《The Fall》Chapter 1
Advertisement
Have you ever fallen? From a roof or a pull-up bar? Do you remember that moment of weightlessness? That moment when you forget up from down and your world starts to spin? Well, that's what it's like to be born. As long as you forget the sudden cold that assaults your buddy, the heaviness of your own limbs, and the fact that you can literally feel the flow of your blood switch directions. That last one is the worst.
The midwife's hands shook after she passed off the newborn girl. Despite how hard she tried to keep herself calm, her face betrayed how uneasy she felt. The child was silent. Completely. Not a single sound came out of the child's mouth. “Madam,” her voice quaked. The mother, a middle-aged woman who by all accounts should not have been able to bear another child, was exhausted.
“Yes?” The woman's face was covered in sweat and the streaks of tears could still be seen. “Mary? What is it?” The new mother, though she had already given birth several times, finally saw her midwife's face. The woman's eyes were wide and staring at the child. A girl. Then the mother saw it. Her child's eyes were open, staring right into her own eyes. Not a single fidget or wiggle. She just laid there. For a moment, the briefest of moments, the woman thought her child was dead. Until the girl blinked. She sighed as she saw her daughter's chest rise and fall. She could see the girl's heartbeat. And, once she was paying attention, she could see the child's body quake with every beat of the girl's heart.
“The child's not crying, Madam.” Mary's hands caught each other. Her fingers twisted and fidgeted. “Bad omens, Madam.”
“Bad omens? Whatever do you mean Mary?” The woman did not know much about these omens. She was from the south, where the weather was always warm. It surprised her to no end how superstitious the northerners, including her husband, could get.
“The child, Madam, the spirits have claimed her.” Mary's teeth started to chatter. Her eyes darted side to side. “Give it to the snow, Madam. You cannot keep what the spirits have claimed.” It was then that the woman finally lost her nerve. “I won't stay. I cannot have the spirits turn their eyes upon me and mine, Madam.”
Advertisement
“Mary! Wait!” The woman's words fell on nothing as her midwife fled. It was the last thing she expected to happen. The woman had helped her give birth to her other three daughters. But as she looked down at the crystaline blue eyes of her daughter, eyes that looked exactly like her husband's, the worrisome comments of her midwife drifted from her mind.
The child in question could hear every single one of their comments, but was otherwise preoccupied. There was a reason she didn't make a sound. She was far too perplexed to do so.
What the hell is this thing? My thoughts were focused on a big blue box that took up the entirety of my vision.
Name: ???
Age: 0
Level: 1
Classes: None
Titles: Lady
Traits: Loved by Winter, Ice Born, Noble, Highborn
Attributes:
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 2
Constitution: 6
Intelligence: 3
Willpower: 5
Charisma: 2
Free Points: 6
Skills:
Spirit Perception (Lv 1)
Cold Resistance (Lv 5)
Heat Resistance (Lv 1)
Feats:
None
Feat Points: 2
Statistics:
Health: 60/1.5 per day
Stamina: 40/4 per minute
Mana: 30/3 per hour
Conviction: 50/5 per hour
There was so much to take in. I didn't even have a name. And what were all these other numbers? It took me longer than I would like to admit to come to terms with my new reality. But when I eventually calmed down I was able to more thoroughly examine the box that took up my vision. Looking at the zero that represented my age I couldn't help but feel confused. I wasn't 0 years old. I was 28 and I just... I can't remember what I was doing. I can remember a lot of things, but it's all just information. I know I lived a life, a full one. I could remember english and math, even history of the nation I used to live in. But I couldn't remember actually living there. I couldn't even remember what my name was.
I know I should be freaking out right now. What with two giants looming over me and making weird sing-songy sounds. My mind just...it just wouldn't. So, I looked through the different things in this box.
The second things to catch my attention were the different categories. Well, the Titles, Traits, and Feats to be exact.
Advertisement
Titles – States given to you be those that are more powerful than you. If you gain more power than the one who gave you the title you will retain said title. Titles can be removed by sufficiently ranked individuals or certain events.
I only had one title.
Lady – The title automatically given to daughters of noble houses. If you are married or otherwise gain a noble title of your own you will lose the title of Lady. If your house falls you will lose the title of Lady. This title gives no bonuses.
It was thoruoghly unexciting. I felt slightly disenchanted by it though I wasn't sure why. That train of thought brought me to my 'lack of personality'. I know, a weird term, but one I think fits the best. It's strange being like this. I know, academically, that I should have certain likes and dislikes, but I just didn't. Or I didn't know what they were yet. That sounded far more likely.
My inspection continued with the four traits I had. I didn't know if they were a lot or not, but surely it couldn't be common, right?
Traits – Natural manifestations in your body. Traits can either be passed on by breeding or gained by performing actions that leave a permanent mark on both your physical and nonphysical person. Traits cannot be removed.
Loved by Winter – You are loved by the Spirits of Winter. They will never let you fall under sickness in cold, icy environments. The Spirits of Winter will seek to help you in all tasks. Be careful, Spirits do not always help in ways that are beneficial to you. Grants +2 to Con and Will. Grants 1 Lv of Spirit Perception and 2 Lvs of Cold Resistance.
Ice Born – Your body and spirit are aligned with Ice and Cold. You do not suffer from natural cold beyond slight chilliness. Ice and Cold magic, both secular and divine, bends to your will more readily. Elementals of Ice and Cold see you as one of their own and will not attack you initially. Grants access to certain feats. Grants +2 to Con and +1 to Int and Will. Grants 2 Lvs of Cold Resistance.
Both of these traits fit each other perfectly. Memories of ice magic, all from videogames and fantasy novels, came crashing into my head. I mean, these alone would set anyone up for being a mage. A good one at that. My other two traits, Noble and Highborn, also seemed to go together. They, along with my title of Lady, also gave me an idea of what kind of life I had apparently been born into.
Noble – You are the child of two nobles, both of which have this trait. This trait can only be gained by being the child of nobles. If you lose your noble title and then have children they will not have this trait. Grants +1 Attribute Point per Lv. Grants +1 Feat Point per Lv.
Highborn – You are the product of two noble lines stretching back generations. The Highborn can in some ways be considered a different race from the common rabble. Grants access to certain feats. Grants +1 to all Attributes. Due to your lineage you are granted 1 Lv in both Cold Resistance and Heat Resistance.
Putting all these things together so far I can assume that I am actually quite a bit more powerful than your average newborn. From what I can tell most children are not born with any sort of traits at all, and even nobles are rarely born with anything more than Noble and Highborn, which are quite a leg up on there own. But I have two more. Not only that, but they also go well together. I was itching to learn more about the attributes but I wanted to take a look at the feats first.
Feats – Feats are certain characteristics that are gained from spending Feat Points. These points can be gained from doing various difficult tasks, inventing something new, or by leveling up. Feats can be sealed or restricted by certain magics and other abilities.
Current Feat Points: 2
Spend Feat Points?
Yes No
I couldn't help myself as I pressed 'Yes'.
Advertisement
- In Serial23 Chapters
The Prince of Cats
To stay alive, Jawad must succeed where all others have failed: he must catch the Prince of Cats. More legend than man, the Prince is draped in rumours. He can steal the silver teeth from your mouth in the blink of a smile. He is a ghost to walls and vaults, he laughs at locks, and Jawad must capture him before powerful people lose their patience and send the young rogue to the scaffold.Ever the opportunist, Jawad begins his hunt while carrying out his own schemes. He pits the factions of the city against each other, lining his own pockets in the process and using the Prince as a scapegoat. This is made easy as nobody knows when or where the Prince will strike, or even why.As plots collide, Jawad finds himself pressured from all sides. Aristocrats, cutthroats, and the Prince himself is breathing down his neck. Unless Jawad wants a knife in his back or an appointment with the executioner, he must answer three questions: Who is the Prince of Cats, what is his true purpose, and how can he be stopped? The Prince of Cats is set in the same world as my other fiction, The Eagle's Flight, but the two stories are not connected. The full story has been uploaded. Information and a map of the city can be found here. There is also an interactive storybook app inspired by The Prince of Cats. The full story can be played for free. Download for Android or for iPhone.
8 86 - In Serial35 Chapters
R.A.M.
The strange magician Rosetta has grown tired of searching. His job has been preparing and sending select humans into 'the other world'. This fated person is the last one. The most important one. However, enemies who were once comrades are hunting him across the world to harvest his power. With many powerful inidividuals after him, Rosetta had no choice but to carry out his job in secrecy. With his large reserves of magic and his alliances both new and old, Rosetta sets out to find the fated person to be sent over to 'the ‘other world' like many fated humans have. Chapters posted here will lag behind the main site Rosetta Archive. Please visit the site to read latest released chapters.
8 140 - In Serial60 Chapters
A Murder of Crows
New money rich kid. War General. Amnesiac. Most people live one life, Virgil Darko has lived three. It's been six months after losing his memory and Virgil has only just begun to adjust himself to prison life in Shrieker's Veil - the greatest island prison in all of Xyra. And it's problem after problem for Virgil, who's lost his memory and who can't seem to understand why everyone hates him. Or fears him. After one prison fight, Virgil is sent to his cell starving only to be met with the most unlikely partner ever; Prince Ritcher. The prince, who's come all the way from the mainland to offer Virgil the greatest gift he could have, his memories. The task seems easy, for Virgil to read his diary and to make a thread between all the loose thoughts and images in his head. At a cost. Virgil is forced into a choice to forget who he was, or remember all his tribulations in a bid for Ritcher to figure out where his partners in crime retreated to. Will Virgil be able to sell out friends? Friends he doesn't even remember anymore? Or maybe sometimes past lives should be forgotten.
8 110 - In Serial31 Chapters
1974 - A David Bowie Fanfic.
The year is 1974 and Rosalind Chester is an 18 year old girl who is in love with one of the biggest rockstar's of that time, along with a million other David Bowie fans... When Ros decides it's time to leave home to live in Brixton, her whole world changes. "I was just another fan of Bowie's, one of those fans that dreamed of meeting him. But in reality, and the sad truth is, he'd never know I existed. " - Rosalind Chester.But how wrong she was... So what happens when on a normal night out, Ros ends up having a chat with the man she's been in love with for the past 5 years? And how they both change each other's lives within 12 months... Is this the love story of the Brixton Boy and the little Rebel? In loving memory of David Jones (Bowie) - see you soon Starman xIf you enjoyed this story then please go and check out the sequel...! It's called 1984 - link is below! xhttp://my.w.tt/UiNb/kBmGR0vCku
8 251 - In Serial37 Chapters
The little Vampire- lust
Vivian or viv, which her friends back in Florida would call her is forced to move to Scotland for her senior year of high school with her mother, father and younger brother (Tony) for her fathers job. When her younger brother tony starts to go off with a friend no ones ever met, slightly isolating himself and even possibly sneaking out Vivian decides to investigate. Last thing she expected her brother being involved in, and now her, is a family of vampires, ancient curses, deadly vampire slayers. The most shocking part? Vivian and the families oldest son fall for each other. What will happen between a human and a vampire? What will happen to their love once the ancient curse is broken?
8 233 - In Serial21 Chapters
Empty Boxes
George and Oliver are the perfect couple, but after a messy breakup that leaves George heartbroken and Oliver moving on scarily fast, Sapnap and Dream both travel to England to take care of their friend amidst physical and mental damage, and an ex boyfriend that can't seem to leave George alone.
8 178

