For we were children, once, as we danced in the sea of stars. O Father of the Beginning and End, what we would not give to once again to be young with barely a braid. – The Creations. Chapter 7, Verse 2-3.

At first, for a moment, nothing happened. But then my body started shaking. It started first with a rumble through my legs but spread rapidly through my body. I distantly heard Teacher Grimshaw yell ‘He is passing the Test- quick, make sure to hold him down!’

But whatever was said after that was lost, as blood started spewing from my mouth, ears, and nose. I lost control of my bowels, sending a foul smell into the room. My vision went dark from the blood it was leaking, and my ears plugged up for the same reason. I started having trouble breathing as blood filled my lungs. Cramps started happening in my stomach and intestines that were so painful that even my uncontrollable thrashing started to synchronize with the pangs that came and went indiscriminately.

I heard muffled yelling, and realized that was my own voice, burbling through the blood in my throat and lungs. My head started to ache terribly, with sharp pains piercing my brain. Images started flowing through my consciousness even though I was nearly in enough pain to faint. What flashed through my mind, causing the sharp pains, were words. Words that I could read but could not make sense of.

Initializing…

Downloading Traveler data…

AI Mind detected…

Incompatible with Traveler data…

Checking ancestry…

I started vomiting the blood that was gathering in my lungs, my throat started to seize and burn. Whatever these writings were, they were causing me physical harm. I started to pray for death.

Gareth Blane and Shana Blane found as ancestors…

Checking patch data 2.1.089…

Traveler powers installed in NPC consciousness…

Checking Nationality... Tauron

Checking matrilineal lineages... Gar’Shan

Checking Faction… Enslaved Gar’shan

Detecting Faith… Monotheistic

Installing Faith Points…

Error… Mind not compatible

My mind started to rip in pieces, memories of happy times with my mother started fracturing and being rewritten with… something else. Thoughts of my father and the scriptures and doing scribe work with Master Palion. All those memories started to be erased and warped and changed. I wondered if I would still be me if I survived.

Checking Patch data 3.2.002…

Retrieval of Faith Points initialized…

Downloading UI and awareness packages…

Data exceeds available space…

Deleting AI status…

I felt the leather cords strapping me down snap, possibly breaking my arms or dislocating them in the process. I could feel my brother Sal’s weight being thrown off my arms and they started flailing around. My head started banging against the table, as if trying to use my skull to break the wood. Somehow, Teacher Grimshaw had moved away from me. The tendons and muscled in my neck started tearing, something popped in my shoulders. I wanted to stop the pain, the thrashing, the vomiting, but I had lost any control over myself as the words continued to flash in my consciousness.

Installing Free Will…

Deleting personality coding…

Creating character sheet…

Even though I was starting to lose my sanity, as my world was being torn apart and somehow being rewritten, I noticed a change in my thinking. It was somehow clearer, sharper, and freer in a way that I could not ascertain. Yet despite that, I still had no control over my body, and I felt myself starting to die.

Classes available. Priest, Cleric, Pator, Nomenclaturist…

Selecting aptitudes and comparing classes…

Class selected: Nomenclaturist, Specialty in Deific Nomenclature…

It was then that I felt my nose being pinched, even as I was thrashing my head in all directions uncontrollably. I opened my mouth to breathe and something was poured down it. It tasted horrible, like black licorice with mint and soap all washed through dog hair. My body instinctively tried to throw it up, but a hand was placed over my mouth and my nose was freed. I could breathe though my nose again, and I tried to swallow the terrible potion. It was the first moment I had even the smallest bit of control back.

Preparing Character Sheet…

Modifying Character Attributes to starting level 0…

Refining body to match attributes…

Just when I thought I was in true agony, my skin started to boil, blister and stretch thin in places, gathering together over itself in others. I could feel the skin stretch and rip apart, exposing my muscles and tendons to the air. My face went through other changes, my nose broke and reformed to look different. My hair fell off in chunks, which was especially painful to my soul. Gar’shan males never cut their hair, instead we put it in elaborate braids to show our faith to God. I moaned in agony, as I felt I had no energy for screams.

Showing Character Sheet:

Character Sheet

Name:

Calvin Palion

Nationality:

Tauron

Philosophy:

NA

Class:

Nomenclaturist

Matrilineal Lineage:

Gar'Shan

Religion:

Monotheism

Faction:

Enslaved Gar'Shan

Specialty:

Deific

Attributes

Brains

Brawn

Beauty

Blessings

Intelligence

1

Strength

-1

Appearance

0

Faith

2

Wits

1

Dexterity

-1

Manipulation

0

Devotion

2

Wisdom

1

Hardiness

-1

Composure

0

Conviction

2

Average

1

Average

-1

Average

0

Average

2

Stats

Willpower

6

Health

4

Social Graces

5

Faith Points

7

Skills

Realizations

Boons

Atheletics

1

Blessed by God

Etiquette

(Gar'shan) 3

Linguistics

(Tauron, Gar'Shan) 2

Navigation

1

Nomenclature

1

Religion

(Gar'Shan) 1

Scribe

3

It was at this point, hours after saying the words, that I fell into a deep unconsciousness.

***

Before I woke up fully, I could hear people talking. I recognized all the voices. While my mind heard the talking, however, I barely could follow what they were saying, as my consciousness had not fully been recovered.

‘It has been a month. He has not eaten or drank anything but potions and concoctions. When is he going to wake up’ my father asked?

‘Patience, please, brother. Only God knows when he will wake up. I have told you it could take weeks or even months. In the meantime, we can prepare things for him.’ Teacher Grimshaw said, plaintively.

‘We have already bought his freedom. It nearly broke the backs and the savings of the whole community of Gar’Shan in Ocasia.’ Joel complained, a hint of jealousy in his voice.

‘Yes, yes, we should have saved up more, in case of a Teacher appearing. It just happens so rarely, it’s hard to save up for something that might not happen in a decade.’ Teacher Grimshaw replied, almost dismissively.

‘What else do we need to do,’ my brother Sal asked, curiously.

‘When he wakes, we will have to feed him much food and drink. He will be ravenous. That will be for a week or so until he is healthy enough and healed enough. We need to be ready for the additional food expense. I have some coppers I can contribute. After that we will need to smuggle him out of Tauron and into our ancient homelands. There is a… school there. Depending on what class was chosen for him, his learning might take weeks, months or years.’ Teacher Grimshaw responded.

‘But he is freed, can’t he just leave’ Sal questioned.

My father responded in his patient voice. Sal asked a lot of questions, which could infuriate those around him. ‘No, Sal. Solom, our ancestral home, is no longer controlled by the Taurons. It was taken over by the Yeshuans… the only group who hate us more than the Taurons.’

The name of the people almost started me to full consciousness, but not quite. Yeshuans believed in one god only- perhaps even in the same God we did. But their scriptures were quite different than ours, and much bloodier. It was quite a debate between the Gar’Shan if we truly worshipped the same god… as their god was much more similar to the Dark One in our scriptures.

‘So that’s it, he just gets to leave Tauron? He is freed, gets training, gets to see Solom and gets to eat all he wants, just because he passed some stupid test,’ Joel complained.

‘Joel! Quiet! You know the burden he will have, to keep our culture alive during The Torment. It almost an impossible task to believe in life when we are nothing more than a dream of someone else… and we are enslaved, and persecuted, and we only must live day by day. He has to live for the future.’ My father scolded Joel.

‘And his teaching will be difficult. The test made him even smaller and weaker than he had been. So, it won’t be simple physical training. He won’t be a Freedom Fighter, an Inquisitor or a Crusader. No, his class will be something much more difficult. He might be a Cleric, or a Priest like me. He might even be something rarer, as he did not become any more… attractive. No, do not think your brother has it any easier than you have it, Joel. Pray for your brother.’

I was now fully conscious, and I opened my eyes. I was ravenous and thirsty, as if I had not eaten for a long, long time. I opened my eyes and asked the question that was foremost in my mind.

‘What in the Hells is a Character Sheet,’ I croaked.