The diviners and the truth seers of the elves called for war against a small country far to the west, across the Untouched Seas, who were ruled by a Mage-King they divined would bring about the end times. The High King of the elves, acknowledging the words of the prophecy, sent his envoys to the realms of man and throughout the civilized nds.
— On the Cataclysm by an unknown Quassian Schor, circa 103 AC.
I awoke naked, sodden, and shivering, my teeth rattling in my skull as I fought a futile battle against the cold. The joy I had felt upon being transported to a new world had evaporated like morning dew under the harsh sun, repced by the bitter memories of the night before. Even my dreams had turned into a new form of subtle torture.
The dream of the old world, and the events that had led me to this cursed pce, were an unwelcome reminder of all I had lost. For a moment I indulged in self-pity, menting how quickly I had come to call it the “old world.” Thankfully, the st remnants of the dream were dissipating, driven away by a score of minor aches and discomforts that roused me to full wakefulness.
This world was full of pain and suffering greater than anything I had known before. My discomfort demanded that I look with my inner gaze at the notifications.
100 Experience gained.
New Skill: Power Strike (lvl.1)
New Spells: Heal (lvl.1), Rust (lvl.1)
Level 2 attained - 3 unassigned attributes have been distributed automatically.
STATUS
Calling: %^& Level 2 Acolyte of Avaria
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 8
Constitution: 9
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 8
Charisma: 8
Luck: 10
SKILLS & PROFICIENCIES
Pain Nullification (lvl.1)
Power Strike (lvl.1)
SPELLS & MAGIC
Heal (lvl.1)
Rust (lvl.1)
GIFTS
Curse of Entropy: -20% all starting attributes.
Experience to next level: 100/220
I scrambled closer to the tree, sitting against its hard trunk. Gathering myself, I closed my eyes and tried to draw a deep, even breath. Gazing to the bottom-left corner of my vision, where my Health, Stamina, and Mana were represented, I scanned my new Status.
Health: 5/13
Stamina: 14/16
Mana: 4/6
My thoughts scattered as I realized my Health was just over a third of its maximum. This must be responsible for the stabbing pain that throbbed all over my body. It was incomparable, of course, to the banquet of agony I had previously gorged on.
I noticed the irony that two of my randomly assigned points were allocated to Luck. This was my new reality. I was stuck in a cursed game that felt like a thousand other games I had pyed throughout my life.
I could not stifle a manic ugh. Great shakes filled me with pain as the madness tore through my being, but my hysteria ceased when I realized my Health had dropped by one point. I had been ripped across time and space to die of exposure under a tree in this unknown and alien world; I needed to think rationally before insanity overtook me again.
I needed to regain my Health. My eyes darted around, panic scrambling my thoughts as I desperately sought something that could save me from this predicament.
“Heal!” I desperately shouted, willing for something—anything—to save me.
A pulling sensation shifted energy through my body, followed by a hint of soft warmth, then nothing. Echoes of absolute nothingness. Magic was tantalizingly out of reach; my spell had failed.
“What can I do?” I puzzled to myself as despair began to rise again.
As if in answer, lines of warped text flickered across my vision—binaric script from a corrupted machine that mirrored the broken nature of my reality. Slowly, the chaos settled, forming something I could recognize: a mathematical puzzle. Was this the game’s way of telling me I needed to solve it to unlock the key to my magic?
The first puzzle was simple, a clear pattern begging to be recognized. But as I progressed, the puzzles grew harder, twisted into a kind of sinister mini-game. I could feel something—or someone—testing me.
Unbidden memories of a long-forgotten mathematics lesson returned to me. My mind reviewed the calcutions involved in factoring, polynomials, and double-decked equations. Bitterly I smiled, surprised at how much I could comprehend in my new mental state.
And then, as I solved another puzzle, they ceased.
You have gained 1 Intelligence.
The message floated across my vision. Incredulously, I looked at my Status, noticing that my avaible Mana had increased by one point to five. “What does this all mean?” I wondered as another wave of pain struck.
Shivering, I rose on shaky legs, leaning against the tree to survey my surroundings. Under the tree y the familiar sight of the dipidated altar with the fallen statue of the goddess. Yet, as he looked down at his feet, he noticed something unfamiliar: a bundle of roughly spun cloth.
The third person… I must be losing it.
I gathered the bundle and opened it. Inside was a coarse robe of simir fabric to the cloth bundle. Hastily, I scrambled to put the robes on my still-shivering body, ignoring the itchy sensation that reminded me of sackcloth. Tying the robe closed, I felt an immediate sense of security. A tear tracked down my face as the constant hum of vulnerability finally lessened.
Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to focus. The world I was in resembled a game. There were rules, and I needed to find and test out every aspect as soon as possible. I wanted to live, in defiance of all the suffering I had experienced.
Looking at my Status again, I confirmed I had five avaible Mana. Perhaps I had needed more Mana to cast the spell, and the earlier dull pain was the result of a miscast? Some games I knew had a chance of spell failure, especially for novice magic users. Was that it? No, it couldn’t be. Last time I had definitely felt something when I tried to cast Heal, so I would not give up.
“Heal!” I shouted out to the world, and willed myself to be made whole.
Once again, I felt a power shift and flow sluggishly through me. However, this time, an unpleasant ripping sensation coursed through my insides, followed by a healing warmth. My Mana had bottomed out to zero, but my Health had increased by two points to nearly half.
Everything felt like such a burden, and my earlier enthusiasm was fleeing as a painful attack assaulted my mind. Stabbing needles beat against my brain as I wearily struggled back to the tree and sat. My breath began to slow. I fought against closing eyelids that weighed like a mountain, remembering a ptitude from a previous life before they shut.
“The serenity to accept the things you cannot change,” I whispered. “How apt…”
You have gained 1 Wisdom.
