<360 degrees stereoscopic vision perception…Ready.>

<…>

***

“Adam, you can open your eyes now,” the voice of Cordi came. She broke through my nightmare, bringing me back to reality.

Then my eyelids  opened like a curtain, sliding away, revealing the world to me. A sight that I longed for so long. However,

“C-Cordi?” I asked, not making sense of what I am seeing.

“Yes, Adam?”

“W-What the fuck is this?”

“…”

I saw…Everything.

A huge circular sandy arena, full of what I identified as aliens. They were everywhere I looked. In fact, I didn’t have to look anywhere. I could see in every possible direction. Even the sandy ground under my head.

My vision was so strong I could see the gap in the teeth of some human spectators eating something like a bean sized snacks. I could see colors I never know it existed. What I saw, it was more vibrant and beautiful than anything I could have imagined.

If I focused enough, I could see something like heat vision, the hotter an object, the warmer the color. And on top of it, I could see the skeletal structures of the spectators.

It was like having the most advanced military cameras in my eyes. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

The arena was so large it looked like ten football fields stitched together. With thousands of different aliens fighting each other in a dust storm of blood and  chaos. Limbs flew everywhere and lasers filled the air, flying in every direction.

Then I focused on my own body. The first thing that caught my attention was that I was naked. My eyes instantly went to my groin. I saw what made me die a little inside. Nothing was there, just a patch of skin. My identity as a male was gone.

I was going to protest to the AI about it, but I stopped when I saw the rest of my body. I could see my ribcage popping through my skin like a starving african child. A hole closing rapidly in my abdomen, with a couple of stumpy shoulders that held a bald head, with two holes for ears.

Then I saw what nearly killed me from pain a few days ago, my legs. I activated the x-ray like vision along with the normal one and looked, my lower jaw dropping slightly as my eyes went down the legs.

They were extremely odd to look at. White fur covered them entirely. Each leg was abnormally thick, full of muscle. At the first knee joint the legs stopped being normal. A second thigh extended down from the knee and connected to a second knee. Which then was followed by my shins.

I stopped here for a moment and tried moving both knees at the same time and to my surprise, it was so fluid and easy like I was born with it. I lifted one leg a bit for a better view of my foot. It was  fur covered, yet undeniably still a normal human foot. Except it had claws the size of a thumb, which I can retract at will.

Now I began to understand what is happening to me. The millions of visions I had in the span of 1500 years, the underwater breathing, and the eyes. It all made sense now. What has yet to make sense are the human giants with weird heads. But that is a question for another time.

“Cordi,” I said, calm as a lake.

“Yes, Adam?”

“Be sure to give me a horse penis later.”

“Hehe, I will surely do that,” replied the AI, surprising me with a charming laugh I never expected to come out of her.

I got up on my feet easily. My new frame left an alien figure imprinted into the bloody yellow sand. A mixture of green paste, lay congealed where my belly had been. Looking at it, it must have been my energy filled breakfast. When my stomach had been pierced it had spilled out, and stained the sand.

“Oh! That explains it,” I said to Cordi. I raised a nonexistent eyebrow before continuing. “Thank you Cordi.”

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“Don’t mention it. Here’s some extra. I’m sure you’ll like,” replied Cordi with a cheerful voice .

To my joy, a speed and altitude meter popped up in the corner of my vision. To top that, a red bar which I identified as an HP bar appeared in the upper corner stopping at 29.24%. It was slowly increasing.

“Wow, thank you Cordi. This is so convenient. How did you manage to make it?” I asked her. I wondered how she managed to create it before adding in jest, “Also, where’s the mana bar?”

“I’m constantly monitoring your bio-signs, so this is an estimated condition of your total health condition.  I’m sorry Adam, there is no magic in this world,” replied Cordi cheerfully, probably knowing that I was expecting as much.

*Thunk* *Thunk* *Thunk*

I turned at the sound the gladiators, awesome. From within the swirling chaos of the fight a figure approached. A robot-like creature was sprinting towards me. It had a small head and a wide frame. It stretched a meter wide and stood two meters tall. The robot held two large glowing shield on each arm. A blade protruded from the bottom of each shield.

“Cordi? What is that?” I asked, a bit uneasy with the robot approaching.

“it’s a P-901 of the 17th generation protectron line,” supplied Cordi as fast as I asked the question.

I hoped the AI would give me a more useful answer. Or, I could have asked a better question. I didn’t give the matter any more thought and braced myself for battle.

The robot sped closer at a steady pace until there were only a few meters between us. Then it kept slowing down until it was in my striking distance. I was getting ready to kick its head, until it did something I did not expect. It knelt down on one knee and looked straight into my newly formed eyes.

“Affirmative,” a monotonic voice came from the robot.

“Yes,” it said again

“Protect and serve,” it echoed again before turning away. It turned it’s back to me. It seemed the machine wanted to protect me.

“Cordi, did you hack it?” I asked the AI, making sure my doubts were correct.

“Something like that,” she replied with a hint of hesitation in her voice.

She’s hiding something, I thought. But I immediately remembered she can read my mind.

“What is it, Cordi?” I asked again, requesting the reason for the hesitation I felt.

“What is what Adam?”

“You know what I was thinking about now,” I said, a bit of confusion lingering in my voice.

“Adam, ever since the last time I stopped your biosignatures to save your life, I lost the ability to translate your brain signatures,” Cordi replied with a somewhat pained tone.

“How’s that?” I asked yet again, wondering what happened.

“The anomaly is preventing my sensors from reading any internal signals your brain sends. I can only read what you want to send to me,” explained the AI, much to my amusement.

So, it was the little girl’s doing. Well, that makes me a little more comfortable. Hope she’s not lying though, I thought, satisfied with the answer.

I saw a group of five humans wearing the same armor approaching me and the P-901 robot with caution. Two of them held glowing swords that Cordi stated were laser swords, and she wouldn’t recommend getting hit by their glowing edges. Another two held laser rifles and the last one, who seems to be their leader, held a black tower shield larger than himself.

The two ranged fighters started shooting red bullets of light in our direction. Which were easily intercepted and deflected by the robot’s shields. Meanwhile the swordsmen tried to flank us. I don’t know about the robot, but I can see both perfectly even if they are on the opposite sides of my vision.

One of the swordsmen tried coming from the robot’s blind side, which in turn, turned its upper side only without moving an inch and bashed the man between its shields like a hamburger getting pressed. In less than a second, the man turned into a paste.  What remained of him fell to the ground with a thud in a gruesome sight. The others flinched back at the after seeing their comrades fate. The rifle carriers instantly fell back a few meters and started firing at a faster pace at different angles of the robot. But their tactics were easily dealt with by the big shields.

The protectron didn’t move an inch. Its wide frame hid my smaller one from view. The robot protected was doing a good job of protecting me.

“Adam, on you right,” warned the AI.

“I see him, Cordi,” I said, looking at the guy with the glowing tower shield sneaking up on me.

I instantly turned to face him. He  flinched a little, and I did start bracing myself for the upcoming fight.

The robot started to move in my defense, but I told Cordi to make it stop. I didn’t want interference. After which it turned back to its previous defensive position, facing the remaining three.

The shield bearer charged at me with a war cry, his shield’s color getting more intense. He tried bashing me directly but my legs were faster, letting me dodge back from the assault.

I don’t remember fighting anyone before, let alone to the death. So, I was worried if I can kill a man just like that. But the man’s second charge stopped my thoughts. A small explosion-like sound came out from his boots, boosting his charging speed threefold.

I felt the heavy shield kissing my face, followed by a crunchy sound of my nose breaking. Which made me stagger back a few steps back, blood seeping out of my nose and mouth. I could taste the rusty  flavor blood again.  The man had a smirk on his face when he saw my injury.

That smirk was quickly replaced with a look of shock when the man saw my crooked nose reverting back to its place with the same crunchy sound it made when it was broken. In a few seconds, my nose became like it was never hit in the first place. This time, it was my turn to smirk. Now it was time for payback.

I charged at him, at a speed he didn’t have time to react to. All he could do is swing his shield in my direction blindly, hoping that my speed would be my demise when meeting the shield at that speed.

What the man didn’t know, is how efficient these legs worked, I instantly changed my trajectory right before I meet the shield, appearing right behind the man. Before he could understand what happened and turn back to face me, I put my strength in my right leg and kicked the head with all I had.

What the fuck? I murmured inside my head, not understanding what just happened.

The man’s head was sent flying from the force. Like I just kicked a football from a stand, blood spurting out of his headless body. his body crumpled to his knees and then collapsed to the ground. It seems that I don’t know how powerful these new legs are yet.

I saw the rest of the team running away in fear after they saw what happened to their teammates. At least that was I assumed. And boy I was so wrong.

A gray gigantic four-armed figure full of muscle stood in front of the robot looking down on it with a grin of madness on its face. The giant was totally naked except a bloody piece of cloth covering its groin. He was covered from head to toe in blood and gore.

“BUAHAHAHA, ETO RUNDAI – “

“- Marvelous”

I identified the voice’s owner instantly, it was the creature that was in my cell, Mahar.

The protectron started bashing the bashing the giant with its shields as hard as it could, but the giant didn’t mind it, as if he was getting hit with air. Suddenly he grabbed the robot’s small head with an arm and took it off with ease. The robot started buzzing and shaking, with sparks coming out from wires that now replacing its head. The giant didn’t stop he reached with two arms into the robot’s chest piercing it, then he lifted the poor thing in the air and split it into two as if he is cutting a piece of cloth.

“Adam, this is a Grokati. A race with extreme battle lust and huge pride, this one is a high overlord, only a few steps away from becoming a Grokati dominator. It doesn’t seem hostile against you, but I advise that you avoid fighting it at all costs,” stated Cordi, feeding me a bit of information about the wall of muscle standing in robotic remains.

“A man fights his own battles, BUAHAHAH,” said Mahaar with his usual thunderous laugh, approaching me with steady steps.

He stood a few breaths away from me, I looked up to his grinning face. One word came out of my mouth. Which I regretted saying it a second after.

“G-Goro?”

*SLAP*

I felt my world spinning, I felt like I got hit by a stone boulder in my face. The force made me fly a few steps back. My legs miraculously balanced me, not letting me fall.

“W-what?” I said to Cordi, looking for an answer for what just happened.

“You just called it your bitch Adam, goro is a very offensive word in the Grokati culture,” answered the AI quickly, probably busy fixing the dents in my skull made from the force of the slap.

I nearly lost conscious from the force of the hit, but I stood up in alert, watching the monster approaching me once more. The usual grin replaced with the scariest frown I’ve even seen.

“Ngo! Ngo!” I started speaking to him, shaking my head stating that I didn’t know what the word meant.

“WHAT? AREN’T I YOUR GORO?” shouted Mahaar in a wave of anger. Ready to assault me again.

“Ngo, Ik waasj a meshkake,” I said correcting myself still shaking my head, trying to preserve my life escaping his wrath.

“YOU SAY YOU DIDN’T MEAN IT?” Asked the giant, showing me that he is at least have the intelligence to stop and think.

I kept staring at him and nodding rapidly, stating that I really didn’t know that this word was offensive.

The frown on his face disappeared as fast as it came. It was replaced with a toothy grin that stretched ear to ear.

“I am Mahaar, what is your name?” asked the creature, his mood changed unusually fast.

“Agum” I replied as quick and polite as I could.

“AGUM, what an unusual name, BUAHAHAHA” laughed Mahaar, I couldn’t correct him nor wanted to, I only replied with a toothless grin of my own.

“Agum, an interesting pair of legs you have there, and I see that you have eyes now. what race are you?” asked the blood painted giant excitedly.

“Hooma,” I replied, not caring how it sounded anymore.

“Agum of the Hooma race, let’s be friends!” said Mahaar, making me raise my nonexistent brows in shock.

He put one of his arms forward in a fist, showing me that he wants something similar to a fist bump. So, after asking Cordi and affirming that it’s safe, I raised one of my legs and curled my toes, then hit his dog sized fist with the back of my toes, feeling a bit awkward.

I just made my first friend in this world. Not that I had any before all this had happened. Something inside me was happy, his words were so simple yet so powerful, and I was glad this monstrous strength was on my side.

And so, I and Mahaar went out into the arena, fighting for what felt like ages, my eyes helping me to detect the direction of incoming bullets and my feet giving me unearthly agility for dodging and fighting. Mahaar simply just stomped most of the gladiators he faced, one or two punches of his huge fists were enough to separate limbs, be it flesh or metal, nothing could withstand his destructive force.

After a while, we heard a loud thud followed by a storm of dust everywhere. When it cleared, we saw a strange scene in front of us, and I felt some strange bloodlust coming out of Mahaar that I never felt coming out of him before, his usual grin disappeared and was replaced with a face full of anger. And, pain?

Before us, laid a thirty meter tall giant creature. Blue blood flowed from every pore on its body. The creature was spasming and convulsing, life seeping out of it.

On the creatures back, stood a black figure. A figure which I identified as another Grokati like Mahaar. Yet this one was different. Rather than the four arms Mahaar had, this black skinned monster was the proud owner of six arms. He stood with them folded in three pairs across his chest. A menacing grin twisted his face. Fear creeped into my heart and the urge to flee filled me.

Unlike the naked Grokati standing beside me, this one wore thin layers of green metal armor on his shoulders and along his arms and legs. It was so thin I figured it must be decorative. A large cloth pouch hung at his waist.

His huge arms ended with hands even bigger than Mahaar’s, covered in some kind of metal knuckles, blood dripping off of them. Probably from the poor creature he just slew.

“Adam, run away,” Cordi suddenly warned me. “You have no chance against him, this is a Grokati dominator, one of the strongest, most durable creatures in the sector. Not many have ever faced it and lived to talk about it. I advise you to turn away now and run as hard as you can,” Cordi’s warning continued to ring in my head. Her words agreed with a feeling of terror demanding that I flee from this monstrosity.

Mahar’s hand touched my skinny chest as if preventing me from moving further in the direction of the creature.

“Sorry Agum, this one is mine,” said Mahaar in a stern voice, probably he knew this person.

Dude, as if I’d fight this shit, I’m already afraid of only looking at it,  I mentally cursed at him.

“So, the fledgling finally shows up,” the Black Dominator exclaimed, his eyes piercing the other Grokati next to me.

“Komaal, I finally found you. You filthy murdering trash,” replied Mahaar, his eyes glaring daggers at the big Grokati.

“Come now, let us not speak about that weakling of a father you had,” replied Komaal, his grin widening. Knowing that his taunt would be successful.

“ARHAAAAAAAAA!” shouted Mahaar, charging towards the still grinning Komaal. His footsteps  shook the earth beneath me.

Mahaar jumped up high onto the dead creatures back to strike Komaal. His arms going back in a punching position. The black Grokati braced himself for the upcoming clash of muscles.

I watched in awe as the two exchanged powerful punches. Each one was delivered with the strength to topple reinforced walls and at amazing speed. Red blood splattered everywhere with each hit. It felt so primitive and animalistic. I felt as if I was watching two wild animals tear into one another with no concern for their own wellbeing.

Suddenly the two had their arms interlocked clutching each other in a wrecking ball like figure. The black one’s  lower pair of arms were free. They continued to rain blows into Mahaar’s abdomen.

With a shrill scream of pain, Mahaar grit his teeth and headbutted the bigger Grokati in the face, freeing himself from his clutch.

Komaal staggered a little, blood dripping freely from his nose. Then his eyes bulged from a kick, which sent him flying several meters back. He fell off the dead creature’s back and tumbled to the ground.

Mahaar stood there panting heavily, his face was covered in blood and his body full of wounds from the spikes on Komaal’s fists. He stared down at the black Grokati with stern eyes.

“I swear to Gola, today, you will die Komaal!” Mahaar proclaimed his voice filled with anger and determination. “I will take what is rightfully mine.”

What Mahaar said seemed to affect the dominator, because his face suddenly changed to a frown with the hint of fear.

“Cordi?” I asked a bit confused. “Komaal didn’t seem to be affected that much from that kick, why would he show an expression like that?”

“Gola is the goddess of war in the Grokati culture. To make an oath like Mahaar just did, it was so serious of a matter, that the Grokati believes that if you break an oath, your spirit won’t find its way to the next life. Instead you become  an apparition swimming aimlessly in endless space,” replied Cordi, giving me a small lesson about the two monsters fighting before me.

Mahaar’s skin began to redden a bit. Steam started coming out of it from the blood and sweat covering his body. Then he jumped down from the creature’s back and landed with his knees in Komaal’s chest. The six armed Grokati was still surprised by the declaration and didn’t bring his arms up to shield them blow. Mahaar’s knees forced him to his back.

Then a hail of extremely fast punches started hitting the dominator’s face. Crunching sounds and blood flew everywhere. Mahaar loud cries filled the air while he kept punching the black Grokati’s face like a madman.

After a while, he got up from the convulsing dominator’s body. Mahaar’s body was regaining its original gray color. His large muscle shrinking non stop. He started to shrivel, his body shrinking beyond his original size. He now looked thin and weak, I feared a strong wind might blow him away. Probably an after-effect of what he just did. Panting heavily, Mahaar’s smaller figure just stood there, staring at Komaal’s disfigured face, lying motionless on the sandy floor.

“Let Gola be my witness that I, Mahaar, son of Loftar, have fulfil- “

“Huh...Huh…HuuHAUHAUHAHAA!” Echoed a muffled laugh in front of Mahaar, the black dominator was still alive.

“V-Very well fledgling,” Komaal staggered voice came out, mixed with blood and red spit.He moved his arm, reaching for the pouch at his side. His hand withdrew a spherical object, his thumb clicked something on the object.

The object shook a bit, and five sharp needles came out of it. Then he slammed the needles in his abdomen, injecting its contents inside of him.

Komaal’s body started shaking and convulsing like there was an earthquake happening inside of him. His body suddenly ballooned in size and he staggered to his feet. Now standing, I watched as he continued to sprout even taller. His armor fell off as his body bulked and mutated. His new appearance was that of an abomination.

He stood there, completely naked. He stood twice as big as before and green blotches dotted his skin. Huge bony spikes protruded from his back. He looked monstrous and unnatural.

The same  twisted grin stretched his disfigured face. A mouth full of razor sharp teeth enhanced his frightening appearance. He looked a lot less like a Grokati now.

“I, Komaal, swear to Gola, that you, Mahaar, son of Loftar, will follow your father into the nothingness,” stated the black abomination, spitting the rest of the blood out of his deformed mouth to the bloody yellow sand below.

Mahaar stood there speechless, his eyes still showing anger but with a hint of hopelessness. He was panting hard, his knees shaking from the recoil. But I didn’t see even a hint of fear in his eyes. He would take on the whole world instead of yielding to this thing.

In a blur, Komaal moved, kicking Mahaar hard in his abdomen, sending him flying back into the dead creature in an explosion of dust and blue blood. Yet the disfigured Komaal moved again, faster than my newly formed eyes could track.

Near the creature, stood a six armed Grokati, or at least what used to be. Holding a nearly dead four armed one by the neck with his two upper arms, the smaller one was still alive yet unmoving, his eyes still staring at the face of the black abomination.

The dominator held the four arms of the smaller one with its remaining arms, and looked him in the face, a smirk on its monstrous mouth.

“You will never be a dominator.”

*SPLAT*

In one motion, he ripped off Mahaar’s four arms. Separating them from his body, blood fountained from the wounds. Mahaar screamed in pain. A look of anger and regret filled Mahaar’s face. He was willing to do whatever was necessary at that moment to kill his foe. Seeing the impudent look, Komaal’s rage grew.

He threw Mahaar’s arms away and brought the limbless Grokati face to face with him.

“You see now, weakling? This is exactly how I killed that worthless father of yours. His eight arms danced in my palms. His heart crushed between my teeth. So much for the legendary Octamanus Hero, don’t you think?”  the monster taunted with a grin on its face.

*SPIT*

I don’t know how he had the guts to do that, but Mahaar actually spit in the monster’s face.  Komaal screamed in rage and slammed Mahaar hard on the ground. A crater formed beneath Mahaar and Komaal started to stomp and kick his limp body.

I watched in a complete shock as the dying Mahaar laid there. Curled in a motionless ball, taking a hit after hit. His eyes dimmed with each hit yet he didn’t show an ounce of fear or submission.

Then his eyes met with mine, all I could do was look at him with pity.

Pity! The image of a skull shaped hair tie image flashed in my head.

*CRACK*

Something in my mind snapped.  

“Now Adam, that’s  your chance to escape. I will mark you a route to safety. The plan has a  59% chance of surviva-“stated Cordi before I interrupted her.

“No.”

“Adam? Are you alright?” said Cordi with a concerned voice.

“No Cordi, not anymore,” I said, unimaginable anger building within me.

“Adam, what’s wrong?” Pleaded Cordi in my head.  “I’m detecting a rapid increase in your heart rate,”

That disgusting doctor’s face, the family that existed but never been there, and that shitty desk I had to sit behind everyday.  Just to wait for some money at the end of the month. Like a stray dog waiting for food scraps. The blue jellyfish dismembering me like a pig in a slaughterhouse. Sucking weird stuff from the gooey tank like a mosquito. The electrocution in the net that burned my flesh while flailing like fish. Hanging on the wall in prison like an elk in a hunter’s cabin. Mahaar’s unyielding stare, reminiscent of my own when I was beaten as a child. The crying black eyes of that little girl, trapped in that rusty brown cage. The look of pity from that girl, and the skull tying her hair...The skull hair tie…!THE GODDAMN SKULL HAIR TIE!

“NUKKKK ENIII MOAAAAAAAAA!” I roared, shouting at the top of my lungs in rage. My exclamation grabbing the black abomination’s attention., I could feel my veins bulging as my face turned red in anger. I will not take it anymore. I won’t stand by in pity. I will never see that skull again!

“Cordi, give me arms…This black piece of shit dies today,” I calmly said to the AI. Giggling echoed in the back of my head, it sounded just like hers...