"It really shouldn't have come to this, but, I'll be damned if I let them keep what we made here after butchering us." I say absently to myself, even as I pour in the last ingredient. Throwing the lever to connect the gear box for our little village's best approximation of an industrial mixer I would set the bowl to spin. Thinking back I can't help but laugh before breaking into a fit of wet coughing that brings the taste of blood to my mouth as gasses billow out of that churning pot.

Suddenly there is a loud clatter behind me. With a few grunts of exertion I kick and break of the switch lever for the gear box cause I'll be damned if they stop it. It's then that I hear the distinct sound of a shotgun being racked.

"Hey boss, looks like fatty was still alive, you were right, they did run to a kitchen, but man I don't know what he was trying to cook but it smells like a vampire's nightmare in here" he shouts out to...some one, not that it maters any more. I can feel the liquid building in my lungs, my eyes starting to burn some as the skin on my hands blisters and peels from the, oh so wonderful mix I made to deny these bastards the satisfaction of taking everything and using my...our homes as a new base to do this to others from.

Sluggishly turning to face the raider, I give a bloody smile before coughing up more of my liquifying lungs. The shocked, almost horrified look on his face as he sees me is worth it as I slowly start to stumble toward him, hand raised "A curse.....upon you and.....your ilk. I will deny....you our home as my.....final act....and as the....last one of....my little village..." I'd manage out as I shamble, my speech interspersed with coughing, wheezing, hacking, and the other sounds of one drowning in their rapidly liquifying lungs.

The last thing I see as my vision fades is the raider starting to cough and hack wetly, giving a shake his head as I collapse.

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Candidate Located: Begin Transfer

'It's funny, the things the mind does as it dies'

Measuring Karmic Influence

'Huh...maybe the Egyptians had something right with that weighing of the heart thing'

Lives extended by your actions: 2348 1231

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

'Every one did die in our village, not a surprise there, but the last census was just over 1100, how is it off by so much?'

Lives you have ended: 1140

'Wait, there was in no way that many of the raiders, unless I was the only target and...and the guards let them through'

-Titles Gained -

Apothecary

Herbalist

Forager

Medic

Builder

Engineer

Inventor

Chemist

Glutton

Devastator

The Betrayed

Pantomath

'So it was betrayal in the end, well fuck them then but...yeah, that all adds up then I guess'

Karma measured: Granting Permissions

'Permissions for what, I'm dead, or is this my brain rationalizing the after life as some kind of...computer simulation or something?'

Aspect of Knowledge

'Not gonna lie, awesome to get recognition finally for just knowing so much without people complaining about me not doing the "hard" work of plowing a field or digging a well when trying to get things like the windmill to pump the water from said well designed'

Territory Assigned

'Wait, what was that now?'

Transfer Complete: Core DevelopedGood luck, candidate.

'Wait, good luck and what do you mean by core dev-'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'What in tarnation, I should be dead, not having the weirdest out of body experience I've ever had. Where even am I?' I'd think to myself before my vision zooms in on an almost navy blue gem, that I assume was expertly carved into a torus shape, soft lights slowly sparkling and moving within as it sits in the flower of...what looks like some sort of strange cactus. 'Wait...hold on now, is that me?' I think before feeling a small influx of....I don't know how to describe it...I guess the closest thing would be invigoration, as I see the lights grow ever so slightly brighter in that gem.

'Well that's something. Now to figure out what I am, what I can do, and what the hell a "candidate" is.' I would absently ponder as a soft 'ping' sounds in my head....I guess, maybe more of my mind.

There is no instruction manual candidate

'Okay then, that was weird, guess I'll just...have to sort it all out myself then?' I'd say letting out a mental sigh, and feeling some of that invigorating feeling leave me only notice that it results in a change of the flower my new form is nestled in, changing from an almost cream looking off white to an almost iridescent violet. 'That's new, what if I...' I would think before taking a deep breath in, and I swear I can smell the flower as something between that of a saguaro and a barrel cactus, but maybe I'm just imagining that since I seem to just be a gemstone now that...is getting slightly more sparkly as I keep breathing in, which is neat.

Now, lets see what there is to see here cause I can always freak out later.