The rabbit saw the cat. A little too late, some might say. The cat was just a breath away from not worrying about food for some time. Adrenaline rushed into the rabbit's bloodstream; it knew death was only a moment away.
He tensed his muscles and took off. The cat, anticipating this, started chasing the rabbit. The rabbit tried as hard as it physically could to outrun the cat, but alas, he was too slow. The grim reaper sighed — another soul was added to his long, long list of the deceased.
Vars saw it all happen, sitting on a comfortable wooden bench on top of a very low hill. The sun was going down and his encounter with Marco was still fresh in his mind. He had gotten a very concrete impression of him: "Arrogant prick." Marco had threatened him: "You'll be out of this village within the next week!" he had said, his nose and ears practically blowing steam like an old steam engine. Vars chuckled, imagining his stupid red face.
He was taking in the breathtaking, raw beauty of the sun standing over the lush, golden fields. "Nothing like seeing nature at its best!" Then he went to spend some time at Miss Sinu's. He just wanted a place to be and relax a little. "You're most welcome to come here anytime you want, dear," she replied with a gentle smile on her wrinkled face.
"Sigh — olden times were really boring, huh?" Vars thought, sitting in the old workshop. The only interesting thing he had seen in the last hour was a spider laying its web in a dark corner. Vars thought he would leave after a few minutes, but he felt too lazy to move.
Just then Venie walked into the shop holding a long basket filled with clothes. "All cleaned as per your request!" she said in a high-pitched voice as she entered the shop.
"She's currently in… that weaving stage of hers… she's concentrating," Vars said, pointing to Miss Sinu, who had her eyes closed and her fingers moving.
"Then I'll just put the clothes basket back in her private room," Venie said, going to the back and emerging after a minute. She then looked around, grabbed a chair, and sat down.
"So, what are you here for, Vars?" she asked.
"Nothing... I just needed a place to sit for the time being. It's scorching hot out there in the summer sun and my body isn't built to handle all that," he said, gazing outside. "Do you always help out Miss Sinu with her clothes?"
"No, I only did it because she promised to complete my dress by tomorrow if I helped," she said with a cheeky smile plastered on her round face.
Vars and Venie then just sat for a solid minute, not talking. Vars then saw Miss Sinu again and a pressing question invaded his mind.
"So, Venie, I just want to ask you something... What is that called?" he asked, pointing at Miss Sinu.
Venie gave a puzzled expression. "You mean 'Pulse'? But—surely you know about Pulse... I mean, everyone knows about Pulse!" She adjusted her dress a little. "Even village people—ignorant as I know—know about it. Is this a joke perhaps?"
"No, no, I'm being completely serious. I don't have a single idea about this..." Vars trailed off. "I hit my head and I fear I have lost my memories..."
"I think I have heard of something like that happening." She closed her eyes and focused intently. An orange sunbeam escaped from a nearby crack and shone on her fair skin, casting a beautiful image of the lady seated.
She looks really pretty... could have been a model in my previous world if she tried hard enough, Vars thought, looking at her with a drunken gaze.
She abruptly opened her eyes. "Aha! Got it. I think it's called Pulse revival! It's when the energy waves hit the pulse nerve in your heart, causing an energy overdose and temporarily shutting your brain down. It's really rare but still happens from time to time, and memory loss is one of its side effects, I think..."
Vars shrugged. "Possibly. I don't really have an explanation otherwise."
"That's an interesting point... I thought that my not having memories of something so common was because I transferred over to this world, but it could also be because of this Pulse revival that Venie is talking about," Vars thought.
"This is a pretty complex ordeal if you're hearing about it for the first time... Just ask me any questions you might have." She took a deep breath and continued.
Our world was created by Alister, the Godmother. She was a god of unimaginable proportions; she was shaped much like a human, but her head was a brilliant array of golden light beams extending into infinity. The Godmother existed in a state of "nothing" for a time period we can't comprehend. Then, for a reason we still don't know, she broke herself down into millions and millions of parts. Five of these parts landed on our planet and kickstarted the first five species: the humans, the Vandunci, the angels, the elves, and the Jangals.
The impact of the shard also created the continents from a single massive landmass. There currently exist three continents and two islands. I don't have information on the others, but the continent we are currently in is of Alister. It was named in memory of the Godmother. It's mostly dominated by humans.
Now let's get to our main topic — Pulse. When the Godmother broke herself, she also released the near-infinite amount of energy she had stored inside her. Some of this energy can be absorbed by humans through the heart. However, having the ability to absorb large amounts of it is largely based on luck, though you can train your ability if you get one.
That's why it's rare, and even if you do get lucky you may only get a half-heart like Miss Sinu here. She got lucky, but she can only perform simple tasks using the energy, like weaving. A person who gets a full-fledged ability is called a Full-Heart. The abilities are unique to each wielder because every person is unique, and the energy responds to that innate uniqueness.
"For being 'a simple village girl,' you do know a lot about Pulse, huh?" Vars remarked sarcastically.
"Oh no, everyone in the village is taught this since they begin to go to school. It prepares us in the rare case we get lucky and awaken a Full-Heart, because that could literally change our lives," Venie replied.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot there are distinctions between the Full-Hearts as well. The energy released by the Godmother seems to possess unique properties of its own. It decays. It rots, but never disappears. The Full-Hearts are divided by the generation of energy they received. People who first awoke to the power—our ancestors—are said to be first-gen; they received very basic powers like super strength, super speed, higher intelligence, etc."
"The second generation appeared around 500 years ago. This marked a shift in the status quo, and the powers became a lot more nuanced in application. The second-gen were not stronger than the first-gen—just different. For example, a second-gen who visited our village about eighty years ago—this incident was told to me by my grandfather—had the power of extra limbs. He could sprout a hand or leg from anywhere on his body. These limbs were under his full control, and even if they were damaged he didn't get hurt, as they were just energy constructs. 'He was a weird fellow!' my grandpa used to remark playfully."
"Are there Third gens now?"
"No... I think? I can't really confirm or deny this. According to every estimate by famous scholars on when a third gen would arrive, they should have already begun appearing around two to three years ago, but since an information broker rarely comes by and almost no one leaves the village, we don't really have news on that yet," Venie said, giving a half smile.
"No, that's fine. You've already given me more than enough information that I could use. Thank you so much, Venie!"
"Oh, it's fine, and thanks for listening... People say that once I begin it's hard for me to stop, so I am thankful you didn't think I was overtalkative..."
She's sweet, Vars thought, smiling to himself.