For the second time in a row, I wake up with a splitting headache. No nightmare this time, which is nice. Probably the only nice thing about it, to be honest—being awake sucks right now.
Unsurprisingly, the stone floor didn’t make for a very comfortable rest. I’m cold and sore and honestly kind of annoyed that I didn’t wake up in my bed, with this whole ordeal just a fading dream.
I push myself unsteadily up into a sitting position and wipe the drool from my chin. At least I’m not nauseous anymore. I don’t think my empty stomach can handle another vain attempt to throw up. I blink my eyes open blearily only to be met by a brownish-orange blur.
I grimace. “Frick! Where did my glasses go?”
I feel like a cartoon character, feeling around on the floor for my lost eyewear. They must have fallen off when I was thrashing around before. Crap, I hope I didn’t break them...
Luckily, the thick black frames are great for standing out against the rest of the blurry goop that my unenhanced vision shows me, and after a few false starts that turn out to be cracks and seams in the floor, I locate them. The world shifts back into focus as I slip them on.
“Phew! Not broken!” I announce. “A little scratched up, but otherwise fine. Glad to see the candles haven’t gone anywhere while I was out...”
I sigh as I stand up and dust myself off, then frown.
“Was there dust here before?” I wonder.
Now that I think about it, something feels...off. The silent halls of the labyrinth are less silent, the pervasive stillness in the air is gone, and most importantly I feel like I’m somewhere else. It was the same when I first woke up—that bizarre certainty that I’m not where I was before.
Everything looks the same, though. High ceiling, big pillar, tons of candles.
“I’m stalling...”
I know I am, but it’s hard to work up the courage. I’m trying hard to ignore the words burned into the back of my mind, but it’s like trying not to think about pink elephants.
[Allison: Tier 0 Human]
[Class Slot 1: Tier 0 Student]* - Level 1/10
[Class Slot 2: Tier 0 Unified Collective]* - Level -1/10
[Attributes]
Power: 1
Resilience: 1
Awareness: 1
Ego: 0
Will: 2
[Skills]
Efficient Lessons
Parallel Wills
I’d rather not remember what happened when I picked my second class, but there’s some pretty obvious discrepancies here.
“Negative one?! Ego zero?”
For some reason my new class started below zero, and actually removed my one and only point of Ego, bringing me down to...zero. I don’t feel any different, so unless this is all a dream and I’m still on the floor drooling my brains out, it’s probably fine.
I’m kind of ticked off, though. All that suffering for a class that doesn’t do anything except waste a slot and lower one of my attributes? I feel so stupid. Why did I pick that?! I kick over a candle in disgust.
“Maybe there’s more to it...”
I try focusing on the skill to get more details and I’m rewarded by a spike of extreme pain behind my eyes.
“Agh, crap! No, no, no, not doing that. Dang it!”
As if I needed my headache to get any worse. I don’t think it’s impossible to look at the class, it''s just...too big. Like when I opened up the list of class options only way heavier. Maybe I can try again when I’m feeling better. I think Will helped too, so if I gain a few more levels of Student it should be easier to look at.
[Level up!]
Student is now level 2.
+1 Will.
“Oh, speak of the devil!”
I stop myself before I can celebrate the new level and scowl.
“Wait, crap! I’m going to have to get rid of that, aren’t I?”
The whole point of taking [Student] was that it was easy to level, relevant to what I was doing, and could be removed later if I didn’t need it. Just because I did something monumentally stupid by taking a permanent class that hurts me, doesn’t change the fact that I still need that [Wanderer] class to find my way out of here.
“Frick!” I swear. “Frick! Frick! Frickety friggin’ frick!”
I kick another candle. I’m sorely tempted to actually curse, I’m so upset. At this point, I only moderate myself out of habit.
Putting off that little issue for the moment, I draw my attention to the last irregularity. [Parallel Wills]. I don’t know what to make of it. It’s definitely not the skill it’s supposed to be, though that might be a good thing. In retrospect, I have no idea why I was so drawn to this class—maybe something was messing with my head again.
I brace myself and try focusing on [Parallel Wills], but the words painlessly transform into a simple description.
[Parallel Wills]
Additional minds operating in tandem within one body.
I raise an eyebrow. That certainly sounds useful—and the promise of somebody to talk to—even myself—makes the whole wasted slot thing almost worth it...if it works.
“Parallel Wills!” I shout like I’m an anime protagonist or something.
Nothing happens. My face heats up as I blush in embarrassment. I’m so glad nobody was here to see that—a secret between me and the candles.
“[Parallel Wills]?” I hedge, but nothing happens. “Parallel Wills activate? Skill activate! Use skill! How the heck do I use this darn skill?!”
I give up. Never mind, then. Don’t mind me, candles, I’m just the idiot who took a broken class that doesn’t do anything. With a heavy heart, I focus on [Student], hold my breath, and pick [Remove].
For once, it’s not as bad as I’m expecting. I feel something drain out of me, my headache gets a bit worse, and then...nothing.
[Allison: Tier 0 Human]
[Class Slot 1: Tier 0 Unified Collective]* - Level -1/10
[Class Slot 2: Empty]
[Attributes]
Power: 1
Resilience: 1
Awareness: 1
Ego: 0
Will: 1
[Skills]
Parallel Wills
“Huh. Weird that it moved the slot,” I ponder aloud. “Wait...”
A cold sense of dread fills me as I realize something. During that ordeal when I picked Unified Collective, there was something about taking up infinity slots. I hadn’t really thought about it, but what would have happened if I removed Student and ended up with the same useless broken skill taking up both slots?
“Stupid!” I berate myself. “Why are you so stupid?!”
Oh well. That didn’t happen, so I should just count myself lucky. I don’t want to bring up the list of classes again—not when my head is already pounding—so I try just thinking about the [Wanderer] class directly.
[Tier 0 Wanderer]*
An aimless traveler, searching for a purpose.
Skill - Retraced Steps: Always recognize a path you’ve walked before.
Attribute bonus: Resilience
Advancement: Discover new places.
“Yes! It worked!”
I happily pick the class and brace myself for the impending discomfort. I squint my eyes shut and desperately try to ignore the feeling of something foreign inside my head. It’s a mercifully quick process, but I still feel a little sick afterward.
“I don’t think people are meant to mess around with the mechanism so much...” I observe drily, before taking a look at my new class.
[Tier 0 Wanderer]*
Level 0/10
An aimless traveler, searching for a purpose.
Skill - Retraced Steps: Always recognize a path you’ve walked before.
Attribute bonus: Resilience
Advancement: Discover new places.
[Not applicable for upgrading]
[Not applicable for fusion]
[Remove]
That skill is just what I need to finally start exploring this place properly. I’m starting to come to grips with the fact that I really am trapped in an unfamiliar place, this is really real, and at some point I’m going to need food and water.
“What was the order again? Water and shelter first? It’s cold, but I don’t exactly have to worry about the weather...”
I chatter idly to myself in a vain attempt to stave off the pervasive feeling of loneliness and pick up a candle. Mentally labeling this room as the “Pillar Room,” I pick the nearest exit and get to work.
* * *
Retraced Steps isn’t quite what I’d hoped it was. I wanted to establish a sort of mental map of this place and avoid getting lost that way, but that’s not how it works. I’m still lost, but there’s a weird feeling I get whenever I’m in a place I’ve already been before.
The Pillar Room is always easy to find, since there are so many ways to get to it, but being able to recognize places I’ve already been is only half the battle. Actually finding new paths is more challenging than I thought.
Still, a more methodical exploration has its rewards. I’ve already managed to gain two levels in Wanderer, and I’m feeling a lot better.
[Allison: Tier 0 Human]
[Class Slot 1: Tier 0 Unified Collective]* - Level -1/10
[Class Slot 2: Tier 0 Wanderer]* - Level 2/10
[Attributes]
Power: 1
Resilience: 3
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Awareness: 1
Ego: 0
Will: 1
[Skills]
Parallel Wills
Retraced Steps
There’s no doubt in my mind that Resilience is helping to stave off the soreness I’ve been feeling, and I’m eager to get more of it. The only trouble is, I’m starting to worry I’m stuck in some kind of enclosed space with no way out. It’s been a while since I found a new path.
This place makes no sense. The rooms have random shapes and sizes, and I can’t figure out what purpose any of them might serve. Half of them are dead ends, and the other half are just weird empty expanses that interrupt the winding hallways. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.
Only the Altar Room—which I did manage to relocate—and the Pillar Room stand out. There’s nothing else here.
Almost as soon as I think that, I actually do encounter something different. A hallway I’d previously missed that leads into a long dark corridor. Dark. As in, no candles. I’ve grown so used to the things that their absence is very conspicuous.
[Level up!]
Wanderer is now level 3.
+1 Resilience.
I breathe a sigh of relief as my soreness and exhaustion abates ever so slightly. I could get addicted to that.
Taking the level up as confirmation that I’m on the right path, I raise my no-longer-useless candle and move forward cautiously.
Despite its impossible longevity, the candle is still just a candle, and it doesn’t exactly provide the best illumination. Still, even with just its feeble flame to guide me, I can immediately tell that there’s something different about this corridor.
The walls in the lit areas were made of smooth stone bricks, but as I traverse this new area they start to give way to rough, natural looking rock formations.
“Am I underground?” I wonder.
If so, I have no idea how I’m ever going to have any hope of surviving. I’ll just have to pray I can find my way to the surface before I starve to death or something.
My thoughts are interrupted by a shuffling sound echoing through the hall, and I freeze. The unmistakable sound of movement is coming from up ahead, and maybe it’s wishful thinking but I’m pretty sure it sounds like someone walking.
I hold my breath and creep forward, holding my candle out as far in front of me as I can.
“Hello?” I call out. “Is someone there?”
There’s no answer, but I can just start to make out the silhouette of a figure at the edge of the light. Tall, cloaked, and unmistakably bipedal. It’s a person!
“Hey!” I greet them, rushing forward. “Oh thank gosh, I thought I was going to die down here. Do you know where we are or how to get out? I really need hel—!”
My words die in my throat as I get within arm’s reach and finally catch a glimpse beneath the hood.
Bones. An ivory white skull with inhuman features. It looks up and meets my gaze with its empty sockets, the hood falling from its horned head.
“AAAAH!” I shriek in terror and smack the thing without thinking.
The skull flies off of the skeleton and bounces off the wall, clattering to the ground and spinning for a moment before coming to a rest. I stare at it for a moment in silence, trying not to hyperventilate.
“What the f—augh—!”
Pain erupts from my left thigh and spikes its way up through my entire body. I reflexively shove the skeleton away and fall back on my butt. I dropped the candle at some point, but it’s still close enough that I can clearly see the source of my trouble.
A knife. The skeleton had a knife. Had, because it’s now mine by virtue of the fact that it’s sticking out of my leg, the blue denim around it slowly turning red. I stare at it in shock. I’ve never been stabbed before—never even gotten badly hurt, really. No broken bones, or major illnesses, no infections—until now, the worst I’ve had was a skinned knee.
And now there’s a knife sticking out of my leg.
“Oh gosh...oh no...what—what do I do...?”
As if to mock me, the headless skeleton begins picking itself up off the ground. What the heck am I supposed to do about that?! I’m far too busy panicking over the knife it just stabbed me with.
Nothing feels real. I’m distantly aware of the fact that I’m hyperventilating. The skeleton is advancing on me, I’m on the floor bleeding, and I’m going to die.
I start to laugh hysterically. It’s not fair. I don’t want to die like this. I just want to be with friends, finish my studies, maybe start a family. How did I end up here? What kind of sick, cruel joke would put someone like me in a situation like this?
“Please...” I beg. “Someone help me...I can’t do this alone...please...somebody...”
I’m answered by only the silent rattling of the skeleton as it reaches down to finish what it started. I close my eyes and resign myself to my fate.
[Level up!]
Unified collective is now level 0.
+1 Ego.
I snap my eyes open and grab the skeleton’s wrist before it can reach the knife, then yank it back as hard as I can to put it off balance. It’s heavier than I expected, but still much lighter than a person, and even my clumsy throw is enough to send it clattering to the ground.
That lightness also plays to its advantage, however. Without much weight behind its movements, the fall does little to damage it. Slowly, it begins rising to its feet once again, and I search for something I can use as a weapon.
The knife is out—no way am I pulling that out right now. I pick up the candle, but I doubt it’s going to make a difference. Finally, my gaze settles on the skull. It’s not human—more like a goat or a cow maybe, with curved horns tapering out to a dull point. It’ll have to do.
I grab the skull by a horn and force myself up, keeping as much weight as possible on my good leg. I need to end this quickly or I’m going to lose too much blood.
I wait for the skeleton to shamble towards me, then swing the skull down on its ribcage with all my might. With a resounding crack, the blow sends the skeleton collapsing to the ground. I’m not satisfied with that, though. I grab its cloak and heave, slamming the skeleton into a wall with another satisfying crunch.
It’s light. Light enough that I can lift it with one arm, even on a bad leg. Light enough that I can slam it into the walls and floor again and again until there’s no sign of movement.
Finally, I let myself slump down to the floor with my back against the wall. I take a long, deep breath, hold it for a moment, then let it out slowly. While I get my breathing under control, I clench my teeth and grab my thigh on either side of the wound, pressing tightly to stop the bleeding.
“What...what the frick just happened?!” I hear my own voice, though my mouth doesn’t move, asking a question I’m not sure how to answer.
Instead, I check my surroundings for anything I can use to treat my wound. Unfortunately, there’s not a wealth of options. A candle that doesn’t produce heat or wax, the shattered remains of the skeleton and its cloak, and the very knife still jutting dangerously out of my leg.
“Why can’t I move my body?” my voice asks. “What’s happening? Oh gosh, have I been possessed?!”
I can feel the panic rising as if it’s my own. I think it might be, but it’s...distant. Like it’s part of me, but not mine. It needs to stop, though.
“Calm down,” I answer quietly. “You’re not possessed, but you need to stay calm. If we go into shock, nobody is going to be able to save us.”
“Wha—?!” the voice sputters. “You’re literally talking to me with my own mouth while you control my body and telling me I’m not possessed?!”
“Yes,” I reply curtly, “because you’re not. I’m you.”
“Uh, I think I’d know if you were me. I’m me—and there’s only one of me!”
“Not anymore.”
I’m pretty sure I know the answer, but I look at my status for confirmation.
[Allison: Tier 0 Human]
[Class Slot 1: Tier 0 Unified Collective]* - Level 0/10
[Class Slot 2: Empty]
[Attributes]
Power: 1
Resilience: 1
Awareness: 1
Ego: 1
Will: 1
[Skills]
Parallel Wills (1)
I frown at what I see. Where did [Wanderer] go?
“What do you mean, ‘not anymore’?!” the other me asks incredulously.
“It’s the Parallel Wills skill. Look at your status, it should be different now.”
There’s a brief pause before she answers. “There’s a little one next to Parallel Wills now. That’s you?”
I furrow my brows and fight off a brief dizzy spell, squeezing tighter. I can’t let myself get distracted.
“Y-yes, probably,” I reply. “Listen, Allison—is that the only thing that changed?”
“No, I gained a level in [Unified Collective], so my Ego is 1 now.”
“You still have both your classes?”
“Can’t you see it yourself?”
I shake my head. “No. Mine’s different. You still have [Wanderer] at level 3, then?”
“Uh, yes, why?”
I take another deep breath, and look down at my leg. That’s a lot of blood.
“I think we’re going to need it,” I say. “At this point, we’re pretty much dead already. Even if we’re lucky enough for this knife not to have hit anything major, we’ve lost a ton of blood and we’re going to lose even more in a minute.”
“O-oh...” she replies. “Uh...is there anything we can do?”
“Not we,” I answer. “You. Resilience is toughness, right? Maybe...it’s a long shot, but maybe those extra points will be enough to keep us alive long enough to treat this wound.”
“Me?!” Allison shouts. “I don’t know the first thing about first aid!”
“Yes you do. You know as much as I do,” I remind her. “But if you don’t remember, I can walk you through it, I think. It has to be you, though.”
“I—I can’t,” Allison whimpers, her voice so small that I doubt I’d have heard it if it hadn’t come from within my own head.
I lean my head back against the wall and sigh. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah,” I answer. “Okay. If you can’t handle it, I’m not going to force you. I’ll think of something else.”
“Like what?”
I swallow hard. We’ve already wasted too much time—the edges of my vision are going dark and my head is getting woozy. I can only think of one possible way out.
“I’m going to take the angel class. Apparently we have different slots, so I’ve got one free.”
“Just one?”
“Yeah,” I confirm. “The other one is Unified Collective. I guess it’s what’s tying us together.”
“Oh...”
There’s no more time to lose. I focus on [Angel-touched] and hesitate as the words appear in my mind.
[Tier 1 Angel-touched]**
One who has been blessed by the touch of an Angel. An acolyte of the World Engine and harbinger of its divine mechanism.
[Transient] - This class will disappear if not selected while its conditions are met.
[Permanent] - This class cannot be removed once selected.
Skill - Reverse Entropy: Draw from latent space to repair damage.
Skill - Commune with Order: Divine a purpose from the mechanism of the World Engine.
Attribute bonuses: Power, Resilience.
Advancement: Fulfill tasks assigned by the World Engine.
I don’t know what will happen when I take this. Maybe that skill can heal me. Maybe I’ll get the attributes I need to survive. Either way, once I make the choice, it’s over. Both my classes will be locked forever. But if it’s that or death...
“Wait!” Allison’s voice stops me before I can confirm the decision. “I’ll do it. Don’t take the angel class.”
“Are—” I fight to keep my eyes open. “Are you sure? We don’t get a second chance at this. I’m already close to passing out, and if we go down we’re not getting back up again.”
“I know...” she says. “But that class creeps me out. If we take it...I feel like it brings us closer to one of those things. It gives the [World Engine] so much control over us.”
“You don’t even know what the [World Engine] is,” I remind her.
“No, but it feels wrong,” she replies. “Let me help.”
I groan and try to squeeze my leg tighter, but I can feel my grip loosening. I’m losing strength.
“Alright,” I say, before I can change my mind again. “Let’s do this.”
“Right! Uh...how?”
I grimace. “I don’t know,” I admit. “This is as new to me as it is to you.”
“Uh, right,” she says. “Well, maybe I can just...”
Strength flows into me as the darkness around my vision fades. Also holy frick my leg hurts!
“Ow, ow, ow! Frick! How were you fighting like this?!” I cry.
“Focus,” the other me responds. It feels like she’s behind me, with a hand on my shoulder. “Keep pressure on that leg—we don’t know how much time your resilience bought us.”
“R-right,” I answer, wincing as I squeeze as tightly as I’m able. It hurts!
I’m back in control, I guess. The other me was right about the attributes helping, but now I have no idea what to do.
“Okay, make sure you control your breathing,” she reminds me. “In, hold it, then out. Slowly. We need to keep our heart rate steady.”
“Got it,” I respond, following her instructions carefully. “Now what?”
“We’re going to have to move fast, so hear out the entire plan before you move, alright?”
“Yes ma’am!”
“First, you’ll take off your belt.”
I blink. “Okay?”
To be honest, I forgot I was even wearing one. These skinny jeans are so tight that it’s mostly just for fashion anyway.
“Then, you’re going to take out the knife—carefully, but quickly.”
“What?!” I protest. “I thought that taking the knife out was bad!”
“Normally, yes,” the other me agrees. “But what are we going to do, just leave it there forever? There’s no ambulance coming, Allison, we have to do this on our own.”
“R-right. Okay. Then what?”
“The skeleton’s cloak. You need to wrap it around your leg, then tie it with the belt to keep the wound closed.”
“Eww! Isn’t that dirty? What about infection?” I complain.
“We don’t have a lot of options right now, Allison.”
“Okay, okay,” I relent.
I take a deep breath and try my best to pinch my thigh with one hand while I clumsily shimmy the belt out from around my waist. Setting it aside, I stare at the knife sticking out of my leg for a moment, trying to psyche myself up.
“Okay, Allison, you can do this,” I say to myself, and for once, I respond.
“You can. I believe in you.”
Oh! That’s kind of nice, actually. I’d feel a lot better about it if I weren’t in incredible pain and probably about to make it a whole lot worse.
No overthinking it. I grip the handle, steady my breathing, and then pull it out as straight as I can.
“Ow! Frick!”
“Focus, Allison! Pressure!”
I nod and drop the knife to squeeze my leg tightly. Frick, it hurts so much!
“There was no blood spurt when you took it out,” the other me comments. “That’s a good sign.”
“Great,” I groan through gritted teeth.
Pinching my leg with one hand, I fumble for the cloak with the other. It’s still got a pile of bones in it, which makes handling it a little trickier than expected. At some point when the other me was handling it, the hood got nearly torn off, and it’s hanging on by a thread, so I grip the cloak in my teeth and rip the stray piece of fabric off.
The hood isn’t quite big enough to tie around my leg, but I pack it as tightly as I can against the wound and grab the belt. Getting my leg bandaged is a slow and clumsy process, but the other me calmly talks me through it, and eventually we get the belt secured tight around my leg with the cloth hood held firmly against my stab wound.
I lean back against the wall and rest my arm against my forehead, feeling exhausted and woozy. My entire body is drenched in sweat, which is making my stab wound sting like crazy, but I’m alive and hopefully going to remain that way.
“Good work, Allison,” the other me congratulates me. “You may have just saved our life.”
“You’re the one that saved us,” I retort. “If not for you I would definitely be dead right now.”
“It was a team effort.”
“Yeah,” I agree, staring at the orange flickers of light the candle casts on the ceiling. “A team effort.”
A team. It’s not quite what I was hoping for, but more than I expected. The promise that drew me to the [Unified Collective] class in the first place has been fulfilled.
Finally, I don’t have to be alone.