Waves of searing light cascaded through the building, completely destroying the nearby environs. Screeches filled the air as the creature that took his mother's skin completely vaporised to nothingness. Even the little gremlin that banged at his room door wasn't spared.
The circle of light turned Max's home to a grease spot.
[Noxper and Voxper defeated]
[Taking life essence and adding it to host]
Two wisps of dark energy circled around Max and melted into his heart.
The screen flashed again.
[Dark energy has been successfully converted to Light essence]
[Host has been granted +50 Magic Reserve points.]
[These are Host's stats]
[Strength: 10/10000]
[Willpower: 2000/10000]
[Magic Reserve: 100]
[Weapons: None]
[Physique: 300/10000]
[Ability Potency: 40/10000]
[Equipped Rewards: Solar Flare (Ability) - A Rank]
[Element of Manipulation: Light]
[Status: Beacon]
Max looked at the devastation around him. He had really done that. He took one more look at the golden holographic screen that displayed his stats.
"Oh I see. It's like a game system, and I have this Light magic thingy. But I'm still so confused."
"Allow me to explain."
The female voice came back, robotic but warm. Max jumped back in a bit of shock, he constantly forgot that he now had an alive conscience.
"Okay, go on."
"Let me start by introducing myself. I'm Thea. As you must have noticed I'm your new system. Binding with you made you someone powerful and mostly unrivalled among the galaxies: a Beacon."
Thea paused for a moment for Max to take it all in.
"And not just a beacon of any element, a beacon of light. One of the most powerful and most potent."
Max thought of the small metal box his mother gave him.
It was as if the system read his thoughts.
"Yes, I was your mother's last gift to you before she died."
Max remembered Sally, and was instantly overcome with grief. He quickly got himself together. Whoever must have done this was going to pay. Max sought revenge.
"So, how did she even have you in the first place? I don't remember them selling dangerous magic systems at supermarkets where I come from."
"Honestly, I don't quite know how Sally came to be in possession of me. There's a part of my memory I can't access yet. Maybe, as we level up together, everything will fall into place, Max. But currently, I'm afraid we haven't reached a quarter of Light's potential"
"Okay. Mind telling me where the fuck I am?" Max gestured at the dark sky with two moons. Unlike the usual brightness of daylight that was in his own world, everything here was dull and dark, with hellish landscapes and blackened horizons.
"Okay. I agree that this is my fault. I was the one who transported you here from your world. I couldn't watch that Voxper shred you to pieces. And please, do not throw yourself away like that while I'm still hitching a ride. You may not value your life but I value my essence."
"So basically what you're saying is–"
"If you die, I will too."
"Oh."
"And trust me you don't want that. I'll get to that in a minute."
Thea paused, then continued.
"The world you're in is called Nitmera, a hellish dimension machinated by Velda, the god of darkness."
Max remembered the audio recording and the crazy voice that spoke of death and nightmares. If that was some god that planned on annihilating them, he was glad to have escaped in time.
But then it occurred to him.
"Wait, you said that this is the god's world right? That this world was created by him. First off, why is he attacking my world if he has his? And why am I even here? I don't think putting me in the killer god's world would be protecting me."
"I barely had enough energy to transport you to a more distant world. This was the closest I could find. It's more or less a perfect mirror of your world, not minding the darkness and the two moons. Besides, Velda isn't here. He's too busy taking over your world."
"But Thea–", Max asked, grief clenching at the core of his soul. In a mere matter of minutes, he had lost his cat, his home, his world…
His mom.
"How did all this happen?"
"Velda has been planning to take over your world for millennia, but he never possessed the means to do it. Instead, he created an almost perfect pocket dimension replica of your world, obeying your laws of reality, well, almost."
"He created Nitmera, and he used this world as a means to observe yours. Every structure that was built and every terrain that was formed from the ground in your world, was replicated here in Nitmera. Think of it as a decoy, a farming ground for the god to observe your world and build an army."
"When Velda saw that his own power wouldn't be enough, he allowed the dark energy in his world to coalesce and collect over centuries. Creatures of nightmare and surprisingly, people, formed from the ashes and built civilisations. When Velda awoke from his slumber, he had to farm aeons of dark energy in ancient relics called shards. These shards, when merged, generated so much dark energy enough to tear a hole between the dimensions."
"Those portals I saw."
"That is correct, Max. He infiltrated your world with his beasts of darkness, at the expense of his."
"What do you mean? Hasn't Nitmera always been like this?"
"Not at all. Nitmera was a glorious civilisation thriving on dark magic. When Velda awoke, he drained everything and halved the entire population to obtain more dark energy for his shards. He plunged Nitmera into chaos, and mindless beasts of lore resurfaced to the top of the food chain."
Max could not feel sorry for this world. Even though it seemed to have a terrible end, it was still Velda's creation."
"Tell me more about the shards."
"The shards are crystalline fragments of immense dark energy. There are 12 in total. When Velda had created them, he merged them, creating a well of dark energy that the universe had never seen in all its history. After the whole invasion fiasco, they broke apart once more. Velda tasked 12 dukes and duchesses with safekeeping them in their kingdoms. If you want to have any hope of saving the light realm–"
Max took a deep breath. He knew what this part was about. He had seen enough of it in video games.
The quest. The main mission.