it! Ooh, that’s cold! The world of bodily sensations came back, and it told Sam that his body was now in an intimate embrace with the with the naked (man-made by the feel of it) ground. The all-encompassing void was replaced with just a visual one, which Sam attributed to his eyelids being closed. But everything else was back. The noise, both ambient and voices, was deafening in its sudden intensity. The smells were much more bearable, probably because Sam was never a great smeller. And yes, it turned out that you could taste the inside of your own mouth.

Seeing as he went from having no body, to having a body, surely no one could blame Sam for taking a couple of seconds to reorient himself with the feeling of feeling before having his first coherent thought. And surely no reasonable person would blame Sam for instinctively screaming when his perception of sensation went down beyond his groin and settled upon two somethings that felt much too real to be considered a phantom of any kind.

Fortunately for Sam, there was no need to blame him at all due to the fact that despite feeling his body, he was completely unable to control it, and thus, no one could hear him scream. His new state of being did result in him going through a brief internal debate, however. True, he was back again in the world of being and experience, but wasn’t it worse to be able to feel and not do anything about it than to be unable to feel at all? At least before, both his body and his mind were companions in being prisoners to inexistence.

Suddenly, the incoherent blubber that was the throng of voices that surrounded him made way to one very clear one. “Make space, make space people,” the voice called, “don’t crowd him! At least I think it’s a him.”

“Hey, buddy, are you alright? Can you hear me?” the loud voice questioned him. Sam wanted to answer him either with a simple “no” or more annoyingly, with some “witty” self-deprecating joke like “no, but when am I ever?” Unfortunately for Sam, and every person in earshot who liked their comedy lukewarm, he was still unable to direct his body to do anything so no answer was forthcoming. Neither was a shake of the head or a lift of the arm. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing, but Sam was pretty sure that didn’t have anything to do with him directing his will.

“If you can hear me, then just relax. Everything’s going to be fine. I’ve just got off the comm with the medic and he’s gonna be here any minute now. And he’s a pretty good one. Level 5, just graduated, so don’t go thinking that he’s just some trenchie pressed healer. In fact, he told us not to move or touch you, which is why we're not moving or touching you. It has absolutely nothing to do with us being afraid. Ha ha. Nothing at all…”

Oh Great! I’m in a fucking video game… What the fuck is level five, asshole?! Do I look like someone who knows what the hell you’re talking about?! Although… I don’t actually know what I look like so presuming that you’re human just like me, and I will presume since otherwise why the fuck would you be speaking English?! Presuming that, you might be inclined to think my general knowledge is not too dissimilar to yours. So, you’re right, I take it back, sorry. Here’s hoping that this level five healer is as great as you’re making him out to be.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” the voice continued after a minute’s pause. “Will somebody give the poor guy something to cover with at least? Or that we could cover him with? Here, sergeant! Give me your jacket, for Christ’s sake. I don’t get why you’re always wearing it, even in this heat.” Funny, if you were to ask Sam, it wasn’t that hot outside. Although that was before he felt the jacket being draped around his lower back. “Here you go, buddy. Now you’re no longer butt naked, right?”

“Did anyone see how this guy got here?” the same voice asked.

Another meeker voice answered from nearby Sam. “I did captain. I was looking straight at him, or where he turned out to be. One second there was nothing, another second, a flash of blue and he was there. On the ground.” A plethora of farther sounding voices soon sounded in agreement.

“Flash of blue…” the captain pondered aloud. “You sure it wasn’t portal light? Aren’t you a default?”

“Might’ve been sir, I guess you’re right. Didn’t have enough time to be sure.”

“It was portal-light,” said another voice. “I saw a red flash.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” said the captain. “Sergeant, relay this to command: Tell them the unknown appeared in a similar visual fashion to a Ruler’s teleportation. But we still don’t know if that was Ruler magic because that wouldn’t explain why he can’t move.”

Well, magic’s real, but I guess we could already infer it from the existence of a healer? Maybe it’s not magic but just some kind of future technology and this brand of humanity are just huge chumps. Wait, a moment… why the hell am I already making assumptions about stuff and, even worse, taking stuff at face value? I mean, as far as I’m concerned, this is all a fucking dream or illusion until proven otherwise.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“So… I still don’t know if you can hear me or not, but I figured that either way you’d still prefer me talking rather than just stewing in silence until Javi, that’s the medic, gets here. Or, maybe not.” The captain laughed to himself. “What I meant to say was that if I was in your situation, I’d prefer to have someone to talk to. Well, not talk to obviously, listen to is what I meant.”

Yeah, I guess so too, would really prefer being able to talk and move, though.

“So anyway, introduction, you can’t see me, but I’m Matt Nevis, human, just like you. Well, I’m assuming you’re human. Apologies if I’m wrong on that account. It’s just that you look human, what with having regular skin, body-height ratio and no pointy ears. Not that I have any problems with non-humans, obviously.” He laughed again.

“So I’m Matt, captain in the Terran military. Oh, and this is New Terra, though I guess you’d already know that unless you teleported from worlds away. Although, I don’t think that’s possible even for Rulers. You’re currently in the portal compound, right smack dab in the middle of it now that I think of it. Although I guess you’re closer to the portal to Gehelis than Centauri’s, if that matters to you any.”

That’s too much information for the listener the absorb all at—oh, he’s still going.

“I’m in charge of second company here at the gates, but we switch around every six hours, so stick around long enough and you’ll get to meet all of us at battalion. Heh. Although technically, we’re not supposed to talk about our shift’s rotation, so just in case you’re here on audit, please forget that last part.”

It was at that moment that Sam checked out. Now don’t get him wrong, he’d have loved to lie there and listen to captain Matt blabber on about his dog, husband and what’s his favorite meal, but he just couldn’t do it. That was because he was set upon by the most wonderful feeling he had ever experienced. He was feeling total contentment, and for once in his life he wasn’t interested, or more likely, wasn’t able to wonder, what brought on this glorious feeling and how long was it going to last.

But alas, all good things must come to an end and Sam’s euphoria was first in line to the chopping block. The feeling of complete clarity and happiness was suddenly gone, replaced by what felt like a literal flame burning on his back. JESUS FUCK! He yelled, but was once again thwarted by his body’s unwillingness to heed his mental commands.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said a serious voice from his back. Not Matt, the medic? What was his name? Javi? It’s gonna be real fucking embarrassing if this dude saves my life and I end up saying his name wrong.

“What’s the matter with him?” asked the voice he had come to associate with Matt. Hopefully I’ve got his name right. How the fuck am I supposed to remember the name of someone I had just met?!

“His magic is all over the place, it’s… really fucking weird. It’s like he’s not connected to his core, maybe? Fuck! I don’t even think he has a core.” I’m going to attribute this voice to Javi.

“Maybe you’re just unable to see it. What if he’s a Ruler?” Matt asked.

“He’d have to be a brand new one then, cause I don’t recognize this guy.”

“Obviously… I didn’t mean he’s one of ours, but he could be an Imperial. You’re gonna tell me you can recognize all of their Rulers?”

“Maybe so, but from what I know, becoming a Ruler shouldn’t hide your core or do whatever it is that happened to him. So unless you’re trying to suggest that the naked guy that landed on your doorstep is the Web’s newest Chosen, I’m going to treat him as though he doesn’t have a core. Whatever that means.”

Following Javi’s declaration, the feeling of heat on his back intensified and started spreading all throughout his body. “Hey, if you can hear me,” Javi said. “What I’m doing is simply providing aid to your body’s magic in whatever it is it’s trying to. It’s the most basic form of healing magic there is. I’m just aiding your body’s natural regeneration. Hopefully, this will help you regain control of your body. Hopefully.”

“So what am I telling command?” asked Matt.

“Tell them what I told you about his magic and core. And that as far as can tell, this guy poses no security problem, but they should probably still send someone more… I don’t know, powerful, I guess, to make sure nothing untoward happens.”

While the sensation of heat, presumably Javi’s magic, continued to spread throughout Sam’s body, the mind inhabiting said body was busy whirling around with the implications of everything it had just heard. Well, to be precise, it’s not the mind that heard, it was the ears that heard the conversation going on above them. Those same ears then sent the information they collected through a very complicated system of something… Anyway, it was the mind that processed the information it received and was, as a result, in the middle of a very deep session of thinking.

Yes, it was all thanks to the ears; brilliant little bugg—Wait! Why the fuck am I thinking about ears for fuck’s sake!? Jesus, this magic is uncomfortable, but at least it doesn’t feel like molten lava anymore. Not that I know what molten lava feels like, just one of those things you say, doesn’t make much sense if I’m being honest.

Fuck! What was I trying to say? It’s impossible to think with all this bloody noise. Something about magic probably, or all that other nonsense they’ve said. I swear to god, I’m still not over the fact that these motherfuckers named this world New Terra, fucking amateurs. In this day and age, who still names shit like that?!

Unfortunately, Sam was unable to continue the whole spiel on account of him losing consciousness shortly after getting rationally angry about these people’s naming sense. The last thing he heard before the rest of his sensations went back to dark was Javi cursing. Something about his core and not making any sense.