The Void
"Now this is interesting..." I say as I look over a wall filled with strange writing. Behind me are my colleagues, who begin setting up their equipment to catalogue our findings.
I turn around and walk over to my assistant, Jonathan, who is overseeing the others temporarily, "What do you think this place was used for? Who built it?" I ask him.
Without looking away, he replies, "No idea. You?" I ponder for a second before replying, "Might have been built by the same people who built those other ruins in South America. The designs are similar."
Jonathan hums in thought, but before he can say anything, someone calls me over to look at something. I go over to them and take a look at what they found.
In front of them is a pedestal shaped like a hand with its fingers pointing towards the sky. I look at it for a second and suddenly remember something, "Go grab the orb from the last site."
My coworker goes to the storage area and comes back with an orb so black that light doesn't reflect off of it.
I grab the orb and look at the pedestal before placing the orb in its grasp. The orb surprisingly begins to glow, with the ground shaking soon after.
I struggle to keep my balance, but eventually regain my footing. I look around, seeing my colleagues either on the ground or struggling to stay off it.
I look back at the pedestal and see a rapidly expanding hole in the ground. The hole reaches a large size before stopping, along with the shaking.
As everyone is getting up, a large, black, phantasmal hand reaches out of the hole and reaches for the person closest person to it, who happens to be me!
I try to run but find myself out paced by the giant hand and soon grabbed by it. I try and break free by any means. I try hitting it, thrashing around, and as a last resort, biting it.
I look down at my colleagues and see them running for their cars and trucks. I look behind me and see that the hand is retracting back into the hole it originated from.
My struggling slowly dies down as we get closer, until the hand, and me by extension, are gone, the hole closing as I descend into what I can only assume is hell.
I close my eyes and accept my fate, before a bright orange light appears through my closed eyes. I open them and see a blazing fireball flying towards me, or more accurately, the hand holding me. The fireball crashes into the hand, causing it to drop me.
I fall further into the hole. Looking up, as my vision slowly fades to black, I see a woman with flaming hair rushing after me.
---
After an unknown amount of time in a dreamless sleep, I wake up to the sound of a crackling fire, and the feeling of a soft surface against my back. I open my eyes and see a white marble ceiling.
I sit up and look around, eventually spotting a bright red-haired woman with her back turned towards me, looking out from a balcony. I look at what I was laying on and see a very comfy looking red futon.
I get off the futon and look around some more, taking in the environment. The room I am in is very Greek looking, with tapestries of what looks to be people.
I look back at the red-haired woman, who seems to not know I'm awake yet. I walk over to her and get her attention. She turns around and smiles at me warmly, "I'm glad to see that you are alright."
After a moment of thought, I ask her a few things, "Who are you? Where are we?"
"I am Zira, the goddess of fire, reincarnation, and transmigration. You are currently in my realm." She answers calmly.
I ask why I am here and what she wants with me, "I brought you here after saving you from being dragged down into the Void to suffer for all eternity." She seems angry at the mention of 'The Void', "As for what I want from you, well... I don't want anything else than to return you to the mortal realm."
I tilt my head in confusion, "What do you mean?" Zira sighs, "What I mean, is, I want to reincarnate you. Seeing as your body was destroyed as soon as you were brought through the entrance to the Void, leaving only your soul."
My eyes widen at her words, "Wait, what do you mean 'My body was destroyed'?!" I exclaim in panic, "The Void is a place where physical matter cannot exist. So, when your body was pulled into the Void, it just disintegrated into nothingness."
I feel my legs give out from this information, "So... What you're saying is... I'm dead?" Zira frowns, "Unfortunately, yes, you are, and at such a young age too."
I bring my hands to my face and mutter, "Alaya Adams, dead at age 24." I remove my hands and look up at the goddess who saved me, "What now?" Zira helps me back onto my feet.
"Now, I create a new body for you and send you to a new world to continue your life." Zira says. The fire goddess walks over to a table that has a book on it. Zira picks up the book and opens it, and in a small burst of flame, a pencil appears in her open hand.
She hands me the book and pencil, "I need you to draw what you wish to look like, and what race you wish to be." I take the book and pencil and sit down on the nearby futon.
I draw a slim, cute looking girl with cat ears and a tail (what, I like cat girls!). After finishing my drawing, I hand the book and pencil to Zira, who looks at my drawing and nods. She turns the page and begins writing things down.
After a few minutes, she closes the book, with the pencil disappearing in a puff of smoke, "There, all done." A circle of fire appears next to Zira as the girl I drew rises from it, "Now that's strange..." Zira says quietly, "What's wrong?"
Zira turns to me and explains, "It would seem that your limited time in the void has had an irreversible effect on the body I made for you." Zira opens her book again, with her eyes widening, "Now that's not something you see every day..."
I become worried, "Is there something wrong?" Zira closes the book and puts it down before turning to me, "There's nothing wrong per say... Just..." Zira pauses.
"It's just that the Void appears to have left a mark on your soul, which in turn affects your how you look in the new world, along with giving you new powers." Zira says.
I look at my body and notice that it has black hair, grey eyes and of course, the cat ears and tail. I notice a strange mark on the body's right hand, before Zira waves her hand, causing my new body to disappear.
"I guess this is fine. It's not like I can change it now anyways." She snaps her fingers, causing a circle of fire to appear around my feet, "I'll be sending you off now. Goodbye!"
I say goodbye as well, before my vision fades to black again.
---
I wake up to the sound of crickets chirping and the whistling of a light breeze. I sit up and look around, noticing a dirt road and fields of green grass.
I stand up, before hearing a ding in my head, followed by a black panel appearing in front of me. I silently read the words on the panel, 'Welcome to the world of Teris. It is what people back in your old world would call a 'Fantasy' world.'
I continue reading, 'In this world, magic and monsters exist, alongside the use of a system much like the one you are currently using.'
I get to the last line, which tells me how to open my status menu, 'To open your status menu, just think or say the words 'Open status'. And remember; Your system is here to help.'
After reading the last line, the panel disappears. I think 'Open status', which causes a new panel to appear.
[
-Personal Info
Name: Alaya Adams
Titles: Reincarnated, Marked by the Void
Race: Demi-Human
Sub-Race: Cat-Kin
Main Class: Void Walker
Sub Class: None
-Leveling Info
LVL: 1
EXP: 0/1000
-Stats
HP: 1100/1100
HP Regeneration: 10HP/20s
MP: 1400/1400
MP Regeneration: 40MP/20s
STR: 30
VIT: 10
DEF: 10
AGI: 50
DEX: 50
INT: 40
Stat Points: 0
-Abilities
<Night Vision: Passive: Racial Acquirable>
<Cat Claws: Active: Racial>
<System Helper: Passive: Title>
-Skills
|N/A|
-Spells
{Blink: Active: Space}
{Shadow Cloak: Active: Shadow}
]
I hum in thought, 'Is it just me or do my stats seem a little high? Also, what's with these powers?!' I decide to test them out. I look up and see stars, telling me that it's night, "Yet I can see just fine..."
I look at my hands, "I should see if the <Cat Claws> ability does what I think it does." Before I do that though...
I reach my hands up to my head and feel around, soon finding two fuzzy objects attached. I then look behind me and see a long, black, object, slowly swaying side to side "Yep, that's a tail. I'm gonna assume the two fuzzy things on my head are cat ears."
I continue rubbing them, enjoying the feeling, before I go back to testing my abilities.
Later...
After running some tests, I figured out what each of my powers did.
1. {Blink}, is a spell that allows me to teleport short distances, as long as it's in my line of sight.
2. {Shadow Cloak} allows me to turn invisible while in shade or the dark.
3. I can activate <Cats Claws> by flexing my fingers in a certain way.
4. Lastly, and I regret testing this last, is <System Helper.> Why do I regret testing it last? Because it's the most helpful!
<System Helper> is an ability I got from the [Reincarnated] title. It acts like an assistant, answering any questions I might have, describing what my abilities and titles do, and identifying enemies and what level they are.
Speaking of which... 'Hey, Riley?' Riley is what I named the voice that comes from the <System Helper> Ability, "Yes, Alaya?" Riley says in a gender-neutral voice.
I ask them a few other things, such as what my class and my [Marked by the Void] title does, "To start, your [Marked by the Void] title gives you the class of [Void Walker] and signifies your escape from the void with your soul intact. As for your class, [Void Walker] gives you access to powers of the void once you are strong enough and gives you space and shadow school affinity."
I thank Riley for the information and walk over to the dirt road and follow it for a bit before reaching what looks like a camp.
At the camp are four people. The first one is wearing plate and chainmail armor and has a large tower shield next to him and a short sword, which he is polishing. He has black, curly hair, dark skin, and blue eyes.
The second one is wearing a leather gambeson under a black cloak. He has silver white hair that covers one of his eyes and the one that is visible is green. He has two curved daggers, resting in sheaths on his hips, along with multiple throwing knives strapped to his chest.
The third one is wearing no shirt, only a fur, Viking style mantle, and leather pants. He has dark red hair and dark red eyes. He doesn't have any visible weapons, but he has his hands wrapped in what looks like leather with metal studs sticking out.
The last one looks to be a woman with long ears, tan skin, silver hair, and crystal blue eyes. She is wearing a green cloak with a brown corset underneath it. She has a crossbow next to her, and a small bag attached to her belt, along with a bracer on her left forearm.
Suddenly, her head snaps towards my direction, and in a flash a crossbow is leveled at me.
"Who are you?!"
---Flashback---??? POV---
"So I was at the lake, fishing, right?" says my brawler friend while I polish my sword, "Y-yeah." Sputters out our shy, yet capable rogue.
"I had caught this MASSIVE fish and guess what happens?" the brawler uses his hands to try and emulate how big the fish was, "A BEAR runs up to me and snatches it out of my hands, just as I was about to put it in my storage bag!"
I decide to finish his story, "And then you punched it in the face, and almost got mauled to death, if not for me, the end."
The brawler looks at me with a betrayed look on his face, "You said you wouldn't tell anyone!" I snicker as I sheath my sword, satisfied with its polish.
"Yeah well, I couldn't help it, sorry Rag." I apologize. Rag opens his mouth to talk but is interrupted by our temporary party member grabbing her crossbow and aiming it at the darkness, "Who are you?!"
Out of the shadows steps a Cat-Kin woman in a white tunic and brown pants with her hands raised, wearing a scared expression, "I-I'm Alaya. Alaya Adams. Please don't shoot me..."
---Present---Alaya's POV---
'This is bad!' I think as I try to make myself look as non-threatening as possible. After a few minutes of intense staring, the crossbow wielding woman lowers her weapon slightly.
"Why are you here?" she says threateningly, "I-I was just travelling down the road, bandits took all my stuff though I was lucky enough to have gotten away due to a spell I know..."
The crossbow user just clicks her tongue in annoyance, before the rogue looking guy stands up, "I think she's telling the truth... I heard that bandits have been stalking this road."
The woman looks at me for a second longer before lowering her weapon completely, "Fine..." She sits back down, placing her weapon down next to her.
I look at the unarmed person who just smiles, patting the ground next to him invitingly. I take the hint and walkover to him before sit down next to him.
Silence takes over the group, before the man with the plate armor decides to speak up, "So... Alaya, right?"
"Oh, uh yeah, that's my name." I confirm, "What brings you all the way out here?" I try and think up an explanation, "I was just exploring the area when I was attacked by bandits out of nowhere, my parents just let me go on my own, so my level is pretty low."
The crimson haired man speaks up next in an excited tone, "How old are you? And can I pet your ears?" The rogue looking person lightly hits him at the mention of the second question, "Don't be rude Rag."
The person now known as Rag scratches the back of his head in embarrassment, "Sorry! Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Whenever I see fluffy ears, Demi-human or not, I just want to pet them!"
The plate armored man just sighs and shakes his head before muttering to himself, "And sometimes that gets you into a lot of trouble..."
I open my mouth to talk, but soon close it as I don't know how old I am physically, "Your physical age is 18." I silently thank Riley and go to talk again, "I'm 18."
The crossbow wielder then comments, "So same as me then, if we're going by human years." The armored man then seems to realize something, "I never told you my name, did I? How rude of me. My name is Trevor, my class is guardian. I'm the leader of this group."
Trevor then gestures towards the shirtless man, "This is Rag, he's our brawler." Rag does a small wave at me before Trevor gestures towards the rogue looking person, "This is our resident rogue, Henry."
"And finally-" Trevor gets interrupted by the person he was introducing, "Fey. My name is Fey, I'm a hunter." she says, clearly annoyed, "If that's all, I'll be going to sleep. Good night." with that, she lays down and does what she said she would do.
"I guess it is getting pretty late." Trevor says with a yawn. I look over at Henry out of curiosity and see him sitting slouched over with his eyes closed, "Yeah, I usually don't question his sleeping habits." Rag says before laying down.
I look at Trevor who is looking at Rag, before looking at me, "Your welcome to stay with us for the night." I thank him for the offer and lay down on the ground, soon falling asleep.