I'm underwater. My lungs are filled with dark, heavy water. My heartbeat sounds distant, but also incredibly loud. I can't see. I can't hear. Distorted and quietly I hear the priest.
"Congratulations…"
Even underwater I can hear the reserve in his voice, the lack of belief in his own words.
I didn't think it was possible, and the look on the priests warped face makes me realise he didn't know it was either. This is worse than Dad's ability. Much worse. How is it possible an ability can make you worse then without it. Is this divine punishment for my jab at the Gods earlier? It doesn't matter now. It's set. This is what I get for the rest of my life.
For a moment, the water cleared. Not out of mercy, but to dig me even lower.
"It seems you have an ability to sacrifice some of your senses to strengthen others."
The priests slow, careful wording hit like a rock, pulling me deeper into the water. I already knew this from the information beamed into my mind, but the priests words solidified that this truely was my power. This turned the water into concrete, blinding me, suffocating me slowly.
Sacrificing my own senses? What a cruel joke. I knew from the information provided that the loss of senses are not permanent, and can be turned on and off at will, but still, to use my powers, I have to lose one or more of my 5 senses. What a joke.
Not only is having to become worse to use my powers awful, but there are plenty of other powers that enhance the senses normally, without the need for sacrifice. Even those powers were seen as relatively weak and boring, so mine is truely unique in the worst way possible.
Being a Scavenger is long out of the picture, now I'm not sure if I can even get a proper job with this ability.
Ishould explain. A Scavenger is the name of a legendary job, one where powers are used to fight brutal monsters together and bring back brilliant rewards.
Pragaras Island.
A giant island where Scavenging takes place. Filled with monsters and creatures of legend, and fear. Scavengers venture to Pragaras Island to hunt these monsters, taking back parts of their dead enemies to sell for an impressive payout. Modern weapons such as guns aren't particularly effective against these creatures large bodies and thick hide, and bombs would destroy the valuable resources these monsters have such as their claws, fur or horns. This causes more medieval weapons such as swords and spears to be preferred, especially as they can be used to take advantage of the users powers. This job is the dream of every young child, but only those with powerful enough abilities are able to survive and defeat enemies to make their money. While Scavenging is a dangerous job, the pay for these desired resources, which have a multitude of purposes, is enough to lure many, and stories of people in poverty rising up with their powerful abilities and cunning are a common dream for children in poor financial situations.
I ignore the priests sympathetic look and turn around, the world spinning dizzyingly around me. I am careful to keep a composed outer face, and walk back down the aisle. Degimo sympathetically watches me, and when I pass he whispers,
"Don't give up."
Rage wells up deep in my gut. What a load of bullshit. He can only say that because he got a good power, while I get a beyond poor curse. How can he say to not give up when I have no other option. I certainly have to give up on Scavenging. No group wants someone who can listen slightly better if they go blind, but for Degimo's own peace of mind he tells me to not give up. What a self centred prick. I walk out of the church with my head held high, not letting them see the pain scrunching up my face.
I return to an empty, cold home. I mindlessly walk to my room and sit on my bed, my head cradled in my hands. A tear rolls down my face. My gut is a whirlwind of disappointment, anger and fear, fear for the future. I go over how my power works in my head, hoping to find a positive. My new power works as such.
I can choose one or more of my senses to take away, say I take away my sight, and in exchange my remaining senses are increased, such as having better hearing, smell, touch and taste. The increase to the power of my senses is compounding based on how many I have taken away, meaning the power increase from losing two senses to three senses is more than the jump from one sense to two senses lost. So, if I wanted to take away every sense except one, that sense would be incredibly increased. But then I would be vulnerable considering I have the others lost.
Immediately two things I notice make me sit up on my bed. First, smell, and more importantly taste are counted as senses. While smell can be important, losing it to increase my other senses is not a bad deal, and even better is taste. As long as I'm not eating food, taste is relatively useless to fighting, so it is a relatively free increase in power.
And possibly more importantly, the fact that each sense I decide to sacrifice compounds the increase of power. The increase is not mentioned, but losing 2-3 senses could make the final couple of senses far stronger than expected.
Theoretical's are good, but the only way to tell is to test.