Chapter 7

  Wormpool pulled out a gleaming clear gem, the size of a gaming controller, it had etchings scratched into it, its surface catching the strange purple light of the chamber. "Now, this gem is valuable. It is worth more than your soul. Don't waste it."

  Tyler chuckled. "My soul, huh?"

  "Yes, it truly is," Wormpool replied, his bat-like features deadly serious. "It's a bypass. It allows you to receive an ability directly from The Cosmore early, before your first class selection. It also will give you the intermediate version of the ability, or as close as your being will allow."

  The gem flickered with inner light, changing colors subtly as it caught different angles of illumination.

  "Out of everything I've been told, this feels the strangest—some say even painful. But a strong, confident human like yourself can handle it, right?" Wormpool's tone carried a hint of challenge, perhaps even mockery.

  "This isn't something you can bond with. You need to force it into your pathways. It's better to place it at your chest, some say, it can take in more that way, but have possible consequences. Others prefer to pull it in from their hands. Which is slower and less potent, but much safer. The choice is yours."

  Tyler gave Wormpool the smirking look that said "challenge accepted." He grabbed the gem with little hesitation—it was much lighter than expected. Was that from the limited strength he'd added, or was it actually just lighter in this realm?

  He stopped his thoughts and made a choice: I'm not chicken shit. He placed the gem on his chest. The feeling was instantaneous—a resistance and a burn he didn't feel in his hands. At that moment, he knew he'd made the right choice.

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  He felt his pathways forcing themselves to pull in the gem. Golden light flickered from his hands, his chest, his body. The gem pulled away like a force he couldn't describe—like an ocean wave or a magnetic opposing end, but on a level that wasn't physical, even though the gem itself was.

  He felt his threads reaching out. Strings grabbing hold of it, pulling it closer to his core? His soul? Was it all the same thing?

  The intensity increased. The burning sensation warped his body. He felt bones cracking—or was it something else? Then a sensation rippled, starting in his chest, then down his spine—a burn that felt like his atoms were turning into ash. His feet began to feel numb. His hands felt heavy.

  Was it over? Then BAM—he felt his back snap as a beam of Golden light emitted from his chest, and then he collapsed.

  Several notifications awaited him in his mind's eye, glowing like neon signs against the darkness of his consciousness:

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  But he couldn't move. Was he paralyzed? Did he just fuck himself? His body ached in ways that didn't feel possible. Wormpool's warning was a fucking joke—he was trying to get Tyler to do something stupid, and it worked.

  He still couldn't feel his feet. His hands remained heavy, his back arched in a way that felt unnatural. He looked up. Wormpool had a grin playing on his mouth, and for the first time, from that angle, Tyler saw his fangs.

  ."What... what the fuck just happened? What did you do to me?" Tyler gasped, struggling to move his unresponsive body.

  Wormpool loomed over him, his expression transforming from mild amusement to cruel satisfaction.

  "I did nothing. You made your choice, and now you deal with it." The bat-creature's voice had shed its professional tone, revealing the malice beneath. "You idiot. You are not Henry, are you? I was told Henry was an intelligent, patient man who took advice and was mentally stable."

  He leaned closer, his fangs fully visible now. "You're pitiful. A bug. A nuisance. Who are you? Tell me now, and I might decide to not leave you here to rot."

  Fully deflated physically and mentally feeling like a true numbskull Tyler diverts his gaze and looks down “My name is Tyler”