Taka spun around, only to see white... nothing but white. He turned back and there was more nothingness. He was back in the empty place, the nothing.
"What is this place, Beja?" Taka asked the god, startled at the sound of his own voice.
Taka looked down to see his human hands, clenching his fists to feel his skin.
"This is not a place, in your terms of being. There have been many words for it throughout time: the nothing, the great expanse, the Veil's edge, the white place, purgatory, but I prefer the Every Room."
Holy shit, Taka thought to himself. This is purgatory, and what about the Veil?
"But you are not here to discuss such trivial matters such as a moniker, no," Beja said. "In fact, I do not believe a mortal has been to the Every Room as many times as you before."
"Then why did you bring me here?" Taka asked.
Beja laughed, "Bring you here? Not this time, my jester. I'd reckon it'd prove well to have a hint more care when fooling around with such irreverent 'magitech,' as they call it."
Taka didn't like being referred to as a jester, but he knew arguing with the god wasn't his best course of action. Disdain to 'magitech' seethed through Beja's voice, the god noticeably unhappy with the device Taka had tried to use.
"I meant no offense by my use of the device--" Taka began.
"--oh, no, no, the blame doesn't rest on you. The sin of its creation has already been committed, making use of the product against those impious fae is as close to atonement as even I can imagine."
Beja's words confused Taka even more. Sins? Impious fae and atonement? Taka knew Beja was a god of this world, but Beja didn't strike Taka as particularly morally scrupulous. Taka scowled at the thought of being a pawn in a larger game, forced to dance to the beat of some god's drum.
"Then why am I here?" Taka asked, his impatience growing.
"Because," Beja said, "you are different."
"Different how?" Taka implored.
Beja sighed like a gust blowing through the space, or lack of it. The White Space, Taka decided he'd call it.
"You have been brought from another world, and given a way of viewing your abilities in a way unique to only you," Beja explained. "Any natives of this world can potentially use Magia or Divine Arts, but the way in which you can use your Magia and Divine Arts -- your skills -- is inherently different because of your class. Beings in this world are not given a class, save for a few exceptions over the entirety of history, such as the Hero of Balgania, or your friend the Demon Lord."
Balagnia? That was the first time Taka had heard of the place, and what about my class? Taka was already aware that his race of High Worm was rare and responsible for many of his unique abilities, but this was the first time he had received confirmation of his class... even having a class was extremely rare.
"But what does that have to do with why I was brought here?" Taka asked, pressing for an answer.
"Magia reacts differently to you, as a variant with a specialized class," Beja said, frustration growing. "This new 'Magitech' is unnatural, and thus, your body does not know how to react to it. So you're sent to me to deal with."
"Deal with?" Taka probed.
"Yes. Deal with. Make a decision what to do."
"You can do that?"
"It isn't that I can, it's that I have to."
"So..." Taka said, drawing out the word. "What are you going to do?"
The void was silent. Taka looked around, and felt nothing. He could feel Beja's eyes, or focus, on him, but couldn't sense where the god's presence was.
"Why do you want to speak?" Beja asked gently.
"Because it would make my life easier," Taka said.
"So would immortality, or an instant death ability, or infinite mana," Beja retorted sarcastically. "You'll need to provide me a better reason than that."
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Taka despised groveling to the gods. He knew he didn't have much of a choice, but he could tell this was just another source of entertainment to Beja, and that made him feel sick. It doesn't matter, Taka told himself, just keep playing the game.
"Because I miss having a voice," Taka said. "I miss being able to have a normal conversation with someone, with anyone. I miss being human."
That was the first time Taka admitted the thought to anyone else, and his heart felt like it was being stabbed each second he dug deeper into his feelings.
"I miss my family, my mom, my friends, walking down the street, I miss buses, and stupid classes I had to go to, I miss sleeping through my alarm, I miss it all so much."
Taka could feel tears welling up in his eyes as he spoke into the void.
"Being able to speak, even if it's not through my own mouth, if it's out loud, maybe I'll feel more real, more normal, and, I don't know, what do you want me to say?"
The Empty Space did not answer. Taka felt more alone than he ever had in his life, in either of his lives. He thought of his mom and Dylan and what they were doing now, if his mom was still mourning him, or if she'd gone back to work right away, if Dylan had gotten a job yet, or was he still mooching off his parents? And then to Taka's surprise, his thoughts shifted to Syla and the story of her own family tragedy, and to the time he spent with Rhoz in Kronkswell... Rhoz, who was missing. And to Deon, who taught him about raw magic, and Maeve and even Zirko and Vanz'goran...
"I have people I care about now. People I want to help, and talk to, and, isn't that enough?" Taka asked as tears began to stream down his face.
A warm sigh echoed through the Empty Space, bouncing off nothing and back.
"For me, yes. But... well, it won't be in my hands, it'll be in its," Beja said ominously.
Even if it was enough for Beja, the god's response loomed like a threat. It? Whose hands? Taka thought to himself, about to ask until he felt another presence in the space.
The presence didn't enter the space -- it was already there, just, somewhere beneath the surface where Taka couldn't feel it. He still couldn't see it, or make out the shape of its aura, but he could feel the Magia near him.
"So you show yourself," Beja said, Taka getting the feeling that the question was not directed toward him. "Shall I take that as your acceptance?"
Taka felt the presence shift, move around within itself, but not in a way that he was able to perceive as an answer. It was frustrating to be left out of the conversation like that.
"Very well," Beja said.
"What do you mean," Taka began, "'very we--'"
Color flooded Taka's vision. Not many colors, just the drab, greyscale colors of the lab, but color nonetheless. He looked around to see Zirko and Dr. Quinoth behind the screen. As he moved, he felt a weight on his back, and twisted around, trying to make out what was there.
"Be careful, Sir Filo!" Dr. Quinoth shouted as he scrambled from behind the screen to the table where Taka sat.
Taka's back felt sore, but not as if from an injury, more so like he had just done some intense exercise.
"How long was I out for?" A voice from Taka's back said.
Dr. Quinoth froze, going as still as a statue. Zirko stumbled out from behind the screen.
"Uh," Zirko began, "About a minute, maybe two? Dr. Quinoth had just finished affixing the..."
Zirko's voice trailed off as he stared at Taka. Taka wasn't sure what to do, either. He had meant to send a message using his TELEPATHY skill, but the links had broken when he had gone unconscious. When he thought the message this time, it had just come out from the device attached to him. As he squirmed around, Taka could feel the device sticking into him. It wasn't attached by straps or tape or any sort of external adhesive, it had dug into his body.
"This is, ah," Dr. Quinoth managed to get out. "Unexpected. Good, great even, this was not, ah, this outcome was not in a single one of our projections. Or in the realm of possibility, or so we thought, nor exactly what the, ah, device, was capable of?"
Dr. Quinoth continued to stare at Taka, his jaw dropped in awe.
"According to our projections, and all models and current research related to this type of Magitech, it is supposed to take time for the device to integrate into your natural, biological magic circuits, but this..."
Dr. Quinoth threw up his hands, waving them around wildly.
"I don't have the words to fully... capture, just how, how... may I please examine you? And take readings of, of everything?"
Zirko looked at the doctor with an amused expression plastered across his face, then shrugged at Taka.
"Sure," Taka's new voice said.
That was going to take some time to get used to. The voice sounded... strange, not too strange, but not like a person, more gravely and somewhat robotic, but still an organic voice. Dr. Quinoth almost collapsed on the counter with relief.
"Thank you, Sir Filo, I, I need to grab a few things and, I'll be right back," the doctor said as he ran out of the room.
Zirko and Taka sat in companionable silence. Now with the ability to speak, silence gained some of its weight back.
Now, Taka thought to himself, let's re-organize that list of questions before the doc comes back.
Questions related to Modonia, or important for now:
-Where is Rhoz?
-How do I get stronger, fast? Anything about being a High Worm that can help?
-Who ordered the attack on Kronkswell, and why?
-What does the Creationist Church want? Are they behind the attack?
Who's the mole on the Ambassador's staff?
-Why have things gotten worse for otherkin in Modonia, and why were they kidnapped?
- What was happening in that dream? How do I make sure that doesn't happen?
-How do I find Syla's mother?
-How do I free the souls trapped within Syla's body?
Other Questions:
-What is Deon hiding? What is Bick hiding?
-How do I kill Valish, the god of creation?