Eian woke up floating on comfy goodness, groggily rubbing darkness from his eyes.

Blinking he blindly passed his hands over his bedside cabinet as he got off his bed, a small yawn escaped him looking the small shoddy yet familiar accommodations.

Groggily he slowly sat on the edge of his bed and stretched his flip-phone was now on his hands, idly he scrolled over his old messages.

His small patchy sofa-bed had never felt so comfortable, in fact it felt heavenly anything was better than hard dirt.

Starting, foggy memories trickled down through his addled mind, he tried to fit each memory place.

Alex, Sarah, well...Jessica counted as well he supposed.

Immediately feeling terrible he remembered she died helping him, more memories faded in he remembered Alex was also dead and Sarah was most likely dead.

Jumping he fell out of his bed, he would have felt better if a car crashed into him.

'How'd I get home? MOM!' Eian felt a little better with the thought, he was back and he could go back to work and in a year or two he'd go to college.

"MOM!" Shooting up Eian reached for his door knob, to notice his body was weird.

Both his arms were there yet skinny, looking down he realized his abs were gone, replaced by familiar a slight curve of fat.

Feeling his cheeks he felt a bit more full, he'd be less surprised if someone stabbed him.

Body and mind felt disconnected, unfamiliar.

'A dream? That ...that was all a dream?' Mouth agape he struggled to process this, to understand what exactly he should be feeling and what strange emotions wormed inside him, none of it had felt like a dream.

If that was a dream, it was the most realistic dream he'd ever had, he could remember the immense pain from losing his arm, the hunger pangs of a body upgrade.

The details were far too vivid, most of the time he only had blurrish recollections after sleep, yet here he could remember the fur and teeth of wolves, the stench of the dead, even the sounds of the howling wind.

It couldn't all just be a dream...could it? He'd changed so much, what...how could he change so much from sleeping? It was unreal.

His team-mates weren't real...that how do you deal with that? They were real people, they felt like real people, he...how'd he get over the fact Alex, Sarah and Jessica were just figments of his mind?

Everything didn't make sense, for now he'd go check on his mom, a clear goal helped him cope, it distracted him.

Turning the knob he froze, he stood there looking at the exit for longer than he should have, there was a stone tunnel here, a cemented modernized tunnel, completely dissimilar to the cave tunnels he'd originally traversed in his dream.

This tunnel floor was paved and small light-bulbs illuminated the path forward and he could hear distant ringing from the tunnel.

Scratching his head Eian went through another roller-coaster of emotions till he settled nothing, light from his arm attracted his eyes, turning he realized all his tattoos were there, yet each glowed bright.

They had reset to their original, numbers, Body: 2, Mind:3 and Spirit:0, his jaw dropped, all that hard work...gone...what happened?

The ringing continued but he knew who was there, really it could only be one person, mentally shrugging Eian followed the ringing of steel on steel.

Soon he emerged into a wider space and found him there, swinging at an anvil without care with his back turned.

Dread and relief warred as he tried to settle on what to feel, everything was happening so fast.

"Ye made it." It was a statement, Ul kept swinging.

"...Yeah." Eian held his breathe, if he had to do some kind of crazy training right now Ul would wreck him, not that he didn't do that before either way.

Ul kept his back at Eian, honestly it was better that way in his opinion, he'd never noticed how far he'd advanced before until now.

He was weak, too weak and he'd been on the path to getting stronger, now he was weak again and it was honestly fucking depressing.

"So. It's over." Ul said simply as he stopped swinging and turned to face Eian.

Eian look directly at the Ul's eyes, fully armored he favored a little metal golem.

"What's over exactly? Why am I back to normal?" Eian hoped he wasn't about to be told he was going to the after life.

"...Hard te explain. S'long story. Gimme a min." Ul removed his helmet and looked...troubled.

Ul looked up and tapped his chin for a full minute.

"S'right. Hear, ye kno yer from a mortal plane different than I?" Ul tilted his head at Eian.

"...Yeah...the magic and you being a dwarf gave it away." Eian had to stop himself from rolling his eyes, last time he did that didn't end well from him.

"HA! Ye got it! The magic's the difference." Ul nodded satisfied.

"...What?" Eian raised an eyebrow, he'd lost track of this conversation somehow.

"All mortal planes start magic-less, wayyy back in the days we called 'em 'worlds', we were wrong." Ul pointed at him.

Eian frowned, he wondered where all this was going, at least Ul was beating a lesson into him this time.

"'S they grow older planes mature and 'magic' or rather new laws and pathways open up. Big problems come up though." Ul shrugged.

"...Problems?" Eian frowned and tried to keep his imagination from freaking him out, anything Ul considered a 'problem' was likely at least a horde of monstrous dragons.

"Yep. Fer one nether opens up. Communication 'n travel between 'worlds', er sorry plane's opens up. Wars happened. Countless, fer millennia. Eons." Ul nodded at him and looked up, he looked concerned, perhaps even haunted.

"...Fuck." Eian imagined legions of magical monsters like that demons rampaging across Earth, not the best thing to ever happen.

"Meh, thats for after ye survive the change." Ul shrugged.

"Change? The magic? What change, you mean this?" Eian pointed at his tattoo's.

"Nah. That's our gift." Ul shook his head in denial, and grumbled something under his breathe about cost.

"Gift?" Eian frowned, the implications of this begun to become clear as he connected some dots.

"Ye, the change o the world will be near impossible to survive for normals. So the boss man decided to ...sort of pull the mortal souls o yer plane and give 'em an upgrade. Ye get access to essence which will protect ye from Mutation." Ul stuck his tongue out at the last word.

"You brought me here!" Eian got angry, his body tensed, he didn't give a fuck, Alex, Sarah and Jessica died because of him!

Before he knew it he was on the ground panting, his chest contracted, he was weak.

He tried to get up, and Ul stepped on his hand, lightly, Eian knew because his hand wasn't broken.

"Listen first knuckle-head." Ul sounded exasperated.

"YOU'RE THE FUCKING REASON THEY'RE DEAD!" Eian growled out with the last of his air, and his hands turned to fists struggling to stay kneeling.

"...Fool." Ul's tone darkened, too late Eian realized his mistake.

Coughing, his lungs attempted to draw breathe, Eian tried to get up; only to be seized by the throat.

Ul lifted him up to his knees, his grip was steel.

"Yer friends 're fine." Ul stared him in the eye.

"...What?" Eian blinked.

"This here be a construct. Illusions, the world ye were in was too. No-one dies here. Least not from injuries." Ul pointed everywhere with a broad motion.

It took a while for that to sink in.

"So they're alive." Eian said dumbly.

"Aye. Ye 're too, some people go loopy and think they're dead tho'." Ul rolled his eyes.

Ul let go and gave Eian a moment to orient himself, as well as regain his balance, the oppressive atmosphere lessened.

It was so much information to take in at once, Eian continuously tried to wrap his head around his experience with...this new information.

"Alight. So what now." Eian frowned, he didn't like it, but there was nothing he could really do.

"I tell ya a few more things. Also an oracle wanted to have a word with ye' all." Ul paused and watched Eian.

Eian wondered what was up with that.

"Ye can also see yer team before ye return. If they's want te, of course." Ul nodded slowly.

"Oh." He should be happy, really, everyone was alive and well, but it was...awkward?

Overwhelming might be the correct emotion.

"'N'other hand, ye can choose te forget everything tha' happened. Ye'll keep the powers ye earned though." Ul looked troubled at the thought.

"Why would anyone do that?" Eian frowned, Ul already said they had to be ready for survival.

"...Folk do bad things, some snap, others... a'times ye get a few folk who broke bad. Broken folk need mending, they's stacked essence so even if they's d'know how te use it, it prevents mutation." Ul shrugged.

"Oh." Eian winced, he could imagine all sorts of bad things people did to one another, he knew a few gang members, one in particular came to mind.

If he'd actually spent some time thinking he might have reached that conclusion naturally, but he felt justified by the fact he was mentally exhausted, as well as confused.

Ul's eyes locked on to his, which was an accomplishment as Eian eclipsed him by over a foot.

"So?" Ul demanded, eyes sharp.

"Huh?" Eian blinked out of his thoughts.

"Will ye forget 'r no? Got te ask." Ul stood stotic.

"No." Eian responded immediately.

All those hours spent beaten, broken and bleeding, learning to fight, to use his powers and to overcome his obstacles, it would all be worthless if he forgot.

At his answer Ul closed his eyes as a slow breathe eased out of him.

"Good. Good. I'd hate fer all tha' work te be fer nothin'." Ul snapped open his eyes and a small smile emerged.

"When can I see the others?" Eian heaved a sigh, he'd gone from life and death battle to a game-like tutorial, the feeling was a strange mix of relief, disbelief, anger and surprisingly apathy.

"Not so fast kid, I got a few more things te tell ye." Ul nodded.

"....Like?" Eian tried to hold in his growing exasperation.

"'Bout yer abilities." Ul scratched his head.

"What about them?" Eian focused.

"Yer not actually limited to those I taught ye." Ul looked sheepish.

"....Okay? What does that even mean?" Eian frowned.

"Have ye tried using other types of spirit attacks? Earth spells?" Ul raised an eyebrow.

"...." Eian opened his mouth and shut it closed.

"With yer actual element ye can use a lot of different spells, s'long as ye have a proper image associated." Ul.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier!" Eian growled, frustrated.

"Easy." A flash of irritation crossed Ul's face.

Ul's narrowed eye's scrutinized Eian as he stewed in silence, Ul's face carefully went neutral and a shudder ran through Eian, his mouth felt a bit dry.

"Goal's to adapt ye te survival. Better head's than I say tha's easier when ye teach piece-piece. Real slow like. Fewer spells an' more expertise." Ul.

"...That's a whole load of bulls....crap." Eian frowned as he bit off the last word, Ul shrugged.

"Other reasons too. Yer spirit's weak. Crazy usings'll harm ye, sure as day. Back in the motherland, Real Training don't start till ten spirit an' ten body." Ul casually walked over to his anvil.

Speaking of numbers, Eian remembered Ul hadn't actually answered his previous question.

"Why am I back to normal? I worked hard for that." Eian hated sounding like a little kid, but he felt it was justified.

"Adaptation....." Ul spoke dismissively staring at the finished product of his anvil and mumbled something under his breathe.

Taking a deep breathe Eian tried to keep his frustration from boiling over, Ul's answer didn't answer anything.

"What. do. you. mean?" He bit out the words in small measure to not sound angry.

"Yer slow, I told ye already, this here's all fake, illusions an' souls. Yer body's back home, same as always. Essence'll enter wit' yer soul. Changes'll happen then, slowly." Ul explained.

"...I have to go through all that again?" Eian felt he paled significantly as the implications registered.

"Yep. Yer choices'll remain the same. Nothin fer it. Make sure ye eat lots." Ul shrugged dismissively.

'Fucking bullshit...' Eian dreaded returning.

"Movin' on, yer nobody important right?" Ul briefly turned to look at him.

"What?" Eian jerked as if slapped.

"Ye a king? Noble? Chieftain? Warlord? Really rich guy? Anyone important?" Ul's gaze was intense.

"No..." Eian frowned, was Ul insulting him?

"Great, then I won't bother with 'politics'. Bah." Ul spat out the last two words distastefully.

"Politics?" Eian raised his eyebrows, mostly because he didn't know what else to do.

"I know, I know, terrible, learned a tad bit at my age." Ul shrugged, he pinched two fingers so much they were practically touching.

Eian scratched his neck, what could he say to that.

"Oh yea. I almost forget, keep yer eyes wide for the rising dead. They'll stink up the place. Burn 'em bones or grind 'em to dust." Ul blurted and wrinkled his nose.

"What?! Zombies?" Eian remembered the horde.

"Un-dead, walking dead, living dead, zombies. Whatever ye want to call 'em, fancy people call 'em cadavers. Death energies been stewin' in yer plane too long, once magic pops up it'll be like a dam broke. S' Usually bad fer a year or two. The elements might cause a few natural disasters too, all part o the plane growing up." Ul shrugged, Eian had to remind himself anything Ul considered bad was probably world ending.

"...Do you have any good news?" Eian frowned, he hoped it wouldn't be as bad as he was imagining it.

"Not really. This here's all to boost yer chances." Ul shrugged and inspected the dagger he'd just made.

"Can't you just send help or something?" Eian was not looking forward to battling monsters for the next two years.

"Sure. Nether's a bit unstable at first though, souls pass easy, physical stuff might get lost somewhere. Dragon's cache expensive too, an' the boss's got lot's of other things on his hands, which means I have lots of stuff on my hands. It's a wide open world out here." Ul smirked like he just said a funny joke.

"Fuck. So you're just leaving us to deal with everything?" Eian grew agitated, everything he knew was about to be upended.

Silence stretched.

"Kid." Ul turned to Eian, serious.

Eian froze, he wasn't about to get his ass handed to him, was he?

"I ain't yer nanny. We help cause WE think ye deserve a chance at life, this here costs more than a mountain o' diamond standards te do. Not te mention my time n hard work te teach ye. If ye ain't ready to take the reins and survive; then yer wasting the chance WE paid for. 'S all free and voluntary." Ul frowned and definitely look pissed.

Eian mumbled out something that could pass as an apology; to someone whom was dead, deaf and didn't care either way.

Ul kept banging away at the anvil, he'd started a new project, Eian tried to find some way to get his foot out of his mouth.

Unaccustomed to discussion Eian remained silent, focusing he watched as Ul worked, deft hands moved and hammered at metal, even to his untrained eyes Eian could tell Ul measured each blow, the amount of focus he placed upon the forge even as he dipped the unfinished product in molten metal.

Fascinated, he watched on as Ul extracted the heated metal and applied his full attention to it, time flew and before he knew it Eian realized it was a simple axe-head.

"Last things kid." Ul threw the axe-head in a bin not far, it was almost completely full.

Ul gave Eian his full attention so he tried to render these words into his mind.

"Ye won't be getting more upgrade dreams. So no more lessons with me." Ul lifted a hand to stop any questions Eian might have asked.

Hand open Ul watched Eian before continuing.

"It's always so. We just render some help an' let ye all figure it out. Yer world's a bit odd. Chances 're good ye'll adapt an' join either the neutral worlds, 'r assist the battlefront, yet there's a bitty chance yer invaded or worse case blow yerself up." Ul frowned.

"Invaded by who?" Eian wasn't liking this one bit.

"Conqueror's. That's what we call 'em. They're pretty much the big bad guys...of pretty much everywhere. They go round and take over planes and use 'em te breed armies fer their wars." Ul sighed.

"How..." Eian couldn't articulate anything else.

"If ye want te get stronger ye'll have te use resources in yer own world, anything ye kill'll make ye stronger, at least till ye hit yer racial limit. Remember my full name right? Ul'Falar of clan Il'ksro. Ye'll find me usually in the nexus world labeled Gia'Taurus." Ul shrugged.

Eian made sure to repeat that in his head many times.

Ul'Falar, clan Ilksro. Gia. Taurus, he tried the words, it was a little tongue twisty.

"I'll warn ye now, every person ye kill'll have a negative impact on ye. Yer absorbing their essence, if ye kill too many too fast that kind of power 's easy to feel. It was designed that way. S' a way te discourage wanton slaughter. S' recommended te kill beasts an' the like. Monsters basically, they'll give less, but ye won't go raving mad." Ul looked stoic.

"...Murdering people can make others stronger?" To Eian the world suddenly seemed vastly more dangerous, again if he'd spent some time thinking he figured he might have come to that conclusion.

Ul didn't answer him, which was an answer in an of itself.

"A bit later, once things settle down, boss man'll make contact. That's all ye really need te know." Ul stoked his beard.

"What kind of contact?" Eian hoped it was help.

"Political." Ul said disdainfully.

"That doesn't explain anything." Eian grumbled.

"Travel between planes'll be made easier, treaties, trade, that kind of stuff's the most tangible." Ul shrugged.

Eian sighed, it was too much to expect militaristic help he supposed.

"Now. Yer the last te arrive, I'd like te give ye more trainin' but let's brush up on an old one ye probably forgot te use." UL shrugged.

"What?" Eian frowned.

"Eyes o earth. I taught ye it a while back, ye probably didn't pay it mind as ye were learning something else too. It lets ye sense movin' things on the earth." Ul smirked.

Straining his memory Eian scrounged up something he thought might have been that lesson.

"I'll teach ye te meditate and stock up energy too. Let's begin." Ul grabbed his helmet and put it back on.

Eian hoped this wouldn't be painful.

Shaking his head he sighed, whom was he kidding?