Walls of gray bricks surround me when my senses return, a stark contrast from the sterile white and runic steel of the facility that served as my prison for hells know how long. Beneath me stands a similar platform to the one that brought me here. I’m no more sure of where I am now than I was before, but I suppose that’s a given at this point.

(Obviously,) Nyx mutters, entering the edge of my perception. (First time teleporting’s always a doozy. Sometimes has side effects. You look mostly intact though.)

Sure, if ‘mostly intact’ includes having most of my mass missing. It’s not like I’ve forgotten.

(Details. You can always get more.)

Mixed messages much? You tell me to stop asking questions, and then you say things that beg the question. So which is it?

She sighs and runs a hand down her face, then snatches a line from my status.

[Mana Thirst]

(Go eat, stupid.)

Eat what? Not like I can just stuff myself with nutrients or something, aren’t I a spirit?

Apparently that’s not what she wanted to hear because she stands and stares at me a moment, and then turns and starts walking away, only to turn back, sigh, and sit down right there on the floor. (You are what you eat.)

Huh. So I pantomime looking around for something that’s lost and confused, forced into a situation it couldn’t possibly-

(Very funny. If I wasn’t in your head I wouldn’t even get the joke. Idiot.) Nyx pushes herself back to her feet. (Spirits. Or, failing that, spiritual energy. You know, mana?)

Oh, right. Manaphage. Ah, yeah, and this is the second time I’ve seen you roll your eyes that far.

(Just. Shut up. Look. Door. Go,) she says, pointing at the automatic door in front of me. (We should be moving, instead of standing around having useless conversations. It’s not like we’re safe. There are probably only so many doors to that place.)

Fair enough. So I move toward the door, but, it doesn’t open. Is it supposed to open for a material body, or is it keyed? I materialize a feeler and give it a touch, but still nothing happens. Nyx is mercifully silent, I’m sure she’d have a field day pointing out every obvious thing I could be doing right now, but she must be satisfied watching me fumble in the proverbial dark. That suits me well enough. When I finally press my entire form against the door, I’m surprised to find myself passing through it.

[Available Skill: Partial Phase used for the first time!]

[Partial Phase [0] added to Skills!]

Oh. Huh.

(Yeah.)

Refusing to dignify her with an answer, I decide it’s a much better idea to look around. An empty city street greets me, paved sidewalks and streets that show the wear and tear of frequent traffic, brick buildings bare of anything but doors much like the one behind me. Above their weathered frames, there are plates of runesteel with a series of symbols… or, numbers?

[Available Skill: Interplanar Common Language used for the first time!]

[Interplanar Common Language added to Skills!]

Why does it keep saying skills are available if I don’t have them already?

(Because Systems aren’t actually how you get stronger.)

If I had a physical head, I’d have tilted it at that.

Nyx sighs through her nose, which I mentally add to the list of different ways she’s sighed at my behavior. (You already have the power, dumbass. The second you began ascension, you got hooked into the god juice the Record provides. Systems exist to slow down how fast you take it in, so you don’t just,) she pantomimes a balloon popping with her hands. (Mortals need time to slowly expand how much they can hold. It’s a limiter to make you take your time with it instead of just, chugging the whole thing and dying. I’m sure it was one hell of a gorefest when the old gods first started promoting replacements.)

Wait, why do the gods need replacements?

(Dunno,) she shrugs.

It’s my turn to sigh.

Do you have any idea where we are?

(Nope. Pick a direction I guess.)

Fine. So I head toward the nearest alleyway. After a few moments of travel, I find myself on a similar street, with the same kind of buildings and doors. Looks like the area is fairly uniform? I wonder if all these other doors lead to platforms like the one I came from…

(Probably. Most folks of any means choose to live in interstitials – those being pocket planes the owner can expand at will, really cuts down on noise complaints. Plus real estate isn’t much of a worry. Only things you lose are resale value and location I guess. Runic tech is pretty slick. Used to be my whole thing.)

Used to?

Nyx scowls. (Yeah, used to. I lost access to almost my entire Status. More than a century of work down the drain, I don’t even have a level anymore! Thanks a bunch.)

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Ah.

(Yeah, ‘ah’.)

I’m not really sure how to feel about that. For now I guess it’s good enough to get moving again… I’m not really convinced I’m going to get anywhere the way I’ve been trying so far, but then I get the idea in my non-head to float higher and take a look – it’s gotta work since I can float around to begin with, right? Can’t really see how going up is different from going forward…

And wouldn’t you know it, I was right. Up I go, above the streets, toward the tops of the buildings, until I reach… what is this? I stop against it.

(Barrier.)

Yes, I can see that. And feel it.

(Keeps the air in. A lot of the Real is in spaces that don’t normally have breathable air.)

I’m not even sure why that feels strange to me. Whatever. I start to Phase through it, then recoil as I feel myself losing contact with the parts of me that have already passed through.

(Yeah, don’t do that.)

Oh.

(Almost all you say is ‘ah’ and ‘oh’. Try going down instead.)

Just… you know what? Fine.

So I float down instead, and when I reach the street again, I stop and look around.

(Keep moving.)

…

(Yeah I know, ‘huh’.)

You’re going to get tired of sulking eventually, you know.

(Doubt it, but I guess we have time to find out.)

***

I wander the streets for some amount of time I don’t even know how to track. It’s tedious, and I’ve got no actual point of reference to tell if I’m making any progress, or if this is one of those bizarre spaces where the streets tie into each other in a loop. Yeah, I’ve… just gotten used to knowing things I can’t explain.

(About damn time.)

I’m about to produce a particularly scathing response (really!) when I see a person around a corner. A human, apparently, in what appears to be a maintenance uniform of some kind.

(About bloody time. Go eat him.)

What? How?

(Same way you ate the lab tech? It’s pretty universal.)

Fine. Growth has a price, he may as well be part of it, but somehow I can tell he’s out of range of my skill. So I drift his direction, trying to stay to the shadows to not draw attention. Sneaking up on him is a bit easier given I don’t make any contact with the ground, and it’s entirely due to my talents and not how he’s walking in the opposite direction.

[Available Skill: Stealth used for the first time!]

[Stealth (0) added to Skills!]

…And also due to my skills apparently.

I can hear Nyx facepalm next to me.

After a moment of drifting, I’m both aware that I move slower than I’d thought, and also that the human is close enough for my skill. That’s also when some information presents itself.

[Human – Unknown – Level 2]

Seems like a low level, but it’s still higher than mine.

(Levels are more like guidelines, tbh. Lose a head and you’re dead regardless.)

Good to know. Before she has a chance to sigh, I hit my victim with Charm. And he stumbles and stands still for a moment, before letting out a curse and spinning on the spot, frantically pulling some kind of device from his side.

(He resisted it. You should probably fight,) she says, just as the device unleashes a bolt of blue energy at me. And, it hurts.

(Yes, dumbass, pain hurts.)

It hurts enough that I inadvertently shriek, which unexpectedly makes my prey freeze, stumble backwards a step, and fall flat on his backside. Eyes wide, he starts slowly scooting himself backwards away from me. His mouth flaps, leaking incoherent sounds.

[Available Skill: Wail of Torment used for the first time!]

[Wail of Torment added to Skills!]

Hey, interesting, that should make things easier! And it does, as I materialize a feeler and swat the device from his hands. He almost seems half aware of what’s happening… maybe this is just something humans do when they stare death in the face. I materialize half a dozen more feelers, enough that I feel my ability to control them strain, and wrap them around his body. Then I drag myself close enough to see his pores, small hairs, the shake of his eyes as they loll side to side, his sweat, tears. I can somehow feel that the more agitated he is, the better he will taste… how do I know that? I can’t even taste. Well, whatever, I leave that for later retrospection as I Consume him.

I’m momentarily overcome by the wave of vitality that washes over me. It’s definitely nowhere near as much of me as before, but I can feel part of myself fill back in. The feeling is beyond elating.

(Best drug. Don’t bother with the others. Probably wouldn’t work on you anyway.)

I spare my cynical Assistant a glance, before squeezing the last dregs of life from the desiccated husk.

[Human (Apprentice Mechanic Level 2) Slain – 200 Experience has been awarded!]

[Bonus Experience awarded for slaying an Ascendant above your level!]

[Consume has reached Level 1!]

[Mana Thirst has been temporarily sated.]

Ah, the rush of growth… I can tell from my newly enhanced skill that I can take this a bit further, so I use it again on the desiccated corpse. It crumbles to dust as I absorb what miniscule fraction of life energy that held it together, leaving behind his clothing and effects. I dematerialize all but two of my feelers, with which I rifle through the remains. Not much useful is left, at least not that I can tell given I don’t know what most of these things in his bag are.

(Take the portal key and runegun.)

I lift a small piece of stamped metal from the bag, and-

(Just take the whole bag. You can’t manifest a storage space yet, right?)

…No, I… can I? That’s a very good question. So I focus my will, and try to open a space inside myself that could hold things. Keeping the smallest amount of my will pressed against it, forcing it to hold its shape, I try putting something inside – a shoe. And it immediately disintegrates.

(That won’t work-)

[Available Skill: Mimic Lure used for the first time!]

[Mimic Lure added to Skills!]

(-ooor. What?)

Interesting. Focusing on the skill, I can feel that it has a few options… an unspecified use, and one focused on absorbed materials? I manifest a shoe on the ground in front of me, and wave its laces around like my feelers. After a minute or two of flicking it around on the ground while Nyx looks on stunned by my genius use of the skill and definitely not how easily entertained I am, I let it dematerialize. It seems I need to maintain my focus on a Lure or it’ll dematerialize on its own. After it dissipates, I feel a strain I hadn’t realized was there release with it.

(Mana expenditure. Most skills use mana, just most of the stuff you’ve used either doesn’t use much or isn’t strong enough to use more yet. The bag. Pick. Up. The. Bag.)

Fine.

I manifest a feeler and wrap it around the strap. I can feel it strain when I try to lift, so I manifest a few more and lift it with all of them. I send out one more to pick up the device I’d swatted free during my hunt, a runegun apparently.

[Runepistol (Force) – Level 1 – 62/100]

Looks pretty worn. Well, whatever, I don’t even know how it works, not like that matters. I humor a random thought and absentmindedly focus my will toward Nyx.

[Sidhe – Nyx (System Assistant) – Level ???]

The look she returns is the deadest of deadpan.

(His portal key should have an address on it.)

Oh hey, you’re right. Looks like it’s just down the street too.

(You can hide there. Doubt anyone’s gonna investigate the dust beyond ‘killed by a transient wraith, by the pantheons how sad’.)

If you say so.

I drift my way toward the marked door, and Phase through it. Only to hear the bag plop to the ground outside.

(Idiot.)

Shut up.

I Phase back through, pick the bag back up, and then touch the door – which slides open pleasantly on unexpectedly smooth and well oiled tracks. I guess an Apprentice Mechanic didn’t live here for nothing!

(You need to have the key on your person to enter an interstitial if you’re not invited. And no, material objects don’t phase with you. Obviously.)

Good to know. I drift onto the runed platform and allow myself to dissipate.