The entire building shook violently as an explosion rang out from below. Evelynn and Jake fell forward catching themselves upon each other.

“Was that them?” Jake asked in a hurry as the building’s shaking ceased.

“No,” the hooded woman replied. “Protocol for intrusion has been activated. Most of the second floor has just been destroyed by preplaced bombs.”

Jake could have sworn he heard Evelynn muttering something about insanity. “Did you catch them in the explosion?” he asked.

“No.”

Jake couldn’t believe it. “They dodged you blowing up an entire floor?!”

“The intruder wasn’t on the second floor.”

“Then what was the point of blowing it up?”

“That explosion should have put every remnant within this building and the surrounding area in a state of frenzy,” the hooded woman said.

“Remnant?”

“The monsters you met on your way up here. Thanks to that explosion, they should be ready to throw themselves at anything that isn’t one of them.”

“Including us?” Jake asked.

Horrible screechs began to ring out from the floors of the building below. Screams of pain couldn’t be distinguished from vengeful roars.

“I’ve influenced the remnants so that they’ll prioritize the intruder over you. All you need to do is not get caught in the crossfire.” Something that was easier said than done. “The exit from this place is open. All you have to do is cross the street.”

“Cross the street?” Jake repeated. “Didn’t you just set the building on fire?”

“I did.”

“You want me to get through that and all the monsters you just pissed off?”

“If you have trouble in these conditions, you’ll be having trouble from now on.”

Jake heard a simmering sound and looked to the binder in his hands. The information displayed in the binder he was holding began to disappear as the individual pages simmered and burned away.

“Here.” The hooded woman tapped the side of his sunglasses.

[Data Received]

“The remnants already have a feeling for where the intruder is. Now you should be able to see their location marked through walls as well.”

Jake swung his head down, scanning the entire building for the intruder’s mark. “I don’t see anything.”

“You should see a glowing blue mark,” the hooded woman clarified.

“Yeah, I don’t see—” He stopped mid sentence. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Evelynn’s black band. It was covered in a glowing blue highlight.

His heart dropped.

“What’s wrong?” Evelynn gave him a worried look.

“You’re the intruder,” he told her.

The least that could be said was that she looked shocked. “What?” she asked. “How does that make sense?”

Jake didn’t know. He turned to the hooded woman. “If she’s an intruder, how come you didn’t say anything until now?”

“Up until now, her presence has been hidden from me.”

“So you can see her now?” he asked.

For the first time since they had crossed the portal, the hooded woman looked Evelynn’s way. “Yes.”

Evelynn didn’t hesitate to question her. “But if I’m an intruder, why isn’t he—” She stopped herself. Evelynn quickly covered her mouth and looked to Jake, realizing what she was about to say.

It took Jake a second, but he realized it too. “But why is she an intruder?” he asked. And why wasn’t he considered one when it was obvious he wasn’t the person who was meant to be here?

“Anyone other than Singleton, you, or me entering this place is considered an intruder,” the hooded woman answered.

Immediately, Jake felt there was something off with such a statement. “Why did you leave three of the wristbands in the box then?” It wouldn’t make sense for Mr. Singleton and the hooded woman to leave their bands in the box with his.

The hooded woman’s gaze shot towards Jake. “What do you mean three?” She asked with a deeply wary tone.

“There were three bands in the box when we opened it,” he explained.

“There was only supposed to be one.”

“That’s just how we found it.” Jake shrugged.

The hooded woman frowned. The change in expression was only slight, but Jake could feel the displeasure her projection was holding back. “Let me see your band.” The hooded woman’s projection walked over, kneeling down beside him to touch his wristband.

[Warning]

Admin Override

This is an unpermitted analysis.

Her expression soured further. “The settings have been tampered with. I can’t even properly identify you anymore.”

“So how do you know I’m not actually the person you wanted to be here?” Evelynn said.

“If you are then I’m sorry.” The hooded woman stood back up. “It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way.”

They waited for her to continue, but apparently that was all she had to say without further prompt. “What do we do now?” Evelynn asked.

“The one holding the binder should escape,” she said. “As for you, you should consider how you prefer to die.”

Jake’s eyes opened wide and he turned to Evelynn. She looked like the hooded woman’s words had stolen the breath from her.

“Did either of you bring a gun?” the hooded woman continued. “If not, I’m afraid this will turn out to be a very gruesome end for you.”

Jake put up a hand. “Hey, that’s enough. Is there anything we can do to help her?”

“I can’t do anything.”

“You can’t turn back off the monsters’ ability to tell where she is?”

“This projection wasn’t programmed with such capabilities,” the hooded woman said.

“How did you manage to program this projection to have this conversation, but you didn’t give it the ability to fix things in case something went wrong?” he asked. The first had to be a much harder task by far than the second.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“I programmed this projection to adapt to conversational edge cases. Canceling anti-intruder protocols was not an edge case I planned for.”

“So you’re saying there’s nothing we can do to save her?”

“There’s nothing I can do,” the hooded woman’s projection clarified. “I’m sure there’s plenty you could accomplish if you were willing to put your life at risk.”

Jake didn’t hesitate. “Okay, what can I do?”

“You’re willing to die?”

“I’m willing to take some risks,” he clarified. It sounded a bit crazy saying that for someone who had been a stranger less than an hour and a half ago, but in that little time, Evelynn had already managed to save his life.

“You don’t have to,” Evelynn said with a sorry look on her face. Her protest was weak.

“I want to,” Jake said, firmly.

Evelynn folded almost immediately. “Okay,” she said. She knelt down by his side and gripped his hand. “Thank you.”

Asking him to stay herself would have been the equivalent of asking him to die with her. It wasn’t something she could do. That’s why, it must have been a huge relief that he had chosen to stay himself.

Holding her hand in his, Jake felt even more sure of his decision. “What can the two of us do?” he asked the hooded woman.

The hooded woman’s projection crossed its arms, quickly considering their situation. “There’s about thirty-five remnants coming to the roof from the third and fourth story apartments.”

“Which entrance are most of them coming from?” Jake asked. The two stairwells on opposite ends of the building both had entrances to the roof.

“The one you entered the roof from will have the most.”

“Got it.” Jake let go of Evelynn’s hand and picked up the cane he’d brought there from Singleton’s apartment. Swiftly, he came over to the double doors Evelynn and him had exited onto the roof through. Black smoke from the fires was already bleeding out from between the top of the door and its frame like steam from a teapot.

Beyond the doors he could already hear screaming echoing down in the stairwell as the enraged monsters ascended. He slid his metal cane through the door handles in hopes of delaying their entry to the roof.

“Any hidden weapons up here?” he asked the hooded woman, turning from the doors.

“The only hidden weapon is the power you have yet to awaken.”

Hearing that from her almost sounded like she was reading from a fortune cookie, but Jake was sure she was being serious. “Got it.” He called Evelynn over and they hid behind the rooftop entrance he had just sealed off. Hiding for its own sake wouldn’t do much when the monsters knew where they were. That said, Jake assumed the monsters would get even more aggressive upon sight of Evelynn, so for that he thought putting themselves out of their immediate line of sight would be worth the effort.

“I’m going to use the black band's power,” Jake said, slipping on the brass knuckles he’d gotten from Singleton’s room in preparation. “Make sure one of those things doesn’t come and kill me while I’m doing it.”

Evelynn nodded. “Okay.”

“I want to awaken,” he said, speaking into his black band on his wrist.

Are you sure?

“I am.”

It was instant. The world around him disappeared. He had been leaning against the wall with Evelynn’s hand placed on his shoulder. Now he found himself standing in a black void. He imagined this being the place Evelynn had mentioned when she said she only saw darkness.

“Alright.” He heard his voice echo through the abyss. “Speed up the process,” he said. “I’m about to die out there.” Apparently, the void was listening. It felt like someone had suddenly turned on the lights as he found himself in a junkyard standing atop a giant heap of discarded items. A sea of unwanted goods stretched out in front of him, giant mounds as large as hills blocked off sight of a setting sun that had painted the sky orange.

It was a sight Jake genuinely enjoyed. Junk hauler wasn’t a job he needed for the money. In light of his situation, he had wanted the job after coming back from college. But putting his opinions on the scenery aside, what was him being here supposed to mean? Evelynn had seen a light and had gotten a light affinity. “So what, do I have a junk affinity?” he thought aloud. That didn’t seem right to him. Jake didn’t actually like the junk itself. What he liked was the process of tossing it out and the sense of accomplishment he got seeing the emptied space it left behind.

“Jake.” Evelynn spoke and the world around him shook as her voice echoed through. If she was already calling him then he really didn’t have much time.

He tried taking a step forward before realizing his feet were submerged in the junk mound he was standing on. As soon as he took notice, he started sinking. Being swallowed by the mound was a disgusting process. The surface was calm, but underneath, it felt like he was being plunged into an ocean of sludge and moist dirt. If he was going to feel like this, he’d rather drown than have the black band give him a junk affinity.

Once he was submerged up to his waist, a wind that was both sudden and fiercely strong began to blow through the junkyard wasteland. He stopped sinking. The pieces of junk that were pulling him down along with everything surrounding them began to float away, carried off by the cyclone-like winds.

Jake looked up to where the junk was going. He found a black hole. The junk was being sucked into what might as well have been non-existence. As the scrap metal and the discarded picture frames that had been holding onto his boots for dear life began to float away, so too did he. Unafraid, he reached out to the black sphere floating in the sky above. He could tell that this was his light.

“Jake.”

Focus returned to his eyes. He was back on the roof with Evelynn by his side. Immediately, he received a string of notifications.

[Favor Bestowed]

The System will grant you all the benefits that have been withheld from you.

[Favor Threshold Pierced]

You have pierced the 2nd Threshold of Favor.

An Attribution has been made available to you.

[Affinity Obtained]

The System has granted you a fitting Affinity.

You now have a Dimensional Affinity.

Jake’s eyes locked onto his affinity, the most important part of what he was being told. Considering what he had experienced, he was surprised he had received a dimensional affinity rather than one for gravity or force. Perhaps what he had thought was a black hole in the sky had actually been a portal leading to nowhere.

“Jake,” Evelynn whispered his name and shook his shoulder.

“I’m back,” he told her.

“They’re here,” she replied. The monsters had arrived on the roof.

Jake couldn’t hear the sound of the remnants approaching beyond the groans and growls of the ones beating at the door he had barred. “Give me a second to figure this out,” he said, watching the notifications pop up in front of him.

Evelynn waved her hand in front of his glasses and the notifications disappeared. “We don’t have time for that,” she said. “Just think of something related to your affinity and try to do it.” She raised her finger and a ball of light formed on top of it. “Doing gestures makes it easier for you to use the abilities.” The ball of light followed her finger’s movement as she wagged it back-and-forth. Once she pulled in her finger, the ball of light disappeared. “That’s all you need to know to get started. Try it.”

Jake stretched out his hand and tried to use his new powers. He could feel something, like a part of him that he never knew was there had lit up within him.

[Primary Skill Bestowed]

Dimensional Manipulation

The feeling, however, did not amount to the portal appearing.

“What are you doing?” Evelynn asked.

“I’m trying to summon a portal out of this dimension for us,” he said, straining the new sense within him to no avail.

Hearing that, she looked to his hand with wide-eyed shock. Once she realized the portal wasn’t coming, however, she looked with greater scrutiny. “Don’t you think that’s a little too much for a first ability?”

“Probably?” Jake admitted. Looking back, Evelynn’s laser at its current strength hadn’t been enough to melt through a safe’s keypad and electronics. Making a laser strong enough to actually pull that off should probably be easier than connecting dimensions so why was he wasting his time trying?

“Try something simpler,” she said.

He needed to think fast. The first thing that came to Jake’s mind was an inventory ability. Portals, dimensional travel, and pocket dimensions were the first things that came to mind when thinking about dimensional powers, after all. The problem was, he just didn’t think an invisible backpack that took up no space was what he needed at the moment.

The portal to nowhere or the black hole or whatever he saw in the sky came to the forefront of his mind. Pulling objects with an invisible force wasn't what he thought when thinking about dimensional powers, but it was the most prominent aspect of the awakening vision for him.

Looking with intent, he stared down at the combat knife sheathed on his side. Without touching the knife, he made a grabbing motion with his hand. Immediately, he sensed a pressure placed upon the knife’s handle. With a swift motion, he raised his hand. The knife jumped out from its sheath then sat suspended in the air. He felt a minor energy drain keeping it like that in the air, but other than that he was fine.

[Secondary Skill Discovered]

Force Application

The monsters attacked.

From around the corner of the entryway’s back wall, a remnant snatched Evelynn’s arms and pulled her away. She let out a startled shout. Before Jake could do anything, a monster grabbed him from behind once he turned her way. It threw him against the short wall at the edge of the roof behind the entryway. His combat knife came clattering to the ground as he lost focus.

The monster tackled him, pushing his back against the roof's edge. It could have thrown him off the building if it wasn’t so busy trying to rip its face off. Jake caught its throat as it lunged to bite his face off. He barely managed to hold it back. The monster was stronger than him and this time, he didn’t have Evelynn to save him. He’d have to save himself.

Acting more than thinking, he used his Force Application on his arm. His arm sprung forward and he sent the monster reeling back. The monster recovered fast, but Jake moved faster. Brass knuckles resting on his fist, he applied force as he swung for the monster’s chin. Its head snapped to the side on contact and its chin shattered like glass.

The monster stumbled back and collapsed. It tried to get up but it couldn’t get its legs straight under it. Force applied, Jake put it out of its misery with one more swing.

[Favor Bestowed]

It was a good start.