//------------------------------// // Transcendence: A Whole New World // Story: Transcendence // by Tenebris Lucifer //------------------------------//  I found myself in the middle of nowhere, cracked brown earth laid beneath my feet, gnarled and twisted trees scattered around, with yellowed grass sparsely dotting the barren landscape. With a quick look around and a shrug I chose a direction and started making my way that way. As I slowly made my way through the desolate desert a notification popped up on my interface and after opening up, I was bombarded by alerts and notifications. System alert! The user has chosen the difficulty Very Hard difficulty The users home planet is Equus The user shall return to their home planet after cooperative mission are completed System Alert! The user has contracted with The One Who Waits The innate skill Unbreakable Will is available for purchase System Alert! The users Patron The One Who Waits has gifted the player the following The innate skill “Unbreakable Will” A legend grade innate skill slot The Legend grade weapon “Reaper's Blade” The Legend grade Book of death magic Note System Alert! The players patron Thoth has given the user the following skills Rage Indolence Jealousy Ego Avarice Desire Starvation System Alert! The skill Hunger has advanced into the skill Starvation! System Alert! The user has gained one of each sin skill, the achievement Sinner Man has been unlocked Achievement(s): Sinner man: you are the first to gain all sin related skills! All sin related skills will receive an additional permanent 100% boost in their effects! An avalanche of pain overtook my body as I felt my entire body structure shift, bones breaking and snapping into place, tendons twisting and pulling, blood and pus oozed from every pore and gash in and on my body. I forced myself to stay awake throughout the entire ordeal. Soon I felt everything within my body settle as I finally collapsed into a heap. After lying there for what felt like hours I gathered the strength to pick myself back up, I checked the interface one last time to assign my new innate talent to the legend slot  New Innate skill Unbreakable will Transcendent: ??? Legend: the skill Absolute Focus gained Hero: Cannot be melded unwillingly Soldier: Mind alternating effects have no effect Civilian:  Every 10% of health lost increases damage by 10% Skill gained Absolute focus Focus brings enlightenment When maintaining a spell, it will stay active until the user willingly dispels it ‘Well that's broken’ I briefly thought to myself, ‘But useful.’ After picking up the Reaper's blade I began to follow the now setting sun in hopes of finding some form of civilization though I knew that I was unlikely to come across one in these wastes. Days passed by with neither food nor water in sight forcing me to rely upon the create water and good berry spells. When I finally saw a town in the distance energy coursed through my body, however the closer I got the less energetic I became, as what laid before me was no longer a town but the still smoldering remains of one corpses of various horses as well as what looked like unicorns and pegasi, it was disappointing considering I was looking forward to a nice warm bed, at least there's plenty of food around here. However, I did find it mildly strange that the bandits left their pack animals behind to die, but beggars can't be choosers. After skinning a couple of the strangely colored horses and cooking their surprisingly succulent flesh I went about scavenging the ruins of the various houses for anything of potential worth. As I went about my scavenging I found more and more corpses of horses, some of which were even wearing some sort of clothes, though it only donned upon me when I found a baby swaddled in a blanket still held in their mother's grasp. Horror coursed throughout my body as I realized that these animals were sapient. However despite my horror I could still taste the lingering sweetness of their flesh on the tip of my tongue, I was stuck in a dilemma should I continue with my macabre feast or should I start using the good berry spell to sustain myself instead, I sat down and thought about it for a good long time various reasons as to why I shouldn't popped into my mind however there were two simple reasons that shot every other reason down first and foremost they are delicious plain and simple and secondly they weren't human. I felt with a great amount of certainty that they were sapient in some way but why should I care? I wasn't here for pleasure; I was here to get stronger and if I needed to eat these horses then so be it. System Alert! The user has unlocked the achievement heartless due to actively choosing to continue consuming the flesh of another sapient No karma will be awarded  All gluttony skills will gain 5 levels if none are present then the user will automatically gain one The user is partially melded with a windigo melding shall increase by another 20 percent  System Alert! The user melding with [Wendigo] has surpassed 50% causing the following to occur (effects adjusted due to innate skill unbreakable will) All gluttony related skills gain 5 levels The active skill voice mimicry (level max) is gained The passive skill disturbing presence (level max) is gained Your biology has further shifted Voice mimicry lvl max (active skill) Never follow the voices, unless of course you are the voice After listening to another speak you can mimic their voice, the longer you listen to them the more accurate the voice is. Disturbing presence lvl max (passive skill) Every being possesses a fear response, few are able to exploit this you are one of these few Those near you naturally feel perturbed and will naturally want to leave your presence, however some may instead wish to get closer to you. Unlike last time there was little pain possibly due to me already partially being a wendigo. I continued collecting what items I could from the ruins of this town and reluctantly butchered the former inhabitants for jerky after which I would bury their bones. It wasn't much but I suppose it was better than leaving their bones out in the open. Soon after I had finished burying another batch of bones, I heard gentle crying behind me. There sat a light pink child. Kid? No no um foal! That's right! There sat a young foal crying as she looked at one particular corpse perhaps it was a sibling or parent. I sat down next to her or at least I believed they were she due to their hair being in curls. I sat there in silence as she continued weeping, eventually I hesitantly placed my clawed hand upon her head and started to pet her on the head. The crying suddenly stopped as she shivered ever so slightly as I continued to gently pet her. “Who were they?” I asked the young girl. She sniffled a little bit longer before answering me, “He- he was my Papa.” “I see.” “Are you gonna eat me too?” she asked, looking up at me. “No,” I responded simply. “Why not?” “Because... -I paused for a brief moment- Because you are still alive.” “Ok,” she responded mutely. “Would you like me to bury him?” “Why?” she questioned. “Why do I want to bury him?” She shook her head “No, why are you being so nice to me?” I shrugged, “Cause I wanna.” Her eyes scrunched up as she looked at me, “Really?” I slowly took off my helmet and looked her straight in the eyes, “Do I need to have any other reason?” “I- I guess not,” she finally relented. Placing the helmet back upon my head I got to work building a grave for her father. It didn't take very long and soon he was buried. A small primitive head stone adorned his grave. “What was his name?” I asked her. “Glowing Embers.” “Ok,” walking up to the makeshift head stone I used my magic to carve his name into it. “How does that look?” “It's… nice.” “That's what I was hoping for, now then I'll be continuing what I was previously doing,” I stated to her. “You mean you're gonna keep tearing them apart?” She numbly said in horror. “Yep.” “Isn't that hypo… -she paused for a second to try and think of the word- Hypocritical?” she questioned. “Hmm well I suppose if you want to you can point out any friends and other family of yours so I can also bury them although the others I will be harvesting them.” “Oh, well umm… I guess.” I gently patted the ground next to me for her to sit, and after a bit she came over. She was very withdrawn, and I could often see tears streaming down her face, but she told me which of the remaining corpses were her friends, whom I would go and bury. Soon enough there was a small graveyard and as I buried the last one, I looked at my surroundings to confirm that it was the last body. After confirming there were none left, I walked up to the young girl. Her tears had long since dried, the light in her eyes having long since died. I bent down on one knee as I looked down at her, “That's the last one.” “Ok.’ “I'm leaving now.” “Ok.” “Do you want to come with me?” She looked up with her eyes wide, “Really?” “I won't force you to go with me, but I think we both know you won't survive out here for very long,” She thought about it for a moment before nodding and slowly getting up, “Can I- Can I ride on your back?” “Sure,” I slowly picked her up and put her on my shoulder much like how I used to do with my sisters when they were younger. “Thanks,” “No problem kid, -I thought about it for a moment- So what's your name? “Cozy Glow.”