Dante’s Immortality - prologue

“Ughh”

He couldn’t help but release a groan as he rubbed his eyes and attempted to regain some semblance of consciousness.

What happened…?

Dante sat up carefully as pain shot through his side. It was the same alleyway he had chosen to sleep in last night - dark, desolate, and unpatrolled by guards - just how he liked.

Well, usually unpatrolled by guards…

Staring at the bloodstains on the cobblestone around him that were clearly his own, it was obvious a random patrol found him.

At least they knocked me out before I woke up.

He couldn’t help but feel some resentment and anger at the unknown guards. He wasn’t upset about the random beating, that was a common enough occurrence as far as he was concerned. But to do it on today of all days…

Still, it was just something to accept. One of the things he had learned is that acceptance is a part of survival. The world wouldn’t change for you, and there was nothing that you could do about it.

Fortunately, today there was a chance to change himself.

Today was the day of Bestowal, a holy day of the Goddess. It is the day that the Status was given to those eligible, marking the passage from adolescence to adulthood. It was the most anticipated and celebrated day of the year.

Even he was generally treated at least somewhat well during the festivities.

Dante climbed to his feet, ignoring the pain that shot through him as he hobbled to through the alley. Stepping out into the street, he was blinded by the sudden light. He reached up to block out the sun with his hand and identify its position in the sky.

Dante released a deep sigh of relief. He still had at least an hour until noon, he hadn’t missed the blessing and his only way out of his hell.

While he was lost in thought staring up at the sky, the people who were filling the bustling street streamed around him as if he wasn’t there. Only occasionally would someone purposefully bump into him, lobbing insults as they passed. Dante couldn’t help but smile.

If only I were always treated this well…

Dante merged into the crowd, trying to make his way toward the town square. He did his best not to look up, which was an effort to keep any unwanted attention away from himself.

Of course, it was utterly useless. Any attempt to hide was futile when the sun reflected off of his silver hair like a beacon for anyone who wanted to cause problems for him.

The crowd he was walking slowed to a crawl as it reached the perimeter of the town square.

The square in Alazel was located around the temple of the Goddess, like in every town he had been to. It made sense to him, the statues of the Goddess were always built in the location of any given region where world essence was in its densest form. Eventually, settlements would be created around the statues for the benefits they bring. With the help of the statue, it was almost hard not to prosper.

Dante glanced back up at the sun, roughly thirty minutes left.

He gazed at Alazel’s Head Priest, who was giving a lecture on the Goddess’s bestowal, and of course, the Status.

The Head Priest was a short, elderly man that gave off an air of superiority. He had the rapt attention of the crowd, especially the ones around Dante’s age, who were standing at the front and center.

Dante pressed his way through the people surrounding him and joined them, gaining the glares of any who noticed him.

“-that the Goddess has chosen to bless us despite our flaws, only with her aid can we push back the darkness that had plagued we weak humans for eons. Thus, today we come together for the bestowal of the Status and the celebration of all that the Goddess has blessed us with.” The Head Priest took a pause to bask in the looks of pure adoration that the crowd gave him. But as he scanned the crowd, his eyes caught a glint of silver in the sunlight, and he frowned.

The Head Priest paused his lecture and turned to address Dante, who was now with the rest of those waiting to accept the Status and step into adulthood. “We have already proven that the Goddess does not approve of your kind, it would be best if you left and saved yourself from embarrassment.”

The head priest was referring to the previous year when Dante had stood forward, much like today, to receive his Status. When he had touched the Goddess’ statue, nothing happened.

After that, his standing in the town had decreased even further, which he didn’t think was possible. Of course, he attributed that to his age in an effort to maintain hope. He wasn’t sure if he was actually despised by the Goddess, but he wouldn't give up on his one chance in life because of a single failed attempt.

It was common knowledge that someone couldn’t accept the Status until they had reached the age of fourteen. A crucial moment in everyone’s life, without the Status they wouldn’t be able to manipulate world essence.

The problem was, he had no knowledge of how old he was, his first memories in life were rummaging through trash for food years ago, before that he remembered nothing.

Due to his appearance, and the priest's habit of spreading superstition based on his looks, he couldn’t beg for food or coin without being beaten or just chased away. He didn’t even know his name until a head priest from an even less tolerant town had an Identify skill cast on him to find out what manner of demon he was.

Despite not being a demon, the town still chased him out afterward. He nearly died many times over on the short journey to Alazel.

Dante was about to reply to the Head Priest when an arrogant voice interrupted him.

“I don’t see why we even allow the damn creature to stay in the city. If it were up to me, I would have had my father’s guards burn him already.” Dante turned to see Greggory Tibbott, the local lord’s son speaking proudly to the crowd.

Greggory had a habit of being rude to him whenever he could, but he couldn’t understand what had made him so hostile today of all days.

Greggory was a large boy, even at the age of fourteen, he outweighed most adults. If he weren't continually flaunting his house sigil, no one would even know he was a noble. His generic brown hair was nothing special, and he didn’t have the high cheekbones that defined most nobility.

But to his chagrin, several people in the crowd actually nodded in agreement to Greggory’s words and began muttering to themselves.

The Head Priest saw that he was losing the attention of the crowd, something that he wouldn’t allow.

The Head Priest snorted. “Greggory, your father maintains order in this town. Try to act at least somewhat befitting to your status, lest you bring even more shame to your house.”

The Head Priest paused for a moment, thinking of a way to win back the crowd. “Even though he does not have the favor of the Goddess, as we saw last year, the Goddess teaches tolerance to all those who are willing to accept her.” He cleared his throat. “Even though he is clearly unfavored, I have personally confirmed that he is no threat to the Goddess’ plan.”

He wasn’t sure what the head priest was talking about, the man had barely even deigned to look at him in the years he had resided in Alazel.

The Head Priest shot Greggory and accusing look. “Keep in mind, it is not your place to interpret the will of the Goddess.” He turned back to face the crowd. “Now, it is time to receive the blessing. All of those who will receive their Status today, please line up in front of the statue.”

He was somewhat baffled that the Head Priest had defended him, even if the Head Priest was just attempting to maintain his dominance over the local House Tibbott. The priests were generally the ones who despised him the most, they were the ones who called him an abomination and turned everyone else against him. Dante looked over at Greggory, to gauge his reaction.

Greggory’s face was flushed bright red, and he was glaring daggers at him.

Great…

Regardless of how angry Greggory was, he was clearly planning on being the first to receive his Status. He hurriedly pushed his way in front of those waiting, shifting them to the side effortlessly with his superior weight.

Dante just shrugged it off, the animosity was nothing new, but he had never seen so much hostility from Greggory before. He would need to keep his distance in the near future.

Dante took his place in the back of the line, trying to draw the least amount of attention to himself as was possible.

At the front of the line, Greggory, despite his poor figure and average appearance, had his shoulders held high and back straight in an attempt to look like the majestic noble he thought himself to be as the High Priest began the incantation of the blessing.

A few seconds passed, and the priest stopped the High Alerian chanting and took his hand off the Goddess’ statue, which was now shining in the blinding blue light of world essence. “Those who are worthy may now step forward and receive the Status.” The High Priest stood back with a pale face and beads of sweat on his forehead. There was a pleased smile on his face as he gestured them forward.

Greggory wasted no time and stepped forward confidently, placing his right hand on the statue of the Goddess. The blue light coalescing around the statue flashed brightly momentarily, and then the world essence pushed itself into his wrist leaving a bright blue tattoo of a full moon with two crescent moons touching it, facing outward on its left and right side, the symbol of the Goddess.

Dante held his breath. This was the most important part of receiving the Status. After attaining the Status, the Goddess would bestow a Classification, rarely even multiple Classifications. The Classification that you received would literally dictate the direction of your life or what you could accomplish.

According to the priests teaching, the Goddess uses Classifications to shape her will. Even the High Priest is only high priest because he was bestowed the priest classification.

The world essence around Greggory thickened, then forced itself into his wrist. Greggory looked down at his wrist, then smiled proudly and held it up for all to see. Two new symbols appeared.

Dante along with the entire crowd gasped in disbelief. Now that he had opted to show his Classifications, everyone was holding their breath waiting to hear which Classifications Greggory was bestowed. After all, two Classifications of mediocre standing or conflicting natures may not be better than one of the better Classifications.

“Warrior and Hunter Classification, even two complimenting Classifications! Well done lad, your father is sure to be proud. I’m sure that with your help the prestige of Alazel will grow exponentially!” There was already a clear difference in the way the High Priest treated Greggory. Which made sense, the High Priest was always competing with the high priests of other towns in the nearby region.

The surrounding crowd broke out in cheers and Greggory was doing his best to stand even straighter in front of the adoring gazes.

He was slightly put off by the turn of events. Greggory was one of the people who cause the most problems for him. After what had happened earlier, that was sure to only get worse, and now his reputation and power in the city would skyrocket.

It was a significant problem for him, he had already tried to live in all of the surrounding towns, and Alazel was the least life-threatening of them by far. The priests had a far more hands-off approach when dealing with him.

With the turn of events, if he were unable to receive his Status and a Classification that would help him survive outside of the safety of the city he would have some severe problems in the near future.

As Dante was lost in thought, the twenty or so boys and girls around his age were stepping forward to gain their Status and find out their Classification.

Unsurprisingly, all of them opted to show off their Classification to the crowd, which was usually the case when they decided to stay in Alazel. Still, only a few of them were actually noteworthy. Most of them were the standard Chefs, Smiths, Miners, Builders, Carpenters and even a Seamstress Classification. One of the more innocent looking girls who stepped forward actually got the Priest Classification, which brought another broad grin to the High Priest's face.

After all, it had been several years since their town produced a new priest. Two boys got the Warrior Classification, and an unassuming young girl got a slightly uncommon Ranger Classification. Needless to say, the guards were happy this year. Assuming none of them left the town for adventuring, which was likely given that they had revealed their Classifications so brazenly, they would have three new recruits. Well above their yearly average of one or two.

These general Classifications were a common occurrence in the Outer Edge region of Aleria where Alazel was located. Dante had heard that closer to the center of Aleria, where the world essence was denser, rarer classifications like Mage or even Warlock were far more common. It didn’t really matter that the Classifications were so common though, because any class can specialize from its base level.

Smiths, for example, could go from apprentice all the way to grandmaster, and even specialize further in subclasses to build certain weapons or armor that would be superior to others without the specialization. Combat Classifications were far different than crafting Classifications or any others, they mainly focused on gaining practical skills that could be used in fights rather than improving a skill in a specific craft.

He was still lost in thought as he found himself suddenly in front of the Goddess’s Statue.

As Dante stepped forward to place his right hand on the statue, he could feel the glares digging into his back from the crowd as if they were tangible. But he ignored them as the blue light of the world essence began to pulse into his wrist and form the symbol of the Goddess.

Dante sighed in relief. He had finally gotten his status. But now was the most important part, non-combat Classifications were far more common than combat ones.

The blue light of the world essence flashed, far brighter than when others received their Classifications before. It was so blinding that the sun seemed to dim. The world essence became denser, collecting itself and then forced itself into his wrist.

The only thing that he could comprehend was a searing pain. Pain like nothing he had ever felt in his life centered in his wrist. He had never felt anything so excruciating, the beatings he had taken weren’t even comparable. So unbearable that he couldn’t even cry out.

Then, the light around his wrist suddenly dimmed, and the pain dimmed with it. Despite the pain he had experienced, he couldn’t stop his anticipation he looked at his wrist.

It's blank?

The crowd was silent. Dante couldn’t do anything but stare at the lone symbol of the Goddess on his wrist with shock.

Where is my Classification…?

Instead of waiting for his permission to reveal his Classification or lack thereof, the High Priest spoke in astonishment. “No Classification?”

Everything went silent, the crowd stared in shock. Someone not getting a Classification was completely unheard of.

Greggory was the first to break the silence with uproarious laughter. “No Classification? I’ve never even heard of someone not getting a Classification.” He began to laugh even harder, clearly putting on a show for the crowd as he pointed at Dante. “Even the Goddess curses you.” He turned toward the crowd. “Didn’t I say that we should burn the devil spawn?”

At this point, the crowd began to grow unruly as mutters of discontent spread. Dante couldn’t make out most what they were saying, but he could hear the reoccurring words “demon” “devil spawn” and “cursed” several times over their combined voices of outrage.

Are they right… am I truly cursed? Is that the reason… I was abandoned?

Dante was still just staring at his wrist with a blank look in his eyes when the High Priest stepped forward, now using magic to amplify his voice over the crowd to regain control before a riot formed.

“Now is a time to celebrate the ones the Goddess has truly blessed, let the festivities for the holy day of bestowal begin.” He gestured magnanimously toward the waiting shopkeepers.

At his words, food and drink were brought out from several of the local shops and inns for the crowd as part of the festivities, immediately soothing the discontent of the crowd.

The High Priest let out an audible sigh of relief. Clearly, he had been worried about the safety of the statue in the event of a riot.

After a few minutes of staring at the lone symbol of the Goddess on his wrist, Dante’s eyes came back into focus, and he smiled grimly.

Of course. What was I expecting anyway?

Dante lowered his head and made his through the crowd. Hardly anyone noticed him, and even those that did just ignored him, everyone was preoccupied with the festivities and food.

He made his way back to one of his favorite alleys to sleep in unnoticed. This one was also dark, desolate, and hopefully unpatrolled like the one he had slept in the night before.

Slumping down into a shadow Dante let out an exhausted sigh, definitely not the first of the day.

Oh well at least I received my status, that’s something…

The Status would still allow him to manipulate world essence. Dante channeled some of the world essence surrounding him into the now dark blue symbol of the Goddess on his wrist. It flashed into the standard blue color of the world essence, and a blue panel appeared in front of him.

Name: Dante

HP: 83/100

Mana: 140/140 (+1.2/sec)

Strength: 8

Constitution: 10

Dexterity: 11

Agility: 9

Intelligence: 14

Wisdom: 12

Charisma: 4

Seeing the text in front of him, Dante let out an amused laugh. He had just gone from not being able to read a word, to fully literate. At least he wasn’t excluded from that gift of the Goddess.

Being able to read Alerian usually wasn’t something that people looked forward to when they received their Status, most were already literate by the time they were fourteen, but he had never been taught.

Staring at the Status in front of him, he began to digest the information.

I’m far more intelligent than I thought… Not a horrible place to start I guess…

The average adult male had 10 points in each attribute, while the average adult women would have less strength and constitution in exchange for more dexterity or agility on average. Charisma was based solely on appearance and the skill you had when interacting with others, but was usually around 10 also. He was utterly shocked when saw the that he had 4 Charisma.

Four Charisma, what a joke. How could I possibly have four whole Charisma?

The primary way to increase your attribute points was to level up and improve your Classification, but without a Classification, he could only raise them manually. He may be able to grow them a few points each, but nothing that would truly help him. This was one of the reasons why having two Classifications was such a big deal. You could level them both up and increase your attributes even faster and with fewer limitations.

Greggory was a good example, he had the Warrior Classification which would mainly only increase his Strength and Constitution. However, his hunter Classification had the potential to increase both his Agility and Dexterity if he specialized correctly. That would make him far more well-rounded and a more dangerous combatant.

On the top of his Status panel, next to the “Attribute” tab that he was currently looking at was a “Classification” tab. Interested he fed world essence into the tab changing to it.

The panel shifted, and new text appeared.

4 Classifications Waiting to be Assigned

The text disappeared and in the top the tab it had:

Classifications Assigned: 0/4

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Didn’t believe it. Was this some sort of joke?

Dante quickly tabbed through the list of Classifications, there had to be dozens of them. Seeing some of the Classifications, so many emotions were flooding him that he felt completely numb.

Now, more than ever, he wondered where he had really come from.