Connie
Location : God only knows (Is that a song? o.0)
I was lost.
I cursed my adventurous spirit that had told me to stray off the paths that the great booming voice had told me to follow.
I had been floating gently through the forest, my lovely green orb wonderfully lighting up the surroundings.
Well, I say wonderfully, but though my green glow made the forest so much prettier, it didn’t really do much for actual vision. Though, to be honest, I didn’t have eyes, so how did I actually see the forest… and my wonderful green light as well?
Back to the lost part…
I had been floating around for what seemed like aeons. The forest seemed endless.
I suddenly broke free of the forest and onto another path.
This one was a nice shimmery blue, like the blue that you could see when walking underneath a great, big tank in an aquarium.
I paused for a while looking into it to see if I could see any fishies.
After an endless amount of time, I snapped back to the present. This damage to my soul was getting concerning. I kept getting distracted so easily…
Ooh, lookie, a boulder.
I floated closer to it, looking at it from all angles.
It was the first time I had seen any rocks in the whole forest.
It was a weird looking rock, shaped vaguely like an eye. As I looked closer, it seemed to shift, the iris turning towards me.
I poked it.
*crack*
The boulder suddenly cracked in twain, revealing a hole.
Or at least, it looked like a hole.
…and suddenly I was somewhere else.
(A/N: Remember that the ‘Ether’ is just a structure of the mind, so that’s why it’s different to Kaz’miel’s)
0-0-0
I had a body.
That was the first thing I realised when I ‘woke’ up. I hadn’t realised when I had been floating around as a soul, but being without a body whilst my soul was still damaged was… well, not good. I didn’t really know how to describe it. It was just a feeling of utter certainty, and yet I hadn’t noticed until now.
Had I been reincarnated? Why do I still have memories of being a soul? Is that normal for this new body? In fact, what is this new body.
I tried to wake up, or open my eyes, but nothing happened. I tried not to panic, maybe I’m a baby or something? I tried to feel my body instead, and suddenly something just clicked into place and I was…aware.
That was the closest word I could use to describe it. I wasn’t seeing what was around me, I wasn’t even sensing it. There weren’t any sensations that translated into any of the [Human] senses, it was just being aware.
Omniscient.
Maybe that was the word.
I instantly knew of everything in a few metres round me, from every crack and crevice to the last bit of moisture dripping into the folds of the moss scattered around the cave. The only blurry thing was the winged creature standing nearby. My mind strained under the awareness of all these things at once.
I shattered.
*IITIALIZING*
*TUTORIAL MODE ACTIVATED*
*SENTIENT BEINGS DETECTED WITHIN CORE CHAMBER – TIME DILATION ACTIVATED*
*ERROR*
*MULTIPLE SOULS DETECTED*
*...*
I panicked as my new found awareness disappeared, a short burst of…well, static is the best I could describe it, and suddenly I was in a white room.
I was back in my orb ‘body’, my sight somehow seeing it from a third person perspective, almost like I was in a game, seeing my player character from above and behind. Thankfully, this time it seemed my mind was not slowly degrading, though I felt I was still a little duller than I used to be.
The white room looked like it was in extra sharp high definition, with the corners of the room almost appearing black. I had appeared in one corner, while what looked to be a ghost had appeared in the corner to my right. The ghost was a gorgeous woman with a scar stretching from the top of her eye to just under her mouth. She was dressed like a Victorian noble woman, a flowing deep red gown, slightly washed out by her incorporeal state, that covered her from neck, with a wide collar, to her feet, where the dress trailed just above the ground.
The wall opposite us was taken up by a blue screen, currently blank.
The woman looked around calmly, slowly taking in the sights around her, methodically sweeping the room until her gaze came to rest upon me. I shivered slightly, bobbing up and down, as that cold gaze settled upon me. It was a stare that didn’t match her cute, almost childlike face. Her eyes matched with that look turned what should have been an innocent looking face into that of a predator.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
She started to glide towards me before abruptly stopping, something in the motion obviously making her notice her ghostly state, holding out her arm to inspect it.
“Sooo…any idea what’s happening, ghost lady?” I asked.
She jerked in surprise at my voice, honestly, I was surprised that I could speak as well, though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at anything anymore. I mean, I was seeing my ‘body’ in third person.
I wonder if I can make my voice surround sound…
Before I could try it out, the ghost lady replied “No, I am afraid not. I assume from your question that you do not either?”
At my affirmative nod bob, she carried on, “I think I am dead…” her face was still, not a hint of emotion to be seen, “I remember someone performing a devilish ritual on me, tearing out my soul.” She shuddered at this, the first show of overt emotion she had displayed so far.
“Hmm, me too” I said, not in surround sound, unfortunately, though I had tried. Probably best not to spook the woman, anyway. “Got my soul ripped out and half eaten by some demon chick.” She nodded thoughtfully, seemingly seeing the connection between us.
She also didn’t react to me calling the demon ‘chick’, so either she knows modern English vernacular, ignored it, or there is some kind of awesome translator happening automatically. Or there are some fluffy, yellow, demon chicks out there somewhere that can eat souls…
The screen suddenly *popped* and text started scrolling across it.
*GREETING SOUL, WELCOME TO THE TUTORIAL*
There was a louder pop than before, the room itself shuddering, causing me to hide behind the ghost lady who stood there as if this was perfectly normal.
*SENTIENT SOUL DETECTED; ADVANCED TUTORIAL LOADING…*
A loading bar appeared on the screen, with an hourglass above it that was slowly draining.
“I’ll be honest with you ghost lady, I didn’t imagine that death and reincarnation would be like this. And I’d like to think that I have a pretty good imagination.”
“Please stop calling me ‘ghost lady’. The name is Elmidia.” She said, looking vaguely annoyed.
“Okay, Elmidia...can I call you Ellie? I'm going to call you Ellie. You can call me Connie, I guess. Though in a new life, maybe I should change my name. New life, new person.”
“For some reason it only appears to be thinking that we are only one being, or ‘soul’ I guess. Maybe our damaged souls have confused this entity, somehow.” She mused.
“Yeah, I noticed, though didn’t it say ‘multiple souls detected earlier’. It would be trippy as ‘owt if we had to share a body, huh?” I replied, throwing in some more slang to see if she would notice, or the translation thing would glitch.
“It would indeed be concerning… perhaps this tutorial is the normal introduction to things, and as such cannot tell there are two of us. Speaking of which, what exactly ARE you? I was not aware that there were any sentient…orb like beings.”
“I’m human. Or was, I guess. Then my soul turned into this weird orb thing.” hmm, maybe I can turn into a ghost as well.
I focused on my orb, thinking variations of 'turn into my body' thoughts at it, hoping it would be as easy as that.
It wasn’t.
Not giving up that easily, I decided to try and change it a little bit at first. I 'pulled' with my mind, stretching it softly upwards. It worked!
Ellie looked concerned, "Are you okay, Connie?"
"Just Peachy" I grunted in reply, concentrating on pulling my body into a vaguely stick figure like shape, I managed to make a blobby head and body with long twiggy arms and legs before pausing, exhausted at the effort I had just expended.
I had no idea what to do next. I wasn’t particularly gifted artistically, and was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be able to mould it into what I looked like before. Or anything close, really.
So, instead, I decided that this was more than enough, and moved myself into the body I had just made. Suddenly, there was a snap, and I was in a body again. Specifically, my body. Though it was a little ghostly.
Yes! Finally back in my own body. It was surprisingly welcoming and comfortable. Like coming home after a long day and climbing into your own bed. Aaah. I stretched, and though the feeling was a little muted, it was the exact same as my old body. I looked at Ellie who looked a little bemused at the changes.
I leaned forwards and hugged her, snuggling into her body. I love hugging. It is so very comforting to have someone so close to you.
*ahem*
“What are you doing, Connie?”
“Hugging you…” duh.
“Could you let go now, please. This is getting to be rather uncomfortable seeing as we just met”
“Meh, fine.” I stepped away from her. “But, seeing as we may be sharing a body, shouldn’t we get to know each other a little bit better?”
Before I could get started in quizzing her, the blue screen popped again.
*CONGRATULATIONS!*
*YOU HAVE REINCARNATED INTO A DUNGEON*
“A dungeon? How the hell do you reincarnate as a medieval prison?” I thought aloud, confused.
“You do not have dungeons where you are from?” asked Ellie, “They are fairly common in Erastria, though I did not know they were living things with souls."
The blue screen continued on, it's previous words scrolling upwards, while new words appeared underneath.
*THE PURPOSE OF A DUNGEON IS TO GATHER THE WORLDS ORIGIN QI AND REFINE IT*
*THIS PURPOSE REQUIRES A SOUL TO GATHER THE ENERGY EFFECTIVELY AS WELL AS MAINTAIN EFFECTIVENESS*
*TO PREVENT THE SOUL FROM STAGNATION, AND ALLOWING FOR A GREATER DISTRIBUTION AND GATHERING OF QI, THE SECONDARY PURPOSE OF A DUNGEON IS TO CREATE AN AREA FOR THE SENTIENT BEINGS OF THE WORLD TO TRAIN AND GATHER RESOURCES*
“Hmm, well, that is new information. I was not aware of the real purpose of dungeons. Though, I suppose it makes sense when I think about how well known Dungeons are for the purity of the Qi inside them.”
“I’m still kinda stuck on how we are going to be a Dungeon. Or what a Dungeon actually is”
“Well, from general knowledge, dungeons are quite rare. They normally seem to be found in Qi rich areas, though, from what we have just learned, it appears those areas are Qi rich because of the dungeons, and not the other way around.”
She started to pace around while lecturing me. As she paced, I noticed that the blue screen had also paused, so maybe it was aware to a certain extent.
“Dungeons are usually used as a place to gather resources and treasures as well as being guarded by monsters.” She paused to see if I was paying attention. I merely looked at her with interest which prompted her to carry on.
“Now, from what this screen has told us, the reason for this seems to be a mixture of two things. One is that most sentient souls would get bored just refining Qi all the time. Secondly, using treasures to attract people and then have them fight is a good way to collect and refine the Qi faster. If people actively use Qi and their abilities, the surrounding Qi will also get denser, and after the dungeon delvers finish and move on, they will spread the Qi a little bit faster.”
“Interesting…though, I suppose the next question is how exactly does a Dungeon body work?”
“Now, that, I have no answer for.” She turned towards the blue screen, “Perhaps this tutorial will provide the answers…”
As if taking those words as a prompt, the blue screen continued.
*TO CARRY OUT THESE FUNCTIONS, YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED THE SKILL: [DUNGEON CREATION], AND [DIVINE INSTINCT] *
Skill name
Type
Description
[Dungeon Creation]
Divine
Grants access to the dungeon system. Allows owner of skill to create a Dungeon
[Divine Instinct]
Divine
Allows the user to have an instinctive mastery of most creation abilities, depending on race and class
*THIS ROOM IS KNOWN AS THE SYSTEM CHAMBER AND IS WHERE YOU MAY CONTROL YOUR DUNGEON FROM. YOU MAY ALSO USE THE INSTINCT PACKAGE TO ENTER YOUR DUNGEON IN SPIRIT FORM AND CREATE/MODIFY THE DUNGEON IN THAT WAY*
And with a pop, the screen disappeared.
“Well, that could have been a little bit more informative..” I sighed, looking at where the screen used to be.
I turned to Ellie, to see what she thought of this, only to find her staring into the air, with an entirely ‘un-Ellie’ look on her face.
“What is it, Ellie? Are you okay?”
“Yes, yes, I am fine…It is just, I cannot believe that I now have two Divine type skills.”
“What are you on about?” I asked, looking on as she stared at something only she could see.
She turned to me, looking curious, “Wait, do you not have the
“Err, nope!” I replied cheerily, “Wait. Did you say spell? Can you teach me?”
“Certainly, every being on Erastria is able to cast this spell. You merely have to focus on yourself, and say ‘show full menu’”
I immediately tried it, concentrating on myself and clearly speaking the spell, I had to restrain myself from squealing at the word, I was going to cast a spell!
Ahem.
I refocused, and said the words “
Name
Race:
Class(es):
Skills:
Titles:
Connie Scrimshaw
Dungeon
Dungeon (Lv.1),
[Dungeon Creation – Lvl. 1], [Divine Instinct – Lvl. 1]
Reincarnated, Twin Souled
Well, that was a shitty spell. And I still think it’s kinda weird to have dungeon as a race.