I woke up to see faint sunlight shining in through the sides of the thick curtains I used because of my night-shift work. I stretched out my body and noticed something weird. There was none of the usual popping and releasing of tight muscles that would come after a sleep. It still felt good to stretch, but it didn’t feel like I needed to.

“Cax, are you there?” My shoulders tensed slightly as I waited for a reply.

“Yes, Dean. How did you sleep?”

The tension released from my body. It hadn’t all been a dream.

“Don’t you already know the answer to that question?” I asked, curious.

“Yes. However, in response to your concerns about privacy, I decided to maintain the illusion when possible.”

I smiled at that. “Thank you for your consideration. I had a great sleep. Is the lack of stiffness another benefit of what happened to me?”

“Yes. As you grow stronger, you will notice even more changes like that.”

“Very nice. How about you? How did you sleep?” Then it occurred to me. “Ahh, did you sleep?”

“No, I didn’t. I don’t require sleep.”

“So, you were just watching me sleep? That’s pretty creepy, you know,” I told him, only half joking.

“I am inside you and can see and feel everything you do, but you have a problem with me watching you sleep?”

I shuddered. “Fair point. Watch away. Just please, never say you are inside me again. That’s just weird.”

The feeling of amusement he sent let me know he got it.

“Anyway, I wasn’t watching you sleep. I was going through your interface to see what I could find out.”

That surprised me. “You can do that? I thought you were just, like, a passenger.” I trusted him. Our form of communication left no room for deceit. Still, I was a little concerned he would hijack my body.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe,” he reassured me. “You are in complete control. I am only able to access your interface and look at the information, as well as make some minor changes to its appearance. I can’t do anything substantial like cast spells.”

“Good to know,” I said, relieved. “Find anything interesting?”

“Several things, yes. There’s more to go through, so we can go over everything later when I’m done.”

I agreed. “Sounds like a plan.”

I grabbed my phone to check the time. Nothing. I had forgotten to charge it last night. Well, let’s see if this still works. Concentrating briefly, I was rewarded with the time appearing in front of my eyes.

13:06

Nice. Even in the almost complete darkness of my room, the bright screen was easy to read. Now that I was fully rested, I was eager to try some more magic, but I definitely wasn’t going to cut myself again. I looked at the Light affinity spell I apparently knew.

Glowing Orb

A versatile source of illumination that can be adjusted and positioned using mental suggestions.

Cost: 10 mana

Duration: 30 minutes

Range: 2 meters from self

That seemed like it would be fairly simple and safe. And something that would have been extremely handy yesterday.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this last night when we were in the forest?! It would have made getting out of there much easier,” I complained to Cax.

“I tried, but you cut me off. You weren’t in a very receptive state, so I didn’t push it.”

I remembered him starting to say something before I snapped at him. Feeling embarrassed, I apologized. “Sorry about that, mate. You’re right, I wasn’t in a very good mood at the time.”

“Not at all,” he replied. “I completely understand.”

With that sorted, I focused on the ceiling above my head and tried to cast the spell without saying anything out loud. My eyes narrowed as I focused and mentally said, “Glowing orb.” I felt something leave my body, exiting from where Cax said my mana was located. It was the same place the healing magic had originated from last night. I decided to call it my center, mainly due to its physical location but also because of the important role it would play in my life from now on.

There was no comforting warmth with this Light spell, and the mana moved much faster. Almost immediately after the energy left my body, a white ball came into existence, floating up against the ceiling where I had pictured it. It was shining brightly, the light it was giving off just slightly stronger than what my room’s fluorescent bulb was capable of. The orb was pretty compact, small enough that I should be able to wrap both hands around it and have my fingers touch.

As soon as it formed, I could feel it. When I focused on that feeling, the sense of the orb became much clearer in my mind. Testing it out, I closed my eyes but was still perfectly aware of where the orb was located. There must be some kind of magical link between us, I reasoned. The spell’s information said to use mental suggestions to control it, so I guess it made sense that it was still connected to me.

Opening my eyes, I focused on that feeling and experimented by having the orb float down towards my head slowly. It came down smoothly, but the light began to hurt my eyes as it got closer. I imagined the orb dimming until it was giving off as much illumination as a night light. I moved it down to my feet and stopped it. It hovered there perfectly still.

That’s amazing, I thought excitedly. This definitely would have made the walk through the forest a piece of cake.

“Next time I’m acting like a baby, ignore it and tell me what I need to know. I might not fully appreciate it at the time, but I definitely will later,” I advised Cax.

The sense of agreement he sent back replaced the need for words.

I spent the next few minutes moving the orb around my room, working on my control. It was amazingly intuitive and extremely easy. Happy with the successful test, and unable to ignore my bodily functions any longer, I wondered what I should do with the magical orb. The information on the spell said it would last for 30 minutes, but I couldn’t just leave it in here for Mum to stumble across. My face scrunched up as I focused hard, imagining the orb disappearing. It vanished immediately, returning the room to darkness.

I would need to practice using mental visualizations. At the moment, I couldn’t keep my face from making weird expressions when I concentrated hard.

“Well done!” Cax’s voice rang out in my head. “Considering the lack of magic on this planet, it’s remarkable how well you are adjusting to this situation and how fast you are picking up how to use your new abilities.”

I got up and put my phone on the charger while answering him. “Honestly, a lot of this is so similar to the concepts in games I’ve played. I’m just trying to hang onto that familiarity in order to stay calm and work out how to do things. If I had never played a game before, I’m sure I would be completely lost. And really, the interface is doing all the heavy lifting.”

I put on a pair of shorts and a plain T-shirt, trying to ignore the minor discomfort from how snug they felt now. After going to the toilet, I stopped to again admire the changes in my appearance in front of the sink’s mirror. It was still me, but it was a much better version of me. With a smile on my face and a spring in my step, I went downstairs to the kitchen.

Mum wasn’t around. I assumed she was still sleeping. I filled a bowl with cereal, got two pieces of toast and sat down at the table.

As I was eating, I considered what to tell Mum about my appearance. There was no way she wouldn’t notice, and I was sure she would have questions. Just as I was finishing my meal, she came down.

“Hi honey. How was your night?” she asked me, coming over to give me a hug. “Were you alright with that earthquake? Can you believe we had one here?!”

The earthquake! That’s right. It had actually slipped my mind with everything that came after. “Yeah, no problems. I had a good night. Just had some dinner and drinks with the boys and played a bit of pool. Nothing special.”

As she got closer, I saw her eyes widen. Here we go. “What happened to you?! You look so different! You look so…healthy.”

She started touching my face and running her hands through my hair. I sat through it all patiently, letting her get it out of her system.

I casually told her the lie I had come up with. “Oh, yeah. I’ve been taking part in a medical experiment as a way to make some extra money. It involves physical training and taking special medicine to cleanse the body and help grow muscles. It seems to have finally kicked in.”

“That doesn’t seem very plausible,” Cax said quietly. I started panicking and looked at Mum with big eyes before I remembered his voice was only in my head. She wasn’t able to hear him.

Taking a deep breath, I started to reply to Cax, and then stopped myself. How was I going to talk to him without people thinking I was crazy?

“Simply speak in your head. I can hear you, remember.”

Giving it a go, I told him silently, “We don’t have magic in our world. People have a lot of faith in science and medicine.”

Proving me right, Mum finished her inspection of me and then simply shook her head and said, “Amazing. They can do anything these days.”

Taking her hands off me, she promptly slapped me across the head. “That’s for letting them put unknown substances into your body. Don’t be so reckless.”

That was her go-to move when she thought I had done something stupid. Thanks to my improved body, this time it had barely hurt. Out of reflex, though, I rubbed my head where she had hit me. She followed that comment up with, “Can you get your poor old mum some of that medicine?”

I froze for a second, thinking quickly. “Uhh, I don’t know. It’s, umm, in clinical trials, and I’m not even supposed to be talking about it. Let me see what I can do.” She had actually given me an idea of how I could heal her aches and pains without her becoming suspicious, but I needed to think it over more to make sure it wouldn’t backfire.

With a final slow shake of her head as she looked at my face and a whispered, “Unbelievable!”, she went into the kitchen to get some food. “What are your plans for today?”

I thought about it. What was I going to do today? “I don’t know. I might just stay in and relax. I don’t have another shift until tomorrow.”

“Lucky you. I’m on again tonight. My old bones are feeling sore.”

“Take care of yourself, Mum. Don’t work yourself to death.” She came back over to me and gave me a hug.

“I’m fine, darling. You know I just like to complain. Now, make sure you eat something healthy tonight. Don’t just order pizza.”

“I will. Order pizza, that is.” I dodged her swipe easily this time, flashed her a smile and then started to wash my dishes.

I heard Mum take her food into the living room and turn on the TV. I was just drying my hands when she called out for me to come and look. Her voice sounded strange. I hurried into the living room.

She was watching a news program. I froze for a second when I saw what was playing on the TV, and then moved slowly to sit on the couch beside her without taking my eyes away from the screen.

It was about last night’s earthquake. The thing was, it hadn’t just hit Brisbane like we thought. If the text scrolling across the bottom of the screen was to be believed, it had hit the world!

At the moment, a bunch of video clips were being shown. There were scenes from multiple countries, mainly CCTV footage of swaying traffic lights and power lines interspersed with interviews of people on the streets to get their reactions to the event.

“Thank goodness no one was hurt,” Mum said.

She was right. Despite the wide range of footage and countries covered already, there were almost zero scenes of damage. The feed cut back to the news anchor.

“For those of you just joining us, the world has been shaken by last night’s 3.9 magnitude earthquake. It appears to have affected every area of the planet. Early reports indicate that the earthquake may have originated in Brisbane and rapidly spread to every other part of the globe, but this is unconfirmed.

Experts are so far unable to explain what could have caused this unprecedented phenomenon and are unwilling to say whether or not it could occur again. A general sense of unease has been caused by this uncertainty, with many people fearing a stronger quake may strike.

In response, governments around the world are calling for calm and seeking cooperation amongst themselves as they seek to understand the reason behind this bizarre event.

Mum put her hand on my thigh and gripped it, breaking me out of the trance I was in. I tuned the TV out as I turned to her. She looked back with worried eyes.

I gave her a weak smile as I rested my hand on hers and squeezed it. “We really should check the news more. I can’t believe we thought it was just in Brisbane.”

“What does it mean?” she asked me, the concern clear in her voice. “How can they not know why this happened?”

I moved my arm to her shoulders and pulled her in close, trying to give her a bit of comfort. “I don’t know. I’m sure they’ll work it out and it will be on the news soon. It’s probably just a one-off, random occurrence. Or one of those things that happens every thousand years or something. Everyone will probably forget all about this in no time.”

She nodded and turned her attention back to the TV, food forgotten on her lap.

I sat there with her a bit longer, both of us watching the TV in silence, caught up in our own thoughts.

I was freaking out inside and my mind was racing, but I kept a calm exterior for Mum’s sake. There was no doubt in my mind that the earthquake was connected to Cax’s arrival on Earth. But why wouldn’t it have just affected the area near where he arrived? Why would it have caused the entire world to shake?

The fact the news report had specifically mentioned Brisbane had me worried, too. If people’s attention was turned our way, I was going to have to be especially careful not to draw attention to myself.

The scene on the TV changed to show a group of people gathered and demonstrating in a large group, holding signs saying, ‘The end of the world is here!’ and shouting out doomsday prophecies.

“OK! That’s enough!” I grabbed the remote and turned the TV off, then stood up. “This isn’t doing us any good. Let’s just get on with our day and try to put it out of our minds.”

Mum seemed to pull herself together and stood up too, gripping her plate tightly in both hands. “You’re right. I’m going to do some cleaning before going to work.”

I offered to help, but she wouldn’t let me. “You go and relax. I need to do it to help take my mind off things.”

I gave her a hug and then went up to my room, firmly closing the door behind me. I flopped down on my bed, laying on my back and looking up at the ceiling. I couldn’t stay still. I jumped up and started pacing around my room, running my hand through my thick hair. Now that I didn’t have to keep my composure for Mum, my worry was free to come out. “Any ideas what’s going on, Cax?”

“None, I’m afraid. There is nothing like this in any of the knowledge I have accumulated over the years.” I got the sense he was worried, too.

I kept pacing around, going over possible explanations in my head. Eventually, I stopped. “Alright then,” I declared to my empty room. I realized that without any information, there was nothing I could do. At least, not about the earthquake. There was something I could do about this whole situation, though.

I needed to learn more about what I was capable of. If something else unusual happened, I needed to know what tools I had at my disposal to deal with it. It was time to dig in and find out as much as I could about my new abilities.