Will lay frozen on the rail line and muttered incoherently. "I... I..."

"Will, it is not real!" said Becca.

His breath came in short gasps as he struggled to take in air.

"It is just a translation. You are seeing what represents your fear."

Will raised one shaking arm and punched himself in the gut. A rattled gasp escaped his lips, and he rolled over to his side. Feeling came back to his limbs as he clawed at the metal rails, and his face scraped against the floor as he lifted himself off the ground. In a mad scramble of tangled limbs, he took off running away from the train.

"Will," Becca called out to him.

"Can you hear me, Will?" asked Remy.

Will coughed as he tried to catch his breath. "Yes, What was that? What's going on?"

"I don't know; the shard is acting on its own," said Remy.

Will cursed under his breath as he ran at full speed.

"Listen up, Will," said Remy. "There is good news and bad news."

"Let's hear it," said Will.

"You are connected deeply with the crystal. Find the right field patterns, and you would have it tamed," said Remy.

"And the bad news?"

"I think you already know. The crystal has detected you, and it's hostile. You are in for a fight."

"So all that work harmonizing with it has been wasted?" asked Will.

"Not entirely," Becca chimed in. "The goal had always been to understand the crystal's field patterns. You know more about it than it knows about you. You have the advantage."

"Fight it, Will," said Remy. "Don't let it take over."

"Yeah, I don't plan on being a mindless Hive drone anytime soon," said Will. He looked around and let out a shuddering breath. The world seemed pretty static, unlike the other ones had been earlier.

"What do you see?"

"I'm running down a tunnel."

"Does it branch off?" asked Becca.

"No, it doesn't look like it," said Will.

"You will run into something soon enough," said Becca. "The shard is getting more active the further you move along."

Will said nothing and kept running. He could feel his right knee pulse with every step. It was almost like the tremor sense he had experienced earlier. He could tell that he was headed towards something.

The tunnel lit up in a dim purple glow up ahead, and Will ran forward. The glow came from thousands of tiny shards the size of his thumb embedded in the walls. Cracks spiderwebbed from where the shards had been hammered in, and the fissures formed an interconnected web that linked all the shards together.

Will relayed the information to Remy and Becca, and they fell into an intense discussion on what it could mean.

"What do they represent?" asked Remy.

"Since we are so deep into the crystal, it could be a control node for all its abilities," said Becca. "Like a master field sequence."

"Will, do you see anything else?" asked Remy. "Are any of the shards different?"

Will shook his head. "No, but I got an idea."

He channeled his field and went down the list of field patterns that the sequencers had implemented.

The crystals dimmed and brightened with each different connection. When he channeled the tremor sense, a cluster of crystals shone more brightly than the rest, and he felt a noticeable drop in his psion reserves.

"I think I have it," said Will. "Each cluster represents a different skill, and if I..."

He tried to extend his reach and connect with more nearby shards, and soon more neighboring shards lit up. The field patterns grew more complex, and Will rushed to keep up.

"There is a change in the shard," said Remy.

"I think this is it," said Becca.

An ear-rending screech echoed down the tunnel, and Will staggered. The creature that had been stalking him was finally here. His heart raced as he redouble his efforts.

Will felt the etherite crystal click in place with the new field patterns, and it greedily sucked in his psion energy. He was nearly brought to his knees as his reserves drained.

Like a half-remembered dream, sensations came to him. Pain lanced through him, and he felt something rake across his chest to his stomach, and another slash brushed past his right thigh.

Will let out a muffled grunt and stared down at his chest. To his amazement, he found white hairs growing out of it.

"Will, you are bleeding," said Remy, sounding panicked.

"No, I'm not," said Will absentmindedly.

"Not in the VR, in the real world. You are bleeding in the pod," said Remy. "Your CAD is registering blood loss. You have a cut across your chest and leg."

Will stared down at the hairs. Three parallel lines ran from his shoulder to his opposite hip. It looked like a claw mark. It was the same across his thigh.

"I bled the first time I activated the skill at the fort," said Will, explaining what he was seeing.

"So the military coat of arms?" asked Remy in bewilderment.

"I have no idea," said Will.

"The facts are simple," Becca interrupted. "The shard is forcing hair to grow out of your body. It pierces past the skin, which causes the bleeding."

"And the patterns?" asked Remy.

"That's—" began Becca but was cut off by a loud skittering screech.

Will barely had time to turn to face the massive form hurtling towards him. He was nearly split in half, but his quick reflexes had saved him.

The pain came a second later, fresh and hot. Will stumbled backward and stared down at his chest. Three bloody lines ran down his shoulder, staining his shirt. Another shallow slash scraped at his right thigh, and he gasped as every step sent a fresh jolt of pain.

"Will, are you okay?"

The creature charged again, and Will sidestepped its swipe and dove out of the way. He retreated down the tunnel, and under the dim glow of the crystals embedded in the wall, he saw the creature in full.

A multi-limbed, multi-eyed horror stood in front of him. The giant horse-sized spider slinked its way towards him with deliberate slowness, caustic venom dripping from its outer jaws.

A chill crept into Will as he froze under the eyes of an apex predator. He couldn't move an inch under that gaze. Fight, flight, or freeze. The final million-year-old biological instinct kept him rooted to the ground.

The giant arachnid chittered ominously, and each clack of its chelicerae stabbed right into his brain. Will could feel it in his head. It was speaking to him.

"L17tl3 mu5e t@5735 50 6#00!!"

It lifted its front legs and tasted its claws, savoring his blood. A purple glow emanated from its chest, and Will spotted a skull-sized etherite shard embedded in it. The crystal grew more luminescent the more blood it tasted.

"Speech..." The creature rumbled, and Will flinched. Did it just?...

"Comprehend... Understand..." it chittered.

"Holy shit..." Will gasped.

"What is it, Will? What do you see?" asked Remy.

"The rift beast is a spider, and it's talking," whispered Will.

"Talking..." The spider tasted the word, and its carapace shook with pleasure.

"Do not converse with it," Remy panicked. "Don't let it know more about you. Any more of this, and it will take you over."

"This is not possible," Becca said in a hushed whisper. "None of the notes say anything about this."

"Fuck the notes," Remy yelled. "Will, your signature is being converted to match the spider. Don't let it figure out your channel flow or match your signature."

Will gritted his teeth and pulled back his personal field and fought against his connection with the shard. The spider chittered angrily and stalked towards him.

"Guys, I can see the main control shard," said Will as he stared at the approaching arachnid. "It's in the spider, center mass."

Remy paused in his tirade. "This is suicidal, man."

"No choice," said Will. "It's not like you can pull me out anyway."

He felt an intense pain where the giant arachnid had cut him earlier, and his psion field roiled and churned like a pot ready to boil over. He was barely keeping a lid on it.

"What do you mean?" asked Becca.

"His psion flow is too turbulent," Remy sighed. "His fields are about to go berserk. If we pull out now without stabilizing it..."

"We will stabilize it," said Becca firmly. "Will, hold on. We are working on it."

"Right," said Will as he backed away from the giant spider. Both of them started circling each other, assessing one another for weaknesses. A dark intelligence lurked behind the spider's eyes. It didn't behave at all like an animal.

"Come on, you big ugly bastard, let's see what you got," said Will.

The spider lunged, and Will dodged out of the way, making a swipe towards the spider's shard. The creature recoiled away hissing.

"Release the heart..." it chittered.

"The fuck are you talking about?" asked Will.

"Etherite heart..." it hissed.

Will frowned. The creature was picking up words fast. He wouldn't have believed it possible.

"You have nothing to offer me for your heart, monster."

"Mons...ter?" it chittered confused. Its voice grew more refined. "Ah.... see... witness... confusion."

"What the fuck?" Will muttered.

"Good deal...on... table," said the spider. "Offer... your... refusal not."

Will recognized the garbled sentence from an old sitcom broadcasted in the Tower. What the hell?

"I offer money, little mouse," the spider chittered. "More than your wildest dreams."

Will's blood ran cold. Becca's old words echoed in his ears. All visions were mere representations. A garbled rough translation.

"You are no spider." With growing horror, Will realized who exactly he was facing. The arachnid transformed right in front of his eyes. Metal plates replaced its carapace, and the spider grew more humanoid. Flesh and steel melded together, and a crimson multi-armed spider mech stood before him.

"Revenant!" Will backed away in terror.

"Precisely," said the crimson mech. "You have something that I need, and you will give it to me."

The rail rattled between them, and a glaring light came from down the tunnel. The train was approaching fast, and Will knew that his time was running out. He shifted to the side and put his best foot forward.

The crimson mech could sense his determination and sighed. "Wrong choice."

They eyed each other for the briefest of moments before charging at each other under the glare of the oncoming train. Will dodged the mech's massive arms and got inside its guard and touched its giant etherite crystal, only to be caught by its secondary set of arms that popped up from his blind spot.

Will didn't care. He only needed one shot at the shard and shoved his entire psion reserves to batter against the crystal. The Revenant-born froze for a second, and Will mimicked the complex field patterns that he last used. Just as he formed the connection with the crystal, the crimson mech unhinged its metal jaws and bit down on his neck.

Will screamed as an incomprehensible set of visions assaulted his mind. He watched the bright lights of the train closing in on him while the memories flashed before his eyes. The Revenant had injected something in him, and Will struggled to keep his connection to the shard active.

The train barreled into both of them, and the virtual world exploded. The human-machine interface broke down, and Will was thrown back into the pod. His signature flickered dangerously like a candle about to be snuffed out.

"Will!" someone screamed.

"Will, talk to me, buddy," another voice called.

"Pick him up. We need to get him out of here."

Two pairs of arms grabbed him and pulled him out of the pod, and Will slipped into darkness.