Waking up has always been an awful experience. This time, it just happened to be worse than the others. Opening my eyes was a struggle, and when I managed to pry them open, a blinding light pierced through the veil of darkness, causing me to shut my eyelids as fast as humanly possible. The pain was expected, but the light was absolutely not. I opened my eyes once again, and the light was just a bit more bearable.
I looked around in an attempt to look at anything other than the blindingly bright light; or at least tried to for a few moments, before I noticed I couldn’t move. At all. Even my tail, which I usually struggled to keep under control, was completely motionless. I couldn’t feel anything. Why can’t I feel anything? What’s happening? Why am I here? What’s going on? I don’t understand. Who did this? Why can’t I move? Why can’t I see? Why is this happening? What did I do wrong? I got all the iron I needed yesterday. I don’t understand. I- !
“Shouldn’t be here, was it?”
Huh? Who is that? It sounded like a man... No... No! It can’t be one of those! Please, no! I heard what it was like from the other slaves… The men do horrible things to you… Especially to boys like me…!
“Don’t be like that, I won’t do anything to you. I don’t like pretty boys, or rather, boys in general. I’m sure you won’t have any trouble finding one like that, though. You are in hell, after all!”
Ah… Hell...?
“Oh, well, this technically isn’t hell, but it’s close enough. You know, with hell being after really dying and all. Lucky for you, you’re in something not dissimilar to a realm for lost souls, so you still have a chance!”
I… I still don’t understand… what does that have to do with me?
“Oh, yes, I forgot. You don’t remember dying. Of course you wouldn’t. Most do, but there’s always those special ones who are… assisted in forgetting, due to how bad it was. I do believe that waking up from a coma suddenly, being almost starved to death and missing your legs, then suddenly having your soul ripped out of your body would most definitely do that to you. It certainly would. Especially the soul-ripping part. Souls are attached to every part of your mortal body, so it sets off all of your nerves at once when they’re pulled out. It’s pretty cruel, to be honest. I quite hate visits to your world, especially because of that little quirk the authorities made. But that doesn’t matter right now.”
I heard the man take a deep breath, and he continued speaking.
“Forgive me for rambling, this is the first time I’ve taken a new arrival in quite a while. I’m usually out doing something boring in the material planes. For now, let’s get you up and moving.”
Footsteps were slowly approaching, in sync with the fading of the bright light, each muffled contact of shoe-sole against floor toning it down a grade. As it was reduced down to a small point, left suspended in the air, a man was revealed. He was walking down a long carpeted hallway, lined with pure white pillars, directly toward me. His hands were held out before him, almost as though beckoning me to come towards him just as he was to me. Thankfully, that didn’t truly seem to be the case, as the light that wasn’t anything more than a pinprick at this point floated over to him. It accelerated rapidly, until it got the the man and abruptly disappeared. Promptly clasping his hands behind his back, he spoke a few unintelligible words. And feeling returned to my body soon after he started.
I fell to the floor and spasmed for a bit, the influx of response from my nerves making me lose control of my body. Frothing at the mouth, I sat up carefully, trying not to cause another spasm. Though I horribly failed. Multiple times.
Once I had finally become accustomed to feeling again, I was able to not only sit up but stand just fine. A dark hand reached out and grabbed my own, forming them both into a firm handshake.
“My name is Daehelb, we’ll be working together for a while while I introduce you to your new work setting. For now, I’ll show you exactly why you’re here.”
The black man waved his hand and a familiar form of notification popped up in front of me. At least that hasn’t changed…
Congratulations!
You have successfully obtained the comatose body of Ralf Faelan!
You now have access to all features of the system: not all are available without discovery. Additional features may be added or created if conditions are met.
You now have access to your status screen: this may be henceforth used in any area, regardless of system restrictions.
You now have the ability to access all features of the nexus: additional features may be added as you progress, or due to special conditions being met.
Effective movement may not be possible due to disfigurement of your body: this may be restored through a variety of available methods. (These methods cannot be found with assistance from the system.)
This is…
“Isn’t that my name?”
Was this notification meant for me? No, that’s not right. If it were, I would’ve gotten it when I woke up. That only means it could be for someone else. A body snatcher… Then it makes sense why I’m not really dead, now. I didn’t die. I just lost my body to a freaking snatcher.
“No, that isn’t quite right, Ralf.”
Daehelb turned around and started walking with small strides in the same direction from which he came. This time, he was actually beckoning me, rather than some strange floating light.
“One of the authorities set this up, though I’m not quite sure who that is. It isn’t a body snatcher, otherwise they wouldn’t have only gotten access to the system after taking your body. That means this person had to be from a world where our system does not rea-”
“Wait, are you saying that monsters have access to the system as well?”
My eyes went wide as I considered the possibility. It would finally answer the long debate on whether or not monsters had access, reaching even as far as me, who was a slave. The implications would be…
“Yes, but that is besides the point. The person who took your body was not from our world, or even one that had access to our system yet. One of the authorities went out of their way to arrange this, and decided you as a vegetable would be the best option. No one would notice if a slave were to change, and you were barely even alive at that point anyways. You were the most convenient option. If anyone even noticed your change, they could chalk it up to a near death experience.”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Daehelb took a quick breath and kept speaking.
“You do seem unusually smart for a slave, however, so you’ll fit my purposes perfectly as well. This initiation might even be fun, and I haven’t had one that was fun for a long, long time.”
----------------------------------------
I followed Daehelb down the hall for a good half an hour, walking side-by-side, and nothing happened for the entire time. We hadn’t spoken to each other since he said something about an initiation… For the time being, I should check my status. Who knows what could’ve changed after being body snatched.
Status
Name: Ralf Faelan
Race: Wer (Catte)
Gender: Male
Level: N/A
Experience: N/A
Class
N/A
Titles
Lost Soul, Somatically Snatched
Pools
Stats
Health: Undefined
Stamina: Undefined
STR: Undefined
VIT: Undefined
AGI: Undefined
DEX: Undefined
Undefined
Mana: 11,920/11,920
INT: 596
WIS: 238
PER: 67
CHR: 100
Status Ailments
N/A
Stat Points: 0
Skills
Proficiency
Tier
Traits
Magic
Proficiency
Tier
Skill Points: 0
Skill Selection
Looking through the screen for a few moments, a few notable differences from the past were obvious to me.
I’m missing all of my physical stats and my level, but… That shouldn’t be too much of a concern. It’s probably because I lost my body, simple as that.
Honestly, it probably was something worth worrying about. A lot. Mainly because of what it meant for me. Classes are dependent on who you are and what you’ve done, whether that be from a past life or your social status. They even evolve with you, to fit your needs as you progress through the trials of the system. It’s impossible not to have one by the time you begin to exist, though I guess that’s not as true as I thought, considering my current situation…
Well, it doesn’t matter. I’m more curious about where we’ve been walking to for the past half hour. No harm in asking.
“Daehelb.”
My question elicited a short hum, and the dark man twisted his neck to the side, looking at me in askance.
“Where have we been walking to? It’s been a long time, but I haven’t seen any end to this hallway… I’d like to know, what exactly are we doing walking for so long, wasting so much time?”
“You finally noticed?”
My eyes locked with Daehelb’s in confusion. Was this supposed to be some sort of test? If it is, this is really stupid. What sort of test has you walking down a barren hallway for over half an hour?
“Noticed what? The fact that this hallway is abnormally long?”
“Oh. You really didn’t get it? I thought that you would by this point. Could it be that you never invested in your perception?”
“There wasn’t ever a need for much over 50, so it would’ve been a waste…”
“Ah, force of circumstance. Many get trapped in their narrow world views, even if they find themselves to be more intelligent than the rest. Usually they find themselves thinking that it would be better to invest only in the short term, relying on their own sound judgement. It is a shame that they rely on the assumption that their lives will never experience a drastic change as you have. I’ll give you a tiny hint. Just look around.”
Doing as he said, I looked around. I couldn’t believe just how stupid I was…
“I’m guessing that those were following us around for a while, then…”
There was a batch of doors at every side of us, even directly ahead. A gold trim ran along the edges of the rich brown doors. Silver door knobs with the same gold trim hung on the right side, just within reach for me. They seemed to shift the space around them to follow our walking pace. Each door had a label above them. One of which was labeled, “Initiate Test.” Is that where we’re supposed to be going? Why is it still moving away, though…
“So you can finally see them? At least it didn’t take any more than that to make you aware of them. Most have to take a few more hints before they get it… Some don’t even get it unless you tell them bluntly that there are doors using spatial distortions to follow us around.”
I don’t care about that right now. I just want that door to stop moving so that I can see what’s through there…
And suddenly, they stopped. All the doors that were kept equidistant from the center point - the two of us, Daehelb and I - were now firmly stuck in place around us. We continued walking, the hallway around us becoming a small room as I watched it fold in on itself.
“At least you got the easy one quick. Too bad that was all we had, but the hallway is still under development by the administration.”
Unbeknownst to me, he had already turned his head back to our destination, staring straight at the Initiate Test door. And he kept staring. Not even blinking. I began walking forward, seeing as he didn’t have anything to say to me. My feet carried me to the Initiate door, and my hand followed its path to the knob. Opening the door, Daehelb exploded in a shower of gore, and I was stuck staring just as he did. Good thing I was used to this type of thing after being a slave for so long… That was weird… Wai-
“Ah, fuck, some of it got in my eye! It’s in my eye!”
I hurried through the door, hoping that there would be something to wash the gore out of my eye. Unfortunately, I happened to bump into someone and fall to the floor after comically spinning around a few times.
“Need help with that?”
Isn’t that Daehelb!? Didn’t he just explode?!
“Oh, don’t mind the explosion, I used to do that to scare initiates a bit before they began. Let’s just get, uh.. Let’s get my insides out of your eye, shall we? You should be getting a notification pretty soon.”
The feeling of Daehelb’s intestines in my eye was suddenly gone, and another notification popped up in front of me. One that was for me.
Welcome, Initiate, to Your Trial Assignment!
You have now entered the assignment world, in which it will be determined whether or not you will be capable for this career path that has been pushed upon you.
Despite being a trial, this assignment is equivalent in level to beginner assignments, and will have lasting consequences on the world.
Due to being a trial, you will be provided more assistance than what is usually given to complete your task.
If you successfully complete your task, you may receive rewards equivalent to task level and obtain an increase in percentage to receive higher quality class options from the directory for each assignment world.
After you complete your assignment, your status will be cleared of all physical stats, pools, level, as well as your borrowed class.
I was so caught up in the flow I didn’t notice I was forced into being an initiate for a shady looking job?!