Thadwick felt it when he lost himself, a final gasp into darkness.

  The Builder snipping away the tethers of his soul, till only remnants remained.

  Enough to feel, enough to hate.

  And then, when the builder was done with Thadwick, his husk of a body transitioned into a monster.

  A reflection of his life and his destiny, a mirror reflected into another.

  Infinite.

  “I’m sorry, Mother.”

  Thadwick’s eyes flew open, his arms wrapping around himself as he shuddered.

  A nightmare? But it had been so real. So visceral.

  A never-ending cycle.

  Just a character in some asinine tragedy.

  No, it was just a dream.

  It had to be.

  But no matter how many times Thadwick told himself that, he couldn’t purge the thoughts from his mind.

  So he chose the one method he knew. And instead of following through with any of his set appointments and meetings, Thadwick dragged Neil and Dustin to Old City.

  One drink, two drinks, three, four… but the nightmare still clung to his mind.

  “You should slow down,” Neil warned, but Thadwick pushed him away.

  “Shut up, traitor.”

  On the eighth drink, Thadwick stumbled as he felt his mind flickering in and out of consciousness.

  It had to be the Builder.

  Panic filled him as he tried to regain control of himself, only to make eye contact with a man across the room who gave him a sly grin.

  Thadwick ran.

  He heard Neil and Dustin curse as he shoved past them, Sunlight pouring onto his skin as he made his way onto the balcony.

  And then over it.

  The air was filled with the light tinkling of wind chimes as Thadwick looked around the meeting room he had woken up in. Soft blue light came through the ice-like windows covering one wall. He glanced back to the see-through table in front of him, noticing a cup of tea, steam lightly wafting in the cold air. Thadwick didn’t care for tea. But he didn’t remember it being placed before him; he also didn't remember how he had gotten there.

  Who was he waiting for? It was rude of them to be late.

  Didn’t they know who he was?

  “Ok, Mr. Mercer, I have your file right here.”

  Thadwick turned to see an inhumanly beautiful woman come into view, her aura warm and comforting despite the room, with the edge he knew to be diamond.

  “My file?” He said, keeping the anxiety out of his voice. What did a Diamond ranker want with him?

  “Oh, yes. Thadwick Mercer, age 20, unscripted death.”

  “Death?” he said, much too calm, knowing immediately that the woman was holding his aura steady.

  The woman gave him a gentle smile, placing a manila folder onto the table in front of him. She then picked up a teacup much like his own, which hadn’t been there previously, and took a sip.

  “Ahh, Mistrun tea, it’s been a long time; such an interesting afternote of ambient magic. You know, I’m always interested in the tea that people bring to these meetings. Though based on your file, I would think you would have preferred something a bit stronger.” She gave a small laugh and took another sip.

  “You said unscripted death.”

  Thadwick watched the woman place her teacup on the table before she looked up at him, and he felt his soul shudder from the grip that took hold.

  “Yes. I did. Now, Thadwick, let’s talk about a proposition the Reaper has for you.”

  “Who’s the Reaper?”

  “As a destined vessel for the Builder, this is amusing for me.”

  “The Builder!? He’s real?”

  “Oh, very. Though I do suppose you’re not going to make it to that part of the story this go around. Hence why I'm here. How did you break out of the pattern, though I wonder? I suspect Knowledge, based on your reaction, I think that’s right, but it’s neither here nor there. What matters now is your contract.”

  “Excuse me—”

  “You’re excused. Now, you’re being offered a very generous package. Though, as with all contracts, negotiation is possible, within reason, of course. And I do suggest you negotiate; it’s your soul after all.”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “Donnnnn’tttt, I’m begging you!!!”

  Thadwick threw his hands up in the air as he watched the User take another wrong turn in the house he’d grown up in.

  “I offer you locations, everything. For the love of Knowledge!”

  He shoved himself away from the command desk, the chair rolling backwards and spinning him away as he stared at the ceiling.

  He wanted a drink. But that wasn’t going to happen… nothing would happen other than watching the User get lost repeatedly, while taking his body on a joyride.

  Why…

  Why had he signed that stupid contract?

  Because your soul would’ve dispersed into the Astral, or worse, the story would’ve restarted.

  Thadwick glanced at the three thick books sitting on the edge of his control desk.

  He’d avoided them at first, but then the tedium of being awake while the User slept had set in. And if he didn’t do something, he was going to go insane in this tiny starkly furnished room, which only held a solid white control desk positioned in the center, featuring several see-through screens floating above it, and his command chair. Thadwick had thought the screens were cool when he had first seen them, though the novelty had long worn off.

  Thadwick rolled his chair back with his feet and looked over at one of the screens floating above the desk, a catalogue of furniture and abilities. He then glanced at the currency tracker at the top of the screen and grimaced. This job didn’t pay well.

  “And you’re not helping!!” he yelled out at the live feed of the User who had finally made it back to his room.

  Thadwick knew that the User couldn’t hear him. He’d tried communicating immediately when the feed went live, but the only way he could interact was by initiating prompts. Sometimes, he could even choose between multiple prompts, making it the highlight of his day. And with each successful prompt he initiated or assisted the User with, he was assigned currency and something akin to an addictive wave of euphoria.

  However, much to Thadwick’s loathing, the User kept refusing his help, and if the User prompted stuff on his own, Thadwick got nothing.

  And that wasn’t the only thing he was cross about. Why was he being portrayed to the User as a twisted little piece of metal with a dumb pointy hat, who had designed this? What was even worse was that the User had started calling him “Clippy”, which was truly insulting.

  “Dominion uplift me, My name’s not Clippy!”

  Despite all his griping, though, Thadwick knew his mission.

  Keep the User alive.

  Which was proving more complex than initially thought.

  The guy hadn’t eaten anything in over 24 hours, had almost been stabbed by enemy number 1, right behind the Builder, Jason, Fucking, Asano, and had practically been accosted by Davone.

  The elf had some nerve pulling something like that.

  “You could at least have the decency of letting me be an actual healer for you on contracts, but no, the closest thing we ever get to a monster is you.”

  How dare Neil… be right. The thought had crossed Thadwick’s mind as he raged. He would’ve never stood for such disrespect.

  However, this interaction had generated more tasks, which Thadwick was excited to distribute and organize into smaller pieces.

  A small amount of currency and euphoria allocated to him with each task he provided to the User.

  He turned his attention to the live feed, noticing the stamina and mana stores were critically low as he saw the User lying on the ground, electricity flickering across his fingers.

  Thadwick tapped a few inputs into the control panel, selecting the spirit coin filed away and manually forced its utilization. He couldn’t have this guy dying from not taking care of himself. And of course, the User didn’t notice, too preoccupied with his thoughts to be grateful.

  “Even OG Thadwick didn’t mess up that bad?” The User muttered to himself.

  “Well fuck you to,” Thadwick said as he glanced at the log of thoughts popping up on the side of the live stream.

  Oh, the User seemed concerned about being lost again, even thinking about file integration. Thadwick tapped on the prompts.

  - Would you like to integrate memory files? -

  “No.”

  Thadwick wanted to scream, but he paused, thinking about the Map widget, and tried a different approach.

  - Would you like to integrate [Widgets]? –

  Thadwick knew there wasn’t enough space set aside for the widgets, which was all according to plan.

  - You do not have enough free memory to integrate the [Map Widget]. To free up memory, please integrate memory files located in [Information Data Sheet]. –

  “Son of a..”

  - I see you are referencing a son, please see [Family] in [Information Data Sheet]. You can incorporate individual files or the entire file. Do you want me to initiate file integration? –

  “No!”

  … “NO?!!! How dare you! You're just some pretender squatting in my life, at least know whose life you stole!” Thadwick yelled, standing up from his chair, it falling to the ground. He took several deep breaths, though he no longer needed to breathe, and looked at the only prompt that was close to expressing his frustration.

  -Fine-

  Thadwick shut down the live feed and paced the room. One, two, three laps. The white of the room filled his vision as he faced a wall.

  This was unfair.

  Thadwick was just trying to do his job. And he’d never had a real job before, so that was a pretty big deal.

  He took a deep breath, running his hands through his hair, his thumb resting on the scar above his left ear, and then walked back to the desk, picking up his chair and turning back on the live stream.

  “I mean, what harm could a location do?” The User said out loud.

  “Shit.”

  Thadwick had to act fast before the User prompted the integration on his own. He couldn’t afford to lose on a whole file's worth of currency.

  - It appears that you would like to integrate [Locations] into memory. Do you wish to integrate a singular file or group files for consolidated integration? –

  “You're persistent.”

  … “Well, I have to be, you frustrating thief.”

  - Do you wish to integrate a singular file or group files for consolidated integration? –

  “What if I say no again? What are you gonna do?”

  -…-

  Thadwick let out a surprised gasp as the prompts hovering above the desk changed into a keyboard. He tried typing a couple of crude things that got auto-banned before giving up and just making a small plea.

  -Let me do my job. -

  “What… your job?”

  -Yes, my job. -

  “Your job is to annoy me?”

  -My job is to guide you, as stated in my contract. Let me do my job. -

  “Wait, hold up. A contract? Are you an actual person?”

  -Connection terminated-

  Thadwick cried out as he felt a sharp pain in his soul, and all the screens at the desk went out simultaneously. He slumped to his knees, his hand clutching onto the white uniform covering his chest.

  “Tsk tsk, Guide Mercer, you know better than to reveal details of your contract.”

  Black heels came into Thadwick’s field of view.

  A void in the white.

  Thadwick felt a gentle but firm hand grasp his chin, lifting it, until he made eye contact with the Diamond Rank woman with whom he’d initially gone over his contract.

  His supervisor, Mara Tia.

  She was dressed elegantly in all black, her long, dark hair cascading over one white porcelain shoulder.

  “What shall we do with you?”

  “I—”

  “Oh, no, that wasn’t a question for you. Don’t assume you have any say in this, boy.”

  Thadwick felt another sharp pain in his soul, letting out a small gasp.

  “I know you’re new to this, but Astral secrets are sacrosanct. And what is your contract?”

  Thadwick looked at the woman, his teeth gritted and his eyes brimming with tears.

  “I asked you a question, dear.”

  “My contract is privileged information, only meant for the Reaper's administration and his affiliates,” Thadwick said, which received a small smile from Mara Tia.

  “Very good. Now, is the User an affiliate of the reaper?”

  “No.”

  “No…?”

  “No, Ma’am.”

  “You’ve already done some damage. This User won’t let that comment slide. I suspect he'll ask you about it at the next opportunity. Thus, an adjustment is to be made.”

  Thadwick watched as a stack of papers appeared in Mara Tia’s hand as she let go of Thadwick’s chin.

  “It won’t be too severe, a few sanctions, some fine print. We’re a family after all. You may even come out better for this, as you don’t seem to be smart enough to keep your mouth shut when necessary. Oh, don’t look at me like that. One day, a thousand years from now, you’ll remember this guidance and thank me. Now, let's get to work.”

  Mara Tia and Thadclip.

  Brain Rot Meme of Me Talking to my wife about this chapter.