Forever

“So what now?” The question hung in the air, propped up by a feeling of resignation, as Salim stared at the creature on the rock. He tried to read its face but got nothing, no twitching, no eye movement, just a blank canvas that was staring back at him. Empty eyes stared back, with a strange doll like version of his girlfriend's face, unblinking.

“We have much to discuss.” The words were spoken with emotionless efficiency as it intently stared at Salim. He couldn’t help but notice that despite the lack of expression, the creature was choosing to leave its arms resting on its hips as it waited for him to respond.

He stared blankly back as he tried to keep a hold of his emotions, “I’m still super confused about what you are talking about.”

“First.” It held up a finger, “We are the only sentient beings on this planet.” It expressed some more emotion by raising an eyebrow as it once again waited for him to respond. Salim simply sat, not knowing how to take in or even trust what he had been told.

“What?” Salim said dumbfounded.

Standing quickly, it stepped closer to him, “Accept it.”

Muted, was the only thing that Salim could feel from all the revelations being dropped on him. Some abhorrent creature was using his girlfriends' appearance, and apparently wanted to tell him that he was basically completely alone. He knew that the information should have been a shock to him, but at this point he felt too far gone.

“I… I’m good,” His warbling voice didn’t inspire much confidence, but he continued on. “So if you didn’t bring me here, who did?” He felt himself gaining more strength as he continued to speak.

“That is currently unknown.” It glanced at him with piercing brown eyes, “You were here before me.”

Salim was startled, “Wait, wait, how did you know that?” Taking a big step back as his face paled in realization, “That night, in the field, you did something to me?!”

“Correct.” Her face refused to show emotion.

“So you know I come back, right? The system, all the skills, everything?” He wasn’t sure how much it knew, if it had simply stolen his memories or done something else. Although, he didn’t fault himself for not knowing, since he didn’t have much experience with eldritch abominations.

“Your memories are hazy, it took me many years, but I have seen most of your memories.” She put a foot on the rock she had been sitting on. “Which is why this body was made to look like Nadalie, she is the one person you have a clear mental image of.”

He supposed it made sense, but it still felt wrong, the fact that the body was made by it didn’t slip past him either.

“Do you have access to the system then?” The question was more out of curiosity than anything, since his urge to talk with another person, human or not, was coming back in full force. Having been alone for so long and not being attacked outright by the creature, Salim was starting to warming up to it.

“I have a couple hypotheses on why your system is so foreign for you, to me, it is more like a limb that can grow and flex.” Its words intrigued Salim and as he waited for it to continued, “Whether it is because of your supposed immortality, I do not know yet, although it does make you difficult to track down.”

Salim couldn’t help but feel better at that, knowing that the moon itself had a hard time tracking him down, even if it came with the stipulation of dying.

“What are you, then?” It was something he was burning to know, even if it had said that it hadn’t abducted him, he wasn’t completely sure. He was also reminded that it was a pretty rude and personal thing to ask, as the creature simply stood for a while staring at him.

After several awkward seconds, it responded, “I do not know what I am, I just remember waking up one day after gaining your memories.” He wasn’t sure how to respond or even process that information, so he simply moved on and asked a few other questions he had.

“Well, then how are you controlling this body? Is it like a puppet, or is your consciousness planted in the body?” It showed the closest thing to an emotion for the first time after he spoke. Slowly, an odd smile grew on its face as it stared directly at him, causing Salim discomfort as its face plunged right into the uncanny valley.

“I grew this body myself, it is not perfect, but I have been slowly improving its functions over several generations. Think of it like a self autonomous drone, and my other bodies function similarly since it is difficult to stay connected to the main body constantly.”

That made Salim pause, “Other bodies?” Pale white flashed through his mind as he thought about what the other bodies could be.

“I’ve been experimenting with creating bodies, I am currently one of the most advanced creations. It is part of a plan that I wanted to discuss with you” It squinted at him.

“What could you possibly want to discuss with me? You’ve just told me that you can create living bodies for yourself, wha… what could I possibly discuss with you.” He was confused, especially since the only thing special was his circumstance, other than that he had nothing to offer.

Maybe it wants to figure out how I cheat death, I would certainly want to know how. It somehow figured out living drones… I’ve got no clue what this thing can do.

“You have something I want, that's why I want to make a deal. As the only native sentient being on this planet, you have something I need. I could take it by force, however that is unnecessary and make an enemy of someone who can’t die seems unwise. I can’t find a genuine way to get rid of you, so that is why we are talking.” The bluntness of the statement perturbed him, the small semblance of politeness thrown out the window.

“So, what do you want? I’m not quite sure what I could possibly have that you would want or need.” Salim was wary, since it all but admitted that the only reason they were talking was because killing him didn’t benefit its plans.

“I need your body.” His hackles rose, but before he could say anything, she continued. “Not immediately, we have all the time in the world, I just need your body when you die.”

He didn’t know what to think of that, “Why? You already make a body, right? Why would you need mine?” Salim watched as it slowly shifted weight to its right foot, “Would you be able to figure out how I keep coming back?”

“No, there is absolutely no way that I would be able to figure that out with just your body. I need your body to study your organs.” Salim blinked, not quite sure how to process the information. “I came to, years after your death, these bodies are fueled by my will or what you could consider magic not biology.”

“Years?” Salim couldn’t help but focus on that little snippet.

“You have been gone for several hundred years. It is hard for me to tell how long it has been since I received your memories, but I would assume it is a few hundred years.”

The revelation made his legs feel weak, that a few hundred years had passed in the span of just a few seconds.

“I… Wha- How?”

“I am not omnipotent, if I was, I would not need your body.” It spoke in emotionless cadence that Salim could swear was tinged with the slightest hint of sass.

“Yea, that makes sense. So you’ve just been waiting for me to pop back in?”

“Correct, thankfully the waves of energy emanating from my body make it easy to detect creatures with mana, think of it like a sonar.”

“Gotcha, gotcha,” Salim gave a thumbs up to it’s deadpanned face, as it looked down to stare at his thumb. “So… I just wander around, and when I die, you collect my corpse?”

“Correct, I am tasked with following you so that I can be nearby when you pass.” Her tone made it clear that it wasn’t negotiable.

Salim sighed and asked, “What's your name, then? I’m not calling you Nadalie.” He said it quickly but saying her name still made him feel a twinge of loneliness.

“You can call me Fallon.” She gave a small head nod. Salim raised an eyebrow as a sense of déjà vu came over him. While Fallon’s voice was mechanical in cadence, their actions had been more natural. Their movements seemed to match Nadalie’s natural body language as he watched their body slowly sway side to side.

“Pleasure, look, I need to find shelter, so I’m going to head out.” Salim faintly motioned to the evening sky above, as he began to look around for a shelter with [Wayfind].

Fallon nodded in agreement, “Go find shelter, I will be here in the morning.” They turned away, looking at the evening sky, no longer staring at him as he shuffled away to find a place to hide.

Just as he was about to leave the small clearing where he had talked with Fallon, a box jumped out in front of him.

You have brokered an agreement with a powerful being

Event has been Logged.

You have gained a Level!

While it was accurate to say that had happened, Salim wasn’t sure if it was worth a level, but at the same time he also wasn’t going to complain. He quickly found shelter under a rocky outcrop, and checking to make sure there weren't any trace of animals, he relaxed.

Realizing how tense he had been the entire time he had talked to Fallon, Salim yawned as he suddenly felt drowsy. He moved around to try and find a comfortable position before trying to make the firm dirt just a little softer.

Thinking about the immediate future, he continued to add points to beef up his physical stats. His [Channeler] skills were slightly useful, he could level them up even with his small amount of [Depth]. Salim was feeling a small amount of regret for choosing [Channeler] this time around, but being a mage was just too cool to pass up, even if he had no clue where to start.

Lvl. 4

Stats

Confirm

Might: 10 (13)

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Finesse: 10 (11)

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Resilience: 17 (18)

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Acuity: 12

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Resolve: 14

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Depth:5 (6)

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Groaning as the stats twisted his tired body, Salim tried his best to move all the miniscule stones and pebbles out of the way, to no avail. As he worked, the moon began to rise, shining beams of light outside his hiding place that acted like bars in a prison. He wasn’t as worried now that he had met Fallon, but was still apprehensive to touch the beams, considering they hadn’t explained the full effect of what the moonlight did.

He wasn’t too keen on Fallon or any of the things she had told him, even if there was no reason for them to lie to him, but it just didn’t sit right with him. Not sure whether to feel relieved or worried that the moon was a little less mysterious, Salim still felt traumatized by what had happened in that field of grass. Deciding to just live in the moment and not worry about the bigger details, he struggled to fall asleep, but eventually was able to pass out after a few pushups to tire himself out.

The morning came with aching muscles and a massive headache. The small rocks that he had desperately tried to clear the night before marked his skin with red imprint, and despite his higher [Resilience] he felt sore. Attempting to brush off the pebbles still sticking to his back, Salim headed back to the clearing to find Fallon.

Walking up to the small boulder that they had sat on the previous day, Salim spotted them propped up against the tree, waiting for him. Nodding his head in acknowledgement, Salim walked towards them.

“Could I ask if you know where the closest river is?”

“No.”

“Can I know why?”

“No.”

Closing his eyes and looking up at the sky, Salim calmed himself down before using [Wayfind] to look for running water. Getting a pull from the west, Salim decided to ignore Fallon as he began to march. Behind him, he could hear their footsteps as they followed. He continued onward, thinking about the future as he navigated the forest under the skills' guidance.