I do not know how long I stayed like that, just letting Delilah hold me while I try to process everything that's happened.
I reluctantly pull away and look Delilah in the eyes. "Thank you for that."
Before she can respond, I rise.
The numbing ache of pain is still there, but I have more important matters to attend to.
I push myself off the stone slab and look around the cavern. The first thing I notice is the vines decorating the place. It's… kind of adorable.
I also notice the magic wafting off them and the rest of the cave. The green I saw before is there, but different now, softer, calmer. The other energy is darker.
Actually, when I look out of the cave—or at least in the direction I can feel the ambient energy coming from—it feels almost demonic.
Or at least that's what it feels like. If I had to give it a colour, it'd be blood red, or something close to it, and before I can stop myself I reach out to touch it.
Delilah speaks. "You feel it too? I have tried my best to protect this place from that foulness, but I am not strong enough. Perhaps if it were a normal forest, maybe…"
I turn to her and smile. "It's okay. You tried your best, Delilah, and that's all that matters."
Then I think about it a little more and realise I need to know where the hell I am. "Do you know where we are, Delilah? What happened after I fell unconscious?"
Delilah hesitates for a second before answering. "I dragged you from that land of death, and while I carried you this was the only place where nature still lives in this realm. I apologise, but I don't know where we are. I only know I have never felt this power before. It is lesser than the field of death, but it still permeates the land."
I just stare at her.
"What do you mean, realm? Are we not on Earth?"
I pause for a second.
Is this not Earth?
Delilah tilts her head. "Earth? If you mean the living world, then no… this place does not feel like it."
Oh….
[Feat achieved! You have finally figured out you're not on Earth. +1 Ticket]
Ohhhhhhhhh.
"Then where am I?" I look up, trying to make sense of any of this.
I can't think. I need air. So I start walking towards the light, and as soon as I step outside my boots crunch against the… red grass.
Right.
Moving on.
I look up and see a purple sky.
A purple sky.
Where the hell—how? Is this even possible?
The trees around me at least look relatively normal, but they're fucking ginormous, easily twice the size of redwoods if I'm remembering right, which I probably am not. Their leaves are a vivid blue, the deepest kind of blue the bluest blue.
As I look around the forest, my eyes lock onto a castle—or what used to be one—sitting on a mountain of black stone. And for some reason, I feel drawn to it. Not curious. Called.
Something inside me wants me to go there.
I decide to use my new magic on the feeling, because there is no way this is natural. As I poke and prod at it, something inside me reacts and a different colour starts flowing through me, a deep red slowly turning purple. It is me. Or at least what I am.
Holy shit.
That's it. That's the stuff right there.
I feel stronger. Sharper. Everything feels louder, clearer, more. It's like my head has cleared and I'm on the biggest high of my life.
So obviously I do something stupid and punch a tree. It snaps clean in half and falls over.
That… didn't even hurt.
What… am I…?
I start walking, needing to do something with myself, and then I smell water. I follow it until I end up in front of a pool.
I look down.
And just like that, the high dies.
I stare at the thing in front of me and tilt my head. It tilts its head too.
I poke my cheek. Then the other one.
Still me.
Then I touch my hair. It's soft. Really soft. Silver-blond too.
"God, it's—ow, fuck—!"
Pain cracks across my head out of nowhere and I jerk back so hard I nearly fall over.
"…what the fuck? What the fuck was that?"
I stare at myself in the water like it's going to answer me.
It doesn't.
Then I notice my eyes.
Purple.
Actually purple.
I look like a fucking Targaryen.
I… the only reason I'm not panicking right now is Adept Conceptualisation and the fact that my magic seems to be dulling the sheer amount of emotion trying to rip out of me. I sit down on the ground, lean back, and stare up at the purple sky.
I can't help it.
It's fascinating.
I'm beginning to see it. Really see it.
My skills and traits seem to be helping me.
Oh yeah.
I had a roll, didn't I?
[Roll Y/N]
Well… let's roll with it.
[Somas Winemaking]
|Epic Skill|
Danmachi - You are as great at making wine and other alcoholic products as the god Soma. But you still need experimentation to figure out the wines you can make with the resources. Even god does not succeed every time.
I close my eyes and just process the information. My mind feels so much clearer than before. I now know how to make wine and pretty much any kind of alcohol.
At least now I can make money if civilisation is still around, I doubt anyone would be as good as me now.
Also, what the hell is a Danmachi?
As I lie on the ground, feeling the dirt and shifting my fingers through it, I realise it's not like the dirt of home. It's not real. Or maybe that's not the right word. It feels… made. A pulse of magic leaves my fingers and suddenly I begin to understand the soil beneath me. It is, or was, fed magic—something I don't fully understand right now, but I know I could if I kept going. It seems to have been built to simulate nature, or maybe to begin the process of creating it.
Now I'm wondering what this place looked like when it first began.
Crunch, crunch.
I turn my head, already knowing who it is. Delilah hops down beside me and watches me. "Master, I would ask that you not destroy a tree without reason, or without the intent to make use of it. Needless destruction of nature, even nature as foul as this, is still wrong."
I look at her for a moment, then nod lazily. "I'll make use of the tree. I got a new skill. I now know how to make wine so good even gods would kill for it, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to need a workshop. And while living in a forest with you wouldn't be bad, I do want to explore this new world. To do that, I'm going to need money, because if this world works anything like mine did, then gold—or whatever they use here—is going to matter."
I look at Delilah.
It looks like I broke her.
"Master… I do not understand what you have just said, but I believe I can assist you with the building of…" She pauses, then looks at me. "A workshop, I believe?"
I nod. "A workshop is basically a place to make stuff. Instead of doing it all out in the open and unprotected, you use a safe area. Like the cave. You make what you need there. Does that make sense?"
She lifts her hand and gives me a sort of so-so motion.
"That's okay," I say. "I'll teach you more soon."
Delilah smiles and rocks from side to side, speaking with obvious excitement. "Master, if you wish, we could explore the forest and look for fruit and food. I can help you."
I laugh, and she blushes at once.
"Fine then," I say. "Let's go, Delilah."
I'm stupidly lucky to have her. Looking after someone else has always been easier than looking after myself. My own shit I can ignore. Someone else? That I know how to handle.