The Quest of Words - Chapter 23

I have always considered myself a fairly decent swimmer. I was no fish or anything, but I had spent plenty of time as a kid at the public pool. It had been a while since then, but I was still fairly confident I could manage.

That said, there is a literal ocean of difference between screwing around at the concrete pond and what I was attempting. A swimming pool just… lacks those certain personality quirks that make swimming any real distance in the ocean a nightmare.

It was not long before I discovered that the oceanic currents had a great deal more to say about the direction I was headed than any effort on my part. Despite maintaining a constant forward momentum, I found that I was slowly drifting around the landmass like a bug circling a drain. Plus, the closer I got to shore, the more the surf picked up, and I had to constantly fight just to keep my head above water. Before I had gotten even a quarter of the way there, I was on the verge of drowning from exhaustion, and unlike a pool, I could not simply wade over to the shallow end for a breather.

Eventually, I decided my only recourse was to break into my supply of Gems of Power. Jax and I had discovered that, at least while they were dissolving in your mouth, a Gem could act as an endurance potion in a pinch. And since the ocean had grabbed hold of my nipples with a vindictive gleam in its eye, it was now or never.

“Inventory,” I called while spitting a bit of the acrid water from my mouth.

I did not have much in the way of personal storage—just the Coin pouch we had found during our previous Dungeon excursion—but it had served me well. The little leather sack was fastened about my neck via the sole surviving article of clothing that delve had left us: the drawstring from Jax’s old pair of pants. I had to give the thing props. It was hanging in there like a champion.

When the HUD appeared above me, I quickly took note of my current stock. Besides the small collection of Coins and the one remaining pill, we still had quite a few Gems of various qualities. Most of them were of the First and Second Ranks, but I did have two from the Third. Boss fights were good for that.

However, what I was looking for were the Minor Rank II’s we had received from the spider-beetles. Now that I was in the first Stratum, the Rank I’s were all but useless to me. I had eaten dozens of them since passing the Boundary, and I had yet to receive any kind of notice about a Layer-up. More importantly, they now lacked that critical endurance-sustaining quality I was looking for. I had been holding off on them until the lilim had caught up with me, but the situation now forced my hand.

With one of the tiny Gems slowly dissolving under my tongue, I set out once more, fighting the waves and currents to inch my way along ever closer to the sandy beach growing on the horizon. It seemed to take ages, yet I persevered. I swam as far as I was able, rested on my back while the surf was calm enough to let me, and when the going got to be too much, I would tuck another Gem into my cheek and push through.

By the time my feet finally dug into the sand along the shoreline I had consumed seven of the dully glowing Gems. The number surprised me somewhat. I had thought for sure that the multitude I had used for the lilim would count for more. Apparently not.

Nevertheless, as I dragged my way out of the water and collapsed, a most welcome message appeared before my eyes.

I smiled weakly at the familiar notice, but then it gave a strange sort of flutter and vanished without my dismissing it.

“Bline?” I called feebly, too wiped to manage much more. I knew, now that I was safely ashore, I would not be able to fight off sleep much longer. It had been a very… very long day. “I’d like to distribute my stats, please.”

She did not respond. No attribute page nor any other prompts appeared. I had been assuming She was upset with me, so that made a degree of sense. However, with the Layer-up notice, I had hoped we might have returned to an uneasy working relationship.

But that strange flicker… I shook my head. I remembered the state She had been in when She had dismissed me. That scream. I had thought it was because she was offended by my body odor, yet now, for the first time I considered the idea that there might be something genuinely wrong. But how could that be?

How could I do… anything to a goddess?

It was a wild notion, yet before I could really consider the matter, I received a second notice. And this one was considerably less familiar.

“Um… what?”

Scarcely had the word left my mouth before a wave of dizziness overcame me, and I dropped unconscious.

*****

Abruptly, the television faded to black.

For several minutes, I simply sat there, staring at it. Uncomprehending. But then eventually, I had to blink.

When I did, I refocused on the broken coffee table just in front of my knees, and then my gaze began to wander. To my right was a recliner. Behind it, a freestanding artisan’s desk. Then, just to its right, there was a mostly empty bookshelf—all of which would have clashed like a set from ‘In Living Color’ were it not for the wallpaper. Somehow that managed not to fit even with that aesthetic.

I had to take a moment to rub at my eyes. For whatever reason, I had appeared back in that room. Bline’s room. Or I guess it was… my room? But why was I here? And where was She? And why did I feel so… off?

Whatever the answers to those questions, the place looked like it had been hit by a tornado. Wood chips, bits of ripped fabric, and crumpled piles of blue paper were strewn all over. Yet somehow the furniture remained unmoved. Damaged, yes. But unmoved.

“Well… now what?” I murmured. My voice echoed strangely, distorting it so as to be otherworldly and unrecognizable.

Eventually, I decided to look around. Whatever this place’s true nature, it might do me some good to try understanding it. Bline had mentioned having some difficulties, so it was possible I might be able to help Her—however unlikely that might be.

The first thing to draw my attention was the artisan’s desk. I had the vague impression there was something missing from it, but for the life of me, I could not tell you what that might have been. In any case, there was a new and undamaged sheet of paper there, and from the look of it, the beginnings of my stat sheet had been sketched out. However, most of the important details had yet to be included.

For a moment, I had the passing thought to fill in some ridiculous numbers for my attributes. All the writing materials were right there. It would be easy.

Then I realized I was being silly. Just because I wrote something, that did not mean anything would happen. This was just a representation of something within my Core, and intuitively, I knew whatever numbers were written here could only reflect it and not the other way around. The interface the Lady provided only served as a means for me to give instructions for its advancement, so all I would end up accomplishing would be defacing Her work.

Hmm… so if that’s true, where does She get that information from?

It was an interesting question. And since I was poking about within my own mind, there was a fair chance I could find out. I had not been given the opportunity to distribute my stat points before being forced into torpor, after all. Maybe I could do that from the inside.

Curious now, I glanced over at the bookshelf in the passing hope there might be some sort of instruction manual. I had my doubts, though. If I had been in the Lady’s shoes, something of that nature would have been the first thing I would have looked for, but it was possible She had at least been taking notes.

However, when I looked over the titles, I quickly realized what these books were. Each represented a Word. There were nine on the top shelf: Labia, Silver, Generation, Dirt, Cynic, Palace, Floridness, Moisture, and of course, Toilet. Then, on the second, there were the slightly more useful ones: Lift and Conceal.

Hmm… divided into Nouns and Verbs, huh?

It was a decent enough way of organizing things for the time being. With as few as I had, there was not much point in further categorizing them alphabetically or into subjects. But why would each Word need an entire book?

There was only one way of answering that question. And for some reason, Moisture was calling to me. Maybe it was my recent swimming exercise, but I had the strange notion that if I could just understand the Word a bit better, I might be able to flex some measure of control over the element. I had no idea how, but… well, the book was there. I might as well give it a look.

Unfortunately, when I cracked it open, instead of offering any kind of advice on how to use or even speak the Word aloud, the book seemed filled with nothing but a bunch of alien symbols. I knuckled my forehead, dumbfounded as I turned page after page, but it was all the same. Frustrated, I skipped back to the front, hoping for a table of contents or any sort of explanation. I got one. Sort of. The first page simply read:

Herein lies the essence of Moisture. Noun-class. Qualitative.

The next page was gobbledygook. As was the next. And the next. That being a bust, I thumbed to the back, idly scanning the pages along the way in the vague hope of seeing something recognizable—like a graph… or an illustration. However, when I got to the final page, it simply contained the word:

Complete.

I sighed. How spectacularly helpful.

Even with my lexicon of languages, the contents of the book were a complete mystery. None of the symbols were even remotely familiar. It was not a matter of not having the correct Words to line up with them, either. It was like the language… did not exist. Yet it did. I was looking right at it.

However, after a few minutes of staring, I got the bizarre impression this was all some sort of… math? I could not tell you why. Maybe it was to do with the layout and spacing of it all. Each collection of symbols stood alone—important in and of themselves—instead of flowing in a continuous scrawl. Then, there were certain of the symbols which featured prominently, much larger and bolder than the others, and this would repeat each time those particular symbols were used. Still others, much smaller and seemingly less important, seemed to wrap phrases together.

I could only shake my head. I mean, I had taken some calculus back in the day, but I was in no way prepared to tackle something like this. I would have needed PhD’s in philology and linguistics to even begin.

If the Lady ever showed back up, I would have to figure out how to ask about this stuff. I doubted whether She would bother answering—She seemed to regard people’s constant pestering as an irritant—but you never knew. I had certainly never heard of anyone relating Words to math equations, so She might find the insight refreshing. Or laugh at me.

Feeling somewhat dejected, I returned the book to where I had found it, but then I paused as I traced my finger over the spine. Something was… weird. Not as it should be.

The lights gave a bit of a flicker as if impatient, and I nodded. I had dallied long enough. I could be jettisoned from this place just as easily as I had entered. Whatever opportunity had been afforded me by showing up here, I had best make use of it.

Turning, I regarded the rest of the destroyed room.

Okay… so how do we go about distributing those points?

The moment that thought crossed my mind, my eyes fell on a door in back of the couch, and I could not help but furrow my brow in confusion. I could not be certain, but I felt confident there had been nothing but a blank wall there before.

Nothing ventured, I guess.

But when I started forward to circle the couch, I swayed unnaturally and had to catch myself before I fell. For a moment, I had to fight off dizziness. The feeling was wholly alien—like I had briefly become unstuck from reality. As if I was… somehow puppeteering my own body.

The lights flickered again, and the feeling passed. Whatever was going on, I was gripped by a sense of urgency. I had best hurry.

The door led to a concrete stairwell—like you might find in a hotel or a parking lot—leading down, and giving the matter no more thought, I quickly began to descend. As strange as I was feeling, I could not be bothered with trivial details. The place was already weird and unnatural. What was one more oddity?

At first, I clutched at the handrail with exaggerated caution. I did not want another wave of dizziness to catch me unaware. However, after a few stories, I began feeling more confident. Almost light on my feet. And before long, I was taking the stairs two at a time, anxious to be done with.

Finally, I arrived at the last flight and saw a door, so I leapt down almost like a child at play. I landed heavily and felt an odd pain in my chest, as if I had just experienced a minor heart attack. That brought me back to earth—both physically and mentally—and I had to shake my head.

Why did I do that?

The lights blinked.

Past the door was a circular room. There was almost nothing in it save a series of still other doors, and all of it was painted in a basic sort of eggshell white. If the lighting had been a bit brighter, it could have worked perfectly for one of those mindfuckery types of sci-fi movies. I half expected some elderly gentleman to suddenly appear while snidely explaining the whole of the plot through some easily digestible metaphor.

It would have been nice, come to think of it. I could have used a bit of exposition. All I had to go off of was a conveniently placed strip of carpet leading directly to the door on my immediate right.

I shrugged. Good enough.

That door led to yet another room, though this one was markedly different in both style and presentation to anything I had seen in here so far. It looked like the control room to some sort of… submarine? If it were designed by Jules Verne. So the Nautilus, I guess is what I am saying.

Directly in front of me, there were a series of six, naked cathode-ray monitors mounted to the wall in a line, and all seemed limited to sepia-tones. The rest of the room was nearly strangled with elaborate copper pipes and tubes that wound about, leading off everywhere and nowhere, with various knobs and dials installed in seemingly random positions.

The only thing that was out of place was some kind of organic… mass that was growing up and over certain of the pipes off to the right. The moment I laid eyes on it, I unconsciously hissed and flinched back.

That doesn’t belong there!

Abruptly, I straightened and wiped my hands over my hips in embarrassment. That had been… a little out of character. And how would I know what belonged?

The lights flickered three times in rapid succession.

I glanced up at the hanging fixture. Hmm… might have an electrical problem. Then I looked back at the… thing.

Uh huh.

It was… more than a little disgusting. It had that whole pulsating-membrane vibe going on that was so prevalent in horror movies—the kind of thing that made a person want to step back and go, ‘yeah… naw, man. I’m out.’ But short of killing it with fire, there was not much I could do about it. Also, I did not have any fire.

But I still had to figure out how to use this room, so I sidled over to the far left monitor. It was only coincidence that it happened to be the one furthest from… whatever that stuff was.

The display was fixed on a static image of the human muscular system with various blinking indicators labeling the different areas. I was unfamiliar with whatever language was being used in the display, but not in the same way as the Word-books. I knew these characters if not their meaning, but the intent was clear enough. This had to be my Strength attribute. Though how I was supposed to interact with it was a mystery.

None of the knobs seemed to do anything, no matter how much I fiddled with them. And whatever it was the dials were monitoring, I could not see any correlation with any of my actions. However, to one side, I did notice what looked to be the receiving end of a vacuum tube.

I did not want to touch it though. Some of that goop was all over it. And the air sucking through it kept making little farting noises.

My lip curled in disgust.

Dismissing that station for now, I moved over to the next. This one was mercifully clear of the organic substance—including the vacuum tube to one side of it. Meanwhile, the monitor was again displaying the human body, but this time, the focus seemed to be on some sort of intricate filaments extending throughout. Initially, I assumed it was the cardiovascular system, but I quickly dismissed that idea. The spinal chord featured too prominently to be anything but the nervous system.

So is this Agility, then?

That made some sense. Agility was the ability to accurately control one’s own body, so strengthening the nervous system would be the way to go about that. There had to be more to it than that, though. I mean, if you just unilaterally ‘improved’ your nervous system, would your sense of touch not eventually start going haywire?

Although, it was an intriguing notion. Maybe pumping Agility would result in some passive bonuses to your senses. I would need to look into it.

Frowning, I took a closer look. There was some kind of blinking message on screen, trying to draw my attention to the ears. It was difficult to tell—not being able to read the language and all—but it seemed to be some kind of error.

Huh… bet I got some water in there. I made a mental note to clean them out later. I did not want swimmer’s ear.

Given the layout I had seen thus far, the rest seemed pretty straightforward. These were representations of my stats. Each of the monitors portrayed various parts of my body in more or less detail. The first three were my physicals in order from left to right, while the latter had to be the mentals. I assumed the order would remain consistent, but the big, pulsating mass was mostly over those. So I did not want to get too close. However, from what I could see of the monitors, my brain featured prominently.

Okay? So… now what?

There had to be some way of distributing my stats.

A moment later, I heard a bit of thunk followed by a soft click, and I turned. Over by the door, there were four receptacles for the vacuum tubes, and something had just arrived in the one furthest left. Then, before I could blink, another three arrived in rapid succession.

When I went to investigate, I found four capsules waiting in their slots. Each contained a single, thin quartz crystal, perhaps two fingers in length and about as wide around as my pinkie.

Huh… I guess these are my attribute points, then? It made sense. And it went along with the pneumatic tubes positioned next to each of my stat monitors. The crystals were thin enough to fit them perfectly. Although, now that I was comparing them, not every monitor had exactly the same setup.

Strength and Agility both had a single tube, but the rest all had two—except for the one I assumed was Charisma. That one was completely covered by that gunk, so it was impossible to see what was under it. Even so, things were becoming ever more clear. With the exception of Toughness, my physicals were my weakest stats, and so far, they only required the one stat point per upgrade. The rest required two.

Okay, then. So what am I going to invest in?

Normally, my go-to was Charisma. It was supposed to be important for my skills as a summoner, and when I had gotten it to 10, I had received a message indicating it might have something to do with improving my abilities with Words—something about them becoming more convincing. Whatever that meant.

However, even once I worked up the nerve to poke at the living mass covering the tube… with the sharp end of the quartz—there was no way I was touching that crap with my fingers—the skin of it resisted me like hard boot-leather. I might have been able to force it through with a mallet or something, but quite honestly, I did not want to find out how it might react if I tried.

My other main stat was currently Wisdom. Besides helping me think more clearly, it had the added side-benefit of improving my resistance to mental Status Effects, and since I frequently cursed myself with debilitating Lust, that was becoming increasingly important.

Unfortunately, that set of tubes was also covered with flesh, but with this one, there seemed to be a bit of an opening to let the air through. In fact, it almost looked like a bizarre set of lips. Very moist… pulsating lips.

Faintly disgusted, I began prodding at them with the tip of a crystal, coaxing them to part just enough to let me insert the thing.

“Mmm~”

I paused, listening. Where did that sound come from?

Whatever it had been, it had stopped. However, when I looked back, it seemed that the lips had given way just enough for me to see the pair of tubes they were covering.

Though, they had started emitting some sort of… slime. And the tubes kept sucking at it… making popping noises. I felt my gorge rising, so I quickly averted my eyes. I was not sure what would happen if I were to lose my lunch inside my own Core, and I certainly did not want to find out.

Suppressing a shiver, I slipped the first crystal into its slot, but it stopped about halfway in. It was not stuck though. I could easily wiggle it around or pull it back out again. There seemed to be some sort of blockage. Experimentally, I tried the other tube, but the same thing happened.

Someone audibly gasped, and I spun. But there was no one there.

“Okay… that tears it. I’m calling shenanigans,” I said aloud. My voice sounded tinny inside the mostly-copper chamber. “Where’s my broom?”

No one replied. Or laughed. Not that I expected them to. Actually, it would have been more weird if they had.

I turned back with a suspicious frown. The pair of crystals were sitting there just as I had left them, although the lips seemed to be sucking at them like a particularly delicious Twin Pop. I was half tempted to try pulling them out again just to get them away from that mess, but there was the risk of getting some of it on me.

So that was out.

Okay, so what’s causing the blockage.

I did not really know what I was dealing with here, so I decided to check out one of the other tubes—without living slime all over it. It was difficult to see anything within the little opening, but I could just faintly make out a thin metal rod. And when I glanced to one side, there seemed to be some sort of mechanism attached to the pipe at about the same spot.

Slowly, I traced the various copper tubes and shafts along to the far left-hand side until I found an exaggerated pull-lever. It even had a helpful little label etched into a plaque on the floor.

Finalize? I pursed my lips in thought. Oh, okay. Slot the crystals, then pull the lever to finalize my choice. I nodded. Got it.

With only the two crystals left, I was sorely tempted to put them into Strength and Agility, but it was difficult for me to justify the picks. Besides the occasional banister-scaling incidents, I did not have much need for increased physicality.

That just left Intelligence and Toughness. And while I could certainly use a touch more in the way of smarts, I could not see any clear mechanical benefit for the choice. Meanwhile, pumping Toughness would directly increase my Life Energy pool which served as my reservoir of mana.

Well, that’s a no-brainer. I stepped toward Toughness before pausing. Damn… what’s with all the puns, lately?

Yet again, the twin pipes were almost covered with that organic mass. There was even an identical set of fleshy lips growing over the entrance.

Man… I really need to figure out how to clean this shit out of here. This is disgusting. But for the time being, I would have to deal with it. And not wanting to think about it anymore, I simply shoved the pair of crystals through the opening.

“Mmyeah~”

The sound sent a shiver running up my spine. It had been rather singularly… sexual. Yet there was only one place it could have come from. Unwilling, I glanced over at the pulsating mass. It was sitting there just the same as always. Though it might have looked a tad… excited?

For a moment, I allowed my eyes to unfocus, just staring off into the middle distance. Then, I walked over to the lever. From the way things were going, I had an inkling as to what would happen when I pulled it. And that was about the last thing I wanted to see.

Fuck it.

Without looking, I steeled myself for the inevitable and yanked the lever back. There was a thunk, and the crystals were away… followed shortly by the entire organic mass tensing up, shivering for several seconds while phosphorescent lights rippled over its skin, then letting out the girliest little squeal I had ever heard. After that, it began violently convulsing around and into what had to be the Charisma tube.

I stared in morbid fascination through the whole thing, simultaneously appalled and alarmed. I mean… whatever strange, metaphorical dreamland this happened to be, that tube was connected to me. Right? I had a sneaking suspicion I was going to be feeling some sort of effect from this for better or worse.

I also had a pretty good idea of who was responsible.

But I had seen enough. I was ready to get out of here, so I turned to leave.

However, when I approached the door, I noticed a small glass porthole at about eye-level, and I happened to catch a bit of my own reflection there. Except it was not. It was… wrong.

Hesitant, I reached forward, but then I felt an abrupt and sharp pain in my hand. With a gasp, I clutched it to my chest. But that felt wrong, too. There was… too much of it.

My hand twisted and cracked, and I grit my teeth, helpless to do anything but watch as my fingernails began to grow. And sharpen.

Then the pain traveled up my neck, into my jaw. As before, I could feel certain of my teeth begin to push out, almost twisting in my skull as they lengthened into fangs.

With a final pop, they settled, and I looked up into the glass. And then our eyes met.

That was Bline’s face.

Suddenly, Her lips moved. My lips.

“Donum?”

Suddenly, the pain slammed into me again—far, far stronger than before—like the top of my head was about to burst open.

And I woke up.

Seleroan

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I have always considered myself a fairly decent swimmer. I was no fish or anything, but I had spent plenty of time as a kid at the public pool. It had been a while since then, but I was still fairly confident I could manage. That said, there is a literal ocean of difference between screwing around at the concrete pond and what I was attempting. A swimming pool just lacks those certain personality quirks that make swimming any real distance in the ocean a nightmare. It was not long before I discovered that the oceanic currents had a great deal more to say about the direction I was headed than any effort on my part. Despite maintaining a constant forward momentum, I found that I was slowly drifting around the landmass like a bug circling a drain. Plus, the closer I got to shore, the more the surf picked up, and I had to constantly fight just to keep my head above water. Before I had gotten even a quarter of the way there, I was on the verge of drowning from exhaustion, and unlike a pool, I could not simply wade over to the shallow end for a breather. Eventually, I decided my only recourse was to break into my supply of Gems of Power. Jax and I had discovered that, at least while they were dissolving in your mouth, a Gem could act as an endurance potion in a pinch. And since the ocean had grabbed hold of my nipples with a vindictive gleam in its eye, it was now or never. Inventory, I called while spitting a bit of the acrid water from my mouth. I did not have much in the way of personal storagejust the Coin pouch we had found during our previous Dungeon excursionbut it had served me well. The little leather sack was fastened about my neck via the sole surviving article of clothing that delve had left us: the drawstring from Jax's old pair of pants. I had to give the thing props. It was hanging in there like a champion. When the HUD appeared above me, I quickly took note of my current stock. Besides the small collection of Coins and the one remaining pill, we still had quite a few Gems of various qualities. Most of them were of the First and Second Ranks, but I did have two from the Third. Boss fights were good for that. However, what I was looking for were the Minor Rank II's we had received from the spider-beetles. Now that I was in the first Stratum, the Rank I's were all but useless to me. I had eaten dozens of them since passing the Boundary, and I had yet to receive any kind of notice about a Layer-up. More importantly, they now lacked that critical endurance-sustaining quality I was looking for. I had been holding off on them until the lilim had caught up with me, but the situation now forced my hand. With one of the tiny Gems slowly dissolving under my tongue, I set out once more, fighting the waves and currents to inch my way along ever closer to the sandy beach growing on the horizon. It seemed to take ages, yet I persevered. I swam as far as I was able, rested on my back while the surf was calm enough to let me, and when the going got to be too much, I would tuck another Gem into my cheek and push through. By the time my feet finally dug into the sand along the shoreline I had consumed seven of the dully glowing Gems. The number surprised me somewhat. I had thought for sure that the multitude I had used for the lilim would count for more. Apparently not. Nevertheless, as I dragged my way out of the water and collapsed, a most welcome message appeared before my eyes. Congratulations! You have added enough to your Core to gain a Layer.The condensation process will begin the next time you sleep.If you have not distributed your stat points, do so now. I smiled weakly at the familiar notice, but then it gave a strange sort of flutter and vanished without my dismissing it. Bline? I called feebly, too wiped to manage much more. I knew, now that I was safely ashore, I would not be able to fight off sleep much longer. It had been a very very long day. I'd like to distribute my stats, please. She did not respond. No attribute page nor any other prompts appeared. I had been assuming She was upset with me, so that made a degree of sense. However, with the Layer-up notice, I had hoped we might have returned to an uneasy working relationship. But that strange flicker I shook my head. I remembered the state She had been in when She had dismissed me. That scream. I had thought it was because she was offended by my body odor, yet now, for the first time I considered the idea that there might be something genuinely wrong. But how could that be? How could I do anything to a goddess? It was a wild notion, yet before I could really consider the matter, I received a second notice. And this one was considerably less familiar. Warning: Personality quarantine required.Torpor will begin in 3 seconds. Um what? Scarcely had the word left my mouth before a wave of dizziness overcame me, and I dropped unconscious. ***** Abruptly, the television faded to black. For several minutes, I simply sat there, staring at it. Uncomprehending. But then eventually, I had to blink. When I did, I refocused on the broken coffee table just in front of my knees, and then my gaze began to wander. To my right was a recliner. Behind it, a freestanding artisan's desk. Then, just to its right, there was a mostly empty bookshelfall of which would have clashed like a set from In Living Color' were it not for the wallpaper. Somehow that managed not to fit even with that aesthetic. I had to take a moment to rub at my eyes. For whatever reason, I had appeared back in that room. Bline's room. Or I guess it was my room? But why was I here? And where was She? And why did I feel so off? Whatever the answers to those questions, the place looked like it had been hit by a tornado. Wood chips, bits of ripped fabric, and crumpled piles of blue paper were strewn all over. Yet somehow the furniture remained unmoved. Damaged, yes. But unmoved. Well now what? I murmured. My voice echoed strangely, distorting it so as to be otherworldly and unrecognizable. Eventually, I decided to look around. Whatever this place's true nature, it might do me some good to try understanding it. Bline had mentioned having some difficulties, so it was possible I might be able to help Herhowever unlikely that might be. The first thing to draw my attention was the artisan's desk. I had the vague impression there was something missing from it, but for the life of me, I could not tell you what that might have been. In any case, there was a new and undamaged sheet of paper there, and from the look of it, the beginnings of my stat sheet had been sketched out. However, most of the important details had yet to be included. For a moment, I had the passing thought to fill in some ridiculous numbers for my attributes. All the writing materials were right there. It would be easy. Then I realized I was being silly. Just because I wrote something, that did not mean anything would happen. This was just a representation of something within my Core, and intuitively, I knew whatever numbers were written here could only reflect it and not the other way around. The interface the Lady provided only served as a means for me to give instructions for its advancement, so all I would end up accomplishing would be defacing Her work. Hmm so if that's true, where does She get that information from? It was an interesting question. And since I was poking about within my own mind, there was a fair chance I could find out. I had not been given the opportunity to distribute my stat points before being forced into torpor, after all. Maybe I could do that from the inside. Curious now, I glanced over at the bookshelf in the passing hope there might be some sort of instruction manual. I had my doubts, though. If I had been in the Lady's shoes, something of that nature would have been the first thing I would have looked for, but it was possible She had at least been taking notes. However, when I looked over the titles, I quickly realized what these books were. Each represented a Word. There were nine on the top shelf: Labia, Silver, Generation, Dirt, Cynic, Palace, Floridness, Moisture, and of course, Toilet. Then, on the second, there were the slightly more useful ones: Lift and Conceal. Hmm divided into Nouns and Verbs, huh? It was a decent enough way of organizing things for the time being. With as few as I had, there was not much point in further categorizing them alphabetically or into subjects. But why would each Word need an entire book? There was only one way of answering that question. And for some reason, Moisture was calling to me. Maybe it was my recent swimming exercise, but I had the strange notion that if I could just understand the Word a bit better, I might be able to flex some measure of control over the element. I had no idea how, but well, the book was there. I might as well give it a look. Unfortunately, when I cracked it open, instead of offering any kind of advice on how to use or even speak the Word aloud, the book seemed filled with nothing but a bunch of alien symbols. I knuckled my forehead, dumbfounded as I turned page after page, but it was all the same. Frustrated, I skipped back to the front, hoping for a table of contents or any sort of explanation. I got one. Sort of. The first page simply read: Herein lies the essence of Moisture. Noun-class. Qualitative. The next page was gobbledygook. As was the next. And the next. That being a bust, I thumbed to the back, idly scanning the pages along the way in the vague hope of seeing something recognizablelike a graph or an illustration. However, when I got to the final page, it simply contained the word: Complete. I sighed. How spectacularly helpful. Even with my lexicon of languages, the contents of the book were a complete mystery. None of the symbols were even remotely familiar. It was not a matter of not having the correct Words to line up with them, either. It was like the language did not exist. Yet it did. I was looking right at it. However, after a few minutes of staring, I got the bizarre impression this was all some sort of math? I could not tell you why. Maybe it was to do with the layout and spacing of it all. Each collection of symbols stood aloneimportant in and of themselvesinstead of flowing in a continuous scrawl. Then, there were certain of the symbols which featured prominently, much larger and bolder than the others, and this would repeat each time those particular symbols were used. Still others, much smaller and seemingly less important, seemed to wrap phrases together. I could only shake my head. I mean, I had taken some calculus back in the day, but I was in no way prepared to tackle something like this. I would have needed PhD's in philology and linguistics to even begin. If the Lady ever showed back up, I would have to figure out how to ask about this stuff. I doubted whether She would bother answeringShe seemed to regard people's constant pestering as an irritantbut you never knew. I had certainly never heard of anyone relating Words to math equations, so She might find the insight refreshing. Or laugh at me. Feeling somewhat dejected, I returned the book to where I had found it, but then I paused as I traced my finger over the spine. Something was weird. Not as it should be. The lights gave a bit of a flicker as if impatient, and I nodded. I had dallied long enough. I could be jettisoned from this place just as easily as I had entered. Whatever opportunity had been afforded me by showing up here, I had best make use of it. Turning, I regarded the rest of the destroyed room. Okay so how do we go about distributing those points? The moment that thought crossed my mind, my eyes fell on a door in back of the couch, and I could not help but furrow my brow in confusion. I could not be certain, but I felt confident there had been nothing but a blank wall there before. Nothing ventured, I guess. But when I started forward to circle the couch, I swayed unnaturally and had to catch myself before I fell. For a moment, I had to fight off dizziness. The feeling was wholly alienlike I had briefly become unstuck from reality. As if I was somehow puppeteering my own body. The lights flickered again, and the feeling passed. Whatever was going on, I was gripped by a sense of urgency. I had best hurry. The door led to a concrete stairwelllike you might find in a hotel or a parking lotleading down, and giving the matter no more thought, I quickly began to descend. As strange as I was feeling, I could not be bothered with trivial details. The place was already weird and unnatural. What was one more oddity? At first, I clutched at the handrail with exaggerated caution. I did not want another wave of dizziness to catch me unaware. However, after a few stories, I began feeling more confident. Almost light on my feet. And before long, I was taking the stairs two at a time, anxious to be done with. Finally, I arrived at the last flight and saw a door, so I leapt down almost like a child at play. I landed heavily and felt an odd pain in my chest, as if I had just experienced a minor heart attack. That brought me back to earthboth physically and mentallyand I had to shake my head. Why did I do that? The lights blinked. Past the door was a circular room. There was almost nothing in it save a series of still other doors, and all of it was painted in a basic sort of eggshell white. If the lighting had been a bit brighter, it could have worked perfectly for one of those mindfuckery types of sci-fi movies. I half expected some elderly gentleman to suddenly appear while snidely explaining the whole of the plot through some easily digestible metaphor. It would have been nice, come to think of it. I could have used a bit of exposition. All I had to go off of was a conveniently placed strip of carpet leading directly to the door on my immediate right. I shrugged. Good enough. That door led to yet another room, though this one was markedly different in both style and presentation to anything I had seen in here so far. It looked like the control room to some sort of submarine? If it were designed by Jules Verne. So the Nautilus, I guess is what I am saying. Directly in front of me, there were a series of six, naked cathode-ray monitors mounted to the wall in a line, and all seemed limited to sepia-tones. The rest of the room was nearly strangled with elaborate copper pipes and tubes that wound about, leading off everywhere and nowhere, with various knobs and dials installed in seemingly random positions. The only thing that was out of place was some kind of organic mass that was growing up and over certain of the pipes off to the right. The moment I laid eyes on it, I unconsciously hissed and flinched back. That doesn't belong there! Abruptly, I straightened and wiped my hands over my hips in embarrassment. That had been a little out of character. And how would I know what belonged? The lights flickered three times in rapid succession. I glanced up at the hanging fixture. Hmm might have an electrical problem. Then I looked back at the thing. Uh huh. It was more than a little disgusting. It had that whole pulsating-membrane vibe going on that was so prevalent in horror moviesthe kind of thing that made a person want to step back and go, yeah naw, man. I'm out.' But short of killing it with fire, there was not much I could do about it. Also, I did not have any fire. But I still had to figure out how to use this room, so I sidled over to the far left monitor. It was only coincidence that it happened to be the one furthest from whatever that stuff was. The display was fixed on a static image of the human muscular system with various blinking indicators labeling the different areas. I was unfamiliar with whatever language was being used in the display, but not in the same way as the Word-books. I knew these characters if not their meaning, but the intent was clear enough. This had to be my Strength attribute. Though how I was supposed to interact with it was a mystery. None of the knobs seemed to do anything, no matter how much I fiddled with them. And whatever it was the dials were monitoring, I could not see any correlation with any of my actions. However, to one side, I did notice what looked to be the receiving end of a vacuum tube. I did not want to touch it though. Some of that goop was all over it. And the air sucking through it kept making little farting noises. My lip curled in disgust. Dismissing that station for now, I moved over to the next. This one was mercifully clear of the organic substanceincluding the vacuum tube to one side of it. Meanwhile, the monitor was again displaying the human body, but this time, the focus seemed to be on some sort of intricate filaments extending throughout. Initially, I assumed it was the cardiovascular system, but I quickly dismissed that idea. The spinal chord featured too prominently to be anything but the nervous system. So is this Agility, then? That made some sense. Agility was the ability to accurately control one's own body, so strengthening the nervous system would be the way to go about that. There had to be more to it than that, though. I mean, if you just unilaterally improved' your nervous system, would your sense of touch not eventually start going haywire? Although, it was an intriguing notion. Maybe pumping Agility would result in some passive bonuses to your senses. I would need to look into it. Frowning, I took a closer look. There was some kind of blinking message on screen, trying to draw my attention to the ears. It was difficult to tellnot being able to read the language and allbut it seemed to be some kind of error. Huh bet I got some water in there. I made a mental note to clean them out later. I did not want swimmer's ear. Given the layout I had seen thus far, the rest seemed pretty straightforward. These were representations of my stats. Each of the monitors portrayed various parts of my body in more or less detail. The first three were my physicals in order from left to right, while the latter had to be the mentals. I assumed the order would remain consistent, but the big, pulsating mass was mostly over those. So I did not want to get too close. However, from what I could see of the monitors, my brain featured prominently. Okay? So now what? There had to be some way of distributing my stats. A moment later, I heard a bit of thunk followed by a soft click, and I turned. Over by the door, there were four receptacles for the vacuum tubes, and something had just arrived in the one furthest left. Then, before I could blink, another three arrived in rapid succession. When I went to investigate, I found four capsules waiting in their slots. Each contained a single, thin quartz crystal, perhaps two fingers in length and about as wide around as my pinkie. Huh I guess these are my attribute points, then? It made sense. And it went along with the pneumatic tubes positioned next to each of my stat monitors. The crystals were thin enough to fit them perfectly. Although, now that I was comparing them, not every monitor had exactly the same setup. Strength and Agility both had a single tube, but the rest all had twoexcept for the one I assumed was Charisma. That one was completely covered by that gunk, so it was impossible to see what was under it. Even so, things were becoming ever more clear. With the exception of Toughness, my physicals were my weakest stats, and so far, they only required the one stat point per upgrade. The rest required two. Okay, then. So what am I going to invest in? Normally, my go-to was Charisma. It was supposed to be important for my skills as a summoner, and when I had gotten it to 10, I had received a message indicating it might have something to do with improving my abilities with Wordssomething about them becoming more convincing. Whatever that meant. However, even once I worked up the nerve to poke at the living mass covering the tube with the sharp end of the quartzthere was no way I was touching that crap with my fingersthe skin of it resisted me like hard boot-leather. I might have been able to force it through with a mallet or something, but quite honestly, I did not want to find out how it might react if I tried. My other main stat was currently Wisdom. Besides helping me think more clearly, it had the added side-benefit of improving my resistance to mental Status Effects, and since I frequently cursed myself with debilitating Lust, that was becoming increasingly important. Unfortunately, that set of tubes was also covered with flesh, but with this one, there seemed to be a bit of an opening to let the air through. In fact, it almost looked like a bizarre set of lips. Very moist pulsating lips. Faintly disgusted, I began prodding at them with the tip of a crystal, coaxing them to part just enough to let me insert the thing. Mmm~ I paused, listening. Where did that sound come from? Whatever it had been, it had stopped. However, when I looked back, it seemed that the lips had given way just enough for me to see the pair of tubes they were covering. Though, they had started emitting some sort of slime. And the tubes kept sucking at it making popping noises. I felt my gorge rising, so I quickly averted my eyes. I was not sure what would happen if I were to lose my lunch inside my own Core, and I certainly did not want to find out. Suppressing a shiver, I slipped the first crystal into its slot, but it stopped about halfway in. It was not stuck though. I could easily wiggle it around or pull it back out again. There seemed to be some sort of blockage. Experimentally, I tried the other tube, but the same thing happened. Someone audibly gasped, and I spun. But there was no one there. Okay that tears it. I'm calling shenanigans, I said aloud. My voice sounded tinny inside the mostly-copper chamber. Where's my broom? No one replied. Or laughed. Not that I expected them to. Actually, it would have been more weird if they had. I turned back with a suspicious frown. The pair of crystals were sitting there just as I had left them, although the lips seemed to be sucking at them like a particularly delicious Twin Pop. I was half tempted to try pulling them out again just to get them away from that mess, but there was the risk of getting some of it on me. So that was out. Okay, so what's causing the blockage. I did not really know what I was dealing with here, so I decided to check out one of the other tubeswithout living slime all over it. It was difficult to see anything within the little opening, but I could just faintly make out a thin metal rod. And when I glanced to one side, there seemed to be some sort of mechanism attached to the pipe at about the same spot. Slowly, I traced the various copper tubes and shafts along to the far left-hand side until I found an exaggerated pull-lever. It even had a helpful little label etched into a plaque on the floor. Finalize? I pursed my lips in thought. Oh, okay. Slot the crystals, then pull the lever to finalize my choice. I nodded. Got it. With only the two crystals left, I was sorely tempted to put them into Strength and Agility, but it was difficult for me to justify the picks. Besides the occasional banister-scaling incidents, I did not have much need for increased physicality. That just left Intelligence and Toughness. And while I could certainly use a touch more in the way of smarts, I could not see any clear mechanical benefit for the choice. Meanwhile, pumping Toughness would directly increase my Life Energy pool which served as my reservoir of mana. Well, that's a no-brainer. I stepped toward Toughness before pausing. Damn what's with all the puns, lately? Yet again, the twin pipes were almost covered with that organic mass. There was even an identical set of fleshy lips growing over the entrance. Man I really need to figure out how to clean this shit out of here. This is disgusting. But for the time being, I would have to deal with it. And not wanting to think about it anymore, I simply shoved the pair of crystals through the opening. Mmyeah~ The sound sent a shiver running up my spine. It had been rather singularly sexual. Yet there was only one place it could have come from. Unwilling, I glanced over at the pulsating mass. It was sitting there just the same as always. Though it might have looked a tad excited? For a moment, I allowed my eyes to unfocus, just staring off into the middle distance. Then, I walked over to the lever. From the way things were going, I had an inkling as to what would happen when I pulled it. And that was about the last thing I wanted to see. Fuck it. Without looking, I steeled myself for the inevitable and yanked the lever back. There was a thunk, and the crystals were away followed shortly by the entire organic mass tensing up, shivering for several seconds while phosphorescent lights rippled over its skin, then letting out the girliest little squeal I had ever heard. After that, it began violently convulsing around and into what had to be the Charisma tube. I stared in morbid fascination through the whole thing, simultaneously appalled and alarmed. I mean whatever strange, metaphorical dreamland this happened to be, that tube was connected to me. Right? I had a sneaking suspicion I was going to be feeling some sort of effect from this for better or worse. I also had a pretty good idea of who was responsible. But I had seen enough. I was ready to get out of here, so I turned to leave. However, when I approached the door, I noticed a small glass porthole at about eye-level, and I happened to catch a bit of my own reflection there. Except it was not. It was wrong. Hesitant, I reached forward, but then I felt an abrupt and sharp pain in my hand. With a gasp, I clutched it to my chest. But that felt wrong, too. There was too much of it. My hand twisted and cracked, and I grit my teeth, helpless to do anything but watch as my fingernails began to grow. And sharpen. Then the pain traveled up my neck, into my jaw. As before, I could feel certain of my teeth begin to push out, almost twisting in my skull as they lengthened into fangs. With a final pop, they settled, and I looked up into the glass. And then our eyes met. That was Bline's face. Suddenly, Her lips moved. My lips. Donum? Suddenly, the pain slammed into me againfar, far stronger than beforelike the top of my head was about to burst open. And I woke up. Seleroan If you would like to support the author or just want to read ahead, click on the Patreon link below. Your help is always appreciated!