Adder’s nostrils flared, his pupils dilating. He looked much younger than before, curled on the floor with such an innocent expression. Tanya panicked, falling backward onto her hands. The knife clattered to the ground.

  Adder tried to move, then looked down at the restraints around his wrists and feet.

  “Are you going to kill me?” Adder croaked. His facial expression was under his control again, back to the blank poker face Tanya was used to.

  Seeing him when he first woke up humanised him slightly. Tanya cursed that greatly. She was already losing resolve.

  “I ain’t decided yet,” Tanya said, slowly.

  Adder nodded and they sat in silence.

  Adder shuffled around to sit, struggling with the restraints. “What do I need to do for you to let me live?” he asked.

  Tanya hadn’t seen that question coming. What did she need to trust him enough to let him go?

  “You got a Class?” she asked.

  She took a bottle of water from the counter, slid it across the floor to him, and then sat there with crossed legs. Whether she let him go or not, she might as well not leave him in pain. She regretted it as soon as he lifted it to his lips. It was grasped awkwardly with bound hands.

  How much water’s left, I wonder? Ain’t like I can just nip and get some. Best start stockpilin’ it. This is some twisted fuckin' Covid shit for real.

  Fortunately, he took a single sip and then slid it back to her. It was a strange game of cat and mouse. This was very different from when the rest of his gang were here.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “I wanna see your interface. System, that somethin’ I can do?” Tanya said.

  Interface information can be shared with express permission from the information’s owner.

  Tanya and Adder’s eyes locked on each other. She could tell he heard that too. His facial expression hadn’t changed but the way his body tensed showed Tanya how unhappy he was both with this situation and the idea of giving up the secrecy of his Abilities.

  “Alright, talk us through how someone would do that,” Tanya replied.

  Sharing any part of your interface is considered a minor pact. Thus, standard pact rules apply. You must say the words “I, number (insert) pledge access to my interface to number (insert).” This can be made as simple or as detailed as you wish but the more detail, the more likely it will be exactly what both parties are happy with.

  “Numbers, eh?” Tanya asked.

  She was cautious of speaking to the voice out loud, but it would save time if she didn’t have to explain this to him herself after.

  The number on your system interface is a guaranteed way of not getting confused with another planar entity with a similar moniker.

  Tanya nodded. That made sense. She thought about it for another moment.

  “What other pacts can ya make?”

  Adder winced.

  He must know this already. If he don’t want me knowin’, then I must be on the right track.

  Pacts can be made to cover any concept, although how enforceable they are depends on the wording of the pact and the amount of freedom there is within following it.

  Interesting. Tanya started pacing. If she could come up with a good enough pact then maybe she could let him live. It was mostly his influence that made him so terrifying. The amount of East End Adders in this area meant that if she could guarantee they’d leave her alone, she could get out of this mostly unscathed.

  “Right, we start with your Interface, make a pact, and then I let ya go.” Tanya sat again, crossing her legs in the same spot as before.

  He tensed up again.

  “Look,” she continued, “All I want is a guarantee that lettin’ ya go ain't gonna bite me later. Yeah, I know I could wring any deal outta ya right now, but I just wanna make it simple for ya to leave and stay gone.”

  She clenched her jaw to stop her teeth from chattering from the adrenaline coursing through her body.

  He nodded slowly. His adams apple bobbed up and down. “For that, I owe you a great debt.”

  “Yeah I know,” Tanya sported a wicked grin, “I’m pretty great.”

  Why did I say that?

  He scoffed. It was somewhere between a laugh and a sniff with an eye roll mixed in.

  Her smile faded, “The interface?”

  “Number?”

  “10056”

  “I, Number 43, pledge one-time viewing access of my core interface to Number 10056.”

  Tanya noticed the wording. She’d not considered the possibility of her changing his Abilities before.

  She also noted the “one-time.” He seemed thankful; verbalising the debt suggested that, so it was interesting that he specified one time. She supposed that it was powerful information knowing how someone was levelling.

  She worried she was going too easy on him with this. He’d possibly even agree to something crazy like giving her power. The thought of being able to make even stronger killer snakes only filled her with fear for the monsters lurking outside.

  She wondered if she could acquire more non-violent power. In video games, levelling quickly to get ahead of the curve was important. Otherwise, it could be hard to catch up later. No, this wasn’t a video game. She wasn’t going to let the end of the world take away who she was. Tanya Angelo didn’t blackmail, otherwise she’d not be much better than Adder.

  The thoughts whipped around as the interface kicked in.

  * * *

  Information

  Name: Joseph (Adder) Patterson

  Number: 43

  Age: 36

  Species: Human

  Class: Firestarter

  Level: 3

  System Notification:

  You have summoned an entity beyond your physical limits.

  Your Attributes are in the negative.

  Any further damage will render you unstable.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Attributes

  Strength: 15

  Dexterity: 8

  Vitality: 16

  Concentration: 11

  Will: 15

  Abilities

  Match Made in Hell

  Level 2

  The fire that scarred you has made you part of it. You can partially absorb fire damage, using it to temporarily increase your Attributes.

  Trailblazer

  Level 2

  Every fire you ignite carries a trace of your Will. These flames consume fuel at a supernatural rate. You can spend mana to influence the flames: including tracking a target and only burning what you choose.

  Going out with a Bang

  Level 1

  By willingly setting yourself ablaze, you can unleash a massive explosion of flames, dealing devastating damage in an area around you. This leaves you severely weakened and grants a slow regeneration.

  Inferno’s Whisper

  Level 1

  You can manipulate nearby flames to subtly influence the thoughts and emotions of others. By maintaining a small flame near a target, you can plant suggestions or stir emotions like fear or anger. The longer the flame burns, the stronger the influence, but it fades once the flame is extinguished or the target becomes aware.

  Achievements

  Worthy

  You were deemed worthy of The System’s care. You have been given a class and access to The Interface.

  Unique Circumstances

  The circumstances that showed you as Worthy were Unique. You have been given a Unique Class.

  Interplanar Kingpin

  Old tricks, new magic. You’ve readily accepted this new world, wielding spells and fear to maintain your reign as gang leader. The streets bow to your will—now the planes will too.

  Martyr Maker

  Your influence knows no bounds. Someone believed in your cause—or feared you—so much that they gave their life in your name. True power demands sacrifice.

  * * *

  Tanya was only alive because the snake had been too powerful for his body to handle. Otherwise with the snake and those Attributes and Abilities, he could have killed her a dozen different ways. She held back the bile that wanted to force itself out of her mouth. For a moment she couldn’t focus on anything else. She just stared at the system notification over and over. That old wire around his wrists did nothing, not really. She was alive because of the snake that almost killed her.

  Pushing all of her emotions down, all that she was left with was cold sweat running down her back. Tanya inspected his Interface again. She could feel fear later. She only had one chance to look at this, so she wanted to learn everything she could.

  System, can I save this?

  Yes. You can revisit this Personal Interface at any time.

  Notice: Due to one-time use being granted you will be unable to track any developments to this Interface. You will only be able to view this snapshot of his development.

  Tanya considered all the ways she could counter him with this information. She wished he hadn’t been so specific. Not only was an updating list of his powers knowledge on how to stay safe from him, but if he stayed ahead of her she might get some ideas of how her own Interface would change over time.

  The Abilities were interesting. She wondered how much choice he’d had over his level-ups. They were specific enough that she could tell he’d either chosen them or they were catered to him perfectly, combining into a strong DPS build with a buffing Ability, a finishing move, and strong firepower without hurting allies. What did that tell her about him? That he usually fought around people was an easy one. She could tell that from the Ability to control the fire. The finishing move definitely implied risk-taking, and the increase being temporary suggested burst damage instead of longer fights. This told her a lot about the East Adder’s weaknesses generally. Assuming they followed his lead, they likely relied on intimidation for a quick, explosive takedown of their enemies.

  She focused on his stats, wondering if he had higher stats than her before The System or if they stemmed from training. She didn’t have much data yet and really hoped that she wasn’t weak compared to average, or she’d have a harder time keeping up. She thought back to every moment she’d decided she was too tired to practice sketching or countless “I’ll go to the gym tomorrow.” A pit formed in her stomach. Now wasn’t the time.

  She read through it again, making sure she hadn’t missed something important. She focused on the number; 43. She hadn’t processed it when he initially mentioned it, but that must have been some time ago.

  “How long you had a class, then?” Tanya asked him. She refused to look away from the information, fearing it might vanish without her full attention.

  He paused for a second. “Three days ago, give or take.”

  She nodded absent-mindedly. 3 days? That was longer than she’d expected. She remembered the porcupine she’d done on the sweet older lady the day before. That night she’d had popcorn chicken from KFC whilst the new episode of Grey's Anatomy aired. Everything had been so normal. She couldn’t remember the last few days the same anymore. Even though nothing had actually changed, it felt like something had shifted.

  Only…it had? She noticed a blurry gap in her memory. Focusing harder didn’t fix it. The memory ended at a very strange point.

  It was the morning of the day before. The stark white light created chinks along the wall through the blinds. Tanya fanned herself with a poorly designed takeaway menu. There was a chill in the air everywhere but in her shop, as the heating unit had decided to break so it couldn’t be turned off full power. She dreaded to think of the astronomical bill that would create.

  She kept glancing at the phone. She remembered now—her friend was going to call her back after their shift. They had planned to discuss how to cancel before the bill got out of hand.

  Bleedin’ heater. Cost a fortune an’ I don’t even get to enjoy it!

  Flicking through her flash designs, she considered how to scrape enough for this month's bills. Her current offer was on Pokemon characters. She had a vending machine with those little plastic bubbles in it with different Pokemon that her followers had helped her pick.

  That’s when she heard the bell. She looked up with a smile. It would be a good day today. She just had to drum up some business. She only glimpsed him for a moment— tall and slender with blonde spikes and flame sunglasses. He popped bubblegum between his lips. Long, coffin-shaped pink nails pulled down his glasses. They went perfectly with his hot pants and little cropped pink fluffy jacket. It looked like someone had skinned a muppet. Their eyes met, his a striking light blue. He was mid-step forward when the memory ended. It didn’t fade; it came to an abrupt halt, as if someone had pressed the off button.

  She replayed the memory. It stopped at the same point. The next thing she remembered was picking up the phone. The bell down the street chimed for 1pm, and she realised she was late for her lunch break.

  Tanya sprung to her feet, and Adder gave her a confused look. She strode to her counter and pulled it open. No extra money. Nothing looked out of place on the desk. So they weren’t a customer, or they didn't pay. She could have simply forgotten it, but she didn’t believe that. Something about him caught her attention, particularly the way the memory stopped just before she'd spoken to someone new and interesting.

  “System, can I get back memories I forgot or ones that got nicked off me?” Tanya asked. She opened and closed all of the drawers in case she’d stowed something away in there lost to her memory.

  “How the plot thickens,” Adder chimed.

  Shit, I should have kept that in me head.

  Forgotten memories cannot be perfectly recalled without an Ability, although higher concentration may help recall.

  Memories that have been taken cannot be recalled without an Ability.

  Memories that have been destroyed can occasionally be pieced together depending on the craftsmanship of the erasure.

  Memories that have been tampered with are often fixed once the target has realised they were under magical effects.

  Memories—

  “That’s enough for now,” Tanya interrupted.

  She could try piecing it together. However, her gut told her it had been taken rather than erased. Otherwise, she wouldn't have just a gaping hole. Trying to remember was like running her tongue over a missing tooth.

  Adder sat up straighter and the ties around his wrists slapped the floor as he adjusted. Tanya turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

  “Fuck. I’ve got something missing, too, yesterday afternoon,” he said.

  She nodded, “Yesterday morning.”

  “It’s like…” he began.

  “A missin’ tooth?”

  “Yeah, I suppose it is.” He furrowed his brow and stared off into the middle distance.

  “White bloke, ‘bout yea tall, white-blonde hair, blue eyes—looks like he fell off the workroom in RuPaul’s Drag Race?”

  He wrinkled his nose, “Smells like they were dragged through the perfume aisle of John Lewis?”

  The memory of the smell hit her all at once and she laughed.

  “Yeah, that’s the one.”

  Adder clenched his teeth, and Tanya’s smile vanished. The switch was instant. There was something so visceral about the look in his eyes. “No one messes with MY FUCKING MEMORY!”

  Tanya stumbled backwards. She hadn’t seen someone change like that since her mum’s ex-boyfriend. It brought her back to what it was like as a kid, one wrong move and he’d change into a different person.

  He’s got a debuff, Tanya, he ain’t gonna hurt ya.

  Only the squeaking of rubber cables joined the air as he wrung his hands. He turned to Tanya. The anger was gone. His eyes were ice cold.

  “If we could draft up a pact soon I’d appreciate it. I’d like to leave.”

  Tanya nodded, then took a moment to collect her thoughts and quiet her racing heart. It only took a few seconds of calm chatter for her to let her guard down. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.