Dalis stood surrounded by a group of mean looking soldiers, and for some reason it felt like all of them wanted to pick a fight with him. Dalis suddenly felt a firm grip on his shoulder, he turned to see that it was Siara, “Now I’m sure that all of you can keep your question to yourselves for a day,” “Our guest…” she paused and looked at Dalis with a puzzled look, it only occurred to her then that she never asked his name. “Dreamer,” said on reflex sensing that his name was required. Siara looked at him feeling amused, “Our guest Dreamer, is tired, you can ask him what ever you want in the morning,” she said smiling at the soldiers. “As you wish princess,” they replied in a respectful tone and allowed Siara to pull him along. As he moved through the crowd Dalis heard several murmurs, mostly the soldiers saying his name, also there was one other th
A short while later they walked down a small corridor and Siara open up a door. It revealed a small room, with a bunk bed and a sink on the side, a small mirror hung on the wall and that was about it. “Will I be bunking with someone?” Dalis asked looking at the bunk. “No, most of the rooms here are empty, it’s all yours,” she said standing at the door. “Before I go do you have any ideas for what you want in your made up story you’re going to tell everyone about how you survived?” she asked, it was a necessary lie they were going to have to tell. Dalis shrugged, “I have no idea, but it just has to show that I’m smart,” he said stroking his chin with a thoughtful look. Siara giggled and played with a few stands of her black hair that hung on the side of her face, “Why don’t you leave your story to me, I’m sure that I can think of something,” she sai
Sebastian sighed, especially seeing that his wife who stood to his right was nodding in agreement with Aries. “This is the only way to safely explore the Cathedral district and further the exploration,” he said firmly. “If there were a way for me to pass on this skill I would, but since that isn’t possible I will not see it wasted when it can help,” he continued feeling frustrated by the corner his leaders were backing him into. “The exploration should be left to the combat and magic related division’s as was previously agreed upon,” Aries retorted, “You’re needed here not out in the field,” he spoke like he was rebuking a child, something that only he could get away with, if any of the others spoke to the duke in such a manner, they would soon find themselves in a difficult position.. “The exploration has been stuck for a month now,” Siara interjected, “You’ve been losing ground every day,”
Night rolled over the enclosed settlement, the lights in buildings quickly went dark as curfew set in. The quite hum of generators sung a soft tone, that caressed the night sky. Sebastian sat by the window, taking puffs of burning tabac from his pipe, releasing plumes of smoke into the open sky as he looked to the stars. He felt two soft hands wrap around him from the back, “Is something the matter dear, you seem out of sorts?” Layla, his wife asked with concern as she nestled her head on his shoulder. “Is it something do with my niece, I noticed your strange behaviour today, don’t tell me this old lady has something to worry about?” she asked in a teasing tone. Sebastian looked at Layla from the corner of his eye, the first thing catching his attention was the red lines on her face, proof of her Saldean descent. At a glance she didn’t look old, p
Dalis stood looking over the broad-shouldered man, several minutes passed by in silence and the man said nothing he didn’t even open his eyes. Upon a closer look Dalis could see sickly hue to the man face, like he was experiencing a severe fever, sweat trickled down his face. Dalis furrowed his brow, he wasn’t even sure what this place was, but it didn’t seem to be real, he could still feel his body on the outside. When he looked at his hands he remembered they looked different from normal, they were bigger than they used to be. He cast a curious look at the man’s hands and slowly inched closer, he probed carefully and grabbed the man’s hand examining it carefully, surprisingly the blonde-haired man didn’t even react. The mans hands were larger than his current body, that when he recalled something, ‘That autonomous voice said something about merging didn’t it,’ he recalled that first moment before everything went strange again. He pulled his conscious back to his body and looke
Raylin’s eyes flickered away from Dalis as he looked to the status screen, “I honestly don’t know much about our current situation, I haven’t heard of such a case before, but I think I can conclude one thing,” he said with his tone serious. “What would that be?” Dalis asked eagerly. “The reason you’re in control of this body we share, is because of that trait of yours, ‘Almighty mind’,” he said his eye’s wondered over Dalis. Dalis smiled proudly, “I suppose it is pretty impressive, huh,” he gloated. “Impressive,” Raylin murmured, “If only it were just so…,” he said too soft for Dalis to hear him clearly. “Did you say something?” Dalis asked. Raylin shook his head and smiled lightly, “It’s even more impressive that you have two other traits, it’s a pity that the Records are hidden to me,” he said watching Dalis closely. Dalis
It was then that something occurred to him a concern that he had been holding on to for fear of it making Raylin act. If he could have helped it he would have never asked the question bubbling in his mind, but as was often the case for Dalis his body didn’t always do as he commanded and sometimes blurted out things he wished he never said. His eye twitched and his head jerked before finally his mouth ran off by itself, “You… being trapped in here, are you not angry that I’m the one in control?” he blurted out while wincing. ‘By Kaizel’s name why?’ he cried to himself. Raylin looked away and nodded ever so slightly, “I suppose that it would only be natural that I felt that way, after all, if we compare power, knowledge of the world and experience… the list goes on, it all shows that I am the much more suitable candidate to be in control,” Raylin said clenching one of his mighty fists.
Dalis ran his hands over the lines, those lines were a unique feature of the people in this world, the reason he possessed them was because of his Equanoxian heritage. He looked up to his status screen and frowned upon looking at his two hidden traits. The strange thing was he actually knew exactly what one of those traits were, it had to be the unique trait of his people, [Adaptor]. The proof of it was the lines on his face, one of the reason’s his people were feared in the universe was due that very racial trait. If you wished to know if someone was an Equanoxian, the sad truth was you couldn’t, not unless they told you themselves. The [Adaptor] trait allowed his people to easily adapt to any extreme environmental conditions, and by coming into contact with the blood of any natives from that world they could change their racial characteristics to blend in. &nb
Raylin looked down upon Dalis with his gaze held firm, he could sense that the bloodlust had vanished from Dalis’s mind. But even so he held his aura firm and spoke, “I once promised you that I would do everything in my power to hold of the corrosion of the energy, and in exchanged I asked that you act with honour and integrity,” “Tell me Dalis, does killing an innocent man honour the promise you have made?” he asked with a stern tone. Dalis gritted his teeth, under Raylin’s otherworldly aura he felt like he would completely lose himself, but at the same time he felt anger, anger at Raylin for calling that bastard of an Enforcer innocent, none of these people here were innocent. Through his anger he managed to find his courage, “You call that bastard innocent,” he swore at Raylin, using all his will power to keep his mind firm, “Do you even realise what’s going to happen when I hand in my schedule and it isn’t signed,” “I’m dangling over hot water as things stand, and all those l
Dalis left a perfectly cleaned out bowl with not even a speck of porridge left on the inside of his bowl, while he set his eyes on the lady in charge of the kitchens, he knew that he couldn’t get into her good books overnight. He moved on to the next part of schedule, as he made his way towards the corridors he would be sweeping, he noticed his stamina gradually recovering, it was nearing 320 of 340, and gradually increasing. His only energy so far that remained unmoving was his mana, it seemed like stamina was used as he moved about, and it recovered from eating, as for clarity it was used when he focused, as for its recovery he still wasn’t sure, he could only guess that it came with rest. Then there was mana which didn’t move at all, it was the only energy that his body didn’t need to operate. When he reached the corridors he was assigned, he found a broom against the wall and started to sweep away all the dust, and gradually made his way down the corridor. There wasn’t much m
Dalis glanced at the part of his status that detailed his energy and energy efficiency, while washing a pot. --- Toughness (1STR:10): (3 825 + 19 530) 23 355/ (33 000 Req) ENERGY: Stamina (1 END: 10): 260/340 (Unstable State) [(Control Req: 1 stamina: 5 stamina release), (Toughness Req: 1 stamina: 10 toughness)] Mana (1INT: 10): 400/400 (Super Berserk State) [(Control Req: 1 mana: 50 mana control), (Toughness Req: 1 mana: 50 toughness)] Clarity (1WIS: 20): 955/960 (Unstable State) [(Control Req: 1 clarity: 5 clarity empowerment), (Toughness Req: 1 clarity: 10 toughness)] Energy Efficiency: Stamina Release (1END: 0,25): 112,2/ (1 700 max) Mana Control (1INT: 0,25): 1 810/ (20 000 max) Clarity Empowerment (1WIS: 1): 1 488/ (4 800 max) --- If he were relying on his first accord conversions he would have been dead the moment he came back from the dead, and even with his traits that were working in the background it wouldn’t have been enough. The fact that he was alive was
When the night faded into day, and the morning began Dalis opened his eyes. He clutched his head that was unusually sore, and slowly recalled the dreams he had, it was strange, he usually had a perfect recollection of his dreams, but dreams always had a little nonsensicalness to them. But his dream from the night felt real, and he had a feeling that it was… When he went into the soul space, he found Raylin passed out in a sitting position, still looking that deadly shade of sick. When he reached Raylin, he suddenly paused and thought that maybe it wasn’t the best of ideas of let him know that he had seen the guys memory. Though he felt like it was a pity not to congratulate him on the bombshell of a wife he landed himself. But thinking of that made him all the more certain that it wasn’t a wise idea to tell Raylin what he saw, after all he was having a pretty intimate moment with his wife in that memory. As he thought about the memory he witnessed, he couldn’t help but wonder i
Raylin found himself in a strange place, well maybe not as strange as the soul space, but still this place was strange. It was dark, immeasurably so, the entire world he could see, seemed to have never seen the light of day, yet oddly he was able to see everything, with perfect clarity. ‘Am I dreaming?’ Raylin wondered to himself, he could never recall having a dream such as this one. But since he found himself incaple of moving, basically forced to act as a silent observer, he guessed that it was perhaps a dream. The darkness was different in this place, it was hard to describe, the sky above was this canvass of nothing, not even a simple twinkle of a star broke through the dark canopy, even the grainy sands that littered the ground were coloured in the darkness. It made Raylin furrow his brow all the more at the fact that he could see, his common sense was shouting at him, telling him that it was impossible, yet he could… He didn’t get to give it much thought when he spotted a
Dalis felt fuzzy. Yep that was the word, that described how he felt at the moment. The last thing he remembered was going to sleep, but now he found himself in a strange place, it was just that he couldn’t really do anything. He wanted too look around but he felt like he had no eyes, he wanted pull himself up but he felt like he had no hands with which he could pull him self up, he wanted to walk but… well you get the picture. The world all around him started to shimmer, and various large doors and stone corridors flashed in and out of his conscious mind. “Am I dreaming?” he wondered aloud, dreams were different for Dalis, he remembered all of his dreams, unlike everyone he knew, but his dreams were even stranger yet. He would frequently find himself awake inside his dreams, fully aware that his dream was a dream, without it ever breaking unless he willed it so, unlike other people whose dreams broke the moment they realised they were dreaming. But even so this dream felt diffe
An hour later Dalis was following behind Jean, as they made their way out of the Tower where the trial had been held. As they walked out into the night the settlement was empty with everyone having gone to rest after curfew set in. Dalis watched the night sky with the hum of the generators acting as a soft tune as they walked through the dimly lit night. As the massive moon passed through his gaze Dalis thought of the verdict, Dalis had no idea what happened between the Artisan faction and the rest of the settlement, but there was a severe lack of trust. It seemed that no one was in favour of handing Dalis over the Artisan faction, but Jean made a strong case for why he belonged in the Artisan faction. As such a slightly bothersome arrangement was reached, his custody was to be split between, Artisan, Jack of all Trades, and The Factionless. It would ensure that the Artisan faction couldn’t monopolise him and allow the others to keep a close eye on him, it seemed like his strugg
Before Hugo could speak Zera chimed in, in a soothing and melodious voice, “Hugo can speak for the Factionless as well, I believe that our ideas are in line with each-other,” she spoke softly. Hugo nodded apparently agreeing with Zera, “Your Dukeship, once the war commences the Jack of all Trades, and the Factionless will be stretched thin between our tasks,” “We will have to take up the dungeon clearing, the beast extermination tasks of the other factions, plus we’ll be running the supply lines,” “In this case every set of hands on deck will make a difference, we can push of many of our menial tasks like sowing the soil and gathering manure on to him, it will hinder his evolution progress, I’m sure that such a thing will be a suitable punishment for him, he’ll receive his basic meals but he’ll work for no payment,” Hugo added. In the current age for an evolver to be denied the opportunity to gain levels it was one of the punishments that would be the most frustrating to receive,
Dalis stood up straight feeling much more confident, he had two votes for him and two against him all he need to do was wait for the five votes from Layla, Sebastian and Siara. He figured that his verdict was a done deal. “Casting the vote of Princess Siara is Maliah green,” Sebastian stated. Maliah stood up, “Princess Siara was adamant on her vote, that the life of Dreamer is to be spared,” she stated, giving Dalis his third positive vote. For the next vote Sebastian said nothing as Layla stood up, “With my first vote I vote for Dreamer to be spared,” Dalis furrowed his brow wondering why she didn’t cast both her votes at once, he learnt the reason in the next moment. “With my second vote, I vote to execute Dreamer,” Layla spoke firmly, and her hardened gaze was fixed on Dalis. Dalis had no idea what was going on all of a sudden, her votes made no sense, one to save him and the other to kill him, she might as well have abstained with both votes. He now had four votes for him