Chapter One

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Pov - ???

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What would others wish for? Money? Power? Companionship?

They're all fair whishes, but it's not what I want. The first thing that comes to mind is rebirth. The power to snatch someone back from the jaws of death and bring them to me.

It's silly. I shake my head and chuckle. Why the hell am I taking this so seriously? It's just a stupid shooting star.

No... what I really want is to change. I want to grow stronger and keep moving forward so that he can rest easy. I'm already nineteen years old and have no road to walk down. It's a flat field with nothing to guide me.

All I want is to gain the power to take charge of my life. They say doing that is easy, but looking back on all that's happened, I can safely say that it's been incredibly challenging.

I have no one I can really call a friend. I've even started to lose contact with the one person I truly care for in my life. I just want to change.

I take a deep breath and make my wish. It's a stupid thing, but it's mine. Though, I know wishing won't solve anything.

Turning back toward my bed, I spot my cellphone resting by the nightstand.

Maybe... Maybe I cal just give her a call tomorrow? Spend an hour chatting?

A smile worms up my lip.

She'd like that.

A chuckle leaves my lip.

"I guess that shooting star was-"

Blinding light smashes into my back. I turn around, only to find that night has turned to day.

No... that's impossible.

My eyes shoot open. The shooting start, it-

This time, light actually smashes into me. It picks me up, seeps into my very bones, and then smacks me against my wall. My head bounces off it like a ping-pong ball; makes a nice plop as it does so.

Everything goes dark.

I dream of the endless universe.

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I wake up with a groan. Pain pinches every nerve in my body. God... what the hell happened last night?

Slowly rising, I find that I was sleeping on the floor... for some reason. I turn toward the window, noting that it's perfectly fine. Memories of the night before slowly flow into my mind.

Was... was it all a dream?

I shake my head and move toward the kitchen. Maybe a nice glass of milk and cookies would help me aching muscles.

As I exit the room, my mind explodes. Crippling pain brings me to my knees; my hands reach for my skull, pressing down on it from both sides in a panicked attempt to keep it from splitting open.

It feels like an eternity before the moment passes. Sweat dribbles down my face.

W-What the hell was that?!

I take deep, calming breaths. Maybe I should go to the doctor's for a checkup. Things like that can't be normal.

Did I get a concussion or something?

I shake my head and pour myself that glass of milk. Again, another wave of pain smashes into my skull just as the milk reaches my tongue. Thankfully, this one is far less mind-shattering than the least.

Now my ears are ringing.

This continues for the next twenty minutes. In intervals of five minutes, waves of pain assault my head. Just as I'm about to say screw it and call the doctor right now something new happens.

"H...l...o?"

A whisper.

"He...l...o?

It grows deeper. More refined.

"Hello?"

My mouth is dry as the desert. What the hell is going on? Am I hearing voices now?

I turn to the TV. It's off. Quickly rushing to my room, I check my phone and find much the same.

"Can you understand me?"

The voice returns. Where? Is someone hiding in my apartment?

Slowly, I move toward the kitchen and grab the biggest knife I can. The cleaver isn't exactly the best weapon to have, but it'll do.

"No? Maybe I need to dig deeper?"

Again a battering ram smashes into my skull. This time, I can't help but let out a pained groan.

"Oh! There! Can you hear me?!"

I grit my teeth.

"S-Stop!" I shout. "That shit hurts!"

The voice goes silent.

"Succes!!" It proudly proclaims. "I'm not sure what this 'hurts' is, but if you dislike my attempts to integrate your knowledge, then I can stop."

I'm going insane. Somehow, I must have slipped and gotten brain damage or something.

"No? Your 'brain' is quite healthy! Aside from the parts I had to dig through, of course."

...

What the hell do I do? Do I talk to the voice? Isn't that what crazy people do?

"I would prefer if you acknowledged my existence, yes. Though I understand if it's hard considering my current form."

I take a deep breath and send a text to my family doctor. Whatever happens, a checkup would be a good idea.

"What are you?" It's the only thing that comes to mind.

"Me? I'm me. More importantly, what are you?"

...

"I'm Lee... Lee Grahm."

"A Lee Grahm, you say? Can you take me to see another Lee Grahm?"

It's official. I'm insane. God... why does shit like this always happen?

"My name Is Lee Grahm," I say, blowing a sigh.

"Name? What's that?"

I take a deep, claiming breath and head back to the kitchen.

More milk.

Maybe If I Ignore it, the voice will go away?

"Not likely," It responds. "It took quite a bit of energy to compress myself down to this size and then bond with you."

"..."

"I'd need to rest for some time before I could move onto another Lee Grahm."

Irritation rolls over me like a wave. My lips rise into a snarl and I find my fingers coiling around the glass like a vice.

"My name Is Lee!" I snap. "I'm a human, and my name is Lee!"

For once, the voice shuts up. Sadly, that doesn't last for very long. By the time I finish my new glass of milk, it returns.

"So... names are something you use to differentiate yourself from other Lee's?" It pauses. "My apologies, I mean other 'humans?'"

A sigh bursts from my lip. God, it's like I'm talking to a child.

"Yes..." I grumble.

"Well then, Lee, I suppose I should answer your question."

I silently wait for its answer.

"You can say that I'm your... creator's creator?"

What does that even mean!?

I take a deep breath. No, just no. I'm not going to let a stupid voice in my head ruin my weekend. These things are rare enough as is and I'm not going to waste them on some stupid doctor telling me what I already know!

"You're stressed. Maybe take some time off work?"

Screw that! I take a nice, calming mouthful of air and head toward my apartment's living room. Honestly, the place is small enough as is. The "Living room" is only just a bit bigger than the kitchen.

"Oh? Are we going to explore more of your dwelling?"

The voice echoes in my mind.

"I would very much like that." It says softly. "Compared to the samey-ness I'm used to, this is all so new and interesting!"

A genuine sense of excitement can be heard in the ghostly voice.

Yeah, whatever. I'm just going to play some games and try to de-stress. Hopefully, this will all be gone by tomorrow.

Please be gone by tomorrow...

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I normally didn't have much time for games. Though, I'd loved them since I was young. Nowadays, I found myself glued to my computer screen, reading stories here and there. Still, reading would have been a lot hard with a voice in my head.

"Disgaea? Is what is that?"

I paid it no mind and loaded up my most recent save. The game was just as amazing as I remembered, and while it'd been awhile, I quickly got back into it. My custom characters were right there. Compared to the "main characters" they were quite a bit higher in levels. One even shared your name.

"Is that you? How are there two of you? You're controlling him with that thing in your appendages? Does it have to do with the tiny amount of energy travelling through that long, thin strand that's connected to the cube?"

I tired. Oh, how I tried to push it out of my mind. But, no. It just wouldn't keep its mouth shut!

"I can take the information directly from your mind if you wish. I just assumed you wouldn't like another assault on your faculties. I'm getting better at this, but it's still all so new."

I just couldn't take it anymore.

"Can you, like, pause in between sentences?" I grumble out. "It's really distracting when you keep talking and talking and talking without stopping."

Silence. Sweet, blissful, silence.

"I had no idea," the voice says with a small pause. "I'll keep it in mind."

I blow a sigh and shake my head. What the hell did I expect?

"But, back on topic, how are you doing that?" It asks curiously. "Can all Lee- I mean, can all 'humans' do the same?"

Why? Why do I have to talk to it? If I don't it'll just keep talking.

"It's just a game," I grumble out. "It's not real. I'm just moving a 2D character on the TV."

The voice goes silent and mulls over your words.

"What is-"

My head meets my hands. Dear. God! Why?!

"Just shut up and I'll explain it."

By some miracle, it actually shuts up. Even though it was speaking softly, each word that left its mouth only made my headache worse.

Maybe I could just explain things? That would be so much better than letting it talk without limits.

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Half an hour later, I finished my explanation of what "games" were and how they worked. The voice had many more questions, but it seemed to pick up on the fact that I explained things better if it didn't talk as much. And so, the two of us finally got to play the game.

"Do you mind making a character for me?"

Somehow, its voice didn't feel like a hammer against your skill this time. That massive amount of energy it had seemed to have faded after I answered its questions.

Rather than say no, I went for the simpler, and more importantly, easier route.

"Sure," I sighed and quickly went to the character creation screen. "What do you wanna be?"

I'd have picked a Prinny. The annoying, loud archetype really suited this voice of mine.

"I'm actually really interested in your kind. Can I be a human?"

"This game doesn't have playable humans," I said. "The closest would be the humanoid demon classes." Or whatever they were called.

"I see," the voice mumbled. "Can you show them all to me?"

I didn't bother giving it an answer. Quickly, I flipped through the classes. Maybe I could just make the character and get to playing?

It took the voice a good ten minutes to narrow down its choices. And, of course, it had questions.

"Why are there two of the same class? And why do they have different names?

"One's a girl and one's a guy..."

"What's the difference? What are those?"

God damn it.

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After another quick explanation of genders and reproduction, the voice ended up asking me what would be best.

"I don't reproduce or have a gender, you see."

...

"Which gender is best for learning new things?"

I shook my head and chose a Skull.

"Oh! It wants a name now?"

Wait, how exactly was it reading? Isn't it supposed to be an alien or something? Just another reason to call get some pills or something come Monday.

"I don't know that that Is, but I learned by assimilating bits of your mind."

Don't think about it.

"Yes! Please don't!"

I... what?

"Whatever. Look, just give me your name so we can get on with it."

The voice goes silent. For a short moment, I think it's finally gone.

"I don't have a name. But, I guess the closest equivalent to it would be-"

My mind erupts into agonizing pain. I drop the controller and smash my face into one of the couch cushions, screaming into it. Slow, steady whines slip from my lip as tears prick the corners of my eyes. Thankfully, the pain passes a few seconds later.

"What the fuck was that?!" I shout, voice hoarse and meek.

"My apologies," the voice answers. "It seems your mind can't interface very well with my own." It says with a hint of disappointment. "It's just that your 'language' doesn't have the right sounds to make my 'name'"

...

Fucking hell...