Lukas had always been a physical person. As a child he often went on trips with his grandfather— hikes and long walks, mostly. During high-school it had been basketball, and even when work took up the majority of his time in college, he still found time to hit the gym.

Something about the pump, the feeling of pushing past his own limits, the raw adrenaline, the way the world fell into silence, amplifying the sound of his rapidly beating heart…

It was addicting.

And yet, none of it could compare to what he felt now.

Limits he strove to touch in the past were completely ignored as the lifeforce, controllable lifeforce, built up in his body, flooding every muscle, every bone, every artery, every nerve.

All this, from merely the first level of the skill.

Internal Lifeforce Manipulation allowed him to physically augment his skeletal system and musculature, allowing him to strike faster and harder. From what he observed, it could act as a hyper-oxidant, preventing the build up of lactic acid, and allow him to sprint faster without getting fatigued. It could even dull the pain receptors in his body, letting him fight through grievous injuries while maintaining the lethality and ferocity of his strikes.

In short, the Level-1 skill alone made him an efficient fighting machine.

The next— and only other —tool in his admittedly limited arsenal was Burst.

Unlike Internal Lifeforce Manipulation, which used the mysterious energy within the body, Burst was all about pushing it outward. Even though he could use lifeforce at a moment’s notice, he still had to bend his mind around the mechanisms of this particular skill.

Essentially, it was the rapid expulsion of lifeforce as a cloud of pure motion, from within the body to outside of it. Releasing it without restrictions or control emitted a wave of pure power, one that hit with all the force of a sledgehammer. Releasing it from the bottom of his feet propelled himself upward, extending his body’s range of motion, while shooting it ahead pushed himself backwards at an extreme speed.

And sending it forward in a straight, narrow line could cleave through the strongest of stone.

Exhibit A.

SNAAEEAAAP!

One moment, Lukas was leaping down from his vantage point, a cloud of lifeforce coalescing in the center of his palm. The very next, something invisible traversed the distance between him and his unsuspecting prey, tearing through the air and striking true at the azolg’s posterior. Before the monster could even register any pain, the wave of pure kinetic energy drove deep, tearing through the flesh, shattering bone, rending through every ligament in the appendage.

The sharp, elongated tail dropped to the ground and flailed madly, as if unwilling to accept that it had been severed from the rest of the body.

Finally, the overgrown lizard hissed in pain. Its instincts flaring, the creature sprinted ahead several feet, narrowly escaping decapitation as Lukas’s right palm bore down upon the rocky pedestal, sawing into stone and throwing up miniature dust clouds.

Immediately, Lukas pushed his palms into the ground ahead and shot backwards, just in time to avoid the acrid, hissing spit of an injured and infuriated lizard. Amidst the settling dust, he could see the azolg convulsing and hissing malevolently as its posterior began to enlarge and contort, pushing out a new, puss-covered tail from what was once a stub.

And just like that, all confidence left his system as Lukas surveyed the situation. Down on the ground, with no plan to fall back on, faced with a murderous, acid-spitting, hyper-fast lizard no more than a few feet away.

Well… that’s not good.

“Using great amounts of lifeforce will decrease your inhibitions. Rationality bartered for strength.”

“I really need a user manual on this stuff,” Lukas muttered under his breath, his gaze affixed to the prey that was on the brink of becoming the predator.

“If you have no plan to bank on, the best option is to flee.”

“Where to? This thing is a lot faster than me, and it can spit acid,” Lukas hissed, eyeing the tail on the ground. Now that he had a closer look, he could see thin metallic bearings lining the edges of the fallen appendage, extending all the way to the tip, where it culminated into a slightly inflated bulb.

Analyze.

Inert. Unable to Analyze.

Hm, so that means it’s not a living—

The rest of his thought was left unfinished as he leapt to his right, avoiding another acid spurt. Grabbing the fallen tail, he quickly glanced over it with a discerning eye. It was easily two feet in length, thick and muscular. Even though one end was sliced off from the body, there was little to no body fluid oozing out.

All in all, it was like holding a whip.

An oversized, thick whip lined with metal. Something that could stretch longer than his greatest Burst attack.

“You might be right,” Lukas whispered. “With lifeforce, my body is my greatest weapon. But weapons are replaceable, my body isn’t.”

If the resident goddess registered his words, there was no outward reaction to indicate it.

And then Lukas moved.

Circulating lifeforce throughout his system, he rushed forward and brought down his newfound weapon onto the azolg, who dodged with ease. Relying purely on his instincts, he swept his whip in the lizard’s direction, but it somersaulted through the air, flipping and slamming its newly grown tail against Lukas’s left arm, fracturing the bones.

Lukas cursed, but the pain quickly faded to nothing as his pain receptors became muted. He went in for a third and hopefully final attempt.

And fell right into the monster’s trap.

Displaying incredible agility, the monster jumped onto Lukas’s whip, scurrying along its surface and slashing at his right arm. Reflexively, he let go of the tail and fell backward.

Right into the path of the sizzling liquid aimed for his face.

Lukas reacted quickly, bending his knees and pushing against the ground to propel himself away from the corrosive liquid. A few stray droplets still managed to catch onto the ends of his shirt as he rolled backward, instantly corroding the fabric to nothingness.

As he finally came to a stop, the lizard dropped onto his chest, its sharp claws digging into his skin and drawing blood. A long, serpentine tongue flickered out, causing a dull burn to spread across his face.

Lukas shuddered as an icy fear spread in his chest. His heart throbbed wildly as a great pressure pushed down on his lungs, the air escaping like a deflated balloon. All he wanted to do was curl up into a ball, away— far, far away —where this creature would never be able to find him.

This… this was the end of the line.

His eyes flickered towards the fallen tail once more. He’d dropped it earlier and now there was nothing between him and this acid-spitting monstrosity that wanted to gobble up his face. All he could do now was shield himself with his bare hands to prevent his face from being charred—

My hands.

Time crawled to a halt as he glanced at his hands, which were on either side of the azolg’s body, palms facing the creature. His lips quirked up, realizing the opportunity in front of him as the azolg lifted its maw, its shining teeth glowing in the dim lighting and—

WHAM!

Lifeforce surged out of his hands like the torrent of a river, slamming against the lizard from both sides and sandwiching it between two opposing waves of pure motion. Lukas smashed through bone and muscle alike with ease, tearing and contorting it as blood and goo alike shot out of its maw and ears and nose.

With an animalistic war cry, Lukas pushed the deformed creature off of him and twisted his body around. He planted a firm knee into its abdomen, right above its tail, to keep the monster immobile. Flooding his fingers with lifeforce, he then grabbed the monster’s neck and squeezed—

A horrible screech reverberated through the walls as the azolg cried out in agony, its throat pulverized by a force it couldn’t hope to resist. It scratched and clawed and scraped and dug against the floor, its small limbs flapping and flailing uselessly—

Prey Eliminated

Experience (+21)

Growing up was all about getting hurt. You do something new, you get hurt, you heal, and then you do it right. More than often not, you make mistakes along the way, and every new mistake hurts you in different, more imaginative ways.

So technically, you’re always learning something new from it.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

It was one of his grandfather’s favorite quotes, an old adage that never failed to inspire him. And even today, thinking about it— both the quote and the man —helped motivate him when things got tough.

And today, more than anything else, he really needed some motivation.

Lukas hissed as his left elbow brushed against the wall behind him, sending a jolt of pain through his spine. Pain, he was realizing, had more flavors than coffee. And here inside this anomaly, where growth and potential were mathematically calculable, where evolution took place in mere hours, he was experiencing entirely new, inventive forms of pain. The kind he’d never experienced back when things used to be normal.

Like regrowing an entire bone.

Really, it seemed like this alien world constantly came up with ways to both surprise and scare the ever-loving crap out of him.

He was still too ignorant of his own body, of the ways it had changed and improved, adapting to entirely new mechanisms. And his understanding of this new energy, lifeforce, was no exception.

Information from the screen suggested that lifeforce was synthesized by a metaphysical construct known as the Essence. It was unclear who or what created this Essence, but almost every physical body contained some of it.

Did that mean all Essences started the same way? Then what determined their size, or capacity for growth?

Lukas had far more questions than he did answers. He didn’t like that one bit.

Not to mention, lifeforce seemed to act like stem cells on steroids. Regardless of the injury, given enough time and lifeforce, the body was able to heal itself back to normal levels. Lukas had no idea if the entire ‘back to normal’ shtick worked for a missing limb like with the azolg, but he wasn’t planning on finding out anytime soon.

Not like he could anytime soon, either. The lifeforce in his body— which was dangerously low at this point from overuse— was busy regrowing the shattered bones in his upper arm. Crucial information he only found out after the fact, thanks to a certain resident goddess.

“Foreknowledge would change nothing of your situation. Your fragile, mortal shell would have been mangled by your prey regardless.”

“I thought you were above listening to the silly thoughts of mortals.”

“One can only filter so much noise.”

Lukas exhaled roughly, giving up on the conversation. He turned his gaze towards his tiny campfire, the cavern now devoid of sound other than the crackling of tiny wisps of flame licking at the open air. Above the open flame sat the lizard he shed blood and sweat to kill, impaled with a broken stalactite and held by two rock slabs on either end of the flame. After munching on wet moss for days, the scent of roasted meat ensnared his senses.

If only he could get himself a few slices of bread. That would be heaven.

“What do slices of bread have to do with heaven?”

“I’m American,” Lukas clarified. “We love making sandwiches out of things.”

“You mean, human.”

“American. There’s a difference.”

The ignorant goddess just sighed at his antics, opting to settle back into silence.

Now alone again, Lukas began to look around. No more than a few feet away laid the severed tails of all three azolg. As strong as rock-daggers were, they weren’t effective tools when you could cleave through rock with a slash of your palm. Lifeforce-enhanced punches were effective, but it lacked the safety a ranged weapon could offer.

For now, he’d use the tails as whips. His main weapon and two spares, in case he needed a replacement.

If only these could extend a bit more. Maybe I can augment them with lifeforce?

It seemed like a genuine possibility. After all, lifeforce was all about augmenting the body’s facilities, so expecting it to elongate wasn’t totally improbable. It was something to look into, perhaps after he’d gotten some well-deserved rest and regenerated more of his lifeforce reserves.

Lukas laid down next to the fire, letting its comforting warmth wash over him. He’d grown somewhat accustomed to utilizing lifeforce for augmenting his bones and muscles, as well as Burst for a mid-range attack. But could he guarantee that it’d be enough to take on his next opponent?

“Are you absolutely sure I shouldn’t get started on learning other Skills?”

“To learn is not the same as to comprehend, mortal. You have only begun to taste the power that flows within. Do not presume to think you’ve scratched the surface of the meager potential you possess.”

“But I just defeated that lizard with the skills I’ve been practicing,” Lukas refuted. “Surely that counts for something?”

“If victory over that insignificant creature makes you feel accomplished, you will perish even sooner than you think.”

Lukas opened his mouth, but quickly shut it again before he could put his foot in his mouth. Giving himself a moment to collect his thoughts, he tried again.

“When can I start experimenting more, then?”

“When you’re ready.”

“I think I’m ready.”

Lukas felt a flicker of amusement from her.

“You are ready, when I say you are ready.”

He couldn’t help but scowl at that. From his limited experience with the goddess, he’d concluded that Inanna wasn’t too big on equivalent exchange. Despite his complete cooperation with Inanna and sharing lots of information about humanity and Earth, pulling information out of her was like pulling teeth.

And in this case, completely subjective to her whims.

He’d tried to point out the utter hypocrisy in her behavior, but received nothing but a crude and no-less-direct answer. One he had no witty response to.

“You don’t have to answer my questions, just like I don’t.”

“If it means that much to you, mortal, feel free to use up the answer you are owed. I shall, of course, keep my word.”

That deceitful, manipulating, clever little… Lukas’s thoughts screeched to a halt. Inanna was yet to call him out on his personal thoughts about her, but there was only so much he could spew without upsetting her. Besides, the Sumerian goddess was conniving, someone who could play mental games with him till he was blue in the face.

And yet, in this case...

It wasn’t actually a terrible idea.

He could use this to force her to answer his question. To ask her why she had all but ordered him to stay away from expanding his repertoire. But what if the answer was something as mundane as it turning out to be too dangerous? It would only prove her point and waste a precious opportunity.

From a goddess, the offer to answer a single question to the best of her abilities was practically a divine version of a carte blanche. It was something he could use to fill in immediate gaps of knowledge, true, but it was also an opportunity to learn about anything.

This was the first time he’d received such a valuable reward from her.

There was no guarantee that it wouldn’t be the last.

A single question.

But what to ask? Hundreds of questions floated in his mind. He could ask about what happened back home. About his friends, his family. Or perhaps Emma. It hadn’t been very long since she had left through his door, and for all he knew, he’d never see her again. Perhaps Inanna could even tell him what happened to his world? Had the earthquake affected only his apartment, or was something far more sinister at work?

The idea of sinister forces reminded him of the cavern around him. What was this place? The Screen was a veritable font of knowledge, but it had its own limitations. Namely, he needed to ask the right questions to receive the right answers. Answers he could get easily by asking the goddess.

Lukas shook his head.

What could he ask? What should he ask?

Endless questions ravaged his mind, each more appealing than the last. The right question would expedite his quest to return home, while the wrong one could potentially have him risking his life again for a chance at a similar opportunity in the future.

Then there was the ensnaring promise of power distracting him again. Just what were the limits to which she could morph his body? What was the secret to her strength? How had she conjured up so much mana with nary a thought? How could he gain the same power that she boasted?

The right questions could net him answers that allowed him to feel more. To know more.

To be more.

And yet…

If I do that, I won’t be able to get back home anytime soon. Isn’t that why I wanted to survive? To grow strong? To survive this hell?

Lukas closed his eyes, shutting himself away from the rest of the world, from Inanna, from the demons that haunted his mind.

“I’ve decided.”

“You’re certain?”

He exhaled. “Yes.”

“This is a different world, even outside this anomaly, no matter how much I want to believe otherwise. If I want to get back home, I need answers. And no single question will give me what I seek.”

He paused for a moment.

“I want you to tell me how my world is connected to this place, whatever this world is, outside the anomaly.”

“Are you certain?” She repeated. “I could tell you all about how you came here, or what happened to your people. You could be privy to forbidden knowledge of lifeforce and mana by utilizing this opportunity.”

Lukas let out a mirthless chuckle. “I’ll pass. Gaining knowledge about the powers of a world is no good without knowing about the world. This anomaly could be on another planet or another universe. Knowing about what happened to Earth is useless if I don’t even know where I am.”

After moments of nothing but empty silence, he could finally picturize Inanna’s smile. A cold, cruel thing, like a barbed knife ready to slice through soft flesh.

“Clever,” she murmured. “Not too distracted to think. I was right about you.”

“What do you mean?” Lukas asked, a strange pit growing in his stomach at the ominous words.

“Nothing of your concern, mortal.”

“So… will you keep your word?”

The smile thinned even further.

“Very well… It is a long and complex tale, one with an interesting range of elements. I advise you not to get too attached to any of them.”