Luck be Damned

1

^^ Grand Pillar ^^

— Alice —

I was born in a hovel, where the local Witch-Doctor or some such pulled me from my mother, then cut my umbilical and handed me to her unceremoniously, unswaddled and bloody and covered in disgusting amniotic fluids. It had taken a few moments of hacking and coughing to puke it all up and allow me a breath of air, welcome despite the heavy scents of blood, urine, and medicines.

Then, she charged a ridiculous sum of what appeared to be four golden coins for the swift healing magic she used after I was removed from my mother.

'MAGIC. I was in a world with Magic, just like I'd asked!!! I'd succeeded in bargaining with Death to send me to a world with MAGIC this time!!!'

The language here was already foreign and odd, but she spoke a different one, I was sure of it, when she healed my mother. Then, once my mother was asleep, only then was I cleaned and properly checked for any health issues. The father seemed confused as to why I wasn't crying, as I was sure most babies would be, but I refused to debase myself for his comfort, and so I simply glared at the Healer until she frowned at me, noticing my intense glare.

Her voice made no sense, but she now spoke the same language as my father figure, and he responded, afraid and confused. After a moment, however, I felt a warmth cover my ears, and I grinned, (or attempted to; babies' face muscles were always surprisingly difficult to handle,) knowing what would come next.

'The High Ones have gifted you with a basic understanding of your new Home... use it Well.' A soft, perfectly genderless voice spoke, and suddenly the Witch-Doctor made sense, though I wasn't even listening to her anymore, instead digesting the font of new information.

'This is Vanaheim, a world more closely connected to the Legends you remember from Midgard, a world of Magic and Monsters! In this realm, humans are vastly outnumbered, and Monsters are the Dominant Species; however, there are a few non-hostile types of Monsters, such as Elves, Gnomes, and Dwarves, for starters! Humans, being by far the weakest of all races, have been gifted one advantage: each of them, if they survive to adolescence, may attempt to summon a Spirit, and use its innate ability to bolster their own bodies and magical abilities, should they possess them! Secondarily, humans and other Sapient Creatures have access to the 'Class System', which allows for the specialization of specific skills with supernatural assistance! Skills are still acquirable outside of the Class System, however they are notably less potent than skills granted by the System, which was put in place by the Administrator, that Being which you know as Death, or Deity. Do you have any more questions before this line closes permanently?'

'Yes!!! How do I do magic?!?'

'You may learn in a variety of ways. Magic is plentiful and quite common here, in Vanaheim; even Monsters can use it, at times, though theirs is very limited, in both types and complex usage, and is therefore more potent, by way of the law of universal exchange. Do you have any more questions before this line closes permanently?'

'Yes!!! What is a Spirit defined as, in this World?'

'Spirits: the Souls of Creatures that have managed to retain their Ego after their Death, but have not reincarnated yet. They populate the Higher Realms, and can sometimes be found in lower realms such as Vanaheim, Midgard, Muspelpheim, and many others besides. Of course, these are only names applied by the mortal denizens of these realms, and are only used by High Ones for the sake of mortals' ease of understanding. Do you have any more questions before this line closes permanently?'

'Yes!!! What's the best Spirit to have, and how do I get it? Is it a compatibility-type pairing, or an achievement-type?'

'The best?... that is an objective and opinion-based query, and I cannot answer it. I will instead answer the second part; How. Spirits are gained by two ways; first: the Gifting Ceremony, upon reaching Adolescence. As stated, when the human has survived until Adolescence, it is gifted with a spirit that is equal in strength and temperament to the human's soul, having as many evolutions as the soul has had Reincarnations... but Luck does play a major part in the selection of the spirit that binds itself to you, as well.'