Karma Online: Awakening

By Zalen Bloom

Page BreakCopywrite page © By: Robert W. Thomas as, Zalen Bloom

Page BreakDedication page

Page BreakPreface

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1

It was a bright autumn day. I see a ball bouncing into the street, then lights begin to flash. On, off, on, off, on.

Darkness . . .

Cold . . .

An oppressive quiet and an overwhelming empty space envelops me like warm honey. I become frightened and I feel choked by the dark vast space. If I had a body, it would be shaking uncontrollably. I'm floating in the pressure of the darkness; like being drawn deep into the ocean, but feeling the lightness of zero gravity.

The sensations were so contradictory my mind was reeling. I can't move or speak. Am I even thinking? How long have I been here? I have no body that I can sense. I, me, Despair. Days, months, centuries pass. Who am I? Infinity… What am I… Why am I…

A buzz softly echoes in my head and again and again the buzz is growing louder. Then a final buzz as if to shake the void and who I am to the core. Then an explosion of colors, if you had to give it a description, washes over me. Bright clean white light radiates around and within. Almost like I’ve been born anew. I am, I was, I will be.

“Welcome,” a kind female voice announces calmly. The voice reverberates within me, instilling such a sense of relaxation and peace. I find my emotions engulf me and I sob. There is more to this existence than fear and oppression.

Gravity takes hold as I feel my feet touch down, but I still cannot see the ground nor the feet I should be standing on. The room I'm in now is maybe 20 by 20 feet. The walls become gray, soft, and friendly compared to the brightness of becoming.

“We need you,” the voice says. “We need you to choose. You may choose to move on, in the great cycle; or, as I recommend, pick a form that is most appealing and well suited to you. The ideal representation of yourself. Once you have chosen you will be given a new life in which many great and terrible things may confront you.”

"What... are you? Where... am I? How did I... get here? What... do you mean... new life?” I say in groggy confusion.

The voice replies, “All will become apparent in time. I can understand this is all confusing to you, but rest assured everything that has happened will be known to you in time. I am not able to give you any more information than that at this time. Once you have entered the worlds, you will learn much of yourself and what became of you before being brought here. Now choose, I have little time left here and you must make a decision.”

Suddenly, thousands of bodies, or rather avatars, appear before me; shuffling through almost too fast to notice. Humanoid, alien like forms of every shape and size flash through my vision, continuing to flash by until the shuffle slows then stops.

The very idea of who I feel I am stands before me. It's roughly akin to if I were standing in front of the mirror looking at myself. The avatar is tall, a solid 6’3” and well built. I get a sense that the musculature is not from working out, but rather the body works hard to survive, and has earned the build from many grueling hours of toiling away.

The face is ruggedly handsome with a wild beard. The hair of the avatar is a glossy black, almost like dark carbon fibers. The unruly mop stands untamed, not quite long enough to pull back into a fighter’s knot. The eyes are hard, sharp, and glow a liquid orange, almost like the burning coals of a fire. The skin is a deep tan bordering a metallic bronze that seems just as tough. The face of the avatar is kind, smart, and sharp like a mysterious teacher. The grandiose smile of the avatar was bright white with elongated canine teeth, but not quite vampiric in length. The overall sense I get from what I see before me is a very animalistic man. A sense of danger emanates from the being like a cloak that can’t be cast aside.

The voice begins to speak once again. “Ah... what a fantastic choice. It has been ages since such an avatar has found its soul. If you wish to know more about your avatar, simply think it and you will be shown.”

“If you are familiar with VR games, then you will be able to interface in a similar fashion and progress will be easily tracked through the various displays. We tend to not give our new players much information on the Worlds because it ends up slowing their progress. We find that intuitive action and learning for oneself is the best way to maximize your potential.”

“The Worlds themselves have few rules and restrictions, so anything may be possible as long as you have the skill, fortitude, and flexibility. The best and only advice we give to the newcomers is: explore, experiment, and enjoy your new form.”

As quickly as it came the voice was gone. The presence of the being I was with vanished and once again the world felt empty. A dread quickly gained purchase in my gut, and the very thought of being suspended in the darkness again gnawed at my bones.

“I don't understand!” I yell to no one. “Who am I, and why am I here!?”

After several minutes I come to a terrifying, but apparent conclusion; I must power through this and find out what's going on. Nothing will come from continuing to agonize about my situation.

I look to the avatar and shrug. I might as well get to know my new body, I thought. As soon as the thought came into being, my essence, my very soul sweeps toward the avatar like a wisp of fog being sucked into the body. I stagger under the new sensations and the form I now inhabit. I am no longer a shade without a body, but a being of superior might.

After a few moments of filling out my body, I grow to feel like it has been mine for a million years. It is as if I have grown up being this person; like this is who I’ve always been.

I concentrate on the idea of myself and see a character type sheet appear with the name of the race being UNKNOWN. The information given about this race is that they can absorb memories, skills, knowledge, and powers.

I expanded the information on this section. It reads as such:

This ability is activated through the drinking of any being's life essence. This could be through mutual consent or through combat. Although great perks can be affiliated with this power, it is easy to lose sight of who you are. The memories might become so overwhelming you get lost in your own mind. This can cause great stress and danger, especially in the heat of battle. So be warned, partake of the essence at your own risk. Only the strong of will can make the greatest use of this power.

My new body also came with dark vision, resistances to physical and magical attacks as the other inherent abilities. There were no other bonuses to the avatar that I could see.

The stats for the avatar were all gray and set in part by my own physical and mental abilities before I came to this reality. As I look over the stats each one explains exactly what they do, and I find what useful information I need to know about them.

The voice was right, this is almost exactly like a VR game. It’s crazy I can remember what that is, but can’t remember a damn thing about who I am. Maybe this information was made available to me through the process of joining with my avatar.

With the knowledge I have, I begin to go through the stats one by one.

~Strength 10, this stat directly influences your physical attack, ability to carry heavy objects, and resistance to physical damage.

~Agility 30, this stat directly influences your speed in combat, your ability to dodge and make attacks, and can influence accuracy.

~Constitution 10, this is your ability to resist ill effects such as poison and curses. It also affects your base health.

~Intelligence 10, this stat directly influences how well you learn new skills outside of your given abilities. This also directly affects your magical damage and resistance.

~Wisdom 10, this stat will aid in the recovery of stamina and mana, as well as your ability to use the knowledge you have more effectively.

These are all the base stats any given character has. As I finish reading through those I notice a smaller section below that read ‘Variable stats (not adjustable)’.

~Will 20, the ability to power through. This is used in conjunction with strength, intelligence and constitution to create your resistance modifiers. Will has the greatest effect since it’s a multiplier and not a base stat. Adding constitution and strength with a multiplier of will, will give you your resistance to physical attacks. The same goes for intelligence with magical resistance. Constitution is your resistance to everything else such as poison and curses that do not fall perfectly into any one category. This Will stat is given based on your resistance ability.

~Luck 20 this stat will influence everything. Not everyone gets Luck as a stat. This is given as a racial stat in your case.

~Absorption 30%, this stat is given as a racial ability stat. This affects how much you gain from the essence you take.

There is a subscript for Absorption to expand even further how complicated and dangerous this stat and ability is. It explains for instance, if you were to absorb a skill from a master artisan you would be only 30% of that given master's ability. So, you would be at the apprentice stage. You would have all the knowledge, but would lack the practical skill to use all that knowledge appropriately and efficiently. The abilities you gain will be listed by ability level. Novice, apprentice, adept, expert and master. Practicing any absorbed powers, skill, and abilities will quicken the process of learning and excelling in those you’ve become acquainted. Once you have learned something new through absorption it is as if it was yours all along.

“That’s a lot of information to take in all at once,” I think to myself. “It's not going to be easy to keep this character in balance.” I continue to familiarize myself with the stat sheet and find that the Will, Luck and Absorption skills are variable and will grow with my character. I have no direct way of changing them. Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence and Wisdom will also grow with my character through daily work and study.

All the stats will grow depending on the stress in the areas that are being used. On top of natural growth, a character will level up and be given 5 stat points per level to distribute through these physical stats. Levels can be gained through: questing, study, crafting, and/or achieving milestones, especially lucrative ones where no others have achieved them before.

“Well... the system for growth is easy to understand. At least I have that going for me,” I grumble.

I keep getting this nagging feeling that I’m forgetting something and that's when it hits me. I have no class. In the place where a class designation would be, was a completely black void; like anything listed there would be sucked into oblivion.

I mentally prod the class section of the sheet and this error message displays.

ERROR: Due to the chosen race, your class cannot be appointed. No one class will ever fit the race selected.

I begin to panic and it's almost like I hear a maniacal laughter from somewhere. “Well shit, not only am I dealt this unsavory hand, I'm stuck in what seems like a terrible avatar. How am I to grow if not through a class progression? Am I even going to be able to craft? What is this avatar good for?” I think to myself.

I sit there a little longer, thinking what I should do next, when I see a strange blinking in the corner of my eye. It says ENTER and there is a count down.

10... “Shit!”

9... “What the fuck am I going to do?”

8... “I don't know anything about this reality?”

7... “Here we go. What can I do but meet it head on.”

6... “Why is this happening to me?”

5... “When I figure this shit out someone's going to get an ear full.”

4... the room begins to fade, 3, 2, 1.

2

Darkness takes me again, only to feel like I am being dropped from the sky. Wait... I really am being dropped from the sky! “This... sucks...” I bellow. With a slew of expletives to follow.

I’m speeding through the sky like one of those meteors that destroy entire worlds. Even now through the turbulence, I can hear someone laughing hysterically at the misfortune I'm about to encounter.

As I rocket towards the ground the landscape grows closer and closer, my ass puckers like it knows it’s about to get violated. I resolve myself to leaving this world in a flash and that's when I begin to slow. Right before my demise I gently land on the ground.

If this body wasn't so new I probably would have shit myself. I feel a bit nippy and realize that I'm bare ass naked, and I notice that I have several tattoos that were not part of the previous character building process.

I look around in frustration at the clearing, where I so elegantly landed, and begin to feel an itching across my skin. One of the tattoos begin to wind its way around my neck, across my torso, getting closer and closer to my junk. It was the one I noticed in the form of a dragon.

I slap at the tattoo and it stops moving. It slowly begins to raise off my skin weaving hypnotically. Its eyes glow a malicious fiery red. It rears back as if to spew fire from the depths of its draconic form. I try to cover my face and prepare for the attack, but it never comes.

I hear a little voice laughing uncontrollably. I peek around the safety of my hands and I see a small woman, perhaps a little bigger than 3 feet tall. She is slender, quite beautiful and exudes a sense of confidence I find admirable. She is dressed in a tightly wound layer of gray fabric around her torso with loosely fitting practical pants to match. She has no shoes or any other ornament.

The laughter continues, and she falls to the ground rolling, unable to control herself anymore.

I clear my throat, “Hmm hmmm. What’s so funny and why did you just come out of my body?” The little form calms herself.

“I am Waverly, I was given to you to be your familiar. My job is to guide, teach and help you in any way I can. As for why I came out of you this was the chosen method of attaching me to you. I was given as part of a kit to assist you in your adventures. If you don't mind, I think you should put some clothes on or a girl might get the wrong idea with you waving your club around like that.” she sheepishly eyes me.

“I don’t have any clothes.” I grunt in frustration.

“Nonsense!” Waverly replies. “Simply tap the tattoo on your chest in the guise of a shield and you will be equipped with your starter gear.”

I look down seeing that I have a tattoo on my left thigh just where a pocket might be, a dagger tattoo on each wrist, and finally a shield over my left pectoral.

I raise my hand, tapping the tattoo over my chest. As if the clothing came bursting out of my skin, I am clothed in a soft leather jerkin, pants of the same material, a worn pair of shoes and a cloak.

The jerkin and pants are dyed a dirty brownish green. The shoes although worn were comfortable, broken in and an earthy brown Shade. The cloak was a mottled gray-green with worn tattered edges, perfect for blending in.

“Ah, that's much better ya perv,” Waverly remarks sarcastically with a look of sly satisfaction. “Now we can have a conversation without me thinking about you whacking me over the head with your fleshy bits.”

“As you may have noticed you have several other tattoos on your person. Each one has its own unique specialty. As you have already found I am your dragon tattoo. I can return to your body and appear as you see fit. We can communicate telepathically, but I find that it's easier in the beginning to create a bond through good old-fashioned speech. We can communicate in this manner up to about a mile away. The longer we are together and the higher level you become the greater the distance our communication bond will grow.”

“The daggers are as you can imagine daggers, however if you find yourself looking to new or advanced weapons you can swap them out with the daggers you have from your kit. Each dagger tattoo holds 5 daggers. You will have to play with balance and find what suits you best and how much the tattoos are willing to compensate.”

“The shield tattoo holds your current armor set. If you wish to upgrade simply don a new set, touch your shield, and it will attune to the new set. You can have 4 sets attuned at a time. I would recommend having a nicely tailored set of clothes, a travel set, and 2 sets for battle/adventuring. All you must do is picture the set you wish to equip and tap the shield.”

“No one else can change the settings of these tattoos but you. As you level up and grow you will find that these tattoos will adapt to you.”

“Last but not least is the tattoo on your thigh. This is a very special tattoo, it is a dimensional pocket. This is what you will use to store your items. Nobody, not even the best of thieves can enter your storage.”

“The number of items in the dimensional pocket is calculated based on your strength intelligence and will stats. The strength lends to the weight it can carry, the intelligence expands the dimension, and your will is the glue that holds them together. Your current weight capacity is currently 200 pounds. This may seem like a lot but as you quest and adventure you will accrue many items and necessities to survive in the worlds.”

“Now take some time to get familiar with your new tattoos. They are very unique and expensive to have. I am not at liberty to let you know who gifted you such rare abilities, but rest assured they are given freely and without expectation.”

I clear my throat, once more overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information she was flooding me with. “That is very interesting, I suppose I should thank you Waverly. Even if you spoke so quickly I could hardly keep up. You are the first being I’ve seen or had the opportunity to converse with. There was a voice that got me started a while ago, but it was not helpful in the least. Do you know who I am?” I asked pleading.

“That I am afraid, I do not know. I was given some basic information about you and your abilities, but we both must learn about who you are. I am simply an aid for you to use in understanding the Worlds, game play, and to give minor help in combat. Although I can take care of myself, I have no actual combat abilities at this time. I was given your name in this reality, and that is all. They told me to call you Salvino O’Shea.”

“Salvino O’shea,” I say out loud, “I think I can get use to that. It just sounds right.”

Waverly smiles at me and says, “Sorry about the laughter, but everyone gets the same treatment when entering the worlds. It's sort of a hazing ritual thing that the creators of this realm came up with. It’s supposed to make you more feel more relaxed and accepting of the surroundings you've been mysteriously thrown into.”

I whisper, “It’s ok I’m a total noob, I didn't expect to be welcomed warmly into this game. If it were anything like the games I vaguely remember, I would be in for a steep learning curve.”

After our conversation Waverly just sat there watching, waiting for me to ask questions or direct her. The calm relaxing demeanor was wearing on me like one of those ugly Christmas sweaters. They were just created to make you cringe. In the end I ignore her and attend to my first problem, that being everything else. I laugh internally.

I begin with the most important thing, I was still so new to this body and tattoos. I decided to get to know my body and various aspects of control I’ve been given.

I open my dimensional space to see if I have any items and find that I have 100 gold, 10 days of travel rations including water, a sleeping bag, tent, tinder box and 3 vials labeled health potions. They heal instantly up to 100 health points or HP as they are noted on my sheet.

I look once again at my sheet to see how much HP I have and find its calculated based off strength plus constitution plus will and uses level as a multiplier. That means I get 40 HP to start.

“Not bad,” I say to myself. “I can soak up some damage, I am already quite ahead of the game with my will boosting everything.”

Done with that I focus again on my daggers and Waverly, sensing what I’m trying to do, calls out. “Imagine the knife falling into your hand, twitch your hand back slightly and a dagger will fall into your palm. You should practice this as the timing will be a little difficult at first.”

Boy was she right, I kept dropping them repeatedly. It seemed like I took hours of time trying to get this to work out. Finally, they start falling into place at just the right time. I keep practicing until I haven’t dropped a knife after about 20 consecutive tries on each side.

When I thought I had enough mastery of getting the daggers into my hands, I begin to practice throwing them. First, standing still and, as I became more comfortable, I tried it as I was moving. This was much more difficult, but I was enjoying the challenge. I continued like this for quite some time.

I was in such a trance and in my own special place, that hours had passed. It had grown dark without even the slightest perception of it, since I had night vision it was less noticeable than it should have been.

As I came out of my training daze, I notice a flashing in my vision. Not urgent but a steady blinking. It was just out of normal view in my periphery and I wouldn't have notice it unless I was completely relaxed or unburdened with work. I focus on the blinking and several notification pop ups.

~Congratulations! You’ve leveled agility 5 times through sheer will and determination! You trained for 16 hours on a finesse weapon skill and have been rewarded for your effort.

~New skill obtained - Calling the Blade. This skill allows you to call your blades from your marks of power, allowing you to use them as you see fit.

~Congratulations! You are the first to have such a skill and have been rewarded 2 intelligence points and 2 wisdom points. Your will also has increased to 25 due to your tenacity in learning the skill.

~Congratulations! 10 experience points earned. 90 experience points required for next level.

So that brings my intelligence and wisdom to 12. My strength and constitution are still at 10, I will have to figure a way to work on that. My agility got a nice boost and is at 35 and so did will at 25. Hmmm my luck is still at 20 no surprise there and my absorption is still at 30%.

I will have to work on ways to train each skill and see what and how much I can affect the stats through training alone. Well that's enough training for now, I’m starting to get hungry, and I think while I’m at it I will get some rest.

“Waverly, can you wake me up if you notice anything strange or possibly dangerous around.” I ask aloud, startling the little halfling familiar.

“Sure, Sal. Get some rest” Waverly replies.

“Sal? Hmmm, not a bad nickname.” I think aloud

Waverly snickers and rolls her eyes. She waves her hands in a shooing motion, implying that I’m somehow bothering her. I simply turn and look more closely at my surroundings. Since I literally landed here, I haven’t taken the time to look around. The trees all have a familiar feel to them, they look like they simply belong. I notice nothing out of the ordinary about the inviting green canopy.

I decide to walk out of the clearing where I landed and entered the forest. I find a nice spot under a large tree and make myself comfortable. The air is warm, pleasant, not too humid.

I remove a ration out of my dimensional space and stop. That's a complicated way of thinking about it. I should just call it my pack, it makes it easier to think about. I close my pack and nibble away at the dry bread, meat, and fruit. Oddly enough it was not bad for pack food. Once I finished eating I closed my eyes and fell fast asleep.

***

I begin dreaming of another place, and time. There were buildings reaching into the sky like hungry fingers. The noises were defining like a chaotic orchestra tuning their instruments. I could see multiple vehicles flashing by like small versions of spacecraft entering hyperspace. My eyes are drawn toward a ball bouncing toward and into the street. Then suddenly I'm standing in a kitchen.

The surroundings were warm and welcoming. I hear laughter and see a woman working vigilantly over the stove. The smell is so amazingly savory and appetizing. My olfactory sense did a little jig. If I weren’t dreaming I swear I would be salivating without remorse.

Page Break

3

“Sal wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” Waverly yells in my mind and aloud. “Wake up dumb ass or you might get eaten.”

I can’t see her anywhere, but as I look down I notice a giant wolf with hackles raised inching closer and closer. A deep rumble emanates somewhere from within the horse sized wolf’s chest. I try to back away from the beast to give myself some sort of chance, but I’m cornered.

The jaws open, spittle dripping from dagger like fangs. The muscles of the wolf start to coil like a spring and it pounces strait for my throat.

I scream, putting my hands up in defense. I hear the rumbling start to rev up and down first slowly then more rapidly. I feel its teeth sink into my flesh, and as I imagine the beast starting to devour me. It just licks me and while it continues to lick me, the rumbling turns into laughter.

Waverly’s voice speaks in my mind. “Always be prepared noob. You could have just died relying on me to know and see everything. You’ve put your trust in me, but you have no reason to do so. This is your first lesson.

First, trust must be earned and never given in whole. I am part of you now, so we share a bond that cannot be easily broken. We are reliant on each other for survival, but you did not know it when you fell asleep.

Second, especially in the wilds which is where we currently are, never fall asleep without a plan of escape, and always with a weapon close at hand.

Remember those fancy tattoos you have?” She said rhetorically. “Yeah the ones you practiced with for so long yesterday. You forgot about them even in the moment where it could have been the difference between life or death.” she sighs. “This is going to be a steep learning curve for you.

You must learn to defend yourself. Thrive in a world where death comes easy and life must be fought for every breath of the day. When you die here it is terrible and painful.

You may resurrect if you wish. It will always be your choice to live here. You lose nothing in dying since you have your pack. Yes, I know that's what you're calling it now. Remember, I am part of you. It retains all items and currency without fear of losing anything. The same goes for your other tattoos.

Everything you adapt and attune to will be soul bound until you move on to the next best thing.” she shakes her head and mumbles to herself. “You my friend are going to need a lot of work.

I can see that you are upset with me at the rouse with the wolf, but you must understand it is how I teach, and I find it most effective. I can also sense you don’t like that I am pretty much in your head. It is my obligation to keep any information gleaned through you to myself unless you otherwise state I can share.

If you feel the need to keep anything to yourself that you wish for me not to be privy to you must will it. The information will be blocked from me until you deem it relevant for me to know.” She puts her arms palm up at her sides shrugging.

I eye her suspiciously and begin to relax once more. “Let me get this straight you basically can know anything I know, unless I feel like I don't want you to know something?” I ask skeptically.

“You got it Sal. See there is hope for you yet. This Is a one-way street however. You will not have access to my knowledge until it is requested, or I think it relevant. The information I know can really damage your chances of survival and growth if given at the wrong time. You must trudge forward and experience things and learn as you go, otherwise you will be the weaker for it.

“This world is built for the strong and those who work hard for the skills, knowledge and power they seek. No one here is given anything except a chance. If a greater being finds you interesting, you might get a gift at the start of your journey like you have. Those gifts although rare and unique will only give you a slight edge on the other inhabitants of the worlds so take my warning to heart and be careful.” Waverly replies in a long-winded torrent of information.

“Ok I think I get that now. Can you go back to the part about resurrecting though?” I reply with a huff.

“Well yes you have the choice to be resurrected or not. If you chose to not be resurrected, you will be given a while to make sure you won't change your mind and then you will go to the great beyond.

“No one knows what is after this, but that's a whole new adventure isn’t it. When you do resurrect it is painful and makes you wish you were dead again. You can feel every ounce of pain your body went through before you died.

“This is what we call The Dead Man's Debuff. The pain will last what seems for hours and you will have to endure it until your health and mana both replenish to 100%.

“You may not take any potions during this time and spells will not be effective to heal or replenish you. The only thing that will affect your recovery is your stats, skills, or abilities you might have to aid in the recovery of health and mana.” She smiles and shrugs once again as if saying it's not my rule, that's just how it is.

“I suppose that there has to be some consequence to dying, especially if given the chance to come back. I will just have to do my best not to die.” I say aloud. I guess that's another thing on my list of things to do. I must try to get my recovery up by learning or absorbing some skills or abilities.

“Waverly, what affects my recovery again, I seem to remember reading that wisdom aids in mana, health, and stamina recovery.” I ask curiously.

“The best thing about you is that your race affords you some benefits. Wisdom plus intelligence plus will divided by 60 seconds is how many points you gain in mana. Stamina is basically how quickly you get tired and is based off the same calculation as health. Strength plus constitution then multiplied by your will. So, stamina and health will recover basically at the same rate per second of strength plus constitution plus wisdom plus will divided by 60 seconds. Working on your stats will be important and depending on the type of character you build you will want to focus on building your stats to compliment your play style.” She says with a sigh.

“So, if I get this nice bonus to my stats how do other people calculate their stats.” I ask stupefied.

“Well that is fairly easy. In the place of your will the other beings simply do not have the stat to add or their multiplier is a flat 10. This multiplier can change depending on the class of the player, items, skills or abilities that they might have picked up.” she states with a flippant wave of her hand.

“Okay, I think I'm starting to get a grasp on how everything relates and how much of a head start my selections have given me.” I reply frankly. “I can also see the disadvantage I am starting with by not having a class.”

“Well Sal you can’t win them all,” she says cutting me off. “Think of this, you have to have balance in anything. Without balance the worlds and life would be in chaos. You might think you are at a disadvantage now, but in time you will fly far above any at your level. You can learn anything given the time.

“Just remember your greatest ability is the power to absorb anything your heart desires. The only thing you must worry about is the backlash of information and losing your identity in the process. Remember try not to take too much at once or you will regret it.” Waverly warns stoically.

“I will surely rely on you as my compass to guide me through the trials ahead. Make sure I don’t do anything too stupid.” I retort.

Waiver laughs at that and says. “Oh, you don’t give a girl much to work with. I’ll have my hands full that's for sure.” With that we fell silent.

After a time, we decide to head out. Waverly explains to me through our mental link that I have a map interface, and to open it I only must think about it. After taking some time to get my bearings and finding out that I was familiar with the directions. I head toward the nearest village.

By the looks of it, it will take several days of walking to get there at an average pace. Waverly chooses to walk along with me in companionable silence for much of the first and second day of our journey.

By the third day she begins to twitch and can’t hold her silence any longer. I begin to laugh a deep rich bass.

“What's so funny we’ve been walking for hours and you are stuck in your own head. I’ve been suck without anyone or anything to talk to for what feels like a millennia and you're just ho humming your way without a word.” She says testily.

My laughter fades, I become serious and say, “has it really been so long. Why don’t you tell me about yourself? What you can tell me anyway.”

Waverly pouts for a few more seconds and begins to tell me of her past. “I can tell you about who I was before I came to the worlds, but I can tell you nothing of my adventures and such here.

I just like you came from another place. I did my time in the worlds and one day I was just done, once again floating in the darkness.

I will be able to explain more someday, but for now you must understand each of our roads come together at one point or another. Ok enough of the World's!

I grew up a normal human child of earth. I was raised in a healthy home with plenty going for me. My parents were not rich, but we lived a comfortable life.

I was an above average student and did my best to stay out of trouble. I excelled in sports and was the top swimmer in my high school. This got me recognized by some of the local universities and I was given a scholarship.

I refrain from telling you anything about my appearance and such because it matters not. Suffice to say I was attractive and well liked. I was brought up to be nice to people and give them the benefit of the doubt.

One night in college on my way home from a late swim practice, I was approached by a man. He looked homeless. He had dirty clothes on and had a dirty long bushy beard. He asked me for some change and I gave him a few dollars. I told him to take care and god bless.

I turned and took a few more steps and the man grabbed me from behind and stabbed me. The pain was unbearable. I lost count of the times he stabbed me after 10. My vision faded into a deep darkness much like the one you were in.

The next thing I know I am part of the worlds and this “game”. The thing I remember most about that man is his eyes they were deep almost a void of pain and darkness. I thought I could give him a little kindness and hope.

In return I died and was reborn here. As you see me now is how I entered the world. My avatar was a shape changer and that is all I can tell you about that.

What I can tell you about me now is my stats were reset as I was joined with you. I was given the ability to level as you do, and you won’t ever outgrow me.” she wiped a tear from her face.

The story brought a lot of sadness and anger. Although she seems to be strong on the outside she really is lonely and in need of companionship.

“I promise that I will never put you back into that tattoo without a good reason Waverly. You might have been given to me as a tool, but you are a part of me and I will treat you with respect befitting a friend.” I say seriously.

Waverly smiles the tears away and rushes at me, she throws her arms around my neck and says “Thank you, I know we were put together for a reason, and while it's not apparent to you I think I have an idea of why. I still cannot tell you anything about that, but in time you’ll know. The big picture is always hard to see at first.” She thanks me again and we continue in introspective silence.