Reincarnation

by Timothy McGowen

  “No, thank you,” I said, sounding much glummer than I had wanted to. I stood up and shut the latch to the entrance of the dome. This hut had been built differently than the ones from the village. Instead of crude lumpy walls of clay with doors made from woven spring weed, the walls here were hard and smooth, and the doors were made of a lighter stone-like material.

  “Done with your first quest!” In’ah said, leaning her back against the inside of the dome, “How does it feel? You ready to go up against a gigantia yet!”

  I willed my overlay to switch on and noticed a small blurb from my ancestral memory.

  -Gigantia: Slang term for several of the larger predatory animal species that prey on the Ki’darth people as well as other smaller species.-

  “Have you fought one before,” I asked, sitting back among my blankets but moving closer to the light and warmth of the glow rocks.

  “Me?” In’ah asked, laughing louder than I thought necessary. I slumped backward slightly, my excitement waning.

  “Well, do we fight them,” I asked, “I mean Erusha?”

  “Narth’l told me that he saw Mesh’el crush a gigantia’s head with his hammer, but I’m not sure I can believe him. Narth’l is basically in love with Mesh’el, talks about him constantly. Personally, I didn’t care for him that much, too quiet and somber for me. What about you, have you met any other Erusha yet, besides me?”

  “Only Aetex, I guess.”

  “He doesn’t count,” In’ah shot back, running her hands through her wet hair, “He is so old that I doubt he could summon a barrier if he wanted to.”

  “He still can,” I shot back, “I know he can because when he was teaching me to Sri Project, I hit him straight on and it didn’t even singe his clothes.”

  “Oh really,” In’ah said, raising an eyebrow, “Maybe your Sri Potential is just really weak?”

  “It isn’t!” I protested, “Mine is higher than yours!”

  In’ah grew quiet, and she stopped grinning. “It’s late,” she said finally, “I’m going to try to get some sleep.”

  “Okay,” I said, she didn’t seem to hear me, “Goodnight.”

  Way to go knucklehead. A familiar voice filled my head. You know she has been around for a good bit longer than you and you throw it in her face that you have a higher SP? You have the sense of a dirt clod.

  I didn’t mean to insult her, I spoke in my mind, she said I was too weak to singe his clothes, and it irritated me. Plus, what kind of sane person does that in the rain?

  You are such a newborn, Sumahon said, go to sleep before you mess something else up.

  I didn’t respond but wrapped in the warm blankets by the light of the glow stones I drifted off while shooting discreet looks towards In’ah. My first friend and I’ve already messed things up, was the last thought I remember having before sleep took me.

  Quest Complete, Investigate Disturbance. Additional experience and 1 Bonus Ability Point Awared for 11 Rat kills.

  Congratulations! You’ve reached Level 6. You now have 3 total ability points.

  I barely noticed the stream of level-ups from my various abilities and skills as I fell into a deep sleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  “You want to help me finish a side quest I picked up a few weeks ago? I was exploring a spooky cave and I’m pretty sure it is one Narth’l told me about. It is supposed to hold some ancient artifact of great power.”

  In’ah’s words snapped the last vestiges of sleep from my mind and I sat up from my bedroll.

  “Uh sure,” I answered with a smile. I noticed a small flickering icon in the corner of my vision and willed it to appear in front of me.

  Kill the Beast!

  In’ah has invited you to explore a cave that is said to hold a powerful artifact. There is a good chance that the cave is guarded by a powerful beast, do you accept?

  Rewards, Unknown.

  You sure about that? Sumahon’s unwelcomed voice rung out in my head.

  It’ll be fine, I shot back. I didn’t want In’ah to leave yet and figured between the two of us we could handle anything the blighted lands could throw at us.

  It turned out the cave she was talking about was only an hours journey from the ruined city of bones. The journey was quick and mostly quiet as we walked towards large mountains in the distance. I did my best not to stare at In’ah too much, but she was so impressive that I got caught admiring her more than once.

  “Okay we’re here!” She announced in her typical happy voice.

  The cave, if that is what you wanted to call it, was actually a huge opening in the side of the base of a steep mountain. The entrance was narrow but extremely tall, kind of like someone cracked two mountains together and leaned them on each other.

  “I’ll go in first and you stay back further ready to attack anything that moves.”

  I nodded along to In’ah’s instructions and steadied my breathing. I was ready to attack whatever we might encounter.

  Once we made it past the narrow opening of the cave it all changed. The passage opened up to a large cavern, similar to the one that held the ship, but in much worse shape.

  In the distance only visible by a few shafts of light that came in through the opening, were several smaller openings.

  “Which way?” I asked leaning closer to In’ah. She didn’t shy away and spoke in a similarly low whisper.

  “Let’s start down the left and work our way to the right.”

  And so we were off. Our steps echoed in the larger room, but as we reached the smaller tunnels the steps faded to barely a noise. The ground here was soft and smelled of bitter greens.

  This went on for the next several hours, the tunnels branched and went nowhere, until finally we stood at the last one.

  The smell was the first thing that I noticed was different. Then the floor, instead of soft untouched earth, it was stone and had several noticeable tracks that we could see by the light of my Sri. We had switched things up, with me in front and In’ah skipping behind humming a tune I didn’t know. After so long inside the cave, we had both grown less afraid of what might be hiding inside.

  That changed as we walked. A low growl could be heard echoing down the hall.

  We should leave, Sumahon said. He had been relatively quiet the entire quest and I jumped hearing his voice so loudly in my head.

  “It’ll be fine,” I whispered back.

  “Of course it will!” In’ah said loudly. She seemed excited to finally be approaching something dangerous. She was a bit odd.

  Without a word she took point and pulled her blades into her arms. The massive wooden things nearly scraped the roof as she balanced them on her shoulders.

  The growling continued like the steady beating of a heart the further we traveled down the dimly lit hallway. I could feel the tension building as we approached and it took a concentrated effort to balance the Sri I was channeling at the ready to provide light. I didn’t want to let out a premature blast and give us away.

  With that thought I activated my Soft Steps ability and my already quiet steps went silent.

  I was able to hold back a gasp as we turned the corner but In’ah didn’t.

  I quickly used inspect as the huge thing stood and swung its head in our direction.

  Ancient Sri Bear, Level 20

  No other information presented itself no matter how hard I focused.

  What the heck is a Sri Bear.

  What the heck is a Sri Bear.

  Sumahon and I both said the words together.

  The Sri Bear was as tall as the hut that he’d been given by Ah’can during his training and almost as wide. Blue flashes of color could be seen under a thick black fur. The Sri Bear’s eyes pulsed with bright blue light.

  “In’ah this thing is four times stronger than us,” I said grabbing her arm, “
We need to get out of here.”

  She brushed my arm away and pointed around the bear. Large black boxes had been smashed open and a vast variety of items lay all around. Armor, weapons that I couldn’t even begin to understand how they worked, and packages of food. I used inpsect on the items as I watched but none of it made much sense so I dismissed the prompts.

  The Sri Bear roared at us and began to charge. We were still in the tunnel and if we didn’t move there would be no chance of survival. In’ah must have had the same thought because she shot to the side and ran for cover deeper into the Bear’s lair. I followed but let my power build as I ran, then just as it was going to overcome me I turned.

  The Bear was twenty feet away still and I let loose my attack.

  “Continuos Sri Blasts!” I screamed. The Bear appeared to tilt it’s head in confusion as the balls of energy flew past it and into the ceiling above. Too late, it seemed to realize what I was up to, large chunks of the ceiling came crashing down.

  I didn’t wait to see if my attack had been successful enough, I just turned and ran after In’ah.

  A cacophony of sound chased me. It sounded like the entire tunnel system was coming down. I caught up to In’ah at the far wall as we watched an ever-thickening cloud of dust billow around the opening.

  “I think I got it,” I said between heavy breathing. I couldn’t hold back a smile as I looked towards In’ah.

  But she wasn’t smiling.

  “Why did you do that! What about all the loot? And how is that even a fair fight! You nearly killed us!” Her last sentence was drowned out by a loud roar a dozen feet away into the dust.

  I grabbed hold of In’ah and began to walk along the edge of the cave, hoping to circle back around to the exit.

  “Duck!” In’ah screamed, I threw myself to the ground just as a massive paw cut into the rock above us.

  No, it’s a bear, actually. And I’ve figured out how it became a Sri Bear if you are interested…

  Sumahon’s words were cut off as the massive creature slammed its head into my chest, and I nearly lost consciousness. I could feel my entire body screaming in protest from the damage I had taken. I looked up just in time to see In’ah’s blades bounce off the thick hide of the creature.

  While lying on my back, I did my best to mimic the stance for Finger Cannon and activated the skill.

  Energy bloomed from my hand/finger and condensed into a powerful tunnel of force. The attack and its improved ability to pierce the defenses of an enemy cut through the bears hide and got its attention.

  I quickly made it to my feet just in time to meet the bear head-on. Not knowing what else to do, I went into a Sri Kata stance. Thoughts of flowing water overtook me as I tilted and bent, dodging the large paws meant to crush me. I could feel myself slowing, I just didn’t have enough Physical potential to keep this up.

  Claws cut into my already injured arm, and I lost focus, coming out of Sri Kata and falling helplessly to the ground. This enemy was too great, we needed to flee. As much as I wanted to stand my ground and fight, the thing had shrugged off a ceiling falling on it.

  It ate extremely unstable ore, if you can get past its hide, it might detonate. Sumahon was practically screaming in my head at this point.

  “I did pierce its hide! It didn’t seem to notice!” I yelled back as I rolled to the side, narrowly missing a death blow.

  Again! Sumahon urged.

  I used my Inspect skill, trying to find the spot I had attacked, an icon flashed in the corner of my vision. My display lit up with a small circle showing where my first attack had almost gone through the hide.

  Without giving it a second thought, I activated my Finger Cannon ability. It hit the mark. The bear cried out in pain and began slamming down on me with its massive paws. Then it exploded.

  I felt a wash of blood, guts, and pure energy splatter onto me. My vision flickered, and I blacked out.

  I awoke to a smiling face and messy curls. In’ah stood over me and prodded me with her fingers.

  “What happened?” I asked. The last thing I remembered was the bear exploding on top of me.

  “I got us out, barely. I wasn’t even able to get any loot because the cave was collapsing behind me as I ran.”

  “So it was all for nothing?” I asked, checking my quest status. It popped up and had been marked, failure, before fading away entirely.

  “Not entirely, I leveled up!”

  I checked my status page and found that I had as well.

  Name: Neak’o

  Current Path: Sri Projector

  Level 6, 7,250/8,800 Exp, Energy: 225/225, Spirit: 65, Phys: 33

  2 AP

  Abilities:

  Lesser Sturdy ( Racial Passive )

  Sri Projecting

  Skills:

  Sri Blast Level 8 -> Continuous Sri Blasts Level 3

  Sri Kata Level 4 -> Improved Dodge Level 3

  Finger Cannon Level 6

  Soft Steps Level 3

  Inspect Level 5 -> Analyze Level 1

  Spec Tree:

  Improved Sri Regeneration [5/5]

  Not only had I leveled up to level 6, but several of my skills had shot up as well. And what was ‘Analyze’?

  Congratulations! You learned a new Skill. Skill name: Analyze. You have learned a sub-skill of Inspect. You can now glean additional combat information and have it displayed in your vision.

  “I have another awesome idea!” In’ah declared happily, “The rain and the mists are thick as ever, it’s the perfect time to explore the canyons!”

  “Canyons,” I asked as I tried to rub the sleep from my eyes. It couldn’t be morning already. My entire body was sore from my physical exertions, and I needed another day or two of sleep, at least.

  “Yeah,” she said, lifting a bundle as large as she was over her shoulder. She had gathered all of her belongings up as I slept.

  “I think I am supposed to get back to Aetex,” I said, standing. My clothes were dry and because of the rain, most of the dirt and grime had been washed away. I picked up my book and tucked it under my arm.

  “Oh, that reminds me!” In’ah said, turning and running out of the open door in a rush. With all of her belongings picked up and packed away the room seemed unsettlingly empty. Like an empty grave that had lost its last vestige of life.

  I didn’t stay long in the eerie quiet of the room and walked into the gray light of the morning. The outside proved to be no better in eeriness. The mist that had plagued the roads on my travels here now hung thick over the ancient city. Straining my eyes, I was able to just make out In’ah moving at the edge of my vision.

  “You won’t believe what I’ve made for you!” Her voice pierced the mist, and soon after, she was standing before me holding a tangled mess of ropes and leather.

  “What is it?” I asked, cringing backward. Had she brought a piece of a dead rat here?

  “Oh, don’t be like that,” she said, reaching towards me and punching my shoulder. It hurt.

  “Ow,” I said, rubbing my wounded arm. In’ah laughed.

  “It wraps around your waist and holds your book!” She exclaimed, obviously proud of her creation. “I noticed you carry it around all the time and figured you’d like to be able to keep your hands free instead of keeping it tucked under your arm.”

  I looked back at the mess of ropes and leather. Slowly I began to make out how it was meant to work, and I smiled.

  “Thank you,” I said, reaching hesitantly towards the thing and taking it. If she had used rat parts, it looked like they had at least been cleaned.

  Well, what do you think? I asked Sumahon.

  It is about time I stop getting shoved into the muskiest part of your body. Tell her, thank you for me, but leave me alone I am close to a breakthrough!

  “He says thanks,” I said, t
ying the rope around my waist and looped it around my left thigh. Then I placed the book in the thin leather and wrapped a cord around it to keep it from falling out if, heaven forbid, I had to run. Moving around, I appreciated how it didn’t get in the way or swing about wildly. She had really gone out of her way to make me something special, I was impressed.

  In’ah smiled and clapped her hands together. She was obviously happy with herself. I looked around on the ground, nothing I could give her in return. I’ll have to keep an eye out for something.

  “Well,” I said, kicking at a small piece of mud on the ground, “I am going to head back to town. I’m sure Aetex will be surprised I survived.”

  “Nope,” In’ah said, moving between me and the direction to the road. She folded her arms, and her smile widened even further.

  “Nope?” I asked, stopping in place and wondering if she could stop me if I just walked through her. I eyed her swords, laying a few feet behind her and decided not to find out.

  “Nope,” She repeated, “We are going to go visit the canyons!”

  “I guess he won’t miss me if I spend a little time exploring,” I said, letting my shoulders fall and the tension release, “Do you think it’s safe to just wander around? Aetex was pretty insistent that the Blighted Lands were nothing but danger.”

  “It isn’t safe,” she said, shrugging, “but we are pretty dangerous ourselves. We’ll be fine.”

  “Lead the way,” I said.

  Just because she made me a case, doesn’t mean I agree with her leading us off to death, a familiar voice intoned in my head.

  It’ll be fine, Sumahon, I said back, we are going to go see canyons!

  Do you even know what a canyon is? Sumahon shot back.

  I do not! I said and followed In’ah out of the ruins and deeper into the swirling mists.

  “So, we can get food and lodging in any village we go to,” I repeated, “No questions asked?”

  “That’s right,” In’ah said, twirling around into the mist, it whirled away from her like water pushing away oil.

  “What else can you tell me about being an Erusha?” I asked, In’ah was filled with stories and much more open to discussing Erusha than Aetex had been.