David was weird, for he smiled in his sleep, but at that moment, he was even weirder. His smile kept alternating with a frown.

He was in that peaceful moment in which one is half-awake, half-slumbering. He smiled to himself because he knew that he had defeated all the odds; he had come out alive after surviving a cosmic trip, fighting a demon tall and broad as a wardrobe, learned magic, and even defeated an all-consuming, all-poisoning, all-powerful, planetary-system-spawning—god?—from poisoning him to death. Yet, at the same time, David frowned for all of the above, plus he felt definitely wet. Had he pissed himself? For, if he had, he had really gone overboard with it. He almost felt he was floating in his own piss. There was indeed too much of it; it was unnatural.

Bloody hell! The last thing he had drunk had been a beer—Just one beer!

Or had he drank more than that? Maybe it had all been a dream? Indeed… he said to himself, relieved. He had just drunk too much; he had probably gone well over the rat-arsed threshold and was now into an alcohol-induced coma, likely on a hospital bed.

Still, it was a little sad. Not because of the coma, no—he had already been there—no. It was for the magic. It would have been good having magic. He might have had something to show to Zoe, something that wasn’t stupid coin tricks.

“I’m going to miss Erin though…” he said to himself as he yawned, “she was weird, but fun. No body-hair is weird but better than those girls that let their leg hair grow, I mean freedom to all right? But there’s—” his waking up soliloquy was interrupted by the fact that he was in a pool of water.

Dave shuffled up, he looked around himself, wary.

“This is not Roy’s pool,” he said to himself as he turned around. “Wait—Roy doesn’t have a pool. Whos’ pool is this?”

It took him a few long seconds to recognize that he didn’t really have any friends with a pool. He was in a place that was not meant to have any pools, plus he was not alone.

At that moment, Dave was underground; it was clear by the ceiling made out of rock and the scarce presence of light around. The only thing illuminating the grey-colored rocks was weird mushrooms that looked like flowers—but were definitely mushrooms—they sprouted from the cave’s walls, emitting a kind pinkish light.

He stood, entirely naked, in a pool; he had been floating on top of it until he had woken up, and once again, he was not alone. People were in the pool with him, people with children, and…eggs? Ostrich eggs?

Something peculiar about the people around him was that they were naked, just like him, and didn’t really give a shit about it. Something even more peculiar was that they were all Fays—which meant that he had not been dreaming. He had traveled across worlds; he had killed somebody, he had obtained magic and survived all the odds.

“Bloody hell,” David realized, “I’m Gandalf…” He suddenly touched his beard, yeah, it was starting to grow, but he did not have the Istar’s incredible tuft.

Children laughed at his surprised face; those that looked like adults did not laugh as much.

“Howdy,” Dave said, lifting his arm to then let it fall back down with a splash.

The Fey were not that different from each other. The males, for example, had the same hair quality, same length, and overall same features, but no pronounced bosom, as the females; they also had more elongated faces. Like Erin, they also lacked belly buttons and nipples, but at least, looking at the eggs, it was now clear why? Fey were born from eggs. Yet there was something that left him baffled, these Fays were different from Erin; not only their hair color ranged from green to brown, but they also lacked Erin’s peculiar growths on her back. Still, they were all naked, for one reason or another.

“Incredible…”

The whispering continued, and he wasn’t really receiving much attention from the adults, not even as he asked questions like, “So, just got here, any advice on sightseeing?” But to take him out of that pitiful situation, a familiar voice, a voice he thought that he had met only in a dream, called for his name.

“Davi!”

David turned toward the voice, elated, “Oh, thank God you’re here! It’s so good having a real friend at a friend of a friend’s party,” he said to himself, then he raised his voice to make it reach Erin. “What place is this!? Where did you take me? Are these people,” he lowered his voice, “perverts?”

Erin, who was coming at him from one of the tunnels that led to the pool, chuckled at his madness. The tunnels were dark, but not all of them, which meant that a couple of them out of the—one, two, three—six tunnels that were present, reached for the surface. She, unlike everybody else, was clothed.

Davi joined her, walking in the pool—the water level was low—to reach up to her. He pointed at the rest of the Fey, “So is this like a naked pool-side party, or is it customary like your much-welcomed closeness?”

She chuckled, “The second one.”

Dave nodded, “I guessed as much. But can’t I have something like…pants? It doesn’t seem much, but I’m more comfortable that way.”

Erin shook her head, “It’s already enough that they let us stay,” she answered.

Dave nodded, “Oh, well, can’t blame a man for trying...” he lay his hands on the edges of the natural pool, where Erin stood and pushed up to leave the waters. But Erin had other ideas; she placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back down in the water.

Dave looked at her weirdly, then believed he understood, “Right…maybe to leave the water one should wear clothes, but I don’t really have any, isn’t that a conundrum now? So…You should go get some for me, right?”

“No, Davi, enough with the clothes. You are here for your own good.” She sat down in front of him. “This water pool is…special. It helps cleanse people of Source Poisoning, but only when it is in low amounts. Check for yourself.”

Looking around, Dave called for his Status.

Attributes

Health: 100%

Stamina: 75%

Well: 0%

“Hey, I’m like…fine?” David asked.

“Not really, no. You still have less than one-third of the …. amount of Resilience to survive in this environment. What is saving you is the Cleansing water and the little creatures that live within.”

“They are? I can’t see them. Are they fish?” Dave asked.

“Yes. They are difficult for your eyes to see. But get closer to the water, and you’ll notice them. The water cleanses the Source Poisoning from you, and the Ali’ati absorb it as nourishment, recycling it,” she explained, caressing his hair.

It was a gesture he had already seen reproduced by the other families. The female Fey did it to the male Fey, and the opposite was true as well, but they also both did it for their children.

He was about to ask her what it meant, but before that, something else took priority, “Wait, if these fish eat Source Poisoning, why didn’t you take me here first.”

Erin sighed, “They can only eat so much of it. Your body was entirely contaminated with Source. Such an amount and density would have effectively killed all the Ali’ati in here and sterilized the Cleansing water. I’m sorry, it would have been ineffective. Even sacrificing one entire pool for your salvation would have amounted to nothing. This method only serves to stabilize Source Poisoning that is low by itself.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Oh, now that’s clearer. But… tell me. What is exactly Source Poisoning? Don’t this fish have it?” As he asked, Erin removed her tight trousers and sat, placing her thin legs into the pool.

David could see swarms of minuscule creatures get closer to her, and the water around her legs became slightly violet for a few seconds.

“Everything that breathes,” she began, “breathes Source as well. Yet, it is not only in the air. It is everywhere, even in space,” she pointed up, “Or that is what Fiend’s say. We had never had many problems with Source Poisoning before they arrived because we have a very high innate Resilience even as newborns.”

“Yeah? Like, how much?”

"We are, born with twenty to thirty points of Resilience,” stated Erin.

David was taken aback, for he had only one measly point of it. No—not even that…he had started with zero.

Erin continued, “Like everything that breathes, we are subject to Source Poisoning. The animals are like us, but slightly different, for the Source is all-knowing. It has given them improved Resilience, for they lack sapience. However, we are people with sapience; we can use Source to travel, to build, to do Magic. We had to pay the price for it. And Source Poisoning is a form of...equilibrium.”

David was fascinated. “Doesn’t that make creatures very resistant to magic?”

“It does. But it is right, for we can increase our power indefinitely with Source. They haven’t got our same weapons. The Source is just; life needs to have its means for protection,” she nodded to herself.

“Then why did things change? Why the problems with the Fiends if you are such peaceful people? You say they treated you well.”

Erin nodded, shutting her eyes to further prove that he was right, “That is a problem inherent with the Source, for the more life is contained in a determined space, the higher the Source Poisoning, the higher the Resilience Threshold,” she sighed, shuffling the waters with her feet, “The Fiend’s coming has slowly increased the Resilience Threshold over the years. You must know that Fiends have a basic Resilience of over forty-five.”

“What!? They are born with forty-five points of Resilience!?” Dave gasped.

“Yes, which comes with its ups and downs. Ups for they are very resistant to magic and can focus their growth on other things. Downs, for they are condemned to produce societies that cannot grow over a certain limit. For the higher the Resilience, the more they can use the Source, and more Source Poisoning they emit in the ambient.”

“Wait, so it’s like carbon dioxide?” Dave suggested.

Erin reacted confused, “Car-von yox-id?”

“So, when it is not a word that exists in your vocabulary, my Skill fails to translate it. Good to know,” David said to himself.

“I do not know what your Car-von is, but we release Source Poisoning as a byproduct of using Skills. It is inevitable. And with poor Resilience, we produce enough to Poison ourselves with it.”

David nodded, “I understand. Please, go on.”

“This planet had a maximum amount of one hundred points of Resilience Threshold. But with the Fiend’s coming, the Resilience has increased by much…” She sighed, then removed the rest of her clothes and dove in the water.

He hadn’t noticed, for he hadn’t seen the other family immerse in water up to their heads, but her hair became like vaporous silk when wet. They also seemed to dry very fast too.

"—with their coming,” she continued, “the Resilience Threshold has risen up by a lot. There are certain places in the Capital, Varya, where the Resilience Threshold reaches as high as two hundred points, or even more. They built the City for themselves and for us to live together.” She shook her head, “But we can barely live in the outskirts of it, for if we get closer, we couldn’t live with our children, they would die of Source Poisoning. The same can be said about the appearance of Sourceborns. Before their coming, the beasts that appeared could be handled; however, now, it’s a challenge more than ever.”

“That is…” Dave didn’t really know how to accept such a weird reality. Yet Erin continued.

“They came here in search of help. They did not force us to leave or to accept them. They did everything right, acted as a perfect Fey would. They were just, they were sorry, and they gave us all that we asked. They taught us how to better harness the Source; they taught us how to form Class specializations we didn’t know about. They built for us, and they supported us. They even taught us their Creed. But…indirectly they have become a cancer for our planet.” She shook her head, saying something under her breath, low enough for David not to hear.

“I’m sorry, we do not speak in such terms about anybody; I should be reproached.”

“You don’t have to apologize to me, Erin. What you say is—I really don’t know how I would have acted.” He paused, slouching in the water, “So, they are good folks, but I guess not that fortunate, and their misfortune is reflecting on you.”

She smiled, “They say some parts of their planets reach the incredible Resilience Threshold of four hundred points. It’s just unbelievable of itself.”

Dave didn’t really know how to put that into perspective but hearing her tale, he understood that in one way or the other, it was linked to his experience.

“Do you think they wanted to do the same with my planet?” He asked.

“I don’t understand; what do you mean?” She replied.

“I found one of those Fiends back in my world; that’s how I came here. But there is no Source where I come from, so why were they there? What do you think?”

“No Source? I don’t believe there is no Source on your planet. Judging from your Resilience, or more exactly, you're… of it, it is clear that there is the Source there as well, but that it has not fully managed to manifest itself. For surely there must be magic where you come from, at least some form of it, no?”

A.S.U.T. is now level 17. Universal Translation 17%

Dave shrugged. Tales of the unnatural had, indeed, been present since the dawn of civilization and much before that. So, maybe it acted differently.

“It is possible that your race doesn’t have the sensitiveness to perceive it,” Erin answered.

“That might actually be it; we are everything but sensible, that’s for sure.”

“However, answering your first question, it might be as you said. Indeed, the lower a place’s Resilience Threshold, the better it is for them to expand.” She shook her head, dejected, “Expand is not the right word, I’m sorry. Survive; that is what they are trying to do. I can respect them for that; I can just curse the unfolding of the events.”

“I’m sorry, for your race,” said David, “I might not look like it, but I am. I’m just still weirded-out about my situation. If I could do something to help, I would. But right now…” he raised his hands, gently splashing them back in the water, “I don’t think I can be of much help.”

Erin chuckled, “No worries, Davi. I’ve spoken with the Eye, the keeper of this place. She says that Trespassers are a rare breed, they must be protected. I wouldn’t ask anything out of you. It’s actually the opposite.”

Dave frowned, “What do you mean? You’ve just done so much for me; I wouldn’t even be able to speak right now if it wasn’t for you.”

She bent her neck to the side, “The Eye has told me that I should get you to our Ancient,” she sighed, “She might know what your Title and Blessing entail.”

“See, that is very sweet of you although clichè, but tell me, where would we find your Ancient? In some abandoned cave, secluded by everything and everyone, trying to reach Nirvana?”

“N’r-ve-ne?” she shook her head, “I don’t know what it is that you are talking about, but no, the closest ancient lives in a place that is not accessible to someone in your conditions, for you are still too weak to venture by yourself. You must learn to survive. You must level up at least a little before you can reach that place, for they all spend their lives in the City.”

“What? That’s unexpected.”

“What did you expect? They are helping those in need, living out here is easy, living in the City, adapting to their societies is hard, and we need to have ambassadors; it’s a sacrificing role, but it must be fulfilled.” She nodded gravely.

“No clichè adventures then…so, what should I do? But before that…” Dave looked to the right and to the left, lowering his stance. He got closer to an amused Erin, “—tell me, how do I poop around here?”

She laughed with a melodious laugh, “Come, I’ll show you. But you need to know that you cannot enter these waters if you’ve gone past 5% Well. So, use your life-saving ability if you need to, or you will kill their entire ecosystem,” she said, passing her hands in the waters.

“Alright, got it. Also, do you guys eat? For I believe I’m about to faint from the hunger.” His stomach roared, strengthening his statement

***

David was brought a weird-looking fruit, covered in golden syrup. “Judging by your teeth, your species must be omnivorous,” Erin said, “I’m sorry if we can’t help you in eating meat, but we do not eat it. This will give you all the nutrients you need.”

Dave judged that it was probably for the very fact that they were herbivorous that they were so thin, but he was surely not gonna try to change anyone. He loved meat, but… “Your house, your rules.”

The meal was also delicious and very different from anything he had ever eaten.

“When you are done, I suggest you train your Skills. You can train your Arcane Missile indefinitely in the waters; just remember that you cannot go above 5% Well. The waters will likely empty it in a few seconds; it’s also a good occasion to reflect and understand the Source. I’ll leave you to that,” Erin said.

“Wait! You are leaving me here alone? I don’t know anybody!”

“It doesn’t seem to be a problem for your character, Davi. Get accustomed to the Fey. We are friendly. If you see some darker faces, it’s because many of those passing their time in these waters are young. And it’s also the time in which they are more fertile, for this is a breeding ground for our eggs as well. Just be friendly and don’t take too much space.”

“Please don’t leave!” He stopped her by the ankle; she laughed amused, caressing his hair, “I’m going to have to talk to the Ancient before bringing you in; I’ll also need something to hide your status. But I’ll have to reach the City for it. I’ll be back tomorrow, okay? So don’t worry; besides, you are my responsibility now.” Saying, so she left.

David turned around, taking a look at the few people that had remained. Only children and families with eggs had remained. “I wonder if it’s night or day out there…” He sighed, “Oh, well, let’s start with something interesting, I guess—Source Sight.”