Redo: Grimoire System in the Apocalypse

Geth wrinkled his nose. A foul mix of rotting flesh and feces assaulted his senses.

His eyelids pried open, trying to find the source of this putrid odor. As the air touched the surface of his eyes, the burning almost forced them closed again.

Geth's vision was heavily blurred. He blinked rapidly, trying his best to regain his sight. His body was battered and aching, and he could feel some type of restraint tearing at his wrists.

He struggled briefly and found that it was difficult to move. It felt almost as if his joints weren't in place. He could feel his appendages, but the most he could do was make the muscles twitch.

After a bit of struggle, he finally managed to blink through the burning of the rotten odor. As his vision cleared, a strange scene appeared before him.

He found himself in a vast underground space. It reminded him of a Dungeon before it had been conquered. 

It was dark. Very little light radiated from the encircling crystals.

The location isn't what he found strange... It was the picture that was displayed before him. Hundreds of corpses were lying in the area surrounding him.

Feces and bile littered the few open spaces between the decaying bodies. A few of the bodies were moving. They seemed to be broken and struggling just as Geth was.

He turned his head towards himself. Geth needed to get a better idea of his condition. 

The first things were his hands. His fingers were all broken in odd angles, bits of bone protruding between them.

The hands themselves were heavily swollen and bruised. Geth's wrists were cuffed together by a block of earth. 

Blood flow was cut off to his fingers by the heavy stone. If it wasn't, he would probably bleed to death.

Struggling to turn his neck, he found that his arms were hanging limply from his shoulders. His legs weren't in any better shape, limply laying on the ground in front of him.

He noticed that the bodies around him weren't just human. There were Lizardfolk, Goblins, and even some of what he thought were Dwarves and Elves.

The Elves had their eyes gouged and ears ripped off while the Dwarves were missing limbs. It looked as if the hair had been ripped from their faces.

The Goblins and Lizardfolk were mutilated even worse. In all, it was a truly gruesome sight.

Every creature was bound or crippled in some fashion. It seemed that the humans were the least tortured.

Geth shuffled slightly, causing the stone weighing down his arms to drag against the floor.

"Who... who's there..?" A nearby voice strained the words out.

Through the pain, Geth managed to turn his head towards the whisper. What was left of the broken body looked like an old elf. 

The man's skin was old and wrinkled. Even with the scars of torture, Geth could make out the lines of much laughter near where his eyes should be.

He tried to reply but found that he couldn't form words. His actions weren't his own as his body toppled towards the old man. 

Geth could feel the searing pain as his shoulder began to move, dragging himself towards the tortured elder. He came to rest just beside him.

The old man seemed to sense his movement as he got closer. A smile briefly lit the old man's face before he forced himself to speak again.

"A... human? How fitting. Hah-" A rough fit of coughing interrupted his brief laughter before his face turned serious.

"There is only one," *Cough* "Chance to make things right."

The elder's forehead pressed up against Geth's. A chilling sensation ran through his mind as pressure began to build.

It felt like his head was going to explode, but he couldn't move. His eyes closed. He could feel something foreign enter his mind.

An unfamiliar shape was emerging. With closed eyes, Geth could see the form of a large dome. He wasn't sure how, but he knew that the object had become a part of him.

Another alien presence began to surround the dome. Geth watched as a strange blue tendril approached the edge of the new structure. 

The tendril began to carve out a shape on the outer walls. The pain was excruciating, worse than being tortured one thousand times.

The lines that were drawn glowed an angry red. The burning sensation it gave off resonated through his entire being.

Just as Geth's consciousness was about to fade away, a powerful frigid sensation replaced the heat. Once he could focus again, he found that the blue substance was being siphoned through a spiral etched into the dome.

As the dome was filling, thousands of strands of the odd liquid began to reach out. Intricate drawings were burned into the structure as its outer edges expanded.

The size continually increased as information began to flood Geth's mind. When the process was complete, millions of complex markings filled the inner space.

The old man let out a tired breath, "Humans really are resilient creatures."

"Hopefully, the next time our races meet, we won't let our pride get in the way." A bright smile lit the old man's face just as his life faded away.

****

Geth woke in a cold sweat, jerking his body up and startling the women beside him awake.

"Babe, is everything okay?" Zolis asked while worriedly looking around the room. Concern showed on Alise's face as she looked at him.

Geth looked at the two women before answering, "Just a bad dream. I'm going to walk around a bit. You two get some sleep."

He kissed them both gently before donning his gear and leaving the room. Geth didn't like lying to them, but he wasn't sure what he should say.

He knew it wasn't just a dream. There, on Albus' pages, was the only proof he needed.

:An unknown force has entered your mind. Mana Sense has been upgraded to Level 4.

Additional Talent learned. User has gained Talent, Absorption.

Absorption (Max)-

The wall standing between you and the surrounding Mana has thinned.

Mana Recovery has doubled.

Experience gained from all sources has doubled: