System Change

“You know,” Derek said to Alanah. “I think you’re right. We’ll call it quits for Void Beast hunting today.” Then he turned back to look at the Void Beast in the air in front of him. “Would you mind coming down with me and answering a few questions about the void and other things?” He asked because the beast didn’t seem too opposed to having a conversation with a human, and he didn’t know when he would get another opportunity like the one he currently had.

The Void Beast shifted its eyes back and forth between Derek and Alanah, then, after a moment, it said, “Very well.”

“Great!” Derek replied before checking their surroundings one last time to make sure that there wasn’t anyone around. Then, he canceled his Void Steps skill and started his free fall to the ground. This time, the ground wasn’t muddy, so when he landed, it was perfect. Moments later, there were three reclining chairs—one for each individual.

“This is interesting… decoration,” the Void Beast said. It had sat down and even showed a hint of emotion on its face when it did.

Derek had only smiled at this scene. There was nothing like a set of comfortable chairs to ease a tense situation. “So, first thing I have to ask since I have you here and it seems that you are open-minded… do you have a name?”

“A name?” the beast said back, then ever so slightly shook its head. “No, I do not have a name. I have never had a reason to obtain one.”

“I see…” Derek said. “It’s odd calling or thinking of you as the ‘Void Beast’ or ‘beast,’ so I thought I would ask.”

“If it is better, you can call me whatever you like,” the beast said.

“Great!” Derek replied. “I’ll call you Asher!” He smiled widely when he said the name. It was true that the name didn’t fit the Void Beast in front of him as well as it did the first beast he battled in Cydaria—as this one was more of a pure void purple and not the ashy color of the others—but the name had been stuck in his head ever sense he met that Void Beast and thought it was his summoned creature, so he was finally going to use it.

“You don’t have to use it if you don’t like it,” Derek said.

“It is fine,” the Void Beast—Asher—finally said after saying the name a few times. “I do not hate the name.”

“It will also be good for you to have a name in case you run into any other person or intelligent Void Beast later on and don’t want to get into a fight,” Derek said. “Nothing breaks the ice and lowers one’s guard like introducing yourself with a name.”

“Then you have decided to let me live?” Asher asked once Derek was finished.

“Of course,” Derek said. “I would have let the last Void Beast that spoke to me live if it hadn’t tried to end my life. I still don’t know how I feel about eating meals made from Void Beasts after that.”

“Feel nothing,” Asher said. “We ‘Void Beasts’ would not hesitate to eat you. Why should you hesitate to do the same?”

“I guess…” Derek said. “Anyway… the previous Void Beast was very concerned over its kind and was basically trying to kill me over it all. If I recall the words correctly, it said that I was the enemy of all your kind, that when I call you must come. It was very adamant about killing me before I gained control. However, you don’t seem to have that same worry… why is that?”

“A youngling…” Asher answered.

“A youngling?” Derek asked.

“Yes. The ‘beast’ you speak of must have been one that had only recently evolved its intelligence—a baby, if you will,” Asher explained. “Those pesky emotions are strong when one first develops intelligence. I did not have full control over my actions and thoughts when I first evolved my intelligence, either. Therefore, the beast must have either been a youngling or it could have been stupid and thought it could defeat and consume you. It could have been both.”

“Oh… what about the part where you must call when I come? It seems to have done the same with you, right? When I used my skill, you did show up. Isn’t that something that you would want to stop?” Derek asked. For now, he ignored what the beast said about consuming him.

“It is true,” the beast said. “When I felt the call, I had an urge to find it, so I did. But I am not a youngling. I do have control over my emotions. I may not have been able to resist the call, but it took dozens of them for me to arrive. If you would have stopped before, I would have never come. Even still, the urge vanished once I broke the void and found you. I did not have to leave the void. I could have turned around and gone back because of my emotional control.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Derek asked.

“You did not try to attack, and you stopped your pointy eared companion before she could attack. After that… I was curious, so I stepped out,” Asher answered.

“What about the control?” Derek asked.

“That, I suspect, the other beast was correct about,” Asher replied. “There is a deep sense of fear in me when I look at you. It sends shivers up my spine and through my bones. It is another reason for my curiosity. If you do not have the ability to control ‘Void Beasts,’ I suspect you will soon. How much control you may achieve? I do not know. But it is there, I can feel it. Just as I assume your previous foe felt it.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Yeah,” Derek said. “I get that sense. Would you mind if I unleash my aura? Would you let me know what you feel?”

“I am at your mercy,” the beast replied.

“Don’t hesitate to have me stop if something feels wrong,” Derek said. After that, for the second time that day, Derek slowly unleashed his aura. Asher looked at him with squinted eyes that widened more and more as Derek’s aura poured out. By the time Derek’s aura was on full display, Asher was literally shaking in his seat. In fact, and unfortunately, some of the cloth on the chair was damaged by the beast squeezing the arms tightly.

Once Derek saw that, he hurried and reined his aura back in. Asher’s grip immediately loosened on the chair. Derek chided himself for not thinking about his furniture before he proceeded with his experiment, and he hoped that his low-level Basic Repair skill would be enough to pull together the few rips in the chair arms. But, after all of that, he was impressed that Asher was able to hold itself back from unintentionally doing even more damage to the chair.

Derek gave Asher a few minutes to calm down. The beast was a mess. It had gone so far as to close its eyes and breathe deeply—almost like it was meditating. Wait, is Asher actually meditating right now? It certainly looks like it. If not, it is really close. After waiting for the beast to open its eyes once again, Derek asked, “Well?”

“I… have never…” Asher breathed heavily while trying to answer Derek. “I felt the need to bow down before you. It was all I could do to fight it. Any lesser beast and…”

“It would go catatonic?” Derek finished the beast’s thought.

“Yes… that… I can only assume,” Asher replied.

“Did you feel the need to listen to me?” Derek asked. “If I would have asked you to do something, would have you?”

“I do not… believe so,” Asher answered, still struggling to regain his normal breathing. “I was… frozen. That is all. But if you learned to direct it, to control it, to finesse it… I do not think it is impossible.”

“Good to know,” Derek replied with a nod.

“If you would please… allow me to… catch my breath…” Asher pleaded.

“Sure… go ahead.” Derek nodded at the beast. After that, he turned to Alanah. “We’re not in a hurry, are we?”

“No, not at all,” Alanah replied. “And if we were, it wouldn’t matter. This is fascinating. A conversation with a Void Beast that doesn’t end in blood and guts. Truly wonderful. I am beyond happy that I am able to witness this before I ascend.”

“Ascend!” Asher cried out at Alanah, causing both of them to turn and look at the beast. He was staring at the woman with wide eyes and seemed to almost be in shock. “You are to ascend?”

“Well… yes,” Alanah said. “That is what the system called it… Ascension. Why? Do you know of it?”

“The system…” Asher turned its head and spat. “Always the system with you others. Helps you do this, helps you do that…”

“But you don’t have one?” Derek asked. Void Beasts were described as creatures ‘outside of the system.’ Derek was also starting to believe that meant that they were creatures outside of any system. And with the words of Asher, it seemed that they were creatures that either couldn’t be brought into a system, or that no system would bring in. He wasn’t sure which, but he hoped Asher would be able to shed some light on the topic—one which he hadn’t even thought of until the beast’s reaction to Alanah’s words.

“No, I do not have a ‘system.’” Asher, for the first time, looked genuinely pissed off. “I must do everything on my own. There is no assistance to help me learn to control the void. I have had to struggle to and learn everything on my own for millennia…”

“Millennia? Like… thousands of years? How old are you?” Derek muttered almost quietly to himself, but the beast heard him.

“I do not know my age. It is nothing more than a concept. I have partial memories of when I was nothing more than a rabid beast. Then, I never bothered to count once I gained my intelligence. What difference does it make whether I am four thousand years old or five?” Asher answered the question that Derek hadn’t even meant to ask.

“I guess it doesn’t matter…” Derek said. Just how long would it take to have to do and learn everything on your own? If there are Void Beasts out there that do this, does that mean there are other beings that do the same as well? But… about Asher’s skills… Derek thought, then asked, “So, you learned Void Steps on your own? That skill that allowed you to stand in the air with me.”

“Yes… after much trial and error directing the void energy inside my body,” Asher said.

“Are there no Void Beast societies out there? Like, elders that can pass on skills to those who have recently evolved their intelligence?”

“Not that I have ever seen.”

Right… it never needed a name. If there was such a thing, Asher would have needed some way to be addressed, Derek thought.

“That is not to say that they do not exist, though,” Asher continued, and Derek listened intently. “We can also ascend… though, without the help of your systems. I do not know where we go or what happens, but I feel that I am close. Perhaps there is one of these ‘societies’ there. Only those with evolved intelligence are able to ascend, so I believe that it is possible.”

“Definitely,” Derek said with a nod. I really do wonder why Void Beasts don’t have access to any system. Honestly, they don’t seem to be too picky about who gets one. Derek’s thoughts immediately went back to Big Jim, who he’d met on a couple occasions. He had been a founder of one of the largest cities on Earth after the system came. He was a lovable big guy who called that city Muscle Town. He’s probably more like one of those emotional ‘younglings’ that Asher was talking about. “One last question…” Derek said. He was sure that there were things he was forgetting, but Asher had played ball quite nicely, so he didn’t want to keep him so long that others found him.

“What is it?”

“I know how I am able to understand Alanah. I grew up speaking a vastly different language… I think, and the system grants us the ability to understand each other and translates concepts into things that we are each able to understand…” Derek said. “How am I able to understand you and your kind?”

“How am I supposed to know that?” Asher asked.

“Gotcha…” Derek muttered. Then, almost silently, “System fuckery…”

“Is there nothing else?”

“I’m sure that I’ll think of something after you leave, but if it’s too important, I’ll just have to go find you to ask,” Derek said with a knowing smile.

“I’m not sure that I am the one who will come if you call,” Asher replied. “But… if you call enough, I am sure I will eventually hear it.”

Derek turned to Alanah. “Is there anything you want to know?”

“Yes… there is,” Alanah said. “What do you eat?”

“My kind… and the void,” Asher answered. “Occasionally your kind and whatever food you have at the time. But I must consume it quickly and cannot take it with me. Your food is destroyed by the void.”

If only Silvi would have met Asher before she tainted all that food… Derek thought with a slight smile.

Alanah then produced a plate full of steaming meat and vegetables. “Would you like some of this? It is prepared by some of my best chefs.”

Asher reached out and took the plate, then opened its massive maw and threw the food into it, plate and all. “Delicious…” he said. “Best I have ever had. Do you have more?”

“Of course,” Alanah then started producing meal after meal, only for Asher to put it away like his stomach was a black hole.

He would give Silvi and Ogre a run for their money. Derek inwardly chuckled, then he had another thought. “Do you get stronger if you eat… us?” he asked.

“Yes…” Asher answered while shoveling the food into its mouth. “Some more than others, but creatures that speak give the most.”

“Interesting…” Derek said. “Very… interesting.”