"Is this really the queen's guest? Don't you think he has a silly face? Look at this sticking out of his abdomen? Surely he will finish our food rations with his appetite" – Just when I was waking up from my dream, a series of little voices with unkind comments towards me, gave me a subtle way of good morning. I had barely spent a night in that forest, but for some reason despite those words, a feeling of belonging comforted me compared to the agonizing awakening from the palace dungeon.
Silfy and Belladonna were a pair of wind fairies that Queen Callisto had assigned me to assist me as her guest of honor. With wavy green hair and jet black eyes, the little fairies looked at me expectantly as I sat up still lethargic on the bed.
The fluidity of their movements as they flew through the air seemed like a perfect dance of harmony and coordination. From the water to rinse the face and the towel to dry it, everything moved to the beat of what could seem like a symphony. However, that spectacle contrasted with the rigidity of his face, since he had forgotten the fact of being an unpleasant presence for the rest of the inhabitants of the forest.
"All set cow, it's time for you to prepare for your first lesson" - It was the last straw, one thing was the fact that I was a persona non grata, but the constant insults received made me protest in a slightly hostile tone before them .
It was like that, without realizing what had happened, my physical appearance changed from black hair to red, my dark eyes to a violet tone. She had reverted to the form of Amelia Van Hallen, a drastic change witnessed by the two little fairies. Surprised at my appearance, they exclaimed with one voice: "A descendant of the red dragons, we must inform the queen immediately."
Without giving me time to say a single word, the two fairies flew away with great speed as if a bad omen was hanging over their heads. Looking for my clothes among the furniture in the room, I felt for a moment as if a great noise shook everything in an instant.
"So it was true" - Without saying a word, Virgilio took me by the neck by force, slamming me against the wall of Callisto's room. In that instant I felt as if my blood ran cold, the vivid memory of the brutality with which Richard took a chance on me, was fresh as a wound that has ripped the scab off.
I tried with all my might to free myself from that attack, but once again I realized that it didn't matter if it was this life or the previous one, my efforts were completely useless in the face of brute force.
"That's enough Virgilio, I won't repeat it twice! Put it down immediately!"- Just below Virgilio's hooves, a series of vines grew from the ground unnoticed by the centaur. One by one, they coiled around his body, responding to the stimuli of his muscles. Every attempt that he exerted force on my neck, the vines took their actions on par.
"Are you thinking of killing me for this mere human my lady?" – With a tone of disappointment in his voice, Virgilio slowly released me while he watched Calisto's inquisitive look. Who with her arms crossed did not stop showing an imposing silhouette, despite being in her fairy queen form.
To his right, an elf woman with a countenance already haggard with age, watched silently as she held herself steady with the aid of an elderwood staff. In the hilt, a spherical crystal with a blood-red hue, it looked as if a great flow of energy was glowing within it.
Apparently Callisto had given him the order to use force in case Virgilio continued his attack. His eyes reflected a firm determination that was aimed at the centaur's arm, almost as if the intent to cut it was evident at the moment my life was in mortal danger.
"It seems that your devotion to me are just empty words my dear Virgilio, that really is something that really hurts me inside" - Finishing saying those words, the vines were consumed leaving behind a fine dust that fell to the ground. Callisto was weakened, a deep regret was reflected on her face and from the corner of her lips, a thin thread of blood was visible in contrast to her pink lips.
Virgilio came to his senses when he saw that, with deep regret he looked at her for a few seconds and just as with the impetus that entered the room, he left in the same way without pronouncing a single word.
"My lady, please resist" - The old woman very carefully, holding Calisto in the palm of her hand, making use of her magic made a chair float to her where she carefully deposited the fragile figure of her mistress. Like a porcelain doll, he reverently bowed and cast a spell to stabilize his mana.
The energy around Callisto flowed between spirals of energy that fluctuated inconsistently between green and partially obscured. Perhaps that was due to the corrupted core of mana that was embedded in its heart, but even so, the mere fact of contemplating such an amount of energy that collided with each other by its nature, caused me a certain fear.
After a few minutes in which I was waiting for the scene that was shown before me, Calisto took a little strength as she exhaled trying to show a more appropriate face for what she would ask me next.
"You don't need to fool me, when I first saw you in the lake, I had already felt that something strange was happening with you. Just as a mere courtesy, I will allow you to explain to me yourself what your situation is, this will all be on my terms. If what I see does not convince me, I will have to expel you from this forest immediately" - With the frown of her gaze in a severe posture, Callisto throned her fingers signaling to the old woman to bring the stone of her cane closer to my forehead. .
At the moment of coming into contact with the energy coming from the crimson orb, the oracle of the world reacted by emitting a discharge that made the arcane elf fall to the ground.
"How dare you?" – Gritting his teeth as he extended his hand against me, Callisto's vines began to surround me, almost about to deal a withering blow against my body. If it wasn't for the fact that the old woman raised her arm to block Callisto, this time I would have met with death.
"User, an attempted security breach has occurred on your data matrix. How do you wish to proceed?" – Far from helping me in that situation, making the oracle of the world block any access would mean the end of me. Leaving me no choice but to allow them to delve into every fiber of my being until they could be satisfied.
Trying once more with some misgivings, the old woman began to explore the fragments of my memory while reciting a guttural chant. My body felt completely paralyzed, as if my nerves had been severed. That sensation made me remember the moments in which I was assimilating the new body that the goddess Artemis had prepared for my arrival in this world.
The only thing I could move at that moment were my pupils while I carefully observed the old woman, who kept her eyes closed along with her concentration. Without realizing it, when I turned to see Calisto, I could see that both she and the old woman had established something similar to a shared thought link.
The two of them were in a trance while, unaware of the situation, they both started shuddering at one point in the scan. "But how is it possible? What is this?" – In a heartbreaking scream, the old woman fell to the floor with her breath completely agitated. With the memory link finished, my body regained its usual mobility and when I tried to stand up from the bed, the strength in my legs left me completely.
"My lady, this young lady cannot stay with us for long. The shadow of death pursues her, you have seen it with your own eyes." – Callisto's eyes were brimming with tears as she looked at me, her gaze reflected an unimaginable dismay, but at the same time, she felt a compassion that made me feel uncomfortable.
"Leave us alone now Sara, I have to discuss something with my guest for a moment. Please, go" – The old woman was skeptical of her lady's order, but she preferred not to exacerbate the situation in front of her, leaving that room with a solemn bow.
Finally being alone in that room, Calisto approached my lap flying delicately and began to cry. Everything she had seen of me, my past life and the circumstances she now faced in this world, in a certain way made her feel identified by sharing the suffering she went through.
I honestly did not expect that the fairy queen, who had shown me a domineering posture until just a few minutes ago, would now find herself in such a vulnerable attitude near me. But as soon as he began to speak, I knew the true meaning of the tears he shed for me: I was doomed.
When my soul was transferred from my original world to this world, the goddess Artemis caused a transgression to the rules of the high council of the gods. Completely ignorant of my situation, I mistakenly believed that she was a unique goddess, but the reality is that above the goddess Artemis, there was a superior power.
Calisto explained to me that there are at least a thousand worlds besides Pandora or Earth, each one coexisting in the same universe. But separated by a veil that no one can break without having consequences in this regard. If the goddess had reincarnated me in one of the worlds under her control, nothing significant would have happened. It is usually a god's job to manage the flow of souls and exchange them at certain times between worlds.
The problem in question is that first she had violated two rules: the memories of my previous life were still intact and I found myself in a world that was ruled by another goddess: the goddess Freya.
Both Artemisa and Freya were sisters who had maintained a common bond since the beginning of time. Born from the same star, the twins were considered as one being and shared their power.
The rest of the gods who did not feel comfortable with this situation, came to the conclusion that it was necessary to put distance between them in order to maintain the balance of the worlds. Plotting against the two sisters, the council took over the world of Pandora and created in it an element of discord, a restart of life from the creation of the ancient dragons.
Freya's first creation was brutally destroyed and replaced by this new order, the goddess Artemis being framed. With this, the discord grew between the two sisters to the point that the entire bond they had shared was completely erased.
"Seeing that the goddess Artemis has sent you to this world with your memories intact, I believe that she wants you to restore the balance that has been destroyed. With this, poor creature, he has placed a great weight on your destiny by making you an enemy not only of Freya, but of the council of the gods itself." - I was kidding? Was this the gift you intended to give me? I couldn't understand it, the second chance that he had told me that he would give me to live a new life was just a lie.
I had never asked for this, I don't think I deserve so much rubbish together. Within me, deep in my silence, I cursed that deity until my feelings began to be completely stunned. I am not the toy of the machinations of selfish gods, if they have a damn problem they solve it themselves.
Inadvertently, my appearance changed back to my old self before the eyes of Calisto, who as soon as she realized the situation, called Sara back to the rooms to examine me. After looking at me from head to toe, Sara spoke into Calisto's ear as if she wanted him not to hear what they were trying to say.
When they were both done, Sara stood in front of me and placed her hand on my head. I felt as if a heat ran through my whole body and suddenly, a strong pang hit my mind. Making me take my hands to my temples to control the headache that I got at that moment.
"There are within you two opposing forces, one has almost completely languished and the other is so powerful that it does not give up. But the weaker one does not give up completely and wants to claim what is rightfully hers. So I've put a seal inside your mind so that it can't take possession of your body" – Apparently the soul of Amelia, the original owner of this body, had not been completely shed by the time I entered her body. Forcing her to remain in it, but completely weakened by the event of his death.
The shapeshifter pearl was a magical item that allowed one to change appearance according to the summoner's will. In normal situations there shouldn't be any problem regarding losing the newly acquired form, but in view of the existence of two wills in the same body, the pearl spell was not effective.
Without the help of the seal Sara had placed on me, my appearance would change again while I was asleep. Just the moment when my conscience found itself vulnerable and Amelia's soul took the chance to gain control once more. At this time it had only been a matter of appearance, since Amelia was still too weak to take control. But if we continue on the same course, my consciousness would be relegated or in the worst case, absorbed forever as if they were memories in Amelia's mind.
Upon learning of this, I was completely relieved that Sara was someone capable of performing such a spell. But on the other hand, I couldn't stop feeling guilty about poor Amelia, as if I had robbed her of any chance to live by occupying her body.
Plunged into those thoughts, I began to figure out that part of the ability of the oracle of the world was dangerous as it was a gift given by Artemis and of which I was completely unaware of its scope or connection to its power.
"Oracle, are you an autonomous consciousness or do you depend on the goddess?" – That question that I asked inside my mind did not get any answer, that simple fact made it clear to me that this ability depended completely on her and that no matter what I did, I was literally just a piece of the game in the hands of the goddess.
"Try to get some rest, there are some things I need to discuss with my people. Stay here until I send someone for you." – Callisto said that with a calmness that didn't seem to be in tune with the expression in her eyes.
It was a fact that my presence was something that had already caused disgust to the inhabitants of the Medea forest, but given the recent revelation, I did not know what kind of events could happen around me in that place.
Trying to control what little I could of the situation in my hands, I agreed without putting any more than one condition: The one who would have to come looking for me was Virgilio.
That was a great surprise for Calisto, who never considered that I would choose to be escorted who just a few moments ago was about to end my life. With some reluctance to my request, I had to insist until perhaps out of annoyance she agreed.
Finally alone in the room, try to lie down for a moment to get some sleep. The procedure Sara had used to share the memory links had physically exhausted me. After the adrenaline of the moment wore off as I relaxed, my body was already beginning to feel the effects.
In the middle of my dreams, some memories of my previous life came back. The very familiar game interface and the feeling of clicking the mouse keys seemed to flow according to my emotions at the time. Elementum was one of the first MMORPG games that I got to play at the age of 13, its interface was very rudimentary and it did not have a linear story or script. It basically consisted of a series of maps with a base rendering resolution of 16 bits, four basic professions, and the classic monsters from any dungeon game bestiary.
The guild system was very rudimentary and the transfer of items was so bad and insecure that one had to be aware that one of the users did not dare to steal your items. It was very common for servers where PK was allowed, some users created alternate accounts to do their murder and robbery missions. Since he had not implemented a transaction tracking, he just had to transfer what was stolen between his accounts and the penalty only fell on the character with accumulated kill points.
Of the four job classes to choose from, I took the druid option. While the sorcerer, paladin, or warrior were classes designed for solo combat, a healer was always needed in raiding parties. I don't know if it was due to my loneliness or the fact that I wanted to be needed, but almost all the characters I've chosen until the moment I died had to do with support.
Although I remember one particular game there was a type of druid that took combat actions depending on the choices the player made in the story line. His name was fallen priest.
"User, the selected subclass does not exist in the world class tree. The closest match to the aforementioned subclass is Shadow Apostle. The link with the corresponding class will be written in its data" – Wait a moment, at which point I invoke the functions of the oracle of the world. And even more, because it is saying that I have chosen that type of subclass or it is even possible that this could happen.
I couldn't open my eyes no matter how hard I tried, nor did my body respond to my actions. It all resembled the phenomenon of sleep paralysis. That is what it would have looked like if it weren't for the fact that in front of me, in my subconscious on a plane unknown to me, the figure of a woman in a black tunic and bone wings appeared.
"So you are the soul that my sister has summoned to this world. Tell me, are you afraid of me?" – A macabre smile could be seen under the hood, but the darkness prevented me from seeing his eyes; just in a brief moment, extending his arms around me, I felt as if he was absorbing me in his darkness.
As if I was suffocating under an immense ocean, my spirit was beginning to extinguish in the face of such a huge presence. Freya, the goddess who has control over the world of Pandora, had laid her hands on me. In an open sign of confrontation against his sister, he began to manipulate the attributes of the ability that had been granted to me.
The oracle of the world changed its interface to a blood red color and with it, its name was deformed to that of the oracle of the end. In the description of my memories, the shadow apostle subclass had been assigned to me. And next to the description, there was a countdown day counter.
"From this day to the end of a year. You, my dear toy, will be the one to bring destruction on this world for me. All my sister's efforts to make amends for her sins will be useless and you will share the fate that I have in store for her" – That sinister encounter soon came to an end, leaving me to regain consciousness in the middle of a sea of cold sweat in bed. My breathing and palpitations were so agitated that I could hardly hold my heart in my hand from such a shock that it had received.
Turning to the door of the room, he could see Virgilio with his stunned look as if he had witnessed something he should not have seen. Pointing his index finger at my chest, guide my eyes to the point he was indicating with his trembling hand. Close to my neck, in the shape of a snake, a symbol was engraved on my skin causing indescribable pain that made me scream in agony.
Trying to control the spasm that ran through my spine, I lay on the bed in a fetal position, bringing my hands to my chest seeking to ease the pain.
"But what have you done to him, Virgilio?" - Calisto immediately rebuked the centaur thinking that something had to do with my pain, but Sara quickly took him by the shoulder indicating that he should come and see me quickly.
"The worst has already happened my lady, it seems that we have arrived late" - Shaking her head with her gaze towards the ground, Sara's face expressed her disappointment at something that seemed tragic: The ouroboros mark .
Since ancient times in the world of Pandora there have been myths of the foundation of the world, each race in fact has its own version, but they all coincide with the preeminence of the draconic race . But only one version has been written regarding the end of the known world, in this version a prophecy transmitted from generation to generation reads.
"From a distant star, the herald of destruction will come spawned of flesh and blood, carrying with it a cursed blessing of its own. Conceived of discord, it will bring the end of the races and with it the end of the world. From the asps it will have the sign and in a cycle it will be consumed.
Such a prophecy made it clear that he who bore the mark of the serpent was the herald of destruction. The mark that my encounter with Freya had left me was the sentence that now rested on my head.
Calisto and Sara argued in front of me without caring that I heard about it, because they considered that they could not leave me outside the situation since it was my life that was involved.
The conclusion they came to was that because of my curse many would try to take my life, guided by the fear of the fulfillment of the prophecy, they would not hold back about it and would seek to take my head. But by doing so, the only thing they would achieve would be to advance the time of fulfillment of the fateful prediction.
"A tragic fate has been placed on your shoulders and sadly we don't know how we can help you get rid of it. But rest assured that if it is in my hands to find a way to save you, I will do it. Because by saving you, the world may be saved in the process" – A few minutes after having our talk, I began to train the control of my powers with the help of Sara.
At the same iconic lake where Calisto and I first met, Sara diligently offered me her knowledge of magic. Loitering behind the trees, some young elves didn't take their eyes off us as we cast low-level enchantments.
Unlike Earth, on Pandora there is a connection to the nature of things called the flow of mana. In the trees, the flowers, the grass, in the birds, any living being had a connection with the flow of mana. But only some races could make use of this connection and borrow magic power.
Fairies had a natural command of the flow of mana, without the need to recite incantations, they could cast spells at will. With the limitation of only being able to execute invocations of the elements to which they had affinity.
For other races like elves, draconics , dwarves and dryads; access to the mana flow was possible in any of the four elements. But they could only handle a maximum of two and with the restriction of requiring a catalyst.
In Sara's case, her staff had a living lava stone. This precious gem had the affinity to control the flow of mana between the elements of fire and earth. When two elements were mixed by affinity, they could conjure a fused element that contained the power of both. Being considered the sorcerers who were capable of this, exceptional teachers.
" Concentrate and conjure the enchantment runes" – It had already been two weeks since I started my training with Sara. After learning the runic language necessary to make the intonations of the enchantment chants, my lessons were focused on the mastery of the elements by affinity.
The first time Sara tested my elemental affinity, she was quite surprised to find that my mana flow control ability reached all four elements. Perhaps due to the fact that both Amelia's soul residue and mine coexisted in the same body, it was possible that I was able to control them.
"Dragon's Breath!" – Intoning the spell that I recited, a great flame shot from my scepter to the surface of the lake. The glow reflecting off the surface seemed hypnotic to the point of captivating my senses.
"Control the flow of mana in your youngster catalyst!" - A strong blow from Sara's staff was felt in the knees of my knees making me fall to the floor. Without realizing my clumsiness, I had used a lot of power in channeling my spell and a good part of the meadow smelled of burning.
Without a doubt, my path in magic would be something that would give me serious headaches in the next few days of training.