Glen lay floating in an endless sea of darkness. He shifted his perspective without moving, left right, up and down, it was all the void. He wasn’t sure where he was or how he got there, and he had even less idea how to get back.

This went on for an eternity, though possibly only seconds? He didn’t know, in the emptiness there was no way to measure time. Glen was more alone than he had ever been.

In the distance Glen thought he could just barely make out a light. It could have been the size of a star, or the tiniest candle ever lit. Nothing was certain here. Whatever it was, the light was approaching him quickly.

Inches from his face, a small perfectly round orb hovered. As he watched it, Glen got the distinct feeling that the orb was watching him back. Without warning, sound began to come from the sphere.

“Hello Terran, of Sol 3. I am a messenger construct left by The System to welcome you on a successful integration!” The little orb bobbed up and down as it spoke. It’s voice had been oddly cheerful, as if delivering this message was the highlight of its day.

Glen could only reply in confusion, “Ummmm, what?” After a short pause he followed that with the more defined question, “Integration? As in the message I got right before coming here?”

The orb made a tinkling sound at this, that Glen could have sworn resembled laughter, but had an indescribable ethereal quality to it.

“Nope! Not at all. Funny how that worked out. From my observation of the timeline before coming to meet you here, it looks like your awakening came as a side effect to the situation you were already dealing with. How fun!”

“I am sorry to ask, but I really don’t understand. What do you mean a side effect?”

“I can’t divulge too much information, you simply don’t have the authority to access it.” The orb takes a short pause, and hums low as if thinking to itself. “What I can tell you is that due to circumstances you have inherited a bloodline trait from a novice cultivator of your planet! Normally this is passed from parent to child, but you managed to steal it from an opponent you had no business fighting. How exciting!”

Glen’s head was spinning. He was still playing catch up to the AI integration message that he received just before being knocked out, and now he woke up here to this? Trying to orient himself mentally, he tried to physically move so that he was standing in a more normal way. Floating as he was just made the whole thing even stranger. He looked down to begin the movement but to his amazement he was already standing upright.

“Where are we? How is all this happening? What do I call you? Novice cultivator? What is The System you mentioned? …. I just have so many questions. I don’t understand at all.” Glen shot off in rapid fire, everything finally overwhelming his ability to stay rational.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“It might seem like a lot to take in. You can call me MC-198, if it helps. My kind doesn’t really have names as it were. I’m a messenger construct designed to make transition as smooth as possible. We have limited time here, so I’ll try to hit the key points. Where we are, is in a space generated within your soul. Your run in with that AI caused your body to go through a pain threshold so high your mind and soul disconnected to protect your sanity. Usually, you would get here by achieving a great revelation or insight that would allow you to reach a state of Nirvana.”

“My soul disconnected from my body?? So, I’m dead?”

“I mean yes, but also no. Listen up and no more interrupting. We have a lot to do and not nearly enough time to do it. I thought we would have longer, but I sense your soul is trying to tether itself back to your body already. I’m delaying it, but it is consuming a lot of my energy to keep us here. The way we would typically speak for the first time through meditation would have bought us a lot more time. As it stands the process your body is going through is coming to an end, it took me hours to set up a connection and stabilize your soul space. Nod if you’re following so far.”

Glen Open his mouth as to reply when a sharp high pitched screech came out of MC-198, the feeling it brought along with it wasn’t quite pain, but it felt itchy as if thousands of tiny insects were crawling all over him. Rather than speak he simply nodded to confirm he understood.

With a tone that conveyed a smile MC-198 continued, “Good, good. I’m happy to see you understand! All universes across all dimensions stem from a central point. Some of magic, some do not. Your boring no magic universe bumped right up against a reality that was bursting with the stuff. The ripples from the collision really did some damage. Rewrote some of the fundamentals in the process! Yay, so fun I know.”

Glen took the slight pause from MC-198 to cut in, “Your System destroyed my world?”

For a split second the tiny orb flashed from a calming white light, to an angry vermilion yelling back, “The System saved your world!” before just as quickly returning to the white it had been only a half a second before. “The System was designed by beings beyond your understanding. It is balance. Without it, magic is chaos. Maelstroms of pure energy have wiped out entire solar systems. You would do well to remember that, boy.”

Glen could not shake the feeling that there was bias here, but unable to prove it and afraid to voice his opinion he relented. He opened his mouth to speak again but stopped himself this time before MC-198 could react.

With an exasperated sign MC-198 asked, “Wow, you really do not understand the concept of not interrupting. What is it? What is so important that it just cannot wait?”

“I was just going to say, if time is limited without all the backstory, what are you actually here to do?”

The little orb that had been floating peacefully thus far came to a complete stop in the air. MC-198 hung suspended this way for a good ten seconds of relative time before beginning to spin violently wobbling in place. As he spun the sphere elongated first, I’m to a cylinder, but as it stretched and stretched arms and legs began to form. Soon Glen was standing face to face with MC-198 in a void surrounded by absolute nothingness.

A long flat line formed in the perfectly smooth head, and two circles formed where it’s eyes should be. The white holes came together in a facsimile of a blink and MC-198 spoke, “Are you fucking kidding me? I’m telling you magic is real, and you want me to hurry it along? Why is it no matter what galaxy I go to, no matter what dimension I’m delivering messages to, I always get the impatient ones that just can’t wait to get to the punchline.”

Flabbergasted, does not begin to describe the depths of confusion Glen was experiencing. He was beyond ready just to return to his normal life. Yet, he was stuck here until this interaction ended. He had his friends and family waiting for him back wherever his body lay, he could not afford to waste time here.

“It isn’t that I’m impatient! You said you ‘looked into the timeline’ before. So, you already know that everything I care for is in danger. I need to get back and lead my team. I need to warn my people.”

“Ah but my boy, that’s why I’m here. To give you power that you could only dream of. No, beyond your wildest dreams. The System does not give power away for free. It helps those, that help themselves. It can lift up man, to rival the gods. I’m here delivering the answer you were looking for. I’m here to help you select your [class!]”