The Summoning of Man

I woke up gasping.

Not like a man waking from a nightmare.

Like someone who had been somewhere else entirely—

And had just been pulled back.

The golden light in my veins flared for a brief second, a sharp pulse of energy before settling beneath my skin. The world around me was silent, but my mind was anything but.

The dream—no, the memory—was still there, burned into my thoughts like it had always belonged.

The Aetherii.

Their pride. Their fall.

The war that had torn them apart, and the sacrifices made to seal the corruption away.

I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to steady myself. I still felt the lingering presence of the one I had spoken to—the System, the woman who had once been more than a mere guiding force.

She had been Aetherii.

And now, so was I.

Or at least… something close to it.

I exhaled slowly, pushing myself upright. The sand beneath me shifted, cool against my skin. The night had settled over the desert, the air sharp with cold, but I hardly noticed. My body was different now. It wasn't just the golden glow beneath my skin or the strange weightlessness in my limbs.

I felt different.

The world around me felt different.

It was like I wasn't just standing in it—I was connected to it. The grains of sand beneath me, the distant shift of the wind, the faint hum of something beyond sight and sound.

It was as if the rules of reality had been laid bare before me.

I wasn't sure if that thought terrified me or not.

I flexed my fingers, watching as the golden veins flickered faintly beneath my skin. The energy inside me was contained now, but I knew it wasn't gone.

It was simply waiting.

I forced myself to my feet, brushing the sand from my clothes. My head still throbbed from everything I had seen, but I couldn't afford to sit here trying to make sense of it.

There were questions that needed answering.

And I wasn't going to find them alone.

The woman was waiting.

She was perched on a rock a few feet away, her blade resting loosely across her lap. Even in the dim light, I could see the tension in her shoulders, the way her fingers curled just slightly around the hilt.

She had been watching me.

I met her gaze, and for the first time, I saw something in her eyes that hadn't been there before.

Wariness.

Not the kind she had held for enemies.

The kind reserved for something unknown.

I took a step forward. She didn't move, didn't react. But I could tell she was measuring me.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"Two days," she said.

That hit me harder than I expected. Two days.

The battle had felt like moments ago.

The dream—the memory—had been as vivid as if I had just spoken to her. But two whole days had passed.

My fingers curled into fists.

Something had changed while I was unconscious.

Something deeper than I realized.

She tilted her head slightly, her gaze sharp. "You look different."

I let out a slow breath. "I feel different."

Her eyes flicked to the golden glow beneath my skin, then back to my face. "That thing you fought… it's really gone?"

I nodded. "I didn't kill it. I erased it."

She exhaled, rubbing a hand down her face. "You say that like it's normal."

"It isn't."

She frowned. "So what are you now?"

I hesitated. I wasn't sure I had an answer that would make sense. But she deserved the truth.

I met her gaze. "I'm not human anymore."

Something shifted in her expression. It wasn't shock. It wasn't even fear.

It was understanding.

Like she had already suspected.

She nodded slowly. "Yeah. I figured."

I sank onto a nearby rock, staring out over the darkened desert.

The wind whispered around us, carrying a faint chill. Somewhere in the distance, the dunes stretched endlessly, untouched by what had just happened here.

But I knew the truth.

The world had changed.

And I had changed with it.

She leaned forward slightly. "Tell me what happened."

So I did.

I told her about the Aetherii—the race beyond dimensions, the ones who had once created worlds.

I told her about their pride, their downfall, their war.

I told her about the System, how it had once been a person, how she and her master had fled from the corruption, how they had sealed it away at the cost of everything.

And then, I told her what the System had told me.

That I was now one of them.

Or something close to it.

When I finished, the silence between us was heavy.

She didn't speak immediately.

Then, finally, she sighed. "You always did attract the worst kind of attention."

I let out a short, dry laugh. "Tell me about it."

She studied me for a long moment. "And now?"

I exhaled. "Now, I don't know."

Because that was the truth.

I had rewritten the System. I had erased something that should not have existed.

But what came next?

I wasn't sure.

I wasn't human.

I wasn't fully Aetherii.

I was something in between.

And I had no idea what that meant for me—or for this world.

She sighed, shaking her head. "Well. I guess we'll figure it out."

I blinked at her. "Just like that?"

She gave me a flat look. "Josh, I watched you tear apart reality and somehow not die. Whatever you are, I don't think you're going anywhere."

I stared at her for a moment—then, to my surprise, I laughed.

A real laugh, tired and sharp.

She cracked a small smirk.

And for a moment, just a moment, everything felt normal.

But then, the wind shifted.

And I felt it.

A tremor.

Not in the ground.

In reality itself.

I shot to my feet.

She tensed immediately, her hand flying to her weapon. "What?"

I didn't answer.

Because I knew what it was.

A rippling in existence.

A disturbance far away.

Something had felt the System's collapse.

Something had noticed.

And now—

It was coming.