> “The Manifestations are concepts that have coalesced into a conscious being, acting in accordance with the domain their concept encompasses. The most well-known Manifestations are the Seven Primordial Concepts, which are attributed with the formation of the universe and life. In the beginning, it is said there was nothing. This gave rise to the Manifestation of Space, also sometimes known as Void or Emptiness. Soon after was born the Manifestation of Matter. Space had a natural aversion to Matter, which occupied its domain of Emptiness, while Matter had a natural desire to expand and fill that Emptiness.

> This is the first conflict between Manifestations, a result of overlapping domains. From this conflict was born Energy. Being able to interact with but not destroy Matter while also occupying no physical Space left Energy a neutral party in the ongoing war, but from its interactions with Matter were birthed the fourth and fifth Primordial Concepts. These are the Manifestations of Chaos and Order. Both of these have a similar domain; they each manipulate Energy, and through it Matter, to create specific effects and patterns. However, while Order created specific patterns, the patterns of Chaos were in constant motion, in a state of perpetual change. This put the two forces at odds, and while Space and Matter fought on the grounds of existence and nonexistence, Chaos and Order fought within existence using Energy as the middleman.

> From the interplay of these two forces was born the Manifestation of Life, and from Life was born Will, the seventh and final Primordial Concept. While the Manifestations are largely self-explanatory in their names, Will is the exception. Its domain has no true limits, able to impose itself over the domains of other concepts as it pleases. It is also what taught us the difference between intelligence and emotion — the difference between a creature with a brain and a creature with a Soul.”

>

> — Excerpt from “The Nature of Manifestations” by Argas the Philosopher

A point of light appeared in Cain’s vision, tickling his awareness, trying to coax him into consciousness. Some part of him registered that the light wasn’t supposed to be there. But his momentary discomfort at the sudden change was immediately shunted to the side by something far worse.

The light expanded from the size of a needlepoint to occupy his entire field of view, stranding him in a soft white void. Cain was now just barely awake enough to form conscious thought. Is this… supposed to happen? For a moment nothing more changed. Then, he became aware of a need to breathe. With a gasping breath, Cain became aware of a body encasing him. Small tremors and spasms coursed through his muscles, highlighting his arms, legs, face and stomach in his awareness. A slight burning sensation took hold in his eyes, and he blinked. The white vanished and reappeared, and Cain realized he must be looking at the sky.

His body shivered violently as he commanded it to push itself upright, but ultimately complied. Taking shaky breaths, his eyes registered the sight now in front of him. Green grass robbed of its vibrancy by the cold rolled across somewhat uneven plains and met with the reddened canopy of a forest a ways away from where he sat. Cain felt a few things. He felt confused at the fact that he was apparently alive. He felt the grass poking at his hands and legs. He felt afraid at waking up in an unfamiliar area. And he felt an odd tickling sensation in the back of his skull.

[ Objective Complete : “Awaken” ]

Entity has gained full consciousness.

Acknowledging the ticklish feeling seemed to bring a message of sorts to the forefront of his mind. It felt natural and didn’t seem overly intrusive, but while his subconscious accepted the strange presence, Cain’s conscious mind was deeply unsettled by the decidedly foreign object living rent-free in his head. He was supposed to be dead, definitely wasn’t, was in an unfamiliar location, and had something speaking directly into his mind. This was not what Cain bargained for. Why was he here? Where was here? What the hell was an Objective, and why was some strange entity telling him about them?

[ Tidbit Unlocked : Rebirth ]

The entity’s deceased soul, after drifting through the void, was drawn to the ambient mana of this world, similar in concept to a gravity well. Using environmental mana and the soul’s subconscious, the Manifestation of Life constructed a new body for the soul at a nonspecific location.

That information alone was disturbing. It flat out stated that while Cain had died, death was apparently a temporary state. Fortunately, upon being overwhelmed with information that threatened his most fundamental knowledge of reality, Cain’s ‘panic meter’ exceeded the maximum capacity it was designed with, looping back around to a negative integer and leaving him with an unnatural calm. This was his favorite coping mechanism: complete suppression. It did at least have the upside of allowing him to notice that there was more information to be had; that tickle at the back of his head was a bit closer to an itch now, so he focused in on it.

[ Tidbit Unlocked : Grassland (Forest Border) ]

An environment boasting a usually mild climate and somewhat level terrain. Wild grasses and hardy root vegetables make favorite foods of several grazing and foraging herbivores. Small to medium birds of prey will nest at the border of the nearby forest in order to take advantage of the opportune hunting ground provided by the plains while still enjoying the shelter of the trees.

That’s the question of ‘where’ answered. Cain noted that the ‘tidbits’ seemed to be in direct response to his current questions about his situation. He allowed two more notifications to manifest.

[ Tidbit Unlocked : Objectives ]

Objectives are tasks and goals formed in response to an entity’s current environment and situation. There is no external reward for completing them, but the Objective System available to most sentient entities allows for easier organization of set goals and makes progress simpler to measure. Some objectives form automatically, others result from conscious effort by the entity.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

[ Tidbit Unlocked : Manifestation of Order ]

The Manifestation of Order, by its nature, seeks to categorize and format reality into logical pieces and patterns. Particularly living entities, which are a perpetual source of Chaos. Order integrates parts of itself into living entities, adapting itself to a form it deems easiest for the entity to accept. It generally allows for greater control of an entity’s growth as well as improving the ability to make sense of the surrounding world.

The last entry was particularly concerning, but Cain accepted it as beyond his power to affect rather quickly. He theorized that ‘the ability to make sense of the surrounding world’ was closely related to the Tidbits he was unlocking. It also seemed as though the Manifestations - of which he knew there was more than one due to the Rebirth Tidbit - were somewhat similar to gods. Beings of limited omnipotence within the borders of the concept which they were Manifested of. But again, such things were well beyond the scope of Cain’s influence, and for all he knew it could be far more nuanced than that. It would be best to focus on more immediate concerns. For example, standing up.

[ Objective Complete : “Stand Up” ]

Entity has assumed a standing position.

That could get tiring quickly. Cain attempted to push away the notifications in his mind to find that, surprisingly, it worked without resistance. However, any happiness that may have brought him was dashed when he found that his still shaking legs had given out beneath him while he was distracted. After a moment of internal monologue about the cause of this phenomenon, he resigned himself to the fact that his newly built body would need to be broken in. Standing again, Cain found his balance and began taking hesitant steps forward, acclimating to the feeling.

Wait a minute. Am I naked?

Panic and embarrassment pierced his impassive shell, and Cain frantically scanned his surroundings for witnesses. They would have to be silenced.

Fortunately for the witnesses, Cain saw nothing but grass and trees, and a mountain range in the far distance. Although he was now settling back into his previous calm, the moment of vulnerability had allowed his bizarre situation to partially register. I died, woke up in a strange environment, likely a different world, and now I have a ‘voice’ of sorts in my head, which seems to be a fragment of a semi-omnipotent cosmic entity. Moreover, it seems like this is supposed to be a perfectly normal thing.

The nonchalance of the existential revelations was mirrored in Cain’s own thoughts of ‘huh, guess that’s a thing.’ It’s impressive what a person can adapt to in the right state of mind. Less impressive was his still stumbling self. The walking practice was going poorly.

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Cain had now mostly adapted to moving in his new body, which was very similar to his original from what he could observe without a mirror. Hands and feet are roughly the same proportions, and his skeleton has approximately the same general structure. There was one thing markedly different from his old body, however. Where before his arms and legs would be peppered with faint little scars and blemishes, the sum of childish curiosity and life’s little accidents, they were now entirely blank. He was also missing a mole on his left rib cage and a birthmark on his outer right thigh. It was rather a strange feeling once he took conscious note of it, but he largely disregarded it in favor of dwelling on it at a later date.

However, now that he was more acclimated to his body, and still very conscious of it, he decided to enter the forest. It would provide marginally more shelter from the elements, as well as potentially allowing him to obscure himself from wildlife. He also liked his odds of foraging sustenance in the forest better, despite the promise of root vegetables in the grassy plains. If no clean water source was readily available, he’d be relying on water-heavy foods for hydration. That either meant fruits, or drinking the blood of his enemies. He was more confident in the former.

After a while of walking though, he began to question his decision. The red leaves and the cold temperatures didn’t seem conducive to the process of a plant bearing fruit. The likely thinner canopies and dying vegetation also left him with less shelter from the elements than he had hoped. He could still climb a tree to sleep in relative safety if he needed to, but there was little chance of hiding from predators with better senses than him, and a higher risk of a dead branch snapping beneath him. What he needed now, then, was running water, preferably over a rocky stream bed or a small waterfall, and a sheltered cave or ledge if he could find one. Water tends to flow downhill, so Cain kept watch for a noticeable slope in the terrain in any particular direction. Following changes in elevation had better chances of finding water and shelter than wandering aimlessly.

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After at least an hour of walking, Cain was grumpy. He hadn’t found water, he hadn’t found shelter, and he hadn’t found anything to eat. His legs were sore, the soles of his feet had a respectable smattering of small scratches, and he was overall having a bad experience with this whole reincarnation business. To top it all off, he tripped on a weirdly shaped root. It didn’t really cause any damage, but it was just a rude thing to do. At least the daylight seemed like it would last at least a little while longer, but it was impossible to accurately judge behind the winter cloud cover until the clouds started turning pink in one direction.

His internal grumbling were distracted by a tickle on his hindbrain.

[ Body Attribute Manifested : Endurance ]

Affects the entity’s capacity for physical exertion. Benefits scale with muscle memory associated with the action. (Current Value: 1)

While that seemed useful, and did seem to make the walk go marginally smoother, it was also concerning. Supposedly, Order had a habit of integrating parts of itself into living things. If ‘attributes’ were manifested through the system employed by Order, nearly everything Cain could encounter here would be more dangerous than him. After all, Endurance was only one aspect of the body. There was the acting force it was capable of producing, the healing factor, and natural defenses against hazards. At least some of these were guaranteed to have associated Attributes, and if he wound up in a fight against something with a strength value of ten—

He tripped over another tree root and landed face-first in a fast-flowing creek with a sploosh.