Heart beating, sweat pouring, mind going blank. All of these and more were happening in real time as I stared in horror at the Black Skeleton. It had taken an extremely nasty dive when it fell through my literal memories to here but it was rapidly pulling itself back together. Rick and Jessica were frozen in shock and I had no weapon, so my mind blanked hard. I wanted to run and attack it straight away and couldn’t, the walk hadn’t helped my injuries that had only seemed to ache worse over time. But I also didn’t want to try and tell my friends to go and attack the monster before us. 

For once, I hesitated. 

That was a mistake. 

“AHHH!” Jessica yelled out, a blood curdling scream that would forever be burned into my memories. The skeleton already had its claw hip deep inside her. 

“JESSICA!” I screamed and Rick moved. 

He slammed his sword into the skeleton, sending it flying, leaving a literal hand sized hole in my girlfriend. The hole was in her side, non-lethal by pure luck, but that did nothing to calm me. My entire existence flashed before my eyes once again, my emotions grew and grew, exploding out, as I watched Jessica’s blood splatter on the path. Her face scrunched into agony, tears streaming down her face, blood covering her waist and side as her screams of pain broke through the air. 

I stared, transfixed, as if I had been shoved into the deepest darkest waters. Cold numbness and horror spread through my body. Time seemed to slow down as reality began to assert itself. Jessica… Jessica was hurt. 

She could die. 

Time seemed to slow down, as I stared at the Black Skeleton. Stared at its claws dripping with her blood. Stared as it bore down now on my best friend, who barely had his sword up. As the thought of truly losing them before my very eyes took hold. 

A match of hatred was lit inside me at that moment. But it stayed a match for no longer than a moment. 

Because I began to hate.

And Hate.

And HATE.

“AHHHHHHHH!” 

I tackled the monster, just as it was about to cut open Rick’s head. The skeleton was fast, durable, strong, but light. So light in comparison to my rage. I got it on the ground and began to punch. 

No Qi erupted from my fist this time to break it’s head. Instead, something I’d never seen a Black Skeleton do before happened. 

It punched me. 

I felt my ribs break, as I was launched away from it. Agony coursed through me and the Black Skeleton was already up again. My hate didn’t leave me, not for a moment, even as I saw claws come closer to my face even while I was still in the air. Another sword strike to the side of the thing had it stumbling back, away. Rick hadn’t wasted any more time but this monster was relentless, more machine than creature, and words failed. 

The tackle, the punch, the pain, it was only as my back landed that I realized I had absolutely broken my fist on its bones. I still stared, as Rick slashed as fast as he could. For a brief moment, he won. He hit it and it didn’t hit him, giving him breathing room, but the thing was just so fast. In only a handful of seconds, I watched as Rick suffered injury after injury, protecting his face but getting deep claws going through his chest and sides. Rick fought through the pain as I stared in horror. 

His sword fell, Rick just a normal man. The pain overwhelming him for a moment. I tried to get up but it was if my body refused to listen to me. Refused to move. Pain was the only response I felt as I saw my friend die- 

“FUCK YOU!”

A sword swung more like a bat crashed against the Skeleton’s head, nearly sending it flying off the path. Jessica, agony and fury etched across her face, was up and fighting. It was wrong to say the Black Skeleton had forgotten her, it didn’t seem to have a mind to speak of. But even in the depths of my hatred and pain and anger, I slapped myself. Jessica had been injured, not killed, and she wasn’t helpless. Yet my brain had mentally ruled her out of the fight after she’d been attacked. 

I managed to rise to my feet, for a single moment, before I collapsed. My breath felt ragged, blood pooling in my lungs, bruises, breaks, and more seeming to light up in my brain. I groaned, agony coating my features. I gritted my teeth, my hatred overcoming even my own body, as I forced myself to stay standing. 

We faced the monster, not one of us uninjured, and we began to attack. The Black Skeleton didn’t hesitate, it never had and never would, already rushing back to us so fast it practically teleported. Rick managed to angle his sword between its attack and Jessica was already swinging for it. I realized our mistake immediately. The Skeleton focused on it’s enemies and now there were two. It didn’t let the attack hit, nor did it dodge, it met the sword coming at it with its own blown. I realized instantly how much an ambush had benefited us in the last few minutes as Jessica and Rick frantically swung, trying to kill it and lost hard on that front. How Rick had managed to fight it for even a few seconds before blew me away as I realized just how insanely screwed we were. Its attacks were too fast to react to, the only reason my friends remained alive was because it only had two arms and they weren’t trying to block but relentlessly attack. It wouldn’t last and our luck felt like it was running out. 

Time wore on, seconds feeling like hours. The Black Skeleton seemed to shine in this dimension, like a pure specter of imminent death. My friends were bleeding, tiring, losing. They were going to slip up and they were going to die. My brain worked hard, struggling, trying to figure out what to do. How to help. How to fight.

My eyes found something and I dove for it immediately. 

*****

Rick and Jessica fought like rabid animals, trying their best to survive. Any normal human or creature would have had the decency to be hurt by the attack of two humans going all out with swords, no matter what they were. Apart from ambushes, the skeleton hadn’t been hit. Soon, Rick and Jessica would make a mistake. 

And they did. 

Rick was feeling pain from multiple wounds crisscrossing mainly his chest. But his blood was leaving that much quicker. Even with adrenaline and feel racing up his spine, even as he fought for his very life and the life of his friends, he grew too tired. Once more, he saw death approaching. Once more, he realized with surety he was going to die. 

And then a backpack slammed into the thing. The next moment, Matt, looked like more bruise than human, ran forward. In a move Rick would never forget, Matt grabbed the Skeleton by its skull with one hand, and threw it off the platform with strength born of desperation. 

It sailed through the air… before disappearing back into the memory. 

Everyone froze, staring out, hearts beating and thumping in their chest, blood slowly trickling out. Then as one, as if choreographed, they all collapsed in pain and agony. 

*****

Pain hurt. Pain hurt a lot. Pain without adrenaline hurt a lot. The second the fight had been over, it felt like the weight of a mountain was crushing me in a dozen places. I wasn’t the only one. We weren’t warriors or lifetime soldiers. We were normal people. Still, I had the “benefit” of suffering from pain and exhaustion recently due to an apocalypse, so I managed to crawl my way over to Jessica and Rick. I had thrown all our supplies out but shirts did well enough as make shift bandages.

We all stayed there and perhaps we would’ve stayed there for an eternity or five, but the memories had not stopped merely because we started fighting. The apocalypse passed before our eyes, of what I had gone through, of how my own battle with the skeleton had gone and went. Seeing it get smashed to pieces filled me with vindictive joy but it was absolutely nothing compared to how Jessica felt about it. Sound and words had become a way to express the pain coursing through our bodies but seeing that- 

“Fuck that thing. Fuck that thing to hell.” Jessica spat. 

“It sucked then and now.” I said. 

“Jesus Christ dude, we nearly died to that fucker and you fought it alone?” Rick said. 

I had no answer for that beyond a dark look. We continued to wait and watch, the horrors of the Apocalypse showing themself. 

The fast Zombie. Me nearly bleeding out. The armor and weapon from the care package. And the monsters. Rick and Jessica clearly hadn’t gotten a good look from them as they saw me stare at the behemoth with fresh eyes, shivering. No words were said about it, at least. I think we were all just afraid of it popping out and attacking us. 

The office full of deboned zombies had my friends nearly shaking with fear. The challenge was fun enough though, seeing me methodically murder zombies, though I was thankful it mostly focused on the skeleton. 

“You’re… Matt… this is insane.” Jessica finally said, seeing me kill the Black Skeleton with ease. It hit all the harder after having fought it ourselves. 

“I know.” I simply said. What else could I say? 

Then came the moment I had been dreading. The moment I temporarily became a girl. 

“Woo! Look at you!” Rick said and I realized I was truly never going to live this down. He seemed far more energetic than I’d have expected considering his wounds. “Wow, you didn’t even take the time to check out your body? Come on! I wanted to see you nak-” 

“I beg that you do not complete that sentence.” I said. 

“I wanted to see it too…” Jessica said and my manhood suddenly felt in danger. 

It was only moments later that I got my skill and my skin turned a statue like gray. 

“Wow. You look like a sexy gargoyle.” Rick said. “I guess the apocalypse isn’t all that bad after all.” 

Jessica nodded strongly and I was starting to feel genuine fear from how my best male friend and girlfriend were looking at my body. It lightened their moods at least… but at what cost? 

However… that was the day. The same day I got stabbed with green fluid and put under. They saw the nurse and- 

The memories cut out and stopped. With great difficulty, we all rose to our feet. There was a heart clenching moment, where I wasn’t at all sure what to do. The path continued on but, was this it or- 

A doorway made of white light opened up in front of us. Relief came for a moment, before worry. I turned around, staring at my two wounded friends. 

“Hey.” Rick said softly. “Don’t worry about us. We’ll find our way back, somehow. Maybe we’ll get our own doors. You have a Game Show to win.” 

“Matt… you can do it. I know you can. I believe in you and I know you can do it. And… I love you.” Jessica said, before giving me a hug. 

I felt choked up with emotions, not sure what to say or do. 

“I… I don’t know if… I don’t know how this world works. I don’t know what will happen if you also go through. I don’t know… so many things. But you two are real to me. No, you are two are just, real. You’re the best friend and girlfriend I could have asked for. I’d never have gotten this far or even survived without you two. I’m going to win this thing and save you both.” 

“Hey now, don’t forget Spot.” Rick laughed, grimacing a little from the wounds. 

I nodded. I didn’t want to go, to leave them like this. But I had to. I had to go back. 

“Goodbye.” I said, choking on the word. 

“Hey, this ain’t goodbye my dude. It’s more like, see you later.” 

“Ha. Alright then. I guess… I’ll see you both later.” 

I turned, tearing my gaze from them… and went through.

*****

Rick and Jessica stood, smiling, as they watched Matt leave through the white door. 

“Alright, quick, we need to follow.” Rick said. 

“What?” 

“We have no food, water, bandages, supplies, or way out. We either go through or get trapped here forever. Real or fake… I don’t care but getting trapped here forever? Not cool dude.” Rick laughed and sprinted for the closing white door. 

“H-Hey! Wait for me! I don’t want to be alone here, ow ow, Rick, hey, wait! My side, my side!” Jessica complained as she quickly hobbled after Rick, reaching the door right before it closed. 

*****

I woke up and felt… okay? That was such a strange feeling to me that mind nearly- 

No. My mind was good, better than good. Better than I could remember it being in a long, long time. It felt sharp, ready, fast. I felt more durable, faster, stronger, and like a connection I never knew was missing had just been shoved through me. Not one, but two different kinds, connecting around each in seeming spiral of the understanding of the universe. 

My stats were back. 

I got up and immediately noticed I was in an empty hospital bed. Wearing literally nothing but a white hospital gown. I looked around me and- 

My weapon! My armor! It was neatly to my side, hell, not just that. It even seemed to have been washed and cleaned. They were folded up nearly, with a change of clothes nearby. Not my clothes, but those were a lost cause anyway. I got out of bed and barely took a breath, before nearly moaning in enjoyment. I could taste the darkness. Not really, but it was practically pitch black here and I feel more satiated than I had in… ever. Even the weird effects of the backrooms or that weird dimension just couldn’t compare to having a good meal. 

My status was blinking intensely in my vision, but that could wait. I got dressed first, putting my armor and weapon on over the clothes. It was only as I was doing so that I realized I was male. I had gotten used to it in the dream realm but… how long was I out? I wasn’t being eaten so that was good but… 

A sound. 

I turned, seeing the faceless nurse, and my heart rate shot up. She had nothing in her hands, but I didn’t trust it. I ran at her, katana in hand, blood pumping. If I was put under a second time, could I promise I could get out? I could be trapped for good next time. Or I could die trying and that might really kill me out here. 

I raised my sword and swung. 

It was only the past few weeks of relative peace that made me stop, a hairs breath away from murdering the nurse. I stared, not believing my eyes in front of me. So many things had happened, so many impossible insane things. And yet here… I’d ran into another. One that blew my understanding of this world apart. 

The nurse was on the ground. She had fallen back when I’d ran at her with a sword. Her faceless face hadn’t opened up into a massive mouth, she hadn’t ran at me and attacked, she hadn’t thrown out syringes from nowhere like a ninja. She’d fallen backwards. 

In fear. 

Her arms were up over her head, her body was shivering, and if she had a face it would be in mortal terror. I… the nurse… the clothes I was wearing, the clean armor, still being alive in general… 

What… the fuck was going on? 

Slowly, cautiously… I pulled my blade away. The nurse, my mind couldn’t believe it, but this monster nurse… seemed… alive? Like a person? 

I noticed the color of her hair. I noticed her name tag, that said Kelly, the same nurse from the dream, and a terrible realization began to pull at me. As soon as my blade was away, the nurse came closer to me and I stayed cautious. She began to look around me, no, she was looking me over. For wounds. Finding none, she pulled out a syringe with green fluid and my sword was instantly back up. 

She saw that, and put the syringe away. 

She began to walk forward and I stepped out of the way. She fixed up the bed, folded the gown I’d thrown off, and then just… walked away. 

My mind felt like a hammer blow had hit it. I had barely escaped the dream world and had barely come to terms with that and now this. Because… that monster… that was Kelly. The nurse. I thought this apocalypse had killed everyone… but maybe not. Maybe it had done other things than just turn everyone into monsters. Well… horrible monsters anyway. 

Treatment. The nurse had put me under and treated me. It was just a bit too under. Where on earth did they even get that liquid? No, why am I questioning that, this world doesn’t make any sense. 

I finally decided to take a look at my status, which was beeping intensely at this point. 

[Level up!] 

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Achievements unlocked!] 

[Enter the Dream: Not everyone manages to find their way to the dream world. Congratulations! +1 Magic] 

[Find the Backrooms: The backrooms, the in between of spaces, where you end up if no clip out of reality. Apparently, it’s real! Well, it’s real somewhere, and you found it! +1 Magic] 

[A New Dimension: You’ve gone where few have gone before, escaping at least partially into not just a new world, but a new reality itself! +3 Magic] 

[Escape the Dream World: Not easy! In fact, super super hard! Almost no one comes out you know? It’s just so easy not to! That takes real will. +3 Mind] 

[A Good Monster?: You have found and spared a monster that showed you no hostility! Amazing, you didn’t let the apocalypse or innate human arrogance stop you from handling things peacefully! +1 Mind] 

I stared in wonder even as I felt my connection to the world and my mind grow. Four levels? The achievements and stats were great but… four levels? How long was I out- 

At that moment, I felt something I hadn’t felt in so long. I turned, a smile on my face despite it all. A Care Package popped into existence. I went over to it… only to freeze in place. It wasn’t a regular care package, it had a five blazing on the top of it. That meant… 

“Five days? I was out for five days?” 

Honestly, considering I’d spent at least a week on ‘earth’, and uncountable amounts of time in the backrooms and that dimension, I should be more than happy it was only five days. Still… that was a long time. But I guess it could have been worse. 

I stared at the care package with more than a little fear. That was five opportunities to screw me over. Well… who knows… maybe they would all be good. I took a steadying breath, preparing for calamity, and opened it up. I’d spend my Qi or stats as needed to deal with whatever happened. 

Many things came out of the box, but there seemed to be a hierarchy. I focused on the first orb that popped open. It seemed to be a… book? It popped and suddenly there was a full book in my hands. But it wasn’t normal. It seemed to made out of a very strange material and just holding it felt… odd. 

I tried to open it up but- 

[Cultivation manual unusable until sub-class is unlocked] 

A cultivation manual?! I hadn’t wasted all my time on earth, I knew how the Qi thing worked. Cultivation manuals talk you how to, well, cultivate. Normal people… gods… “Normal people” didn’t cultivate by having a system give them Qi points, they gathered it somehow and it empowered their body, before undergoing a transformation. But that took… forever. But cultivation manuals also taught you techniques, ways to use your Qi beyond ‘Hit harder’. I’d need to be a much higher level to use this but it would be incredibly helpful when I could. 

The next orb floated up and I smiled despite myself. This would have been right after I’d entered the dream world, so I really wasn’t too surprised at what it was. Qi points. I smiled. These had appeared in ties before but I’d never actually received them. I don’t know how many I got but I’d check that in a moment. Qi points would never be a bad thing to get. 

The next orbs didn’t wait around. Already they were floating up. This one was clearly a tie between two things. The first was… was that a demon tail? That was… strange. Would it summon a demon? That would be bad. The second one… 

My heart beat hard the second I saw it. Death. Whatever this is would kill me. I could feel a being, a being so strong it eclipsed this planet, staring back at me but it was as if I was hidden behind a cloud. If I got this, the cloud would be removed. My heart beat harder and harder, as a coin appeared and clipped. My pupils shook in terror, as the coin landed… on the demon tail. 

I let out a shaky breath of relief, once more reminded of the danger of boring the Gods. Only some of them wanted me to succeed and apparently killing me was a fully available option. It had come down to a tie. I focus on the demon tail and- 

I felt a horribly strange, alien sensation, as something changed. It felt like… something near my ass was… 

I cautiously, mechanically, turned around, and ‘poked’ something out from behind me. It was… well… a demon tail. I’d gotten a demon tail. Black, leathery, had a spade like tip at the end. I could feel it entirely and that was… strange. I moved it around a bit but… it was just a tail. It didn’t seem to actually… do anything. 

“Okay… Alright then. Sure I guess. Why not? Demon tails are in. I can go with that.” 

I felt very strange but half of that was receiving a cosmetic when a death sentence was also on that same table. It felt similar to someone deciding to give you a face painting instead of shooting you, but acting as if those options were equal. I shook my head at the absolute terror and evil of people, and moved on, now much more worried about what the options would be. 

Only for the next orb to be more Qi points. I’d take that in a heart beat. It was barely there for a second, before two more options presented themselves. That worried me. I’d noticed all the terrible options were always in ties. 

The first was another book but this one was pretty clearly a straight up magical grimoire. It was thick and blue. The other seemed to be a ghost with a katana. Which was… interesting. I had no idea what either would exactly do, but it seemed like neither option was bad. 

A coin flipped, landing on two. The Ghost grew and grew and I backed away, as suddenly a fully materialized ghost with a sword stood before me. He was an old bald man, wearing what looked to be a kimono. I raised my own katana, suddenly extremely worried if my sword would even work on a ghost. I may have too quick to dismiss how good or bad something was. If I have to fight a ghost… 

“What a shitty stance you youngster! Gods be damned, absolutely horrific. I’ve seen better from literal trash. Ughh.” 

I blinked. 

“What?” 

“‘What’ ‘What’ idiot! You have wax for a brain? The candle fuse a little low for you? Perhaps you’ve chosen to be a geisha and merely picked up a warrior’s blade by mistake? Would make far more sense.” 

“I’m, look, who are you?!” 

“I’m the sad sack that is going to have to turn an absolute loser like you into a half decent samurai. A damn near impossible task but if anyone, this Great Shisho can!” 

“Wait.” My brain spun at this new reality. “You’re going to train me?” 

“My word and gods above, you truly hit every stupid branch on the way down the path didn’t you? I’ll be doing my damn hardest to do so but I doubt we’ll make much progress, what with your head apparently being used to store air. For now, the night grows old and I don’t have the energy to deal with morons.” 

Suddenly, a blue necklace seemed to materialize around my neck, causing me to grab it quickly. The ghost ran at me and I tried to back away, only for it to dive right into the main jewel on the necklace. I stared down at it, my brain starting to feel overwhelmed. 

“Well… that’s… good.” I managed to squeak out. 

I mean, personality aside, that was good. I had an actual trainer! Also… someone to actually talk to. 

Now that I’d dealt with everything and felt a modicum of safety… everything hit me like a brick. I’d left a version of Rick and Jessica back there in that world. Had they actually been real? Had they died? Were they okay right now? I don’t know and soon, I felt tears in my eyes. I was level five now, fifteen levels away from seeing Rick again. And with Jessica… I grimaced slightly. I didn’t think she was here but she had been in a hospital. The nurse probably found her, which meant… 

She was probably in a dream world too. 

I didn’t know how to feel about that. Was she in the same one? But she hadn’t seemed to be the same Jessica. I just didn’t know. Could you have multiple? Rick seemed to think we were in the subconscious of all people of earth. That, I don’t know. I just don’t know. But at least she’d be safe for a while. That was more than what Rick probably had. 

Jesus… Rick. He’d been here just as long as I had but without any advantages. I needed to sit down, take time, go over everything I’d gained but… I felt tired. Really tired. Looking outside, the apparently ghost samurai named Shisho, hadn’t been wrong. It was pitch black out there, despite my slight ability to see in the dark. 

Laying back down on the bed… and locking and barricading the door just in case, I decided I needed to sleep. Sleep didn’t come easy. Visions of Rick and Jessica, and even Spot, swam through my mind but eventually, the pull called to me. 

I fell asleep and dreamt of nothing for once.