I’m starting to grow concerned about how much I black out these days..

My eyes peeled open and I stared up at the infinite expanse of swirling cyan, azure and black lights, just casually living out whatever existence they had.

Back in the garden. No disturbing illusion realms. Yay.

The moment I moved, a pulse of pain shot through my neck and skull.

Ugh-OW...that doesn't feel good at all.

I would see a doctor about it, but something told me the local health practitioners were probably not around.

Sitting up, I looked around and there was still no sign of her.

But I’m not one to dwell on things I can’t change, I mean, what is the point? Will kicking and screaming like a toddler change anything or will it just waste my time and energy.

Is this what going insane feels like?

Of course I miss her greatly, during the long few months my imaginary friend had appeared, she’d been nothing other than helpful, kind and affectionate.

But I don’t have time to grieve. She wouldn’t want that and let's get real here, it was all in my mind anyways..

Getting up, I moved over to the maelstrom.

No. I just need to continue and…

I stopped, my jaw dropped as I stared into the circular portal.

“Holy-”

GODUYNE

STRY.KYR - MAGN.32.862

HP 360 / 435

MP 120 / 467

EP 50%

DS 100%

SWRD 37

SHLD 36

FTHR 46

GLYP 46

7 + 5 bonus Attribute Points Available.

8 + 5 bonus Skill Points Available.

An absurd jump from 25 > 32.

Okay, I know the situation isn’t great right now but..

“HELL YES!” I cried out and fist pumped.

“HOOOOO-WEEEE! Ha ha!... Ok ok. That’s enough of that now. Ahem…..FUCK YEAH!!! OK. Ok, that was the last bit.”

I gathered myself and punched in some upgrades; 2 to SWRD, 2 to SHLD and 4 to FTHR and GLYP.

SWRD 39

SHLD 38

FTHR 50

GLYP 50

It was unbelievable how much of a boost that was and it was most certainly due to killing the corrupted.

But what MAGN must IT have been to dish out so much EXP?... I should definitely avoid them whenever possible, I doubt I’d get lucky twice.

And if there was a group of them… RIP me.

I moved onto the skills.

8 + 5 Skill Points Available.

Skills

III Shoulder Rush -> IV Null Surge [5]

Evolves skill into Null Surge. Inherits Shoulder rush and upgrades. Allows you to drag targets when in use and you gain 5% surge of SWRD and SHLD for 5 seconds.

IV SMDS - Majiglyph -> V SMDS - Majiglyph [10]

Shields detach to create a Daemon construct controlled by Seren.

II OMDC -> III OMDC [6] (3+3)

Nervous System (NS) long latency reduced by maximum amount. Near zero-latency reaction speeds.

II ANALYSE -> III ANALYSE [50]

Vastly Expands data retrievable.

I NEC -> II NEC [5]

Share this skill with others. Note: They will need to expend SP to enable. Skill will be Tier I.

I Phase Dash -> II Phase Dash [2]

Whilst Phasing, you are immune to all Majik based attacks.

I EXP Well -> II Exp Well [2]

You can now deploy [2] units.

I Slipfold -> II Slipfold [2]

Significantly reduce time for anchor placement and fold activation.

New! VoMP [0]

You named this. Allows you to communicate over a Majik Network with [4/5] contacts.

New! Mind Firewall [1]

Provides protection against mental infiltration or hacking.

New! [S.O.U.L] Null Claw Armaments [2]

The result of Soulsync. Fusing ciphers from [Scale Claw] and [SMDS]

New! [S.O.U.L] Shade Glide [2]

The result of Soulsync. Fusing ciphers from [Forewing] and [Phase Dash]

I’d already reviewed all my previous ones but now that I was two points away from upgrading [SMDS] it made me pause, wondering if that would be worth holding off for.

It is probably sensible to take a look at the new ones first.

VoMP

Voice over Majik Protocol. Establish a link with another entity that allows instant thoughtspace communication.

Links: 4/5

Mind Firewall

Enhanced defence against mental attacks.

Immunity: <=CURRENT MAGN

Reduction: > CURRENT MAGN

Null Claw Armaments

Integrate with [Black Gauntlets],[SMDS] and shaped by [Scale Claw]. Deploys Null state claws from equipment that reinforces your grip and grants slashing attacks.

Costs MP to maintain.

Costs DS to repair.

Shade Glide

Combines functonality from [Forewing] and [Phase Dash].

Expend Null Majik to glide through the air.

Consumes MP to use.

Immediately, I selected all 4, costing me 5 points because the VoMP was 0 cost.

Comms, Claws, defense against mental attacks, AND the ability to glide in air? Yes ducking please!

Whatever the soulbinding thing was, it had unlocked some incredible abilities. They may not have looked game changing on paper, but for my journey ahead they would make survival significantly easier and longer term would be crucial, especially the communication one.

Now the question is if I should go for the phase dash immunity or save for tier V shields.. ow, the sensible side of me screams phase dash but the impatient reckless side wants to know who Seren is! He, or she, sounds badass, and it would be a Daemon like Xno… speaking of, I hope Triya and that lot are ok. Hopefully Steve figured out that I used Slipfold, else everyone probably thinks I'm dead.

In the end I went with being sensible and selected phase dash. I nearly stopped there but Slipfold had saved me two times already in such a cheat way that I would be insane not to exploit it as much as possible, so I selected that as well, costing me 4 and leaving me with 4.

One day Seren, but not today.

Finishing my selections, and saving the rest of the points, I braced myself for pain and anguish, and like falling out of a tree and landing on your back, it knocked the air from my imaginary lungs. Firstly my body was wracked with pins and needles as I phased over and over again. Then came a calm period of absolute relaxation and comfort which was blown away in short order by what I could only describe as cramming the entirety of all calculus, physics, and strange quantum mechanics in the span of 30 seconds. My brain was stuffed full of knowledge and I convulsed with eyes rolling back as this transpired.

Everything after that was mediocre pain, so as soon as I had the chance, I flopped down onto the bed in my traditional fetal position and weathered the rest of the mild storm, falling into true sleep the moment I could.

…

..

.

It was well into dusk when I woke up, the sun had already gone down and the remaining light was dark blue and grey. It was also raining heavily, but not torrential, just loud and constant. It actually created a nice atmosphere, masking all the sounds of carnage, if the monsters didn't care about the rain itself, and also cleansed the air, making everything feel less decayed.

I sat up and looked over at Siya sleeping silently a couple of feet away from me. She was curled up inside a mound of pillows and blankets with a silky fluffy looking blanket covering her body, her furry antenna ears twitched at my movement but she didn't wake.

I had a similar one covering me up and next to me in a neatly folded pile was some unused clothes - a black hoodie and black joggers.

She's a good moth girl. I thought as I got changed. I hadn't been killed, eaten, mind controlled or molested in my sleep so she was up in my good books right now. I'm fact, dare I say things are looking rather positive!

The clothes were XXXL, so I had a chuckle thinking about if any XXXL people were still around, considering the amount of physical activity needed daily, as I tied the strings up tight and rolled the sleeves a bit.

There's no excuse these days eh? I used to have a bit of a belly and now look at me.

My physique had turned into something I never thought I would achieve - incredibly dense, lean muscles and the strength and stamina that came with it. Belly fat gone, replaced with a wall of 12 stomach muscles, arms rock solid, and legs that could probably lift a literal ton of weight…maybe.

Interestingly, I didn't look like a full on bodybuilder but more like a fighter, which was to be expected I suppose, since that's what my everyday consists of.

Speaking of which, the space we were in was quite large, dimly illuminated by the EXP orb, so I moved away and started testing a few of my new and updated skills.

Slipfold was first, and it was like night and day; my anchor placement was instant and I could visualise gripping and opening it near instantly as well. It was so fast I dared to try chaining it, jumping from one end, then back again. It was doable, but I noticed the second one cost double the resources than the first and it hurt physically. But if I waited a couple of seconds, then it was fine.

So doable but not recommended.

Next was phase dash which didn't seem much different, except perhaps that I felt very ghost-like during it now, like the feeling of your body in a dream.

Mind firewall was just.. on. And VoMP I'd already experienced.

Glide was interesting as I couldn't test it out properly height wise, but I could phase dash towards the ceiling, then drift in the air on the way back down. It was hard to see but midnight black liquid smoke would spill out and create a kind of comet tail whilst I was gliding.

Now the claws were really impressive. My gauntlets had been with me since the beginning. And had never broken, never needed cleaning and I'd never fought without them. They looked like simple, with their black strange fabric material and the black metal plates, but once I activate the claws, they deployed a stream of matter that was exactly the same as my shields, the grew into sharp claws, covering each finger and thumb. The material acted the same way as my shields, surface crawling and shifting like ferrofluid, but on impact it was like hitting steel.

Satisfied with everything, I settled down to recover my energy and Majik, eating a cold tinned meal to speed up the process.

It was a couple hours later as I was fiddling with my EXP orb, trying to figure out how to claim the damned stuff, when Siya awoke, yawning a high pitched chirping sound and sat up.

"Good morning, or rather evening." I looked up, smiled and waved. Then turned back to the orb, tracing the lines and looking for a button, or something.

#Siya# Oh!!

She jumped and look over at me with a shocked expressly that lasted a moment before she returned a smile that reached her eyes.

#Siya# You stayed. Hello Godu. I hope you rested well.

"Yyyyyuuus.. hmm. Oh, yes, it was very good actually thanks. I hope you had a good rest too. How are the legs?" Distracted from the conversation, I was determined not to be defeated by the orb.

TELL ME YOUR SECRETS! YOU SPHERICAL BASTARD.

#Siya# I am pleased! Yes they are perfect. Thank you. Once again. I did not deserve your kindness.

"Gah!" I sighed and decided to come back to it another time. You will be reduced to the level of a stress ball until you give in, bastard.

"Wha-Hey now, don't mention it. We're buds now, soulbuds even!... Speaking of, if it's okay, I've got a whole lot of questions for you."

Now that things were calmer, it was a good time to find out who, or what, she was, what else she knew and what she was trying to do in the illusion.

And so we went into the deep of it.

Starting with the elephant in the room, she explained that she wanted to soulbind because we couldn't hurt each other if we did. All Majik attacks would be rendered harmless, whilst physical attacks would be mentally painful and overall a real challenge to do - all thanks to Majik.

It was something her kind would do with their partners or closest friends, so that they could effectively fight as a pair. Smart and extremely convenient. HA! Basically friendly fire mode! Fucking weird!

Her kind, was an interesting topic. She was not sure where they'd come from, only that suddenly they'd awoken en masse in a forest, with no direction other than survival.

They'd ended up travelling for miles, looking for a safer place and the city had been safe..for a while.

Everything has been fine with them setting up 'nests' and quickly learning powers and abilities that helped them survive the others and a few bad groups of people who called them demons and wanted them dead.

Asking where her kind had gone, she explained that they had moved on sometime ago. And being an idiot, I blindly asked why she didn't go with them…

#Siya# Oh. They. Left. Me.

She looked down and hugged her knees.

#Siya# My wing was hurt. Could not fly. They left me behind when the corrupted flooded in. They had no choice. I accept it.

That pissed me off but I didn’t want to open any wounds.

"Wow that’s a dick move but okay. So last few questions Siya. When I was in the illusion, did we, uhh, ahem, do anything.. Intimate?"

She stiffened up.

#Siya# Intimate? I am not familiar with this word.

"Uh. Hum. Like sex. You know, mating? Uh how old are you eve- ah scratch that you said you don't remember anything since 3 months..but you're definitely not 3 months old…Bah! Nevermind it doesn't matter, there are lots of more important things to focus on and I don't think anything happened so let's leave it there…" I waved the conversation off. It may have been the end of the world and I'd been in the literal guts of a demon, but I still have some dignity left...

She twitched her ear antenna, glancing awkwardly side to side and nodded.

#Siya# Okay. As you wish Godu.

"Great. Ahem. So! Last question, what are your plans going forward? I mean, myself, I need to plan and journey a loooong, long way. But if you wa-"

#Siya# Please! Take me! I want to come! I can help!

"-ant. Oh. Well then! There's only one thing left to do."

I smiled and waited a moment.

#Siya# This task…is?

"To pack our bags and hit the long road!" I put on a terrible American accent and gave a thumbs up. Cringing a bit, but I was happy to have some company on what was going to be a long lonely trip.

#Siya# Pack. Our. Bags.

She frowned as she processed something.

Hmm I do wonder how the yanks are getting on actually… meh, probably fine. They had all those preppers, roleplayers and wizards before all this-

#Siya# Our! Yes! I come! Hee!

She did a high pitch noise as it sank in and jumped in the air, flexing out both very broad wings, doing an awesome spin off the ground.

"Ye-he-aah!! I'm liking this energy!.. wait! Wings? Y-your wing! It's….!!!!" I stood in shock and awe at the sight.

One great flesh and bone wing, the cross between a bat with a moth's dusty texture.

And the other regenerated wing..it was..

#Siya# Yes! A gift from soulbind. They are your wings.

It was one of my shields in wing form.

…

..

.

7 days later..

#Godu# SIYA! WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG!

Pushing my legs to their absolute limits, I was belting it through a ruined street, running for my life from a horde of extremely pissed off corrupted. I couldn't lose them just yet, as they'd just immediately return back to where Siya was currently looking for a crucial map we needed.

The corrupted were largely reckless and dare I say stupid, but they were attracted to specific places for unclear reasons. And nine times out of ten, these places were stores or shopping areas, almost as if they knew 'food' would come searching there.

Fuckers clearly have some memories left.

Right now we desperately needed a map because I didn't know where the heck we were and trying to just wing it, simply hadn't been working. We’d barely made any progress.

#Siya# Apologies! I've retrieved it! But. Vespers!

Fucking wasps.

#Godu# UGH. Great! FANTASTIC! I'm Slipfolding to our meeting point, can you get there?

#Siya# Yes! But we will have to battle!

I'll take Vespers over the corrupted anyday. I mean..I hate them, but at least they can’t walk through breeze block walls like they are made of paper.

#Godu# No problem. Just be careful and hurry back!

I phase dashed up into the air and activated Slipfold, it was too risky to do it on the ground whilst being chased.

The last time I did, two of the corrupted had nearly followed me through, impossibly clutching onto the folds and prying them open as they tried to crawl through, same thing as that first one that beat the shit out of me.

Some did actually get through but the few holding it eventually met the same fate as the first corrupted I'd fought, and even though it seemed to be the only way for me to kill them right now, there was no way in hell I was going to keep attempting such a ridiculously risky tactic.

The corrupted were just fucking terrifyingly strong.

I passed through the watery fold and landed on top of the large flat apartment rooftop we'd chosen as a rendezvous point.

#Godu# I'm here. How many Siya?

There was no sign of her nearby and she didn't respond.

Come on girl, where are you?

#Godu# Siya? Are you still with me? Come on, talk to me!

The creeping feeling of dread started to fill my bones.

*Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Without warning, Siya and 6 giant mutant wasps zoomed over the edge in an arc, Siya was tangled with two of them, trying to avoid their stingers and the others were frantically darting in and out, tring to get a piece of her. The sight boiled my blood and I charged in, shields deployed in config:Mirror.

Label: Vesper (Multiple)

MAGN: 34, 34, 35, 35, 35, 36

Notes: Buzz, buzz motherfu-

Their trajectory was going to land them on the roof so I phase dashed closer and shot out a burst of shards into the bundle, not having to worry about hitting Siya due to our soulbind protection. The barrage of shard needles ripped through their wings, shredding them to pieces, whilst exploding into harmless puffs of mist upon contact with Siya.

They all fell and crashed into a rolling heap, which I wasted no time in switching to config:Exo and deploying my own claws.

The claws were absurdly sharp, especially against unarmoured or soft targets.

Something like, say, the eyes of giant wasps!

I didn't have time to check on Siya so I dog piled in with a warcry.

The big screeching fuckers would bite down on my limbs with their nightmare-fuel mandibled faces, but my shield armour would handle most of it and any damage that did come through would be healed after I gouged a chunk of their eyes or pulled an antenna off.

The claws were a godsend.

After ten scream-filled minutes and bathtubs of yellow blood having been spilled, all the vespers lay twitching and silent, bits and pieces of them decorating the place, leaving me panting with my hands on my knees.

Siya hadn't woken up but analyse gave the reason why and I relaxed somewhat.

Label: Siya (Venom: Minor DoT, Total Numb, Total Paralyze, Sleep ~190s)

MAGN: 45.001

HP: 401/650 (-1HP/minute)

Notes: Mysterious origins. She is as formidable as she is loyal... just..watch your drinks around her.

Soulbound with Goduyne.

She's okay, just a bit of..well, A LOT of venom.

I picked her up and took her over to the EXP clouds and waited until they were absorbed then proceeded inside to the room we were temping in, to rest up and hopefully chart a better path out.

Siya would hopefully wake up in a couple of minutes, but she must have taken some real doozers for it to overwhelm her like that. The venom normally would need a few hits to apply a small damage over time effect, then possibly double that to apply numb, then a few more for paralysis of limbs then more for full body etc.

I'd gotten stung a few times but the mass drain effect cleared the conditions pretty much every time.

And whilst that is incredibly effective, I do need to sever some tissue for it to function… But if the sleep or paralysis got me? Hooo, I'd be toast.

Overall the mission had been a success and I was very pleased with Siya after taking the liberty of retrieving the items from her hip pack.

It was a bunch of local maps as well as a bigger country map.

This is exactly what we need! No more faffing around wasting time trying to follow north or north west, we can chart out a path along the coast and then start making serious ground.

The past seven days hadn't been a waste of time, per se, but we had been following an SS18 road along the coast and then got lost near a place called Bagnara or something. Here we had wandered for a day before having a close call with the corrupted and then deciding we really needed to avoid cities or at least have all options available to us and, to do that, we needed maps.

This is going to save us so much time.

Scanning the maps I could already see a perfect route, along something called the E45. It probably wasn't the fastest for walking but it would be the easiest and probably the safest as we'd have clear sight for miles in front and behind us. I would also be able to probably take shortcuts by Slipfolding reducing it even further. Using the distance scale on the map, I estimated it to be around 450-500km to Naples which was going to be my first major milestone destination; it was on the route and I presumed it was a major city so there was a chance we'd find a bastion of humanity.

Doubtful though. These corrupted could probably face tank a grenade… but if I can survive, surely others could right?

Siya woke up with a cry, but once she saw me she gruffed a frustrated whine and flopped back down on the bed covering her face with her clawed hands.

#Siya# Frustrating. Please accept apologies that you had to fight alone.

"Siyaaaa, don't worry! I would be completely stuffed if I was alone! You did an outstanding job! The maps have everything we need and I've already mapped out the route. Besides, I am pretty sure there were more than the six you returned with considering how much venom you had in your system when you crashed. Have you healed up okay?"

#Siya# You are happy? Then I am relieved. I won't deceive. There was a swarm of over 30. But I did not want to bring them all back. Yes. My regeneration has almost finished.

She sat up onto her elbows and smiled at me, clear gratitude on her face for my concern of her well being. From her stories of her shitty people, they had long since ditched trying to help the vulnerable, focusing on survival of the strong instead, so she always delighted in what I thought were basic compassions.

But what a lunatic! Taking out 24 by herself.

"Well there you go! That's amazing and I'm glad you're okay. But next time just bring them back, we're always strongest when fighting together."

Since joining up, we both had experienced quite a few fights with the new wildlife and in almost every instance, Siya had destroyed them with a ferocity that did not match her petite size or gentle appearance - bar the claws and wings of course. But she was incredibly effective at team combat and adapting to my fast paced melee combat style.

Using quick bursts of flight herself, she would massacre targets that I had knocked down, stunned or usually, uhh, well, mostly, just pissed off with my mere presence.

It made me wonder what my chances of surviving would have been if she had decided to just kill me after helping her, but the answer was most likely death, making me very grateful we had become best buds so quickly.

#Siya# Rojer that partner. Did I say that right?

I chuckled at the slight mental voice mispronunciation but nodded. This voice-mind communication is so strange ha.

"Pretty much spot on.” I gave her a thumbs up to which she beamed back and gave one back.

“Now, let's eat while I show you the route we're going to take."

Tucking into some cold tinned veg with a tin of cold tomato soup, we ate as I showed her the maps and explained what to look out for and because she couldn't read, I had been teaching her basics which was a bit difficult due to my own lack of skill in the art of educating, but she was a very fast learner and was picking it up fast.

#Siya# To confirm. E is sideways fork or small eye with open maw. Four has crossed lines. Five is snake?

Her thought process was very pictorial but she learned things at an astonishing speed so it was possible she had photographic memory.

"Yes, correct. And can you write them on the table please?" I wanted to be sure in case we got separated and lost communication for any reason. Just the worrywart side of me, wanting to cover all bases.

Who knows what could happen.

She drew with a claw a legible E45 and e45.

And I was pleased.

"Excellent! Well done! Alright then. I guess unless there's anything else we need to do, we should hit the road again.. Shall we?"

She beamed and let out a little trill and ruffled her wings which was her version of a fist pump.

#Siya# Thank you. Excellent teaching. Yes. Let us attack the road we will be travelling.

Attack the road….Oh HA!

I laughed as I strapped on my ragged travelling pack.

"Indeed, let’s attack the road."