When I came to, I was lying on my stomach with the left side of my head on the ground. Instead of the earthy smell I would have expected, there was a terrible stench filling my nose. I pushed myself up on and got to my feet, spitting out some grass that had gotten into my mouth.

There was no more pain or heat, but my body felt strange. I felt…energized. I couldn’t remember ever feeling this good. I had an urge to just start running at full speed. The effects of the alcohol were completely gone, too. My head was totally clear.

It was still dark. I pulled my cellphone out for some light, but the phone was dead. I frowned. I must have forgotten to turn the flashlight off earlier and it had drained the battery.

Relying on the moonlight, I looked around on the ground and then on myself for some trace of the strange green gem or the liquid it had become. I couldn’t find any.

What I did notice was that the mud-like substance I had seen before passing out hadn’t been limited to my arms. Touching my face and hair, I found it there too. In fact, it was covering my whole body. It had even soaked into my clothes. They felt uncomfortably tight, probably due to whatever it was that was covering them.

I shook my hands out in disgust, trying to remove some of the sludge. I desperately needed a shower. I wondered how long I had been out and what the time was.

3:46

I flinched back. What?! The time had appeared floating about 30cm in front of me, bold black writing on a white background in the center of my field of view. What was going on?!

“Can you hear me?”

My feet actually left the ground as I jumped in surprise at the sudden words. I whirled around, eyes wide and searching the blackness for the owner of the voice. My heart was pounding.

“Who said that?” I called out, unable to see anyone. My voice was a little unsteady.

“My true name is quite difficult to pronounce. Just call me Cax.”

“Where are you?!” I asked, staring intently into the forest to try to spot the speaker.

“Ahh, yes,” they said hesitantly. “Well, please try not to panic, but I am inside you. I am what you thought of as ‘the green gem’.”

I didn’t feel any pain as my butt hit the ground, my legs unwilling to hold me up anymore. This was impossible. I sat there shaking my head slowly, going over my options. This was all a dream, or maybe I was going crazy, or someone had slipped drugs into my drink and I was hallucinating, or …

“Or it’s real,” the voice offered in a soft tone I somehow felt was meant to be soothing.

The more I thought about it, the more I was leaning towards agreeing with the voice. I mean, no matter how special Mum thought I was, I knew nobody else agreed enough to go to the trouble of drugging me. And everything felt too real to be a dream. The slight breeze moving through the clearing. The stench from whatever was on me. The stones on the ground digging into my butt.

More than that, there was a sincerity to the voice that made me believe it. It was like I could sense it was telling the truth.

“Who are you?” I asked slowly, deciding to go with it until I could prove this was all a prank or that I was going crazy.

“I am a dungeon core.” Its tone changed, becoming quieter and sounding a little lost. “Or at least, I was. I’m not sure that still applies now.”

“Dungeon core…?” I said, confused. “Hang on! Is that like in the stories? The ones where there are monsters underground and people go in to fight them and get loot?”

Some amusement broke through the sense of sadness I was getting from Cax. “That is fairly accurate. Considering the low levels of mana and the lack of magic on this planet, it is fascinating how your world knows so much about such things.”

I knew that Cax wasn’t from around here, but to actually hear it say it was from another planet blew my mind. I had to admit, a fair bit of excitement and curiosity was starting to replace my fear. “How did you end up on Earth?”

The feelings of amusement and sadness were replaced by anger. I somehow knew that it wasn’t directed at me. The core began to answer my question. “I was attacked. They attempted to remove me from my dungeon via some kind of teleportation device. I fought back and something went wrong with the energies. The backlash opened an unstable portal that sucked me up and transported me here.”

Wow! My eyes had actually gotten bigger. I always thought that was just a saying. Teleportation? Portal?! I was having trouble getting my head around all this.

I patted the air in front of me with one hand repeatedly, in a futile attempt to somehow slow everything down so I could make sense of all this. “Ok, but then how did you end up inside me? One minute you were on the ground, the next you started melting, and then my body was on fire.”

I could sense that Cax felt uncomfortable. “I apologize for that. My physical form was damaged by the process that sent me here to your planet. I was dying. Joining together was my only chance at life, but I was unable to communicate with you to seek your permission. After looking through your memories and learning about you, I felt like you would have accepted the risk had you been able to.”

That made me sit up straight. “Wait, what?! Risk? What do you mean, ‘risk’?!”

Cax’s unease grew. “There was a chance that we both would have died. As far as I know, nothing like this has ever been attempted before, so I was uncertain of the result.”

My hands clenched into fists and my lips tightened.

Cax quickly continued. “I can feel your anger rising, and rightly so. Let me say, though, that you also benefit greatly from this.”

“In what way?” I asked through gritted teeth, trying to control my temper at this entity that had gambled with my life.

“I used my remaining energy to open your mana channels. That means you will now be able to use mana, which is the energy that runs through and sustains everything. A by-product of the process is that your body has been purified and improved.”

I looked again at the gunk covering me. “Is that what this stuff is?”

“Yes. All the toxins were pushed out of your body. You are now in peak physical condition for a human.”

Well, that explained why I felt so good.

“So, you opened my…what was it again, channels? What does that mean exactly?” I asked curtly, still pissed off.

“Basically, you can now perform magic. Your body is now capable of drawing in and storing mana for your direct use. This energy will flow along your channels as directed. Apart from that, I am afraid I do not precisely know,” Cax apologetically finished. “When I opened your mana channels, my essence became mixed with yours and was absorbed into your body. I cannot predict what effect this will have on you, but it is almost certain that you will not be like a regular mana user. We will have to wait and see to discover what you are capable of.”

My anger faded after his first sentence. Magic! I had grown up reading fantasy books, devouring anything and everything I could get my hands on and had dreamed of being able to do magic. Just the thought that it could now be true…

“I assure you, it’s true.” Cax spoke up quickly, seeming eager to latch on to what I viewed as a positive thing.

I noticed that it had responded to my thoughts. “Are you reading my mind?!” I asked, my panic returning in full force.

“Yes, I am. I am now a part of you. You may also have noticed you can sense my emotions. We are unable to hide anything from each other.”

I was freaked out. If that was true, then…

“Ahh, I can see that you are worried about me viewing some of your more intimate thoughts. Rest assured, I have no interest or judgement related to human habits.”

I groaned and was about to put my face in my hands before I remembered they were filthy. Why did my mind have to go there? Trying to change the subject, I asked, “I keep thinking of you as an ‘it’, but I don’t feel right about that. Is it ok if I refer to you as a guy?”

“I have no gender and no preference. If it makes you more comfortable, please do so.” From the feelings that accompanied his words, I could tell he truly meant it. I had to admit, this was an amazing form of communication. It was impossible to lie as the true intent came through clearly.

“Ok, a guy it is,” I muttered. If all my private thoughts were going to be on display, I definitely felt better about sharing them with a guy than a girl. Not wanting to dwell on the loss of my privacy, I pushed it to the back of my mind and moved on.

“Are there any other changes I should know about? Is my hair going to fall out or something?” Magic and perfect health were too good to be true. There must be a downside.

“No downsides, but there are more changes.”

Again with the mind reading! This was going to take some getting used to.

Cax continued. “An important one is that you now have access to what you would understand as an ‘interface’. It’s how you saw the time before. People on my world devised some enchantments that adjust the brain and eyes. They translate the flows of mana into words you can understand and facilitate the use of spells and abilities. This allows mana users to control their energy without requiring years of study. It also lets them view information about themselves and guide their own growth. I provided you with the same capability. It will be invaluable in helping you understand what you can now do.”

Before I had time to fully process that mind-blowing piece of information, he continued.

“The other main thing is that I was able to hold onto all the knowledge I have acquired throughout my life. There was enough space in your chest cavity to reconstruct a physical form to contain both my consciousness and knowledge securely. The pain you felt was when I fused it to your body permanently. I’m not sure at the moment how this trove of information can be of use to you, but I hope we can discover a way in the future.”

I didn’t catch the last part of what Cax said as I was busy touching my chest, frantically rubbing it to find this new addition to my body. How could Cax’s body fit in there?! My chest felt harder than I remembered. Was that it?!

“Relax! You misunderstand. It is not as big as what you saw before. Like I said, most of my essence was lost as it merged with you. My vessel is greatly reduced in size and poses no risk.”

I finally stopped checking myself over, knowing through our connection that he was telling me the truth. This was just one more thing I could do nothing about, so I would have to let it go. Besides, if I were being honest, if Cax hadn’t told me, I never would have known there was anything there. I would just have to hope there wouldn’t be any complications from it, since I didn’t think doctors would be able to help me with this problem.

Cax interrupted my thoughts. “I know you have many more questions, but I suggest we leave this place and continue in another location. Before you found me, I was sensing energy coming from the spot where I entered your world. I’ve never come across anything like it before. To be on the safe side, I think it best we not remain here.”

A shiver went down my spine. Strange energy? I’d seen enough sci-fi movies for my mind to conjure up some frightening scenarios. I suddenly had an image of a monster leaping out of a hole in space and attacking me.

I hurriedly stood back up and looked around again. I still couldn’t see much with just the moonlight, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Well, nothing apart from me.

“Can you still sense the energy?” I asked worriedly.

“No. As I am now just a part of you, I must rely on your senses. Unfortunately, your ability to feel mana and other energy is non-existent at this stage. I have no reason to believe it would have suddenly disappeared, though.”

I decided to take Cax’s advice and get out of there before anything else weird happened. I would go home, get cleaned up, and then try to find out exactly what I was now capable of.

I realized I wasn’t sure which way I needed to go to get back to the park. I’d gotten all turned around. Looking towards where the sky seemed to be a bit lighter, I headed that way, hoping it meant streetlights and civilization.