I woke up with a terrible ache in my neck. I knew I shouldn’t have fallen asleep at my desk; I felt groggy, as if I hadn’t got any sleep at all. No wonder, after that odd nightmare I had. For a moment I considered staying prone and going back to sleep, but in the end common sense won and I decided to crawl back to my bed. I sat up slowly, feeling grass beneath my fingers. My eyes snapped open, taking in the night sky with the enormous moon that hung above me, painting my surroundings in unnatural green light.

“Crap.”

Memories of the Inspector and the wailing gnomes flooded me, and the sense of dread returned. The bitter fight for survival, the hopelessness of my situation, the sinking feeling of despair within my chest—my chest! I grabbed my shirt quickly; its front was torn open and crusted with dried blood. But my chest didn’t hurt anymore, and as far as I could see, it was healed … though I had faint scar where the Inspector had stabbed me.

“Ah, crap.”

Quite a bit of time had passed, that much was clear. Although night had fallen, it was far from dark; the moon shone brightly enough to illuminate my surroundings. A small river ran nearby, its shallow water reflecting the light of the campfire at which the others were eating. Four humans on one side of the fire, two Sylven on the other, huddling close to the flames to roast the pieces of meat they impaled on sticks. I was farther away from them; someone had apparently propped me up against a tree while I slept, which explained why my neck ached so badly.

I took deep breaths, trying to keep myself calm. I wasn’t a person who got nervous very often, but this situation was a little bit too much. I wasn’t in a dream, after all. It had been easier to pretend that I was, but even my self-delusion had its limits. Reality started to sink in, and I wanted to run away. Only, there was nowhere to run.

I prodded the scar on my chest, my mind racing about the consequences of being transported to another planet. No more morning coffee for a while, which sucked big time. I also needed to get a new toothbrush. There were some other itty-nitty problems about finding enough food to not starve to death, but the others were probably thinking about that part already. Thank goodness that I had others with me, so that I could concentrate on the important stuff.

Imaya was the first to notice that I was awake, her eyes shining because of that Ability of hers. She got up and made her way to me with a small bundle in her hand. I caught the others shooting curious glances in my direction, but they stayed near the campfire.

“Hi there,” Imaya said when she arrived, handing me a slightly charred rabbit leg wrapped in a big leaf. “How are you doing?”

“I’ve been better,” I said. My stomach growled at the sight of the meat.

“There were some debate whether you deserved to eat that,” Imaya said, sitting down next to me. “Because it’s kinda your fault that we had only one rabbit to eat. But then you were the one who got stabbed in the chest, so—there. A bit tasteless, but better than nothing.”

“Thanks,” I said, and took a cautious bite from the meat. Greasy and badly needing some salt, but indeed better than nothing.

“We talked quite a bit while you were out,” Imaya chattered on while I ate. “Walked a lot too. Devi’lynn carried you, that is, her clones did.”

I stopped mid-bite, looking at her. “Clones?”

“Her new Ability!” Imaya said. “You’ll see, it’s awesome. Devi’lynn can create these perfect copies of herself and direct them to do basic tasks. She spared us a lot of effort by carrying you. Anyway, as you can see we’ve been following the river up till now. There’s a forest ahead that we will enter tomorrow. The plan is to stay as close of the river as we can, and walk until we find civilization.”

“If there’s any civilization,” I added.

“Yes, if there’s any. But from what the Inspector said, I think there were other Players before us. Lots of others. We ought to find something.”

I nodded at that, continuing to eat in silence. Unfortunately, Imaya didn’t consider the conversation over and soon started to fidget, looking at me expectantly.

“So … Randel, what is your starter Ability?” she asked. “The Inspector didn’t leave that black dagger behind.”

Oh, right. The dagger—and my Ability. I wiped my greasy fingers into my already dirty shirt, then held out a hand, palms up. If the collar could read my thoughts, perhaps this would work too. I imagined holding the black dagger in my hand and—

“Woah!” Imaya exclaimed as the weapon appeared on my palm. “You can store the weapon in some extraterrestrial space and summon it at will?”

“Uh, what? No, I can teleport it to my hand.”

I dropped the dagger at my feet, then held out my hand once again and concentrated on using my Ability. Nothing happened. I shook my hand a little, but still nothing.

“Umm, are you sure—” Imaya started to say just as the dagger popped into my hand, fingers closing around the hilt. “Ah! Cooldown?”

“I guess,” I said, marveling at my Ability. The second time I had imagined the dagger to arrive with its blade pointing my way, and so it had. Instantaneous teleportation with only a thought. Was this actually magic, or was it just the advanced technology that the Inspector had hinted at? I still had a hard time believing none of this was a dream.

The weapon in my hand was an oddity by itself. The orange gemstone embedded into the black blade wasn’t pulsing as frequently as before, and the vein-like lines were gone too. The hilt was a bit short, the small knob at its end pressing into my palm uncomfortably as I gripped it. The curved edge of the blade had a wicked barb near the end, one that I didn’t remember it had before. Although the design looked good, I wasn’t sure how useful it would be in practice. I’d have been happier with a simpler dagger with a straight blade and a more comfortable grip.

“Hey—!” I jolted in alarm as the black dagger shifted in my hand. Orange lines spread across the black surface, originating from the small gemstone. The blade gradually straightened, molding itself exactly into the shape I had imagined. Similarly, I could feel the handle in my palm stretch a bit, adjusting itself so that I had a better grip on it.

“Awesome,” Imaya whispered. “Randel, have you checked your Equipment tab in your menu? You may find an item description there about your dagger.”

I was tempted to just play around some more with the dagger’s shape first, but after a look at Imaya’s excited face I opened my collar’s interface instead. Imaya scooted closer peek at my screen. The Equipment tab had a bunch of empty boxes, but on the top the Weapon slot was filled with text.

Soul Eater, demon’s fang
Description: As a powerful weapon created by legendary beings, Soul Eater is a living weapon made of an extremely rare and incredibly durable material. Although the weapon’s true capabilities are still a mystery, one thing is certain: it needs to be constantly fed. Take lives and consume their essence to sustain Soul Eater! Side effects may include hallucination, emotional instability, lowered inhibitions, schizophrenia, mental instability, loss of self.
Perk – Ever-consuming: level 1
Soul Eater grows as you feed it. This perk doesn’t have a level cap.
Perk – Free Form: level 1
You can change Soul Eater’s shape.
Perk – Autonomous: level 1
Being a living weapon, Soul Eater can make decisions on its own.

“I don’t like the side effects,” I grumbled once I finished reading. “That part about killing stuff seems to be bothersome as well. Can I get a refund for this thing?”

“I don’t think you can return it,” Imaya said. “It’s kinda cool, though. Cool in a dark-and-edgy kind of anti-hero way, but cool nevertheless. Maybe you’re encouraged to be a villain.”

“What the hell are you talking about,” I mumbled, closing my collar’s screen. I was getting dizzy from all this new stuff.

“Hey, don’t you find this exciting?” Imaya asked, not reading my mood all too well.

I sighed, picking up my half-finished rabbit and prodding it with my dagger’s tip. I then dropped the dagger to the ground, and teleported it back to my hand. The blade didn’t have any grease or dirt on it. I had to give it to Imaya, it was a little bit exciting.

“What—what are you doing?” she asked, watching me split Soul Eater’s blade to have three pointed ends.

“Making a fork.”

I impaled the rabbit leg with my fork-dagger, then twisted the blade’s shape inside the meat so that it wouldn’t come loose.

“B-But that’s your evil weapon!” Imaya protested. “You can’t use it for eating!”

“Sure I can,” I replied, biting into the meat. “Quite convenient too, since I won’t have to clean it afterwards.”

Imaya had no comeback for that. She looked more bothered by my behavior than she had any right to be, but at least she let me eat in peace for a while.