Somewhat Numb

Alesha groggily woke as a hand shook her awake. "Alesha? Alesha, wake up. I need to update you on the situation."

As she turned her head and partially twisted her upper body to look at the speaker, Alesha dimly noticed something obstructing her movement by her shoulder blades. She started to shift, intending to grab whatever was uncomfortable from underneath her, but as she did, hands stopped her motion. One grabbed her right shoulder to stop her from twisting further and the other immobilized her left hand, which had been reaching around herself. She blinked a few times and her mind sharpened.

"Seth? What are you doing?" He had a serious look on his face, not too different from usual but enough to make her worry a little.

He took a deep breath, then spoke. "Alesha. I want you to listen to me very carefully and respond rationally. Do you remember telling me about the evolution you had undergone before arriving here?"

The sense of worry within her grew. "Yes…"

"You have evolved again. It seems that this evolution changed you much more than your previous one did, assuming I recall what you told me about it correctly, which I did. Ah, and you removed your shirt, so I covered you in my outer robes. I hope you understand my good intentions."

As he spoke, Alesha's mind began to race. In a rush, she remembered what had happened before she fell unconscious, and she summoned her Status Screen in a near-panic, completely missing what Seth had said about her shirt.

*****

Alesha Jane Williams

Age: 22 [Sol years]

Species: Dragonchild youngling (Bloodline: Chaos Dragon) [new!]

Racial traits: (5) [new!]

Level: 15 [new!]

XP: 440/600

HP: 117/117 [new!]

Strength: 8 [new!]

Agility: 13 [new!]

Vitality: 12 [new!]

Intelligence: 12 [new!]

Psychic: 11 [new!]

Chaos Energy: 0/20 [new!]

Free Stat Points: 0

*****

Alesha stared at her updated Status in a sort of numbed shock. So many things had changed! Her attributes had risen by quite a lot, most notably her HP and maximum Chaos Energy. And what the hell was up with her level??! Last she recalled, she was a mere level 6, and suddenly she was level 15?!

Ignoring Seth and checking her notification history (what a handy feature, she thought), Alesha found one that gave her the chills:

[Master Necromancer Killed! +5000 XP]

"But … I didn't kill anybody," she muttered.

Seth had been allowing her a moment to collect herself, but this piqued his interest. "How did you know someone died? Did you really kill the professor?"

Alesha jerked at the question, accidentally putting her weight on a wing she didn't know she had, and she yelped in pain. "Ahh! What the --" She sat up suddenly, breaking free of Seth's loosened grip, and the robes began to fall off.

Seth reacted quickly. Using telekinetic magic rather than his hands (he had no desire to create any misunderstandings), he grabbed the robes and wrapped them around her shoulders. The end result was Alesha, sitting upright, with a magician's robes pulled over her front and held in place with wispy green light. Her small wings hung unnoticed by her from her bare back.

"Alesha, please recall what I told you about your shirt. You removed it yourself. I was under the impression you would be embarrassed by the fact, so again, please do not misunderstand my intentions."

Looking down at herself, Alesha finally noticed the robes, and feeling a slight current of air on her back, realized that what Seth was saying must be true. So during her evolution, she'd torn off her shirt?? Why had she done that??

Glancing at her Status, she had a bad feeling. She paid attention to her bodily sensations and noticed a couple new things. One: sitting upright on the floor like this was distinctly uncomfortable. Her tailbone felt like it was hitting the floor in a way it shouldn't. Two: as she focused her mind on her bare back, she instinctively flexed a pair of… arms? No, that wasn't quite right. Though similar, there was a distinct tugging sensation between the fingers…

Alesha carefully reached her right hand out from under the robes, holding it in place with her left hand, and maneuvered the "arm" on her back into a position where she guessed the two limbs could make contact.

Her right hand came in contact with a thin, warm membrane and as she felt around, she screwed her face up in a grimace. "Shit. Seth, do I have wings now?"

"Yes, and a tail. There are several other changes as well. Also, because one of the professors died after attempting to look into your mind, you will likely be interrogated."

Alesha looked at Seth in horror. Seriously?? What the hell was happening? She was just trying to take a simple test for him and then…

"Ah! Seth! What about your exam, what happens now?" Alesha felt bad, certain she'd messed it up for him somehow. Though she'd been summoned to this world against her will and was quite upset about that, she still felt responsible for her part in this kid's success. She felt guilty and couldn't bear the thought that he'd fail because of a mishap she had probably caused. Or rather, that Rogork had caused. Speaking of whom, he was being rather quiet… why was that?

Seth was replying, though, so her musings about the System's sudden lack of communication were cut off.

"... put on hold. As for my examination, that remains to be seen. I surmise that I will either fail due to this or that there will be some sort of special arrangement for my continuation. All depends on the results of your interrogation. Speaking of which, I thought they would come here sooner after you woke… did they fail to notice your awakening?" He turned to look up and towards the entrance of the cubic depression. Nothing was visible.

"Well, Alesha, regardless of whether they have noticed or not, you should prepare yourself for the interrogation. For the sake of my own curiosity, though, did you kill the examiner? I didn't think you were the type, nor do you have the capability, as far as I could tell. Was it some sort of inherent defense you were unaware of?"

Alesha was at a loss for how to respond. According to her notifications history, she had been credited with the XP for killing a "Master Necromancer." But she had no idea as to how that had happened.

In the end, what she went with was this: "I really don't know. I guess it must have been that, an automatic defense. I have no idea what it is or how it works."

Seth gave her a scrutinizing, yet not hostile, look. "I believe you. Next question, do you perhaps have a secondary personality? Or more than one?"