Chapter 2: Two Gifts
Show me the list.
"Ohh, eager are we? I like that. Most people need a few minutes to process the whole 'you're dead' thing before they start shopping. You're already browsing."
I mean, what else am I going to do? Sit here in the dark and feel sorry for myself? I did that for twenty-four years already. I'm good.
"Fair point. Alright then. Here's how this works. I'm going to show you what's available. You get two picks. Not two now and one later. Not two with an option to swap. Two. Final. Done. So don't rush it, yeah?"
You literally just said you liked that I was eager.
"Well I can say both! Now shut up and listen!"
Something shifted in the darkness. I could see some light and letters starting to form. It felt a bit weird at first, but after a couple of seconds I got the hang of it.
"Category one," the god said. "Physical enhancements. Strength, speed, reflexes, durability, regeneration. The classics. Very popular with the gym crowd. You could bench press a car, outrun a cheetah, take a bullet and walk it off. Flashy. Fun at parties."
Sounds like a problem I don't want to have in a modern world. You'd stand out too much.
"You would. And it's not very clever to use. But if you don't care and just want to be strong, then why not? Not my choice to make. Moving on."
"Category two. Sensory abilities. Enhanced sight, hearing, perception. You could see in the dark, hear a conversation from three streets away, notice details that nobody else catches. Useful, but limited."
I could see this working, but also, why? I don't want to hear every little thing around me. Or hear everyone at once. So no, I'll skip this one for now. I'll look at it later.
"Okay, most people don't choose this one for that exact fear. But I didn't tell you all the details. And I won't. So I can mess with you a bit. Hahah. But if you want to think that, you can think that."
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T TELL ME EVERYTHING?
"OI! SHUT UP! I'm a god, don't scream at me! And you should be happy I gave you this chance, so shut up and listen like I said before. Don't interrupt me again and wait until I'm done, yeah?"
Okay okay, sorry. I just got a little scared.
"I SAID SHUT UP." A pause. "You're lucky I find you entertaining. Most mortals get the short version."
"Category three. Mental enhancements." The voice shifted. Slower now. Like it actually cared about this one. "And this is where it gets interesting, so for once in your short, dead life, pay attention."
"Perfect memory. Total recall. Everything you've ever read, seen, heard, or experienced, stored permanently and accessible instantly. You'd never forget a face, a number, a page of text, a line of code. Your brain becomes a hard drive with unlimited storage."
Okay hold on. That's already insane. You're telling me I could read a textbook once and just know it? Forever?
"Did I say you could talk? No? Then why are you talking? But that's exactly what I'm telling you. But wait, because you're going to like the next one even more. Pattern recognition. Advanced, beyond human baseline. You'd see connections between things that nobody else would link. Patterns in data, in behaviour, in systems. Where other people see random noise, you'd see the structure underneath."
"And then there's the big one. System Insight. You look at any system and you see how it works. Not just computers, though that's the obvious one. Mechanical systems, electrical systems, organisational structures, security protocols, biological networks. You look at it and you just see the whole thing. Every connection, every vulnerability, every weak point. Like having the blueprint to everything."
Everything?
"Everything that has a structure. Which, if you think about it, is everything."
The voice went quiet. I think it was letting me process. And honestly I needed a second because I kept thinking about that bloke on Reddit with his thirty million quid tech company. What would someone do with abilities like these? What could you actually build if you could look at any system in the world and just see how it worked? And then never forget what you saw? And then connect it to everything else you'd ever learned. That's not a gift. That's a cheat code.
"Still with me? Or did I break you?"
Yeah. Yeah I'm here. Sorry. Just thinking. What else have you got?
"Category four. Influence abilities. Charisma, persuasion, emotional manipulation. You could talk your way into or out of anything. People would trust you, follow you, believe you. Very powerful in the right hands."
This one is good but very dangerous in the wrong hands. You can bend the world to your own will. But very powerful in the right hands. Or what you can tell are the right hands, because with this there are no right hands. Everyone this is given to is way too dangerous.
"Yeah, are you done with your rant? And yeah, over the long run you will hate or love yourself. Whatever you can tell yourself is the best."
"Category five. Luck manipulation. Probability bending. Things just go your way."
That sounds completely broken.
"It is. It's also boring as hell. Where's the fun in winning if you didn't do anything? But people pick it. Idiots, mostly."
I don't think I want this. It could be fun to have, but also my life would just be boring again but with some money added to my account. And I could do everything I... oh, it is beginning to sound very interesting to pick.
"Hmm, watch your words. You can choose, but only two. And don't say you want to pick one, because I will see it as your choice and you have one less to pick. You get me? Hahah. But why would you pick this one? It's boring. Yes, you can do everything, but after a year your life doesn't have any meaning to it anymore. All these powers can become boring, but you can still do things with them. This one is just... everything you ask, people will say yes. No one will ever say no to you anymore."
Okay, I get it. I will not pick it then. I like the boring life, but not one where no one says no to you anymore? That sounds like a catch I don't want to have. Then no one has free will anymore. That sounds cool but not for me. My head's still on category three to be honest. I can't stop thinking about it.
"I know. I've been watching you think. You keep circling back to the mental ones. Alright. Pick your gifts, Liam."
Fine. I want System Insight.
"Walk me through it."
Why do I have to?
"Humour me."
Okay. You said it lets me see how any system works. Computers, organisations, security, everything. If I can see how things work, I can see how they break. And if I can see how they break, I can either fix them or break them myself. That's not just one skill. That's like, a key to every locked door in the world. I don't need super strength to kick a door down if I can see where the lock is weak.
"That's actually a very good answer. And I don't say that often."
Is that sarcasm?
"No. I'm being serious for once. Don't get used to it. Pick number two."
Okay so this one I've been thinking about since you started talking about category three. System Insight is the tool, right? It's what lets me see. But seeing stuff is pointless if I can't remember what I saw, or if I can't connect it to anything else. I need something to actually process it all.
I want perfect memory and pattern recognition. Together. As one pick.
"Oh, cheeky. Trying to sneak two for the price of one?"
I'm not sneaking anything. You put them in the same category. You described them right after each other. And honestly, you basically told me they go together. A hard drive without a processor is just a box with stuff in it. Perfect memory is the hard drive. Pattern recognition is the processor. They're not two gifts. They're one gift that you split in half to see if anyone would notice.
The voice went quiet. For a while. Long enough that I started to worry I'd pissed it off.
"Most people don't catch that." The voice sounded different. Not annoyed. More like, impressed but trying not to show it. "Most people hear 'perfect memory' and think they've won the lottery. They don't think about what happens when you remember everything but can't do anything useful with it. And the ones who pick pattern recognition never think about memory. You're the first person in a long time who's argued that they're the same gift. And you're right. They are."
So that's a yes?
"That's a yes. We'll call it Total Cognitive Enhancement. Perfect memory, perfect pattern recognition, accelerated learning. Your brain becomes the most powerful computer on the planet. Not because it's fast, but because it never forgets, it always connects, and it gets better every single time it processes something new."
I felt something click. Not physically. More like something slotting into place inside me, wherever "me" was right now.
System Insight and Total Cognitive Enhancement.
I could look at anything and see how it worked. And I had a brain that would remember every detail, connect every dot, and learn from all of it. Forever.
That's my two.
"That's your two." The voice sounded different now. Not bored anymore. Not taking the piss. "You know what you just did? You picked two abilities that make you look completely normal. No super strength. No flying. No laser eyes. Just a bloke who can see everything and forget nothing. Nobody would look at you twice. And that's exactly what makes it dangerous."
I mean, ten minutes ago I was a warehouse worker so "dangerous" is a big word but yeah, I'll take it.
"Don't sell yourself short. You were a warehouse worker who just outsmarted a god in a negotiation. That counts for something."
Did I outsmart you or did you let me win?
"Wouldn't you like to know. Now. Let's talk about where you're going. A nineteen-year-old called Liam Reed. Same name as you, bit of a coincidence, don't overthink it. He's in a hospital in England right now. Been ill for a while. The doctors have basically given up. His mum's been there every single day. Holding his hand. Talking to him even when they told her he probably couldn't hear."
Something tightened in my chest. Or whatever I had instead of a chest. His mum.
"Yeah. And when you open his eyes, she's going to think her son just came back to her. She's going to cry and hold you and call you her boy and you're going to have to look at her and just... deal with that."
That's going to be a lot, but I'll have to. For her, and for the body I'll be moving into. Out of respect for him, but also for you, for giving me a chance at a better life.
"Well, thank you for saying that. But does it not bother you still?"
Yeah. It does. A bit.
"Good. Because if it didn't, I'd be sending you straight to the nothing instead. But you'll figure it out. She's a good woman. You could do worse for a mum."
Can't be worse than the landlord.
"There it is. I was wondering when you'd make a joke. Ready?"
I thought about it. Not for long. I mean, what was I going to do, say no? Go back to nothing? I'd already been nothing for twenty-four years and it was rubbish. At least this was something. Something terrifying and confusing and probably going to go horribly wrong but at least it was something.
Yeah. Let's do it.
"Two rules before I send you off. One: I'm not checking in. No tutorials, no hints, no help button. You're on your own from here. Two: there's no mission. No grand quest. No prophecy. What you do with this life is your problem. Get rich, save the world, become a hermit, I don't care. It's yours."
Okay, I like that. I can do what I want without you trying to interfere, correct?
"Yes, in a way. I don't interfere and you don't ask. But if you try to destroy the world in some way, then we're going to have a problem. Oh, and another thing. There are no other people like you on this world. You are lucky. You are the only one, and will be the only one as long as you are alive. So, Liam, good luck out there."
The dark started to feel different. Warmer. Like when you're lying in bed and the sun starts coming through the curtains before your alarm goes off.
"Oh, and Liam?"
Yeah?
"Try not to be boring this time."
Everything went white.