#1
Hello. My name is Alastor Mike, and this is my story. It may sound a bit weird from somebody in your position, but I promise, every word is true. Also, a little disclaimer- by reading through or listening to this log (whichever is appropriate for your world and/or situation), you become part of a bigger world, something much larger than what you’re currently part of, I assure you. You think you can handle that? Good! Then let’s begin.
So this portion of the story starts right after I’d left the volcanoes of Vo’cool, in Niberia. That trip had left me with a nasty burn on my left arm, and it smarted terribly as I tumbled into the warm salty ocean of Aneal. I squealed into the water and swam up, breaking through into a sunny, cloudless day. There was no land around me in the slightest, not even on the horizon. I even did a full 360 to check, and there was nothing. I was worried for about 5 seconds, then I remembered oh yeah, I can speed-evolve, and concentrated on my neck. A few minutes of splashing, tingling, and waiting later, and I dove underwater, sighing in relief as the water swished through new gills.
I tried to swim forward, remembered I was still wearing a hotsuit, and hurried stripped down to my undersuit, taking off my boots and gloves for good measure. I also gave myself webbed hands and feet, along with enhanced vision and a pair of clear protective membranes over my eyes. That somehow hurt even more than the burns had, probably because my eyes were still raw. Speaking of the burns, you might be wondering whether I healed those too. I’d answer that I couldn’t because the nerves were all burnt, and my healing abilities couldn’t work with that. I would heal faster, but not necessarily as fast as, say, a broken arm would.
Anyway, now that I wasn’t in danger of drowning, I looked around in the water, squinting through the bubbles and small flecks of silt. This world didn’t have a ton of garbage, knew how to get rid of it, or didn’t have a trashy sapient race, because I didn’t see any plastic anywhere. The water was mostly clear, starting at a light blue and fading down to navy. I smiled, glad to be in this much water again, and looked down. What I saw surprised me so much I inhaled seawater, which didn’t as much make me choke as it was uncomfortable.
Below me was a massive city, all underwater, with what I assumed were people moving through it. It wasn’t in a bubble like some places I’ve seen, which meant that they must have gills as well. I immediately started swimming down to get a closer look, staying to the side so I could see how they appeared and mimic it- currently I had the darkly tanned skin of a Vo’coolan, and for all I knew people here had purple skin or something.
I swam all the way down, sticking to the outside, and positioned myself near the outside of the city, near what I think was their version of trash disposal. I peeked into it out of curiosity and saw that it was full of pieces of organic matter- I knew it was organic because there were bugs on it. I made a mental note not to jump in it if I needed somewhere to hide.
I quickly swam forward and peeked around the corner of a building, took a quick mental picture, and pulled my head back around, swimming quickly to the back of the building- just to be safe.
Everyone here had skin in jewel tones- green, red, blue, purple, that kind of thing. There was also a slight shimmer that I made sure to duplicate, and feet that had large fins on them. Their hands were webbed, though only halfway up. Their hair was cropped close to their head, either dyed or grown in a variety of colors, and their eyes were all brown with a spiraling kaleidoscope of other colors flecked in. They also wore slips that were close enough to mine for what I was wearing not to stick out- good thing too, because I had no idea how I would have gotten something new without being spotted and questioned.
Once I’d changed my skin to a shimmery shade of ruby and my hair to dramatic stripes of yellow and black, I swam out from behind the building, trying to blend in with the crowd. However, this was harder than it would seem, because I hadn’t swum three body lengths before someone stared at me funny and waved their hands in a complex pattern, looking at me like I should understand what the heck they meant.
Here’s the funny thing- I can understand any spoken word just fine- It came with the territory of what I was. But sign language? Other locally specific codes? That’s where it got tricky.
So I just smiled and tried to keep moving, but they wouldn’t let up, moving forward and signing even more vigorously. I shook my head and tried to swim away, but they reached out and grabbed me by the arm, their eyes filled with… I think it was hatred? I really couldn’t tell, I was more interested in getting them off of me.
Thankfully, other people were noticing, and fortunately they looked like they were on my side in this matter. A few of them reached for the person who had lunged at me, and, bracing their feet against the floor, pulled them off.
Unfortunately, my relief was only short-lived, for as soon as the person had been pulled free they signed to the others, and apparently it was something bad, because they gave me a look like I had eaten their dog and signed at me even more. I tried to resolve it peacefully for a minute, but it didn’t last long, and I ended up bolting, swimming to the surface with as much speed as I could manage. Once I was close to it, I looked down and saw that I wasn’t being followed, so I stopped.
Well this was a pickle. How was I supposed to tour this world if I didn’t even know how to communicate? There had to be a way around this… Thinking quickly, I changed my skin to a dark purple, my hair to red, and swam in a big circle, coming down on the other side of the town from where I’d touched down the first time.
This time nobody batted an eye, and I looked around until I saw a building with a “Library” sign outside it. I swam to it quickly, up a ramp (made sense, stairs would be a waste of space all things considered), and in through the doorway. In it were tall bookshelves, filled with tomes made out of some kind of plant- kelp maybe? -and printed in something that seemed ingrained in the plant matter. Not embossed, grown. It was weird, and it made me even more determined to learn about this place.
I quickly found a book about their sign language, and I scanned through it, looking for something familiar. I recognized the signs “sky” and “where,” and I realized they must have been asking why I had come from the sky. I smiled. No wonder they were so intent on talking to me- they must have thought I was a spy or something.
As I put the book back, I realized something- if I didn’t speak their language, there was no way I was going to get a good look around- maybe someday I could find someone who had the Talent to speak all nonverbal hand languages, or at least the one on Aneal. I swam behind some bookshelves and started to summon the portal out of here. A shame too, because this place looked interesting.
A few seconds later, a swirling vortex of light appeared before me, and, an instant before swimming through, I took off my gills. From my experience, it was more likely for a world not to be underwater. Then, fighting back the spread of panic from not being able to breathe, I ducked into the portal, listening to the pleasant shimmer of sound as I fell through the space between dimensions.
Welp, on to the next one! See you there!
Start writing here…
