He was in a long, wide corridor with prison cells lining the entire right side of the room. The wall on the left was bare, roughly cut stone all the way down, finally coming to a door set into the middle of the wall opposite of where Alex just entered. Either he was going crazy, or this room was identical to the one he just came from, down to the first cell being considerably more rusted and unkept compared. The only difference was that there was no locked door leading to the outside world on the left. Alex turned around, opened the door he just came through, and poked his head through the opening.
Hendry was still sitting in the cell Alex had locked him in, and his head jerked up at the sound of the door being opened.
“Back already, boy?” Hendry sneered. “Maybe you aren’t as dumb as you look.”
Alex ignored him, his eyes quickly darting around the room as though he was looking for something before vanishing behind the door again.
“What are you doing?” Hendry called after him. “Let me out of here!”
Alex’s head popped back into view, and he looked at Hendry with an expression of concern.
“You wouldn’t happen to know anyone named Mariella, would you?” He asked suspiciously.
“What are you talking about? Who’s Mariella?” Hendry asked, nonplussed.
“Huh, never mind then.” Alex said with visible relief. “Just keep your wits about you if one day all your co-workers disappear.”
Hendry stared at him in utter confusion and Alex gave him an encouraging smile before shutting the door again with a snap.
Alex looked around the identical room, half expecting to see a pissed off and confused looking Hendry in the second cell. Thankfully, all the cells were empty, and he strolled towards the only other door at the other end of the room and opened it.
He was once again in an identical hallway, with a bare stone wall on his left and a row of cells on his right.
Alex’s jaw dropped in disbelief. He was not expecting her to be able to eerily imitate the male voice, much less even have the capacity to display unprompted humor.
Alex stood speechless as he slowly processed her words before bursting into tears of laughter.
He opened his mouth to try and speak but all he could hear was her analytical explanation as to why she participated in a running gag, and he dissolved into another fit of laughter until he was doubled over, wheezing for breath with his hands on his knees.
Finally, he got himself under control as he sucked in deep whistling breaths, shaky with suppressed giggles.
Vi said.
Alex held back another wave of laughter and when she didn’t elaborate, he turned his attention to the room. The third room was identical to the last two, except this time there was no door set in to the far wall across from him – just an empty archway. He started walking towards it, but then stopped, noticing a door in the far-left corner he hadn’t seen before due to how deep the frame was set into the stone.
Alex opened the door to what looked like a small study. Chest high bookshelves lined the walls except for the center of the wall directly across from the door where a cramped writing desk nestled in, paper and open books laying on top of it haphazardly. Alex walked over and closed the book, looking at the title:
Lost Bestiary: Deep Astral Creatures, Vol. 7
(A Collection of Unconfirmed Entities & myths)
Apparently, someone had strong feelings regarding the title, because the word ‘Unconfirmed’ was aggressively crossed out with faded black and added FAKE underneath it. Alex ran his fingers over the act of vandalism with a feeling of detached outrage before returning to the page the book was opened on.
An ethereal looking figure in a dark robe with a hood covering its face was depicted on the page, a title and description below it read:
Primordial Astral: Sol
Sol is believed to be responsible for the creation of most – if not all – beings that dwell within physical realities as well as the means to sustain themselves. Except for a few extreme conditions, his creations were not burdened with a limited life span. Only succumbing to death through injury or accident. However, over time Sol became increasingly disappointed in His creations as they repeatedly chose to squander their potential as they alternated from wasteful indulgence to waging wars for petty reasons.
From time-to-time Sol would intervene, but He had created these physical realties for them to rule – not His kind. Slowly, as His creations continued to spurn His guidance, Sol came to realize that the only way they would work together and cherish the time they had, was if that time was limited. The mortal mind tended to struggle with such concepts, and it was His mistake for thinking they would eventually bridge that gap on their own.
In preparation, Sol – along with the other Primordials – created a system designed to self-regulate itself over time. Hoping that it would minimalize Their involvement, as well as the risk of accidentally influencing the development of these new realities with Their presence.
With the realities all in place, the Primordials altered Sol’s creations so that they were better suited for a mortal lifespan – although, still providing opportunities for those who prove themselves worthy of it. After that, They turned Their attention constructing the self-regulating system, anchoring it in the deep astral and physical realms, in such a way that that it was only accessible from the own Primordial Realm. Once the system was complete, the re-stabilized the physical realities and gave the mortals powerful guardians to mentor under that embodied the various aspects of humanity.
Then, in the Deep Astral, each Primordial took turns manifesting the great beings that would regulate the system in their stead. Using the properties of their own powers as a template, they infused these great beings with a specific purpose. Admiring Their newest creations, Sol’s eldest brother pointed out that despite their sentient nature, they were little more than mindless slaves compelled to follow Their orders.
Overcome with guilt for these piteous creatures, Sol requested for the great beings to be given free will – insofar as the system would allow, without risk – stating that no sentient being should be reduced to being a mindless slave. Let them have their free will. We can Task them with maintaining the system in their own way, so that they may find fulfillment in their purpose.
Eventually, each Primordial agreed, bestowing a Task, free will – of a sort - and a purpose for every one of the great creations, before returning to the Primordial Realm. Now that their task was complete, each Primordial vowed to only intervene with matters directly connected to their assigned jurisdictions – and even then: only if the purposed intervention was approved by the majority.
“Huh.” Alex said, with an appreciative nod at the sinister drawing of the Grim Reaper.
“I’m not one for religion, but that seems quite tame, as far as creation stories go. I’m sure it glossed over a lot during the time Sol was just sitting there, people watching though. The Old Testament stuff always tends to the be bloodiest.”
Vi was conspicuously quite on this topic, but Alex let it go, flipping back a couple of pages until one caught his eye.
Primordial A[REDACTED]: [REDACTED]
Both the name of the Primordial, and the following paragraphs were completely blacked out with not only ink – but with magic as well.
However, the picture was still intact, and Alex studied it, curious to see if it shed any light as to why all his information was covered up.
The picture showed the silhouette of a man floating in space, surrounded by planets, his arms were held out at his sides, a sword in his left hand and a staff in his right. A set of scales hovered in front of him with two planets resting on the plates, the scale almost imperceptibly out of balance. Surrounding the image were more dark blocks of ink, that told Alex there must have been runes or something circling the man.
Something seemed familiar about the figure, but Alex couldn’t quite place it. Most likely, it was probably a video game character he’d seen before, but I was going to be stuck in his head until he figured it out.
“Can I do that with any book?” He asked, looking at the books lining the walls with a mischievous smirk.
Alex smiled, vowing to steal every book he came across, only for the simple fact that it would piss Markov off immensely to come back and find all of his treasured books missing.
Let’s see him do any research after that.
Alex spent the next few minutes walking around the room, touching each book and sending it into his codex. When he got the third bookshelf, he touched one of the books, but nothing happened.
“What the hell?” He picked it up.
Skill Book: Astral Theory, Beginner, Vol. 3
“Bingo.” He said, with a maniacal chuckle.
“Yeah, I regretted it as soon as I heard it. Let’s pretend I never said that.”
Alex stored the book in his inventory and continued his petty theft.
He conceded, ruefully.
As he made his way around the room, he found a couple more skill books and added them to his storage space. By the time he was done he had stored a hundred and twenty-six books and five skill books. He found the first two volumes of astral theory, a beginner’s artifice book for crafting magical items, the second volume for the ritual magic book he just received as a reward for the quest objective, and a thick, bronze rank astral magic theory tome that contained volumes one through three.
He returned to the hall and made his way towards the archway, pausing at the top of the stairs leading him deeper underground.
“No.” Alex said. “I can’t risk Markov coming back while I wait. I may have physical strength, he’s apart of some kind of magical cult, there’s no telling how many abilities he has.”
He swore at himself for not asking Hendry about it before he left. Nothing he could do about it now.
“Okay, first of all; It’s a matter of principle. Second; Why are you calling him Uncle Hendry? And third... what do you mean by rank?”
Vi sighed. Or at least it left like she did. Weird.
Alex stepped through the archway and stopped at the top of the stairs. He was hoping that he would be able to see how far they went down, but the stairs appeared to spiral down in a tight circle.
“Of course I was.” He said reassuringly. “But, uh. Can you tell me again, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything?”
Gathering his courage, Alex started making his way down.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Right, and you need to use awakening stones to unlock the rest of the abilities. See, I was listening.”
Alex continued making his way down the stairwell. Suddenly glad that he had unlocked a perception power that let him see in the dark. There hasn’t been a single light source since he started descending.
“And in order to reach bronze rank, I need to have unlocked every single ability and upgrade them to bronze.”
“So, what’s after bronze?” Alex asked, trying to distract himself from the creepiness of the seemingly infinite stairwell. “I feel like bronze should be before iron, no?”
“How long does it take to rank up?” Alex asked.
“I kind of already have super strength, is that normal for my rank?”
“Well, aren’t you a big ball of sunshine.” Alex said moodily. He walked in silence for nearly ten minutes, before stopping to take a break. He sat down on the rough stone stairs and stretched his cramping legs.
“We will get out of here, you know.” Alex said. More for himself, than to reassure Vi. Who, let’s face it, probably didn’t even understand emotions like anxiety yet, let alone capable of displaying it. Could she even feel emotions? At the end of the day, she was still just a program.
“Vi?” He asked, not bothering to finish the question, knowing that she could hear his thoughts.
Vi said but then added,
“Hm.” Alex said thoughtfully. “Well, for what it’s worth, I hope you are able to feel your own emotions.”
It was weird being called a man, least of all by a voice in his head. Alex was still a couple of months away from his twenty-first birthday, and he still felt like a kid fresh out of high school.
“Emotions are overrated, they have a way of complicating everything.” Alex said, thinking of Hailey.
“Ah, so you managed to download that little portion of my memories, have you?” Alex asked bitterly.
“Since when did you become all wise?” Alex teased.
“Fair enough.” Alex said with a shrug. “I guess it’s just more validating coming from someone else. Granted, that someone else is just a voice in my head, but let’s not nitpick. I’ll take what I can get.”
Alex stood up and stretched his arms.
“Let’s keep going. I hope we get there soon, we have been walking down these stairs for a ridiculously long ti-”
Alex cut off as he came face to face with another door.
“Oh. Never mind, then.”
Not sensing any active magic on the door, Alex opened it, stepping into a huge three-story library, mezzanines separating each floor with intricately wrought metal scaffolding. The interior design was identical to the study he stayed in at the Odde cottage, making it feel like he wasn’t even underground anymore. Magical fans and chandeliers hung from the ceilings on each floor, circulating fresh air flow and light throughout the area. Alex looked at the bookshelves crammed with books, his fingers twitching.
Alex shook his head.
Alex did a quick sweep of the area, ignoring the books and only focusing on looking for magic and if someone was hiding.
The first floor was arranged like a standard library; tables, chairs, and bookshelves were scattered everywhere, though not randomly, there was an intentional design and organization to the sections, but Alex guessed it would be nothing like the Dewey Decimal System back home. Alex ignored that for now and made his way up to the next mezzanine floor from a brass spiral staircase in the corner of the room.
The second floor was dedicated to small study areas with dark cherry stained tables lined up around the mezzanine. Small dormant magical lamps rested in the center of each table, and as far as he could tell there were no hiding spots or doors on this level.
The third floor was some sort of sleeping quarters, though most of the rooms he found were empty and the beds were bare. As he made his way around the mezzanine, he saw the magic seeping off the last door he hadn’t checked yet. Multiple colors of magic curled off the wood, and he studied it before approaching.
Alex raised a hand to touch the door but then stopped himself. There were small black veins mixed with the blue magic he hadn’t noticed before.
[New Objective has been added to Task: [Once Bitten Twice Shy]:
Find a way into the mysterious locked room.
[Reward]: Awakening Stone.
Alex pursed his lips in a frown and dismissed the window that popped up.
“Of course it is!” He snapped.
Why was he so angry?
“If I start treating life like a game- like there are no consequences, or that they don’t matter- I could end up getting killed because I thought it would be fun.”
Alex scoffed and started walking back down to the first floor.
Alex ignored her and stormed down the last set of stairs, rattling it as he stomped his feet angrily.
“Fine!” He yelled. “You’re right. You win. Drop it.”
Vi remained silent while Alex seethed.
“Fine.” He said again, petulantly. “You want me to treat this like a game?”
Alex looked around the expansive library and grinned.
“These books look pretty expensive; let’s see how many of them I can fit in my inventory.”
Alex ignored her and walked towards one of the metal spiral staircases leading up to the mezzanine but before he could answer a door somewhere on the first floor opened in the distance.
“Who's there?” A voice rang out.
Alex froze at the bottom of the stairs, his mind blank with panic.
“Silas, is that you? Aren't you supposed to be in the control room watching over that adventurer Markov picked up?” The voice called out again, moving closer.
The footsteps of the approaching man grew louder, but Alex was still frozen in place.
Her voice reverberated like a bell in his head, breaking him free from his daze. Alex turned and bolted – straight into the corner of a table.
“Oh, come on!” Alex wheezed as he went down.
His arms flailed wildly, trying to grab the end of the table to keep himself upright.
Instead, his arms went through the slots in the back of the chair next to it, bringing it crashing down with him.
Alex hit the ground hard, and the chair bounced off the back of his head. Not hard enough to stun him, but hard enough to bruise his pride.
“Silas? What's going on?” The voice asked again before Alex could respond.
From his position underneath the table, Alex saw a pair of dark purple robed legs come into view. The tips of polished black shoes poking through the golden hem of the robe as the man closed the distance.
“Did you fall asleep at the table again?” The man asked, mean spirited amusement filling his laugh.
“Sometimes I wonder why Markov – Who are you?” The man barked out suddenly.
“Um, Silas?” Alex asked hopefully.
The man took a small tentative step forward, confusion on his face as he squinting his eyes to try and make out Alex’s shadowed face underneath the overturned furniture.
“Little help here?” Alex said gruffly, trying to muffle his voice as much as possible.
The robed man reached out a hand to grab the chair Alex was now using to shield his face from view.
“What are you – Ach!”
Alex flung the chair at the man, and he stumbled backwards, tripping over a table behind him.
Unfortunately, unlike Alex – the man fell back onto the table instead of getting knocked to the ground, the chair rolling off of him and clattering to the floor.
Alex reached up and grabbed the lip of the table, hoisting himself to his feet and launched himself at the man – Or at least that was what he intended to do – Instead, the entire table flipped over on top of him as his enhanced strength tipped the wooden table on its side.
“Oh, god dammit!”
Both men scrambled to their feet, momentarily forgetting about the others presence. The stranger was pinching a crooked nose, blood streaming between his fingers while Alex gingerly rubbed a knot that was already growing on his forehead.
“Why’d you do dat?” The man accused, his clogged voice coming out nasally as he clutched his broken nose.
Alex felt a flash of guilt at the almost innocent tone of the man, like a dog being kicked for no reason.
Then the reality of the situation finally clicked when the man saw Alex’s face at the same time Alex saw the dagger that was sheathed on his belt.
“Yourb nod Bilath!” The man exclaimed with surprise and reached for his blade.
Alex moved in a flash, grabbing the man’s hand as he was pulling the dagger free and twisted hard.
The dagger clattered to the floor. The sound becoming a distant echo as Alex felt the man's wrist snap in his grip.
The man screamed as Alex stepped in close. Still holding on to the man’s broken wrist, Alex spun around and bent forward, tossing the man over his back like a ragdoll.
Alex hesitated as sound came rushing back, and he let go of the man’s arm, his heat hammering in his chest.
“You boke mah an’!” The man whimpered.
When Alex didn’t move, he scrambled to pick up the knife and lunged at Alex with the blade in his good hand. Alex stared dumbly at the approaching knife as if he was trying to figure out its purpose.
The knife struck him before he could react. A searing pain ran up the left side of his shoulder and neck as the knife bit into his flesh, hit his collarbone, and bounced out.
The man lashed out again, but Alex leaned back, the blade passing barely an inch in front of his face. Alex tackled the man in a panic and they crashed to the floor in a heap. All coherent thought of strategy left him as Alex flailed wildly; raining down awkwardly thrown punches that amounted to little more than glancing blows as the man squirmed underneath him, covering his face with his arms to protect himself from the blows.
Finally, he remembered that he was holding a knife, and he lashed out at Alex again. Despite his seemingly frenzied attack, Alex caught his arm, stopping it before the blade buried itself in his stomach.
With a yell, Alex wrenched the blade free, breaking the man’s other wrist in the process. He tried to roll away, but their legs were tangled up and they both flipped over, Alex landing heavily on his back with the man now on top of him.
Ignoring his broken wrists, the man brought his hands down hard, hitting Alex repeatedly in the face as he screamed obscenities. As though some kind of switch flipped on in his brain, Alex became fully aware of what was going on since the fight began. The panic finally washed away by a cold, detached calm.
he dodged side to side as blows continued to rain down on him, biding his time. His attacker lifted both hands to strike at once and Alex lashed out with the knife at the opening.
For most of his life Alex had been a party to violence – though mostly on the receiving end. As a poor kid that grew up in mostly bad neighborhood with whatever temporary family that decided to take him in that month; he was used to being by himself.
His only true companions were fear and vulnerability, and they lit him up like a beacon for every bully to see as they walked the streets with him, hand in hand. Growing up, Alex had learned how to take a hit. With his military training and deployment experience, he thought he was prepared for when the time came to hit back. As it turned out; he was. Physically, at least. The familiar feeling of being struck in the face oddly calmed him and dispelled the panic of – oh my god, is this happening? Oh my god, it is happening!
Mentally, though... He had no idea. None at all. Apparently trading gunfire was not the same as being up close and personal.
The dagger caught the man underneath the chin and sank to the hilt, the point of the blade poking out of the eye socket of the man’s ruined right eye. Instead lashing out in fear or pain, Alex’s victim froze, a look of surprise plastered on like a grotesque Halloween mask. The glint of metal visible through the man’s open mouth, shimmering with the light from Alex’s prismatic eyes.
With a savage twist of the knife, the sound of bones grinding against metal filled his ears and he shoved the man backwards as blood poured over his hands, the blade pulling free as the body hit the ground, still twitching as the last remnants of life drained away.
Alex rolled onto his knees and took out one of the few healing potions he had and removed the stopper, swallowing the contents in a single gulp.
As his wounds healed, Alex stared blankly at the corpse next to him, barely noticing the itchy burn coming from his shoulder and ribs. Alex’s peripheral faded to nothingness, leaving only the corpse of the life he just snuffed out. The arms and legs were splayed out in a grotesque manner, leaving no illusion that this man – this sack of meat – could merely be sleeping.
The smell of blood and shit assaulted his nose as the man’s body relaxed into death’s embrace, and he turned away with a retching sob.
A ringing filled his ears as all other sounds faded. Alex was left with only blackness and silence.
And the corpse. It’s one good eye staring at him, still wide with shock. How could you do this to me?
But the voice was too far away. He was too far away. It was only him and the body now. And the irrevocable weight of his actions clutching at his heart with the clammy hands of a vengeful ghost.
Squeezing, squeezing.
He couldn’t move, the ghost refusing to relinquish its grip around his spine, immobilizing him. How could he ever leave? It was his fault. He didn’t even know the man’s name and he took his life. Now he was supposed to leave his ghost here forever, trapped in the dark? The wide, dead brown eye bore into Alex’s prismatic ones, the swirling colors belying the darkness underneath.
The mental shout cut through his panic and the world snapped back into focus. Although Vi’s voice reverberated in his ears, there was no discernable emotion in it.
“Huh? Wha...?” He said drunkenly.
“Oh, sure.” Alex said, his brain fully reengaging a few seconds too late.
He scrambled backwards in horror, anticipating the corpse breaking down into nothing but that foul rainbow smoke.
Instead, the purple robe the man was wearing vanished and... that’s it.
Alex lay frozen for a few more seconds before breathing a sigh of relief as the loot screen popped up.
You have looted Astral Apprentice.
150 lesser spirit coins have been added to your storage.
Apprentice Ritual Robes have been added to your storage.
Katjav’s wedding ring has been added to your storage.
Katjav’s Journal has been added to your storage.
Laboratory Access Key has been added to your storage.
Alex got to his feet storing the dagger he was holding in his inventory, and made his way to the nearest shelf, avoiding eye contact with the body on the ground.
He reached out and touched one of the leather-bound books and it disappeared into his inventory.
Alex snapped as he touched another book and sent it to his inventory.
Alex grunted but continued looting the books.
Continued his petty theft. His petty rebellion against yet another world that seemed to not want him.