Chaotic Escalation (Worm/Chaos Gacha): Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Ugh, fuck, I needed a new mattress. I felt like I was sleeping on a rock.

My hand reached for my phone, but instead of soft sheets or a nightstand, my fingers brushed cold concrete.

My eyes fluttered open, slow and unfocused, still trying to find my phone.

Instead, I was greeted by open blue skies and a long stretch of empty black concrete.

What the hell.

Whatever tiredness had been clinging to me evaporated. My nerves snapped awake, and I pushed myself upright, eyes darting around.

I was in an empty lot wedged between two brick buildings. The hum of cars drifted from somewhere close, mixed with the distant sounds of a city at work.

I lived in the middle of nowhere. Who the hell kidnaps someone and just leaves them in the city?

My feet moved on autopilot as I walked out of the lot and onto the sidewalk. And there it was: a regular city. People in hoodies, backpacks slung over one shoulder, walking in clumps. I spotted several buildings that looked like labs, libraries, and lecture halls. It was some sort of college, although I wasn’t familiar with what school.

Think. Think. What was the last thing I remembered?

I pressed my fingers to my temples, trying to rewind. I’d been taking a break, finished a long-ass assignment, done with all my exams, and I had no work for the next three days. I’d been relaxing and doomscrolling, even checking the backlog of fics I’d been meaning to read.

I read some shitty fanfic and was writing a review to tell the author, and then… then…

I can’t remember.

I drifted with the foot traffic. Wide walkways, bikes chained everywhere, random patches of green.

Do I just go to the police? My pockets were empty. No phone, no wallet, nothing. What do I even tell them? That I just woke up in the middle of a sidewalk with no rhyme or reason?

I kept moving until a small campus gift shop caught my eye. I stopped and peered inside.

T-shirts and jerseys lined the wall, but it was the name tacked onto them that stood out to me.

Canberra. That’s in Australia, I’m pretty sure.

My confusion only increased. I lived—

“Can I help you, young man?” an older woman behind the counter asked.

“Yes…do you mind if I borrow a phone? I lost mine and need to make a call.”

“Oh, of course!”

She handed me a small square with an actual keypad. Old school.

I glanced down at the phone and felt my face drop.

“2011?”

What the fuck.

A translucent screen popped into my vision.

[Congratulations! Welcome to Worm. We hope your transmigration experience was a smooth one. Your contract with Chaos Inc. is now in effect!]

[You have received 3x Gold Gacha Ticket!]

My eyes dilated.

Worm? Contract?

I paled.

“What contract? I didn’t sign shit!”

Another line appeared.

[You, Jordan, at 11:43 PM commented: “Can you make the MC any stupider? Can’t even survive the first couple of days of Worm without an asspull. Hell, I swear even I can do that better than this idiot!”]

“HOW THE HELL DOES THAT COUNT AS CONSENT?!”

[Good Luck and Have Fun!]

“Hey, don’t ignore me! Hey, you asshole—!”

“You alright, mate?”

I froze. A handful of people were staring at me like I was crazy. Right. Needed to chill before someone called security. I muttered an apology, shoved the phone back into the lady’s hands, and hurried out of the shop.

“Hey, you’re listening, right? Shit, whatever it was, I’m sorry! It was a great fic! Truly, the harem was done wonderfully. In retrospect, his obtaining of every girl in Brockton Bay was totally possible!” I shamelessly bootlicked the author.

I kept babbling, trying to appeal to this cosmic writer’s ego, because groveling sounded way better than dying at the hands of a golden idiot god or some murder-hobo with a knife.

“I mean, you can totally publish it even—”

An ear-splitting siren detonated through the city. It stabbed straight through my skull, sharp enough to make my eyes water. The entire street froze. People turned pale.

A beat passed, silent and fragile, and then like ants kicked out of a nest, everyone started screaming and sprinting in every direction.

Canberra. Australia. Worm.

Oh fuck.

“YOU COULDN’T HAVE GIVEN ME A DIFFERENT START DATE? YOU TALENTLESS FANFIC COPYCAT, YOU FRAUDULENT, SHITTY KNOCKOFF HAREM-SEEKING BASTARD?!”

My scream of rage drowned under the tidal wave of panic. Hundreds of people were running, tripping, and dragging each other toward cover as something horrific approached.

I forced myself to breathe, even while the urge to strangle whatever petty cosmic asshole did this burned in my chest.

A notification flickered into existence.

[Congratulations! You have been gifted a Penalty Modifier to improve your Gacha Experience!]

[You have received 1x Platinum Gacha Ticket!]

Hostile Endbringer

Endbringers now perceive you as a high-level threat. Regardless of what you do, they will always make killing you one of their main objectives, though not necessarily above all other targets. They may alter their tactics, adapt their attacks, and occasionally ignore more pressing strategic objectives to eliminate you. However, they will not break their attack cycle to pursue you when dormant or seek you out if you escape far enough from their original target. Although they will make a hell of an effort to stop you first.

Oh, you petty piece of—

A bolt of lightning crawled down my spine, and my eyes dragged upward against my will.

And I saw her.

High above the world, facial features too delicate and too perfect, like a sculpture come to life. Long pale hair. White wings drifting like they weren’t bound by gravity. Ethereal and serene, beautiful in a way that made my stomach turn.

The Simurgh.

Hundreds of miles away, yet through some cosmic pettiness, I was allowed to see her as if she were standing across the street. And despite the impossible distance, I saw her looking back.

Right at me.

A cold shiver went down my back. Absolutely and unquestionably, our eyes met.

The serene, floaty descent vanished. Her wings snapped down, folding tight, and the Simurgh dove, screaming through the air like a falling star.

The impossible vision broke. The sky returned to normal. Just blue. Empty. Except for a small white dot that was getting bigger and bigger. Fast.

I didn’t hesitate. I turned and ran in the opposite direction.

“Fuck, FUCK, FUCK!”

I could feel her eyes peeling into my back.

The panic in the city was a living thing. Cars slammed into light poles. People stampede-ran in any direction that wasn’t here.

I stumbled into a side alley, chest heaving, and watched the chaos spill across the streets. Alarms wailed like the whole city was being burned alive.

Breathe. Breathe. Focus. Running around like a headless chicken wasn’t going to save me.

My gaze snapped inward to the only thing I had—the tickets.

I didn’t have time to question any of it. No time to understand the mechanics. I just reached, grabbed the first one my mind locked onto… and ripped.

[Rolling Platinum Gacha Ticket]

[Igris]

|Elite Familiar|

Solo Leveling — One of the greatest warriors under the Shadow Monarch’s command. Igris possesses excellent swordsmanship and unarmed combat capabilities, complemented by immense physical prowess and telekinesis. As a shadow familiar, Igris revives 24 hours after being killed.

The shadows around my feet warped, stretching like liquid night, and a fully armored knight pulled himself out of the darkness. Jet-black armor, a flowing cape, an ethereal blue glow seeping from every seam, and a sword longer than I was tall.

Igris knelt, bowing his head.

It was a badass sight, one I absolutely did not have time to appreciate.

“Protect me from big angel crazy lady, yeah?”

The shadow knight rose, nodded once, and before I could blink, I was slung over his shoulder like a potato sack.

The ground blurred beneath us as Igris sprinted straight up the nearest wall. People on the street screamed at the living shadow knight hauling a guy across rooftops.

I winced as I realized my face was completely out in the open. No secret identity for me.

But survival beats hero bullshit. I can deal with the fallout of this later.

I forced my attention back to the three golden tickets left and pulled the next one.

[Rolling Golden Gacha Ticket]

[Enchanted Golden Apple]

|Rare Item|

Minecraft — A magical apple with skin resembling gold that has been enchanted with magic. Eating it gives the eater rare-level regeneration for one hour and also bolsters their vitality. Restock Timer: 210 Hours.

I felt it in the back of my mind, the small box holding the legendary game item, ready for me to summon at any moment.

I ripped the second ticket.

[Tune Up]

|Rare Trait|

Your body has received a Tune Up, all previous health complications have been erased, and your body has been altered to become improved, increasing your latent genetic potential and giving you a fit and incredibly healthy body.

Energy flooded my muscles. Aches, I hadn’t even realized I had disappeared. My whole body felt like it was running at two hundred percent. But I’m not going to outrun murder wings on my own two legs.

Come on, give me something, you crappy devs!

I tore open the final gold ticket.

[Petal Burst]

|Rare Ability|

RWBY — Allows you to temporarily shift into a mass of rose petals to move at super-speeds for a short duration. In rose form, you are more resistant to physical attacks, and anything in direct contact with you also becomes transformed. Larger masses consume more energy, and directional control is limited.

I take it back. You’re amazing. Totally incredible. Best system in the universe.

A slot opened in my mind, and I pushed the ability into place. Like a muscle that had always been there, I instinctively knew how to use it.

Then I flowed.

My body broke apart into drifting petals, my thoughts spreading across the piles of roses as I exploded across the rooftops in a blur of red.

The city melted beneath me. Streets vanished in streaks of color. Air whipped past with a hollow roar.

I laughed, breathless and half-hysterical, as my mass of roses arrowed toward the edge of Canberra. Highways were jammed with abandoned cars, but in petal form, I didn’t care. As long as I got a flat stretch I could—

A hand yanked me backward with violent force. A metallic scream tore through the air as three rebar spikes punched through the rooftop exactly where I would have been.

Panic spiked. My form snapped back into flesh and bone.

Before I could process anything, Igris pushed me behind his body. His sword blurred, and a dozen more rebar were chopped into bits around us.

I tried to shift again, but a gauntleted hand clamped onto my shoulder and killed the transformation. Igris slashed his sword downward, carving a hole through the rooftop, and we dropped through the opening as another barrage of metal shrieked overhead.

Not a moment too soon. A car and a dozen metal canisters screamed past, arcing overhead, before crashing into the rooftop we had just vacated. The entire thing went up in a violent sheet of fire.

Igris’s cape flared, shadowy fabric expanding like a shield and blocking the heat.

Shit. That was way too close.

“Nice save, Igris.” I patted the shadow knight’s armored shoulder.

He gave me a thumbs-up. Right. He couldn’t talk.

“Keep up the interference as we run, big guy. We just need to get out—”

My words died. A pressure slammed into my skull, muffling the world as if someone shoved my head underwater. My ears rang. A distant melody slithered through the back of my mind, soft and wrong, like a lullaby was crawling out from inside me.

A voice writhed beneath my skin.

The air trembled with a mindless, echoing song.

I stumbled out the door, shoes skidding on the pavement as I burst into the open street.

And then I saw her.

In the distance, suspended in the sky like a hanging moon.

A delicate face framed by vast white wings that curved and folded like swirling pearls. Luxurious hair floated in every direction, impossibly weightless. A figure of mythic beauty ruined by the horrifying dissonance that radiated from her.

Silver eyes. Dull. Cold. Empty.

And they were staring straight at me.

The Simurgh had descended.

“Fuck…”

***

As many of you guessed, it's Worm! Hope you enjoy chaotic bullshit in parahuman land. Just a heads up, my 50% promotion is running out! You've got until January 1st before the discount disappears.

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