After the nothingness of the Fissure falling through, something was a shock.
Yet even that failed to compare to the shock of falling into freezing water. It hit my body with a force that I couldn’t fully comprehend. All I could gather was that my breath burst out of me.
As my face sank under the water, the world growing blurry with water; I sucked in a desperate breath of water.
I flailed about, smacking things which were hard and soft.
Finally, I got my head about water. It wasn’t hard once I calmed down. The pool was shallow, shallow enough for me to easily sit up in.
After gasping a few desperate breaths, I looked around.
The first thing I saw was Silver Moon laying there, face down, seemingly lifeless in the water. Her blond hair radiating like a halo. I grabbed her and turned her over. Her lips, nose, and ears were blue. Her pretty face looked upwards at nothing. Her wet blond hair clung to her face and head.
As I had been taught, in one of my many first aid courses, I put my cheek over her lips and looked down at her chest. I couldn’t feel any breath from her on my wet cheeks. Nor could I see her chest move.
Sure, there were things I could do for her, CPR, and all that. But her face seemed at ease. And, looking at where I was right now, even if I managed to resuscitate her, then there wasn’t much I could do.
And I wasn’t even sure she would want me to save her life. Because if I did save her, what kind of life would she be left to live? It was a harsh way of thinking, but I had seen how they treated the Disposal Troops. And I was sure she would live an equally harsh life, too. Maybe it would even be worse because at least in the Disposal Troops, there was a chance of death.
For her, she wouldn’t even have such an escape.
I really hated myself for thinking like that.
Really, really hated it.
Before I came into this world, I believed that everyone should have a chance to live.
That life was more important than anything, and that if you were alive, then things could always change for the better. This was the major reason I worked so hard at learning first aid, and desired, for a time, to be a paramedic.
But I wasn’t so sure that could truly apply here, especially when someone could alter you with such ease.
Where they could force you onto a path of their own choosing by tapping a few buttons.
And where someone like me, or Silver Moon, were deemed worthless just because we were merely a Three Trait.
I stood up and walked out of the freezing pool. After coming from such a warm environment, one I would probably guess was in its early or late summer period, arriving in an environment where snow lay across the land, casting everything into a featureless blanket to virgin whiteness. Other than a few spots, which were probably similar to the pool I ended up in.
A gentle wash of something flowed through me. It then repeated. It felt familiar. I turned around. Yes, there was a Fissure, imposing in its overwhelming blackness. But there wasn’t the sense of oblivion. In fact, it felt somewhat welcoming.
That gentle wash washed through me again. This time, it felt somewhat urgent.
I rushed through the Fissure.
Surrounding me was a wall of Disposal Troops, standing there in a multi-layered shield wall wearing only their normal clothes. They all held short swords.
Behind them stood armoured troops, the same troops which had been painted in my Father’s painting. Behind them stood a couple of small groups of people who were wearing much better armour than the armoured troops, or wearing no armour at all, but decked out in a multitude of chains and jewelry.
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The intense feeling of oblivion pushed down upon me and it was all I could do to remain standing firm against it. Even so my body was shivering. I forced myself to believe it was due to the freezing water that still clung to my naked body.
A pulse of power pushed itself through me, forcing the sense of oblivion away.
My legs failed me and I collapsed onto the uncomfortable, scratching grass. My whole body was shivering. I could hear the Disposal Troops march listlessly away. Yet I didn’t want to move. Couldn’t really move.
Those same traitorous legs didn’t want to move.
Pain shot through my upper arm as a powerful hand squeezed my upper arm and forced me to an awkward standing position. A skinny man, probably in this early forties, got in my face. His narrow face was hard and unforgiving. ‘When we call for you, you must respond. Beyond that, you have no purpose. Get it.’
‘I didn’t hear anyone calling my name.’
‘You have no name. You do not merit a name. You are worthless.’ Droplets of spit flew into my face. ‘You are an unimportant Three Trait.’ He then started dragging me behind him. Muttering to himself now, he carried on, ‘damned burden, why did the Temple have to dump him upon us, he isn’t worth the whole hassle he’s caused so far, now I’m arguing back with a damned stupid Three Trait, they shouldn’t be worth any of my mind or attention, all they should do is what we tell them to do and no more, animals would be easier, no, they’re not, we cannot control animals via the system, but this Three Trait’s system is faulty, we should just kill him, get it over and done with, feed him to the pack animals, but no, just because of the blessing of the goddess we cannot even do that—’
And he went on and on, moaning and ranting to himself, sometimes repeating the rant, other times coming up with more and more fanciful things to moan about.
At least with him semi-supporting, semi-dragging, me I got my legs back under control and I followed him under mostly my own power. He was dragging me up the hill towards the walled settlement, which had been pulled up out of the ground yesterday evening. The forced march helped, along with the pleasantly warm weather, warm my body.
I was looking forward to seeing inside of it, to see just how much effort had gone into building the stone settlement. I wasn’t taken inside. Instead, I they took me round to a small open fronted hut-like stone building, which had sprouted from the walls. There was a single chair inside, a large ornate throne-like chair.
In the chair, a woman lounged. She was wearing men’s clothing, tailored to fit her lithe form. Her skin wasn’t the pale skin so often seen around here, instead it was slightly darker, a dusky tan. In her clothing choice, how she sat, and her basic looks, she reminded me of my flat mate.
Standing next to her was another person, this one wearing the narrow and long robes, with narrow sleeves tied up at the shoulders. Unlike the white or the blue I had seen, this one wore deep forest green robe. But like my ex-House’s servants, they had their hair shaved short, and it was difficult to say whether it was a man or a woman.
Instead of the lithe woman, it was the servant wearing the robes who spoke. ‘Tell me what happened in the Fissure.’
‘I went through and ended up in a pool of freezing water. By the time I managed to catch my breath, Silver Moon was already dead. I then felt the Fissure closing,’ well I guessed that was what I felt by that—
‘Lies.’ The servant said. ‘You are a Three Trait and one who does not have anything to do with mana. Was there a pillar? Not that we can trust your testimony with your proof that you already lie.’
Oh, was that the case? I didn’t know that. But didn’t my brother say I used to have mana sensing, and that it had been replaced with me being a Demi-God, or a divine blessing as they saw it?
If they were going to be like that then, I would do likewise. ‘I did not see a pillar.’
‘Describe the world through the Fissure.’
‘It was covered in snow.’
The lounging lithe woman tugged on the sleeve of the green-robed servant. They bent down and listened to whispered instructions.
‘You will now go back to your place.‘ The servant said with a glare. ’And remember to follow the purpose we grant you through the system.’
Taking a gamble, I answered back, ‘I have never once heard commands come through the system.’
Another tug, another whispered command, another glare. ‘If you are so clever, then you better do your best. Otherwise we may not execute you before we decide the beasts of burden require subsistence from you. Be gone.’
I shrugged and turned to the lithe woman. ‘By your leave, darling.’ With a flirty smile and wink, I turned around and headed down the hill back to the rest of the naked people. It was then I realised I was in a six-year-old body.
With that, my mood soured slightly. Oh well, if I had been in my old body, it would’ve been a much better way to end the discussion.
Well, if I couldn’t be what they wanted, then I’d just have to be that bit of sand, which was annoying. Not too annoying enough that it was worth the effort to remove, but just enough that it really was annoying.
And with that, I decided to chart a new course for my life.