Chapter Three- Welcoming Committee
The worried feeling faded a little with the words. The being wasn’t speaking English, but he understood nonetheless, and felt the others did as well. Mark still had no idea what was going on, but he was at least a little more confident that he wasn’t going to immediately die again, right after gaining a new body. Then the being continued. “I AM MALI TIMORIS, GODDESS OF OMENS AND SECRETS. Gesturing with the scythe at the gathered crowd, the Goddess boomed, “AS THIS SPIRITFALL’S HOST, I HAVE SELECTED EACH AND EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU PERSONALLY. “YOU ARE ALL AN EXACT FIT FOR THE CRITERIA I SELECTED” -The Goddess paused dramatically- “AND AS SUCH I EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM YOU. “YOU HAVE MY BLESSING, SPIRITS.” The scythe crashed down one last time, and Mali Timoris, Goddess of Omens and spirits, gave her advice. “BECOME LEGEND.” Then she was gone, her final words echoing throughout the room.
Mark felt the force keeping him in place fade, and knew it would be the same for the rest, but he didn’t move, too astounded by what he had just seen and heard. A Goddess. A divine being of infinite power, had selected them for this… SpiritFall, he thought. She also gave very little information about what that actually entails. Before Mark could get too caught up in his thoughts, however, a new figure appeared onstage, with far less dramatics. The energy coming off this being felt ancient, yet it was comforting, nurturing. They were about the same height as the Goddess, but stood on two hooves, rather than four. The fur along the legs was a luminescent gold, which ended slightly above the hips, transitioning to marbled silver and gold skin. Like the Goddess, the face was mostly featureless, with the exception of two large red eyes, one placed in the center of the forehead, and the other where the mouth would otherwise be. One singular antler-like protrusion started at the base of the spine, and continued up to create a crest, similar in form to the helmet of a legionnaire.
When this being spoke, It had no need to project its voice. No need for emphasis, or dramatic flair. “Spirits,” It said. Welcome to the podium. I know some of you have come quite a long way to get here, and I know you all have questions. “First, I am Novi The Reincarnator, Harbinger of Truth, and 12th Chair of this Pantheon.” Twelfth chair!, Mark thought. There are beings more powerful than this! ”I am truly delighted to welcome you all to the 712th Bicentennial SpiritFall. Seeing that Mali did not see fit to give you an explanation of your circumstances, the duty instead falls to me, as the chairman of the SpiritFall project. I will give you the rundown on how this will go.” Novi’s words left no room for quandary. Mark himself was practically dying a second time from the anticipation.
“The SpiritFall initiative is an extension of an experiment of mine that has gone on for a long time,” The god stated. “The purpose of the original experiment is no longer of any importance. What is important now, is providing new, refreshing input into the system of the experiment. This is where you all become vital. “The Spiritfall occurs once every two hundred years,” The God continued. "In preparation for it, one thousand spirits are gathered from the vast universe beyond us, and are brought here to be distributed, at random, into a new kind of world of our own design.” It seemed to him that Novi seemed to take great pride in the work of his Pantheon, and at this point, Mark was practically hanging on the edge of his seat. He was startled to find that he didn’t much mind being a part of some godly experiment, given that it sounded like he’d be getting another shot at life.
“This time it was Mali’s turn to collect you.” Novi announced. “Like all before her, and all that will come after, she was told to pick a set of criteria that each and every soul must fit precisely. Especially given the difficult criteria assigned to her, I believe she has done exceptionally in her task. Thus, I have given her permission to grant you all her blessing. Now, we are ready to move on. “When It comes time for your distribution, groups of two will be sent to random habitable locations throughout your new world, In a process widely referred to by the people of the land as SpiritFall. Some locations will be inhabited by sentient races, and some will not. Some potential locations are extremely remote, highly dangerous, or even completely unknown by the sentient races. Keep in mind that nowhere is entirely safe.” Proceed with caution, Mark thought. Got it. I wonder how they decide our partners?
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“Upon arrival, you and your partner will both be provided with the general skills necessary to understand each other's languages, and the three most prevalent languages of the continent upon which you begin your journey. Your abilities, talents, skills, and so forth will be evaluated by the system as skills. Based on your ascertained knowledge and ability in those skills, they will be assigned a starting level. Then they will be combined with your own personal affinity to create individually specific classes. Your personal affinity is the energy type your body was most attuned to in the last moments of your previous existence. “To sum it up, you will land with a few general language abilities; A class based on skills and abilities you gained throughout your past life, and a few basic necessities. These will help you get started, in a world that may operate considerably different from your own.”
“Finally, the last order of business,” Novi stated. “Please notice that your seats are now separated into groups of two.” Mark looked around, and sure enough, He and the cat-eared person who had bumped into him earlier had been moved closer together, while the chicken had moved farther from him and closer to a similarly feathered creature. It was almost identical to a raven, but with two sets of wings. Novi clapped once to regain the audience’s attention. “The person you are seated with now will be your partner moving forward. You may have noticed that your new body is not precisely the same as your previous body. There is, in fact, a good reason for that, and it is for this same reason that you all have partners.
“It is, as you may suspect, not easy to reincarnate a spirit. Given that spirits are the souls of those who have died, pieces of who you were tend to fragment off and disperse without a physical form to hold them. If I were to attempt to reincarnate any of you in this state, It would, put simply, result in the immediate collapse of your mental processes.” The God paused momentarily so as to let this sink in. “However, by linking two spirits together, pieces missing can be applied in the creation of both forms. Thus, partners are chosen on compatibility of forms. Mentally, you will both continue to be roughly the same as you were before. Your memories and thoughts will remain your own,” At this, Mark breathed a sigh of relief. “But you will be linked. This mental bond will be different for every pair, but most seem to find it quite helpful in some way or another. I will let you discover how on your own, however.
“Also, like I said before, your bodies will have gained certain new features from your partner’s species. These features are generally traits that were ingrained in their spirit because of how useful or notable they were in life. Do note that as your mental link becomes more established, certain new features may become more prominent. Your partner will be able to tell you more if you have questions about any of your new features, but they will also be detailed in the status page of your system access window, which can be accessed upon landfall simply via the desire to open it. The system access window can also give you information about your class, skills, and your attunement, among other things. Again, I will leave the finer details for you all to figure out yourselves.”
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Novi clapped his hands once more. The seats containing the spirits slowly leaned backwards, until the spirits in them lay flat, staring upwards at the outermost layer of what would be their new home. His pride and joy. The Reincarnator could feel the excitement and anticipation coming off of them in waves, along with an admittedly healthy dose of fear. Readying the spirits for SpiritFall was always his favorite part. A good batch this time, too. He thought. They all have the potential to be great. As the centuries came and went, batches of spirits had the tendency to slot themselves as one of three things. The first, and most common occurrence was that maybe one or two groups lived to become powerful figures, becoming what that SpiritFall was best known for. The second was that all the batch’s spirits either all died or dedicated themselves to a life of solitude. And the third? The third, figured Novi, Is the rarest kind.
The kind whose stories are told to the mortal children all throughout the seven layers. Those whose number hold the most renowned deeds, the highest titles, the greatest wealth of either treasure or knowledge, and names known even by the Pantheon themselves. Only a few SpiritFall batches had ever reached this standing, but the deity could feel it deep down in his divine core. He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the 712th SpritFall batch would go down in history as one of the greatest, and that even the Gods and Goddesses would speak of it for millennia to come. Yes, thought the God, this one is going to be good. Let’s get the show started.