Emily, still seduced by her friends Shame and Fear, kept her gaze glued on her and Ian's feet. She didn't want to attract Beth's attention after the old woman had humiliated her so many times. She simply listened attentively to what the old woman was saying. She didn't even realize that the strange woman had frightened them all by transforming into that. But that was because Ian hadn't even flinched. That was so like him. It seemed that nothing frightened him. He always knew how to act. Emily wondered if he had been the only one who had asked about the terms of the agreement. She thought embarrassed. "I never even suspected they existed."

Without realizing or understanding how, she was suddenly alone. Everyone had disappeared. The silence began to take its toll on her. "How could they have disappeared like that? Could it be another vision of the old woman?" She searched for them, looking in all directions, but in vain. Everything was darkness. Everything except a patch on the floor beneath her feet. Emily felt that she would sink into nothingness if she stepped into the darkness. So she stood there, waiting for almost a minute.

When she had almost convinced herself to take a step in some direction, a voice at her back startled her. She let out a suppressed scream in response.

"Don't be afraid Emily! Nothing here will hurt you. "Those words did not reassure her as much as the voice wished. A voice that was different from the old woman's, but sounded very similar.

When Emily decided to turn to look, she was no longer in the darkness. Inexplicably, she was in her room, with her things arranged. Everything was neat in its place. That wasn't very common, she thought in embarrassment. "Looks as if mom has tidied everything up. Even the dirty clothes I left lying around. It's spotless."

A man had his back to her, looking at her "collection of worlds" as she called it. A collection that nearly filled all the shelves. Comics, movies, music, manga, games and even some figures of her favorite characters. The man had his head cocked to one side as if reading the spines of the titles. No one had ever seen her collection, because she had no friends to share her tastes with. She didn't even talk to anyone in the MMO's she usually played. Influence of Laziness and Fear, would be the answer to this strange behavior.

The man had his hands behind his back and was wearing a white outfit that was barely distinguishable. She couldn't tell if it looked like a robe or not. It was too bright. So much, that it was hard not to feel dazzled as she looked towards him. For a moment, Emily thought it was God. But God isn't interested in manga, comics, movies, music and video games, does he?

"So many examples of heroes and brave adventurers and no one can say that you are like the least remarkable of them." The voice of that man seemed to resonate everywhere.

Emily lowered her head, ashamed. The man continued. "No one but me. Of course!".

Emily opened her eyes wide and tried to look up at him again, but the man had turned to look at her face and she didn't dared to look directly at him. She felt a certain elation and joy. "Does he really believe in me or does he do it out of pity?"

He responded to her thought, blushing her. "Believe? It's not belief, Emily. I know you well! Very well."

The man continued. "I know what you think about when you transport yourself to all these worlds and live all these lives. I know what you think about when you embody such brave heroes living their adventures" A short silence preceded some answers. "You think of those amazing friends you no longer have, fighting by your side. Side by side. You think of the courage it would take to face such adversity. You think of the fear. Of the pain of the wounds. In that they never feel alone."

Emily wanted to say yes to everything and add much more, though she didn't. She was also thinking of the anger and frustration built up over the years as she vented killing monsters in video games. In those worlds where she didn't feel like a disappointment to anyone. She could beat and kill all those cruel and evil antagonists.

"Violence disguised as justice, Emily." The man added to her surprise.

The strange man sat on Emily's bed. A narrow bed with a childish quilt. She looked at the floor feeling uncomfortable as he continued."You will have to prove everything you've learned and lived within these four walls. In this little temple of yours, where you isolate yourself and hide from the world, believing it can't reach you. But I see you. I do it every day and I see with disgust how you repress something inside you. Something that has grown beyond your control. Too much hatred and violence that even you can't see yet. All that and much more of what you carry inside that brave and repressed heart. Believe me! Where you are going to go, you will need it. Not only to fight, but to know yourself better. Because, until you do, you won't be who you want to be and therefore, you won't be able to give the best of yourself”.

Emily heard that sentence feeling transported many years ago. She was in the park, playing with Ian and other children. An old woman approached them. An old woman who looked too much like the one she saw earlier that afternoon. She had asked them. "Why do you always play the same game?". Ian had replied contentedly. "We like to play adventuring heroes". The old woman had smiled. "Don't you want to be a fireman or a policeman when you grow up? Those are heroes too." They had replied almost in unison. We want to be heroes who live adventures; fighting dragons, bandits,… !"

Emily came to her senses and looked up, but she couldn’t get a good look at the strange man. From the front, his clothes shone even brighter. She could only make out that he had no hair, his skin was black and full of strange scars. One thing she could barely discern was that he had neither pupils nor irises. His eyes were completely white. Incomprehensibly, she stopped feeling nervous. The voice was strange, but had been kind all along. She was emboldened. "Who are you?"

The man smiled slightly without showing his teeth. Then, whispered as he offered her his hand, still sitting on that bed full of butterflies and patterned flowers. "You already know who I am."

Emily was puzzled, searching for the answer she was supposed to know. Without finding what she was looking for, she realized that he was offering her his hand. A hand full of scars with claws instead of the last phalanges of each finger. Despite this, Emily didn’t hesitate. She couldn’t remember the last time she had done something without hesitation, maybe that’s why it seemed so strange to her to act like that. As soon as she touched the strange man's hand, her whole room disappeared into darkness.

Suddenly, she was a little girl playing in the park again, and the strange man was there; watching her from some distance in the dark. "Do you remember me now?" She innocently shook her head. The man looked at his clothes. "Oh! I know why." Unexpectedly, his clothes changed and turned dark. He grabbed his hood and put it on. Emily felt a shiver. The man continued to speak to her in a kind tone. "I started talking to you when you were nine" I offered you a deal and you accepted. Remember?"

Emily looked at the strange man in amazement. It no longer looked like a man or a God. The being walked in circles around her. Slowly. Without overwhelming her. "Do you remember what your eyes and hair looked like?"

She whispered. "They were brown and my hair was black."

The strange being smiled nodding. "And now your eyes are green and your black hair has turned somewhat red. I remember you told other children about me. They wanted to talk to me, but your mother didn't like it when you told her about me. She thought I was Satan”.

Emily anxiously asked. "Are you?"

Emily found herself tied to a bed. She got extremely nervous. The strange being kept walking in circles, calmly. "Your mother thought you were possessed by the demon when your hair and eyes began to change. She even cut your hair incessantly when you refused to worship her God. When you wanted to be a brave adventurer who fought against all evil. She forced you to undergo useless rituals to exorcise you. I am not a demon Emily, and you are not like them. You haven't been for a long time. Do you remember all that?

Emily frowning and on the verge of despair whispered. "I'm trying to forget all that. It was a damn nightmare that lasted two years."

Relieved, she noticed that she was back on her feet. She was at least two years older. "When all that was over, and you became a shadow of your former self, you stopped talking to me despite my insistence. We had a deal and you almost broke it."

Emily felt cornered. "A deal? What deal?!"

The strange being smiled kindly. One we're going to resume. I've been patient for years, but I've grown tired of waiting. Those who accepted my deal, just as you did, are now brave adventurers. Strong, skilled and bold. You're neither of those things. You will have to make up for the lost time, Emily. You will have to reach them.

When she realized, she returned to her present appearance. The strange being moved a little closer to her. "Besides physically catching up, you'll have to do it mentally as well. You must mend what you've broken"

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Emily looked overwhelmed, without understanding. "What have I broken? I didn't break anything!"

The strange being pointed at her. "You. You're broken inside. Fractured. You've already seen it."

Emily understood. "I thought it was a vision. I thought…"

The strange being interrupted her. "It was at the beginning, but a part of you destroyed that vision".

Emily thought. "A part of me? But, there were many figures just like me."

The strange being turned and moved his hand slowly, as if caressing the air. Suddenly, to her astonishment, three floating panels appeared in front of her. They seemed more like those of a futuristic movie, than of the present. The one that caught her attention had a detailed image of her. She was depicted from head to toe; but she was naked, even though her sex and breasts were indistinguishable. She felt relieved by that, but also uncomfortable to see the nakedness of her pretty body in front of that stranger.

She touched that panel and began to move through a series of very intuitive menus. She could see her bones, nerves, veins, organs, muscles and much more. All perfectly separated with quite detailed specifications and clarifications.

Addressing a completely astonished Emily. "Doesn't any of this ring a bell? Don’t you remember it?" Emily denied in puzzlement.

"Here you can see how any part of your body is doing, what you need to improve for the future and what nutrients you need. You can also see your stored nutrients, plus your fat stores, water, and everything else that makes up your body. You know, what you have studied in school and high school. Like I told you back then. “You are what you eat!” The strange being smiled. "Luckily you've never been fond of that junk food so typical of your world." Emily was still looking at it puzzled. She couldn't remember ever seeing anything like that.

The strange being continued kindly. "Don't you remember you asked me to put up some kind of stats? Though such a thing doesn't actually exist. I already told you. You are the result of many factors at every moment and under certain circumstances. Which can't be so easily summarized in parameters."

Emily kept denying. "You must be mistaking me for someone else. I've never seen anything like this."

The strange being smiled. "You don't remember then? Well, you will do it after your first fights."

Emily flinched at the thought of actually fighting someone. “F-fights?”

The strange being nodded calmly. "I must warn you that where you will go, there are no doctors, and medicines are really scarce and ineffective. Although there are certain places where you will be able to heal faster. I anticipate they are uncommon and difficult to access."

She stammered. "B-but I d-don't…"

The strange being interrupted her, gesturing. "Relax. You'll soon remember that this is all like a character menu where you’re the character; with the center panel filled with detailed information about your physique and two side panels with the knowledge you must acquire and everything you must achieve."

She puzzled. "Achieve? For what?"

The strange being smiled. "Don't forget who you are and who you wanted to be."

After trying to assimilate just a little bit of all that information, she tried to look for one more panel as the strange man smiled. "No, don't look for your inventory, your map, your diary or your skill tree. Those are necessary things in a video game where the connection between man and machine are really limited. In real life, all that information is in your head." He pointed to the knowledge menu and tapped the inventory submenu. "Right now you have nothing on you, so there is nothing here."

As a reflex, she looked at her body. To her surprise, she was completely naked. She covered herself as fast as she could. "OMG! I've been naked the whole time?!" She understood that the strange being had been looking her straight in the eye all along, despite having a really beautiful and stunning body.

"There is nothing to be ashamed of, Emily. You can stay covered up if you wish, but it's like a father seeing his newborn baby."

Emily assimilated those words making up her mind that he could really be a God or something similar. She fleetingly thought of all the depictions they would have given about God in the movies. "This one certainly doesn't look much like Morgan Freeman" She thought as she smiled.

The strange being turned to the central panel. Different emerging panels popped up without being summoned. They were all small except one. It seemed larger and had a warning exclamation. It came from her brain. The strange being paused quizzically at that small panel and then turned to Emily. "Does your head hurt?"

She nodded touching her forehead lightly. "A little, yes. Ever since that... old woman gave me those terrible visions."

He looked at that panel again and expanded it. The emergency was coming from a minute place on the right side of her brain. The strange being stood for a few seconds looking at it.

Emily asked curiously, but shyly. "Is something wrong?"

The slightly concerned being pointed to her head. “If you stop refusing what I offered you and fix that battle you have going on in that beautiful head of yours, it will fix itself”. Then he smiled reassuringly at her.

He continued as if it were a lecture. "The knowledge and objectives of the side panels are very important. Without them you would get lost among the millions of directions you can take. Let me give you an example. The strange being touched a menu called food within knowledge. There, you could see an endless number of foods. He touched salmon and a bigger menu popped up. It showed a table of properties where the variables were practically all known. "You've eaten a lot of salmon in your life, haven't you?".

She nodded blushing. "Yes, when I was a child. My mother used to obligate me. She used to tell me it was good for me. That it was rich in Omega-3. Now I don't eat it. It has too much fat."

The strange being smiled. "Very beneficial, yes. Fat too, it's true. But for someone who does a lot of exercise and can't eat whenever they feel like it, that fat will be very necessary. You're going to find soon enough you're going to have to exercise a lot to keep up" He tapped where it said omega 3 and watched as a submenu appeared within the knowledge panel. The being summed it up. "It's a potent anti-inflammatory and your brain benefits from it by improving your cognitive ability. In other words it improves your intellectual capacity."

Emily was surprised to see how that information was a step-by-step for improving her stats. Then she frowned. "A somewhat complicated step-by-step."

The strange being read on. "Nuts have it too, and certain vegetables, but mostly oily fish, shellfish, eggs, and certain seeds. Although, that your knowledge doesn't put it. Well, you didn't know that.

Emily watched in amazement as suddenly, everything he said was appearing there written down, bit by bit.

Then the strange being scrolled through the knowledge menu and went to a section that said skills. He stopped at the ones that said fishing and gathering. Both fishing and gathering were at 0%. The being saw it and smiled. "You'll have to get on that if you want to feed well and build the perfect character."

She frowned. "I thought you got smarter by studying"

The strange being explained attentively. "Have you ever seen any athlete build muscle without protein? Just as protein is necessary to improve muscles, exercising, and increase strength; omega 3 is essential so that when you study, you improve your intelligence."

She looked at the floor. "I've been feeling less and less smart for a few years now. Is it because I don't eat what I need?"

The strange being clarified after hearing her thoughts. "Partly yes, and partly it's because of the stress. You're under a lot of stress because of Beth. That's not going to get better anytime soon, I'm afraid. Where you’re going, you’re going to face many dangers that will make you believe the stress you have been under, was merely a walk in the park."

She looked at him, nervously. "How can I reduce my stress."

He smiled. "It's very simple and very difficult at the same time. Besides, it's your ultimate goal! Become invincible, Emily! An invincible being is not afraid of anything."

Emily opened her eyes wide, perplexed by such a crazy statement. "How can I become invincible?"

The being turned his back to her. "You, to an ant, are invincible; to a bird too, as well as to a cat. In addition, among them it's easy to tell who is invincible to whom, isn't it?" Turning he concluded. Power difference, Emily. That's what makes you invincible. Power is the sum of your whole being."

He pointed to the center panel, changing the subject, as Emily absorbed everything he had said. "The center panel contains a lot of information about your body that you will have to explore on your own. You could do this usually when you fall asleep or when you learn how to do it by concentrating." Then he smiled." No. There is no pause here. There isn't in real life either, is there?" The man extended his hand towards her again. "Ready?"

Emily, flustered and unsure, stammered. "R-ready for what?" The being suddenly grabbed her hand as he saw her so unsure. Finally, everything went dark.

In a flash, she noticed her floating in the darkness, accompanied by thousands of very small lights coming bottom to top. That made her feel like she was falling. Suddenly, a luminescent floating progress bar appeared, followed by a voice echoing everywhere.

"Initializing protocol. Initiating scan and parameter reset. Please, stand by!"

When the progressive bar filled up, a sort of gigantic table of statistics, attributes and skills appeared in front of her. It had a lot of numbers that started to fluctuate very fast, then very little, and finally stopped. She tried to read them but at that very moment some skills lit up and others disappeared. That caused the numbers accompanying the stats to change again.

When the table of statistics finished changing, it shrank and integrated into the three panels that appeared briefly only to disappear again. The strange voice spoke again.

"Reset completed. Certain misadjustments that prevented access to the menu have been removed. There is still a serious problem that could not be fixed. It’s causing among other anomalies; memory fragmentation and multiple internal personality. It’s impossible to repair this error without outside help and without a serious loss of the subject's identity".

Emily listened perplexed. "Serious problem? Loss of identity? What was preventing me from seeing that menu? Why can I see a menu and since when? Where did that voice come from? From me? Then, what the hell am I? She took a nervous breath. "At least I don't have a headache."

Everything was happening so fast and she was so flustered that she had not been able to read anything. "I understand that I couldn't configure anything. It's obvious that I'm the character and I am what I am, but you could at least let me watch it patiently, couldn't you?"

Before she could even get more indignant, she lost consciousness. She was plunged into darkness and unconsciousness for what might seem like an eternity. Then, slowly, Emily began to wake up. She was uncomfortable and lying down. She guessed she was back in her room, in her bed, but something was wrong. The mattress wasn't soft like hers. She blinked endlessly until she could see better. Stunned, she saw that she was lying on a bed of straw.