Transcendental Misappropriation (Book One of the Pentacle Series)

by Roharp17

  Upon reading this, Danny began to receive a vision. Like an out of body experience, Danny’s point of view shifted and he was only able to watch the events that unfolded.

  At the base of a towering spire, overlooking a massive city, a group of men in dusters handed a small, blood-red crystal to a second group, comprised of hardened-looking men and women. The second group looked to be wearing armor and carrying various weapons, while others wore dusters of different colors.

  Small groups were then seen running in teams of four through the forests and across mountains. Every now and then they would look up in the distance, towards what looked like a massive hole in the fabric of space. Periodically lightning would strike out at the hold, as if nature itself was trying to drive away the anomaly. The groups would set a white crystal so that a specific end pointed towards the tear in space, before moving on.

  The warriors from before had multiplied, now numbering in the thousands. They raced towards the tear and joined in battle against an endless horde of what Danny could only describe as mutants or demons. The Cataclysmic were only similar in the fact that the arrangement of their bodies didn't seem to follow any sort of logical order. Eventually the thousands of humans were whittled down into a team of three women and a man. Around the neck of one of the woman was the red crystal. The team had learned a lesson from their fallen comrades and did not try and kill every enemy in sight, but instead cut a path. Bleeding and wounded, they drew near the portal.

  Back at the towering spire, the robed men were watching through their scrying pools and sent others to a ritual area on top of the tower. Hundreds of robed men knelt along the great circled rune etched into the floor. A larger blood-red crystal, sat in a pedestal in the middle of the floor. As power flowed up from the four pillars on the edge of the tower that marked the four corners of the world, some of the men started falling to the ground, unmoving. The pillars' powers coalesced into the crystal, casting a single beam of blinding light. Near the portal only two of the previous team remained, the young man and the woman with the crystal. As the man spun and twisted his two blades at the mass of enemies that surrounded his companion, the young woman flung out devastating magics that tore a path closer to their goal. The crystal around the young woman's neck started to glow and distracted the man long enough for one of his enemies to get within his guard and strike a killing blow. As his lifeless body fell to the ground the young woman released a mass of power around them, briefly freeing them from attack. She quickly rushed to man’s side. As the Cataclysmic rushed in to finish the two off a fell wind blew through the area around the couple. A spinning vortex of air continuously picked up speed, and flung the Cataclysmic into the air as it did so. With tears running down her cheeks, the woman held the body of the dead man and screamed up into air. Suddenly she looked up in the middle of what could be described as the eye of a hurricane. Realizing what was about to happen, a small smile crossed her face right before the power hit.

  Varying prismatic views, Danny guessed from the white scrying crystals, winked out, until only a single view from far away showed a great flash of light followed by dust, smoke, and debris. When the wind had settled the portal was no more and the strange monolith was barely recognizable.

  The vision left Danny and he looked down to continue reading the remainder of the letter.

  The remaining Cataclysmic, doomed to a slow death on our world, turned to our destruction as the citadel was the last bastion of human civilization. Knowing others would survive, we sought a way to aid those survivors in the future we knew was inevitable, when “they” would return again.

  Some wanted to leave behind great weapons of enchantment but we feared they would be found and used by the enemy. Then I brought forth an idea, one that took a project of mine a step beyond its original intentions. All quickly realized that, if successful, this would fundamentally change the people of our world forever and possibly provide the power required. With the Cataclysmic at the very walls of the citadel we began casting our last spell. The spell was cast on a massive multifaceted crystal. Those of us that remained used our mortal souls to power the spell that would change the very nature of this world's mana. To embed it with the ability to grant innate abilities inherent to all who met the qualifications. I had gathered together the knowledge from our greatest masters of every profession into the crystal. My original intention was to grant this power to our initiates of the citadel. Now we grant this power to you.

  We have bestowed upon every being born of this world that develops sufficient intelligence, access to their own mental sanctuary. This was an ability only attainable to the greatest of our magi. This sanctuary will retain all the knowledge and skills you acquire. Nothing will be lost. Your knowledge and abilities will be granted a ranking so you know not only how far you have come but how much further you need to go. When you increase in a skill you will be granted increased power in the form of one of three attributes. These attributes will permanently boost your body and cannot be taken away. As you grow in knowledge and skill so shall your sanctuary.

  Please use this gift wisely and grow stronger for what will surely come to pass.

  The Last Archsorcerer

  David looked up from the letter and at the room around him. So this was a mental sanctuary. If he understood correctly, this sanctuary gave him a photographic memory. He didn't know anything about the attributes mentioned in the letter though.

  *Wait...*, he thought.

  Danny realized he was on another world! He thought it was possible that everyone was speaking oddly due to his diminished size and the way his small ears were perceiving sound. Another world with a separate history. He hadn't just reincarnated, but had done so on another world. One with mana! He then realized this must be another universe entirely.

  Danny fearfully thought, *I hope they have chocolate... and toilets!*

  His thoughts then turned to his family. His parents lived back in his home town and his little brother had yet to move away like he did. He loved his family and acceptance of the fact he wouldn't ever see them again would take him some time. Some small part of him had thought he would be able to go and visit them. They might not recognize him, but he could just make sure they were alright.

  Lost in thought, Danny's gaze wandered above the desk, and he noticed a large copper triangle affixed to the wall. The triangle was equilateral with one side on the bottom so it pointed up. Inside the triangle was another triangle of red and yellow. This red triangle was warped where the top was sharply pointed and the two points to the side appeared grossly stunted. Words were written at each point of the equilateral triangle. 'Intelligence' was at the top, 'Strength' to the left, and 'Agility' to the right. If he understood this correctly, it was a triangular graph of his attributes given by the sanctuary. The red corner of the triangle, representing intelligence, was around half way to the edge of the copper outer triangle. Apparently he was currently highly intelligent with non-existent strength and agility. Both of the corners of the triangle representing strength and agility were yellow. He was not sure why they were different color than intelligence.

  Thinking on his past life, Danny sarcastically thought, *This doesn't describe someone who worked as a chemist at all... nope.*

  Underneath the triangle was an inscription.

  Intelligence for adaptability, speed, and simultaneousness of thought.

  Strength for power, fortitude, and stalwartness of body.

  Agility for speed, dexterity, and precision of movement.

  Opening the drawers and not finding anything of interest, Danny moved to the bookshelves. Each bookshelf held a placard title on the side and were not uniform in shape or size. The first bookshelf he came to was titled "Language". Only two of the shelves were occupied. The books on the top shelf were titled "The English Language (Spoken)". There were eight books on this shelf. Volumes one through five were additionally labeled "Apprentice Level" and Volumes six through eight were labeled "Journeyman Level". He focus
ed on the first volume and knowledge filtered through his thoughts about the sounds consonants and vowels made. He found this strange but interesting. Moving on, the second shelf held seven volumes titled "The English Language (Written)". These two sets of books confused Danny as he assumed anything held in the sanctuary would be related to this world. Based on the fact he was apparently on another planet, English was not something that should have been held in that crystal. Maybe the sanctuary was set up to allow new skills to be added based on knowledge and experience. Would this enter into the system as a whole for anyone else he taught English to? If so this was truly amazing.

  Moving to the next bookshelf it had a plaque that read "Craftsmanship". On this bookshelf there were five volumes of "Alchemy". There had to be other craftsmanship skills that should have transferred over. Frustrated, Danny admitted to himself that some skills were better than none.

  The next shelf down was titled "Mercantilism."

  *Why not just business*, thought Danny.

  Under this he had five volumes in "Trade", two volumes in "Investing", and four volumes in "Accounting".

  *Please, don't let me come to this world just to become an accountant*, thought Danny.

  The third shelf that Danny had was titled "Charisma". On this shelf he had four volumes in "Persuasion", one volume in "Intimidation", and two volumes in "Deception". A frown crossed Danny's face as he focused on the books under "Deception," thinking he didn't like to be called a liar. He did see a few techniques for telling believable lies, but there was also quite a few other techniques for hiding in plain sight and convincing others you were someone else.

  *Acting*, Danny thought with a smile. He was always getting in trouble for his sarcasm, which no one seemed to get.

  The second to the last shelf was titled "Leadership". Danny had always been a bit of an introvert so he figured leadership wasn't really his forte. There were just two books called "Management." This probably had to do with the times he had been given new employees to train and coach during the different jobs he had had over the years. He had always figured his own managers had just been lazy but it had helped him here.

  The last bookshelf was titled, "Healing." Here there was only one set of books. He had five books in "First Aid." Treating himself and having to help take care of his little brother must have upped this skill. Also, the lab he worked at had him take CPR and first aid classes.

  *That's it*, Danny's thought shouted in his mind. He couldn't believe his twenty seven years of existence had only garnered him advancement in... twelve skills! Two of them were for a language he seriously doubted he would come across on this world. Danny moved back over to the desk and looked up at the attribute triangle. Then he looked back over at the six bookshelves, deep in thought. Maybe he was limited to gaining skills with attributes only in intelligence. The redness of the intelligence must represent recent growth. Maybe certain skills couldn't be awarded till he accomplished them again in his new body?

  Danny then decided to see if there was anything on the other side of the room, past the bookshelves. It was darker on the far side, but he could easily make out a doorway. The doorway appeared to be sealed up with stone blocks. A metal plaque was affixed at eye level that read "Mana (Sealed)". Did he have mana? That would be a dream come true! Though it was sealed... He focused on the door and nothing happened like with the exit door. There didn't appear to be a keyhole, so how was he supposed to unlock it?

  As he pondered on this puzzle he heard a voice and recognized it as belonging to that woman.

  *How did she get in here*, Danny thought, when he was suddenly jerked from his position and flung through to the exit door. The door didn't open so much as his perception passed through it into a white emptiness.

  A note from Roharp17

  Edited by SkrmnMrgsm

  Chapter 5

  He opened his eyes to see the woman - presumably his mother - hovering above him. She fussed over him while changing his diaper. Danny was embarrassed by this but had no way to address this problem himself. The noises she made were soft but otherwise meant nothing to him. After interacting with her for a while he pretended to get sleepy and nod off. She hovered for a minute, and then the woman left.

  Danny was determined to unlock his mana and he couldn't find any answers in his sanctuary, so maybe the key was out here. Going off of what knowledge he had (mostly from fantasy novels and games) either mana was absorbed from the world or was produced from within him. Focusing on his body first, he searched for anything different. While he had grown accustomed to this new body there were a few things that were off. The first was the faint light in the corner of his vision, which he now knew was the shortcut to his sanctuary. The second was a strange presence right above his stomach. The best way he could describe it was that it felt similar to a lump in his throat. Not in how it felt when he was actively swallowing, but how it seemed to be there waiting for him to swallow, making him unconsciously swallow more frequently than he normally would. Unfortunately, he had no means of 'swallowing' to see what was in this area. Could this be his mana? How would he unlock it? Reaching out with his senses, he tried to pull on this presence. Pain shot through his stomach and chest before he let go. Danny felt a dull ache, like he had been sucker punched in the upper gut. Fussing, he was unable to control himself and he cried.

  After his mother checked on him and he pretended to sleep again, Danny focused on what happened. He 'grabbed" a lot of the mana, thinking that that was needed to unlock it. Now he was wondering if he shouldn't try a lighter approach, and see if there was a difference. Trying to grab just a small amount of the mana proved very difficult, if that is what it truly was. Every time he attempted to grab at the presence he felt a stab of fresh pain, though the amount of pain noticeably lessened as he learned to grab smaller and smaller amounts.

  Determined, and a little bored of just being a baby, Danny continued to work on his locked mana issue. In the following days, he was carried around the house and many people came to visit. It wasn't until meal times that he figured out everyone who lived in the house. Besides his mother, there were two other women and a man in the home. There were also two older girls and another boy. While the girls were many years older than him the boy looked just a few years older than him. His interactions with the two adult women were sporadic, but they were very nice to him. From time to time they would help his mother take care of him. Maybe they were his aunts? At first, he wasn't sure if the man was his father or not, as the man treated all the children the same. Then some nights, he would sleep in their bed upstairs. So he was at least the man they were living with, if not his father. The two older girls would play with him and would help take care of him from time to time. The other boy in his house behaved as expected of a toddler.

  Danny hadn't been around too many babies, but he did his best to play the part. So as not to alarm anyone, he made sure to smile, a lot. Especially when he wasn't sure what the right response was. This usually resulted in a positive reaction on the part of the recipient.

  He eventually started to pick up on a few words when people would point at themselves and say a word. The photographic memory provided by the sanctuary was a big help in this department. Though it was very frustrating when someone would hold a toy or object and ramble on for more than a few words. He could only make general guesses based on repetition of specific words. Did they expect him to immediately go from nothing to complex sentences?! He couldn't memorize something that he couldn't comprehend. Ninety percent of what was said to him might as well have been inane babbling for all the good it did him.

  Days turned into weeks and Danny hadn't made any progress on unlocking his mana. He did, however, get to leave their home. Unfortunately, this was very frustrating as he still couldn't see very far past the end of his nose. He was sure they went to a few stores and stalls as his mother left the places with more things than she had had when she arrived. Also, as they walked between buildings he heard a lot of different peopl
e and could vaguely see them moving around. So he could only assume it was a town they lived in. Whether the town was large or small, the buildings tall or short, or if there was a giant moon hovered above waiting to crash down on the unsuspecting populace, Danny couldn't tell.

  It was during one quiet afternoon while Danny was practicing his 'grabbing', which had turned into more of a ‘pinching’ that something changed. He had gotten down to being able to grab the tiniest nuance of the presence he felt above his stomach. What had been stabbing pain at first turned into a small, manageable twinge. About ready to give up and call it a day, he reached out and tried again to grab an even smaller amount. At first, he thought he had failed to grab purchase when he did not feel any of the usual pain. That's when it started to suddenly move through his system. A strange and new feeling moved up to his heart and then it spread from there, like the roots of a tree through the ground. Danny could only guess that it was following his arteries and veins. It cycled through his body and once it reached his brain... he blacked out.

  When he awoke he first noticed that he felt a strange sensation all over his body. He could feel it, and it was everywhere! It permeated his body and he could feel it wanting to escape. Besides the strange feeling, he didn't feel any stronger physically. That's when he noticed the sanctuary light, and he immediately focused on it, meditating.

  The room looked much the same as when he was there last. He rushed past the bookshelves to the doorway behind them. It was open! He went through the doorway into a room shaped like a hexagon. Each wall of the room was decorated with a different theme, and each wall held a symbol. Unlike everything else, these symbols did not change to English when he focused on them. In the center stood a massive stone table, but it was empty.

  The first side he approached had a more natural stone floor and wall than the rest of the room. What at first he took to be patterns in the wall turned out to be veins of different ores in the rock. The ores were obviously unrefined, but the tapestry they made was beautiful and soothing. Ten pedestals lined the wall but only three of them held a tome. "Earth Affinity" Apprentice, levels one through three. Danny focused on the three tomes, one by one, and they contained his knowledge of all things related to his previous life. His knowledge and understanding from courses in geology and geography from school were stored here, as well as his own experience from working with the earth. He would have thought a magic skill would only increase in rank based on the use of skills like 'earthen spike' or 'stone armor' (if such things existed here). Instead, it looked like his knowledge and understanding counted toward advancement in some cases. The last book contained some of his speculations on how mana could be used to affect earth. Danny thought about that last part and questioned if these thoughts were truly his own. Did the sanctuary give hints towards future advancement? He would have to try a few things and see if his theory held any merit.