“There are records of children reaching their first Advancement before the age of five. Often this is when their Core Skills align with infantile or childlike behavior. I once interviewed a man with Movement [Crawling] as their Core Skill. The friendly race he had with one of my research assistants was, frankly, bizarre to behold. His reliance on the Skill stunted his development as a child since walking was an inferior means of locomotion when compared to the Core Skill… Wait, where was I going with this?”

~Unknown

Come on. Just like we’ve practiced. Nice and- fuck!

Arms and legs don’t respond well to positive reinforcement. They don’t respond well to bad reinforcement, either. Or any reinforcement, really, on account of them being arms and legs. The mounting frustration at my inability to move my limbs in sync with one another was getting to me. One arm would almost do what I wanted it to and the other would kind of do its own thing. Maddening. Seemingly ignorant to my efforts, Vigil’s chest rose and fell with each breath he took. I wasn’t expecting sympathy from the dog, but it would have been nice.

It was the day after our trip into town and we’d returned to our normal routine. I found it hard to accept that, after everything, I was back to watching Tina steadily work through her usual list of daily kennel chores.

A guy straight up used a magical orb to read my Core Skill yesterday. Why is this not a bigger deal? I grumbled mentally at the injustice of it all.

Back in the office it had felt like a big deal. Everyone’s reaction to my Core Skill was more visceral than I ever would have anticipated. Tulos’ reaction was especially intense. He practically shoved Hwan aside to get a personal view of the projected display emanating from the orb. In hindsight, it made me relieved that I hadn't chosen the Unnamed Skill… I could only imagine how that would have gone down.

What proceeded was a rapid exchange of questions, table thumping, and worried glances. Their conversation moved too fast and contained too many new words for me to accurately parse. My parents didn’t seem thrilled, though. I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d somehow fucked up.

On the surface, they’d returned to normal by the time we got back to the house. Still, something felt off and I had to assume it was linked to Perseverance. I spared a glance at Tina who was busy brushing Trunkle’s fur. It was normal for her to occasionally check up on me but it seemed like she was doing it more than normal that day. I sighed and pulled up my System screen.

Perseverance Level 1/10

Current proficiency points: 13/100

Four more points! Plus the three from yesterday makes for good ol’ thirteen.

I was exhausted by the time we returned home from the village yesterday. My lack of sleep the previous night and the excitement of the day had caught up to me. Before settling in for a nap I checked my Perseverance Skill screen and saw that it had gained an additional three proficiency points over the course of the day. I wasn’t sure what I did to earn them, unless my stubborn squirming efforts were enough to be recognized by the Level 1 skill. What I did know was that seeing my quantified progress was exciting.

Immediate validation of effort was one heck of a motivator. In my first life, I’d made an annual promise that I was going to start hitting the gym and subsist on chicken and broccoli. After a couple of weeks I’d barely notice any difference in my physique despite all the work I put in, then some new obsession would catch my eye and the cycle would continue. I was great at starting projects, not so much at finishing them. People critiqued our growing reliance on instant gratification, but you can’t argue with results.

Perseverance seemed to be recognized when I attempted something barriered by difficulty and made a conscious effort despite that barrier. I’d yet to feel that same surge of something like I had on the night I received the Skill. Surely there was more to having a Skill that I was missing, but it was a start. So, why the arm thing? I was sick of being immobile. Learning to crawl would give me an opportunity to start testing the current limits of Perseverance and a way to finally, finally, regain some of my agency.

Vigil shifted slightly and the rumble of a brewing bark traveled through his chest before he unleashed it upon the world. It was deep and resonant, just a single, attention-grabbing sound that put every other dog on high alert. Bones were dropped, ears were quirked and all was still. All was still, right up until the other dogs bayed in alarm. Tina paused her grooming of Trunkle - who wisely didn’t contribute to the cacophony - and frowned at the display before emitting a sharp whistle. It was the kind of piercing whistle that you normally saw people produce by sticking two fingers in their mouth. I’d never been able to figure out the trick to it. Tina could do it just by curling her tongue.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Silence.

That is still so freaking cool.

“Vigil, you should know better than to excite the pups like that,” Tina scolded as she began panning her gaze around the perimeter of the kennel to see what merited the alarm. Vigil huffed and settled back down. I could have sworn it was like he actually understood what she was saying sometimes.

“Tina! Hey!” A woman’s voice, muted by distance, reached my ears from somewhere behind me. I couldn’t see who was calling out, but I could see Tina as she clocked the source of the cheerful greeting. Her face flashed through a roulette of emotions before settling on pleasantly surprised.

“Zetta! Good afternoon!”

I felt the tension leave my body. Whoever Zetta was, Tina knew them and she was just a visitor. The thought made me tilt my head in idle consideration as something occurred to me. So far as I could tell, Zetta was going to be our first visitor since… ever. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered why more well-wishers hadn’t come to see Tina. She had, relatively speaking, just had a baby. I knew that taking a day off was probably an infrequent luxury in my new community, but still.

Unless of course they came during that first month or so…

It was a possibility. Remembering anything concrete from that time was still a shaky prospect at best. An extra indistinct blob peering into my crib here and there would have escaped notice. I tried not to prod at that sleeping bear of memories, knowing full well it was probably best I didn’t remember much about that time. I repressed that stuff for a reason.

Tina scooped me up and left the kennel to meet Zetta halfway. As we approached I noticed Zetta adorned her wrists with wooden bangles and wore a long, many-pocketed skirt. Tina didn’t wear jewelry, but she did have a small tattoo on her left collarbone. I caught a glimpse of it back before I was eating solids. I couldn’t help but compare the two women, enjoying the novelty of the meeting. Frankly, they looked remarkably similar…

Fuck, I am bad at this. They’re both.. I dunno, let’s say 25…ish. Zetta has shorter hair, I guess. Oh, Tina has green eyes to Zetta’s brown. Zetta’s face is rounder, maybe? A little?

Suffice to say, both women were beautiful in their own ways and I decided that accurately describing someone with words was tricky. Well, except for one person. I let the image of my fiancée come to mind, as beautiful as ever, she-

Wait… that doesn’t seem right.

Something about my memory of her seemed… off. Less distinct. That’s when it struck me. One of my biggest fears was coming to pass. I was forgetting what she looked like. Not the broad strokes, of course. Even though I’d had grandparents pass away years before I could still bring to mind their general image. Details faded though, and without the occasional photo reminder, maybe even the broad strokes would start to smudge.

“Oh my goodness, Tina! Look at your little Will! He has gotten so big!” Zetta began showering me with praise, but I barely paid it any attention. Tina had let the other woman hold and dote over me but it wasn’t long until she passed me back. My lack of reaction must have given her the wrong idea about my temperament. It was hard to care at that moment.

“So, what Core Skill did Will end up with?” Zetta’s tone bordered on conspiratory but didn’t sound sinister to me.

Wait. Core Skill! Perseverance! Maybe that can help me.

I thought hard about trying to remember. I wanted to remember the shape of her nostrils, the specific shade of colour in her eyes, all of the little details that made her unique and my favorite person in the whole world. I practically begged the Skill to help, wishing for something extraordinary.

There was no response.

The memory remained as it had; there, but not quite right. If Perseverance could help, it was beyond its scope as a Level 1 Skill. Maybe if I practiced, I’d-

“Will’s Core Skill is …” Tina had said more in the lead up to the revelation, but I hadn’t been paying attention. Honestly, I expected her to flat out refuse to answer. I’d have thought a Core Skill would be something private. Instead, she said the name of a Skill. I’d heard Hwan intone the name of my Skill a certain way when he said it, and I recognized that same shift when Tina spoke. Only… she didn’t say Perseverance.

It was probably the only thing that could have pulled me out of my spiral at the time. I shot a quick glance at Zetta who nodded thoughtfully at the answer before returning to her gab with Tina. I felt an uncomfortable pit settle in my stomach.

What did she say? … And why did she lie?

***

Tulos joined us shortly after and, to my welcome surprise, Zetta wasn’t dismissive of him. I was cradled in the crook of his elbow while Tina rushed to finish the last of her chores. The two of them made polite small talk and it wasn’t uncomfortable to my ears. Their body language was telling, especially Tulos’. I’d seen him on edge the day before. Compared to then, he was as casual as a cucumber.

She’s definitely a family friend, I concluded.

The topic of Skills didn’t come up again and when Tina was finished in the kennel the four of us retreated to the house where the adults continued their conversation. Given how close they all seemed to be, it made Tina’s deception all the more confusing and I couldn’t stop mulling it over. Once again, I found myself annoyed at the limitations of being a baby.

Fuck it. Six months.

Six months. It would double my age. It would be an extended rehash of my experiences to date except with fewer naps. It was also the upper end of what I believed I could handle, the extent of my patience and the longest I might be able to continue living in ignorance.

It was a commitment. By the end of the next six months I would be walking, talking and one step closer to figuring out how to preserve my memories and getting back home. It would be boring. It would be a slog. It was also a necessary first step.

Time to see if Perseverance is actually worth anything.