A deep void enveloped Alex, wrapping him in darkness like a blanket. The lack of sensation was initially pleasant, but when he tried to move, he found that he couldn’t, and the blanket became a cage. Fear filled his mind, and this triggered a change as he felt his heart begin to beat. A lone contraction reverberated through his body, and with it his awareness spread. From head to toe every inch of his body felt numb. As he tried to move his fingers, he felt a sluggish response when he flexed each in turn.

Shock registered in Alex’s already overwhelmed brain when he felt a sixth additional finger respond. Wait… one, two, three, four, five…. Six. What the hell. As that revelation hit him like a sledgehammer, he opened his eyes. It was still hard to see, but he was surrounded by a red glow that supplied a modicum of light for him to see by. He was suspended in a viscous fluid, and with horror he saw a giant cord of vein like flesh attached to his stomach. What the hell did John put in my drink?

The last thing Alex remembered was downing the beer that John had poured for him. He had been grateful at the time: he had just finished a shitty week at work, and he had forgotten to bring a drink of his own. He had found John online on a ‘looking for group’ forum page local to his area, and after a couple of weeks hanging out in a group chat with other interested players they had all agreed to play their first game session tonight. The game was supposed to be a roleplaying game similar in nature to dungeons and dragons, but it used a system and setting that John had come up with himself. Alex had played a few roleplaying games back when he was a student and was hoping that getting back into an old hobby would distract him from some of the crap going on in his life.

Alex had no social life to speak of and had been looking forward to making some new friends. He got on with his colleagues at work but had virtually nothing in common with most of them outside of work. He had learnt more about the people in the group chat in two weeks than he had about some of his work mates in two years. The five of them had agreed to meet up at John’s house on Friday night. He remembered arriving at the house and feeling a little intimidated by the opulent mansion. It had easily been the biggest house in a nicer part of the city than Alex tended to visit. It made his flat look like a cupboard.

Alex had been the last to arrive, and so when he entered the rest of the group had more or less finished creating their characters with John. Melissa and Ben had decided to build combat focused characters. Mel had put together an Amazonian killing machine and her husband had created a spell slinging battlemage. From the sounds of it they had worked together to create a fantasy power couple. Mike had made some kind of holy warrior called he dubbed the ‘saint of smashing faces’. Feeling that the party already had plenty of fighting power, Alex had decided to make a less serious thief type character.

Alex shook his head to clear his thoughts. The drug must still be in his system for his mind to trail off like that. He focused on his body and gradually it responded, though sluggishly at first. He pushed his hand forward through the thick fluid he was suspended in, feeling like he was pushing through jelly... As he reached the bounds of his prison, he ran his fingers against it. It felt soft and squidgy, and the slimy material rippled at his touch. It felt like it was made of meat. This is a pretty vivid drug fuelled nightmare. I think I want to wake up now, how do I do that when I already feel like I am awake?

Then without giving Alex time to dwell further on his predicament his fleshy prison opened and the gunky fluid surrounding him flooded out. Following the liquid, Alex was swept out of his pod shaped container. He stumbled but managed to put his hands out in front of him to catch himself as the fluid flowed over him. He felt a sharp pain on his abdomen, and watched with wide eyes, as the veiny cord attached to his belly shrivelled up, leaving behind a red and swollen belly button where it disconnected. With his eyes drawn to his brand-new belly button Alex saw that in this strange dream he had grown thick black fur all over his chest and abdomen.

Alex felt his lungs burning and realised that he was holding his breath. He tried to take a deep breath in, but he failed, and ended up coughing his lungs out to expel gallons of the disgusting yellow fluid. I’ve had drugs at parties before when I was young and stupid, but this is on another level. This feels like an acid trip on an acid trip. A memory of him with his old school friends sitting around a bonfire flashed into his mind unbidden. He had been young and stupid back then, but he could admit that was a little nostalgic for the carefree abandon of youth. Alex was in his late twenties now. He had used his lacklustre chemistry degree to first work as a pharmaceutical lab technician for several years, before finding a job teaching chemistry to bored teenagers.

At the edge of his vision as he heaved his guts up a pair of crocs appeared. I recognise those... John had been wearing them when he answered the door. Alex didn’t normally pay any attention to what people wore, but even when John had answered the door in a bright Hawaiian shirt and shorts, he couldn’t ignore the yellow crocs on his host’s feet. That should have been my first clue that I was dealing with a psychopath.

With a great deal of effort Alex raised his head to look at his assailant in the eyes. John was still wearing the flamingo covered shirt, making it hard to take him seriously despite the grave situation Alex found himself in.

“What… did you give me… bastard...” Alex said between heavy breaths. His lungs were mostly clear, but it felt like he had almost drowned.

“Give you? Oh, I see. I didn’t give you anything Lex.” John said in a calm but quiet voice.

“You bloody liar. What did you do to me? Where the hell am I you bastard?” Alex demanded. His breathing was gradually becoming steadier, and so he carefully stood up to stare his kidnapper in the face. He was surprised to find that he had to crane his neck back to do so.

“The full answer to that question is more complex than you could understand. How shall I put this such that you could understand it… I copy and pasted you, I believe that is an apt analogy for you.” John replied nonchalantly.

Alex stared at the croc wearing maniac with a mix of anger and confusion. The lunatic sounded like he had sampled the supply of whatever drugs he had given Alex.

“Quit talking shit and tell me what’s going on. This is not a fucking game. Where have you taken me, and where are the others.” Alex shouted at the man, stumbling to his feet.

“No, not a computer game. This is another plane, or what you might call dimension.” John explained, unperturbed by Alex’s rage.

“Bullshit. You… what… Are you actually fucking mental? You drugged me and dragged me to this fucked up dungeon. People are going to notice I’m missing if I don’t show up at work. Let me go now, or you will regret it.” Alex practically shouted at the man.

“Well, I didn’t technically kidnap you. You are not ‘you’; you are a copy of yourself. You were born a few moments ago. I am a mind mage. I used my telepathy to duplicate your mind, and then I placed it in this body.” John explained.

Alex was speechless. He blinked several times and looked around, with his six fingered hand resting on his sore belly button. The room was brightly lit by a spherical ball of light hovering near the stone ceiling like a chandelier. The light wasn’t attached to anything, but it did seem to be connected somehow to a faintly glowing circle of runes directly above it. Looking behind himself Alex could see that the pod behind him remained open. From the outside it looked even more meaty. It resembled a giant fleshy sack, with large rib like bones providing it with structural support. For the first time it registered with Alex that there were three more pods in the room, as well as some kind of bubbling stone cauldron coming out of the ground in the centre of the room.

Alex held his hands in front of himself to have a proper look at them. The yellow fluid inside of his womb pod had prevented him from making out any details, but now he saw all twelve digits in full detail. They definitely weren’t his hands. The sixth finger looked like a second thumb. He was also a little taken aback at the sight of his dark grey coloured skin, the black fur that covered his body was thinner over his hands. A flicker of a memory teased itself out in the back of his mind. When John was helping me make my character, he showed me a picture of a playable race… a Coedan he called it. I thought the extra thumbs looked cool, and I thought it would be funny to play a little kleptomaniac monkey.

Alex briefly entertained the notion that what was happening was real, and that John wasn’t completely full of shit. He pushed the thought aside. He was a scientist. He just needed to think about it logically. The simplest explanation with the fewest number assumptions is usually the correct one. Alex felt the yellow fluid stuck between his toes, the musky smell it gave off was potent, and surprisingly it wasn’t particularly unpleasant. What was happening to him seemed very real to his senses, but senses could be fooled. A few explanations came to mind: he was having a mental break; he was in a drug induced coma; or perhaps he was being tricked in the world’s most elaborate prank. Logically any of these explanations would be less crazy than a dimension hopping psychic downloading his brain into a monkey.

After a long moment of contemplation Alex decided that it didn’t really matter right now if he was imagining this or not. If there was even a small chance what was happening was real, he had to protect himself until he could figure something out. Right now, he had to be practical. He had to take this reality at face value. He was stuck in a room with a man who at best had drugged and kidnapped him, and at worst had stolen his brain to a different dimension. Shit I have to get Mel, Ben, and Mike out of here too. The pod opposite him was massive, easily double the size of his own. A huge figure was outlined inside. No points for guessing which pod Mel is in. If Alex could wake Mel up, she could overpower John, and then they could make their getaway.

Alex realised that he had been just standing silently in the pile of yellow fluid for longer than he had intended. In that time John hadn’t moved nor said anything. He was just standing there with his tacky flamingo shirt, giving Alex what was clearly intended to be a reassuring smile. Their eyes met and John took that as a cue to break the silence

“What is wrong with my attire?” The slender man asked.

“What the hell kind of question is that?” Alex replied, indignant.

“Several times now you have had thoughts that have indicated that the manner in which I am dressed is in some way offensive. I do not understand why.” John queried in a curious tone.

“I mean… have you even looked in a mirror?” Alex replied, hesitantly. Then he realised the implications of what John had just said. “Wait… stop reading my fucking mind.” Alex yelled.

Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Alex repeated the thoughts in his mind as loudly as he could.

“I would appreciate it if you stopped doing that. As a powerful mind mage my telepathy is a part of me, and it is extremely sensitive. If you don’t want me to hear your thoughts, then stop broadcasting them so loudly.” John said. Alex shoved his hands over his ears and continued to chant in his mind as loudly as he could.

“That is just childish Alex. You can’t hurt me, and you have no chance against me in a battle of the minds. Regain your composure. Your teammates are hatching." The words echoed inside Alex’s mind, for a moment Alex experienced the most intense migraine of his life. The pain lasted less than a heartbeat, but the intensity of it shocked him into silence.