Everything was gone.

There was no sound, no blaze of power, no rain of shrapnel or magma pouring down from erupting volcanoes—nothing. The flawless emerald light simply erased everything within reach, right down to the very atom. All that remained of the world around him was a flat, blasted plain, with enormous cracks all across it, intense crimson light threatening to escape through them. The ground was crushed down to be as smooth as glass. Even above it, far into the sky, there was nothing except the infinite blackness. Everything else—the buildings, the caverns, the monsters themselves—all of it was simply gone.

And at its center stood Lukas. His armor was gone. His clothes were gone. There was a thin jagged line originating from somewhere above his temples, tearing down his cheeks. An intense, blue light was trying to escape through the fracture, only held back by his defiant will. He held no weapon, and his body was coated from head to toe in red blood and black dust. The wounds in his torso were so deep that he could actually be seen through in places, shredded meat and exposed ivory bone in more than one spot.

He looked broken, stained, absolutely vulnerable.

Yet he did not fall.

The only other thing around him was the crypt itself.

“I—WE—I—WE—WAS RIGHT!” It repeated for a while before it finally got it right. “I WAS RIGHT!”

For one moment, Lukas feared it would reform back into the doppelganger. Then he realized that he simply didn’t care.

“WE CAN DO GREAT THINGS TOGETHER. YOU AND I. YOUR KNOWLEDGE. EXPERIENCE. MY POWER. RESOURCES.”

It hurt like nothing he could imagine. “I—consume—ed you.”

And he had, for the Screen was displaying the notification overhead.

SOUL SIPHON SUCCESSFUL!

Analyzing Foundations…

“YOU DID, BUT I AM NOT THE KIND TO GO GENTLY INTO THE NIGHT. I AM BECOMING YOU. BECOMING US. I AM YOU. YOU ARE ME. US IS THE FUTURE!”

He breathed. It was probably the least painful activity he could indulge in without falling apart.

It cackled again. “I—AM—OMPHALOS. I AM GROWTH. I AM WORLD. WHAT DO I CARE FOR—INVASION?”

But then—

“HUMAN HOST MIND. RATIONALITY. EGO. VERY NEGATIVE. VERY—POLLUTING. NOW DESTROYED. OMPHALOS—IS—FREE!”

The words were simple, and yet, they hit him with the force of a sledgehammer.

It was right. Inanna had mentioned it before. Anomalies were Creators. They didn’t care for personal evolution. For them, Creation was the supreme goal. But he was a human, and humans were prideful, egotistical creatures. Their ego was what led them to kill, to conquer and assimilate. To gain what did not belong to them.

“Invade…” he croaked. Just saying the word made him feel like his tongue would fall off.

When the crypt had duplicated his soul, it was struck with human emotions as well.

Vainglory. Greed. Lust. Envy. Gluttony. Wrath. Sloth.

In hindsight, his doppelganger had demonstrated all seven. It was what had made it the way it was. It was also what brought it to its end.

He extended his hand out. Or tried to. It didn’t matter. It quickly became clear that he was in no way ready to appreciate the complexity of what he had just felt. Thousands of monster prototypes and a much higher number of stored spiritual data that could serve as a matrix for thousands more. There was power too—impossible power. He could sense lingering threads of inky blackness, staining the mind like a curse. And all of what he felt was nothing more than a tiny hillock compared to the mountain range of potential behind it.

With it, nothing would be beyond him. Nothing.

And yet, it couldn’t heal him. Not one bit. Not as he was.

But Inanna could.

“WHY—HESITATE? YOU ARE—WORLD! I AM YOU! EMBRACE. BECOME. GROW. WE WILL HAVE ALL!”

And there lay the crux of the matter. The sad truth about humanity was that people were, in general, terrible at handling power. Not because of their temptation to sin or forbidden delights or poor impulse control. And the moment they started to believe that they could, they were already a step into their graves.

Nature of the beast, as his grandfather used to say. He who fights monsters must always fear becoming one.

But that was the problem, wasn’t it? The constant grinding of his soul, his psyche pitted against the darkness of the abyss. Maybe that’s what forged monsters in the first place. Not the power, but the tugging sensation that came along with it.

Lukas couldn’t help it. He laughed. Just that single act turned into a curtain of white agony that centered on his eyes. Nothing had ever hurt so much.

“There—is just—one thing.”

“WHICH IS?”

“I made a promise.”

The word of a mortal, given to a goddess.

“When I was weak.”

A simple barter. Teach him to fight. To grow. To hone his power. And in return…her freedom.

And all he had wanted—

I have nothing to offer but my word. Look into my eyes and tell me I intend to betray you.

—was to survive.

And now, it was time.

He closed his eyes.

To keep that promise.

He took a deep breath and focused on a single word. A single name.

Inanna.

And the goddess appeared beside him. As real as real could be. Absolutely perfect, stunningly beautiful and desire personified. The Supreme Monarch of An and Ki.

“The word of a mortal.” Her tone was thoughtful. “I never imagined it could hold any weight.”

He did not laugh. He could not laugh. Not without breaking into two.

Inanna stretched her hand out and caressed his cheek. “Do not worry. As soon as I am done, I will heal you.”

He wanted to talk to her. Wanted to tell her he could bear it. But all he could say was—

“Spell.”

Inanna looked conflicted. It was the first time he’d seen her like that.

“This spell is the very first step to my freedom. And you, Lukas, have granted it to me.”

A reel of indecipherable emotions flickered through her eyes, before Inanna closed them.

“I shall not forget it.”

Suddenly, Lukas felt like he was back in his mindscape. Whatever absorbing the omphalos did to him, time itself felt wonky. The world around him was moving much slower than normal, like he was wading through water. Even the pain felt more manageable.

“What—did you—?”

“I am diluting your perception. It is several magnitudes greater than yours. It will minimize the pain and allow you to focus while I cast the spell.”

“What are—you going to do?”

“It is a simple principle. First, I create a link between two connected points of energy. Then I make the energy indicate which way it is flowing.”

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“What points?” Lukas asked.

“Take my pendant and my true self, for example. Both are intimately connected to me. One houses me, the reflection. And the other, its source. The trick is to use this thread to locate the destination.”

That didn’t sound very complex.

Inanna laughed. “The principle is simple. The execution, not so much. I do not know how much time has passed since Ereshkigal’s betrayal. No doubt she has placed measures against scrying, sealed away my temples and relics, and ensured I remain forgotten. She also cursed me to become a denizen of the Underworld.” She cupped her chin. “I wonder if that is why we ended up in a subterranean anomaly. This deserves some contemplation…” She waved her hand. “Later, that is.”

Her mannerisms were so cute that Lukas laughed.

And then coughed out blood. The constant throb of pain in his body was steadily increasing.

“Pay heed to this, mortal. Spells are different from your Skills. Unlike the latter, a Spell happens within the mind of the caster. If something goes wrong, it can affect the mind in all manners. Hence, it is preferable to insulate the entire process by giving it a name.” Her hands moved animatedly. “I will eventually teach you how to attach ideas to objects and use them for spellcasting. But for now, I shall perform it…” Her hands finished moving and came to rest on either side of her. “…directly.”

Lines of mana exploded out of her in different directions, moving in straight lines, only to change directions, then move straight again. Meanwhile, a thin strand of light spun a circle around her. As the spectacle slowed, Inanna stood in the eye of a pentagon, with a circle touching its vertices in perfect symmetry.

“This is a pentagon. My symbol of Order. Five points. Five sides. A perfect representation of the five elements—air, fire, earth, water, and ether, precisely in that order. The circle represents my hold upon the mana crafted here, molding the spell to obey my orders. Force within restraint.”

Lukas watched with rapt attention, doing his best to ignore the discordant humming in his ears.

Just a little more—

“And now we perform the spell.”

Inanna’s lips moved, but he couldn’t quite catch the alien syllables that came out of her mouth. He could hear and understand what she did, but as soon as the sound of the words vanished, so too did his comprehension.

“Be warned. Something may happen.”

For a second, everything went completely silent.

Then, there was a dull disturbance in the air as a sinister crimson sheen began pouring in from seemingly nowhere. Lukas felt the crypt’s power rise up like a tidal wave and meet the crimson sheen, becoming one with it, vibrating, expanding, contracting, deepening—

And then a deluge of pure, violent, blinding, nauseating pain blanketed his world.

After a small eternity, Lukas decided to open his eyes.

The earth beneath his feet felt barren and icy. He opened his eyes and looked up at the cold, gray sky. He was standing, but his muscles and ligaments felt stretched beyond their limits. His own heartbeat was torturous. The mere act of breathing sent jolts of pain down his spine. His arms, his chest, his face—everything burned.

He tried to scream, but it was to no avail. A slow, gurgling moan came out instead as he coughed blood into the mana-charged air. But he held on.

“Wha—?” he croaked, as a vast roaring sound tore across…wherever he was.

“Something unexpected.”

She pointed her right arm toward the sky and shouted something furious. A streak of crimson dashed across the stormy sky as an enormous, swirling form emerged overhead and fell upon them, throwing them into a state of—

Void.

Silent, colorless, empty.

And then, there was light.

It was difficult to describe. One moment he was standing next to Inanna, and the next moment, the world around him was coming closer, as if it was moving relative to them. His mental surroundings shifted. Animals, plants, terrain, craters, cities, kingdoms, landmasses, oceans—everything became visible, dabbed with threads of color and distinctive mana patterns.

The spell traversed everywhere. Up. Down. Right. Left. Within. Without.

—Endless desert. A lost kingdom. Frost growing on the edges of sand. A woman’s face. Solar flares coming down like the judgment of a wrathful god—

The world moved faster.

—Blasted cities, smoke, tears, screams. Blood ran in the gutters like water. Columns of greasy black smoke rose from altars, temples, shrines decorated with skulls and crusted with the blood of sacrifices. A hidden chamber. Sigils on the floor. Artifacts, relics, an ax that defied reality itself—

And even faster.

—A world of broken citadels. A serpent sleeping in the shadows. Fire rising out of ocean floors. A behemoth swinging a sword so vicious that it could fell mountains. An old, emaciated thing opening a single eye—

The spell exploded in all directions as more and more power came pouring out of Lukas, enough to support even a hundred dranzithl. It roared like a feral wind, ravaging its way out of him as more and more energy was used to fuel the spell that continued to expand and expand and expand—

—Space. Endless space. No landmasses or oceans. No moon. No stars. Endless space, and then lush, green earth. Plants. Weird things. Chimeras. Serpents. Bolts of blue lightning coursing through the sky like vengeful gods as the seven suns shone—

A storm engulfed his mind. It tore at his perceptions, flooding them with random images and smells and sensations. It was like standing in a sandstorm, only instead of inflicting pain, every random grain was an experience—a memory—so disjointed and intense and rapid that there was nothing to hold on to.

WARNING!

Extreme Spiritual Damage.

Initiate Shutdown of functionality until Recovery?

“NO!” Inanna snarled. “I am close. I need more time. It has to be somewhere. It has to be—”

Every inch of Lukas’s body painfully protested. Blood was already pouring down his eyes and nose. His skull felt like it was going to be crushed like a tomato. Neural Suppression had already lost it. So how was he keeping up?

Despite Inanna’s words, he knew the Screen would never show him something like that without reason.

But there was no other option.

He had taken the risk. He had to hold on or risk everything.

—More space. Endless darkness. Land. Brown and black. Ash falling from the sky. Asteroids hanging out of nowhere. Vast, endless plains of sand with nothing but coffins and coffins and more—

“Where is it?” Inanna’s voice rumbled. “Where is it? Where is it? WHERE IS IT?!”

Lukas could feel the anger and tension and anxiety consuming through her. Not that it was unexpected. This was her sole chance at finding her way home, and he’d be a hypocrite if he disapproved. After all, he too once wanted to find a way back to Earth. If only it didn’t hurt so much—

—Ice covered everything. The land, the sky. The endless night above had no stars. Instead large pores opened across the horizon, pumping up crimson-hot lava—

FASTER! FASTER! FASTER!

“I cannot find it!” For the first time since knowing the goddess, Lukas heard a trace of anxiety in her voice.

—the realm looked like a skull. Something humanoid, with an entire world growing out of it. Floating in space. Mining colonies. Ships. There was no water, but instead tentacular creatures that could devour minds like—

WARNING!

Spiritual Damage beyond Acceptable Limit

Partial Recovery Possible on immediate shutdown

No.

Lukas decided to trust her. Trust Inanna to heal him. She was a goddess. With her power, she could do anything. Because that was what faith was. To believe without proof or reason.

But the pain… If he shut it down right now, would he survive? Maybe—

“NO!” Inanna warned him, her eyes shining with a demented zeal. “HOLD YOUR GROUND, MORTAL! I WILL FIND IT! IT HAS TO BE HERE!”

Lukas screamed and screamed as his entire body was engulfed by an unyielding tide of energy. Fires roared within him, seeping from his bloodied, grimy skin as drops of white-hot liquid fire. His eyes burned and shriveled in his sockets, only to heal almost instantly and be burned again, and his hair caught fire. His entire body was flailing about and an enormous pressure was pressed down on his body, crushing him down onto the hard ground below. For a split second, the little semblance of conscious thought that Lukas had left idly noted that Inanna was right. Dying truly was as bad as he imagined.

Something cracked from within him and Lukas knew the true definition of the word agony.

His world, his entire existence, was drowned beneath a massive surge of something that ripped into his fragile psyche and implanted itself there. Pain itself lost all meaning as this enormous, mind-shattering sensation swept through every iota of his body. The very molecules that made him human shuddered and quaked as something otherworldly settled upon them, crafting a place within his body for itself. He didn’t know how long this went on for as he lost meaning of time, but it occurred to him at one point or another that this massively overwhelming presence that threatened to tear his mind and soul in half was very familiar.

In fact, it felt as if he had known it all his life.

—Complete darkness. This was underground. No plants. No creatures. Nothing except the earth and half-formed golems. No fire. No water. No ice. Only distorted wraiths that lay trapped and screamed and screamed and screamed—

WARNING!

Base Host Damaged

Initiating Recovery Protocol.

Commencing Shutdown!

“WE CANNOT STOP!” Inanna screamed. “IT MUST BE HERE SOMEWHERE! I WILL FIND IT! ALL I MUST DO IS—”

But the Screen was done listening.

Burning Auxiliary Soul Capacity to Meet Spell Power Requirements!

Unacceptable!

Unacceptable!

Activating Failsafe!

Safety—On

Overriding Anomaly-Host-Mind

Overclock Removed

Lukas’s vision left him. His already dumbed-down senses were now shutting down entirely. He tried to remain standing, but he couldn’t tell which way was up. His body felt deliriously warm and monstrously tired. Sleep, something that had evaded him for quite some time, returned to him with its arms wide.

All Systems Shutdown.

Reset.

It was quiet.

Nearly. He could hear her faint screams in the background. Her screams of rage and despair. Her order to not give up. To hold his ground for just a little more. To keep holding on until that spell—

In the distance, Lukas could make out a faint light. He wondered if it was the light at the end of a tunnel, like an approaching train. It felt warm. And nice. And blurry. And—

Darkness.