Lukas found himself ensconced in softness.

The bed underneath him wasn’t made out of the fluffiness that made clouds float aimlessly through the sky. Nor was it the rich, velvety texture of royal bed sheets that made the very act of sleeping in a four-poster bed akin to suffering.

No, he’d woken up and found himself sinking into the softness. An extremely vicious, putrid bog of all things.

Half of his body had already been pulled beneath, bits of sand and clay invading every uncomfortable nook and cranny in his lower half. Only his chest, hands, and head remained above the surface, and no matter what he tried to do, the damn thing kept constantly pulling him under with every movement.

And sitting just a few feet away from him, lying on what seemed like a horribly expensive silk blanket, was Inanna.

Sunbathing.

In hindsight, it was probably for the best that he was half-sunk into the bog. Seeing the supernaturally enchanting woman in a two-piece made his blood flow downstairs faster than he could blink, and that kind of exposure was something he preferred to keep hidden in the spongy ground.

It was one of the side effects of using too much lifeforce— it strengthened one’s primal instincts as well. Hunger, fear, anger, lust…

And now, even in the most precarious of situations, his trusty libido was acting up.

“You know, I get that this is supposed to be training.” Lukas wriggled his toes to make sure they were still there. “But isn’t this a little,” he peeked a glance at her outfit, “too much?”

He was met with an arched eyebrow, one that struck the perfect balance of apathy and annoyance. It was enough to make anyone second-guess themselves.

“I mean,” he quickly backpedalled, “this is all happening inside my head, right? An illusion?”

It was a good save, as far as he was concerned. He knew that with the goddess having complete access to his thoughts, the idea of her not noticing the slip was a hopeless wish at best, but stranger things had happened since he woke up in this world.

“Of course this is happening inside your head, mortal. But the pain and discomfort you feel is very real.”

“Remind me again why we’re doing this then?”

“I believe it was something along the lines of ‘ensuring you survive with your head intact’.”

“And tossing me into a bog is supposed to help with that?”

“But of course,” she replied, her eyes practically sparkling like diamonds. “This is all meant to train you under duress.”

This referred to Inanna’s Survival 101 package, or as he liked to call it, 101 unique ways to torture his sorry ass. Every session, she would do her damnedest to break him down in the most strange and dastardly ways, before putting him back together and shoving him out of his mind. The very first session had him fighting every single monster that came his way thus far in the anomaly, non-stop, until he could barely move. The screen had registered sixty-seven kills before the muscular fatigue, mental strain, and sheer exhaustion of it all completely overwhelmed him.

That was how he’d found himself… well, here.

Apparently, his training wasn’t over.

“But why—” he sneezed, “—inside my mind?” He scrunched his nose at the rancid smell that invaded his nostrils like millions of tiny pinpricks. It made it difficult for him to breathe, let alone make intelligent conversation. “Shouldn’t I—” he sneezed again, “—be practicing this in real life?”

“Real life, you say.” The goddess seemed oddly amused by his choice of words. “Tell me, mortal, how do you define what is real life and what isn’t?”

“Well, I mean outside my head, y’know? The real world. Where I can exercise and stuff in my body.”

“You seem to be doing it perfectly right now.” She put a finger to her full lips. “Though you aren’t exactly moving all that much at the moment.”

“But— but this is still inside my mind. It’s not really real. What does it matter in the end if all this training and suffering is just some sort of dream?”

The goddess tilted her head, with a smile that all but screamed ‘I know something you don’t’.

“Where do you believe the present You to be in this very moment?”

“I don’t know,” Lukas tried to shrug, before scowling at the bog once more. Frankly, this whole mindscape thing seemed straight out of some fantasy book. The screen was proof that he did have something like a soul, so maybe that’s what he was right now?

“Like most things, you have this completely backwards, mortal,” Inanna explained. “You are a soul. You have a body.”

Lukas blinked. “Who cares? In any case, I can’t actually use any of my skills unless I’m in the real world.”

Inanna heaved a long sigh. Standing up, she walked towards him, across the bog as if it was just any other hard ground, then reached out with her hand until her fingertips were mere inches away from his cheek and—

Flick!

“Ow!” Lukas squirmed as he instinctively tried to move his hands over his abused nose. “What the hell was that for?!”

“What did I teach you about the relationship between the body and the soul?”

“That the body is but a reflection of the soul,” he dutifully parroted. “But what does that have to do with—”

He stilled immediately, hoping inwardly that the twitch forming above her left eye was a figment of his imagination. Luckily, his brain finally seemed to grasp the concept at hand, as it all clicked.

“Skills are saved in the soul. So it shouldn’t matter whether it’s my mind or the real world.”

“Hearing it phrased in such a plebian way grates my ears, but… yes. Essentially.”

“And I assume that it’s just happenstance that this training exerts pressure on my mind rather than body, preventing it from absorbing any more of your memories.

“I didn’t hear a question in your statement, mortal. Now quit dawdling and survive!”

In another world— for lack of better words —Inanna would’ve made a damn fine drill sergeant.

Lukas twisted his neck around, taking in his surroundings. Had he gotten the slightest inkling that he’d have to live like a barbarian in the near future, he would’ve binged at least one of those survival shows on TV. If nothing else, maybe he’d have some insights as to how to get himself out of a swamp.

Discreetly, he moved his hands, trying to dig his way out of the mud—

“You are prohibited from using your hands,” the goddess chided, settling back down on her blanket. “Your lifeforce is currently the only tool in your arsenal.”

“...Then how am I supposed to do this?”

This was his mind. Would lifeforce work here like it did the real world?

Only one way to find out.

He opened his palms and—

“Without your hands. Do not make me repeat myself again.”

“But—”

“Your fleshy appendages do not have special orifices for lifeforce to exit out of. If you cannot see past your self-made barriers, you may as well give up now.”

“But—”

“Survival is not for the weak, mortal.”

Her voice suddenly became icy cold. Merciless. Unrelenting.

And somehow, despite all that, it made his insides squirm in ecstasy.

“Consider this your final warning. Get out before it drags you in.”

Something strong and invisible suddenly grasped at him, forcibly closing his hands into fists and holding his arms apart unresponsively. Lukas struggled and struggled, but the force simply wouldn’t budge.

Then, something from beneath began to pull him downwards.

It galvanized him, as he doubled his efforts in struggling out of the bog. But no matter what he did, his fingers wouldn’t open. His hands wouldn’t move. And if earlier was any indication, trying to use Burst through his palms wasn’t a viable option. He tried his best to twist his hips in an effort to somehow exude raw lifeforce outside.

It didn’t work.

Alright, then how about this?

Closing his eyes, he felt his lifeforce pooling down below. He’d done this once before when he needed to jump higher than physically possible for him. He could feel the lifeforce pumping out of his feet at the time, splattering some of the mud beneath him as he took flight.

But here and now, it only created a temporary vacuum that managed to pull him deeper.

The bog was now at chest-level, and still pulling.

His hands were unresponsive, almost as if they were anesthetized.

Desperation growing, he sharpened his focus to his legs. He felt the muscles lining his limbs, both large and small. He remembered how he pumped lifeforce through them in his fight against the azolg. He concentrated on the image of lifeforce rushing through them. He thought back to the feeling of raw energy rushing out of his palms. He imagined doing the same from the rest of his body— his legs, feet, buttocks, toes. Everywhere.

The swamp was now up to his neck. His arms were fully engulfed, up to the top of his shoulders. The mud was frothing, constricting against his throat muscles and making it difficult to breathe and even more difficult to concentrate. Lukas struggled, but his entire body felt like lead— umoving, heavy, and hopelessly sinking.

Fear was beginning to overwhelm him. The putrid odor of his surroundings flared in his nostrils. The pressure against his throat made it difficult to gasp for air. With limited options, he did the only thing that came to mind.

He pushed.

The edges of his vision began to turn black.

Still, he pushed. Pushed and pushed and pushed.

And finally, lifeforce began to surge through him.

It was—

He pushed even harder. Lifeforce surged faster.

—getting harder to keep himself awake. He tried to breathe—

More lifeforce surged.

—breathe—

He could feel lifeforce wash over him, from the tips of his toes to the bend of his knee.

—breathe—

SPLAT!

Everything exploded. Lifeforce surged out of his entire body like a wave of raw kinetic energy, expanding outwards within the swamp and flinging him outside of the ever-deepening sink of mud and peat.

Lukas looked down at his feet. Only the lower part of his legs were still stuck in the nasty swamp, but it didn’t matter anymore.

Now, he knew how to do it.

Burst. But not just any old Burst. A full-body one.

A second wave came rushing out of him in all directions, easily pulling his legs out of the swamp without fail. Gasping for air, Lukas dragged himself out of the area and collapsed on the floor next to Inanna, his head swimming with the sudden influx of blessed oxygen.

“Are you—” he coughed, feeling something inside of him tear with every breath, “trying to kill me?”

“Silly mortal,” Inanna mockingly sing-songed. “I am merely trying to teach you.”

“Lessons don’t— don’t usually involve imminent death.”

The goddess didn’t seem enlightened by his words. “All teaching involves an element of risk.”

“Oh yeah? Who was your last student?”

“My sister, Ereshkigal,” the Queen of Heaven replied with pride. “Someone who reached new heights and became the Empress of the Dead. Though, you are making steady progress as well.”

“Yeah,” he sarcastically retorted. “An adrenaline junkie who flirts with death every time my mentor gives me homework.”

“No,” the goddess shook his head. “In mere months, you have gone from nothing more than a confused, terrified child to a predator that hunts the very monster he once fled from. And it was my hand that shaped you.”

“Is that what you tell yourself about Ereshkigal?”

A moment of silence overtook them, before Inanna spoke. “My sister was many things. Talented. Diligent. Strong. Ambitious. I made her into someone that made lesser beings tremble in terror.”

“A monster,” Lukas clarified.

“Yes. Do you know what else monsters have?” Her tone was now glacial. It was enough to make icebergs shiver in jealousy. “Power and choice. They have the power to achieve what they desire, and the choice to shape the very world in their image. My sister was a treacherous, poisonous little thing, but she was still my best student.”

Lukas stared at her, eyes wide and fists shaking.

“Look at yourself now. Your agility knows no bounds. Your footsteps break rocks. You can quadruple your mental perception, and are progressing towards becoming a psionicist.”

He reflexively gulped.

“Besides…” Inanna sauntered up towards him. Despite nothing having changed in her appearance, her sensuality somehow seemed incomparably high compared to earlier. And before he knew it, her gaze filled his vision.

“Do you truly fear me that much?”

Lukas found his words stuck in his throat. “I— well— not fearing would be stupid,” he finished lamely.

“I abhor weakness, mortal,” Inanna spoke lovingly. Her honeyed tone made bile crawl up his gullet, but he couldn’t help but want to hear it again. “Return to your so-called real world. Rest. Sleep. Meditate.”

She smiled.

“I shall try to kill you again tomorrow.”