Fate Weaver's convergence

C39

"Alright, be sure to follow along. Understood?"

Lorn asked, looking to me and awaiting a confirmation, to which I nodded. As she looked back down at the book, Lorn turned to the first section of the book that contained the introduction to Higher Demons.

"Higher Demons, like all other branching races, are a set of sub-species derived from their stem-species. 'Higher Demon' is the base state of all members of the branch. Think of something similar to a Larval stage."

"Wait, is that natural?"

I was tilting my head at Lorn's words.

Larval, so there is some sort of actual life cycle to this? To sentient races?

"Yes, and no..."

Lorn looked up from the book.

"Higher Demons ARE their own species, but it's strange... recorded history doesn't always account for it... at some point, the system started actively intervening in the evolution of the sentient races. As an example, Wolf-Arachne, and Giant-Arachne were never able to crossbreed and create offspring at all. At some point in early history, after the system began expanding, those two species could cross-breed. The resulting offspring was always a 'purebred' Arachne, that after maturing, would metamorphize into either a selected or pre-determined sub-species."

What... what the hell?

I wracked my brain for a moment on Lorn's words. The idea of previously incompatible species now creating ancestral species-based offspring should have realistically been impossible. Going by Earth standards, that would be the case, but this wasn't Earth.

"Selected or pre-determined?"

I asked, curious of what Lorn meant with that particular wording.

"Well, since every being born within a branch family is born as a member of their stem-species, they eventually have to take on an aspect or attribute of their racial family. In the example, the offspring would have to choose what kind of Arachne they would become... or, if they had become specialized or greatly affected at that point by external factors... the system will give no choice and force the offspring to metamorphize in the best-predetermined choice. In short, it will attempt to force you into your best choice for survival."

Lorn finished her explanation once more, twirling her hand as if to motion that she was now rambling on and on.

"Will the system force me into a specific species?"

I looked to my tail as I asked this. Thinking about the biological changes I had already undergone, the thought of more was daunting to me.

"Well, that is entirely dependant on if it determines if it's your only hope for survival. Usually, you'd have the choice yourself."

Lorn looked down to the book after answering that question.

"Does it hurt?"

I asked, causing Lorn to smile as she looked for where she left off.

"Not really, It can make you lose consciousness in most cases, but that is the extent of it."

Rubbing my tail tip within my fingers, I began pondering the system's involvement when Lorn began preparing the next section.

This doesn't sound off from how it's acted for me before. I hadn't seen much activity from the system in the last year and a half leading up to now. However, just after I arrived here, and just last week, it's been fairly active. The first month or so, the system was occasionally pointing me around. What is this? I thought it was just some weird hallucination at first until everyone acknowledged it. For everyone here, it's a part of reality, but it just seems too... out of place... way too out of place.