Luckily, Dan’s HUD fed him important updates to the mission. The route that painted itself along the floor as yellow chevrons popped back up and another blue circle materialized and pointed upwards towards Li’s last known position.

Dan tried reaching Li through the private channels but no luck. Li wasn’t answering him. He tried the rest of the team and somehow couldn’t reach any of them either. He continued running through the halls, throwing caution to the wind in exchange for speed. He had to reach Li and continue the mission.

Reaching the stairs, Dan’s entire body froze at at the first step. No matter how much effort he put in, his body would not move. All of his surroundings appeared to lose their color. Everything around him rapidly drained in color. Even the lighting in the staircase became dull and lifeless. He was eerily reminded of the strange dream he just had.

Soon, Dan couldn’t even move his head. He could’t turn his neck around to face forward. Then things got off the rails.

Dan became drowsy, more so than usual. It was impossible. How was it that he was feeling sleepy. He struggled to keep his eyes open. Dan thought that agents could survive being awake for numerous days in a row without sleep.

Suddenly, Dan could feel himself rising upward even though his body was stiff and hadn’t moved at all in the staircase. He could finally turn around and strangely enough, he saw himself still at the bottom of the flight of stairs.

“What the hell is this shit?” he said.

Dan watched himself from during this literal out of body experience. He could see himself lifting his helmet up and the faint blood stains beneath his eyes from his rushed attempt to wipe the bloody tears away. His legs had the familiar flashes of bioelectricity, the only exception being that everything was greyscale and he didn’t see the affect as red.

A familiar laughter filled his mind and eventually boomed throughout the entire staircase, joining in on Dan’s predicament. He knew what this was. It was the same strange disembodied voice that spoke to him during his dream.

Rest assured, this is not a dream, the voice said. Look at how pathetic you look. Your skeleton is still creaking from the strain of the gifts provided to you. You will not survive at this rate.

Dan looked down and saw his own body, except his physique was flickering and every bit of movement he observed from his ghostly body left behind strange trails, similar to the ghosting effect from old and cheaply made computer monitors.

“Who the fuck are you? What have you done with my body? You better not show your face or I will kill you just like I did with those four Kodak agents.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

The voice began its ugly and obnoxious laughter again. This lasted for a whole thirty seconds before the voice regained its composure. Dan wasn’t sure what to make of this. If this voice was some type of paranormal presence, then him making it laugh for this much must have been some twisted form of flattery.

Who do you think gave you those gifts in the first place?

“So what? Am I supposed to get on my hands and knees and thank you? I have a mission to complete,” Dan snapped.

Of course you do. But you can’t complete your task if you are weak. I will intervene one final time and offer you a boost. Do not take this for granted. I will have further use of you in the near future.

Dan was immediately suspicious of this voice’s offer. “Who exactly are you? And another thing, I haven’t consented to anything.”

I am one of many voices that call out to the agents belonging to the Church of Nano-Evolution. Think of me and others like me as guiding voices to all users of the gifts. You will learn more about me specifically in time. But for now, you will not survive if I do not intervene. Pull up your stat menu and you will see what I have done.

Dan, still suspicious of this entity, accessed his HUD and pulled up his stats.

Congratulations!

You have reached Tier 1 | Level 17.

You have earned 5 stat points. You have a total of 10 stat points to spend.

Warning: Unknown outside interference detected.

“What the hell?” Dan said. He had to assume that outside interference was referring to the disembodied voice doing something to his body to help him. He had no idea what kind of other worldly forces existed in this world to exert such influence. The dream, the granting of these strange powers, speaking to him like this. Dan didn’t know what he was dealing with.

Supernatural: 3 (+5)

Congratulations. Your updated stats are now:

Supernatural: 8

Five of his recently earned stat points had just been allocated towards his supernatural stats. All without Dan’s actual input. The voice did it for him.

You are dealing with forces beyond your comprehension, the voice said. To ensure your odds of survival, your body will experience a refresh. You will be as good as new. Once again, do not take this for granted. I will be in need of your services in the future.

“And if I say no?” Dan asked. He had a feeling that this wasn’t optional.

The voice’s laughter grated on Dan’s ears. This was getting old.

In time, you will understand the importance of my vision and your role in it. You will be a force of nature so long as you focus on gaining more power using the gifts. I will keep in touch, Dan “Arctic” Orion. As of now, you are my new disciple, the voice said.

Dan’s ghostly body was violently pushed down the stairs and in the next second, he had returned to his real body. The color returned back to normal and the lighting in the staircase returned back to its warm, luminous shine. He frantically looked around him, trying to find where the voice went.

The entire staircase was eerily silent. He had no clue how he could possibly explain what he had just experienced to his teammates. Then he remembered he was on his way to Li. Climbing up the stairs, he noticed his joints and muscles no longer ached. The drowsiness had gone away and he felt as alert as ever. The dull aches behind his eyes had vanished. No more sign of headaches.

As Dan climbed more stairs, he only had one thing to say to himself. “This fucking mission…”