Light glowed off his raised hand as he studied posters of unfamiliar athletes swimming. Trophies glittered on a shelf above a desk full of textbooks next to a still open laptop model he'd never seen before in his life.
"What the fuck!" shouted a familiar voice as Roman bolted upright on the other side of the room. Eli's beam turned to reveal a similar set up on the other side of the room full of gear in various stages alongside folders of loose schematics and diagrams scattered everywhere. Roman stared back at him before he glanced off to the side. "Holy shit, check your status!"
[Stats:
Body: Light (Photon Shot)
Mind: None
Will: None
]
[Equipped Power List:
Slot One -- Voidspace Mastery Ev. 1/Lv. 8
Slot Two -- Lumencloud Invigoration Ev. 0/Lv. 5 (Maxed)
Slot Three -- Restoration Ev. 2/Lv. 2
]
[Unequipped Powers:
Imbue Ev. 0/Lv.5 (Maxed)
Augmentative Elemental Absorption Ev. 0/Lv. 5 (Maxed)
Spatial Dominion Ev. 0/Lv. 0
]
"We're in another dimension?" Eli whispered as he reread his status again in numb disbelief. Tension ridged his muscles. He reached out into his voidspace and sighed with relief as he felt his hoard of spatial bubbles full of his belongings and everything else he had collected in there. Hope flared in his chest. If they were still there, then maybe he could teleport them back somehow.
He had left two anchors, one on the rooftop and another on the gravel road where he had his fight with Daniels. A flicker of his will and a tug on the—
It trailed off into nothing. He could sense his anchors and their vague, general location... but that was it.
Eli tuned back in to Roman, pacing the length of what seemed to be a dorm room. His eyes fluttered as he panicked. "—killed her. Now we're in another fucking dimension!"
He teleported across the room so that he could grab Roman by his shoulders. "Hey, hey. It's okay."
"What do you mean, it's okay? I killed someone and now we're who knows where!" Metal rattled across the room as nails, screws, gears, and other parts in various stages of assembly shook as Roman's anxiety mounted. "Why are you so calm? Take us back!"
"I can't teleport back. The spaces are..." Eli paused as he held his hands up with to empathize the space in between, "they're separate. I can only move in this space now, not the other one."
"Don't patronize me and act all calm. We're trapped here, Eli!" Roman shoved Eli back as he resumed pacing with newfound fervor. "She doesn't even have any new powers that could help me out with this either!"
Eli idly watched his friend almost hyperventilate. He felt perfectly fine. In fact, he didn't really feel all that troubled by the whole ordeal. He glanced at his status again and frowned at Restoration. Did the mental aspects of Rapid Recovery evolve further?
He shrugged. It didn't really matter right now.
Eli cast his spatial field wide across the room then frowned as it refused to budge outside the room and spill out into the hallways. Clothes of a slightly larger size and different style than he was used to flashed across his awareness. Shirts, sweaters, hoodies, jackets , and even a uniformed sort of armor cluttered a standing wardrobe's closet while other clothes were folded neatly in dresser drawers. A few intimate items and packets were hidden in the underwear drawer.
Next was the desk where a strange laptop rested. Its insides felt similar to what he was used to, but also very different. A cellphone sat charging on the bedside table along with two pictures in picture frames he hadn't noticed when he'd woken up.
He teleported on the chair of the desk while the phone and pictures appeared beside him. Light shone from the thin but oddly robust phone as he studied it curiously. The background was of someone that looked bizarrely like him with his arm around a woman's shoulders with long brunette hair. They were eating ice cream.
An ache pierced his heart as he touched his thumb to the screen.
Instantly a box appeared with 'Face ID' above a circle before it flashed a checkmark and the phone unlocked. Rows of icons littered the screen over an animated background of ocean waves. He scrolled through it slowly while he searched through a startling abundance of mobile games, video sites, and messy app organization. Until he reached the last page with three folders and one app.
Delve, School, Financials, and the app System Portfolio.
Eli immediately tapped on System Portfolio and grinned as the screen changed to the eerie blue of the system screens. It opened to a login screen while the thumb pad on the bottom of the phone flashed.
He touched it with growing excitement, then blinked as the System dumped a notification in front of his eyes.
It vanished at the same time the screen flashed red with an error message saying:
FAILED POWER BIOMETRICS
TWO MORE ATTEMPTS REMAINING
Eli hurriedly flicked the screen away and closed the app while his heart pounded in his chest. He wondered what was in the app and how it had accessed his System. Was it an enchantment based power? Pure technology?
"Roman!" Eli called as he turned over and blinked at the sheer focus and dedication he displayed while poring over all the schematics and devices that were laid out on top of the other desk. Roman’s lips moved silently while he spoke to himself and wrote notes in another notebook.
Okay. So he was on his own.
That was fine. He thought about accessing the financial apps, but decided not to. That felt wrong and far too personal. He didn't know if he'd replaced this Herbert, if they had swapped, or something more sinister. But he knew that they needed information about this dimension and their situation.
From what he had seen while he had fallen through the Initialization, this world was very different and far more advanced.
Eli continued his search. He tried getting into the delve and school accounts, but was met with a different sort of barrier. An untrusting plain old login page. No easy face biometrics at all. Eli searched real quick and found a notes app full of usernames and passwords along with a list chock full of exercises and monster names straight from a fantasy story.
Stolen novel; please report.
Cardio: Run Hydreigan Lake (20 min - 4/10/20X1), (19 min - 4/20/20X1), (15 min - 5/10/20X1), (__ min - 5/20/20X1)
Weights: Full routine (200 lb - 4/10/20X1), (210 lb - 4/20/20X1), (230 lb - 5/10/20X1), (__ lb. - 5/20/20X1)
Dexterity: Juggling 10 lb. ball for 5 minutes, 20 lb. ball for 4 minutes, 30 lb. ball for 3 minutes, 40 lb. ball for 2 minutes, 50 lb. ball for 1 minutes (4/10/20X1 - 5/20/20X1)
Flexibility: Standing splits for 10 seconds, standing twists for 10 seconds, standing rolls for 10 seconds (4/10/20X1 - 5/20/20X1)
Sys-Spawn Slaying and (first and second floor solo) Delve Times:
15 goblins, 5 trolls, 8 giant spiders (28 dead, 0:32:14) - 4/10/20X1
30 goblins, 12 trolls, 16 giant spiders (58 dead, 0:48:52) - 4/20/20X1
45 goblins, 20 trolls, 24 giant spiders (89 dead, 0:54:30) - 4/30/20X1
60 goblins, 30 trolls, 32 giant spiders (122 dead, 0:49:08) - 5/10/20X1
# goblins, # trolls, # giant spiders (# dead, TIME) - 5/20/20X1
What are 'Sys-Spawn'? Monsters? Eli glanced over the typed words again with a growing sense of both excitement and horror. His world didn't have monsters or they did, but they were people. He flicked the tab away to start digging into the browser and searching internet archives and journals relating to powers, the System, and these Sys-Spawn.
For them, the Initialization happened right at the tailwind of the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s. Powers caused a lot of issues, but they were on a smaller scale initially since the world wasn't as globalized. But it caused a boom in technological advancement credited to 'Enchantment' type powers.
Then animals started getting experimented on with and without powers. Every animal's intelligence grew until they underwent a metamorphosis as they gained access to the System.
Afterward, the System gave them every tool it had ever given humanity. But it also gave them more. They got sanctuaries that bent the laws of physics even further where they were spawned instead of born. They also started off with powers far greater than they should've otherwise gotten. Not to mention how problematic it already was that the System gave them the same advantages.
The animal kingdom is rife with danger and death, so every sapient Sys-Spawn skyrocketed as they killed each other, but then they realized another prey was far more bountiful with different rewards. Humanity.
Sys-Spawn are apparently heavily restricted on only one or two kinds of powers they can get, but people typically got powers that fell in four different categories: Control, Enhancement, Dream, and Unique.
Apparently, spatial powers in general were fairly rare in recent times. They were notoriously hard to create, but quite a few people had gotten them in the initialization. Dimensional powers were even rarer. There were accounts of people leaving this dimension for others, but very few of the reverse. What were they going to do?
Obviously, they were going to have to keep it a secret that they weren't from here, but he had no idea if that would even be possible. He couldn't even access Herbert's 'System Portfolio', whatever that meant for sure, and Eli had no idea how long Herbert has had powers or even what his powers were.
He had the vague sense from his sleuthing that Herbert was a college athlete involved in some kind of competition for Delving. Otherwise, they had a lot of common interests. So he had no idea how hard it'd actually be to pretend to be him. Did they have the same mannerisms both with body language and speech?
Eli had no idea. So he shook his head and continued to read. All he knew was that he and Roman would have to act like they came from here until they had a better understanding of the situation and the people around them.
He leaped from one article to the next in a whirlwind of research about this world, their knowledge of powers and the System, and especially whatever he could find about Herbert. His world had so little information, only speculation, while this world has had powers for nearly two hundred years. One moment he was vaguely aware of it being 3 AM and he was reading through the databases on spatial, light, and cloud powers, then in the next moment sunlight streamed through the small windows.
He wasn't even tired.
Eli climbed out of his perch on the chair with a series of twinges and phantom aches that vanished by the time he was fully standing. He had been awake all night and fought a marathon of multiple high-intensity fights, and he wasn't even a bit exhausted. Sure, his body craved sleep, but he felt like he could keep going easily. Between Restoration, Lumencloud Invigoration, and Body of Light, he felt more than fresh.
Roman was asleep with his head resting flat on his counterpart's desk and a slew of papers scattered all around him along with a notebook he had scrawled out pages of notes in. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was 6 AM.
Should he go to bed or—
His phone buzzed and he picked it up and didn't even think about how it wasn't actually his phone, but Herbert's until it had unlocked and he read a text message from 'Hazel Lucas <3' that asked if he was ready saying that she was waiting outside the door.
Panic shot through him.
Her contact photo was a picture of the same smiling woman from Herbert's background. Would she know that he wasn't who she expected? What was he supposed to even be ready for? Did these insane people have a date planned for 6 fucking AM? Eli hadn't ever even been on a date!
The phone buzzed again asking if he wanted to sleep in with a frownie face.
He scrolled up hurriedly, reading through conversations discussing videos, Math homework, finals, and a whole lot of nothing. The text conversation only went back two weeks. A silent alarm flashed from the top of his phone screen from a calendar reminder saying 'Morning run with Hazel <3'.
Oh, thank god. These people were just crazy in that runner way, not a crack of dawn date way.
Eli teleported some gym clothes out of the closet onto his body and winced at the odd way the fabric hugged the contours of his body. He felt an enchantment type power connect to each of his enhancement powers with a zip of energy before it relaxed.
He opened the door nervously then blinked with a blush at Hazel who leaned against the wall across from the dorm room with her own athletic wear and a cute jacket with a stencil of a duck emblazoned over her heart. Her dark brunette hair flowed over her shoulder in curly waves.
She looked up at him with a smile. "Ready?"
"Yeah, let's do this." Eli's voice cracked.
She giggled at him and led the way down the hall. He felt overly aware of his skin and the way his heart pounded. She started jogging down the stairs while he hurried to catch up. Then they barreled out of a side door from the stairwell out into the brisk, balmy air of the courtyard he'd seen from his initialization here.
No one else was outside except for them
The sun was bright and crisp as she sped up. She rocketed forward with gradual ease, each of her obviously empowered footsteps left a zig-zagging matrix of flashing lights almost as if it absorbed the power or strength from her exertion to protect itself.
He tried to catch up, but she was quickly outstripping him.
"What powers does Herbert fucking have?" He muttered under his breath as he spiked Lumencloud Invigoration and Body of Light inward until strength flooded his body.
He was still too slow.
They were nearing a park that rested right next to the campus with a trail that wrapped around the woods and vanished into nothing. He read a sign as he flashed by that said 'Hydreigan Lake'.
He used Voidspace Mastery and that strange violet light to make every point of empty space inside of him sing with power.
Eli drew a little closer.
Then he teleported in place with each step so he could blast more force into each of his movements to amplify them. He nearly wiped out, but he quickly got used to it as he grew even closer.
Wind buffeted them, which seemed to annoy her, but to him it was a blessing. She seemed to only just be pushing against her limits while he had to use everything he had to keep up with her.
Twenty-six minutes later, they had ran the entire track around the lake. Eli's body trembled as he slowed with a gasp. The instant he didn't have to use his combined powers to push himself physically, they seemed to click in place for Restoration to renew his stamina and smooth his aches and pangs.
Hazel limped over to a picnic bench table where she collapsed into it breathlessly. She brushed her fingers over the grass while she frowned at him. He smiled uncertainly.
"You didn't have to humor me by shadowing me. You could have passed me."
"Huh?" Eli blinked as she pushed herself up into a sitting position as he felt her power, something adjacent to space, strobe around her. She leaned back against the table of the picnic bench while she furrowed her brow at him.
"You're not even out of breath, Herbert!"
"I wanted a warm up." He lied with a shrug, even though his heart hammered against his ribcage.
"Alright. Well, do you want to do another lap then? I looped myself, so I'm ready to go if you are." She smiled feebly and Eli wondered what Herbert would say… but then he noticed the tension in her shoulders. The way her brow still furrowed slightly. She didn't want to go for another lap, so what did it matter what Herbert would've done?
Eli shook his head while he extended his hand to pull her up.
"Actually, I'm starving. Why don't we go get breakfast?"
"Good idea!" She tugged herself up with enough force that his shoulder nearly wrenched out of his socket. She beamed at him. "Caught you by surprise, huh?"
"Yeah," he chuckled while he wondered if Herbert was some kind of exercise freak like Lana. What the fuck kind of mess did that bitch Sandra put him in? "Where do you want to eat?"
"Oh! Let's eat at Pandemonium Cafe. Have you been?" She smiled with satisfaction as she started to lead the way while she still held his hand. "Did I tell you that Hawkins canceled the final exam for my Geomancy class? He wants us to do a final project instead."
"What kind of final project?" Eli's mouth felt dry as cotton even as he was nervous that his hand was actually clammy and disgusting. Guilt smoldered in his gut as if Daniels was sawing into him with those orange flames of his. He felt disgusting that he had to pretend to be Herbert, but he didn't have any other choice. Did he?
"Okay so, we have to create a model of a city and the surrounding region and then we'll need to simulate an earthquake and we'll be graded on how accurate we are! Which isn't fair at all! Hawkins slotted in an evo-3 Geopathy power into her Will stat. She'll be able to sense everything about the earth."
"Do you want any help with it?" He asked with a side glance at her as they started walking out of the seclusion of campus into the bustling city full of traffic, with cars that looked far sleeker than what he was used to.
"Will you have time? You've been so busy training for the Tri-Delve Cup and you're taking three other classes."
"I'll help anyway I can." He smiled even while he panicked internally at the thought of taking finals for four college classes. In a college that he'd never attended. He hadn't even finished high school! "Who knows? Maybe I'll surprise you."
"I'm sure you will, Mr. Herbert Newton," She laughed. "Thank you for making time for me this morning after our run. I know how busy you've been and that we've only been dating for a couple of weeks, but I'm really happy."
"Of course," he said even while he tasted ash and sand in his mouth. A knife twisted in his chest. Should he confess that he wasn't Herbert? The more he talked to her, the more revolting he felt. He opened his mouth to say something when she practically dragged him to the side to the tucked away Pandemonium Cafe.
"I'm so excited that you get to finally try this place! Come on!" She pulled him inside even as his heart plummeted further.
What was he going to do about this? About her? And what about his family, both back at home and here? Last he’d seen them, they’d been shot by Sandra. Were they okay? Not to mention, if he looked like himself here… how different would Herbert’s family be to his own?
Hopefully, he’d be able to figure out a way home before he had to find out.