Sometimes I find my thoughts drifting back to those beautiful days before Genesis arrived. Do you even remember those ancient days now? You were a child before the change ... do you remember the beauty of our people? The peace we had established on our world? I suspect that you do not. How else could you accept the conflict that has become so commonplace...

We walk through the forest in silence, the only noise coming from the birds and beasts that claim the land as their home. The blue sky above fills me with happiness, the bird sounds relax me, and the wind carries with it the familiar scent of dirt and life. I never really enjoyed camping or hiking before Genesis came, but after my experiences on Helldarvin all I want to do is fall to the ground and stare up at the sky as the stars slowly come out. Not the alien stars of a Dungeon World, but my own stars. The stars surrounding Earth.

Unfortunately, even if I had the time for that kind of relaxation, my reluctant traveling companion would probably object. She continues to glance back at me as we walk. Whenever she believes I’m not watching, her sharp blue eyes try to figure out who I am and what I might want with Peter. I’ve not bothered to probe her with any questions, which only increases her paranoid thoughts. Thoughts that she doesn’t realize I can feel and understand. The moment we started walking together I activated Passive Search, and information of what has happened since I left is slowly flowing into me.

I silently give thanks to Albasalas. Learning to use the Skill on a complex system has clearly over prepared me for using it on individual organisms. Compared to the overwhelming river of information from all the different points in Albasala’s networked territory, Kat’s mind is like drinking from a glass; albeit a shaky one. Her thought process is slow enough to follow that I don’t need to use Active Search to find specific information, I can just leisurely absorb and sort the thoughts running through her mind as they come.

One of those pieces of information, and perhaps the biggest surprise of the day is the fact that Peter, my perpetually unorganized and lazy friend, has organized some sort of band of roving creature killers calling themselves the ‘Hunters’. He always did have a flair for the dramatic side of life but I never would have guessed that he would be a person to handle the change so well. It’s hard to figure out what truly happened to him during the initial days of the change, Kat’s somewhat creepy hero worship tainting the memories and making his actions appear larger than life. For the first time I begin to understand the limitations of Passive Search, at least at the level where it is now. Memories are simply too subjective to always obtain accurate information.

Letting the flow of information passively continue, I turn my attention to my Attributes, each having increased by 20 points for completing two of the return requirements. My body feels amazing. The increase in Dexterity lightens my steps while the Endurance makes me feel as if I could run for hours. The Perception allows me to feel and see so much more of my surroundings, and the Strength fills me with an explosive power. All in all, I received 200 Attribute Points from the transfer and I feel fantastic. I also feel a few notifications lurking in the corner of my vision, waiting for me to acknowledge them, and I finally give my assent for them to appear.

You have returned to Earth.

Of the 10,000 individuals who were randomly selected only [8] have returned.

Total amount of time remaining for return: 3.2 Earth Days.

You have been granted a Skill as a Reward!

Analyzing current Skill set ....

Analyzing ...

Analyzing ...

You have discovered the Skill Mental Illusion (R-3) Lvl 1!

Using the power of your Telepathic Mind, you have discovered how to create illusions within the mind of your target. Obfuscate your appearance, surround them with darkness, create false enemies, the possibilities are endless and the applications limitless. Cost: 80 Stamina and 50 Mana per minute. Limit: One Subject. Increased skill level increases the vividness of the illusion and the amount of targets (Limited by Weak Telepathic Mind). Subject Defense: Derived from Subject Willpower and Skills.

My eyebrows rise in surprise as I read through the Skill and the subsequent flow of information floods into me. I suddenly understand the intricacies of creating a mental illusion, of weaving the different threads of sight and sound together to convince my target to see what I create. This Skill alone would have taken me months of training with Albasalas to unlock, and yet I achieve basic understanding in an instant. I should feel guilty at the ease with which I learned it, but I don’t. Every advantage I gain increases the possibility of survival; for me and for those I care about.

Accepting my new gift graciously, a familiar feeling of curiosity fills me. A smile breaks out on my face as I decide to try it out on this particularly surly guide who is continuously imagining different methods of killing me before we get to the camp. Extending my mind towards her, I begin to weave the illusion.

Kat chooses that moment to look back at Cael, the almost childish smile on his face confusing her and decreasing her already tenuous trust. Looking up ahead, she sees the curve in their path and she immediately plots out another possible way to kill him before they reach the camp.

Losing herself in the daydream of killing her annoying companion, she is caught completely off guard as Cael suddenly appears in front of her with his tongue sticking out. Kat screams and turns around to scamper away, only to find Cael is also standing behind her.

“Boo!”

The noise emanates from beneath her and she looks down, fear plainly written across her face as another Cael appears, lying on the ground beneath her with the same stupid grin on his face as the others. She spins again, counting three different Caels around her, each wearing identical annoying, and frustrating, smiles. She lets out a scream of pure terror and falls to the ground, convinced that this idiotic man is going to be the death of her.

I chuckle to myself as I imagine her seeing the three different illusional versions of me, and outright begin to laugh when I will them to say “boo” in her mind and she falls over. She had spent the last hour or so imagining several different ways to kill me, so I feel messing with her slightly is justified. Watching her muttering incoherently on the ground in fright does, however, fill me with a slight sense of guilt. I’ve never been the best at planning pranks, always going way too far or not far enough. Clearly this exercise may have followed that trend.

Dispelling the illusion within her mind, I kneel down and gently tap her on the shoulder, unsure of how to apologize. I haven’t spoken with another person, other than Faul and Albasalas, for the past 18 months. Not that I was the most socially polished person before my externally imposed exile. “Ummm ... sorry about that? I just unlocked a new Skill and wanted to try it.”

Her muttering stops and she looks up at me, her blue eyes a mix of rage, confusion, and surprise. She then pushes me away and gets to her feet, brushing the dirt off of her clothes, before looking at me in suspicion. “What kind of Skill is that? Also how the fuck did you unlock a Skill while we were hiking?”

A little taken aback by her language, I decide to respond honestly as a way of apologizing. Sheepishly, I raise my hand to the back of my head and respond. “Well ... it was a Skill I got for returning and it allows me to create illusions.”

Her eyes fill with worry and she begins turning around, looking around her and subconsciously resting her hand on the sheath of her knife. Her severe paranoia perplexes me, the reason for it still not uncovered by the Passive Search. So far all it has managed to uncover are impressions and images of things that have happened since the change, filling me in on her slow transformation from loner into important member of the Hunters. I can also tell that she is still uncomfortable with her role and only stays because of Peter.

After convincing herself that there aren’t any remaining illusions, she begins hiking again, ignoring me and not wanting to continue our fledgling conversation. I wait for a few minutes but it becomes clear that she has no intention of speaking with me again until we’ve reached the camp.

I decide to take the time to open my Ways Page and take a look at the options that I have for spending my 538 points.

Ways: Way of Latent Talent (100/???), Way of the Returned (0/350), Way of the Motionless (0/300), Way of the Gunslinger (0/250), Way of the Novice Psionic Mind (0/200), Way of the Arcane Weapon (0/150), Way of Elemental Destruction (0/150), Way of Elemental Creation (0/150), Way of the Randomly Chosen (0/100), Way of Discovery (0/100), Way of the First Evolution (0/100), Way of the Traveler (0/50), Way of the Staff (0/25), Way of Intelligence (0/25)

Overall it appears the same as when I last looked at it six months ago, with the addition of the Way of the Returned that obviously relates to my return to Earth. I find myself debating all the ideas in my head as we continue to walk towards the camp, unsure of what to invest in given the amount of points that I’m sitting on. In the end, I decide to go with what feels right.

My first choice is putting 200 points into Way of the Novice Psionic Mind. My telepathic capabilities may not be my most powerful weapon yet, but they are both rare and unique to me, at least among humans. Notifications appear in 50 point intervals, granting me 10 Willpower, increased Search speed, and something called Willpower Penetration, which I assume relates to the amount of Willpower I’m able to overcome. While these benefits are extremely useful, the final notification makes it worth the 200 point cost.

You have taken another step down the road of psionics. Your Telepathic Mind deepens in awareness and power, opening your mind up to the world. Whether it is a weapon, shield, or just a tool is up to how you use it. Your Weak Telepathic Mind (R-1) has evolved into Mediocre Telepathic Mind (R-2)! Skill level has been reset to Lvl 1. Subject Limit of Telepathic Skills has increased by 1.

I stumble onto the ground as the Skill change activates, falling to my knees as an extremely loud high pitched whine begins to ring in my ears. My hands raise up to my ears and try to cover them, but the noise doesn’t lessen in any way. Groaning slightly, I suffer in pain for a few seconds and then, suddenly and without warning, the ringing noise stops and is replaced with more information flooding in from Kat. The Passive Search has sped up, retrieving information and impressions at almost twice the speed that it had before. The pain has completely disappeared but my memory of it remains as I get back to my feet, my legs slightly shaking from the phantom sensation.

Kat completely ignores my suffering and continues to walk ahead, forcing me to jog for a second to catch up with her. The speed with which my body moves without Skills is amazing, and I can’t wait to see what I’ll be able to achieve with everything activated at once.

Unfortunately, that experimentation will have to wait as a feeling of nervousness and dread emanates from Kat. My sharp eyes spot tents set up a few hundred feet away from us and I realize that her feelings are due to the fact that we’ve reached the camp.