Chapter 49: One story at a time

Chapter 49: One story at a time

“Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time.”

Leo Buscaglia

It might be uncharted territory but sometimes you just needed to wake your sister up to find out another story and I wasn’t in the mood to wait another moment for it.

“ . . . . zzzzzzzzzzzz!” Aleera pretended to fall asleep.

‘You’ll see when you get your stats.’ What did she mean? Was she just trying to sound worldly and older than she was or had I missed out on something? Who knew?

“What they look like?” I quizzed and poking her, not falling for her poor pretend effort at feigning sleep. I had managed to get a better hold on my super senses now able to filter out overwhelming stimuli and focus on something in particular. In this case, it was my sister and how she was or rather wasn’t sleeping. At least not yet, as her fake slow breathing gradually quickened up a little as she stopped pretending that she was asleep.

My syntax was gradually improving as I learnt more of the language and let a little more of who I really was come through. I had my family, we were hiding out here on Ash Island and I was beginning to realise that they would move heaven and earth to keep us safe.

Taking a big sigh and resigned to the fact that I wasn’t going to let go back to sleep without answering a few more of my questions. “Mine looked like a string of pearls, same as mother’s and father’s stats do. They would tell you all of this if you asked them.”

“Pearls?” Mine didn’t look like that. Had playing the odd video game or being aware of what a Dungeons and Dragons character sheet looked like affected how my stats looked to me even if I had never been a keen player of either games?

“Yes, lines of Pearls for each stat. My stats for vitality were red pearls, my stats for strength were represented with orange, my endurance was yellow pearls, my dexterity was green pearls, while my senses appeared as blue and my mind as purple. Unlike some little monsters I know I hadn’t learned how to read yet so they didn’t come with labels back then only a sense of what each stat did.”

So everyone’s stats looked different to themselves I guess that would make sense if there were illiterate people in the world how would they be able to read or understand them otherwise. Kind of made creating a false status redundant even if they could actually see mine as they wouldn’t actually understand it as it was written in English! Suppose I would have to make my false status written in Bussola, unless the system somehow translated it for them, where was the rule book when you needed it. This life was no different from my first there was no rule book there either and as game-like as this life seemed to be sometimes there didn’t seem to be a rule book here either.

“When did you get them? Will I get them soon then?” I asked convinced that maybe I probably shouldn’t actually be able to see them yet. I knew I must be ahead of the curve with some of my stats but by how much I didn’t know.

“How many points do you have?” I raise an eyebrow even though she can’t see it and not expecting an answer, nothing ventured nothing gained.

“Secret.” She purses her lips not pleased at my continuing questioning.

“What level are you?” I asked raising both eyebrows and biting my own lips.

“That’s the same question stupid, and still secret!” she answered.

“Does everybody start around level one to five?” I consider the different awakenings other people seem to have had. However, to most babies, toddlers and children how useful would a stat screen be other than as a system given baby crib mobile to distract them with coloured pearls?

“Nobody says explicitly but it gets harder and harder to level up so I doubt that anyone can awaken to their stats any higher than level 10 in the first 5 to 10 years of their lives. Although there are tales of heroes and kings who must have had unbelievably strong stats and start in life to achieve half of what they are rumoured to have achieved in their rises to fame during their youth.”

Well, I was definitely ahead of the curve but did I want to be a hero or king. Not really. They both sounded incredibly dangerous and or taxing to do. I just wanted to be strong, safe and secure. Then once that was achieved independence and explore the world on my own terms. But family seemed to have different expectations of me depending on which family member you listened to.

Sister was happy with me making her money through selling my magic made salt, but I didn’t want to spend my whole life simply making money besides she would soon saturate the local market if we kept going on. Father clearly wanted me to follow in his footsteps or rather his wake sailing around the lake, but again while there was clearly a lot more to explore on the crater lagoon and I certainly loved sailing it was not the sole thing I wanted to do with my life. Mother was happy hearing me hum so singing was definitely an option with her, but how successful would any singer be here in a world without the radio, tv or internet. Most musicians made their money by selling their songs. Did recording and playing devices even exist here in a world that seemed medieval at best? Finally, there was magic, becoming a mage was a dream of mine however without a school or a teacher how much would I actually be able to learn and any hope of entering society looking for them according to my family at least was like painting a target on your back. Still perhaps as a noble, there might be a way to do it a little more safely. Not that being a noble had proven particularly safe so far. Something to think about certainly.

“Right I’m tired and I’m not answering anymore of your questions Kai.” She said. “Time to go to bed.”

“But I’m not tired.” I jokingly complained.

“Night Kai.” She pointedly ended the conversation

Left to my own devices and bored without the internet to keep me entertained I dove into my head to continue with my work in my mind fortress world-building details to my home away from home and practising the odd skill each one taking longer and longer to level up without real-world experience to help them grow.

"Night Aleera," I whispered as she fell asleep and I fell into my own head.