Sam

Unger rooted through the endless number of drawers in his huge desk. He grumbled as he pitched his mechanized chair up and down to reach one drawer or another, before finally producing a large clipboard with a triumphant hum. He slid it across the desktop to her side so it teetered on the edge, threatening to fall. Sam reached up to take it, dislodging a thick ballpoint pen affixed to the top of the wooden board.

“Sign,” Unger said curtly, his attention already drifting elsewhere. “Your full legal name, please—it will be saved as a matter of record.”

Sam looked down at the thick stack of papers pinned to the clipboard, skimming the first page and glancing at a few of the others. At least it was in English. It looked like a contract all right. Written in dense legalese, it was filled with strange and seemingly nonsensical clauses she did not even bother to try and make sense of. The first page had a dotted line to sign her name on.

“Once you’ve signed the contract, you will have forged an accord with the goddess Era, and be granted access to the Concord system,” Unger droned on in a bored voice.

Sam hesitated. Will’s letter had told her to sign the contract, but she couldn’t help feeling a bit apprehensive. Despite the fact that most of the text made no sense to her, there were a few worrying clauses in there, such as one stating: ‘All the signee’s spiritual worship/devotion/expression, regardless of whether it is targeted at another deity/entity/religious figure, will be redirected to the goddess Era in perpetuity.’ Sam had never been particularly religious, but something about that sounded sinister.

Sam opened her mouth to speak, but Unger beat her to the punch. “No questions,” he said firmly, playing with one of his spiky eyebrows. “Shit or get off the pot. If you don’t want to sign, I can send you back the way you came.”

Sam’s mouth went into a tight line, but she held her peace. Reminding herself that Will thought it was okay, she scribbled ‘Samantha Darling’ on the dotted line. Flipping through the countless sheets below, she found nothing else that needed her signature. “All right, what—”

A harsh light flared in front of her eyes, leaving her vision white and throbbing. When she was finally able to blink away the blurry smears, she found that she was on her hands and knees, the clipboard lying discarded a few feet off to her right.

What… was that? she thought, dazed.

“Congratulations on gaining access to the Concord system, yadda yadda yadda,” Unger’s voice drifted down from above her. “Feel free to get up any day now, so we can continue with the second part of the orientation process.”

Sam retrieved the clipboard as she staggered to her feet. Her vision had mostly returned to normal, with only a thin field of distorted color at the edges, but the text still looked… odd, somehow. The letters didn’t look right to her, almost illegible, even though she had been reading it fine just seconds ago. She had to focus intently to be able to make out more than a word or two.

“A certain level of disorientation is a normal side-effect of Concord integration,” Unger informed, sighing. “Give me that back, please, so we can move on.”

Sam threw the clipboard back up onto the high desktop with a sharp smack, but took a few steps back when the demon tried to hand her something else. “Hold on,” she said as she began digging through her pocket, remembering what she had been instructed regarding the second note.

This time, when she looked at the first note, it appeared much as the text on the clipboard did; a block of jumbled, barely recognizable symbols. Meanwhile, the second note was perfectly legible, as though she had been reading it her whole life, even though she knew deep down that it wasn’t English, nor any other language she was familiar with.

This text, much shorter than the first, read:

I, Samantha Darling, hereby vow that I shall never make use of a Concord-granted ‘skill’ ability for as long as I live.

In return, I ask to receive twice the number of Concord-granted ‘attribute points’ whenever they are given to me for any reason.

And so our accord is made.

Sam frowned at the note, compulsively checking the blank backside of the paper slip several times to make sure there was nothing else on there.

She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but if she was hoping for answers, she was sorely disappointed.

Unger, however, seemed to recognize the thing she was holding, pistoning his chair as high as it would go in fits and starts until he towered high above the desk. He craned his neck, hoping to catch a glimpse of the text. “What is that?” he demanded. “What is that thing you’re holding? Tell me immediately.”

Sam took another few steps back—glancing over her shoulder to make sure she didn’t accidentally walk off the edge of the tower into thin air—and held the note tight to her chest. “No,” she said. “It’s private.” I think.

“What does it say?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to eat this piece of paper.” Without waiting another moment, Sam balled up the second note and popped it in her mouth.

“You!” the demon cried, the languor gone from his expression and replaced by wild-eyed excitement. “You’re the one I’ve been waiting for! The special case!”

Sam could not reply with her mouth was full of mulchy, wet cellulose. She chewed until her jaws hurt, then swallowed the sodden mouthful piecemeal, a taste of old broadsheet left on her tongue.

She was hit with a second flash, smaller than the first. It sent her stumbling, but she managed to stay on her feet by catching herself against the desk. Something formed in her mind, a thought that was not her own. It coalesced into a string of words, or a series of images, or a whispered voice, or maybe all three at once, coming together to form a single unit of meaning.

[Divine vow accepted.]

“Samantha Darling, yes, I remember now,” Unger prattled on, nodding to himself. He was sitting upright now, leaning forward with his hands on the desk. For the first time, his full attention was on Sam. “I mean, I knew it couldn’t just have been idle talk considering that Nyx made those deferred contracts with me, but I didn’t think you’d actually show up.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Sam managed a shaky smile. “I guess you can think of me as a happy surprise.”

“You must allow me to help you with your build selection.”

“I’ll consider it,” she lied. “What do I do now?”

Unger slid another clipboard in her direction, not taking his burning amber eyes off her for a moment. “What vow did you make, exactly? What did you get in return?”

Ignoring him, Sam looked over the new clipboard. The sheet pinned to it was written in the same strange language that was somehow perfectly familiar now.

Please select one of the following Professions to serve as your role on Faerlon. The Concord representative responsible for your orientation will be happy to elaborate on the Profession features and answer any questions you may have.

Artisan

Builder

Cook

Entertainer

Explorer

Farmer

Laborer

Physician

Scholar

Trader

NOTE: Any selections made through the Concord are permanent, and cannot be altered.

Sam scanned over the list a few times. The only actually exciting one was Explorer, but the letter had told her to choose Laborer, even though that looked like maybe the most boring option. The thought of spending her afterlife as a menial worker did not appeal.

But then, Nyx had said that this system, the Concord or whatever, was no longer used for its intended purpose. Maybe the name of the Profession didn’t mean all that much in reality.

Sam glanced up at the demon, who met her look with an enraptured stare of his own. She resisted the urge to ask him about any of this. If Will said he was full of shit, he was full of shit.

With a shrug, Sam circled ‘Laborer’ on the sheet with the pen provided. Again, her mind formed foreign impressions.

[Profession selected: Laborer.]

The letters on the sheet began to shimmer and shift, rearranging themselves. In moments, a whole new text presented itself.

Please allocate your 1st level attribute points as you wish among any of your available attribute scores.

Available points: (10)

Strength: (_)

Toughness: (_)

Dexterity: (_)

Senses: (_)

With a brief glow, the ‘10’ next to ‘Available points’ became a ‘20’. Presumably as a result of this vow she had apparently made, since it had mentioned something about doubling her attribute points. She wasn’t sure if twenty was a lot or a little, but she liked the look of her options a bit better this time around. Humming to herself, she spent a minute spreading out her points based on what sounded good off the top of her head. Whenever she put a number down in one of the empty fields, the scribbled symbol would straighten out and darken in color until it looked machine-typed. The ‘Available points’ number automatically went down, until at last it was at ‘0’. Sam held the clipboard at arm’s length, examining her work.

Please allocate your 1st level attribute points as you wish among any of your available attribute scores.

Available points: (0)

Strength: (8)

Toughness: (6)

Dexterity: (6)

Senses: (_)

[Attribute changes accepted.]

Unger finally got a glimpse over the edge of the clipboard just before the text began to change again, and he launched into a fit of neurotic giggling. “Oh, so that’s what your vow is! Clever—very clever.” He sounded impressed, looking at Sam as though she had risen in his estimation from insignificant ant to something approaching a fellow sentient being.

Not like I thought up any of this stuff myself, though.

This time, the sheet had taken on the appearance of an ‘Abilities’ section, showing her a list of potential options.

Please spend (2) upgrade points on any of the following abilities that are available to you.

NOTE: You can spend more than 1 upgrade point on a single ability. Ask your Concord representative for more information.

“Please allow me to give you some salient advice on choosing your abilities,” Unger said, dry-washing his hands. “After guiding countless millions of mortals, I am somewhat of an expert on the subject.”

“I’m good, thanks,” Sam replied, in as neutral a tone as her rising annoyance would allow.

The list of abilities was rather long, taking up several sheets. Some were listed as ‘skills’, while others were listed as ‘passives’. They were separated across three tiers, with all but the Tier 3 abilities grayed out and unavailable to her. The letter had told her only to choose passives, which finally made some sort of sense given her vow not to use any skills granted by the Concord. With that in mind, Sam picked out two passive abilities that sounded appealing, even though their short descriptions did not give her much to go off of.

Stoneskin (_)

Tier: 3.

Requirements: Laborer.

Type: Hybrid (Constant/Polymorphic).

Description: Your skin becomes harder, making it more difficult to pierce or penetrate. Ideal for working in adverse conditions to mitigate risk of injury.

Tenacious (_)

Tier: 3.

Requirements: Laborer.

Type: Constant.

Description: It is much more difficult for you to be rendered unconscious against your will. Ideal for working in adverse conditions where access to aid is sporadic or unavailable, allowing the user to see themselves to safety in case of injury.

It also appeared that she got another passive for free by selecting Laborer—something called Healing Factor.

Healing Factor (1)

Tier: 3.

Requirements: Laborer.

Type: Constant.

Description: Your body’s natural self-healing mechanism is accelerated, allowing you to recover more quickly from various injuries. Ideal for all types of heavy labor where the injury risk is high.

That did look quite appealing.

Sam put one upgrade point each into Stoneskin and Tenacious, leaving her with zero unallocated points remaining.

[Ability selection accepted.]

The text on the clipboard changed once more, seemingly for the final time.

The following is a summary of your selection.

Name: Samantha Darling.

Level: 1.

Profession: Laborer.

Attributes: Strength (8), Toughness (6), Dexterity (6), Senses (0).

Abilities: Healing Factor, Stoneskin, Tenacious.

Please enjoy your new life on Faerlon, [Samantha Darling]!