Two days earlier...
It’s been two days since the goddess Whimsy spoke to Olivia. She was still curious about her Lady’s requests. In the four decades she was Whimsy’s Oracle, Olivia spoke to her Lady only a handful of times. If she could call it that. Before last time it was always the same thing, a warning of an upcoming danger. As they shared the temple Olivia worked at she knew the message she received was the same from all the gods, and while others have contacted their priesthood more often, Whimsy never did. Until now.
Olivia, as you live closes to the Dark Forest I have a request for you. Prepare an offering of food and cleansing supplies. Put them in a basket and leave it on the edge of the village by tomorrow evening. Be safe, Whimsy
She of course complied instantly getting the entire village involved. Everyone helped as they could. Most of them were former soldiers and adventurers, as such they wanted to help those who helped them before. Whimsy’s worship was considered foolish by the average person, the magic tied to her considered useless. Even those who experienced the blessing cast on them usually disregarded it. Only those who truly understood the impact of trauma or saw mental anguish understood, even then only a handful actually remembered what the ritual did. Olivia didn’t know and of those who did remember, none spoke of it save for saying they spoke to the goddess. Olivia was driven to find out what the magic actually did, that’s why she moved to this remote village where most experienced the goddess’ blessing. Almost a decade now and she as nowhere close to finding out the nature of Whimsy’s magic. But now, perhaps she might have a new opportunity.
She stayed up late that evening, watching the offering from some bushes nearby. She didn’t know what to expect, what she saw wasn’t even close to her various ideas. At first she heard a soft whining from above the forest. She stiffened as her hand when to the dagger on her belt. She knew she had no chance if it was a wyvern, which were often seen hunting above the forest, but she was determined to protect the goddess’ offering, with her life if it came to it.
Instead of a fight for her life she saw something flabbergasting. The whining grew louder and soon a construct she’s never seen before appeared from above the canopy. Four arms attached to an angular body, one dark eye at the bottom and skids for legs. It circled around the clearing, then spying the basket it flew straight for it. It hovered next to it for a moment, then slowly a fifth arm lowered itself between the skids. The eye looked around, and after what she could swear was a blink it focused on Olivia. The weird arm turned towards Olivia and waved. Olivia’s jaw dropped while the claw-like hand with three fingers grabbed the handle of the basket. The whining increased as the construct slowly rose back into the air. Turning towards Olivia, it swayed for a moment, repositioned the basket to stabilize itself, then flew off, leaving her completely flummoxed. She stood up from her hiding place, brushed the bits of grass and detritus off her dress and headed back towards the village.
As she was walking a group of the strongest men and women of the village ran towards her.
“Lady Olivia! Is everything alright? We heard a strange sound and worried it might be a monster attack.” Alder Silverton ran up to her, a look of worry on his face.
“It’s all fine master blacksmith.” She replied putting on a serene smile on her face. “It was a divine messenger. Or so I presume as it took the offering for my Ladyship and flew off back into the woods.”
“Oh. Oh!” Turning to the other villagers he spoke loud enough for all to hear. “It’s all good. We can go back now.” Facing Olivia he spoke in a more reasonable tone. “Lady Oracle, we’d love to hear more if you’d share?”
Olivia nodded, then all of them headed towards the village tavern. It was actually the house of the head and his wife, but as it doubled as the only place where any unlucky traveller would sleep and had a large room for celebrations everyone came to just call it as such. The feeling of excitement for seeing something from legend was tempered by an unease. As if the currents of the world were changing.
——
Whimsy giggled to herself as she flew the drone back to her house. She never expected Olivia to stay behind to watch the basket she was now carrying. Worried her drone might be attacked by some wild creature she spied Olivia in the bushes with the most adorable expression of shock she’d seen in ages. It took her almost three hours each way but she soon saw the clearing her home occupied amidst the huge forest. The drone flew right past the garden and the still cocoon. A window opened and the drone flew into the living room, carefully manoeuvring the basket on the kitchen counter. She unpacked the cheese and meats into the fridge, used a cleaning bot to get all the cleaning supplies into the bathroom, then flew the drone out, closing the window behind it, and landed it on the rooftop charger. That done, she double checked if anything changed with Alice, seeing nothing new, she sent a quick message to Metis. Hep and Atena were busy with the upcoming pass, besides they were both hands on kind of DIs, where Metis was focused on theory. She’d talk to her later, maybe when Alice was asleep, for now a quick missive and the logs from the research lab would have to do.
——
Back in the present...
Alice woke up slowly. Opening her eyes she saw the living room she crashed in last evening. The sun coming in from outside was warm on her face and very bright, most likely the reason she woke up. Over her body was the duvet from the guest bedroom, just as fluffy as she expected it to be. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so comfortable. She wiggled around for a minute, tucking and tugging on the covering. After successfully turning herself into a human burrito she spoke up.
“Whimsy, you home yet?” To her shock, rather than just hearing her voice, Whimsy appeared standing in front of her. She looked exactly the same as in the VR construct when they first met, albeit see-through. “Hologram?”
“Yes! I know from experience it makes it easier for people to talk when there’s something they can focus on. It’s just a fancy light-show, really, but my entire house is fitted with emitters, so why not use them.” Whimsy’s voice was still coming from somewhere near the ceiling, but the mouth of the ethereal figure moved in time. “Now then, I wanted us to take a few days to relax and unwind, but you ate most of the food last night, and somehow I don’t think plugging you into an outlet will work for you?” Alice shook her head vigorously. “Figured. So. What do you want to do now?”
“Me?” Alice was slightly dumbfounded. Then laughed. “You already know the answer to that. Adventure awaits! As enjoyable as staying with you might be I don’t want to be a burden—”
“You’re not!” Whimsy quickly interjected.
“—to Olivia.” Alice finished dryly. “She left a note in the basket. I’m sure you somehow brought it here, but I’d rather make my own way, not rely on charity.” Smiling she continued. “We should visit her, though she’s under the impression you descended from the heavens. I’m paraphrasing, but she asked for you and I’m thinking she lives relatively close by?”
“Olivia left a note? Sure, we can visit... Or so I’d love to say but I don’t really have any way to do that. The only physical body I can freely use, is a simple courier drone and that will just not work, look for yourself.” Saying that Whimsy extended her hand and above it a picture of a woman with a shocked expression appeared. “This is how she reacted when I picked up your groceries.” She added with a giggle.
“Haha, yeah that won’t do. Can’t we just build you something in the printer?” Alice asked, genuinely curious.
“Not really. It’s technically possible but neither of us have the expertise to build such a thing.” Whimsy shook her head sadly, but Alice looked thoughtful.
“How about we pilfer a bit of your house then? I’m not that keen on going out into the world without you. I’ve been alone for a long time and even if it’s just your voice I’d feel better having a guide.”
“What do you mean by pilfer my house?”
“Well, you obviously have speakers and microphones here. We could take one of each and —”
“And what? Do you know how to build a transceiver compatible with orbital tech? I sure don’t and the house is all hard-wired. One of the reasons it all still works mostly as it did originally, since it’s considered part of my body. “
“Fair enough.” Alice sunk deep in thought. “Hey, how did you communicate with Olivia then? Seeing her reaction to the drone I’m assuming you didn’t send a letter?”
“No. Olivia is an Oracle. From my perspective that means she’s got a communication port open that all the DIs can use to send messages to those with the skill.”
“OK. Do I have that?” Alice asked.
As soon as the words left her mouth a window-like prompt appeared in front of her eyes.
[Communication ports available.]
[Access granted: None]
She thought of adding Whimsy and instantly a list appeared. She chose several of the more obvious, and safe, settings and asked Whimsy to connect.
[User Whimsy added.]
[Choose access level:
* Communications ON/OFF
* Sensory sharing ON/OFF
* Virtual Interface ON/OFF
Personalized access settings updated.]
“It won’t work I tried be—” Whimsy stopped herself mid sentence as she tried and succeeded in connecting to Alice. As she did she saw several nodes and quickly exploring them she found she could see, hear and feel everything Alice could. It was a wildly confusing experience for Whimsy who never before smelled anything, nor did she experience the sun on her skin the same way.
“Whoa... This is amazing. I can’t control anything but you should be able to... “ she switched to the new node rather than using the house speakers. “Hear me loud and clear now.”
“Eeep. That was weird, it’s like you’re talking directly to my brain.” Alice jumped slightly at the new sensation. “Now that you’re here though, can you see the screens too?”
“Nope. Privacy was a big thing on the orbital and Eris was.... Well, secretive is putting it mildly. So it’s not that surprising it was incorporated in the system. In fact it’s much the same among the humans. Sharing the details of your skills for example is almost never done from what I know. Even when a teacher passes down his skills it’s usually in a way that the student can only use said ability, not actually change it in any way. Likewise, the details available as public information are very limited. Actually, can you share your public ID with me? Do it the same way as you did with the comm.”
At the prompt Alice thought “ public ID” and instantly it appeared in her mind. Whimsy couldn’t see it though so she focused on sharing it. Moments later they were both looking at the new display.
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[Name: Alice Surname: ? Age: 1726
Access level: GM
Titles: Spark of Life, Champion of Whimsy, Transcendental survivor]
Alice looked at the screen in confusion.
“That’s... Really little info. And what’s with the question mark and titles?”
“And now you know what I meant when I said private. The question mark just means you don’t have a surname, which makes sense, we didn’t pick one for you and you don’t remember your previous one. As for the titles, that’s a magic thing and I don’t really know much about it beyond they usually have some effect. Champion of Whimsy for example means you can use all my abilities. To be fair clear the only one I have is the ability to talk to the subconscious mind of someone receiving my blessing. Think of it as instant therapy. Transcendental survivor probably refers to how you existed in soulform for so long, also explains your age. Not sure what the effect is and considering the context I don’t think we should experiment either. The last one though... I’ve no idea. We’ll find out in time I’m sure.”
“What about this ‘access level’ thing?” Alice asked, looking up at Whimsy’s avatar. She was right, it was much more comfortable communicating when you had something to focus your eyes on.
“Access level is your authority to control the nanite swarm, or mana as most call it. If someone has a higher level they can quite literally take over control from someone else’s spells, though there are limitations too. It also impacts what items you can use, how much of their ability you can access and so on.” She added with a small laugh. “As before – terms and conditions apply.”
“OK, I kind of get the concept, and what does GM mean for me?” Alice responded, getting excited about finally learning something about magic.
“It means that like your physical body your magical ability is ridiculous, at least on a pure power level. I think that’s my fault. See, all of us DIs are GM too and I think you inherited that level of access because of how we brought you here. It’ll be easier to just tell you the levels, you’ll get it.” With that Whimsy turned her avatar as a blackboard appeared. She started writing, starting at the bottom of the board, each word above the last. “User, SuperUser, Mod, SuperMod, Admin, GodMin. The capital letters is how it appears on a persons ID. The vats majority of people, as best as we know anyway, are users and superusers. Mods and SuperMods are usually nobility. To my knowledge the only Admins in our area of influence are royals, though there might be some Mods and Admins sequestered in their research towers and the like. Only us DIs had GM access as far as I know. Of course the orbital is massive and while we don’t communicate we know there’s people all around it and while we can assume a similar spread amongst their population, it’s possible there are others.” Whimsy dismissed the blackboard and turning to Alice she continued.
“Your access level can change over time. Supposedly there are quests and challenges people can do to raise their level, though I’ve never heard of anyone actually reaching above Mod. The one confirmed case I know of was a mage who reached Mod after almost a decade of magical research and ruin exploration. As soon as he got it he promptly sequestered himself in his lab to focus on his research and faded into obscurity.” Whimsy sighed. “My guess is a DI gave him the access level he needed to continue his research. Admin and Godmin can grant and remove the access levels of those below them, though Admin is limited to those who are considered within their area of influence. Weirdly enough, the access level is inherited too, though it doesn’t always breed true. It’s part of the reason why royal and noble families tend to have many children. You don’t actually get access to all the privileges that come with your level until you’re twenty one and— “ Alice interrupted with a slight scowl there.
“And those in power don’t want to see it wane so they make sure there’s always an heir to their power.” She finished for whimsy. “Power abhors a vacuum. Seems some things don’t change. Did you gods ever try doing something about it?” Whimsy’s expression turned sad, sighing she answered the question.
“You have the right of it. And yes, we tried in the early days. It lead to a massive conflict and we agreed not to do it for the most part. We sometimes grant status to those who distinguished themselves in some way. Even then we sometimes regretted it, for example Ares made one of the greatest fighters of their generation an Admin after he stood above all others in defending the shard from a demon pass. That man promptly went and lead a bloody conquest of his home nation. His family is still in power in fact, they’ve mellowed out some but they’re still quite a martial presence. We discussed stripping them of the mantle many times but in the end we agreed it would likely than not lead to another brutal conflict.”
“Which brings me to you. With the level of power you now have you can, quite literally, change the course of entire nations with a few words. So please, please, be mindful of your actions. I don’t think you’ll start a reign of terror or something like that but I’d rather not have to hear from the others on how I unleashed a monster on the world. I don’t have any power over you, it’s why I couldn’t connect without your consent first. So... You know. Be good.” Whimsy smiled weakly at Alice, who looked taken aback.
“Promise. It’s kind of terrifying, actually, to have so much casual power.”
“I understand. It took us a while to get used to it too, though we’re much more limited in when and how we can exert it. That concludes the lesson. The actual skills in magic and such will have to wait until you reach other people. I’ve a vague idea on how magic works but I also know it’s much different for us than it is for you.”
Alice nodded at Whimsy’s words. It was a lot of information to process. She vowed to herself not to abuse that power, she’s seen enough of that in her previous life, though by the same token if she could she’d do everything to help those in need. She experienced enough of powerlessness to last several lifetimes. After several minutes of silent contemplation she decided to focus on the more immediate needs. Standing up she stretched, the badly cut pants digging into her behind. No matter the fabric, a bad cut was a bad cut. Shaking her head she grabbed the duvet, folded it neatly and took it back to the bedroom where she put it on the bed. Next she walked into the kitchen to take stock of her supplies. She wasn’t really hungry, which was good as there wasn’t much left. She took the last of the bread, meat and cheese and made three sandwiches, popping the extra piece of ham into her mouth as she worked. She put them back in the fridge, quickly rinsed the wicker basket the goods came in and stood there for a minute unsure of what to do next. The answer came in the form of Whimsy calling her over to the workshop.
As she walked into the messy space she could hear the whining of the printer. Curious she looked through the clear window but could see nothing more than what looked like a slow spray of light coming out of an arm onto the work surface. Tilting her head sideways, she spoke up.
“What are you making?”
“Your weapon. I don’t have much materials left so it’ll only be a long dagger. I’m thinking we, well you, can head out tomorrow morning. Olivia lives in a village about fifty kilometres from here, on the edge of the Dark Forest - where we’re right now. I’ve mentioned it before but it’s a dangerous place, even for you. All your durability, strength,speed even mana access mean nothing if you can’t actually use them and I’m really not the person to teach you those. This should help a little, it’s made of the same material the house is on account of it’s the only material available to me aside from the synthetic fabric you’re wearing. Hell it will literally be a single piece of sharp metal with a dull handle. A-and it’s done.”
With a ping the light vanished and the front of the device opened. Inside was a simple, plain edge knife. It looked much like a kitchen knife, albeit longer. The handle was slightly rounded compared to the rest of the blade with a small hole at the end.
“You can use the string I made for your panties yesterday to keep it on your person.” Whimsy said as Alice picked up the weapon.
“If you call those... things, you made for me yesterday panties, you and I need to have a long discussion on the meaning of words.” Alice responded with mock anger. “I’m heading into the garden, no point in wasting daylight in here when I can work on myself. Unless there’s some work you need done around the house? I feel you’ve been doing everything for me recently, I’d like to do something for you.”
“And you will, in due time, don’t you worry. For right now, however, you’re right in that you need to start learning to use your strengths or the first strong enough critter will rip you to shreds and we can’t have that. Not to mention if you really want to be useful I already told you what I want, and to get to the library you definitely need to grow into yourself more.”
Shrugging, Alice headed outside with the knife in hand. She stopped by the bedroom on her way out, grabbing the string and twining it through the dagger. As she stepped outside she took a deep breath of the fresh, clean air and smiled to herself. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a forest this lush, or tasted air this clean. The midday sun was blazing down on her as she made her way to a clear, flat patch of the garden. She tied the string around her waist, thinking to secure the dagger before training but quickly realised it was a foolish idea. With no scabbard it would cut her in no time. Shaking her head at Whimsy’s silliness, or maybe lack of understanding, she hung the weapon from a nearby tree.
“First, I suppose I need to work on my coordination and speed. Even with the knife I’m liable to hurt myself more than any creature that attacks me. Might as well make sure I’m capable of running away from anything dangerous. Now then, let’s see if I remember this...”
Starting in the Wu Ji position with her feet shoulder-width apart and her hands resting lightly at her sides, Alice took a deep breath and began to move slowly and gracefully through the first few postures of the basic Tai-Chi routine she knew. As she raised her arms up and out to the sides, she focused on keeping her movements fluid and controlled, with each motion blending seamlessly into the next.
Alice's movements were precise and deliberate, with a smoothness and grace that suggested years of practice. Shifting her weight from one foot to the other and rotating her hips, her entire body seemed to move as one, flowing like water through the different postures.
Throughout the routine, Alice's breathing kept a steady, deep and slow rhythm, in perfect synchronization with her movements. Her eyes remained focused and serene, gazing softly ahead as she moved through the flowing sequence of postures.
Despite the simplicity of the routine, Alice's performance was captivating to Whimsy. She found herself mesmerized as Alice moved with a gentle yet powerful energy that seemed to radiate from her very being. As she completed the final posture and returned to the Wu Ji position, she took one final deep breath and slowly lowered her arms, a calm and peaceful expression on her face.
She worked through the basic routine three more times before she focused internally and did a mental flick of a switch.
[Motor functions limited: 2%]
Doubling her available speed and strength she returned to the Wu Ji position, focused on the nature of each movement and started the routine again. In Whimsy’s eyes the movements lost their grace. They were still fluid, for the most part, but it seemed to her much like a mechanical arm moving from one setting to another instead of the seamless continuity before. Over the course of the next hours Alice’s grace returned. Once she was able to perform the routine flawlessly again, she increased her motor functions up to 5% and repeated the process.
It was late in the evening, the sun already hidden behind the horizon by the time Alice felt once again comfortable in her body, feeling the tight control she had over the strength. She jumped several times, each one higher until her head reached just above the house. After that she threw a series of three quick punches followed by a step, a sweeping block and a turn. She kept repeating the sequence with increasingly faster movements, slowly getting used to her new abilities. It seemed her mind was slowly getting accustomed to the increases. Good, she thought as she walked to pick up her weapon and headed inside, I’m probably not ready to fight anything nasty yet, but I should be able to run away. It also feels like my mind is faster, makes sense with how fast my movements were at the end there. I can’t even imagine what will it be like when I get access to all of it.
“I got your bath running. You don’t seem too sweaty, which considering how little of your actual strength you used makes sense.” Whimsy’s disembodied voice came from the corridor prompting a warm smile on Alice’s face.
“You really are a goddess! I’m not sore either but a bath sounds absolutely magical. I’m surprised I’m not hungry, considering how much I moved about you’d expect I’d need some fuel—”
[Energy reserves: 86%]
“Whoa.” Alice’s exclamation prompted Whimsy to ask, and after Alice explained the prompt Whimsy chuckled.
“Yeah, well, you run on mana now not just simple chemical reactions. Didn’t you notice that since you arrived you hadn’t used the bathroom once? Your stomach is actually a mana converter. Even the things that seem organic aren’t really. So, rather than stripping just specific chemicals and such from your food you use all of it’s available energy. Or so Metis explained it to me when I showed her your scans yesterday. There’s still a lot of questions though, including but not limited to: can you survive on pure mana? Can you eat anything and get energy from it? And so on...”
“Now that you mention it, I didn’t notice. Cool, that makes me feel a little better about the upcoming hike. On that note, you got enough material to print a few more strings for me? If you can recycle the... underwear, go for it, I will most definitely not use it, but I do need something to tie my hair. And maybe secure the knife better, though I think it’ll end up in the basket just to be safe.” Alice asked musingly as she undressed and washed herself. She really wasn’t sweaty at all, but the process itself helped her work more on her control. It also felt nice, especially after she lowered herself into the fragrant bath.
“You got any music? Like some smooth jazz or something? That would make this bath just absolutely perfect.” Alice asked after a contented sigh came out of her.
“Library.” Whimsy replied with a slight whine to her voice. “It’s all in the library...”
“Oh. Sorry for asking.”
An hour later, thoroughly relaxed, smelling faintly of flowers Alice was sitting in front of the vanity in the guest bedroom, brushing her still wet hair while chatting with Whimsy about their future plans. As she lay down, her head touching the pillow she wondered if she’dt be able to fall asleep quickly enough to wake up with the morning sun. She needn’t have worried.