Gifted

I floated along in one of the gently flowing currents of the ocean of souls. The experience was how I imagined it must feel to fly, pulling me along like a cloud in an airstream, not a care in the world. Beneath me in the depths, something massive swam, outpacing the stream I found myself in. In its wake, my own current buckled for a moment, but I wasn’t afraid in the slightest. Something that big in the ocean of souls was undoubtedly a Guardian, patrolling for anything that shouldn’t be here, which basically meant anything that wasn’t a soul waiting for rebirth.

I couldn’t say how long I had been dead. The ocean had that effect on you. Like the feeling of a warm shower, with your eyes closed as the water cascaded down over your skin, forming rivers and paths, shutting out the world. A moment of respite, between lives, meant to lull you before what came next.

I may not have known how long I had been dead for, but I still remembered my old life. I’d died somewhat young, just before setting off for college. The son and only child of a pair of kind, loving parents. I had wanted for little and been doted upon all my life: my past life, I reminded myself. I didn’t miss my parents, but that was because they’d been in the car with me when I died. Small reliefs, but we had passed on together. We’d even had time in the ocean of souls together. Time to say goodbye. Few people got that opportunity and I was incredibly grateful for it.

Both of my deceased parents had already been reborn. Where and how, well, those weren’t things that we souls got to know. The Ocean of Souls imparted only enough knowledge about itself to help calm its denizens. All I knew was that when the time came, you would rise to the surface, and after passing beyond the ocean, you found a new home.

Passing beyond the surface was no small matter. To be taken from the ocean of souls was to be scrubbed clean and prepared anew. All memories taken, all personality wiped, like bleach for the soul. When it was my turn, the same would happen to me. On one hand, I might have feared it; on the other, after it happened I wouldn’t even know, so why worry about it?

Without my parents to keep me company I had been forced to find other souls to talk to. Plenty died in gruesome battles on worlds I had never even conceived of, though most died of disease or old age. A few even claimed that their worlds were like the roleplaying games I remembered from Earth, with classes and everything. I kind of hoped I would be reborn in just such a world. But the deceased did not get to choose.

At least, as far as I knew.

So I continued to drift, carefree and relaxed. The wake of the Guardian now passed as it continued its patrol. One moment I was surrounded by clear blue water, enjoying my time between lives, and the next, a new shadow was passing over me that didn’t leave a disturbance in its wake. That shouldn’t be possible. I frantically tried to move out of the current, uncertain what was above me, when I found the darkness closing in from all sides. I panicked, then, trying to swim away. But there was nowhere to go.

The void surrounded me, blacker than the darkest night. Clawed fingers ripped into my soul and I screamed. I thrashed back and forth wordlessly stricken with fear that whatever had surrounded me was killing me. Throwing myself at the darkness, rising panic filled me as my formless attacks did nothing.

My screams for help went unanswered as I desperately sought a way to survive whatever this was. My hands continued to scrape at the darkness, their meagre might seemingly amusing the beast as its claws once more raked through my form. When my attacks continued to fail, I pleaded, begging for my life. My appeals fell on deaf ears, its teeth casually gnawing away at me, taking its time like a cat playing with its food.

I knew what it was then, even before I heard the snicker of its voice in my head.

A demon. I was being devoured by a demon. One who dared to sneak into the ocean of souls. In that moment it became obvious that I had no chance of winning. Where was a Guardian when I needed one? I continued to thrash and struggle, unwilling to cease to exist without a fight. Yet, all my effort came to naught.

A sense of movement jolted us, and I was given a moment’s reprieve as I felt us rising. Then came the surface of the ocean, and for the first time I heard more from my attacker than a cruel chuckle of amusement. The demon shrieked, and a ray of light opened up in the darkness. With the light burning me I could see that the demon had enveloped me with its body, cutting off all avenues of escape. That realisation was followed by pain as the little bit of light leaking through the demon scoured me as well, burning away memories and thoughts of my past life. But not all of them, as only a fraction of the light touched me: the demon bore most of the assault.

Then the light was gone, and the gentle thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump of something nearby was all I could hear. I tried to look around, but I could see nothing and feel even less. A whimper stirred my attention, and I realised wherever I was, whatever I was, I was not alone. The tone had changed, but I could still recognise my attacker.

That memory remained firm.

I spread my soul out and found that whatever we were in was humanoid. The demon spread through half of it and I the other. I prepared to defend myself, expecting to be attacked again, but the wordless mewling drew me to one simple conclusion. The demon was weakened. Whatever the surface of the ocean of souls did to cleanse those that left its waters, the demon had suffered the worst of it.

In a fury I lashed out. Where it had toyed with me, enjoying my suffering, my response was that of a wild beast, ripping apart its soul in an animalistic rage. I had no claws but we weren’t physical beings and with my metaphysical teeth, I tore its spiritual flesh apart. The demon bellowed an unholy scream echoing around us as it desperately tried to hide. But there was nowhere for it to go. Nowhere for it to escape my retribution. Torn pieces of its spirit floated around me like macabre confetti, but I refused to stop till there was nothing left but the tatters of its existence.

With each shred of itself the demon lost to my anger, I settled deeper and deeper into the humanoid form we were in. As my soul slowly melded into the lifeform so too did the torn fragments of the demon blend into my soul. By the time I was done, not a single piece of my tormentor remained. As though an equilibrium had been reached, I felt my soul retreat into the form, merging perfectly with the body I found myself in.

Though my eyes were closed, words appeared before me.

Welcome to the Myriad Paths!

Assessing new user. New user deemed to be too young for self-managed access to the Myriad Paths. Entering into automated mode.

Error. New user has two Achievements. Self-managed access required for determination of Achievement outcomes.

Assessing…

Assessing…

New user shows heightened cognitive functioning in comparison to user’s age (4 months gestation).

Determining capability for decision making via physical stimulation. User must kick twice to show they understand. Ten second window beginning now.

The body was new to me but I remembered how to kick. I moved my miniature leg twice, kicking it back and forth, though the sensation was weird and my leg was tiny compared to what my soul remembered.

User determined to be capable of decision-making. Myriad Paths override activated. Self-managed access to the Myriad Paths user interface granted. Please familiarise yourself with the basic Status sheet.

There was a moment where the text faded away, and then new blinking lights appeared before me.

Name - Unnamed

Skills (0/3)

Class - Locked

Body Features

Basic Attributes

Aether Core - Minor

Strength - 100

Aether Channels - Weak

Stamina - 100

Coordination - 100

Affinity (1/1)

Mental - 100

Shadow (Strong) - 100

Aether - 100

Advanced Attributes (0/2)

Paths (0/10)

The first thing I noted was that the Myriad Paths had decided I was unnamed. My old name was gone, cast aside. But it was clearly leaving room for whatever my new parents would name me, because the whole discussion about my age had made me realise exactly what was going on. I had been reborn. Although, that wasn’t technically accurate as I was not yet born.

I was a baby.

A not even born yet baby with some of my memories intact. I was a little confused about my Basic Attributes. One hundred seemed awfully high. I certainly didn’t feel like someone with one hundred strength, based on the feeble kicks I had just performed to make sure the Myriad Paths let me manage my own development. I had no idea yet what Advanced Attributes were, or Paths for that matter. Skills were kind of self explanatory, but I didn’t have any of those either.

Then there was my Aether Core and Channels. Minor and weak. It sounded kind of terrible to me, but then again, it also meant this world likely had some form of magic. I could work with terrible. With a little effort and persistence I could maybe turn those two around, transforming them into something more useful. Then there was my Affinity for shadow. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing to have, but I had a sneaking suspicion that I had my attacker to thank for it. The demon had certainly felt like a lurking shadow when it attacked me.

Alongside my Status was a flashing number which I was guessing were the waiting Achievements the Myriad Paths spoke of. I focused my attention on them and the first opened before me despite my blindness.

Achievement Acquired! Defeat a Lesser Demon Prince while unborn.

Reward: Path of Exceptionalism Unlocked plus 20 steps of Advancement along this new Path!

Path Unlocked! Path of Exceptionalism (0/10)

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Exceptionalism I (20/10)

Reward: Advanced Attribute Unlocked: Talented

Free Advanced Attribute Slot available. Would you like to select Talented as an Advanced Attribute?

I hesitated. Glancing back at my Status, I only had two Advanced Attribute slots available. What if I couldn’t change them? What if I was taking a subpar Advanced Attribute and ruining my chances of living a blessed life? Though, rereading the Achievement, that seemed unlikely. I wasn’t one to brag, but defeating a lesser demon prince while still an unborn child sounded pretty epic, even if the beast had been weakened by leaving the ocean of souls to the point where it didn’t know up from down.

With a note of uncertainty, I mentally agreed to adding Talented as an Advanced Attribute. It appeared on my sheet with a shiny one hundred next to it, just like the rest of my Attributes. That still had me confused, but I vowed to examine it further later, instead moving on to the second notification.

Achievement Acquired! Consume another soul and absorb it into your own.

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Reward: Path of Soulstealing.

I opened my Status up a second time.

Name - Unnamed

Skills (0/3)

Class - Locked

Body Features

Basic Attributes

Aether Core - Minor

Strength - 100

Aether Channels - Weak

Stamina - 100

Coordination - 100

Affinity

Mental - 100

Shadow (Strong) - 100

Aether - 100

Advanced Attributes (1/2)

Talented - 100

Paths (2/10)

Path of Exceptionalism I (20/100)

Path of Soulstealing (0/10)

Unable to help myself, I started trying to do some mental calculations on why all my Attributes and my Affinity were one hundred. As I did so, running some very simplistic calculations, a new notification appeared in the corner of my vision. I paused my thinking to open it.

Path Unlocked! Path of Basic Numeracy (0/10)

Without any chance to deny it, the Path appeared in my Status sheet. Testing my theory, I began to do some basic counting and mathematics in my head. Nothing more complex than very simple addition and subtraction. At first, nothing happened, and I thought perhaps I had made a mistake, but I kept trying, pushing on and on to higher numbers until finally the number next to the Path of Basic Numeracy ticked up by one. I found I could control my mouth, letting a huge smile bloom on my still forming face, baby gums and all.

The only question now was, what happened when I reached ten? Would I get another Advanced Attribute, or something else? I had to know. With a focus borne of curiosity and probably a little adrenaline, I started doing mathematics in my head. Tiredness crept up on me, and I felt myself fading even though the numbers had only ticked over to four. I still had six to go. I had to push on. It ticked over to five, then six, but I could no longer resist the pull of the darkness, falling into a peaceful sleep.

I don’t know how long I slept for but when I woke, I returned to my counting. Six became seven, then eight, then nine, and finally, with sleep beckoning me once more, I pushed through the wave of lethargy to ten. A notification suddenly blinked in front of me.

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Basic Numeracy I (10/10)

Reward: +1 to Mental

On my Status, one hundred in Mental became one hundred and one. I waited to see how it would feel. How it would change me. It didn’t take me long to realise I felt no different. That was fine though. It just meant I needed more, and I apparently had another five months uninterrupted by external stimuli to spend on this. It wasn’t like I had anywhere else to be just yet. With that thought firmly lodged in my mind, I once more succumbed to sleep.

Days became weeks, and weeks became months. Every day I pushed on, working on my different Paths. After two weeks of forcibly trying to stay awake to spend even more time working on my development, I unlocked the Path of Endurance. When my ears were more developed, I unlocked the Path of Eavesdropping. Neither Path advanced as quickly as Basic Numeracy and Linguistics - English. Endurance plodded along like a cow out to pasture, taking its sweet time to munch on each mouthful of grass. Eavesdropping went a little faster, but was limited to when my new mother was talking to someone. She also hummed, but that didn’t count apparently. I hoped she would be as nice as my previous life’s mother, but I would settle for her just being a decent person.

I was able to determine more about my body as I tried various actions to unlock additional Paths. I was definitely a humanoid. I couldn’t quite feel my ears yet, but my body shape and leg movements, along with the feel of my wet skin had me convinced I was either a human or possibly an elf. Of course there were other weirder possibilities, given the demon I had absorbed, but I was guessing I was human. Mostly.

It was a surprise not to see my species noted on the Status, which I brought up daily to monitor my progress. The Paths I had managed to unlock and improve, excluding Endurance, were all Mental Paths. What I meant by that was that at each Tier on the Path I completed, my Mental Stat increased by one. All except two. When I had completed the ninth Tier on the Path of Basic Numeracy and again when I did the same for Linguistics - English I got an Unallocated Stat. Testing the possibilities, I had added both to my only Advanced Attribute, Talented. If they had an impact, I wasn’t sure what it was.

I brought up my Status again, reviewing my progress over the last few months.

Name - Unnamed

Skills (0/3)

Class - Locked

Body Features

Basic Attributes

Aether Core - Minor

Strength - 100

Aether Channels - Weak

Stamina - 102

Coordination - 100

Affinity (1/1)

Mental - 119

Shadow (Strong) - 100

Aether - 100

Advanced Attributes (1/2)

Talented - 102

Paths (6/10)

Path of Exceptionalism I (20/100)

Path of Linguistics - English IX (8217/10000)

Path of Basic Numeracy IX (9992/10000)

Path of Endurance II (31/50)

Path of Eavesdropping III (62/100)

Path of Soulstealing (0/10)

In all that time, there had been no changes in my Paths of Exceptionalism or Soulstealing. Kind of made sense to me, since I doubt I did anything considered exceptional or eat any more souls. Not that I planned to do that, but you never knew. Maybe another demon would present itself and I could give it a shot.

Even ignoring the lack of progress, I had noticed another difference in how my Paths seemed to function. When my Path of Exceptionalism completed the first Tier, the second was set to one hundred. However, for all the other Paths I had acquired and progressed since, the second Tier had been set at twenty-five, the third fifty and only the fourth Tier was set to one hundred. I took this to mean that not all Paths were the same.

Of course my interest in magic hadn’t waned. I had tried to access my magic, my Aether Core. Progressing in that area had been a priority, but so far I’d had no luck. Meditating hadn’t helped, nor gotten me a new Path, though maybe I was just doing it wrong. I may have looked like a little, naked Buddha, but an ascetic monk I was not. While I hadn’t partaken of any worldly delights, I couldn’t even get into the lotus position. Pushing, prodding, squeezing, none of it had worked. Thankfully I wasn’t able to poop yet otherwise that squeezing could’ve turned out real bad. I had no desire to shit where I slept or take a poop bath. Calamity avoided.

One might have thought I was an incredibly hard worker, to have advanced at least a couple of my Paths so much in such a short time. But I had a theory about that. The Paths that were advancing quickly were the ones where I already had knowledge and experience, even if it came from my previous life. The Linguistics one particularly, since when I eavesdropped I had no idea what the sounds my mother was making meant. A lack of context meant I couldn’t even start working it out.

That would be solved soon, as I figured it was probably only another month or so until I would be born. But before that happened, I had a Path to complete. Settling in, I started doing mathematics in my head. Nothing too complicated because, to be honest, I didn’t remember anything more advanced than counting, basic operators, the order of operations, and a little geometry. The ocean of souls had either scrubbed the others, the demon had ripped them out of me, or maybe I hadn’t been a math nerd. It was an odd feeling, knowing that there was more complicated mathematics, because I did know that, but I just couldn’t remember what they were.

Hours rolled by, and the numbers ticked up. With each new one my excitement grew. The jump from the ninth Tier to the tenth was five thousand points. That meant it took as long to get from the ninth Tier to the tenth, as it took to get from the first to the ninth. Surely the tenth Tier had to give something amazing! I knew I was potentially setting myself up for disappointment, but I couldn’t help it. The numbers were going up and it felt amazing. With weariness setting in and my mind demanding sleep, I finally completed my goal.

You have Completed your Path! Path of Basic Numeracy X (10000/10000)

Reward: 2 Unallocated Stats

Achievement Acquired! Complete a Basic Path.

Reward: Path of the Completionist.

Path Unlocked! Path of the Completionist (0/10)

On one side, there was a small amount of disappointment. On the other hand, I suppose I shouldn’t have expected too much. I was effectively being rewarded for doing maths in my head. Even the Achievement called it out for what it was. A Basic Path. That lent credence to my earlier suspicions that not all Paths were the same. More importantly, it unlocked a new Path for me. One I definitely knew how to progress. Path of the Completionist was almost certainly advanced by completing Paths.

I glanced at my Status to add the two Unallocated Stats to Talented, when I noticed something else. My Path of Exceptionalism had increased by five points. My ruined mood was immediately restored. I didn’t know what it would do when it reached the next tier. All I knew was that it had to be good! I thought I had another month, and during that time I was going to complete my second Path. Despite my excitement, I still fell asleep moments later.

Another month passed, and I smiled, my lips now firmly under my control along with my limbs. That didn’t mean they were strong. I was still a feeble little unborn baby, kicking and thrashing about with all the power of a limp noodle. But I was moving! Unfortunately, it hadn’t unlocked any new Paths. I guessed flailing about like a lunatic wasn’t really something that you needed a Path for. Or if it did, it probably required some insane proselytising about the end of the world or lizard people controlling the government. Chalk me up for not being a crazy person.

While I had convinced myself I wasn’t insane, I was also convinced of another truth. That was that today was the day, and I did mean the day. Today I was going to complete my Path of Linguistics - English, and if I was any judge of things, I was also about to be born. Against my will, various muscle movements had pushed me upside down, which I was pretty certain meant I was getting ready to pop out head first and meet my new mother. I was excited. Very excited! For both events. So with my remaining time, and my mother’s muscles beginning to contract around me, I started reciting stories in my head.

It didn’t take long for the notifications to appear.

You have Completed your Path! Path of Linguistics - English X (10000/10000)

Reward: 2 Unallocated Stats

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of the Completionist I (12/10)

Reward: 3 Unallocated Stats

I had been right. Sorta. The Path of the Completionist had gone up by twelve with the single Path completion. The fact that it wasn’t a round number seemed a little odd to me. It had also given a better reward than completing a Basic Path, and between the two I now had five unallocated stats.

I considered whether I should put them into Aether, but I figured that Talented came from such a powerful Achievement that it had to be good, even if I still didn’t have any confirmed proof of what it was doing. Adding the five unallocated stats to Talented, I saw that my Path of Exceptionalism had once more gone up by five. Now at thirty out of a hundred, I just needed to complete another fourteen Basic Paths. No big deal, I mean it had only taken me five months to do two of them. Five months by seven, I should have moved it to the next Tier by the time I was three and a half.

When I put it like that it wasn’t exactly quick. Still, progress was progress, and I wasn’t about to get disheartened. So far I had been flying blind, figuring things out on my own, and honestly falling asleep a lot. Being a baby was tiring. But soon I would be born. Then I would have people to watch, and maybe once I could talk, I could ask all the questions rolling around in my little mind. Or at least eavesdrop on others to learn. Just thinking about it, I knew there was a Path of Deception or something similar in my future. I was going to be a sneaky baby.

My amusement and lame jokes were short-lived as the pressure around me ratcheted up and I felt my head being squeezed like a watermelon in a vice. The feeling of soft bones shifting in my skull to accommodate the change was unpleasant to say the least, but I couldn’t cry. Not yet anyway. As soon as I was out of this death tube, they would be getting an earful of my little lungs.

In and out. In and out. That wasn’t me breathing. That was my soon to be mother’s pelvic muscles flexing around my head. No wonder we didn’t remember this experience as children. This was hell! Slowly but surely I travelled toward the light.

Then finally, with one great heave, and someone pulling on my little pudgy arms, I was yanked out into a not-so-bright room. My eyesight was shit and against my own will, though following my previous plan, I wailed in discomfort at the new environs. My crying was short-lived, and to this day I will blame it all on the shock. It definitely wasn’t because I was a whiny baby.

I had expected to be lowered onto my mother then. That was what they were supposed to do right? Some stuff was going on around my belly and I realised they were tying off the umbilical cord. Then it was mum time right? I had been so alone with just my thoughts for so long that I craved human contact.

Instead I was lowered down into a small basket. Comfortable and warm, if disappointed, I was thinking that everything was turning out almost as I had hoped. That was when they leaned over me. My eyesight may have been terrible, but I could make out the vague shapes hovering so close to my face.

They were wearing skulls as masks. Which, thinking back on everything that happened since I was dragged out of the ocean of souls, kind of made sense. It seemed that perhaps the target for this baby hadn’t been me, but a certain demon prince. I couldn’t be sure, but I was guessing I had just been born into a demonic cult. That was confirmed when a descending figure drew a line on my forehead with something sticky and warm. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was blood. All that was left was to do the math and determine just how fucked I was.

My initial results? Very.