At that moment, there was something far worse than the fear of death. After all, my own demise has been something of an old friend by this point. But the idea of being consumed, erased, and simply taken from existence was unimaginable. And as soon as I looked into the Resident's many eyes, I knew that this fear was something I must not underestimate under any circumstances. I averted my gaze and turned around. The only thing on my mind was running away, even if it meant going back the way I came, but one step was all I managed to do. I felt something cold and smooth grab me by my hand. Its grip was crushing. Quite literally. I felt him splintering the many bones in my wrist like a handful of chips. Never before have I been so happy that there was no pain in the Void. I turned back to the creature and looked at it. Outside of its terrifying face, it seemed surprisingly normal. Or perhaps humanoid would be a better word. There was nothing about the pitch-black, smoking apparition that would otherwise seem even remotely normal, but at the very least, it had the familiar composition of two legs and two arms.

Very soon, my eyes shifted towards my hand. When I looked at it I thought I'd be sick. To see one's own body part mutilated in such a way was not for a weak stomach. Despite knowing that it wasn't painful and would most likely regenerate, it simply felt chilling.

"Oh, you're way more fragile than I thought. Don't worry though, it will fix itself, watch." The Resident's grip loosened a lot, and I could feel my twisted hand returning to its previous state. Something seemed off though. The way Flic talked about Residents made them seem like merciless predators. This one had more than enough chances to consume me, yet so far it chose not to. I wondered whether that was because it wanted to play with me first, like a cat with its food.

Before I could shake off the shock of such an unexpected welcome, Flic had already moved in to help me. With her superhuman speed, she crossed the distance between her and the Resident and slashed its arm clean off. Needless to say, it accomplished very little. The black substance its body was made of simply reconnected the severed limb a second later. On the bright side though, it did let go of me. Flic continued swinging her sword at the creature, which forced it to back away, but no real damage was done. Clearly, the chances of actually hitting one of its organs were next to none, not to mention that the blade even had trouble cutting deep enough into the Resident's body.

"Wait! Stop! That's a misunderstanding!" I heard the creature say as it kept back away with Flic always immediately after it. It was surprising how fast could both of them move. I understood that Flic's speed came from the metal object attached to her back, but to see the Resident almost match it was rather upsetting.

"STOP!" the creature shouted. Its patience had clearly run out. I saw a flash of blue light. It all happened so fast that I barely noticed what had transpired. Suddenly, the creature was holding a bow in one of its hands. Though holding would probably be the wrong term. It seemed more like its right hand literally turned into the weapon, since it shared the same black colour. Flic was no longer grasping the sword. In fact, her arm was simply no more. The only thing left was just a smoking scorched stump. The blade flew high into the air, spinning and turning. In the next moment, the Resident struck back. It jumped towards Flic and grabbed her with another pair of arms that had suddenly sprouted from its sides. If I didn't know better, I would think it was trying to hug her.

"You fucker!" Flic shouted as she got lifted off the ground, her feet now waving helplessly through the air. She would most likely spurt out more swears and insults at the creature, but a dark hand covered her mouth.

"I'm not letting you go unless you calm down." the creature warned her with a voice so soft that one wouldn't be able to find a sliver of anger in it.

I knew I had to do something. I saw the blade flying through the air above them, reaching peak height and then falling down again. I wished so much that I could just grab it and strike the creature down, but how would one even catch a falling sword? With my luck, I would most likely get impaled.

Only two seconds had passed. An incredibly short time, during which I simply couldn't create any reasonable plan. Yet it wasn't necessary. Watching it was like seeing a unicorn. Clearly, it was there, in front of my own eyes, yet it was simply so impossible I couldn't believe it. The sword fell right onto the Resident. The sharp tip pierced its body like a knife going through butter. Then, something happened. The creature let out a sound so horrible I could only loosely guess it was a scream. It let go of Flic and its whole body seemed to be vibrating, shaking, and pulling itself apart. Orange foam started to bubble out of the stab wound from underneath the blade. The creature sat down, shaking and twitching as if it was suffering from some horrible seizure. Then, it finally stopped. A round, metal, cage-like object fell from the creature's body. On it, I could see the point through which the sword had pierced it. The Resident's eyes widened and they all looked at me without blinking.

"You... No... Stay away from me!" the creature shouted, quickly pulled the blade out, and then ran off, disappearing behind one of the invisible walls. It took both me and Flic a while before we collected our thoughts again. Knowing that not only did we survive an encounter with a Resident but also managed to hurt it filled us both with mixed emotions.

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"Dude! Well done! That fucker in your world doesn't stand a chance," Flic congratulated me.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"What, have you turned blind? The sword! There's no way that would've normally hit. It was just randomly falling. You did that. Maybe you're not sure how, but that was your doing."

"The probability... That is why someone with my powers stands a chance against them. They can't hide their organs. With the Divine Creativity, luck is on my side, I can always hit them."

"Exactly! Man, if you'd train a bit further and those powers wouldn't be tied to your dying world, you could stay here and actually hunt those things down with me."

"Not interested."

"Huh? You okay? Are you still in shock? You seem... well, paler than usual. And your eyes are all... big. Like you're on mushrooms or something."

"There is something wrong with the Resident."

"There is everything wrong with every Resident. We were lucky this guy didn't devour us right off the bat."

"No, it's... It seemed harmless."

"Harmless? Did you lose a marble or two when it crushed your hand? That creature nearly killed us!"

"Did it? When it grabbed me, it didn't want to kill me. And when you attacked it, it could've just retaliated or blown your head off. But no, it only tried to disarm you."

"Yeah, literally disarm me! I bet it was trying to take us prisoner and give us to the big guy. Trust me, I ain't playing that game of his ever again. Not eager for a second round."

"If he wanted to imprison us, he could've just killed us. Before we regenerate, our consciousness is gone, you've shown me that yourself. And when it got hurt... I don't know, it looked afraid of me."

"Who cares? That thing is a destroyer of worlds! Literally. If it would invade any world in existence, it would damage it just by being there. Trust me, taking out its organ was the best thing we could've done."

"I don't believe that."

"Huh?! What the fuck are you implying?"

"That I want to speak with it."

"You are short of a marble. Let me whack some sense into you."

"Wait!" I shouted, but Flic had already shifted towards me, her sword heading right for my head. I knew far too well how she fought at this point. All I needed to do was duck and grab her blade before she could strike again. It didn't matter if it cut into my hand. That would regenerate.

"I might be a fool, but it is my decision. If we can find an ally within that Resident, our chances will be even better!" I said as she desperately tried to pull her weapon out of my grasp.

"Heh, wow, talk about a change of mind," she replied and the fury on her face was replaced with a soft grin. "Fine, go after it, but it will most likely be far gone at this point. And don't cross into other Rooms, okay? Just stay in that one where the creature went. I will come after you shortly before the layout shifts again, understood?"

"Understood."

"And Eddie, don't play a saviour. If that creature shows any signs of aggression, you run, dodge, and make it over here, okay? One shot of that weapon of its can kill you, but you can influence the chances of it actually happening. Just keep your mind clear. Have one objective in your head at all times, and one ONLY. Understood?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'm an expert at making stupid decisions."

Crossing over to the other Room felt much more natural now. I wondered if it perhaps was an indication of my declining mental state. After all, getting used to the physics of the Void so quickly couldn't have been healthy. As I entered the room, I quickly tried to scan my surroundings. It looked like some sort of a canyon, with an exact copy of it being reflected high up in the sky. Instead of rocks, however, it was made of bright pink crystals. They were surprisingly sharp. I could feel them piercing my clothing from time to time when I brushed against them.

It wasn't difficult to find the Resident. Can't say whether it was blood or some other important liquid, but the creature left a path of it behind itself. At first, the stains were big and continuous, but they were thinning out as I followed them. The relatively large orange splashes eventually became tiny droplets, but it was still enough to follow. They led all the way into a sparkling crystal cave. With one hand in front of me, used to watch out for any invisible walls, I followed inside, slowly and carefully.

"STAY AWAY!" I heard the voice of the Resident suddenly hit my ears and a bright blue light appeared at the end of the cave. With it illuminating the way, I could see the creature tucked into the very corner of the place. A black liquid was dripping from its many eyes.

"Wait! Calm down, please! I didn't come here to hurt you!"

"Oh yeah? But you've already done it! Please, just leave me alone!"

"Listen, it's okay, that was an accident, I didn't mean to... wait... you know it was me?"

"Y-Yeah... I know what you are. A god. You're the creature my siblings fear."

"Because I can influence probability, right?"

The Resident didn't respond. It simply nodded silently. Its hand was still transformed into the bow-like weapon, with a glowing bright blue arrow ready to be fired directly at my head. I had to approach the situation very carefully.

"Look, back then, it was an accident. I didn't want to kill you. I was just... afraid."

"Why? I told you not to be afraid. That I only wanted to be a friend."

"Yeah, I know. But you see..."

"You didn't expect it from a Resident, did you?"

"I... I didn't, you're right."

"Did one of my siblings take your home away?"

"Almost. That is actually how we ran into you. I'm trying to get back home and take it back from your sibling. And I could really use your help."

"No." It violently shook its head.

"But with you, I could..."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I... I have only one organ left. If somebody invaded your home on their own, they will be older. Much older. I can't help you with that."

I let out a sigh. What an idiot I've been. My world was about to die, and yet, I couldn't bring myself to cause more pain to another creature. Not again.

"Listen... maybe I can make it up to you."

"How?"

"Well, you said it yourself, no? We can be friends."