Manifest Read online

  He started walking toward the toadstool with a mix of awe and trepidation. Whenever there is an explosion and a tiny mushroom grows to the size of a small grain silo, caution was the best policy. He reached the luminescent stalk, feeling completely at peace with the world, when he saw the gnome appear from behind the far tree line. Gitch waived his hand in greeting, but quickly lowered it when he heard the gnome shouting with abandon.

  "YOU POO CASTING MOTHER FAIRY! THE HELL YA KEPT ALL THAT MAGIC BOTTLED UP FER? YA TRYIN TO KILL EVERY LIVING CREATURE IN THIS FOREST OR YA JUST STUPID, BOY? I SWEAR TO THE GODS. I WILL START CALLING YOU THE POO FAIRY, CAUSE THAT’S ALL THAT BE IN YER BRAIN. YA EXPLODING PINK MIDGET!"

  Dwik was pissed! He definitely wasn’t accustomed to being screamed at, especially by someone so much larger than he. Gitch was fully taken back and somewhat offended. What had he done to deserve being in the gnome’s ire? Dwik was alive, and it wasn’t like he destroyed his... Gitch looked over to where the hut once stood, just 15 feet from the base of the massive toadstool. Not one stone survived the hippy blast.

  "Ah," Gitch said to himself. "That makes sense."

  Dwik was almost to him now, and there was murder in his eyes. Gitch raised his hands to try and placate the gnome. "Dwik, man I’m sorry, I had no idea that would happen. Like I told you earlier, I have no idea how to be a fairy. I tried to stop my dust earlier when hiding behind one of your stones. I didn’t know that in doing so, we would be treated to our own hallucinogenic blast of Woodstock! It just happened man, I wasn’t trying to kill you or destroy all your stuff, I swear!" Gitch finished with a hint of pleading in his voice. He was telling the truth, and he was just starting to warm up to Dwik. It would be a shame to part ways, or be murdered by him, at this point.

  Dwik approached him in a huff of furry, but lost some of his vehemence upon hearing Gitch’s words. He could see the sincerity in the fairy’s eyes, and his anger started to abate.

  "You’re still a twonk... but I get Lily put ya in a foul spot. That’s why I’m comin’ with ya. There’s not much left fer me in this glade, besides a giant fungus that gives me the munchies. Yer stuck with me ya little pipsqueak, so ya best get used to me!" he declared forcefully. He crossed his arms and waited for Gitch to object, which didn’t happen.

  Gitch nodded his head and responded solemnly. "You have a place by my side, Dwik, for as long as you wish." He again stretched out his arm, and this time the pair clasped wrists.

  Dwik smiled. "This actually is fer the best. What with The Severing, there just isn’t as big a need fer greeters. Now I can travel all of this world meself, and I think ya might turn out to be a fine travelin’ companion, given time. Ya may be stupid and unlucky as all get out, but at least it’ll be interesting!" Dwik said in mirth.

  "Ya know what Dwik? I am going to take that as a compliment. I’m ready for a little interesting!"

  "Great, now just one more thing before we get back to yer flyin’ lesson."

  "Yeah, sure, what’s up?" Gitch asked curiously. He was eager to get back to his flight ‘lesson‘, but he wanted to allow Dwik his say. He did just almost kill him, after all.

  Dwik dropped his smile. "STOP SUPPRESSING YER MANA, YA WINGED IMBECILE!"

  Frick! Gitch closed his eyes and searched within himself. He found what he was looking for and ‘flipped the switch‘. He immediately started releasing his excess mana, which had built up in the form of fairy dust. Gitch breathed out a large sigh of relief. When he opened his eyes he gave a start, but was able to hide it from the gnome. Dwik had... changed. He previously had a light tan complexion, like he had just come back from a two week long trip to Fiji. Gitch was now looking at a neon pink gnome with a thick strand of pink hair atop his previously bald head.

  Congratulations! You have unlocked a hidden racial trait: Terraformer

  Fairies release ambient magic into the environment. Given time, a small group of fairies can alter an entire forest. Changes may be as subtle as a glowing blade of grass, or as drastic as rain falling up from the ground.

  Gitch really needed to be more careful about keeping his excess mana built up! It seemed like the effects of instant and excessive mana release were quite random. He made a mental note to check his own stats for anything peculiar when he next had a moment.

  Dwik had yet to notice his own transformation, and Gitch wasn’t sure he wanted to be around the former hermit when he finally caught a peek of himself. Gitch was fairly confident Dwik would know just who was to blame. On the other hand, Dwik did just say he wanted to experience the interesting! Gitch turned back to his original request.

  “Okay, so I turned the mana output back on and am back to glowing and leaving pink dust wherever I go. Now, how do I fly?!”

  Dwik used his now pink left hand to stroke his beard. "Well, I am not sure exactly. Yer the tiny pink creature-"

  Gitch did his best not to snort. Thankfully Dwik failed to catch the look on his face.

  "-that exudes magic fairy dust. I have heard that both fairies and pixies release more excess mana than is required to maintain flight, but it would depend on yer wisdom stat I suppose. I imagine ya shouldn’t have to delve into yer own mana pool except fer long flights or if you are casting spells at the same time. Try and mentally reach out to the free-floating mana dust and see what happens? That’s the best advice I can offer."

  “Great! The old ‘see what happens’ approach. That worked so well last time,” Gitch said sarcastically. He again closed his eyes so he could concentrate but not before seeing Dwik inch away from him. Jerk didn’t believe in him. That was okay, it actually gave him an idea. Gitch visibly shook and suddenly cried out in alarm. Dwik screamed and took off running towards the forest once more.

  Gitch chuckled merrily and set back to work. Dwik heard him and probably sent some derogatory statement his way. Gitch didn’t pay him any mind as he felt for each individual pool of health, mana, and stamina, but there was now something else too. Countless specks of pure mana were randomly floating about, with more being produced every second. He tried directing some of the floating mana toward his wings and opened his eyes. To his immense satisfaction, he was hovering about 3 feet off the ground!

  Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Flight

  Channeling mana into your wings has given you the ability to soar the open skies!

  Cost: 1 MPS (Mana Per Second) to hover. Each additional mana point invested increases your flight speed by 3 feet per second.

  Current Cap: 5 MPS

  It was a good thing he wasn’t afraid of heights because even one yard up was quite the distance for a miniature fairy. He did a little jig in the air as Dwik clapped his encouragement on his way back from the tree line. Gitch tried gathering the dust again, this time specifically directing another 2 points to his wings, and instantly shot forward 6 feet. He did some mental calculations and found that each point directed to his wings equated to an additional 2 miles per hour! That might not have seemed like much in his previous life as a human, but he would be lucky to walk two miles all day with his tiny little legs. This was huge! Gitch infused his wings with more mana, but this time kept an open channel. He easily made the distance to the gawking gnome with fist outstretched. They fist bumped and shared a smile.

  Congratulations! Flight has increased to level 2!

  Each additional mana point invested now increases your flight speed by 3.1 feet per second.

  Current Cap: 5 MPS

  Gitch slowly released the gathered mana and drifted back toward the ground. He checked his mana pool, which still remained at 87 points. Dwik had been right. He could fly without spending any of his stored mana! Obviously, there would be a point where he was spending more mana than he was generating, but he could always just back off a bit.

  Once he reached the ground, his stomach gave a loud rumble. Dwik’s keen ears perked up at the sound. "Now if yer done foolin’ around, go on and fetch us some nuts and fruit from the tops of them trees." The gnome pointed at th
e shimmering trees on the other side of the glade. "My belly is roarin’ too, and since ya be the one to cause me dinner, and pretty much everything else to explode, I figure it’s on ya to fix our meal fer tonight." With that, Dwik lay on the ground and peered upward, staring at the monstrous shroom.

  Gitch gave him a thumbs up, not caring about the extra work whatsoever. With a loud "WAAHOOOOOO!", he shot up into the air and bounded over to the branches holding the pair’s dinner for the evening.

  It didn’t take long before he found a cluster of strange purple fruit nestled against a yellow incandescent leaf. The fruit, which reminded him strongly of eggplants, was a few inches taller than him. He tried prying one of the juicy looking fruits loose but to no avail. They were each bound tight by a green central stem. He thought about using the needle, but that was a stabbing weapon, not much good for hacking through the stem. He stared longingly at the sweet-smelling fruit and was about to give up when a thought struck him. Let Dwik do it. He placed a hand on the side of the fruit and transferred it to his pouch. They weighed much less than the stones he hauled earlier, and he was able to store nearly the entire cluster into his bag. He kept one out, not willing to wait any longer to feed the greedy monster hiding in his belly.

  With a wry smile, he put his mouth to the fruit and attempted to bite down. The skin was too thick, however, and he knew his small teeth would shatter long before the skin gave way. He pulled out the sewing needle thinking he could maybe poke a few holes through the outer casing and dig out some of the presumably soft interior. It was worth a shot.

  He placed his ‘weapon’ up against the fruit and pushed with all his might, but this only resulted in a small dent in its side. As a fairy, he just wasn’t strong enough physically. PHYSICALLY! Didn’t he just learn how to use mana to beef up his wings? It was time to adapt and at least try to start acting like a fairy. To start acting like his true self.

  He began siphoning in a great deal of mana dust, focusing it in both his hands and wings. This time he placed the tip against the side of the fruit and pushed with all his magical might. He felt just the slightest resistance before pushing completely through. He didn’t have time to celebrate, however, as his augmented body continued into the fruit. He had a foot, both arms, and half his face all completely lodged inside, and his body was covered head to toe in a thick purple tar-like substance. He couldn‘t see, and it was becoming harder and harder to breath. He directed just a fraction of the surrounding fairy dust to his wings and flapped, finally freeing himself from the gloop.

  Gitch looked down at his now goo covered body. The purple sludge didn‘t inspire a lot of confidence, but Gitch figured he had gone too far not to give it a go. He stuck out his tongue and licked a dollop of gloop off his left index finger.

  His lips puckered up, and his eyes widened as he bent over and put his hands on his knees. Not because he was poisoned or it tasted like puke jelly-both possibilities he felt were very likely given his crappy luck. No, the fruit itself was delicious! What had doubled him up was the incredible aftertaste.

  He had heard of a plant back on Earth that was supposedly 300 times as sweet as sugar. That was the only thing he could possibly compare what he was now calling the gloop fruit with. It tasted a bit like carbonated gummy bear jam dipped in a large vat of Fun Dip. The sweetness was like nothing he had ever experienced. He loved it! Gitch began stuffing himself on the gloop, just throwing handfuls of the purple mush into his mouth. When he had his fill, Gitch looked down at his Pouch of Holding with a single thought in mind. LEFT-OVERS! He stuffed the rest of the godly gloop into his Pouch of Holding for safe keeping.

  Having taken care of his own hunger, Gitch went looking for some more food to complete the quest. He had collected five of the delicious fruits, and so was already halfway to completion. Gitch ran along the thin branch and jumped to the next. When it became obvious that he would come up a bit short, he drew some mana into his wings to carry him over the remaining distance. He touched down lightly on the barky surface and looked around. There were no other fruits on this part of the tree, but he did see some brown pods on a tree to his right. He flew over to the leafy tree and picked up one of the nuts. Unlike the gloop fruit, these nuts came loose with minimal effort. They were about the size of his head, which probably wouldn‘t satisfy the gnome, but they were plentiful. Gitch could see at least 20 nuts on this branch alone. He started gathering them into his pouch to carry back down to Dwik. The quest only called for 5 additional nuts, but he was hoping for some brownie points with the gnome. It was the least he could do for blowing up... everything.

  After 20 minutes, he put the last two nuts in his magic pouch. Gitch thought he had a pretty decent load and figured it was time to make his way back to Dwik. He was high enough within the canopy now that he lost sight of the glade, but Gitch wasn‘t worried. For some reason, he thought he would be able to find his way back to the not so subtle toadstool. He directed only half a point of MPS to his wings and began his slow descent. He was looking for a bit gentler ride back down to the earth but definitely not a plummet. As a great astronaut once said, he wasn’t flying, just falling with style. It seemed to fit.

  Glitch glided gently through the leaves, taking in the beauty of the forest. Being small did have its perks. Even though he was likely only a few feet within the leafy canopy, he was treated to some amazing views. He past over large leaves and several luminescent branches and twigs. There were glowing bugs that he likely would never had given any attention to, except now they were up to his knees. One ladybug flew up to him, curious of the new fairy. Gitch gave it a light pat on the head and continued on.

  Dew calmly trickled out of one of the large leaves, likely collected from a previous rain. To a human, it wouldn‘t look like much, but to Gitch, it appeared as a resplendent waterfall with waters cascading down to the fathomless depths below. Once he finally did break though the canopy, he caught sight of the large mushroom that dominated the once empty space. The clear pool looked as beautiful as ever, and the golden stream had long since dissipated. Night was coming on, but there was no fear for lack of light. Between the countless mana particles brilliant white stones, Gitch could see just fine. He loved every minute of his serene descent and was somewhat disappointed when he touched down. Disappointment turned to joy, however, when he received a new prompt.

  Congratulations! Flight has increased to level 3!

  Each additional mana point invested now increases your flight speed by 3.2 feet per second.

  Current Cap: 5 MPS

  He walked over to Dwik who was still lying on his back, staring at the beautiful specks of mana. Gitch kicked his foot in an effort to get his attention. That was actually a bad idea. Hopping on one leg, Gitch howled in pain. Though his kick failed to rouse the lazy gnome, his incessant cursing seemed to do the trick.

  Dwik sat up to see what was wrong. When he pieced together what happened he just mumbled, "Stupid twonk".

  Gitch stopped hopping and glared at his companion. "Hey, I just brought home dinner. How about a little respect here!" he finished in his high-pitched fairy voice. He was starting to get used to it, grudgingly accepting that maybe it didn‘t sound as bad as when he first arrived in Mentira just several hours ago.

  "Heh, I will show some respect once I see what ya brought fer dinner. My belly is thunderin’ out here, surprised no beasties came to investigate the noise!"

  "Hold on ya grouch, I got your nuts right here.” Gitch tugged his pouch off his belt and lifted it high for Dwik to see.

  "Why ya little-ah ok thanks!" Dwik finished with surprised gratitude. Gitch wasn‘t sure why, but Dwik had looked angrily at him until he had pulled one of the nuts from the pouch. He flew up and handed Dwik the nut. He loved being able to fly.

  "You can have all of these," Gitch offered as he poured the rest of the nuts out from his sack. They fell into a pile at the gnome’s feet. "I’m good with just the gloop fruit."

  Quest Completed: Dinner for Two
r />   You have successfully collected enough food for tonight’s meal. In so doing, you created a magical wonder, died, blew up your greeter’s house, gained an ally, and even learned how to fly. You have an incredible gift of taking a simple quest and way over complicating it. Know that your actions today will have far reaching consequences. Whether this will be good or bad, remains to be seen. Congratulations?

  Reward:

  250 (250) experience points

  1000 reputation points with Dwik

  Flight Skill

  HARK! You have manifested to level 2! Continue on this journey to realize the furthest depths of your true self!

  You have gained 1 attribute point to distribute.

  Health increased from 21 to 41

  Mana increased from 87 to 174

  Stamina increased from 53 to 106

  HARK! You have manifested to level 3! Continue on this journey to realize the furthest depths of your true self!

  You have gained 1 attribute point to distribute.

  Health increased from 41 to 62

  Mana increased from 174 to 261

  Stamina increased from 106 to 160

  Dwik voiced his appreciation as Gitch floated down next to him. He pulled some of the goo from his pouch and ate greedily. It was starting to congeal but still tasted delicious. He ate several handfuls before thinking to offer some to his new friend. Gitch tugged at Dwik‘s tunic and raised a dripping handful of the gloop. The gnome spared a glance but shook his head.

  "Thank ya Gitch, but I‘m not big on rahzen berries. They give me the tummy rumbles."

  Gitch shrugged and stuffed his dinner into his mouth. He liked his name for the fruit better. Before long, he began telling Dwik of his brother Tommy and how he had initially come to Mentira to find him. In this world, he was named Croken, but Gitch didn‘t know his race, or even where he might be. By the adventures his brother had recounted for him, it sounded like he could probably fend for himself, but Gitch still felt like he needed to find him as quickly as possible. They were a team. Always had been, and it drove him nuts that they had now been apart for over a week.