[Milestone Achieved - Survive | +2 Levels]

[New Level: 3! You have 4 TP to distribute and 2 mana pool alterations to choose.]

It seemed Rilu had a similar achievement. When we touched the water, his level, still on a Manifestation in the corner of my eye, changed to 22. He was getting closer and closer to 25, where he would finally be able to take a Second Class. I would need to ask about what that entailed later.

I had a more immediate problem, though - we were stranded in the middle of an ocean. And if the surface creatures of this world were bad, well, I'll only say that I kept some level of caution about swimming over a mountain-sized piranha. Basically, I wanted to get the fuck out of there.

I nagged Rilu to fly me toward shore, but he remained in staunch opposition to the idea. I was wet, cold, tired in every way imaginable, and terrified of what lied in the depths below. One thing that I wasn't was alone.

Baby steps.

I gave up tried to turn the lamely-yet-aptly named Potentia to turn into a surfboard- and succeeded, mind you- before I remembered that I never learned to surf. I was still wrapping my head around this whole magic thing, but I managed to get something working. It was similar to the makeshift engine I had used to make it over to Rilu while falling out of the sky, which even then seemed like days ago rather than minutes.

"WoooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO," I screamed joyously as I took off, bouncing at high speeds across a long stretch of water. I couldn't actually see where I was going facing backward, but I had mana ready to be pumped into Vitality in case I ended up hitting a rock. In my hands was a silver rod glowing with runic markings connected by three thinner outblooming metal beams to a propeller shape. Getting it to actually be able to spin was easier than I thought it would be; I needed only to separate some metal.

I had decided to use Force runes and a combination of Enchant and Blast runes on the propeller- along with a lot of prayer to the 'old gods'- to get the damn thing to work. But it spun, and it spun well enough to get me moving at unsafe speeds, even without using mana.

I cut my floundering legs on the propeller more than a few times, but I had earned at least a few days of ignoring physical pain after all of that. And it was good practice for using Vitality, testing how much mana I needed to efficiently heal different wounds and all. See? My fuck-ups were merely training, how diligent of me.

I made a point out of not looking at Rilu throughout my exceptionally elegant experimentation, but his judgemental glare was still made abundantly clear to my sixth sense.

--

Soon, we were cruising. We raced with the sun to our backs, as if fruitlessly trying to outpace its ascent.

Or, I was. The lame-ass Dragon was just flying behind me. I call it flying, at least; he referred to it as some equivalent of 'babysitting'. I detested the description, although I had to begrudgingly admit that it was accurate enough.

I was doing something on my own for the first time, sure, but it was like learning to ride a bike without training wheels. Or, in my case, riding a jury-rigged magical rod of propulsion over a gorge of unknown horrors. Close enough. Point is, I needed someone to continuously affirm that I wasn't about to hit a rock.

When saltwater evaded my lips for long enough that the dryness abated Rilu and I talked. He made fun of me, I feigned offense and made fun of him. We knew the shore was coming and we knew that dynamic wouldn't survive much longer beyond that. I wasn't sad, this wasn't all that we could be.

I was cut and bruised and afraid and no-longer-alone and lost. But most of all I was having fun.

--

For the first time since I had arrived, we made it to the shore with zero fanfare. We both collapsed on the wet sand and allowed it to bake into our pores as the occasional waves enveloped us in their sunlit embrace. Rilu was too tired to bother getting a sense of our location, and I was too tired to do anything else. Plans did still whirr in my mind;

We left the Well of Life and the Satchel on the island-- they were gone now, no way around that. I could probably make the saltwater drinkable with Gradient with time, and Rilu could hopefully hunt something edible. We would survive, but I put a point into Extended Self-Sustenance just in case. I immediately felt the changes, my thirst and hunger lightened and my thoughts cleared. Additionally, I could tell that I could convert mana into sustenance instead.

It was odd to suddenly know things like that, but it wasn't an unpleasant or disconcerting odd. It was more of a 'huh, that happened' sort of strangeness. For good measure, I put a point into Composition and both of my upgrades into Mana Regeneration. Currently, I estimated about two hours from nothing to being full, and the two additional points shaved at least 20 minutes off. Not much, but it was a start.

I decided to save the last two for later.

The Composition improvement was more immediately noticeable. Even in my compromised position, I suddenly felt relaxed, as if my body could simply adapt to the surface. I felt more flexible and I felt much stronger.

Experimenting, I did a handstand. My body seemed to simply respond to the thought and before I knew it I was suddenly upside-down.

I remembered how tired I was and let myself back down, but I retained the painful awareness of just how sandy I was. Blegh.

I peeled myself off of the ground far more slowly this time and took my first real look at the beach that we had landed on.

The sand glimmered yellow-gold as the sun beat down on the rocky shore. The air still tasted salty, but nowhere near what it was like on the open ocean. On the shore was a much wetter sort of heat, oddly. Some birds (or what I assume were birds based on the noise), seemingly wreathed in mirages, took off from their perch on a thick petrified log laid out to the side. I wondered how it got there.

I stabilized myself and brushed off my shirt before realizing it was beyond ruined, torn and stained beyond recognition. I tried to see if I could reform it or otherwise protect my modesty with a Gradient modification, but there wasn't anything in my Imprint that I could detect.

I shed it, feeling like a total fuckboy. That impression held even more weight after I looked down and felt at my abdomen and chest in disbelief and admiration.

Apparently, Composition made you ripped. Well, in my case, I wasn't too muscular, but the difference was night and day. Fat had shifted to outline my joints and muscles and the rest of my skinny frame had been filled out with more of said muscles. I was still skinny, my physique even now could barely be considered 'fit', but it felt... Optimized, in the strangest way, like a perfect foundation for anything else.

Who knew the workout program that would get you a beach bod in a month was real? Even if it did involve magic.

I should've been happy, but I didn't quite know how to feel.

It simply wasn't *my* body anymore. My waist was thinner and my arms slightly longer. My legs bent ever so slightly different and my fingers reached out longer. The strange indent that was always on my right arm had disappeared, filling out for greater symmetry.

These small details made my body feel alien. I felt exposed and out of myself. The more I looked at myself, the more things seemed out of place, the more the tiny discrepancies began to culminate and exaggerate. I saw myself as... Monstrous. Something that wasn't supposed to be there, something warped and Other. I wanted to hide, I didn't want anyone to see me like this, I wanted to be me again.

I began to hyperventilate and I rubbed my hands over my eyes but they felt unfamiliar as well. My skull was curved just barely differently, either that or my hands were different. It felt like someone else was touching me and it felt like I was touching someone else. I swayed.

Rilu tapped my shoulder.

"Leaf, are you alright? You're breathing hard. If you need to cool off, try to go back into the water. I know how sensitive you humans are."

I shook myself off and took a deep breath. I had been through much worse than this. This was the easy part.

"Y-yeah," I breathed out before reorienting, "I'm just tired. I'll go get some water. Can you look for food?" I replied before realizing my voice had changed as well. It was still recognizably mine, but it was more. More stable, with a stronger undertone. It was like my words carried better in the air. Once more, the difference was virtually nothing

"You aren't. I saw you put points into Vitality. I know you humans are fragile, but that should have rejuvenated you. Do your people dry up on beaches?" Rilu asked with a suspicious note of interest.

"No, no, it's... Nothing like that. Just sit down with me."

"Oh, I was expecting you to say 'it's nothing', and then I could have said that " Rilu began with pleasant surprise seeping through his tone. He didn't pause, mind you, I interrupted him.

"Stop that and sit down," I began to walk, shutting off my concept of my own physical presence as best I could. I felt dirty but I tried not to keep brushing myself off.

There was only one spot to sit on the shore, so I didn't bother motioning. I just walked stiffly to the petrified log and sat down, leaning back toward the nearest edge, partially facing the Dragon as he sat on the other end.

"Alright, since you, in your endless wisdom," let it be known that that last part was dripping with sarcasm, "don't know what's going on, I'm going to assume it's a human thing. As I'm sure you can tell, I improved my Composition stat."

"For base abilities, the most important point is the first. The change is certainly drastic. Vitality is known for its pronounced cosmetic differences," he mentioned pointedly. "What about it?"

"It's uncomfortable, I feel like I'm not myself right now, physically and mentally. I'd probably be a stuttering mess if the Tree didn't help keep me comfortable."

"Not many Dragons pick Vitality, and we are lone wolves to the greatest extent possible in a location like ours, but I haven't heard of anything close to that."

Hearing the expression 'lone wolf' made me wonder what I was missing in translation. I barely noticed it anymore, adept at translating impressions to words, but there had to be a lot of cultural weight behind comparable expressions. How many interesting details, stories, and creatures was I missing out on from this linguistic cheat? Hell, how much were others on the Web?

I disregarded that somber thought and continued.

"It should help to get to civilization. If I manage that, I can probably buy some thicker clothes."

"Does that help? Have you been through this?"

"I haven't, but I have friends who've described needing to deal with something similar," I paused to sigh wistfully, "Hiding their bodies apparently helped."

"I see,"

Rilu breathed in, and I was deeply familiar with where this was going. I let him speak

"That confirms my theory on your Skill. If this is common, Humans are likely uniquely in touch with their bodies and minds- a common characteristic of the Visualization Skill is a vulnerability to illusions, particularly ones that cause sensory discrepancy. Most evolved forms of the Skill get rid of that weakness, so that aspect may be intrinsic to the human mind."

I didn't quite understand what he meant, but I sure as hell wasn't going to let him know that. So, I shot back with a non-answer that seemed to satisfy him or his ego enough to move on.

"Why are you so smart at the strangest times?"

Rilu winced. The smile on the edge of his lips told me it wasn't genuine.

"I deserve that, honestly, but I think about these things a lot. I have to if I want to keep Awakening. It's also just interesting, don't you think?"

"It's magic, of course it's interesting," I scoffed before continuing, "So was that your entire theory on my Skill? That it was humanity's inherited Skill? I thought we already agreed on that."

"Sometimes, one's Talent and Bloodline Skill coincide. It doesn't happen in Dragons. We aren't sure why this is, but as far as I know it's thought to be because the Bound Flame Skill can't manifest as a Talent."

"And in me?"

"I'm getting to that. Sometimes, both of these awaken at the same time--Bloodlines and Talents are awakened differently--and experience rapid growth and change, granting the subject power on par with Dragons. Of course, this only happens once every few thousand years. And there are a lot of us," Rilu quickly added on the last part, as if to defend himself. I didn't have it in me to chuckle.

"But I got here before my Skill manifested," I pointed out.

"Your world didn't have Skills, Talents, or anything close to the Akashic, right?"

I nodded in confirmation. He kept going.

"I think you awakened the Talent beforehand, without your Imprint. There isn't a precedent for your case, but the Nexus draws in strong Imprints. Most natural teleportation incidents reconstruct the body from an unbound Imprint, and in trying to replicate you, it likely was drawn here from the power such a Skill tends to exert on the Worlds,"

That sounded like quantum teleportation, and I decided not to think into the philosophical implications of that. I briefly thought back to my offhanded comment about Descartes when analyzing my Imprint and decided to not approach it beyond 'I think, therefore I am'. At least not until I made it back to Earth and could find a philosophy student who actually understood Dualism.

"I'll admit, most of this sounds made up. But I don't have a better explanation, so I'll go with it. Like you should with microbiology," I whispered that last part and hesitated, letting the tail end of the conversation hang in the air for a dozen or so seconds before I gathered the courage to say something else. "Oh and, um, thanks. Again. It helps take my mind off of myself to talk like this. It's not terrible, but it hurts."

"It's my responsibility and my power," Rilu quoted, whilst nodding sagely.

I weakly punched his shoulder and laughed. Cocky bastard.

Silence once again. By now, the sun was firmly in the air. It was in my eyes, but I didn't turn away.

"I feel terrible," Rilu said out of nowhere, suddenly adopting a serious tone.

I didn't ask why. I knew that he would tell me.

"Once again, I would not have lived if you weren't there for me. I couldn't give shape to the feeling even once we found it. The sense of it as a fire burning against the cold everything outside is inspired."

"Thanks, it only took a failed suicide attempt," I teased. It took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize saying that would do anything but add levity.

I cleared my throat and tried again.

"I don't want to pretend I know how you feel. But knowing your story, I have some idea. It's frustrating to need to rely on others," I said, hoping it would help. I opened my eyes, which I didn't remember closing, to see my companion--no, my friend--staring expectantly.

There was something more to say. I remembered why these concerns felt so familiar. I remembered talking to Olivia when I felt like I was plagiarizing her, like I wasn't writing my own things. She said she liked that I believed in her, and unlike me, she also knew the words to say here.

'Ironic, I'll need to copy you again. I'm sure you won't mind,' I laughed internally. I really was all talk.

I continued after the awkward pause.

"But in a weird way, I think that we wouldn't be our own people if we could all do everything ourselves. There's always too much."

"What have I done, though?" he asked, skeptical of my point.

"I ask myself that a lot, too. Hell, to be transparent, I'm asking myself that right now. I think you at least put it all together. And we've both had these things tested. Like, we don't just exist right now. We've existed before, and we're products of that."

"I don't follow,"

"You don't need to. All I'm trying to say is that emotions and ideas are like light, and our perceptions are a lens built on the shoulders of every moment before. If we do something, it's our own, even if it really doesn't feel like it."

"That's a non-answer, it makes sense, but what if every triumph before was just handed to me?"

I wanted to complain about him being difficult, but I hadn't fully convinced myself either.

"I mean, think about it. You needed your combination of them to end up here. If you weren't strong, I'd be too dead to be sitting here."

He chuckled, probably more as a courtesy than genuine humor.

"I still feel like a pawn. Subject to the whims of everything,"

"You stole that, didn't you?"

"I think you mean I 'reflected it through the lens of my history'," Rilu teased.

"Goddamnit. Well, I feel the same. If I had a way out of that I'd tell you. The totality of things is suffocating."

I shifted from my spot and looked forward, shuffling closer to him.

I pinched him. Or, I tried, but however soft his skin felt from a brush, it felt like clay when I tried to pinch down. The message got through.

'Wake up, idiot, we're in this together,'

He looked at me, surprised at my actions. I did agree that they were quite out of character, but it had felt right.

He looked forward again. I did the same.

We longed toward the robin's egg veil, daydreaming about the stellar tapestry that lie beyond.

"Why do people need to be weak to feel close to each other? It hurts," he asked out loud as I echoed the question inside. He didn't expect an answer and we both knew it.

I smiled at his use of 'people'. If it were any other day, I would have just embraced the silence and nodded along. But amidst our starry-eyed recollections of lessons learned I felt upon a truth of my own--or, perhaps, the first one built toward by all of the ones that I inherited--and some of it took form.

"It's a much warmer sort of pain than being alone, isn't it?"

He didn't respond, nor did he need to. I shifted closer and wrapped an arm around him. He did the same. He was strong but warm. The fabric of his clothes felt enviously comfortable, even if they were scratched up.

"I'm scared, too."

These words were the last, and I wonder if I could have said more.

But I wouldn't go back in time for it. I was taking my own steps forward, and my stumblings are what allowed me to meet everyone that I've loved and I love. And moving down our own paths brought us closer together, not further apart. Our journies were our own but so long as we both kept moving we wouldn't lose one another. It seemed that thinking of people that way was yet another dead end.

Perhaps some things just weren't meant to be understood.

Elsewhere, Vol. 1 - The End