[Ding!]
A soft, game-like notification sound — the kind you'd hear in a video game — resounded in Jacob's ears, startling him for a moment. He instantly turned around, eyes scanning both himself and the apartment in frantic confusion as his mind scrambled with countless thoughts.
"What the… What's going on?"
Confusion danced in Jacob's mind as his head spun with more questions than answers. First, there was that sudden, bright purple light — and now, a soft [Ding!] echoing in the air? What the hell was happening?
"Am I hallucinating?" he wondered.
His gaze quickly shifted to Lilith, still on the floor, devouring her food like it was about to be snatched away from her. He watched her scarf it down greedily, then turned his attention back to his earlier thought.
"Seems I was hallucinating, huh? But it looked so real... Am I really hallucinating?"
Questions popped into his head like a storm of bubbles, each one demanding attention, overwhelming his already frazzled brain with even more confusion.
Then again, hallucinating wasn't anything new for him — not with how things were. Most of the time, he was hungry. Like, really hungry. Starving for days, forced to go without food, yet still dragging himself out to work, struggling to make rent and pay off debts. Who wouldn't start hallucinating under those conditions? Honestly, who wouldn't start imagining weird crap like this?
Taking a deep, long breath, he walked over to the chair and sat down, slowly, calmly. One hand brushed through his rough, scattered dark hair as his mind tried to relax from the sudden wave of panic.
And then — as if the universe couldn't stand to see him chill for even one damn second — his stomach growled. Loudly.
"Seriously, I might as well just kill myself," he muttered.
Annoyed at his stomach's betrayal, he slammed his hands against his bony, flat torso. The impact stung, pain flaring through his palm and his gut as the little skin there reddened slightly from the strike.
Sighing, he began pulling his hoodie off his body — but suddenly, a sound pierced the air again.
[Ding!]
[Host has now been found!]
[System fusion commencing in 3… 2… 1…]
Like lightning striking thought itself, an overwhelming wave of heat slammed into Jacob's chest. He instinctively clutched at the center of his hoodie, fists twisting the fabric as the number "19" stitched onto it crumpled beneath his grip.
"AHHHHH!"
Pain! Pain! PAIN!
The heat was unbearable. No — overwhelming.
It felt like his very core was being seared — no, branded.
The agony was too much, and it just kept growing. Clenching his teeth, he tried to endure it, to resist the storm of fire that had suddenly taken root in his chest.
"AHHH! F*****k, what the—"
As if answering him before he could even finish the question, the heat suddenly began to fade. Fast. It cooled at an unimaginable pace — like someone had slammed a block of ice straight into his chest.
A small, involuntary moan escaped his lips as bliss washed over his body, soothing the agony. But the moment of relief didn't last long.
FWOOM!
A blast of purple light erupted before him — and just like that, a sleek, square, game-like interface materialized in the air. Transparent, glowing, and high-tech looking. Golden letters streaked across it, shifting and forming into words.