I stepped away from the fire and the tents to sit and stare at the sky. I had a decision to make about my final Affinity that I'd shelved in the excitement of the day but my mind was distracted. I’d been plotting out shapes in the stars for the last few weeks and I had become increasingly interested in locating the planets. Anything to avoid thinking about pale, high breasts and angry almond eyes.

Planet means wanderer, because they don’t follow the same pattern as the more distant celestial objects. On Earth they were almost universally associated with gods. Mars, Jupiter and Venus… what did the locals call the abnormalities in their night sky? I toyed with the problem as I marked out the brightest objects in the darkness above me.

Affinities… I was torn between several options and another part of my mind turned over that decision while my eyes searched the cosmos above. I wasn’t interested in another elemental power. Fire had most of my needs covered in that regard and there was no point trying to pick a counter to whatever my competitors might have chosen. That left me with the more esoteric possibilities.

All of them had abilities that were tempting. Space giving the option to change the size and weight of an object was interesting but hardly world shattering. Slamming down a shield and making it larger and heavier could be useful, I supposed. Likewise Time, allowing me to speed myself up and slow down an opponent, especially if coupled with the Enhancement power from the Life tree, could make me physically dominating but it didn't grab me.

I would need to spend a lot of Souls to make any of the base abilities worthwhile and I wasn’t certain how my Soul income would look once we reached the tundra I had been told was our destination. I had a sinking feeling I’d need to spend thousands of Souls on each tree of magic to make it truly effective.

Death was not an Affinity I was interested in. The thought of summoning zombie slaves to do my bidding did not appeal. How could I justify that against my code? Only enslave the corpses of “evil” people? I would see myself as part of the problem, an avatar of things I loathed. I couldn’t do it, despite the obvious synergy with the Life tree.

Some of the warriors circled around me as they patrolled our camp. I ignored the faint sounds of their footsteps as I pondered what to choose. The quiet conversations as they passed each other barely infringed on my senses but there was a sense of security knowing they were between me and the wilderness. Life was different when you weren't on your own and I was starting to appreciate it.

Quiet footsteps approached me from our camp and I raised my head to see who was disturbing my solitude. A feminine shape was silhouette against the fire.

“They’re called Helik and Helas,” said Fayala. She stopped a few feet from me and stared down at me with her hazel eyes glinting in the night.

“What are?” I asked in confusion.

“The moons. The larger moon is Helik, where the weak go when they die to be sorted. Helas is the stepping stone to the Great Blue, only warriors can go there directly,” she replied. She grasped her furs close to her legs and lowered herself gracefully to the ground.

“Where did Gedrik go?” I asked, looking back at the moons lighting up the night.

“Helik. He wasn’t a warrior,” she said with flat certainty.

“It’s so simple? He was a troubled child but I think he would have grown into a good man,” I replied, avoiding looking in her direction.

“You can see the future as well as knit flesh?” she asked sharply. I glanced over and found her eyes boring into mine. They stole my breath for a moment but I controlled myself and shook my head. I was now convinced the mark was messing with my mind.

“No. Sometimes you don’t need to be able to see the future to know something is likely. Do you have an understanding of probability?” I asked.

“Some things are likely, others less so. Is it more complicated than that?” I snorted a laugh. She might have grown up in a primitive tribe but she was no fool.

“No. I suppose not.”

“What troubles you? It cannot be the unfortunate boy, nor do I suspect that was the first time you’ve invaded a woman's privacy.” Her voice was cold on the last part. “Something else is bubbling in your mind.” I glanced over and this time she looked down rather than holding my gaze.

“I have a decision to make. About the kind of power I want to wield in the future,” I answered. Something about her made me want to open up to her but it still felt wrong. How could she understand? I was stranded in an alien world with powers I didn’t understand, she was a princess of savages, and not even the dominant savages in her community.

“What kind of man are you?” she asked. I was stunned by the simplicity of the question and I sat in silence. She was content to let me think as I tried to formulate an answer to her query.

I had done things most people on Earth would consider evil, no doubt. I had always tried to be a decent man though. I’d been polite and kind when I could. I’d only taken jobs that suited my code of ethics. I hadn't only done those things to help me avoid notice, unless I needed to kill someone I tried to treat others with respect. But I had been a killer and no moralising or peripheral conditions could change that.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“I was a killer for hire. I picked my jobs and wouldn’t knock an innocent but I was still a killer,” I eventually replied.

“And what led you to that calling? I can’t imagine it would be a long term role. How many enemies did your tribe have?” she asked.

“We didn’t have tribes anymore. Not like you mean and there were more people in my world than you can imagine. All of us were scrabbling against each other for power, for money, for status. When law-breakers wanted another law-breaker removed outside of the normal channels I would be available, if they could pay. And there were a lot of them!” I chuckled softly.

“So you fought against the rot?” she asked gently. “That is not so bad. What's the nature of your decision?”

“I can pick an… archetype of power. One revolts me but seems powerful, several I think are useless to me now but I'm left with a couple of options and don’t know what I should do. I can’t undo my choice once it’s made,” I turned to her and she smiled slightly at me, her lips curving upwards gracefully.

“What is the horn of your dilemma? Some unknown confrontation in the future or an immediate threat?” she asked.

“Both? Neither? It will set in stone how I can progress and what abilities I’ll have when I finally face my opponents,” I sighed.

“You have no way to predict what your enemies will have chosen?” she asked and I shook my head without looking up. “Then choose what suits you.”

“It’s not that simple!” I grumbled, hanging my head slightly.

“Which power revolts you and why?” she demanded in a harsh tone.

“Death. It would let me weaken and corrupt my enemies. Eventually I’d be able to raise corpses to fight for me. It seems strong but…” I whispered quietly. Her sharp ears heard me clearly anyway and she turned her head to spit into the bushes.

“A foul power! Stay well clear of that one! Your other choices?”

I explained the elemental abilities and how I didn’t think I needed them, then discussed the remaining options.

“How are such things possible?” She took a breath and then rose to her feet to look down at me. I craned my head up but her face was lost in the shadows. “I cannot advise you on this. All I would suggest is that you trust yourself. Our fates have always been in the laps of the gods and they usually steer us to the good.” She reached down and cupped one of my cheeks in her palm but I couldn’t see her face against the night sky above. “Trust in them.” She turned and retreated back to the fire then vanished into the women’s tent.

Hah. Trust in the fucking gods that tricked me, killed me then exiled me to this new world? I couldn’t find it in me to follow her advice. What did she know of this fucked up game I’d been forced into playing? Nothing.

I sat and pondered in a sullen silence. Eventually I concluded that much of what Time was capable of could also be covered by Space. If I needed to slow someone down I would be able to make them heavier, or lighter if I wanted them to move faster. Being able to increase or shorten the length of a thrusting spear or knife at a critical moment also seemed like an excellent trick to have in reserve. Then there was the pocket dimension and the spatial tear powers that came at tier four.

The idea of a pocket dimension - an inventory! - was incredibly tempting. A stash of weapons and goods that couldn’t be stolen or searched for… It would have made my life so much easier back on Earth. I wasn’t entirely sure what a spatial tear would do but I was assuming it would allow me to rip open a hole in the universe to protect myself. Most of the other powers had some kind of barrier spell at tier four. I made my decision and selected Space as my final affinity.

Affinity: Fire

Summon fire: Range- 5 metres, Intensity- +16%,

Fire Resistance- +2%

Projectile: Speed- +3%, Detonation- 1 metre cubed +0%.

Fire Wall: Area- 1 metre squared.

Affinity: Life

Heal (self): 10HP and 40% increased recovery rate for one hour. Seals moderate wounds.

Enhancement (self): 2%, lasts 5 seconds

Resistance (all): 1%

Projectile: Speed- +3%, (heal other)

Rapid Growth: Area- 1 metre squared.

Affinity: Space

Size: range- Touch, Intensity- 2%

Mass: range- Touch, Intensity- 2%

Area: 1m cubed (optional)

Resistance: 2%

I grimaced in annoyance. I didn’t get any free upgrades for tiers two or three like I had with my previous Affinities. At tier one I could increase the intensity of the abilities to eighteen percent for a total of eighty Souls. A hundred and sixty Souls to make both that strong. At tier two I could spend two hundred Souls to get a range of twenty one metres and yet another two hundred to give me an area of effect up to ten metres squared.

Only the level twenty options were unlocked at tier three but each would cost me thirty Souls for another two percent increase to size or mass and bring them up to twenty percent. I tried but found I would have to unlock the earlier levels before I could buy them. So three hundred to maximise each of the size and mass abilities at tier three. I had a lot of killing to do.

I marked the brightest lights in the sky and where they were then headed back to the tent I shared with Hatrikilo and Kril. I paused outside the tent to lock in my mind where the suspected planets were in the sky from the perspective of someone emerging from the tent flap then ducked inside. Kril was already asleep and Hatrikilo was patrolling for now. I expected I’d sleep through his return when his shift was done.

I fell into a deep sleep that was haunted by dancing stars and hazel eyes but I woke up refreshed and energetic. I left the tent and was pleased to find it was still dark. The fire had died down to ashes so I threw some more of the wood that had been gathered last night into a pile on the embers and blew on them until they caught.

I checked the sky and I was confident I’d located a pair of planets. One was low on the horizon and glowed a faint red, the other rode higher in the sky and shone a pure white. They hadn’t moved as the stars had during the night. So a planet with two moons orbiting a single sun with at least two other planets in the solar system. The knowledge was of no immediate use but it made me feel more secure for some reason, as though I was better placed in my new home than I had been when I went to sleep.

I had ignored the notification when I woke up but when I checked it I was pleasantly surprised to find I’d gained thirty one Souls overnight. I set off to gather up the bodies and butcher the edible ones. I was back up to one hundred and three souls and my Soul stat had once more risen to E grade.