My father has always wanted me to follow in his footsteps and become a doctor. So as a child growing up, a surprising amount of my education at home had been focused on human anatomy.
Because of this, I realize, unfortunately, that the creatures I have been fighting have an annoyingly different anatomy to humans. I am incredibly lucky that the trachea is in the same spot on them as it is on a human and not hidden by a thick layer of muscle, or bone.
I don’t have a good cutting tool, so I refuse to open them up. But I can tell simply by their odd bone and muscular structure.
For example, Their spine had this odd scale-like structure, where from each vertebrae a plate of bone would come out overlapping the next plate, normally this would be improbable because of your lack of ability to bend down or twist in certain ways. And yet, their existence was proven right in front of me.
I will need to be more careful in the future about how I kill creatures like these Whites.
I had, without realizing it, nicknamed the creatures Whites, because of their skin.
Does that make me racist? I’m not trying to be racist, I just don’t know what they’re called.
I guess it is time to look at the notifications that I had chosen to ignore earlier.
Congratulations! You have reached level 2! You gain a two percent increase to Brilliance and Physicality along with an increase of 20 in Health, Mana and the special attribute Psi.
You have fought with your all and unwittingly used magic to do it. You have gained the skill [Enhance Body]
You have struck where your foes are weakest. The passive skill [General Anatomy] has been gained.
You have proven your mastery of martial arts. The passive skill [Martial Arts] has been given to you.
Due to your continued use of it, you have gained the skill [Redirect Force]
Due to your continued prayer to the creatures you have killed, you have gained the approval of the goddess Isis. Expect a test from her soon.
Well, that’s an ominous message if I’ve ever seen one. Tests from gods are never good.
I take my mind away from that, instead focusing on the level up. I wonder what’s changed?
[Status]
General Info: Elena S. Trudeau Age:16 Lvl: 2
∙ Class: N/A Mana: 100 Health: 220 Psi:120
∙ Sponsor: N/A
∙ Titles: Beta Tester, Crazy In A Good Way(Is that even possible?), Watched By The Gods
∙ Special conditions: Most Definitely Not-Normal
∙ Physical Condition: Healthy
∙ Physicality: Athletic 86%
∙ Brilliance: Graduate 97%
∙ Equipment: Gloves(unique)
∙ Skills: Enhanced Body ∙ General Anatomy ∙ Martial Arts ∙ Redirect Force
I wonder what will happen when Graduate hits 100%? Maybe I will evolve!
Elena! I choose you!
Elena! Use Punch!
Pokemon references never get old.
Some light comes in through the entrance to the cave, startling me.
Without my noticing, the storm had died down, allowing the sun to shine through.
I stand up straight and cautiously walk to the entrance of the cave.
I am snow-blinded for a second before my eyes adjust to the outside world.
I rub my arms feeling the chill air brush against my skin and take in the sight in front of me. Outside of my cave is a flat land covered in snow, which rules out the idea of me being on a mountain top somewhere.
I don’t see any Whites in the distance, which is good for me and hopefully means that they are nocturnal creatures.
I scan the outside, looking for any place that would allow me to get out of here. My search bears fruit in the form of another cave with a circle of torches in it.
I don’t think we should go over there.
I think we should.
Why should we?
The better question is, Why shouldn’t we?
Because someone obviously wants us to go there. It is probably a trap.
And…? This is bad, how?
Good point.
Silly brain, always talking me into things.
I start walking towards the cave.
Strangely enough, I encounter no trouble along the way. As soon as I reach the cave, I put one foot inside… and black out.
***
Uuuuuugh. I seem to be blacking out a lot lately. It reminds me of a bad plot device authors use to transport their characters from one place to another.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Yo. Divine author, could you stop knocking me out?
No response, huh? I guess you just don’t have the guts to answer me.
I open my eyes to find myself back in the bedroom where all of this started.
A blue screen immediately pops into my vision.
Congratulations on making it through the tutorial! We look forward to seeing you in action again soon! Thanks to the fact that you only died once, you have been given a special prize! Make sure to check it out in your inventory!
“I guess that wasn’t a hallucination…” I say softly to myself.
“Elle! There you are!” My mother bursts into my room. My mom is a beautiful woman with blue eyes and blond hair that flows down to her upper back, unfortunately those blue eyes are looking at me with an expression that says ‘you are in some big trouble young lady!’ “We have been looking for you all day! We promised the Smiths that we would go to church with them today. Where were you?!”
“What are you talking about mom? We aren’t supposed to go to church until tomorrow-“ I stop suddenly.
“Is something wrong Elle?” My mom asks worriedly
I turn my head, slowly looking up. “I just had a strange feeling, like someone’s watching me.”
“Don’t distract from the problem Elle, you disappeared on us.” My mom leans against the door frame, her eyes watering with tears. “Do you have any idea how worried I was? With your- I mean, after everything that’s happened… Don’t worry me like that.”
“You can just say it. I’m not right in the head.” I say smiling at her. “I know, and it doesn’t bother me.”
“Honey…”
“This might sound odd mom, but what day is today?”
“Are you joking with me Elle?” After seeing how serious I am, mom sighs. “Oh honey, today is Sunday. Did something happen?”
“I don’t really want to talk about it right now. Could I have some alone time? I need to think.” I look for my phone and grab it off of my dresser.
“Sure, honey. Just… I am here if you want to talk, ok?” Mom has a quick look of worry cross her face before she turns around to leave the room.
It looks like I have only been gone for one day. I am glad that the game isn’t some odd thing where time flows differently, that would have been annoying to deal with.
I look at my hands realizing that I still have the gloves on. It would probably be best to keep them on, they are kinda useful.
My phone lights up as I turn it on and jump onto my bed. My friends sent me a couple messages asking me where I was, but nothing too important seems to have happened.
I turn the screen on my phone off, as I sink into the bed and close my eyes.
“Elena? Can you hear me?”
“God? Is that you?” I open my eyes after I hear that voice.
“You should be grateful that I’m not one of them. They bring nothing but pain.” It takes me a second to place the voice as the instructor that I’d met in the tutorial and not just a new voice in my head.
“This is Sheyla, and not some random voice in my head, right?” It sounds different from the usual voices, but I have to make sure.
“I am Sheyla, the instructor for your tutorial. I’ve decided to give you a little more… help. But I don’t have long. Reaching across worlds like this is a strain on my powers.” There’s a pause, and I feel a strange, yet familiar presence envelop me. “I need you to follow me as I show you how to communicate with me.”
I do as she asks. She brings the strange energy flowing through me to my throat, revealing a nucleus of power. The energy in me travels down the connection she’s created, bringing my thoughts to her. Unfortunately my mind can be somewhat… Disorderly.
Your teacher has shown you the ways of the mind. You have gained the skill [Telepathy]
.
“Stop!” The voice comes through the bond and I break off my link to the connection she created “Dear heavens, I’m sorry. How do you… nevermind.”
“Did you hear them? The voices?” I can’t keep the curiosity out of my voice.
“I… did.”
I smile, glad that even if none of this is real, at least someone understood. “Ignore the drama queen. She’s a bitch.”
“Hah.” A brief snort of laughter makes its way through the bond. “The main reason I have called you like this is because I’ve decided that I wanted you to live till our next encounter-“
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“So, I found out some information that you might want to know. The next System Event will be happening in exactly a week. So be prepared. I must leave now. Good luck.”
“Hopefully I won’t need it.”
I get no response from Shayla.
I close my eyes, looking at the energies inside of me. It looks like I had gained something very valuable from that conversation. When Shayla guided my thoughts to her she had shown me how to put my… thoughts I guess, outside of the sphere that they are usually kept in.
What else can I do?
I smile wide, revealing more teeth than any sane smile should, before quickly hiding it.
I sit up on my bed and cross my legs. Closing my eyes, I try to find the space that I glimpsed when Shayla guided my mind to our connection.
The mantra that I used in the cave is an easy one, and I decide to repeat it.
My mind and breath are one.
I empty my thoughts to the void
My mind and breath are one.
I empty my thoughts to the void
...
It takes a couple of tries, but I enter that same state a lot quicker than I did last time.
This time, there is something different. Another energy is inside of me. The same energy that Sheyla had shown me. It has a clearer -color?- than the mana that seems to permeate everywhere else.
I assume that this energy is the Psychic energy or Psi that showed up on my status screen earlier. I watch it as it travels down a path that stops and congeals at seven points through my body. As the psi energy would congeal at these nuclei, its color would change, matching the nuclei’s own color. Something about these seven nuclei seemed familiar, and it took me a moment to relate them to a billboard of the chakras that I’d seen in one of my mother’s yoga classes.
I trace the energy with my mind, watching it travel through my body with curiosity.
It starts at the top of my head, circulating through a nucleus there. The nucleus, glows a bright white with the psi that travels through it, and I remember it as the crown chakra. I go through the chakras, trying to remember the names of them.
The chakra in the middle of my forehead, glowing purple, is the third eye chakra.
The one in my throat, glowing blue, is the throat chakra… communication, right? That would make sense, seeing as how Shayla communicated with me through it.
My fourth chakra, glowing a deep green, is my heart chakra.
My fifth chakra, a dark yellow, is in my solar plexus, or stomach.
My sixth chakra, glowing orange, is right near my pelvis.
And the final chakra, a deep dark red, is at the root of my being.
I lose myself as I watch the energy travel through the chakras and through my body. Its colors and movement endlessly captivating.
Eventually, I reach out and grab some of the energy in my throat chakra, like Sheyla had shown me. It works with me easily, moving exactly as my mind wills it. I pull the blue energy out of my body, moving it through the house. Eventually I find another person, their chakras are filled with the same energy as mine, except… lesser, without purpose. My psi connects to theirs and I immediately know that it’s my mother.
I hope that she is ok… Maybe I worry about her too much. But she can’t just disappear on us like that! I have enough to worry about with Jacob. I wonder when he will get home tonight. When he does, I have a wonderful, sexy, surprise waiting for-
I cut off the connection to her. I have no desire to read her thoughts on that subject.
The psi in me has depleted slightly, but I can feel as my mind starts to regenerate the used energy.
Or it could never come back. The drama queen’s voice fills my head.
Cadet! I have a new task for you!
Yes Captain?
We must take out the evil drama queen. Her thoughts have become too rampant and she seeks to destroy what we value most!
What is that Captain?
Our self-esteem.
How could she!
I move my hand to my forehead, rubbing it as I close my eyes. After a moment, I refocus on the chakras inside of me. I have a good idea of what the throat chakra does, what about the others?
I move my mind to the chakra of my third eye. Gently, I pull some of the purple energy out of the chakra and into the world around-
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!
I promptly pass out.
...
I wake up in my bed, with an incredible migraine pulsing through my head.
“Damn it. IT HURTS.”
I open my eyes to find a couple of blue windows in front of me.
You have gained an understanding of the art of meditation.
Through experimentation you have gained the ability Divine Sight.
There is the bastard that did it. Right there! When I pulled that bit of Psi out of my third eye, it did more than let me see outside of my body.
I… I don’t exactly remember what it did, and I get a headache just trying to think about it. But I know it did it! Probably? Definitely!