I watch as he...I prepared the fish. These are not skills that I know or learned, yet I still know how to do it. None of this makes sense, yet it feels perfectly natural. My hands are doing this with practiced muscle memory. There is no compulsion or control. It just works. And that’s the least of what didn’t make sense today. This WAS Eshix, but now it’s not. I destroyed the entire damn city. That’s the only explanation that makes sense. But then how am I still here, and how did I survive the blast? How did I get in this body? Why am I sharing my words with this man but not thoughts if he’s only in my mind? Calm down Dansin, you’ve got this. One step at a time, you can break down the science of it later. Deep breaths and... “That smells delicious.”
“Hmph, even a demon can appreciate good road cooking.”
“I’m not a demon. And I’m dealing with a lot right now.”
“Then prove it,” I wasn’t without skepticism, but there had been no sign of other living things this entire day aside from the fish and I was getting a bit jumpy at it all.
“How do you propose I prove I’m not something that doesn’t exist?”
“Tell me your true name and swear to it lest the gods strike you down.”
“Really? That’s it. Tell you my name and you’ll believe that I’m not some boogeyman in the night?”
“Is it so hard, demon? That you find yourself unable to say it for the power it would give me over you?”
“You know what, fine. MY ENTIRE CITY WAS DESTROYED BY MY FAILURE AFTER YOU BOMBARDED US AND WE ARE WALKING OVER THE ROTTEN CORPSES OF THE PEOPLE I WORKED WITH BECAUSE OF YOUR MEDDLING IN FORCES YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! I CREATED A PORTAL TO ANOTHER DIMENSION TO SAVE OUR WORLD BUT INSTEAD IT KILLED THEM ALL WHEN YOU CHARGED THROUGH. But how could you understand, still believing in fairytales such as gods and demons? Okay fine! My name is Samara Dansin, professor of theoretical dimensionalism. I swear this by all the gods, old, new, disproven, etc. at this point I don’t give a single fuck because there are none left to give. I don’t know how I ended up stuck with this body or the illiterate savage within but clearly I haven’t suffered enough. Are you satisfied now?”
I was stunned into silence at the outburst when I saw my hands shaking and trembling, cold sweat ran down my neck. Had I assumed so much and known so little? I was as trapped as she was.
What did I do now?
I sat there in silence. Fat dripping off the skewered fish landed on the coals below and flared up, acrid smoke reaching my nostrils. It didn’t smell so good anymore. I took it off the spit and let it cool on a clear piece of glass from one of the windows. Such luxuries but also such loss.
Was I truly to blame? The portal had been harmless, if not a bit unsettling to see. Bellius threw some stones into it...was that what she was talking about? He’d thrown a few before the warriors came out. I remembered the ripples, was it actively trying to protect itself? Did we hurt it in some way?
I took a bite of the fish now that it had cooled. The taste was phenomenal, but my heart left the experience feeling hollow and unfulfilled. This had been a thriving city and now...now it was not. I finished the fish in silence with my own thoughts and the sound of chewing. The richness of its flesh only made the guilt more pronounced as I looked around the small dwelling.
They were all gone. I was the only one here. That and Dansin. Perhaps we both were being punished for our sins. Her for hubris and I for raising a blade in anger within the holy site. This was surely a test of the gods. I would not fail them again. Hope rose in my chest as faith filled my lungs.
Then it left me again, empty as a shallow well under the summer sun. I was in a place I did not know. In a dead city. I had a guide who understood this world but was flawed in her own way. Neither of us were complete alone. But maybe if we worked together it would be possible to return home? Maybe her people could be brought back? It wasn’t going to be easy, but the only other option was to give up.
Even if she did, I was a son of Rome. And I would carry this burden until my dying breath.
Blowing up at the man hadn’t done me any good. He’d been quieter than normal. At some point though I had enough. Being angry wasn’t going to solve this problem. But I didn’t know if I could bear to feel the pain of what lay around me. Was the entire world desolate as this? The experiment was just to create power. How was I to know that this would be the outcome? At least it must have been quick. That’s what I’ll tell myself to feel the slightest bit less guilt. Given the damage was decreasing as we went away from the lab, I held out hope that the other cities made it.
How long had it been though? These trees were far from new growth. As I walked further southward along the ambling riverbank, eventually I saw windows that hadn’t been broken in by the blast. The glass still in place looked like it had frozen waves of water running down it. Heat? Or passage of time? Perhaps both, not that it mattered anymore. I was still too close to the subject matter to look at it with an objective eye, that much I was sure of.
I was not sure where to head, or what to do. The world had ceased to make sense. What was that text that had appeared in my vision earlier? Who or what was the other voice in my mind? Too many questions to figure out today. For now, focus on what I do know.
I need to find out more about what happened to me. I need to find a way home. I need to find out if there was a way to separate me from the other voice.
The sun in the sky beat down over the dusty ground as I ambled along the broken remnants of an old road. The black pebble stone that it was made of was raising beads of sweat on my brow.
“There was a small village to the south, maybe two days walk along the river.”
It was as good a lead as any, cities always rose up along the river. If there was anyone still around that could help me, that’d be the place to find them. Until then, I’d have to rough it for a couple days. My pack still held a few rations and the rest of the smoked daggermouth I had not eaten. Would not need to worry about food for the near future. Thus my trek continued onwards in silence again.
After another three hours or so the scattered trees began increase in density as did the topography. In some places the road nearly disappeared under the growth of twisted vines reaching toward the sun under a canopy of trees. A weathered bridge crossed the river, wide enough for a full four carriages to pass at once. Or at least they could have if the deck were not on the riverbed in shattered fragments.
Enough of the fallen structure was intact that I was able avoid getting wet while crossing, though the moss did its best to correct my state of being happily dry. Safely on the other bank, I set out on my path for civilization. I heard a few crashing limbs in the distance after reaching the far shore, hopefully it was only a stag. Whatever it was didn’t seem to be inclined to follow me but I continued on my way with a few backwards glances to check my rear.
As the kilometers kept piling up behind my dusty feet, the cold silence after Dansin’s outburst began to weigh on me. Feeling a bit regretful over my treatment of the other person living in my head, I attempted to open a dialogue with her.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“My name is Fabius Julii. I’m a soldier of Rome. At least I was, before I ended up... here.” I gestured with an open hand across the landscape. When no response was made, I decided to continue.
“Youngest of three, adopted by a family of vintners when I was but a child. Joined the Legion when I came of age. Second to the Centurion, had a hundred fighters under me. What about you?”
“...”
How silence could be expressed I was not clear on, but it was a response. My plan was not working. Maybe focus more on the now than try to connect over the painful recent past. “When that fish died, I saw some sort of prompt about XP being awarded. Do you know what that was about?”
“No.”
Her response sounded like she did have an idea but wasn’t sure. After a lengthy pause but before I could press, she explained further.
“I have not seen such a phenomenon before, but the concept is not unknown to me. I used to play a game back in my undergrad years called Dungeons and Damsels. You would form adventuring parties and seek out experience points, shortened to XP, to gain power so that you could stand against the evil damsel atop her hoard of mattresses filled with the feathers of a thousand fledgling kin.”
“What?”
“I don’t know why they are always portrayed as evil, sure there’s the rare one that helps the hero but more often than not they exist to claw and maim each other while making disparaging comments about each other’s bodies. A truly evil race if there ever was one. Even the dark elves tell their children stories of damsels to get them to go to bed on time.”
“No not that, I meant about the game itself. How does it work? And what does that mean about the situation we are in now?
“Well, since I don’t see a status menu-”
STATUS MENU
Fabius Dansin
Level 1
50/50 HP
50/50 SP
Progress to next level: 4/100 XP
Statistics
Body: 5
Mind: 5
Soul: 5
ALERT- You here 20 unspent stat points
Skills
None
ALERT- You have 5 unspent skill points
Perks
Twinned Souls
Eyes of the Void
“Spoke too soon,” I groaned as a screen filled my vision. It was mostly transparent but still an impediment to walking safely. A reflexive flick of my hand dismissed the screen from my vision. “We can figure out what do with this knowledge once we reach shelter for the evening. If this is some twisted game of the gods we must remain wary. For now, we focus on the road ahead of us.”
So much information to take in and process. The absurdity of it all wasn’t lost on me as we continued along. I’d even read a number of popular novels where average people were sucked into a world of magic and mystery. But never was there a world that was my own. And it certainly didn’t include sharing a body with a religious nut from another dimension. Something told me that if I was to survive, I’d have to create my own gimmick. The thing was, I didn’t have the first idea what that would be. My years of theoretical research didn’t exactly prep me for combat either. This brute was the muscle, but raw strength went out of favor when the first SP powered projectile weapons came to bear. In the eighty odd years since, we had refined them to deadly perfection. What had been discovered since the time I was gone? Did we finally destroy ourselves?
The shadows began to stretch longer across the broken road and my body protested against the exertion I’d put it through. This had been one of the most emotionally exhausting days of my life. The idea of being a mere pawn in a game rankled at me, but I didn’t know enough about this world to make a fair assessment on how to survive. My local guide was the best hope I had to make the correct decisions, but would or could I trust her? And what did the perks mean? Twinned Souls seemed to indicate that we were tied together, but what were the Eyes of the Void?
Focusing on the immediate concerns first, I spotted a decrepit shack further down the road. It would be as good a place as any to set up camp for the night.
Thickening brush impeded my progress and the approach to the shack took longer than I had anticipated. By the time I reached the rotted out door, the sun was already dipping ominously below the tree line. A disused fireplace sat in the middle of the lonely cabin, though there was evidence that it had been used as a way station by others seeing the presence of chopped firewood and ashes from a prior season. Quickly, I gathered together a few handfuls of tinder and leaves. The heat of the day was steadily draining away and I didn’t want to be stuck without a fire to keep the more predatory animals at bay. Trying to start a friction fire in the dying light was a difficult task, when suddenly she spoke up.
“Let me.”
I walked over to a low shelf and picked up a rectangular box which tapered to a tube the size of my pinky. The entire thing fit easily within my hand. With practiced ease, I oriented the tube away from me and pulled at an unknown force from within the depths of my being. Like honey in the depths of winter, it oozed outward from my core at a glacial pace. I could feel the runes lighting up within the handheld box. Suddenly, a flicker of flame emanated from the tip. I set it to the tinder and the flame hungrily leaped to consume the dried tinder.
“I did magic!?”
“Magitech, and we flicked on a lighter. This body is not used to SP control at all. What sort of training do you people even go through?”
Spirits sufficiently dampened, I continue feeding the fire.
“In my world, I have not seen magic or ’magitech’ in action. I thought it only existed in stories. At least until last night. So no, there is no training,” For such a miraculous device to be so mundane, what kind of society did she come from? If there were others who wanted to harm me was there anything I could do to stand against them? I needed to grow stronger and learn more about what lay ahead.
“Will you help me learn?” I asked.
“I can tell you what I know, but I can’t promise that it’s even relevant anymore. All kin and some monsters have the ability to influence their own souls. This is known as soul power, or SP. You can grow more proficient in using what you have, as well as develop deeper reserves. I imagine that’s what this system is now calling SP. Out of curiosity, let’s check where we’re at.”
43/50 SP
“Wow. Nearly 20% of our total just to light a fire? Not counting what has regenerated since then, though I imagine it isn’t much given...yeah.”
“You were explaining...?”
“Oh right, sorry. Tunnel vision crops up when it comes to new data. I was a researcher at the University of Eshix. Dimensional studies my specialty, energy conversion to be specific. SP forms the backbone of our industry. Imagine horseless carriages that could move faster than a racehorse but never tire themselves out. Weapons that fire a projectile like a bow without need to draw a string and can pierce plate armor at 400 meters. Siege defenses powerful enough to eliminate half an army in a single shot. Taxes taken out not in gilder, but in SP. Small conveniences too, such as that lighter. Anyone could learn to operate any of this equipment with ample training. This, this is my world.”
“And now?”
“Now we are in a body that has never used SP before. Young children have more development than this before starting school. We are crippled. Given how much technology must have advanced since I was here... I’m not sure how we would fare.”
“What about skills and perks?”
“Never heard of them before. I know that you can get better at specific tasks through practice, but nothing so granular as that. Everyone has inborn talents that help shape what they are good at, but again never quite so explicitly stated.”
“So where does that lead us?”
“Well, if we essentially have the development of a child, the first thing we will need to do is see what skills are available to us and spend stat points. Using a lighter should not have drained us so deeply.”
“I can see the benefit of specializing, but we haven’t seen another living person. The city was destroyed. If this is a land of monsters and magic, we should focus on staying alive. Being able to take a hit without dying is just as important as being able to cause damage itself.” I heard a lonely howl deep in the shrouded woods and stood up to stoke the fire again. Deep sleep was not an option this evening. Taking care not to break it, I pushed an old dresser in front of the doorway. It would not stop a determined foe but might give me a moment to wake before it got through.
I sat back down with my back to the wall and faced the door. Settling in to be comfortable for some time, I decided to take a look in detail at what my status page looked like. “Status menu.”
STATUS MENU
Fabius Dansin
Level 1
50/50 HP
44/50 SP
Progress to next level: 4/100 XP
Statistics
Body: 5
Mind: 5
Soul: 5
ALERT- You here 20 unspent stat points
Skills
None
ALERT- You have 5 unspent skill points
Perks
Twinned Souls
Eyes of the Void
Focusing my intent, more information began to show.
***
Body- Reflects overall physical condition. Each point of body increases your health by 10 and physical damage by 1%.
Mind- Capacity for learning and retention. Each point of body increases your SP by 10 and spell damage by 1%.
Soul- Essence of willpower and potency. Each point of soul increases SP regeneration by 1%/hour, healing by 0.1%/hour and critical damage multiplier by 1%
***
Skills- You may select up to ten active skills. Skills may be swapped out while in a safe area. Skill points may not be refunded. Would you like to display available skills now?
***
I declined the offer. Getting a better handle on the basics was important before making any decisions, especially if the points were permanent once spent.
“I’m in agreement with you there, let’s see what our perks are about.”
***
Perks- Modifiers which encompass racial traits, feats of strength, and special rewards or penalties.
Current Perks-
Twinned Souls- Racial trait. Be it through alchemy, machinations of the gods, or statistical improbability, your mortal vessel contains the essence of two sentient beings. Effects: +2 skill points per level, +30% resistance to mind altering conditions.
Eyes of the Void- Feat of strength. You stared into the abyss and the abyss stared back. It blinked. Effects: Increased capability to discern the true nature of things, may unlock unique skill evolutions.
***
“Work of the gods?”
“Statistical improbability? Really? What kind of non-committal bullshit is that!” This was definitely a game, and whatever it was that was directing it clearly enjoyed my suffering with equivocal explanations like that.
*Aroooowww* Reverberations pressed my bones as the mournful howl echoed through the forest, disrupting my rant against the capricious system.
Stoking the fire again, I checked the blade at my side and sat down to prepare for the last surge of information. In a world such as this, would I be blessed with the powers of the Titans themselves? Inhuman strength, the ability to regenerate from deadly wounds, or control over the elements themselves? I opened the page for my Skills and prepared for the information that would lead me to become the next great hero.