I peeked through the doors as they screeched open. I won’t lie—I was jittery about fag my first boss fight, but the jitteriness was born—or reborn—out of pure excitement. Something was definitely off; I’d never felt like this before waking up in this realm as a monstrous pudding. Sure, I had more than a few screws loose, but actually enjoying fighting, murder, a’s not fet—ibalism? That was entirely new.
Setting aside my insane self-refle, what y before me was a massive circur chamber, part chiseled stone and part unfinished cave, adorned with those spiky rock things hanging from the ceiling and matg spikes rising from the ground. It eerily reminded me of the Bat Cave! However, these rocky spike-pilrs emitted a soft, gentle glow, bathing the chamber in a pale, ghostly light.
What are those spiky rock things called again? I hate it when I ’t remember stuff like this! Ugh, the name’s going to pop into my head at the most annoyingly awkward moment; I just know it.
Yep, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.
“So, what should I expe there?” I asked.
Redtail reached up and scratched the side of his head with a single loilian cw, seemingly p the same question.
“It’s ahereal Horror Weaver,” he finally answered, his voice tinged with apprehension. “It mas in any form drawn from the deepest fears buried within your soul, though its true form remains shrouded in mystery. It’s a real terror born from the Realm of Dreams, seeded withihereal Pne. Beyond that, all I know is that it will relentlessly try to terrorize you throughout the fight.”
“Well, isn’t that lovely,” I sighed, wishing I had some kind of fear immunity. However, a smile spread ay face. “Wait—isn’t that just a Boggart?”
“I—I’ve never heard of that creature before,” Redtail paused as if rifling through a mental almanaonsters.
“Well, as long as it doesn’t appear as a creepy , I’ll be good,” I said with a smile, though in truth, I was dead serious—I really meant that shit!
Don’t be a ! Don’t be a ! Please, please, please!
“Wait!” Redtail grabbed my arm just as I took my first step past those imposing iron doors.
I gnced down at his hand, which he quickly removed—lucky for him, I hadn’t activated my passive skills. He sucked in several deep breaths, gearing up for either a fession or a breakdown—I couldn’t tell which. It was almost cute, like watg a cow hesitate at the entrao a sughterhouse.
“We should skip this boss,” he blurted out, biting his lower lip as if he’d just fessed his undying love.
“What—why?”
“I—I took you here not knowing you were a Precursor,” he mumbled, gng away, his scales darkening with shame.
Hey! I’m gettier at reading the gecko’s expressions!
I crossed my arms and gred at the big lizard. “Look, I don’t really get all that crap you mentioned about vergence or whatever. Hell, I ’t my head around any of this shit. Magid skills? It’s nuts, man! Half the time, I’m vinced I’m dead, dreaming away in the hereafter.”
My eyes narrowed, and my voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. “So, what are you not telling me?”
Redtail’s shoulders slumped, and he avoided my gaze, his shame wafting off him—no, really! I could smell it. A me tell you, it was bitter!
“I brought you here hoping the boss would kill you, not knowing you were a summoned soul from a world beyond this wretched realm. T-That ges everything.” His back straightened, but he still refused to look at me, his voice heavy with shame. “I’m sorry, I really am. This fight is beyond you—it’s a secret dungeon boss that’s ued, as far as any of our memories go, and our memories go a long way. That being said, we’ve never had any user dungeon divers before, just the typical cocky denizens from Ockpo their luck.”
Redtail ughed, though the sound was as bitter as his aroma. “System users are the stuff of myths, and acc to those myths, these dungeons were designed for your kind. For what, I don’t know, but I tell you it wasn’t for assion to false godhood.”
“Huh, good to know,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm as the iron doors began screeg shut between us.
My future lizard-chi-dinner’s eyes widened when he finally noticed I was ihe boss chamber. I fshed a wicked grin, feeling a surge of exhiration. This prick actually thought he could off me—me! The audacity. I wasn’t just going to show him I was a badass; I was going to defeat the ued and rack up some seriously badass skills.
“What are you doing?” Redtail panicked, his voice rising to an almost squeaky tone in desperation. “Hurry, it’s not too te to e back!”
I tio smile at him, radiating fidence as I wiggled my bck, gooey fingers from my right hand. “I’m fearless. Hear me roar!” And with that, the doors shut, cutting off any hope of sed-guessing my decision.
Shit! Shit! Shit! Bke, what the hell am I doing? No, seriously—this is so fug stupid!
Wait—wasn’t that roar bit a Cat Woman quote? Great, now I’m eling my favorite movie vilins. Purrrfect!
Oh, and I’m talking about Michelle Pfeiffer, an. Now, that’s a cougar I wouldn’t miing my cws into. That said, Zo? Kravitz, meow!
“Fuck, I o calm my thoughts,” I breathed in and out. “That’s right, Bke, focus!”
Taking another deep breath, whiow that I thought about it, was weird—how the hell was I doing that? I’m sure I’ll circle back to that drum a few more times before crag it. I shrugged it off and sed the Bat Cave, on the hunt for this Horror Weaver-thing, not really sure what to brace for. I mean, what am I truly, deeply, to-the-soul scared of—midgets? Nah, probably not… I hope.
Ugh, it’s going to be idgets, I just fug know it! And if it’s not, I’d bet a hundred dolrs it’ll be something even worse—their evil twins: rampaging, pint-sized toddlers!
Eek! Just the thought of one of those little bastards calling me ‘Mommy’ gives me the heebie-jeebies!
Still, I couldn’t think of anything that would be so ingrained in my soul, given what the big lizard had said. “It mas in any form drawn from the deepest fears buried within your soul,” was the key takeaway I had gotten from his words. Yes, I aying attention, believe it or not—what else he may have said is a bit muffled, but hey, at least I got the key part, okay!
I strolled around a rge stagmite and froze, a sly grin spreading ay face. My memory decided to ki at the most ridioment—an inside joke only the observant of you would catch. But the ugh died in my throat as my grin vahere it was, sitting smack dab in the middle of the cavern—corre, boss chamber—a sireasure chest, looking as i as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“Oh, you’ve got to be fug kidding—”
“RUN!” a man screamed from behind me.
I spun around—not out of fear! Nope, didn’t scare me… not at all—only to find myself in the middle of a blizzard at night—deep within a fug forest? Snow swirled fiercely around me, and in the distance, a fire raged, casting eerie, flickering shadows dang on the snow. Five men stood before me, dressed like Spartans—or Romans—hell, history was never my strong suit. But they were undeniably from Earth’s past. The stra part? They didn’t charge at me; they didn’t eveo notice me. Their eyes were fixed on two figures running through the storm, their expressions predatory. One of the figures was clearly injured—a woman, desperately hobbling as a man—the one who’d screamed—tried with all his might to carry her along.
What the hell is going on?
Gng back to where the treasure chest had been, I found nothing but the dense, snow-coated forest stretg endlessly before me. It became painfully clear that this dungeon boss ying serious mind games. I turned back to the five soldiers—two were drawing their bows. Tears welled up in my eyes as I forced myself to watch the two fleeing figures, listening to the groan of the drawstrings as the archers took aim.
I reached up to wipe away a tear trig down my cold cheek, only to freeze when I noticed it wasn’t the bck, gooey hand I’d expected. Instead, it ale white hand attached to a tattooed arm—adorned with fmes, tentacles, and My Little Pony unis... don’t judge me! It was my old arm, from before I woke up in this nightmare realm of monsters and magic.
Gng down, I found I was bay old self: a short, blue-eyed, skinny, pierced, washboard-chested goth girl with pale skin, and shoulder-length hair dyed half bd green down the ter, cealing my natural red. Oh, a’s not fet the bck t-shirt embzoned with “I Decapitate Teddy Bears” paired with a short pid skirt adorned with a few s—maybe a bit overboard for a twenty-three-year-old, but that’s exactly why I loved it so much!
The twang of a b as an arrow was released snapped my attention back to the present. An inexplicable weight settled in my chest, a sense of loss and despair that I couldn’t quite pce. The other three soldiers charged, their swleaming and their shouts pierg the cold air. Yet, amidst the chaos, all I could focus on was a haunting feeling that something irrepceable was slipping away.
I watched in horror as the arrow sailed into the back of the woman the man was carrying. With a siing thwack, it pierced through her, protruding grotesquely from her chest. She dropped to her knees; involuntarily, I mirrored her a, transfixed by the brutal se. The woman turo the man, her eyes wide with shock, tears glimmering like diamonds as they fell. As each tear dropped, I felt a piee crumble away.
“Aislinn!” the man cried out.
Muy fused sorrow, he owerless to help her as all five soldiers closed in around him, taunting him as they poked and prodded with their swords. Blood gushed from shallow wounds, mingling with the snow, as their cruel ughter echoed in the cold air. He fought desperately, but it was in vain.
I felt a profound sense of helplessness and loss along with his olified by the haunting realization that, for the first time since waking as a monster, I couldn’t uand the nguage they were speaking—Latin? It sounded like it. The unfamiliar, taunting words only deepened my sense of fusion and despair.
Suddenly, a sixth soldier emerged from the trees amidst the whirlwind of snow, a forbidding shadow cast upon him as the fmes behind him created an ominous darkness. His presence added to the overwhelming sense of dread, a dark figure that seemed to embody the hopelessness of the se.
Uo handle any more, I screamed and lunged from my knees, my fist raised as I dashed at him with all I had. My fist swung through nothingness, as though he weren’t even there, causio lose my band stumble face-first into a snowbank.
Pulling myself out of the snow, I watched, mortified, as the sixth soldier approached the woman. My heart pounded wildly in my chest as I took in the se. A cold dread washed over me, paralyzih a mix of fear and anger. From my new vantage, I finally got a good look at her. She was about my age, early twenties, with fair freckled skin, long blonde hair, and greehat shined like emeralds. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and I couldn’t pull my tear-streaked eyes away. The soldier loomed over her as she stared defiantly from her knees, acceptached on her face, a bloodied arrow protruding from her chest.
The soldier pushed her with a brutal force that toppled her onto her back, violently snapping the arrow lodged in her chest. A ghastly cough of blood erupted from her lips as her body shuddered uhe pain. Rage boiled within me, unbridled and savage, as I watched the man mouearing and g at her clothes in a frenzied viotion. Meanwhile, the five others ceased their cruel taunts and began to mercilessly hack at the man who had been with her, their swords slig through the air with a chilling finality. Each strike felt as though it was chopping away at a piee.
Tears streamed down my face, a cascade of helplessness and horror, as I screamed, powerless to intervene. My heart was torn with fusion—why did this agony grip me so intensely? These people were strangers from a distant a past, yet the anguish I felt ierg as if I had known them all my life. A visceral, primal fear surged through my veins, a deep-seated pain that g me as if a piey soul were being torn away, a sensation I could her uand nor articute.
In her final moments, amidst the chaos and the age, Aislinn’s eyes met mine. With a strength that belied her agony, she whispered, her voice a haunting echo of a bond I didn’t uand, “I shall find you in the life beyond, my dearest love.”
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
Fear Status Detected [SD]
Dread Status Detected [SD]
Sorrow Status Detected [SD]
Resist Status: No Immunity [Inactive]
Affli: Soul Fracture
Effects Applied:
Emotional Votility: Increases uability in behavior aions.Weakened Resolve: Lowers perseverand resistao ive influences.Dulled Senses: Slows rea times and diminishes sensory awareness.Diminished Willpower: Impairs focus and task persistence, redug performance.Heightened Sensitivity: Boosts susceptibility to other mental ive effects.
V:\>
My mind was too numb to prehend the floating system dispy before me as I stared into Aislinn’s eyes. I watched the light fade from them as she let go of this world a her sights on the , leaving me behind—feeling forever alone and broken. A, I couldn’t expin why I felt this way; I didn’t know her. This had to be some twisted mind fuckery, a halluation, but it felt so real, so pierg, that I couldn’t tear my pained gaze away.
“Snap out of it!”
A distant, almost familiar woman’s voice repeatedly screamed into my mind. Still, it sounded as though it had e from another world. I was submerged in a sea of grief, my eyes fixed on Aislinn’s lifeless form as the soldiers desecrated her with barbaric glee. Her cold, lifeless eyes locked onto mine, a haunting mirror of the brutality her corpse was enduring.
“WAKE UP! I’ve got too muvested in you to die here—not yet! It’s too soon!”
Behihe snow whispered under slow, measured footsteps, remi of a wolf stalking an injured deer through a silent forest. Yet, I paid it no mind, transfixed on the horrifying se unfolding before me. Tears tireaming down my face, eaarking the unexpiional turmoil that fractured my soul with each passing moment.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
AdminSystemOverride
Admin:\Magic>Login_
System Access Granted [SAG]
Loading Modules…
figuration plete.
Initializing NEW Character Skills…
NEW Data Accepted.
Reinitializing NEW Character Data…
_
V:\SkillUpdate
NEW Immunity Skills Initializing:
> [Fear]
> [Dread]
> [Sorrow]
V:\>
In a single blink, I found myself staring at the empty space where Aislinn had been. All around me was a blend of chiseled stone and raw cavern, illuminated by the dull glow of stactites hanging from the ceiling and stagmites rising toward them from the ground. The fog that had clouded my mind began to evaporate with each blink, but regrettably, the emotional memory of the pain lingered like a scar I wouldn’t soon fet.
Gng down, I saw that I was ba my bck gooey humanoid-ish form. Suddenly, the sound of feet against stone echoed behind me. I spun around, instinctively ung my arm forward. It morphed into a loacle, reag with a bat reflex I hadn’t known I possessed, and ed around the most unusual creature I had yet entered.
“What in the fuck are you?”
I leaned my head back, giving the se in front of me the full dramatic effect it deserved. There, looking like a rejected sketch from an artist’s pad, was a dark gray figure resembling a wisp of a bald, nude man. His features? Barely human, more like zy suggestions than anything solid. And by wisp, I mean he—or it, sihere wasn’t anything particur to note iher regions—was as skeletally thin and almost translut, kind of like a bad special effect, flickering on the edge of reality. Watg it writhe, cw, a out a horrifyingly raspy scream in a futile bid for freedom, I couldn’t help but relish in its pathetic physical weakness and frailty.
Really, this thing almost broke my mind?
—Well, maybe more than ‘almost.’
“So, you’re ahereal Horror Weaver?” I asked, smiling at the filing, snarling creature.
“ARRRGH!” was its only reply.
I shrugged and activated all three of my passive attacks, adding a bit of Blight food measure. The snarls and growls became high-pitched shrieks as the creature’s filing became more desperate and vicious. However, its frenzy quickly dwindled until, at st, the expected system notification fshed before my eyes.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
BattleResult
Enemy Defeated Dungeon Boss: [Ethereal Horror Weaver]
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Current Level: 21
Level Milestone Achieved [LMA]
Unlocked 6 Skill Points
Milesto Level: 25
_
Initiate [Absorb] ohereal Horror Weaver]?
> YES
> NO
V:\>
“Hmm… No new Racial Skill, but six new skill points? Well, aren’t you a generous little milestone gift,” I muttered with a smirk, pleased to see that system notifications still worked on dungeon bosses, even if the rest of the monsters did absolutely zilch.
Hey! That should bring me up to a grand total of ten skill points, if my dodgy math checks out—don’t judge, math was never my strong suit!
As I looked over the notifiy mind wandered back to everything that had happened during that fight, especially that voice—the one I could have sworn was just my imagination. But the more I repyed the memories, the fuzzier they became. Even the system notifications I got during the fight had vanished when I checked the system page to verify what had happened.
“Had I imagi all?”
The pain of remembering Aislinn’s eyes on me as she died felt piergly real and tio ache within me. Despite my efforts, I couldn’t erase that haunting image from my mind.
“It wasn’t real, Bke. It wasn’t real,” I repeated, shaking my arms as if trying to fling away the bad thoughts—it didn’t work.
Needing a ge of thought, I mentally clicked yes on the Absorb option.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
SkillUpdate
[Absorb] [Ethereal Horror Weaver] Successful
New Selectable Skills Avaible:
- [Ethereal Awakening]
- [Ethereal Mist]
- [Fear Harvest]
- [Terror’s Infusion]
V:\>
A fleeting smile fshed ay face before a frown bulldozed it away. “Where the fuck is that Soul Fracture shit?” I snapped. Seems I remember a tad more than I let on, but let’s be ho—it’s still a hot mess up there.
Grumbling a string of obsities, I pulled up my new skill options.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
SkillDetails
[Fear Harvest]
Description: Absorbs the ambient terror of those around, verting their fear into mana. The greater their fear, the more mana is regeed, emp your abilities further.
Status: Inactive
Type: Spell
Activation: Passive
Select [Fear Harvest]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Ethereal Awakening]
Description: Grants the ability to transition your soul betweeaphysical ahereal pnes, and reato the Realm of Dreams. Caution advised to maintaiaphysical form to avoid being lost ihereal.
Status: Inactive
Type: Ability
Activation: Cast
Select [Ethereal Awakening]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Ethereal Mist]
Description: Temporarily transforms your physical form into mist by shiftiweeaphysical ahereal pnes, enabling evasion of attacks and stealthy approaches to unsuspeg prey.
Status: Inactive
Type: Ability
Activation: Cast
Select [Ethereal Mist]?
> YES
> NO
_
[Terror’s Infusion]
Description: Passively imbues all your abilities with the essence of fear, causing each skill to instill terror in your foes, disrupting their as and making them more vulnerable to further fear effects.
Status: Inactive
Type: Spell
Activation: Passive
Select [Terror’s Infusion]?
> YES
> NO
V:\>
“Well, out of all of them, I’ve got to say, that Fear Harvest looks the most tempting,” I muttered to myself.
“You don’t ,” a feminine voi my head replied.
I might have jumped and peed a little at the sound—wait, do I even pee? Anyway, I spun around, not expeg to actually find anyone. But hey, a girl’s got to check, right?
“Um, hello?” I called out into the apparent nothingness.
The words just hung there in the cavern, and muy growing annoyahere was no reply. Crossing my arms and huffing, I relutly took the advice of the voi my head, passing up Fear Harvest for now. What? You wouldn’t listen to the voices in your head? I certainly would—if they made sense… not that this one had.
I mostly kneao spend my six skill points; I was just torween two skills, Fear and Terror’s Infusion. Fear unleashed its own separate aura of insanity on others’ nerves, while Terror’s Infusion seemed to do the same but didn’t broadcast it as an aura; it infused all my other skills with terror. The kicker? Terror Infusion assive skill, and I was holy starting to lean towards passives over casting skills. Not that Blight was a bad thing, but e on, I was doing some serious skill stag with passives. And seriously, who puts a cap on awesomeness? Not this system, apparently.
So, with utter delight, I hummed a little tune and started clig on skills. Terror’s Infusion—because, let’s face it, terror is my new perfume. Astral Insight—because, e on, insights stack as well. Ethereal Mist, because yeah, shiftiween pnes? Fuck yeah! Aic Fme, since I needed a ranged offensive spell besides Blight.
Then, the choice was more indulgehan practicality, but hey, who doesn’t want to walk on walls? So, Spider Walk it was. Last but not least, Ethereal Awakening. Why? I’m not sure; it felt like something ulling me in that dire—let’s just call it a gut feeling or an insightful nudge.
As the skills toggled to active, I suddenly snapped back to that dark, snow-covered forest. A moment of panic tried to grip me, but really, there was no room for dread or fear—not even a smidgen of sorrow. Maybe a whisper of apprehension, but who’s ting? Not me! I’m scared of nada... Ha. Ha. Ha.
In my typical denial mode, I scoped out the area. No soldiers, no Aisline my intense eye-sweep of the pce. Curious, I stepped forward and spotted a meadow through the trees. It teased me, opening up into what looked like a never-ending sprint towards a spring day—seriously, not a speck of snow. And what’s that on the hill? A quaint little cottage puffing out smoke like it’s brewing a witch’s potion or something. Real cute.
I blinked, and just like that, ba the Bat Cave. “Okay, maybe listening to that gut feeling was as good an idea as socks with sandals,” I muttered as I eyed my new skills, especially that Ethereal Awakening.
Feeling doh this pce, I decided it was time to make my exit. However, just a few steps toward the iron doors, I spotted a treasure chest sitting sma the middle of the chamber. Now, this could be an actual reward for defeating the boss, or—and hear me out—it could be one of those damn mimic chests. I eyed it with distrust, deg I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it, and tinued on my way to the doors, whistling a little smug tuo myself.
My thoughts drifted to a particur vampire as my hands reached up to push opewo imposing iron doors. I froze, suddenly w if I was g again. But no tears came; this monster shed ill, there I remained.
V:\Assion>SAFE_MODE
CharacterStatus
Name: Bke
Rabsp; Bck Pudding
Css: Monster
Level: 21
Titles:
- [Hopeless Crusader]
Racial Skills:
- [Absorb]
- [Are Insight]
- [Corrosive]
- [Polymorph]
- [Thermal]
Spells:
- [Astral Insight]
- [Blight]
- [Life Drain]
- [Mana Focus]
- [ic Fme]
- [Terror’s Infusion]
Abilities:
- [Ethereal Awakening]
- [Ethereal Mist]
- [Silk Webbing]
- [Spider Walk]
- [Venomous]
Vulnerabilities:
- [Fire]
- [Holy]
Immunities:
- [Acid]
- [Darkness]
- [Disease]
- [Dread]
- [Fear]
- [Poison]
- [Sorrow]
Uraits:
- [Polyglot]
- [Oracle]
Selectable Skills:
- [Dull Corrode]
- [Fear Harvest]
- [Fear]
- [Paralysis]
- [Spirit Vessel]
- [Spores]
- [Stelr Void]
V:\>
1
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