Something stirred in the darkness.

An eerie, grating sound, like hundreds of pieces of chalk dragging across a chalkboard, permeated the cavern air. A long, slender shadow twisted and turned, chitinous scales of poisonous green rubbing together, languidly fusing and segmenting into one another. The more they contorted, the more they morphed into a kaleidoscope of fragmented colors. Tiny sharp, white protrusions tore their way out of the gelatinous, tubular forms, expanding into an endless spiral.

Its mouth came into full focus, and Lukas could feel a cold sweat passing over him. The stomach-churning, nightmare-inducing mass bared its hundred-fanged mouth, releasing a gust of hot, putrid breath, the stench of rotting fish, and roared.

Someone screamed, and Lukas dimly registered that he was the only one there. He flinched and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to cut out the sight of this hideous terror before him. He’d bitten his tongue, his throat felt raw, and his body shook from head to toe.

KHORKHOI

Ultimate offensive morph of Formless Ghol. This worm is enormous in size with tail-like protrusions. The number of tails indicates growth. Capable of near-endless regeneration and reforming appendages.

Had he been a little less terrified, Lukas would have realized that he hadn’t called for the analysis. As he read over the information, a part of him wanted to count the number of tails the so-called khorkhoi had, as if doing so would reduce his chances of contributing to this monster’s appetite. But there was something else he needed to do. Something that could possibly avoid a most horrible death. But what was it? What was it?

“Run.”

Right. That was it. He needed to run.

As several thousand pounds of angry monster charged at him with reckless abandon, Lukas did the only reasonable thing anyone in his place could have done.

Holding back a terrified shriek, he leaped, crouched, and rolled his way through an unending maze of tunnels. But no matter how far he ran or how relentlessly he pushed his legs to keep moving forward, he could not outrun the never-ending sound of falling rocks and creaking walls that seemed to creep closer and closer every time he slowed down.

The Screen called it a worm, but Lukas assumed this was in the same way a shark was a fish, or a tiger a cat. Spanning over thirty feet in length and easily half of that in width, the monster looked like a supersized fang-worm, covered with scales so massive they looked like charred bricks. As Lukas struggled to stumble forward, the monster casually swam through the floor, digging through the rocky terrain without so much as a scratch.

Lukas ran and ran, doing his best to ignore the burning in his lungs. He turned his head just in time to see the monster gather itself for a leap and threw himself down, bruising half his body in the process. The khorkhoi soared over him and buried itself into the floor once more. Lukas spun and ran back in the direction he’d come from, but he wasn’t sure how long he could keep this up. Unless he thought of something else, he was going to have to turn and take his chances.

“What chance do you have?”

A chunk of rock, easily the size of a garbage can, flew across the air and collided with the floor, shattering it into a cloud of debris. He tried to hit the ground in a roll and come up running, but tripped on a rock and fell. A massive tail, laden with rock-hard scales covering solid protoplasm, sliced through the air toward him.

“It will pounce from the left.”

In that moment, it didn’t matter if the voice was responsible for getting him there. It didn’t matter if she was a psychopath with a god complex. She seemed human, and in a cavern full of monsters, that alone was reason enough to listen to her.

Lukas pushed everything he had into rolling to the left. Just as the voice had told him, the tail came slashing from the left and tore through the ground several feet to his right. The wall fractured and came down, and with it, thousands of moss and other floral outgrowths.

3,972 prey eliminated.

+41 Experience

The Screen displayed it all while Lukas continued to run. Like before, it added the Experience from the devastation caused by the khorkhoi to him. He barely had a moment to check the number before it vanished, replaced by another message.

Accumulated experience crossed Threshold!

LEVEL UP!

ATTRIBUTE

CHANGE IN PARAMETERS

Level

+1

Soul Capacity

+108

Maximum Lifeforce Output

+225

Replenishment Rate

100 / hour

Lukas rolled a second time and pushed himself up, sprinting off as fast as he could. The feeling of warm coffee down his throat was still there, only this time, it was stronger. Like sitting in front of a fire during a cold winter, wrapped in a blanket and watching the snowfall. The burning pain in his muscles slowly receded, and the agony in his chest was replaced by a sense of warm confidence as he took in deep, powerful breaths, leaving the stupid monster behind—

A gooey tendril wrapped around his leg, and Lukas fell face-first against the ground. For a second, there was nothing but a high-pitched ringing in his ears. His muscles felt strangely unresponsive, and there was a wetness on his face and slight reddening in his vision. It took him another second to realize that it might be blood. His blood. He needed to get up, but it was difficult figuring out which way was down and how to get up in the first place. Lights darted in and out of his vision, and his eyes weren’t fast enough to track them.

A loud howl tore through the air, more beast than man, and something speared him in his left bicep. A wave of thick, heavy energy exploded out of him, shattering whatever pierced his body. The sudden heat filled Lukas with a sense of control that seemed to reboot his mind.

NEW SKILL CREATED!

SKILL

LEVEL

SOUL CAPACITY CONSUMED

Momentum Manipulation

1

50

DESCRIPTION

Direct ejection of raw lifeforce out of the body.

Lukas was now back on his feet. He was fairly certain one of his shoulders had been dislocated, and given how blood kept oozing down his lips, his nose was broken. His knees wobbled, but he gathered support from the wall next to him. Spitting blood out his mouth, he stared at his predator.

The burst of energy had caused several stalactites to fall from the roof, stabbing into the khorkhoi below. The monster made sounds like an angry boar as it tried to wriggle out of the wreckage and heal itself. Given its endless regeneration capacity, there was no doubt it wouldn’t be delayed for long by this.

Enough time for me to run. Or at least try to.

His vision was fading; the constant blood loss and the pain were beginning to take their toll on him. He—he needed to do something.

But what?

“An admirable resistance, as ephemeral as it was.”

Lukas spat out more blood but said nothing. He wouldn’t dignify her with a response.

“You cannot outrun it forever.”

As if he didn’t know that already.

“I can help you against this creature. I can save you. For a price.”

“Fuck off!” He was done with the voice’s sanctimonious attitude. If he was going to keel over, he’d do so on his own terms rather than by bending backward for some sadistic bitch hell-bent on making his life miserable.

He lifted his palms, gritting his teeth as he felt his shoulder bones move in strange ways. Staggering forward, he aimed for the ceiling. His fingers shook and stars danced in front of his eyes, but he persevered. Splaying his fingers as wide as he could, Lukas took that burning heat within him and pushed it out again.

A lance of white-hot energy crashed against the ceiling, bringing it down with a deafening crash on top of the khorkhoi.

Lukas laboriously panted, a mix of blood and drool rolling off his chin. “That should do it.” And just in time, too. He doubted he could keep his eyes open for another five minutes. He turned around—

“Do you truly wish for your existence to end here?”

It was like a subwoofer went off in his brain. She just wouldn’t stop, would she? Some people were just gluttons for rejection.

“You can sit there in your invisible room and play God all you want, thinking yourself merciful for your exchange of favors. But guess what? You’re not a savior. You’re a vulture. A sadistic bitch who brought me here to take advantage of my desperation.” Lukas spat a red wad of blood and phlegm onto the ground, his head pounding with rage. “I’ll die, but I will not bend. You won’t get the satisfaction from me.”

A part of him wondered whether he’d already pushed things too far. He was a fairly rational individual…until he wasn’t.

“How utterly unusual. After such an affront, I would not take you as my dog even if you were the last mortal remaining.”

Lukas scoffed, his eyes never leaving the khorkhoi. Standing was a pain. He was sure to collapse if he even tried to walk at this stage. For better or worse, he’d have to stay there and keep trying to suppress the monster with Bursts.

That, or die.

“Yet,” the voice continued, “that wild, independent streak of yours is exquisite. It beckons me to come forward and crush it. I find this dilemma utterly vexing.”

“I don’t care.”

“You should care, mortal. You may serve, or you may be served as a meal. Do you not wish to survive?”

“Obviously I do. But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re the one who put me here.”

“I removed you from your collapsing planet and brought you to a place where you can hone your potential. If anything, you should prostrate yourself and pledge to me your undying gratitude.”

“Right, because every word that leaves your mouth must be gospel.”

“Do not confuse me with a mewling mortal such as yourself. I am a queen. Truth is all I know.”

The massive worm had been dispersed back into its formless ghol state, which meant it was still healing from the stalactites impaling it. Hundreds of tendrils were spreading out, establishing anchors to the surrounding rocks and walls as the creature constantly reformed itself around them, slowly making its way through the rocks that held it paralyzed.

But it wouldn’t be that way for long, and the ceiling held no more stalactites for another attack. The strange woman gave him the impression of a particularly vicious credit card company trying to suck him into a bad deal, but she was also the only choice he had left.

“Fine,” he spat. “I’m listening.”

“I offer a bargain. Something precious of mine has been stolen. I wish for you to recover it for me.”

Recovering stolen goods? That’s it? Lukas narrowed his eyes. There was no way she had set all of this up for a simple recovery mission. “I don’t think a random guy like me is going to be much help for whatever it is you’re looking for.”

“On the contrary, you will suit my needs perfectly.”

“If you’re so powerful, why not do it yourself?”

“Circumstances prohibit me from acting wholly alone. If it were possible, I would have done it aeons ago instead of wasting my precious time and efforts on a meaningless, insouciant vermin such as yourself.”

“And what do I get in return?”

“Your prolonged survival should be more than satisfactory payment.”

She had a point. However, this person had termed it a bargain, not an act of coercion. Sure, she couldn’t act alone, but there had to be some reason why she had chosen to save him, assuming that was even the case. Which meant he was important. Being important was equivalent to being in power. Being in power meant he could put forward his own demands.

“Making it out of this alive is something I would naturally need to complete your task in the first place,” Lukas countered. Maybe he was pushing his luck, but something told him that this was a make it or break it moment, that a bad deal here could ruin his life forever.

“You are playing a dangerous game, mortal. I do not have patience for your kind.”

“But you need someone to recover your lost property. And if I’m to fulfill that deal, I need to be able to do that. As in, I need to be out of this place with my body unharmed and in working order. I’ll also need any and all information you can provide about where I am, along with how to get out of here.”

“Dear child.” There was an edge to her voice now. “You are truly naive if you think you can put forth your own conditions in this opportunity. If you do not accept my offer, you will perish.”

As if on cue, one of the last remaining stalactites holding the khorkhoi down began to crack. Thick tubules rose into the air, entwining around the fallen rocks. The chitinous coverings began to reform, and the fangs were starting to show.

Lukas felt his belly go cold.

“Your borrowed time draws to an end.”

He clenched his fists. Clearly, the person behind the voice was trying to psych him out, and if he were honest with himself, it was working. “What exactly do you want recovered?”

“Something I cannot tell you without us forming an accord.”

He frowned. A verbal pact meant nothing without the means to enforce it. Which meant that she either didn’t care about the bargain or was supremely confident in being able to force him to follow through.

“Alright. You help me get out of this mess, alive and unharmed, and tell me everything I need to know. In exchange, I’ll help you with recovering whatever it is you want.”

It was far from the best deal he could’ve made, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. And being within ten feet of certain death wasn’t exactly the best circumstance for world-class negotiation.

She laughed, and it sounded as merry and clear as jingling bells. “Then, have we a bargain?”

“Yeah,” Lukas confirmed, sighing. “We have a bargain.”

“Then brace yourself, mortal. For you shall witness something the universe has forgotten.”

“What’s that?”

“Me at war.”

The khorkhoi, now almost reformed, raised one of its massive tails and swung.

…

…

It felt like ages had passed before Lukas realized he wasn’t actually dead. In fact, the pain he was feeling was practically nonexistent. He then noticed his right arm raised up in a useless endeavor to save himself. Not only would that present no obstacle to the gargantuan living weapon, but it would also crush his hand along with the rest of his body like a sledgehammer taken to a watermelon.

And yet, he was unsquashed and in perfect functioning order. The khorkhoi’s tail was inches away from his face, with his arm holding it at bay.

Except it wasn’t actually touching his arm. There was a tiny, nearly imperceptible gap between his skin and the monster, a void of empty air that merrily functioned as an interface between the two. More importantly, Lukas could feel the telltale thrum of power. So much power brimming through his body.

If using lifeforce was like warm coffee, this felt like sitting in sweltering African heat on a midsummer day.

POTENTIAL SKILL DETECTED!

SKILL

LEVEL

SOUL CAPACITY REQUIRED

Kinetomancy (FRAGMENTED)

APEX

177764

DESCRIPTION

Absolute Manipulation of magnitude and direction of Momentum Vectors

POTENTIAL SKILL DETECTED!

SKILL

LEVEL

SOUL CAPACITY REQUIRED

Alleviation

3

5000

DESCRIPTION

Removal of any and all unreasonableness of the Body to return it to its calculated original format.

“Pathetic!” A sense of abject disappointment flooded through him as if he were worse than a cockroach. His lips thinned dangerously as he looked down at the fallen monster still trying to crawl its way out of the ground like a measly rat. A twitching insect, awaiting its death.

As was its place.

Why his thoughts were suddenly so morbid, he had no idea. But the mindset felt completely natural, and along with it came a dangerous arrogance. A feeling of natural superiority. It was an absolute belief. No matter what stood in his path, victory was a foregone conclusion.

For he was…

He was…

“I had forgotten the frailty of mortal flesh. Even the meanest of skills risks the body’s destruction.” She paused as if considering something. “No matter.”

And then his hand began to move on its own accord. There was a sudden surge of power within him, power so dense and intense that the debris from the ground spiraled into the air, forming a helical wave around him. Both of his hands moved in what his grandfather would have called a mudra, with both palms meeting each other at the bases.

The khorkhoi was bodily lifted from the floor by what looked like invisible strings. Lukas felt his palms cross each other aggressively, almost like they were squeezing something invisible held between them. At the same time, the creature let out a whimper as it was squashed, like an old car getting crushed under a hydraulic press. In the blink of an eye, the beast was no more, in its place a thousand droplets of formless ghol, splattered all over the cavern. And yet, Lukas noticed, none of the droplets had come remotely closer to his immediate vicinity.

1 prey eliminated.

+362 Experience

As if a switch was flipped, Lukas felt like he was back in control. His visage filled with shock and awe, he stared dumbly at the remains of the massive beast, the same one that gave him enough Experience to probably push through to the next Level Up. And it had happened without him so much as touching the creature even once.

“Such a waste! It perished before I could savor my first kill after aeons. Could you not have provoked a creature far more worthy? Perhaps a real wyrm, or a drake?”

Lukas didn’t have a comeback for her. He was too busy gaping at the crushed remains of the creature, at the impossible power that had committed the deed, and at his own hands through which the power had enacted its influence. It had been too fast, faster than his eyes could follow, much less understand.

It was the sort of power that demanded his respect and fear by virtue of its existence. Suddenly, Lukas wasn’t so sure about his position. When he spoke next, his voice was utterly mollified, the demonstration having brought him down from a rageful child to a position of affable curiosity, if not outright docility.

“Who are you?”

The woman laughed, her voice somehow managing to sound both sensual and alien at the same time.

“Who am…I?”

Lukas staggered in place as he was suddenly hit by a rush of impressions. Gone was the cavern around him, the shattered walls, the putrid remains of the monster on the floor; in its place was a cloudy landscape setting with pure power and things Lukas wasn’t sure he wanted to understand. He could see hills from which rivers of golden light spilled, while crimson lightning streaked across a night sky bejeweled with countless stars. The landscape looked like a gigantic throne room built into a translucent garden. There were vines of green, flowers of gold, and flashes of other colors clawing at the gentle ground. Anchored here and there were points of light so vibrant that he could not look directly at them.

A different time. A different place. A different era began to superimpose itself upon the present.

Before him stood a royal throne amidst the shining stars, an enormous ax lying bare beside it. Seated upon it was a woman who possessed the kind of beauty that one sang odes to and waged wars over. Her hair was blacker than the darkest of nights, her skin as white as the finest alabaster. Her lips were the color of frozen mulberries, fitting perfectly onto a smooth, lovely face that had the most beautiful green eyes he had ever seen. And yet, no matter how much he tried, no matter how perfect each one of her facial features was individually, he could not behold her perfection in its entirety.

It was something beyond the superficial beauty of a supermodel. Rather, it was the beauty found between the heavens and the earth. It was majesty made manifest, the kind you saw when you beheld the depth of a valley from the top of a mountain, or the rising sun emerging from the vastness of the sea.

She wasn’t old. Wasn’t young. Wasn’t anything but stunning.

Her lips slightly twitched, a barely formed smirk directed at him as he gawked. All around her were hundreds of entities—real and phantasmal, human and not, creatures of myth and history—all genuflecting in reverence.

Lukas looked around, finally realizing that he too was on his knees.

“Who—who are you?” he asked again, his lips trembling.

She smiled. It was a beautiful and terrible thing.

“I have many names, but you may call me Inanna. Goddess of War and Lust. Monarch of the Akkadian pantheon, and the Supreme Queen of An and Ki.”