Morning light glows through my eyelids, warm with the promise of summer. I stretch my arms over my head until my back releases with a satisfying crack. Damn, I haven’t slept that well in months. I crack an eye open, my attention drawn inevitably to the bed across from mine, like a mosquito to a bug zapper.
I frown. No, like a wandering planet to a welcoming star. Better. More romantic, that, even if the first analogy might have been a hair more apt.
The bed is empty, the untucked sheets a riot of chaos in the shape of the woman I love. My heart twists. She didn’t come home last night. I try not to imagine where she is right now, who she’s next to. I try not to be jealous. I try not to hate her. I try not to hate myself.
I try.
It’s not like I have any claim to her. I’ve never said anything, never done anything, even in the moments where it felt like she might listen. Moments where the door cracked open, when she looked at me with something in her eyes that made me too aware of my skin and the racing beat of my heart. Moments like last night, when she wanted me to come with her. Maybe that was more than I thought it was, maybe she really meant that she wanted me.
I press my face against my pillow to muffle my groan.
Why can’t anything just be easy?
I linger around the dorm room, wasting time getting ready for the nothing I have planned today, tidying my half of the room and some of hers, too. The parts she won’t get mad about. I’d make her bed, if she let me, but I only made that mistake once. Pretty strange to care that much about her little nest when she spends so much time in other people’s.
The knock at the door is official, authoritative. It makes me jump, nerves opening like a sickly flower in my stomach.
A tall cop stands in the morning light. Older, maybe my dad’s age. I get the feeling he’s normally like his knock, all confidence and bluster, but he looks uncertain right now. Sympathetic.
“Samantha Foreman?” he asks, though it sounds like he knows the answer.
“Sam,” I correct automatically. “Is there a problem?”
***
Agony sears through my chest. I choke on my own saliva. My lungs spasm.
Fuck.
I should not be awake. My mind did the stupid thing again; whenever that memory rears its fuck-ugly head from the depths of my subconscious where I repressed it, I wake up to find any distraction I can. In this case, though, I think it was a pretty shit choice to make. I absolutely don’t want to be awake, not if shit is going to hurt this bad.
I flick open my party window before my vision clears, relaxing a bit when three glowing green forms pop into view. They’re safe, at least.
“I for one am glad you’ve returned to consciousness,” Kora says softly.
Too softly. Almost… What’s wrong, Kora?
“I am embarrassed. When I realized our connection was blocked, I knew it was part of the Challenge, and so I thought I would have to wait until the Seventh once again allowed Mentors to communicate.”
That seems pretty reasonable. Nothing to be ashamed of.
“I am not finished. You’ve been unconscious for a… long time. Days, certainly. Several humans have come and gone, and I was able to piece together some truths about that night. The cause of my shame is that other Mentors managed to fight through the obstacles in order to aid their Competitors. Had I not trusted the parameters of the Tournament, perhaps I could have changed the outcome.”
Huh. That’s a good thing to know though, right? If you get blocked again, don’t stop trying to get through. Anyway, don’t sweat it. I don’t think anything in the fucking universe was going to change how my fight with Assless went. He was just too strong.
“I must say, Competitor, I am… impressed.”
Excuse me?
“I feared, considering your temperament towards your companions, that you would hesitate when the time came, but you handled yourself well, defeating sentients in fair combat and using your mind under pressure. But for your slip up with the Otachai warrior, I would have called your behavior exemplary.”
Wow. I honestly don’t know what to say. A whole sentence in my own praise.
“Is it so rare?”
Hah. Well, I’m with you on the Otachai thing. I let my stupid human puppy senses get in the way of reality. I can’t say it won’t happen again, but I’ll do my best to guard against it. Now, you said ‘some truths’ about that night. I imagine one of them is how the fuck I’m still alive.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Your survival was serendipity, pure and simple. The time ran out.”
What time?
“The pause in Haven’s protections. When the protections returned, every Competitor was returned instantly to their apartments, gear and all. The Deathlord’s enraged scream could be heard throughout Haven. I fear his vendetta against you will not be satisfied until one of you is dead.”
What’s new? That’s kinda the point of all this, isn’t it?
“Yes.”
She pauses, thinking. In the silence, I realize the pain is gone. The brief burst of agony I felt on waking was the last of it. Someone has placed me between the comfortable sheets of my bed in Haven, but otherwise I feel healthy. Strong. And, now that I’m aware of it, there certainly is a lot of loose soul energy swirling around my body.
“You gained victory over many foes, each of them potent. Many of those who took advantage of the night of savagery went after the weak and the defenseless, as I imagine was the goal, but you threw yourself against some of the strongest sentients in the tournament. And prevailed.”
Soul energy available! You have enough soul energy to evolve a Skill or Boon. Choose from among the following options:
Soul Expression, Gravity Aspected (Rare, Evolutions: 2)
Weaken Gravity (Rare, Evolutions: 1)
Strengthen Gravity (Rare, Evolutions: 1)
Gravity Manipulation (Unique, Evolutions: 1)
Attraction (Unique, Evolutions: 0)
Perception (Legendary, Evolutions: 4)
Identification (Legendary, Evolutions: 4)
Ravenous Soul (Legendary Boon, Evolutions: 0)
Oh man. Enough to bump another Legendary up to Mythic.
“Or evolve many of the lesser ones, yes.”
So… call me crazy, but I think I know what I need to evolve. After what I saw…
“Our thoughts are aligned, for once.”
Nice.
The etched channels of potential in my soul deepen, sharpen, growing into meaning and power. My soul gulps the loose energy greedily, taking it for its own.
Skill evolved! Identification (Legendary) has become Identification (Mythic)!
Your knowledge of unknown creatures extends to those of higher level than you, including details impossible to discern, such as strengths, weaknesses, Skills, and personal history of the target. Additionally, your Skill is able to pierce most magical and Skill-related obfuscation.
I snuggle into the pillow, satisfied. Problems like the Deathlord, while terrifying, are open and obvious; anyone can see them coming. But that Brody guy, and the thing possessing him, terrifies me on a visceral level. The fact that, according to the leaderboards, no one knows who or what the Bui are means that they’ve successfully hidden from every attempt to detect them across thousands of Competitors. The faint hint of the parenthetical level makes more sense now. Hopefully, with Mythic fucking Identification, they won’t be able to hide from me now.
Parasitic assholes.
I bring up my party window again, hovering over Burl’s little outline. My stomach tenses. He has a parenthetical level.
Are you the little Cobald you claim to be? Or are you some soul-sucking piece of shit wearing Burl’s skin?
“There is another option you should consider.”
Oh?
“If a Bui is inhabiting that body, then it has been from the beginning. You may never have had a friend named Burl. Rather…”
I… hm. That’s… would it technically be my friend, then?
“That is not the point! After this level of deception, are you really trying to give your enemy grace?”
No. Certainly not.
“Competitor…”
Oh, look! I’ve got more energy to spend!
“I know what you’re doing.”
I’m thinking Soul Expression. It’s kind of the Skill underlying everything, isn’t it? If I upgrade it, all of my other abilities improve.
“Your logic is sound,” Kora says tiredly, like a mother exhausted of reprimanding her child.
Skill evolved! Soul Expression, Gravity Aspected (Rare) has become Soul Expression, Gravity Aspected (Legendary)!
Your soul is able to manipulate gravitational forces with near-perfect efficacy and efficiency. The power and soul energy cost of your gravity aspected Skills has been altered. Evolve to gain additional benefits.
The Skills overlaying my soul twist into new patterns, wrapping tighter around one another. The vision of my soul’s carving glows clearer in my mind’s eye. For a brief, shining second, I can see it, study it. It is a work of art so intricate that looking closer only reveals more detail, whorls and curves and gentle striations in the glowing symbol that is me. As the image fades, epiphany follows.
The connection between my soul and my conscious self has grown. I don’t know if the symbol is a metaphor such that I can understand it or if the vision is the truth of what my soul is, but I can call it forth on command. I can… contemplate it. Is there value in studying yourself? Your soul? There must be, especially if our visions of ourselves and the truth of our souls can contradict.
Jesus, Sam. When did you become a monk all of the sudden?
Name: Sam Foreman
Race: Human (Pure)
Class: Singularity (Unique)
Level: 37
Class Evolutions: N/A
Soul Energy: 417
Statistics
Strength: 2
Agility: 4
Toughness: 8
Intelligence: 8
Will: 12
Charisma: 8
Skills:
Identification (Mythic, Evolutions: 5)
Perception (Legendary, Evolutions: 4)
Soul Expression, Gravity Aspected (Legendary, Evolutions: 3)
Weaken Gravity (Rare, Evolutions: 1)
Strengthen Gravity (Rare, Evolutions: 1)
Gravity Manipulation (Unique, Evolutions: 1)
Attraction (Unique)
Boons:
Ravenous Soul (Legendary)
Psychic Telos (Mythic, Evolutions: 1)
Artifacts:
Deity’s Bauble (Rare Artifact, Toy)
The Slippers of Queen Elia, the Bounding Princess of Thellin (Rare Artifact, Equipment)
Repurposed Aethid Techsuit (Unique Artifact, Equipment)
