[Chapter #0.1.1 - Unlikely Bodyguard, Alex]

Ngnnn my head. Alex groaned in pain and tried to stand up. Before he could however, he notice that there was someone else in the room with him. Huh what? Yeah am okay thanks. Alex looked up at the chubby man and after a few moments of hesitation, takes his hand. Umm thank you for helping me up i really appreciate it. Hey listen do you know where we are? As the man strarted to speak the confusion on alex's face grew and grew, it was very clear that alex had no idea what he was talking about. Hey calm down man getting all worked up isn't going to help anyone. Now let's just take a deep breath and hey wait! Slow down! And stop pulling me! Alex tried to pull his hand away from the man. Okay! Okay! I'll go with you geez. Just give me the map and don't pull on me again alright?

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"S-sorry, but we just really have no time to waste if we wanna survive!" Alex and the chubby man continue running through the corridors. As they do, Alex can see some sort of dark particles seeping through the cracks in the metallic plating of the corridors. "Wait, you don't know where we are? Aren't you part of the crew? Or are you a stowaway?" The man's brow furrows, but his expression is soon replaced by one of worry again. "Either way, we can handle that once we get out of this situation. I've gotta contact the Captain... He'll be able to send people to help..." He mutters to himself.

You turn the corner without a second though. However, you can hear the man's breaths growing shorter. As he closes his eyes and try to inhale deeper, his foot catches on a nearby torn metal plate sticking out of the floor. He lets out a yelp as he loses balance, dropping to the floor with a hard thud. Immediately following the sound, a cold shiver runs down Alex's spine as the feeling of being pulled towards something intesifies. As if some aberrant gravitational force was approaching them from behind, this sensation grows stronger.

"S--n- -- --o-d..." A distorted voice, like a broken record, echoes through the corridor. The man's yelps turn into cries. "I-I can't fight, I'm not good at this. Y-you, y-you can fight, r-right? Use your Module! Use it! If I don't fix the Engine, w-who will!" His words make no sense. He tries to get up but it's as if his arms are too weak to push him to his feet.

A being of pure nothingness soon comes into view...


A lanky figure, dissipating into dark particles, drags its feet through the corridor towards you. Claws for fingers and an unmistakeable scent of blood surround it...

"N-no- Stay back!" The man produces a wrench from somewhere, swinging it as if to scare the being. However, this does nothing to stop its advance. The man begins pushing himself back away from the creature. "C-come on, fight it!"

It's okay man just try and stay calm from now on alright? Alex rolled his eye's when the man accused him of being a stowaway. Dude if i was a stowaway don't you think that i would know where we where? Listen let's just get to where we need to go quickly and get this over with. As alex contined to walk with the man the confusion on his face was slowly turning into fear. (Why am i here one minute i was out partying and the next Bam! Am here. And what is wrong with this guy? Is he on drugs? Is he having a panic attack? Why did he think i was apart of this crew?) As the man fell alex went to go help him up, but before he could he stop dead in his tracks. It was that feeling again but it was stronger than ever before this time. What the hell is that! Wait slow down you want me to fight THAT! Are you out of your mind!? And what is a module! Alex started to shake out of fear but he did not move away from the beast. I guess running away isn't a option anymore huh? I have too say i did not imagined that i would die like this, but if am going to die i might as well go out fighting. Alex took the wrench from the man and prepared to fight.

QaS answer: Try to fight

"Y-you're not from here?" The man's eyes widened as his mouth opened in surprise. His eyes widened again as Alex mentioned his confusion about Modules. The man looked down for a moment as if thinking, before he looked back up at Alex, looking a bit more determined than before. "T-that just means I'll have to guard you." The wrench that Alex took from the man disappeared from his hands and reappeared in the man's hands as he stood up. Alex just now noticed a bag hanging from the man's shoulder. It was filled with what looked like mechanical parts. Alex also noticed a device on the man's right wrist. Its display was in the process of booting up.

The creature continued slowly moving towards them with a limping gait.

"It's a Sleep Paralysis Shadow, huh... Guess that explain the tingling in my spine." The man glanced at the display before turning to Alex. "I'm sorry not having a moment to explain everything right now, but if you truly want to fight to survive, then I may be able to help you." He shuffled through the bag, pulling out a device similar to the one on his wrist, but a bit more crude. It didn't look like it was designed to be placed on anyone's wrist, that's for sure. "T-this isn't really a Module but it should work... But it will also hurt... I can try to protect us but I'm not good at fighting... So if you're still sure... Only if you're still sure. Place it over your forearm!" He shoved the device into Alex's hands-an army green circularly designed module without any parts that would allow it to properly attach to a limb. It felt heavy in Alex's hands, like something that would be mounted on heavy machinery. But if it would let him live, then...

Just then, Alex would hear the yelps of the chubby man as he lunged at the creature with his wrench in hand. He slammed the wrench into the creature's face, only for the creature to swipe at him with its long claw-like fingers, pushing him back to the floor. Dark particles left by the creature's movement seemed to linger in the air, almost as if carving burn holes in the fabric of reality. The very same occurred to the man's jacket as he lay on the floor, the creature looming over him, now up close, nearly twice his size. If it were to swipe directly at him, would it just leave such a dark bottomless hole in his body too?

Ughh christ this is heavy dude i don't think this is gonna fit. And what did you say about this thing hurting me? Alex simply stared at the device he had so many questions running through his mind. How did the wrench teleport from him to the chubby man? What is a shadow? What is module? Why did he need it? How was he going to put it on? His train of thought's where interrupted by the man's war cry (if you can call it that.) He watched as the man and the shadow started fighting each other. It became clear to him that if he did not help out fast that the man would be a gonner. Alright let's hope this works! He placed the module over his forearm and prayed that it would do something to help him out.

QaS answer: Yes

As Alex placed the Module over his forearm, its display blinked to life-first static and a stream of code, then a blue display.

[SYSTEM SCANNED]
[ELECTRICAL SYSTEM DETECTED]
[DIAGNOSTICS...]
...
...
...
[SYSTEM FUNCTIONAL: CONNECTION POSSIBLE]
bbzt
[ERROR: PHYSICAL CONNECTION REQUIRED]
[ESTABLISHING CONNECTION]

Before Alex could react, a metal spike launched from the Module's underside, piercing clean through his forearm. A steady stream of read oozed from Alex's arm, dripping to the floor in a sickening trickle. The creature noticed and turned towards Alex.

[ERROR: BIOLOGICAL MATTER DETECTED]
[ERROR ERROR ERROR]

The chubby man turned towards Alex as well, tears in his eyes. "I-I'm so sorry!" He screamed.

Alex may have expected a dizziness to overcome him at the sight of his own blood, his bones pierced and his forearm in a world of pain. Yet clarity came over his mind, pushing away the pain.

[T-BBZTBZZTTZ ERROR ERRO -EURROR -FEL REGISTEREDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDDEDEFE19488149583750923#########################################]

Alex felt something awaken inside of him. This Module would allow him to fight, he knew it by instinct. He knew it as he felt another presence take shape within him. The pull of the creature's eyeless gaze was still present but he didn't feel swayed by it any longer. As the creature lunged at him, Alex was sure.

He was sure he could defeat it.

Shadow Sleep Paralysis Demon, Level 8:

Oh god what is this? What is this power? It feel's great! A huge smirk appeared on alex's face as teuful appeared behind him. I am thou, thou art i from the sea of thy soul i come. Do not take this lying down mortal show this flithy creature who's boss!

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Miss if 9:

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ONCE MORE!

Oh so your weak to fire huh? I'll make sure to keep that in mind!

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I am not really sure what you just tired to do there buddy, but i'll make sure you dont get the chance to try again!

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1st one miss if 7:

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1st one crit's if 10:

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The creature dissipated into thin air before Alex's eyes as he struck it down. The darkness it formed in the fabric of reality faded slowly and the area of the corridor returned to normal. As Alex's initial rush diminished, he was overcome with pain emanating from his ruptured and torn right forearm, pulled downwards by the heavy Module. A metal spike was sticking out of his arm now and he couldn't lift it anymore from the pain. The bones were crushed by the spike and flesh was torn. Adding the weight of the device to the equation, it was no surprise he wouldn't be able to move his arm properly.

Alex gained a Floating Weakness:

The chubby man pushes himself painfully back onto his feet and runs up to Alex, hugging him with tears in his eyes. "I-I'm so sorry, that was the only Module I had with me! Please lean on me if you have trouble walking!" He'd let Alex lean on him if necessary, as Alex would start feeling a little dizzy from the blood loss again.

This man was grateful to Alex from the bottom of his heart. Alex did a brave and valorous deed by deciding to fight, despite it putting him in harm's way.

Alex gained the following:

"The name's Eli. Eli Hicks. Pleasure to meet you."

Oh god this hurt! Jesus christ i have never been in so much pain in my life! Alex grapped his arm in pain and did his best to not look at the wound. When alex saw that the man was walking towards him he would forced a small smiled and accept his hug It's alright just promise me that if you ever give me something that will shove a metal spike though my arm again, that you'll tell me okay? And yeah i'll take you on that offer. Alex let out a huge groan of pain as he leaned on eli. Cool name. Mine's alex. Alex love nice to meet you too. Now come on let's go find.... ummm whoever it is your trying to find. Alex would pull himself away from eli and would try to continue on the path, praying that there would not be any more shadow's on the way.

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"A-ah I was just so panicked... Sorry about that again... I can't stand Anti-Space leaks like this... But we'll fix you up!" Eli gave a wry smile in response. But he seemed to have calmed down and perked up a bit. "I'm just trying to get a signal to contact the bridge. Most frequencies are likely being suffocated by the Anti-Space leaking in, so we can't contact the bridge from here. That or we'll need multiple active Modules to affirm the reality around us." He said calmly. These words likely meant nothing to Alex, but Eli didn't know that yet. "I need to confirm..." He gulps before going silent.

Several moments pass before he continues again, this time on a new topic.

"So where are you from if not from this ship? Oh, and if you don't remember even getting here or where you are, this is the Star Ship Philemon. We're just a transport vessel, but we're well equipped with supplies and crew. If you want to stay until we can bring you over to wherever you're from, I'm sure we could house you for a while without issues. Well, aside from legal issues, in case we can't confirm your dentity." He gives a small laugh again.

Wait wait wait hold the phone, we're in space? And it's leaking? Shouldn't we be suffocating right now if space is leaking in?Alex looked back at eli and stared at him for a few seconds, before speaking again. Okay so we need more modules to.... affrim reality? What does that mean, doesn't reality affrim itself?Alex shooked his head and sighed, he still could not understand a single word of what eli was saying. Huh? Oh am from boston. And thank you for the invitation, i think am going to have to take you up on that offer for awhile. Well as long as those shadows are gone after the end of this. Speaking of shadows. What are those things? Are they normally on this ship or are they here because of the space leak?

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