“Dawn did not break gently. This was catastrophic.” - Anon
Alyx stood trembling on the edge of a jagged precipice, wind tearing through her clothes like they weren't there, her hair was being whipped in strands across her face in every possible direction. Below her, the valley roiled with mist that shimmered as though alive, coiling and uncoiling in unnatural rhythms. Alyx somehow knew that this was the state of her own mind, and she was at the heart of this Maelstrom, and that she had to calm it somehow. So she did the only thing she could think of; she started to meditate. Years of yoga training and mental conditioning with her mom reminded her that things were not always going to be in her control; how she deals with that external chaos will be totally in her control, the moment she realizes it.
She could feel it. With each calm breath she took in, the wind lessened by that much. When she started to hold her breath, the momentum transferred a minuscule bit of her power to a pool below, low in her belly. Her Dantian thrummed as a tuning fork struck too hard, and her bones ached from the resonance. It was intoxicating and terrifying, as if the mountain itself were pouring its raw soul into her veins. Then she controlled her exhale and continued the rotation of the energy.
Then came the ache. A shuddering pulse bloomed in her chest, a vibration that wasn’t hers alone. Her breath hitched. Across the valley, through the shifting curtains of mist, another figure resolved; it was her!
The shape was unmistakable; every line of body and tilt of chin mirrored. The air between them hummed with an invisible tether, fragile yet undeniable. When the whisper came, it slithered directly into her ear, intimate as a lover in the dark.
“Alyx…” Her name, drawn out like a caress.
The tether snapped with an audible twang like a cable stretched too tight. The world fractured. The figure vanished. Copper burned across her tongue, hot and metallic, and her chest hollowed with sudden loss. She woke choking on dry air.
The dawn’s false light lingered in her skull like an afterimage, the echoes of fractured dream still clinging to her chest. Alyx floated in darkness like a liminal state where memory, hallucination, and reality blurred. Then a sterile rectangle appeared, overlaying her vision with all the subtlety of a hammer.
Her body was wrong. Limbs didn’t answer. Her throat felt as if it were scraped raw. The surface beneath her was smooth and cold, clinical in a way that made her skin crawl. Her thoughts felt sluggish, and what she could think of was slowed somehow.
(What the fuck was that? A memory? A prophecy? Madness?)
Her heart pounded as she forced her eyes open. The world swam, blurred at the edges—except for one thing. A fuzz-edged rectangle of light hung suspended in her vision, hovering no matter how she moved her gaze.
Panic clawed up her throat. Glasses. Where are my glasses?
She tried to raise a hand, but her arms refused to obey. Terror spiked hard in her gut. The rectangle pulsed. Lines of text flickered across it, alien yet familiar, and vanished the instant she slammed her eyes shut.
Relief, but when she opened them again, the rectangular windows were still waiting. Patient. Watching.
Heat surged through her, unbidden, rolling up her spine in a wave that curled into a maddening itch behind her eyes. It felt like ants crawling under her skull, burrowing deep. She whimpered through clenched teeth—then, as suddenly as it began, the pressure collapsed.
She blinked, gasped, and froze. The blurry haze was gone. Her world had never been so sharp. Every freckle, every bead of moisture clinging to her lashes, every vein beneath her skin stood out in impossible clarity. The ever-present dark halo that encircled her vision was gone. She wasn’t looking through glasses. She was looking through something else.
The rectangle remained. Waiting.
Then a voice familiar yet just not, spoke in her mind. Soft. Feminine, hers, but not quite. Higher-pitched, like the version she sometimes hated hearing on recorded study notes. The intimate tone sent a flush prickling down her neck.
[Attention: the calibration is now commencing.]
The words slid across her mind like silk, leaving her gasping for air. Alyx’s chest rose in ragged pulls, but the voice in her head did not waver.
[Welcome to Kysmit—Your personal General Autonomous Integration Architecture (G.A.I.A.) has initialized. All minor health deficiencies have been corrected: hyperopia, early-stage glaucoma, and various superficial ailments and any other de-buffs have been removed. Hero Creation will commence. Please stand by.]
She jerked, blinking. The words weren’t heard so much as engraved directly into her mind. The floating rectangle pulsed once with each phrase, clinical in its rhythm.
“What the fuck…” she whispered, her lips dry.
[Calibration sequence: complete. Musculoskeletal synchronization: 80 percent. Cognitive load tolerance: pending.]
Another wave of that impossible clarity surged through her vision, and she realized her need for glasses was gone forever. Her eyes and her body had been changed.
[Musculoskeletal synchronization: Complete. Cognitive load tolerance: successful.]
The window disappeared, and she fell into a darkness thicker than any night. Her breath hitched. The voice returned with another window.
[System update complete. Initialization complete. Awaiting consolidation.]
Alyx’s heart hammered. Questions crowded her throat: “Where was I?”, “What the hell had just happened?”, and the most terrifying of all, “What had she become?” The darkness pressed against her skull until a new window snapped into her vision, its edges crackling with static. White text flooded the box.
[Condensing and distilling all recorded life... Complete.
Achievements: +100 Kysmit Points awarded.
Experiences: Basic, Primary, and Advanced education achieved: 500 XP awarded.]
A shock of pure ecstasy tore through her. It started low in intensity, a slow thrumming buzz in her pelvis, then the 'vibration' ramped up, gathering intensity. Warm, electric sparks skittered along muscle and nerve. Her limbs spasmed in a delicious way in what should have been pain, but was in fact ecstasy. Every fiber of her body hummed as if tuned to a single note. Breath stalled. Heart hammered. For one suspended, timeless beat, she felt disembodied and infinite, as if some invisible hands pluck the one perfect harmonious note that all of life vibrated at and played her like an instrument.
Her pulse and the sensation matched in rhythm. Then, as quickly as it rose, the wave ebbed into a steady flow, leaving her trembling, alive, and longing for more time.
A distant hollow plonk-plonk-plonk echoed in the void like mallets on a drum. Her pulse still rattled in her ears when the message blinked across the panel.
[Congratulations, you have evolved into a higher state of being. All decisions, benefits, and rewards will be held until after Hero Creation. To operate this interface, think with intent or speak out loud: “Close Window.”]
She had to laugh, a raw little sound, more like a gasp. (Whoa! Is that what it was like to level up? Wait, the window said I had evolved, it had felt a lot like the first time I had ever orgasmed.) A tingle crawled all the way up from her perineum to the crown of her head, warm and intimate, blossoming 7 more times, that she counted, making the connection to the approximate rough location where the chakras would be, including where she would have imagined her Dantian would be. (Thanks mom.) She thought, and gasped at the thought that this was the first time she thought of her parents since this whole thing happened. (What did she say about chakras and meditation?) Alyx asked herself.
Her voice trembled in guilt as she forced out, “Close the window.”
The rectangle flickered and died, only to be replaced by another. This one hovered like a sentinel, rimmed in burnished gold.
[Welcome, Forerunner. The General Autonomous Integration Architecture has scanned and parsed all of your known experiences. A tutorial has been configured. Actions during the tutorial will be analyzed for inclusion in species start characteristics. A modified Hero Sheet awaits input.]
Her stomach constricted. The gold frame pulsed, patient and indifferent.
[Select your basic race template to classify yourself and your local population for respawn. Choices during this reincarnation carry weight and may alter the race's cosmic caste standing. Note: Multiple species traces have been detected in this galactic sector. Most of the templates have been rejected due to your grade, and that of the requirement level is too low. The available racial templates have been modified for survival compatibility in low to barren planetary essence levels.]
Alyx breathed in shallow bursts as an avatar of herself manifested in front of her own eyes like a mirror, the avatar shifted lazily from neutrality pose to a relaxed one, breathing calmly, as if she (it) was bored or aloof pose and back again. As if it were alive and waiting for a decision to be made, looping endlessly between several different poses seemingly at random. Alyx stared at herself as if looking into a mirror until her scalp prickled when she realized that her avatar was naked. A small heat flushed her face until she thought (Now what), the box obeyed. The first race that was defaulted on display was human with words, with a basic description. Alyx saw a translucent arrow halfway down the window on the right-hand side and then noticed the left arrow as well.
[Description:
Humans: versatile and adaptable, humans are prolific and are common galactic denizens due to their adaptability. Humans are not innately attuned to a single essence but possess the potential use all essences. Humans do not have a default bias toward specific talents or abilities. Skin tones range broadly. Humans maintain balanced abilities and can excel in diverse roles.]
Alyx scrolled through all of the races that the system provided: Humans, Elves, Kin, Dwarfs, and even Orcs and Gnomes, including each of their half-races, which the system called “Half-bloods”. All manner of choices unfurled, but the subtext was clear: her decision wouldn’t just alter her; it would ripple outward into her “local area.”
Having spent some time thinking and mulling over her choices, Alyx thought she noticed the golden edges of the window seemed be judging her lack of decision make and nudged her towards making a choice she did not want to make.
(Okay, okay—just think, Alyx.) She tried to center herself. (Didn’t James once ramble about some books where the guy gets sucked into a game world?) What had he called it? Literary role-playing or something like that.
The idea snapped into place like a puzzle piece. (Holy shit. This… this is a role-playing game. But that doesn't help me right now... I have to pick a race; to choose my people.) Alyx thought to herself. The scale of it made her dizzy. The system waited, implacable.
She steadied herself, and the gold border rippled. A carousel of concise descriptions changed every time she swapped to the next race. Alyx noticed when a new race was presented that the presented avatar shifted slightly from its previous version, which looked like her, to the new race that she had selected. Each new race kept her most exotic features, though; her violet eyes, still over-sized and wider then normal, even though she was an adult, and her strawberry blond hair, another oddity that came from the genetic lottery of who her biological mother and father were. The race selection list continued, with each of the 6 primary races.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
[Elves: Agile and long-lived. High affinity with elemental and natural essences, suited to mystical and graceful archetypes.]
[Kin: Humanoid forms with pronounced animal traits. Examples: Reptile-kin, Feline-kin, Carni-kin. Unique cultural backgrounds and specialized abilities. Rarer 'Kin' variants are locked due to planetary essence levels. Examples of locked variants include Dragon-kin, Angel-kin, and Devil-kin. These possess exceptional innate traits and are currently unavailable. Raise the planetary essence density level and your own personal essence density level to unlock the full list of possible Kin variants.]
[Dwarf: Durable and resilient. Associated with mining and craftsmanship. Compact stature with great fortitude and strong cultural tradition.]
[Orc: Physically powerful, typically built for martial roles. Coloration varies from brown to green. Noted for resilience and combat aptitude.]
[Gnome: Curious and inventive. Small stature with pronounced aptitude for blending magic and technology.]
[Half-Bloods: Variant hybrid between the primary races. The Human race makes up about 90% of the 'other half'. There has been cases where the two haves do not have any human parentage. But some were, if they looked hard enough, they would find at least one human in their bloodline. Half-blood traits combine their human side's versatility with secondary-race affinities. Balances adaptability with specialized strengths.]
Curious about the race, she selected the Elves race, and a new pop-up window with more information appeared.
[Elves: Known for their agility, long life spans, and affinity with magic and nature, elves are a popular choice.
Classified by other races, Elves are a younger-looking race with supple, fairer skin tones. The most remarkable features are their prominent pointy ears and coloration ranging from a paler pallor, to a more rare duskier dark gray coloring, and even red tented gray.
Elves are not “elfs”. The word elf is seen as a derogatory bastardization when talking about the Elven people; generally, when talking about a singular individual, the custom is to use that individual’s name. Singling out a particular entity by calling them the “elf” or “elve” is also seen as insulting. It is better to use the group or plural denotation, “Elves,” or just use their full name. Using only an individual’s first or a shortened name is also rude unless there is familiarity with that particular individual.
Elves typically live longer than humans, up to 100+ years. Elves are racially attuned to the Elements of Earth and Nature; per level, they get the choice to place a level into one of those elements regardless of the actual cost.
Average Height is 5’5”+ 2d10” (165.1 +/- 20 cm)
Lifespan: 100 + D8 (+ Dantian rank) years
Per Level:
+1 to any one Ability (preferred: most used ability)
+1 to either attuned Element of Earth or Nature]
[Previous] / [Accept] / [Decline] / [Next]
Alyx read all of the Races' extra information but ultimately returned to the race she had the most experience with and focused her focus on Human. It was safe. It was familiar; the system had said her choice could classify local populations. The responsibility felt obscene. (Huh, it seems this is not really a choice after all.) Alyx exhaled and selected “Human” again. The Elven version of Alyx started to morph back into a human visage, watching all of the transformations were a weird type of fascination for her.
[Human: Versatile and adaptable. Considered the most common race due to their neutrality toward essence, skill, and talent. Humans excel in no singular domain, yet thrive in all.
Differences in skin color among individual humans are caused by variation in pigmentation in the broadest terms, which is the result of genetics (inherited from one’s biological parents), and exposure to the sun. Humans can and do live nearly anywhere, but generally prefer temperate climates.
Note: able to have mixed races offspring; like half-elves, half-orcs, and even the Kin have traces of human DNA. Humans are prolific.
Average Height: 5’ + 2d10 inches. Lifespan: 70 + 1d6 (+ Dantian rank modifier) years.
Per Level: +(Hero Level) Kysmit Points.]
[Previous] / [Accept] / [Decline] / [Next]
Alyx pressed the “accept” on the race of Human.
The window didn’t close, Alyx’s avatar model zoomed closer, still naked, rotating under cool light. Alyx noticed a small check box was unchecked below her avatar, labeled 'Show Clothing' that was slightly lighter text than the background behind it, so she could barely see it. She scoffed (of course, a male must have programmed this). Alyx selected to “show clothes” suddenly rugged bandages crisscrossed over her breasts, and an all too revealing loincloth appeared on her likeness as well. With a mental head shake, (definitely a male.) She left the clothing on.
Alyx found that she could cosmetically tweak her appearance with a thought of intent. When she thought about a change, the model highlighted that area in a soft glow. Alyx found herself staring at her own breasts for a moment longer than she would have allowed anyone else, and for a second, thought about resizing them. Ridiculous, but tempting. She smoothed her nose slightly, brought in her waist 'just a touch', adjusted weight distribution, and, for good measure, played around with her breasts, giving them a touch more perk whilst strengthening her areolas. Alyx thought that if she were to walk through the world, which was shaped by a choice, maybe she could at least choose the body she would 'bring-it', especially if she’d be rubbing shoulders with literal goddesses like Jordyn and Breyanna.
Alyx made small adjustments, less out of vanity than about control; slimmer hips, a firmer chest, a balance that felt more like her than the body she had been born into. After each change, the system prompted, and when she was ready, Alyx selected “Accept."
[Confirm changes: Accept / Decline]
Avatar-Alyx checked itself out by lifting a hand to look at it and then looking down at its feet. It held its own breasts and moved them down the body to the waist; to a natural pose, arms hanging at the sides. Alyx's view slowly shifted and spun around to the back of the model as her view faded to black as she got closer to the model. Alyx felt that full body tingling sensation; thanks to her anatomy class earlier this year, she randomly remember was piloerection, which caused her shifted to the side, the full body tickle made her eyes open, and the feeling she now could quantify as an out-of-body experience. A new window opened up labeled Hero Sheet.
Alyx's thoughts spun as she thought about something the system had said. It mentioned the word; reincarnation, among other words like: essence, dantian, and forerunner. The words tumbled through her like a bad joke she could not stop hearing. But 'reincarnation' stayed most prominent... (Did I die? Is everyone else dead? Alyx didn't know how long she and spun out on this concept, but her attention eventually returned to the only thing she could see, the window in front of her. The name spot sat at the top, pre-filled with 'mihi nomen est' dimly. Alyx figured it was something to do with her chosen name because 'nomen' was latin for name.
[Please confirm - input required: Full Name. Speak or think to confirm.]
Her voice felt raw and foreign in her own ears.“Alyx Vayne,” she said, voice hoarse. The letters crystallized on-screen.
[Notice: The Sir name will be permanent for all the iterations and your progeny.]
[Name confirmed. Continuing? Yes / No]
She chose 'yes'.
A different type of window opened with the title of Hero Sheet, as she looked at the window she noticed there was still the moving picture of herself, with the modesty filter still on. (Not much modesty there, guys.) The open tab labeled 'Info', Her name was there with along with all the other vital information which listed her race, background, age, gender, along with her current level, number of 'Current KP' from what she remembered from a previous window that must be short for 'Kysmit Points' and 'Current XP' which must correspond to 'Experience points'. Underneath the screen, listed off twelve different attributes that make up the four different stats. Below, both the representation of herself and the information, Alyx saw the Heading 'Traits' with Cultivation already there, and next to that block, she noticed “Abilities and Traits”. Her gaze snagged on the Cultivation trait again and read the explanation with a mix of dread and secret relief.
[Cultivation: Grants the ability to sense and refine planetary essence from the natural elemental madras into a higher, more refined level of essence called 'Mana', which can be used to power the Mind, Body, and Spirit. Cultivation also unlocks progression in essence-affiliated techniques and meridian formation. Given enough Mana, the soul may choose to reincarnate.]
Alyx's chest tightened; There it was, in black and white, the soul can reincarnate. But with everything else going on, Alyx's subconscious took that newly discovered nugget of truth and stowed it away to unpack at a later date, right now though, she had other problems to wrestle with. (Dantian and Meridians I have heard of. But Mana, Madras?) She had felt the pull of something under her ribs in that vision. (Maybe that ache had a name, was that Mana?) Her mind whirled as she fought, trying to keep herself close to who she was, a stubborn, adaptable human but sharper around the edges.
The next tab said 'Inventory' and had the same live action reflection of herself, and right next to the 'avatar' was a series of parallel boxes; what could only be a 'load-out' style indication, which would show at a glance what she was wearing for equipment for armor and weapons or 'equipped' items but the rest of the area was empty except for the words embossed in the center that said 'locked'.
Alyx skimmed along with the explanations. The flavor was all too familiar, like those tabletop games and character sheets she used to roll “math rocks” with her friends. (Crypts and Wyrms or that system that felt like that movie 'Blade Runner' but with magic.) She reminisced.
The interface was efficient, unblinking, and relentless in its neutrality. A second window explained mechanics with the same dry economy of words, and yet another window asked her to distribute something called 'Kysmit Points'. The confirmation button was faintly grayed out, inactive. Below it, an 'edit' button glowed.
She moved through the options with deliberate intent. Small, careful shifts, she increased Athletics and nudge Perception. The choices felt less like game mechanics and more like vows or future promises that Alyx didn't really understand. She was able to get the gist of it and parse: attributes fed into stats, broad skills branched into specialties, and 'everything' cost something. Alyx figured that backgrounds acted like classes, but not really, as in none of them really had any class restriction.
This all felt like a dream, a neat little ecosystem where her whole existence could be slotted, priced, and tallied.
She chose the 'Monk' background from the available list as it focused on athletics and discipline, a grounding force that felt right, and the most in line with what her parents had tried to instill in her.
Alyx moved on to the Traits selection; most looked cosmetic or costly, but “Cultivator” was free, embedded deep in her bones like a birthright. A word came to her again; (Dantian, why does that word seem some familiar to me?)
Remembering about the inventory and how it was 'locked', got Alyx thinking about one ability she had seen, but didn't think of it until now, the ability was call soul storage. She had read it, but dismissed it as there was a Dantian level requirement. But now that she knew there was an inventory system, she wondered if there was a bag of holding situation going on, or an extra-dimensional pocket, and if 'Soul Storage' was a place she could keep something secret and safe, it would be something to think about.
Finally, she skimmed the 'Skills' tab. The logic fell into place: broad skills unlocked specifics. Acrobatics led to Running, Jumping, and Tumbling. It seemed cheap now right now, but could be exponentially more later.
The system rewarded specialization while encouraging a wide-based skill mentality. As she scrolled, she was reminded of that Jack and Master quote. As Alyx remembered the quote, ("A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one."). It wasn't until about mid-winter quarter this year that Alyx learned it is actually an amalgamation, and no one writer truly wrote the whole thing. The first part came a century before the rest of it.
When she finished, the sheet tallied itself: Alyx came to realize the way her life had been parceled into numbers.
[Current Hero Overview - ]
Name: Alyx Vayne
Race: Human - Level 1
Background: Monk
Reputation: 0 / Fame: 0
Kysmit Points: 19/140 [440] (300 kp reserved after hero creation )
Experience: 0 xp [500] (500 xp consolidated after hero creation)
Hero Focus Pool: 10
[Stats and Attributes]
Physical: 3 {Athletics 3(4); Body 3; Strength 3} Background: +1 Athletics
Mental: 2 {Instinct 2; Perception 3; Wits 3}
Social: 3 {Arbitration 3; Rebuttal 3; Mettle 3}
Ethereal: 2 {Conviction 2; Focus 3; Quintessence 3}
[Vital Bar]
Health: 9
Panache: 9
Sanity: 6
Mana: 6
- Regeneration Rate of ( +/- 3 per Minute)
[Traits]
Cultivation - Granted by Title: Hero
Dantian Rank: F1 (DV1= [D2 action modifier])
Meridian Formation – Mana channels established
Natural Armor [physical]: (+1) (given by the Cultivator Trait)
[Talents:]
Undetermined- pending verification
[Abilities:]
Undetermined- pending verification
[Skills:] - pending verification
Physical: Skills
Acrobatics: 2
Combat Defense: 3
Constitution: 1
Stealth: 1
Survival: 2
Mental: Skills - 6
Observation: 1
Education: 1
Language Common (Read/Write): 1
Language Common (Spoken): 1
Medicine: 1
Observation: 1
Social Skills: - 9
Deception: 1
Deliberation: 1
Discover Information: 1
Gaming: 1
Intimidation: 2
Leadership: 2
Politics: 1
Ethereal Skills: - 2
Cultivation:1
Domain: 1
Weapon Skills: - 20
Dual-Wielding: 3
One Handed: 3
Pole Weapon: 2
Two Handed: 2
Thrown: 1
Archery: 1
