Atlantis Book 1 Chapter 2

Changing races was nothing like character creation in a game. The process required a quantum shift in a person’s being. There were changes made on the genetic level, a complete rewrite of DNA that were necessary, but that was only part of the process.

The very soul of an individual had to be sculpted, shaped, and strengthened to fit the possibilities and abilities a new race entailed. The Sidhe/Atlantian hybrid required mana and psychic networks to be added to the body. New networks that needed to be connected to the soul, an astral body that needed to be imprinted and molded into a permanent new form.

The [System Administrator] watched as Asteria became more. 

For Asteria, the process was one of pain. The pain of having her body reforged, of having the soul and astral remade without losing the person Asteria was, in the process. A tribulation to endure, one of fire and pain. And like a phoenix rising from the fire, Asteria began to change.

For Asteria, experiencing System 2.0 integration had been surreal. There had been a disconnect between what was happening and how invested she had been in the process.

She had been so focused on not living life as a Mousekin that she hadn’t allowed herself to identify, to personalize what was happening to her. She had treated this second chance like it was happening to someone else. 

Moving forward, making choices as is, she was reading a novel. Watching and learning about this life with a third-person perspective. But a new race, a refined soul, and the pain that went with those changes jolted Asteria.

Jolted me.

And any thought I had of stifling the screams of pain, of holding back the tears, was instantly forgotten as the thoughts of her and she became me and mine.

And the changes to my body and soul were just the beginning. I gained the instincts and knowledge a Sidhe/Atlantian hybrid would have gained if I’d been born as that race.

Knowledge of how to control my body was shared. I wouldn’t need to relearn how to walk, talk, and care for and protect myself. That knowledge was hard coded into the person I was as part of the race change.

Once my new body was under my control, the experience shifted to one of history. I was gifted with the knowledge of who the Sidhe were, of how Atlantis had fallen and been reborn.

I experienced the cut scenes of Teigh’s life.

I watched as Teigh died on Earth and transmigrated into a new world, one with System mechanics. A life where he became the fulcrum of change.

I saw the history of the Tuatha de Danann. The sacrifice they made by accepting [Sleep] to protect the Sidhe. I watched with growing anger as the Greek and Asgardian Pantheons skirted the line of [Oath-breaking] as time passed.

The story of Teigh’s life unfolded. His adventures were shared as he discovered those behind injecting the System with a virus, identified how the virus had been added, and closed the CERN dungeon bringing System 1.0 to Earth and allowing the System to isolate and purge the virus implanted.

Teigh’s life story continued allowing me to learn of the rift between Seelie and Unseelie. To identify the disparate races that made up each faction and his ascension to King as he saved the Seelie faction from a Queen’s madness and established a new faction. The Tuatha de Danann faction would embrace and accept every race irrespective of Seelie or Unseelie divisions.

His establishment of a new Kingdom was the pivotal moment that saw the Sidhe freed of the Greek and Asgardian yoke that had kept them imprisoned on one planet. The chance for System upgrades, for expansion, for growth stunted. This, more than anything proof of possible [Oath-breaking].

I watched, surprised that I felt pride and satisfaction as Teigh tricked Loki and Athena. He accepted a quest to stop Odin and Zeus in an alternate universe and, in the process, freed the Tuatha de Danann from [Sleep].

His actions were the precipitating factor that freed the Titans Zeus had confined. But in the process, destroying Atlantis as the Titans forced open the Earth’s mantle to gain their freedom. The mantle was located beneath the island of Atlantis, and as the Titans ripped it asunder, they sunk the island in the process.

Time rewound then, and I began to watch cut scenes from the perspective of differing figures in Atlantian history. The formation of the kingdom, the advances of psychic abilities in a few universes where Atlantis was never lost. 

A world view of politics, religion, and technology that was shared across Atlantians from different universes. I grew to know who the Atlantian people were, how they prospered, and what motivated them as a culture.

I learned how Teigh gained his Godhood in the Atlantian Pantheon, and how that related to my bloodline. I learned what the difference was between Kelpie, Selkie, and Sea Hag and felt I had lucked into making the choice I was most comfortable with. Of the three, the Sea Hag seemed the most powerful.

And finally I learned of how Earth had been remade. I didn’t see discussion the Gods held, the agreements and trades that were made to reform the world, but I learned as everyone on Earth would learn that this second chance had been a gift made by the System as a reward for Teigh, a reward for quests that had been completed in three different multi-verses.

And I was a bloodline progenitor for Teigh. One of a few people on Earth that could trace our connection to the God before he became a God. A connection to the deeply wounded mortal that had lived and died on Earth.

An Great-Uncle that I had never met. One that I couldn’t remember my parent’s ever speaking about.

This one person who had changed the course of history in three universes, but was barely remembered for the man he had been. I felt regret that a person who had striven and sacrificed for so many, had not even earned a footnote in the annals of Earth’s history.

And as the pain finally began to recede. As my body, mind, and soul were enhanced and changed. I accepted the lessons the System had shared, and embraced the connection that existed between Teigh and me. 

Gods and Goddesses existed. I had known that my entire life as a Mousekin. But this was the first time that knowledge was personalized. Perhaps, I wouldn’t spend this life railing against and cursing the Gods. I would use Teigh as a touchstone, and keep the knowledge of how he lived his life as an ideal. 

His life would be the goal I set myself, the type of person I wanted to be. I may never attain even a small part of what he managed, but living my life trying to emulate his actions seemed like a worthy goal.

And maybe, just maybe, I would get to meet him at some point. Meet him and thank him for this second chance.