Calvin woke up with a burning substance being funneled down his throat.

Then they pulled the arrow out.

Had he been entirely cognizant, he might have appreciated how he was flopping like a fish, but his brain was too busy trying to hide in the corner while mommy and daddy shouted and flung tableware at each other.

The burning sensation took hold of his stomach and spread tendrils through his body, questing like a blind norlock until it latched onto the arrow wound with physical force.

Bent 1/7 remaining.

The wound bubbled up like black pond scum, it’s bleeding stopping.

Bent 0/7 remaining.

The black scum sloughed off of Cal’s chest, leaving no wound whatsoever.

“How um…” Aoehe tapped the skin over his chest “This good?”

“Feel,” Cal answered in Ilethan. “How does this feel?” The burning licked against the scrapes and bruises across his body halfheartedly before fading away

“Does. This. feel.” Aoehe repeated slowly. “Does this feel. Does this feel. How does this feel?”

He snapped his finger and spun around, grinning at Calvin with his sharp teeth.

“I have Kuela. Third daughter Break yesterday. You teach Ilethan and Gudveran Skill!”

“Never a bad idea.” Cal said, in Gudveran. “Yes.” In Ilethan.

I can take this opportunity to get my bearings and…Wait, why am I chained up?

Aoehe noticed Cal’s gaze directed at the manacles securing his hands to the massive wooden pillar and he set down the foul smelling, bubbling concoction in his bowl to point at the manacles.

“From Ilethan slave ship.” He said, pointing. “You teach with no hands, yes?”

“I suppose.”

“Melau!” he shouted, followed by a string of fluid words too fast for Cal to separate them.

In a matter of moments, a little girl with purplish-grey skin arrived, small and lanky with big grey eyes, and black hair. She was small. Maybe ten or eleven years old. A dangerous age to be Breaking.

Speaking of breaks. I have Warp. All I need now is a skill called Escaping from Genosian Cannibals. And Bent. How did that foul concoction take all of the Bent I’d gotten while I was unconscious away?

It seemed like it had triggered some kind of healing in exchange for Bent. Cal had never heard of something like that, but Genosians were pretty universally reviled, so there was probably plenty that they’d never shared with the outside world.

The Genosian father spoke to her for a moment, then the little girl turned to Cal and gave a bow, and said something.

Aoehe nodded as if pleased, then left the….yurt. Was it a yurt? The room was spacious and round, the walls seemed to be made of leather stretched over wood. The pillar Cal was chained to was a tree trunk that seemed to be burned off above the five foot mark. Its roots were still buried in the earth. The smoke from the lantern drifted up through a little hole in the top of the roof.

The little cannibal walked up and sat in front of him, then lifted up a bone.

“Bone,” Cal said in Gadveran.

She lifted up a twig. “Wood.” To further clarify, Cal shifted his hand in the manacle and tapped the log above him with his finger. “Wood.”

He pointed with his foot at the wooden slats holding up the yurt. “Wood.”

Her eyes lit up with understanding.

It only took an hour to get her the Warped Skill for both languages, ensuring she would pick them up at a prodigious pace. Once she had the second one, they began practicing conversational Gadveran.

Because Cal didn’t want anyone else to know what they were talking about.

“So the swamp beetle smells very bad.” Cal awkwardly pointed to his nose and wrinkled it in an exaggerated way.

Acting has reached Level 4!

Warp 21/22 remaining.

“Smells bad.” She said, picking up the words at lightning speed because of her Forming Day.

“And it sprayed all over Kort, who had to leave his clothes in the swamp and walk all the way back home naked.”

She giggled. Who doesn’t love a story where the punch-line is someone’s humiliation? In this case, it had been Cal who got sprayed, but why bring that up?

“Then his mother made him sit outside in full view of everyone else and washed him with a stiff brush and lots of soap.”

She continued laughing.

Talking to Girls has reached Level 5!

Warp 20/22 remaining.

Please choose a –

I’ll get around to it, this is important.

“You Gadverans are so strange.”

“We’re strange? I’m going to be an Incha Huala, and I don’t even know what that is!” Cal said with a wry grin.

“You should! It’s a great honor!”

“Well, what do they do?”

“An incha Huala fights their Maje.”

“Fights them?” Cal asked. “You mean fights for them?”

“Yes, for. Maje bring them into world to fight for tribe.” She stood and made a very characteristic pose, her hand raised palm down, fingers relaxed.

Just like Aoehe and fatty had done when they summoned those people.

They plan on making me…a summon? That doesn’t sound good.

“That’s very exciting!” Cal said with false enthusiasm. “How does one go about becoming one?”

“What?”

“How I be one?”

“Ah, Maje and you drink Guya. Guya do ummm…” She looked around before she leaned forward and tugged on Cal’s chains. “Together. Strong.”

“Many years later, when you fight at best, maje eat you, then bring back as Incha Huala for tribe. Never stop fight at best!”

“That’s brilliant!” Cal said, icy terror running down his spine. “We should totally have something like that in Gadvera!” By all the gods, get me out of here!

“Yes! Then Gadverans not be so weak.” She said, her chest puffed with pride.

“Well, that’s debatable.” He chuckled.

“What’s debatable?”

“Debate means word-fight. Debatable means can word-fight” Cal said.

“Why fight with words?” she asked, genuinely confused.

“So no one gets hurt.”

“See? Gadverans weak.”

Cal laughed, shaking his head before a thought occurred to him.

“So how does the magic work?”

“Magic?”

“The magic to bring the Incha Huala into the world.”

“Oh, Father taught me today! I too small for Incha Huala, but learned Skill!”

“Ooh, how’s it work?” Cal asked.

“look in you, carve out space for Incha huala….”

Cal nodded along, following the girl’s admittedly rough instructions.

You have manifested Chained Spirit.

Chained Spirit has reached Level 1!

Chained Spirit: Summon Chained Spirit. A taboo technique created by the Genosians. Any creature wholly consumed by the summoner may be recreated, and is bound to the user’s will for the duration. Skill effects size of creature, up to its normal size.

Chained Spirit Summoning level 1: 5 pound limit, 1 minute. 1 slot available.

Warp 19/22 remaining.

Does Incha Huala mean Chained Spirit!?

Do I have to eat somebody? Damn.

It would be inordinately difficult to eat all of anything that could fight, let alone a person. And it looked like he only had space for one creature, and no idea if he would be able to exchange one for another.

The skill was largely useless to Cal unless he could find a way to eat all of something extremely powerful before it rotted. The limitation on the number of creatures meant that whatever he ate had to also be something that could actually help him.

This must be why they use people. A trained fighter is more well rounded than say, a cougar. Sure you could make the cougar pounce on people, but the Genosian can take out the trash, wash the dishes and do the laundry too.

In any case, eating somebody is right out.

“Too bad only we can learn. Gadveran must continue being weak, I suppose.” Melau said wistfully once she was done enthusiastically explaining the Skill.

“I suppose.” Cal said, not revealing that he’d picked it up. He needed all the surprise he could get.

“You done with Skills?” Aoehe asked, opening the flap, his bone hat preceding him. Cal saw it in a slightly different light now.

Melau stood and ran to her father, pausing to bow before tackling him with a big hug. They began to speak to each other, their flowing language going in one ear and out the other.

Damnit. I didn’t want to do this, but it’ll be invaluable to my escape.

“I learn Genosian?” Cal asked, pointing at the two of them.

Goodbye, my sweet Skill slot. I barely knew ye.

“Of course! It would be best if you understood my daughter, after all.”

He tapped Melau on the shoulder and instructed her to teach Cal their language. From what Calvin could tell.

She sat down in front of him and began naming objects, starting with wood.

You have manifested Genosian Language.

Genosian Language has reached level 1!

Genosian Language level 1: Boosts acquisition, comprehension, and cultural nuance of the Genosian Language. 5% correction.

Warp 18/22 remaining.

Once the little grey-purple girl was gone, Cal heaved a sigh and closed his eyes.

He didn’t have a lot of skills he could practice without being able to move and not having any Bent, but there were a couple.

He started trying to clear his mind and meditate, when the prompt came up again.

Talking to Girls has reached Level 5! 25% correction.

+1 to Intuition

Three whole years later, it comes in handy.

Please choose an ability or mutation from the list of compatible ones.

Abilities

Like a Book: Boosts comprehension of body language, to a near unnatural level. Almost mind-reading, but not really.

Loyalty: Micro-changes in your behavior instills more loyalty and selflessness than it might have otherwise.

Mutations

One Size Fits All: I think you all know what this mutation does, you silly guys.

Lady Killer: Drain Bent through physical contact. (Not Actually Lethal)

Perfume : Smell better…duh.

The Voice: Makes voice more appealing.

A lot more mutations than abilities this time around, Cal thought, sorting through them. He scanned through them several times, and everything was helpful. (except One Size Fits All, which seemed like someone’s idea of a joke.)

His mind kept settling on Lady Killer.

He was going to need lots of Bent when he made his escape. What if he dragged along Melau for the first half of it then left her for the Genosians to recover? Or perhaps he could exhaust his Bent the night before so they believed he couldn’t possibly escape?

As an aspiring Wizard-King, it was highly appealing to have another source of Bent.

“I choose Lady Killer.”

User will be rendered unconscious while Mutation is taking place.

Oh dang, this again.

Cal’s skin itched for a moment as he felt something squirming up the veins of his arms.

Then everything went dark.

When Cal opened his eyes again, only a few minutes had gone by.

Still look the same. Are the veins in my arms a little darker? Cal hadn’t deliberately inspected himself beforehand, so he wasn’t sure.

Cal once again closed his eyes and focused his mind on the situation he found himself in, following his options into an ever-branching tree, trying to find a solution to the puzzle he found himself in by mixing and matching his abilities, skills, and knowledge before scrambling it all up inside himself to see what would happen.

…..

Meditation has reached Level 4!

Your Mind has reached Level 20!

Will has reached Level 12!

Stability has Reached Level 10!

0/22 Warp Remaining.

As expected, Cal wasn’t able to funnel it all into Mind, but three points was honestly better than he’d been hoping, putting the limit of his mental sub-stats at twenty.

After an entire evening plotting his escape, he didn’t get a Skill specifically for it like he’d hoped, but…he had interesting ideas.

Calvin Gadsint

Body:

6

Strength:

6

Kinesthetics:

6

Endurance:

6

Mind:

20

Intuition:

7

Stability:

10

Will:

12

Bent:

0/10

Skills:

Stealth

6

Talking to Girls

5

Acting

4

Reading Expressions

3

Sense-Grafting

4

Dupdomancy

6

Hunting

3

Meditation

4

Chained Spirit

1

Fishing

3

Knife work

4

Genosian Language

1