He hung his head, and rubbed his temples, gasping for breath. Adam hadn’t truly expected to be returning to his mindscape, particularly in the state he had been in. He needed some time to just absorb the calming embrace of his own mind. He tried not to think about where he was, why he was there, how he had gotten there, or what he was supposed to be doing. Fear was crushing his psyche, so he let go. Once more he managed to enter the Zen state of the teenage male.

After some time, the thought that the mindset he was currently in was likely to be the exact one necessary to willingly enter his mindscape bounced around the inside of his skull. It was followed by the thought that it was time to do what he was there for.

With a slow breath out, Adam opened his eyes and moved to the table.

Seeing as it was closest to him, he picked up the card first. It was a small white rectangle, adorned with one word: Szellem. Adam snorted. As if he could forget that weirdo. After checking the back was empty, the card was tossed back on the table.

He picked up the note and read.

Kid,

You left before I could let you know, but your System Assistance will start as soon as you see a child. Enjoy your last few days of free thought.

Szellem

PS: Just hold the card and call my name if you want to talk. I am your spirit guide, afterall.

“Prick,” Adam muttered, half expecting the strange old man to appear with the utterance. The note was refolded, and tossed back on the table. A casual look around had established that there was still only him, the giant sign board, the table, and its notes in the void, so no other place to toss them.

Groaning was followed by, “I don’t know if I’m ready to look at that disaster again.” A sigh, then vigorous rubbing of his head. “Alright, let’s get this done.” Adam figured that if there was one place you could talk to yourself all you want without judgment, it had to be the inside of your own mind. He turned and looked up.

It was close. Too close. Too big. From so close, it was bigger than the Temple of Night. Adam tried to stumble backwards, but it followed him. His status page was like a new puppy, eager to latch on to the first interesting thing it saw and never let go.

It wasn’t sentient, the system sheets just got more insistent with more notifications pending. Not that Adam had a clue why the system was trying to fall on him, he was just trying to get enough space to read things. After a short stint of him running in circles in his own mind while being chased by a giant wall of text Adam collapsed.

Lying on his back, floating in the void of his mindscape about twenty feet above his table, Adam finally got to contemplate his system. It wasn’t showing him the same things he had seen last time. Instead there seemed to almost be layers of signs that he would have to go through before he could get back to the base layer. It was basically a giant, maniacal, needy book.

As he read through each one it would shrink and drop to the bottom of the board, out of the way but still accessible. Curious about the behavior, Adam stretched out his finger to see if he could interact with them at all. When he pointed at one it glowed, and if he kept pointing at it, the whole line of alerts would light up. With all of them illuminated he waved his finger around, letting them settle on each side and the top before setting them to the left. He was sure he’d change it later, but it made the most sense to him at the time.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Not that it really mattered where he put them at the moment, as most of the layers had the same message. Although the first was both different, and not a surprise.

You have been enslaved!

Your master has yet to enable your options.

Please return later.

It was a strange notice for Adam, as he knew next to nothing about it, but he knew he could always ask Martin later. He moved on to the next.

Level gained!

One skill point received!

Assign skill points?

There were five of the same message in the middle before he met something different. The seventh message explained some things.

Harold has been killed!

Your contribution: 99.9%

Experience earned!

Adam looked at that message for a long time. For such a small amount of text, it contained an excess of significance.

It was a message of death.

It was a message of freedom.

It was a message of a great many things to him.

Safety, family, servitude, choice, sacrifice, murder, defense, joy, sorrow, the list went on.

But most of all, it was a message of change.

In that one small collection of words were the new truths of his world. With the death of Harold his old world was gone. He had killed Harold, freed his family, and wound up in chains. He had killed and been rewarded with experience because he finally had a class of his own.

Somehow, seeing the simple words before him made it all so much more real. In a way, the last few days had been like a dream to him, or at times a nightmare. His family was safe, but he was spirited away to a life of uncertain dangers. It sounded like the beginning of a fairy tale to him, and he had been living it.

No longer could he deny it all though. He was a killer. He was a defender. He was a slave. Martin had tried to pound his new situation into his head, but sitting in his own mind reading the system’s declaration of what he had done truly drove it home.

He had been holding on for so long, struggling to hold it in, to be strong. When he first arrived at the orphanage his fear of adults made it impossible for him to let down his guard. Once he met the other boys, he realized that he needed to be their support, their protection. He never had a moment to himself to grieve for his lost parents.

Alone in his mind, fresh from the realization of what he had become, Adam realized the grief was just going to keep piling on. First his parents’ murders, then the kids left behind in the City of Night, and finally his freedom. A shudder ran through his mindscape, and he knew. Sheltered from the world inside his mind, Adam might be alone, but he was safe. It might be the last chance he had.

Shaking with emotion, Adam broke down and wept for the loss of both his families, his childhood, and his freedom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside of Adam’s mind, Martin watched as the tears rolled down the boy's face. Even in the mindscape, strong emotions could be seen from the outside. A whispered, “Finally,” escaped his lips. Luckily, mindscape time had no relation to that of the rest of existence. Adam could spend days weeping inside his mind, and only moments would pass for everyone else.

Martin didn’t know exactly what caused the tears, but he was aware that the boy had lost contact with his friends and been enslaved. Add in his orphaned status and really, the boy had so many reasons to weep, it was a crapshoot. What he did know was that he needed it. Hopefully, he would be more capable of reaching the mindscape the next day without so many emotions weighing down on him.