Good Morning, Spirit Born Anew.
The light of life shines in your eyes.
+1 to all Body
+1 to all Mind
+1 to Soul
Your wandering has brought you far from home, and though the path was dark, see the experience your journey has wrought.
You are Level 4.
+1 to Agility
+1 to Vigor
+1 to Acuity
+1 to Intellect
Even the first and final steps are rewarded, though they do not make a full measure.
+Progress to next level
Your Spirit is untouched by class, calling, or creed. You have no tags.
*
Tori’s eyes opened, but just barely. The world was fuzzy, and little pinpoints of orange-y light gently pulsed all around her. She was surrounded by a loud ringing that seemed to be coming from inside her ears. Hard ground, maybe stone or packed dirt, lay beneath her. Her ribs were sore like she’d fallen asleep on the bathroom floor, and drawing in a dusty breath brought relief after a moment of tightness. The out breath came with a hard cough, and she tasted copper.
Even if it highlighted new issues, that breath gave life and focus. Her eyes fluttered open closer to full, and the pain she was in all over revealed itself as more than soreness. Her first instinct was right, the ground here seemed to be well-weathered stone pavers. The dark rock was flecked with tiny droplets of red immediately in front of her, and a web of fine frost coated everything around her, but was quickly beginning to melt away to nothing.
Her focus drifted upwards to the ring of lights around her. Each was a wax candle in the outstretched hands of a humanoid figure. She dragged her own hands up from her sides and placed them on the stones by her face, and began to push. Her body was weak though, and she shuddered with the little effort she managed. She looked up again, and one figure had stepped forward and held a hand down to her.
Tori was led out of the round stone chamber and down a hall. Two of the tallest of the people from the circle were on either side of her, with one of her arms draped over each of them for support. The person who had helped her to her feet was leading the little procession to one of several doors near the end of the hall. She didn’t get much chance to look around the hall or the room, as every step of that short journey was harder than the last, like more and more weights were being heaped on her back. They laid her on a bed, and she fell right to sleep.
*
Her head popped off the pillow and Tori was suddenly awake and aware. She was in an unfamiliar place. The fabric of the sheets was soft and smooth against her skin. That was a small comfort given her rising state of panic and confusion.
She turned her head and saw that she was alone. The room was about fifteen feet to a side, with sturdy wooden walls and a big rug in the middle of the floor. The only source of light was a ray of sunlight that fell through the thin curtains of a single window to her right. On a little table by the bed, which was made up with a quilt and several plush pillows, a leather-bound book of some kind was sat by an unlit candle.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Tori gave her fingers a cursory flex. When she found nothing wrong, she brought them up to her face, rubbed her eyes, and then pulled the blanket off of herself. As she sat up in the bed, she noticed that her soreness from yesterday was completely gone. She adjusted her body to put her feet on the floor. A distant chime sounded as she dug her toes into the fur of the rug.
She looked herself over. It didn’t seem like she had any big scars, so no stolen kidneys or whatever. In fact, she didn’t really see any scars on her body at all. The long one on her left forearm from… She couldn’t remember what that scar had been from, which led her to a new flurry of questions. Who was she? Why had her old injuries, and the memory of them, vanished? She knew her name, Tori, but shouldn’t there be more than that? She pulled at the shirt she was wearing and looked down at it, hoping to find something concrete in the physical world since her mind seemed to be failing her.
It was a soft, off-white shirt made of some kind of natural fiber and held together in front by little wooden toggles through buttonholes. The pants she wore matched it, and she could tell that she wasn’t wearing underwear because… Because she wasn’t. So at least one person had seen her fully nude while she was unconscious. She hoped it was a doctor or something, at least.
The door opened and Tori jumped to her feet. A head peeked around the edge of it, and she stared. Big, shiny eyes looked her up and down inquisitively. She stared at the top of their head, at a prominent and pointy pair of cat’s ears.
“A bright day, Chosen.” The cat-person said to the still stunned Tori. They stepped into the room gingerly and closed the door behind them with a soft click. They crossed the room to her, and Tori found herself leaning backward as those wide, curious eyes stared into her own and looked her all over.
“Uh.” Tori finally managed. The stranger simply grabbed her hand and held it up at shoulder height, then let it fall back to her side. It seemed satisfied with this.
“One more test, Chosen.” They said, and drew a needle from a pouch on their waist. They grabbed at her hand again, but Tori snapped to her senses then and jumped backward. She bumped into the bed, which was immediately behind her, and then scrambled up onto it and stood up against the back wall.
“Woa- Hey!” she shrieked, “I don’t like that! Who are you anyway?”
The cat-person balked for a split second before lowering the needle again and straightening up. “Forgive me, Julei. Forgive me, Chosen.” They took a large step back from the bed’s edge. “The others and I are excited for your healing to be done. I think it is, but I must make a final test, so please?” They held the needle up and held up a hand, but did not approach.
Tori gulped as she considered, and mentally chided herself for both her overreaction to the needle and for even considering what this total stranger was suggesting. She had no idea where she was, or who this cat-person was, or why they had a needle. It would be crazy to do anything but try to find a way out of this situation.
“W-what do you want to do?” Tori asked hesitantly.
The cat-person beamed at her tiny concession. “We must only see a drop of your blood on the needle, to see if the magic has faded.”
This person is a goddamn lunatic who wants to stab her and look for magic in her blood. Tori’s eyes grew wide and she scanned the room again. Two exits, one was the door this alleged doctor came in through, and the other was the window. The cat-person was in the way for either, but she might have a chance if she could juke them. She heard another distant chime as she made a quick decision and took her first step forward.
She was going to run for the door, since the last thing she needed was a gash from broken glass. She kicked off the edge of the bed and made it to the edge of the rug with her jump. Two more steps got her hand on the brass doorknob, and she hoped she was outrunning the cat-doctor. She yanked it open, and there was another person there.
Tori readied herself and brought her foot down to begin charging into the hall, and it hit gently and brought her nowhere. In fact, her whole self was beginning to slump as she held the doorknob tightly. The hooded figure in the hall had its right hand held up, and a smell like cinnamon washed over her as her emotions stilled and she began to fall asleep.
*
She didn’t sleep long this time. She was actually awake again before they had sat her onto the bedside again. The other figure plopped her onto the sheet, flipped her left arm over and presented her hand to the cat-doctor. Tori winced for an instant as the needle pricked her fingertip and a drop of blood welled up. The strangers looked at it, wiped it off with a little cloth one of them had, and that was that.
“Bet you feel like an asshole now.” The hooded stranger said in a soft, feminine voice. The doctor-cat gave them a gentle shove, and then both of them turned and left without another word.
She did, kind of, but what kind of bedside manner is it to just whip out a little needle? She had a lot to think about, regardless.