Yggdrasil Fallen, LitRPG Series
Book 1, Part 1: Obsidian
Chapter 27: Schism
It had been 6 hours since Andre crashed back into the oversoft bed when he found himself quite literally peeling himself out of the blood-soaked sheets. Morning light piercing through the room, splintering his fitful dream state and rousing him to a hot shower, where much to his surprise his right shoulder still burned and oozed blood despite several castings of Blissful Rain. After his shower he inspected the room, searching for signs of Andastrea’s late night visit, alas he found none; not even the pool of his own blood in the chair where she marked him had seemingly evaporated into the still night air. Having given up the hunt for clues Andre ate a small breakfast where he realized his supplies were running low. He resigned himself to restocking essentials from the main floor of the depot after he pushed himself through a morning training session.
Back in front of the antiquated keypad a fully geared Andre stared at the options before him. The “Advanced” option seemed to glow with an almost ominous hue, sending waves of trepidation through him. Reaching almost hesitantly out to press on that selection ALIAS stopped him:
“I don’t think that is such a good idea, having only recently completed the “Moderate” enemy spawns of the simulator I feel you may need a bit more experience before moving on to “Advanced”.”
“I mean, I completed it… don’t you think I’m skilled enough to move onto something a bit more advanced?” He asked, seemingly still in a post sleep fog.
“I calculate your chances of success to be on par with that of a dudebro not being a complete douche at the local college bar after several shots of Yaegermeister. Quit being a dumbass and exercise yourself within your actual skill level.” ALIAS shot back.
“Fuck off man. Gotta push myself if I’m going to get stronger.” Andre replied, as he reached out to press the “Advanced” option, which responded with a quiet hum and a loud “Ding” as the door slid open, allowing access. Crossing the threshold into the room he found himself stepping through a thickly wooded area cast in deep shadows. Barely visible between the tightly packed trees he could see the shockingly realistic simulated sun just dipping below the horizon. Around him swirled fluffy pale blue motes of faintly shimmering light, no bigger than the head of a puffed-out dandelion. Taking a cautions step forwards, the balls of light reacted: shooting a head of him where they began to adhere together, forming a lumpy, luminous mass.
“Uh… shit? ALIAS, what exactly am I looking at here?” He muttered.
“It appears to be a “Dryadic Dusk Elemental”. These creatures tend to be highly resistant to Aspected energies across the board. Though, this may be a great opportunity for you to test out your new “Radiant” abilities, as its name denotes: it may have a weakness to light-based attacks. Experimentally, Andre held up his hand in the direction of the elemental and cast “Light of Judgement”. A brilliant beam of pale-gold wrapped with filaments of orange light shot from his palm, striking the elemental; where it bounced off and struck a nearby tree.
“Well, huh. I guess you’re kinda fucked. These things are immune to physical damage as well… They’re usually passive, but once provoked they’ll relentlessly pursue any perceived enemy until all aspect energy and life force have been fully drained.” ALIAS said.
“Hold up! You mean to tell me that I might have been able to just pass this thing by in pursuit of the real enemies of this simulation?” Andre roared back, as the creature began to resonate with a sickly purple light. With a gust of wind Andre found himself peppered with dense globules of sticky matter that immediately began to melt and sink into any exposed skin.
“Alert: You have been afflicted with “Aspect Leeching Toxin”. All pools of aspect energy will be slowly drained by the caster of this spell.”
“Alert: You have been afflicted with “Corporeal Drain”. Your life force is being slowly drained by the caster of this spell.” Waving away the alert boxes, Andre found himself facing 3 more of the Dryadic Dusk Elementals, all glowing with the same purplish light.
“Shit!” Andre yelled as he ducked behind a wide, nearby tree as several more barrages of the sticky masses flew past. Breathing heavily, his head pounding Andre popped open his character interface only to be shocked to find that not only were his Aspect Energy pools, or “Mana Pools” as he’d renamed them almost completely empty, but also his health had been depleted by almost half. He slumped to the ground, back to the tree as he groaned in pain as the room around him flickered and a “SIMULATION FAILED, Status Effects removed” box popped into his view.
“I told you that sticking with Moderate level was appropriate until your skills advance a bit more.” ALIAS mockingly spat out. Laying flat on the stone ground, gasping for breath it took everything he had to reply:
“Go fuck yourself ALIAS.”
It took Andre almost a full hour to recover from the simulated encounter, after which he found himself wandering around the armory on the midfloor with both his remaining coupons lightly clutched in his hand.
“A compact combat pack would be nice, since I lost my back country bag in that last dungeon.” He found himself thumbing through various makes and sizes of bags looking for one of the right color and size.
“It can’t be too big, don’t want it hindering my movement with its bulk, but it would be nice to have at least a couple days’ worth of food and water, plus room for materials.” He thought to himself, lamenting the loss of all the monster loot, and coinage he’d left at Silderson’s complex. It was another 30 minutes of digging through bags of all shapes and sizes when a familiar pale translucent shimmered into existence before his eyes. Reaching out he picked up the bag the dot had appeared over; his identification ability activating almost immediately:
*Item: “Field Satchel of the Deep Void”: This single strap, compact field satchel was created in an aspect forge to allow storage of a significantly increased number of items, while drastically reducing their weight. Its design eliminates equip burden preventing the mobility inhibiting effect of most carrying sacks. Enchantments greatly reduce wear/tear/field damage. Rarity: Epic, Quality: Rare, Value: 20 Silver Aspect tokens, Aspect: Shadow/Gale, Durability: 1500/1500.*
“Uh, yes please… but holy shit that things expensive! Good thing I have this coupon.” Andre muttered as he held out the coupon guaranteeing a free bag of his choice when the familiar box popped up:
“Exchange “Free Bag Coupon” for “Field Satchel of the Deep Void”? Y/N” Andre assented and another box followed up as the coupon crumbled to powder and wafted away:
“Congratulations! You have obtained “Field Satchel of the Deep Void”!” Nodding with extreme satisfaction he slung the pack over his shoulder, the strap crossing his chest; right shoulder to left hip, it seemingly fading into his form as though he wasn’t wearing it all. Focusing his eyes, Andre peered around the space, searching for anymore of the translucent white dots he had completely forgotten existed as a thing. He spied another dot, laying buried on a table hidden amongst clothing racks. Pushing his way through to the table Andre picked up a leather object that resembled the sleeve of a fat, overlarge long-sleeved shirt. Its light brown smooth texture had a sleek flexibility to it. One end had been tightly sealed with close stitching, overlapped with leather weavings. The opposite end came to a tight point, a piece of bone carved to resemble a mouthpiece tightly tied into it. The entirety of the leather sleeve had elongated runic carvings etched into it, shimmering a deep ocean blue.
*Item: Waterskin of Unending Supply”: Blessed with Aqua aspected energies, this waterskin provides a considerable supply of fresh water. Can be recharged/refilled with a single Brass Piece charged with Aqua Aspected Energy. Rarity: Uncommon, Quality: High, Value: 1 Bronze Piece, Aspect: Aqua, Capacity: 0/2000.*
Pulling the single Bronze Piece out of his pocket, he dropped it into a porcelain bowl atop a nearby pedestal with an antiquated “Pay Here” sign hung on it where it vanished in a puff of acrid smoke.
“Congratulations, you have obtained “Waterskin of Unending Supply”!”. He moved to flip his new field pack around to stash the waterskin. He stopped for a moment, taking a Brass Piece out of his pocket, he pressed it into the center of the runic markings, where it glowed blue, lighting up the etchings along the skin. The pouch began to faintly glow slowly growing lightly heavy in his hands. Flipping it up he took a deep long draw from the mouthpiece, his mouth flooding with cool refreshing, almost sweet water.
“Holy shit this thing’s amazing! Thank you, ALIAS, for highlighting it! At least so long as I have some money, I don’t have to worry about running out of fresh water now.” He thought to himself, untying the cinched leather opening the over large mouth of the satchel before slipping the skin in weight vanishing with it. Taking a long look at the last coupon in his hand he found himself wondering:
“What exactly constitutes an accessory? If this were a video game this coupon would only work on things like rings, bracelets and necklaces… I’m sure as shit not going to be wearing any earrings.”
“It may perchance work for the purchase of a cloak, cape or any other type of protective back “accessory”.” ALIAS remarked with muted sarcasm.
“Hey! That’s actually a great idea! A depository of shit like this may proffer something else of great use! Not that I’ve actually even seen any “Capes” or “Cloaks” around here. Dafuck you think I am, some dollar general Dr. Strange?!” Andre shot back.
“Look to your right, jackass.” ALIAS replied. Much to his dismay, upon turning to look in the brightly lit room Andre saw a full wall of both cloaks and capes hung like bargain bin clothes in a thrift store. Without saying a word he began sifting through the myriad of options, almost all of them normal or common quality. Another hour of browsing later he’d reached the end of the rack, frustrated at having not found a single suitable piece of equipment Andre slumped to the ground, his head hanging in defeat staring at the piece of paper in his hand, almost mocking him.
“Perhaps it would be best for you to give up the search, just because you have a coupon, does not mean you have to spend it now, or even at all. My suggestion would be to give it a break, go shop for your consumable supplies and get some rest before an afternoon session in the training facility.” ALIAS gently spoke.
“I would… but I just feel like I’m close to something here… like if I push on ill find something great!” Andre stuttered out.
“What I believe you are experiencing is called the “Gamblers Fallacy”. While you are not whittling away your currency, you are wasting an inordinate amount of time. It is time to cut your losses and get on with your day. Possibly consider an earring.” ALIAS wryly answered.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“You’re probably right… I quite literally can’t afford to waste anymore time on something that’s just…not… huh? What’s that?” he asked, sliding his hand under the shelf railing only to pull out a tattered cloak, more shredded thread than functional equipment. The translucent identification dot that had originally grabbed his attention flashed and flickered like a failing lightbulb.
*Item: “????”: ???? Rarity: Unique, Quality: Unique, Value: ????, Aspect: ????, Durability: 2/20,000.*
“Huh, this thing’s pretty fucked… but it is Unique rarity… should I?”. Andre thought to himself, and before he could make a decision the coupon clutched in his hand crumbled to dust and drifted to the floor.”
“Congratulations! You have obtained ????.”
“Well.. fuck. I guess that decision was made for me.” He groaned, staring down at the garment that was little more than rags in his hand.
“I highly doubt it has enough Aspect durability remaining to survive a cycle through the repair services, but it may be worth a shot. It seems you have found quite the item there.” ALIAS squeaked. Standing in almost a daze, Andre made his way down to the first floor where he deposited the nearly destroyed item in the machine to be repaired, paid is token and closed the lid.
“Holy fuck balls! 3 Days on the repair timer?!? My entire armor set only took a couple hours! What the hell man. Ahhhh well, since I’m here, I may as well get my grocery shopping done.” He muttered to himself before setting out through the aisles.
His wallet much lighter, his pack a bit heavier than when he set out and the sun beginning to reach its apex, he made his way back to the room he’d been staying in. Where he showered once again, relishing the high pressure and controlled heat of the water. Not long after he found himself sat at the table, mulling over his discussions with Andastrea the night before. She had encouraged him to not linger where he was too long, he surmised this was because the worlds continued to turn despite him no longer existing in them.
“While this place is a literal haven, she’s right. This money won’t last forever and at the very least I’ll need to be able to eat. At best, I may be able to squeeze out a week with my remaining coin without touching the packs stockpile. I’ve got a long ways to go to ready myself for whatever lays in wait for me out there.” He paused a moment, his mind seeming to skip all over the place before settling on one rather unsettling topic.
“The biggest question, I suppose is, HOW exactly do I leave this place…?” His shoulder began to itch and tingle a bit as he shifted, his shirt stuck to the congealing blood, sending cold shivers through his limbs.
“Recent events causing a significant change to the core of your being have triggered a full physio spiritual diagnostic, while the analysis is only about 75% complete, theorized evolutions to specific gifts and abilities may provide the required explanation to the problem which you currently pose. It is suggested that you continue your regimented training while the analysis completes.” ALIAS’ comforting, yet always surprising voice chimed bringing him an update he was not expecting.
“If something causes a significant change to such a scale, why did you not speak up sooner?!?” His response came in a rather rushed.
“You have had other concerns of a more significant manner to deal with before we could have had this conversation. Get over yourself, Shildras may just be right about you.”
“Ok hold up, who the hell is this Shildras you are talking about?!?”
“Pansy-assed ascended bitch.”
“Oops, it seems I may have revealed privileged information” ALIAS wryly answered.
Andre’s heart sunk, as his eyes fell to the revolver sitting on his hip. He almost felt a sly snigger in the back of his mind beside ALIAS’ bemused silence.
“FINE! Gang up on me, I’ll just go cry in my sheets. But tomorrow, we begin in earnest.” Andre laughed as he chewed through a Ham and Swiss on Rye.
The next week was a bloody mess; Andre had decided he was no longer going to play it to the safe side with his exercises. He had resolved himself to conquer the Advanced configuration. There he faced truly horrifying beasts and in numbers he could barely track. His first attempt had been a splattered mess: blood, and chunks of flesh had coated the ground moments after he had entered. The room had a secondary function, and truly lived up to the promise that death would not occur within it. His significantly augmented rate of Biosynthesis in conjunction with regular burst healing effects; the beasts could continue to tear into him, pushing him to the brink of death resulting in failures. The room truly felt almost vindictive, only terminating the simulation after an indeterminate amount of time after his failures.
By day 2 he was doing better, getting stronger, seeing several upgrades to all his gifts and abilities. The exception being Ambidexterity, he had not quite yet figured out how to make progress on improving that one. It wasn’t until day 3 when he instinctively drew Shildras, imbuing the weapon with energy to fire off several Radiant aspected rounds into a pack of cobra hooded rats the size of schnauzers, at the same moment he had to parry with his machete that it dawned on him. Switching his stance to a more aggressive assault-oriented footing he launched himself at the pack of enemies, firing several stunning Volt aspected rounds before planting and spiraling into a blood splattering fan dance, Radiant aspected energy trailing his machete as it ripped through the beasts. Before turning to fire several Aqua aspected rounds at a trio of two headed vultures with hissing snake heads diving at him; their forms crushed and shredded in spheres of water when the “bullets” connected.
“Well holy hell, that oughta do it!” Andre giggled excitedly to himself, a subdued feeling of acceptance washing through him, despite his mana deprived state. Sitting on the floor of the now empty training room a thought dawned on him:
“I wonder if that repair machine-thingy is done yet? I should probably check on that…” Wandering out of the training facility, and down to the main floor of the depot. Andre soon found himself in front of the machine he’d loaded several days prior, watching the timer tick down as he slowly munched on a recently acquired granola bar. Washing down the remains with a large swig of water from an also recently acquired bottle of water he counted down the few remaining seconds:
“5…4…3…2…1…DING!” The machine chimed in tandem with him. Sliding the door open he stared with absolute dismay at the now empty machine.
“It would appear that what ever that item was, it did not retain enough Aspect durability to be able to be restored by such a device as this.” ALIAS spoke softly, almost soothingly.
“Yeah, kinda really fucking sucks that my last coupon was wasted on that shit. If it was just gonna eat the damn item, why did it take 3 full days to run?”
“My best guess is the machine calculated the time based on the items remaining durability, and its enchantments, giving a best estimate on those readings. Alas, it appears to be lost and it is best to move on.”
“Fiiiiiine, you’re right. Let’s get back to training.”
The rest of the week continued in a brutal manner, the training room spawning a large number of creatures of differing varieties each time he entered the room. Each round brought its own challenge, some leaving him ragged and torn, others falling quickly to his weaponry. He had made regular visits to the first floor to repair his gear, the training chamber; while it left him restored and recovered, his armor really took a pummeling. The days were long, he did not relent to the slightest as he pushed himself harder and harder to mete and try to overwhelm the odds; by the second to last day he had pushed the room to its maximum difficulty; while it was a tremendous strain he found his explosively growing abilities matching the odds.
It was his last planned night at the depot and Andre had decided to splurge on a steak dinner with loaded baked potatoes, crab legs, a thick slice of strawberry cheesecake and a bottle of rich red Merlot wine. While it had consumed the last of the currency he had on hand, he felt it was well worth the expense. This last week he had shown perception growth, not only in the fact almost every single one of his Gifts had grown by orders of magnitude, including his Aqua and Volt aspects ranking up twice, and Radiant ranking up 3 times. He felt closer to the allies residing within his head. Shildras had finally relented to him as an acceptable wielder, naturally feeding off his available aspected energies to fire the rounds he imbued. Though, he considered that maybe an even larger success had been that he and ALIAS had reached a point of agreement, working instinctively together to quickly analyze and break down enemy’s statistics. Andre no longer needed to think to activate his: he could feel them now, utilizing them almost instinctually. He now felt much more prepared to face whatever was coming.
“This week has been like some hyper cliché training montage.” Andre laughed to himself taking the last bite of strawberry cheesecake; its luscious rich crème coating his mouth and languidly dancing with his last sip of merlot. It wasn’t just his abilities that had grown, with each enemy put down without touching him, his confidence had grown; adapting to this reality that he was facing… be it his reality or not.
“Diagnostics of your Physio-spiritual form completed the day before yesterday. I felt it was not a good time to review the findings, though I believe that since we have reached our projected final night at this depot it may be a good time to go over them. Would you like to go over the results?” ALIAS asked, in a rather subdued manner.
“Yes, I believe it is time.” Andre responded.
“Gift: “Brand of Yggdrasil” was further analyzed, and it has been determined that it brought a sub ability effect. While the Gift: “Brand of Yggdrasil” Allows Ability: “Convergence” to take effect, the triggering artefact: “Obsidian Corrupted Root of the World Tree” has been determined to have imparted a secondary Ability: “Dimensional Schisms”.”
“This… is quite confusing, would you care to explain a bit more thoroughly for me?” Andre replied, taking another sip of the luscious red.
“When you inadvertently consumed Item: “Obsidian Corrupted Root of the World Tree”, unstable aspected nature of your being converted its structure into Gift: “Brand of Yggdrasil”, which amongst a large number of other things, enabled use of “Ability: Convergence”. The secondary ability granted by Item: “Obsidian Corrupted Root of the World Tree” has been determined in the recent physio-spiritual diagnostics.”
“Still confused, but would you care to describe to me exactly what this new ability is?”
“New Ability: “Dimensional Schisms”: Allows the user to summon “Corrupted Root of the World Tree” to tear temporary holes between realities, allowing user to traverse created schisms. Aspect: Mosaic, Cost: None, Cooldown: 3 days.”
“Hoooah, that’s quite the cooldown! Can I control where I end up?”
“You currently lack the experience to direct yourself through to desired realities.”
“Alright, I guess we do finally have our answer. Tomorrow, we set out to worlds unknown and beyond!” Andre laughed at his own dumb joke, while feeling a familiar rise of anxiety in his chest as he finished his meal and began packing everything he had that he wouldn’t equip in the morning into his pack.
The night had passed in a blur, Andre taking one last shower before settling into bed… in the room… at the depot that had been his home for the last couple of weeks. The final sleep in the bed had soothed his aching muscles after days of prolonged training. Upon rising, he fully equipped himself in his fully repaired gear, his hands resting on both his transformed scimitar, and new ally, Shildras. The weapon almost purred at his touch, the days they spent fighting together had almost tempered the crass nature of the new voice in his head, though it still enjoyed the random bouts of profanity. As He left “his” room for the final time Andre passed by the training facility, gently brushing his fingers along the ancient touch screen that had signified his countless entries into training facilities, which had helped him grow to entirely new heights as he passed from the second floor to the first.
For the first time in almost two weeks, Andre stepped out of the Depot and into the sun he stumbled over a tightly bound package sitting on the ground. Stooping down to pick it up he found a note tucked into the bindings:
“We found this through certain means, and felt it should be returned to you, take care not to lose it again. Signed: Admins”. Excitement surged through him as he quickly undid the ties. Inside the package he found a neatly folded pile of red-rimmed jet-black material, faint etchings of gold runic bindings tracing the material. The once faded, flickering identification mark now shown solid.
*Item: “Ascended’s Travel Cloak”: This cloak woven by the Sisters of Fate, and blessed by the 9 Sisters of Yggdrasil has been soul bonded to true name: Andre Hoenir, and will grow with him as he gains experience and understanding of the road he travels. Rarity: Unique, Quality: Unique, Value: Unique, Aspect: Mosaic, Durability: Indestructible.*
“Well I’ll be a cretaceous monkey fucked neanderthal. I guess it wasn’t actually destroyed… though who are these Admins…?” He wondered to himself as he flung the cloak over his shoulders, it latching itself in place. It hung on comfortably on his lithe, more densely muscled form. Around both belts hung crossing his waistline on his hips, both weapons at the ready and his field pack, lightly heavy with supplies underneath. He looked himself over, with the shimmering cloak he felt oddly cool in the intense sunlight, like a warrior prepared for battle.
Concentrating on his new ability “Dimensional Schism” Andre felt energy surge from the small of his back, tracing up his spine, across his right shoulder and round the bicep until it came to a focus in the palm of his right hand. In a flash he held the familiar cherry wood grip; the long tapering shiny blackened root spiking out the end. Andre raised his arm, bringing it down in a harsh slashing motion, a jagged pale misty tear appeared in the air in front of him. Andre drew a deep breath and began walking forwards, a confidence he had not felt before thrumming in his chest, as he crossed the threshold the tear zippered closed behind him.