Gifts

It took her a bit to properly process her current situation.

She was alive. Or at least she felt like so, given her apparent ability to produce coherent thoughts.

She remembered her end, however, she could almost feel the blood flowing from the charred stump that used to be her right arm, her last shuddering breath in the glowing pool as the bioluminescent water surrounded her.

And now she was awake. Sure, she was currently floating in a colorless void, unable to see herself or anything else; and yet she thought, felt emotions, and tried to process her condition like a normal person.

Is this the afterlife? Just floating in an endless limbo while doing nothing? Fudge that.

Her thoughts, actually, had a different feel to them, as if they were somehow more solid, akin to words as they flowed through the silent space.

Hello? Is anyone here?

With every word and concept her mind produced, she felt small ripples in the featureless void, as if her thoughts echoed and drifted in it.

HELLO!

This time she really noticed it, a wave emerging from her inner mind and rushing into the space, making it quiver and shudder.

Mhhh, what if?

FORWARD!

Just as she pictured herself moving, her previously floating form darted in the vacuum at great speed. With just a few trials, she discovered that she could change direction and speed with a simple thought, soon whizzing at dizzying speed through the void, only feeling the idea of velocity on her invisible body.

Then it appeared.

The Monolith.

She could feel its form in the distance, invisible to her senses, but standing out perfectly clear in her mind, a towering slab of black material, its surface covered in swirling engravings, each recurring on itself in a fractal pattern that seemed to go on forever.

For a while, Alice debated moving away from it but her curiosity soon won over her fear.

I’m floating in a damn void. At the very least it will stave boredom for a bit.

She soon found herself under it, still unable to perceive it with her sight, only the powerful psychic hum of the object a hint of what hid behind the veil.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on it, focusing on one of its numberless patterns, trying to find its start and end.

Then she felt them. They reverberated through her mind.

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Higher beings have witnessed your struggling and want to reward the perseverance you showed throughout your journey.

You may accept one of them and receive their gift.

Choose wisely.

The Sleeping One has felt your final regrets. It offers you the Boon of Oblivion, will you dream away your pain and suffering?

The Bloodied Pawn has enjoyed your resolve in the face of pain. He offers you the Boon of Vengeance, will you purge the world of its guilt and wrongdoings?

The Whispering Mother has perceived your inquiring mind. she offers you the Boon of Insight. Will you see the truth through the veils of ignorance and deceit?

Completely stunned, Alice stood still for a long time, her brain in turmoil at the words and their meaning.

Finally, she shook herself, focusing once more on the information that was now floating in her mind space. Some words were different, as if more than simple concepts. Powerful.

Alice focused on the first offer, on the first thing that had supposedly seen something in her. When she read its name again, she felt it inside, a vast, round form, an infinite number of layers wrapped around a huge, closed eye. She felt the calm it emanated, a promise of contentedness and stasis, a cradle where she would be safe forever.

Oh.

It took her a long time to shake herself from the stilled tranquility of its layers.

It felt so gentle.

When she escaped her daze, Alice inspected the next offer, sensed its words vibrating with barely repressed passion, the roiling energy soon washing over her like a tide.

She was soon transported in a boundless plain, beside a knight gripping a radiant sword. Blood dripped from the gaps in his battered armor, pooling on the already soaked grass under her feet.

All around the knight, and for leagues behind her, laid broken bodies; some alone, defeated in single combat, most in heaps and piles. All of them dead.

And yet, she didn’t feel guilty, or scared, she somehow knew that it all was for the right cause, their sins were bared for her unfaltering eyes to see.

Gripping her sword, she advanced through the endless cadavers, faceless shadows uselessly trying to block her path, soon banished by the righteousness of her weapon and soul. Alice knew, she was moving towards true justice.

The vision ended and she was in front of the Monolith once again.

Alice had to stop and collect herself, taking her time to stop the shivers running through her form, to unwind her real feelings from the ones that belonged to the vision.

She still perceived the emotions of the knight she had become, their unshakeable beliefs. It was a hint of what would become of her if she were to accept the boon, but now they were separated and foreign, barely a memory.

This one is definitely at the bottom of the list for now. I’d like to avoid becoming some sort of mindless divine weapon of mass destruction. Even if that sword was incredibly cool. Still, I wonder if what I saw is true.

Finally, she looked at the last promise.

She felt the murmuration coming from the glyphs, entering her mind, and showing her yet another choice.

She was drifting in a forest of hairlike, pearlescent tendrils, the touch of each strand sending a new wave of information flowing in her brain. As she floated deeper in, the tendrils got thicker, made of many lines braided together, every touch now sending entire lifetimes of knowledge, coursing through her synapses.

The more she delved, the wider the ropes, soon the size of trees or columns.

And then she saw her. Instantly recognizing her form, despite all rational thought going against it.

The Whispering Mother. The Archetype of Knowledge.

When she reopened her eyes, the form had been forgotten, removed from a mind incapable of fully comprehending it. And yet she remembered feeling it. The pure feeling of comprehension. She wanted it.

The first one means surrender, I’m not ready for it.

The second one leads to a path of pain, for something I’m not sure I even need.

The third one is my choice. I greet The Whispering Mother.

The Monolith hummed, a potent vibration ripping through the endless space. Its glyphs flared in a flash of octarine light, new words appearing in her mind.

You accepted the Boon of Insight; your potential has been awoken.

Your soul resonates with the Domain of Life.

You have obtained the Biomancer Class.

You have reached Level 1 in the Biomancer Class.

You have learned the skill Lesser Biomancy. You will have a degree of control over your own body.

With the words, something else lodged itself inside of her, a deep feeling of power erupted from her brain, ripping through her defenses, and forcefully spreading throughout her body.

Everything went dark once again.