I woke up suddenly to the sound of a light ding, like that of an email notification while you are on your work computer. It was slightly duller than the exact tone at work, but startled me enough from my sleep to leave me wondering what kind of notification it could be. I didn't recognize it. And I always silence my phone before I go to bed, who wants to be woken up in the middle of the night by some automatic email from some website I can't unsubscribe from fast enough?

I kept my eyes shut and hoped it wasn't anything, wondering if there really was a sound. I didn't want to get up if I didn't have to. It wouldn't have been the first time some crazy dream was enough to wake me either. For that matter too though, my microwave went on the fritz last year, the stupid thing randomly beeping out at all times of the day, including in the middle of the night, leaving me prowling around my house at 1 in the morning trying to triangulate the offender, half annoyed and half scared. I ended up silencing the blasted thing by unplugging it and buying a new one the next day (week).

There was also that time I house sat for a friend for a week and then one night the smoke alarms went off randomly. That scared the bejeezus outta me too, especially since those alarms had voices going along with it. In the early AM, nothing wakes you up faster than hearing "fire, fire, fire" and loud alarms blaring at you. I couldn't get to sleep afterwards either, especially as the alarm was also a carbon monoxide detector. I ended up opening all the windows just to be safe, even though I knew for certain it wasn't real. Stupid thing, it was a cold fall day too. I advised my friend to invest in new alarms when he returned.

This said, I wasn't a stranger to strange noises cropping up at night and I kept my eyes shut and didn't move, hoping I could fade back into sleep without interruption.

That didn't happen as the next thing I heard was not another ding but a high aggressive growl coming from right next to my bed. That sound immediately got me going, I sat upright, eyes wide, heart hammering, adrenaline pumping, my mind going towards the worst scenarios as I look for the burglar that was undoubtedly ransacking my house. You see, I am currently dog sitting my brother's wonderful pet greyhound Pesos, and while they always keep the dog in a kennel at night, I let Pesos out at night and it fills me up with awesome warm fuzzies to see her curl up on my floor next to me. Sure, the clicking of her nails on my wooden floor is super annoying, but it makes me feel like a spoiling uncle to let her out and I love it.

That said, Pesos is the most gentle, lovable dog in the world and it turns out all greyhounds are big couch potatoes anyway. I have never heard that dog bark or growl at anything before so if she was growling now, it means there is trouble.

Unfortunately for me, my light switch is all the way across the room. Bad design I think, but I can only curse myself now as I have had over a year of living here to place a lamp next to my bed. Sometimes, my laziness amazes even myself.

Also, there was an odd … thing in my vision, top left. Like a dust speck in your eye that follows you around when you look away. There was a little (1) up there like an unread notification on your phone, along with a cool red countdown, currently at 4:44. I ignore it though and hold still in my bed, terribly frightened, my ears straining to hear the sounds of an intruder in my house. I think of my sister, living with me in the bedroom next to mine and I move to get up for a split second before I remember that she is gone for the weekend. A quick sense of relief fills me. Crisis averted.

Or not, Pesos next to me is now growling very loudly after I moved and I turn to look at her for the first time.

…

Pesos looks very... different right now. It's kind of hard to tell in this darkness, but i don't remember Pesos having bright red eyes. I mean, I am a little color blind, so I get red and green mixed up sometimes, but this is the bright type of red that I can see. Like, Darth Vader's lightsaber red. And I can easily tell because she is staring at me, her teeth parting menacingly. Then she added in a couple short barks at me as if I was the bad guy.

Come on girl, I've known you for years. Do you know how much this hurts to see you look at me so? Did you have a bad dream and need a tummy rub?

"What's wrong Pesos?" I ask lightly, in the type of voice people use to talk to dogs as if they are toddlers. Truth be told, she was frightening me pretty badly right now. I slowly stood up on top of my mattress, trying to keep a balance on the unsteady thing.

Then she lunged without further warning, straight up at my neck, her jaws open wide in a clear attempt to rip out my beloved throat. Not cool girl, I need that, no?

Reflexively I shoot up my right forearm to which she latches onto instead of my jugular and I let out a loud shriek of pain as I feel her teeth sink into my arm. She did not let go.

I am stunned, never would I have thought this dog i have known for 8 years would turn on me like this. My aunt had a dog once, a tiny little demon named Pippen. I hated that dog, and so did most people as it was whiny, jumpy, and mean. My aunt hated it too, but it was technically her daughter's dog and there were circumstances so she was left taking care of it. I remember her telling me one day that she had to put the dog down. Apparently it had tried to kill somebody, some older lady at her house. Pippen was being petted one moment, then the next was driving for the old woman's neck for the kill. Not nice.

My coworker had a rooster once, too, that attacked his kids. He had to put that bird down. He did it with a shotgun I think, though.

I, unfortunately, did not have a shotgun on me, and Pesos was attached to my right forearm anyway. My love for the dog evaporated quickly and I reacted instinctively towards the 35 pound aging dog.

With what little strength I had I jumped up into the air towards Pesos, pushing her over backwards, and then I proceeded to land on top of her now bent neck with all my weight on my forearm, like some pro wrestling move. Or like spongebob. I’m sure there was an episode in there that had that move in it. I have no idea where that came from, my only fights I had were king of the raft. I was pretty good at that, I was slippier than the average brother. But this was different, and I banged my foot against the dresser as I flew, and then my head as I landed. Ow. Double ow.

Through The pain, I heard a sharp yelp from Pesos and then I felt the jaw slacken on my arm. I was basically lying on top of the dog now, its warm furry body took the brunt of the rest of my fall anyway, after I landed on its neck. Still panicked, I quickly grabbed its jaw and pried it loose from my arm. It hurt like the dickens as it came off, but I was too out of it to register my own shouts of pain. After getting it loose I scrambled away from the body like I would if I knew a huge spider was currently resting on it.

Another dinging sound filled the air and I was flabbergasted to see bright glowing text appear in front of me. It was obvious, because it was still night and I could barely see anything else.

Congratulations! You are the first sentient entity to kill within The Void inside the influence of the system!

You have been rewarded with an option for a unique class specially calibrated to fit your current setting. Do you accept y/n?

I stare dumbfounded at the blue screen looking out at me and I read it again. Unique class? I am dreaming? Thinking about it, that makes sense. I’ve heard of lucid dreaming before, but they mostly involve flying and what not. Not lovable pets trying to kill you.

Still, I am suspicious, and I hold my arm, trying to stem the flow of blood from the bite. I heard in movies that I should put pressure on bleeding wounds like this, so I try that. I also reach for a nearby dirty shirt on the ground to hold against it, ignoring the blue screen in front of me. As I do so, I notice it disappears, the little number on the top left of my vision changing from a (1) to a (2). Good, at least I won’t be blinded by having half of my field of vision blocked by the blue screen of death or whatever. I also notice that the timer has gone down to 3:48. Hmmmm...

God, this hurts. Who knew that getting large puncture wounds from a dog would be so painful? Not to mention by head, I did hit it pretty hard on the wooden floor. I hope I don’t have a concussion. Judging from the headache I now have, I probably do. I never had training for this crap, how do the pro wrestlers avoid banging their head on the floors after their masterful moves? Maybe they just have good neck muscles.

After a moment, I crawl over to pesos warily, wondering what on earth I am going to say to my brother when he gets back. “Sorry bro, but Pesos tried to rip my throat out in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. I had to break its neck.” Right, that sounds either awful or awesomely manly. Would people even believe me? I guess I do have the wound to prove it. God, I’m not prepared for that kind of attention this is going to bring. Mom’s going to be intolerable.

I check on Pesos and she is clearly dead. No heart beat as far as I could tell and she always had a nice strong heartbeat. I had liked to lay my head on her and relax in her warmth. She never cared, you could do practically anything to her and she wouldn’t care. Dang, she was an awesome dog. What happened?

She was dead now, her neck twisted at an odd angle. Seeing her, memories of another dog, the family dog Snuggles from 15 years ago when I was tenish enters my mind. She was the same color as Pesos, black with a white belly, but a fat lab. Snuggles had passed from liver cancer and I remember the night she whimpered and then died on our living room floor. I remember crying with my brothers, and I remember my dad crying too and angrily stating that this was why he hated having pets. Mom and the sisters had been out that night. I can’t remember why.

Despite what dad had said, he and mom had gotten a new pet within months. A cat, this time. Pets have always been a part of our family and I was not surprised when all three of my brothers got cats and/or dogs. I was the odd man out I guess, the one without a pet.

I teared up slightly at the unsightly sight of Pesos, but the pain in my forearm was still strong. My brother would understand and with a baby in his house, he especially couldn’t risk having a dog like this around. Better attacking me me than my niece. Perhaps it was some senility combined with a bad dream that made Pesos go nuts. She was getting pretty old for a dog.

I let out a long sigh and reach for my phone next to my bed. Thankfully, a new 24 hour medical center was built not a mile from my house last year, and doubly thankfully, I actually purchased health insurance this year due to my mother’s constant nagging. Turns out she was right, who knew?

My actions stop when another screen appeared in front of me. I made an ugly face, super annoyed at this thing that was ruining my sense of reality. This one was a color combo that was very difficult for me to read with my type of colorblindness, red on blue. I almost ignored it completely due to the difficulty but decided against it. I stared hard at it, trying to make out the characters in it.

Warning! You have been infected by the instance airborne bacteria!

Negative effects will stack

What? Infected? Negative effects? That sounds terrible.

Slightly panicked, I watched as the blue screen of death, truly this time, faded away. I switched my eyes to the (2) in the top left corner but it did not change to (3). I guess I read it this time? Thinking it was suddenly important I brought my attention to the (2) and was relieved to see them both appear before me without effort, the earlier blue and white one about the class resting in the background and a new one in the foreground. My relief quickly turned to horror however, as I read the, presumably, first notice that had woken me up.

Warning! You have been attacked by instance soul curse!

Countdown until death

Countdown until death. Countdown. Until. Death.The verbiage made me freeze. There was only one countdown around, sitting quietly on the top left corner of my vision.

I didn’t dare look.

Feeling the blood rush from my face and my limbs get tingley, I watched as the notification faded away, like the infection one. The last notification was still there in the background.

Reluctantly, I shifted my eyes to the top left corner of my vision were the red timer reflected back emotionlessly. It read simply 2:30.

Judas Maude.

Judas L Maude.

Apparently I had only minutes to live until… death. That’s not even enough time to make it to the medical center, although something told me that they probably could not do anything for an “instance curse”.

Not to mention the infection…

Wow, i was going to die, and, you know what, I believed it despite the absurdity of it.

A cold sweat broke out over my body. Like, all over. Like the type of sweating when you knew you screwed up and your boss was coming. Or like the type where you thought you were going to die. That too.

As I sat frozen on the floor, next to the dead greyhound I had killed with my bare hands, if an elbow attack can be classified as a “bare hands” attack, I pondered the meaning on my existence.

Dang. Despite myself and it being stereotypical and incredibly shallow, what came first to me was a sincere regret that I would die a virgin and that all three of my brothers were all happily married and presumably had nice sex lives to go with it. They must have, judging by the babys their wives were popping out. Those bastards.

The last screen was before my face and I read it again because it was there.

Congratulations! You are the first sentient entity to kill within The Void inside the influence of the system!

You have been rewarded with an option for a unique class specially calibrated to fit your current setting. Do you accept y/n?

A unique class specially calibrated class to fit my setting? That sounds promising!

Without wasting another second, I reach up and poked the phantasm with my finger while also yelling, “yes, yes, yes!”

I’m not sure whether it was my yelling or my poking but it appeared to have worked as the screen faded away and was replaced another.

Reward accepted

Calibrating class...

I waited with baited breath.

Class Choosen: Inner Light

That doesn’t really sound like a name for a class to me, but what do I know? That notification didn’t really tell me anything either and I waited impatiently for another notification to appear with some exposition, explanation, or anything. Nothing did appear, though, and that last blue box faded away into nothing. I glanced up at the countdown. 1:02

Gah, it was crunch time now. A little ⇛ Symbol appeared where the notifications icons was earlier and I poked it as hard as I could, wondering briefly how on earth I could physically interact with something that clearly wasn’t actually out there. It was either in my eyeball or in my mind. Whatever, I could think about the ramifications of this whole mess later.

Poking it worked and I was happy to see some more details written out as the icon expanded.

Inner Light: (level 1)

A unique light attribute class able to learn every light attribute skill and uses mana directly for every skill. Class locks all other potential attributes and skill types. Skill usage limited only to quantity of Mana available

Mana:

25/25

Regen: 1.236 per minute

Skills:

Cleanse

Clear body of foreign influences

Heal

Enhances natural healing

Flare

Coat external surfaces with light energy to give a light attribute to object

Holy Moly, cleanse looks like a clear winner to me. I guess it really did give me a class suitable for my situation. How nice of it but I guess it's only fair to give me a fighting chance. I have mana now too apparently. That’s cool. I guess all the screens until now weren’t enough, but I am now convinced I am either in a hyper realistic dream, or some kind of game interphase has corrupted my world. A screen did mention a “system” earlier, whatever that means.

So, I’m going to hope this is all just a dream but play ball like its real. No sense in taking that risk, eh? Just try not to think about it if this is happening to the world. I mean really, don’t think about it. If everybody got cursed and I’m the only one who got this class, does that mean everybody else is going to die? Dang, like I said, don’t even think about it. If this had happened to my oldest brother, though, I doubt he would have even known what mana was. The plebeian.

The timer was at 0:34 now, so I decided to stop wasting time and poked the cleanse button in order to activate my savior. It doesn’t specify how much mana it will use up, but I can’t worry about that right now. What I can worry about is it not activating even after I poke it again, and again.

Panicked, I yell quickly, “Cleanse!” and I sigh in relief when I see it working. I feel a slight warming sensation around my body, like the chills but pleasant. I also see my mana quantity disappearing quickly. As I watch, I see it go down from 25 to 10, 5, 3, 2, 1, 0...

Yeah, it all got used up. Hopefully, it worked and cleansed me of my curse and infection. Or at least it prioritiezed the curse. I can’t really tell though as I feel like I am going to pass out. Tunnel vision, overwhelming blackness, dizziness, these symptoms seem to indicate I am about to go under. I recognize these because my second oldest brother passes out whenever he sees something like an epipen being injected and this is similar to how he describes it.

Its funny when it happens to him, but not so funny now. I suppose this is what I get for using up all my mana, I’ll have to remember that in the future. I only hope my skill was enough to fix me up, otherwise this will be the end of me. As wise Yoda would say, “forever sleep.”