The light returned in a not so abrupt way.
It was gradual, a dot of yellow white expanding into rims of empty void.
My eyes tried to peel themselves open, I blinked, once, twice and my brain slowly caught up and remembered what had happened.
I immediately shot up. My eyes scanning the completely black, all-encompassing darkness of the room. The only thing here was an orb of incandescent light overhead, spilling warm *familiarity* onto myself.
I tried to blink, to flush out the sluggishness of my system, but in the corner of my eyes still seared into my brain was the image of that being. It's infinite fingers and arms writhing, curling, and grasping at the edge of my awareness.
It made me nervously look around the room again before I sighed.
"What is going on?" I asked aloud. I felt awful. The room reminded me of that thing too much, and the only thing seemingly capable of grounding my thoughts was the sound of my own voice.
"Anyone there?" I said, the sound coming out of my mouth and vanishing into the darkness.
I needed to think, not that it'd do much, just enough to keep me sane so whoever did this could come kill me or something.
'But that's the thing, isn't it?' I don't even know what's happening, and I couldn't even begin to unravel the shit show that... whatever this is, had become.
I stood up, holding onto the wall as my eyes darkened, waves of pressure and heat pressing against the inside of my head. Darkness, creeping into my vision.
I stood like that for a while, my arm against the unfeel-able texture of the wall of... void?
But the vertigo passed quickly enough. The darkness retreated, and the pressure and heat dissipated into cold mint, leaving behind fatigue that made my blood slog through my brain like molasses.
"Are you ok now, recruit?" A voice rang out. It was grand, deep, and booming. Like the voice of a mountain.
I just kept standing there, trying to catch my breath, without even the barest of energy to muster up any defense.
"W-Who are you?" I asked, finally straightening up.
Then I stood a bit taller, turned around–
And saw him.
A man in a pressed suit—
"Huh...?"
–with a goat for a head.
He smirked, his lips quirking into an approximation of a grin—if goats could grin.
"Heh, everyone has the same expression." He said, clearly amused. "The name's Creed, what's yours?"
He held out a hand.
I stared, first at his hands, then up to his head.
A person with a goat for a head should obviously never be suspicious, right?
"I'm Scarlet." I answered, crossing my arms.
Creed didn't seem to be offended. His smirk only widened in amusement before he nodded.
"I'm an Inductor Liaison for the glorious Company," he pulls out a badge of a snake coiling around a pigeon. There was the name The Company on top and Inductor Liaison at the bottom. "Welcome to the Company! Do you have any questions?"
I stayed silent. My mind is a whirlpool of thoughts.
I saw that symbol before. I definitely have!
My brain wracked, and I could feel that cloying, slimy feeling of recognition slipping from my grasp.
I looked at the badge again.
The deceptively simple name, the snake, the pigeon...
Wait, no way.
"Are you...?" My eyes widen. I could almost feel the orbs slipping out of my skull in sheer disbelief.
"Yes," the goat smirked even wider, "yes we are."
I almost let a smile slip, but I reined it in—replacing it with a poker face.
I remembered the Company.
It was months ago, back before I even finished setting up for my plan to ruin that puny tech start-up.
I thought I needed a new job after this, so in a fit of boredom, I kinda just... did it.
I looked around for jobs for opportunities and noted them down for future references.
That's when I noticed this particular one, a small ad on a random website.
I thought it'd been a joke, a fun prank that's not gonna amount to anything, but... here I am.
———————
The Company is—and was—one of the oldest organizations in the local multiversal cluster.
Spanning across multiple multiverses, with access to resources so vast that a single elite member of a branch could practically swim in a month's salary.
Because of that...
Some say its origin lies with a normal person on a normal planet, whose tech evolved to traverse the multiverse.
Others say it began as the cult of an eldritch monstrosity.
What we know for sure is this:
No one actually knows.
Not even its administrative AI, who is said to have "seen universes destroy and reconstruct themselves over and over" until it got bored.
Not even its predecessor, who is older still, remembers.
Yet their records are so vast that any conscious human mind upon glimpsing the number will absolutely die.
I had to sit down for that one...
For just a mortal from a 21st century planet. That is practically magic.
As for its purpose—there are two major ways the Company profits:
First, through war.
They find a universe embroiled in conflict, descend upon it, and sell weapons and services.
But the second?
That's what I'm here for.
You see, in the infinite multiverse, there exists a universe for everything—any concept you can imagine and many you can't.
That includes fictional universes.
Our job is to destabilize them.
Sow chaos.
Then the Company sweeps in, dismantles any remaining structure of power—
—and strips the universe bare.
We are part of the Instigator Agency.
At least, that's what he told me.
———————
"So, how does this work?" I took a sip of my tea, warming my palms on the hot porcelain cup. "You told me this is an interview to find my place within the company?"
I shifted nervously in my seat, I didn't know this was an interview!
If I had, maybe I would've prepared more.
He didn't actually want to conduct the interview in that "reception area" as he said, so he actually vacated us into his office.
It wasn't anything special. Just a desk at the front, bookshelves on either side and a set of sofas, armchairs and coffee table a bit to the left.
Currently I'm seated on a chair in front of his table.
In actuality I've never actually had any passion for any jobs, only I do it for the money to sustain myself or my hobbies–hanging with Alicia.
But in this moment right now, I feel pretty passionate, you know?
Who would've denied going across the multiverse? Gaining powers?
It's one of those things that only exists in fantasies and novels, but I'm right in it!
It even chose to take me in after I had my revenge too.
"Oh, that's right, the interview is for us to find you a suitable position within the Instigator Agency. But as a matter of fact, that interview was already done."
He smirked, leaning forward with crossed arm resting against the mahogany of his desk.
"What...?" I asked, my eyes wide again in surprise, "So all that exposition was the interview?"
He chuckled, the deep rumble in his chest rolling out, "of course, how you listen to my exposition is a great way to find out about your character, as I've come to realize over the years."
"So what next?" I put down my cup.
"Well, next up is the trial phase. We will give you a mission on a mission world, and your job, is to prime it for harvest. You already know that right?" He leaned back taking out a file in pushing it towards me.
"In there is the intelligence we've successfully gathered from a local "Superhero" type world, you already know what to do, you can request help from the Company, but beware, it'll cost you!"
He laughed, taking out a big button.
"Hey wait–!" I tried to reach out but it was to late.
His hand slam down on the button, and the only thing I remember.
Is light–