Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 54: Return

Birth is painful. Rebirth is just as painful.

At least, when you are born as a baby you have no memory of the process. As an adult, every second is an experience in torment and patience. There is no rushing the process. Your body and soul have to reconnect. Neurons that have ceased firing are woken. Nerve endings once again learn how to fire electrical currents, sparking synapses into action.

Your heart pounds. Sluggishly at first. Stronger as the thrum dub of beat and rhythm renew pulse and pressure. The noise of blood slowly rushing towards your head, blood that has begun to clot requiring more force to pump and move, slowly responds. Your body experiences an awakening.

The numbness, first. Then pins and needle, slight almost pleasurable at first, but painful and insistent as the prickles increased, the familiar experience of a body part falling asleep and wakening when blood flow is restored. The effect is interesting, but the longer the numbness has occurred, the more painful the process restoring adequate blood flow can be.

Slowly the myriad autonomous systems that worked in harmony to regulate the body come back online. Synapses firing. Lungs expanding. Blood flow. Digestion. Endocrine systems. Sound, sights, and smells functioning. And my brain slowly restored and able to process and understand the stimuli my body is processing.

Being reborn should have been a wondrous event. A blessing. For me, it was anything but. SYSTEM had sent me back without allowing me time to respond, agree, or bargain.

Frankly, I was confused. Why would SYSTEM appear as my Granny? Was this some subtle mind-fuck or was it just done because I had the deepest connection with that person?

I was relieved that Caraid had not been taken from me. Not being able to talk to him recently had felt like having an arm removed. He had become an integral part of me. I had begun thinking of him as a real brother. He was someone I could trust, implicitly, and our backgrounds were similar enough that we had connected emotionally because of those shared experiences.

For a few moments, I allowed myself to be selfish. Too not care about what was transpiring around me, or how the Wild Hunt had ended. I took time for myself and to grieve. To mourn for Caraid.

And to honor his sacrifice. SYSTEM had restored him to me, but that didn't negate his sacrifice. I don't know why he decided to accept my fate and step in as my replacement with the Wild Hunt. But I would remember his sacrifice and devotion. And I would find a way to restore him to real life, even if it meant I must ascend to Godhood to do so.

Finally. Muscle control and movement possible, I reached to wipe the tears from my eyes. I didn't have the luxury to wallow and mourn; I needed to pull myself together. Standing, I focused on the now, trying to understand what I was seeing. My sight wasn't the most powerful sense I was experiencing at the moment. Smell and sound were.

Cries and screams from wounded, and the roasted and burnt smell of cooked flesh. A scent that induced nausea and forced me to spend a moment battling my gag reflex and my desire to throw up.

Blackened and charred bodies littered the ground. Interspersed with a forest of ice sculptures, people that had yet to thaw and either be restored to life or found dead. Those that had refused the Wild Hunt's call and had been found innocent.

As I watched, the ice that encased these individuals began to slowly melt. Rivulets of water dripping onto the floor and mixing with blood and viscera from the recent battle. Temperatures that had been below freezing, slowly rose until the room was once again temperate and comfortable.

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As people thawed, confusion and uncertainty became common. Relief at survival soon gave way to cries of despair as loved ones that had been killed or joined the Wild Hunt and were missing were identified. Wailing and rending of clothing and flesh soon filled the room, as the last touches of the Wild Hunt receded. Restoring the banquet hall to the world of Talahm, the Wild Hunt domain softly receding.

Ignoring my surroundings as Talahm slowly solidified, I decided it was time to take stock and see exactly what SYSTEM and System's pronouncement had done to me and what those changes would mean.

[Status]

[Error]

[Initiating]

[Rebooting]

[Applying new restrictions]

[Error. SYSTEM Intervention]

[Compiling]

[Restrictions compiled]

[Processing]

[Status:]

[Name: Teigh Mac de Belenos y Cyronax] [ Rank: Prince Level 3 (Pending)]

[Title: Summerland's Protector] [Title: Zeus' Bane]

[Danu's Kiss: You have been blessed by Wild Magic and the Goddess Danu. The wee folk, sprites, and earth elementals will obey your commands.

You can call upon the Wild Magic to enhance any spell cast once every third day.

Sithern's created by you will conform and move to your will after creation.]

[Health Pool: 2400 (2804)] [Magic Strength: 3600 (4004)]

[Strength: 14.01 (2.02)] [Agility: 14.01 (2.02)]

[Intellect: 20.01 (2.02)] [Will Power: 20.01 (2.02)]

[Affinities:]

[Earth Affinity: 15%] [Air Affinity: 32%]

[Water Affinity: 15%] [Fire Affinity: 85%]

[Nature Affinity: 70%] [Death Affinity: 15%]

[Mind: 55%]

[Spell menu - Disabled]

[Skill menu - Disabled]

[SYSTEM Message -]

[You have discovered an incongruity in System. System was created and initiated to reward and guide; punishing and creating Avatar's to act as agents of punishment is not a function of System.

Corruption and tampering have been isolated.

The System has been re-compiled and patched.

Gwyn ap Nudd Avatar has been deleted]

[Hidden SYSTEM Quest Completed - Expose System Corruption and Inconsistency]

[Reward - User Level increased Prince Level 3]