Waking, I found myself in the cage, inside a white room with a creature that seemed to be made completely out of vines. The vines shook, and I could hear a monotone voice in my head, but there was no sound.

Suddenly, I felt a piercing pain, as if my mind was being torn to shreds. This went on for only a few seconds, but by the time I could think again, the vine monster had already taken my spasming form from my solid-air (Glass, that’s glass) cage and set my on a curved platform help up by three pillars (Stool) and slumped around me.

“Yes, I guess. I do have questions, though. Mainly what you are, and where I am.”

The vine thing tilted it’s topmost mass at me, but didn’t otherwise react. After trying to talk to it a few more times, I simply nodded my head.

And like that, two full hours passed of a vine monster telepathically coaching me through the intricacies of spoken and written Unil, eventually earning me a new Ability.

Language ComprehensionAllows the understanding and use of the listed languages: Unil (85%), Chaoticke (.004%)

Note: Language acquisition is based upon length of time focused on language, understanding of language, and difficulty of language

With my new comprehension of Unil, I could (theoretically) converse with anybody that knows the language as long as the conversation didn’t drift into any obscure subjects. Feeling that I had learned enough about the language of the land, the vine creature (appropriately known as Vinny) shifted its vines into a ball, and began to teach me about this world.

According to Vinny, the world began as the domain of Balenot, the goddess of all things physical. She created the world, the solar system, the galaxy, and even the entire universal plane simply by tearing a hole through the void and entering it. However, a simple plane of dead worlds and empty stars wasn’t enough for her, and so Balenot tore through the void again, and dragged out her twin sister, Corasa.

Corasa held dominion over the ethereal, and so summoned elementals, divine and infernal beings, monstrous creatures of immense power, and even simple animals out of the aether from whence she had come. Eventually, a singular species appeared in every planet that had been allowed to grow long enough: humans. Simple creatures of flesh and bone, they were nonetheless able to create vast magical and technological wonders and conquer the majority of the universe before turning on themselves. The resultant war tore billions of star systems to shreds, drove to extinction untold species, and drew the ire of Balenot and Corasa themselves, but the final battle of the last members of the human race did what even the goddesses couldn’t; it set free the sister of the goddesses, the goddess of energy herself, Nalathi.

Nalathi, gazing upon the broken wreckage of her sisters’ home, stole the magical power of every being, structure, weapon, and planet in the universe, and used it to repair the damage that the millennial war had wrought, with one exception. Nalathi had banished humanity from the universal plane, and set forth a commandment: while a creature may walk the path of humanity, and strive to become human, they would never be able to truly assume the form of a human, or harness their powers. In exchange, Nalathi gave all living beings in the plane the ability to transform as they grew more powerful.

The beings of the plane, having been stripped of magic, panicked and began research into the extent of their loss. They found that, while they could not control or even sense magical energy any longer, it still flowed through their veins, carried by their blood. Desperate, some beings forced their weaponry to steal the necessary power from their own veins, and studied the effects it had. After decades of research, they found that, as long as the blood was not exposed to air and could be returned back into the body, their magical power was depleted, but their bodies were not adversely affected.

Meanwhile, Balenot, Corasa, and Nalathi were communing, deciding the fate of the very plane. Eventually, the sisters concluded that they were not enough to rule over the entirety of a plane, and so each opened a portal to their own realm, from which came countless lesser gods, each under the control of the goddess who summoned them to serve as the arbiters of a single aspect of reality in their stead.

The plane, while not entirely happy with the new changes, functioned in this matter for just over ten thousand years, at which point the myriad lesser gods cried out for power. They had been virtually unknown by the mortals of the plane since their arrival, simply because the mortals had no ability to sense magic, and therefore sense them. To appease the legion of gods, the Divine Trio created orbs of pure magical energy, to be inserted into a mortal in place of their heart, that would grant the recipient the blessing of at most one of the three, and the blessings of at most five of the lesser gods under the sister that blessed the mortal.

These Mana Cores, as they were known, were created in multitude and distributed to every inhabited world and star in the universe, and some even began to grow from the very soil of the planets. Soon, mortals found that, by forcing their own mana through their core and then into their weapon, the nature of the weapon would shift towards that of their blessing. This sparked many advances in the field of blood-powered weaponry, and led to the day I came to this room.

After this exhausting history lesson, Vinny finally left its egglike shape and surrounded me. I only knew that we were moving by the feeling of Vinny’s vines shifting, but before I could protest, I felt a pinch at the base of my head and a strange darkness overcame me.

I slowly woke up, and found myself staring at a bright light at the ceiling of a different white room. As I looked around, I felt a twinge in my chest, which seemed to be the signal for an Information Screen to appear before me.

Core detected. Beginning connection of Core to Soul.

I was only able to stare at the Screen for a moment, before I felt pain in my chest, as if I had been torn open. I stared down at myself, and found a protrusion on my chest, pulsating. Slowly, it began to shrink, and a new Information Screen replaced the previous one as soon as it disappeared.

Core connection in progress.

PAIN

INCREDIBLE PAIN

SOUL BEING CRUSHED TORN BURNED REFORMED

Core connection completed. Interfacing with Divine Overlay.

Suddenly, as if it were just a fever dream, the pain stopped. Panting, I simply allowed my body to rest as the final Screen faded away.

I rested for hours, letting my mind drift as my body recovered from what could only have been the most intense pain I had ever experienced. Eventually, however, my curiosity got the better of me, and I evoked my Status.

NameHain AnensSpeciesSoul Serpent (Unique)Level71 (100 Experience to next level) (Curse Effect: 200 Experience per level)Attack126.7Defense83.9Agility85.7Intelligence44.5Wisdom40.1Ruthlessness50 (5% influence reduction)AbilitiesSerpent's Tongue, Bite, Soul Devour (Passive), Language Comprehension, Mana Core (Basic)

Puzzled, I Inspected my new Ability that had apparently replaced my heart.

Mana Core (Basic)A Mana Core created by the Divine Trio, this orb takes the place of your heart and allows use of blessings granted by gods to influence your mana.

Goddess Blessing: Nalathi (causes your mana to be more pure the longer you use it, allowing you to use less to do more)

Minor Blessings: None

Dazed and with more questions by far than answers, it took me a moment to realize that Vinny had entered the room. However, he wasn’t alone.

Beside Vinny was a gigantic version of… Me, almost. It was what I could only call an ugly serpent with horned scales and legs. Moreover, this monstrosity was emitting smoke from its nostrils with every breath it took, and tasted of burning flesh. This giant abomination took one look at my disgusted expression, and laughed.

“Well, fuck you too, runt. You think I’m ugly? Wait until you see the other fuckers I have command of. Now get ready for a world of pain. I’m going to work you to the fucking bone.”

Processing what the mistake of nature said, I could only think one word:

FUCK. Advertisement Previous

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