The fall into darkness was blessedly short. I was shocked there was not any light where I landed. Based on the lack of light filtering through the ceiling, the opening had sealed up tight behind me. Using my hands, I felt around the walls of the room. There were no seams or carvings that I could feel, leaving the walls completely smooth.

I ran my hands along the wall trying to see with my hands. When I made it to the 4th wall, I got an unwelcome surprise. The wall was quite sharp and it cut one of my hands when I encountered it. It didn't feel like a life-threatening cut, but it would cause me to bleed pretty badly if I didn't bind it quickly.

Trying to rip my dress with one hand was an impossible task for me. I could feel blood dripping from my hand as I fumbled with my dress to find something to bind it with. Sitting down, I was able to wrap my hand in my skirt to provide pressure to stop the bleeding. ‘My parents are going to have a heart attack when I find myself out of this place and show up covered in blood. Ok, focus, how do I get out of here?’

I placed my uninjured hand on the ground behind me to try to reposition myself away from the evil wall. As I got to the center of the room, I was blinded by a bright light that materialized. Blinking my eyes to get the spots out of my vision, I looked around the now very well-lit room.

The three smooth walls have nothing special about them that I can see. On the fourth wall, there is a huge mural with lots of sharp edges. The mural has beautiful depictions of the eight symbols as well as some writing. I don't understand enough of the language to be able to translate with any accuracy but it looks to be some kind of prophecy. It references an old soul (I think) and something happening when they appear.

Looking down, I see a bloody handprint on a large crystal that was set into the floor. The crystal is changing color at a dizzying pace. After studying it, there is a pattern to the colors. It appears this world’s fascination with the rainbow goes back to ancient times. The order that it changes is black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, and then back to Black again. The entire rotation of color lasts 8 heartbeats, one for each color.

My dress has a lot of blood on it. It doesn't help that it is white and shows every drop of blood. No fresh blood can be seen seeping through my skirt bandage so the bleeding must have either stopped or slowed significantly. I am thankful I didn't accidentally cut my wrist and hit a more dangerous artery.

The problem with my new view is there wasn't a way out I could see. The mural was not glowing like the column that got me into this mess. I made sure to study the prophecy so that I could remember the details with my Visualization. My hand was starting to ache. Every time I would start to forget about my wound, I would move it and it would start throbbing again.

After a while, I started screaming for help. I have not heard anything since I fell into this death trap. Hunger began to set in not too long after that. Even when the adults were rationing their meals, the children still got their full serving. Before this life, my parents were both comfortable enough that I never had to miss a meal growing up. The light started to dim as time went on.

Afraid of losing my only light source, I touched the crystal in the center of the room. This caused the light to turn back on as well as creating text that popped up in her vision. The writing was in a different font than the system menu usually wrote in. It was almost calligraphy with how the words flowed across her vision.

Greetings Ancient One. Your coming has been foretold.

By providing a sample of your blood to the solar crystal you have agreed to all terms regarding this procedure.

Please press the solar crystal to begin your initial selection.

Black Swirl for Illusion Red Diamond for Fire Orange Square for Earth Yellow Triangle for Air Green Leaf for Nature Blue Teardrop for Water Purple Star for Spatial White Heart for Healing

WHAT!! I did not agree to any terms. Where are the terms? A procedure sounds ominous. You can't make me touch that thing again. I will sit in the dark!

After about 30 minutes, another message popped into her vision.

I commend thee Ancient One. Not many would choose as you have. By not making a choice, you have left your future up to fate.

A huge circle with eight different colors, the rainbow plus black and white, was brought up in her vision. As she watched, the octagon started spinning with an arrow at the top. The wheel started to slow down, while she watched what fate would bring her. Blue went by, then purple, slowly white went by looking like it may stop there until it had one last burst of motion flipping it over to black.

Fate smiles upon you, Illusion shall be yours.

She did not have time to think before a massive migraine caused her to lose consciousness. Her mind recreated the simulated dig site that she spent so many hours practicing on during her classes. Looking at herself, she was in her adult body. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with her blonde hair up in a ponytail. The cut on her hand had thankfully disappeared as well.

Finding a kit on the ground next to her, she moved to the site with loose sandy dirt. There were eight sections with gridding already measured out on them. Each section had a color and symbol associated with it. As she approached the red diamond section, she was met with an invisible forcefield keeping her away.

‘Well, fate did say that illusion shall be mine. Based on the color, that means I need to go to the black swirl section.’ Walking over to the black swirl section, she was able to approach the gridding. Just before she stepped over the rope, another message popped up.

Find the aspect that best suits your needs. Be aware, you may only have a maximum of ##ERROR##.

Recalculating…

You have no limits on the number of aspects that can be obtained. Be aware, each additional aspect will be more difficult to find.

‘Limitless for the win!’ she thought. The gridded-off section that she needed to dig through was a fairly large area. She counted nine equal squares of two-foot by two-foot sections. This was going to take her quite a while. The squares closest to her contained the loosest soil while the squares furthest away appeared to have hard-packed dirt in them.

Placing a pair of gloves on that she found in her kit, she stepped into the first square. The soil was loose enough that she used her hands to lightly dig around to see if she could feel anything. ‘No, of course, that would be too easy’ she thought. She grabbed one of the buckets in her kit and started to carefully fill it with soil.

Once all of her buckets were full, she walked them to the edge of her grid and dumped them out on the unmarked ground. When she returned with her next bucket, the dirt she had previously discarded was missing. ‘Well, I guess I don't have to worry about creating tiny mountains of dirt everywhere.’ It took her several trips dumping buckets before she found something that was not dirt.

You have located the aspect for Dazzle.

To obtain this aspect, you must completely unearth it. If the aspect becomes damaged, it is possible to lose it or obtain a weak version of it. Proceed with caution.

She immediately stopped digging. ‘Dazzle, that sounds like something I would use to blind or distract someone. There is no way I could hide a skill like that while trying to practice it.’ Making up her mind, she moved to a new square and repeated the process of digging once again. There were three squares with loose dirt and she wanted to see them all before making a decision. She did not want to spend too much time digging around if her parents were looking for her.

You have located the aspect for Shadow Blade.

You have located the aspect for Disguise Self.

‘Now that’s just what I need, a skill that I can cut myself with.’ She looked longingly at the other six cubes with their hidden contents. ‘My kit does not include enough tools in it for me to be confident I won't break one of the other aspects while trying to reach it.’ she thought. The aspects that she had uncovered so far were all located in random places throughout the measured off squares.

‘I’m not sure what I am going to use Disguise Self for in the middle of nowhere, but it is the safest option for me to practice without getting caught.’ With that thought, she carefully began unearthing that aspect. The object was buried deeply into the loose soil. She felt like she was carefully unearthing a tree root. There were quite a few delicate “branches” leading off in different directions. After hours of careful excavation, she was able to carefully hold the object to brush the last bits of dirt off of it.

Excavation integrity calculating…

100%

Congratulations, with your attention to detail, a bonus of 5% synchronization has been added to this aspect at the start for a total of 6%

To return for more aspects, you must have a total of 8% synchronization for illusion.

She woke abruptly and was immediately reminded of the cut she had on her hand. It chose that moment to start throbbing again. Looking down, she noticed a black mark through the white parts of her dress. As she lifted her dress to get a better look at her new bruise, she worried about what other bruises she may find on her body from the fall down.

It wasn't a bruise. She was now the proud owner of a black swirl mark a little to the lower left of her belly button. There was no way she was going to be able to hide a dark black mark. Memories of the little boy being taken away from his mother resurfaced and caused her to momentarily freak out a little bit. What happens when somebody sees that mark?

‘Ok think Violet’ she thought to herself. ‘I just unlocked illusion magic and received an aspect of Disguise Self. There has to be something I can work with that.’

[Magic]

Type

%

Aspect

Illusion

1%

Illusion

6%

Disguise Self

While her new magic did not come with an instruction manual, while she was knocked out the system embedded ideas of how to control her magic. The percentages were a little new. There was an overall synchronization percentage for Illusion and then a percentage for each aspect she unlocked. Those ideas on her new magic came naturally to her as she attempted her first experiment.

Holding out her undamaged hand, she thought about making her skin turn purple. Slowly as she was intently staring at her hand, her skin color changed. She let out a breath of relief and her hand immediately changed back to its natural color. ‘Well drat. I can change the color but I have to stay focused on it for the color to stay put.’ She put to practice with her new illusion ability at the top of her skill priority list using her Mental Notes skill. Her life could depend on the proficiency of that skill.

Just that little bit of experimentation left her feeling a little drained. She looked at her status sheet to see if there were any changes to explain this.

Level

19

Age

3 1/2

Experience

(18340/19000)

Health

162/190

Mana

505/620

Stat Points

90

Skill Points

3

Strength

14

Constitution

19

Dexterity

16

Intelligence

67

Wisdom

62

[Traits] [Skills] [Magic]

Well, that is new. Unlocking her magic also unlocked her mana bar. Based on the amount missing, she needed to be careful. Without pulling her math out, she estimated maybe two hours’ worth of use before she would run out of mana. Hopefully, training would lower the mana cost.

Now all she had to do is figure out how to get out of here. No problem!