Dante's dreams that night were tumultuous things. He dreamt of being burned, but this memory did not end with the explosion as it had in reality. No. He suffered his flesh being consumed and his bones were dragged into the ground, where he fell into a semi-familiar wasteland. Except it was consumed by devilish flames that offered no reprieve. There, he joined legions of the dead as they waged an endless war while the disjointed laughter came from hellish lights above.
Then everything froze and began to fade away. Soon he was left in absolute darkness. It was a comfortable darkness, much akin to the feeling one gets when they bundle themselves in blankets and much preferable to what was happening before. Far in the distance, he could hear something. Dante concentrated and thought it sounded very much like a voice. One that felt familiar.
“... Dante? Are you awake?”
Dante jerked awake and looked around wildly. He was seated in the back seat of a car. It was an old model with faux wood paneling and vinyl seating. It looked its age as well, the vinyl was cracked and the interior stained. His perspective seemed odd, everything looked big. There was a constant pressure against his side and he looked down to see a small form pressed against him.
His sister, Sophia.
She was asleep and he had his arm around her. Before he had time for conscious thought he had pulled her close and Sophia let out a pleased murmur in her sleep. Dante felt a wet drop impact against his forearm and realized he was crying.
Why am I so relieved? Looking back through his memory, he found that it was muddled. I remember having a nightmare, but before that? Nothing.
“You aren’t ignoring me are you?”
Startled, he looked to the driver's seat and saw a stern-looking older woman in a pantsuit in the driver's seat. She had half turned in the seat to look directly at him while still keeping an eye on the road. Something about her graying bob cut and glasses with silver chains jogged his memory.
“Miss Lucia?” He asked disbelieving.
“Yes sweetie, it’s me.” She squinted at him. “You feeling alright? Did you sleep at all last night? You know that you need to your rest if you want to grow up big and strong.”
Grow up? Dante looked down at himself to see a small and scrawny body like he had when he was twelve. A wave of wrongness went through him which, when coupled with the fact that he felt exhausted, also made him ill. A fact that he very much was not going to tell her.
“No Miss Lucia, I feel fine.” This brought another suspicious look but Dante put on his best poker face. If there was one social grace that he was confident in, it was his ability to look innocent.
“Good.” She focused all of her attention back to driving and Dante saw that they were traveling through a wooded area. “Your mother just signed —”
“Do not call her that!” Dante hissed, catching even himself off-guard with the venom in his voice. Sophia stirred against him and his surprise was quickly replaced with feelings of guilt. “She lost the privilege to that name long ago,” he said in a much more subdued tone.
Silence reigned in the car for a few minutes until they pulled into a driveway, and then Miss Lucia turned into her seat again to focus her full attention on him. “Ms. Embry, ahem, that is to say, Emily, has finished all the paperwork. This is your foster home for the foreseeable future. It may be temporary, but be sure to be on your best behavior. ”
“I understand,” Dante said and then gently shook his sister awake. Sophia groaned, rubbing her eyes with tiny fists before looking up at him. His heart almost broke again when he saw how bloodshot her eyes were.
She must have been crying again last night.
Forcing himself to smile, he said: “Morning, Sis! We have just arrived at our new home.” Sophia straightened and looked out of the window while Dante and Miss Lucia exited the car. Dante walked around to his sister's side and opened the door to reveal her face. She looked about ready to cry.
“I want to go home!” She whimpered. Dante let his smile drop but managed to contain his own tears. He swept Sophia up in a hug.
“I know Sis. Believe me, I know.”
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When Dante woke, it was with gritty eyes and a swollen tongue. He stretched, then groaned as the soreness of his muscles immediately made itself known. Despite all of that, he felt surprisingly rested even though he was sure that only got a few hours of sleep. A fact that he was confident about given that he could still feel snoring all around him. He turned around and saw that the bunkroom was dark save for the glow of a few remaining embers. At this sight, the memory of the last few days rushed back to him.
Ah, so I am still in the middle of this nightmare. He groaned and turned over, wishing that he could go back to the dream. As grim as that time in his life had been, it was better than this. Though he supposed he had it together more in those days. At least he was in a better way than yesterday. He finally had a chance to think at least.
I’ve really been letting myself get swept along, haven’t I?
Between his death, transmigration, and enforced conscription, there hadn’t been much time to stop and think. Dante had been reactive in these last few days, the entirety of focus spent on moment-to-moment survival. Now that he finally had that moment of quiet, he thought that it was time to finally come up with a game plan. At least it was clear what his objective was.
I am not staying in this war. It is far too dangerous and I have no stake in it. What do I care about these people? For all I know, they are in the wrong. Although …
Memories flashed through his mind. Sūnva pulling him through the barrier, the medical care he had received, and Svōl saving his life. Even if he was guarding him, and was essentially his jailor, there was still a debt between them. Now that he could think more objectively, he realized that Svōl didn’t have to save his life or provide medical care. Dante could forgive him. Mostly.
So I will also need to settle those debts before leaving. Which shouldn’t be a problem given that I wager it will take a while to escape. I just have to make sure not to fall deeper into their debt.
To accomplish all of that, he needed to become stronger. Not only in defending himself from battlefield threats but also in stealth. He would never escape this battlefield by force. The means to improve both goals lay within his grasp. Dante opened his status.
Name: Dante Embry
Race: Human
Class: Unclassed
Level: 3
Attributes
Alacrity 9 [+]
Endurance 14 (17) [+]
Charisma 6 [+]
Fortitude 16 [+]
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Cognition 14 [+]
Perception 10 [+]
Constitution 15 [+]
Strength 7 [+]
Dexterity 12 [+]
Willpower 14 [+]
Skills
Brawl (Common)
2 Deception (Common)
1 Lock Picking (Uncommon)
4 Logic (Rare)
4 Menial Labor (Common)
4 Sleight of Hand (Uncommon)
1 Stealth (Uncommon)
2
Abilities
Chameleon (Rare)
2 Sharpen Senses (Uncommon)
3 Split Second Reaction (Rare)
3 Warding Flesh (Unique) [Specializations Available]
5
Traits
Fickle Fate (Unique)
MAX Human Tenacity (Racial)
4
So, I have recently learned that increasing an ability to level 5 will unlock a ‘Specialization’. From what I remember from the [Warding Flesh] options, they appear to be a straight upgrade or paradigm shift. My number one priority should be getting all of my abilities to level 5. At least [Chameleon] will likely be easy to level. The others, however…
Dante sighed, turned around on his mattress, and gazed into the darkness. He thought his dark vision had improved, but it was hard to tell. I am not quite sure how I am going to improve these more passive abilities. How do I train [Sharpen Senses] intentionally? Look at things really hard? Also, [Split Second Reactions] has only ever activated when I am in danger. Which is not great, usually you want to train outside of life-threatening situations.
He had a few ideas, but he wasn’t going to be able to test them inside of his bunk. It was time to stop procrastinating and make the one decision that he could make. Dante opened the [Warding Flesh] specialization screen.
Choose a new [Specialization] for [Warding Flesh]
Overloaded Exchange the future. Maximized Power above all. Reaching Extend your authority. Restricted Sacrifice generality. Polar Wield two aspects.
He had done some thinking about which to choose when he had been calming down by that sapling. Before, he would have picked [Maximized] or [Reaching] and been done with it. [Warding Flesh] was too weak to help him and those offered rather straightforward power increases, albeit in different ways. That was before he had learned that the [Ability] was harming him by keeping food or drink away from him. He had figured a way around it for the moment, but those problems would be worse if he strengthened it.
Meaning that they were off the table. The ones he was left with were … more difficult. Dante had difficulty evening guessing what they would do. [Restricted] seemed promising, but he simply had no way to tell what the restriction would be against. On one hand, if it were something like anti-magic it would solve his problem. Alternatively, if it became specialized against physical attacks then he would be in trouble. There was also the possibility that it did something like sacrificing the full body coverage for a smaller shield. It was a gamble, but he supposed all of them were.
[Polar] was the one he liked the least. The [Ability] had caused him enough grief without making it more complex. He was comfortable with ruling that one out.
Which left [Overloaded], which almost sounded like a power increase. He already had [Maximized] however, so there must be some difference. The description was odd as well, what did it mean to ‘Sacrifice the future’? Did it mean that it would make it less powerful when it leveled? That would be ideal, but there was no way to be sure.
By his measure, that meant that it was a toss up between [Restricted] and [Overloading]. Hardly ideal options, but what could he do? Between them, he supposed that he preferred …
[Warding Flesh] has acquired the specialization [Overloaded].
The die had been cast. Now to figure out if he had doomed himself. Dante focused on [Overloaded Warding Flesh] on his character sheet and was pleasantly surprised when a window opened.
Overloaded Warding Flesh (Charges 1/1) Temporarily increase all aspects of Warding Flesh. When on cooldown, aspects will be penalized.
That … is better than I could have hoped.
Excited, he grabbed some straw from his mattress and let it hover above his chest. Dante then felt for the mental switch, much like he would with [Chameoline], and found it with little effort. I am getting the hang of this. Then, he flipped it.
The loose straw shifted upwards by about a fingernail and stayed there for a few heartbeats before falling roughly four times that length. That was a bit underwhelming. At least it helps a little bit with the killing myself problem. He felt almost empty after having used the ability. Though, after a few seconds he realized that the sensation was abating. About a minute later, he felt normal and the mental switch became available again. That is also a substantial cooldown.
Dante would have loved to push its limits a bit more or assign his attributes, but he could hear motion from the bunks around him. Soon enough, there was the skid of boots on stone and the room brightened as someone added wood to the fire. He flipped fully onto his side and saw that three people had gotten up.
He recognized all three of them but only recalled the names of two. The not-elf Pauwna and Varvi, the man with the unfortunate face. The third was a woman who appeared younger than him but was taller and more athletic. A common trait around here it seemed, likely on the account of everyone’s presumed military background. Her platinum hair was cropped in a pixie cut and she had a slightly vacant expression.
Well, he likely wouldn’t get a better chance than this. Small groups were less nerve-wracking than larger ones. It was time to make some inroads and try learning a bit more about their language.