Beta Read - For a Friend (Feedback wanted) Post 4

Chapter 7: Can’t think of a name for this chapter

"What the hell is going on?" Khalil muttered, staring at the bipedal bird man, who resembled an anthropomorphic falcon.

From the moment he had awoken in the avatar, He had been left speechless. His brain did not know how to process what it was seeing or what it was feeling. When he had stepped through the gate, he felt like he had fallen asleep. When he opened his eyes and tried to move, he heard something crumbling, breaking free from around his body. A shell fell away and he could move freely. He pulled himself upright, disoriented. Then he saw his arms. He lifted them and saw limbs belonging to a robot or a synth. His legs were the same way, covered in metal segments, and synthetic weave. When he climbed out of the minecart, the boots both hit the ground with a -clink-.

He had awoken underground somewhere, a cave or a mine it looked like. There were quartzlike crystals jutting out of the ceiling, glowing with a warm light. He could smell the air and taste its damp, musty wetness. So for a moment he just stood, frozen in a trance as he looked around, unable to believe what his senses were telling him. This place slammed at him with its realness.

Then he saw the people. There were three of them staring at him. Two of them, a man and his daughter who were both olive-skinned looked human. They wore what looked like a mixture of colonial and Navajo-inspired clothing. But their ears were almost elven, tapering to a slight point. Unlike an elf's ears though, they pointed toward the back of their heads instead of up. Their eyes were a deep, brownish orange and their hair, was jet back and braided. And then there was the bird guy.

Khalil could see every feather, every plume. The clothes he wore were a dark brown, woven with black symbols. His orange eyes were fierce-looking and his beak, which appeared to be capable of expression, frowned.

"You have encountered your first entity," the female voice, the same one that guided Khalil through the trials, had returned. Her words floated next to the bird man's head, matching his movements. "You have now unlocked the ability to scan all entities and objects. To scan an entity, focus on them with intent. The lore in the avatar will do the rest."

The bird creature looked at the man next to him, then back at Khalil and stepped forward. He introduced himself as Quillen and said something about being a "lore warden". But Khalil was too dumbstruck. He processed none of it. Quillen stopped saying whatever he was saying and simply looked at Khalil, waiting for him to say something. The tutorial instructing Khalil how to scan entities continued to hover. He didn't give it much thought. He wasn't even sure what he was doing. But he focused on the bird man.

A holographic interface appeared and highlighted Quillen in orange. A circular reticule zeroed in on him and a blue laser beam shot forth, scanning the creature, who flinched at the light. The creature's name, race, power level and danger level appeared in the air next to him.

Name: Quillen. Male

Race: Feyaran

Lvl: 2.

Threat: 1.

It was a simple stat menu with not much information to go off of. With just a thought, Khalil closed the window but the "level" and "threat" stats now hovered over Quillen's head. The threat gauge, when he opened it, showed that Quillen could pose a level 3 threat if he wanted to. But right now, the arrow hovered over 1. A notification winked at the top of his vision: "Information about the Feyaran has been added to your lore index". It blinked a few times before getting sucked into a spacebar shaped symbol that appeared directly above it. The symbol dissipated shortly afterwards.

Khalil then turned to the two humanoids and scanned them, starting with the father.

Name: ? Male.

Race: Madrin

Lvl: 3.

Threat 1.

Another notification about a lore index appeared near the top of his vision before disappearing. When Khalil turned to scan the daughter, her father put a hand on his side, palming a weapon on his belt. It was a firearm of some sort and it almost looked like a blunderbuss. His threat level immediately jumped to 3, but he did not attack. Khalil took note of that. When the scan was finished, his daughter's stats appeared next to her head.

Name:? Female

Race: Madrin

Lvl: 1.

Threat: 1

There were question marks in place of the names. Khalil wasn't sure why. All in all, it took about four seconds per person to scan them. When he was done, he heard the disembodied female voice speaking.

"You have scanned your first entity," she said. "As you grow in power, more options to grow this ability will become available to you. Scan more entities and objects, and this ability will become more capable. It will reveal more information about the world of Skrul. More choices on how it evolves will be given to you in the lore matrix."

While she had been speaking, Quillen asked a question but Khalil did not hear it.

"Dude, what the hell…" Khalil said. "Bro…this is so trippy, oh my god…"

"Do you understand us, Avatar?" Quillen said. His voice, though deep, sounded almost hollow.

"Uh…yeah, I understand you," Khalil said. "Wait, do you…do you understand me?"

"Yes, we can understand you," Quillen said.

"Oh my god…this is crazy bro. What the hell is going on?"

These people could hear and understand him. He did not feel like he was in a simulation. He felt like he was actually in another world. He could look into the bird man's eyes and see sentience. It was the same with the father and daughter. They looked so real, so life-like. He saw the fear on their faces. Only the stat windows hovering next to him reminded him that he was in a simulation. He had to be. He wondered if Quillen was some sort of advanced AI similar to the tutorial lady. He had no idea if that's what she was but it made the most sense. So he was going to think of her as an AI from now on.

"Dude…" Khalil put his hands on his head and froze. He did not feel his face under his palms. Instead he felt a hard metallic carapace. "Bro, naw. No. This is crazy." He paced back and forth, unable to form a coherent sentence. His feet clinked with every footstep. The man took a step forward, holding himself high as he approached. Quillen stepped aside.

"Avatar," he spoke with an air of confidence and authority even though his eyes were still wary. "My name is Jerell. I am the leader of a group of rebels who were taking refuge in these mines. Over there is my daughter, Naia."

When Jerell said this, the question marks disappeared from his and his daughter's status windows. Their names appeared in their place.

"How should we address you?" Jerell asked. "Do you have a name?"

"Uh… Khalil." Kahlil said. He just gave his own name to an NPC. Was he supposed to make something up? Something cooler? He couldn't think about it because his brain was being overloaded.

"Khalil…" Jerell performed a gesture where he folded his arms across his chest, ducked his head, then spread them outward. His daughter and Quillen did the same thing. "You must be confused about where you are and who we are."

"Yeah," Khalil nodded slowly, continuing to stare at them. "You could say that."

"Listen…Khalil," Jerell said. He fought for a moment to choose the right words. "We do not know exactly how this lore works. But we know you come from another world. We are the ones who summoned you."

"Summoned me… Khalil's mind was racing.

Jerell looked at him and sighed, "We planned to do this in a more formal setting where we would have more time to explain our world to you. But we were attacked shortly after the summoning ritual was completed."

"Yo, hold on, hold on," Khalil said. "You're the ones who sent the thing? The…the VR headset?"

"VR headset?" Jerell said. "I do not understand."

"The headpiece. The helmet." Khalil was struggling to speak.

"The Helmet of The Avatar, yes," Quillen said. "We are the ones who sent it."

"Why? What is this? Who are you people?"

"I promise, all will be explained," Jerell said. "In short, we summoned you because we needed help. The vessel you inhabit has great power, or so the writings say. But we do not know the extent of it. We only know that it can only be controlled by an otherworlder. The ritual sent it beyond our world, beyond our realm to find somebody suitable. It found you."

Khalil had to take a few moments to digest this.

"You need my help…" he muttered. "That's right, this is just a game. That's all it is."

"A game?" Quillen asked.

"Oh, uh…nevermind. What do you need my help with?"

"A creature known as a reaver appeared in our colony days ago, bringing with it a hive of skin rippers," Jerell said. "We lost many good people. And now we are on the run. The reaver and the rippers are still pursuing us. We have been able to hold them off and throw them off our scent, but they still find us. We are low on food and we have no means of defending ourselves."

"So…you want me to kill them?" Khalil asked.

Jerell scoffed gently and grinned. "I do not know how you would fare against them. No. We need to run. They are creatures of dark lore who weave the skin of the dead onto their bodies. They have slaughtered many of our comrades and so they are great in number and size. And the reaver is powerful in its own right. We need help getting out of this mountain. Will you give us aid?"

When Khalil gave his answer, he wasn't completely thinking. "For sure, yeah I guess," he said.

Jerell gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Khalil."

"So…what do I do?" Khalil asked. Was there going to be any more tutorials?

Jerell looked up at the glowing crystals on the ceiling. "We should be close to the surface if we are seeing sun crystal," he said. "So we continue onwards. Once we get back to the surface, I will be able to tell where we are at. Hopefully wherever we exit is not in the Wildwood itself."

"I guess I'll follow you all then." So this simulation, or game, whatever it was, it wasn't going to have him fight enemies just yet.

Jerell continued to stare at him, then a grin stretched across his tired face. He turned to Quillen and without warning, gave the bird man a big bro hug. "You son of a muckracker! You actually did it!" he said.

Quillen did not look too amused by the gesture, but he tolerated it. "Yes, we did," he said. "It is quite remarkable. But it is as you said, we must be going. We lost progress today due to the cave-in."

"Yes, of course…of course," Jerell said.

And just like that, they were off. No ceremony to it. Quillen picked up a burlap sack while Jerell picked up a lantern, then headed into a tunnel at the far end of the cavern. He followed from behind, his feet chinking against the stone. They were still wary of him, shooting glances back. Khalil thought perhaps they would be asking him a lot more questions. But they were visibly exhausted and in good need of a shower. Maybe they simply did not have the energy for questions.

He tried to think about what he learned. These people performed a ritual that sent the Avatar Helmet to Earth, allowing him to possess the construct. At least that's where the storyline was going. But who actually created the Avatar Helmet and what for? What was it doing to his brain? Was he actually still lying on his bed? It didn't feel like he was.

He closed his eyes and focused on the Avatar Connection, adjusting the slider until he could feel his human body in the real world. It was still there, but when he put the slider between the bodies, the sensation made him nauseous, so he pushed the slider back over to the avatar.

The silence gave him time to try and familiarize himself with the interface. The UI of the avatar confused him. This world was clearly some sort of fantasy setting and yet the interface was straight up sci-fi. The displays were literal holograms a cyborg would see. They felt out of place.

He needed to find a menu. The moment he thought of doing such a thing, the spacebar shaped symbol he had seen before appeared near the top of his UI. He mentally selected it and it divided into several tabs.

"Is there something wrong, Avatar Khalil?" Quillen asked. Khalil had slowed down and they had taken notice.

"Nah, I'm just learning man," Khalil said.

"Learning?"

"This thing, the avatar. I'm trying to learn how to use it."

"Ah…yes, the writings did say that the avatar would teach the user how to wield it. It did not say how though."

He must be referring to the tutorial lady, Khalil thought. Thankfully, Quillen did not question him further.

Khalil mentally scrolled through the tabs until he found what he was looking for: His own stats.

Unnamed Avatar Level 5.

Integrity: 7

Agility: 5

Strength: 8

Synthesis: 5

Aura: 5

Revival: 4

The list went on and on and mentally selecting one of the stats showed all the attributes it effected. Integrity represented the overall health, vitality, and durability of the avatar while agility affected speed and maneuverability, as well as smaller things such as fine handling. Strength affected how much the avatar could lift as well as its physical attack. Synthesis represented–

–Khalil bumped into a rock on the ground that he had not seen and stumbled. The three of his companions flinched and whirled around.

"Uh…sorry," he said.

He closed the menu. He would learn about this later. It was hard to see where he was going with a hologram in front of his face. In fact, it was becoming harder and harder to see at all. The sun crystals were becoming less and less in number. Soon, all he had to see by was the dull lantern Jerell was carrying.

"You have a new ability," the AI whispered without warning. "Flashlight."

Appearing in the middle of his vision was an animation of the avatar reaching up to its head to turn something on. It was simple enough to understand. When he raised his hand to his head, emulating the gesture. His hand ran into something and a holographic band appeared under it, as if it was always there, hidden from plain sight. He pressed it. A beam of bright light illuminated the path ahead of him, starling his companions, who covered their eyes.

"I found a light," he explained.

Jerell looked at Quillen, then back at him. "Perhaps you should take the lead, friend," he said.

"Sure."

Naia, who had not spoken yet, stared at him as he passed. When they continued, Quillen gave him brief directions. Turn right. Go left. Wait. Go back and take a right. The mines were a confusing labyrinth. Khalil tried to think about a map, hoping that doing such a thing would cause one to appear on his interface, but…no such luck. He did, however, discover that he was able to customize the interface. He could rearrange the elements by physically grabbing them and moving them around. He could stretch them to grow them or press them together to shrink. With a thought, he could adjust their opacity and size. He found he could also move them mentally, but for now, it was easier to grab them, even if he looked crazy doing it. He used this to brush away the stat windows that were hovering next to his companions.

"Avatar Khalil?" It was the first time Khalil heard Naia speak. She had been watching him.

"Hmm?"

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"Chicago, planet Earth."

"What is it like there?"

"Uh…it's alright I guess," Khalil really did not know what to say. "You?"

"Ashok Down," It was Jerell who answered. He did not elaborate.

"What is it like there?" Khalil asked dumbly.

"Destroyed." He stopped and took a moment to drink. When he wiped his lips, he looked at Khalil, squinting as the light shone in his eyes. Khalil lowered his gaze so that the man could see. "There was an underground rebellion there. Normally the Lords do not care about rebellions. They are always happening. They usually let their ravagers quash the rebellions for them. They grew confident in their control. We were different. They realized we could actually be a nuisance. So they sent a totem walker to destroy us. It happened when Naia was just a child."

"It was nice…" Naia said.

Every time Jerell mentioned a new term such as "totem walker", notifications appeared at the top of Khalil's vision, letting him know the terms have been added to the "lore index". Once he found the lore index, he found a list of terms. There was nothing under "totem walker" yet, just an entry. The system must add information as this story proceeds.

Eventually, they came upon a fork. They were about to go down the right path when Jerell stopped them. "Look," he said, pointing at the walls. They were covered in tubular formations of hardened mud. Each tub had to be about ten inches wide.

"We cannot go this way." he said. "Krylenes."

"But that must lead to the surface," Quillen said. "Krylenes only make their nests near an entrance."

Jerell grit his teeth, then he looked at Khalil. "This is where we could use your help. Krylenes are vicious predators. They paralyze their prey then drag them back to their burrows and bury them in these mud prisons. But not before implanting them with their eggs."

So like mud wasps, Khalil thought.

"Yeah, I got this…" he said. How did he take out his weapon again? Oh yeah, that's right. He raised his wrist and summoned the weapon morphs. The twin claw was still there. When he selected it, a light scanned across his hands, locking his fingers together. Two glassy, glowing blades formed around his hand, emitting a blue light.

This is actually sick, he thought as he tested it and waved it around. He heard Quillen mutter under his breath in awe. Khalil took the lead and they headed further down the path, seeing the tubular formations as they went. On a whim, he focused on one and was able to scan it.

Krylene pods. Krylenes, a reptilian species, uses these to store their food for their own consumption and to feed their offspring.

That surprised Khalil. He thought the krylenes were going to be some sort of insect, not a reptile.

He took one step after the next, becoming more nervous as he went. The krylene pods grew more dense, weaving up and down the walls. Many of them had crumbled as something broke free from them. But some, were still fresh. Khalil stepped on one and a paralyzed rodent fell out. It had an egg attached to its stomach. Taking mercy on it, Khalil raised his foot and brought it down., The rodent's guts spewed out from the side of his boot. He was shocked at how violent it was, spraying the brain across the ground like pasta.

"Ugh!" he said out loud. His companions just stared at him. He continued onward.

The floor and walls were covered in the muddy constructs now. They crunched under everybody's feet.

Khalil was getting nervous. It was one thing to face an enemy in a video game. You weren't actually there. You were just holding a controller in your hand and controlling the actions of a character on screen. Khalil felt like he was actually here. He even felt a few drops fall on his head. He felt like he was actually in danger.

They heard a noise coming from up ahead, a scrabbling chewing noise. And it was not just one sound. It was lots of sounds, reverberating. There must be a chamber up ahead full of the things. Quillen, Jerell and Naia stopped.

"Do we have any more flash clay, Quillen?" Jerell asked.

But Quillen was looking at Khalil. "He should be more than enough to take care of a nest," he said.

"Yeah, I got this," Khalil said. "I got this, sure…"

They did not come with him this time. They stayed behind and watched from a distance. The tunnel opened up into a large cavern the size of a football field, filled with hundreds of sun crystals. The illumination was not perfect, but, but it was plenty bright enough to give him a layout of the place. The walls and and floor were caked with used krylene pods. There were some minecarts, also partially caked in the stuff. A few pickaxes laid around. A stench wafted to Khalil's nose, a sick, sweet odor of carrion.

He saw movement. Several dark shapes the size of mastiffs lingered near the center of the cavern. When his light hit one of them, three enormous retinas from one of the creatures were reflected right back at him. He focused on it, highlighted it, and scanned it.

Krylene, lvl 3.

Threat: 4.

Krylenes are a reptilian hive species, known for making their nests in caves and abandoned mines. They are aggressive, extremely territorial and their bite injects a paralytic venom into their pray. Their presence can be detected by the presence of their pods.

The Krylene charged. 

              Chapter 8: First Fight

Shit, shit, shit shit! Khalil thought as the creature charged toward him. Al; he saw were the retinas flashing at him, reflecting his own light. But then it stepped into view, a six-legged lizard the size of a great dane, wriggling as it charged. Its mouth was wide open with a circle of teeth lining its gums. It ran on the back four legs while holding up the front two, each of which had a single claw in the shape of a scythe. Three grotesque eyes dotted its gangrenous forehead.

Khalil had no time to think, so he panicked, leaping to the side. He leapt way further than he had intended to, traveling seven feet at the very least. That should not have happened. He felt light on his feet and agile. The krylene, surprised by the maneuver look stupefied and paused in its tracks. Its confusion lasted for a moment because it soon continued its pursuit. Meanwhile, two more krylenes noticed what was going on and started charging over.

Khalil did not know what to do. Adrenaline pumped in his chest and electrified his nerves. Even though the krylene only came up to his stomach, it felt like an oncoming train. He dodged it several more times out of sheer panic, then swung a foot out. His boot caught the creature in the jaw, crumpling its bone and causing several teeth to shoot out like popcorn. The lizard hissed in agony as it thrashed around, jaw sagging loosely.

No way, Khalil thought. He did not kick out with that much force. Was he really this strong? He didn't give the beast a chance to recover. Instead he ran toward it and thrust the twin claw into an upper cut. The blades crackled as they made contact, pinning the krylene's jaw to the roof of its mouth. He felt something wet spill out over his hand as the creature swiped at him with its front claws.

The claws bounced off his armor for the most part, but one of them thrust in between the segments and pierced him. Though there was no pain associated with the sensation, Khalil could feel the claw enter his stomach cavity…or at least where the cavity should have been. He pulled away as the krylene slumped to the ground, dead. Its claw break off inside Kahlil, remaining stuck in his gut. The torso section on the integrity display flashed and a number hovered in front of it: 60%.

Just then, one of the other krylenes barreled into him and knocked him to the ground. It clamped its jaw around his left arm and wriggled it around, causing the arm on the integrity display to flash.

"Toxin detected," the AI said. "You are immune."

He kicked at the krylene's side and felt ribs breaking under the impact. Once, twice, thrice, he kicked but then the third krylene got a hold of his leg and started yanking on it. The leg on the diagram flickered.

The lizard gnawing on his arm swung its head back and forth, trying to tear it off, but its teeth could not make very good purchase on the metal. Its scythe arms swung about, slashing at his chest, piercing him a few times. The integrity display ticked down with every strike. So he struck at it repeatedly with the twin claw, sinking the glowing blue blades into its side. Guts and viscera spilled out. Eventually, the creature stopped moving.

His leg integrity was falling and fast. He needed to heal, but he forgot how to do so. He pulled his left foot up and stomped it down on the krylene that was still gnawing on him. He kicked until he felt it let go. Then he stumbled to his feet. His foot, now at %70, was tingling slightly. He lunged forward and sunk the twin claw onto its head. It caved in like a rotting pumpkin.

"Get fucked!" he exclaimed, kicking it away.

He was panting now. Remembering what the AI said about draining essence, he plunged his hand into the corpse and held it there. White wisps bled from all of the orifices and swirled around his arm. The integrity numbers on his body parts climbed upward until they reached 100%. All except for his chest, which had a claw still stuck in it. He pulled it out.

"Avatar!" Quillen shouted. "There are more of them!"

The bird man was right. Khalil saw at least four more climbing out of the passages barreling toward him. There were too many for him to take on, he would be overwhelmed. So he ran toward the minecarts, hoping to use them as barriers. His feet carried him faster than he thought possible. He felt like he was gliding, almost. He leapt, gracefully clearing the carts. Then he grabbed a pickaxe, or at least he tried to. The twin claw made it hard to two-hand the weapon. But he found he was able to hold it just fine with one.

Two of the krylenes tried to scrabble over the top of the cart. He brought the pickaxe down and it got stuck in its head. When he tried to pulled it out, the head broke free.

Shit! he thought.

The second one scrambled over the top of the minecraft and leapt on him. He thrust the twin claw up into its guts, drawing an agonized hiss from the creature. The last two were running around the minecarts. Without thinking about it, Khalil lifted the corpse of the one he had just killed and heaved it at the nearest krylene. The corpse landed true and crushed the krylene under its weight. That left the last one. This one was easy enough to dispatch. All it took was one or two swift kicks to the jaw. He walked around and made sure he extracted all of their essence.

"Essence," the AI said, "It can be used to heal your body or stored for use in aura attacks.

"Aura attacks?" Khalil asked as his companions hesitantly approached.

A holographic animation popped up in his HUD. It showed the avatar wielding the twin claw. The arm began to glow, then two glowing prongs extended forth from the blades, wavering. After the animation disappeared, he decided to give it a shot. He focused on his twin claw. Ethereal blades grew around it, crackling like plasma. A number counter appeared in the right hand of his vision, descending rapidly. He struck the rock and left an angry red scorch mark in it. That was all he could manage. The essence was depleted after that.

"That was incredible," Naia said in awe.

"Not gonna lie, that was fun, man," Khalil said.

As he was speaking, he received several new notifications letting him know that several of his attributes have increased including +2 to his throw, +1 to armed combat, +1 to environmental combat, +2 to kick attacks.

"Heh…" Jerell said. "Come, we need to keep moving."

"Oh ya'll not going to thank me?" Khalil said, half-joking.

Jerell stopped to look at him. "You're right, Avatar," he said. "Thank you. If I were in better condition, I would have helped you."

"I'm just joking man. But hold on a bit." He looked around, keeping the scanner activated. Normally these encounters had loot or something you could use. The scanner highlighted the krylene's corpse, then its feet, but then it highlighted the creature's claws in particular.

"Analyzing…new synthesis detected," the AI said, " this shape can now be added to your morph menu."

The menu bar winked at the top of the HUD. Khalil scrolled over to the weapons, which were divided into two separate categories: arms and morphs. The arms list was currently empty but the morphs had both the twin claw in it, and the krylene claw. He selected the krylene claw, but then it asked him which hand to assign it to. Apparently the left hand had its own morph menu. So then he assigned it there. Afterwards, he activated it, turning his hand into a wicked-looking scythe, which he could fold and unfold simply by moving his wrist. It felt weird, but it was awesome!

"I have many questions…" Quillen said, his voice filled with wonder.

"This is sick as heck man," Khalil said, waving the twin claw and krylene claw around. He could dismiss them and summon them on command whenever he wanted.

"You are ill?" Quillen asked.

"Hmm, nah. It's a figure of speech. This is awesome! Dude this is like…I mean…" Khalil stumbled over his words, "I don't even know what to say."

They continued deeper into the nest. Khalil had to dispatch a dozen or more krylenes as they went. As long as he prevented them from swarming him, he was fine. There were a few level 4 krylenes. They were tougher than most. One of them got a hold of his arm and managed to bring the integrity down to %50 before he was able to shake it loose. So he tried out the aura attack on them. The twin claw carved through it like butter. The drawback was that the essence he stored drained quickly. So after each kill, he made sure to drain the corpses. He also noticed that the more essence he drained, the stronger his weapon became. It was not a significant increase, just gradual, according to the AI.

They entered a cavern where part of the roof caved in, revealing the sky. Sunlight poured in through the opening, which was far too high for them to reach. It looked to be afternoon, but it was hard to tell. It was not quite overcast, but the sky itself was a bit misty. At the top of the rubble that had fallen from the ceiling grew a couple of bushes and a tree with a crazy, curling trunk. Hanging from its branches were a bunch of pear-shaped fruits with fin-shaped protrusions on them.

"Hold!" Jerell said. "Nethel looks kindly on us. We break here for now."

He made a beeline for the tree and began to pick all the fruits. He tossed one to his daughter and another to Quillen. They ate ravenously. Khalil, after turning off his flashlight, scanned the fruit.

Efrus drop: The edible fruit of the efrus tree. It is loaded with nutrients, electrolytes and the seeds within, also edible, are rich in protein. They keep for a long time. Note: this is edible to organics only.

Jerell looked at Khalil, "I suppose you do not need to eat, Avatar Khalil?"

"Nah man…thanks though.

Jarell nodded, then slumped down on the rock. The AI, seeming to sense that this was a good moment to give him another tutorial, spoke to him.

"The lore matrix has been unlocked" she said. The menu bar blinked. "New paths in the matrix have been opened."

"Avatar Khalil," Quillen said.

"Hold on…" Khalil said. "The lady is teaching me something."

Jarell exchanged a look with Quillen and mouthed the word "lady?"

Khalil opened the menu and the AI guided him to the lore matrix menu. A web of nodes with branching paths spread across his screen. Several tabs were spread out across the bottom, labeled as follows: Sensors, Combat, Mobility, Synthesis, and lastly, Discipleship. Scrolling from tab to tab caused new webs to display. Right now, everything except for the Sensor menu was grayed out.

"Branching paths have been laid out before you," the AI said, " You can choose how the Avatar evolves and grows."

A node at the very bottom was currently highlighted. That represented where he was at. Two branching paths forked outward from the node and the AI explained further.

"Two gated paths stand before your eyes. The Path of the Watcher, and the Path of the Hunter. Note the gate next to each pathway. " The display dimmed, highlighting small lines that were perpendicular to the paths. An animation showed them sliding over each path, cutting them off. "Choose wisely. For once one path is opened, the other will remain closed unless you collect the mask of a lord."

The display's brightness returned to normal. So once he chose a path, the other would remain inaccessible until he obtained a "lord's mask". So he had to make a choice. Khalil looked closely. The two paths and their branching webs were clearly marked "Path of the Watcher" and "Path of the Hunter" respectively. On the two paths were more nodes and more forks. Each node represented an ability or an upgrade. For the most part, the early nodes on both paths were initially similar with only minor differences. Both paths had access to a minimap and a threat detector that would paint arrows at the edge of the UI to cue Khalil in on what direction an enemy attack was coming from.

Where they differed was in the scan ability. The Watcher path had a scan upgrade called "Ranger". The description said it gave a deeper analysis about the environment and inanimate objects, allowed one to track precious resources, as well as provide synthesis-related information about various elements it scanned. Khalil didn't know what it meant by that last part.

Its counterpart on the Hunter path was called "I see you". It provided more information about an enemy when it was scanned, including some of its weaknesses. Khalil looked further ahead on both pathways and compared the two. The Watcher appeared to be geared more toward passive sensory functions while the Hunter was more aggressive actions. Raising his hands, he was able to zoom in and zoom out. Doing showed that some of the nodes higher up on the webs were hidden from view. They were just black silhouettes. He supposed they would be revealed as one upgraded.

The currency used to unlock these upgrades, called "lore points", was earned by performing actions related to the tiers, the AI explained. In other words, scanning objects would provide more upgrades. So would using the map to navigate, to plot out points, etc.

Combat lore points would be earned in battle. Mobility points would be earned by walking, running, and jumping, and really, anything to do with movement. Synthesis and Discipleship was hidden from him. The AI did not elaborate on either of these. So instead, he focused on the Sensors matrix. The choice between Watcher and Hunter was obvious really. He favored more aggressive tactics and it would be incredibly useful to know more about the enemies he scans.

He had five lore points. He used one to unlock the Hunter path. The gate on the Watcher path slid shut and that web turned black. Three nodes adjacent nodes on the Hunter path lit up. Khalil unlocked them all, an enemy proximity sensor, which was the upgrade that showed where attacks were coming from, a minimap, and "I see you". A top-down minimap appeared in the lower left. He was represented by an arrow. Small outlines represented the walls of the cavern. He did not know how accurate it was or if it changed with elevation. It would have to, wouldn't it? The map did not show anything else.

He looked around the environment for something to scan. He found a bug crawling across the ground and scanned it.

Millipede, Level not applicable.

These critters are found all throughout the continent of Agrai. They feast on leaves and organic matter. They are vulnerable to stomping, slapping, slicing, crushing, drowning, aura attacks, and burning.

Amused, Khalil looked around and turned his head toward the sky. He accidentally focused on it with the scanner and the whole sky lit up. Odd. He scanned it.

Spawning Mist: A mist fills the sky. It is not natural. Effects on organics unknown.

"What does that do?" Naia asked.

"Hmm?" Khalil said.

"A light shines from you. What lore is this?"

"Oh. It says I can scan the environment and learn about it," It was very odd to explain gameplay mechanics to an NPC. Though it felt wrong to think of her as an NPC. "I dunno how it works."

"Fascinating," Quillen whispered. "What kind of information does the avatar reveal to you?"

Khalil scanned Quillen again. "Well, I see your race and your age. But I also see that you're vulnerable from behind. Like if I was to attack you, that's how I'd do it. It says you have a keelbone in your chest."

"So, Khalil," Jerell said. "Forgive me…but you sound young. Am I correct?"

"I mean, I am sixteen years old, so I guess."

"Sixteen years…" Jerell chuckled. "Could be lifetimes for us. I wonder how time passes in your world. Either way…having a young person protect us from krylenes does not feel right. If I were in better condition, I would have given aid instead of watching you fight."

"It's all right I don't feel any pain."

"Huh…" Jerell nodded.

"I don't understand something," Khalil said. "How can you all be so calm? Like if you really believe you're talking to an actual alien?"

"I would not say that we are 'calm'," Jerell said. "I have many, many questions. But we have been preparing for this for a very long time. We have gone through every scenario we could think of and planned on how to act, how to speak to you. We considered whether or not you would be capable of speaking or thinking the way that we do. So if we appear calm, it is because we have practiced."

"Ah…gotcha. So why did you bring me here?"

"For selfish reasons," Jerell admitted. "I will not get into all the details, but our people are oppressed by a powerful race known as the Nikral. They rule over us, keeping us starved so that we remain dependent on their 'care'. They have committed countless atrocities and nobody can hold them accountable. All magic and all adjacent-lore comes from them and so, their reign is unchallenged. You, however, or rather the vessel you inhabit, is different. It is of a different lore. They cannot touch it. You are a Kelast creation."

"Kelast?" Khalil repeated. "What's that?"

"That is up for debate," Quillin said, tearing apart the fruit with his beak. "Some say they were a lost race or just an ancient people. All we know is that it is strictly forbidden to learn their script. Kelast writings were uncovered. They taught us how to summon you and, using poetic analogies, described how the vessel was a power to be reckoned with. In short, we were desperate to learn anything that might lead us to challenge the lords."

"So…tell us about yourself," Jerell said, looking at him.

Khalil just shook his head and grinned. "I don't know man," he said, flustered.

"What don't you know? Just tell us about the being we are speaking to."

This is crazy, Khalil thought for the hundredth time.

"I'm just a high school student. I don't know what to say."

"You are being educated?" Naia asked. "Is it an apprenticeship or are you going to an academy?"

"No, nothing like that. Just school. I guess its an academy. We just got out for Summer."

She continued to ask him questions about his mundane life and he tried to answer the best that he could, but he was stumbling so hard. He did not expect a simulation to engage him like this. It was enthralling, if not a little unsettling.

"Hey hold on a minute," he said. "I think I have to take a break too."

He tried to find a pause function, but everywhere he looked yielded no result. Would the game pause automatically if he disconnected? Either way, he could feel nature calling and it was calling bad. Apparently the connection still transferred some signals to the avatar, including sensations caused by the bodily needs.

"I will be right back," he said, closing his eyes and severing the connection.

Just before he left however, the AI started speaking to him. He didn't have time to listen, he needed to go. When he returned to the real world, there was a moment of "displacement". He took the headpiece off and got up, giving a few seconds for the disorientation to pass. Looking around his room, he found it hard to believe he had really been here the whole time.

He got up and bolted for the restroom. When he got back, he was about to put on the headpiece when he noticed the time. It was 2 AM. That explained why he felt so damn exhausted. So instead of re-entering the world of Skrul, he set the headpiece next to his bed, lay laid back down and went to sleep.

He got up the next morning, rushed upstairs to get some breakfast then he came straight back down, locked his door and put back on the headset. He connected to the avatar only instead of finding his companions, he found himself face to face with a wall of flesh, tormented faces of corpses gaping at him and moaning. His integrity display was flashing all over. Something had his arm in its teeth, its integrity plummeted to zero and then it tore away sparking. The other limbs followed and soon, the avatar itself was ripped into pieces by amalgamations of flesh.

It was destroyed.