what on earth have I gotten myself into? I can't make heads of tails of what is happening.

My new 'master'... Is she insane? Did she set this up herself? A prank show?

...

"I hope that has put all of your worries and questions to res-"

"HELL NO!"

A large, stout man in one of the front rows rocketed out of his seat at the butlers words.

"What on earth was that? Is this a joke? You come to me in a Dream and you tell me I'll be taken in thirty days, and then you bring me here to watch this fucking nonsense? I'd be in my right mind to smack you upside the head for making me so worried the past month."

What on earth was this gentleman talking about?

"Excuse me."

My master spoke up, rising gently out of her seat to face the butler.

"If you wouldn't mind Sir, I do have a few questions."

"Of course Dr. Everton, ask away."

"It was a great presentation by the way. I'm just wondering, if this world, The Morrow, as it was called, is so nice, why did you give us these coins which you told us to prepare with?"

"Excellent question, Dr. Everton."

The butler cracked a tiny smile, the first emotion I'd seen him show.

"Great One Janson, though his ambitions were pure, overlooked one major flaw when creating the world of The Morrow. It was his greatest trait, and also his ultimate downfall."

"He gave you mortals a lot more credit than you are due."

"He believed you peaceful creatures, and you proved him wrong."

"It didn't take a week for war to break out between the species. And quite frankly if you went as you are now, you would die. So I allowed you a small gift, so that you may have somewhat of a chance of survival."

"Somewhat of a chance?"

"Yes. Even with the amount of coins you were afforded, you will still struggle to make it out alive."

"And if I refuse to go?"

"Death."

"Understood. Another question if I may. Why were we given different types of coins?"

"Another good question. Depending on how I judged you, I offered you different tiers of coins, including different amounts. For example, Miss Jaina here."

He gestured towards a small, bob-haired woman in the front, her group being the largest of all groups here.

"Miss Jaina brought 7 guests, the largest group here, but other than her own coin, all of her guests have Copper coins, the lowest grade."

Miss Jaina chortled at that remark, obviously not happy with his words.

"A Copper coin allows you the barest of gifts. A Bronze coin allows you a comfortable amount, enough for you to be comfortable. Silver, you have a head start on the competition, enough to put you at the head of the pack. There are other coins, but none of you here today have earned that right, so speaking of it would only waste time. Speaking of the Coins, if you would each take yours out."

Dr. Everton bowed towards the man and took her seat, gesturing for us all to take out our coins.

"If you would give them a little flip for me please."

One by one we all did it, giving our coins a little flip into the air as if we were playing heads or tails. What happened astounded me. My coin spun, and before I knew it, defied gravity and spun in space, changing before my eyes into a small corded bag.

This was outside the realm of possibility. The odds of this being a well constructed prank just dropped drastically. What had just been a normal coin had transformed withing my vision.

Hallucigens? Impossible, when were we dosed? Group hysteria? Possible but extremely unlikely. All of my vitals were normal, no sign of interference. Have I completely lost my mind, because that seems to be the most likely scenario right now.

After we had all flipped our coins and received our bags, the butler took centre stage once more and clapped for our attention.

"By all means, please accept the gifts within your bags."

I reached inside the comically small copper bag I had received, and managed to only fit a single finger inside. It was probably 5 centimetres top to tail. To my dismay the only thing inside the bag was a single sheet of folded paper. I turned around just in time to see Dr. Everton and her bodyguards take out multiple items each from their bags.

It's really going to be like that, huh? Out of the corner of my eye I even saw one of Miss Jaina's copper coin holding guests pull a small pocket knife out of his bag.

Dr. Everton's corded bag was the size of a small backpack, and from her expression I could clearly tell that the contents weighed a fair amount.

She picked around inside her bag but never brought anything out of it. From the brief stint I had with her I had learned that she was a very cautious and forward thinking individual, she was probably wary of showing us the items she had received just as much as she was of showing the other groups gathered. She trusted no one present, not even her slavebound bodyguards.

A smart choice, I had to admit. The chip embedded forced me into a tight corridor of possible behaviours, but it wasn't omnipresent. From the two years I had been embedded with it, I had managed to deduce allowed and unallowed behaviours, and each job I was sent on allowed me more and more opportunities to finally find a situation in which I could free myself of this life.

Originally, I did it all just for the chance at ending The Father's life, but the perfect opportunity had presented itself not a few hours ago, and though I acted to the best of my ability, and as quick as I could, I only managed to glance him with the tip of the blade I had hid inside my boot.

Honestly? It was something I had prepared for. I knew any injuries I inflicted on him would be extremely unlikely to be fatal, so I aimed to simply hurt him as much as I possibly could, hence the serrated blade. I bet it hurt like a bitch when it ripped out of him, not that he gave it away at all. It wasn't a hundredth of what that bastard deserved. I had aimed for his femoral artery, but a small change in his posture had settled my knife not an inch to the left of it.

Make no mistake. I'd slip my chains one day, and hunt him to the end of the earths if I had to.

Unfolding the slip of paper, I almost coughed from exasperation.

'Deal with the Devil: Allows you to contract a Daemon, of which you will make one (1) single deal. The deal will be no less than four times favoured towards the Daemon. Tear the paper in order to redeem your gift. Property of Thirteen.'

Psht!? Gift? Hardly. Other than my curiosity at just what a Daemon was, this so-called gift seemed useless. I am allowed to make a deal with... Whatever a Daemon is, so long as whatever I gave is four times more expensive than what I would receive. Daylight robbery. What on earth would that be useful for? I had to give four pounds of gold to get a pound of gold in return.

"Seven, Thirteen, show me what you got."

I turned to face her, paper slip in hand and noticed that Seven hadn't received his bag. He hadn't even removed his coin.

"I am more impressed with you by the second, Seven."

Dr. Everton smiled voraciously towards the older assassin, whose unchanging demeanour was really starting to grind my gears. She shot me a dissatisfied glare but took my paper nonetheless. She flipped Seven's coin twice before coming to the conclusion that nothing was going to happen, though she surprisingly seemed more happy than disappointed at this fact.

"So our items are ours and ours only it seems. I wonder how that mechanism works..."

Her smile only grew wider.

"Seven, if you would."

Seven took the coin and flipped it, returning the bag he got straight back to Dr. Evertons upon receiving it. She was somewhat taken aback by how small the pouch she received was, but nonetheless retrieved a paper slip from inside, identical to the one I had gotten.

"Gunthers Boasting. Increase the efficacy of an item by a set amount of 1.5x. Haha, decent. Much better than Thirteen's at least, no offence. Here, use it for anything you deem necessary."

She passed Seven's slip of paper back to him, seemingly unimpressed with both of our gifts. Seven immediately ripped the paper, and after a second of staring in to empty space, touched his belt. The belt itself rippled, a single wave emanating throughout the leather before it came to a stop, seemingly unchanged from before.

The change seemed to be music to Dr. Evertons ears, and she gave it a few touches before retreating into her thoughts, still going over her own and her bodyguards gifts.

"No doubt you are all over the moon with the gifts you have received."

No. Not really Mr. Butler.

"Now that the gift ceremony has been concluded, if you would all make your way to the stage."

He ushered us on stage, our positions matching those that we had when we were seated.

"Wif all due respect, Mr. Butler, 'Av got questions."

Taking a note out of Dr. Everton's book, the moustached man spoke cordially towards the butler, which seemed to be the best way to get your questions answered. The burly man who had an outburst from before was still puffing and panting, but he and his two similarly burly guests' queries had fallen on deaf ears. The butler seemingly intent on dodging his questions.

I myself had a hundred questions I wanted to ask, but I had no doubt if I spoke out of turn that the chip would send me to the floor in a cacophony of pain.

"And with all due respect to you too, Mr. Morton, but I believe all the questions you have will soon be answered."

A look of confusion came over everyone present.

"You see, the world of The Morrow is considerably higher in the food chain than your own world. If we were to send you there as you are now, your bodies would crumble under the pressure alone, say naught of surviving the local fauna."

"These gifts of yours are not for the The Morrow, but are for surviving The Beginnings. The Beginnings being what we call the enviroment between The Morrow and your own world. Mr. Morton, you are familiar with diving, correct?"

The butler cocked an eyebrow and surveyed our group.

"Watcha mean? Like underwater 'divin?"

Mr. Morton asked quizzically.

"Precisely."

"Well, am 'supposin you already know the answers to that, 'aintcha."

The butler only grinned weakly in response.

"So you will be aware of the necessity of a hyperbaric chamber. That is, for those of you unaware, a sealed area where divers sit upon returning from high-pressure waters, so that they don't suffer from decompression sickness. The Beginnings operates much the same. It gradually prepares you for the atmosphere of The Morrow so that you do not immediately succumb. If you survive, you may even find yourself not immediately dying upon entering The Morrow. How fortuitous, right?"

"Fear not, as you enter The Beginnings, you will come to know all that it is you need."

"And when and how do we travel to this 'The Beginnings'?"

Miss Jaina asked, seemingly only half content with his explanation.

"No time like the present, Miss Jaina."

"What does tha-"

And along with a searing headache, the world went white. Only the sound of overbearing static to accompany me.