I killed someone.

My body shook as I slowly turned around. There stood a shaylip at the base of the ladder.

“You killed him, didn’t you?” His voice was quite a bit gruffer than Layith’s. Also, his face seemed more angular as he nodded towards me as I stood over the elf’s body. “You got a good reason for that?” He pointed to the wererat’s corpse.

I squeezed the grip of the dagger again. “He tried to kill me first.” My voice was as ragged as my breathing. “He wouldn’t stop.”

The shaylip shrugged with all four of his arms. “Well, it’s quite the mess down here.” He started walking towards me, not drawing any of the four swords from his back. He was wearing what looked like a trench coat, with sections covered in small overlapping plates. “You look like someone chewed you up and spat you back out. But you don’t mind me taking some of the good stuff up to my buddies, do you?” He pointed to a barrel on a rack.

“Uh, no?” Why is he asking me? “Aren’t you going to report me to the police? Have me put in jail?”

The expression on the shaylip’s face was hard to read. It was a mix of amusement and confusion. “Police? I don’t know what those are, but if you said he was trying to kill you first, you’ll be alright. But if you’re asking questions like that, you must be new here.”

I decided that standing in a pool of blood wasn’t a good way to start a fight if another one broke out. Something about how he asked that question didn’t sit right with me.

“He was never really nice.” The shaylip turned towards me and waved towards Cushin’s corpse. “My name’s Bark. And you look like you could use some allies. Fortunately for you, we’ve got an opening.” He extended a hand to me.

My heart started beating faster. “You’re not angry that I killed him?”

Bark chuckled. “Are you still on that? Wow! You really are fresh.”

“I… I don’t know what’s going on.” A pit in my stomach grew. My jaw tightened as my voice caught in my throat. “I just killed a guy!”

Bark turned and crossed two of his arms as he started pacing. “Great. She has a conscience.” He kept pacing, mumbling while he walked, until he snapped his fingers and turned to face me. “Killa will know what to do.”

I jumped at his sudden movement. I raised the dagger and kept it between the two of us. “Don’t come near me.”

Bark raised his hands. “Easy, girl.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You are a girl, right?” I didn’t react. “Just stay calm. I’m sure you have a good reason to be distrustful of me. I mean, you had to deal with both Layith and Cushin; not the best representatives of the Nexus’s hospitality.”

I lowered my weapon. “Can you tell me what’s going on? What’s going to happen to me?”

“Uh, what?” Bark asked. I thought not.

“Will people let me leave?” My voice was barely more than a whisper. “Will you let me leave?”

The shaylip’s eyes darted around. “I have no reason to keep you here. If you want to go, nobody’s going to stop you.” He relaxed his posture. “If you’re looking for answers, I’m not the right person to ask.” I opened my mouth to speak, but he held up a finger. “But I know someone who has more answers than me. As long as you can deal with his way of speaking.”

“Meaning?”

“He has no sense of humor and is as literal as you can be,” Bark said with a deadpan expression.

Do I trust him? He seems honest. I don’t know what’s going on, or what’s happened to me. What’s with those messages from before? If there are no police, then what’s stopping him from kidnapping me? Who can I trust? I have no money, no place to go, my clothes are ruined, and all I have to go on is that I’m supposed to climb the Soul Nexus. I…

“Hello?” Bark’s question made me jump. He was standing a lot closer to me. He looked like he was a full foot taller than me—taller than Layith. “You alright? You looked like you spaced out there for a moment.”

I raised the dagger and stepped back. “Stay away from me.”

He gracefully stepped back without flinching. “Okay, okay. I get it. I really do. But, please believe me when I say that I’m not like most in the Nexus. Allies are not someone you should turn away. We can, and should, help each other as we climb.”

“Climb what?” My back hit the wall. The cold stone reminded me of the condition of my clothes. “There’s nothing to climb. I haven’t seen a tower or a large building anywhere.”

Bark smirked. “You aren’t just fresh, you’re brand new. How did you get here? Didn’t you talk to the golem?”

“Are you talking about Glimmer?” I shifted along the wall towards the ladder.

He snapped his finger. “That’s its name. Right, Glimmer. Didn’t it tell you about the Nexus?”

I shook my head. “No, it got really angry at me when I said something about its appearance.”

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Bark pursed his lips and nodded. “Yeah. For future reference, don’t comment on any golem’s appearance. It’s a touchy subject for all of them.” He held out a hand towards me. “But what can I do to get you to trust me? Do you want some shards?”

I paused. “Shards? Cushin said something about shards too. What are they?”

He laughed. “It really didn’t tell you anything. Oh, wow.” He took a deep breath. “Okay. So, the currency of the Soul Nexus is soul shards, or shards for short. When you kill a creature, you’ll receive shards based on its strength. We can trade with shards using the system Glimmer gave you.”

“It didn’t give me a system.”

Bark violently shook his head. “Wait, does that mean you just killed both the wererat and Cushin and didn’t get anything?”

I glanced at the number at the bottom right of my vision. “I can see a number that won’t disappear.”

The shaylip sighed. “Okay, you have a system. That is the number of shards you have.” His eyes went wide. “Wait, if you didn’t get the system from Glimmer, who gave you it?”

“Nobody.” I pointed towards the large puddle of wine and broken glass. “I started seeing these strange messages when I was dying over there after the rat creature bit me.”

The four-armed man looked at the puddle and then back at me. He repeated the action four times. “Dying? You don’t look like someone who was dying. And if a wererat bit you, you’d show some signs of transforming by now.”

“The messages said something about expelling corrupted DNA.” He’s giving me answers. Maybe, just maybe, I can trust him. “Then the messages said something about returning to peak condition.”

Bark crossed his arms. “Yeah. You’re going to need to talk to Gary. If anyone understands what you’re talking about, it’ll be him.” He relaxed and slowly started walking towards me. “Look, let’s get you some new clothes, ones that aren’t soaked in alcohol, and talk to Gary. After you talk to him, you can decide on what to do. Sound fair?”

“It does sound fair,” I mused. I wanted to go with him, but I was starting to feel extremely tired and hungry. I guess those cookies don’t really substitute for actual food. “Sure, I’ll go with you if you also buy some food, and we go tomorrow, after I’ve had a chance to sleep.”

Bark rocked his head from side to side as he looked at the ceiling. “Fair. If it will help you believe that I’m not your enemy, then okay.”

I nodded to the ladder. “You first.”

He chuckled. “Okay, but I shouldn’t return empty-handed.”

Bark turned, went to one of the barrels, and picked it up with two of his arms. I couldn’t help but gawk as he carried the barrel over his head with ease. He climbed the ladder with his other two arms. Having four arms must be really helpful. I wish I had four arms. A blue box appeared in the center of my vision.

Additional limb upgrade available: 100,000 shards per limb.

Insufficient funds.

My very grip on reality fractured at that moment. I can buy more arms? For one hundred thousand each? If what Bark said is correct, I have eight thousand, two hundred and fifty shards. There is so much to unpack with that. But first things first. I need to get out of these soaked clothes. The message disappeared when I shook my head.

I followed Bark, trying not to think about how my reality was shattering piece by piece the longer the day went on. It was getting harder to care about anything. Even the fact that I had killed someone wasn’t as big of a deal as before.

I climbed out of the cellar to see everyone at the tables staring at Bark, who had set the barrel on the bar. He threw three of his arms wide while keeping the fourth firmly planted on the barrel. “Drinks are on the house! You just need to get them yourself.” Bark then grabbed his barrel and me before pulling me away from the horde of people clamoring to go into the cellar. “There, that should get people to forget about you,” he whispered as the people fought to get to the cellar first.

The entire place had devolved into madness. Are the boozes that good? I sniffed my hoodie and shuddered. Doesn’t smell like it. But maybe it’s an acquired taste. Wait, didn’t he just send them into the cellar where Cushin is lying dead? Won’t that cause people to ask questions? Hopefully, they will get too drunk and forget everything. It seems like these people will do something like that.

Bark nudged me towards the door. “I’ll catch up in a few seconds.”

My stomach growled. I was getting hungry—very hungry—and fast. It was starting to hurt. I watched a server carrying three platers, each filled with several dishes, stare at the pandemonium for several seconds. I walked over to him, and he turned his head to look at me. He was another shaylip, and his one free hand pointed from me to the crowded cellar entrance.

“That your doing?” he asked.

“Uh…” Bark didn’t say that I had done anything illegal. “Kind of. He started it though.”

I don’t know if a shaylip could roll their eyes or not, but if they could, I think he would’ve. The waiter calmly set the food down and grabbed something that looked like a salad full of odd-colored plants.

“There goes my pay.” He headed for the door.

“Can I?” I asked as I pointed to the plates of food.

He waved one of his hands. “Do whatever you want. It’s not my job anymore.”

I looked at the food. Nothing was recognizable. Right, I’m not on Earth. Why would they have food I’m used to eating? Eventually, I did see something that looked like a sandwich, except that the bread was more of a pocket. I’ll just try this.

I swiped the strange sandwich and headed out the door. My first bite as I reached the door had me stopping. The sandwich was sweet, but not sugary sweet. It was more like a savory-sweet. The bread was thick yet spongy, but it didn’t offer much flavor on its own. Inside the bread, there were crispy apples, some kind of white meat, another soft fruit, and a thick yellow sauce. And it was delicious.

I don’t care what this is. It’s good. Also, something about food hitting my tongue made me hungrier. Eating the sandwich became my only thought, and I devoured the meal more mechanically and ravenously than ever before. I looked around for more. I needed more.

Bark had walked up and ushered me outside before I could protest or get more of those delicious sandwiches.

My stomach hurt even more. I doubled over as I grabbed my stomach.

Bark placed his hands on my shoulders. “Hey girl, are you alright?”

“I… Hungry…” Saying a full sentence seemed way too difficult. My body suddenly felt sluggish, but my mind was as sharp as ever. “Need… Food…” I tried to speak again, but again, the pain in my body made it too hard to stand up, let alone speak. My muscles were burning too. What’s happening? It feels like I’m starving, only way worse.

“Okay, okay. I wasn’t going to forget.” Bark headed off but turned back to see me not following him. “Can you walk? Seriously, are you okay?”

My vision was starting to blur. “No…”

I saw the ground heading towards my face. Thankfully, I blacked out before I hit the ground.