The flames danced around my clenched fist. I let out a sigh of relief as I stared at my hand. I could feel them if only lightly, I could feel the gentle caress of tongues that reached out and flowed around my fist. I couldn’t for my life say what I was feeling, not really. I didn’t think that flames could be felt in this direct way. But I also knew that flames produced heat and so much of what I thought seemed irrelevant at this point.

I gently moved my hand pack and forth, and watched the swirl I created a ripple throughout the surface of the lamp. The sight was entrancing, so strange and completely different and alien to my mind that I could still feel parts of myself, wanting to pull back even as I saw that, I was not burning. I forced myself to do this, partly yes out of a sense of wonder and enjoyment. But partly so that I could ingrain even deeper than what I understood and what I knew was now all in question. The very fact that I was here and doing this threw so much of what I thought grounded my reality.

I pulled back and knew that I was a step more comfortable with the new aspects of this world. Admittedly being brought back to life by some mysterious power that took the form of my fake cat was an even larger part that I was practically forced to accept.

I focused on the now however and found myself exploring, the first thing that was done to me on this crazy night. The once glowing, and now otherwise ordinary-looking scars of cravings in my flesh. They were strange as they almost seemed natural now, it was only out of reflex that my mind called them scars. I ideally traced one as I thought about that, turning the concept over in my mind and finding it less and less alien. How strange. But I stopped, I had enough questions already and no way to get answers.

I turned my attention back to the fires, a realization coming to me. They didn’t put out heat when they were contained within the brazier, that much was at least was known if not understood. To bad though as that meant I would have to remove them if I wanted to cook with it. Which I would need to do unless of course I didn’t find any food and dyed of starvation.

Then another thought rocked my, that of course that it was possible that I wouldn’t die...again... and would still need to find food. That was both comforting and slightly alarming, to know or at least hope/dread that, even in death there would be no escape from whatever torment that I was thrown into was terrifying.

I couldn’t decide whether I wanted that or not. Even if I just stood there, those creatures... I really need to think of a name for them, calling them creatures is getting a little tiresome. Names are important, so they have one green eye and they are huge. Green Death, was a bit on the nose and gave them more power over my terror than I wanted them to have. My practical side wanted to point out they did scare the shit out of me, but I had to get passed it.

I turned over what I knew about them in my mind and suddenly it fits together. Monogreels. There that was a fine name for them. A little non-sensical maybe, but it’s not like I am writing a book about them.

I didn’t know by what magic I was brought back to life so I was unsure when I would start to get hungry. I could already feel the tickle of thirst at the back of my throat. I looked down and found my hand ideally playing with the fire.

I needed to know more. Outside this room was a total mystery. ‘No’ I corrected myself mentally, ‘I know that outside are the Monogreels.’ They had already proved that they would kill him on sight, and whatever thoughts I had originally had about an open dialogue to learn about my situation had gone out the window with my death.

‘Wrong again’ I thought, there is magic or at least something that is preventing me from losing a hand in this fire. That is also outside.

What it came down to still through was I needed more information and the only way to do that is going outside. I won’t deny the prospect scared me. To willingly walk closer to the source of my own death was going to put me way over the edge.

But maybe that would be a good thing. Being wired and wound tight would be better than being overly casual with what I was about to attempt. I crossed to the door and found a sturdy metal handle. I rested my hand on it and breathed collecting myself.

I tensed to push it open. And then heard that awful scrambling sound that foretold the approach of the monogreels last time. I was frozen as the strange sound made it’s way closer, quickly overpowered by that same guttural language from before. I heard one barking at another that snapped me out of my fear-induced shock.

I backed up, trying to make as little sound as I could, before whirling around and looked for something...anything that might help in this situation. There were no weapons of course and I didn’t even have the pocket knife that was in my bag. There were no hefty rocks, small stones but nothing that could cause some real damage.

My eyes landed on the oddly light sections of floor that formed a distorted figure eight around the bowl of the brazier that had fallen over. That could do damage. I jogged over to the platform just as I saw the door opening.

I didn’t try to hide my noise now and sprinted for the closest one. I couldn’t just run into it this time as it was sitting at an angle slightly off from the door. I expected a slight turn and came up to the light.

I looked to the door and saw the troop, I wasn’t sure if it was the same group that had ambushed me the first time. They looked pretty similar but, they were eight massive aliens swords and a few other weapons I didn’t have the time to do a detailed study.

I resisted the urge to dump the contents right away. It was difficult, but I focused and centered and waited. I hoped the glare from the light would hide my form behind the stand. It was a small hope, the crisscrossing beams did little to hide me from anyone with working eyes. But these had only one eye, and it was green so what did I know. I would take anything I could get.

I was tense and could practically feel the adrenaline building in my system, sending my heart racing. All the while I willed myself not move. As I peered out from behind the bowl, those green eyes passed over me.

Once, twice, three times.

Four times...

Fi- That one saw me, it did a double-take and opened its mouth to screech, something incoherent.

The world slowed in that single moment down to bullet time. And I acted.

Being unpracticed in the art of the fight, let alone armed with a what was essentially a bucket of oil set alight, it was difficult for me to gauge exactly how I should use my hastily improvised weapon. Besides the obvious of course.

But the time for thinking was done, I was acting on pure instinct now. With an incoherent scream torn from my throat, I grabbed the bowl of flaming magic oil and ran at them. As they had just come through the door, they were still mighty close together, with a few still being outside the cave.

Whether it was the sheer fear of a madman carrying a bowl of fire at them or the incredibly stupid fearless courage I charged them with. They didn’t react for precious seconds. Vital seconds. Mortal seconds.

When I got within two meters of them, I think they understood what kind of suicidal mission I was on. Their surprisingly high pitched ‘growls’ of fear were wonderful.

I stopped and threw the bowl forward.

The memory of throwing water on my friends, from a bucket, came to me during that mad dash, the water gun fight that had gotten progressively less about the guns and more about delivering as much water to the other two as possible. Buckets came out but were surpassed by noses in the end, as all things would be.

This...this was not water though. I would never through this on either of Lyla or Marc, not after our fight from before, not after our thousandth fight.

The flaming liquid arched through the air, sticking in one clump, but I still felt no heat from it. For that single millisecond, I thought I was gonna die again. Then the heavyweight of the bowl and the sight of them being perfectly fine caught up to me and I dropped my arms.

The wave of heat incinerated my eyebrows. And I threw up my arms, now hearing the clang of the bowl on the floor over the screams.

I stumbled back, blinking furiously to wet my dry eyes again. There was not a lot I could do at this point but hope and get back. I turned and almost tripped over the lip of the dais, still blinking now but for the stain of bright color that now engulfed the middle of my vision. A riot of reds, yellows, and orange-colored everything in front of me, giving it the appearance of flames.

The screams continued still, fresh ones starting now. I could tell that at least on some level I was victorious in my first ever...’ fight’. Seemed a bit odd to call it that now, however, anything else would make me feel weird so I stayed with that.

I turned, still seated to look at the effectiveness of my new weapon. The first one I saw, I recognized as the first one that was in their formation, the first struck. He had a hole through him. A fresh cauterized whole about a foot wide right over his sternum. tiny patches of blackened and burned flesh stuck to him as well. The initial volley had gone well.

After that things got a little messier.

I didn’t know what I had excepted. I had hoped that this would kill them, yes, but that was to prevent me from dying. That and I thought that with the games super-realism I would be pretty prepared for the sight. And of course, I was right and wrong. The sight was gruesome yes, even with the heat boiling the blood away, and the wounds being more sealed shut than not.

The smell was what I was not prepared for, it was sickeningly sweet. The smell of cooking meat was so similar to that off actually cooking meat. I could feel my hunger poke it’s head out of the hole of craziness that I was in and took a look around.

Thankfully none seemed to be alive still. It was impossible to tell how long I had sat there staring at the corpse with a surreal whole though his body, leaving the floor completely visible, not even bones remained in the way.

The next guy was similarly dispatched, although his death came from a missing stomach, the arc of my throw seemingly unabated after passing through the first guy. Having not seen what happened I couldn’t be sure how a couple of guys standing of either side were taken out. But If I guessed from the burned patterns and the way the third guy has half twisted around, I thought it likely that he had panicked and when attempting to shake it off had doused the two off to either side. Which was lucky for me, as if even one got past I would have been toast as well.

After that, the last remaining three seemed to have been standing in the runoff when the liquid hit the ground. From the dais, it was hard to tell as the flames even now burned brightly. The screams had all stopped which was a mercy, to who? I did not contemplate.

I stared at the burning bodies, the world seems to turn around me as the surreal aspect of what I had just done caught up to me. I wasn’t the type of person for self-recrimination. I did not, and would not allow myself to think of this as murder. They had already killed me once, with no remorse and would have done it again.

I remembered the cruel mockery that had played across the small-one when he had killed me and I knew just knew that I would be dead again if they weren’t. I was sure. Right? NO. I was.

Okay. I tentatively got to my feet, and immediately decided to wait it out a bit longer as the adrenaline crash came in.

I started shaking, and not from the cold. Seven creatures dead at my hand. They gave as much quarter as they got. I felt a wave of fatigue come over me and I lay down watching the fires slowly start to dim.

I lay on my arm as the shaking died down. Considering what I had just been through, I felt that was probably a record somewhere. Although I doubt wherever I now have much use for the stupid amount of world’s records that Earth did. Me and mine felt they were all a bit crazy for even considering some of the things they had done. We had used that as our excuse when we decided to do something a little crazy.

That inside joke had lasted a while.

My attempt to avoid the subject was interrupted then. Something was happening to the bodies. At first, my thought was that something within them had caught and started smoking. The white fog-like could that drifted off the even as they burned looked like regular smoke at first. Then it began behaving strangely.

The white smoke twisted upon itself and flowed down again. Slowly at first, then picking up speed it flowed from the slain monogreels before jerking suddenly in my direction. It flowed along the floor, as if dense, but appeared as a light cloud.

Then something stirred within the mists and a guttural grunt sounded out as a shape loomed up. Shit.

In the light of the still-burning bodies of his compatriots, the monogreel was even more intimidating. The left side of his body was covered in small wounds and large splotches of flesh that had burned away. He staggered, but only slightly and looked around before his eye landed on me.

I jumped up and looked around for any more weapons that were laying around. In-front of me was the stand used to hold up the lamp.

The creature screamed at me.

“GROAAAAAR!” His voice echoed around the small room, and the malice his very gaze contained was enough, freeze the blood in my veins. I felt my hand begin to shake slightly under that glare and the weight of the stand was very noticeable. I brandished it before me the best I could, but when I caught a glance at the blade he held I felt more than a little foolish, if still desperate enough to continue.

He pointed his blade at me. And spoke some harsh words, that I couldn’t understand and didn’t catch the meaning off. He hadn’t spared a glance for his fallen comrades. As he finished whatever speech he was giving and then started to run at me.

I couldn’t say that I had a plan. And then an odd cool sensation ran up the inside of my legs, growing more intense as the moments passed. That was secondary as the pace of the creature increased. While his wounds appeared to slow him.

His blade was a least 65cm long and had reached over my unwieldy stand. The first swing came from the high on the right, a simple diagonal chop that aimed to cleave me in two from neck to groin. I swung up and met it, trying as much to knock the blade aside as to catch the swing. I wanted no part of that attack, seeing the bludging muscles and the wooden nature of my defense, I couldn’t help be skeptical of how much protection this did indeed provide.

I knocked aside the swing catching the blade and bringing it harmlessly around the side. I almost had time to celebrate, when my inexperience caught the better of me. The heavy kick he delivered right to my chest hurt sent my tumbling back. I swore I heard the sound of rib breaking.

I wheezed and fought to stay upright as I backed away from the monogreels approach. Somehow I held onto one leg of the stand with a death grip.

Apparently, he didn’t feel the need to finish me off with that opening. The almost casual stroll he affected was mocking my ability to fight back against these creatures. I felt something stir and roil within me as that disdain got to me. True I was physically the equivalent of a child when compared to the power he held, but I had already killed seven of them.

I tried to step back and almost tripped, the lip of the dais was right there. I stepped up on it, finally regaining some breath. The longer strides of my opponent had brought him closer than I would have liked.

I was unwilling to turn my back to him and expose myself for an even easier death than I was already in store for, I started to edge around my mind focused on the only thing that was going to get me out of this situation.

Faint red light painted the slowly moving monogreel. I wasn’t sure how smart they were, but if they wielding weapons they must have some intelligence. I wasn’t sure how long it would take this one to realize I still had a weapon against him, on already proven extremely effective.

I was halfway there when it’s single eye seemed to flick over past me. The widening was definitely a universal sign for a realization. There was no moment where we both looked at each other like in the movies, I simply took off.

This was my chance of getting out alive and he knew it as well. Ignoring the wrathful scream from behind me I sprinted as hard as I could.

The monogreel was gaining on me fast having raised his sword again for another brutal chop. I felt something propping me up, pushing me faster. I pumped my legs harder, digging deep for this longest run of my life. The stand I still carried flailed madly in the corner of my vision.

In reality, I was only four or five paces from the still-standing lamp, but that distance seemed to stretch before I even is I ran. I could feel the pounding of feet right gaining on me for every stride I made. Then I was there.

I reached out a hand and lifted the whole thing with one hand up of the stand and into the air before me. I then use all the athletic ability that I possessed, turned one the spot shifting into a whirl that had my gained momentum behind it.

Even so, I was still slow. When I turned the monogreel towered above me, filling my entire vision with his presence, blade already falling towards me. I was using the brazier as almost a frisbee at this point, seeing the flames also coming toward him he tried to pull back but we were both completely committed at this point and nothing was going to stop either attack.

Metal flashed.

I felt solid contact and could feel the impact translate through the sturdy metal edge. This by itself would have been a good hit I think but not enough to stop myself from then being killed. The burning liquid, however, was fluid and splashed out onto the creature.

He had been too hasty to withdraw and his blade was unable to block. Even if he could the magic oil would not have been stopped by a blade. I dropped my arms as another intense wave of heat engulfed me. I backed away again as he didn’t even have time for more than a short scream before it was cut off.

I turned my back on the now corpse and walked to the dais... or tried to. I felt one of my legs give out with the second step. A rush of fatigue and lightheartedness came over me. My grip on the stand failed and it clattered on the floor.

I found my breath coming to me in starts and stops. My already shocked system now becoming even more overwhelmed by the flood of adrenaline that poured through me.

Still, on one knee I tried to push off the ground. But was so dizzy I couldn’t find the strength.

Something was wrong. Hmmm...

I looked down to see if I had any injuries and found my entire front covered in blood. It ran fresh and still bright red. I raised my free hand to find the wound.

The blade hadn’t missed me after all. My heart sank as I found the wound in my neck, a small slice opened the side. It was deep enough to sever the artery there. I doubted I would last another few seconds.

Dread filled me. I stark desperate terror. I lifted my other hand o my thought completely forgetting about the metal bowl. My hand flew up so fast that I wasn’t able to realize it hurt until it was already pressed against my neck.

It didn’t just hurt it burned. The flames were bright and big enough that they rolled up my face and to my eye level. The blast of heat and pain was enormous.

I screamed. Both my hand and neck simultaneously went up in flame. I had to close my eyes from the light. I found myself flashing from conscious to the unconscious as I lay on the floor writhing in pain.

I kept my hand on the wound. I passed out at some point. I clung to one desperate and overriding thought, throughout the pain from the flames that ravished my neck and hand, ‘maybe this will keep me alive.’

<><><>

I admired the amazing details on the screen before me. The upgrade to my hardware had come after I had reached a threshold in my agreement with Intergate Solutions. Having reached my ten millionth viewer just this past video, and I was now eligible to receive the upgraded support package for my content.

I would never let it be known, but I wasn’t a fan of streaming the game. It was partly because of the PK and in-game backlash that I would receive and partly because in my heart I didn’t like other people seeing my play. That’s why I had opted for the video content creator package and not the streamer persona.

I was hard enough for me to show my edited play, but I drew the line at live unedited footage. Unfortunately, when this option had opened up for me, it was too good of a deal to pass up and so I had jumped at the chance. Even now knowing how it would feel, I still would do it again the pay was needed.

I kitten jumped up on my desk just then. I glanced at her before doing a double-take.

Something niggled at the corner of my mind then, a thought worming its way into the for. Some sense of Deja-Vu came over me as I looked at the purple and gray cat. Slowly I reached out a hand and stroked her. Her soft fur familiar under my hand.

Something flashed into my mind. An idea, ‘this wasn’t real...’

I looked around at my room. Nothing was out of place and nothing seemed wrong. Except of course the cat. I don’t have a real cat. That was familiar as well like I had had that thought before. The memory was just out of reach, dancing frustratingly on the edge of my awareness of it.

Just then I felt a small tongue lick my hand. The kitten purred and looked up at me with some definite emotion that I was not able to identify. She was sad, her ears drooping slightly.

I watched her for a time the strange atmosphere affecting me, my mind drifted as I watched the kitten slowly make her way around my whole hand. I kept still and just stared, the memory at the back of my mind a distinct thing that grew clearer and clearer just as I focused on it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The cave. I was still in a cave. This is or was a memory. A piece of my past that I am reliving in my mind, except now I have a cat. That also happened last time. When I was stabbed twice and definitely died. Does this mean I am dead again? What happened? The more recent memories are more fragmented.

I eventually give up on figuring out that mystery for now and refocus on the now. The room is as I remember it. I look at the screen again and see my character is standing on a desolate road. The dust blows through constantly, and while it looks amazing my visibility is near zero. The map is the only reason why I haven't lost my way in the sandstorm.

I remember this. I was on my way to a dungeon in the Alsen Desert, which had been a relatively new zone discovered sometime about two years ago when I had first started to play solo, or at least only by myself but utilizing multiple characters.

This time when I looked around the room I started to notice something that twisted the idea that this was a memory. When I had done this dungeon I still had a reasonably tidy room.

Lyla wasn’t around anymore to get on my case. However, there simply wasn’t that time for my room to fall into the state of disorganization that is was now. This state was more akin to what I had left not more than a day ago when I had left for that trip into the forest that got me landed here.

Okay, now that I had established this placed unreality I wasn’t sure what to do next. Last time I was not here for this long of a time and never even considered this line of thought. I sat there for a time, but no white room appeared, no flash of light and blissful sensations surrounded me.

I didn’t want to be here. That was true as well. Something in me rebelled against this place, my understanding of it only brought that emotion into the light. I wracked my brain until I noticed the kitten tried to squeeze itself underneath my hand. I chuckled at its antics and let up on my tension.

Let’s take this in comparison to the previous experience. I woke up and logged in to the game. That was pretty unspecific as far as memories went, I must have done that a thousand times over. Much of the time following the same pattern, it was the game that was different for me then. But now I had realized what was going on.

By doing so I had already broken the script of what had happened. I pondered that, in the previous dream/memory thing like this I had done everything like before, so perhaps that meant this time I should play out the scenario as well.

I placed my hands on the keys. Sand and a hot wind blew across my arms. I jerked back, the intensity of the feeling was incredible. It had felt so real. Stunned I looked back at the keyboard and reached out again.

More prepared this time, when the feeling washed over me I reveled in the new and discordant sensations that ran through my brain. When I pressed the keys I could feel the sensations change throughout my body. From the corse and slightly unstable stand to the baking heat that had no apparent source in the real world.

I was playing my mage character this time around, having only recently created her I was working on improving her to the point where she could be the second in my party of one, with my other character. And this being a relatively new character her level growth rate was pretty explosive considering the time I invested so far.

Time flew by, without me noticing as the new overwhelming sensations held my focus throughout the otherwise monotonous trip. Finally, I reached a small oasis. Everything was rendered as beautifully as I remember it being. The maximum graphical settings for the game pushed the limits of what the monitors would handle.

Massive standing stones blocked off the small patch of the desert from the storm raging outside. That, of course, would not normally be enough, however, I saw the tell-tale blue glow of rune light dancing around the small door cut in the rock.

Immediately upon entering, the severe nature of the environment fell away. A gentle and cool breeze relieving some of the worst of the annoying scratches left by the sand. I turned my characters head and got a better look at the environmental runic wards that sheltered this place. I maneuvered over there as well, taking screenshots of the wards.

This time around my character was a purest caster, unlike my powerful knight who would tank for the duo, she was geared mainly towards more doing more damage. Some concepts didn’t translate well to this particular game, one of the few reasons why it was both extremely popular and had received a wave of negative criticism from the MMO fanatics who carried their holy trinity to every game they could.

That was foolish in my mind this game rewarded innovation and getting the objectives done, and didn’t focus at all on roles or other ideas that would limit player experimentation. For instance, while this character, Illoya, was a caster mage type there she also was a priestess of Nyx just as DreadKnaught was.

So I took in the runes. I knew that if I destroyed these runes the safe zone, it created from the storm would fail with it. The game focused on immersive features and very little was decided solely by developer design. Everything had an in-game counterpart, with the devs taking up roles to repair some of the things that they deemed most important if they ever got damaged.

The oasis was destered not even NPCs manned the some fifteen stalls of colorful fabric that sat arranged around the small lake of fresh water. That was my next stop, having to feed and drink water as your character was another point that the devs recieved a lot of flac over. Althought personally I didn’t mind it.

I crouched near the edge of the pool and received the interaction keys. The canned animation for refilling water supplies, took into account your personal stores and containers, doing each separately. Finally, after refilling I/she took a drink. Then I felt the amazing almost sweet tingle of clean water run down MY throat.

I had almost expected it. However, it was a different experience to feel the coolness of the water inside of my throat than it was to feel the sun on my skin. I am not sure exactly why maybe the nature of something that you could feel inside yourself was more personal than something outside?

I was not prepared to speculate on that right now. In a dream about an experience that never happened, it was almost funny that such a thing would matter to me now.

I made my way around the pool, crossing through the shafts of light that passed through the odd triangles that formed from the misaligned stones that created this shelter. Through the gap, I could see the ward light constantly flaring a light blue. The light that streamed in had an odd tint from the environmental dome that was under continuous pressure from the outside winds. That combined with the emptiness of the place gave it a mysterious atmosphere.

The main attraction, that I had come here for was my true destination. Into one of the stones was built a set of double doors, that also had runic symbols covering the surface. These glowed a sickish green. As I approached a curious feeling of disquiet appeared in my mind, only getting stronger with every step I took closer to the doors.

I pushed away from the keys. Almost instantly the feelings and sensations faded. The sudden loss of what felt like all my senses, only to find myself back in my room again was disconcerting, more so than I had originally thought it would be.

“woaa..” I held my head in my hands for a few seconds letting reality, or whatever passed for reality in this dream state to reassert itself. The fact that even here if I didn’t know that I was still laying, probably some type of dead on the floor of a stone cave, I would have never guessed this was a fake either. Something much more strange than the already extremely weirds stuff that had been happening to me already.

“Alright, focus Jace. One thing at a time, for now, take it as it comes.” I gave myself a whispered pep talk, feeling myself calming already.

I got back to the keyboard and as soon as I got close to it the sensations returned, a whole new set of senses opened back up to me. The powerfully disturbing runes of the door still were just as potent as before, but after taking the time to ground myself I was able to push through my intense discomfort and reach the door.

There was a simple interaction key to enter, as I did the sensation of a rough metal door came to that same hand which she used to push on the door. What also came was another feeling, one that I didn’t have a name for. It was akin to constantly receiving a low-voltage static shock, expect it was constant and covered small pieces of my hand.

The action completed and the odd feeling vanished as soon as her hand left the door. Instead of going right in I couldn’t help but reexamine the door. I backed out and closed it. Going through the animation several times now I finally saw, what should have been more or less obvious. The static feeling came from the runes themselves as my character touched parts of them to push the door open.

Finally, I stepped inside the dungeon proper. A staircase extended into the dark, sconces on the wall already held several regularly space torches. I moved over to the topmost one and interacted with it pulling it free, and holding it out in front of me. The freedom in this game was great.

I could feel the heat from the torch touch my face. I flinched back as the memory of searing pain engulfed the left side of my face. I dropped the torch, from the intensity. Struggling with the memory as it came back into focus.

Picking up the torch again I followed the stairs down aways. The light from my torch only extended about five feet into the gloom.

I remembered this dungeon quite well as it happened. I pressed a hotkey on my keyboard, on instinct if nothing else, to prepare a spell for a known enemy. I knew at the end of the stairs there was a pack of gowls that were weak to fire.

The first time around I had used to the torch as a weapon to beat them back until the spell had enough charge to clear the group.

This time however I would not be caught by surprise. Well, I suppose that was truly nothing in the game would get me. The rush of completely foreign and strange rushing patterns that formed within my real/dream body was enough to spook me.

I jumped back from the keyboard, my chair sliding away. I stared in shock at the screen and keyboard, this was one hell of a dream. Just like everything else I had felt what Illya would have felt. Was that magic I had felt, that was the only reasonable explanation.

I sighed and lowered my head again into my hands. ‘Reasonable.’ This was describing an ESP experience from an avatar in a game, in a dream brought on by some most certainly dead state. Well, that's not really true, this is all a dream, to begin with then anything could happen. Just because it didn’t feel like a dream doesn’t mean it wasn’t... of course, I knew that the cave wasn’t a dream. But that was completely different somehow, that feeling was so solid and concrete in my mind that to doubt it was like doubting that the sun would provide light, or the next day would come.

I didn’t have that strange, admittedly mysterious, certainty that I did awake.

I reached out again for the dreamboard. As before the feelings returned when I got close, the massive spell charge that had built up throughout my dithering was immense. The feeling of surging untapped power cycling through my body was incredible.

Way more than enough to clear the first group.

Spellcasting in the game depended a lot of the different classes you picked, your control screams and a dozen other points that all could impact things on the small to a much larger scale. The method I was using now was called charge casting, where a charge was built up from mana and then released into whatever spell needed it. But demonstrating that this was an incredible game once again, that wasn’t the only method I had used and had also started the runic empowerment cycles from a different class. This would constantly cycle power runes in sigils to improve the spells I cast, this had also been cycling and powering up for the same time.

Even as this relatively early stage in the development of my character, she was a powerful spell slinger. The knowledge I had gained from years of experience even playing as a more melee-focused class structure gave me plenty to think about, and more than one advantage in areas where I could just throw money at the problem to fix it, mainly with gear when I first started to level her.

Suffice to say this character played along the boundaries of many styles and played with the limits like they were more of like general suggestions made by someone who didn’t understand the game, rather than what the devs said.

The spell I used was a simple fire wave with a modicum of concussive force thrown in for good measure, as the gowls had gotten very close at that point and I wasn’t sure that they would die right away.

Right now, that was not an issue the insane charge time had given and was even now giving me an absolute advantage. The price for such power was not inconsequential of course, although my high gear standard was helping greatly, already offsetting the runic costs by approximately my regeneration amount.

I thought for a moment about using other spells first but ultimately decided that going with what happened already, even given the changes that were now made was my best course of action. I couldn’t risk it. If something would prevent me from re-entering that white world, it would not be because I couldn’t follow a script, at least to the best of my ability.

One of the drawbacks to this method was that the more mana I channeled, the higher I would stack a slowing debuff that was brought on by the complex nature of the spell. It was called concentration and was almost universal for casters, each subgroup having different methods of combating it or even overcoming it. The split mind trees were almost required for any serious magecraft build and I had had long hours of back and forth with fellow players about the build necessity of that entire branch of skills.

Eventually, I reached the bottom of the stairs and was only a single step away from where I knew from the past I would trigger the monsters. I tapped the forward key, at the same time pulling up the simple spell runes for the cast of [Concussive Fire-Wave] without any delay the three runes blazed in the vision of my character and echoed in my mind. The firey symbols burned then, something on the outside caught my attention just before the spell went off. My hand in dream’s world blazed with fire.

The skill went off and the world went white.

There was no transition this time. I felt my butt connect with the ground, but there was no pain that would normally followed. I leaned back on my hands and waited. The bright white flash that had oversaturated my vision slowly gave way to the soft whites of the lamps, the walls, the ceiling and all the rest. I had excepted this, if not the abrupt transition.

When my sight had entirely returned, an inconsequential oddity among a whole lot of weird was the perfect sight that I had here, even without glasses. Although maybe it wasn’t so odd if I accepted the fact this was a dream as well.

Already the calming and overriding sense of bliss that this place possessed was trying to worm its way into my mind. I could feel that this time, maybe because I was aware of it being there I could now detect it. I resisted, and it seemed to work.

I looked around, but Mya was gone. Already the entirety of my memory was in place. The fight, and fires, the gash in my neck everything. I wondered what it meant that I was here. Had I failed to cauterize the neck wound in time? Had some other wound got me before I had found it?

Impossible to say right now. I think that the first is most likely.

I got up from the floor and sat on the soft bed, but there was something new. The once square room was now rectangular, the wall facing me had been pushed out and another thing had been added.

It was a pedestal that sat in the middle of the floor, above it hovered a glob of ... stuff. It rippled slowly in some unseen breeze.

I got up and went to get a closer look. It was a large sphere, the ripples remained constant throughout its surface and otherwise smooth texture. The consistency remained me more of a light gel than a lake.

I reached out a poked it. My finger deformed but failed to break the surface. The indent slowly corrected itself, remaining in its deformed shape much longer than I expected it would. I poked it again. It was like some weird floating clay.

I grabbed a handful and pulled it off the main ball. It came away easily, almost weightless in my hand but having definite texture.

This place was so weird.

I started to pull it apart, but some of it was clumped in the middle and the two pieces I had pulled off it. It didn’t fall to the ground and remained floating in the air.

“Woah... that’s cool.”

Just then I heard a purr and something rubbed against my leg.

“Mya! You here finally. Look at this stuff kitty, it so weird!” I wasn’t surprised that she had turned up, that being what happened last time I was here.

The cat looked at me curiously. Then at the floating glob thingies.

She got on her haunches. I was watched with anticipation as the small kitty got ready to pounce.

“Go on you can dooo it!” I cheered her on.

She leaped gracefully in the air, performing an incredible feat and making it all the way to my floating glob of stuff.

She snagged a pawful on her way down.

I clapped, “Very nice kitty, ten out of ten. Hey, wha--” She was licking the glob stuff of her paw. “Nono you don’t know what it is, silly kitty it could be dangerous.”

She tilted her head at me as if to say “really?”

“Ye-- No, your right it's fine.” I wasn’t sure where that sudden surity came from, much like the in the cave, this was a deep unshakable knowledge that had no root cause in my mind. I looked at the glob in my hand and shrugged before taking a bite.

It tasted of nothing. The cooling balm feeling though was familiar and I remember the smoke from right before my fight with the lone survivor. Mr. Too-Cool-To-Die had distracted me from that latest development, and what's more, he didn’t even seem to notice it.

As the cool gel dissolved in my mouth it spread the feeling threw first my head than my whole body. The numbing coolness of whatever it was froze over my mind and ... and I was being affected again. The chill woke me up, and I found that whatever resistance I had put up to the bliss was gone, if it had even mattered in the first place.

I shuddered as I remembered my thoughts under its influence. I looked down at Mya to see she had become more vibrant in her colors. The purple patterning now slightly more distinct against her dark gray coat.

I shuddered again, this must be what it’s like on drugs. Really good uppers. I took another bite, of the tasteless mass. Whatever it was, I had already eaten it so had Mya. More, it had helped me fight off the effects of this place and think clearly again. So I would risk having more of whatever it was.

My mind became clearer and clearer. I had finished the small amount I had taken originally but was now reluctant to get more the chill in my mind didn’t seem to be fading. And I wondered if this could do anything else.

I noticed my first sense of color in this world besides Mya and my clothes. Everything was going blue. At first, I thought it was just this strange space being even weirder, but the cat was also being tinted bluer and bluer by the second.

Soon everything looked some shade of deep blue.

The cat seemed fine, and I wasn’t going to panic over this. Whatever was happening to me was alright. That firm belief stayed even through the refreshing icy coolness in my mind. I had half thought that was a figment of the drug magic going on.

Mya looked up at me then. She was still her cute kitten size, however, her eyes seemed deeper somehow and slit pupils now framed inside irises that held depth and clarity missing from them earlier.

Then she nodded at the wall. Before going back to trying to catch the floating glob of mind-numbing gel.

I hesitated to wonder if I was just seeing what I wanted to, but no that was clearly my kitten nodding to the wall on my right. It was a plain surface like before. Last time I had walked through a wall to get to the real world, was it the same this time around? It seemed like it.

I stood before it. I looked again at the kitty and put up a hand to wave.

I opened my mouth to say something but shut it just as fast having no words for this situation.

I stepped into the wall. Surprisingly it was easier this time, I walked almost confidently forward. Just like last time all I saw was the white of the walls, everywhere I looked the same white a uniform and continuous color. I might as well have been blind.

When I found the barrier, my foot broke through mid-stride. But the expected rush of reality did not return. Instead, I was just standing there, waiting.

When I finally decided that something was different this time I was faced with a choice. To keep moving forward, literally, blindly. Or try to make it back to the wall and the white room.

I wasn’t sure. This was the way shown by Mya, and although it was odd I trusted her, she had not lead me astray yet. Nothing seemed to be exactly the same this time around anyway. Maybe I just had to move further out this time.

I kept going.

I didn’t bother to count my steps this time and was surprised when I felt my other foot connected with a barrier. It didn’t shatter instantly like the last one, I pulled my foot back and stepped into it hard. It was thicker than the last but shattered all the same. My foot landed on the other side.

I still was here. I sighed and continued on, not needing to debate this time.

The third barrier I found after what felt triple the distance. This one, however, was different, much like the first time around in this white space this barrier was pliant and flexible as I walked into it. Slowly I felt the stretch tighten and had to lean into the divide. I never stopped stepping forward, at the same pace I had maintained throughout.

I took a step against the film that tried to push me back, the pressure reached a maximum before it snapped and I felt myself rush upward.

I slammed into my body and shot upright again. Wheezing and coughing painfully, putting all my weight on one hand as I struggled for breath...again.

<><><>

Wyhte opens her eyes. And although a strong desire to shake her head at the incredible headache that settles over her from use of a skill in these circumstances, it is worth it.

From beneath the heavy black cloth her captors keep her under unless they want to especially torture her that day, her skill Peer Through Infinity is heavily blocked, although not completely. Having seen the ‘human’s’ arrival and subsequent misadventures, it was hard to draw a parallel between the bumbling round human boy and the fierce and highly lethal warrior the had been called DreadKnuaght.

But never having heard of the bridge project or it’s collective effects, she was unaware of much that could explain away the differences in appearance. However having cultivated the Peer Through Infinity skill for a long time, working tirelessly for an edge against the one who thought to keep her hostage here, she had honed it to perceive all of physical space and some outside it as well. When used it would give her a view unlike anything of wherever she was looking at the time. Given her state reaching the stage of truth tampering with any ‘newly’ created ability was an incredible feat that spoke of the sheer willpower Wyhte possessed.

Also the amount of time she had. The cloth that was almost casually thrown over her was also no simple cloth. She gazed in the direction of the boy, not knowing what to make of him.

Even now Wyhte has seen the supposedly human boy return to life twice and the second time after having defeated a troop of monstrous creatures. Admittedly ones from a lower circle, but given what little she had seen off the boy, she had no doubt that before this he didn’t fight anything. The echoes of power that surrounded him were extremely unrefined.

He was also not human. Of that, she was almost one hundred percent sure. Maybe 97% sure. Even with the great truth of insight woven into her skill, she could only see the edges of the disguise shell that wove deep within him. Such a spell or ability whatever it maybe was on an almost disturbingly powerful level. And coming from a world where that should have been impossible, and given his obvious lack of fighting skill and even what appeared to be basic knowledge. Just who and what was he... He was actually fat for the empty heavens! How could this person give so much trouble to Burytal?

But she had seen the other side of him, the DreadKnaught and that other woman, who was him as well apparently... somehow. Wyhte sighed under her cover and knew that something was missing from her explanation. And it had to be something big. But after being out of the planes for so long it was to be expected.

Wyhte muscles rippled under her scales, a low hiss of breath escaping her throat. She is still sore from the whip, that Burytal’s insane lover, Cleo gave her the last time she was caught making an escape. That wouldn’t stop her though. Her pride was stepped on and the humiliation of being kept as a pet for these beings drove her on. For a few thousand years now.

After so long laying still was a natural power that she constantly used. Peer Through Infinity and Influence the Infinite were the two abilities she had cultivated in the truest sense, with Stillness in Infinity being a close third that her pride refused to acknowledge even if it was the first.

Peer is the most highly used and usable it was by far the strongest.

‘Influence had a nice ring to it, however, if a more realistic name was given to it, perhaps Gently-Nudge-The-Infinite is more accurate. ‘ she mused to herself. She smirked to her self, massive fangs reflecting no light under the canopy.

What surprised her was the Burytal had not seemed that concerned with the boy at all. Seemingly only glancing at him less, as if already mentally marking him dead. Only concerned when he could finally check the box.

Wyhte hoped that he could keep his surprisingly cavalier attitude awhile longer.

She, of course, knew he was more than human, but that would not be enough to sway her hopes past what she could manage already. She knew that whatever Jace was there was not much chance of him matching Burytal, and too even take a guess on how long such a thing would take if was even possible...

But no.

None of those things would be enough to sway her opinions yet, such an untested, unfit and unarmed... race or inheritance or boon all would not be enough to see hope in that. She had caught glimpses of his personality, the truth that hid inside. And it was familiar. The stubbornness, rugged determination, a crass vindictive streak. All hidden behind an intellectual mind. Sure there were other things, the frightened boy being held above all now as the unfamiliar and hostile world found its way inside his head. The scorned and closed-off the self from whatever troubles he had on the other world and surely left some marks on the apparently human boy.

But it was still there. The Ancients Disdain was what the races of the world called it. She saw it in his eyes when looking around for the first time. Saw it in the splotch of blood that landed at the foot of his first killer. The savage attack made of rolling flames.

She wondered how much of the boy was kin to her.

The savage feral smile that decorated her simian face was reas0n enough for her to be thankful the cloth was here.

It had been thousands of years since anything draconic came to the Labyrinth.

<><><>

I could hear my breaths wheeze out my throat, which felt misshapen and strange. I lifted a hand and felt along my neck were, the deformed and burned skin still remained. I traced my outer edge of the deformation up onto my face where it stopped, thankfully, just beneath my eye.

Whatever brought me back, apparently didn’t heal all of me. Which was strange because the last time both my wounds were gone. I wondered if only life-threatening wounds were fixed when I came back. There were light twinges of pain coming from the hand I was leaning on as well, the one I had held to my throat.

Sure enough, it had the same melted and rehardened wax look of fresh exposed to fire. There was little pain thankfully, and almost none when I breathed so that was good.

“Well, this could have been worse.” My voice came out harsh and gravelly, belying my age. While it wasn’t exactly something I wanted, it wasn’t like I had been having such a conversation with the creatures, and before that even how many people had I talked to socially. Zero, at least in person.

I stood and stretched, working my neck as well testing for any changes to my range of motion. My hand was a little stiff in places but seemed to be in exceedingly better condition than anyone else who had come in contact with the fire. The melted slag of what used to be a corpse next to me testified to that.

I did a double-take next to me as another large splotch of discoloration now decorated the floor, where the rest of the contents of my final weapon had spilled out when I had dropped it. I did a once over of that side and found that it too hadn’t come out unscathed, although the fleck of burned skin was nothing much to worry about.

The brazier, however, had landed top up and sat on the ground blazing away... with a full bowl of magic fire liquid... magic oil... magic gas...liquid fire... inside. I wasn’t sure of a name that fit. The liquid fire seemed best in my mind.

There seemed to be the same amount of liquid fire as when I picked it up. That of course was disproven at least in some amount by the now slagged monogreel that was next to me.

Unless... yes... I was wrong on a principle that was completely new to me, something that I just wouldn’t have considered. What if no one came to refill these because no one needed to. Some type of self accumulation or even creating its own fuel, that was so cool. For a second, dreams of planes that could fly forever danced in my mind, before I shook myself out into the present.

I groaned as I got up, feeling a stretching in odd places thanks to my newest scars. I had never had burns like this. My fingers get probing at my neck feeling the edges and deformity of the scar. I stood and got my bearings again in this newly altered room. I was not really sure why the liquid fire caused the floor to change color like that. The lighter shade of stone was only a few shades lighter gray that the original dark and reflected more of the light coming off the fires. However, the room was still mostly in shadow now that the fires had died down while I was ... recuperating.

I would have to deal with that soon.

My mind was adjusting to my new environment rather well, I patted myself on the back. Now, much crazy shit had I taken without my mind turning on me? A lot. Maybe it was the game, or maybe I was just much more mentally resilient than I had realized. Some times it’s good to surprise your self I guess!