The door to my cell slid open with a grinding clank of gears and the soft hiss of depressurizing pneumatics. I was startled, not by the door, but by the lack of energy that came with it. I had been accustomed to collecting small traces of eldritch energy whenever the door was opened, and yet this time the air was fresh, pure, and bereft of the invigorating corruption.

“What is it this time?” I asked.

Sebbit stood in the doorway, his face contorted in a way I had never witnessed on his normally unreadable face. His eyes were narrowed, and his inner eyelids had even partial contracted creating a ring around his slit pupils. His face was tense, and his jaw and the corners of his mouth were arched downwards. His entire body seemed to be vibrating with barely contained energy.

The alien captain held what looked like a tablet in his left hand; the other was by his side clenching a massive revolver with chambers that looked large enough to hold tennis balls. Behind him stood two massively tall female peacekeepers in jet black armor. Each was carrying a rifle the size of a small tree.

“Take this,” Sebbit said while tossing me a small sphere.

The ball was matte black and seemed to be made from interlocking hexagons. As I caught it the orb began to unfold into long filaments that clung and wrapped around my hand before beginning to spread down my arm and up around my shoulder.

“What the hell is…” my words were cut off as the material spread over my head and began to worm around both shoulders and down my back. Within seconds I was completely encased in the substance and it quickly hardened until I was unable to move. It was like being encased in solid stone as a great weight bore down to crush me.

“Give it a moment, Mr. Finn,” Sebbit said. He was no longer using a translator and his English was stilted and his voice deep and gruff.

I screamed profanities into blackness, unable to understand what was happening. It didn’t take long, however, before the weight decreased and my limbs were no longer restricted. My vision slowly came back as well, as if a dark haze was slowly being lifted from around me.

I lifted my hands up to my face, but they stopped several centimeters in front of my eyes. I moved my fingers upwards and found that there was a barrier around my head that seemed to be almost weightless and was perfectly translucent.

My hands and arms were covered by the same material the sphere had been made from — a dark graphene like substance that was so black that it seemed to absorb any light that came in contact with it. Looking down I saw that the substance had grown around me like a suit of armor.

I began to stammer out a question, but before I could finish Sebbit turned on his heel and began to walk away – his two guards stepped to the side to create a hole. Just as he exited the door he looked over his shoulder, “Come with me, Mr. Finn. I believe that I require your assistance.”

“Just like that…” I began to say. Sebbit didn’t wait, instead quickly charging down the narrow passageway with his guards in tow.

I stood staring at the open door not knowing what to do. I had been a prisoner for so long that it felt strange and faintly uncomfortable to contemplate freedom. I suspected that it was a trick, or a mistake. I quickly brushed aside my hesitation with a shake of my head and stepped through the door.

If Sebbit needed my help, then the situation was probably already beyond fucked. I might as well follow and find exactly what form of mayhem this particular dicking would take.

The alien captain had already disappeared by the time I entered the hallway, but one of his massive bodyguards was standing next to a narrow metal staircase that led up to an open hatch. I took her presence as an invitation and quickly sprinted down the hall.

My limbs responded sluggishly as if I were trying to swim through molasses. I had done everything I could to stay in shape during my imprisonment, but no amount of training could replace the feeling of strength and exhilaration that came from system enhanced stats.

I leaped up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and found myself in a narrow break in the stairway. The stairs continued upwards after a short bend, but directly in front of me was an open door that led outside. After a few short steps I found myself face-to-face with the sky for the first time in weeks.

It was daytime, but it was almost impossible to tell. Thick clouds of purple and red covered the sky plunging the world into a perpetual night. Only a few stray beams of sunshine broke through the cover, like needles poking though a sheet pulled up over the sky. These faint and filtered strands of light only served to draw contrast against the dark and violent heavens.

I looked down at my feet and found that I was standing on a wide, flat platform. A preserved WWII fighter plan was a few meters in front of me, and Sebbit and a crew of his subordinates stood underneath it.

As I walked towards Sebbit it quickly became apparent that we were standing on the deck of the Yorktown. An invading force had commandeered a piece of American history. If they weren’t the ones holding all the guns I might have been offended.

“What the hell is going on,” I yelled over the roar of dozens of voices all talking at once. A few faces turned to look at me, but quickly leaned back into their conversations – all but ignoring me.

“Sebbit…” I was reaching out towards the captain when a realization struck me. I hadn’t felt a drop of eldritch energy since I’d exited my cell. Even now, as I stood beneath a sky covered in the corrupting energy, I couldn’t detect even the smallest amount of it.

I could faintly make out the familiar feel of the eldritch in the distance. The clouds themselves seemed to be made from a concentrated form of the energy, but it was too dense and far away for me to control.

I took a moment to take a closer look at my surroundings. What I had thought were clouds were in fact a spinning vortex of pure eldritch energy, though a slow moving one. The Yorktown was in the middle of a tunnel that was empty of the energy, like the eye of a storm.

All around us the vortex spun, slowly obliterating everything in its path — and it was slowly contracting. Within hours everything within the vortex would be obliterated.

My shock must have been apparent, because Sebbit called out to me in an angry and abrasive voice. “You see it, don’t you? Good, if you hadn’t I would have lost what slim faith I have that you can help us.”

“… I.” I couldn’t speak. I simply looked up at the sky that was slowly falling down to crush us. “I see it, but I can’t do anything against… this. This much energy is thousands of times larger than anything I’ve ever dealt with. If I could survive long enough to go mad in the attempt, I would consider that a major victory.”

Sebbit smiled. It was full of razor sharp teeth and was objectively terrifying, but it was a smile nonetheless. “If you could stop this, Mr. Finn, I believe our relationship would be reversed and I would be at your mercy. No, I don’t want you to fight this or even try to slow it down.”

“Then what do you want? I’m not much good in a fight these days, and I have no idea what is going on.”

“You can’t control this energy, but you have a connection to it that allows you to see it and, more importantly, track it. None of the equipment or personnel under my command are your match in this area, Mr. Finn.”

If I could have seen myself from the outside I’m quite certain that at that moment I would have seen my jaw literally drop. I stood there for several seconds, my mouth acting as a fly trap rather than a method of communication.

I might have taken longer to react, but a dark presence in the back of my mind urged me to focus. Our lives were in danger, and this might be our only shot at salvation.

“Fine,” I said. “You tell me what to look for and I’ll find it, but I’m going to need my stats and class restored. Without them I have much less control over the energy, and I can only see it physically when it is concentrated like it is now. I need —”

“Very good,” the captain waved his hand and a tall Peacekeeper female with brown skin, and long red hair walked forward. She was one of only a few of her species I had seen with long hair, and she hardly seemed to fit in with the spartan military vibe most of the alien soldiers gave off.

Rather than armor or the form fitting jumpsuit that most Peacekeepers wore, she was wrapped in a long flowing robe covered in symbols stitched from silver thread and she had heavy chains wrapped around her waist and forearms.

“This,” said Sebbit. “Is Archmage Telvius Armeria, she is one of only seven Class Three citizens on this continent, and most likely the most powerful mage on this entire backwater world. She will take over from here. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have a battle to coordinate, good luck.”

Abruptly leaving conversations was becoming a pattern for Sebbit, and he didn’t disappoint this time. I promised myself that as soon as I had a chance I’d learn how to perform that sharp looking heel turn he always used.

“Greeting, please call me Telvy.” The archmage smiled with a tight, closed lipped mouth while giving a short bow. She seemed humble and unobtrusive despite her height, but the three brutes in black armor that towered behind her gave her a sense of … gravitas.

“Uh… hello Telvy. I’m Finn.” I reached out with my hand, but when she didn’t take it I returned her bow. “So, what is the plan?”

“The plan is a simple search and destroy. I’ll be doing most of the destroying.” Her smile was no longer closed mouth as she revealed two rows of teeth in the shape of a blood thirsty grin. She even began twirling her hair with one finger.

If I had to compare her body language to anything it would be a giddy teenage girl waiting for her prom date. It was downright terrifying.

“Ah, right. Sebbit mentioned you would be able to restore my stats?” I asked. “And my class.”

“Of course, darling. Just give me your hand, this won’t take but a moment.”