Dont Panic!

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  Laurie stretched, and yawned. Sleep still clung thickly to his mind, and he kept his eyes closed, hoping that he could coax himself back to unconsciousness. It normally worked, but his usually comfortable mattress felt hard as earth, and his back ached. He wriggled to try and find a better position, but every way he moved was more uncomfortable than the last. He rolled onto his side, and spluttered as something tickled his nose. Brushing it away, he reached out blindly with one hand, grasping for his phone. Instead of plastic and glass, his fingers met something unexpected. String? Hair? What?

  “Huh..?” Laurie groaned, slowly opening one eye, bringing his hand to his face. He was holding a fistful of grass, yellow and shining with dew. I’m outside?! Laurie opened both eyes and blinked stupidly a few times, looking at the grass in his hand.

  “What?” he said, once again demonstrating his cunning grasp of the English language. It was bright - too bright, Laurie thought, as he blinked his sleep-heavy eyes. His half-awake brain took a moment to register what his eyes were seeing. He was in a forest, surrounded by trees. Light lanced through the canopy in shafts of golden white, and the smell of dense, earthy loam filled his nose. The trees were huge and wide, with strange, milky-brown bark that was banded with a dark pattern that spiralled up into the leaves. The underside of the canopy was far, far above him, thick branches criss-crossing over a clear blue sky beyond.

  Nothing was moving. The knee-high yellow grass was still, frozen mid sway, like a painting or a video game on pause. Even the grass where he had been lying hadn’t moved; it hadn’t sprung back into position when he sat up and there was an indentation of his body etched into it like a strange, vegetal crime scene. A dream. This has to be a dream.

  Laurie stood, uncertain, and took a step towards the closest tree. As he did, a wave of gray light manifested in front of him, slipping like liquid over the ground before inexplicably solidifying into a square table. It looked smooth and metallic, and gave off a faint gray glow. He stayed very still, blinked hard, looked up at the frozen trees, down at the frozen grass, and back at the table, which had now been joined by two chairs, one either side.

  There was something sitting in one of the chairs. It was almost a person, if he didn’t look at it properly. It was made of light, a whole constellation of shifting, ebbing orbs, roaming around in the approximate shape of a human being.

  "Time is finite,” the entity said, which to be fair, was the sort of thing Laurie would have expected a being made of glowing orbs to say. “Please be seated,” it continued. Its voice was distant and cold, and he could not say if it was male or female. It had no mouth, the sound of its voice emanating from it like an announcement from a speaker. Laurie clung to the reassuring thought that he must be dreaming and, shaking his head, moved to the chair opposite and sat. The chair felt cold but solid under him. Very cold, for a dream.

  "Well, go on then, who are you and where the hell am I?" Laurie asked. He couldn’t help but smile, confident as he was that this was simply the weirdest, most vivid dream of his life. I might as well enjoy it!

  "I am Intelligence Five, a participant-facing avatar of the Galactic Ordinance Directive. I interact with participants in the holding area, and prepare them for the starting zone of the Multiversal Integration Programme. You are a participant. You are in the holding area. I am interacting with you, to prepare you for the starting zone of the Multiversal Integration Programme.” Intelligence Five spoke rapidly, without pause for breath or inflection.

  "Right…" Laurie paused, stumped. Where the hell is my sleep-deprived brain getting this from!? He looked around at the trees, mulling over what the entity - Intelligence Five - had said.

  “What’s the multiversal integration programme? And are there other holding areas like this one?" Laurie asked. He was starting to feel a little stressed. Maybe this is more of a nightmare…

  "The Multiversal Integration Programme is the process by which a universe is integrated into the Multiverse,” Intelligence Five replied, helpfully. “There are five billion three-hundred and sixty-seven million eight hundred and fourty-two thousand one hundred and ninety one holding spaces,” Intelligence Five replied. “One for each fully matured Homo Sapiens.”

  “Why?” Laurie asked, feeling his pulse increase. Should I be able to feel my pulse in a dream?

  “The Galactic Ordinance Directive experiences regular periods of expansion. This is the tenth expansion event. Your universe was selected for integration for this expansion. Therefore, there are five billion three-hundred and sixty-seven million eight hundred and fourty-two thousand one hundred and ninety one fully matured Homo Sapiens participating in this event.” Interesting, Laurie thought, but not very helpful.

  "What do you mean our universe is being integrated into the multiverse?" he asked, the feeling of uncertainty growing.

  "During the expansion, the Galactic Ordnance Directive will absorb your universe into the multiverse. Your world will be merged with other compatible worlds. This will result in significant changes to the ecosystem of your world. There will be adaptations and enhancements to the geography, flora, fauna, and arcana.”

  “Arcana?” Laurie interrupted, seizing on the word. “Like, monsters and magic?”

  “Yes,” Intelligence Five replied. “Like monsters and magic. To assist with this adaptation, you will be presented with challenges.”

  Laurie’s mind was spinning. Everything the entity was saying was bizarre, and he was starting to wish he’d woken up already, so he could get back to… To what?

  Ignoring the being in front of him, Laurie tried to focus on what he had been doing the night before, but his memories came back to him reluctantly, and in pieces. He had been playing video games. He remembered the bright, pixelated lights of the screen, could hear the familiar tapping of his keyboard, the sounds of laughter. Then, the taste of alcohol, grease, the bleary weight of his eyelids, trying to close. When he tried to think of the names and faces of his friends, however, or the location of his home, there was nothing but a persistent blankness. He thought back further, trying to remember that morning. To his dismay, there was nothing but that same blankness - only the last few hours had any detail, and that was muddled at best. Had he been at work? Where even was that? Laurie shook his head, trying to clear it. All of his memories had an odd feeling to them as if they had been rubbed away, eroded somehow. His family, his friends, his home - it was all just gone.

  Laurie looked up at the creature sitting opposite, at the play of shifting lights in the shape of its face, and tried to comprehend what was happening. What did this dream mean? Did he have family or friends? Where were they? What would happen next? Laruie closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to order his thoughts, and prioritise his questions.

  "Where is my family? Do I have a family? A wife or… or a child?" He tripped over the last word, loss and panic shooting through him.

  "That information is unavailable in the holding area," Intelligence Five replied, without emotion.

  "Which means?"

  "That information is unavailable in the holding area," it repeated.

  Laurie stood and paced around the table, frustration becoming panic as he wracked his brain, trying to force a single clue, a single shred of self, but nothing came - no face or name, no memory of a wedding or a child's birth.

  "What’s wrong with me? Why can't I remember anything?" Laurie felt a sudden surge of panic. Is this normal for dreams?! An uncomfortable suspicion was forming that he might not actually be dreaming at all - that this was some sort of medical episode, and he was hallucinating, or delusional.

  "You are experiencing universal displacement amnesia,” Intelligence Five said, coldly. “Your pre-integration knowledge has been limited. Your pre-integration knowledge will be restored incrementally over the course of the multiversal integration programme.”

  "So my memories are being held hostage?” Laurie asked, outraged. “Why?!"

  "The multiverse is a dangerous place. Successful integration is essential for individual survival. An incremental restoration process has been proven to result in psychological and sociological benefits.” Laurie sat back down, heavily, and tapped his hands on the table. It was only the rapidly-fading hope that this wasn’t real that was keeping his panic at bay..

  “Time is finite,” Intelligence Five said again. “Participant induction is now entering the second phase." The bundles of light that would have been its hands came up onto the table. It held them a small distance apart, and a black sphere appeared between them. It was about the size of a basketball, and speckled with white dots like stars. Despite his increasing stress, Laurie could not help but lean closer to gaze into it. It was beautiful; the small stars were moving in a cosmic dance known only to themselves, slow and deliberate.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  "Place your hands on either side of the orb. Your attunements will now be identified." Intelligence Five removed its hands from the sphere as it spoke, leaving it hovering above the surface of the table. It didn’t leave a shadow.

  "Attunements? What are you talking about? I'm not touching that thing!" Laurie’s voice increased in volume, panic making him belligerent.

  I’m just dreaming, I'm just dreaming… He looked up at the glowing intelligence and the celestial sphere in front of him, and laughed, only slightly hysterically, before pinching his forearm, then slapping his own cheek, hard. When he did not wake up, he stood and began to back away from the table.

  "Please be seated, Participant.” Intelligence Five said, its tone betraying no trace of impatience or alarm. “Your attunements will now be identified. Further information will be provided once your attunements have been identified.” One of its ‘hands’ made a sharp gesture towards Laurie.

  "Yeah of course, whatever you say! I’m talking to a human glow-stick, stuck in a loading screen, why not touch the weird space ball!" Laurie's voice retained its frantic edge but he couldn’t help the prickle of sarcasm.

  Before he could say or do anything else, the sphere floated off the table and shot towards him. Instinctively, Laurie's hands came up to stop it hitting him in the chest. The moment his hands touched it, his vision narrowed, until all he could see was the orb. He felt his mind slip away, dissolving into the dark space between the tiny, dancing stars…

  Laurie was floating in a deep, black emptiness. He was aware that he had no body, though he felt no panic or worry at this revelation. Around him, he saw small points of light that stretched in all directions - stars, wheeling toward him, burning with near endless energy. Filaments of energy ran between them, linking every star, planet, and moon, lines of energy coursing through the universe, weaving it together. He glimpsed a white-blue twinkle in the distance and, no sooner had he seen it, than he had moved, appearing next to a small ice planet. Its surface was smooth and reflective, and when the light touched it, it shimmered an icy blue. Half the planet was bathed in light, and half blanketed in shadow.

  He moved around it, falling into its orbit with nothing more than a thought. No matter where he moved, half was light, and half was only darkness. He hung there, suspended in space, watching the line where the light became dark - or was the dark becoming light? Laurie felt as though something was slipping into place at the back of his mind, but when he scrambled for it, it hovered out of reach, evading his conscious thoughts.

  Behind the planet, a bright white sun flared and spun. Laurie willed himself to move, slowly putting more and more of the planet between himself and the sun, until he found the perfect spot: an eclipse, tendrils of light reaching around the curve of the planet’s dark bulk, the perfect moment of shared light and shadow.

  Laurie blinked, and opened his eyes to the sight of trees. He was back in the forest sitting at the table, the sphere in his hands. It had turned grey and misted, like an eye with a cataract, as though the universe had fogged up, or tipped itself away when he wasn’t looking. He did not let go of it. He wasn’t sure if he could.

  "I'm not dreaming, am I?" he asked, his voice quiet. He knew next to nothing of himself, but there was no way his imagination could have brought those sights to his mind. He knew that much.

  "No," Intelligence Five replied. “You are not currently experiencing sleep. You are in a holding area. You are being prepared for the starting zone of the multiversal integration programme. Your attunements have been identified.”

  After a moment of silence, a screen very much like a video game screen appeared in the air in front of Laurie. It was white and square, and in clear black letters it said:

  Affinities Gained: Light and Shadow

  Laurie blinked in surprise, glad for a distraction. He groped towards the screen, but his hand went straight through it. A projection? He moved closer, but the words stayed the same distance away, not changing in size or focus. He turned to one side, and the words hovered in front of him, as though imprinted on his eyes.

  “Close,” Laurie said, and waved uselessly at the edges of the apparition. The box didn’t move.

  “Begone!” Laurie tried, flailing even more wildly at the box. Nothing happened. Intelligence Five watched impassively, and Laurie could feel his face growing heated.

  "For God's sake," he said, irritated. "What do I do now?

  "Interacting with the programme interface cannot be performed physically or verbally," the intelligence informed him. “The programme interface is designed to be interacted with mentally.” Laurie was sure that if it could have sounded smug, it would have.

  Pushing down his irritation, he tried mentally acknowledging the screen. Close. It vanished. As it did so, Laurie felt something happen. His body sparked, as though a small electric current had jolted to life in his chest, and was not coursing into the rest of his body.

  Laurie looked at his hands, but they didn’t appear to be any different, despite that sudden surge of feeling. "What are affinities?" he asked, almost without thinking. Before he had even finished speaking another screen appeared in front of him, with the same black writing as before.

  Name: Laurie Tamworth

  Faction: Earth (unaffiliated)

  Species: Human

  Health: 10/10

  Mana: 10/10

  Dexterity: 1

  Strength: 1

  Wisdom: 1

  Intelligence: 1

  Vitality: 1

  Mana: 1

  Affinites: Light, Shadow

  Titles: None

  Laurie read through the list and instantly recognised it as a character sheet. Mana? For the first time something broke through the panic that had been building - a thrill of excitement and curiosity. Mana, that’s magic! Is magic real? Am I… Am I a magician now? He thought ‘close’ and the page vanished. He thought about the list again, and it instantly reappeared. He did this a few times, opening and closing the list, practicing.

  “Is magic real?” Laurie whispered, still flicking the list on and off. The very thought quickened his heartbeat.

  "Mana is the innate magical energy inside your body. An affinity is the type of magic you can create and manipulate using your mana. Every Participant in the programme has two affinities. You have one question remaining." What?! Laurie bit his tongue, and only just managed to stop himself from saying it out loud. What a waste of a question that would be! He tried to slow down, and think tactically about his last question, to see if he could try and trick the intelligence into giving him information he actually wanted.

  "What happens after we are done here?" Laurie asked, feeling slightly smug. If he asked a vague enough question, he thought he might get several answers.

  "You will now be transferred to your allocated starting zone. Please choose from the following." Well, damn. It seemed that asking vague questions would get vague answers. The intelligence made another gesture and three sets of clothing appeared on the table in front of them: a chain shirt, metal bracers and leather boots on the left, a leather shirt, bracers and boots in the centre, and cloth robes, boots and gloves on the right.

  "Focus on each set of apparel to gain some basic information," Intelligence Five prompted. Laurie did so, and small screen appeared next to each outfit

  Basic heavy armour. Provides a high level of protection from attacks at the cost of some manoeuvrability. Small gain to health regeneration when worn.

  Basic medium armour. Provides some protection from attacks and has a minor effect on manoeuvrability. Small gain to mana or health regeneration when worn.

  Basic light armour. Provides no protection from attacks and has no negative effect on manoeuvrability. Medium gain to mana regeneration when worn.

  Laurie looked over each in turn, his panic fading in the face of a rational decision to be made. He didn't feel the heavy armour would suit him - it looked as it was described, heavy and slow. He liked the look of the medium armour. It would provide some protection with only a limited effect on how he moved. The light armour was also interesting, due to the larger bonus to mana regeneration. If there was really magic here, he would definitely be using a lot of it.

  “I'll take the medium armour,” he said after another moment's thought. It seemed like a good middle ground between decent protection and not limiting his movement. The other two options vanished and the medium armour now lay alone on the table, along with grey undergarments made of a thick material that looked like wool, and a large backpack.

  “State your weapon of choice,” Intelligence Five said. Laurie wasn't sure what to ask for.

  “A sword?” he said, uncertainly. He had no idea what weapon he should use, or how often he would have to use it. That last thought was sobering. Several different swords appeared around him, floating in the air. They were all simple, with no ornamentation, but were sharp and ready for use. There was a longsword, a scimitar, and several short swords of varying lengths and styles. Laurie considered a short sword that was a bit smaller than the rest, about the length of his forearm.

  “Can I have two of those?” Laurie said, pointing at the short blade. He didn't really know why he liked them more than any other, but he reasoned that they might be easier to control, and having two meant he could block with one and attack with the other. Two of the short swords clattered onto the table.

  “Please equip yourself. Entry into the starting zone is imminent,” Intelligence Five informed Laurie. He did so, but paused as he was getting undressed and noticed his body. He felt strong, flexible, like he could run a mile and not be out of breath. It felt off, though, like walking in shoes several sizes too big. His skin looked strangely blank, too, almost empty. Laurie checked his right forearm, instinctively, and for a moment he felt a memory of heat jump to the front of his mind, but it was gone before he could grasp it.

  Seemingly noticing Laurie’s confusion, Intelligence Five provided an explanation.“All participants have been restored to their biological prime state. This is to ensure equal physical advantage.” Laurie sombered at the unspoken implication and quickly swapped his pyjamas and socks for the gear on the table, belting on the two swords in their scabbards, one either side of his hip. It all fit perfectly; even the new boots felt snug to his feet.

  “State your pseudonym,” Intelligence Five said, and as it did, another window appeared in front of him:

  Participant: Laurie Tamworth

  Pseudonym: _

  Laurie thought instantly of the vision of the eclipse he had just seen, and a name leapt out of the void of his memories. No sooner had he thought it, than it appeared in the space before him:

  Participant: Laurie Tamworth

  Pseudonym: PUCK

  Confirm Pseudonym: Y/N?

  Laurie mentally agreed, and the screen vanished.

  “Why do I need a pseudonym?” Laurie asked, but even as he did so, the entity spoke over him.

  “You are now beginning the starting zone quest. You must gather one or more of the five great keys. You must obtain these by completing other quests, dungeons or trials.”

  Laurie took this in with curiosity, thinking about the many things Intelligence Five had listed.

  “Wait, what quests? Wait, wait a minute, dungeons?!” But before Intelligence Five could answer, it vanished, along with the table and chairs, and all around him the frozen world came suddenly to life.