“This feels like heaven.”

Lukas lounged on the reclining couch, savoring the ergonomic comfort that came from the soft fabric beneath his skin. In his mindscape, nothing was out of reach so long as he could imagine it. The physical dimensions, texture, softness of the fabric— every tiny detail associated with the couch back in his old room. Inanna had even endorsed his actions, stating that practicing vivid mental imagery was essential for psionic development.

Not that he’d gotten any development done recently, especially with all the anomaly and Omphalos business going on.

“Don’t trust it.”

Lukas cocked his head, befuddled. “Don’t trust the couch?”

“The frost wielder,” Inanna replied, looking down at him with a weary expression. “She may appear human to your primitive senses, but she is a monster the likes of which you cannot survive on your own.”

Ever since he’d started traveling with Tanya, his resident goddess had been fixated on her, for a lack of better words. He didn’t need to be told twice that his blonde compatriot was dangerous, but there was something about Inanna’s attitude that seemed… off.

“We are on the brink of finding our way out, mortal. Do not waste this chance in favor of pointless pursuits.”

“Noted,” he murmured, gently closing his eyes. He extended his awareness, his Scan and Analyze skills quickly surveying the area around him. As expected, there was nothing nearby except him and his new acquaintances. Hell, he couldn’t even find any trusty old moss clinging to the walls. It was almost like the anomaly had gotten angsty and sucked out all the life around them.

Which, come to think of it, may not be far off the mark.

They’d been trudging through the anomaly for hours since their last break. Dashing through it at full speed could’ve gotten him to the core days ago, but instead they were patiently and carefully walking. The ever-surging fountain of lifeforce within him itched underneath his skin, demanding an outlet.

He sighed. If he didn’t do anything soon, things would start to get awkward.

As it was, the slightest glance at his blonde compatriot got his manhood saluting like a naval officer.

“What would you have me do, Inanna?”

“Consecrate the very ground I stand upon, slaughter thousands in my name. Of course, we do not always get what we want, now do we?”

No. No they didn’t.

If only he could explain that to the restless lifeforce within him.

“Mortal,” Inanna began, studying him like a specimen, “I wish to impart some reason unto you. Whether you act upon it or not is your prerogative.”

“Sure,” Lukas agreed, wondering where this was going.

“I am a predator.”

“Right.”

“As are you. Which is why I am able to tell you are looking at the frost wielder like she is prey.”

That stopped him short. He wasn’t looking at her like she was food.

Was he?

Was he?

He remembered staring at Tanya when she yawned. When she lay down exhausted. Vulnerable. He remembered the constant surges inside his body whenever she conversed with him. The unbridled power and adrenaline in him was like steroids, pushing him to act. Over and over. Over and over.

“Are you telling me I’ll attack her when she’s asleep or something?”

There was something cruel about the way Inanna smiled at his question. “There is a reason, after all, that the Earth-shaper stands vigilant while you sleep.”

Lukas blinked.

“Oh.”

After feasting, when their group decided to get some shut-eye, Zuken— whom Lukas had begun calling Mr. Paranoid —offered to stay awake in case something attacked. Lukas hadn’t given it much thought at the time, believing him to be talking about possible monster attacks. But now…

The truth hit him like a truckload of bricks.

Lukas couldn’t help it. He laughed. He laughed and laughed from the deepest reaches of his lungs, smiling and howling so much it should’ve permanently distorted his facial muscles.

“A monst— monster!” he chortled. “He–they–you—” Unbridled laughter escaped him. “In a way, I was right then. Only, I’m the monster who would kill them in their sleep.”

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“Not surprising, all things considered. The Earth-shaper reminds me a lot of yourself.”

That brought a scowl to his face. “I’m nothing like that asshole.”

“I presumed naught about bottoms or their puckered outlets. I was merely commenting on your similar natures. Fastidious, ferocious stickler for anything he considers important. Inflexibly dedicated to irrational concepts like duty and honor, but ultimately too soft when it comes to anything close to him.”

That… was far more accurate than Lukas was comfortable with.

Had their roles been swapped, he probably would have done the same as Zuken. Being careful meant better security, something especially important in the middle of an anomaly. Just because you were paranoid, didn’t mean there wasn’t a monster hiding in the shadows.

Besides, who else in their ragtag team could take up the role of protector?

Burger looked like he would sleep through an invasion, and Elena could be easily distracted by a shiny little trinket or something. That left Tanya, who was a murderer with far too many secrets.

…

Come to think of it, his present company was far from ideal.

But beggars couldn’t be choosers. In the end, he had people around him— actual people, not a facsimile imprint of a goddess that could only manifest in his mind. She may be real, her powers even more so, but that was beside the point. These others were people.

People who looked like him.

People who spoke like him.

People he could touch— and occasionally, attack.

It was such a simple yet defining human trait. Had he not been inside the anomaly, surviving day by day amidst monsters, he’d never have appreciated this fact. The mindscapes Inanna conjured for him brought some semblance of civilization to his reality, but like everything about her, they too were facsimiles of the real thing.

But not anymore.

These people represented a real chance to re-enter civilization, no matter how alien. Already, he’d gotten a new shirt. And pants. They felt like an odd mix of jeans and leather in one, but he wasn’t complaining. The fiber was thick enough to block superficial bruising attacks yet comfortable enough to allow some breathing room.

Oh, how he missed proper clothing.

That alone made him feel more human again.

“I guess you’re right,” Lukas shrugged. “But they’re all I have now. You say I shouldn’t trust Tanya, but right now I can’t even trust myself. Can—” He hesitated. “Can this anomaly do the same thing to everyone else here?”

Inanna opened her mouth to answer.

He desperately hoped she’d say yes.

“No.”

Lukas felt a pit grow in his stomach.

“Why?”

The goddess snapped her fingers, and before he knew it, a magnificent throne manifested right behind her. Bending her glorious form, she sat down and crossed her legs with sensual grace, before considering him once more.

“Technically, an anomaly may exert spiritual influence upon any living creature. This is how they acquire their first prey. The more powerful the prey, the more it can resist.”

“Mentally powerful, you mean.”

Inanna nodded. “Your compatriots are all bremetan, a race with well-developed mental faculties. They are creatures that can think, reason, and make decisions independent of their most innate instincts.”

“So can humans,” he argued.

The goddess remained silent.

“But I’m not human,” Lukas realized, his eyes widening. He looked down at his hands, a bitter expression flitting across his face. “I’m an anomaly now.”

“You are.”

She rose up from her throne.

“Your human conscience is one of its many, many monsters.”

She sauntered towards him, drawing his eyes towards her enchanting hips.

“Monsters that do not have your mental faculties.”

She was close. Very close. Very, very close.

“Monsters that cannot help but savage and devour.”

Her smile was lecherous, yet utterly haunting.

“Monsters that have as much of a presence as you do, if not more.”

She dragged a single finger down his cheek. Lukas shivered at her touch, wondering if the goddess got her kicks from blue-balling him all the time.

Then, he remembered she knew all of his thoughts.

The salacious smirk never left her face.

He tore his eyes away.

“You just love getting a rise out of me, don’t you?”

“Of course,” she replied unabashedly. “It is one of my few sources of entertainment.”

Lukas grumbled good-naturedly. “Then what do I do about this?”

Becoming an anomaly brought its fair share of good and bad. The raw power boost allowed him to keep pace with the most powerful monsters in the caverns. He could carry three hundred pounds of rock on his shoulders and still outrun the fastest human on earth. Pain was dulled to the point where it was only a tense, silvery sensation at best. Broken bones were a mere annoyance, bleeding wounds were just distractions. Life-threatening wounds were gone with a good night’s sleep.

But the roaring surge of energy within him supercharged his most primal, feral instincts. Lukas hadn’t been going out of his way to fight monsters every morning because he enjoyed it— well, maybe just a little bit — but rather to expend the excess energy from screwing things up for him. He needed the release, and daily exercise just wasn’t going to cut it.

And then there was Inanna.

Every time her mind brushed against his, he simply… lost control. Unbridled, controllable excitement welled within him at everything he saw. Every time he so much as glanced at Tanya, his mind crafted rather primitive ways to establish his dominion over her.

Prolonged contact with these ancient entities was having a profoundly disturbing effect on his mental health. And Inanna teasing him like that did not, nor would it, help matters any.

“My amusement is irrelevant, mortal.” For once, the goddess looked slightly serious. “Simply put, your body is in transition. The power that flows through you belongs to an Omphalos, and a powerful one at that. The body you currently possess is too weak and frail to withstand its might.”

“So what do I do?” he repeated.

“What mortals have always done in the face of limitation. Adapt. Evolve. Ascend.”

“Level up,” Lukas murmured.

Inanna smiled.

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