"I regret everything!"
After walking half the day, Morgan's feet were bloody and sore while his head felt fuzzy. Sitting by the edge of a small creek on a random moss free rock, he deeply regretted taking modern shoes for granted.
He was currently resting by the water, just out of sight of the eastern road. In his left hand he held a collection of miscellaneous fruits he'd scavenged and vetted with Iskandar, but he hesitated, put off by the unfamiliar appearance.
There were two types, the first was a type of nut with a green shell and long sticky vines, that he'd found growing around the base of a bush. It was likely a carnivorous plant that trapped small animals, letting them starve to death before eating them as fertiliser.
The second was a soft, pink plum-like fruit that grew beneath the bark of its tree – he'd only found this one because the bark had been ripped away. This one was far more appealing, but beneath its surface it housed small spines buried in the flesh, he'd already pricked his hand a few times on it.
His stomach grumbled again, reminding him why he was looking at his collection in the first place. Sighing, he put down the thorn-plums – the name he'd given them – and focused on preparing the stuck-nuts.
It stuck to his palm as he used his fingernail to slice the skin, peeling it off to reveal the hard nut inside. Next, he used a rock to crack the outer shell and took out the small, round core, which smelled faintly of strawberries.
Closing his eyes, he tossed it in his mouth before hesitation could set in. It was soft, with a sweet, nutty flavour that held a strawberry aftertaste.
'Delicious!'
"Do you want… some? Actually, on second thought, why don't you have some of the thorn-plums."
Iskandar shot him an unimpressed glare, that in hindsight was perfectly deserved. Moving on, he started to pluck the thorns from the fruit before tearing it into tiny chunks that he helped Iskandar eat, by washing it down with water from the creek.
Morgan blinked, then blinked again to make sure his mind wasn't playing tricks as an incredibly faint green glow settled around Iskandar's throat. The glow was familiar and a faint feeling in the back of his mind told him he'd seen it before, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember where.
That was an easy problem to fix however, as before him was someone who could help jog his memory.
"Um… I might have a bit of brain damage, so feel free to correct me, but are you glowing slightly? And if you are, why?"
Silence stretched between the two as whatever the green glow was, seeped through their skin. When it eventually disappeared, Iskandar opened their mouth, voice louder and clearer than before.
"…you can… see that? Interesting…"
"Wait, what happened to your voice?! It's so much clearer now."
"… I sped… up my healing… in… my throat… Can… I have… some more… food?"
Unsure what they meant, Morgan complied and gave them some more food, which he again washed down with a small bit of water. This time, he put all his focus into his eyes as the green glow reappeared, this time over the area their stomach should have been.
It lasted a fraction as long as the first bit before fading, the light dissipating into particles that blinked out. He was certain of it, there was definitely something there this time. Curiosity overwhelmed him as his eyes lit up, here was something he'd never seen before, the implications of which were staggering – if only he had the means to study it.
"There it was again! How are you doing that?"
"…are you… dumb? It's… healing magic…"
He snorted, that was absurd, magic didn't exist, it had to be some form of advanced technology… or did it. Morgan found himself doubting his own judgement, he knew logically that magic didn't exist in his universe, but what if the rules of this reality were different?
'I need more answers.'
Iskandar shivered uncomfortably as Morgan's eyes took on a manic tint.
"…stop. Now is not… the time… we… will talk… as you… walk."
Sighing, he let it go for now. His friend was right, it wasn't the proper time to research a strange new phenomenon, he'd need tools for that. At least, for the moment, he could benefit from whatever it was.
Suddenly a thought occurred to him, if 'magic' existed, then maybe the strange panel wasn't merely a conjuration of his mind.
"Say Iskandar, have you ever seen a strange blue rectangle floating in the air?"
"…is your head okay… I saw… you hit it… quite hard earlier… to think… you'd… forget… about… the… blessing."
Their breathing grew laboured towards the end of their sentence, they were clearly in no condition to talk, but it was clear they knew something.
"So it's real?"
"…yes…"
That was all he needed to know, with his concerns slightly alleviated he got back to feeding his friend the rest of the plum.
Minutes passed by in silence as he fed tiny pieces to his corpse like companion, in between taking bites of his own food. When the meal was finished, he was left with a handful of small needle-like thorns, and a few patches of jagged, stuck-nut bark.
An idea brewed in his mind as he glanced at the water, his feet, and then the bark.
'That would probably work, at the very least it can't hurt right?'
Unwrapping the tatters of cloth he'd been using as shoes, he tiptoed across the sharp rocks and stuck his feet in the water. Blood dyed the water red as the current washed his feet clean, the cold water doing wonders to alleviate the slight swelling.
It took a few more minutes to completely clean his feet, and when he eventually took them out, the damage was no joke. Hundreds of cuts littered the bottom of his feet, some so small they barely broke the skin, while others went deep enough to reach the fatty layer, there was even a small rock stuck in his left foot that he happily pried out.
Morgan tiptoed his way back to the rock where he'd left the fruit skins, and unfortunately, the bloodied cloth tatters – he still had to clean them, an infection would likely mean death in his situation.
He sat on the rock, one foot placed into his lap while in his non-broken hand he grabbed a fruit skin. There were six of them, each torn in different ways but averaging out at thirty square centimetres of material.
Carefully, he lined up the first piece and placed it over the heel of his foot, the sticky surface clinging firmly to him like a band aid.
Satisfied with his plan, he proceeded to stick the rest of the fruit skins to his feet before wrapping them in the tattered cloths – that he'd rinsed partway through – successfully making a pair of scrappy shoes.
'Hopefully this will help prevent any infections or extra damages.'
Standing up, he gave the shoes a quick test by stepping on the sharper rocks. He could feel them through the thin layers, but it worked in protecting his feet.
"Okay, we're all done here. Let's try and find a town to pawn this pin off at."
The golden pin of the brooch shimmered under the midday sunlight before he used a piece of string, sourced from his unfortunate shirt, to tie it to the keychain he'd forgotten to take off his wrist.
With a grunt, he hoisted Iskandar up and hung them by their arms from his neck, as he pushed through the trees back onto the road.
*******************
In the bowels of a charred stone keep, a fat middle-aged man sat in a gold plated office, papers littered the floor and strange lanterns illuminated the room, his face was as red as the velvet upholstery on his chair as he looked to the room's only other occupant.
"What do you mean it's gone! I already sold it to Marquis Voss, he'll have my head if I don't deliver! Bring me Captain Pret NOW!"
"Um… your lordship, we've been unable to find him since the fire. Some guards mentioned he was in the dungeon before it collapsed, but the rumours are unconfirmed."
Wood splintered beneath Baron Greve's hand as his temper worsened. It had been bad news all night, first a fire started near the dungeons before it spread to the rest of his keep, then the lower levels of said dungeon collapsed, and now his guard captain and his prized possession were missing.
His teeth ground together in barely contained fury as he tried to figure out the play. Suddenly, his rage filled expression twisted into one of dark glee as a cunning plan formed.
"Gather all the available men, I want constant patrols on each road leading away, send a scout ahead on horseback. Call for Samuel, I need his expertise. Also, contact the Adventurer's guild and inform them a messenger will deliver a new bounty to them later.
As for the Marquis, I shall pen a letter explaining what happened. Dismissed!"
The metal band around the servant's neck flashed a menacing grey as she dashed from the room, eyes blank.
Left alone in his office, Cassivar chuckled, his eyes glimmering with greed as he set about drafting a bogus report. Captain Pret… no, Pret, would finally be useful.
***************
Night fell over the land as Morgan settled in the crook of a tree.
He'd spent the entire day walking slowly down the seemingly endless road and somehow hadn't seen a single person. By the time dusk rolled around he was exhausted, dirty, and his feet constantly ached.
So, learning from his mistakes, he'd chosen a shorter tree to rest the night in and begun the climb.
Snacking on a handful of stuck-nuts, he fell into thought. It had been a hectic few days, what with the lead-up to his test flight, then the subsequent crash and imprisonment, but as the chill of night settled in, he finally found time.
'I wonder how this works?'
A blue panel hung in the centre of his vision, somehow having no effect on his ability to see in the dark despite its considerable brightness, yet for some reason it didn't illuminate anything.
Hesitantly, he reached out to touch it, only for his hand to pass through it easily. Turning his head, he tried to make the panel collide with the tree to see if that would work. He got the same result. Testing it a few more times with different objects, he confirmed it was unable to interact with anything, not even a strand of hair.
That left him puzzled. What use was the panel if it couldn't be interacted with, was there something he wasn't seeing? Closing his eyes he tried to recall the stories he'd read as a teenager.
'A mental interface!'
The thought struck him like a hammer. This entire time he'd assumed the panel was a construct of his mind, but as soon as someone confirmed it was real, he'd subconsciously started seeing it as a solid object.
'So what if I try something different? Panel? No response. System? No response. Stats? That felt closer, but no response. Hmm…'
"Iskandar, are you awake?"
"…yes… what do… you want…?"
"What am I meant to do with this panel thing, it's been floating in my vision for days."
"…"
Silence. Morgan got the distinct feeling he was being judged.
"…dismiss it…"
"Um… how?"
Normally he was the one people went to for answers, to be on the other side, completely oblivious, was a novel and embarrassing experience he would have liked to avoid. Still, he was smart enough to know when he was out of his depth.
"…you're strange… even… children know… how to use… the blessing. Use your mind… to command it… intent… matters."
Nodding, he turned his focus on the panel and concentrated on it disappearing. After a few seconds, he felt something click into place in his head and the panel disappeared.
"Yeah, I did it! Now what?"
"…strange… person. Call up… your… status…"
'Status.'
Morgan squinted his eyes as he thought about calling up his status – whatever that meant.
Sure enough, in a few seconds he felt something in his mind click again and the panel reappeared. A frown crossed his face as he looked at the floating panel, he wasn't an expert but something seemed wrong.
[Unstable Connection…
ERROR UNDEFINED INDIVIDUAL DETECTED
Beginning classification…
ERROR SPECIES NOT FOUND
RETRYING… RETRYING…
Nearest match found: Human
COMMENCING STAT ALLOCATION…]
"AGH!"
Pain shot through every nerve, muscle and cell in his body all at once as he felt them get torn apart and stitched back together in the blink of an eye. Before he could even process it, the pain was gone and the memory faded into the back of his mind, leaving only a lingering feeling of exhaustion, as if his body was just pushed to its absolute limits.
The panel flashed before his eyes, scrolling through text faster than he could read. Error after error appeared only to be circumvented and fixed nearly instantly, slowly the once blue panel took on a purple hue.
[TITLES DETECTED…
ERROR: REQUIREMENTS NOT MET
ANALYSING…
ANALYSING…
SOLUTION FOUND!
CORRECTING…
ERROR: RESISTANCE DETECTED…
#%#%@^$@^&
COMPROMISE FOUND!
CLASSIFICATION COMPLETE!]
A warm pulse echoed across something deep within himself, the feeling similar to when the system first connected with him back in the dungeons. Morgan shifted uncomfortably as it finished whatever it was doing.
With a mental nudge from the panel itself, it reappeared in his vision, now back to its natural blue colour. Words ran down the length of it, breaking down his very existence into numbers and stats.
Surely this wasn't all he was? It felt… wrong. How was it possible to classify everything about an object in such a simple manner. Mentally, he felt the thing by his soul shift, it seemed to want to send him something.
Unsure what it meant, he hesitantly accepted its offering.
'Ohhhhh… that makes so much more sense.'
The system wasn't classifying him, it was merely offering him the ability to track his own growth and compare it to that of others using arbitrary units. There was more to it than that, but it seemed reluctant to share anything else at the moment.
Morgan got the feeling it wanted him to figure out the rest of the details, something he would happily do… once he got his tools.
For now however, he was tired. Closing his eyes, he drifted off into a shallow slumber. The morning would hold new challenges, and he would be ready.