Chapter 1

  I’m floating

  In the blackness of nothing I am floating.

  Neither a sound nor a feeling, this place has nothing whatsoever.

  My mind is an expanse of empty space, void of any semblance of idea or personality –A blank canvas, ready to be shaped into anything imaginable.

  Suddenly, the sound of a desperate unearthly gasp for air rang thorough the darkness, violently crashing into my being. It screams through my mind, bringing with it a myriad of information.

  Knowledge is injected into me at an alarming and confusing rate –the vast majority of which is exceedingly general –and I inexplicitly possess an understanding of atomic theory, as well as the basics of relativity, mathematics, biology and countless other fields.

  Over in a second and I am left in a state of tense hyper alertness –completely still in the abyss with my non-existent eyes clenched tight. Then, the memories come –and with them one final piece of information is imparted unto me and I know where I am.

  I have died –and this is Limbo.

  Though given no inkling of how or when, I know that I had ceased to live at some point –of that I am certain. I do remember not my name nor my circumstance, and even the manner of how I lived my life is a mystery –my very species in question. However, one thing is forever burnt into my memory –my very being –and that is the White.

  I remember coursing through that accursed stream of white fluid –the ethereal substance brushing past me as I fell through endlessly.

  I was only half aware when –after I had flowed across its endless Elysian gases for untold ages –the barely present liquid thickened into tangibility and I slowed. Almost coming to a stop, I pass through what can only be described as a corporeal lens flare –seeping through the outer membrane of the universe. Compared to the aforementioned sensations, this was as if passing through stone.

  Through the White had been arduous, the result has been worthwhile. For I have passed on to another world.

  I have reincarnated.

  As this information begins to sink in, my senses return to me in a flash of light –directing contrasting the endless black of Limbo – and I knew a fleeting moment of peace. It was not to last however, as I found my circumstance to be of a more pressing concern.

  I had come into being in a square room of smooth stone with no perceivable entrance. My sluggish thoughts are slowly gaining traction, and I realize with a start that I possess three hundred and sixty degree vision of seemingly inscrutable clarity –in spite of the complete lack of any light source.

  This revelation passing unnaturally quickly, I almost unconsciously give my place of birth a proper once over.

  ‘Where is this…?’ I ask inwardly, eerily calm –normal not even to myself.

  I hear the light ring of a bell, and look to the centre of my vision on impulse. A floating screen of what appears to be polished silver with an unparalleled sheen has appeared –strangely two dimensional like a flying computer monitor. I stare intently as words begin to show, like lines rising from molten metal.

  Suddenly, the floating panel of silver vanishes in a dull flash of light, quickly replaced by another.

  ‘This seems… familiar?’ My mind ran to connect the dots to no avail, leaving me only with a peculiar sense of familiarity. ‘Hmmm…’

  ‘Uhh… what’s-’ I’m cut off mid thought, the now somewhat accustomed to feeling of information injection enveloping me.

  Dungeons,

  Living underground labyrinths of devious traps and impious monsters, home to many a treasure for those brave or stupid enough to delve into their depths –while at the same time playing an important role in the redistribution of mana. The fungi of the world’s mana, returning large swaths of borrowed power to the earth through their murderous ways, while taking some for themselves to bolster their faculty.

  I quickly accepted the new information with a robotic efficiency –my blank impressionable mind showing its usefulness –and I attempt to timidly answer in the affirmative. I immediately find that I possess no form of communication –in fact I have no physical form at all.

  The sensation of simply existing, abstruse though it is, is strikingly akin to my experience in Limbo. I am suddenly struck with a curious longing –What is like to have a body?

  At this thought, another smaller panel appears, the previous gone without a trace.

  ‘Uhh…’ I hesitated ‘I don’t think I have a choice but, thanks for the heads up?’ I thought, proceeding to send a mental ‘yes’ without thinking of how.

  The 'ding' of this new panel rings throughout the silence -eerily bouncing from wall to wall. I watch intently as I consider –my still recovering mind continuing to piece itself together

  ‘Well, Mist and Stone are out of question, I do not want to die again' I rule out two immediately. 'And who would give up the control of mana?’ I think, pertaining to the stone. ‘Better not choose Water either, don’t want some extremist defiling me’ I add again with a shiver.

  Both Gel and Crystal have their boons, but as Crystal has good control and ‘Potency’ –which I assume is power related –as well as continued improvement, I end up choosing Crystal Form, though worried about possibly shattering.

  I send another mental command, this time of ‘Crystal’.

  Nothing happens for a while and –just as I began to seriously doubt –it begins.

  It is strange. My perception of my surroundings feels as if it is shrinking –unfocused and blurry. The strangest headache like pressure is pressing down on me, harder with every passing moment yet never painful –like a really tight hug around my entire being.

  ‘This is… comfortable.’ I think.

  However now, as the process reaches the halfway point, my vision begins to unsettle me. Like a violently spinning vortex of molten glass, it is magnifying and collapsing in on its self again and again –like a kaleidoscope devoid of any colour save silver and white. The patterns that are forming and their complexity are causing my rediscovery of the lost sensation of nausea.

  As my concern builds, the spinning quickens –faster and faster parallel to my increasing anxiety. Just before true panic sets in, it stills with an uncanny quickness. Like a puzzle clicking into place, the spinning stopped –the surface solidifiying into a smooth silver. Although now like staring through crystal mirror, my vision is as it was before –though with two glaring differences.

  Firstly, there it now a strange blue and diaphanous mist-like gas slowly swirling around me –like an extremely thin wispy fog.

  'I think this is mana.' I assume with the information gleaned from my choices of form.

  The other change is somehow stranger still. I focus particularly hard on an object –corporal or otherwise –And a set of information appears on one of the floating screens. However, as the the only thing that surrounds me now is stone, all I can look at now says simply:

  This is definitely some kind of ability to identify. For some reason unkown to me, I am urged to call it a skill.

  ‘Huh?’ I am momentarily dumbfounded. ‘What’s… status?’ I wonder. Some part of me remembers this, if barely, and I think…

  On a feeling, I sent a mental command akin to ‘Open Status’. Instantly, another screen appears.

  [-Status-]

  Intimidated, I pause.

  I am just beginning to question the difference of Stamina and Endurance, when without warning, the earth shakes. As a distant thundering roar sounds, the room incurs a deep pulse –the earth lurching in a low wave. The once gently breezing wisps of mana begin to vibrate violently as an invisible wave of force shoots past them.

  Also I am aware that the table colour is a little glaring but I am unaware of the usual RGB used -if you know and are feeling helpful please let me know and I will change it. Fixed It! ">