Pauley blinked, his mouth hanging half open, his mind still in confusion.

“Is his Talent a toolbox?” Amara asked for him.

“Yes.” Kaylen snapped back to her earlier self, and put her smile back on her face. “He has…what we would call an utility type Talent, which means that it’s going to be helpful in his day to day life.”

Amara nudged Pauley with an elbow, but didn’t receive any reaction. She then decided to speak on his behalf again: “And why is ten the biggest number for Talents?”

“Oh no, it’s not the biggest.” Nick said. “Kaylen? Care to practice your speech again?”

“Yes, mister.” Kaylen replied. “So Pauley—and Amara, the numbers we use here aren't quite the same as what you might have learned about before. Talent points are a rough way to measure how good someone is at using their Talent. For example, a person who has a gardening Talent with three Talent points is usually less good at gardening than someone who has five Talent points, do you understand?”

“Because five is bigger than three?” Amara asked.

“Exactly.”

“So Pauley’s better because he got ten, and ten is bigger than five?”

“Uh, yes and no…” Kaylen answered vaguely, but before she could adjust the small misunderstanding, Pauley came to his senses, and asked: “So what can I do now?”

“Well, you see, everyone has a different take on their Talent, and I can’t say what you can and can’t do before you figure it out for yourself.” Kaylen answered again patiently. “What I can tell you though, is that you have the best score out of everyone that was here today, and if you want to put your mind into using your toolbox Talent, you’ll be great with it in no time.”

Pauley gave her a somewhat toothless smile, then said: “So can I have my things back?”

The mayor wordlessly stuffed everything he collected off the ground into Pauley’s arms, then gave him a light slap on his head: “You’re still grounded.”

“NOOO—”

Nick awkwardly cleared his throat while Pauley was screeching in anguish. After the lamenting noises were over, he gently put one hand on the mayor’s shoulder, and reminded him that there’s one more child that has yet to have Talents awakened.

Amara took a look at the mayor, and smartly pressed her lips together to stop herself from screaming out loud like Pauley. She walked to the orb stand by herself, her steps even and steady, but her fingers were pinching the fabric on her dress, exposing how nervous she felt.

“Just relax now, nothing to worry about.” Nick followed her to the orb, leaving Kaylen to observe this final ceremony process and the mayor to silence Pauley using the hand-over-mouth method. “You saw how everyone else did it today, right? There’s nothing to be scared about.”

“B-but…” Amara stuttered.

“Yes?”

“What if I have a bad Talent? W-what if Pauley’s Talent is better than mine?” Amara said, almost on the edge of tears from nerves.

“Amara, dear.” Nick smiled. “There’s no such thing as a ‘better Talent’. Working hard with what you’ve got and persevering are a lot more important than the number of points you start with.”

“Really?”

“Can’t be more honest. Are you ready?”

Amara nodded, then put both her hands on the surface of the orb.

Almost immediately, the orb began to emit a faint glow of light from its center. Amara felt the orb tremble underneath her palms, its surface turning from a cool, smooth texture into a hot soft material that sank underneath her hands and burned her skin. Through some strange force, she couldn’t resist pulling away, or even blink as the orb glowed brighter and brighter in front of her eyes.

“…unheard of… almost petrified…listen…pull her back…”

Nick’s voice sounded distant, and Amara could barely understand the words he was saying. Finally, after what seemed like both a minute and an eternity, Amara could feel her eyelids drooping, and she closed her eyes without a second thought.

…

“Hello? Uh, anyone home?”

Amara had no idea how much time had passed since she last saw anything, but when she opened her eyes, she was staring at a seemingly endless gray void, instead of the town hall’s patterned ceiling like she’d expected. There were no differences in the color and direction within this peculiar space, and she felt that she wasn’t standing on anything, even though she was staying upright. She held her breath for a moment, then discovered that she didn’t need to breathe.

She was certain she had never been in this place before, and the feeling of missing certain senses appeared to be quite fascinating to her. Before the novelty wore down, however, Amara noticed that the void in front of her seemed to turn to a shade of light green, except a silhouetted area of herself. Assuming that there’s a light behind her, Amara turned around to look behind, and was almost blinded by a bright orb of green light that hovered right around eye level.

‘Ow!’ Amara stumbled back, shielding her eyes with her arm. Tears streamed down her face from the shock, and she could still see spots of flashing green light behind her eyelids.

My apologies.

The orb of light shrunk in size, dimming down its brightness to a more eye friendly level. Amara, after rubbing her face with her sleeve and recovering from the flash, finally realized something was off.

‘Did…did you just talk to me?’ With one eye carefully squinting at the orb and the other still covered with a hand, Amara asked aloud.

Yes, I did.

The orb pulsated at a steady pace, matching Amara’s heartbeat perfectly. The voice it emitted was less like a voice spoken out loud, and more like an audible thought sent directly into Amara’s head. It did not have a tone that could be described as feminine or masculine, though it sounded quite pleasant regardless.

‘Who’re you? Why’re you here? What’s this place?’ Upon finding something to talk to, Amara immediately jumped to asking questions, as she tended to do so normally.

Well, these are all good—

Before the strange orb could finish another sentence, a loud whooshing noise interrupted it, followed by a dull thud as Amara felt something bounce off her head.

Another orb of light, similar in size to the first, zoomed into sight and came to a sudden stop in midair, right beside the other orb. Unlike the first orb, however, this one emitted a dark purple glow, and was thus easier for Amara’s eyes to adjust to its light.

Hey there, nice to meet you.

The second orb also had the ability to ‘talk’. Its voice was also androgynous in timbre, though somewhat harsher than the first’s, making their voices easy to distinguish.

You’re here too? Don’t you hate these long talks the most? The first green orb sounded surprised as it addressed the second.

Can’t miss the first day. The second purple orb replied.

‘You know each other?’ Amara asked.

Why, yes. The green orb said. Actually, I believe that you deserve a long explanation, and a long overdue one at that.

‘…Me?’

Yes you, Amara. Do you like stories?

‘Yes! Wait, how did you know my name?’

That’s where the story comes in, kid. The purple orb said. It’s a little too long for me to explain it all, though. Look at the other orb.

So, do you know about deities? The green orb took over the conversation.

‘Like, gods?’ Amara thought for a moment. ‘I hear gramps say please ‘n thank you to ‘em a lot.’

…Interesting. Anything else?

‘They’re people that’re the best at their Talent, and live long enough to be the best at it no matter how many others have the same thing?’

That’s enough knowledge for your age. Now, for a proper introduction—I’m the Deity of Life. Or used to be.

‘…What?!’ Amara dropped her jaw. ‘You…deity? Life? Am I dead? Did I go to—’

Hey, hey, you’re not dead. Yet. The purple orb chimed in. Also, I was the Deity of Destruction.

You’re going to scare her. The green orb, or the self-proclaimed Deity of Life, said.

You said your title first!

‘Why’re you two here?’ Amara was more curious than terrified. Two orbs of light that could float and talk to her didn’t seem threatening, and were just strange enough for her to believe they were at least related to deities or gods.

Well, to put it mildly—we’re dead.

Mildly?

Would you like to do this talk then?

No thanks.

Anyway, Amara, the lights you see in front of you right now are just…thoughts that our own selves saved up before we were gone. The reason why we are here is because this place is your own mind.

‘I have a big brain?’ Amara reached upwards and touched her head. It felt normal to her, with no signs of swelling or growing a second head from her neck. ‘How am I here then?’

You were awakening your Talent, right?

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

‘Yeah.’

Something is…wrong with your original Talent because of us, and so we wanted to meet you first and let you know, before you go back to reality.

‘Something’s wrong?! Where? Why?!’ Amara panicked. She wanted to know her Talent ever since she’d known about them, and she was not ready to hear that her Talent wasn’t going to show up.

So… The Deity of Life hesitated at its word choices. We came to you just when you’re about to be born, not on purpose—and, well, you had a Talent.

‘Had?!’

It was…not good. The Deity hesitated again. It’s completely gone now.

Amara stared at the green orb with wide eyes, her entire being frozen still. Then, without warning, she started bawling her eyes out.

Oh, great. I thought you were going to be gentle. The Deity of Destruction spoke up again. Because its voice seemed to be sent straight into Amara’s head like an actual thought, the words were not interrupted by crying sounds.

It’s been a while since I’ve dealt with a child, alright? Feel free to speak more, if you think you can help her more.

Both orbs remained silent until Amara was exhausted from her sobbing. She sniffled, wiped her face clean by herself, then with a few hiccups, breathed out some words: ‘What…what happened to it?’

I think you can do better, actually.

The Deity of Life made a noise that sounded like a loud sigh, then went back to explaining: As I said, this place is your mind. When we got here at first, you had something that was eating this place away, so we had to fight it out.

‘Really…?’

No lies. We both worked to make this place bigger after it was gone, but it looked like it was the only other thing besides us three in here, so it was definitely your original Talent.

‘Why are you guys in my mind then? And…and, don’t I have a Talent anymore?’ Amara calmed down enough to ask questions again, even though she can’t really understand everything the Deity has said.

We are not sure why we are in your mind, or even why we haven’t disappeared. From what I could tell, we can exist like this as long as we’re with you. The Deity of Life told her. As for your Talent, well, you now have two.

Amara was dumbfounded.

Yep, that’ll be us, two godly beings and powers instead of one something. Aren’t you excited? The Deity of Destruction said.

Give her time to think.

‘…Why?’ Amara felt her mind becoming fuzzy with the mess of information and emotions that she had been taking in.

Whatever the reason, you still lost your Talent because of us, so it’s only natural that we both give you one back. Also, we’re probably going to disappear if we leave your mind anyway, so consider it as us paying rent, if you know how that works.

Amara sat down and put her head in her hands—she willed herself into a sitting position, and somehow managed to do so without lowering her body down to a surface of some kind. After what seemed like hours of thinking, she finally felt like she had an idea of what had happened.

‘Okay, so, I have two Talents.’

That is correct.

‘I saw two gods and they talked a lot to me.’

Fragments, technically, but yes.

‘I have them in my brain.’

If you must put it that way, also yes.

‘They made my mind really big.’

It’s for your Talent points and future educational sessions…actually, whatever.

‘Huh?’

Nothing you need to understand right now. Do you have questions, though?

Amara stared blankly at a random spot in front of her. ‘I don’t know if I can remember all these…’

No problem, we’re here all the time, literally. Unless you want us to go.

‘No, no.’ Amara may be overwhelmed, but she knows she wouldn’t miss out on two Talents or have the guts to chase out literal deities from her own mines . She hasn’t seen or heard of anything remotely close to what she’d experienced, and she’s decided for now that the two orbs were honest. ‘Can I leave, then? Gramps ‘n Pauley’s gonna be worried.”

Of course, just try to picture yourself opening your eyes and waking up. When you want to be back, imagine how this place looks like right now without thinking about anything else, and you’ll be here.

Amara didn’t forget her manners. ‘Thank you.’

You took this better than I expected.

‘Oh! Do you guys have names?’ Right before she decided to go, Amara remembered something really important. ‘Or something I should call you?’

The two orbs suddenly turned dimmer.

No.

We once had many names, but as mere remnants of thoughts, we don’t remember any.

‘Can I call you Princess Hog?’ Amara turned to the purple orb.

Rejected. Do not. Why do you even have such ideas.

We are but mere ideologies, but worshippers used to believe that Destruction was a male deity, so he was used to not being a Princess. The green orb quickly explained to Amara before she had time to be upset. Life was a different story, but that’s for another time—you should return to reality now.

As soon as that sentence was completed, Amara found herself suddenly sitting upright in her own bed, with several worried yet surprised faces staring at her in unison.

…

A brief moment of stunned silence later, everyone began to talk at the same time.

“Lie down! Lie back down!” The mayor yelled in panic.

“Are you feeling alright?” Nick asked.

“Are you okay?!” Kaylen’s higher pitched voice pierced through the others’ voices.

“You look weird.” Pauley commented.

“What?!” Amara noticed the last sentence first.

The mayor resorted to actions and tucked Amara back into bed, forcefully interrupting any conversation straying further from the important issue: “How ye head feelin’? Ye just collapsed on the floor n’ got us all waitin’ for ye to wake up!”

“I…how long’s it been?”

Amara was about to confess about her two new acquaintances, but as soon as she had the thought, she heard a voice in her own mind stopping her: Don’t talk about us.

“It’s almost midnight.” Pauley said. “This is the latest I’ve been up ever!”

“This is serious.” Nick said. “You not only passed out from just awakening your Talent, but you also managed to break the equipment with it as well.”

“Right, ‘bout that. How much do I—” The mayor asked as he reached for his pocket.

“No no, the cost is covered, and we have a backup.” Nick hurriedly rejected the mayor’s attempt at compensation. “We do need to know the reason why this incident occurred though, and we need to report it to the higher ups.”

“Of course, of course.”

“Could it possibly have something to do with her age? She’s pretty young on the age spectrum.” Kaylen asked.

“Probably not. There’s been cases of children who have awakened earlier than she has, and were completely normal during and after the process.” Nick frowned.

The mayor followed up with more questions: “Did they look different though? Nick, have you seen anythin’ like this?”

Pauley grabbed a small mirror and held it up above Amara’s face. The latter gasped in shock.

I really didn’t mean for it to happen.

I promise we’ll explain, but for now, please still don’t mention us, especially to those two strangers.

Amara’s messy bed hair had grown a few noticeable strands of purple, in the exact shade as the orb who claimed to be the Deity of Destruction. Her eyes, which were blue before, are now bright green, just like the orb that’s the Deity of Life.

‘Why?’ She thought to herself.

It may be…or definitely because of us. We might be just a tad bit too self aware after the Talent awakening, and it changed you…a bit, physically.

Free protagonist upgrade. The Deity of Destruction quipped. Zero side effects too.

Now’s not the time, Destruction!

As Amara’s mind held a small group chat, the adults’ discussion continued as well. Nick had produced another transparent orb, although smaller than the one that Amara had used before.

“…so it seems like the best thing we can do now is to have her try again. Amara, if you can, could you try to put your hands on this?”

Although Nick was simply asking with his words, his actions were straightforward, and he had already put the orb into Amara’s hands before his sentence was finished.

The orb lasted for about two seconds, flashing a weak light from its interior, before breaking into two pieces.

The whole room fell silent once more.

Oops. Destruction’s voice rang in Amara’s head, though without much sincerity.

“Ahem.” Kaylen broke the awkwardness by bringing out a smaller version of the stone slab used for testing points. “How about we try this instead?”

Amara put down the remnants of the orb, took the stone slab with both hands, then noticed that the adults were staring at the surface using identical vacant stares.

“…what’s going on?” She asked both in her head and aloud.

The slab, as if it had some sort of director’s cue, broke into pieces in her hands right then.

“This…has to be impossible, right? It’s a technical malfunction, right?!” Nick muttered under his breath as he continued staring. “I’m not going to be fired, right?”

“A score of twenty?!” Kaylen scratched her head while maintaining eye contact with the broken shards on Amara’s bed.

The mayor instinctively swept the sharp pieces away from Amara with a hand. “And how much will these two things be?”

“No.” Nick said. “I mean, no need to worry. I mean, it’ll go on the reports and, and then the authorities…”

“She didn’t do anything else wrong!” Pauley objected while waving the mirror in his hand. “Why‘d you report her?”

“Oh, she’s not in trouble.” Kaylen comforted him. “It’s just…she has a really special case going on with her Talent, and we’re going to need more help figuring out what it is, so we have to tell other people about her.”

“Right, right.” Nick still seemed to be in a daze. “Me and Kaylen would need to leave soon.”

“Now? ‘Tis too late for travel now, innit?” The mayor said.

“We still have five towns to go around here, and we also need to get new equipment before going. The sooner we go, the faster we can get back and let specialists come here for diagnostics too.” Nick explained.

“Stay the night, it’d be no hassle, me wife’s comin back any time now and we—”

“Thank you, mister, but our next ceremony is scheduled tomorrow morning, we really need to go.” Kaylen explained.

“Then get a ride from us, it’s prolly past the time for anythin’ else!”

“Thank you again, but we’ll be fine, mister.” Kaylen smiled at the mayor, then turned to the kids. “Sorry to keep you up, Pauley, and rest well, Amara. May both of you sleep tight tonight.”

The kids muttered goodbyes, and the mayor escorted the duo out of the room. Pauley took advantage of this opportunity to whisper to Amara: “What did you go through? I saw you go quiet, I know you’re hiding something.”

Amara widened her eyes. After a brief pause to check if anyone in her mind was going to stop her, she leaned towards Pauley and told him: “I got two voices in my head.”

“Is that it?” Pauley asked.

“That’s it, young man.” The mayor came back into the room and picked up Pauley by his clothes. “Time for ye to go home, you two’s gon’ talk tomorrow, no matter what it is.”

“But—“

“I know your bedtime!”

Amara curled up in her bed as she watched Pauley get dragged away by the mayor. She waited until the footsteps faded, then closed her eyes, and imagined the void space where she saw the two mysterious orbs.

She soon felt a sense of being pulled down towards the ground, and as she opened her eyes, she did indeed see the two different orbs of light again.

However, she also noticed that there were two new puddle-like areas within the void, each seemingly filled to the top with the same glowing matter the orbs consisted of. As Amara looked at them, the puddle with green matter expanded in size, growing until it was roughly the size of Amara’s bed in reality. The purple puddle simultaneously shrunk down, until it was no bigger than the size of her own hand.

‘What are these?’

Your Talents.

Don’t be so vague on her. Life chided. Amara, these are your energy resources for when you use your Talents.

‘What does that mean?’ Amara isn’t shy about asking questions.

Remember Talent points? Those are just numbers to roughly describe how much of these energy resources you have. That’s why the more points you have, the stronger and better you are at using your Talent, because you have more energy to spend on it. Normally you’d have to let someone guide you on how to find it within yourself first, but we just decided to pool up your energy right here so you can skip the process.

As it explained, the green orb floated right over the green puddle, and seemed to have pulled up a small stream of the liquid-like energy. Want to try using some of it first?

Amara walked towards the puddle expectantly, then gasped as soon as she touched a drop of energy. It felt like she just poked herself on her arm, except that she knew her other arm wasn’t made of green water.

With that thought popping up in mind, Amara then imagined that she was going to move this new, green water ‘arm’ like she would with her real limb. To her surprise, the little stream of energy really waved like an arm; but unlike the actual thing, the drops splashed unstoppably onto her face.

Not bad, you already figured out how to make use of the power. Destruction commented, though the orb sounded like it was holding back a laugh.

‘But I didn’t want to get it on my face!’ Amara complained.

It’s your first time after all, you’ll get better. Life is notably more gentle in its use of words.

‘What about this energy, then?’ Amara wiped her face, then reached for the smaller puddle of purple energy.

No no! Destruction’s voice immediately sounded anxious. You shouldn’t touch that yet!

Amara pulled her hand back with a shudder. ‘Why?’

Did you not remember my name? Don’t meddle with stuff related to me, unless you want to lose a hand for free.

Destruction! Be nice. Life scolded again. He’s correct, however, you’re not going to be able to control that energy, Amara. None of us here want you to get hurt.

Amara backed away from the fist-sized purple puddle.

And since we’re talking about this, Life continued. It’s probably for the best that you don’t mention us, or the fact that you have a second Talent, to anyone.

‘Why?!’ Amara gasped. ‘I thought you’d want to meet Gramps and—‘

Well, about that…

We only exist in your head, and can’t really go anywhere. You probably don’t want to look weird telling everybody that you hear voices that can only talk to you, right?

It’s also for safety. Unfortunately, not everyone in the world will like that you have two Talents. You’re also not able to fully control two Talents yet either, and it’ll be dangerous if you accidentally hurt someone you don’t mean to.

But on the other hand, when you can control both Talents, just imagine using both at the same time, and imagine how many praises and—

Stop giving her the wrong ideas! Life sounded exasperated.

Amara blinked in confusion.

Excuse me. What I…we are trying to say is, there’s nothing good out of revealing everything about yourself right now. So, can you keep a secret?

‘Did you mean…you two don’t want me to tell people ‘bout you two? And only say there’s one Talent? That’s all?’

…if you put it that way, yes.

‘Okay!’

Amara didn’t quite understand the reasons the orbs gave out for her to keep quiet about them, but she knew that they were nice to her, and they didn’t want to be known; that was all the reasons she needed to comply with what the orbs asked. Plus, at her age, the idea of knowing something nobody else could was novel enough to make her stick to her word.