I dropped to a crouch and scrambled behind the nearest building—if you could call it that. Up close, the obsidian surface wasn't smooth but covered in minute etchings, symbols that shifted when I tried to focus on them. I pressed my back against it, breath coming in shallow gasps.
The voices I'd heard earlier grew louder, more distinct. Not human. Not even close.
I risked a glance around the edge of the structure.
They moved on too many legs—that was my first coherent thought. Tall, spindly things with elongated limbs that bent at unnatural angles. Their bodies resembled insects but scaled up to human size and beyond. Carapaces gleamed in the purple starlight, iridescent and slick.
"Fuck," I whispered, pulling back.
Five of them. Maybe six. Moving with deliberate purpose through the obsidian city. Chittering to each other in that almost-familiar language.
I needed to move. To find cover, to find a way home, to find anything but these... things. But terror kept me frozen, back pressed against the etched surface, heart hammering so loudly I was certain they could hear it.
One of the creatures paused, its movements becoming still. It turned what I assumed was its head—a bulbous, eyeless protrusion—in my direction.
It had sensed me.
I held my breath, pressing myself harder against the building. The creature made a series of rapid clicks, then began moving toward my hiding spot, each step a precise, mechanical movement.
Run or hide? The question pounded in my brain with each heartbeat. The nearest structure was twenty meters away—too far to reach before the thing caught me. And who knew what waited inside these buildings? More of them?
The clicking grew louder. Closer.
A long, segmented limb appeared around the corner, tipped with something that looked disturbingly like a hand but with too many joints. It tapped the ground, then the wall, searching.
I looked frantically for a weapon, anything to defend myself. Nothing but smooth obsidian ground.
The limb inched closer, nearly touching my boot.
A sudden, searing pain exploded behind my eyes. I bit down hard on my lip to keep from crying out, tasting blood. The pain intensified, spreading from my temples throughout my skull, as if someone had poured molten metal into my brain.
My vision blurred. The world tilted.
The creature's limb froze, hovering just above my foot. It made a different sound now—not clicking but a high, keening whistle. Alarmed? Confused?
I couldn't focus. The pain was too much. It felt like my head would split open, like something inside was clawing its way out.
The creature retreated suddenly, its limb withdrawing as it backed away. The whistling increased in pitch and volume. A warning?
I clutched my head, fingers digging into my scalp as if I could somehow relieve the pressure building inside. My vision tunneled, darkness creeping in from the edges.
More whistling joined the first—the other creatures responding. Their sounds took on an urgent quality. Then came the skittering of too many legs on obsidian, moving rapidly.
Away from me.
They were retreating.
Through the haze of pain, I forced myself to look. The creatures were in full flight, their ungainly bodies moving with surprising speed away from my position, toward the distant mountains.
Why? What had scared them off?
The pain reached a new crescendo. I slid down the wall, landing hard on the obsidian ground. My skull felt like it would shatter at any moment, bone and brain unable to contain whatever was happening inside.
I pressed my forehead against the cool ground, eyes screwed shut, teeth clenched so hard my jaw ached. A sound escaped me—half grunt, half whimper.
Make it stop. Please, make it stop.
Then something shifted. Not outside, but within. Like a lock turning, a door opening in my mind.
The pain didn't diminish—it transformed. From destructive to... creative. From tearing apart to building something new.
I gasped, eyes flying open. The world looked different now. Sharper. More defined. I could see patterns in the obsidian that hadn't been visible before, connections between the structures that suddenly made architectural sense.
And information—raw data—began flooding my consciousness. Stats. Metrics. Designations.
[Local Entities: Scuttlers (Rank D) - Hostile]
[Player Status: Awakening - 15% Complete]
The text hovered in my field of vision, semi-transparent but unmistakable. Like a game interface, but impossibly real.
"What the hell?" I choked out, pushing myself to my knees.
[Voice Command Recognized]
[Help Function Initiated]
More text appeared, scrolling faster than I could process. Information about this place—about the creatures—about stats and skills and progression systems.
Too much. It was all too much.
I squeezed my eyes shut, but the text remained, projected onto the darkness of my eyelids. Inescapable. The pain pulsed in rhythm with each new data point.
"Stop," I gasped. "Make it stop."
[Command Recognized]
[Data Flow Reduced]
The text slowed, then condensed into a simpler display. The pain ebbed slightly, becoming almost manageable.
I opened my eyes again, struggling to my feet. The obsidian city still surrounded me, but now I could see indicators floating above certain structures—labels, descriptions, warnings.
[Danger Zone: Scuttler Nest - 500m North]
[Safe Zone: Player Hub - 1200m South-East]
[Gate Access Point: Currently Locked]
I stared at the last one. Gate Access Point. A way home?
The pain surged again, dropping me to one knee. My vision swam, reality and interface bleeding together.
[Player Awakening: 35% Complete]
[Warning: Premature Awakening Detected]
[Stabilization Required]
"How?" I gritted through clenched teeth. "How do I stabilize?"
No response this time. Just more pain, more data, more transformation taking place inside my skull. Whatever was happening to me, it wasn't finished. Not even close.
I forced myself up again, staggering toward the direction marked "Safe Zone." Each step sent fresh waves of agony through my head, but I kept moving. Standing still felt worse somehow.
The obsidian structures blurred around me as I stumbled forward. One foot, then the other. One breath, then the next. Simple goals. Manageable goals.
[Player Awakening: 52% Complete]
The pain changed again, spreading from my head down my spine, into my limbs. My muscles spasmed, nearly sending me sprawling. It felt like every cell in my body was being rewritten, recoded.
"What's happening to me?" I gasped to the empty air.
A new voice answered—not the chittering of the Scuttlers, not the whispers from before, but something clear and distinct. Female. Calm. Artificial.
『Adaptation in progress』 it said, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere. 『Your physical form is adjusting to my parameters.』
I stumbled to a halt. "Who are you? Where are you?"
『I am Arcan』 the voice replied.
"What's happening to me?" I repeated, leaning against the nearest structure for support. "Why am I here?"
『You are awakening,』the voice said, as if that explained everything.
[Player Awakening: 67% Complete]
Another wave of pain, sharper than before. I doubled over, bile rising in my throat. When it passed, I straightened, finding that my vision had changed again. Colors that shouldn't exist now filled the spaces between structures—energies and currents flowing through the city like blood through veins.
"Send me home," I managed. "I don't want this. Whatever this is."
『Return is not possible until awakening is complete.』
I wanted to argue, to demand answers, but another spasm cut me off. My legs buckled. I hit the ground hard, the obsidian surface unforgiving against my knees.
[Player Awakening: 78% Complete]
[Warning: Metabolic Stress Critical]
[Intervention Recommended]
The voice—Arcan—spoke again. 『You resist the process. This increases pain and risk. Accept the awakening.』
"I don't know how," I snarled through gritted teeth.
『Yes, you do. You have always known. It is why you were chosen. Why you see the gates others cannot.』
The purple gates. The dreams. The pull I'd felt my entire life.
"The dreams," I gasped. "They were real?"
『Preparation,』Arcan confirmed. 『Your mind has been prepared for this moment since birth. You are among the rare few with the capacity to become a Player.』
[Player Awakening: 89% Complete]
The pain reached new heights, blinding in its intensity. I collapsed fully now, cheek pressed against the obsidian ground. My body convulsed, muscles contracting beyond my control.
"I can't—" I choked on the words as my vision whited out.
『You can,』Arcan said, her voice seemingly closer now. 『And you must. The awakening cannot be stopped once begun. Resist, and you will die. Accept, and you will transcend.』
Die or transcend. What kind of choice was that?
I thought of Noel, waiting at home. Worrying. I'd promised her after our parents died that I'd always come back. Always.
[Player Awakening: 94% Complete]
"What happens after?" I forced out. "If I accept? Can I go home?"
No answer.
[Player Awakening: 97% Complete]
The pain peaked, consuming everything. My consciousness began to fragment, pieces of me scattering like ash in wind.
『Accept,』 Arcan urged, her voice the only anchor in a storm of agony.
I let go.
Surrender wasn't a decision so much as an exhale—a release of resistance I hadn't realized I was maintaining. The pain remained but transformed once more, becoming something almost... pleasant. A rush of power and potential flooding every cell.
[Player Awakening: 99% Complete]
My body arched off the ground, suspended by forces I couldn't see. Energy coursed through me, remaking me from the inside out. The obsidian city pulsed in rhythm with my heart, as if the entire realm were breathing with me.
Then, abruptly, it stopped.
[Player Awakening: Complete]
I collapsed back to the ground, gasping. The pain vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving behind a strange clarity. My senses felt sharper, my body lighter yet somehow more solid.
The interface in my vision had changed, becoming more complex but also more intuitive. I understood it now without needing to read it—knowledge somehow downloaded directly into my consciousness.
I pushed myself up, surprised at how easy it felt. My body responded with a precision it had never possessed before.
"What am I now?" I asked, looking down at hands that appeared unchanged yet felt fundamentally different.
Light coalesced before me, taking shape until it formed a female figure. Not human—more like the artist's rendering of a human, idealized and simplified. She glowed with the same purple light as the gates, her form translucent yet distinct.
"You are a Player," she said, her voice matching the one I'd heard before. "One of the chosen few who can navigate between worlds and reshape reality itself."
I stared at her, this manifestation of Arcan. "Why me?"
"That is a longer conversation," she replied. "For now, know that you have completed your awakening and may return home to recover. Your new abilities will manifest gradually as you gain experience."
"New abilities?"
She gestured, and a complex display of stats, skills, and attributes appeared before me. Most were locked or grayed out, but a few glowed with that same purple light.
[Basic Player Functions Unlocked]
[Level: 1]
[Available Skill Points: 120]
[Active Gates: 1]
"This is impossible," I said, though the evidence before me suggested otherwise.
"And yet, here you are." There was something almost like amusement in Arcan's voice. "Rest. Recover. It's time to begin your true journey."
The obsidian city began to fade around me, the structures becoming transparent. Arcan's form remained solid while everything else dissolved.
"Wait," I said. "I still have questions."
"You will have answers," she promised. "In time."
The world continued to fade until only Arcan and I remained in a void of purple light.
"Welcome, Player Xavier Valentine," she said, her voice echoing as reality itself seemed to fold around me. "Your game begins now."
Everything went dark.