Alex had managed to get a grip on himself before his teammates fell out of their artificial wombs. Each time the process was no less disturbing, he rubbed his throat at the memory of all that disgusting yellow fluid coming out of it. Mel awoke first, her giant frame crashing out of her flesh sack. He could have sworn the ground shook as she fell to her knees on the hard stone floor. Before Mel had time to get her bearings, Ben and Mike hatched in quick succession. Their pods each squelching open to spew them onto the floor.

With all four of them awake and together Alex took the time to size up his unfortunate companions. As they struggled to get their bearings, they each demanded to know what was going on. John’s story was absurd, but it remained consistent. Each of them reacted differently. Mel and Ben had joined together for an awkward hug. This was a delicate manoeuvre; Mel’s massive form looked more than capable of accidentally crushing Ben. Ben had chosen to play a Mitran, a frail, but magically augmented race originated from humans. He looks a lot like an elf, all he is missing is pointy ears. Alex thought as they broke their embrace.

Ben and Mike had changed in appearance the least, both having modelled their characters after themselves. Ben looked like a dainty version of himself, looking leaner, and having slender, elongated fingers. Mike had chosen to play a human, reasoning that their bonus to faith would mesh well with the hammer wielding warrior priest he wanted to play. As a result, Mike looked more or less identical to his old self, minus the potbelly he had previously possessed.

The circular room they found themselves in was adorned with several large mirrors as well as rows of shelves filled with scrolls. As well as sizing up his companions Alex took the chance to better examine himself. He noted with dismay that unlike Ben or Mike he didn’t recognise himself in the slightest. I look like some kind of human-monkey hybrid… I’ve even got a bloody tail. Both Ben and Mike towered over him, but Mel could probably kill him by sneezing in his general direction. Alex wouldn’t want to get on her bad side. She was a nine-foot-tall muscle-bound killing machine. Her body was a creation of the god of war, Telman. His followers often offered up their new-born children as chosen warriors. They were taken into his temples under the care of his priests. The monstrous men and women who emerged were known as Telmyrans.

John stopped talking and held off further questions by digging out some clothes for them to wear. He handed each of them a tunic that came down to their knees. It was made of a rough material and was a dull green colour. Regardless of how comfortable the cloth was they dressed quickly, with their eyes averted from one another. The exception to this was Mike who instead took a swing at John when he came close, but his fist was stopped by an unseen force before it made contact.

“Damn you John! Send me back now!” Mike demanded. The veins in his neck bulged, and his arm trembled, but his fist didn’t move forwards an inch.

“As I just explained, I can’t send you back. ‘You’ are not Mike. A couple of months have passed since Mike met John. Mike is currently asleep in his bed with his wife. For Mike, the warrior priest Vitalus, and the entire world of Onnari are fading into forgotten memories. Unfortunately, after one enjoyable night gaming at John’s house, he got a message from John that ‘something had come up’, and that he couldn’t host any future games. “John calmly explained.

Alex had got his emotions somewhat under control at this point, but he still shot John a sideways glance. Great. The nut job has started talking about himself in the third person. Perhaps others in the group had similar thoughts because John turned from Mike to address the whole group.

“I say John’s house because I am not John. I have never physically set foot on Earth, and neither have any of you.” John but not John said.

“Who the hell are you then?” Alex asked.

“You can call me Zed. My full name would be exceedingly difficult for any of you to pronounce; your language uses far fewer zed sounds than mine.” Zed replied.

Mel and Ben watched Zed as he talked, Mel held Ben’s delicate hand in hers.

“What do you want? This is some crazy shit. We came for a game and drinks, not whatever this crap is.” Mel asked, her voice rumbled much deeper than Alex remembered.

“I don’t require much more from you, truth be told. You are test group seven. I’d like to examine how well you adjust to your new bodies for future calibration, but then you are free to go. My preliminary data shows an average 92.3% cerebral transfer. I think this is sufficient to progress to targets of greater value.” Zed explained.

“Greater value… Fuck you Zed. Shove your tests where the sun doesn’t shine.” Alex shouted, clenching his six fingered fists.

“I mean no offence Alex. Your human template, whilst nothing exceptional, had an above average intellect for his species. However, you offer me no tangible strategic value. What is the expression… you are no rocket scientist. The humans of your world have developed some truly impressive technology. I seek the minds that could recreate it.” Zed replied, giving Alex the same impassive smile he had worn since he had appeared.

Alex fumed silently trying to come up with a retort, though he paled a little while considering what technology Zed might be after. Ben used the lull in conversation to interject.

“Zed you speak about humans like something separate to you. Does that mean you aren’t one of us?” Ben asked. His head was slightly tilted, and his eyes narrowed as he looked at Zed appraisingly.

“Correct, I am not a human.” John replied nonchalantly.

“What are you then?” Ben asked, narrowing his eyes to squint as if that would reveal the truth.

“My species has no name in English as we do not exist on Earth. I suppose we bear some resemblance to your Scyphoza.” John answered.

“Really? You’re telling us you’re a magic jellyfish?” Ben asked with raised eyebrows, after a long moment deep in thought. He smirked as he noted the slack jawed expressions Mike and Alex shot his way.

“What? Mel studied zoology as an undergrad. She used to use me as a test audience for her presentations.” He said as Mel stood there with a blank expression on her face.

“Remind me to pick your team on pub quiz night.” Mike muttered. For a moment, the friendly banter gave Alex the illusion of normalcy as the ghost of a smile touched their lips. Mel did not share in this brief moment of levity. She looked troubled. Her face was pulled into a frown, and her brow was furrowed in thought.

Zed ruined the moment by transforming into a giant floating jellyfish monster. Through his translucent skin Alex could see luminescent fluids in assorted colours pumping through his alien body. Each tentacle was about six feet long and was lined with small fibrous hooks. The tentacles danced below what Alex could only describe as a brain sac. Zed’s whole body floated in the air as if it were swimming through water. So, I’ve been kidnapped by a psychic jellyfish. I must be in another world because even in my craziest dreams I couldn’t think up something so insane.

Zed just floated in the air, bobbing up and down. It seemed like it was waiting for some kind of reaction.

“That’s awesome! How come you didn’t mention this race when we were making characters?” Ben asked with a grin.

“I presented to you races compatible with a human mind. My form would have been too much for your minds to adapt to.” Zed replied. His voice was unchanged, though how he was speaking at all with no obvious mouth was a mystery in of itself.

“Ah I get it. You must get some mad boosts to your mental stats though with a brain that huge. None of the races we could play with got much of a boost to memory or intellect." Ben said, stroking his chin with a calculating look.

Ben broke out of his thoughts with a yelp as he pulled his hand away from Mel. She had given Ben what had likely been intended as a light squeeze. Between her herculean strength and Ben’s physical frailty as a Mitran it sounded like something had cracked. Ignoring his obvious discomfort both Mike and Alex were giving him dark looks.

“What the hell Mel? What was that for?” Ben said, his hurt hand curled up in pain.

“I’m sorry hun, are you ok? I was just tryin’ to tell you to tone it down.” Mel replied in a worried tone as she tried to get a look at Ben’s hand.

“Yea, it hurts, but you didn’t break anything. Sorry, I didn’t mean to geek out, but isn’t it kind of cool? We are basically inside a game with magic and monsters. I’m guessing it’s my racial bonuses, but I feel… smarter. It’s like I was drunk before, and now my thoughts are faster, my memories clearer.” Ben answered, massaging his hand.

Alex found himself looking at his hairy, six fingered hands once again.

“Sounds like you got a better deal than me mate. I’m stuck as this crappy monkey thing. I picked the perfect game to make a joke character.” Alex said bitterly.

“You are a… Coedan right? I only glanced at that one, because it honestly looked a bit terrible for combat, but I somehow remember it anyway. Must be because of my mentals because I normally have a crap memory. Let’s see… being a Coedan gives you low strength, fortitude, mana and essence…” Ben said.

“Thanks, this is really making me feel better.” Alex said sarcastically.

Ben smirked in amusement, then began stroking his chin.

“It’s not all bad. You get good dex, that fits well with the rogue like thief you said you were going for, right? You might die in one hit, but with a dexterity like that your dodge is going to be pretty high. Your soul stats aren’t all bad, you get a bonus to faith, and your essence isn't that bad. Having a low essence doesn't really seem like it will make an enormous difference anyway.” Ben explained.

“Why wouldn’t it? What does essence do?” Alex asked hopefully.

Ben raised an eyebrow, his smug smile deepening.

“Didn’t you read the pdf Zed sent us?” Ben asked.

“I skimmed through it on the bus. It was 200 something pages, and I had a busy week at work.” Alex replied sheepishly.

“It was pretty dense to be honest. My understanding is that essence is like experience points. You can spend it to gain abilities or save it up to level your stats. I didn’t see many downsides to having a low value. The natural regen is crazy slow anyway which is why I think it doesn’t really matter. You can push it past its natural limits by killing stuff and taking their residual essence; that’s like the echo of all the essence they had before they died.” Ben explained.

Alex thought about the implications of what Ben had said. Having low essence might mean that people ignore me in a fight, because they will assume I’m worth nothing. Alex let out a long sigh. He still thought that he had screwed himself over by picking such a weak race. Playing a little monkey thief had seemed like a fun idea when this was all a game. He wasn’t sure if any of this was real or not, but he didn’t want to find out what happened when he died.

Mel and Mike had kept quiet while Alex and Ben talked. Mel broke their silence with her voice rumbling like rolling boulders.

“Hun, do you remember my build? I felt ok when I woke up, confused, but I didn’t feel that different. Now though, I can tell that stuff is… missing. My memories are fuzzy and thinking straight is like walking through cobwebs." She said, sounding panicked.

In answer to Mel’s question Zed decided to remind everyone that he was in the room, as if forgetting a giant floating jellyfish was possible. He pulsed purple, giving off a flash of light. Maybe that's how he clears his throat.

“Perhaps I could help. As I mentioned earlier, I would like to assess how well you adjust to your new bodies for future calibrations. As I understand it mental constructs are a common service provided by human psychics. Your constructs should be able to show you your ‘builds’.”

In the empty space in front of Alex’s eyes a miniature Zed appeared in mid-air. It pulsed blue as its tentacles danced beneath it.

“Hello Alex, would you like to see your character sheet?” Mini-Zed asked.