"What. The. Hell!" He screamed, trying to release himself from the grass that entangled him.

As he calmed down and regained his senses, he looked around again, trying to notice what was missing. A sharp whistle sent his heart racing. He looked around and saw a creature on his wrist with the message prompt. The beast was hovering above his wrist, where the tattoo sunk into.

The message prompt warped and displayed archaic text, "Can. You. Stop moving!". The man's eyes widened, looking from the strange fluffy creature to the prompt. The creature smirked, exposing its pointed, jagged teeth.

"What…?!" The man yelled, "What is this?"

"Be quiet!" Came the prompt.

"What are you?!" Yelled the man, grasping his left wrist.

The creature grinned once more before simply saying, "And here I thought you didn't have the sense to ask questions."

The man stood up, and his knees threatened to buckle. He cursed under his breath. 'What is happening to me?' he thought.

"That," the creature interrupted his thinking with a prompt, "is what I'm about to tell you.".

A single red eye widened on the tiny creature as it popped out of nowhere. The man paused, and his eyes widened beyond what he was capable of. 'The fluffy white exterior, the shark teeth, and now a red eye. This creature was a contradiction of itself. Either be cute or be hideous; you can't be both!'

The creature paused. Its demeanour changed from malicious to murderous. "What did you just say?"

The man flinched before realising that it was reading his mind. The man walked away from the creature, keeping his distance from it.

The creature smirked, "I think you've realised that I can read your mind, my dear host."

"You're a mind reader? Then how did you-"

"Simple, I'm inside of you. Don't you remember?" It chuckled.

"What are you then, a parasite?" The man blurted out without thinking.

"Oh, no. I'm much more than a mere parasite."

"Then what are you?! You were in the darkness too, right?"

"It seems I've been caught. Alright, I'll tell you. I'm a God. Is that better?" The creature quipped with a less-than-sympathetic tone.

"What?! Don't spout nonsense, parasite! Like I would believe you're a God."

The creature's lips tightened, and its eye bulged. Tears formed in the corners of its eye, and crazed laughter escaped from its mouth.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"You're such a fool! You're right, though; I'm no God." The creature started laughing again, this time with a more challenging tone. "Just a parasite…" it said sarcastically.

"To answer your question, we are what you would call a 'Soul System'. A sentient one at that. I have been dormant for a while, y'know, because of the darkness and all."

The man stood silent, staring at the soft, fluffy fur of the creature, which seemed to change texture one moment after the next. The creature looked tired, but more than that, it looked deeply saddened.

"The darkness is a lonely place. One where your soul is supposed to be isolated. But when I saw you, I felt hope. Hope and disgust. I was supposed to be the host! But the system's damned instincts kicked in and took root inside you. The system was designed specifically for this, and I was dragged into it."

"You wanted to kill me?! What the fu-."

"Kill you? Not at all~. Make you my slave that would do my beck and call would be more preferred. Regardless of that, I failed miserably. I am a slave to the system, and now you are too. The Arcana system that once provided unrestrained power in your previous life would be a dozen times safer than this one. I have been stuck with the Soul System since my existence, and just so you know, it would have no qualms about killing you and replacing you with a more ideal body. Instead, it fused with you, probably out of desperation, and now... we live and die together."

The man stood still. He was confused. All of this had happened so quickly, and none of it made sense to him. As far as he was aware, the darkness was the place he was thrown into. Why he decided to do that was beyond him, but he was free now. He was free as he could ever be, like a newborn without any memories and just a fresh start.

The man stretched his limbs and took in the never changing environment. The trees swayed, the aroma sailed the air, and the grass hugged his feet. It was beautiful. But why was he getting an eerie feeling from this place?

"Why did you bring me here?" The man asked, "And where is here?"

"Where? If I had to guess, you are in your soul's most conscious state. Within the depths of your mind, where you are at your strongest and yet your weakest."

The man looked around, trying to process what the creature said. "So this place is in my mind? Is that why everything is so... vivid?"

"Not just your mind! The deeper you go or fall into this place, the more vivid everything becomes. But it starts fading away the closer you get to the shore. I started drifting away almost as soon as I came here. It was quite the exercise to get you y'know."

The man looked around, taking in the details of his current environment. "If this is in my mind, then where is my real body?"

The creature coughed and cleared its throat. 'Does it even have a throat? It's using the system prompt to speak, so why... Never mind.' the man thought before the creature looked severe, with its non-existent eyebrow creasing.

"Your real body? That's an excellent question. People living within the world of Darkness must have zero Life Points. You don't have any 'Life Points' per se, but you do have Soul Points. There is a distinct difference, but they look the same from the outside. You were banished from the darkness, and now you're face-planted in a pile of faeces. Not to mention, every bone in your body has turned to dust because of the force being banished does to a person." As the creature finished its sentence, the man's mouth gaped, and blood flushed away from his face.

"I'm going to die again?"

"Bah! Die? Not on my watch! The system is already doing its thing, clicking you together piece by piece until you're capable of moving... more or less."

The creature paused and took a long, drawn-out breath. Then, staring at the man, it continued. "Well... this is nice and all, but it's time I go. I don't know what's scarier, leaving you here alone or turning you into a walking piece of food. Your choice."

"The system-"

"Will eventually fix your physical body. I'm leaving now. The system is capable of many things, but it doesn't have eyes. You stay here, and I'll keep a watch over your body. Play around with the ether in the air. It'll be good practice for you before you're capable of moving around again."

'Ether...' the man thought, 'why do I feel warm when I hear that? I don't even know what it is...'