The formation exploded with light, and Elara's eyes snapped shut as a violent wave of mana swept through the apartment, throwing her hair backward and rattling every window in the room. The four candles nearly went out before their flames abruptly straightened again.
Something struck the center of the apartment just a few feet away from her, hard enough to make the floor tremble beneath Elara. She instinctively raised an arm over her face, waiting for the violent burst of energy to subside. Slowly, the crimson light began fading, leaving the apartment filled with smoke-like wisps of residual mana.
Someone was kneeling inside the formation.
A man.
For several seconds, he remained completely still, his palms pressed against the floor as though he needed them to support his weight. Then he sucked in a sharp breath and slowly lifted his head, his confused eyes darting around the unfamiliar room.
"What..."
His voice sounded hoarse and strained, as though speaking itself required effort. He looked toward the walls, the furniture, the windows, and finally Elara, but nothing seemed to provide the explanation he was desperately looking for.
"Where the hell..."
He stopped mid-sentence.
His hand slowly rose toward his face before moving to his hair and then his forehead. His fingers suddenly touched something hard and curved, and his entire body went rigid for a moment.
"What the fuck?"
He grabbed one of the horns and pulled on it, apparently expecting it to disappear or reveal itself as some kind of illusion. Nothing happened. His breathing immediately became uneven as he touched the other horn.
"No, no, no."
He stumbled backward and nearly lost his balance before catching himself against the floor. His eyes moved around the room again, becoming increasingly frantic as he searched for something familiar that simply wasn't there.
"Interface."
Nothing appeared.
"Menu."
Silence.
"Disconnect!"
Again, nothing happened.
His voice rose as panic began overwhelming whatever composure he had left. "LOG OUT!" He stared into the empty air before waving his hand several times, repeatedly searching for a virtual interface that refused to appear.
"This isn't funny. Is this some elaborate prank? Who's doing this?" His words came faster now, while his eyes continued searching the room for cameras, game equipment, or anything that could explain the situation.
Then he finally looked down at himself properly.
Black clothing.
White hair.
Long fingers.
Hands that he recognized.
The realization hit him all over again as he touched his face, tracing features he knew far too well to mistake for anything else.
"No fucking way."
Elara remained frozen several feet away, staring at the stranger she had somehow pulled through her first summoning. She had expected something, but not this. Whatever stood before her looked like a human being.
The man suddenly turned toward her, and his eyes locked directly onto hers. The intensity of his stare made Elara instinctively tense, especially when he took a small step in her direction.
"You."
Elara flinched before he spoke again.
"Who are you? What is this place?"
She opened her mouth, but no answer came immediately.
"I..."
"Did you do this?!"
"Yes."
The answer came quietly.
He stared at her in disbelief before looking around once more. "What is this?"
"I summoned you."
"You summoned me?"
"Yes."
His expression twisted between confusion and anger, and he ran one hand through his white hair as though trying to force his thoughts into some kind of order.
"I was in a fucking game."
Elara said nothing.
"I was streaming. Is this a fucking prank? This isn't funny." His voice became sharper as he looked around again. "Where am I? What happened to the game?"
"This isn't a game."
"What?"
"This is Atheria."
He stared at her as though she had just spoken complete nonsense.
"What is Atheria?"
Elara hesitated before slowly opening both hands and gesturing toward the apartment and the world beyond the windows.
"This world."
The man immediately turned toward the glass.
The city outside was completely unfamiliar. The buildings, the lights, the vehicles, even the atmosphere seemed wrong in a way he couldn't immediately explain.
His breathing slowed for exactly one second.
Then accelerated again.
"Where's Earth?"
Elara didn't answer.
He turned back toward her, his face noticeably paler than before. "Where is Earth?"
"I don't know."
His expression changed immediately.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
Elara's eyes began filling with tears as the fear of the situation finally overwhelmed her. "I don't know. Please don't hurt me. I'm sorry."
The words were barely audible.
For several seconds, the man simply stared at her. The anger remained, but something else was beginning to settle beneath it, something closer to disbelief than hostility.
Neither of them spoke after that.
It was already ten o'clock.
Jasper had spent nearly two hours sitting on the floor with his back against the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling while the initial panic slowly gave way to something heavier. He had reached the point where the fear no longer came in sudden bursts.
It had become despair.
This was the moment he knew, with absolute certainty, that he was fucked.
He had tried everything he could think of during those two hours. He searched for hidden interfaces, attempted every command he normally used inside Amber-Lands, tried logging out, closing his eyes, reopening them, and repeatedly calling for a system response.
Nothing.
He even tried moving his body in ways that should have triggered character menus or other game functions. When that failed, he slapped himself hard enough to make his cheek sting.
Reality remained stubbornly committed to being reality.
Jasper slowly turned his head toward the darkened window and stared at his reflection. White hair, purple eyes, black horns, and the familiar black coat stared back at him from the glass.
He knew exactly what body he was looking at.
That wasn't the confusing part.
He had spent years playing Lucifer Morningstar in Amber-Lands. He knew the character's appearance, his mannerisms, his abilities, his equipment, and practically every detail that existed about him inside the game.
Lucifer wasn't a mystery.
The mystery was how the fictional character had somehow become his body.
"How..."
Jasper rubbed both hands over his face and let them fall into his lap.
"How am I actually here?"
Across the room, Elara had continued watching him quietly. She didn't know what she could possibly say, and after everything that had happened, she wasn't sure whether speaking would help or make things worse.
For nearly two hours, Jasper had mostly inspected himself, paced around the apartment, attempted various things she didn't understand, and occasionally stared into space with an expression that made it obvious he was trying desperately to find an explanation.
Eventually, Elara decided to offer him some water.
She filled a glass and approached slowly, stopping several steps away before extending it toward him.
"Here."
Jasper didn't respond.
Elara held the glass out a little farther. "You should drink something."
He looked at the glass, then at her, before returning his gaze to the floor.
"I don't need water."
"You've been sitting there for a long time."
"I know."
"You haven't eaten either."
"I know."
Elara remained standing there awkwardly, still holding the glass. Jasper closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.
"Please."
She lowered the glass slightly. "I'm just trying to help."
"I know."
His voice was quieter this time.
Elara stepped closer and offered it again. "Then drink it."
Something inside Jasper finally snapped.
"I SAID I'M FINE!"
His shout echoed through the apartment.
Elara immediately flinched, and the glass trembled noticeably in her hand. Jasper froze as the anger vanished from his face almost as quickly as it had appeared.
Silence settled between them.
His shoulders dropped.
"...Sorry."
Elara didn't answer immediately.
Jasper rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. "I didn't mean to shout at you."
"It's okay."
"No, it isn't."
He sighed and looked toward the ceiling again. "I'm just..."
The sentence died there because he couldn't find the right word.
He was angry.
Afraid.
Confused.
Helpless.
Everything had happened too quickly. One moment he had been sitting inside his VR setup, playing a character millions of people watched him perform, and the next something had gone horribly wrong.
Now he was in a strange girl's apartment, inside the physical body of a character that should only exist inside a game.
His real body was somewhere else.
His family was somewhere else.
His friends were somewhere else.
His entire life was somewhere else.
Jasper finally looked toward the glass.
"...Give me that."
Elara quietly handed it over.
He drank the entire glass in one go before returning it to her.
"Thanks."
She nodded and stepped back.
Jasper leaned his head against the sofa again and stared blankly ahead. After several seconds, he finally spoke.
"For the record..."
Elara looked at him.
"I know exactly who Lucifer is."
She blinked.
"Then why were you so surprised?"
Jasper gave her an incredulous look. "Because knowing what Lucifer looks like and waking up inside his body are two completely different things."
Elara nodded slowly.
Jasper looked down at his hands and flexed his fingers.
"In the game, Lucifer was an avatar. A character. I controlled him." His expression tightened slightly as he stared at his hands. "Now I'm the one inside."
A humorless laugh escaped him.
"How did a character from a game turn real?"
Elara sat down across from him, leaving a comfortable distance between them.
"Do you think you can go back?"
Jasper stared at the floor.
"I don't know."
The answer came quietly, and there was no frustration behind it this time. Only uncertainty.
He looked toward the window again, toward a city he had never seen before.
"I don't know."
For several moments, neither spoke.
Then Jasper suddenly stood.
"I want to test something."
Elara looked up at him.
"Test what?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he clenched his fist and focused.
Inside Amber-Lands, Jasper knew exactly how Lucifer's abilities worked. He had used them countless times, tested them in combat, optimized them, and performed them for millions of viewers.
He knew what should happen.
Nothing happened.
Jasper frowned.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
He closed his eyes and concentrated harder, attempting to call upon even the simplest ability he could remember.
Nothing.
His expression tightened with frustration.
"What is this?"
Elara watched quietly as he opened his eyes and looked toward her.
"Your system."
She blinked.
"What about it? Do you wanna see it?"
Jasper looked at her for a moment before nodding.
"Can I?"
"Yeah, sure."
Elara focused on her Genesis System and deliberately shared the interface with him.
The blue panel, previously visible only to Elara, expanded so Jasper could now see it as well. His gaze immediately moved across the information, studying everything with the concentration of someone desperately searching for something that made sense.
[Name: Elara Veyne]
[Race: Human]
[Age: 16]
[Class: Demon Summoner]
[Level: 1]
Jasper's eyes paused on the class.
"So that's how you summoned me."
Elara nodded.
He continued staring at the interface for another moment before looking back at her.
"I'm your summon, right?"
"Yes."
Jasper frowned slightly.
"Then you should have my stats too."
Elara hesitated for only a moment before nodding.
"Of course."
She focused on the information connected to her summon, and the interface immediately changed.
For the first time, Jasper saw the status screen belonging to himself.
[Name: Lucifer Morningstar]
[Race: Half Human, Half Demon]
[Class: —]
[Level: 1]
[EXP: 0 / 100]
[Strength: XXXX]
[Agility: XXXX]
[Constitution: XXXX]
[Intelligence: XXXX]
[Mana: XXXX]
[Skills: —XXXX]
Jasper stared at the screen for several seconds.
Then he slowly turned toward Elara.
"What the hell?"
Elara looked just as confused.
Jasper pointed toward the display. "Why are these numbers redacted?"
"I don't know."
His eyes moved back to the screen.
"I am level one
""Yes."
He stared at the physical attributes again before flexing his fingers.
"I do feel a little strong but."
His expression became more serious when he noticed the complete absence of mana and the fact that no skills were listed.
"Where are my skills?"
Elara shook her head.
"I don't know."
Jasper looked toward her.
"What does your system say about me?"
"That's everything it shows."
He remained silent.
His eyes returned to the name displayed at the very top.
Lucifer Morningstar.
He knew this body.
He knew this face.
He knew exactly what Lucifer was supposed to be capable of.
Yet the status in front of him suggested something very different.
Jasper slowly leaned back against the sofa.
"Okay."
He took a slow breath.
"So I'm Lucifer Morningstar."
He looked at Elara.
"I'm your summon."
She nodded.
"And apparently, I'm level one."
Another nod.
Jasper stared toward the ceiling.
"That makes absolutely no fucking sense."
Elara looked at him.
"I summoned you without knowing what would happen, I am sorry."
Jasper stared at her for several seconds before slowly exhaling.
"You didn't know."
"No."
He rubbed his temples.
"You were not trying to hurt me."
"No."
"And you didn't intentionally drag me here."
"No."
Jasper became quiet.
He studied Elara for several seconds, taking in the trembling voice, the nervous expression, and the fact that she had apologized repeatedly despite clearly being terrified herself.
"Then why are you constantly apologizing."
Elara looked relieved and slightly stunned.
If she had been in his place, she knew she would hate whoever had done this to her. She had dragged him into this situation without understanding what her own skill could do, and yet Jasper couldn't bring himself to direct his anger toward her.
She was just a kid who had gotten excited about a new ability.
He could hardly blame her for making a mistake.
I would've probably done something stupid too.
His real problem wasn't Elara.
It was figuring out how he had gotten here in the first place and, more importantly, how he could return.
Jasper looked at her again.
"Still, I'm going to need you to figure out how to send me home."
Elara swallowed.
"I'll try."
Jasper closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the sofa.
"Good."