An Unborn Hero

The hero was confused. She'd thought her mum had been kidnapped by the weird invisible people, and then she'd escaped, getting injured in the process. She'd made it back home, where she was resting. Why, then, were her kidnappers right there? All six of them. Or more accurately, six of them; including the word 'all' wasn't accurate since the hero wasn't certain they were the same six, given two of the originals had their faces hidden by helmets and the other four had been outright invisible.

The moment her mum had stepped outside the bedroom, a pair of knights in full plate mail had been there, waiting, and one of them had followed her to the kitchen, where the hero's dad was boiling up soup. Both parents were obviously unhappy at their presence, but were being cordial to them regardless. The hero's vision was more than acute enough to see the polite smiles they plastered onto their faces, that faded the moment any of the intruders were out of view.

Had they never actually left? It was the middle of the day, and while it was understandable she'd need some time off work, given her injuries, why was her dad still here? Just to help her mum, or was this a hostage situation rather than a kidnapping? The guards posted on every exit from the house certainly pointed in that direction.

Or perhaps there had been a misunderstanding, the hero realised as she inspected the guard on the front door. He was dressed in black leather and cloth, but it was neat and tidy. The man himself was clean-shaven, standing to attention and looking far too professional to be a bandit. Not to mention the others looked like knights, clumping around the house in full plate armour. Would a knight really stoop to banditry? In the middle of a city, nonetheless?

What else could be going on? Every one of the six the hero had seen had the same logo engraved into their armour, and it looked very much like one she'd seen on a building Mum had walked past on the way to work. A building that had knights standing guard outside. Knights wearing armour very much like the two here.

Were these the police? The armour looked just right for fantasy police.

"Oh no... My mum's a criminal," thought the hero, still misinterpreting the situation. "They were trying to arrest her, not kidnap her. I hope she gets a redemption arc. And that I don't get into trouble for trying to help her escape."

She pondered for a few more seconds.

"Then why is she here? Why not a guard station, or prison? Is she under house arrest? Someone obviously treated her injuries. If she didn't fight these people, how was she injured in the first place? Argg! I hate not knowing what's going on!"

Deciding to leave the situation to the adults, the hero focused instead on stretching the range of her [Astral Projection], along with trying to interpret what people were saying. It might have stroked her ego to know they were talking about her, although less so if she knew what they were saying.

"Scry ward is firing again," said one of the knights.

"Yeah, I'm getting it too," agreed Hayedalf. "Started up again yesterday afternoon and has been on and off ever since."

"It's firing right now?" asked Kellela. "It's still going even when we're talking about it?"

"Yes?"

"Then please would you let me cast a tracking spell? Normally it stops by the time I get the chance."

The three guards who were in earshot immediately gripped their sword handles.

"No," said one of them, which Kellela felt was somewhat superfluous at that point.

The hero noticed the aggressive move from the guards, but still had no idea what to make of it. Her mum had said something, they'd reacted aggressively, and she'd backed down. It definitely counted against them being here by invitation.

ding

For your continued efforts towards improving your comprehension, even if somewhat misguided, [Soul's Eye] advances to level 18.

The hero stared at the message. "Hey, that was snark again! You're making fun of me!"

No response was forthcoming.

"You're definitely making fun of me. Stop pretending you can't hear me!"

ding

For loosening your already tenuous grasp on physical reality yet further, [Astral Projection] advances to level 10.

"..."

In what was possibly a first for the entire planet, someone who had yet to grow any eyes engaged in a staring contest with a message box.

"Fine. Be like that."

Ignoring the insulting messages, the hero continued zipping around the house. It was obvious to her that the guards could sense her somehow; each time she looked at one, they twitched and glanced around. Her father didn't, having already got used to the constant pings from his skills back before the hero could see him properly and notice his reaction, so she mistakenly thought it was only the guards that could detect her. That made logical sense, after all; if they were guards, presumably they had skills for detecting ne'er-do-wells who were trying to hide.

"Damn. I should have focused on trying to pick up the vitality or sight of one of the invisible ones back when they were invisible. I bet I could have earned a new sub-skill! But I wonder if I can learn their invisibility skill? Being invisible was definitely in my list of top five superpowers back on Earth."

ding

The hero attempted to turn her back on the message box without reading it. She failed for multiple reasons, starting with the fact that she didn't have a back and ending with the fact the message was being projected directly into her consciousness, and didn't exist in the usual three-dimensional reality, so it just moved with her.

"If you're snarking at me again, I don't want to know," she thought, shutting off [Soul's Eye]. Of course, the message box remained, a rectangle of insulting blue hovering in the emptiness. "Fine..."

Achievement unlocked: [Astral Explorer I].

"Oh. I guess there's not much space for mocking me when the message format is that rigid. What's this one for?"

Astral Explorer I (Rare)

You have spent an entire week outside of your body. While a seriously dangerous pastime, it nevertheless seems to be working out for you. For now. Perhaps this 50% boost to tether stability and 10% boost to range will ensure that remains true in the future, too.

"Ten percent? Hardly seems worth it, but I'll take the stability boost quite happily if it means I can stay out for longer."

And so her day continued, zipping around, staring at things, trying to make sense of the psychedelic chaos that was the visualisation of speech and doing her best to practice invisibility by surreptitiously sneaking up on the guards and trying not to be noticed.

ding

For continuing to damage your eternal soul merely for the sake of skill grinding, [Robust] advances to level 8.

This time, the hero didn't feel like commenting on the fact that the message specifically called out her grinding, instead of the previous nebulous references to enemies or injuries.

While the hero was engaged in a one-sided feud with a series of message boxes, the [Royal Knight] was in the department of records, frowning behind his helmet as the second and third best enchanters in the kingdom examined the Recorder Of Merit.

"Uh... a light just started flashing," said one. "Is it supposed to do that?"

And that, right there, was the reason for the frown. They'd been poking at it for an hour already, and they still didn't even know how the lights worked.

"Another nameless achievement," said the [Chief Scribe]. "[Astral Explorer I], at a location consistent with Kellela's home."

"Dammit!" exclaimed the [Royal Knight]. "Of course! Why did I assume a parasite would hijack her? It's simply using her as a vessel, using [Astral Projection] to act with impunity!"

Everything made sense if he assumed there was a second lifeform inside Kellela, but that it was a passive passenger, doing nothing to manipulate her behaviour. He'd jumped straight to a spirit, because they were things he'd encountered in the past, but [Astral Explorer I] implied a physical being. Not that she was pregnant, because the thought of a two-week-old embryo doing these things was stupid, but that she was the victim of a parasite of some description. An intelligent parasite. A variety that possessed genetic memory, presumably. It couldn't be big or intrusive, or the [Field Medic] would have detected it, but if it used [Astral Projection], the physical body could be tiny. He wasn't aware of anything that fit the description, but he was prepared to admit he didn't know the description of every species of living creature, mundane and magical, off the top of his head.

It probably wasn't even malicious. All the information they had was consistent with it simply poking its soul out and looking around. All this chaos from nothing more than curiosity.

Fortunately, he'd already requested the aid of someone with appropriate vitality detection sub-skills. Nothing would hide from her, no matter how small. But if it was using [Astral Projection], someone with the ability to detect projected souls would be useful, too. Keeping multiple lines of enquiry going even when an existing one looked promising was part of what made him such an excellent investigator.

"Keep an eye on these two," he told the [Chief Scribe]. "I still want Hayedalf's assertion verified. In the meantime, I have a message to send, and then I need to do some reading."

A black wave, visible only to the hero, rolled across the room, passing through the hero, her mother and her guard alike. All three turned towards the source.

"The doorbell?" asked Kellela. "Is this the doctor the [Royal Knight] sent for?"

"Hopefully," replied the guard. "It's about the time she was supposed to arrive. She specialises in picking out infections of any sort. She could pick up the vitality signature of a single disease-causing bacterium out of the trillions that make your body their home. If you have a parasite in you, we'll soon have it out."

"... I hope so," was Kellela's half-hearted reply. After the events of the past few days, she was feeling a little pessimistic about the whole situation.

The hero, not being able to understand them, simply zipped through a wall to get a look at the entranceway. The guard guarding the door had opened it, and was talking, but as far as the hero could see, there was no-one else there.

"More invisible people?" she thought, sneaking up behind the guard as her mother made her way there and he came within reach of her tether. This time, she managed to very nearly reach the guard's neck before he twitched and spun around. The trick seemed to be not to stare. Instead of looking directly at them, focus on something else, and keep track of them out of the corner of her ectoplasmic eye.

ding

Through effort, you have unlocked the [Stealth] skill.

Stealth (Common)

Many professions rely on not being seen, from a [Maid] surreptitiously working behind the scenes or a [Hunter] stalking their prey. A [Pickpocket] approaching their mark or even a [Child] playing hide and seek. This skill permits you to join their ranks, enhancing your ability to not be noticed.

"Well, it's not invisibility, but it's still a new skill. I'll take it. It doesn't fit the character build I want, but it's not as if I can work on my transformation sequence before I've even been born. I'm still a bit small for dresses."

A complex cloud of colours bloomed from behind the guard, indicating someone's speech. The hero curiously moved to the side, only to discover the visitor wasn't invisible at all. She was just very small, hovering in the air at the guard's chest height on tiny wings.

"... That's blatantly a fairy. The lying goddess! She never mentioned fairy as a race option!"

It was not, in fact, a fairy. The goddess hadn't given a complete list of races by any stretch, filtering the list by requirements such as being capable of supporting a soul from Earth and being part of the alliance that would form when the demon lord made his move, but the 'fairy' did indeed fulfil every one of them, and the goddess had indeed mentioned them; the grachen.

The hero didn't know why yet, but she really didn't want to be grachen, for more reasons than their four to five inch heights.

A few of the guards, both parents and the not-fairy congregated in a bedroom, where they started yet another conversation.

"Dammit! Communicate with pictures or something, so I can listen in!" complained the hero, before making a spirited attempt at frowning, considering her lack of a face. "Really? Now?"

Despite her new achievement, she couldn't stay out indefinitely, and was forced to retreat back to her home, now grown further than a hollow ball of cells. Still not something she could do anything with, of course, but there were the barest hints that one day, it might grow into something worthy of being called a body.

ding

You have successfully masked your vitality by engulfing it in a vastly larger pool of very similar vitality, upgrading [Stealth] with [Camouflage Vitality]. Level cap of [Stealth] increased by 10.

For discovering a new aspect of stealthiness, [Stealth] advances to level 2.

"Huh? What was that for? I know I was complaining about [Stealth] not being a proper invisibility skill, but I didn't do anything!"

Yes, the [Infection And Foreign Body Specialist] could pick out a single disease-causing bacterium in a patient's body, but to her vitality sight, the hero wasn't foreign. Had she been a bit bigger, or had she lacked [Stealth], perhaps things would have been different, but alas, the 'parasite' was once again missed.

Unnamed Human

Age: -9 months

Occupation: Hero (L)

Skills:

- Soul's Eye (U) (18/60)

>> Sense Vitality (U)

>> Sense Soul (R)

>> Sense Mana (U)

>> Sense Light (C)

>> Sense Sound (C)

- Astral Projection (U) (10/20)

>> Sure Navigation (U)

- Robust (C) (8/30)

>> Hardened Soul (R)

>> Secured Mana (U)

- Stealth (C) (2/20)

>> Camouflage Vitality (R)

Achievements:

- Early Bloomer I (U)

- First Skill (C)

- Novice (C)

- Survivor of Zarklaxxos, the Arcane Infernal (R)

- I Broke The System, And All I Got Was This Lousy Achievement (E)

- Astral Explorer I (R)