It is a new day.
I try. I try, and try. But my eyes will not open. It is curious, a quite curious thing. I have never woken up before and not been able to open my eyes. I cannot feel them, nor the rest of my body. I wonder if I might be comatose, or perhaps even dead. I sit, and I wait. Nothing happens. Eventually, time passes, I fall asleep and wake many times. It comes to me that perhaps I am not dead. I have not heard of a dead man that can think. Someone in my life, I remember, had once taught me meditation. I do not remember who - nor do I remember much in general. Only bits and pieces, disconnected memories of faces and places unrecognizable to my current self. I begin to meditate.
This is new. Very new. Uncomfortably new. As my mind clears from the incessant thoughts that clouded it, a shining blue box of text appears. I recognize it as familiar, it must be from a video game. I do not know what a video game is. I stare at the three dots as they disappear and reappear one by one. I understand this to mean it is processing data. I do not know how I know this. I do not remember learning it.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE SKILLS:
SENSATION
VISION
LOW_LIGHT_VISION
DARK_VISION
BRIGHT_VISION
HEARING
[SMELL]
[TASTE]
[MAGIC]
TRAP
SAP
SPIKE
PIT
[FLAME]
(LURE)
[ADVANCED_LURE]
(INTELLIGENCE) (THIS TREE HAS BEEN COMPLETED. NO FURTHER SKILLS UNDER THIS TREE MAY BE GAINED.)
(SENTIENCE)
(SAPIENCE)
(INHUMAN)
(REDUCED_EMPATHY)
I think for a long time. I feel no worry, and no sense of urgency. When I click a skill, the cost is revealed. I wish they had descriptions. The vagueness of "Lure" left me somewhat frustrated.
In the end, I didn't have much choice at all. I needed to experience the outside world.
My name. Charles. I remember my name. I'm glad that I did not forgot my name, because it feels important. I enter the color purple. Purple, I remember, was my favorite color. I am happy to have remembered these things. It feels like I have not lost myself completely.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
As the box disappears, I discover that it is true to its promises. I can see. For the first time since I have woken, up, I can see. I am small. I am a very small, tiny thing. I know that I didn't used to be this small. I used to be many feet tall. I am lying next to a rock. It is dark, and raining. There sand is dark with the water it has soaked up. There are more rocks scattered around. I recognize that I am in a desert. It surprises me that it is raining. I know that it does not often rain in deserts. I can see a cactus, with flowers blooming on it. I think that the cactus is beautiful. It looks very happy, I imagine that it is happy because of the rain. I am overwhelmed and filled with joy at the many things I can see around me. I did not realize it, but I was lonely. The sparse vegetation greets me. It is my friend. I find myself wishing I had the points for the hearing skill. I want to hear the rain, and the sand, and the cactus swaying in the wind. I content myself with watching, and waiting.
I wait for a long time. A horntoad skitters into my eyeline. I watch it for what feels like a very short time, and it skitters away. I am saddened by this. I wish I could get up, and follow it. I want to chase it, and catch it.
It would be fun.
I used to be human. I remember that now. I remember what that means. What that meant. I don't know what I am anymore. I cannot feel my body. I cannot see myself. All I know is that I am small, and very close to the ground. I am lucky that I am in a higher part of the sand, for if I was lower, the water would rise up and carry me away. But, I suppose that would be fine too. As long as I could still see my cactus.
The moon sets, and the sun rises. The glee of my perception has faded, though I am still happy to look out at the world.
More time passes. Sometimes I see a coyote stalking by. Sometimes birds circle overhead. I once saw a scorpion, a tiny black thing move through the sand on it's many legs. These events entertained me. I fear I would be bored to death without them. Every animal, every change in the weather, fed and nourished me. I learned how the weather operated, and how the plants would open up when it was going to rain. I learned the patterns of the day and the patterns of the night, and the animals that operated with in. I loved them all, because they were my everything.
The blue prompt surprises me. I had forgotten about it, all those days ago. This makes me realize that my perception of time was not the same as when I was human. How long had I been here? Perhaps many months, maybe a few years. I suppose it matters not. This difference in time scale might indicate that whatever I am now is long lived. Maybe I am a rock. It would make sense, if I was a rock, that I have no limbs, and no way of movement. I didn't used to know that rocks could think and that rocks could see. Maybe I am some kind of special rock, blessed by the heavens to forever watch my surroundings in silent contemplation.
A small bird is here. It is pecking at the sand around me. I do not like this. This makes me very uncomfortable. It has a curved, narrow beak, and a brown color that suits the colors of the desert.
It scoops me into its beak. I am screaming, but I have no vocal chords, so it is only heard by me. It is dark in the birds mouth. I wish I did not have the low light vision, because I am forced to look at the bird's beak and tongue. I wish I had eyes again, so I could close them.
The bird has brought me to its nest. I have never heard of a bird that uses rocks to build its nest, but this one does. It has no eggs, and it has no mate. I feel sad for the bird. The bird, as I, is alone. I do not like my new vantage point. I can only see the sky, and sometimes the bird. After it brought me here, it has left me alone. I miss my cactus friend.
I stare at the sky, for a long time.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE SKILLS:
(SENSATION)
(VISION)
(LOW_LIGHT_VISION)
DARK_VISION
BRIGHT_VISION
HEARING
[SMELL]
[TASTE]
(OBSERVATION)
ANIMISM (REQUIRED: SAPIENCE)
MAGIC
BASIC_MANIPULATION
TRAP
SAP
SPIKE
PIT
[FLAME]
(LURE)
[ADVANCED_LURE]
(INTELLIGENCE) (THIS TREE HAS BEEN COMPLETED. NO FURTHER SKILLS UNDER THIS TREE MAY BE GAINED.)
(SENTIENCE)
(SAPIENCE)
(INHUMAN)
(REDUCED_EMPATHY)
When I saw the magic skill had been unlocked, I knew that was what I must take. As a human, I had no memories of magic. The skill, manipulation, might have some way of giving me influence over this world that I have so far been an observer of.
A new spark flares within me. I can feel something pulsing. Something growing, within myself.
I assume from the skill, I have the innate knowledge on how to move matter to my liking. I look down, and begin to burrow. It is time to leave this place. Perhaps I can find my cactus friend again.
I manage to move a few grains of sand. I cannot feel myself shift, but I know I have because my perspective has slightly rolled. I can now see a lone tree in the distance. I can feel my new, child-spark exhausted within me. I have strained it, and must wait for it to return.
For now, I am pleased.
What color should the dungeon's heart (our MC) be? This color wild modulate as the story goes on, based on character decisions.
