Eric was giddy with excitement, enough so that he was all but shaking as he sat on his bed. Now was the time for his transition. With a final look at the pitch black sky outside his window, he decided that he had waited long enough not to wake anyone up as he proceeded.

He brought out the thin dark-red volume he had hidden under his mattress. In hindsight it had not been the best of places, his fervent defense of the location had convinced his family he had other things hidden there. But soon that would no longer be an issue, even though the humiliation of it all rankled.

With a contented sigh Eric stroked the book, he would have preferred to have gotten his hands on a Demonic System, but Vampirism would also do. Demonology was in many ways more powerful, but it also had some problems as there was a need for additional Essence. Eric's research into this subject had shown that there was really no agreement on how or even if the user of such a System had any choice, as to the source of the extra Essence. It might be just pure chance, which with some possibilities of Demonic Systems was a truly frightening idea, both for the host and the inevitable victims.

Eric studied the glowing words sprawled across the front of the book he held. He himself could not read them, but one of his friends had translated it for him. It was an ancient form of writing and the words spelled out: Original Vampirism. An enormous grin split Eric's face as he opened the book and began to absorb the System.

The thin book broke apart into what looked like blood red ash, thin flakes hovered in the air for a moment, before rushing towards him, piercing through his skin. Eric stared as veins of dark red, almost black crawled along his arms, sinking in deeper until no longer visible. He fell down onto the bed, back bowing in horrible pain. He gasped for breath as he could feel the burning, crawling deeper and deeper inside him. As a dry and androgynous Voice began reciting information, Eric soon felt he should have done a better job of finding a translation not only to the front page, but also the introduction, found at the beginning of every System.

Dweller is a parasitic-type System belonging to the life-subsidized category, with a locale requirement. It belongs to the Domain-establishing sub-group.

The Dweller System overdraws the hosts vitality, causing a loss of one unit of Life every four hours, to maintain the associated Domain. This also adversely affect their Constitution, Strength, Agility and Dexterity and the transition to Dweller results in a loss of three units to said Attributes. Dwellers have an emaciated appearance with sunken bloodshot eyes and grayish flaking skin as a result of their condition, which penalizes their Appearance by six units, subject to the normal limitations and modifications of self-image, further subject to the ideal of the group of origin or randomized in the case of a lack of ideals, transient or otherwise within said group.

Dwellers have the baseline Ability to draw Essence from creatures within their Domain.

Further information may be requested through the Archive, subject to the standard disclaimers and requirements.

Eric sat up on his bed, stunned to silence as the pain of the transition faded. He held his hands out in front of him. They had shrunk down into almost skeletal appendages and his previously healthy looking skin had turned to a dry sickly gray. As he closed his hands to make sure they were really his, a flake of skin cracked and fell off. As it fell towards the floor it began turning to dust, and before even reaching halfway nothing of it remained. Heart pounding and taking great gulps of air he rushed up out of bed with rising panic. Stumbling on his now far weaker legs, he moved towards the large mirror that hung to the side of his wardrobe.

In the mirror he saw a much shorter, hunched version of himself. Just as the Voice had told him, his eyes were red and sunken, his face was emaciated and his skin was dry and flaking. To summarize, the sight of him was horrendous.

This was the point at which his pants, now far too large for him, chose to drop to the floor. Eric got yet another shock, as what he expected to see just was not there anymore. His eyes instead landed on not so smooth skin and nothing else. As Eric's world went dark he wondered deliriously if this meant he had no need to use the bathroom anymore.

***

Eric woke slowly, his head pounded, his mouth was dry and parched to the point that his tongue stuck to the inside of his mouth, an experience he felt he could have gone without. He rolled over to the side, which was decidedly uncomfortable. He reached for his night-light, with the intent of checking what time it was, but his hand kept slapping into open air.

With an annoyed grumble he swung his legs to the side, planing to sit up on his bed. Instead the side of his foot scraped painfully against a rough surface, as his movement failed to find the expected space his bed would have given him. It dawned on him as his foot now stung from this treatment, that whatever he lay on was far too rough and hard to be his bed.

Dweller 432-22 has been transported to a suitable environment, annexing procedures have been initiated. An Essence gate will open in 11 hours 16 minutes and 23 seconds. Please stand by.

Ignoring the Voice, Eric turned his head one way and then another trying to see anything, but the pitch darkness gave no clue as to where he was, other than somewhere cold and uncomfortable. After a moment of not very deep consideration Eric tried to get to his feet, but as he rose his head struck against a hard jagged surface above him with a dull thud. He sank back to the ground clutching his head, cursing the Archive wholeheartedly with as many invectives he could think of, as tears streamed down his face.

***

Eric lay on his back, head resting on his hands as he waited. The Voice had given a time frame for the opening of an Essence gate, which did not mean much to Eric. But it was something he knew would happen and waiting for it gave him something to focus on, rather than panic over the fact he did not know where he was, how small a space he was in, if there was a way out of here, if he could do anything about now being a sexless monstrosity or much of anything really. The things he did know did not make him feel any better, and more than anything he regretted using the book.

He spent several long hours in this not very productive fashion. Until the Voice spoke once more.

An Essence Gate has been established, fluctuations may occur as native Law resist annexation. Normal System operation established, standard interface elements enforced.

Eric once more became acutely aware of the headache he had grown accustomed to, as a translucent blue screen appeared in front of him. It was just like he had been taught it would be in school. He experimentally waved his hand through the screen knowing that it was not really there, it was somehow supplied directly to his visual cortex, rather than being seen with his eyes. He spent a moment in distraction trying to remember what else he had been taught, but ended up drawing a blank. So he turned his attention to the screen instead.

Eric

Rank: 0

Tier: Cave

Essence: 0/50

Race: Dweller - Human origin

System: Dweller

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 4

Agility: 2

Constitution: 2

Endurance: 2

Life: 12 (-0.25/hour)

Intelligence: 9

Willpower: 2

Wisdom: 2

Spirit: 1

Genius: 0

Domain: 1

Appearance: 1

Charisma: 1

Health: 20/20

Mana: 4/4

Stamina: 20/20

Attribute allocation currently not set!

Eric felt more than a bit of consternation at the fact that even before the transition to the System, he had been below average in everything. Further more his Genius was rated at zero, meaning the Archive found nothing in the workings of his mind that was a surprise in any way. While he was not an idiot, he was deemed completely predictable.

His Willpower and Wisdom score of two supported the story of his life, or more accurately; the choices that had made him end up who he was, present circumstances included.

Initial minor reconstitution sufficient for quantifying host. Forgoing major reconstitution. Proceeding to Traits.

Eric's confidence took a further dive at yet another clear dismissal of his abilities.

Darkvision - 10 Trait points

Ability to see without available light. Does not allow for the distinguishing of color.

Dweller Claws - 15 Trait points

The Dweller grows claws.

Trait points available: 0

To say that Eric was experiencing some frustration at this point would have been a massive understatement. He lay there and stared at nothing in the dark, as his focus slipped past the screen.

Please choose Attribute directions for subsequent Rank.

With that simple message from the Voice, Eric did feel a slim hope start to build. He could not change anything of what had come before, the remarkable view he had held of himself had been brutally crushed by the Archive. He was not mentally strong and he was not wise. He had never deluded himself into thinking he was athletic, but the Dweller System had reduced his minor abilities even further during his transition. But now he had a choice of what to do, just who did he want to be?

Perhaps, Eric mused, it was stupid. But this whole thing was stupid, was it not? So he decided to try to become the person he had thought he was, instead of the current failure he felt like. At least that was a plan, and at this point he had nothing else.

Having made a decision on a direction in life, Eric felt a lot better about what could not really be called anything other than crappy circumstances. But if he was going to survive he could not stay where he was, and at this point he would rather do something, rather than think about the things he did not know or understand. He slowly sat up, hands raised in the dark to fend of any unfortunate collisions.

A few minutes of shuffling around the cave did not give Eric a sense of comfort, the ceiling was rather low, a bit more than a head lower than his height and uneven at that, with spikes protruding at places from both floor and ceiling. Eric felt sure he should know the name of the things, but he could not recall what it was.

His slow and crouched exploration with an arm waving in front of him and one held over his head, had not exactly been conducted with scientific precision. He had yet to find any way out of the cave he was in, but he did discover a small pool of water at one end of the cave, where he soaked his feet by accident and now felt even colder.

It was as he began to feel panic rising at the idea of being trapped, that something happened. He could feel a thing not too far away, like a warmth seen by the inside of his head rather than his eyes. Eric stood still, eyes closed as he tried to understand the sensation; he had a connection to whatever the thing was.

Essence Drain established to unknown creature , unknown value.

New mission!

Investigate the unknown creature in your Domain.

Reward: 13 Life.

Eric stared at the screen in surprise. He had of course been told about missions in school, as something far off and mysterious, which the Archive gave to great characters that were known throughout the world. Missions were a rare thing. They happened when the Archive itself wanted something done and was prepared to hand out rewards for following its will.

Heart beating with excitement, Eric went back to his slow shuffling, this time towards the creature that he could sense. It did not take him too long to find an opening in the wall, heading in its general direction. The passage was just above the floor and barely large enough to fit him, as far as he could judge.

Essence Drain canceled on unknown creature , unknown value. Mana insufficient.

Eric ignored the message from the Voice, and instead started crawling into the passage, partly focused on the mission he had and partly rejoicing at being able to get out of the cave. He immediately discovered, with some happiness, that he had misjudged the space available and that he could crawl rather easily.

His crawling soon took him to a bend which he discovered by scraping his head against the far wall, but to his right he could see a faint light. Feeling elated, he scrabbled forward until his head popped out into yet another cave.

This cave was not only illuminated, it was also far different. On the left, the ground sloped upwards to an opening where the light came from. The slope itself looked like dirt rather than stone and it was covered in grass. The cave in general was rather square, though without pronounced corners. Eric faced to his right and the back part of the room.

What he saw there made him immediately pull his head back. An adrenaline rush hit him and he started to hyperventilate, as he scrambled back to where he just came from.

He was not sure how long the graceless journey took him. Once his mind cleared enough for coherent thought, he was sitting with his back against the wall, close to the crawlspace that connected the caves.

The creature he had seen had some similarities to a bear. In the same way a sword has some similarities with a pen-knife. It had been a brown color like the bears he had seen before, but was covered in sharp bone protrusions, which were jagged and looked dangerous. Its maw was partially uncovered by skin, showing a multitude of sharp frightening teeth. Its one good eye had been all but glowing as it looked straight at him. That had given him a clear view of the other empty and bleeding socket. The whole thing had been enormous, Eric was sure it could not have fit inside his parent's living-room.

You have lost 0.25 Life, you have gained 1 Mana.

This time Eric was too mentally spent to have a reaction to what he had glossed over earlier, the fact that his very life was on a decidedly short timer. Unless he could increase his Life, he would be dead in about two days. He focused on trying to get his character sheet to show, until the blue screen appeared just as it had earlier.

Eric

Rank: 0

Tier: Cave

Essence: 4/50

Race: Dweller - Human origin

System: Dweller

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 4

Agility: 2

Constitution: 2

Endurance: 2

Life: 11.75 (-0.25/hour)

Intelligence: 9

Willpower: 2

Wisdom: 2

Spirit: 1

Genius: 0

Domain: 1

Appearance: 1

Charisma: 1

Health: 20/20

Mana: 1/4

Stamina: 20/20

While he had not forgotten about the loss of Life per se, he had most certainly not given any thought to the implications. Looking at the screen in front of him he found himself not actually remembering what it had looked like the last time. His Life had gone down, he knew that. But he had not paid all that much attention before, other than enough to start his depression. The important fact was that he was using up his Life, and sometime in the next few days he would run out.

Eric sat against the wall for some time, hesitating. He could die by waiting, or he could die trying to complete the mission the Archive had assigned. With any luck that mission had a way for him to survive, not that he would hold his breath. Even having thought all that, Eric hesitated. There was a difference between doing nothing and fading away, and the possibility of being mauled and eaten.

You have lost 0.25 Life, you have gained 1 Mana.

The Voice brought Eric out of his musings, reminding him that the clock was ticking. With a deep breath and shaking legs he once more started to crawl back to the second cave; and the monster waiting within it. What exactly did the Archive mean by investigate?