Devon hadn't had a good life. His parents and younger sister died when he was fourteen, casualties of what the government conveniently labeled a terrorist attack. He knew the truth: the government used that label to silence anyone opposing their "laws" which kept the rich above everyone else. Left with nothing, Devon found no helping hand. No surviving family could take him in, the government didn't care, and no citizen was generous enough to shelter a suddenly homeless teenager. For years, he scraped by, drifting between temporary shelters and the streets, quickly mastering the necessities of stealing, scavenging, and fighting just to survive another day.
By age eighteen, he had finally carved out a sliver of stability, landing a job cleaning rooms at a worn-down motel on the city's edge. It wasn't a great life, but the steady money and a roof were treasures he hadn't known for years. That fragile security shattered one night when shouting erupted from one of the rooms. An angry man's voice was followed by the sound of repeated slaps. Devon hesitated. He had no illusions about being a hero, but the violence left him unable to stand aside. He had to act. Pounding his fist on the door, he yelled, "What's going on in there? I work for the motel and I'm coming in!" He used his master key and pushed the door open, his eyes immediately locking onto an older man poised to strike the young woman again.
"Who are you? Mind your business and get out of here," the old man demanded.
"I'm an employee, and you're assaulting a guest. Get away from her!" Devon shouted, lunging forward to seize the old man's arm.
The old man was fast. A backhand struck Devon hard across the face, making him tumble backward, the momentum slamming the back of his head into the sharp edge of a small table. He tried to push himself up, but his legs wouldn't respond. He felt a warm, sticky wetness dripping down the back of his neck.
Reaching behind his head, Devon brought his hand into view. It was entirely covered in blood.
"Oh fuck," the old man whispered, his fury replaced by panic. "Look what you made me do you bitch," he hissed at the woman before bolting out of the room.
Devon's legs would not move, and his vision was blurring, the room dissolving into hazy light. He tried to speak, but no words came. His thoughts became fuzzy, disjointed. He realized he was dying. After such a terrible life, this was how it ended: knocked out trying to do the one thing no one had ever done for him. What a terrible life, he thought before slipping into death.
When Devon opened his eyes again, he was lying on soft moss beneath towering trees. He blinked several times, unsure if he was still unconscious or dreaming.
Devon sat up slowly, looking around in confusion. There was no city skyline, no familiar streets, no trace of the motel or the man who had killed him. Nothing looked familiar. The forest stretched endlessly, with colossal trees whose trunks were wide enough to fit a small house inside. His mind raced. Had he died? Was this some hallucination from his head injury? Or had he somehow been transported to another world?
A translucent blue panel suddenly appeared in front of him.
[[Welcome, Transdimensional Entity #00001]
Title Gained: First Transdimensional Entity
Class Available: VoidBound (Exclusive)]
"What is this screen and why is it saying I am a transdimensional entity?"
[A transdimensional entity is a being that exists across, moves between, or originates from multiple dimensions, universes, or planes of existence.]
Devon froze. "Where did that voice come from?"
The words echoed inside his head, flat and without emotion.
[Vocal Output: Automatic System Response. Source: Internal Cognitive Link.]
He blinked, his pulse hammering. "Cognitive what?"
[Cognitive Link: Established. Host recognized as Entity #00001. Communication Method: Direct Thought Transmission.]
Devon swallowed and looked around the forest. "This has to be a dream."
[Dream State: Negative. Dimensional Transition Confirmed.]
His stomach twisted. The forest felt too quiet, too foreign. Devon rubbed his temples and shut his eyes. "Okay, I hit my head. I am dreaming. Or maybe I am in a coma. That must be it."
He opened one eye. The glowing blue text was still there, floating perfectly still in front of him. He waved his hand through it. His fingers passed straight through. The symbols rippled, then settled back.
"Right. Definitely not dreaming." He pinched the skin on his arm hard. "Ow."
Still there.
His eyes began to focus on his surroundings, moving past the System screen. The trees were the most imposing feature. Their trunks were gnarled and dark, and their scale was overwhelming, reaching far into the sky like impossibly tall columns of wood. He had never seen trees this large on Earth.
Devon slowly looked down, studying the plants around his feet. Nothing looked familiar. The ground was covered in a thick, luminous moss that pulsed faintly in the shadows. Strange, bright purple flowers curled around the roots of the massive trees.
Curiosity overriding caution, Devon reached out toward a nearby bush. Its leaves were a dull, dark silver, shaped like overlapping plates of armour.
The moment his fingers brushed the edge of the leaf, pain shot through his hand. He snatched his hand back, staring at his finger. A thin line of red immediately welled up where the leaf's edge had sliced his skin. The leaf hadn't bent; it had acted like a razor.
"So I really am somewhere else, a different world?"
[Confirmation: Positive.]
He sat down slowly, his legs weak. "Jesus Christ."
[Divine Entity: Not detected.]
He couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Yeah. No kidding."
Devon ran a hand through his hair and let out a shaky breath. "Alright, System, where am I? How did I get here? Is it possible to get back home?"
[Query acknowledged.]
[Location: Outer Region – Verdant Expanse, Eresha Prime.]
[Dimensional Transfer: Successful. Biological Termination on Origin World Confirmed.]
[Return to Origin World: Impossible. Host deceased.]
Devon's chest tightened. "So I.. I died. And I can't go back?"
[Correct. Dimensional Transfer completed post-mortem. Origin World: Unreachable.]
He swallowed and stared into the alien forest.
He had accepted the reality that he was dead and that this was a new world. Now, he needed to know what was inside his head.
"Fine. Then what are you?" Devon asked, his voice low.
[Designation: Dimensional Interface System. Purpose: Stabilization of Transdimensional Entity. Monitoring. Guidance. Adaptation.]
"I mean, what are you? A machine? A spirit?" he pressed.
[Identity: Unique, self-contained Interface Machine. Origin: Implanted during successful dimensional transfer event.]
[Function: Navigation and guidance tool to assist host adaptation to Eresha Prime. Strictly informational processor.]
Devon let out a slow breath. He pushed himself past the immediate shock. "Who put you in my head? Who runs this thing?"
[Query: Access Denied. Information regarding system architect, origin faction, or deployment timeline is restricted.]
Devon clenched his fists. The secretive nature of the System felt too familiar, too much like the cold indifference of the government he'd despised on Earth. "Why me? Why was I chosen for this?"
[Selection Criteria: Personality Metrics. Host registered high capacity for Persistence and Adaptation.]
[Host demonstrated consistent ability to persevere and push forward in hostile environments, exhibiting low surrender metrics despite severe personal hardship and trauma.]
[Conclusion: Host assessed as Most Viable Candidate for high-risk Dimensional Deployment.]
"Are there others?" he asked. "Other people like me that were sent to this world?"
[Affirmative: Other entities were selected for transfer.]
[Conclusion: All other selected entities failed biological integration and did not survive the dimensional transition process.]
"So, it's just me," Devon muttered, the immense weight of the truth settling on him. He was alone again.
After a long silence, Devon finally asked "What is my purpose here?"
[Purpose: To prevent the complete extinction of intelligent life on Eresha Prime.]
"To prevent extinction?" he repeated. "extinction from what?"
[The Dimensional War provoked by the invasion of Extrinsic Entities.]
"War?!" Devon almost yelled. "How am I supposed to help? I barely survived on my own world. How can I help this one?"
[Capability Assessment: Entity #00001 exceeds baseline survival threshold. Probability of success in conflict intervention: 9 percent.]
"9 percent?!" Devon exclaimed. "You're telling me I'm probably going to die attempting this? What the fuck is wrong with you!"
[Emotional Response: Noted. The probability of success (9 percent) is calculated based on current host statistics, class viability, and prevailing threat metrics. The probability is accurate but dynamic. It will adjust based on the host's rate of adaptation to Eresha Prime and the proficiency achieved through practice of VoidBound abilities. Caution is paramount but host must understand that time is a critically limited resource.]
He took a shaky breath. "So what do I do now?" Devon asked.
[Immediate Actions: Prioritize self-sufficiency. Begin immediate Skill Familiarization of the VoidBound Class and Acquisition of Resources.]
[Long-Term Objective: Achieve Dimensional Stabilization. This requires continuous hostile entity elimination, closing active Portals, and increasing host power to a critical threshold sufficient to stabilize the world core and close the Void from this reality.]
He frowned, running a hand over his face. "Great. Super specific advice. Wonderful, just wonderful."
He stared at the massive trees. The quiet of the forest seemed unnatural. "Fine. But this war you mentioned, what is going on?"
[Conflict Overview: Initiation of Dimensional Convergence. Portals began appearing one standard year ago. These are unstable tears in spacetime connecting Eresha Prime to hostile dimensions.]
[Extrinsic Entities, designated Monsters, cross into Eresha Prime through these portals. Population Collapse: 70 percent of inhabitants confirmed deceased.]
[Multiversal Threat: Eresha Prime is one of many worlds facing this identical crisis. Some worlds have already fallen to Extrinsic Entities, resulting in total biosphere collapse. Others have achieved stabilization and been saved.]
"Seventy percent! This world is almost dead, being overrun by monsters because of these portals or whatever and I'm supposed to fix it?"
[Host intervention is the only assessed viable path to survival for Eresha Prime.]
"You're saying that the survival of an entire planet rests on a guy who grew up stealing stale bread and knows nothing about actual war or combat. And I've got a 9% chance of pulling it off. Awesome."
[Correction: Host's skill set includes Advanced Evasion, Resource Scarcity Management, and Unconventional Conflict Resolution. These factors, combined with the unique VoidBound Class, offer a higher success probability than 99.99 percent of the current population of Eresha Prime.]
[Designation of 'Street Rat' is a contextual label. System analysis views host as a highly Adaptable Survival Specialist.]
"One more thing," Devon said, annoyed by the persistent, glowing blue display floating in his field of vision. "How the hell do I close this damn screen?"
[Command: Host must mentally focus on the intent to 'close' or 'hide' the display. Interface is controlled by direct cognitive link.]
Devon focused on the screen, picturing it shrinking and disappearing. With a soft flicker, the System interface vanished.
He knew focusing on the the whole "Save the world" crap right now was useless. He needed to survive the next hour.
He was used to being hungry from his years on the street, but his body was already demanding water. He was thirsty, and in this hostile, alien environment, that need would turn critical fast.
"You said you'd provide guidance when prompted," Devon said "I'm prompting you now. Can you at least help me find water? I'm already feeling thirsty."
[Query Acknowledged. Immediate physiological need prioritized.]
[Guidance: Water Source detected 142 meters from host's current location. Direction: 275 degrees West-Northwest.]
[Analysis: Water source is relatively safe. Threat assessment: Minimal.]
"West Northwest?" Devon said, frowning at the instruction. "How the hell am I supposed to know which direction that is? I don't have a compass."
[Displaying Navigational Overlay.]
A transparent directional arrow immediately materialized on the System display, pointing sharply away from him and cutting a line through the massive tree trunks.
Devon stared at the arrow. It was completely bizarre, but useful nonetheless .