My back rested against the dull grey walls of my tiny room. Bands of blue energy that had been shaped into spirals and rotating helixes floated around my outstretched hand. I was beginning to feel the strain; my hand began to shake, and I felt a dull ache behind my eyes. The glowing blue shapes spiraled faster, continuing to gain speed as I fought to keep them steady. They collided, unraveling into translucent threads that quickly decayed into evaporating dust.

I’d been able to hold onto the energy for nearly a minute. My best time yet.

“Yes,” I yelled.

I stood and walked around the room to work out the kinks in my legs and back. I wanted to jump and shout in excitement, but I didn’t want to give the guard outside my door anything to gossip about. Instead, I collapsed into my cot as a grin spread over my face.

It had taken me hours just to accomplish this much. Simply activating Mana Manipulation had seemed impossible at first and I had almost given up before thinking to use a spell. What better way to observe mana than to cast a spell? I chose to use Arcane Shield, slowly trying to grasp the mana that bled from the shield like heat from a generator. It took me several minutes, and most of my mana, but I was able to draw the energy into my hands as thin, wispy tendrils.

I hadn’t found any practical use for the skill. The floating light show was immaterial and would be useless in combat. It might be good for parties, I thought. Still, I suspected that with practice its uses would be limitless. I could create spells or alter existing ones. Perhaps, I would even be able to create magical constructs on a whim.

Like with most skills, the first two levels of Mana Manipulation had come fast. Not only had it become easier to shape mana, I had noticed an increased ability to ‘see’ the energy. I had been able to feel mana even before gaining Mana Manipulation, but it had never been physically visible. It had been more like a muscle that gradually grew fatigue as I cast spells. Now, I could see the energy as a glowing pool in my chest. Streams of blue that formed into quickly changing runes would flow into my hands as I cast spells.

Everyone I saw had a faint blue haze around them. A few had auras of black and red. My own aura was sapphire blue with a vortex of crimson at the center. The red was so dark it looked almost black.

I could still feel the mana within me, but it was faint. It grew stronger slowly, and I could feel as the energy around me slowly filtered into the pool. I tried to speed up this process by grasping the ambient energy, but it was too thin and wild to be held. This ambient energy didn’t quite feel like mana, as if some force were changing the energy before I was able to utilize it.

Despite my fatigue, I was unable to sleep. My mind raced with possibilities as I came up with new, and increasingly outlandish ways, to practice and use the new skill. It was difficult to put these daydreams away, but I was able to turn my attention to my stats and other skills.

The two points in Eldritch Manipulation combined with the points I had gained in Mana Manipulation to give me a grand total of ten FP. I stared greedily at the number before opening my Feat Store. I was already most of the way towards completing Inspiration, so I began spending the points, one by one.

I had been subconsciously putting off purchasing the feat. I knew it made no sense, and that I was only delaying out of fear of being disappointed. The truth is, without life and death challenges I am a legendary procrastinator. I hesitated only for the briefest of moments before I spent the final point.

Inspiration ® - You have peered into the secrets of the universe seeking hidden, esoteric truths. Witnessing these truths has increased your intellect by two. Additionally, in a moment of inspiration, you have taken hold of hidden knowledge of great power. Ancient knowledge contains secrets of power long lost to modern ages, but so too does knowledge of self hold great value. It is up to the seeker to decide what path to pursue.

Do you pursue knowledge long thought lost, or do your studies delve inward?

Again, the system hit me with a knowledge wall. If I had examples to follow I could know the results of each choice. I suspected that the results would be different each time, but I had no way to be sure. Even if the results were random I could have searched for patterns to find the option that gave the greatest return on average or produced the greatest number of highly ranked skills or feats.

For the first time, I regretted not staying with the Peacekeepers. They had all been reluctant to give me specific build advice, but surely, the archmage would have guided me had I accepted her offer. What else was the point of an apprenticeship than to learn from and avoid the mistakes of previous generations?

No, if I had stayed then I wouldn’t now have a lead on where to find Troy and Liv. I would probably still be dealing with the corruption eating away at my memories or be constantly looking over my shoulder wondering what Sebbit would do if he discovered that I had lied to him. I wouldn't worry about past mistakes. My only choice was to move forward.

Often the worst choice is not making one at all.

The options before me seemed overwhelming, and yet my previous indecision was lost. Something about the wording of the feat caused me to think that self-knowledge was the better choice. The ‘lost knowledge’ part also made me pause. If it was so powerful, wouldn’t it have been recorded? The construction of an atomic bomb was controlled and highly secret information, sure, but once it was proliferated it had become near impossible for that knowledge to be lost.

Then again, who knew what civilizations and magic existed in the universe? It was much larger and more mysterious than it had seemed only a few weeks ago.

I made my choice.

Your inward journey has focused on the mysteries of the mind. You have plumbed its hidden depths and found the darkness that resides within. The origin of this darkness is external and obscure, and yet it has become a part of you. By gaining knowledge of this darkness you have obtained a semblance of control over it. Beware its influence over you lest the servant becomes the master.

That was ominous, I thought.

Congratulations! You have gained a new feat(s).

Dark Companion Ⓛ - The dark companion that has haunted your dreams can now take material form. You control the timing and dismissal of this materialization, but not the actions of the companion while it is summoned. Your connection to the eldritch energies flows into you through this connection. The dark companion may also advise you or aid you in combat but beware that no power comes without cost.

Well … shit. That was even more ominous.

Just what did I have living inside my head? I considered summoning this Dark Companion to find out, but I wasn’t ready to face it, especially if it was the creature from my dreams. I didn’t have the mental energy to deal with its riddles or strange way of speaking.

I shook my head and looked back at my stats. I still had four FP to spend. The first thing I noticed upon opening the Feat Store was that inspiration was once again available, this time listed as Inspiration II (0/50). I briefly considering spending my points on Inspiration’s second level, but I decided I was better served by choosing something with more immediate benefits.

I opened the feat store, looking for how best to spend my four remaining points.

Hedge Mage (0/6), Warrior (0/3), Autodidact (0/4), Acrobat (0/3), Inspiration II (0/50), Swordsman (0/4), Staff Defense (0/4), Sniper (0/4)

Hedge Mage was interesting but too expensive. I also immediately ruled out Swordsman and Sniper. In the end, it was down to Autodidact and Staff Defense. My finger hovered over Autodidact, it felt right, and the skill certainly fit into my intellect focused build.

My finger was halfway towards the screen when I heard a knock on the door. I sighed and dismissed the displays. It was probably better to sleep on the decision.

“Come in,” I said.

A man in camouflage pants and a tan sleeveless shirt opened the door. He squeezed himself into the room but had to press himself against the wall just to close the door.

“Hey,” he said. “I’m Millard, Pat sent me. Said you’d be expecting me.”

“Right, she told you to check up on me too. Didn’t she?”

“You’re not wrong, but that’s not really why I’m here.” Millard looked around, he crossed and uncrossed his arms several times before leaving them at his sides. “Your friends helped me out of a tight bind. I owe ‘em.”

“You met Liv and Troy? Where? Are they Okay.” I asked.

“Yeah, I met ‘em and they was fine last time I saw ‘em.”

“Oh, thank God,” I sighed. “Where were they?”

“North Charleston, a bunch of us had been hiding out in the Northwoods Mall. Some bug things got in, started chasing us. Killed almost all of us. I managed to escape but they were chasing me when that girl, no shit, comes out of now where and splatters ‘em all over the sidewalk.”

“Liv saved you from monsters? Liv?”

“Not just me, a bunch of folks. She had ‘em packed like sardines into the back of that truck. Said they were heading up to the base in Goose Creek. Troy, I think that was him, Liv’s guy, right?” Millard waited for my nod before continuing. “Yeah, he was running around blasting this hand cannon, must have killed six or seven of those crawling bastards.”

“You didn’t go with them?”

“They offered, a bit too pushy to be honest. I got family here, though,” he sighed. “I didn’t get to them in time.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too.” We sat like that for a while, no more words needed to be said.

“Listen,” Millard said. “A few boys I know have this killer hooch. Maybe a little smoke, some guitar. Care to join us?”

I smiled. A distraction was just what I needed.