A Voice in the dark
Location: <unknown>Time: <unknown>
It's dark.
I can't see.
I can't feel my body!
I'm Scared.
I scream but my voice won't come out.
I'M SCARED!
[[*******]] (?)
I hear a sound. No. I'm not hearing it. It's inside my head.
I'm calm now.
[[***********]] (?)
Again, the sound. But it's not a sound. It's an... An image, inside my mind. It's a thought. But not mine. Someone is inside my head. It feels wrong. A force calm me down.
[[What is your innermost desire?]] (Voice)
I can understand the voice clearly, now. What is my desire it asks. My desire? It's like my mind is answering on it's own.
Images of my life fly before me. My life? I had a life! Somehow the idea feels strange. I was alive, and i died. Now i'm here. Wherever <here> is...
[Memories. Pain.]
Images of childhood keep flashing inside my mind. I had no parents. I died of starvation. I was ill. I died forgotten and abandoned in an alley. So much pain! Is there no happy image anywhere in my memories in there? I feel sad for my past self. I just wanted the pain to stop. All pain to stop.
I want answers. I try to focus, and make a clear thought, hoping for <Voice> to read it. <Voice>. That name will do for now.
[Who are you?]
[[Voice]] (Voice)
<Voice> answered with my own thoughts about it! So cheap!
Well, at least I know that <Voice> can see my thought. Creepy, but not unexpected. It's really weird that i can keep calm in this situation. For some reason <Voice> answer satisfied me. I'm no longer curious about it's identity. This is <Voice> doing without a doubt.
[[What is your innermost desire?]] (Voice)
<Voice> asks the same question again. Did my memories not satisfy it? Well... I guess it's only natural. I knew only suffering. The very thought of happiness never touched me. Until now.
I know more than I used to. I'm sure of it. Did my consciousness grew to a point where I can understand <Voice>? This feels like the right answer. Different images fly trough my mind.
[Memories.]
New images fly trough my mind. It's me. But it's not me. I understand that it's another version of me. I was a kid that died abandoned, but at the same time i had other lives in which things went differently. That's who i am now. A sum of all the possible me. I understand somehow.
[[What is your innermost desire?]] (Voice)
[A rich family. Loving parents. Warmth. Food on the table. Clean clothes. Healthy. Happy.]
My mind finally answer with clear thought. And what a nice thought is! Everything I never had! But... That's what one of me wanted, the one who never had anything at all. The other me would not be satisfied by that much. Let's find something that would.
[[What is your innermost desire?]] (Voice)
[A boat. A vast ocean surround me. An unknown land can be seen over the horizon.] (me)
I never ever dreamt of exploring! I would like that very much! But that's not it either...
[[What is your innermost desire?]] (Voice)
[A teacher. A medic. A saint. One that help others.]
This way nobody will suffers like i did. I really want that. Almost all of me agree. But still that's not it.
[[What is your innermost desire?]] (Voice)
[A power that didn't exist in my world. Magic. The world is what I want the world to be. Bad people use magic to the world worse. I use magic to make the world better.]
Yes. This is it. All of me like this thought. A magic user that helps others.
[Why do you want to know, <Voice>?]
[[You can be reborn in a world where your desire can be fulfilled.]] (Voice)
[Do I have a choice?]
[[Darkness. Nothingness.]] (Voice)
[[My baby self in a strange world]] (Voice)
I do have a choice! Disappearing and never suffering again is one of my desires too. The me who only suffered wanted that. But if I'm given a choice... Then I chose life!
[I choose life! You'd better not be lying to me, Voice!]
[[ **** Possibility ****** Hardships * Willpower ***************]] (Voice)
Wow! This is one complex thought! But I get the gist of it. I'll have the potential to make my desire true, but I will have to do it on my own. It will not be given to me. Can I have a little help at least?
[[A unique power. ****************************************** Chosen One **]] (Voice)
Another complex thought! I feel like <Voice> is trying it's best to dumb it down for me. I don't know what's worse. That I'm being treated as dumb, or that i need to be treated as dumb to understand.
Uhm... Let's get to it. <Voice> is offering me something unique to me. Something nobody else has. Let's see... What power could a magician need?
[Understanding of forces and heat. Great spells. The power to destroy.]
No! A part of me is angry and want vengeance, but most of me doesn't! I want to help people, i don't want to level mountains! I know how it feels to be at the bottom. I don't wish that upon others.
[Understanding of human body. Illnesses cured. Limb regrows.]
That's more like it! ... But helping like that is like treating the symptoms, not the cause. It wouldn't makes things better at all. I could cure all day long over a whole lifetime, and still people would suffer.
[The ability to see. Near and far. Small and big. Past and present. Possible futures.]
Wow. That sounds useful. A version of me who was into science thought of that.
Wait, that's not just useful. That's totally broken!!! I could stop bad things before they even happens!
But i somehow understand that my mind is not big enough to make use of such power.
That amount of information would just break my mind. I need either a bigger mind or...
[An interface. A virtual agent. An HUD.]
That is... An interesting answer. A version of me who was into games came up with this.
Large games have too much information to be displayed all at once.
Skills, quests, maps, way points, stats...
Bigger games had Virtual Helper. The player just need to ask and the system would sift trough the game data. Doing micromanagement instead of the player. My gamer self remembers an RPG that was as deep as the real world itself. But how would all of that work in practise? I don't want to have a computer chip in my head!
[Magic. The power to overwrite reality. If I can imagine it. If I have the power. It will be.]
Of course! I have magic this time! HUD can be a continuous type magic. An enchantment.
[************** ***************]
[******* *** ** *]
[*****************]
[*** ******************************* ** *]
[HUD]
Such a complex tough! I feel proud of myself.
And I did it all on my own! Maybe? All versions of me worked together after all.
But i'm tired, now. I want to rest.
The image of my power is now clear as day. I hope <Voice> got it.
[[Amusement. Laugh. Surprise.]] (Voice)
Rude! I thought <HUD> was a good idea! Don't laugh at me <Voice>!
[[Farewell. ************* Good Luck. **]] (Voice)
Wait! Why am I here? Why are you doing this? Who are you?!?
And why didn't I think of asking those questions earlier?
...
<Voice> is gone.
I'm tired.
I'm so very tired.
I fall asleep.