The first thing I noticed when I woke up for the second time was that something was stroking my cheek while humming a beautiful tune. I exhaled through my nose and the humming stopped.
"Master, you're awake. I am glad to see you still live."
I blinked. Then blinked again.
What the fuck?
I look at her and just…wow. She's beautiful.
Sun-kissed skin, thick long hair, and… are those leaves? I'm definitely gawking.
She smiles. "It is good to see you are in good spirits, Master."
I look into her deep brown eyes and then it all comes crashing back like someone threw a bucket of cold water on me, the roll, the bodies, the blood, all of it. It was real. It was all fucking real. My stomach drops and twists and I barely manage to turn before I throw up.
And then I'm throwing up, emptying whatever the hell is left in my stomach, which turns out to be nothing but sickly green bile, so my first interaction with my saviour is me puking at her feet.
The woman exclaims in shock and the vomit vanishes almost instantly. A second later she's kneeling beside me, cleaning my face with gentle hands.
"Oh no, I checked you over, you should have been fine. I apologise, Master. Here, drink."
As I regain some semblance of strength, I gulp down the milk and sigh in relief. Then I look at her and ask the one thing that's been on my mind.
"Wh…o ar…e you?" I say, my voice coming out weak and scratchy.
She looks at me in confusion for a moment before answering. "You summoned me, Master, dost thou not remember? Your injuries were most severe, so I brought you to the forest. The land where you called me was barely fertile, yet I have done all I could to heal you. Your armour, however, was beyond my care."
My only response is, "Oh… o-okay. Th…ank you."
That's going to get annoying quickly.
My voice is beyond fucked for the moment. I let out a sigh and instantly regretted it. Fuck, my body still hurts. Not as bad as before, but it feels like Mike Tyson used me as a punching bag.
I look around the room. It's not bad. Could do with some furnishing, though. As I examine the place, my eyes lock onto my hand. Now that it's unarmoured, I can actually see my skin.
…the fuck?
I'm not white.
Oh fuck. Oh no no no no no—what the fuck? I start to panic, and it doesn't go unnoticed by the woman.
As I shift, a strand of hair slips past my face. Silver-blond.
I have a really bad feeling…
…I'm not a Malfoy, am I?
Because if I wake up in some pureblood hellscape and end up serving a noseless bastard, I'm going to find the nearest cliff and swan dive off it.
This is really not helping my situation at the moment.
Luckily, before I can spiral any further, she pulls my head into her lap and starts massaging my scalp. It's so good it feels almost magical.
As I start to relax, I make the mistake of actually looking at her. Big mistake. She's wearing basically nothing but leaves, and from where I'm lying I'm directly under her chest.
"Master, are you okay?"
Her kind voice hits me like a truck, and the guilt comes right after it. I swallow and somehow force the words out. "I… apologise for my outburst. I was just… shocked by my appearance." Before she can respond, I keep going, my voice still rough and wrecked. "Why do you call me… Master?"
"Why? But you are my Master. You summoned me. I live from your power. My life is bound to yours, and I am yours to do with as you please."
Power? I shove that to the side for now. "I'm not… letting you call me Ma…ster. You saved me. I… owe you."
She looks at me in shock. Then she smiles. And it's a beautiful smile. A moment later she's feeding me more milk, and all I can think is, where the hell is she even getting it from?
And weirdly enough, it helps. Warmth spreads through me, taking the edge off the pain and I decide not to question where she's getting the milk from for now, because it's amazing.
As she massages my head, I ask her one simple question, closing my eyes in comfort. "What… is your name?"
She looks at me for a moment before answering. "I do not know. Would you name me, Master?"
I close my eyes again. She doesn't have a name, and she's asking me to give her one. Fuuuuuuuck.
Then I think of something. Yeah. That could work.
"Delilah… if you would take that name, of course."
She smiles again. "Delilah. What does it mean?"
I answer her, "There are two meanings for the name, but to me it means guidance, leadership, and tenderness. Qualities I see in you."
Delilah smiles, soft and bright, like I've just handed her the whole world. Before I can say anything else, a familiar box appears in front of my face.
[Feat achieved! You have named your first familiar. +1 Ticket]
"…you have got to be shitting me."
It was real. I… of course it was. Delilah is here, and she doesn't seem like the type to lie.
[Roll Y/N]
"Roll, you weird gambling machine."
[Adept Conceptualisation]
|Rare Skill|
Conceptualisation is your ability to understand what lies beyond the mundane and the inexplicable. At this level, your mind probably will not shatter from hearing the old ones whisper. Magic and esoteric things make more sense to you when you see them, and you have an easier time understanding, learning, and developing the mystical side of reality.
"Whoa…"
And just like that, I know how she got rid of the vomit. She had the ground absorb it and feed off it. It's disgusting, but also really fucking interesting.
A small voice speaks. "Master?"
Oh. I totally forgot about her.
Now the question is, do I tell her about this or keep it to myself? She's bonded to me, she saved me, and right now she's the closest thing I've got to an ally.
"Well, Delilah, when I woke up on the battlefield this weird screen appeared and gave me you. It seems to hand out… stuff whenever I do something interesting. Wait, do you even know what gambling is? It's kind of like that, I think."
I scratch my head and instantly regret it. When I look up at Delilah, she's staring at me like I've lost my mind, completely dumbfounded. Oh. Right. She's a nature thingy mabob.
"I am sorry, Master. I do not know what this… gambling is."
Oh no. She looks so sad.
"Right, yeah, fair enough." I let out a breath and try again. "Basically, a glass screen that only I can see appears in front of me, and it gives me powers… and you."
She blinks at me and, for the first time, she looks like she's about to cry, and I instantly feel like a piece of shit.
"A power grants you things… and that was me?"
Fuck.
I quickly try to fix this. "No. No, that's not—fuck, that's not what I meant."
"I didn't mean it like that. You're special to me. You're not something to be traded or won. That's just how you got here, not what you are."
She stares at me for a second, and then before I can say anything else I try to push myself up, only for her to move at the same time.
"Master, I—"
She leans down, probably aiming for my forehead, and our lips meet instead.
I freeze.
She freezes.
We just stay there, caught in the moment, and my brain stops working entirely because her lips are warm and soft and this is definitely not how I thought this conversation was going to go.
Then she pulls back just enough for me to see how wide her eyes are.
Mine probably looks just as bad.
I say nothing and just stare at her. Her beautiful pale face slowly turns red, and I can feel mine heating up too. Neither of us says a word until a very familiar box appears again.
[Feat achieved! You have just had your first kiss. +1 Ticket]
What the fuck?
Delilah places her left hand gently on my shoulder and looks into my eyes. "Has it appeared again, Master? What have you gotten?"
I feel my face heat up all over again.
[Roll Y/N]
I quickly roll the ticket, refusing to explain how I got it.
[Magician]
|Elite Trait|
You are a natural-born Magician, making you naturally talented in the mystical arts, allowing you to learn, understand, and develop magic far faster. You also have a unique intuition when it comes to matters of magic.
I am, Magic Man.
Okay, no, that was stupid.
Then I feel something touch me. Something deep inside me. It's like I'm seeing the world for the first time. Delilah is… green particles, or at least I think that's Delilah, and it's the most beautiful shade of green, like shining emeralds.
I gently poke it and feel a rush of energy flood through me.
My… my wounds. They're gone. Or at least they seem to be.
What… was that?
I hear a sound, and as quickly as it came, the particles vanish, replaced by Delilah's blushing face. She looks embarrassed.
Why would she be embarrassed?
I didn't do anything except touch the—
…oh.
That was her essence.
Her actual self.
And I just touched it.
Oh.
Ohhhhhhhhh.
I try to speak, but before I can, Delilah presses a soft finger to my lips and I shut up instantly.
"Master, you are going to have to learn manners. What you just did is something reserved for intimate moments." She pauses, then tilts her head. "That is what humans call it, yes?"
I just nod.
"I am guessing that power gave you the ability, or unlocked the sight of a magi."
I nod again, and then her fingers brush over my lips in a way that feels almost sensual.
No.
She wouldn't do that.
…would she?
"What you touched was my essence, Master," Delilah says, still sounding far too calm for this conversation. "That is not something given lightly among my kind."
I stop breathing for a moment.
"So," I say, because apparently my brain has given up and left me with scraps, "this cave is nice."
Delilah just looks at me and smiles.
[Feat achieved! You have somehow charmed her by being dumber than a bag of bricks. +1 Ticket]
Fuck you too.
[Roll Y/N]
"Yes."
[Throat]
|Trash Trait|
You no longer have a gag reflex, and your throat is always perfectly moist… and lubricated? At least you won't get a sore throat.
I stare at the box.
"A…"
I blink once.
Then again.
"What….. the, FUCK?"
Delilah tilts her head. "Master? What did it give you?"
I stare at the box for another second before dismissing it with all the dignity I can still muster.
"A reason," I say flatly, "to believe the universe hates me."
Delilah only looks more confused.
I let out a long breath, then glance down at my hands, my hair, this body that still doesn't feel like mine.
Yeah.
Delilah slowly moves closer and wraps her arms around me. I melt into it before I can stop myself.
"I do not hate you, Master."