Enoch stared at the words with horror, trying to think of a single instance he could have heard of something similar, during his whole existence.

The inner world was ever-evolving by nature, since it was tied to mortals’ psyches. One couldn’t willingly make changes to it, but experiences that mentally affected someone would in turn cause sensible changes to their inner world.

But they were in the order of a blue sky being covered with dark clouds, mythic animals appearing as familiars, flowers suddenly blooming or even land being submerged by strange waters.

Not the entirety of it disappearing to be replaced by strange floating words.

Not even mentioning that a trauma strong enough to cause something of this scale to one’s mind would be something many times worst than death, Enoch had not suffered any... relatively speaking.

The situation made no sense to him, but one thing was clear: it had been caused by that metallic white spider’s bite. Something he had never heard of had been injected in him, in his brain, and was at work. And while Enok could feel that a strange connection had been established between him and an unknown entity, there was nothing he could do about it as a human, since it wasn’t even made of ki.

On the blue canvas, 95% became 96%.

Considering he had been bitten a week ago, he didn’t have much time left before whatever was trying to happen, would happen. A few hours at best. And he had to figure out what it was before the end of the countdown.

Back in the small room, a confused Enok opened his eyes.

A moonless night had fallen, but a lamp oil was softly burning on the table, next to a plate of cold food. Meat and potatoes.

One of the drawbacks of meditative cultivation was that time passed much faster than one would be aware of. In the past, the stories of young auroseis who would break their trances in enclosed mountains only to find out that decades had passed were common ones.

“Hey, you’re back,” said a blue orb hovering in front of the window, “a kitten brought our stuff earlier. I was about to head out to look around the village, but first wanted to make sure things were in order for you.”

She had not missed the strange spider’s bite.

“That was wise of you,” he said while getting up. His body painfully disagreed with him leaving the bed, but he already was in much better shape. He found his gear in a corner of the room -namely his greaves, gauntlets, sword, boots, shoulder bag, leather pant and cloak- and started getting dressed. Pants and cloak had been sewed together and looked more decent. “It seems the mortals have been playing with things they shouldn’t have approached. I need to find someone with answers. Now.”

“Really? What’s wrong?” Kaja asked, floating closer, “and where are we going?”

“I don’t know. My inner world is a mess and the only thing that could have caused it is that damed spider. First we will have Ronan tell me what in the worlds was that machine killing his clansmen. Then we will... Improvise from there.”

“You don’t know? Is that a joke? If yes, you’re getting a lot better Enok.”

“I am not joking,” he wore his boots and proceeded to strap his gauntlets, “we currently are too ignorant of the things of this time, and if we do not do anything, in seven hours or so something is going to happen to us. And I want to either be able to stop it or at least be prepared.”

“Well that sounds like fun!”

Ten minutes later, after having gulped down the cold food, Enoch was ready to leave and finally opened the door, only to find a female demi-human sitting on the floor in front of his room. Arms hugging her legs, head on her knees, and eyes frozen in an empty stare.

“Greetings, esteemed machine lord,” she said with a monotonous voice, “I am Mein, a member of the Foxglade clan at your service.”

Enoch stood immobile, hand still on the doorknob.

“What are you doing here? ” he asked.

“You have asked for an aide, and here I am, my lord,” she simply replied, as if it was the most natural thing in existence, “I could not help but hear the conversation you had with your familiar, and it happens that I am more than able to answer your questions.”

A silent moment passed, before it was broken by an aggravated Kaja.

“Listen here little kitten, I am no goddamn fami-”

“Kaja, please,” interrupted Enok with a smirk, “ you know she couldn’t know any better, and we really don’t have time for that.”

“Oooh, you think it’s funny?” she asked, flying a bit too close to his face.

“Hey, all I’m saying is that there are better things to do than you harassing a poor demi-human servant.”

“Yeah, right.” Turning back her attention to the girl, “aren’t you tired of being of the floor? Go sit on that chair, and tell us what it is that you think could interest us little kitten.”

She hesitated, staring at the commanding ball of light, then quickly stood up, got in the room and sat down.

Leaving the door open, Enok sat on the bed and motioned the cat girl to talk, which she did through a deluge of words.

“I have heard you are wondering about the nature of the being you saved us from,” she said, eyes on the floor, “and about the nature of what is now happening to you. Both those things are well known facts across the Path. The armored machine was what we call a primer. It’s a vessel who carries a seed of the Neopanth’s power, made by Odir, last king of the dwarfs. By defeating it, you passed its test and were bestowed the power to reach the gods.”

Enoch raised a brow, “Reaching the gods? Which gods are you talking about exactly? And what is that power?”

Apparently surprised by the question, she looked up to meet his gaze, only to look down again. “You do know what the Neopanth is, right?”

“We do not,” answered Kaja, apparently set on making it clear that she wasn’t a familiar, “as you can see, we are total country bumpkins, so assume we do not know anything of what happened in the last, say, eight centuries. But we also are kind of in a hurry, so try to make it short, if you can.”

The demi-human stood silent for a moment, her tail slowly moving around. She then started, “Eight centuries ago, the last plane before the realm of the pagan gods was corrupted by the fog, and the Path was severed-”

A cracking sound resonated through the room. Enok’s hand that was resting on the bed had broken part of its frame by exercising too much pressure on it.

“I am sorry,” he said with a voice as neutral as he could manage, to the panicked girl.

“Please continue,” softly added the the floating orb.

The cat girl gathered herself once more, breathing deeply.

“The Path... the Path was severed. The gods’ powers could no longer reach the lower worlds and for the first time since the dawn of time, the People and the Mystics were on their own. Free to start a new era, one of the mortals... Or so the legends say. In any cases, amidst the chaos and wars of that time, several technological discoveries were made thanks to the dwarfs. Guided by their blessed king Odir, they laid the basis of technomancy, the blend of magic and technology.

A short period of peace occurred, during which the worlds prospered thanks to machines who made lives incredibly easier. But it was soon put to halt by the shock of two powerful factions who gathered the strongest individuals of the Path. One was the Neopanth, the other was named the Golden Voice.

While the Neopanth was encouraging progress and pushing the natural limits of the different species, the Golden Voice wanted to maintain the old ways of the pagan gods. A war remembered as the War of Roses was fought, brutal and unrestrained. But it is said that among the warriors of the Golden Voice were beings who had once received the favors of their gods, beings called Ascended. Their power was great enough that it was tipping the balance of the war by itself.

But it’s at that time that the blessed king of the dwarfs Odir, ally of the Neopanth, created the seeds of powers, masterpieces of technomancy and a way for their warriors to gain powers beyond the limitations set upon mortals by the pagan gods. They were distributed amongst them, and thus, the first drifters were born.

They slew three of the once invincible world guardians, and made three sacred weapons out their souls. Then, they eradicated the Golden Voice, though it still cost them dearly to do so.

Without mentioning all the deaths, destruction of infrastructures and the loss of one of the sacred treasures, it is said that on the day of the victory, every single dwarf on the Path disappeared.

I do not know, if that fact is true, but I have never seen one, and neither has anyone in centuries. The only reasons we know about them at all are the fact that they are considered martyrs by the Neopanth and all the artifacts around the worlds that are said to be part of their work.

After the War of Roses, the Neonpath took direction of what was left of the Path and has been maintaining order ever since.”

She paused, as if taking her breath back, and finally said “Primers are one of the ways the seeds of power are given to nobles or high ranked warriors, even to this day. You passed the primer’s test and are now being transformed into a drifter.”

Enok stayed silent, processing the information. If everything he had heard was true, the implications were so grave chills were running down his spine just thinking about them.

While he now had an explication as to why there wasn’t any mantra in this world, the reason dumbfounded him. The Path had been severed? Isolated from the gods? Why? And more importantly, how?

At least, he knew who the only being that would have done it was. The fact that it happened just after he was thrown into the Abyss universe reinforced his suspicions.

Mein’s story also answered a question that had been tormenting him for a long time: for which purpose had he been tricked? Of course, what the mortals had done afterward was only a consequence of his foolishness. Such a situation would have never been possible with either him or Kaja’s presence.

“What do you think?”, he asked Kaja, after a while. In this moment, he somehow regretted that they could not simply use telepathy when her consciousness was moved to the orb.

But maybe it was for the best, for this way they didn’t have to share the pain the words had caused to each other.

“All I want to know is why Mother has still not done anything,” she answered, with a slightly higher pitched voice, “Unless...”

She didn’t finish, and Enok was strangely glad she had not.

“So, Mein,” the girl seemed startled by hearing her name, “you are saying that the primer was... Testing your people?”

She bit her lip, “Yes, it was. Though the test wasn’t originally supposed to be ours. That primer in particular was found by my clansmen amongst ruins located west of here. It wasn’t active then, and we believe it must have been a remnant of a time when Alfheim was much more prosperous than it currently is. Some of us also thought that maybe... Maybe we could acquire the power lying dormant inside of it... And raise our status...”

Tears started streaming down her now red cheeks, but she kept speaking with the same monotonous tone she had maintained until now, ”This region of Alfheim is composed of six clans all vassals to the bloodseekers. The Foxglade clan is the weakest one, and there isn’t a day when we aren’t somehow reminded of it by the others. As we went to meet the primer, we thought it was our salvation. Little did we know it was a test to our foolishness. We never were worthy.”

She cried silently, sniffing from time to time.

Enok looked at her with the same words spinning in his head. “What can I tell her? What am I even allowed to tell her? This little girl can’t even look up because of the shame of her friends deaths, and here I am,” he closed his eyes, “everything, everything that has happened in eight centuries is, in one way or another, my fault.”

He felt something landing on his head. It was the orb.

“Alright, it’s time to move Enok,” said his sister’s voice. “If Alfheim’s guardian is no more, then we are on our own. Right now, it’s whatever happens, happened, mate.”

The orb flew in front of his face.

“We need to get out and look for a place to wait for that transformation she talked about. Something of that nature will involve a lot of energy, and I do not think the wood houses around us are sturdy enough to stand it.”

For a moment, he had been about to fall back into his depressing thoughts. But they didn’t have time for that. There was only time for actions that mattered.

“You’re right,” he simply said.

He stood up, and walked to the door, but before leaving the room he said “Listen Mein. As one of the People, you are a being born from the greatest form of love that the Path has ever witnessed. Part of you is divine, so you were worth everything from the beginning. It’s this world that has proven unworthy of you. Do not forget it.”

She looked at him with a puzzled look, but before she could say anything, he was gone.

He found his way out of the deserted inn and stood on the main square of what appeared to be a small fortified village.

“Kaja?” he called.

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, dummy.”

Everything was silent in the dark night, and he did not meet a soul while walking to a gate made visible by two torches burning on each sides. Shaking his head, he passed a snoring sentinel and was then facing the open wild.

“Maybe we should have asked for a map or at least directions,” the orb said, “that way, if everything go fine, we can head straight to the portal afterward.”

“ We can always come back here tomorrow,” he replied, making sure his sword’s scabbard was tightly strapped to him, “let’s focus on finding a place where I won’t inadvertently kill anyone.”

Spreading his arms, he breathed deeply as he reached into his ki reserves in order to manifest enough aura to fill his body to the brim. He closed his fists, feeling the power running through them, and then, dirt and rock exploded behind him as he propelled himself forward.

The territory of the the Foxglade clan was mainly a rocky plain with small patches of stubborn trees here and there. A river ran through it, but its waters seemed unable to fertilize the gray soil. At first, Enok had thought of going west of the village, and maybe find the mysterious ruins in winch the primer had been discovered, but fires in the distance and what seemed like hastily set up camps made him chose to head north instead, following the impotent river.

North, stood a mountain range that wasn’t present in his memories. Which cataclysm or phenomenon had caused it to appear, he didn’t know, but then again, plenty of things clearly had changed during his absence.

The wind howling at his ears, Enok ran until he reached the outskirt of what seemed like a dense jungle, at the base of the shortest and closest mountain.

There, he slowed down, stopped burning his ki and willed the residual aura to surround him like an invisible skintight film, concealing his presence. There had to be a reason the Foxglade clan was set on that dead land and not in this luxurious place, and he was ready to bet that it had to do with predators. But at least it would mean that there was no one around.

He didn’t go too deep. Just enough for him to find an hollow tree, whose dead bark was covered with moss inside and out. He crept inside, and finally, on a bed of leaves, crossed his legs, joined his hands, and started to meditate.

It didn’t take long for his consciousness to find the inner world again. Nothing had changed, except the words and numbers that now read:

Downloading packages 99%

Soon, 99 became 100, and the blue canvas disappeared only to be immediately replaced by another.

Download complete. Launch dr1ft3r.exe?

A question. Enok stared at the words.

He was being offered power. One born from the folly of mortals. One said to be able to slay his kin. The one that had been used to slay guardians he had entrusted the worlds of the Path with.

And since the gods no longer had control of this world, it was a power that he desperately needed to be able to atone for even a fraction of his sins.

But at which price?

He chuckled at the thought.

“Yes,” he replied.

What was there for an already damned soul to lose?

The blue canvas disappeared and the empty world of white became a concerto of fluttering colors so bright he had to stop looking.

The next moment, a light breeze was caressing his face. He opened his eyes to find himself in a dimly lit stone hall, the kind that were found in the castles of powerful kings of old. Only it wasn’t lit by flaming torchbearers or the moon light filtering through tapestries.

The tall walls were covered with flickering screens of different sizes, sometime showing words and numbers, sometime showing glimpses of sceneries and places going through time at an accelerated pace.

Sometime showing representations of concepts impossible for mere mortals to comprehend without breaking their spirits, and often, faces. faces of people. Faces of mystics. Faces of other, unspeakable things. Shown for an infinitesimal moment, before being replaced by something else.

Information. All of it. In this Maelstrom of unfiltered knowledge, dizzy and shaking, stood Enok, and his hand came to cover his mouth as he realized what the mortals had done.

They had created a god. Not one of flesh, blood and bones, but of ones and zeros and madness.

And he was now connected to it.

But before he could think anything else, he heard someone clearing his throat.

In front of him, at the end of a hundred of carved stairs and far enough from the insanity of the screens to be covered by the shadows, stood three thrones.

A juvenile voice came from the one on the left saying, “He would not be satisfied with me.”

Then as if swallowed by the shadow, the throne disappeared.

As soon as it did, an old and raspy voice sounding like it was breaking under the weight of time, came from the one on the right, “I am not what he is looking for.”

Once again, the darkness covered the speaker’s throne.

For a moment, Enok waited in silence. Just as he was about to march forward, toward the silhouette of the last throne, he heard, “Then you belong to me.”

From behind.

Enok turned around only to blinded once again, but amidst the light, squinting his eyes, he saw.

It was a woman who wasn’t one.

Four times taller than any human. Thousands of arms hovering around her, but none were connected to her bust, nor was her head.

Her hair, green with strands of gold, was blown over her by some phantom wind, and her skin, seemingly made of the finest shining porcelain, was covered with a network of flickering green lines running on it.

Her chest was a hole in which a dark cube floated.

As she lowered her stance, bringing the perfection that was her face closer to him, she opened her eyes and they were molten iron. Her gaze fell on him, and Enok knew that it was an order for him to kneel.

But he did not, so she smiled and the light engulfed everything.

Welcome to your status screen. You are now a drifter, a being who stands on the line between mortal and machine. This, is the tutorial.