It was old, something that should have matured and advanced multiple times over, but his soul refused its influence. Instead, Dei felt his affinity passively interfering with the process of accepting faith into himself in a way that felt both practiced and haphazard.
He tried to dive into the meaning behind it but instead of receiving a clear answer, visions passed through his mind as unfamiliar energies spoke of others in far-off places.
A dwarven father slunk through low foliage with his daughter behind him, speaking quietly of dangerous creatures and monsters in the dark, scaring her to a calculated degree. The father brought her attention to more grand threats that could bring down the entire society, and the necessity for personal strength to protect your own, as others would always choose to be selfish when it came down to a bottom line. One could never be too strong, as there were heights only just being discovered.
‘What?’ he thought, confused not at the message, but why he was shown this… idea of a situation. He wasn’t even sure if it’d ever actually happened.
What did the dwarves have to do with the Gem Dwellers’ fears though? And why were they venturing through dense vegetation when the dwarven planet was frozen, assuming this vision was based on the Mark he received from the dwarves.
Looking at the message again, his primitive sense faintly detected an overlap between every social mark, and wanted to facepalm when it hit him what was happening.
Just to verify, he went to the two social Marks he had that had actually branded him: [Macbeth] and [The Champion’s Devil]. The moment he came into contact with them, it was confirmed with how fast he understood their meaning and purpose. Earth Marks had a particular scent to them that harkened back to his decades spent learning of the different Earthen cultures. He knew how people of Earth thought and acted because he’d spent a long time with them, shaping his personality.
While it was impossible to confirm, he was pretty sure his soul struggled to differentiate social energies of cultures he was unfamiliar with; that, coincidentally, was also why he’d only gained two Earth Marks but none of the others. The dwarven and outer universe Marks should’ve matured at the weakest level, but his soul was confusing them with the Gem Dweller fear Mark, causing all three to mingle at the edges of his soul. He didn’t understand Dwarves, Gem Dwellers, or the multiversal scene enough for his soul to say which came from where.
The only solution he could think of was to accept the Gem Dweller fear Mark into himself, but his soul clearly had some reason for not doing so. Right now, he couldn’t differentiate its particular energy, but he tilted his head as he knew it was an old Mark, older than all his others.
Didn’t that mean there was a time when it was the only social Mark in his soul? Not only that, but couldn’t he rewind his memory to such a time with eidetic memory?
Shrugging, time rewound on his soul, the structure visually peeling back to a seemingly younger state. Days, weeks, then months gone until he found a moment before his fame of Earth, when the only social mark to be found was the rejected fear-based one; it was significantly smaller now, but still easier to read than when combined with the other two.
This time, pulling a vision from it came without confusing feedback.
Two hunters heard the news, a new Mockery-class threat to their society roaming the wilderness. Weak for now, it would grow in power until it was utterly unstoppable if left unchecked. They shared a glance, bone-deep exhaustion marring their faces.
Just another thing to fear.
The information spread, a murmur in the dark, a horror story shared around every campfire in the wilderness. Shadows extended, grinning white teeth with red and purple eyes peeking around trunks, reaching out, brushing its claws against the unprotected necks of those that were caught unaware.
The man shivered, a chill running up his back as he threw a panicked glance behind him, but the eyes had already blinked away.
Nothing more than a tale.
His friends laughed at him and he blushed furiously, but the solemn tension did not fully recede.
He deflated slightly, seeing where this came from as Justin had told him Oura mobilized most of the population in his attempt to find Dei. He… really wasn’t happy to have such a thing, which was exactly why his soul wouldn’t let it attach to him.
Based on the story, it was a performative title- which aligned with how Aloran told him “Faking” achievements or popularity wouldn’t give effective/powerful bonuses. Because the story behind the creature, Dei, wasn’t actually true, the mark itself wouldn’t give tangible power. Because it was an exclusively showman-based story, it would only grant him social rewards.
If Dei accepted the mark, he would get very good at terrifying Gem Dwellers and nothing else, something he didn’t actually want. Becoming some kind of boogeyman to the people he was trying to protect would only hurt.
He tried tracing this path of faith back to the source, but in this memory it remained stagnant. Rewinding time further, he found that it only grew while he was inside quarantine, as the “Stories” about him weren’t able to reach his soul without crossing the System’s boundary, which it did not let the energy do.
Fast forwarding, Dei reviewed the moment he re-entered quarantine, expecting some kind of massive burst of faith that’d built up for him, but was confused when he received nothing at that time. A slightly greater portion of social energy began to flow towards him, but not nearly enough to account for an entire population.
There was a large chunk of the Mark, a time when Dei wasn’t in quarantine and a majority of the belief of Gem Dwellers, that went unaccounted for even now. He wasn’t sure if the System took it or something else did, but wasn’t willing to leave the fate of it up in the air.
Before trying to figure out that mystery, he returned to the current moment and called Ashvorn forward, asking “Hey, there are three Marks here intermingling but one of them would be bad if it it manifested, can I have it deleted to power the other two?”
If he wasn’t going to use the Gem Dweller Mark and it was only causing issues, wouldn’t it be better to destroy it?
He wasn’t hopeful though, for good reason. After a few seconds of reading through his request, Ashvorn said [Negative. Incapable of interacting with chosen Mark].
‘Yep, that’s what I expected’ he thought, considering you needed a Domain of sorts to do anything with faith or social energy.
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“That’s okay,” he told it, “You’re still a bit low-level for this one, but thank you for trying. If you find a way to even parse through the energies, feel free to tell me but it isn’t super important.”
Ashvorn wasn’t particularly disappointed in its own failure, as it likely believed shame would be illogical considering the task before it was impossible, so he wasted no more time comforting it, instead making his way to the bridge between himself and Aloran.
“Aloran,” he got his God’s attention, “What happens if a big bundle of social energy randomly disappears?”
“That depends on the context,” he told Dei, voice rife with suspicion.
“Oura scared the Gem Dwellers so bad with my existence he started a myth about me, then my soul rejected that energy because I don’t want to terrify my people. When I left quarantine, the energy couldn’t follow me so I think it built up somewhere on Avium, and it did not find my soul the moment I got back. Also, I think some of the energy is being siphoned off, because the stream of power from the Gem Dwellers isn’t as potent as it should be.”
Aloran hummed thoughtfully, and Dei felt him relax somewhat. “A thankfully known problem. I was under the assumption you were moments away from dropping another terrifying or mysterious monster on my head. There are two options: another entity also fits the bill of the original myth and is partially riding off your popularity, or the tale has been given shape and become a Legend Manifestation, a unique monster.
“What sort of visions does the Achievement give you?”
“I’ve only looked into the stream once, should I check a few more times?”
“Please.”
Dei went through again, seeing more situations he couldn’t be sure actually existed.
Hunters glancing around trees as stalking predators followed quietly behind them, waiting for a moment to strike; a Shaman journeying through decrepit caves, most manners of life fleeing under her view; even one of a mother scaring her child away from digging out of their village walls- an issue Dei hadn’t thought would be possible, a kid tearing through stone- by warning the child of the chromatically eyed child-snatcher waiting just somewhere outside. The kid went to bed terrified that night, and Dei saw the grinning shadow once more hiding just out of sight, under the bed, now with more color-shifting to its eyes than the red and purple it was before.
Keeping all of this in mind, he went back to Aloran and told the God what he’d found, earning another thoughtful hum. “Unlikely to be a monster as your tale is too… widespread and unique. I cannot think of any known creature that could embody what it means to be your myth, no, I find it much more likely you’ve created a Legend Manifestation, a creature which will gladly feed on the energy you reject. More, if you do not eventually accept the Mark into your soul, I suspect it will flee from you to join the other, the Legend Manifestation.”
Dei grimaced, “I should just bite the bullet, then? Let myself be marked and scare every Gem Dweller I come across?”
Aloran chuckled, “If the Legend were dangerous, I would say yes, however the visions say otherwise. It is something performative, as it was never real in the first place. The Legend Manifestation, wherever it may be, has no interest in actually hurting Gem Dwellers, it only wishes to scare them, to keep its name prevalent, its title growing. It is closer to a bard than a warrior, and would not be entirely harmful to continue to allow growing.”
“Why not?” he asked, “Even if it doesn’t kill people, isn’t morale still vital?”
“Were there no dangerous mythological creatures in your previous life that people of the local area took pride in?”
It took him a moment to think of what Aloran was talking about, but when he understood, his mind immediately went to the Mothman and Wendigoes. Even if they weren’t real- and he was pretty sure they weren’t real on Earth- the people in those native areas looooved talking about them and feeling all special.
“So… Gem Dwellers will find the Legend Manifestation… fun?”
“Eventually, yes, if the death toll remains at zero. More importantly though, not all Legend Manifestations are harmless, and Gem Dwellers currently have none. It will fill a niche and drive off any newcomers that may appear in the future. It is the same reason Gem Dwellers keep the harmless spirits, the crystal guardians, and dark eaters around.”
“I know of the spirits, what are the other two?”
“I’ll leave that up to you to discover,” Aloran said quickly, and Dei rolled his eyes. He was pretty sure the crystal guardians would be some magic-based entity based on how the crystals emitted mana, and the dark eaters, by process of elimination, must’ve been some kind of harmless mind entity, or class of mind entity.
They were various helpful creatures in all the Realms attached to Physical, it was just that Dei could only sense the spirits.
“Do you have a way to speed up how quickly the energy within me will disappear, then? I kind of want those two Marks already…”
“Something tells me you won’t suffer this dilemma much longer,” he said cryptically.
“Why not?”
“Perumah found the visitor to be a potential lesson for you, Ashvorn and Clever thought it was useful enough to ignore, and it is specialized entirely into tricking you, a Gem Dweller in origins who still holds it as part of his Identity. With the main portion of yourself distracted, it finally decided to risk an appearance and feed on the rejected Mark orbiting your soul.”
“What?!”
Dei opened his eyes, but his body felt nothing out of the ordinary around him.
The spirits attached to him, though, were frozen and unmoving. He found them emitting fear.
He slipped out of the Spirit Realm, exploding upwards as his body angled upside down and he glimpsed under the couch he was just sitting on.
He was pretty sure he caught the edge of something ducking away and behind the couch. Darting forward to catch it, though, he spotted nothing.
He scowled, hating the fact that he’d been snuck up on so thoroughly.
“It was entirely magic,” Perumah told him, speaking directly into his mind, “It had no malicious intent so your [Vigilance] Skill couldn’t see it, you never released a soul pulse, and it stayed away from your line of sight, so your eyes never caught on either. Then, it never even invaded your body, so your internal mana manipulation was useless. It just latched onto the energy around you that you didn’t want, and ran.”
He didn’t know what to say. He’d been utterly helpless. If he’d wanted to destroy it, he had no way to do so.
Perumah continued, saying “You forget that at some point, you were weak as well. You were underleveled, and still won frequently. Take this as a reminder that there is always something out there that can slip past your guard, no matter how strong you are. It was an Epic creature, level eighty eight, yet it fooled your senses. Though this one wished you no harm, the danger it symbolizes should not be lost, and you must consider that there are strange and unknown abilities around every corner. You cannot know from what angle something will attack. Do you know that it would have failed if you had seen yourself as a Union, Reaper, or World that Walks? It was your subconscious acceptance that you are a Gem Dweller at heart that gave it a back door to slip through, as it is a myth of these people.”
“I’m not stupid,” he said with more bite than he intended, “I never stopped searching the area. I have a portion of my mind sectioned off towards just that, but I wasn’t actively watching how much faith was built up.”
“I do not mean to call your intelligence into question, only to caution you that lower-level beings can, and will, kill you given the chance.”
He sighed, and she sent him feelings of comfort.
“Sorry for snapping, Perumah, you’re right, and thank you for keeping track of things outside my purview when I fail to do so.” At another time he would’ve laughed at the situation, but the raid still kept him on edge, and this happening on his break didn’t help settle his mind.
In response, Perumah’s roots formed another, smaller garden this time for him to rest in, choosing a vaguely humanoid shape that was still mostly bark as she straddled him. Despite the appearance, she still felt warm, and her leaning down to hug him helped him relax more than he thought as he, truthfully, did not feel like being flirty right now, and a more feminine shape would only make him uncomfortable.
‘She’s nothing if not good at understanding emotions.’
