Welp. I guess it’s safe to say Nyx’s workshop is absolutely, completely, not remotely intact after all. Erebus really didn’t leave anything at all, did she?
(Well…) my Assistant trails off.
Well what?
(I have an idea. Pick up these fabric scraps and channel them some mana. If you really do have the same mana signature as me, and they’re really not completely destroyed, something might happen.)
I can’t help but think this is goi...
2023-12-30 01:35:27 +0000 UTC
View Post
After I’ve given Pyrias long enough to really take in my ashy dusty cloudy majesty, I reuse the Skill and restore my physical form, ahem, fully clothed.
(Yeah, I told you so,) Nyx says.
She’d previously made me spend travel time practicing moving clothes from my dimensional storage directly onto my body and vice versa to prevent more reactions like Nerin had. Also, to prevent her own embarrassment since I have a clone of her body, more or le...
2023-12-30 01:35:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
I’m… just going to ignore the nonsense for now and assume this is something, uh, maybe Erebus did?
(Let’s just go with that,) Nyx sighs and points at one of the teleporter pads. (You want that one. Gramr.)
I step onto the platform she indicated, and feel myself dissipate again.
Shortly after, I reform in a similar, but very different station. An attendant… Is this one a ‘he’ too?
(Nope. That one’s definitely a ‘she’,) my Assistant corrects me.
S...
2023-12-30 01:34:30 +0000 UTC
View Post
[Status]
[Name: Nemesis]
[Race: Dust Elemental (Infant, Spirit, Ephemeral)]
[SYSTEM: TYPE E – Level 11 – XP 1420/12000]
[Inherent Skills:]
[Consume 12]
[Mimic Lure 8]
[Planar Detachment 7]
[The Ravages of ...
2023-12-30 01:33:55 +0000 UTC
View Post
Huh? Whaddayamean I can’t farm ghost traps anymore!? I can’t even get in one!
(It’s in the name,) replies Nyx.
Wait... it’s race-specific?
(That’s exactly what I’m saying.)
Wonderful. Well, I guess I don’t have a reason to hang around this settlement anymore.
(None at all?)
Noooope. They’re all terrified of me anyway. Time to leave.
I ignore my Assistant’s sigh, head to the entrance, and follow on toward the Mains District agai...
2023-12-30 01:32:26 +0000 UTC
View Post
The trip back to the underground – wait, is this the ground? Under surface? Below surface? Whatever, anyway, it’s uneventful. I didn’t even run into my pets along the way, I’m sure they’ve wandered off and will be easy enough to find if I need them again.
(Either that or they’ve run for the hills, and I wouldn’t blame them,) Nyx interjects.
Well, sure, but I have a hunch we’ll see them again.
I dart around the entryway ward again ...
2023-12-30 01:31:54 +0000 UTC
View Post
After securing my unconscious cargo in a proper location (ok, so I dumped them in a nearby alley, I’m sure they’re fine), I let myself in the front door. It’s convenient having a safe house, isn’t it?
(Less talk, more feeding Philip,) my impatient Assistant answers.
Well, fine. Good news, he didn’t get out or anything, considering I can hear him hissing from here. But yeah, I get it.
I dump some kibble from the now-scratched-up bag in Sir Hi...
2023-12-30 01:31:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
I’ve been sifting through my surprisingly normal Class options for some time when Nyx interrupts my fun.
(Philip has been waiting long enough, we need to go back.)
So you can dote on him?
(Be fair. You get hungry too. He’s probably running out of food by now. Nobody else is coming home for him.)
Whose fault is that?
(Yours.)
Ok, yeah. Can’t really deny that one, I sigh. Can I just –
(Taking a Class can write a large amount of data to you...
2023-12-30 01:29:41 +0000 UTC
View Post
Most of the decisions I’ve faced in this life, or, unlife? Undeath? Whatever. They’ve been fairly straightforward. Eat the human, or be hungry? Break the barrier, or be trapped? Feed the cat, or… well, or Nyx will keep bothering me until I do. Yeah, that’s probably how it’d go.
(You’re hells-damned right,) my Assistant confirms.
Yes. Anyway, on to decisions, and making important ones! I can’t wait to see what Class options I-
(Do your Ev...
2023-12-30 01:29:09 +0000 UTC
View Post
This guy really can talk, can’t he? Does he have like, a special evolution where he doesn’t have to breathe?
(He’s probably another Spirit type,) my Assistant offers.
“-And the twenty-seventh most recent recorded case of a sentient item, that being the radiant blade Netherbane, said to have been wielded by the Sword Saint Elsworth himself no less! And yet that one was also bestowed upon him by one of the pantheon, meaning approximately 83% of known ...
2023-12-30 01:28:28 +0000 UTC
View Post
I’ll admit it, I’m bored. We’ve been walking for four days and we haven’t found a single thing for me to eat. My companions of the green persuasion haven’t exactly been good conversation partners either, so I’ve had to make my own entertainment. Granted, considering the entire journey so far has been uniform buildings…
(If we’re where I think we are, this plane is almost entirely residential housing to begin with,) informs Nyx.
Wait,...
2023-12-30 01:27:53 +0000 UTC
View Post
I must be doing something right, because after a week and a half of routinely ‘cleaning’ the settlement’s ghost traps, Nerin appears to have finally accepted my presence. If nothing else, they’re not constantly radiating fear when I’m present – or, not at as much anyway. In the process I’ve managed to reach level 8, though I wasn’t offered any Class options at level 5, much to Nyx’s entertainment. I’m sure they would have been weak and &...
2023-12-30 01:27:13 +0000 UTC
View Post
It occurs to me as I pull myself out from the most recent of seventeen separate ghost traps that if I actually did have a mortal body, I’d be exceedingly tired by now. For all its drawbacks, being a spirit can be pretty convenient. I’m not really sure what to do next though, since my circuit around the settlement has taken me right back to the first trap I cleared.
(You could check your messages,) Nyx mutters, and she’s right.
[Manaphage...
2023-12-30 01:26:18 +0000 UTC
View Post
After weathering Nyx’s flaming tirade about openly declaring to an unknown and probably untrustworthy party that I’m going to be vulnerable for some period of time, I take her advice and wave goodbye to Nerin for the time being to return topside. I am absolutely convinced that it isn’t related to her desire to see the cat again.
(I heard that!)
Yes, I’m sure you did. I... wait, what happened to the portal key?
Nyx sighs. (You dropped it ...
2023-12-30 01:24:39 +0000 UTC
View Post
The round vegetables the shopkeeper had been holding hit the ground, making a soft thud. Deciding to freeze, are you? Some predators might be fooled, but I’m not ‘some predators’.
Yes, you.
“W-who… what do you want?” they reply, while slowly beginning to turn toward me.
Just saying hello. Also, please don’t scream.
Which, gets me nowhere when they finally see my hazy cloud self and scream while throwing everything...
2023-12-30 01:22:49 +0000 UTC
View Post
After what must have been another solid hour of Nyx attempting to dote on the Philip (despite she herself stating that she’s intangible), my patience finally runs out. Sure doesn’t help that I’m starting to feel a strange ache, and I can’t quite figure out what or where exactly is aching.
(You’re hungry.)
Oh, is this the mana thirst thing again?
(Yep.)
So what you’re saying is I need to hunt.
(Yep.)
Alright. Well...
2023-12-30 01:21:55 +0000 UTC
View Post
I reform. Teleportation never really feels better, but I’m at least getting used to what I can only describe as being torn apart and pieced back together. Meanwhile, all around me is darkness. Did the teleporter malf-
(You’re in a dark room.)
Oh.
(Yeah, ‘oh’. Maybe look for a door instead of standing here like an idiot?)
Doesn’t seem like Nyx is getting less hostile any time soon, but she’s not wrong. I manifest a feeler and...
2023-12-30 01:21:09 +0000 UTC
View Post
[Status]
[Name: Nemesis]
[Race: Manaphage (Spirit, Ephemeral)]
[SYSTEM: TYPE E – Level 0 – XP 620/1000]
[Inherent Skills:]
[Charm 0]
[Consume 1]
[Mimic Lure 0]
[Partial Phase 0]
&nbs...
2023-12-30 01:20:15 +0000 UTC
View Post
Walls of gray bricks surround me when my senses return, a stark contrast from the sterile white and runic steel of the facility that served as my prison for hells know how long. Beneath me stands a similar platform to the one that brought me here. I’m no more sure of where I am now than I was before, but I suppose that’s a given at this point.
(Obviously,) Nyx mutters, entering the edge of my perception. (First time teleporting’s always a doozy....
2023-12-30 01:18:53 +0000 UTC
View Post
Just when I think these hallways are never going to end, I find a far more secured door than the others. At least I assume it’s more secure, given all the runes washing across it like a barrier.
(Yup, barrier,) Nyx confirms.
Well, what now? I’ve been traveling dematerialized since it’s so much faster than putting one foot in front of the other, so I experimentally manifest an appendage. And then, I touch the barrier. I’d expected somethi...
2023-12-30 01:18:02 +0000 UTC
View Post
(Short answer? No, not even close!) Nyx replies nonchalantly. She seems to pick up on my mental brow furrowing though. (I mean come on, the only reason you even have arms or legs right now is because what’s left of your mind is so used to having a human body that you’re subconsciously manifesting one.)
I can’t say I entirely follow. Manifesting a body, I’d have thought that would expend some kind of energy, or focus, or something?
She si...
2023-12-30 01:17:22 +0000 UTC
View Post
Gradually, I come to. My head is splitting, but hopefully whatever is happening is done.
(For now, sure. First bit is the worst, but ascension is pretty well pain in general, I’d start getting used to it.)
She’s sitting on the edge of the table, kicking her feet in the air and looking generally bored.
The table I’m still strapped to.
(Don’t get any bright ideas, I’m not tangible. Arguably I’m not even here, not even real anymore. Not since she w...
2023-12-30 01:16:26 +0000 UTC
View Post
Darkness. My awareness offers nothing but flashes of motion, color. And the all-encompassing numbness, filling my thoughts, my mind. For a split second, I see a splash of something… red? And then it hits… the hunger.
“You wanted this.”
Honeyed words, in a voice even richer.
“Begged for this.”
Begged for what?
Laughter, and a feeling of deep satisfaction, near orgasmic satisfaction, overwhelms my psyche, and the eyes...
2023-12-30 01:14:23 +0000 UTC
View Post
I just linked this to my RoyalRoad since I'm writing a fic there now (For the Record). Once I have enough of a buffer built up for it to make any kind of sense I might add another tier on here for folks to get advance chapters, we'll see.
2023-10-12 03:33:38 +0000 UTC
View Post
