She squeezed herself all the way out of the bed. With the skimpy clothes from the night before, Daniel was sure she showed more than she intended to.

She blushed a little when they made eye contact and straightened out the small black dress. Her eyes were focused on Daniel’s own. Inquisitive and testing at the same time.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Daniel asked, unable to help himself.

“I am seeing if you are still you.”

“Of course I am,” Daniel said with a little laugh, self-consciously hiding the club behind his back. “Why wouldn’t I be me?”

Ivey bit her lip, clearly trying to decide whether to say something. Decision reached, she sat down and patted the bed next to her.

“I am happy to stand,” Daniel told her. Everything was too weird, the decaying hotel, the screams earlier, and that monster that roared in the corridor.

Ivey just looked at him and patted the mattress beside her again. After that kiss and that substance, then hiding under the bed and now this? Why did she think she could order him about?

“I know you are confused,” the girl said carefully. “What do you think is happening?”

Daniel shrugged expansively. “I have no idea.” Then he stopped himself as he had been talking to loudly. Feeling a little abashed, he sat beside her. “I have no idea,” he repeated in a whisper, “but you can start with telling me why you were hiding under the bed.”

Ivey’s features went slightly pink, but it barely showed. After all, she looked half Indian and European with that amazing skin tone and striking black hair. Her vitality and personality along with her beauty were why they’d hooked up.

“Your back,” she whispered quietly. “I was scared.”

“My back?” Daniel asked, patting it with his free hand in confusion.

“The yellow fur.” Ivey said.

Crack!

They both jumped with their eyes immediately going to the ceiling. The panel directly above them was bending inwards like a heavy weight was on it. One edge gave loose, and it flopped open.

Large black objects came tumbling down. They appeared to be small, fat snakes—no, more like dozens of scaled, skinny cucumbers with tiny legs. Some were barely the size of a finger and others as long as his lower arm.

Ivey screamed as the first one to fall landed on her face. She leapt back and away, rolling across the mattress to escape while Daniel leapt forward, figuring he did not want to tangle accidentally with Ivey.

Zap.

All of his hairs were standing up on end, and there was the smell of fried skin and burnt hair. Ivey’s body spasmed and fell flat on the ground on the other side of the bed. It did not sound like she had braced herself. God, he hoped she was okay, but there was no time to think about her or that scorched smell.

This was not a hoax or a TV show. Not even movie special effects could create the monsters that he was seeing.

Survival instincts had him retreating to the door to get space from them. The room was not huge, but the producers had wanted to woo him so had put in a fancy suite.

The things falling from the ceiling were like nothing he had seen before. Or maybe they were. Giant versions of the creatures that got into his shower back at home. Black segments, lots of legs and very buggy. Some form of centipede, he had always figured.

Thirty in total must have fallen.

A small one that had tumbled out to his new position locked onto him. A blue glow spread across its carapace.

Zap.

A spark shot out and hit his leg, which immediately spasmed, and he bit down to stifle the gasp.

“Crikey!” Daniel hissed under his breath before he retreated further, closer to the door with his limb dragging slightly. The fact he was just wearing underpants and a T-shirt was making him feel exposed.

The bugs had fallen in a disorganised mess, but now they seemed to look around and untangle themselves. From memory, the ones in his bathroom ate mould and were harmless, but then again, those end to end were no longer than his pinkie, and when they curled up, were smaller than a dollar coin.

These monsters were different. Some were thicker than his thumb and they had fired electricity twice, he realised. The small one had shocked his leg and a larger version had done far worse to Ivey. The smell was still in the air. Burnt flesh. These creatures were not friendly!

Indecision warred briefly inside of him.

The last thing Daniel wanted was to provoke them, especially since they were releasing electricity, which as far as he knew was physically impossible but with that monster in the corridors, it was not like he could run, and there was also Ivey to consider. After all, she was on the other side of the room with the mass of centipedes between her and the door.

It was not in his nature to leave defenceless girls at the mercy of monstrous bugs. Despite the situation, he smiled a little at that. That was a phrase he never thought he would think.

The one that had zapped him was heading straight towards him. They could not leave the room; they could not climb above them. After all, the couch and chair were broken, and there were three big ones on the bed along with a smattering of smaller ones. There was nowhere to run. All he could do was fight.

That made things simple.

He brought his club down hard on the first centipede. There was a familiar sound he remembered from stepping on them at home.

“Sorry, big boy.” He smashed it down on another. There was a pathway around the cluster. Moving quickly and pausing just to crush the couple of bugs that had been thrown clear of the main mass and were now in his way, he jogged past the mass of creatures by sticking to the wall. “Ivey?” He called out hopefully.

There was no response.

Another step and he could see her. She was still lying on the ground where she had fallen. Ivey was unconscious with a red welt travelling from her lip to her ear. Black scorch marks surrounding the wound. It looked terrible, and that was from just one of the little ones.

The culprit was near her, and it was inching closer to one of her legs. His club smashed it into paste. Insect gunk and the residual electrical charge hit Ivey. Her body spasmed once more. Without hesitation, while watching the bugs on the bed, cautiously, he knelt down, grabbed her under her arms, and moved her back to the window to get her to safety.

She was breathing, but the burn was deep and would almost certainly scar. At least she was alive. Another glance back at the bugs. None were near him. That electricity attack was dangerous. This much damage from one hit was terrifying, especially as there were over thirty of them.

Daniel watched the bugs. They were big, they could shoot lightning, but they were still the same creatures that had travelled less than a metre over an hour while he had watched TV. They were slow; a snail would not win a race between them, but most other things would.

Daniel stood, breathed in deeply to bolster his courage. It was the unknown that concerned him. He was happy to squish them, but what happens if they had extra magic? “They ain’t going to squish themselves.” He stepped toward them. The ones on the bed were an issue, as he doubted his club would be effective with them being on the soft mattress, so he went wide and prepared to squish the masses squirming on the floor. After killing four to get to Ivey, he had a better feel for the amount of strength that he needed to use. Even for the big ’uns, he did not have to go all out. Half swings were good enough, and that was what he did. After all, he did not want to start banging away and attract extra attention from outside. Ignoring them was not an option either. One glance at Ivey, still prone near the window, reinforced that.

They stank, especially when a living one’s electricity fried a corpse. Daniel ignored the stench and kept going.

On the far side of the pile, a bug started glowing. It was far away, so Daniel ignored it and lined up the next kill.

Zap.

It was like touching an electric fence on full power. He stumbled backwards, dropping his club.

Ouch. Daniel studied the hand had bolt had struck, tensing it into a fist and then pretending to play the piano. It was uninjured, and that attack had come from a giant and the ugly welt on Ivey’s face was still in his mind. The bolts lost potency the further they had to travel. Not as good as having a limited range, but better than the other alternative. Providing he did not get too close, he should be safe.

He retrieved the club and then danced around the outside of the mass, only striking at the ones at the edges. More kept falling from the ceiling, and whenever one started glowing, he retreated to the other side of the room. They did not hit him again, not even a spark.

Science had lied to him when it claimed that wood did not conduct electricity. Whenever he squished one with a built-up charge, the jolt went into his arm into the elbow. Not enough to make him drop the club, but it still made the elbow jerk unpleasant.

He kept hitting. The routine was soothing.

The good news was that they were slow, stupid, and the electrified status came and went, allowing him to time his blows.

Ivey had stirred mid-way through and watched him. He waved, and she waved back. Her face was healed. There was not even a mark. Pretty soon, the last of them on the floor were squished.

That left just the bed. First step was clearing visible ones. The first swing knocked them onto the floor and then he would follow and squish them properly immediately after.

The ones under the bed remained. He had seen at least one crawl under there and suspected there were more. He just needed to shift the bed and pulverise the final holdouts. His eyes watched the space under the bed, and he moved into position.

The ground under his feet shifted. It was like stepping on Lego if the pieces were bigger and sharper. “Strewth!” he cried, barely keeping his voice under control. Lifting his bare foot up, he saw there were slivers of carapace sticking out of his skin.

Across the room, Ivey’s hands glowed, and warmth flowed into him. As he watched, those alien pieces in his foot fell out one by one, and the wounds closed smoothly.

“Wow,” he said, looking up at Ivey in a new light. “That was amazing.”

Something with too many legs landed on his head and slid to his neck.

Daniel had time to tense, but there was little else that he could do.

Zap!

All of his muscles contracted as a shock that very similar to an electric fence got his neck. He fell helplessly. There was blood in his mouth, but more warmth flowed into him. Her blessing or healing or whatever crazy science she was using was a very pleasant feeling.

With the healing magic returning volition to his limbs, he reached up and grabbed the thing that was still on his neck. It was a small one, and he crushed it in his bare hands.

“They’re dead,” he told Ivey. “Every. Single”—he punctuated the threat by squishing one that just came out from under the bed—“one of them.”

“RARRAG!”

Daniel froze and stared in shock towards the hotel door. It was right outside.

Any further thought of the electric bugs vanished from his thoughts.

Log Report 5 - Entry 2

We’re less than two hours into the event and I have three pieces of information that I want to record for propensity.

The first bit, unfortunately, changes everything. Why we do not have as much data as we would like there is going to be an obvious need to gather nearby survivors together. Worst to give the group a chance everyone will be required to take extra risks. Every host needs to gain levels and do it fast.

There is a ninety-eight percent certainty a local extinction level threat would have been created. Which is bad news for nearby bipeds.

The explanation of why we have come to this conclusion could be simpler, but only by a little. As per protocol, I have contacted my colleagues who, incidentally based on our early interactions, will end up as friends for life. Though *Blush* I think I might have overwhelmed them with my intellect. They said things like ‘How are you so smart?’, ‘Another extraordinary suggestion’ and ‘You’re as smart as Bait.’ Mr or Mrs Bait was not in the culture pack, but I’m assuming they did something amazing. Probably in a science related field were geniuses usually thrive.

I digress. The network we have collectively established was spread over a wide geographical area. This spread lets us map the mana storm boundaries.

This was where the terrible news came in.

What hit my host was not the centre of the storm as I hoped, but only an edge. That’s horrible, as it meant that there was intense energy to the east of us. A mana storm so intense that not one of the native bipeds survived in that space!

Naturally, we consulted historical records and there are only two plausible conclusions.

There will be a potent mutation of a native animal or something else powerful being ported in from a broken world.

Neither of these occurrences increases the survivability of nearby sapients.

Hence, the only choice is that we need to get strong quickly to meet this threat. When I expressed this insight, well, that’s when *happy butterflies* I was described as a genius. RT0123214 said, and I quote. ‘No shit genius.’

He called me a genius!!

*Jumping up and down excitedly.*

The second equally fascinating piece of information is that my decision to create a co-wobub has paid off. He (I think that’s the appropriate pronoun) has agreed to join up and protect my host. What an absolutely exceptional result to have that sort of strength and power available to look after my host. Of course even a co-wobub won’t be enough by himself, but at least it’s a start.

Finally, I want to address the hypothesis I made in entry 1.

I was *unsurprisingly* absolutely correct.

Yes, it’s a fact.

Bipeds fall over all the time. It has been just a couple hours and both my host and the co-wobub have fallen over.

It’s so funny.

Bipeds, what a crazy design.

Two hours and the co-wobub has already slipped twice. Why? Why would they choose such an absurd form?

Total Falls: 3

End Log Report

Daniel looked critically at his club. For soft wood, it had survived surprisingly well. Pointlessly, his other hand went to his lips, indicating silence.

It had gone away last time. Maybe they would be lucky again.

“RARRAG!”

“RORRA!”

The two roars blended together. There were two of them out there, not one. He looked at Ivey to see if she had noticed the same thing, but she was like a deer caught in headlights. She was in no position to communicate.

Bang!

The wooden door shook with the force of the blow. Daniel thought he heard the wood splinter. His eyes looked around for anything he could use and landed on his suitcase. His handy utility knife was at the bottom of the bag.

He took a step towards the bag.

Crack!

He spun around. That time, it had sounded like the door had broken properly. He could deny, pray, or bluster as much as he wanted, but whatever was out there was coming in and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Delay, maybe. Daniel looked at the weapon in his hand for the first time. How had this piece of wood from a couch that had collapsed under his weight survived bashing in so many bugs? The wood itself was crude, but it had survived the beating he had given it. There were no signs of stress fractures, and it had none of the straight, machine-cut lines he would expect from the debris of the couch. Instead, it looked like a classic cartoon club.

Daniel’s eyes narrowed, wondering. There was no way it was natural.

There was a monster outside, electric bugs, a mystery here to solve, and unless he was terribly mistaken, the answer was important. He shut his eyes. When he had grabbed it initially, what had happened? He had imagined the wood and grown cells to make it denser, and shifted the composition to resemble a club. Then he had yanked it, and this weapon had come loose. A tool almost identical to the image he had created in his brain. There was something there.

Ivey had healed him; bugs had been throwing lightning.

For a brief moment, he felt like he could feel the club once more. The grain was not perfect, but there were no material flaws in the weapon. It was strong, dense wood and would not break unexpectedly. In fact, if he was redesigning the thing, all that he would add was a sharper point in the end. He needed it to have a spike. Long and sharp, at least a couple of inches long so that if an opportunity presented, he could ram it home like a spear and do significant damage. Blunt force trauma was more than fine, and he honestly preferred the concept, but sometimes stabbing was better than shattering skulls, and he just wanted that option.

What he was imagining was not a perfect weapon. It was a club with a point. He desired the weapon to be a cross between a mace and a spear; the shape was almost there already. Maybe he could work the wood later to create a sharp spike.

The substance of the wood was in his mind, and he imagined changing the end to the point he wanted. While he was there, he also focused on making the individual cells become smaller, fibrous, which would hopefully result in a denser and stronger end product. It would be nice.

The blink finished, and when he looked down, his hands and the club were glowing.

Was that magic? He could hear what he presumed was a monster moving outside later. He could ponder the nature of wood and imagination later. For now, he needed to get ready.

“Ivey, there is a utility knife at the bottom of my suitcase. Get it.”

Daniel walked towards the door and the big crack that was already showing, the makeshift club in his hand and questioning just how insane he was, but something told him that this time hiding in the toilet was not the solution.