The Life Wizard Chapter 2
I woke up.
Where…am I?
I feel pretty comfortable, except that I was feeling hot. The sun was hitting right on my face, and you can only sleep so long like that.
Huh? Why am I sleeping outside. If the sun is hitting my face then aren’t I outside?
I look up opening my eyes.
I’m in some kind of box.
No way. Not a box.
Its a metal cylinder shaped device, very similar to a coffin, but much much larger. It almost looks like some kind of space probe device outfitted to carry a person inside. Its perfectly shaped and crafted metal is even black, except…its architecture is too perfect to be done by hand. And there’s a small tiny console on the right, like for a computer.
So its made by a machine? And from where?
And I’m inside it, except the top hatch is open, which is why the sun was hitting my face. The hatch is big enough for me to crawl out of, and isn’t confining. But its also designed to be thermally protective from too much hot or cold also. If I wanted to I could probably shut the cover… except I’m not sure how well I’d be able to open it again (is this an issue..)?
Wait…
What’s a computer…in the wall lining’s console?
I’ve heard that word, but my memories are messed up. And I know what technology and technologically advanced machines are also.
There’s a glass crystal like panel above my chest, in the area where my face and head is. It has some kind of display which is turned off and also some kind of view port. Its part of the hatch also that’s open.
Looking around me, the glass panel had cracked open, releasing a seal when I’d awoken. Then it very smoothly opens up.
Around me…
Wow.
This place is gorgeous!
I’m in some kind of mountain vale of some kind. I’m literally in a whole vale of flowers coming up out of the ground that are about three feet high in the middle of a beautiful meadow. Around me is beautiful lodge pole pine and aspen trees everywhere as far as you can see. There’s also mountain elevation around me also, but I’m high up in the air also.
There’s a beautiful gorgeous valley far below me, at the bottom of the ledge under neath this meadow with the valley at the bottom of several hundred feet drop below. That valley leads up here. The cliff facing is amazing and sheer with this meadow in a sort of island like feel in the middle of nowhere and elevated up on the side of the mountain. The mountain around me that I’m on is in a chain of mountains that go up and down over land that goes sort of north to south…
Wait, what’s north? Which way?
I think its possibly…
I looked ahead, about 90 degrees from the sun. And I know its still morning. It could be that way, right?
Do I have that right?
There’s a sun in front of me, but because I can’t tell which way its moving yet I better be careful assuming that what I thought was north was really north.
What…?
Why can’t I remember anything?
What happened to me? Why am I here? Shouldn’t I have other people with me also?
I experienced a mild headache trying to think about that.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep…
Where’s that coming from?
I look around.
OK…
I seem to have only light supplies.
That bothers me a bit.
Should I be worried?
I don’t see where the beeping is coming from at first.
But it sounds like its coming from the capsule thing I was inside. I reached in and felt around.
There’s a blanket wrap thing there. I felt around inside it.
There’s a crystal there.
Wow, that looks cool.
The blue crystal feels sort of tube shaped.
I pick it up.
Shing… the sound came out as a holographic projection is placed in front of me on the ground. In the holographic projection is a man in a white robe of some kind.
Hm…I’m wearing a robe too like him. Except mine isn’t white, its sort of a gray color, but finely made. Some would even say it looks very stylish. But I have some kind of traveler’s boots on while he has on some other kind of shoes.
My outfit isn’t only the robe however. I have some trousers on. And I have some good thick traveling socks, built for cold weather, I have an inner shirt also inside the robe. There’s also a good belt with pouch slots and carrying clips on it built to work with my robe and trousers together. And the robe itself is built to be both fancy and rugged for outdoor use at the same time.
Hm… all of my clothes look like some kind of clothes for travelling actually.
“Hello there. How are you?” the man asked.
I was a bit startled.
“Th-this isn’t a two way communication program is it?” I asked.
“Interesting. You instinctively knew I was a program, and not a real person standing here. That’s interesting that you could see through it,” he said while looking me over.
“No comment.”
“Well it is a two way communication ‘tutorial’. I’m going to give you a few quick notes and goals and help you understand why you are here and what to do about it,” he said, almost like he’s studying me carefully.
“But if you are just a program there will be a limit to what you can do. There will be gaps of knowledge you can’t address,” I vented.
“My programming is thorough. Don’t worry about that. I have access to a wide variety of databases worth of information. I assure you, I’ll be able to still guide you,” he said.
Why’s he giving me a look that suggests hidden distrust, I thought.
“So you can answer all of my questions?” I asked.
“I will. To the best of my ability. I want you to succeed and be happy,” he smiled.
He has sort of an old kind grandpa feel to him. That’s how he looks also, except there’s no mistaking that he looks strong in the shoulders, and he doesn’t have a beer gut like a lot of old guys would have at his age. I’m guessing he’s maybe mid-50s? No wait, maybe late 50s.
“I have a ton of things to ask. Who the freak am I? Why can’t I remember anything before coming here?” I asked.
He paused and he’s looking at me as if he’s thinking about it. “That’s complicated. I can’t tell you who you are. But I can tell you who you aren’t. You aren’t a bad guy or a villain. You are here to grow and learn, to prove yourself. You’re also proving you can remain uncorrupted from this world. We’re giving you this land here. Its all yours. Feel blessed and welcome to it,” he said while moving his arm outwards to the valley, land and mountain around me. He added a smile.
“Wait, when you say that, do you mean the meadow only, or the valley below also?” I asked.
“Well both of the two spots if you like. But you aren’t ready for the valley yet. Its too dangerous still. Don’t go down there right now. Stay up here on the mountain meadow position until you’ve built up enough strength to survive. You also want to know the dangers and not just run around blindly,” he said.
(I’ll have to figure out what he means by that. But its a good answer for now.)
“And you’ll give me an official deed and title so ownership won’t come into question when I have to do business with others?” I asked.
(Why did I think that having it official in paper was necessary?)
He looked mildly annoyed at first. But then agreed. “Fine. We can give you official documents on it. They will be irrefutable to others, in every government system on this world. I’ll do that. Don’t worry.”
“OK…th-thank you,” I added.
“So I’m going to give you all of this. All you have to do is take care of it. Bless it, make it prosper, and grow. I’d like you to take care of it also,” he said.
“All of this is mine?! Really?” I said.
“Yep. Now first, I should say its ‘conditionally given to you’,” he said.
“So there’s a catch huh? Figures. I thought that would be the case. Its not even worth dealing with you then. You are going to string me through all kinds of hoops, make me sell my soul, and all that jazz, eh,” I said dourly.
“No! No! Not like that. I mean to really give it to you. I’m just asking you to keep a few rules in order to keep it. That’s all. You need to cooperate with our ‘settler’ system of colonists. We’re growing this world and seeding it with life. We’d like you to help us. The only catch is that you work it congruent with our system, and our way of life. You still can have many freedoms, but just this will be more efficient and help you to be happy,” he said.
“What if I have an idea that isn’t in the system? And do I really need to do it your way?” I wondered.
At this point, I don’t mind doing it his way, but I’m just worried about having problems or being misunderstood. And how can he possibly anticipate how different I am from others.
“So our tutorial system and guides are the best ever. You won’t find better than us. Our system represents the best techniques from thousands and thousands of worlds being seeded. So you won’t find a better way of doing it than ours. We’ve had the experience on so many worlds of figuring out what works and what doesn’t, such that we already know what will be ‘sustainable’ and work, and what won’t. This is the data collected from thousands and thousands of trials similar to yours. We’re not forcing you to do it this way, but this offers the least resistance and best benefit. But you are free to reject it and do things the hard way. So this is why you stick with ‘the Schedule’,” he said.
Schedule?
He almost said it like that was a specific important thing, something big.
“Trust the Schedule,” he re-iterated.
“And the schedule is?” I asked.
“Its a plan to harvest as many souls as possible. All you have to is stick to it.”
“Schedule? Come on you have to give me more than that. Why am I here anyway?” I asked.
“Can’t tell you your future. Your actions and faith do that. All I can say is to try to enjoy this world and grow and try to learn new things,” he replied.
“I don’t even know what to ask. Where am I? Who am I? What am I doing here? Where’s my house?” I asked.
“House? Wow, I didn’t think you’d ask that so fast,” he said, visibly surprised.
“Well surely you don’t expect me to sleep outside. With this kind of elevation it will get cold at nights also. What will I do when winter comes?” I asked.
“You’ll think of something. Use your head.”
“I need shelter and food. And I don’t have any equipment. If you want me to work for you I at least need tools…” I started to say but he cut me off.
“No. You will provide those through your own efforts. I’ll help you with shortages and problems. But you are working for you. NOT me. You will be independent. You’ll be my agent in this world and help me help people here,” he said.
“OK…so what’s my name? And what about…” I started to think out loud.
“There’s a black bag in the travel capsule. Pick it up and open it. It will have traveling notes inside and things for you to start working on. It will help you with a few ideas from the notes there. Don’t wait for problems to appear to get ready; I can’t stress that enough. You want to work early ahead of the curve, and to anticipate hurdles, not just react to them. I want you to finish the quest items in there before next week when I come back to check on you,” he said.
Quests? And a bag? Like a back pack?
I frantically went back to the capsule. But when I turned I realized he was gone.
I’m all alone here.
And all I have is this one black travel bag that was in the travel capsule. It feels kind of full and has some pretty good weight to it.
I guess I should open it up…?