Apotheosis of the Life

Apotheosis of the Life

Hidden: Evolved Mastery Details

• Apotheosis - Form a pact with a named and intelligent spirit from a different plane of existence and let it possess a part of the user's body, empowering the user in that magic. The higher the mastery, the more of the user's body it can possess. However, it must be controlled or it will go on a rampage and cause destruction to friends and foes. The being will often converse with the user telepathically as well. When a person enters the Avatar form, they take on physical transformation that simulates that magic.
  Evolved Name: Avatar of Light, Darkness, Illusion, Celestial, Nature, Harmony.
  Prerequisite: Adept in 1 Non-evocation magic.

There was little Alpha feared other than gigantic spiders and, unfortunately, the idea of mortality. Despite her frequents words to the otherwise ("When I get my growth spurts then I'd be as big as you; or bigger even!") she feared the idea of changing and becoming someone else. She was terrified of decaying and dying slowly or quickly. She was frightened of age and the differences that come with it. The idea of being nimble and tiny forever, careless in her own world of games and fun, was something which highly appealed to her. Terrasphere had been something like a conduit for that. A way for her to be a kid forever. A way so that she didn't have to grow up and teach her face how to have sorrowful eyes and stressed-out wrinkles from hardship. She had wanted to be young forever and, like Midas' Touch, it had proved to have its own consequences.

No matter how much she tried to remind herself that it was a game, the feelings that shone in the eyes of the beasts and people around her weren't so easily dismissed. Everything was so real to her here and she couldn't differentiate from the fictional and from reality. Thus, here she was in the middle of Adecus Forest, confused and afraid with her clothes still blood-stained from the dire wolf parents she had just brutally murdered. She didn't even know if her feelings were real or just constructed from the game's definition of 'animal empathy' associated with her chosen profession. Terry leaned in, giving her a tentative lick. She pushed his muzzle away to wallow in self-pity and befuddlement for a while longer. The rest had long since given up and had continued playing games with tails, feathers, and paws.

From the corner of her tear-filled eyes, she could see strange wisps of bright yellow and green lights flickering and floating through the bushes. She pushed down her innate curiosity. It had caused many problems for her and others in the past. Maybe a bit of self-reconstruction should be in the works. Right now, however, she was too frail emotionally to even try. She curled up into her ball a little tighter. She ignored them as the lights continued to edge closer and closer, Terry lying asleep on her foot. Then, she heard a voice.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Alpha nearly jumped, looking around left and right frantically to find the source of the noise. The way it had echoed in her mind made it seem like the sound originated from everywhere in the forest, each tree and leaf resounded with the same syllables. She listened closely, hoping to get a hint of the voice once again to locate its speaker.

"Can you hear me?"

Alpha's eyes widened as she looked at the yellow and green dots of light floating around her and, scared stiff, she gave a slow nod. She had never encountered an enemy or an ally which could not be seen or, well, tangible if her theory was right. "I can," she drew out every syllable she could. "Uh, are you, uh, the green and yellow light things?" she hesitantly asked. And then she could feel the palpable surprise around her. It had been unexpected and Alpha did not understand but she could empathize and feel whatever this mysterious creature or being had been feeling.

Just before the light could respond, however, she heard a rustle in the bushes ahead. She drew her dagger, startling Terry awake, as she squinted her eyes in hopes that she could distinguish a figure from the backdrop. It had failed and, with that, she had been left unaware as to what or whom had intruded on her moping time. Corn, the hedgehog, ceased his playing and the others followed suite, sniffing the air.​

 

Roland's neck cracked as he rolled it around his shoulders. It was amazing how realistic this game was at times, but that wasn't always for the best. The ferocity of his last several encounters had left him knitted with pain, and though his body's healing was greatly expedited in this world, the lingering reminder of it still haunted him. He was feeling rather melancholy about the situation when he had decided to traipse through the underbrush of the Acedus Forest. The monsters here were above starting level and were still worth defeating. However, most were easily defeated by a character at Roland's level and those that weren't, were as easily avoided.

The lack of danger allowed Roland to let Ginny free. It was rare that Roland let his Cloud Snakling roam around as it pleased. Usually, he left it confined in his inventory. He liked the little mini dragon, but it just always seemed too risky to have him floating around. It was small enough to be prey for just about any predatory animal and wasn't really quick enough to get away from anything. Roland feared other player characters even more, however, as the snakling seemed exceedingly rare. The creature was clearly not soul bound to him, and there were likely hidden mechanics to steal them. Still, in the heart of the forest, he didn't think any of those dangers were great enough of a possibility to prevent his friend from roaming free.

Ginny fluttered along in the air, buzzing back and forth above Roland's head like some kind of reptilian dragonfly. Roland clicked his tongue commanding it to land on his shoulder; the pet complied reluctantly. It was nice he could teach her a few tricks, but Roland always wished there was a bit more utility with pets in general. He supposed it was a way of balancing the in game mechanic, however. Even if it was a purely cosmetic effect, he enjoyed the little bugger's company from time to time.

Speaking of little buggers, as Roland was lost in thought he heard a voice call out. "That sounds like that kid..." Roland muttered before breaking away from his previous direction heading deeper into the foliage. The voice had stopped, but he could tell the general direction in which it came from. It had sounded like that girl he had seen on occasion; he was surprised to hear she was still playing. This game was intense; it really wasn't a place for little girls like Alpha, and Magi. Seeing them here, or worse in battle always made his chest tight. Roland pushed a bush out of his way as he approached the girl's location, her knife was drawn, and she was surrounded by her wide variety of critters. "Woah now," Roland said holding up a hand in defense, "Didn't mean to startle you, I just thought I heard your voice out here in the woods."

He looked at Alphabet, she seemed a mixture of confused and surprised by his arrival, which was normal, but her usual child like energy seemed to be deflated, what exactly was he interrupting here. "Uhhh.." Roland said awkwardly trying to think of something to say, he never was the best with kids, "What'cha doing all the way out here?" his eyes glanced at Corn, "Looking for another pet?" He flashed her a smile, "Need some help?"

 

Alpha tilted her head, pointing at the man with her very sharp weapon. She waved it around curiously, eyebrows furrowed as if she were trying to remember something. "Wait," she placed a thumb at the bottom of her chin, eyes enraptured by the blued skies as she concentrated on a few memories and blurred faces in her mind. After a while of grasping at strings with no answers, she pouted and turned back to face the purple-haired intruder with a question daring to be asked on her lips. "Don't I know you from somewhere?" she wondered. She was certain that she'd seen his face somewhere before, probably more than a few times, but she couldn't quite place it. Terry pawed her foot and she snapped out of her thoughts, shaking her head and giving the man a light shrug of the shoulders. "Oh well, name's Alpha! And you're....Robert? Ronnie? Rockefeller? Roscoe? You definitely look like a Rodolfo to me cause you have the pudgy red nose!" she laughed.

This time, instead of Terry pawing her, it was Luna thumping her foot on the ground impatiently, trying to catch her attention. As she noticed the rabbit's irritation, she waved off Roland with her pointer finger up, the universal sign of 'wait'. "What's it it, Luna?" she interrogated the bunny, grabbing the hanbok-garbed rabbit by the ears with exaggerated movements, done in trust and familiarity. The bunny merely crossed her arms as she was lifted into the air, an annoyed expression passing on her face forcing Alpha to let her down before bursting into a fit of giggles. It was almost as if the sudden intrusion of the strange man had wiped Alpha clean of all memories of her previous despair until the rabbit began thumping its feet again, Alpha's face slowly morphing into dread and understanding. She looked at the green and yellow lights that flickered around her. "This is Rudolf," she spoke to the bundle of light, attempting to cup it into her curled palms. Unfortunately, she forgot light was tangible and it disintegrated upon touch, fraying and flying away into tinier pieces before reforming together once again, lingering just out of her reach. She smiled yet her eyes remained the same.

She beckoned Roland to come closer. "I'm not looking for a pet or help or anything," she explained, slouching over the log she was sitting on. "I think I made a new friend, though. I don't know their name yet but it'll be nice to make two friends at once, right? You and them."

And then, before she could continue, the gentle voice spoke up yet again, echoing throughout the forestry around them. "Hello there," it whispered yet its voice was crisp and clear. "It is nice to meet you."

@Roland Rutledge

 

Roland bowed his head slightly as he sighed. It seemed she didn't remember him, or rather that well at least. He supposed it made sense, the kid always seemed like she was in a world of her own at times, and honestly, it wasn't like Roland had ever done anything spectacular while around her. After careful consideration, he thought she might have been the little girl he had first met in the beginner's dungeon, but the encounter was so brief he barely remembered it himself. Then there was the odd frog quest that he tried his best to forget, the entire thing being a blur. Now that he thought about it, he likely had never spent any time with Alphabet beyond what time they spent with guild mates.

Roland nodded as Alpha decided his name was Rudolf, not bothering correcting her as he watched the girl interact with one of her pets. Much like his Snakling, the hare didn't seem to have any abilities beyond being there, unlike the rest of the girl's pets. Yet it still seemed to be held as highly in regard as the rest. The idea was odd, the other pets, namely the dingo likely held far more utility than the rest, why bother with a cosmetic one. Then again, why bother with a skill that allowed you to be a traveling circus? It wasn't something that Roland could really understand.

The girl's laugh kicked him out of his thoughts before the mirth slowly faded from her face. Were his instincts right? Could it be the game was merely too intense for children her age? Or was it something else, something far less major? Jinn really didn't know kids well enough to judge, well he likely didn't know people enough to judge them in general. Either way, whatever was causing her to act this way, didn't seem to be due to his interactions. Alpha beckoned him closer to herself, and slowly Roland moved forward afraid to spook the girl, only to be spooked a voice spoke up, "What-" Roland said confused spinning looking for where the voice was coming from, "What was that?"


(Sorry for the delayed/poor reply I have a bit of IRL things that have popped up)
@Alphabet Chocolate

 

Alpha herself was wondering the same before she paused, suddenly still as a newly-built stone colossus. Eventually, though, it seemed that the passage of time (over a period of a few seconds) weathered the rocky foundation and she found herself regaining the marvelous ability to breathe and relax her shoulders. She had felt a chill run through her spine; there was no doubt about that. Still, though, she took a curious peek at Roland to see if he had felt the same thing. "Rudolf—" was all she got out before a spectacular miracle happened before her eyes. It seemed that the yellow and green flickering lights had blended naturally into each other, all coalescing around her open, clammy palms. As it grew brighter and stronger, she felt it gain a physical presence and she slowly felt the warmth radiating off the peculiar abnormality. Without thinking, she closed her hands and crushed the growing ray of energy between her two hands with a tight grip. She clenched and her knuckles grew white and a red flush bloomed on her pudgy fingers before releasing and, mysteriously, had found nothing in her grasp.

"What?" she muttered under her breath. And then she heard the voice speak to her once again. Except, instead of being an echoing melody which encapsulated the forest, it seemed to resonate inside every crevice of her mind. Needless to say, she was freaked out and slipped from the perch on the fallen tree trunk and landed on her back, eyes wide and fingernails scratching at her head. "Did you hear that?!" she gave a quick, wild glance at Roland before returning to focus at the voice inside her head. She was either going crazy or maybe she's getting possessed or something like that. She heard it speak again and, unlike the time before, she had managed to recollect herself somewhat (just enough to make out the syllables and differentiate all the lifting sounds with actual words and meanings). "This is the essence of nature. Use it well," the voice warned yet again before she felt the presence retreat from her mind. Her head was empty with the only company being her own private thoughts and she settled down, staring at Roland. She ignored the beep of the user interface notifying her of something and instead focused on her guild-mate. "Uh, that wasn't just in my head, right? I have no idea what that thing was but that was freaky and, uh, do you happen to know anything?"

She was confused. Everything happened so fast and the entire debacle was clouded in befuddlement and questions. She supposed idle talk would help calm her nerves down a little, though, so she stretched her legs from her earthen seat of dirt and regarded the man with close attention. "So, uh...what now?" she awkwardly asked. She mentally berated herself for the frequent pauses and 'uh's in her speech.

@Roland Rutledge

 

@Roland Rutledge