System Reset

Behind closed eyes Ramsey searched for the spikes surrounding him.

The immensity of the pressure was overwhelming. To him, gravity had increased so much there was a sinking sensation, not into the dirt beneath him, but into… everything. 

It felt as if space itself was closing in, enveloping him.

'Or…'

When learning about gravity, he recalled the visual reference of a grid plane. A heavy object, such as a planet, would sink into the plane, bending the space around it. Smaller objects entering the distorted space would be affected by it, potentially getting caught in an orbit.

'I'm distorting the space.'

Focusing on the feeling of space around him, he visualized a grid pattern overlaying it. Gradually lessening the gravity caused the imaginary grid to relax as well.

However, as he listened to the frequency of his lessening gravity, he noticed something, there was a misharmonization. 

Ramsey had played guitar in his youth and recognized this sound immediately. When tuning one string with another, the harmonics would sync or fluctuate as the key was turned. 

'There's another sound!'

The sound, or sounds rather, appeared to be other base gravities within his area. Their conflicting harmonics with his frequency made them stand out. And the more he focused on the difference, the more pronounced they became.

The grid plane bowed with Ramsey at its center, but now it featured disturbances at evenly spaced intervals, exactly where the spikes should be.

He exhaled slowly and opened his eyes to confirm.

The spikes stood proudly, their locations overlapping with his senses, 'Gotcha!'

Releasing gravity completely, he fell to an elbow and caught his breath. 

'Let's go again.'

Six more times Ramsey increased his gravity while listening for harmonic differences and feeling spacial distortions. Thankfully, his sight was no longer hindering his concentration. In fact, once he knew what to focus on, adding another sense only helped. 

Lessening the pressure each time, he discovered that even the slightest variance between him and other objects was enough to recognize them. 

Adding a layer of his other senses over the visual would have been difficult for Ramsey to describe. Objects within his range became more… present, almost shakily outlined.

'Okay,' he readied himself, 'on to the next step.'

Disregarding everything except for the spike directly in front of him, Ramsey slightly increased his gravity to highlight his target. 

Focusing now on its repetitions, he used the same method he had used many times on himself, a hard purposeful breath intent on quickening its pace.

THEWP

A strange sound and a puff of dust where the spike once stood left Ramsey looking around. He hadn't seen it move, nor fall out, but all that remained was the empty hole.

He leaned forward and looked inside. Curiously poking his finger into the dark orifice, at a depth of around 2 inches, he felt the cold metal surface of the spike. 

'What? How?'

He quickly turned to the left and repeated the process on the next spike. As before, the spike moved at such a speed he almost didn't notice it, piercing deep into the ground.

'Why is it so fast? The same thing barely affects me.'

Ramsey recalled his only experience with magic so far - the dark haired girl at the guild office. With a lift of her finger she sent a torrent of air up through his shirt. It was… effortless.

Whereas he was breathing fiercely, intent on using maximum effort.

'Why the disparity between gravity on me and on other objects?'

He turned again to the next spike, fluctuated his gravity enough to sense it, and ever so slightly increased its vibration. It sank slowly and easily into the ground, as if pushed by a hydraulic press.

"Huh.

HAhaha! It's actually easy."

Smiling wildly, Ramsey turned to the remaining spikes and tried pushing three at once. 

Nothing.

As hard as he tried, even resuming his original intensity, there was no movement. 

It seemed his limit was a single object. Although, he could concentrate on several and switch between them. He did this quickly with a couple, hammering them down like a game of whack-a-mole.

Ramsey was ecstatic, even if this was all he achieved today, it was a resounding success.

However, his eyes floated to two yet unused purchases.

There was more to do.

Unrolling the rope to its nearly 50 foot length, Ramsey tied one end to his belt and the other through a hole in the horseshoe.

For reducing gravity, he wanted something substantial that could be tied down, and wasn't sharp if he lost control beneath it. And a horseshoe would certainly be in stock at the supply store, so why not?

Kneeling with the horseshoe in front of him, Ramsey focused his combined senses.

The first test was to see if it rose uncontrollably as he had previously.

In fear of launching it like the spike, he very softly decreased its gravity, causing it to slowly lift off the ground. 

However, as anticipated, when released from his control its ascent continued. 

It seemed when any object's gravity decreased below base, it was more than untethered, it was elevated. Thankfully, Ramsey was becoming quite familiar with base gravity.

He watched as the horseshoe reached its maximum height, pulling the rope taut. The absurd experience made Ramsey smile as he looked up, 'It's like flying a kite.'

Reeling it back within range, he extended his senses and normalized its gravity, causing it to fall 3 feet into Ramsey's hand.

Over the next few minutes he influenced its rise and fall, in and out of his grasp, again and again. 

Controlling decreased gravity was not difficult, it simply required his attention. It was similar to driving, he imagined he could do it while eating a sandwich, but a complete distraction wouldn't end well.

Allowing the kite to reach its peak, the unorthodox silhouette contrasted by the hues of the late afternoon sun, Ramsey took a moment to appreciate the day.

"I did it, System. I taught myself magic."

Activating his newly melded senses, he gazed upon Elorr through different eyes. With a satisfied sigh he looked up - then cocked his head in confusion.

At what should be nearly 10 times his range, he could still sense the horseshoe.

'How? It's so far.'

With his free hand, Ramsey quickly picked up and threw a spike to confirm his limits. It left his range after several feet before falling to the ground.

His focus shifted back to the horseshoe… then to the rope… then to his hand.

Eyes widening in suspicion, Ramsey quickly tied off his end of the rope to a protruding spike and stepped back to test his theory.

The spike was of course in range - but the horseshoe was not. 

He approached the rope with bated breath, extended his hand to grab it, and looked up.

"I'll be damned.

It extends to what I'm holding."

If Ramsey had more rope, he would have loved to test its limits. Instead, he simply lowered it while pondering the applications. 'I really need to go back to see Treya and borrow those books.

I can also tell her about my bloom.'

The thought of her excited expression made him smile, 'She's gonna lose it.'

Noticing shadows beginning to stretch, Ramsey extended his arm and counted his fingers between the horizon and the sun. Assuming it was the same as Earth, each finger width was 15 minutes, so he had about 45 minutes to get back.

The returning trek was filled with daydreams of heroism and wonder. Mindlessly twirling a shortened length of rope, the weight of the horseshoe carried it in hypnotic circles. 

Twilight began to settle on the countryside as the once vibrant colors gave way to grays, its finer details being lost to shadows. 

What Ramsey failed to realize was that the horrors of Elorr patiently waited for this time. They didn't need night to fall, nor did they need complete darkness. They simply couldn't see in the overwhelming brightness of the sun; their world turning white as if the exposure had been turned up too high.

Harkynn came into view atop the next hillside, about the same time he heard a gallop.

Still off the path, Ramsey strained his eyes to search for the rider. 

'A horse would be nice… much faster.'

He couldn't stop, though. He had clearly misjudged the speed of the sunset and had very little time remaining.

'I wonder why they're off the path as well.' The drumming of hooves grew closer. 

'Probably hunting, which is a great idea. I could feed myself or earn more coin.'

About 100 yards from the town entrance, the galloping had nearly caught up to him, then slowed. 

Continuing his swift pace, Ramsey turned to find the rider, concerned that his presence had alarmed them.

What stood behind him carried no rider. It resembled an emaciated horse with the head of an anteater, crowned by branches of thorny antlers. 

Ramsey stopped and the creature reared back, stamping its hooves. Breathing heavily its purple snout oozed a viscous liquid that sizzled when it hit the ground.

'Oh shit. Not good.'

Without his sword and being unquestionably slower than the creature only left one option.

'I just need to get within 5 feet.'

Ramsey activated his senses and took a step toward the creature, which retreated, maintaining a distance of around 15 feet. 

Repeating this dance a few times, Ramsey took a chance and started walking backwards toward the town without breaking eye contact. The creature responded by straightening its snout and inhaling sharply with a terrifying shriek.

A stream of dark smoldering liquid sprayed his legs, adhering to and rapidly dissolving his pants and the skin beneath.

"AHHHH!!"

Blinding pain washed over Ramsey as the creature watched its prey. 

The shrieking sound happened again and he instinctively jumped to the right, narrowly avoiding another shot at his legs. It was obviously trying to cripple him before closing the distance.

Breathing through the pain and trying not to focus on the sizzling sound, nor the nauseating smell, he extended his senses again. If he couldn't get close, and he couldn't run, he had another tool at his disposal. 

Spinning the rope with the horseshoe overhead, he gradually increased its gravity. Extending the rope to a length of 10 feet, it began to creak from the pressure as Ramsey struggled to maintain his grip.

The creature was now focusing on the object growing closer with each revolution.

'Let's see how you handle this, you bastard.'