"What?"

I jerked awake... except I hadn't been asleep. I'd been inside some tunnels with some gigantic humanoid ants. Or, possibly, I'd been shrunk down? That would also explain Dragon's loss of mass issue.

I frowned and felt at my body. It was still there. My torso should've been missing after that blue ant had shot... something at me. Something that hadn't triggered Threat Sense. It had made my chest vanish.

Teleportation?

Disintegration?

An illusion?

Looking around, the last part seemed most likely since I was in an impossible place. There was no light. No color. However, I could still see the dark brown dirt of the tunnel walls. Except... there also was no tunnel. I was buried underground, but could still move.

Okay... think.

Whatever the ant had done, it had clearly hampered me. Threat Sense should've picked it up. That meant, it had been a blind spot. There were powers that could directly counter precognition. In theory, it could also be bypassing Gamer's Mind.

However, that was a rabbit hole I didn't want to go down. Just thinking about it was making me anxious.

...The usual calmness from Gamer's Mind didn't come. That's one more argument for this being an illusion. Except, there was a far simpler explanation. Encountering a blue ant that could bypass precognition AND Gamer's Mind? No. The far more simpler scenario was that I was dead, and my mind was inside of Optimize.

Gamer's Mind didn't work in Shardspace. I was well used to that. In fact, this whole scenario felt very similar. It wasn't just the fact that there were overlapping realities. Or that my body was 'less' real than it should be. I'd never been inside of Optimize's Shardspace, but I'd been inside dozens of other Parahuman's.

I regularly stepped into Riley's to take a break from Gamer's Mind.

"Greetings."

I tried to speak with Tongue of Babel... and failed. Party chat was gone. So was my Inventory. I couldn't even pull up my status page.

I think I'm dead.

...Huh. That doesn't really phase me. Probably because I know there's another 'me' out there. My connection with Jagat is gone, so he's still alive. Or I am. I could be Jagat. It's hard to keep track of which body died. If I had my powers, then I could cancel Multiplayer and find out.

Or, it was also possible that I was dead and Jagat had despawned. I slumped down against the tunnel wall. With a little mental nudge, the tunnel became real and the earthen wall became more solid. My body was still transparent, but everything else was just a matter of perception.

That was a trick of Shardspace. If you had multiple realities, you could pick and choose.

What to do next? What even COULD I do?

I let out a sigh and decided to feel bad for myself and worry about Riley and and Sibby for a while.

...

After an unmeasurable amount of time, I stood up.

I might as well explore. While this place was where I died, I was sure Optimize also had my hometown where I'd Triggered somewhere.

Or not. Optimize was originally from the third entity, so its Shardspace might follow different rules.

The tunnels were very well made and uniform. After an hour or two, I started to understand the way they were laid out. I couldn't always head upwards, as that quite often led to dead ends. The rooms were large, but still didn't have much height. In fact, they kinda reminded me of barracks.

Or, rather, storage rooms.

While there were places where 'beds' were carved out of the ground, they could just as easily be called shelves.

The primary tunnel eventually joined with a larger one, which in turn connected with an even bigger one. At that point, my ascent was stymied until I found a smaller tunnel heading upwards. I guess there wasn't much 'traffic' to and from the surface?

In any event, I finally saw the sky again.

Kinda.

There was no sun and no stars. The non-light of the underground persisted up here as well. Similarly, I could still 'see' colors when I tried to look. I could also see different realities that overlaid themselves: a giant mound of dirt, a small farm, an open plain of grass...

Huh.

I could also see the farm halfway through being built. And well lived in. And abandoned and falling apart.

So... not different dimensions like Earth Aleph, but different times. All of history squished together. Interesting.

With no celestial objects and no landmarks, I picked a direction at random and started walking. My first step was normal, but my next carried me miles.

Just like how the landscape was defined by my perception, so too was space.

It was interesting seeing the history of... wherever this was. All the various buildings that had occupied space. I-

A shadow leapt at me!

I stepped away a dozen paces with one step.

What the Hell was that?

I saw another out of the edge of my eye.

'Shadow' might be the wrong word, as there was no light, but it also fit them perfectly. A remnant. A void. Something that I instinctively knew would be dangerous to touch. No. Dangerous to let them touch me. It was a small distinction, but an important one. If I still had my powers, I could fight them.

Instead, I ran.

...

The shadows couldn't keep up, but there were always more ahead of me. I didn't get tired, as I had no body, but I did get weary.

Then, I saw it.

A city that towered overhead. Gigantic walls that encircled it. Not as tall as a sky-scraper, but much, much wider. I took a step, and was in front of it. Gigantic gates barred my path, but they were also open wide.

Ethereal people milled around inside. Not human. They looked more... draconian. Some had wings. All of them had tails and scales. They also all looked more 'solid' than I did, yet they were still insubstantial.

I passed by, largely ignored until a red-scaled one spotted me.

"A human? Bah." He snorted. "How did someone as low-level as you get down here? You should be in the North."

"Excuse me?" I tilted my head. "Low level?" I had been level fifty-one. That wasn't 'low'. Besides, I was the only one with levels in the first place.

Unless... Optimize really liked giving its hosts levels? Was this an entire other planet? They all couldn't have been Parahumans, or rather, Paradragons, right?

"Hah." He gestured at me. "I can tell by how weak your soul is. Half as strong as a new-born!" He breathed a plume of fire that actually felt... hot? "You're new, aren't you?"

"I recently died, if that's what you mean."

"What got you? Did you try sneaking into a Walled City? Typical Human."

"No." I shook my head. "It was these giant ants?"

"The Antinium?" The Drake laughed. "I was killed by them in the Incursion War." I gave him a blank look. "Oh, right. You all call it the First Antinium War these days. Why, I was with General Sserys at Shivering Falls Pass! In fact, I was what you would call his right-hand Drake..."

I half listened to the other ghost as I thought about what this meant. If he had been killed by those same ants... or at least other ants, then this couldn't be Optimize's Shardspace. Not if it mirrored the place where all these ghosts had died. While I understood enough about the third Entity's Cycle to know it essentially uploaded worlds it destroyed, that wasn't what was happening here. I hadn't died in a world that had already been destroyed.

So... the next most plausible explanation was that I had been transported away from Earth Iota, and then killed. That would explain the loss of mass Dragon had detected. I supposed it was possible that I was within a forth Entity. That would explain this afterlife.

"...then an arrow hit me in the knee. I brushed it off, of course, but it slowed me down long enough for the black tide to reach me. I must've killed a thousand of the bastards before they finally took me down!" The Drake looked pleased with himself. I didn't need my empathic notifications to tell me he was clearly either exaggerating or outright lying about his death.

But, what else could ghosts do for fun?

"Why didn't I see any ant ghosts?" I wondered. I had died in one of their 'cities', so there should've been a lot of them around.

"Antinium don't leave behind ghosts." The Drake snorted. "Not that anyone can see. They may be like you, so weak that they're almost invisible. The shadows would finish them off in that case."

"But wouldn't a few get past?" If there were so many, at least some of them should've survived.

"Eh." He shrugged. "Probably don't have any souls. They don't even have levels, so that would make sense."

I frowned. That was the second time he'd mentioned levels. There was clearly something else I was missing. I opened my mouth to ask about it, when a scream came from behind us. Ghosts ran away as a larger shadow stepped into the city.

Unlike the formless shadows that had attacked me, this one had a humanoid shape. It moved with an eerie grace as it seemed to change directions in a way that defied physics. One moment, it was standing still, the next it was chasing a ghost. There was no transition between the actions, but they all looked more like dancing more than anything else.

Each ghost it touched vanished.

"Dead gods, it's a big one." The Drake hissed. "Stand back. I'll handle it."

The red-scaled ghost spread his wings as he inhaled.

The odd thought struck me... what are we even breathing? In fact... I hadn't been breathing at all. I guessed that made sense. No need for air when you're dead. So what was-

The ghost opened his jaws and a gout of flame billowed out. The dancing shadow flinched as it was engulfed, but then let out a disconcerting laugh and pirouetted closer.

"What the-" Those were the last words the Drake got out before he ceased to be. One moment he had been looking at his attacker with surprise, the next? Gone.

It might have been a trick of the light, but the shadow looked a shade darker and larger.

I ran.

Hundreds of thousands of Drake ghosts ran with me. I followed the pack, hoping they knew where they were going. In the end, the ones that stayed behind and hid might've been smarter. The dancing shadow culled us one by one at an insane speed.

I think I was among the survivors because I was so weak. The more 'solid' ghosts seemed to be targeted first. It might of been because they could possibly fight back... or for some other reason. The end result was the same.

Only a tenth of us made it to the next walled city. Perched atop it was an honest to goodness Dragon.

The shadow stayed away.

...

This was hell.

Being by myself sucked. I never was that social in the first place. Now I was without Riley or Sibby. To make things worse, I was a social pariah. There were other ghosts around aside from the Drakes, but we were a minority. Even worse, Humans were NOT liked by the people who'd died here over the ages.

Added to that, there was a social dynamic based upon how powerful - or high-level - someone had been in life. Apparently, my soul didn't reflect my personal power. Or maybe it did. After all, all of my Parahuman abilities had come from Optimize.

In fact, I strongly suspected that my ethereal state was due to my Shard somehow... splitting my soul between my two bodies? Was that possible? Did Shards even know about souls? Heck, I was still half-convinced this whole thing was a hallucination.

Then again, with all the varied powers that Shards could grant, perhaps 'souls' weren't so odd. I'm sure my understanding of everything was skin deep anyways. I doubted I was capable of understanding the universe in the same way that Entities were. All I knew was that I was 'here'.

Which led to the worst issue. Now that I'd found a sanctuary against the shades, and I didn't need food or sleep as a ghost, that left the universal problem: boredom. Or, to put it in plainer terms, there were no video games in the land of the dead!

Ghosts seemed to amuse themselves in four ways: talking about old times, talking about shades and other recent events, 'fighting', and playing chess.

I could listen in on the conversations, but I didn't have much to add - not that I would've gotten a chance due to being a half-souled Human. Along the same vein, I couldn't fight. Frustratingly, I still knew how I was supposed to move to punch someone, but without my muscle-memory or my connection to Optimize, my skill level was far below what it had been in life.

That left chess.

I hated chess.

Not just because I honestly wasn't that good at it, but because it was static. Unchanging. Boring. Sure, they'd come up with variants - like a Dragon piece, but... meh.

I guess this was what Purgatory was like. Only the increased activity of the shades provided any change to the tedium. As far as everyone could tell, there were six powerful ones. How did they become so strong? Nobody knew. Obviously, they grew in strength from consuming souls, but they'd existed for... well... a long time.

I wasn't exactly sure how long, but I think it had been tens of thousands of years at least.

For the shades to grow so much more powerful so quickly, it had be related to either me - or the missing people from Earth Iota. It seemed obvious that if they'd been transported to this world, that a number of them would've also died.

Then, their ghosts might've been consumed.

The timing of things couldn't be a coincidence. I wondered if there was some-

*Installation complete!

[Integration with The Grand Design of Isthekenous complete.

Mana Pool trait created.
Mana Enhancement trait created.]

*Nostalgia Block effect negated by Gamer's Mind.
*Blocked Senses effect negated by Gamer's Mind.

[Welcome Kevin Greenhouse! You have unlocked an expansion to The Gamer! Upon initialization, you have gained 2 traits. Complete personal activities and achievements to grow stronger and shape the world as you like it.]

[Error! Deviation detected. Synchronization impossible. All exp gains negated. All quests disabled. Traits and Perks operating at reduced efficiency. Some options disabled.]

Huh?

*Confusion negated by Gamer's Mind.

I immediately felt calm... but still confused. If I was a soul... how could Optimize connect with me? How could Gamer's Mind work if I didn't have an actual brain?

Then again, I guess that I hadn't had a technical brain whenever Gamer's Body's Breaker state was active anyways. I was software running on Optimize's hardware. Was my soul now connected to my Shard?

Or... was my soul connected to my other self, which was connected to Optimize?

Whatever. I sighed. It was literally impossible for me to understand a fraction of the mechanics of what was going on. I was a caveman wondering at a computer. I lacked even the basic concepts to describe what I was experiencing.

I could, however, test the results.

Gamer's Mind was clearly working. What about Gamer's body?

Mirrors existed in the deadlands... but they were the same as the other surroundings. More the idea of the mirror that had worn itself into the fabric of this reality. There was no actual light. Even if there was, perceiving the mirror was different from actually looking at myself.

I brought my hands to my face and peered at them, then through them. No... nothing seems different. Since I can't take damage there was nothing to test - aside from letting a shade touch me, which wasn't something I was going to go out and do.

Sibby, teleportation, my Babel Perks... nothing seemed to be working, except... for Inventory!

I could sense my Inventory!

...but not take anything out.

With little better to do, I kept its contents in my mind. Eventually, one of the multitude of basic costumes I had vanished from inside of it.

Yes!

I was still alive!

Kinda.

That meant that someone was there for Riley. I slumped against the side of a building and smiled.

...

Over time, it was clear that Gamer's Body was also working. Kinda. My body had become more 'solid'. It was as if the individual cells that no longer made me were being replaced. I was a little grainy when I looked closer, but no one commented on it.

Of course, none of the other ghosts really talked to me, so it was hard to say exactly how noticeable it was. I wondered if when it was done how 'solid' I'd be?

Aside from that, I kept trying to put stuff inside or take objects out of my Inventory.

I had zero success.

While that didn't surprise me, I kept trying. Even one game system I had stored would be heaven.

At least I could sorta keep track of what the me who was alive was doing by what went in and out of the Inventory. It wasn't much, but it was better than watching Drake ghosts play chess.

...

Time passed.

It was hard to say exactly since there was no day or night.

I'd gotten a reputation among the other ghosts as a loner, which was fine. It suited me. There were others like me who stayed on the edges of conversations and didn't speak. I guessed, in a way, it was a social thing. Everyone would naturally have trauma of some kind, and I think the unspoken rules were to just ignore people that wanted to be ignored.

Some things don't change, especially in a city that was overflowing with ghosts. Finding a private place for some solitude was impossible, so I guessed it was natural for the Drakes not to pry.

Gamer's Body slowly accumulated cell by cell. I think I looked like the other ghosts now, but it was hard to say for certain. I definitely didn't think the shades would ignore me if I tried walking to the Human lands. I knew that they were North, and which direction North was, so technically I could try to make the trek.

I had the passing idea to find the ghosts of the kidnapped Earthers... if they still existed, but... how? And also... why? They would either have found sanctuary on their own or not. Just because we'd come from similar worlds wouldn't mean we'd have that much to talk about.

Plus, the shades were getting worse. That was the name that had been given to the six strongest shadows.

There were a few ghosts that traveled from city to city and spread news. They were becoming less and less frequent. It was getting to be that Dragons were the only ones that could do it, and even their visits were few and far between.

The shades grew bolder with each day. The Dragon that stood watch over us had to personally deal with them trying to get inside, and I was getting a bad feeling. It was one thing if it had been those shadows I'd encountered. They'd been... feral. Mindless. Wild animals.

The shades? The dancing one and the others? I'd caught glimpses of them from the walls, and they looked... normal now. Grand. Imposing. But as 'real' as any other ghost. Realer. It was clear that they were getting stronger and stronger and that was causing unrest.

Then... it happened.

Five of them came at once.

The Dragon could drive them off with its breath. The flames it breathed were real in a way that other things weren't. It could hurt them, but it couldn't kill them.

There were others in the city that could fight them too. In some way their souls were strong enough to harm them. However, not a single soul had proven capable of resisting their touch. It was a nerve-wracking fight against immortal Brutes with an All-or-nothing attack.

And five of them were here. They were working together.

The Dragon couldn't be everywhere. Nor could the ghosts that were strong enough to fight. The Shades would be driven off eventually... but how many of us would 'die' first?

I might have enough power from Optimize to fight back. It all really depended on if I had access to a particular Perk and how it interacted with spirits: Juggernaut.

I increasingly felt that there was more than met the eye to that Perk in this place. The fact that when I had been alive, it had let me interact with intangible things meant that the me in the real world might be able to physically punch a ghost. I might be able to imbue my attacks with it here too. I might even be able to hurt a shade... but it wouldn't help protect me. However, one item I'd made had that Perk, because it had EVERY Perk.

If I was right, that meant that I could also wield it as a ghost.

As I looked down at them from the walls, I reached into my Inventory... and pulled out the Golden Gun.