"We'll start with introductions. My name is Tink."

Lothar gaped, "Tink? really?"

The god sighed "I can call myself the lord of the timbering abyss, the undying creator, harry or dick. Would that matter?"

Lothar shrugged, "I guess not. You... talk like a human."

Lothar's mind was working overtime to block out the voice that told him he went crazy.

"Yeah? I look like one too now, what's your point?"

The god smiled and rolled on his toes. Lothar felt a great dissonance between the words coming out of his father's mouth and his open expressions. It creeped him out.

"Is this really real? Gods exist?" It was honestly the first thing he could think of, or ask about.

" Depends on what you perceive as a god. These days, in your world, humans see us as an idea. Or a law. Not a being."

Lothar was getting sick of the half-assed answers and Tink noticed. He smacked his lips, then continued.

"I'm not an idea, nor a law. I, however, have the power to swipe yours and Vols' bodies and force fate's hand. This should answer your first question."

Lothar spoke through gritted teeth, "Why? what happened to me?"

Tink blinked like he was surprised by Lothar's aggressiveness and anger, "I apologize for the abrupt transportation. Were there any side effects? Nausea, vomiting–”

"Why!"

Amusement vanished from the god's eyes. Tink locked gazes with Lothar and the latter found himself unable to breathe.

"I need an agent in this world, but I'm an Outer source, meaning that I'm not a source assigned to this world."

Putting aside the weird nomenclature, Lothar was able to put two and two together. He paled.

"You chose someone from another world, myself, and put me here. Does that mean you're the god of my earth?"

Tink smiled, looking somewhat proud of Lothar's deduction. That expression did not suit his father's face.

"I didn't choose you. I asked your Source to choose me an agent, but I was the one who swapped your places."

Fuck you, Jesus. You son of a bitch.

"How? Why me?"

"You ask questions that are hard to answer. I don't have too much time here–Would be a good excuse to dodge your questions."

Tink snickered, then frowned, like he wasn't sure which emotion fit his statement best.

He shook his head and continued, "I'm not very comfortable with my dream hopping skills but I do apologize. Your source chose you. I don't know why. It could be for many reasons or completely random."

Lothar deflated, "Then what now? You have a grand quest for me? Want me to kill an evil demon lord?" He almost laughed at the words coming out of his mouth. He was not a kid, but felt as clueless as one.

Tink shook his head "No–Well, there are quests, but not the ones you're talking about. I want you to do what you have to survive. I said I needed agents in this world, people who can represent me when the time comes for the great–" Tink stopped, looking anxiously around him. He hesitated before continuing.

"I can't use the proper names to describe some events, but you need to get strong, okay? Strong enough to go toe to toe against the titans of this world."

Lothar threw his arms in exasperation, "Tink, I'm just a physics teacher. A damn alcoholic–"

Tink put his hand on Lothar's shoulder, an act that made him reflexively flinch. The former didn't seem to notice or care.

"I will give you part of my powers. You'll be my proxy. I'll limit it, though, and make it adapt to your progression, but you need to garner you own power. The class you will eventually gain from me won't be enough."

Lothar frowned "What are you talking about? I don't understand–"

"It'll tell you everything, don't worry. This will hurt a bit. Bear with me" Tink pointed his index finger at Lothar's left eye, as some sort of black goo seeped out of an invisible skin crevice and wrapped around his finger.

Lothar froze in horror. The thing wiggled, then suddenly jumped on his face. He screamed and clawed at it, but it was already crawling inside his eye socket. Hands on his bleeding face, he begged it to stop moving–He felt it inside his head.

"You're my proxy now. Don't disappoint me."

.....

Lothar woke up screaming. He still felt the black worm squirming inside his head. He could hear it and feel its viscous body as it crawled under his skin like an itch that he dreaded scratching.

He stumbled on the ground, on all fours, and bashed his temple against the metal ground, hoping the squirming would stop. Blood leaked all around him, staining his knees and hands. His palms slipped, and he tumbled on his stomach.

He jumped in fright when arms pulled him up, but he couldn't focus on any noise that didn't come from inside his head.

Pain jolted up his arms as they've been cuffed, and he roared and struggled against iron grips.

They couldn't cuff him; he wouldn't be able to take the worm out if they cuffed him.

Lothar barely felt himself get carried away, barely acknowledged the red scenery of moving cells. He was going in and out of consciousness, the pain barely a dull shadow of what it was.

Tears, snot and blood covered his twisted face as he basked in the quietness inside his head. It finally stopped.

.....

Tuesday, 4th of July 2220, 7:26 AM, Block D-6, District 7's penitentiary for regulars.

Levi hated his job. As a correctional physician in D7's prison, he had a better salary than most private practice doctors. The benefits were tantalizing; better pay, better hours, better retirement benefits and free malpractice insurance. It was the ideal job when he first applied, but as his first decade went by, he realized how little he cares for any of that.

Not that he would throw the money he saved up, but the more he fixed up prisoners here the deeper he'd gotten to look at the workings of this so-called rehabilitation institution.

A damn sham is what it is.

Today was a normal day of the job. He parked his car, locked it and saluted the many officers placed on each of the seven access points between the parking lot and his office.

He entered the room and locked it behind him, placing his briefcase on his desk before going inside one of the doors leading to the bathroom. Once he freshened up, he got out and took out the panic button from his drawer. Levi hung his coat and put on his white robe, slipping the panic button inside its pocket.

He opened the second door leading to his small examination room and locked it.

After prepping his tools, he checked the clock and opened the second door in the examination room, that indicated he was accepting patients.

No officer stood outside, nor did the guards need to be with him as he did his job, thankfully.

An hour passed by as he played on his phone, cursing now and then as he failed to level up.

A ring sounded then, followed by a loud commotion outside. He sighed and put the phone away in time as 3 guards barged in. They were carrying an unconscious prisoner whose face was covered in blood. They didn't look winded, but one of them looked more than aggravated. Levi saw the beginnings of a bruise on his temple.

"Put him gently on the bed. What's the status?" He asked while guiding them.

" We found him in his cell bashing his head against the floor, screaming nonsense about a worm."

Levi raised an eyebrow at that "I'll check him then–"

Once the doctor got a good look at the prisoner's face, he halted.

Damn, it's him.

It was barely a second before he continued with the usual procedure.

"Did he show any suicidal tendencies before?"

The guard who was talking shook his head, and the other one who wore a bruise replied, "He's new. His evaluation was squeaky clean. We'll talk to the administration."

Levi shook his head, "No, I'll talk to the psychiatrist. Now go, give me some space."

They nodded and moved out. The last one who spoke stopped. Levi didn't turn to look at him but said, "There's ice in the fridge." he heard the guard's footsteps come and go before the sound of the door slamming.

Levi put on his gloves and went to work.

.....

Lothar woke up from a light glaring in his face. He adjusted his body but found it hard to move around the weights over his arms.

He squinted. It took an entire minute for his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness of his surroundings. He saw a middle-aged man in a white robe reading from a thin file.

"W-water" The doctor calculated his condition with a gaze then brought a cup of water and held it to his mouth.

Lothar downed it all "How are you feeling, Vols?" Lothar almost shivered in disgust but he held back his anger.

He remembered everything vividly. He had to be Vols now if he didn't want to end up in an asylum.

"Good. I have a gnawing headache, though."

The doctor nodded and typed something on his tablet.

"Do you feel lightheaded, nauseous, or lethargic?"

"None of those."

"I have checked your file so I know you haven't dealt with boosters. Dealing with an empowered is hard, science just doesn't mesh well with that."

"Boosters?"

The doctor looked at him weirdly then spoke "Can you tell me what your last name is?"

Lothar almost smiled. He finally had a reason for his cluelessness.

"...Chathier, I believe. There's this fog inside my mind. I remember basic information like my identity and such but not stuff like why I'm here or..."

the doctor frowned and mumbled "Partial amnesia?"

"I need you to stay here for more tests, Vols. You didn't lose too much blood, but you did have a concussion."

Lothar nodded, "Will I be okay?"

"Of course, don't worry. Just rest."

"Can you tell me what boosters are?"

The doctor stopped typing on his tablet, he looked down at Lothar.

"They're malleable stat points, you can inject yourself and direct it to a spec you want to elevate. They have horrendous side effects and are only temporary. Changing the physical composition of regulars using occult means is straight up dumb" Lothar didn't understand half the shit the doctor just said.

"Occult means?" he asked.

"magic, of some sort. Only Soulbounds can wield it. Now you need to shut up and let me work"

Lothar mindlessly nodded as he took in the new information. So magic existed. He wasn't as surprised as he ought to be. He did meet a god... Or a source, or whatever it wanted to call itself.

He looked down at his cuffed arm and wondered if the doctor saw the worm. He doubted it.

He still couldn't see well enough, but dreading asking the doctor.

Lothar closed his eyes and cast his focus inward. He didn't feel it anymore, and that scared him more.

Just imagining what that thing could be doing to his insides made him shiver.

He knew it did something to his left eye, as the walls from that side were blurred.

Lothar stiffened, a sudden pain snapped his left eye shut.

He didn't squirm too much nor make noise to not alert the doctor who was still busy typing.

Lothar quietly waited until the pain subsided before opening his eye.

The world looked all grey from his left side, and normal from his right.

His brain couldn't register the two different images, so what he saw at that moment were different images of black and white splattered on a colored painting. He winced and closed both eyes.

His heart thumped heavily against its bone prison, and Lothar used up all his latent acting skills to not show any of his panic on his face.

Am I going blind?

No, he could see if he closed only one eye.

Lothar tried that by opening one left eye and glancing at the ceiling.

Then, his view was suddenly blinded by a big holographic screen. He yelped in surprise and looked over at the doctor who seemed oblivious to it.

The words wrote themselves in the air as a voice spoke them inside his head. Lothar expected some form of communication from the god, but he did not expect this.

An absurd number of numbers followed Lothar's planet's name. He was bewildered; If the system was not lying, which he doubted, then that means that intelligent life existed on other planets.

An age old question answered by a worm...

Are you sentient?

So it can read his mind.

Aren't you part of Tink? Why are you referring to him as a different entity?

His brows furrowed. That sounded like the definition of a parasite to him. He'd not want some unfamiliar entity mess with his soul... Which he did not know he had until a second ago.

So many things he believed were false are unraveling in front of his eyes. He didn't know which to dissect first.

I have so many questions. First of all, what is 'soul'? I know the general idea but I need a more logical and elaborate definition.

They're called regulars in this world and form the majority of all Humans. Some use boosters to evolve their bodies, at a cost, but it is a cheap imitation of what Soulbounds, or open-souled, can do.>

That explained what the doctor said.

And what can Soulbounds do?

After that comes education. Soulbounds go to an Academy to learn all things related to Soulbounds and prepare themselves to meet the eye of the world.>

What's that?

Lothar winced. His case was unusual, it seems, which is bad news if he knew any.

You mentioned Soulsignature, what is that?

What? Color matters?

No fucking way. Hold on, let me take a minute. This is getting messier.

Lothar was dumbfounded to say the least. A bubbling excitement surged inside his heart.

He knew that human evolution was not linear, but he wondered how those races came to be. It wasn't logical they came from the same roots as humans, or did they?

An adventure from fairytales only found in books awaited him just outside these metal walls.

He nervously smiled, It was both terrifying and bewildering.

.....