ARC ?: Neorr

Chapter ?.x1: N Qsvkvru Ze Tscu Wnmhy

My eyes flutter open, but it’s too dark to make anything out. I lay still for a couple seconds, hoping my eyes will adjust. After a few seconds of pitch black, I try to shift my body to look around me. The weightlessness hits me as my body spins gently; or maybe it doesn’t? It’s hard to tell with no frame of reference for movement. No frame of reference for up or down. The empty and unfeeling void sends no external feedback to my body and I can feel my eyes darting around. I look down at my own body and I can see it, but everything else is empty.

After a few seconds of panic, I can feel ground coalescing beneath my feet and my eyes fixate on that space as stone flooring expands out from beneath me. I drop from my feet to my knees, grasping at the floor. The sensation of cool stone meets my fingers and I can feel a bit of my sanity returning. Looking up, I can see the inky blackness morphing as I stare at it to be a cooler and softer dark sky. The sparkling of starlight breaks through the veil, a vibrant starscape revealing itself to me as I gaze outwards. As the stars settle into their places, I’m shocked by a foreign sky. None of the constellations I know to look for are present, the celestial bodies hanging in the air feel different in almost every way.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” I can feel my ears swivel around as I jump up at the unrecognizable voice. Their voice has a silky and deep timbre that causes me to pivot, causing me to come face to face with a strange man in a hooded robe. My tail is standing straight up behind me in alarm at his sudden appearance. “It’s not a sky you’re familiar with. Not yet, of course. But it is a beautiful one.”

His words catch me off guard and my shoulders lose a bit of tension. He knows I’m not from here? I can feel my tail flicking curiously behind myself, my left ear flicking absently in thought. I take in the sight of the strange man, but I can’t make out a lot of personal features past the hooded robe. He’s tall though, and he looks very fit. I gather my thoughts, asking the question that was most prevalent in my mind.

“Who are you?” I could feel the man's smile from under the hood, despite not being able to see his face. I shivered a bit at the thought, but I stood my ground.

“The one who brought you here. You may call me Neorr.” The man says smoothly. My brain pauses at the name as he says it. Hadn’t I heard that somewhere before?

“The… God of Forgiveness?” Neorr was supposedly the God that Aliz had said the priest worshipped, wasn’t he? Was I talking to a god?

“One of many names. Some prefer to call me the God of Second Chances.” He reaches a hand up and pulls back his hood. As he pulls the hood away, long black hair falls down his back. Piercing golden eyes meet my own, filled with emotion. His facial features are unremarkable in a way that makes it impossible to describe them. It was as if every time I committed his face to memory, it changed. As long as I didn’t think about it, I didn’t find any difficulties recognizing him.

“You brought me here? As in…”

“As in, to this world?” He raises an eyebrow questioningly before nodding his head. “Indeed.” His eyes meet mine once more and I’m filled with confusion.

“Why?” I ask, gently.

“You were dying.” He notes impassionately, as if it were the most casual thing in the world. “It wasn’t my idea to bring you. I merely lended some power to assist my sister.” His tone remains casual at the idea. “She will reach out to you in time, I am certain. She would be here now, but she’s busy keeping the peace elsewhere.”

“But you saved and brought me here?” I ask tentatively.

He seems to consider my words genuinely as I ask them. “Brought you here? Yes. Saved? Debatable. You’re very much dead in your old world if that is your question.” I take a second to process those words, feeling a pang of sadness for myself. I had died then. “I haven’t had a chance to see your new form until now, I hope that it’s been suitable?” I blink owlishly as he says that.

“You haven’t seen it?” I look down at my own body as if to remind myself of my new shape.

He gives another small shake of his head, “I gave her the mass, she shaped it. I know nothing about the gifts she’s given you, either. As I said, I assisted as a favor.” He seems to take in my whole body, finally stepping close to inspect me up and down. His piercing golden eyes seem to look past my skin and into my soul; knowing what he’s capable of, they might actually be doing that. “Sister seems to have done well with the shaping. I expect nothing less of her, of course.” He nods at me approvingly.

I look at the man, questions arranging themselves in my mind slowly. I start with the ones that make the most sense first. “Who is she? Why did she want me?”

“My sister is named Yrena. As for the why, you’ll have to ask her yourself, disciple.” The man turns away from me, looking up and into the night sky. “You have many more questions, I’m sure. I can’t answer them for you. I was merely making a welfare check for our new arrival in my sister’s place.”

I turn my eyes to wherever he’s looking, allowing myself to get lost in the beauty of the stars once more. Even knowing that the sky is fake didn’t lessen its majesty. One of these days I’d have to see this new sky out in the real world. I’m pulled away from my thoughts by the mysterious god once more.

“You’ve devoted your life to medicine?” The existence of the question took me by surprise. I hadn’t expected the all powerful god to care about my life story. It was clear that it wasn’t really a question of whether I had or not, it was a question of why. I sat down on the stone ground, crossing my legs and looking up into the brilliant sky.

“Yes. Life fascinates me. Even from a young age I wanted to help heal people I guess.” I explain, trying to dig up the memories. “My grandmother taught me natural medicine while I was growing up. She awakened an interest in me and I’ve been chasing it ever since. I want to help people.” I glance back at the man to gauge his reaction and see him staring at me. His eyes are soft, as if he were remembering something.

“I see.” He says simply, not taking his eyes from me. I turn back to the stars, the previous thought of him being able to see my soul returning unbidden. “Well, I see what she may have seen in you now. It seems my job here is done. Try to take care of that body, young disciple. I’m the God of Second Chances, not Third Chances.” The man chuckles to himself and turns away. I get to my feet once more and run up behind him.

He notices my presence behind him and stops walking away to look at me. “Can I ask one more question before you go?” I ask quickly. He nods, eyeing me curiously. “If you have the power to bring me here, has anyone else from my world ever been brought here?”

The man’s eyes seem to light up with intrigue as I ask the question. He seems to look me up and down in a new light, eyes thoughtful as he considers the question. He smirks before he turns back away from me, walking away. I think he’s about to ignore my question completely, but he calls over his shoulder.

“Yes. How do you think we found you?” I can hear the beginnings of a chuckle as I watch him melt into the background. I let myself sit down on the ground, slowly lowering until I’m laying flat on my back and looking at the stars. What did he mean by that?

SylkWeaver

and one more short chapter to make up for me being late on my update. Tomorrow will be the official start of Arc 2!