(7) The Child Born With Luck
"-Thank you, Victoria. You're the only reason why I was able to control myself during all of that-", the chaotic soul floated in endless space alongside another bright soul.
"-And, in the event that your disappearance is permanent, I am sorry that I wasn't able to give you the ending you deserved-", the author spoke with more than just a hint of sorrow.
"-I wrote our story, my story, and pushed my sorrows on to a character that I, I didn't know. I'm sorry. I didn't know this would happen. Then again, it may not sound like a very convincing apology with my cheesy smile. Even if I did know this would happen, I would write the same thing. Maybe change the ending a bit though-", off in the distance, sparks of something crackled and ruptured. Something else rippled in waves, with each dip reflecting an endless stroke as light that fractured out into an infinite fold. Stuff from other realities, from other dimensions beyond human imagination, the unknown and unfathomable printed and knitted into in this new sheet of space time.
"-On the bright side, it turns out that the right person also didn't like the ending I wrote...-", the author held his mouth after getting hit with the full radiance of a universe being born. This very scene was exactly what he had in mind when he thought about the universe the heroes would inhabit. The other soul, Victoria, flashed and sported a broken smile as her golden figure broke down into a cloud of dust. The author returned the smile in kind, but to them it was more an exchange of grief.
The ripples, the imprints, the lights, everything settled to a frighteningly rapid halt. The images they left behind scattered into a fog that actually filled in space. In this world of darkness and mists, the broken soul of golden light glittered remarkably. Unlike with Aaradhya, this golden light didn't pass any thresholds or turn into something else. Instead, it filtered and merged with the author's soul.
As if broken pieces were now reconnected, the and broken "body" of the soul switched between two vastly different figures as the pieces fit together life a puzzle being completed.
"-There goes the last bit of her direct influence. She's still here though, somewhere...-", the author lost the last hint of confident aggression the original chaotic soul had given him and spoke softly as he held his chest.
"-Open
Elizabeth Price.
Affiliation: Fate.
Blessings:
- Probability Manipulation lvl.1 (Balance: 0).
*ACTIVE- Karma, Fate, Luck, Chance: Can be manipulated through equivalent exchange
*PASSIVE- Increase overall luck by using the stored up [BALANCE]/ [On].
*PASSIVE- Decrease overall luck and gain points towards the [BALANCE]/ [Off].
[Classes]:
[Equipment]:
[Skills]:
"- I'll ignore that for now…
"-Hm. There are a lot more settings than I thought of. I should look through what I'm not familiar with in a bit, but I need to find what kind of Blessings we are working with...-"
System [V. 73529.892- ER: Setting List
Audio [Details; Voice Commands; Notifications; Control panel; Etc.]
Visual [Details; System Display/ Theme; HUD Customization; Etc.]
Character [Details; Blessing Display/ Control Panels; Skill Display/ Control Panels; Inventory Display/ Control Panels...].
Social [Details; Communication; Achievement Board Display/ Control Panel; Etc.]
Game [Details; Quest Journal; Map; Etc.]
Deus Ex Machina (Details; Template; Control Panel; Factory Reset).
"-Based on these options...-", Elizabeth noted the specific wording of each option and compared them to thoughts she had while writting the story.
"-It's a good thing I checked. Now I know I don't have the exact same Manipulation Blessing as Victoria's Negative version. This looks like the Positive (Give and Take) variant. If it is, it's possible that the others also received slightly different versions of the same blessings from the story, if not entirely different first blessings if they choose their own-", the same skill or blessing could share a name with a set of powers that were similar if not always different because of the inherent quirks some people had. And so, oftentimes, a simple blessing would have two or more different activation processes or detail specific effects despite similar naming conventions.
"-The devil is in the details after all-", Elizabeth rolled his eyes and looked through some more settings she imagined.
The author's current blessing, for example, worked like an hourglass that collected bad luck/ misfortune/ negative karma/ ETC. That "sand", poured in and created a [Balance] of a sort. Using good luck/ Karma poured that saved sand out of the hourglass. Victoria's Probability Manipulation, the original Elizabeth, worked the same way but, using the same analogy, having or experiencing good luck filled the glass with sand instead... this sand always poured out with varying degrees of misfortune. Meaning, if Victoria found a dollar bill on the floor, she could make anyone she sees lose a dollar bill but that dollar will always go to someone else who needs it even if it wasn't necessarily her. The misfortune was proportional to what she experienced, which was very, very easy to cheat if enough people had back luck around her. Another analogy is that the chaotic soul who authored the story she now lived in, had a debit card that would fill with bad luck experienced while Victoria had an unlimited credit card that she didn't have to pay back since her good luck infinitely piled onto itself.
Elizabeth thought about these differences and how she could benefit off this knowledge but was interrupted by a series of jingles that felt familiar.
"-Ah. Just the sound I imagined...-", she caught sight of the achievements after focusing on faint and distorted golden lettering.
"-This one is, *Sigh*, totally unfair. Just knowing about the blessing counts as using it? No. That makes no sense with the rules set. It's likely, I used the built-up karma from my previous life to experience this early start-", Elizabeth bit her bottom lip, or the soul's version of one, and frowned at the possibility of having access to any sort of "blessing" in her first life. That alone carried implications far beyond anything she was willing to accept at the moment.
"-According to what I wrote, I would not be the first to have activated my blessing in my first life, but if I did... then...-", the chaotic soul rubbed its chin with an even deeper frown. Thankfully, three other souls came into view, well, six other souls if she were to count the fact that golden shadows overlapped with the three other champions. A few more soul lights showed up in the distance mist and darkness but whether or not they were important or involved with their game, she didn't know. That aside, she watched where the others champions headed off to on the big blue planet they descended onto. This information wasn't important now since there was no way to contact each other, but it would be indispensable later.
The burly soul broke off to the southeast of where the chaotic soul was about to descend. The soul split down the middle and created a rather eye catching sight as two already burly souls melted together to create an even bigger soul.
The faded soul also broke off toward the east as well but fell more north. The more visible of the two faded souls unintentionally gripped the other by the neck, in a display of absolute dominance. The more visible of the two, pretty much lit up at that contact point as it siphoned off the very existence of the more faded of the two souls.
The stable soul of and old man hugged the broken body of a small child like a protective barrier as they fell to the far west. Elizabeth could faintly see that the old man purposefully let his body break apart as the golden light fixed what the child soul lost in the descent.
A thick mist covered them all and kept them asleep until the right moment, that moment being after they were all born, well, aside from Elizabeth.
"-So, achievements that double as Notifications and messages is a thing even if I don't have Victoria's cheats? *Sigh*, that probably means my God knows by now as well. Rea wouldn't pass up the opportunity to gloat...-", she said prophetically. As the author, she knew the personalities of the Gods even better than they knew each other.
"-I won't be able to counteract most of what Fate's planned for me considering I'm doing this for the first time. That said, I should be able to at least activate the misfortune aspect of my blessing if I can use Victoria's experience correctly. The very last of your influence will disappear with this-", Elizabeth imagined, or rather, remembered the feeling and concept of the blessing when she initially wrote about it. Just imagine the worst thing that could happen, hold that feeling, then let your mind go blank in that panic. The bad thoughts will be realized. When that didn't work, she turned on the assistant that would help auto activate the skills and blessings the heroes wanted.
At this point in time, instead of falling through newly rendered space, she fell through the atmosphere then the sky of a planet. A vast city that stretched from the ocean to some nearby mountains and forests came into view. The building grew closer until a hospital on the outskirts of this wild city came into view. Right now, the density of the fog surrounding the world was as thin as could be since she wasn't spiritually inclined. In fact, once the universe fully rendered in, the fog completely vanished. Even closer now, she could see her soon to be parents in the presidential room of what had to be a world class hospital. The room covered an entire floor on one of the many wings in the hospital.
Her birth mother read a book and calmly breathed as she held her wife's hand. The mother who wasn't in child labor dabbed her spouse's head with a cool towelette and offered sweet yet silent, kiss of unconditional and support as she also read her own copy of the same book. This was a perfect family designed for Fate's hero Elizabeth, a world setting that Victoria was granted. A background with potential so grand, it put her so far ahead of the other hero in terms of points that it would be laughable to compare the two groups.
"-...not bad... misfortune is just an opportunity lost or passed by. I Just have to visualize everything I will lose because of this missed moment, and everything after...-", Elizabeth ignored the numb feeling that spread throughout her body. Her descent slowed as her soul automatically snapped into a fetal position. The family of two shot into gear as the pregnant mother's waters finally broke. Doctors and nurses on standby prepared to roll her out of the room.
"-Hold onto it...-", Elizabeth breathed in and exhaled softly.
"-...Then let go. Let go of it all...-", the author heaved another sigh of relief when her soul snapped away from the baby. Like a stretched-out rubber band that had been suddenly cut, a pop rang out as she spun in the air. Soon, her soul was caught in another funnel. With another pop, another soul disconnected from its own funnel and traded with the chaotic author. The explosive shock dispersed the fog keeping the errant soul asleep. Its eyes opened and for a single moment, the two shared a momentary glance. A few moments later, a newborn's cries echoed out and nearly deafened the doctors with how healthy she was. Elizabeth had been born in just moments in one of the quickest and easiest births probably known to humanity.
The author, in almost slow motion, slipped through the floor and descended as a wildly thrashing whirlwind sucked him into a new life.
"-*Sigh*, I hope you can forgive me by the time we see each other...-", the author wasn't caught off guard and instead felt somewhat disappointed by the quantity and quality of the achievements considering she just overturned the will of Fate. That dissatisfaction lasted until a final echoing jingle rang out.
It was signed with a mental image of a foolish looking Big G with a thumbs up.
"Do you have to redact it? I know what the reward is and what I did to get it.
Then she sighed once more as another burst of some intangible and mysterious force pulled her from the preplanned course she just gave up. It knew that the life it left behind was synonymous with a constant and steady stream of points. A goldmine that put Victoria so far ahead of the other heroes that she was in the same position as a gold medalist Olympic athlete competing with highschoolers in the Olympic athlete's sport of choice. That didn't apply to Salomon, he was more of a promising athlete in the Olympic training program trying to prove himself to the gold medalist in terms of point gains.
"-I can only work on quality-of-life settings now that I have made my decision. I hope that the others figure out how to use the
Elizabeth Price---> Oliver Lewis
Blessings:
- Probability Manipulation lvl.1 (Balance: 0---> 1 Life/ 4 Fortuitous Encounters/ 13 Plot Armor Saves / 57 Sudden Reversals/ 80 Lucky Assists)
*PASSIVE- Decrease overall luck and gain points towards the [BALANCE]/ [On]
"-...Giving up the life that I was destined for nets this much good Luck. I was expecting more but this is good enough...
"-Living through this world that I created the blueprint for-", Oliver reminded himself that the game he was about to involve himself in, came with real pain and absolute truths that everyone had to abide by, even with the reality warping store and powers they could all potentially attain.
That said, instead of describing the beautiful, but frightening and horrifying thing that is childbirth....
A Vita network is a simple yet complicated name for alternate and high efficient transport pathways within any physical form. For a normal human in a world where no magic or supernatural powers existed, its purpose is to basically carve out a highway that fuses everything to improve the body in ways that people could only imagine. For a constantly evolving world that could adopt new power scaling and sources at the drop of a hat, it was something a little more extravagant. The Vita network was compatible with everything that came to bodily functions, but in exchange for that wide net, it was extremely difficult to practice and painful to improve or learn.
It goes without saying that Oliver knew that forging such a network meant a subtly or even completely different base biology from another human. Like, if a biologist were to cut him open, they would assume Oliver was a completely different species or some highly mutated version of a human despite having a 100 percent genetic match. Like, even normal x-rays would leave the mind boggled as his skeletal structure would be different after installation.
Obviously, such an installation was not normal for a regular human body so, he prepared against the highly likely mind-boggling pain and capitalized with his influx of luck. A main character's story breaking luck and plot armor felt like a good way to protect himself, especially since he felt his mind slipping away into an impossibly comfortable warmth then a bloody chill. The next time Oliver woke up, he would be born.
In fact, he was so lucky that he woke up just in time to listen in on the "horrible" news that his parents received.
"-...Looks like we are, 'unfortunately', being kicked out. I didn't even need to activate my passive for this horrid bad luck to occur. *Sigh*, but maybe this bad luck is fortune.
Blessings:
- Probability Manipulation lvl.1 (Balance: ...13 ---> 12 Plot Amor Saves/ 80 ---> 20 ---> 21 lucky Assists)/
[Classes]:
[Equipment]:
"-*sigh*. This blessing is really volatile at level one. I have no control over anything my luck and misfortune can do. And this new background family will probably get me into a lot of trouble if I'm not careful-", the person who fulfilled the job of siring Oliver yelled at the doctors for something he definitely did but claimed he didn't. The police were going to be called to investigate but nothing bad came of it since the adults handled the situation like adults and came to a reasonable solution (His family stormed out).
It turns out that some dangerous drug addict (his father) tried to (did) steal some medication by sneaking into other people's rooms. The bad luck is they were not caught and only suspected. It would have been normal or even good luck if Oliver's dad did get caught. He would have been taken away from his parents and enter system (at minimum), a sad but better alternative compared to what he would soon find out.
Unfortunately for Oliver, he was forced to leave the hospital earlier than normal to live with his shitty parents since he was the picture of health and their free insurance somehow covered the costs. It was during the mess of nasty words his father spewed that Oliver thought about what he could do. Any options being, use a shit ton of luck to possibly make his situation better. Or pile on the misfortune until it's so bad that something good happens. At least for now, he was leaning toward one side of the fence since he has see too many people in exactly the same situation.
"-*Sigh*, I am sorry parents, but I really might die if I go home with the two of you-", he finalized what he needed to do as he was bundled up in a stolen hospital blanket by his skeletal mother. It was also his scarecrow like mother that barely held onto him like he was purse as his father wheeled a rickety and taped together car around the corner.
Oliver could hear a doctor groan in regret for letting his family just leave without suffering any repercussions for their theft and behavior. Oliver's mother smiled happily, like nothing was wrong, as if she could not hear the whispers but how could she not if a newborn could. Sadly, none of the doctors saw the woman's claws dig into her newborn's skin and draw blood.
Oliver once again heard the doctor complain about why they couldn't do anything to stop the new family when it was beyond obvious the man stole the drugs. Even worse, it was as if a series of miracles were bestowed upon the family as everything seemed to go right for them. Oliver's mother survived childbirth with an excess of wounds that were consistent with domestic and drug abuse. All of the scans did not look optimistic for even a viable birth yet at every turn, the baby pushed on until Oliver was born healthier than any of the doctors expected. Meaning, he was healthy enough to leave on schedule as there was nothing holding the family in the hospital since even his mothers wounds only ended up being superficial at best.
"It's unfortunate but we can't just take children away from their parents without just cause. Not to mention the only chance we had to keep the child safe flew out the window once they left the front door," A doctor gritted her teeth and referred to a colleague nearby. Sadly, there were some issues with the precautionary drug tests so they couldn't pin anything on them legally.
"I know you're mad. So am I. But that's no way to talk about your patients. Even if it's unfair," the colleague sighed. He knew how mad his coworker was. She was someone who couldn't have children but wanted one of her own. She tried to adopt but every time there was a clerical issue or somehow someone lost her paperwork, or the child on file was already adopted, or the file was wrong or old, or, you get the picture. After years of trying, she gave up and grew bitter. Especially when people who she thought didn't deserve a child, had them.
"-Thank you, Dr. For caring about me. I will give you a chance to act later on that because this horrible car is just perfect.
"You have the stuff, right?", Not even a minute into the drive, his mother held onto his father's arm almost desperately.
His father didn't respond and simply... Took his eyes off the fucking road! How did Oliver know that? Well, his car seat wasn't buckled in and neither was he for that matter. The entire stained chair spun cleanly as a 180 degrees the moment dad pulled out of the parking lot and over a speed bump.
"-Secret panel in the dashboard, and what do we have there? The stolen hospital drugs. These people are Impossible! *Sigh*, of course this is the outcome when my misfortune is on. Turn it off really quickly, I want to see if they have any hesitation-", his dad pulled over, not even a block away from the hospital and asked his mother a question.
"Do you want to...", His father didn't even finish his sentence when his mother paused in a wide-eyed stare, as if she were caught off guard by the drugs.
"Throw these out? I know you've been clean since we found out"-, The man used his thumb to point toward Oliver.
"-She doesn't want to. There's no hesitation in her old man. All I can say is I respect her for staying clean for me. I can clearly see that I'm the only reason why she had the strength to do so. And from the way you look at her, I can tell you only stole them because you know her very well-", Oliver teared up. The story he made from the simple glances his family shared, were all he needed to know them. He's dealt with many people in his previous lifetime, a lot of them possessed stories that would seem unlikely, but that didn't mean them any less true.
And so, his mother stuffed her mouth with whatever drugs she could and melted whatever could be melted. Like a straw that broke a camel's back, his father also took some drugs, but only enough to get a buzz.
"-This is...*sigh*... I wish both of you a clean and happy life next time around. Turn my misfortune back on. I've seen enough-", Oliver finalized his will and followed through with his decision.
-THE RESULT OF OLIVERS MISFORTUNE-.
Well, his father mixed up some medication he threw into a baggie and instead of taking uppers, he ate some paralytic depressants. He overdosed on the wheel and became incapable of doing anything properly. Their car continued straight on into a busy 4-way intersection and the result of that could be imagined.
The car flipped twice after getting hit by another car, then it was smashed on the driver's side by a 16-wheeler. Blood splattered all over the backseat as the dads body instantly flattened like a pancake. Thankfully, it acted as some soft of padding which prevented the entire left side of the car from collapsing.
Even after all of that, another car smashed into the front passenger side while another veered off into a traffic pole, which broke it. The lamp fell right through the top of the car Oliver was in and stopped millimeters from his face. A series of old telephone and electrical wires stretched taut at the very last second to hold the metal pole but with a horrifying hum and buzz.
"...", Oliver couldn't even find the right words to say when he opened his eyes to see the inside of the car. A broken metal pole, jagged glass, and electrical current powerful enough to kill a grown man stared him down.
"*Cough*, *Bloody gurgle*, *Cough*", It came from his right.
"-She is still Alive? My luck must have extended to her when it switched over to save myself, like an overfill effect. There's a problem with that, I'm sure she's suffering right now...-", Oliver could see a large piece of metal pierce the airbag and strike his mother clean through the windshield.
"-I'll spend the time to learn it later so can you use
As such, his mother died when a naked newborn landed on top of her bloodied lap and shifted the metal rod that already almost killed her.
Oliver waited for a few minutes in silence as his balance went up and down,
<...26 ---> 27 ---> 26 ... 27... 26 ... 25 ---> 24 ---> 23 ---> 22 ... 18 Lucky Assists>
The medics were the first to show since they were only a few blocks away from the hospital, but even still, they were slow due to the events beyond his control, orchestrated impediments that were already set into motion with his Misfortune, so their delay was counted as his fault. The police and then the fire department showed up, in that order, soon after.
"-Good. It only took a few minutes for them to get here. I really didn't want to waste any of my higher forms of my luck. *Sigh*, I need to...-", the information the clone thought about returned to his mind, almost like the whisper of a thought in the background.
Exactly half a second. The clone lived and died within half a second, but Oliver felt an insane amount of information and feelings that nearly overwhelmed him. The creation of an entity identical yet separate from himself, the instantaneous formation of flesh, blood, and bone, the beating of a heart separate but in sync with his own, the racing of thoughts in tandem yet chaotically strewn apart with his own, and the sensations... oh fuck the sensations. Everything he felt and thought doubled yet, the second half of this grander existence was not his own and made it clear that it was a separate existence. These things would absolutely drive anyone mad but Oliver, well, he was used to it.
"-I guess when I know I'm about to die, my brain works better. Thank you Cloniver. Follow the clone me's plan. Oh right, this assistant is still in the rudimentary phase. Ahem, turn off my luck as soon as I'm safe and can easily regain my consciousness, then raise my misfortune in small increments-", It was around that time that the fire department managed to open the car he was in safely.
"MEDIC. WE NEED A MEDIC. THE KID IS ALIVE-", was the last thing Oliver heard as he faded away due to his lack of Vitae. The assists were the only reason he remained awake.