with having to avoid trees and missteps, and all that, but he decided to use the opportunity to check up on what the Lotus Flower had done to him exactly.
First there was the pre-kill notifications that he had missed, with mental command they became nice and condensed:
The stats that you have increased:
+3 Stamina +20 exp!
+4 Adrenalin +30 exp!
+2 mana +10 exp!
'Man, I should ignore my stat gains some more, this is like opening a piggy bank!'
Then there was the kill, and there were something to unpack there.
You have killed a Shadow-Stalker lvl 12, its strengths fuse into your spirit...
ERROR, process interfered!
Your Spirit has been altered!
You've fused and incorporated "Remnants of Shadowflesh," "Destroyed Heart of Old", and "Cursed Lotus" into you.
You've lost Curse of the Lotus : 3
You've gained the Empowering stat Heart of Doom and Bloom: 8
+500 exp!
On a surface look Fredrick wasn't too happy about the 5 level jump, even with the experience. It could be seen as the Lotus gaining power. He decided to have a look on what it actually did for him.
Heart of Doom and Bloom: 8
Slowly repair and replaces spiritual damage. Increases integrity of your spirit, especially repaired parts. Minorly increases the ratio of stats you can gain from others, relative to naturally developed stats. (50% → 54%). This stat will always count as being entirely naturally developed.
The effect of Curse of the Lotus : 4, resides within this stat.
'F me, It actually turned into a full-blow stat, and it's so different from my other stats! and what's up with there being an max amount stats I can take?'
Apparently you could only "absorb" stats equal to 50%, now 54% for Fredrick, of your naturally gained stats. Somehow he had barely avoided that being a problem for him.
When seeing the last part, the part that told him the curse still very much existed, he couldn't help but smirk. He would still like to be rid of it, but he supposed it was a fair outcome. They had, after all, agreed that their fight would continue in life. It was one heck of a deal! For an measly curse increase of 1 he got to not only come back to life, but also gain an useful stat on top of it. The flower must truly had felt cheated about that.
Fredrick momentarily refocused on the running, as he had to dodge an tree. He still heard the monsters behind him, but they could clearly not keep up with him at all. He refocused on his stat gains, next was what he actually got from the kill.
You have killed a Shadow-Stalker lvl 12. Although tampered with, you still assimilate some of its remains.
its body is too different, its strengths unlike yours in every way, yet the primal building blocks of its spirit can be used:
+ 55 Resource Points! + 550 exp
+ 2 Empowerment Point +200 exp
its remains wash over you, and like a glass overflowing you cannot hold it all, the rest disperses into the Ether.
Level up! 5 → 7 (140/800 exp)
+10 mystical Resource points
+1 Empowerments Points
What a fancy way to say I have hit the cap, but WOW that's a HUGE increase', yeah screw lvl 6, I don't need it
Then there was what came after he had woken up:
You've increased your Mana by 15!
Mana 1/18 → 8/33
Resource Points: 90 → 75
'I guess I had a lot more than 15 to use then'
He then proceeded to a summary of his 2nd fight.
Embers burn with your sorcery, and lightning adorns your spear, as you fight the shadowstalker.
+1 mana +10 exp!
+3 Adrenalin +30 exp!
+1 Stamina +10 exp!
+1 Spearmanship
You've slain Shadowstalker lvl 9! It's spirit disperses into the area...
...but you can catch nothing but mere droplets:
+2 Resource points +20 exp!
'yeap, I have definitely hit the limit of stats I can take right now'
Then he had caught back up to present time, running through a forest, although less hastily now.
His Mystical Adrenalin had hit0 for a while now, and to be quite frank: his actual adrenalin had backed off quite a bit too.
He was quite simply not in any urgency right now.
Sure, the monsters still followed him, but it turned out he could probably had matched their speed even with no Agility stat, even if only in sprint. Now, after sprinting away with 3 times his usual speed, he could slow down to a light jog to keep them away.
To do that he needed to just top up his Stamina.
You’ve increased your Stamina by 30!
Stamina 2/58 → 18/88
Resource points 77 → 47
That was a big chunk already gone, but easy come, easy go, as people said. He decided to top of the rest of his stat while he was at it.
You’ve increased your Adrenalin by 20!
Adrenalin 0/51 → 10/71
Resource points 47 → 27
You've increased your Mana by 20!
Mana 0/34 → 10/54
Resource Points: 27 → 7
He decided to keep the 7, for luck, or something. The same with the 4 Empowerment points he had, he would figure it out eventually.
For now he just focused on enjoying his midnight jog, it was quite beautiful with the moon, and star, light filtering through the leaves. It was dimly illuminating an open and empty forest. Had it not been for the monstruous howling behind him he would had quite enjoyed his situation.
He was tired, but he had pulled all-nighters before.
'At least this time I don't have school presentation the next day'