The drive home started off peaceful. I rolled my windows down to enjoy the cool night air, as the heat of day gradually faded. The splendid oranges of dusk were just beginning to darken, and a full moon illuminated a starless sky.

I loved these long drives home at night. I didn’t have to worry about studying, or why my best friends had been avoiding me and were now running away. It was just me and the road. No distractions, even my phone was turned off and had been tossed into the seat behind me.

As I rounded the final turn before I got home, I noticed what looked like a shooting star. It cut through the night, dividing it with a fiery trail, and it was steadily getting larger. I shaded my eyes with one hand and slammed on the brakes as the light continued to grow.

At the same instant that my truck slid to a stop, the sky exploded. The horizon lit up with intermittent flashes of gold and red. As the sky began to burn I felt a coldness descend over me, chilling me to the core and leaving me unable to move.

The sky continued to grow brighter until a line opened directly in front of me, dissecting the sky. It gradually grew larger and the flashing lights allowed brief glimpses of a churning darkness that was slowly growing from the tear. It was both beautiful and terrifying.

Tendrils began to spin out from the center of the darkness, each one dancing and writhing independently from each other. There was no apparent pattern to the movement, but the shifting shadows were strangely mesmerizing. They burned themselves into my mind in a way I can never cleanse. The darkness spun, as it still does in my dreams, a wreath of death upon the sky.

I stared, transfixed, and the darkness gazed back. Folds of shadow twisted and spun to reveal an eye. It burned red, as large, and as bright as the sun. The world froze, and my mind retreated. I cannot name the unfathomable things I saw within that gaze. When I think of it my mind shuts down in panic, unable to comprehend the horror of the images that swam before me.

The sky lit up once more as the eye retreated. A shimmering gold and white turned night into day, blinding my still confused eyes. The world came apart around me and I stared blankly into the sky.

Asphalt and gravel swirled around my truck as it was lifted into the air, leaving a crumbling road behind. Trees and rocks spiraled around me, slamming into each other with resounding force. I heard the screech of bending metal as something large and heavy slammed into the bed of my truck.

I could hear screams, probably my own, but they were muffled and sounded far away, as if underwater. I felt the crash, as a wave of force that moved through me. The air was driven from my lungs and my screams silenced.

My bones vibrated and shattered, pushed out of place to make room for organs and limbs as they repositioned themselves in unfamiliar alignments. It should have been painful, but it all happened in slow motion and felt as though it were happening to someone else. It was like a dream or a half-forgotten memory.

I tried to reach out to grab onto something, anything, but all I could find was smoke. It tasted acrid and bitter as it forced its way into lungs and burned my eyes. I remember the heat on my arms and the glow of embers as flame danced around me. Inch by inch, they consumed everything, growing ever closer.

I gasped for breath, but my chest wouldn’t rise. I couldn’t focus, and I felt cold. My mind was hazy, but for a moment I saw the form of a man leaning over me, watching.

Then, I saw nothing.

***

Congratulations!

“ … the fuck?” I summarized. I awoke to a strangely chipper robotic voice in my head and a translucent screen that was visible even with my eyes closed.

His hunger knows no bounds, and you have awoken him, but fear not! The Old One, Crimson Hunter of the Void, has been contained! The Hegemony of Worlds has accepted your planet as a provisional Tier 4 member. Your world, and all its citizens, will be given the opportunity to grow and develop to meet the coming challenges.

For more information, please think “menu” and then select “guide.” Good luck.

System loading…. Basic stats package prepared! “Stats” can be viewed by thinking "stats" or “status” at any time.

Augustus Finn

Class: N/A

Level: 1

Stamina (r/ per second): 16/16 (0.133)

Mana (r/ per minute): 19/19 (0.633)

Might: 8

Agility: 6

Reaction: 6

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

Intellect: 9

Perception: 10

Focus: 5

Phys. Resist: 1

Mag. Resist: 1

I looked down at myself, expecting broken bones and charred flesh. I was not only whole, I had never felt better. As I stood I felt nearly weightless, and my arms felt as though they could bend steel. Even the faint edge of tiredness was gone as if I had just woken from the best sleep of my life.

I wanted to try deadlifting a truck or deflecting bullets with my chest. The euphoria was almost like a drug. My mental health, on the other hand, I wasn’t so sure about. Flashing screens were competing for my attention and the things they were saying were clearly impossible.

Congratulations! You met your new life on the brink of life and death, and yet you persevered through sheer determination and adaptability. New feat(s) unlocked – Reactive Adaptability Ⓛ! All resistances +1!

Congratulations! You have unlocked your first feat! Random common skill(s) unlocked –

Arcane bolt © 0/10!

Congratulations! You have entered your first dungeon!! Every adventure begins with a single step, and this is yours. As a Dungeon Delver ®, you gain +1 unallocated stat(s) per level!!

You currently have three (3) unallocated stats.

I looked away from the screens, trying to learn more of my surroundings. Beneath me was a pool of blood. It was probably my own, and yet I didn’t have so much as a bruise on me.

My eyes followed a trail of blood back to what remained of my sky-blue pickup. It was almost completely destroyed. The bed, and everything in it, had been sheared off and there was no trace of where it went. Only a twisted cab remained. The roof of the truck was completely caved in, with bits of jagged metal where the driver’s side seat should have been.

The passenger seat was the only thing still intact. I reached into the cab and retrieved my green canvas backpack and the brown leather jacket that was still folded neatly in the center of the seat. It was an old bombers jacket that had once belonged to my grandfather. The image of a Valkyrie holding a spear above a burning biplane flying over a  roman numeral “XIII” adorned the otherwise faded jacket. I concentrated on the memories contained in that jacket and managed to stave off panic, if only briefly.

A faint green light illuminated my immediate surroundings and drew my eyes upwards. I was beneath an impossibly high domed ceiling that was alive with swaying tendrils that glowed with blue and green bioluminescence. It was beautiful, almost like stars floating on the surface of a black and swaying ocean.

I turned as I heard a scratching sound behind me, but when I looked I found only empty darkness. The only thing I could hear was the faint susurrus of flowing water coming somewhere in the distance.

“Hello?” I shouted.

The only reply was a quiet echo.

I could feel the pressure of my blood as my heart began to beat faster. I could hear it pumping as it flowed through my ears, a steady drumming that drowned out all else. My hands grew cold and sweaty.

Something was there, and yet I couldn’t see or hear anything. Some primal sense I had never felt before in my sheltered upbringing was warning me of danger.

I tried to quiet my racing mind by assessing the situation and stopping to take a few deep breaths. I was obviously hallucinating, alone, and apparently underground. If I wasn’t dead I must have been kidnapped and inserted into some kind of psychological experiment. Or torture.

I still wasn’t ruling out this being Hell.

No matter how unreal it seemed, however, I had to treat it as real if I was going to survive. Hopefully, I could find someone to explain what was going on.

Before that could happen, I needed to find food, water, and shelter. I could hear flowing water coming from somewhere further into the cavern, so I moved in that direction. The faint green glow only allowed me to see a few feet in front of me and I quickly lost all sense of direction. The only guide I had was the faraway sound of rushing water.

I also needed to stop ignoring the implications of those floating status screens. If I really did have new abilities, and I certainly felt stronger, then I needed to experiment with them. Besides, who didn’t secretly dream of playing with magic? I felt dumb just thinking it, but I tried it anyway. For science.

I held my hand out expectantly and tried to imagine a bolt of arcane energy. I stood there, motionless with one arm held uselessly in front of me.

This is dumb, I thought. I wasn’t playing some tabletop where I can throw arcane bolts just by thinking about it. At that same moment a small sphere, a barely visible wisp of blue light, shot from my fingertips.

My hand had already started to fall to my side and the projectile struck my thigh. I barely felt the impact, but it burned a hole through my jeans and lines of steam were spiraling up from my leg.

The light had done nothing to illuminate the gloom and it seemed nearly worthless as an attack, but … “Magic! I just did magic.”

It was hard to contain my excitement as I clenched my fists and held them up by my shoulders as I began dancing around. I couldn’t contain my glee as I launched three more arcane bolts into the waiting darkness.

On the fourth, however, a few blue sparks fizzled into a puff of smoke. I tried again but got nothing. I thought, “menu,” and my stats were instantly displayed in front of me. I was searching for a ‘guide’ or descriptions, but the problem instantly became apparent.

I only had three mana remaining, I would have to find a way to replenish it before I could use more magic. I had never been much of a ‘gamer,’ but the concept of mana was ubiquitous enough for even me to instantly grasp.

Just then the number ticked up a single point and I experimentally pointed my hand forward and gave the mental command. A thin, wispy line launched forward as I watched my mana drain to zero.

I could feel a strange weakness as if some muscle I wasn’t aware I had was completely atrophied. It was a bit like the mental fatigue from trying to study too long, and it carried the same exhaustion and pressure at the back of my head.

I rubbed at my eyes, but I knew the only fix was time. A quick run and a nap and I’d be as good as new. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be an option.

I opened my eyes and saw a small shadow dart in front of me before disappearing into the darkness. Its feet clicked as it skittered across the hard stone floor. I turned as I heard more of the feet circling from behind.

I had a glimpse of thick, hairy legs and large black orbs flying towards me. I reflexively cast arcane bolt, but nothing happened.

Many limbs, long and powerful, wrapped around. My arms were pinned, so I was forced to watch helplessly as two fangs longer than my thumb sank into my shoulder. A large, reflective orb stared down at me, showing me my own contorted face as I screamed in pain.

My chest tightened, and I lost the ability to scream as my body stiffened and convulsed. I could taste copper in my mouth as the metallic smell of blood mixed with the rancid scent of burning flesh. The last thing I remembered was my limbs going numb as I struck the cold, stone floor.