Samantha looked down at the neat, bloody line in her chest. A split second later, it began freely pouring bright crimson blood like a waterfall and she felt her back become wet with warm fluid. She tried to staunch the flow by covering the injury with both hands, but her arms had completely lost their strength. Her legs wobbled as she tried to maintain her balance and take a step forward, but she only succeeded in slipping in the rapidly expanding pool of her own blood. She fell face down, her arms failing to catch her before she struck the ground. Everything suddenly began to feel very, very cold.
The last thing she saw before her vision went dark was Alex’s rapidly receding footsteps as he ran towards the exit.
You have died! Cause of death: Heart Laceration. Healing required for survivability: Minimal-No significant loss of body mass. Estimated time to revival: 10 minutes.
Samantha’s sight returned to her as soon as she finished reading the notification.
She took in her new surroundings with wonder and awe as she saw what she instinctively knew was her dantian from a completely new perspective. Instead of looking inwards while cultivating and seeing the semi-solid sphere of energy from the outside, the inside of the orb was completely different.
She looked to be inside of a grand library with countless book-filled shelves making up the walls of the sphere. Although the shelves followed the curvature of the core, and some hung upside down far above her, all of the books remained perfectly in their place. Samantha noticed that most of the tomes appeared dim and muted, like all the color had been drained from them. The rest of the books visually fell into one of three categories: mundane looking, shining with blue energy, and a couple books that were completely blackened as if charred or carved from obsidian. At the center of the library, suspended in mid air, was a small sun of condensed power that lit the space with bright light. There were no floors, stairs, or ladders in the space to navigate, but Samantha found she had no need of them. She floated in the air and could quickly move throughout the library with a small exertion of her will.
She wanted to explore the area and examine the mysterious shelves, but suddenly recalled her situation. She had really just died, and if she didn’t do something quick then Silas would be next.
“Silas, run! Alex is coming right for you!” she shouted into the open.
“Sam? What happened? You sound–different.” Silas replied.
She wasn’t the only one that sounded different. Silas’s communications previously had felt similar to her own thoughts–streams of concepts, words, or images that conveyed meaning. Now it was like he was physically speaking to her in this space. She could hear his voice as clearly as if she was speaking with her parents or Thomas. But, she didn’t have time to dwell on this strange phenomenon.
“You need to hide and stay away from Alex, do you understand? He just killed me and he’s coming after you next. Can you try sending me some healing energy to speed up my revival process? If that doesn’t work you’ll need to last for at least 10 minutes until I can come and help you.”
Silas took a few seconds to process this information, “I’ll take the strongest pill we have. And don’t worry–hiding is what I do best. Without his beast to help sniff me out, he’ll never find me.”
She felt the confidence in his words as if the feelings were her own, yet another strange side effect of being in this space. On the tail end of his words came a surge of healing energy from their bond, and a new notification popped up in the air in front of her.
New estimated time to revival: 5 minutes… 4 minutes 59 seconds … 4 minutes 58…
She floated around the notification in fascination, trying to look at the rectangular sheet of info from different angles. Unlike when she received system messages previously in her mind’s eye, this notification was physically present in front of her and looked similar to a piece of signage. The side that had the constantly updating message written on it automatically followed her line of sight, making it so that it was impossible to miss. Curiously, she reached out and grabbed at the edges of the object, and it settled into her hands like a stiff piece of cardstock or paper. She turned it over and around, seeing nothing else written on it, then decided to carry it around with her for a while just to easily keep track of the countdown written on it.
Not wanting to waste the limited time she had here, she rushed over to the nearest glowing book to take a closer look at what it was.
The spine of the leather bound tome had the word ‘Geas’ clearly written upon it. Not knowing what would happen if she disturbed its position, Samantha first gingerly poked at the book. When nothing terrible happened, she slowly pulled it from the shelf. As she picked it up, she noticed that two glistening, yarn-like threads connected the bottom of the spine of the book to the back of the shelf. The length of these strings readily changed based on how close or far away the book was held from the shelf.
Samantha opened to the first page of the book and was surprised to see the following:
Target: Godric Braxand V
Contract Type: Forced
Investment: 20 qi
Condition/Task: Immediately, and with the utmost haste, present yourself in person to the City Lord of Yivesh.
Status: In Progress
Current Compliance Level: Low
The rest of the page was filled with a continuously changing, incomprehensible string of numbers, letters, and mysterious symbols. As she tried to understand what the purpose of the writing was, she started to get a headache similar to when she had her sphere of dominion active for too long. Samantha shook her head to free herself of the mental pain, then turned to the next page instead of trying to analyze the text further. On the next page was the terms of her second [Geas], as she expected:
Target: Godric Braxand V
Contract Type: Forced
Investment: 20 qi
Condition/Task: Once in the presence of the City Lord of Yivesh, you must loudly, clearly, and thoroughly confess your plans to overthrow him.
Status: Pending
Current Compliance Level: N/A
She did not bother trying to read the rest of the page this time, only noting that it was not shifting and changing like the previous page had been.
As she tried to turn the page for a third time to see what lay further in the book, the paper resisted her efforts. It was as if the rest of the pages in the book had been glued together into a solid block. Not wanting to risk somehow damaging her Geasa by trying to use force, she simply accepted she wouldn’t be able to read it further and placed the book back into its position on the shelf.
She checked how much time she had left before her revival and saw that 3 minutes and 22 seconds remained.
The next glowing book was quite far away from her present location, so she opted to try and read a mundane book instead. Unlike the [Geas] book, the titles listed on all the spines of these books were unrecognizable glyphs and sigils. Not having a preference for any book in particular, she pulled one down from the shelf at random and tried to open it. The book stayed stubbornly closed this time, and she was unable to even open the cover to see the first page. To make sure this wasn’t a fluke, she attempted to open a different mundane book with the same result, and then a third. In her attempts to pry open the third book (with perhaps a bit too much strength), a new notification appeared before her.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Prior Knowledge (Mid Copper) available for purchase. Would you like to spend a point of insight to unlock this knowledge? Y/N
Third Eye Insights Remaining: 1 (Low Bronze)
She read over the message with confusion. She hadn’t ever heard about anything like this before–but perhaps that was because she, unlike most people, wasn’t going to stay dead. She knew from reading the books on ascending to Low Bronze that she would gain more control over opening and closing her third eye, instead of it being forced upon her like at the Copper levels. However, to her knowledge opening her third eye was still a hectic and dangerous process where she wouldn’t know exactly what she would get out of it. Being apparently able to use it for something like this was intriguing, but she didn’t know if it would be worth spending her only point on whatever was inside this book. She didn’t even understand what ‘Prior Knowledge’ meant.
She only had about two minutes left, which wasn’t enough time to make an important decision like this. She placed the book back on the shelf and the notification vanished as she refused to spend her insight.
Next, Samantha reached for the nearest muted-looking book and attempted to pull it out to read it. Unlike the other two books, this one did not move in the slightest no matter how she tugged at it. Just before giving up and moving on to looking into the blackened tome instead, she received yet another new notification.
Prior Knowledge (Peak Bronze) currently inaccessible.
Third Eye Insights Remaining: 1 (Low Bronze)
With just over a minute and a half left now, Samantha moved as quickly as she could to the nearest darkened book. This book, like the last one, could not be removed from the shelf at all. Furthermore, she received no notification from interacting with it. When she read the title on the spine, ‘Energizer’, she felt she was getting a clearer picture of what was going on.
She didn’t know if this space was literally what the inside of her dantian contained, or if it was some representation her spirit was crafting so that she could comprehend it. What she did know was that it contained at least some knowledge that she currently possessed, had lost access to, or could possibly learn in the future if she spent Insight on it. What was most amazing was just how many books there were here–too many for her to count. She needed to find a way back to this place to explore further… but hopefully without dying again.
With only 20 seconds left now, Samantha decided to try one last thing before she revived. She shared senses with Silas.
He appeared to be hiding in the hollow of a tree trunk while remaining perfectly motionless. She could tell [Translucence] was activated by the way his body felt, which made him practically invisible. She heard Alex scream in frustration just a handful of yards away, which led her to believe that he had some way to track the general position of Silas somehow. A powerful blast of killing intent caused Silas to twitch with anxiety, but he did not give away his location by moving from his spot.
“Silas, I’m reviving right now. I just need to find a weapon and I’ll be right there–hang on.” she encouraged, feeling her spirit return to her body.
Samantha opened her eyes and gasped, pain shooting through her body. She stood and discovered that the cuts in her back, chest, and hands were barely scabbed over, and would likely reopen if she exerted herself too much. Her neck also felt sore and bruised from being choked, but this was a minor concern. At least her heart felt healthy and strong.
She ran through the underground complex and opened every door she could, doing her best not to agitate her injuries too much. In the third room she checked, she had to resist the urge to be sick as she entered. The space was clearly a torture chamber, with a restraint rack caked with old, dried blood dominating the center of the room. On the walls were a variety of saws, chisels, pliers, and other unspeakable instruments, but Samantha only needed something sharp she could use as a weapon. On a table near the restraint rack she found a long, curved knife with a wickedly sharp edge and decided that it would work for her purposes.
She grabbed the weapon and followed the binding thread that connected her to Silas, feeling that he was not too far from her location. As she ran, she passed the corpse of the Dire Wolf, Torak, that Silas had defeated. It had a spear-like antler going straight through its gut and protruding out of its back, and was covered in punctures and lacerations that Samantha imagined Silas inflicted after his initial attack.
“He’s going to find me any second, Sam! What do I do?” Silas asked.
Samantha felt that she was still a few hundred feet away, and wouldn’t be able to reach Silas before Alex did even if she started using [Swift] right now. She needed to improvise something–anything–and quick.
“Run towards me as fast as you can, but don’t run directly at me. Pass within 30 feet of me, and then turn around to face Alex when I tell you to. Can you make it without being hit?”
“He’s faster than I am, but he can’t turn as well as me. He won’t be able to catch me right away.”
A sudden shout echoed through the trees and Samantha could feel Silas drawing nearer as she continued running to meet him. As he was coming within range, she hid behind a bush and activated [Translucence]. She needed to time this perfectly.
When Silas passed her position, she instructed, “Turn and face him now!”
Silas obeyed without question, trusting in her fully.
“Oh, so you finally stopped running, rat? Stupid beast–I’m going to skin you alive before I eat you and use your core for cultivation.” Alex snarled, raising his still-bloody sword.
Silas pulled back his lips and bared his teeth at the man in response.
Samantha began fueling the transport skill within [Jackalope of All Trades] until she felt the ability begin to activate at 5 qi. Then, to ensure that the swap happened quickly, she put an extra 5 qi into the art. Time seemed to stop as Alex froze in place. Her binding thread, which normally she could only sense with her spirit, became visible to her as it stretched out from her dantian. She watched as energy began to pour through the thread, and the thread twisted and bent itself so that it avoided obstacles on the way to Silas. As soon as the energy reached Silas and the thread had determined a clear path of travel, she felt herself be inexplicably pulled along the route at incredible speed. Silas too flew through the air along the thread, and they narrowly avoided colliding with each other as they swapped places.
Samantha raised her head so she could meet Alex’s gaze, then canceled [Translucence]. He stopped his strike mid swing and backed away from her, his mouth dropping open in shock. She had never been a very good liar or actress, but she hoped that in this situation she wouldn’t need to be convincing–only confusing.
She jerked her head to the side and brought out her arms at odd angles. She then slowly stood from her kneeling position, moaning and groaning in what she hoped would be a very intimidating impression of a ghost or ghoul.
“The godssss have sssseeeennnn your treacheryyy…” she gasped dramatically, curling the fingers of her left hand into claws as she stiffly held up the knife in her right. She extended her left arm forward until she was pointing at him, “You have been judged and found wannnnting… coward! Murderer! Traitor!”
Samantha arched her back and rolled her eyes back in her head, cackling into the empty air.
“Shoot him! What are you waiting for??” she pleaded with Silas, fearing that this idiotic ploy wouldn’t distract the man for long.
“Just a little longer! I need to make sure it hits him hard!”
Alex bent down cautiously while keeping his sword pointed at her and picked up a small pebble from the ground.
“Oh–oh! Woe are the lords above! Woeeee on theeeee….” she moaned, running out of material quickly, “...AND the lords below!”
Alex tossed the rock underhanded at her and it bounced off of her thigh.
Trying to buy even a second or two more, she looked down at the leg as if it perplexed her, then looked back up at a now smirking Alex, “You dare attack this divine vessel? For shame!! Blasphemy!”
“I don’t know how you survived, Samantha Cray, but I must say that I am pleased. It isn’t often you get to kill someone twice.” he said menacingly, “But I am curious as to how you aren’t dead. I know the wound I inflicted was fatal.”
“I will tell you exactly how I survived your fatal attack!” Samantha said, “But first, I need to explain to you the origins of my path of immortality. It all began when…”
Suddenly, Samantha was sprayed with blood as an antler spear punched through Alex’s chest from behind. He stumbled forward as he began to cough up blood, looking down at the protruding object in horror. She steeled herself and put 10 points into [Swift], raising her agility up to 42 points to ensure Alex wouldn’t be able to dodge. Just as he looked back up to return his attention to her, she blurred forward and executed a horizontal slice with her knife, cutting his throat.
He dropped his sword and brought both of his hands up to his neck to close the gaping wound, the crimson river flowing unceasingly between his fingers. Not wanting the man to suffer unnecessarily, she circled around towards his back and slashed towards the nape of his neck. The knife effortlessly sliced through his spine, the speed of her strike severing the rest of his neck and completing the cut she had first made. His head flew free of his body and rolled into the nearby bushes, his body crumpling to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
He was dead, and he would no longer be a threat to her.