ORIGIN

They came onward like a rotten tide, some of them clambering clumsily over one another in their attempts to reach the deer. One was bumped by another and fell, scrabbling wretchedly on the stone as it tried to get back up. Another lifted a head, baring long incisors, and Aran could see the bone of its skull and a single empty eye socket where the flesh there had rotted away.

They were drawing closer. And they were speeding up.

The targetted rat stumbled.

It wasn't a powerful cast. But it was enough; though it wasn't a dramatic collapse and melting-into-goop, the rat nevertheless twitched, fell, and began to spasm on the ground. It choked, and-

...the other rats around it abruptly changed course. They veered for it, staggering their sickly bodies for their fallen comrade, suddenly turning on it. Incisors, dripping with infection, tore into flesh; the dying rat screamed, a broken empty sound, and thrashed. Pieces of body were torn away, the animal covered by a heaving mass of black bodies, entrails and flesh dragged out and across the floor. After a few more moments, the screaming choked and stopped.

The other two thirds of the group, however, still headed for Aran... and they had sped up, the screams stoking their hunger.

1/3

Aran's targetted giant rat jerked as its forelegs suddenly gave out beneath it. The infections half-consuming it now consumed it completely, pitching it forward so that its face struck the rock below. It skidded, leaving a smear of body fluids and blood.

The rats around it paused, looking at it, hesitating... waiting.

The moment it began to choke and spasm they fell upon it, tearing, the sounds of crunching and wet ripping audible. This one's scream was shorter, broken off into gurgling sounds almost at once, as other rats tore its throat from its body. The swarm of bloodied fur was another tangle that stopped, another group no longer striving to reach the deer.

2/3

The last of the forerunners fell. Not just fell: it tumbled, the swarm overrunning it. There was no hesitation; the beasts looked not to the deer standing before them, but to the fresh, twitching meat below. Squeals of agony played a background song for the sounds of ripping flesh once more.

For a moment, Aran stood in a room of feverish gore, in a dim pool of light, the only sounds around him those of eating. The only smell, the stench of sickness and death.

"GOOD!" The voice boomed, unbothered by the slaughter. The darkness closed in, all light fading--and then the room's light returned, but it was changed. When Emuh touched down before Aran, it was to a clean, if dusty, rock floor. Yet... the smells lingered, even if the sounds, the rats themselves, were gone. It had been real. "-IF SIMPLE. YOU NEED TO LEARN MORE. NOW HOLD STILL." A taloned foot reached out, grasping for Aran, not to puncture but to touch: the owl, now shrouded in chaotic shadows, stepped back.

It would feel as though Aran had been sucker-punched in the front of his chest. As though something had reached in, and torn something away from him. Yet... new knowledge swelled in him, hinting at some greater power he had learned: and the wellspring of his magic felt deeper than before. "ARE YOU DONE? I HOPE YOU ARE DONE. I AM DONE. SHOO."

Aran has Transcended. He is now a Transcendent Pupil, and may work his way back up to Transcendent Master. Upon attaining this rank, his player may post in Update Me to choose a Specialization (viewable in the Magic section of the Guidebook).

He has also learned the spell:

Herd Immunity:

Transcendent Intensity Manipulation. The user casts out a wave of magic, instantly inflicting a chosen disease on all targets in a large range in front of them, or alternatively, purifying all of those targets of any disease or infection. Transcendent spells may be used once per thread.