White Flower, Black Feather

Catching Up

Despite the shock they were feeling, the singer had trouble staying awake and once they saw another bird landing on the nest-

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‘What…?’ they lost their awareness for a moment, and got even more tired, falling asleep…

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And while they were waking up, they heard the bird above them cawing again

‘Why I’m so tired…?’ the bigger bird was keeping them warm ‘Ugh… what happened to me…?’ they felt hunger starting to annoy them, but before they made a sound the bird moved, letting the other one land on the nest and-

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‘Again…?’ they lost their awareness again ‘What is…?’ and couldn’t stay awake

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That cycle keep repeating for what it felt like days, until there was a point after the lost of consciousness, that they didn’t fell asleep immediately

‘Ugh…’ the bird started to keep them warm again, making the staying awake difficult, but they still tried to remain awake… noticing how dark their (Mostly bare) skin, was for the first time ‘I stop feeling hunger when that happens… I can’t stay awake when I get fed…? Why-?!’

‘Ah!’ the sudden appearance of the screen made the singer jolt, their surprise made the bird on top move his head to them, and carefully adjust their body to keep them warm. The surprisingly careful touch, almost made them fall asleep ‘Who are…?’ but they managed to stay awake a bit more ‘Status-?! Ah!’

‘What…? Wait! What?!’ and what they saw, scared them ‘No! No, no, no! I was just dressed as a girl! I’m not a girl!’

Chirp!

They got restless and tried to move, making the older brother worry about them, and try to calm them down

‘Aaahhh!!!’ it was frustrating to be so weak, but they couldn't do anything other than rest on top of the soft material, lining the inside of the nest ‘I can’t believe it… what happened in the novel, that Oscar made me read, happened to me… except for being a bird, or talking directly with a god… ugh, I’m tired… well… I have no idea of what to pick’

The singer looked at the three options, but none of them was jumping to them…

‘Who is “Her…”?’ their question was unanswered ‘The fountain thing sounds interesting, but right now… wait… pick one…? Is that a hint, or…?’ they started to feel tired again ‘Ugh… I hope I don’t regret this… I pick System Helper…’

And without them realizing, they were unconscious again

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‘Ah!’ the next time they woke up, they realized that they just were feed again, and the bird was covering them again ‘What is-?!’

‘Ah!’ they got surprised by the screen that appeared and blinked while staring at it for a few moments ‘Hello…?’

-Hello! It’s so weird to be acquired like this! Normally you would need a TON! Of EP to get one of us…! And you are a baby too! This is unheard of…! Wait…-

‘Yes…?’ the answer took a few moment to reach her

-Oh! I see! You are the second baby creature that got one of us, but: the first one just got the first stage of a Helper! So… I think you still won!-

The singer was getting overwhelmed by everything that was happening, so they closed their eyes and tried to calm down, before staring at the screens again

-Are you ok?-

‘Yes… I think… thanks… you really don’t have a name? Can I give you a name, or…?’

-Thanks for the sentiment! But it’s ok! We can’t be named as we are right now. So don’t worry about that! I am here to help you!-

‘Then… do you know what happened to me…?’

-I have access to all your memories, and I already saw most of them, basically… you died and then got reincarnated here. Sorry that it happened like that-

‘Ah… thanks…? But I also mean, why I’m a bird and a girl, now?’

-Eh…?-

The singer waited for a few moments and then the screen updated

-Oh… hmm… I think that I can explain the bird part… there is a thing called affinities, all creatures have them and yours are… Every type of Magic and Crows-

‘What…?’ it sounded good to them to have some kind of power, but… ‘How does that…?’

-You don’t need to find “Sense” on it, there are all kinds of affinities, from farming, to combat, to one related to dresses… that one was weird…-

Trying to stay awake became impossible, so the message changed to wish them sweet dreams

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‘Ah…?’ but like before, their sleep was dreamless, and as the bigger bird was accommodating them, a cold breeze made them shiver

-Good morning…! Even if it’s midnight!-

‘Oh, that explains the cold…’ they felt full, but were awake enough ‘How do my mom and dad, know when to feed me…?’

Caw…

-Hahahaha! They aren’t your parents! They are two raven brothers tasked to take care of you!-

‘Oh… sorry’

Chirp!

‘Wait… I don’t have parents again…?’ they nuzzled against the bigger bird as an apology for the misgendering

-I cannot give details…-

‘And that message from… a god?’ she couldn't remember the name that appeared on that screen

-I’m not allowed to talk about any religion…-

‘Why?’

-Well… oh! Here! ‘A holy war, is the less annoying thing, that humans can do with that information’ simple, right?-

The singer remembered some of their history books, and nodded at the message…

‘But I’m not a human anymore…’ but still wanted to know

-You can become a humanoid! You just need to Evolve! Open your Status if you want an explanation!-

‘Status?’

They got curious, so they stared at the new screen and waited for the message to update… even if they knew it was a distraction

-First focus on ‘Level’ see that it goes up to ten?-

‘Yes?’

-Once you reach level ten you’ll be able to enter the section ‘Species’ and in there, you pick an evolution. Then the process is repeated until you become a humanoid! (Every evolution requires a higher level than before!)-

‘How do I level up? Killing monsters like a video-game?’

-You are omnivorous, so, not exactly: Herbivores and omnivores can level up, by eating plants/fruit and growing old with time. If they kill another creature (Monsters too, but those are different!), then yes, they get progress for the next level, but they aren’t chained to just killing to improve. Carnivores have it a bit harder: they do need to kill to level up, and aging doesn’t gives them as much progress-

‘I see… and how many times I need to do this?’

-Let’s see…- the screen went completely black, before changing to every color of the visible spectrum, they felt their body becoming warm for a moment, and once the feeling was gone, the screen changed -You can evolve seven times (Assuming you don’t choose a dead end, earlier than that). After that, your species become… either humanoid, or impossible of evolving without using a Key of Evolution-

‘What is that?’

-Ah… an unlucky creature that only exist to die, and make its killer evolve. But they are extremely rare, I don’t see a way of you even seeing one-

‘Is there a way to identify them?’

The helper answered with a negative, so the singer started to think about what else to ask

‘But why I’m a girl? I was dressed as one, but it was for the performance’ their mind went back to that topic…

-…? Eh…?-

‘What is wrong?’

-That is my line…! Do you feel bad? Anythings feels wrong with your body? I cannot feel anything wrong with it!-

The questions froze the singer, and for the first time since they saw the word female on the screen…

‘No… I feel great…’ she looked inward, and felt content… ‘But… I’m a guy… I…’

-…? I really don’t see a problem…?-

‘It’s… it’s…’

-How about you go for a bit using She/Her and if you don’t like it… well… I suppose that changing the sex of your body it’s possible… but I have no idea of how to do that…-

‘…’ she stared at that screen for a while, before she nodded ‘Well… if it’s just testing… yes, I… yes…!’ the possibility of being a girl, filled her with happiness… while the idea of changing back… ‘Well… I don’t see any need of changing back… and wanting to be the opposite gender it’s a normal thing… right…?’

-I don’t know about that! But you should definitively pick a name! That will complete a Deed and-! Oh! You have a Title already! Focus on that section to see them!-

‘Focus on it…?’ she did that, and another screen appeared

‘Bwa?!’ reading that was embarrassing

-A shame about the EP, but it’s still a Title that gives EP. Once you’ll reach the point of triggering an EP Adjustment, you’ll get more from it!-

‘A what…?’

-There is a cap on how much EP, Deeds and Titles can give to you. It’s there just so creatures don’t waste everything on the EP Shop buying simple stuff, then having nothing to buy advanced stuff with, when they evolve. Pick a name!-

‘Brenna’

Her answer came instantly, because she already chose her name years ago. A name that appeared in the Status screen as she said it

‘Eeehhh!!!’

Chirp!

Making her very happy, and causing the older brother shook his head above her

-Congratulations on your first completed Deed!-

‘Thanks!’ after basking for a few moments in her happiness, a doubt reached her mind ‘How did I got that Title?’

‘Ah…! Oh… who is “Her”? You can’t say things about the gods, but you can answer that… right?’

-Nope! I have no idea of who is that!-

Brenna got a bit disappointed by that, but figured something to ask next

‘What can you tell me then?’

-Oh, a lot of things! Normally we get really constricted about what we can do! But now I can tell you a lot of…! What…?-

‘It’s something wrong?’

The screen was static for a while, until it closed and opened again

-I can teach you about magic…? How…?-

‘Ah!’ she had trouble getting used to the screens appearing so suddenly ‘Wait… that is the goddess that Carmen…?! R-romantic?!’

She got embarrassed and buried her head against the feathers of the bigger bird

‘Wait…’ until she realized what she just read ‘A snake, rejected a Boon for me…?’ to her that didn’t make sense

‘Oh no! That poor girl…’ she felt embarrassed about the Trait she got, but tried to ignore it ‘B-but why did she give up a Boon for… me?’ she buried her head against the feathers, feeling more embarrassed again…

Falling asleep without realizing…

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The next time she woke up, she was calmer and tried to look at her surroundings, but in the short window of time, were she was awake and the brother moved away, she couldn't see anything, other than branches, before the other brother got close

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And the next thing she knew, she was being covered again…

‘Ok…’ she looked at what she could, but the covering under her small claws lacked any gap for her to see, so it wasn't much ‘Ok… what I’m supposed to do…?’

-I have information about that!-

‘Please, tell me’

The message closed and opened twice, with “Cough” written on it before showing her a bigger message

-We are in The Forest Nesting The Three Rulers Of Death. This is a whole peninsula covered in special trees (Don't use fire! Bad idea!), these trees are exerting a pressure on all the living creatures inside the forest, with the objective of having them evolve quickly. Helping this, are a series of stones, with an engraving that blocks the creatures from moving near them, on the whole north side of the peninsula (We are north of that Line, but the creatures still feel the pressure here!) but: fliers can go around the Line by going really high, or by flying above the oceans to the sides. This means that humans are trained to kill all the fliers they see going out (Or in) the forest-

‘Including me…’ Brenna thought after reading the whole thing

The big message remained there, but as an answer, another message screen appeared

-Sadly, yes. Which is why I suggest that you evolve as fast as you can, aiming to become a humanoid, and get out of the forest… there should be a humanoid city on the eastern side of the peninsula. They will accept you there…! I think…-

‘What do you mean?’

-Excepting some (Rare) insects, all humanoids on this continent, were previously mammals… there are some (Very Rare) birds that became humanoids, but they were on the other side of the world (Not an exact measurement of distance!)-

‘Ah, no. I meant: what do you meant with “Should” you… don’t know?’

-Oh! Sorry! That was personal knowledge, vs, necessary knowledge! I learned about the existence of the city a few decades ago, but that knowledge doesn’t updates automatically when we get acquired again! So: I think they should still be alive-

Brenna noticed that the Helper, talked about themselves as a member of a group, but choose to ask something else first

‘Wouldn’t they be trained to kill birds too…?’

-Maybe! But if you walk to them once you see where is the city, they should give you a chance!-

‘That’s it, if I talk the same language as them…’

-You can buy languages from the EP Shop once you get close to humanoid (Or, earlier with my help, but it’s going to hurt!). Talking shouldn’t be an issue!-

That comment gave Brenna an idea

‘So… can you teach me to talk with the locals?’ the idea of not buying the languages

-I… I…? Hahaha! I can! I never thought of doing that! Ok! We are doing that, then I’ll teach you about magic!-

That particular order confused the singer

‘Can’t we do the two things, at the same time?’

-Nope! Magic should have your whole focus as you start, to avoid a Magic Drain! And we have time, the brothers should be vanishing once winter is over, so there isn't a need to hurry-

‘What?!’

Chirp!

-Oh, sorry! Let me explain! The brothers aren’t real creatures, they are here to help you grow and reach your first evolution. Due to your speed of development, your evolution should be happening by the end of winter, or the start of spring. That is when the function of the brothers will be completed, and you will truly start your life-

‘Alone…’

-Temporally! And you’ll still have me!-

That message cheered her a bit, but she still rubbed against the feathers of the brother that was warming her

‘It’s fall now?’ she asked trying to know how was the world around her

-Yes… I have no idea of why you hatched when you did, though…-

‘Maybe because it was near-winter when I died…?’ she offered as a suggestion

-That shouldn’t affect this world at all…-

As Brenna talked with her Helper, a question started to grow on her mind

‘Who is Miriam…?’ she tried to remember the moment she died, but… ‘I think the guy that stood up, was the one that shoot me… but I… think that there were two women near him… was the woman to his side the one that died…? The other one, was next to big boobs guy, and I think her name started with an A…’

-Big boobs… guy…? Did he had a hormonal imbalance…?-

‘That is just how we called that guy… ugh, if you see my memories you’ll see a video of Carmen confessing to him, but he rejected her, while saying that her boobs weren’t big enough’ that memory soured her mood a bit

-Ok, I found it… I can’t heard anything coming from her, though?-

‘Oh right… she wrote a letter and placed it on his locker, another guy saw her doing that. and he followed her latter that day, to a classroom and recorded them. She noticed her follower, so she tried to have the twin with glasses go with her somewhere else, but then he said that and Carmen slapped him… I told her that the other twin seemed like a better pick, but…’

Brenna was silent for a bit as she thought about her friend… because something wasn't adding up…

-Two questions! One: what did he meant by “It’s better this way?”-

‘I don’t know, that is the only thing that you can hear in the video, other than the boobs thing, but Carmen had no idea of what he meant either…’ Brenna remembered that Carmen was angry, about being recorded, and that after the video started to go around the school, was that she got the idea of having Brenna crossdress…

-Second: Carmen only likes girls… right…?-

‘I…’ that question froze her, because that was the thing, she couldn't figure an answer for… ‘She says that… but if you look at the video…’ she remembered the gestures, and the way she looked at her, after getting Brenna on her dress… ‘I… suppose that, I don’t really know… but in what other way, you can see what happens in the video… other than a rejection to her confession?’

-I don’t know. I’m from this world, not your previous one-

‘Oh…’ she was silent for a moment ‘Before I forget, you refer to yourself as part of a group…? At least that is how it looks to me…’

-Probably because there can only be Three System Helpers in the world, at the same time-

‘Then I’m happy that I got to meet you!’

-Me too! Do you want to start learning? Or want a nap first?-

She was getting tired, but still thought of a couple questions to make

‘Should I check the shop?’

-Eh… it can wait. You don’t really have much to buy with, and worrying about EP can get stressing-

‘Then can you tell me about those Traits I got…? I don’t really want to be called a seductress…’

-Well… Singing Boost can be deceiving, it helps mostly with helping you sing for longer periods of time, it doesn’t affects the “Quality” of your songs-

‘And what helps with that?’

-Practice!-

‘Oh…’ the answer she got was fairly simple, but singing for a longer time did sounded useful for her… if she still were a member of her band…

-As for Seduction Boost… you really aren’t going to be called a seductress unless you act like one. It affects appearance, not how skilled you are at seducing people-

‘What…? Then why isn't called Beauty Boost, or something?’

-Beauty it’s subjective. What is attractive to one, could be repulsive for others. And it does nothing for Inner Beauty. That is why it’s called Seduction Boost: it’s just skin deep… in your case it should make your future feathers… glossy, or lustrous, or… now that I think about it, it should make your talons and beak look prettier too! Those Boost also will help with the human parts of your future humanoid body!-

That information got Brenna thinking… but she couldn't decide if the Trait was good or just a waste…

‘Well, since I’m a guy I don’t think… it’s going to help me… only with makeup, I looked decent… and that was probably only due to the sheer skill, that Carmen has…’

-Eh…? But your body was created as female…?-

‘Oh… right… wait, created?’

-I can’t teach you that language, but Raruvply can (Very loosely) translate to Crow, while Cidia (Mostly) means that your body was created, not born-

‘Then why I was gifted with a female body?!’

Chirp!

-…? Do you feel bad about your body…?-

‘No! But…!’ Brenna started to feel very tired again, and shook her head ‘Never mind… I wonder if “Miriam” can help me with that answer…’

‘Hello… then it’s possible for you, to tell her to meet me now…?’ she tried to ignore thinking about the way the message was written…

After that message appeared, the older brother raised suddenly and cawed. And at that moment, Brenna heard a high pitching sound, that made her wince-

SCREEEEECH!!!

HISS!!!

‘AH!!!’ followed by hearing a loud roar, and by hissing… and after hearing the pitching sound again-

SCREEEEECH!!!

‘AH!!!’ a second roar. Seconds later, an explosion was heard to the south of the nest…

The brother covered her again, muting all sounds around them…

‘Ah?’ making her wonder how that worked, before-

‘Oh… I hope she is all right…’

-What?! She is the one that broke his streak?!-

‘What happened? What do… you mean…?’ now that the adrenaline started to fade, she got more and more tired

-I’ll… explain later… you should rest…-

Even while felling that the Helper was hesitating, she took what the helper said as good advice and choose that moment to rest