Ascending Endlessly: I Copy Skills

I sat in a meditative position as I tried to remember exactly what it was that I felt. It had already been a while, but it was such a strange event that everything about it was still clear in my mind. What exactly happened? How did my body feel? What did I see, what did I hear in that split second?

I called forth every minute detail, trying my best to understand it better. The Goliath seems to believe I can traverse planes. Why would that be? It couldn't be the deck of cards. They have no relation to planar travel. My skill is the only reference to it I've ever seen. However, the description only describes "calling out" to them. Still, it had enabled travel.

But I can't activate the skill. Even back when it worked, it wasn't due to me doing what I am now; it was almost random. Was the activation caused by The Architect? Did whoever that is 'allow' my skill to be used? If so, there must be some other way for me to feel other planes. 

Maybe there's some hidden function to my skill that even the Human God overlooked, I don't know. Either way, for now, I'm trapped here until I can figure it out, it seems. The Goliath seemed pretty determined to have me heal this girl.

Who is she, anyway? No. I need to stay focused. On target. That can wait until after I figure this out. What did it look like? It looked like fabric. Fabric being pulled from beneath me, revealing a new layer underneath. Is that what the planes are? Layers? How do I feel them?

I sat for an hour, meditating, going deeper into my mind as I considered every possibility. Then two hours. Then three. 

I lost track of the time as I fell astray into profound thought. With this new revelation, many things made sense now, and at the same time, new questions arose. I realized that gates must exist in another plane; it's why they can't be found in the body. However, if this is the case, what is their connection to us? Why can we sense them and draw power from them?

Where does mana come from? Is that another plane, too? Are the gates just holes poking through it? How many planes are there? What do they represent? Where and how do they exist?

I felt like I was navigating a ship through a sea of storms. Surrounding me were useless thoughts which would lead me down endless rabbit holes. I had to find the right questions. And then, in the eye of the storm, I found it.

A simple question with a simple answer. It's impossible to explain it. The words alone weren't the revelation; it was the sensation that followed them. It wasn't something replicable, but it was a remarkably spiritual experience nonetheless.

"Where am I?"

This was the question.

"Nowhere,"

This was not the answer. Not yet.

"And everywhere."

It was complete. As these three sentences echoed through my mind like a mantra, I could feel it. Layered directly onto the plane I was already on were others. I couldn't tell how many; it was too overwhelming of a sensation. Still, I had to maintain this sensation. I had to keep pushing through.

I approached the little girl. My body moved clearly and freely. I felt as though I had ascended to a new level of knowledge regarding the universe. I felt like a monk.

My hand touched her head and my mana reached towards her gate. Once again, the 'cap' was present over it. Where is it? Which layer is it in?

There was a swirling array filling every sense. It was something similar to synesthesia; I could smell, taste, see, feel and hear every plane without actually stimulating any of those senses. It was like a sixth sense, almost.

"This one... feels like gold."

There was no rhyme or reason. I assigned a color to it because it felt correct, even if it wasn't. It's just the way I perceived it. The cap over the girl's soul felt like gold.

"Where is the gold?"

I searched through the clashing yet still resonant waves of the planes. 

"No. This is... blue."

It wasn't that one.

"This one is black."

Not that one, either. I kept sorting through. 

"There. Gold."

As soon as I caught the slightest touch of the golden feeling, I grasped onto it. I didn't let it escape me. I reached my mana out in a string, through the layers of reality and into the golden plane.

'I... I can feel it,'

It was a really strange sensation. I could touch the cap over her gate, and yet, there was so much else I wanted to explore. Now, an entire plane had been opened to me. But still, I stayed on my mission. Pushing aside the cap didn't take much effort. It slid off as you'd expect a loose piece of paper to, floating into the endless void of this bizarre plane. This must be the Central Data Engine.

I considered expanding more tendrils of mana to try and feel around it a bit more. With what I had now, I couldn't get any kind of grasp on the surroundings, just a vague sense of being somewhere else. After all, mana can't see.

However, I was forced to withdraw my mana and break my focus on the planes. Mana was surging through the little girl's body. It seemed that the build-up of mana behind her gate was greater than I'd anticipated, as it all came flowing through simultaneously. 

It was so great that it started to flow out of her body.

'She's oversaturated already?! This is going to be like in the labyrinth! Fuck! She'll cause an explosion!'

Before I could take any action to try to stop it, a finger extended towards the girl. It was the Goliath. Touching the girl, who was a speck of dirt compared to the Goliath's finger, the mana within her dissipated instantly. I could see circles forming in the air with strange symbols, not unlike the ones on my Jokers.

The mana was drawn into those symbols and disappeared. Where did it go? I wasn't sure. Still, the girl lived. The Goliath spoke again.

"I... DYING..."

Huh? How the hell am I meant to get back if it dies?

"YOU... TAKE... HEART..."

It pulled its finger back from the girl, reaching its entire arm down its throat, its mouth ripping at the sides as it was forced open. It was a grizzly sight, but I couldn't take my eyes off of it. It was a chance to better understand the Goliaths.

After a minute, it pulled its hand out from its stomach, clenched tightly.

"DEBT... PAID... ENEMIES... AGAIN..."

It lifted its hand above me and opened it, dropping something down in the air. No, it floated. Supported by more of those circles of light, the object came into view. It was a black marble on a twine string. It floated down carefully onto my neck, the light fading away as it settled into place.

Before I could ask any questions, the Goliath started to draw in the air with its finger. Again, it drew symbols within a circle, creating a giant picture suspended in space, one which I couldn't understand. I tried to remember as many of the symbols as I could to see if they corresponded with any of my skill cards.

As the Goliath drew, I could see its body melting slowly. It really was dying...

Then, as the circle was completed, the Goliath made a final motion, flicking its hand forward before it turned completely to liquid, propelling the circle towards me faster than I could properly react. 

I braced myself lightly. As the circle came into contact with my body, though, I felt nothing. Instead, as it passed through me, I found myself back in the city, in my room.

'What the hell...'

I had no idea what had just happened. Seemingly days had passed, but it all flew by in a blur. It was like a dream; a Goliath, talking? Sensing other planes of existence? A strange little girl in a giant cave made of wood? Who would believe that? I was almost tempted to believe that the air outside wasn't just a narcotic, but a strong hallucinogen...

But feeling the black marble's weight on my neck, it was undeniable. All of that had happened. As for what that meant for me, I couldn't know. I went downstairs. In the bar below my room, people were happily chatting and eating. Everything looked so peaceful and ordinary, but I felt like an outlier.

I'd always felt like an outlier. Still, now, it was different. None of these people knew what the hell was going on in the world, and I barely did either. But I had a new goal- to discover the truth of our reality.