Wiggle.

Wiggle wiggle.

“Get off,” Lukas complained, feeling something heavy on his chest. His eyes were still closed, but a growing wakefulness began to spread throughout his lethargic body. Everything was so disorienting, what with that odd dream about earthquakes and a building crashing down around him and—

Wiggle wiggle.

What was that feeling? He rolled over onto his back, his eyes stubbornly shut. Normally, he would’ve woken up by now with all the ruckus, but his muscles felt heavy and he wanted to sleep for just a few more minutes.

Wiggle wiggle.

“Stop!” Lukas groaned. Who was bothering him so early in the morning? Emma?

Sighing, he reached toward his nightstand to grab his phone but found nothing but empty air. He blearily opened his eyes and—

Stared.

And kept on staring.

At the strange, utterly out-of-place line of text floating in front of him.

You have entered the Crypt of Fiendish Worms.

It was as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on his head—like that, he was awake and alert. He blinked his eyes once, twice, then several more times, but the thing floating in front of him did not waver.

It was a screen of some sort. A semi-transparent screen.

Lukas reached out a tentative hand and poked it, but his finger simply passed through, like it was some sort of illusion or a projection.

He looked around—

And froze.

No longer was he in his bed. In fact, he wasn’t even in his room.

Lukas vigorously rubbed his eyes, hoping something would change.

His surroundings stayed the same. Reality still remained broken. Gone was his familiar room, replaced by rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. There were rocks on the floor, rocks on the wall, rocks on the ceiling, tapering down into stalactites with tiny droplets of water dripping from its tip. On either side were large stone walls with ferny outgrowths, each of which exuded a soft green luminescence, the only respite against the oppressive darkness of his surroundings.

Most importantly, there was an odd shape wiggling inside his shirt. As he shifted in place, it squirmed at the sudden movement and raised its tiny head out.

Lukas stared at it.

The transgressor, a tiny, furry, ugly rat with beady black eyes, stared back.

…

“GAAAHHH!”

The rodent let out a small squeak before jumping out of his shirt and skittering into the darkness. The screen of text, on the other hand, remained unmoved. No, unmoved was not an apt description. Rather, it stayed relative to his line of vision. Lukas looked to the left, right, up, down, backward, and forward, but the stubborn thing simply followed his movements.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Lukas cursed, pushing himself off the ground. His shoes were the very same pair of sneakers he’d put on before bolting past his door. Had the earthquake really happened? Was this place underneath all the rubble?

So many questions…

And a stupid screen that kept distracting him with that gibberish headline.

You have entered the Crypt of Fiendish Worms.

What is this thing?

Information.

Lukas froze.

Did it read my mind? No, that couldn’t possibly…

Where am I?

The Crypt of Fiendish Worms.

His brows furrowed. So this thing could actually read his mind. More and more, this whole thing felt like a bizarre lucid dream that he couldn’t wake up from.

Just what the hell was in that apple?

And what is the Crypt of Fiendish Worms? he thought as clearly as possible.

Insufficient local data.

Lukas cupped his chin. This thing seemed to behave like an artificial intelligence with a twisted sense of logic—probably a bug or some programming tweak. But how had he gotten it? Why did it have access to his mind? Where was this place? And how had he gotten here?

Insufficient local data.

…This mind-reading thing was beginning to annoy him. Not to mention, it was capable of distinguishing questions and random thought, which was both interesting and frightening on so many levels. The idea of any kind of technology capable of plucking thoughts out of one’s mind with such precision was horrifying. It could mean—

A cold shudder ran through him.

He looked around. At his hands. At his legs. At the floating screen that followed him around.

Is this…real?

“What are you?”

The Screen flickered for half a second before new information appeared.

Status Report.

“Status report?” He frowned. “Of what?”

Host.

“And…who is this host?”

Lukas Aguilar.

Lukas ran his fingers through his hair, sighing to himself. He figured as much. But he didn’t know what it meant yet.

“How do I leave this place?”

Insufficient local data.

“How did I come here?”

Insufficient local data.

“What’s your name?”

“Exit.”

“Alt+F4!”

But nothing seemed to work. Each question only triggered the same response. Insufficient local data. How could anyone have designed an AI with such functionality, yet render it incapable of answering even basic questions?

Insufficient local data.

“THAT WASN’T A QUESTION!”

Acknowledged.

Lukas groaned, gripping his head with both hands in frustration. “You know what? Thank you, but I don’t need your help anymore. Go away.”

Nothing happened. Strange. The Screen had responded to his thoughts earlier, so he was sure it could understand his intentions. But no matter what he did, it continued to float before him. It was like dealing with a stubborn puppy.

Alright. Lukas exhaled, squaring his shoulders. This thing can give me answers to things it knows about. Anything else will only give me an insufficient local data notification.

But what did that actually mean?

“How do I get local data?”

By consuming prey.

“And you want me to hunt this…prey down?”

Yes.

“And I’m in…?”

The Crypt of Fiendish Worms.

“Which is…?”

An anomaly.

Lukas wrung his hands, but it didn’t help. Asking specific questions was no help at all if a bunch of unfamiliar terms was thrown back at his face. What the hell was an anomaly anyway?

Cracks in the fabric of Reality by the superimposition of an omphalos’s will upon the environment.

“In English, please.”

The Screen flickered for a moment, but the words remained unchanged.

“Great,” he groaned, looking around again. This cave was a crack in the fabric of reality? What was going on?

“Is…is anyone else around?”

Displaying Omphalos Functions

FUNCTION

LEVEL

Scan

1

Analyze

1

He knew what it was. A skill chart, identical to the ones found in the video games he used to play as a kid. Though what kind of bizarre, twisted mind would conjure something like this was beyond him. He paused as he realized that it was probably his mind he was disparaging.

Lukas considered the information it provided.

A Scan and an Analyze function.

If only the Screen could provide him with a little more detail, it would be—

Active Scanning and Analysis of prey within Scan Radius.

—nice.

“Okay. Uh, scan…me.”

More windows opened.

FUNCTION - Scan

Level 1

Fetching Details…

NAME

Lukas Aguilar

Type

Prototype Host

Level

1

Experience

0

Current Threshold

40

Utilized Soul Capacity

0/1000

OMPHALOS ATTRIBUTES

Energy Reservoir Capacity

∞

Current Energy Level

722,457,716 units

OMPHALOS FUNCTIONS

Scan

Level 1

Analyze

Level 1

“This is such bullshit!” he bellowed at the new screen. “Levels? Experience? Is this actually a damn game?!”

It is a Scan of Host’s attributes.

“I give up!” Lukas threw both hands in the air and began walking forward. Surely if he kept moving, there would eventually be something in the vicinity that could classify as prey and get this damn thing to start giving him relevant information.

He paused at that. If there were, in fact, other life-forms around, then there had to be a source of water. That was great since he would die without water. But also, water sources were connected to larger bodies of water. If he could find a tunnel or drain or something, it’d mean a way out of—

Why was the Screen blinking like that?

Prey found within Scan Radius: 1

Lukas looked around but found nothing. His vision kept zooming in and out of focus, and his head was starting to spin. Everything was going woozy. What was happening? Was this—

He spotted something large, furry, and black, out of the corner of his eye.

It was on him. Biting into his neck.

“What the—?”

Lukas’s knees wobbled like jelly, and he fell face-first onto the ground, unable to hold himself up. He tried to move, but his body simply refused to obey him. He tried to scream, but no sound escaped his throat.

Is this…it?

As his world went black, a new window popped up, its words darkly humorous.

Prey found you.

…

…

…

Lukas slowly stirred.

His body felt as heavy as lead, and an acute sense of lightheadedness made it difficult to think. Rubbing his head, he forced himself to sit up. Oddly enough, his neck felt strangely numb.

BLURP!

Lukas jolted from the sudden noise, and he gawked in unreal fascination at the scene playing out before him. Lying against the nearby wall was a bat, its wings splayed out in a leisurely manner. It looked perfectly content where it sat, completely ignoring his presence.

“Uh…”

Fragments of memories started coming back to him. Was—was this the large black thing that had bitten him on the neck? His fingers instinctively reached for the spot in question and brushed against two narrow grooves. They were subtle—if he hadn’t been feeling around for them, he never would’ve realized they were even there.

His eyes flickered toward the bat’s inflated stomach.

Is that…from sucking my blood?

The bat was tilting its head and moaning pleasurably. It obviously did not consider him a threat. Back when it bit him, he hadn’t been able to move at all, and even now, the numbness in his system hadn’t fully faded.

A powerful paralytic. Or poison.

The bat burped a second time.

As what he was seeing sank in, Lukas began to pale. Animal bites were threatening not only because of toxins, but also because they carried a litany of diseases. He didn’t know where he was or where he could find the nearest doctor, but he could count himself lucky that he wasn’t experiencing any ill symptoms yet.

Lukas had half a mind to just strangle the damn thing to death but decided to just get as far away from it as possible. Grappling with a bat wasn’t exactly his ideal start to the morning, nor did he want to get any more scratches and earn himself an infection.

Getting to his feet, he backed away carefully, his gaze never wavering from the happily snoring bat lying on the floor. The creature’s ears twitched, and it sat up groggily.

Lukas stared at the bat.

The bat stared back. And then it growled.

“Easy there, Furry,” he soothed, backing away faster. “Go back to sleep.”

The now-named Furry ignored his well-intentioned advice and, faster than he could react, spread its wings and pounced upon him.

Lukas yelped as he tussled with the monster, slapping it as hard as he could on the wings. The bloated bat dropped to the floor, prompting him to kick it in its belly as hard as he could. Furry squealed loudly and blood dribbled from the corners of its mouth as it began flapping its wings angrily.

“Some bats just don’t know when to give up!” he huffed, grabbing it by the wing and hurling it against the stone wall. Furry bounced off like it was made of rubber and zoomed into the air, as if preparing for another round.

Lukas warily looked around, cautious and more than a little afraid. If this thing was here, then maybe more of its kin were around. One on one, he would be fine. But two? Three? A dozen?

Analyze the bat.

Insufficient local data.

Odd. it had worked on him, so didn’t it work on this thing? What was he missing?

Lack of nexus with the realm.

Kill prey to establish a nexus.

More gibberish, but some of it was useful. Even he knew what kill prey meant.

As Furry let out a furious war cry and zoomed toward him, Lukas clenched his fists and punched it in the face, slashing his knuckles against its sharp fangs in the process. That one was definitely earning him an infection.

Just what did bats eat in this place to become so resistant to damage?

Insufficient local data.

“I wasn’t asking you!” Lukas yelled, quickly following up his attack with a kick. Furry screeched and spat out something black and purple from its mouth. “Screen, if you really want to help, tell me how to kill this thing.”

Try harder.

…

It was official. The Screen was deliberately being a wiseass. But no matter, for he was Lukas Aguilar. No cave-dwelling bat was going to get the better of him. He began railing kicks against the creature, pouring out all of his frustrations into his motions. Another kick. Then another. And another.

Furry squealed, belching out more blood.

And then it stilled.

Lukas silently stared at its grotesque, bloodied form. At his own bruised, blood-covered fists and feet. At the gore covering his pants and shoes. The entire experience left him feeling…

What did he feel?

Remorse? Definitely not. This thing had tried to kill him—or suck his blood, or something along those lines.

Joy? No, none of that either.

Satisfaction? Precious little, now that the deed was done.

Mostly, he just felt cold, and perhaps a bit shaken that it had happened at all. It wasn’t long ago that he was a simple law student writing poetry as a means to get by. How did one go from that to…this?

Prey eliminated.

“Yeah, I noticed that too.”

And then, Lukas noticed something odd happening.

A wave of something flooded into him, making his body feel like its weight increased by three thousand pounds. His skin began to perspire, his muscles spasmed in place, and his bones could not stop vibrating. Gooseflesh erupted all over his body as a rush of alien images sandblasted his mind.

It was like it had a presence of its own. An alien consciousness with its own awareness.

Lukas could see clouds racing across a red sky, tendrils of flames twisting around one another like DNA. He jerked into a brief, violent contortion, like the plucked string of a guitar. It was as if every muscle was trying to tear itself away from his bones. Lukas helplessly struggled, with no control whatsoever over his own body. His throat felt inexplicably sore, and it took a while before he realized it was his scream.

And then, a second cry joined his. It sounded feminine, but he was in too much pain to give it another thought. Power flooded through him as his lips moved by their own accord, hissing—

“MINE!”

Before he could fathom it, it was gone. Vanished. Like it had never happened.

Absorption of local data: Confirmed

Nexus to Realm: Established

Autonomy of Self: Established

Initiating calibration of facilities…

“English, please.” Lukas yawned. Why was he so tired again? Was it the blood loss? Unlike before, the Screen paid him no mind, and instead, more windows kept opening. His eyes drooped as the sudden adrenaline rush from the skirmish began to fade.

Soulscape: Initialized

Host analysis: Complete

Soul Capacity generated

Soulscape, Soul Capacity…Anything with the word “soul” in it made him uncomfortable. He hadn’t even finished reading through it all before the screen flickered once more.

Enabling Skill Creation.

Enabling Experience Absorption.

…

…

Soulscape: Acknowledged

And then, all of the windows vanished.

The annoying screen that had hovered in front of him ever since he’d woken up in this godforsaken place had finally disappeared. It was jarring enough to make him feel slightly autophobic.

“Er…Screen?” he called out warily. “Are you still there?”

An empty window flickered in front of him, before vanishing. Despite it no longer being present, Lukas could sense its existence in the back of his mind, as if it was eagerly waiting to be called upon.

What just happened?

Nexus to the Realm: Established

Relevant information has been acquired.

All sensory receptors are active.

A small part of Lukas genuinely considered whether he’d been magically turned into a robot.

“Where the hell am I?”

The Crypt of Fiendish Worms.

And what is the Crypt of Fiendish Worms?

An anomaly.

Somehow, Lukas knew he should have expected this.

Okay. Where is the Crypt of Fiendish Worms located?

On a realm.

He palmed his face. Still nothing useful. “How far is Los Angeles from here?”

Insufficient data.

That was weird, really weird. Where the hell had he ended up that the Screen couldn’t even map the distance from LA? The only possibility that came to mind was if—

No.

Lukas banished the thought before it even fully formed. It wasn’t—it couldn’t be true. This was still somewhere around his place. Underground, most likely. It was an earthquake, after all. Maybe he fell through the cracks, and this Screen was some elaborate prank being played upon him.

His eyes brightened as an idea came to him.

Where on Earth am I?

Host is not on Earth.

He wheezed. This had to be a joke.

How far from Earth am I?

Insufficient data.

How do I get to Earth?

Insufficient data.

Lukas staggered. It couldn’t really be telling him the truth, could it? His clothes were the same as what he woke up with, and this couldn’t just be a large, vivid dream. Even for a lucid dream, he was able to think too clearly and act too freely. That only left one option, no matter how fantastical it seemed.

Either he was stuck in a coma with a dreamscape that was impossible to break out, or…

Or this is an actual location. And it’s not on Earth.

A cold feeling rolled down his spine, spread across his chest, and swallowed him whole. His breath fell short and his knees wobbled as an immense nausea gripped his stomach. Unable to stay standing, Lukas fell to the rocky floor. His hands were shaking. He’d bitten his tongue.

Rock. Pebble. Screen.

He looked around some more.

Trousers. Fingers. Toes. Bat. Blood.

When he ran out of things to name, he started counting prime numbers.

Two. Three. Five. Seven. Eleven. Thirteen. Seventeen…

“Come on,” he told himself. “Get over it! Get over it!” His throat felt raw. He shook even harder. “You’re—you’re alive! You’re alive! Stop panicking! You can breathe, so there’s oxygen. You can read English off this screen, so there’s tech around. There’ll be people too.”

He couldn’t stay here. Not like this. He needed something else. Something to focus on. He continued to count—ninety-seven—as he staggered through the cavernous labyrinth.