Dr. Mendez and Stephen pull up to the curb at the sport where the anomaly occurred. Police lights flashed ahead of them, and the road had been taped off. If traffic were a thing, there would have been cars backed up for miles. Currently, no one could afford a vehicle. The conversion away from fossil fuels was just too expense for most people. There were massive piles of vehicles left in the wilds after the cities had abandoned them. Very few ever made it onto the streets again after the cataclysm.

Thankfully, researchers, police, and the elite managed to obtain a few through their vigorous efforts. Only the government managed to have any sort of higher technology, such as flight-capable vehicles. Without that, international politics and collaboration would have been a thing of the past. Even with the modern version of the internet, little got done virtually. There was till something to be said for a handshake and a nod.

Climbing out of the vehicle, Dr. Mendez and Stephen approached the police barricade. To their surprise, a body remained tangled in the lamp post. That person was quite obviously dead. Had the anomaly been caused by that person? Did they witness it? Was it something else? All sorts of theories immediate flooded their minds.

“Hey! You! Step back, please!” A young officer was keeping away anyone that could potentially interfere in their investigation.

Dr. Mendez scowled and pulled out a badge. There were very few people who could interfere with an official researcher. It was tantamount to an unspoken crime against humanity.

The officer hurriedly apologized, “Sorry, sir! Of course, you can come in!” He lifted the tape to let them enter.

The stepped under the tape and proceeded towards the other officer. He was currently speaking to a man in a trench coat. The man turned around and saw them approaching, “Hey! Who…” The doctor didn’t let him finish and just showed his ID again. “…Ah. That figures. The first interesting case in a while and the power department shows up.” He shook his head and sighed heavily, “What can I do for you?”

Dr. Mendez smirked, “We’re investigating a power variance in the area. Can you tell me what happened here?”

“Yeah, this fool on the wall made a mess. He somehow blew himself up without an explosive and impaled himself with his own knife. Honestly, I can’t make heads nor tails of it. It’s the d$%^est thing I’ve ever seen!” The detective shook his head and shrugged.

Dr. Mendez raised an eyebrow? No explosive? Hmm. His eyes lit up, “Stephen, get the spectrometer now!”

Stephen rushed back to the van to gather their gear. While he was gone, Dr. Mendez examined the body. After a few moments, he turned and looked across the street. “Detective! Did you check the alley over there?”

The detective raised an eyebrow, “No? Why would we check there? A blast that size? It’d have destroyed all the buildings.”

Dr. Mendez grunted, “Typical. No imagination. Stephen! Hurry up!”

Stephen rushed back, “Yes, doctor! Did you find anything?”

“Bring the gear and follow me. You too, detective. Maybe you’ll learn something.” Dr. Mendez spoke respectful words, but the way they were said indicated that he felt the detective was similar to a mucky puddle that he’d been forced to step in.

They all went into the alley together. Dr. Mendez immediately grabbed a small handheld device. It made beeping and chirping sounds as he swung it around in different direction, “Yes… yes! That’s it. Here!”

The detective and Stephen looked around. It was an alley. They couldn’t see anything odd.

“Stephen, look at this!” He tossed the device to Stephen.

Stephen grabbed the device and swung it around. His eyes grew wide, “That’s not possible! Incredible!”

The detective had enough, “@#%ing say it already! What did you find?”

The doctor and assistant grinned at each other. Stephen smirked, “We found nothing.”

“What?!” The detective’s blood pressure began rising. He could feel a headache coming on.

“…to be more precise. We found nothing where there should be something.” Stephen and Dr. Mendez were enjoying this quite a bit.

The detective’s eyelid twitched, “Out with it. What the %*^# is that supposed to mean?”

Dr. Mendez grinned and explained, “All around us, all the time, there is an ambient energy. That energy has permeated the atmosphere of the entire planet. Every breath you take, all the food you eat, the water, buildings, all of it is permeated by this residual energy!”

The detective nodded. That was standard knowledge.

“Except here!” The doctor looked blatantly thrilled as he dropped this bomb.

“Wait. What!?” The detective’s eyes widened, “That isn’t possible!”

The doctor was now smiling from ear to ear, “Indeed! It wasn’t, but now it is!”

“So… what happened?” The detective looked mystified.

“I. Have. No. Idea!” The doctor burst out laughing with sheer glee, “But I will! Indeed, I will!

“Expand the cordon! I want an entire three block radius thoroughly searched for anything odd, no matter how insignificant! Search every building, street, and alley! Oh, and the sewers too! Search it all! Stephen, wake up the director. Tell him I want a full team of twenty over here immediately. If he asks why, tell him we’ve found something that could change the world!”

---

Gareth’s legs finally stopped aching and he stood up. ‘Alright. Now that the cramping is over with, let’s continue the quest!’

The arrow stayed visible in the same position while he had been resting. Gareth stood and proceeded again down the path following the arrow. Suddenly he stopped, he was surprised, but he had forgotten to check the updated quest. While he walked, he glanced at the quest.

Quests:

Retrieve a second energy particle mass from Dawnstone Park (5/7) Step 1: Travel to Dawnstone Park. (Completed) Step 2: Surveillance has been detected near the exit of the alley. While avoiding surveillance, cross the street and jump down onto the walking trail. (Completed) Step 3: Surveillance has been evaded. Proceed down the walking trail to the park. (Completed) Step 4: Defeat the crazed squirrel. (Complete) Step 5: Absorb the energy essence from the defeated monster. (Complete) Step 6: Follow the arrow to the next location. Step 7: Unavailable until step 6 is complete.

Reward:

Obtain one additional bioenergy integration and related skill. One-time first-quest bonus: 1800 PPH

‘Oh!’ Gareth was surprised, apparently he had completed two steps!

*Yes, indeed! Step six was just was completed. Normally, you’ll have to manually exercise your will to draw the essence towards you in situations such as this. It’s a bit little tiring, and takes lots of focus- especially at your level. In this case, though, I decided to save you the effort. I hope you don’t mind!*

Gareth grinned, ‘That’s not a problem, DEE! In fact, can you just do that all the time?’

*Are you sure? I can, but as you’ve seen, there can be some mild side effects. If I do it, there may not always be time to let you know about those before hand?*

Gareth thought about it. The side-effects really weren’t too serious? ‘DEE, can you only do that if there isn’t any immediate threat? I don’t want to get blindsided, but it’d be good to save my stamina as much as possible.’

*Certainly! I’ve noted your preferences. I’ll do that from now on!*

In the distance, Gareth saw a vague green circle covering an area near a raised fountain. In the middle of the circle there was a brightly glowing purple mass next to the fountain’s edge. It was about the size of a basketball and hovered at chest height. It was quite threatening and alien in appearance. ‘DEE! What is that thing?’

*Don’t be worried. That’s just a visual representation of an energy particle!*

“That thing is an energy PARTICLE?!” Gareth said out loud in shock. He glanced around hurriedly in all directions. ‘Wait, you said a representation, right?’ He relaxed a bit, it couldn’t be to scale after all.

*Indeed! It’s a perfect visualization of the actual energy particle!*

‘To scale?’ Gareth could have sworn his eyebrow just twitched.

*Of course!*

“Why is it so… big?” Gareth whispered.

*Oh! That’s normal, don’t worry about it. There is a slight difference in scale between our dimensions.*

Gareth raised an eyebrow, ‘What do you mean by “slight”?’

*Approximately 1:100394620000000000000000000000000*

Gareth zoned out about half of the way through all of the zero. ‘Umm… DEE, can you simplify that for me?’

*Certainly! That’s an atom in our dimension! Thus my word choice of an energy “particle”!*

Gareth’s jaw dropped, ‘That thing is an atom? As in five million million of those fit on the head of a pin in your universe?’

*Yup!*

‘That’s a big pin.’ Gareth couldn’t think of anything else to say. [Author note: That means their pin heads were approximately 3.75 billion kilometers across.]

After a moment of silence, Gareth thought of another question, ‘DEE? How big are you?’

DEE laughed, *Ha- ha-. That is a complicated question. In dimensions, I’m actually no bigger than you are… sort of? There is something about my integrated particles and the interdimensional mathematics that results a reconfiguration or a quantum folding of sorts? I’m not really certain about the details. Math was never my strong suit. All I know is that it works.*

Gareth was both slightly relieved and mildly freaked out at the thought of math beyond the knowledge of the transdimensional hyper-intelligent symbiote in his head. He took a calming breath, ‘Ok, so what do I need to do here?’

*That’s simple, just walk over and touch it! I’ll take care of the rest!*

‘Ok, I guess? Here goes nothing!’ Without further mental debate, he walked over, reached out his hand, and touched the particle.

All of a sudden everything went white. It was like a camera flash went off a centimeter away from his eyes. Gareth couldn’t tell if it was real or in his mind, but he could swear that he heard the crashing roar of thunder right next to him. This was followed by an extremely piercing ringing sound. After a few moments, the ringing and light began to fade. He stumbled to the side and promptly sat down in the grass next to the fountain.

‘… ….. ……. DEE?’

*Yes, Gareth?*

‘Ow.’

*Yes, Gareth.*