A Meeting With Mundus

Mundus, the very planet that all live on and depend upon. On another world perhaps the concept of what their planet is and does is something that is often overlooked, not thought about often if at all, or flat out ignored as the inhabitants slowly tear it to shreds for their own pleasures. For Cyrus, however, he found himself meeting face to face with the very world he resided on. Specifically, with but a small fragment of itself but still part of the whole nonetheless.

After the world had eerily frozen, from Cyrus' perspective, he found everything around him fading away until all that he saw was a white space. Contained within this white space was nothing but a presence or rather an intense feeling or maybe nothing at all. Cyrus, whose mind has turned blank with utter confusion and lacking comprehension as to his current situation, was suddenly awoken by a voice

"Hello Cyrus. Congratulations on coming of age." Said an ethereal voice, that seemingly came from every direction at once yet also from none at all, instead coming from within.

"Coming of age ceremony" thought Cyrus mechanically, as his brain urged him to action as it rapidly processed all that was going on around him.

"Am I currently in the presence of Mundus?" Said Cyrus politely as he possibly could, unsure of what etiquette to take with what could be described as a literal god.

"Indeed child. I have no doubts that this is sudden and confusing, but it always is. Hmm, maybe this will ease things for you" said Mundus, after which the surroundings suddenly started shifting once more. Cyrus noticed that after a moment, or perhaps years, or perhaps no time at all, the scenery had shifted once more. He found himself sitting on a chair in a simple yet elegant room, made of a type of architecture he had never seen before.

The walls were wooden and painted over, the entire room the very essence of symmetrically and simplicity. Aside from a single table in the center of the room, of which had two chairs one where Cyrus was seated and an empty one across from him.

There was only a single lighting fixture above him, made up of some kind of glassware that shone from within whilst hanging from the ceiling perfectly stable. He also noticed that the floor below him was one akin to a giant rug except it was snugly fit on the floor with no obvious ends until it met the wall… how curious all this was to Cyrus.

With a slight popping sound, a figure appeared in front of Cyrus, sitting on the chair that was empty but a moment ago. On it he saw a figure that gave him pause for more than a moment as the figure was none other than himself.

Of course, this self that he saw was wearing his black mask and was dressed in form fitting clothing with something that resembled a cloak with a hood, black in nature while the shirt he wore was white. Again, the style of clothing was one he had never seen nor even vaguely recognized which confused him even more as he considered himself to be rather well read and could even recognize that which was made by the southern dwarves not to mention anything related to the Empire or the wasteland south of it.

"Hello once more Cyrus, pardon for borrowing your image as it is simply the easiest for me. Each and every day I find myself with new ways of thinking and perceiving the world yet I have never really settled on what form to take when presenting myself to my creations, hmm perhaps one day" said Mundus in a perfect replication of Cyrus' own voice, except it was far more articulate then he had ever been.

Noticing that Cyrus was fully absorbed in his surroundings, Mundus explained like a parent to its child "That which you see around you is from a previous civilization, long lost to their own follies sadly. While they made the great mistake of becoming that which they fought against, they still made some of the best creations I have ever witnessed from all species under me."

Cyrus took in such words and immediately picked up on the implications hidden within, saying

"So, this is a warning for all you bring here then. To not become like them, becoming that which they fought against…" Said Cyrus rather boldly, seeing as he was speaking to something of unfathomable power and knowledge before continuing, " Is what they fought against these beings of "unimaginable terror and cruelty" that I have heard my mentor speak about?" Asked Cyrus, assuming that the being in front of him would no doubt know which memory he was speaking of.

"Haha, quite the tone to take when confronting me I have to say. But as expected, you are an interesting one. To your query I say, yes. In due time you will be properly educated as to the various afflictions that seek to harm me and by extension you as well. After All, you cannot survive without me and I cannot survive without defenders like yourself.

"So long as you do not become part of the problem, of course. As the creator of all, anything I can make I can unmake as well" stated Mundus, the last part of its sentence filled with an unspoken authority and gravitas that only one such as itself could possibly have.

Shaken for a moment from the power contained within the words ringing in his ears, Cyrus recollected his thoughts and began speaking once more. Making full use of all he had learned all the while carefully considering the implications and possible reasons for all of Mundus' words as he said,

"Yet, you still have us around and as you say, still require us. While all powerful that you are, the afflictions that ail you are one that require a medium to solve. Perhaps it is not that you do not have the power to solve the problems, but rather than you simply cannot due to a force other than yourself.

"Otherwise, I could not imagine a scenario where something as powerful as entire world, the creator of all, cannot solve something that something much weaker than it can solve." The eloquently words put out by Cyrus, as if he had taken upon himself a personal challenge to meet Mundus' level and manner of speaking, brought a smile to Mundus' face.

"Correct you are, figuring out so much from so few words of mine. Even though I am all powerful, I cannot do everything as just as you are bound by the rules I set I am bound by the rules set by existence itself. You are in a unique position, where you are needed direly by something far beyond you. Bravo to you I suppose" said Mundus while clapping

"Now that I have satiated my desire to converse with you, as well as given you a lucky boon through my interest, let us get down to business." Mundus then tapped the side of the table, where a projection of light appeared directly above the table in between the two.

"As you know, the purpose of this ceremony is to choose your path forward. To improve the chances of survival of the races that I create, and by extension creating a better chance for me to not be destroyed, I have allowed you to take a small piece of my power for yourself.

"Power such as the manipulation of the various essences that make up everything, for example. Now, simply look into the projection in front of you and on it you will see all that is available to you. Just focus on anything and a simple explanation will appear, simple!" said Mundus rather jovially, like someone who had just picked up a new toy.

Understanding and excited, Cyrus peered into the projection and immediately saw rows upon rows of words appear. The first he saw was in the format of a basic documentation used the Imperial Administratum, something he was highly familiar with. It read as so:

Name: Cyrus

Race: Human

Age: 14

Strength: 14

- Each point is 10 lb. of pressure able to be exerted at max

Dexterity: 15

- Certain tasks have a minimum dexterity requirement, if met then the task can be executed successfully. Every 10 points will also allow for more efficient use of stamina.

Stamina: 15

- Each point is 3s of max exertion, and 60 seconds of max run speed

Will: 10

- Each point is akin to one activation of elemental manipulation

Focus: 20

- Each point is one's ability to maintain max mental focus. The higher the value the easier it is to execute complex tasks, such as multi-casting and ranged magical casting.

Note: The average for each stat is 10, any more gains is the result of constant training.

Current paths of advancement open:

Essence Manipulator (In common words, A magician)

Life Force Folding (In common words, Ruga manipulators.)

Cyrus looked at this information, impressed with how genius a system it was indeed. All his physical and mental capabilities were neatly displayed in numerical fashion that was easy for him to understand

"I wonder if I could replicate this in the real world, it would no doubt prove to be useful for tracking my progress… ah... sadly I do not know of a way to test such obscure things like focus and will, even dexterity will be difficult to do." Thought Cyrus, even unconsciously mimicking the way Mundus spoke at this point.

Putting such thoughts aside, Cyrus focused on his paths of advancement. He knew little about the second option, other than his guesses that perhaps this was a technique mainly used by the famous Legionaries. Regardless, he knew what he wanted to be for a long time. Especially after seeing Cato's full strength on display, he immediately chose the path of a mage. After his choice, the projection changed once more with new words on display:

Essence Manipulation

Most optimal branches for Cyrus:

- Vita (Life Essence…)

- Mors (Death Essence, Shadow Essence…)

Duality in nature that you are, both optimism and pessimism, chaos and order, good and evil, are found in equal parts in you. As such, both seemingly opposing paths are open.

A max of two paths can be chosen.

"Duality, I have heard these words before indeed. As my mentor said, I am made up of two opposing forces and my path forward is the reconciliation of the two. I have little doubt in my mind of this being fact, as the more I experience my other half the more I realize I am as comfortable with the mask on as it off… once I became accustomed to the inevitable backlashes of course. Hmm, only one real choice here then"

With little hesitation Cyrus chose both Vita and Mors, unsure of what this would mean for him in the future but still confidently deciding to move forward. As he chose this, immediately Cyrus felt his vision go dark and all sensations cut off. This occurred so quickly and suddenly that he could not even panic before it disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Upon which, Cyrus felt as if he had been reborn anew… as if his entire life he had lived it blind to the world around him. Without needing to use any of his normal senses, he could feel the world around him. It was made up of many smaller pieces, all fit together snuggly in an intricate web yet also ever moving and in motion. As he maintained this wonderous state for an unfelt amount of time, he was soon stopped by an intense migraine that came suddenly…breaking this wonderous state and pulling him back to his previous mundane sensations.

"Well, that is a normal thing for people who have just been granted such ability" Said Mundus from across the table, staring intently at Cyrus.

"The sensations that you experienced is a peek into how the world itself is constructed, as a cacophony of smaller parts that together create a far larger and more intricate whole. The ability I have granted you is that to be able to manipulate certain aspects of this, the two types of essence manipulation that has been put under your control. Of course, you start from the bottom in terms of your actual skill in doing so hence the pain that you experienced after pushing your limits."

Seeing that Cyrus had understood all that it had said, Mundus then snapped their fingers and the scenery changed once more. From an interior of mysterious origins, they now found themselves on a vast plain full of vibrant grasses. Not only that, but the weather was of perfection with a gentle breeze lazily blowing through and little critters moving about unseen through the grasses.

"This is my final gift to you. This is an endless plain of my creation, of which I will lend to you for a months' worth of time. You will experience no hunger, but still become tired so as to not cause you to lose sanity. You will make use of this time to study and learn about your newfound abilities, in any way you please.

"Here you cannot die, and if you accidentally blow yourself up while practicing your essence manipulation you will simply be reconstructed once more. As to why I do this, well, let us just say that I learned fairly quickly it was common for those I granted new prowess upon to simply go about and kill themselves immediately on accident." Shrugging, Mundus continued "After you have mastered your base abilities, any progress you make is yours to keep. This could be considered where you fully flesh out your talent I suppose." Then with a gesture, Mundus popped out of existence leaving Cyrus alone with his thoughts.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Here" Out of nowhere a book appeared and fell on Cyrus' head. "I noticed you had something interesting in your possession, since it was yours in the first place there is no harm in you using it here." Then, the disembodied voice disappeared once more… this time for good.

Cyrus looked at the book that had appeared, reading its cover he gave let out a small chuckle.

"Recollections from the #1 Ice Mage in the Wasteland, huh." Cyrus sat down, mulling over the vast amount of information that had bombarded him since arriving in this… space.

"No use worrying too much about everything in the now. I only have a month to figure out how to properly use my magic. I do not want to become like one of those that Mundus mentioned, foolishly turning themselves into a mess of human flesh due to the misuse of their abilities"

With that, Cyrus sat down and began to read through his mentors' book once more. This time able to comprehend the strange descriptions and phenomena the book described, now able to help him decipher how to properly manipulate the world around him to his needs and desires.