Worm CYOA Build
Entry: Self-Insert
Difficulty: World-Breaker (12)
Abaddon's Chosen (8)
Powers
Power Manipulation (20)
Eidolon (18)
Alexandria (16)
Shaper (14)
Psychokinetic (12)
Kaleidoscope (10)
Emperor of Man (8)
Inspired Inventor (6)
Perks
Blank (5)
Shattered Limiter (4)
Invictus (3)
First Impressions (2)
Inspiration (1)
Secret Lair (0)
Complications
None.
00:00:01
I start, suddenly in a different location than I had been previously. My eyes scan my surroundings, flashing across what appears to be a fairly luxurious bedroom . Red sheets cover the bed, and I idly notice with a calm that I recognize as being somewhat out-of-place that I can easily count the threads of the sheets. My eyesight has always been terrible, and even corrective lenses had never given me vision like this. Clearly unnatural. Nice sheets though.
Rich wooden posts flank each corner of the king-sized bed, and I am somewhat disconcerted that in addition to being able to see more of the wood grain than should be humanly possible, I am also acutely aware of how many atoms make up the forms of the bedposts, as well as the sheets, the TV mounted on the wall that I have not looked at yet, and the rest of the large complex I have definitely not explored yet. Most of this is unrelated to the bedposts, but that calm I was feeling earlier seems to be wearing off somewhat, and my train of thought is becoming more and more difficult to control.
"What the fuck is going on?" I ask the empty room. There is no response. The calm continues to fade. I take a moment to settle myself and take stock of my senses. There are more of them than there should be.
In addition to my five basic senses, at least one of which has been greatly amplified, I have a strange sense that exists outside of my body, alerting me to all of the matter and energy surrounding me. I can sense the constituent atoms and molecules that make up everything around me, as well as the energy flowing through the room, from the kinetic energy in the air to the electrical energy powering the lights of the room. I cast my awareness outwards and quickly take in the complex attached to the room I'm in.
It's large, of a similar size to a shopping mall, and seems nearly entirely slanted towards scientific research, with numerous laboratories and entire storage rooms full of mechanical components, chemical compounds, biological samples, and more than can be quickly listed. This brings me to the next new sense.
Within the various biological samples—many of which are simple microbes, but some of which are marginally more complex—I can sense the faint stirrings of thought. Guided intent. It's extremely faint, and almost entirely indistinct, but it's there, at least in some of the more complex samples.
These external senses are concerning, but even more concerning are the changes to my internal senses and thoughts. For one, I have already recognized that I seem far more intelligent than I every have been. My intellect seems to have expanded massively, and I have knowledge that I have no recollection of obtaining. Hundreds of thousands of blueprints, many technological, even more genetic, unfold as I peruse my new acquisitions. My memory too seems to have been enhanced. I'd call it perfect, actually. I quickly review every memory I've ever had, and grimace at the vast majority of them.
My speed of thought has obviously not been left out of whatever supercharging I've undergone. I just recalled twenty-two straight years of memories in the span of around two seconds.
Hmmm.
I turn my thoughts inward once more. There are several points of interest. A tightly bound series of ten slots, seemingly receptive to my thoughts. I understand as I look at them that they will fulfill any need I put forth to them, granting me power to deal with any obstacle.
A roiling nexus of power, spreading from me and spiraling into the environment. As I look at it, I recognize it as the source of my ability to sense matter and energy and can feel that it will allow me to shape the world as I see fit. It shudders in response to my attention and I soothe it with a mental command.
An infinite well of power, spreading into my body, protecting me from harm and giving me the strength to crush any enemy, as well as the freedom to control my own movement with a level of precision that no other will ever be able to match.
A fragmented lens, through which I see all of creation, in all of its infinite horror. I see every dimension, every timeline, past, present, and future, and feel it answer to my mere gaze, offering all that it has to me.
Two wellsprings of infinite depth, one of knowledge, one of power. The rate at which they can be drawn from is limited, but the potential they contain is not. I drink from both in equal measure, and each wellspring rewards me with ten motes of their respective resource. I shudder at the sudden influx and resolve to drink from them as often as I can.
Finally, there is the mind within my mind, burning with ambition, flooding my mind with all that I need to succeed. It suffuses my mind with psychic might, allowing me to destroy my enemies and read the thoughts of all before me, and I suddenly understand my place in the universe. I understand what I must do, and I understand who I am.
I am an Emperor. I am a unifier. I am a creator and a destroyer. I am the force that protects humanity from that which seeks to destroy it, even when that destructive force is humanity itself. I am the ruler of the Imperium.
"I am the Emperor of Mankind." I say the words aloud and I know that they are truer than any I have ever spoken. I am calm once more. My encyclopedic jaunt through my own memories, combined within my internal inspection of my new abilities has informed me of my circumstances.
Worm. I have been given the abilities from a build I once saved to a text document from a Choose Your Own Adventure game inspired by the web serial Worm. The very idea sounds comical to me even in my head, but I know this is true as well. The similarities are too close to be coincidence. Every single specification is the same. In addition, my mental review of the text document as I remember it reminds that I selected a secret base as one of my options. Clearly, that is my current location.
I smile. This base is paltry compared to the laboratories I see in the mind within my mind, but it will serve me well as begin my ascension. I filter my vision through the fragmented lens of Kaleidoscope and note that the scientific complex forms a completely isolated pocket dimension, and that the dimension it most closely connects to is a universe that I recognize as the universe of Worm itself. I observe a few thousand possible timelines without my intervention and recognize that there is no path to salvation for the humanity of this universe without suffering and death of an unacceptable magnitude. I shall intervene here first.
And then—
I gaze upon the infinite expanse of every possible universe in the multiverse.
I reach into the shattered lens, and I move myself to Brockton Bay.
00:00:08
I choose to arrive the day before Taylor Hebert triggers to give myself time to think. I stand in the sky above the dismal city, silhouetted I imagine, quite dramatically to any looking up by the light of the full moon behind me. I look down upon the shoddy looking Winslow High School.
'This is where Khepri will be born if I do nothing,'I muse to myself. The man I was before screams that Taylor must trigger so that Scion can be slain in the future. The man I am now longs to rescue her from the suffering she will suffer in the future. The man within my mind disregards Scion as a threat and asserts that like all others, he will die if he opposes humanity. My lips twitch upwards as my own arrogance makes itself known.
I look within the building with Psychokinesis, taking in its layout in full, and cast my awareness into the future through the fractured lens of Kaleidoscope. One of my ten slots shift, summoning up a power that is familiar to me, and a doorway opens in front of me—a blue ringed hexagon glowing in the darkness of the night. I step through it and am within a dingy bathroom, the fluorescent lights coming to life as my movement is detected. The women's restroom, within which Taylor will have juice poured on her a few months into the future. I look into a smudged mirror and take in my own face.
It is disappointing. Remarkably average. Mortal. Wounded pride that is not entirely my own flares up within me and one of my slots shift into a power that will allow me to reshape my physical form. I watch as the pale, plain face before me morphs into a fair, bronze visage. Short brown hair grows itself into a long black mane, spilling down to my back. My brown eyes flicker and settle upon a molten gold color, glowing faintly even in the well-lit room. My body follows suit, from a tall, doughy form, into an even taller form, rippling with muscle. An almost casual use of one of my slots rids me of my now too-small clothing, and replaces them with a set of golden, ornamental plate armor. I tilt my head, admiring my new form. I idly add a golden laurel wreath and attach a crimson cape to the ensemble under the pauldrons in the back.
The result is a regal looking man, kingly in appearance, with a face that is painfully beautiful. I stand now at nearly seven feet tall. I laugh, my foolish vanity now satisfied, and the mind within my mind nearly purrs at the new body I've crafted for it and myself. I laugh at it as well, feeling as if I've just shared a joke with a close friend. My—our laugh is infectious, and I find myself hard-pressed to stop.
"What do I do?" I ask myself, still chuckling. My eyes stray to the stall within which Taylor will be soaked by her tormentors. It begins here, now. This will be my first decision in this new world. The decision of what to do with Taylor Hebert. I reach out with my psychic power, and single out a single sleeping mind within the millions within Brockton Bay. Taylor. I look into her past and her future and divine the emotions most closely associated with her assuming I let her trigger.
Despair, loneliness, self-hate.
Sadness, fear, guilt.
Resignation, hatred, terror—
I sever the connection, and I feel my eyes misting up. A look into the mirror shows me that tears have begun to form in my eyes as I find myself suddenly grieving for Taylor and her pain. The mind within my mind loves Taylor, as it loves all of humanity, and cannot stomach her suffering in such a manner. I find myself affected by it as well, and I make my mind up in that instant.
Psychokinesis flexes, and the filth festering within Taylor's locker is destroyed, leaving behind not even atoms. I step through the fractured lens of Kaleidoscope once more and re-enter my extradimensional laboratory. I have work to begin while I wait on events to proceed.