Abduction

[Emergency mode activated]

Ed woke up in a white room. He was shackled to a bed. There was nothing else in the room, except for a large black metal door.

The environment was so minimalistic, that it was hard to see where the ground, the ceiling, or the walls were.

[Secreting foreign substances]

Ed was dazed and felt like he had been in a coma for years.

[Consciousness detected]

[Removing restraints]

Ed felt his energy coming back to him. He also felt like something was using his magic.

It was the system.

When the restraints came off, Ed stood up and carefully put his feet onto the ground, trying to feel out where the ground was.

He stood up and scanned his surroundings. He stared at the door. "Where the hell am I?"

[You've been abducted]

Ed jumped at the system's response. It was the first time the system had answered with a notification instead of a tutorial prompt. Ed wondered why.

[Your safety is being threatened. Tutorial sub-space is unavailable]

The door smashed open. It was the thing.

"You're awake…"

Ed's eyes widened. He remembered what had happened to Charlie.

"Charlie! Where's Charlie? What did you do to them?"

"Oh shut up...we only wanted you. We don't care about that insect."

Insect? Did it just call Charlie an insect?

[Anger detected]

[Opponent too strong]

[Calming down…]

"Okay...there's more important things I have to be worried about," Ed thought.

"Who are you and what do you want from me?"

The thing laughed.

"You're always confused about the things around you, aren't you? Even though they said you were smart and would have potential if not for your natal status…"

Ed couldn't understand what it was saying.

"Just answer the damn questions...I'm still alive, which means you need me. I won't cooperate until you tell me what the hell is going on!"

"You're not smart, but you do catch on quickly...fine. The name's Arxhor. I'm the king of this realm. We've seen your potential ever since your fight with Rick. We also noticed that you were becoming something not so human, so we decided that we need you to join us."

"And what if I don't want to?"

Axhor frowned.

"We will make you."

Ed shuddered at his words.

"Guards, strap him back in...and inject the serum."

The same guards that came out of the meteor, barged into the room and forced Ed onto the bed and strapped him back in.

They began injecting him.

[Foreign substance detected]

[Isolating substance from hijacking cells]

"What is this substance?" Ed thought in his head, attempting to communicate with the system.

[The substance induces a submissive effect]

Ed's face darkened.