"Noooooooo!" Zearon screamed as loud as his tiny, squeaky voice would let him. His furry little body bounced up and down in panic as he stared at his stubby blue paws. "This isn't real! It can't be real!" He began pacing in circles, his little tail swishing back and forth. "This is a dream, right? RIGHT?!"
Suddenly, the calm voice returned in his head, startling him. "I can assure you, this is not a dream."
"Who said that? Who's talking to me? Show yourself!" Zearon spun around wildly, looking for whoever—or whatever—was speaking. "Am I going crazy already?! It hasn't even been a day in this place!"
"I am Ari," the voice said smoothly. "Your system companion. I live in your brain."
"In my what?" Zearon's blue, fuzzy face froze in horror. "You live in my brain? That's… that's illegal!" He shook his head frantically as if trying to shake Ari out like water from his ears. "I didn't agree to this! GET OUT!"
"Relax," Ari replied, almost amused. "I'm here to help you. You're in a new world, Zearon. This is your life now."
"My life? What do you mean?!" Zearon shouted. "This is a bad joke, right? I'll wake up, and I'll be in my bed. Mom will yell at me to get ready for school, and Dad will sip his coffee like nothing happened. Right?!"
"Wrong," Ari said simply. "When you died, your imagination and wishes took form. You wanted to escape your old life, and now you have a new one."
Zearon froze. His mind started spinning as he remembered the accident—the loud crash, the screams, the darkness. "Wait… I died?" His voice dropped to a whisper. "I actually died? But that's not fair! I didn't sign up for death! I didn't even get to eat my birthday cake!" He sat down with a thump, staring blankly at the ground. "So this… this blue, fluffy body is my afterlife?"
Ari's voice chimed in again. "Think of it as an upgrade. You are now a Lumikit, a creature with incredible abilities."
Zearon looked down at himself again, his tiny paws and soft blue fur glowing slightly in the strange light around him. "I look like… a weird stuffed animal! Who's going to take me seriously looking like this?!"
"Well, you're adorable," Ari said matter-of-factly.
"Adorable doesn't win battles!" Zearon shot back, throwing his little paws in the air. But then he paused, looking at his reflection in a puddle. His big round eyes stared back at him, and his tail wiggled a little. "Okay… maybe a little adorable," he mumbled.
Before he could argue any further, the ground beneath him suddenly began to rumble.
"Uh… what's happening?" Zearon asked nervously.
The rumbling grew stronger. "Ari?" Zearon squeaked. "What's going on?!"
"I would recommend moving—" Ari started, but it was too late.
The floor cracked open with a loud BOOM, and Zearon fell straight down, screaming all the way. "Why meeeee?!"
---
THUD!
Zearon landed hard on something squishy and slimy. "Ugh, gross! What is this?!" He scrambled up, shaking the goo off his fur as he looked around. He had fallen into a dark cave. Strange glowing rocks lit up parts of the walls, and eerie shadows danced around him. The air felt heavy, like something dangerous was nearby.
"Ari, where are we?" Zearon whispered. "Tell me this place isn't haunted."
"Based on my analysis, this is a cave," Ari replied helpfully.
"Yeah, I got that part, genius," Zearon muttered. He picked a direction and started walking, hoping to find a way out. Every sound made him jump—drips of water, the crunch of his tiny paws on the dirt floor, even the fluttering of wings far above him. "I don't like this. I don't like this at all."
Suddenly, a deep screech echoed through the cave, and Zearon froze in place. "What… was that?" he whispered.
Before Ari could answer, something huge dropped from the ceiling. Zearon looked up just in time to see a giant bat with glowing red eyes hovering in the air. Its wings were massive, and its fangs dripped with something fiery.
"A GIANT BAT?!" Zearon shouted, his eyes bulging. "Oh no, no, no—"
The bat opened its mouth, and with a loud whoosh, it spat a fireball straight at Zearon.
"MOVE!" Ari shouted.
Zearon yelped and jumped to the side just as the ground exploded where he'd been standing. "IT BREATHES FIRE?!" he screamed, running as fast as his tiny legs could carry him.
"Explosive flames," Ari corrected calmly.
"Oh, sure, let's be specific about it!" Zearon snapped as another fireball exploded behind him. "I'm being chased by a giant bat that throws exploding fireballs, but no big deal!"
He zigzagged through the cave, dodging blast after blast, but the bat was fast and angry. Its screeches echoed off the walls, shaking the ground. Zearon was sweating, his little legs starting to tire. "I can't keep running! This bat's going to roast me!"
"Find a way to fight back," Ari said.
"How?! I don't even know what I can do!" Zearon ducked behind a rock, panting heavily. The bat's flames were lighting up the cave, casting scary shadows across the walls.
"Zearon, think. What are your abilities?" Ari asked calmly.
Zearon blinked. "Uh… something about eating? Wait…" His eyes lit up. "I can eat things, right? And gain their abilities?"
"Correct."
Zearon peeked out from behind the rock. The bat was still searching for him, its red eyes glowing in the dark. He gulped. "Okay, okay, this is insane. I'm tiny, it's HUGE, but… but I can do this!"
He took a deep breath and whispered to himself, "I'm not running anymore."
With that, Zearon shot out from behind the rock and sprinted straight toward the bat.
The bat turned, screeching in surprise, and fired another ball of explosive flames at him. Zearon leaped to the side, barely avoiding it, and kept running. "Here goes nothing!" he shouted as he jumped right at the bat, his mouth wide open.
"AHHHH!" Zearon yelled as he chomped down on the bat's wing.
The bat screeched, flapping wildly, but Zearon hung on for dear life. Suddenly, a strange warmth spread through his body, and the bat started to glow. Zearon's eyes widened as the bat shrank, and he… swallowed it whole.
Gulp.
For a moment, everything was silent. Zearon sat there, stunned. "Did I… did I just eat that thing?" He smacked his lips. "It tasted like burnt marshmallows and old socks."
Ari's voice chimed in, "Congratulations, Zearon! You absorbed the bat's abilities."
Zearon blinked as his body started to glow. "Wait, what's happening to me?!"
Suddenly, his body transformed. He felt himself grow larger. Wings burst from his back, and his vision became sharper. He looked down and gasped. "I… I turned into the bat?! This is AWESOME!" He flapped his wings a little, lifting himself off the ground. "I CAN FLY!"
"Yes," Ari said. "You now possess the powers of the Flame Bat, which is in its first evolution. This creature has four evolutions in total."
"FOUR evolutions?!" Zearon grinned, flapping higher into the air. "This isn't so bad after all!" He did a loop in the air, laughing with excitement. "I mean, sure, I died and got turned into a weird furball, but if I get to do stuff like this? I'll take it!"
Ari's voice spoke calmly. "I told you this world was full of possibilities."
Zearon grinned, soaring through the cave with his new wings. "Maybe this isn't so bad," he said to himself. "Maybe this new life will actually be… fun."
For the first time, Zearon didn't feel scared. He felt powerful.