“Agis, go help your dad with the fire wood will you?”

“Yes Mom!”

Agis’s mom stood there in her cooking apron preparing dinner. Her long, blond hair draped over her shoulders. While not the most beautiful girl in the world, she still wasn’t ugly by any means. She carried a sort of aura with her. A warmness so to say. Agis always noticed that warmth she brought, it was always calming, even on the worst days.

The place they called home was a simple wooden cabin, just on the outskirts of the town. Currently it was turning to dusk and a dim light seeped through the windows, providing a radiant glow. To Agis, everything here was simple, peaceful, this was home.

“Oh! And tell him dinner will be ready soon, ok?”

“Ok!”

Agis grabbed his jacket and bolted out the door. It was cold outside, fall was just coming around and temps were dropping. Not far from the door Agis’s father was there swinging his axe and chopping firewood. His father, muscular as a bull, made easy work with the wood. One log, then two, then another. Piles of chopped wood were stacked by his sides.

“Dad! Can I help at all? Can I chop some wood? Pleassseeee? Mom said I can!”

Agis’s dad looked up at the barrage of questions. A smile quickly plastered itself on his face.

“Oh did she now?”

“Ya! She said ‘Go chop wood with your dad!’ and I said ‘Most certainly!’”

Agis’s dad let out a hearty laugh, “Bwaha! Alright, alright. Come over here and I’ll show you how.” He gestured Agis over and handed him the axe. “Put your hands here, and here.” He pointed close to the bottom of the handle. “Put it up over your head and swing it down. Gravity will do the rest, don't try and push down or you will hurt your back alright?”

“Okay!”

“Okay then.” His father let out another laugh and set up a log for Agis. “Now give it a swing.”

Agis lifted the axe and swung it down as hard as he could, missing the log, losing his grip, and sending the axe into the ground about 3 feet away. His father couldn't help but laugh hard, holding his stomach.

“When I said let gravity do the rest, I didn't mean just let go! Bwahaha!” He continued laughing as he picked the axe up, and tried to calm himself down. He handed Agis the axe. “Alright try again, it was a good swing, just don't let go this time.”

“Okay Dad!”

Agis raised the axe again, but as he did, a fireball erupted into the side of the house. Sending him flying multiple meters away. Shrapnel scattered the yard and half the house was gone, the rest in flames. The last thing he could see before the world turned black was his mother bursting out of the house screaming, trying to put out the fire that engulfed her.

……….

Agis sat up, head groggy from the fall. He looked up and saw the hole he had dove into. He couldn't see the night sky, he didn’t know how far he had fallen, but it wasn’t a short distance.

--Why am I not in more pain? Surely that fall would seriously hurt, if not kill me.

[AH! Finally awake are you? I was beginning to be afraid that your brain turned to mush! It wouldn’t be unlikely, given your astounding fall. Honestly, I’m surprised you're alive at all!]

Startled by the person, Agis quickly snapped to see who was talking. In doing so however he gave himself a fright, pushing himself back a few meters and up against the tunnel wall.

“OH MY GOD! Please don’t eat me!”

In front of Agis stood a figure with no eyes or ears. The figure was skinny as could be with no muscle at all, like a walking stick. His large forehead and leathery red skin continued down into a large wide grin filled with pointy teeth. The figure stood in silence for a second before letting out a tremendous laugh.

[BWAHAAHAHAHAAA! Eat you? That’s the funniest thing I've heard in years! I save your life and the first thing you do is ask me not to eat you! HILARIOUS!]

“Save my life? You saved me? Why? Who are you? Where are we?"

[Questions on questions! Interesting fellow if I do say! Why save your life you ask? Well that's a very complex answer, involving lots of details...in which I won't tell you! Lets just say I succeeded in putting something inside you, though it was believed to be impossible…..oh and yes dimwit, you fell into the dungeon. What gave it away? The blue mana lines running through these old rock walls?] The figure tapped on the rock beside himself.

Agis sat there stunned, unsure of what to say. "You...impregnated me?"

"..."

Silence fell over the two for a second time.

[BWAHAHAAHAAA! You're one imaginative human! I do say though, would you stop making me laugh? It's beginning to put an ol' twist in my stomach.]

"...I um...sorry? How are you even laughing? Or talking even? Your mouth hasn't moved once."

[Mind magic my boy! It's what we Sophos are known for! I can understand you even if you were to stop using that chatty mouth of yours! Surely you know this much.]

Agis began to realize the weight that hung over his head, the pressure from the magic. He hadn't noticed it before as he thought it was from his fall. At the fimilar word, Agis began to think back, remembering a book his mother made him read as a child. It listed many sapient races on Pangera, one of them listed was the Sophos.

"Sophos? I didn't know you were so...red."

[Better red then some primping, pink, puffy human!]

"Puffy?"

[Puffy indeed! I removed your heart, and replaced it with a core. A core I happened to engineer myself! Take a look now, you should finally be able to access the system! Well, it will certainly be different than for most, but you'll be able to access it!]

"Wait...what? My heart!? Access the system? How did you even know I couldn't access the system? Who are you?"

[Oh ho, to many questions. Ah that's right, humans may not know this. Remember, max out your core before you evolve! Any way, tallyho!]

"Evolve? Wait! Hold on!" Agis tried to get the Sopho to stop, but it was of no use.

A rumble took over, shaking the dungeon. It was as if a gigantic earthquake was mending its way through the ground. Small rocks fell from the ceiling, dust rose up. Then, seemingly from nowhere, a gigantic worm bored through the tunnel right where the Sopho was standing. It was so large that only its side was visible. It seemed like an hour before the tail end of the worm was gone, as was the Sopho. Vanished, leaving Agis to figure out things on his own.

--What...just happened?