Velouria’s Journal Entry 1

So what is this now? My eighth or is it my seventh? Anyways I made sure to pay an enchanter to reinforce my journal this time. Hopefully, it lasts longer as a result. Not sure what to do at the moment. Maybe I’ll pay my respects at the burial grounds. God knows their wisdom has helped me out of a bind more than once. Not sure they’d take to kindly to that trail of thought though.

I’ve pissed off too many people lately maybe I should keep my head low. Playing that trick on that king’s children might have been a bit too much. At least they were fine though that fight with that wolf was a bit unexpected I didn’t think it would track me down for five years just to avenge its mother who attacked me for taking its prey. That it had failed to mark.

Maybe I should go see BT he was quite an interesting character. Though he is quite hard to find himself. Being a robotic soul ain’t easy. So he must be looking for demon beasts to power himself.

Guess I’ll end it here until something more interesting decides to happen. Though hopefully not too interesting. I’ve had enough deadly fights to last a year I can at least use a break for a bit.

Briana

So far nothing has attacked us and I was able to get some reading in. Though it was less helpful than I’d hoped. Most of it was just Velouria making commentary about her travels. Entertaining to be sure but not really what I was looking for.

The sun dips across the sky as day turns to dusk turning the grasslands to fields of amber grass and grain.

“Alright let's stop here for the night and set up camp. It’ll be dark soon so more monster will be out and tonights going to be a new moon so it’ll be to dark too push on.”

“Sounds good I’ll get the tents set up.”

Lennie starts taking out some canvas and poles from the wagon.

“You brought tents?”

“Always have to be prepared for anything. Don’t worry I brought enough for everyone to share.”

“I guess I was so excited I forgot to think about that.”

“It’s okay I did it a lot when I first started playing. I’d forget to bring a canteen and get lost in a dungeon or not bring shelter as a huge storm passed over me. All my mistakes taught me to be more prepared next time. Luckily I’m here with you so you don’t have to suffer all the same mistakes I made.”

She nudged me with her arm as she jumped down to help Lennie set up camp.

“Hello princess, how was your ride?”

“I told you not to call me that John. If you have to call me anything it’s Briana/

“I thought you didn’t like that either?”

“I don’t, but it’s the only name you guys can call me apparently.”

“At least you didn’t have to walk the whole trip. I might have strong muscles but that doesn’t really apply to height or cardio.”

“What are you talking about it wasn’t even that far. Only about six-hours of walking.”

“More like a six hour jog dragon legs.”

“Oh, you aren’t that short Teage. I bet even Briana could have kept that pace easily.”

“I highly doubt that she’s shorter than me and look at her. There isn’t even that much muscle on her. I’d say she’d collapse after about four hours out.”

“I’m not that weak Teage and I can always turn into a fox and use four legs.”

“Not until you learn to control our pain link. Otherwise, I’d rather you ride in the cart while I jog.”

“So how about you use some of your valuable time right now to practice so that you don’t faint when you go to school tomorrow.”

“Then I guess you’ll be my training partner joy kill.”

“Good I can make sure you don’t slack off.”

“Oh come on I’m not that lazy Matt you know that.”

“Only when it comes to things you enjoy. I have to constantly remind you to do your homework.”

“Okay fine whatever let’s get started then. Let’s go away from the camp before we start though just to be safe.”

“Safe from what it’s just a simple soul defense deal right?”

“My ability allows me to project and receive information to and from souls.”

“Ah, I see yeah then that’s a good idea. You three help set up camp while we’re gone.”

“Fine whatever just don’t stay out too late you two.”

We walked away from camp a bit before sitting down in front of each other.

“Alright let’s begin I’m going to probe your soul so don’t be surprised if you feel something.”

“Go ahead I’m ready.”

I close my eyes and take a deep breath before releasing a surge of energy towards Matt trying to get a feel for his soul while trying to focus on keeping my soul defended at the same time. Matt wouldn’t retaliate but I needed to both see and defend myself from being seen. That way I can observe my surroundings without leaving myself completely vulnerable defensively.

I observe Matt's soul trying not to intrude yet and just observe from afar before moving in closer. It looks almost like a sphere to me. Like a sun it gives off this energy of life with vibrant colors being released from time to time.

I move in closer to it to see what I can find inside of it sticking an (imaginary) hand into it. I am then flooded with information and I retreat behind my soul defenses as a plethora of information attacks me. It’s almost like I opened the floodgates of a dam.

Matt leans over screaming in pain. I don’t know what it was exactly that I did but it doesn’t seem good. I can’t tell how to help him and it’s hard enough maintaining my defense as information assaults my defenses.

This isn’t good I need to plug the flow somehow. I can’t get close enough though as there is still plenty of information attacking me. I need to make a shield and plug up the hole with some kind of barrier.

I stand up and form a soul barrier around me and walk towards him (figuratively this is all happening in soul space). I hold my hands out projecting my barrier to protect myself. As I get closer the harder it becomes to maintain this barrier and I start to falter as my legs start shaking. I don’t have much time guess I’ll bet everything on this. I release all the energy I had towards the hole while surging my barrier out in a pulse.

The pulse briefly repeals all the information and my ‘bandage’ blocks the hole. But it doesn't fix all my problem as suddenly I’m barraged with information. Not as much as before but still a constant stream. The best way I could put it was it was the difference between being shot with a gun vs. being shot with water from a hose. Getting me wet with information rather than bleeding out from the pain of too much too fast (okay bad analogy but I can’t think of another way of putting it).

I see memories, Matt’s I presume, of a kid in a large forest. His life in that forest and how he grew up. His two loving parents and how he decided to become a scholar spending countless years in a library absorbing any and all information he could. After a few decades, he left the forest to find and bring back new more relevant information while experiencing the outside world for himself. Sadly he didn’t make it far before a dark energy grew in front of him and he was sucked in as he had gotten too close to it out of curiosity. Then it turned all black. An endless black void everywhere. BLACK, DARK, ALONE, HELPLESS, DARK, DARK, DARK!!!!! HELP!!!!!

I then fainted as my mind was overtaken in darkness crying only to not be alone in the dark.

I wake up inside of a canvas tent with a massive headache. As I sit up I look outside and see that it is still night. Thank goodness! At least I didn’t pass out for the whole night. But that is the THIRD TIME THIS WEEK I’ve passed out. I mean seriously! I’ve got to do something about this. It’s definitely not healthy that’s for sure. I sit up and look around. I’m in a tent with Elizabeth who is sleeping beside me. There is also an empty bedroll which I guess is Rachel’s. I get up and carefully work my way outside to see Raven tending a fire with Matt staring absently at the fire.

“Ah, you’re up. What exactly happened to you two? We can’t get Matt talk at all he’s just been staring at the fire absently.”

“I’m not exactly sure, to be honest I’m not used to my powers myself. So I have no idea. How are you doing Matt?”

I walk up to him and set my hand on his shoulder. He jerks in surprise before calming back down. He looked wild and uncertain. I didn’t want to do this again but I probe his soul. I take extra care to stay a good distance away observing what I can.

His soul seems to be burning brighter and more sporadically. I see the spot that I’d broken it’s repaired but it looked weak. And stuck out like a sore thumb. I felt a pang inside of me seeing the injury I had accidentally given him testing my abilities. In guilt, I brush up against the ‘scar’ feeling it’s weak surface. I feed it some energy trying to promote some healing and see the ‘scar’ slowly fade as it becomes stronger and less transparent. His soul then slows down and shines at a more steady and vibrant rate. I feel weak but knowing it seemed to help I relax and lay down in the dirt next to the fire.

“Thanks.”

“And he speaks! What did you do Briana we couldn’t get him to talk at all.”

“Just fixing a mistake I made I think it helped.”

“It’s not that Briana. What happened was I felt overwhelmed by some old memories that resurfaced when you were practicing.”

“I felt like I was living a whole life and had to remember all the memories of it. I felt overwhelmed and I couldn’t stop remembering. When you fixed your accident just now it helped calm my mind and helped me ground myself back in reality.”

“So what you were tripping down memory lane or something? Cause from the sound of things it sounds like you were tripping balls man. You got any left?”

“Of what?”

“Drugs girl, how else do you trip that hard?”

“It was a result of my soul abilities I accidentally opened his soul I think. I don’t know the exact details of it though.”

“Trust me you don’t want her to do it to you. It wasn’t pleasant, to say the least.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Fine, I won’t dig anymore.”

He yawned and stretched before sitting up.

“You mind taking over the next shift seeing as you're up Briana. I’m going to hit the sack. I need my shut eye for tomorrow and as you're up already so why not right?”

“Sure I can take the next watch. Good night Raven.”

“Thanks, kid I’ll see you in the morning then.”

After he left it was just me and Matt sitting around the fire in awkward silence.

“I believe that Velouria’s hypothesis had more truth than we realized. When you opened my soul I felt, memories. I believe they are from when I still had a body. I can’t remember everything, but I remember bits and pieces.”  

“So you forgive me then?”

“Why would you need my forgiveness I said I’d be your training subject.  I might not have expected what happened as a result. But, I can’t blame you for a mistake out of ignorance. I know you are experiencing an excruciating amount of inner turmoil. We all see it even when you try to hide it. None of us asked for this situation, but we’re just along for the ride. You though, you have a body and family that you’ve spent years growing with. Then all of a sudden your origins are explained to be vastly different than you believed. Not only is your soul from a different world but your race and even gender are different. We have no idea the implications these revelations could hold for us but for you. It’s almost like being told you’re whole life has been a lie.”

“Then there is that whole prophecy that we received as well.”

We stared at the fire some more while the crickets chirped under the moonlit sky.

“You’re right Matt. Oh so right. I have no idea what any of this means and even then the only people who can explain my origins barely know what is happening either. Having never been to Earth or knowing what I’m going through. So all they can do is offer me vague help and ideas to help me.”

I stared up at the moon in the sky as it shined brightly above. Matt then sat next to me and rubbed my head.

“But you’ll always have us to help. Not like we can go anywhere right. But I have a feeling if anything else that no matter what at the very least it’ll be an interesting ride.”

“At the very least! I’m expecting a world ending event at the least if we’re lucky.”

He then pulled on my tail much to my dismay causing me to bolt upright.

“What was that for Matt!”

“Just laughing at your face Briana. You think too far ahead you know. Sometimes the best way to approach a big project is to just take it one step at a time. Then before you know it you have reached your goal.”

He rubbed my head scratching between my ears. It felt great and before I knew it I had curled up next him before falling asleep.

I wake up again in the tent with Elizabeth shaking me awake. I turn to see Rachel is gone which … crap I need to logout I spent another night in the game again.

‘Would you like to log out?’

‘Yes no’

“Yes, logout!”

I then felt my consciousness being pulled back to reality. I wake up in my bed and look at my clock to see that it’s only 4:12 AM. Looks like I just overly panicked.

‘Hey, kid what was that for I was just about to eat some breakfast!’

‘You don’t have to panic when I wake you up, Briana.’

‘I always panic if you wake me up in the morning. I’m just a bit jumpy you should know this.’

‘Yeah, I thought you’d just jump out of bed not out of the game.’

‘That’s why I told you to just let the lass sleep.’

‘Princess’s do need their beauty sleep.’

‘I told you to drop that John.’

I set the helmet down on my nightstand before resting my head back on my pillow. My body feels strange on my bed with my limbs length and muscles feeling different than what I was growing used to. I need to spend less time in the game. I’m already having an identity crisis don’t need a body crisis on top of it.

But maybe I can finally fix my soul problem due to my experiment with Matt. I’ve always looked at it as an outside problem I must defend against. Maybe I can do what I did to Matt and strengthen my own soul. I turn my focus deep inside of myself and see a similar sphere to Matt’s.

It’s a bright orange shining like a miniature star. With what looked to be constant solar flares spewing the orange flames in every direction with no real control absorbing and emitting energy everywhere like an uncontrollable wildfire. I somehow needed to quell this madness in front of me. I start by trying to direct the energy already within the sphere into expanding and strengthening the sphere slowly. The flames slowing stop spewing and the flames that were already out finally rejoin the sphere. I feel the flames die down but with them, my strength also seems to fade. But with it, I feel at least some sense of control. After I strengthen my sphere I slowly release my grasp of it.

The sphere then goes back to its usual bright orange.The solar flares still exist but are more contained like the actual sun. In the gravity of the sphere instead of like an untamed arm that’s grasping at anything, it can reach. Not a perfect job but enough that I should be able to function with a small level of discomfort. I’m not sure how long it will take to get the sphere under my complete control. It doesn’t feel like something that I’d master in a day. So I guess that only leaves constant practice as my choice.

After that, I feel like it’s time to get some actual sleep for once. So I stretch out on my bed before closing my eyes to get some real sleep.

“RING,RING,RING,RI-”

I slam my hand down on my clock and get out of bed. I complete my morning routine and head to the doctor. After answering some BS medical surveys. I manage to pass my check-up with flying colors. Afterwards, I go straight back to school just in time for lunch so I pick up some chicken in the drive through. I then join Blake for lunch back at school handing him a box combo.

“Hey man! Haven’t heard a word out of you this weekend. You enjoying SQO! Where are you based right now!”

He then ate a mouth full of chicken hurrying to eat it all so he could ask more questions.

“Easy man! Don’t choke yourself. I’m based somewhere in the plains of Sacae I’m not exactly sure where though. I joined up with the Reed Dancers after I started some big quest. I happened upon them and so they decided to help me.”

“You should’ve asked us for help man I could have sent you an escort to meet up with us.”

“You know I could never ask you to waste so many resources on me.”

“Waste! Man, you're one of my friends and multiple people in our guild know your skill. You were one of our best guys during our monthly paintball games. They know your leadership and skill under fire man. It might take some time to get used to melee combat but we have trainers and with your natural physical prowess you’d train quick.”

“I told you, man, I was trying to go at it on my own. Circumstances just led to me meeting with them. I still want another week or two to explore before I think about joining up with you.”

“I see you’re going a quest with them to get on Rachel’s good side aren’t you.”

“No, she’s the one with me on the quest I’m on right now.”

Blake choked on his chicken when he heard that before washing it down with some milk.

“Man! Now I’m sure she’s trying to hook up with you now.”

“I told you man that was just a rumor so don’t go bringing that up okay.”

“Alright fine but I’ve got hundred bucks on you guys hooking up before the school year ends. Randy bet a hundred you guys won’t and he’s being real smug about it.”

“Alright now I’m definitely not going to hook up with her.”

“Argh come on man don’t be like that if it happens it happens.”

“I’ll see you around man I’ve got to study for my physics test with Mr. Hull.”

“Man that was a tough one just make sure you go over the review and you’ll be fine.”

“Thanks, Blake see you around.”

After a quick review with Matt, I took the test. I felt like I did great, but until I see the results I’ll be skeptical. I just hope I did well for our sake. I can’t slack and have my parents take away SQO it’s my only lifeline during this mess and it’s too risky to lose access over a simple test.

As I leave the class I see Rachel pass by and she waves me down.

“Hey, Brenner why weren’t you at practice this morning?”

“I wasn’t feeling well yesterday so I had to go to the doctor turned out to be a stomach bug.”

“Well, anyway we’ll get to the burial grounds this afternoon so we can explore the place if it doesn’t get to late.”

She had gleaming eyes that glowed at the prospect of finding treasure. I really don’t think she has any ideas of hooking up with me much to Blake’s displeasure.

“Yep, I’ll be on after school when are you getting on.”

“Same time so let’s get there as soon as we can.”

She then walked on with a hop in her step.

I finish my day after going to all the classes I missed during study hall and getting a lot of homework. I’m not going to get much sleep tonight am I.

‘Well, it’s for you own good to learn the material. Even if it does impede on our investigation. You need to learn what they are teaching.’

‘Experience is better than textbooks the lass knows it.’

‘No he’s right Teage I need to learn this not only form my parents but also for myself.’

I pull into my driveway and set my backpack on my bed before donning the headset. Let’s see what we can gather from these burial grounds maybe it will hold some clues.

“So these are the Sacean burial grounds. Not what I thought it’d be. I expected it to be less …”

“Plain I think it fits their simple lifestyle quite well.”

“Of course you’d say that uncle. You always had a thing for this kind of ancient places.”

“Because they reveal so much history which we must preserve so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. They also contain ancient magical knowledge that has been forgotten. Many people pay a lot of money to get their hands on that kind of information.”

“Then let’s go no sense of wasting time it’s money after all.”

“Rachel don’t run ahead like that. We need to look for Lucius.”

“Who was he again?”

“The shaman of the village we were in. He came here because there was a disturbance of their burial grounds. We came to help him not loot the place.”

“We can do both at the same time right?”

“I’d rather you not disturb our ancestors further.”

“Ah, Lucius it’s been too long!”

“Lennie I didn’t think you’d be here I thought you were out researching void magic?”

Lucius gave Lennie a brotherly hug. He looked to be an androgynous raven with long black hair that reached to his shoulders and a bird like face. With dark wings that seemed to blend into the shadows around him.

“We must go inside of the burial grounds and neutralize the invaders. They are unearthing my ancestors looking for something. I arrived just an hour ago and was doing a preliminary search around the grounds. We must go inside and neutralize them.”

“Are they human?”

“What does that matter Elizabeth. Don’t tell me you're going soft lass.”

“You know I don’t like killing Teage, unlike you.”

“They aren’t. From what I can tell they are some kind of demons. What they are seeking I do not know.”

“Well let’s form groups. It’ll help us clear the ruins faster and more efficiently.”

“So how do you want to divide us up, John. Want to go on a hero’s quest?”

“Fine then how should we divide ourselves up, Matt.”

“Can you heal Lucius?”

“Yes, I’m a shaman. Why?”

“Then we’ll have two groups. Under our healers Lucius and Elizabeth.”

“You know I can heal as well right?”

“I only want two teams. Anything less than five people is too dangerous.”

After a lengthy group discussion, we were able to come to a consensus.

Team 1: Elizabeth, Briana, Rachel, Raven, Remus

Team 2: Lucius, Lennie, Teage, John, Matt

“Why am I in charge of protecting these girls, especially this little runt.”

“That is no way to speak to God’s prophet Raven. It’s a great honor for us to protect her.”

“They can’t even defend themselves though.”

“We’ve got daggers. We can fight.”

“Have you ever used it in an actual fight. Ever trained in using it as a weapon?”

“Well no but I’ve got my natural scales to defend me.”

“Uncle are you sure about this?”

“Have some faith nephew. God will lead us upon the right path.”

“I’m still going to be the one defending you all, and what can you do Rachel.”

“I can use a staff and focus on wind and earth magic.”

“So where is your spell book?”

“I’m trained in not using one it’s too clumsy in combat to fiddle with.”

“Just don’t get a rebound the last thing we need is to drag you out due to a rebound.”

“I’m not a novice you know.”

“I always treat everyone as one until I see otherwise.”

“Fine guess I’ll just have to prove you wrong.”

“Guess our team will go first. I’ll need to check the traps and tell you the paths. That way you can safely navigate the burial grounds. Just be careful I don’t know what we should expect and so we should play it safe.”

“You worry too much Lucius. With the weapons, I’ve made, we’ll be able to defend you just fine.”

“If all else fails you got me backing you up Lucius, and you know my track record.”

“Alright then let’s go.”

With Lucius leading the way we entered the burial ground by spiral stairs that led into the earth. Opening large stone doors we entered a ritual cleaning room with a large table in the center. There were spices and torches around. The torches were freshly lit and the containers were thrown about in what looked to be a search.

In the next room, there were passages in all four cardinal directions. But the room was filled with monsters. Skeletal humanoids with smoke spewing from every exposed surface of their bodies. Their eyes shown an eerie undead blue.

“Already everybody we’ve got company. Looks like the invaders agitated the roaming draugrs. We’ll need to defeat them in order to search the area get ready to fight everyone!”