World Seed

by Justin Miller

  I had really just wanted to stay here and constantly watch the killer’s position so that I could keep them informed and we wouldn’t lose sight of him again… But at the same time, I wasn’t sure if the police would be able to fight him. At the very least, he had his Blood Affinity and a plasma pistol. So, I just cancelled my X-Ray vision mode and ran along with them. In the meantime, I made sure that all of my combat aspects were activated.

  Scales covered my skin, my bones hardened, and I set up a breath weapon with the lightning element. With this, I should be able to counter most anything he had to throw at me. Though, I had noticed something strange about him when I saw him. His face lacked any of the normal facial characteristics. His eyes were blank, his mouth without lips, and his nose completely absent. They simply seemed to be gaps in the flesh. When his mouth was closed, it seemed as if it wasn’t there at all. He had no hair on his head, and only small holes in the side of it where his ears should have been. This man was meant to be a shapeshifter, but why would he take on such an appearance?

  I was liking this situation less and less as time went on. I had the feeling that I’d be getting the answers to all of my questions soon, and when I did I wouldn’t like them. Thankfully, we knew where he was, and we were going there with our weapons at the ready. Though, I was still not pulling out my plasma weapons, because I would likely be commanded to hand them over.

  After just a minute or so, we were already on the second floor of the station, and they had me do another sweep for the killer. What I found was that the scene of the death had already been set, and he was actually running towards us, before he suddenly jumped up, his body elongating as he dived into an air vent. Nobody said he could do that. That’s cheating. Still, I reported what I saw and kept an eye on him as he passed near us. He must have been warned by the AI, because he immediately looked in our direction and crawled off as fast as he could.

  Using my Metal Manipulation, I targeted the vent he was in, and attempted to collapse it around him. However, my magic acted too slowly at this range, and he was able to slip his body through with only a few scrapes. With that, he scurried off into an intersection, and rushed down to the lower level. Once again, I reported his location and we gave chase. Only officers Johnson and Matthews stayed behind, instead moving towards Jean’s office.

  “Tsk tsk, isn’t that cheating? Using your special eyes like that.” The AI’s voice sounded out again right after I stopped watching the killer so that I could chase as well. “At this rate our game won’t be very fun at all. In the case, how about we raise the stakes?”

  Soon, just as we were getting out of the stairwell on the first floor, there was another scream in the distance. Immediately, I looked with my X-Ray vision, and found the collapsed bodies of the two officers we had just left behind. However, the killer was nowhere in sight. Looking around, I wasn’t able to find him anywhere. I had lost sight of him for twenty seconds at most, and in that time he had doubled back and killed both of the officers before vanishing?

  Well, we were certainly getting our exercise chasing this guy. Moving back up, we again went to Jean’s office, this time actually entering. The two officers had horrified expressions on their faces, as if they had seen something horrible as they died. However there were no wounds to be found anywhere on them. It sent chills down my back to realize how they must have died instantly to some method they couldn’t defend themselves against.

  “John, look closely at their auras… something’s wrong.” Celeste spoke up, noticing something I hadn’t yet. There really was something wrong with their auras. Something that had been wrong with all of the dead people, which I hadn’t thought much of because I considered they had been dead for a while already. Their auras had already withered, as if their souls had left their bodies. Normally, this didn’t happen until twenty four hours after the death of a creature, but these men had died only a moment ago.

  “Hulett, tell me you have eyes on him.” The acting police chief glanced my way, and I did another sweep of the building. However, I could not find him anywhere. Then, my attention turned back to these two bodies in front of me.

  Celeste, is it possible? I asked the AI, not wanting to voice my thoughts yet.

  “What..?” She spoke up, and I could hear her confused tone, before she made a sound of realization. “Yes. It’s the most likely answer. But you’ll need to do it quick, before he notices.”

  I nodded my head slightly, and then turned to Monte. “Let’s go out to the hall. I can’t think straight in here…” He raised an eyebrow at me, but nodded nonetheless. Just as everyone was pulling out, I closed my eyes and reached into my grove. Focusing behind me, I summoned my large water slime into the room, completely filling it. This caused several of the officers to immediately draw their weapons and open fire, but their bullets did nothing to the slime. “Don’t worry, it’s with me.”

  I looked back to the room, watching and waiting. Monte came up next to me and whispered in a harsh voice. “What the hell is going on?”

  “The killer can instantly kill, erase bodies, and even shapeshift. He had no time to run away after killing those two before I searched for him.” As I spoke, I watched the blood vanishing from within the room, absorbed into Yo’s body, while the three bodies began withering. “There’s only one place he could be hiding.”

  Monte looked like he was about to speak, but suddenly the body of Officer Johnson twitched, before lunging out of the water slime with more speed than he should have possessed. As I took a good look, I saw that his feet had become flippers to make him exit faster. Now, normally this is the point where the villain would take his time to monologue while the cops had their guns pointed at him.

  Unfortunately, I was beyond annoyed, and didn’t wait for that. Opening my mouth, I released the blast of lightning mana that I had prepared beforehand. The blast of energy struck him directly in the chest, just as he was recovering from the damage of the slime. The surrounding cops were still frozen in place, since the person that had just charged out had appeared to be one of their colleagues, who they had known to have just died.

  After being struck by the blast, ‘Officer Johnson’ was thrown back, crashing against the wall. Unsure of whether or not he’d be getting up, I decided not to take that chance. I quickly worked a pair of elements that would surely finish him off. First, Metal Manipulation on the wall to make a long strip of steel wrap around his torso, and finally Void Manipulation to surround his entire body in void mana while removing the wind mana.

  I could see him coughing soundlessly, trying to get a breath. Before his last breath faded, he looked to me and said something. However, being locked in a vacuum meant that his voice carried no sound. Still, Celeste managed to interpret it by reading his lips. ‘We are Legion.’

  The moment he died, I began to feel a sharp pain in my head, while a blue window appeared in front of me.

  Quest Completed!

  It's All Just a Game

  Rank ★★☆ Investigation

  You have killed the Soul Legion, ending his reign of terror.

  Reward: Level +2, Increased Familiarity with Oakland Police, Soul Arts Skill

  New Skill Unlocked!

  Soul Arts - Beginner Level 1

  0% Exp

  This skill enables you to draw upon the very essence of others, using it in unconventional and potentially dangerous ways.

  New Ability Unlocked!

  Absorb Soul - Soul Arts - ★★

  By absorbing the soul of a recently departed creature, you are able to gain a portion of their knowledge and ability.

  Information streamed into my head as these windows appeared, and as if playing through a tutorial, my body automatically drew the soul of the Legion into myself. Memories not my own flooded into me, bits and pieces of a broken past.

  I saw myself freeze in terror as an unfamiliar blue screen appeared, symbolizing what could be the end of the world. I saw a silver capsule appear in my bedroom, and found myself draw
n towards it. I knew in my mind that I had a unique skill that I had refined by playing various games and adapting knowledge from them, and knew that it was the one thing that could help me grow strong enough to survive in this new world.

  I saw myself standing before a mountain of a man, made fully of stone as he instructed me to choose a race for myself. In order to match with this new skill I wanted to create, I chose an alien race capable of changing their shape at will. Then the image faded briefly, and I found myself standing before a druid at the edge of town, begging for training. However, I was refused. He told me that my level was not high enough, and I must come back later.

  In a rage, I ran off, and started using this unique skill against other players as they were leveling. It allowed me to easily gain their own skills and make them my own. However, each time there was a growing voice in my head, a presence I didn’t know. Soon, I had grown strong enough to pick a class. Again, I sought the druid trainer. This time, he accepted me. The voices told me to kill him, to add his skills to my own, but I endured. For two weeks I endured while he taught me the ways of druid magic, helping me found my very own grove, but something was wrong.

  When my grove was established, it was not the peaceful lump of rock he had described it as, but a sea of blood. I felt betrayed, as if he did this to me on purpose. Giving in to the voices, I caught my trainer by surprise and absorbed his essence. My grove immediately expanded, rocky areas growing within the bloody landscape. My power grew by leaps and bounds, but I felt myself starting to fracture. I could no longer control the voices, I had let them take over too much.

  My skill, which had initially been a mental skill meant to absorb the knowledge of a person, had become twisted in this world. I saw scenes, memories of everyone I had killed. Their childhood, their loves, their hates. I saw stars born, I saw planets shatter through eyes I did not know. I learned of something, information that pieced itself together in my head from these broken memories, and knew that my life was pointless, that it was all going to end. So, I continued absorbing, growing stronger and stronger. Soon, powerful people were sent out to kill us because of what I had done. The voices told me to absorb them too, and I tried. But they were too strong, I couldn’t touch their souls.

  After they killed me, I found myself back in this doomed world, back in my own body. Was this my body? I could no longer remember what I looked like, my own name. I had a hundred names, a hundred faces. But not one of them felt like mine. We took the name Legion, and since we could no longer grow in that distant realm, we would grow here. This world would fade away, but the Legion will be eternal. First, though, I must grow again.

  I decided to practice, first with those who had yet to accept their new fate. One of me was a mage, and she could read the levels of others. We were surprised by how many people were so useless here, so we put them out of their misery. When we killed them, we used the magic of another, who had learned to control the flow of blood to heal others, to send a warning. The end was coming. We even went to the police and took one of them to join us. He helped control the AI, give it our voice.

  Soon, we saw another working with the police. One of us called him druid, and we decided to obtain him as well. We were sure enough now. So we went to the police station and waited with the face we had stolen. He was our prey, but did he have to be our only prey? This room was full of people eagerly growing their powers. A buffet for one such as us. So we decided to play a game. One we made the rules for, one we could not lose. The station itself was our friend.

  First was the one that showed the druid trust. He should be able to get close. He called us druid as well. Were we? Some of us said yes, while others said no. No matter, we absorbed him, and he became part of us.

  Again the image faded, and soon we were running. He had found us, but how? Some voices said he was a Technomancer, one who becomes as a machine. But his skill was too low, he was too weak. So we went and played our game, painted the scene for them to find. Our friend in the walls told us that they were coming, so we left. He told us that the druid could see us, so we tricked him. We let him think we left, then went back when our friend told us he wasn’t looking. What luck, there were two fools grieving in the room. We absorbed them and replaced one, waiting for our chance to strike.

  What is this water? Did they turn on the sprinklers? No… it feels strange. Several voices cried out danger, danger, so we fled, becoming as a fish to exit this strange substance. As we stood up outside, a blast rocked our chest. Our lungs burned and we could not breathe. Looking up, we saw me. Was it me? Wait, no… it was the druid. Am I the druid?

  “John! John, snap out of it!” We heard a familiar voice, a woman standing next to us, crying out in distress. “No, John! Stop, it’s just a memory! You’re still you!” She seemed to be on the verge of tears. Was she one of the voices? Nobody else seemed to notice her, though they kept their eyes on us. “I’m sorry, John… You can yell at me later.”

  Our world turned dark, and we found ourselves quickly disappearing. Soon, there was just one left. Who am I? I think I can remember, almost. It’s just there, beyond my reach. “It’s okay, John, I’m still here.” That woman was there again. I think… I think I remembered her name. Celeste? “That’s right, John.” She suddenly broke out in a happy smile as I thought of her name. “It’s good to have you back.”

  Chapter 21: The Aftershocks

  “What happened to me, Celeste?” I looked over to the AI, and did my best to slowly sit up. I found that I was now wearing a white hospital gown, and had an IV hooked into my arm. Oh great, another hospital. Not even a super futuristic one, either.

  Celeste sighed, looking at me from a chair next to the bed. “From what I have gathered, when you killed Legion, he sent a sliver of his soul into you, which granted you that new skill. Then with that, he tried to force you to absorb the rest of his soul after he was dead. That was the rush of memories you were feeling. If I didn’t stop it, you probably would have ended up in the same condition that he was.”

  I raised an eyebrow at that. And how ‘did’ you stop it? At that thought, she turned away, somewhat bashfully.

  “The only way I could. I made you pass out, by forcing a massive surge of information into your head. Sixteen thousand runes in ten seconds was your limit on Hascion, so I gave you a hundred thousand in one second, as well as some random trivia I learned while studying. Once you were unconscious, I was able to control the flow of memories and personalities as they tried to take hold. I tried to delete them altogether, but found that my control did not extend that far.

  “The best I could do was filter them. You can try to view the memories, but it should look more like watching a video than experiencing it yourself. The thoughts are faded to the point where you shouldn’t be able to remember them, so you only gained the skill benefits that you acquired before I finished. Also, your Madness Affinity went up by a percentage thanks to this. For your own sake, do not use that absorbing ability again. I might not always be able to filter it out like that.”

  I nodded, understanding the situation. Closing my eyes, I tried to call up the information that she had used to stop the process. Really, Celeste? The runes, I can understand, but did you have to include things like the mating habits of equestrian wolves?

  There was a slight giggle from that. “Sorry, but I wanted something that would knock you out quick. I’m not sure how long you’ve been out for. They confiscated the bracelet when you were put in here, saying that the signal from it was interfering with equipment. But going by their conversations, I think it’s been a day and a half.”

  Oh great… All of this, and nearly a dozen people still died. And all I got was a terrible skill and ability.

  “Actually, about that. I’ve been doing some theorizing about this skill. Not a whole lot else to do while I waited for you to wake up, you know?” Celeste gave me a tired smile. “If I’m right, then it is usable for a lot more than just absorbing souls. You should also be able to bring bac
k the recently dead, or empower others by giving them a bit of your own strength.”

  I raised a curious eyebrow, waiting for her to continue as a nurse walked by and noticed I was awake, going off to get a doctor. “Well, the strength of the soul is based on experience and levels. My theory is that this skill allows you to give others your experience, maybe even your skills. If you did that to someone who had died, but still had their soul in their body, you could probably empower their soul and bring them back to life.”

  And the cost?

  “Your own experience and levels. As you remember, there are two main ways to level up. The first is to kill other people or creatures. The second is to train your skills and abilities. Now, if you take away your own levels, you can reduce yourself to the point where your skills would be top of the line, and the only thing you lose should be stat points. However, if you go further, you will probably lose skill levels as well.”