“I am telling you, Empathy [Rocks] is a Skill! You- No, YOU have had too much to drink, sir. Let me finish the telling. Was a man named Tommas who had the Skill. The way he says it, it were not even the Core Skill- got it from an Advancement. Says the stones would whisper to him and- NO, YOU SHUT UP!”
~Unknown
Normally, consciousness returned to me in blotchy increments, each one inching me closer to proper lucidity before I finally roused. Waking up after my first Advancement was an entirely different experience. Awareness returned to me all at once. My eyes snapped open and I jolted into an upright position. The familiar feeling of my feather-stuffed mattress did little to ease the surge of energy coiling in my limbs. The raw, dryness of my throat was an easily ignored distraction. I felt better than I ever had before, like I could run a million marathons then run a million more.
Just what is this?!
I felt a familiar pressure at the back of my mind, the one that let me know I had System messages waiting for me. I heard the faint scraping of a wooden chair in the main room and the thumping of footsteps. My own legs were bouncing, ready to spring into action and desperate to vent off some excess energy. Knowing my privacy was about to be interrupted, I quickly called upon the System to review the results of my Advancement. My eyes darted across the words like a frenzied hummingbird.
You have completed your first Advancement.
You have chosen Recovery and Taming [Dogs] as your first Advancement Skills.
To continue your advancement within The System please achieve a recognized proficiency of Level 20 in your Core Skill.
To continue your advancement within The System please achieve a recognized proficiency of Level 10 in your first Advancement Skills.
A pattern was emerging, but I wouldn’t be certain of it until I learned about subsequent Advancements. I summoned the window for Perseverance. The full details of the Skill, Augmentations and all, appeared before me. A quick glance revealed nothing new so with a mental flex I tried to condense it back into the proficiency point tracker. To my pleasant surprise, it worked.
Perseverance Level 10/20
Current proficiency points: 0/1000
Yeah… that’s going to take a while…
Before I could dwell on future prospects or new Skills, the door to my room burst open as Tina and Tulos practically jostled for pole position. Tina’s smaller frame won out as Tulos became blocked by the door frame, allowing her to zip into the room and pull me into a fiercely tight embrace.
“My Will! You are awake! How are you feeling? Are you hungry? You look hungry!” She gasped like she realized something horrible. “He must be thirsty! Love, you should fetch him some- No, I will fetch it. You two can talk. I am so pleased you are awake!” She punctuated every other word with a kiss to my cheek or forehead while inspecting me in the way doting mothers do. Despite those pauses, it felt like there was no room for interruption and like a whirlwind she departed, leaving Tulos and I alone in the room together. He watched his wife leave with a smile that shouted love and endearment louder than words.
“I am happy to see mom is back to normal,” I said with a weak chuckle. As Tulos walked into the room, Vigil padded close behind while shooting the occasional glance in Tina’s vague direction and-
“What happened to your face?!” I rasped, regretting the vocal strain immediately. I hadn’t properly processed the state Tulos’ was in until he’d gotten closer.
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“We can talk about it later, but I am fine,” Tulos replied through a bruised lip. The minor swelling around his right eye didn’t look fine either, but since Tina wasn’t making a big deal about it I decided to exercise patience.
Possibly annoyed at being ignored, Vigil decided to join me on the bed. I heard the wooden frame groan under his bulk, prompting an amused snort. “And it is good to see you too, Vigil.” I gave him a scratch in that one spot behind the ear he liked and he thanked me with a slobbery kiss to the face. If I wasn’t already wide awake, the accompanying blast of dog-breath would have done the trick.
“How are you feeling, Will?” Tulos asked, sending a quick look over his shoulder. We both knew his time to monopolize my attention would be limited. I hesitated before I responded, not sure how - well - me I should be. Was he expecting me to- “Your mother told me about the conversation you had. You can stop pretending around me, too.”
Oh thank System… Huh… when did I start defaulting to that one? I quickly dismissed the thought as irrelevant to the conversation but made sure to bookmark it for later.
“She told you about that? You and mom are not upset that I am not like the other kids?” It was a sincere question. I had always harbored some guilt about my situation, like I robbed Tina and Tulos of the parenting experience they should have had.
Tulos closed the final few steps between us and took a knee so he could wrap me in a hug of his own. I always felt so tiny when he did that, even though I knew I was big for my age.
“There is nothing to be upset about. You are our son and we love you. Follow whatever path you wish to walk and, should you fall, we will be there to carry you.” The thing about people of few words? When they do speak, those words always carry significance. For a long moment, I didn’t know how to respond, so I just leaned into the hug. It was the best kind of reminder that, even though an immense gulf separated me from the people I loved in my first life, I wasn’t alone in the second.
“Will, I brought you some water and- Sorry, am I interrupting your father-son bonding? I can wait. No, I changed my mind, I cannot wait. Stay right there!” Tina set down the cup of water she was carrying and rushed to dramatically join our embrace. Vigil huffed and tried to shove his head into the mix as well, setting off a shared round of laughter. I almost wished the moment didn’t have to end, but it did. We couldn’t hide from the harsher realities of life forever.
“Before I talk about myself, can you tell me about Jusep? Is he…” I let the question trail off.
“Jusep will make a recovery,” Tulos answered solemnly. I slumped when I noted the omitted word, the one I had been hoping to hear. A recovery was not the same as a full recovery. I didn’t bother asking for clarification. Tulos knew I’d seen the damage to, or rather, absence of those two limbs. He wouldn’t have been vague if the news was good.
“Good. That is… good.” There wasn’t really much more I could say. Jusep was alive which was a better outcome than anyone could have hoped for. The way he screamed was… Suddenly, it felt like I was back in that moment, paralyzed by fear, the wails of terror freshly drilling into my psyche. My breath started to quicken, and I felt a clammy chill settle over my body. I think Tina called out to me, but I didn’t hear her. I wasn’t there, I was in The Forest and-
The built-up energy in my core surged, Perseverance and the infant Recovery working in tandem to banish the specter of memory from my mind. As it released its grip, I came back to my senses and Tina’s panicked eyes as she shook me by my shoulders.
“Will. My Will? Love, what is wrong with him why-”
“I am okay, mum,” I said softly. She let go, albeit hesitantly, as if she didn’t quite believe me. I couldn’t blame her, I didn’t quite believe me either. “I did not mean to make you worry.” A tension hung over the room. Tina spun to look at Tulos. He gave her a small nod and her expression cracked. She was quick to compose herself and pull me into another hug, but I’d caught the significance of the exchange. “Can I still have that water?” Seeing her feeling sorry for me was harder than ignoring the problem. I silently thanked my Skills for the assist and pushed those memories deep, deep down. They were a problem for future Will.
Giving Tina a task seemed to help her fall back into a more natural rhythm. After finally slaking my thirst I decided I wanted to keep the conversation moving away from Jusep. Evidently it was all still too raw to tackle with any semblance of… I just didn’t want to talk about it.
“Would the two of you like to hear about my Advancement? Sorry, the three of you.” I’d almost forgotten to include Vigil in my question. The anticipatory looks I got from my parents told me everything I needed to know. Vigil just yawned.