“You are my Snow!” Syvles chirps.

  The girl hops, skips, and almost floats into our clearing. She’s wearing a dress shaped like leaves. Some kinda cosplay, maybe? It even has fairy wings sewn in at the back. There’s a wreath of flowers around her head, and her hair has a touch of green in it, floating lightly in the air.

  Her earthy brown eyes turn towards me with an earnest smile. “Gosh, Snow! Could you have stopped causing trouble for even a moment?” she asks, hopping up to me. “You smell like blood! Fairies like me hate iron, you know?!”

  The words are equal parts accusatory and playful. I smile at her, looking at the petite girl in front of me. She’s just over a meter and a half tall, and rather thin, but very fast. She smells of flowers and moss, sporting long, blonde hair with streaks of faint green. “Hi Sylves,” I say.

  She leans forward, her legs casually hovering above the ground. “Hmmmm? You’re barely even surprised, Snow!”

  I nod. “Seems it.”

  Her lips turn into a pout. “Hmph! You’re a boring bore.”

  Again, I nod. “You caught me. Now, will you leave this bore to bleed out?”

  Frustrated, she turns to Opal. “You! Be surprised!” Then to Thatch. “You! How’d you find me?” Then to Inu. “And you! You’re uh… I ran out of words!” Then she pouts again.

  Opal yawns. “You’re really going all in on the fairy shtick, huh?” they ask.

  For the first time, Syl breaks character. She smiles, just faintly. “Was there ever any doubt?”

  Opal shakes their head, smiling. “I suppose not, no.”

  “Yes,” Sylves says. “Of course I’m going all in. I get to control the wind with my skills. And a bit of plants. I’m gonna grow a set of wings, too!”

  “Based,” Thatch says. “Have you been eating?”

  “Oh right. I should do that. You got any food?” she asks.

  I pass her a bag of dried fruit, and she chomps down on them. Things quiet down a little. They’re peaceful.

  No parasite under my skin, all my friends gathered around where I can see them. The world might be ending. There might be species out there looking to kill me, looking to show the system that they’re worth more than me. There might be all sorts of dangers for my friends.

  It’s calm. They talk, they joke, they get tired and fall asleep. I take a moment to redo the paint on my nails as they chat. It’s mundane, and vain, but I’m glad I stole the polish from Inu’s bathroom. Eventually, though, when all my friends are slumbering, I can feel my own eyes starting to get heavy. Jess notices first. “Go sleep,” she says. “I’ll keep a lookout.”

  Not that I trust her, but still. It’s necessary. I need rest. My mind is worn out and tired. I’ll sleep lightly, and set my mind to wake up before midnight. It doesn’t need to be accurate entirely, but it should be good enough.

  And then, slowly but surely, I drift off to sleep.

  - - -

  My mind snaps back awake. I feel the change in the world, the mana growing denser. It’s the same as the first night, and darkness creeps in. It’s thick as tar and pitch black. I can’t see the clearing or any of my friends anymore.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  [Congratulations!]

  [You have survived the second stage of descent! Third stage of descent imminent.]

  I look at the menus, knowing they’ll disappear after tonight. The third stage. Is it the final one? How many are there, I wonder. What’s the final stage?

  [Essence compatibility modification applied. Initializing instance synchronisation.]

  The world shakes and twists again, changing in some fundamental way. Instance synchronisation… It sounds like there have been multiple apocalypses running simultaneously? Maybe in multiple places? And now they are merging.

  I brace, feeling as a titanic grip takes hold of our world, and something shifts. I feel like two, three, four versions of myself are squashed together into some kind of meatball abomination - then I spring back into a human shape.

  My teeth feel sticky, but it’s okay. It’s over. The sensation is gone. I swallow down the horror of the situation, and watch as the darkness recedes, revealing our camp.

  The fire has gone out, leaving flickering embers. Jess looks at it with wide open eyes, shocked by the notification. Instead of that, I swipe my gaze around. Instance Synchronisation, plus the feeling of multiple bodies being squished into mine definitely makes me think of some kind of merging.

  And then, I catch a hint of blue.

  Instantly, [Selection] flicks out, latching onto the piece of someone I caught. It catches something, creating a tether of dull mana, letting me know where it is, what it is. A small creature, light skin with a bluish hue.

  It looks at me. I look at it. The creature has six eyes, two on each side of its face, and two on its forehead. It also has four arms.

  I kind of want four arms. Can I make more with mana?

  The creature takes a step closer. It can tell I’m watching it. Some kind of perception skill? Interesting. It takes another step. I keep staring at it, not bothering to hide my attention.

  Slowly, the alien tilts its little head. It chitters a few noises that are unintelligible to me, but I know it’s curious. How do I know? I don’t know that. [Selection]? Probably the system, though. Translation functions seem like something it should have.

  Again, the creature chitters, a longer amount of clicks this time. Its mouth is wide, and it has small mandibles at the side of its lips. They’re oddly cute. I wanna poke them. I tilt my head at it, too. “What are you?” I ask, quietly.

  It jumps back. Jess, too, looks over, and I see a gasp freeze in her mouth, unspoken. I look at the thing again, waiting, unmoving. Tentatively, it starts walking forward again. Slowly, steadily, it walks up to our fire, then looks at me and chitters.

  Something in the back of my mind tells me the noise is a request. The communication feels a little clearer. It glances at the fire again, then at me. I nod. “Go for it.”

  With my permission, the critter reaches down into the fire. It picks up a fistful of ash and glowing embers, then shoves them into its mouth. Pieces of not quite burnt wood crack and crunch, then it grabs another fistful of the remains of our fire and chews on them.

  Its cheeks inflate a little bit, like a hamster.

  The alien wears clothing, too. It’s a little bit like a plush vest, but the design is full of webbing? Almost as if made to integrate spiderweb patterns. I watch as it eats yet another handful.

  It chitters a few more words at me. Gratitude? It must’ve been hungry. What a strange critter. Another fistful of ash goes into its mouth, crunches, and gets devoured. The radiance dims a little. “Can you introduce yourself?” I ask.

  Once more, the creature turns to me. Slowly, it nods. There is a chittering noise, a grinding, guttural sound, something that conveys a name. I look at it. “Really?” I ask, whisper-quiet. “Richard?”

  The thing, between fistfuls of ash, makes a grunt of affirmation. The meanings become clearer in my mind. Almost understandable. A translation module slowly installing itself, maybe?

  “Are you… happy with the food?” I ask.

  Richard nods. “Ya,” she grunts. More noise. She says it’s tasty.

  Jess looks at me in a mix of horror and curiosity. I look at her. “You understand her, too?”

  Slowly, she nods. “Barely,” she whispers.

  Hmmm. Maybe my [Selection] is making the process of grasping their language faster? The system definitely seems to be helping me out a little. I don’t think I should be learning an alien species’ communication method in a few minutes.

  Still, I sit, watch and wait as Richard eats the remains of our fire. I watch and wait, until there is another sound. A faint whistling.

  I twist. Pain blossoms in my shoulder as an arrow pierces through it. I really hope that doesn’t become a theme.

  is 40 Chapters ahead!!!