Kane’s awareness flickered between realities. In one second he experienced flashes of his life on Earth. His childhood replayed in lightning swift images, reminding him of the good and bad that shaped him into the man he eventually became.
He looked away as the images churned into the depressing concoction of hell that his existence had become.
Turns out all it takes to ruin a life is a beautiful face sucking you off under a table while you sign a contract.
God, I was such an idiot to fall for that honey trap.
No, not an idiot, just young and naive.
The flashes ignored his self-recriminations as they now sped through experiences which were alien to Kane.
In the brief moment of each flash, he lived through the eyes of a boy named Teepo on a planet they called Madra.
The bright bursts of memories showed two parents who loved and sheltered him.
Teepo’s first real memories were of black roiling clouds that choked the dazzling array of colors from the skies. Lightning struck the ground constantly, destroying homes and people with equal abandon.
Rhythmic thunder beat like a drum in his ears so often, that months after the skies finally cleared, he could still hear it.
Was that hell? Lighting storms for hundreds of days without rest sure sounds like hell.
A new sensation tugged at his awareness. Not the flashes but something more real. It was a prickling feeling in his chest followed by air escaping through a new hole in his lungs. However, it barely distracted him from the turmoil of his inner world.
Memories of winter came next. Four hundred days of blistering cold spent huddling together with the other children of the town. Thin wooden walls and meager fires were the only refuge from the white death that swirled just outside.
When warmth returned, it heralded the beginning of spawning season. Meeka, his best friend, had been torn in half and devoured right in front of him by a beast that made it over the wall.
The beast's glowing eyes seemed to penetrate through the flash of memory and into the dark comfortable place he resided in.
Kane felt a shiver run up his spine as he turned his head, looking for the beast that had vanished when the flashing light passed.
Where am I?
Kane saw only darkness in every direction, like a movie theater in the vastness of space. He was distracted by the next flash and its accompanying images, or they followed his gaze, it was impossible to tell.
Thousands more images flew by, but Kane could no longer focus on them. He was far too distracted by the space around him and the strange sensations that didn’t quite fit this weird dream.
Why is the world shaking?
The moment he asked the question, the flashing images stopped and two figures appeared far above him. He recognized them as Teepo’s parents.
Kane felt a wrongness deep in his chest as he noticed the knife held firmly in the father’s hand. The blade plunged down and that same prickling sensation from earlier repeated itself.
The man’s cool blue eyes were warped with disgust as he continued stabbing with the beautifully etched ceremonial knife. In that surreal moment, Kane somehow remembered that the blade had always rested on the nearby mantle.
In slow motion, he observed tears stream down the mother’s cheeks. She watched her husband work while holding back her sobs.
What kind of choad-stomping dream is this?
A whimpering in the dark place distracted him from the nightmare above. Kane looked into the darkness to see Teepo, hugging himself and moaning. The little boy rocked himself slowly back and forth, a new pitiful sound escaping his lips with every movement.
Above the boy, a black shadow stood on four disfigured limbs. It was nearly invisible in the darkness, other than its glowing red eyes that shone like a pair of dystopian lighthouses in a storm.
[https://i.imgur.com/6tVcQ7U.png]
Kane slowly approached to get a better look, what he saw made him recoil in disgust. The thing was eating Teepo. It had latched onto the boy’s leg with a sickly black vine. Green veins ran up the length of the twisted tentacle and they pulsed with every moan the boy made.
Gross! That thing looks like a gremlin banged one of those nasty-ass hairless cats.
The knife descended again, causing another tremor to run through the dark place. The creature screamed in pain. Its glowing eyes looked up at the parents above. It exuded such hate and violence that Kane could feel it like a physical pressure.
It’s official, this is the most wank-ass dream I have ever had.
Whatever that thing is, it doesn’t belong in this dream. This is my dream! Isn’t it?
The shadowy nightmare-cat hissed and snarled as it continued to feed off Teepo, bringing the child untold misery.
Kane felt his connection to the beast tremble as it finally noticed him. Its emotions surged and a bottomless desire to consume and kill latched onto him.
The emotions connecting them manifested into a second black and green vine that stuck into Kane’s arm like a cord plugged into an outlet.
Along the vine came pain, misery, disgust, anger, and jealousy. As the emotions flooded Kain's consciousness, something important, precious, and vital was being drained.
The transfer between them rapidly increased in pace with each passing moment. Kane could feel himself vanishing, fading into nothingness.
He continued to watch the dream unfold before him in a daze.
The moans of the boy curled beneath the shadow suddenly reminded Kane of himself when he was younger. Stepped on constantly, pushed into the mud, Always scurrying for a scrap of happiness, just to be denied at the last moment.
Fuck this.
My life might be one big cumdumpster, but that doesn't mean I’m going to let some creepy tentacle-chihuahua eat me in my own damn dreams.
An image of Kane’s favorite pet Bob, taking a bite out of a cockroach flashed in his mind. With the same voracity and hunger of his adorable little praying mantis, he grabbed hold of the vine and bit deep.
A putrid rot flooded his senses as he took that first bite. Yet there was something else.
From the rot, came power.
Power and pain.
He savored it like the delicious juices from a perfectly cooked steak.
Teepo’s asshole parents continued to stab the knife into their shared body. The tremors now carried with them unimaginable pain.
Does that mean I’m winning? The winner gets all the pain. Fun times.
The pain fueled Kane’s desire to dominate the monster. Like a feral animal he tore the creature apart with one chomping bite after another.
It snarled and screeched at him. With its vine severed and weakened from its own share of debilitating pain, it was helpless against him.
Kane gave it no quarter, consuming until there was nothing left.
The strange power surged through him in a wave of pleasure as he took the last bite. Kane licked his lips savoring the euphoric taste of victory.
What was left of Teepo whimpered in the darkness beneath him. Kane gazed down at the boy as his own awareness was lifted into the air.
Without a shred of control, he was ripped from the dark place and into the brutal reality above.
A final stab fell, heralding a bitter chill that seeped through Kane’s body and mind. Numbness spread through him as his brain churned sluggishly.
What a shit dream. It’ll be nice to wake up in my warm bed once this is over. Well, maybe not that nice. But still better than this.
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Vaguely, as if seen through a long and dark tunnel, Kane felt himself being lifted by strong hands.
His eyes drooped and closed against his will. Suddenly, gold letters and numbers floated before him in a backdrop of darkness.
He forced his eyes open again, unwilling to descend into the dark place again. Only for light to burn his retinas from the three suns that hung in the open skies far above.
[https://i.imgur.com/Gw4G5bh.png]
So pretty. Why are there so many colors in the sky?
He blinked again, and his world shifted to darkness once more. Back and forth between golden words and blinding light his world revolved until a wet splash and a freezing cold numbed his mind.
Then, there was only darkness.
Kane sighed in defeat as he returned to the dark place. Teepo still rocked back and forth in the corner, whimpering something incoherent.
He paid the boy no mind, his attention captivated by the words that floated in the vastness of space before him.
Evolution failed - error - timeout - error - interruption in cognition singularity
NAME Teepo of Fairchild RACE Unknown AGE 7 WEIGHT 21.31 kg STATUS
Extreme tissue damage \ Extreme nerve damage \ Extreme bleeding \ Mild infection \ Mild brain damage
TIER 0 GROWTH 99% MANA [Locked] CONCENTRATION [Locked]
STRENGTH
9.9 AGILITY 9.9 ENDURANCE 9.9 DURABILITY 9.9 WISDOM 9.9 INTELLIGENCE 9.9 SKILLS N/A TECHNIQUES N/A OTHER UNIQUE - error -
What the fudgepot is all this? Did my nightmare just turn into a game?
Well, if I’m playing a game, I’m not using Teepo as my username. It's way too close to a blowdart weilding douchnozzle for my comfort.
The name changed to Kane as soon as the thought worked through the sticky mud that was weighing down his brain.
I would usually pick something cooler like Itburnswhenipvp, or Kissmyaxe, or maybe AintthatCarl. But I suppose my real name is fine this time.
Unknown race? Huh, maybe I haven’t gotten that far in character creation yet.
Age, weight, boring, skip.
Physical status, yikes they really ripped me a new one. What kind of game starts with being stabbed to death by your parents? I should put in a ticket with the devs.
Growth? Trust me, this whole experience did not get me ninety-nine percent hard. Must mean something else.
Moving on.
Mana, stats, skills, techniques. Pretty generic.
Kane vaguely recalled flashes of Teepo's memories. The boy had checked his status every day, eagerly awaiting the moment his attributes hit their cap.
He was excited for some... ritual, wasn't he? The tiering?
It’s so hard to remember that part of the dream.
Introducing system mechanics through fuzzy-ass memories is super annoying!
Definitely putting in a ticket.
Wait, it’s a dream, not a game. This is all coming from my own mind. Has my life become so insane that my dreams have turned into crap like this?
I need to get laid.
Oh yeah, cheating wife, that’s out.
FML.
The bright gold words flashed again in the distance, pulling his thoughts back to the strange message.
Evolution failed - error - timeout - error - interruption in cognition singularity
Evolution? That sounds cool. How do I do that?
New words flashed below the error message. Four options were displayed and Kane rapidly scanned them.
TIER 2 - POISON TRAP FROG
A patient predator, often waiting days between meals. Low direct combat power is offset by dangerous poisons and excellent evasion. Without access to molding or shaping, this beast relies on sticky saliva and deadly poison to trap and slowly kill weaker prey.
TIER - 2 COIL VIPER
A predator capable of launching itself over vast distances. Powerful jaws latch onto prey while porous teeth rapidly drain blood. Without access to molding or shaping, this beast relies on durable scales and speed to ambush and rapidly kill weaker prey.
TIER - 2 BURROWING ROACH
A sure path to survival, this creature boasts impressive regeneration and ambient density absorption. Capable of surviving on mana alone, these beasts often form large colonies underground as they bide their time until the next evolution. Without access to molding or shaping, this beast relies on stealth and survivability to survive.
TIER - 2 DRUMIPEDE A scavenger with unparalleled defensive capabilities. Thick chitinous plating and impressive redundancy allow this beast to shrug off innumerable blows while steadily gathering power from consuming lesser creatures with its long mandibles. Without access to molding or shaping, this beast remains vulnerable to only the most penetrative of blows.
No, nope, nuh-uh, and definitely not.
Is this evolution-lite? Where is the paid subscription?
It’s human nature to want something you’re told you can't have. So obviously I’m not picking something that's straight-up missing cool features like molding and shaping, whatever those are.
None of these options have that umph, what happened to all that power I felt when I was eating the demon-cat?
What if that was molding? I'm not signing up for an option without that same Power.
It was like nothing I’ve ever felt. It sang in my blood, echoed through my bones, and consumed my mind like a flickering flame doused in a flood.
I want to feel alive like that again.
Give me more of that!
Partial evolution para— error -
New cognition singularity detected, analyzing
Kane could feel something wriggling around inside his brain like a worm searching for nutrients.
Sentience level 7 detected. Unab— error -
Enough with your errors.
I want that power and I want an option that's an actual predator. What’s so hard about that?
This is my dream isn’t it? Just make an exception and do it!
With the same voracious mental imagery he used while devouring the feral thing, Kane grabbed hold of the floating messages with a vice-like grip. He pulled, and something snapped.
Pain exploded through his brain. Bright white light consumed everything. It flooded through the dark space, causing Teepo to scream.
Kane’s thoughts swirled downward into nothingness. The floating words that followed him down were the only thing to register in his sticky, muddled mind.
New cognition singularity override accepted
Evolution parameter override accepted
Good luck Aberration
The first feeling to return was a sense of powerful pressure assaulting his chest. A deep breath failed to fill his lungs with oxygen which alerted Kane to the weight on his back, pushing his chest into something hard and unyielding.
Wetness was all around him as the sounds of rushing water registered in his ears. Flashing words floated before him in the fading darkness but he was far too distracted by the need to breathe. As the pressure and pain intensified, he tried to open his eyes.
They refused to open as if he had been crying in his sleep and the tears solidified, holding his eyelids tight. His right arm was pinned between his chest and whatever hard thing was keeping him from breathing. He brought his other arm up and wiped furiously at his stuck eyes.
His face felt unusually hard and pokey in places but he ignored that too as he furiously wiped at his eyes with a wet hand.
Finally, light filtered into his retinas. Purple, orange, and green in a hundred shades washed the world in stinging brightness.
Kane looked down to find he was pinned against a log. Raging water raced all around him, forcing his body into the wood. His arm stuck under the log refused to budge, so he desperately kicked his feet until he managed to squirrel his way on top.
Something was wrong with his right leg and hand. They felt stiff and hard. His fingers were so cold he couldn't feel them.
With his body now on top of the log and clinging to it precariously he didn't dare lift up the hand to inspect it.
His salvation was only two meters away. Like a worm in a comic strip, he pushed his ass into the air and moved forward one centimeter at a time across the slippery log.
Adrenaline fueled his advance, he was so focused on his task that the sounds and smells of the world vanished. Only the approaching rocks of the river’s edge existed.
With a final awkward half-lunge, half-roll, he flopped onto his back where the moist ground pressed against his burning skin. Gazing upward, Kane lost himself in the alien sky. Vibrant purples and greens from three blazing suns reflected off the sparse cloud cover.
So many colors. It’s like the aurora on steroids.
He reached for it, wanting to touch the majestic dancing lights. A boy's hand and a gray-green blade came into view.
He looked at them in confusion. The fingers of his left hand moved as expected, stiff from the freezing water, but mobile and flexible.
The scythe-shaped blade vibrated gently to his mental command of wiggling fingers. The green wrist which the blade sprouted from, spasmed wildly as he gently prodded the muscles to move.
The first part of his dull-green arm that functioned remotely as it should, was the elbow joint. But its range of motion was all wrong.
Uhm, excuse me? Where’s the line for a refund?
I need a mulligan.