Chapter 1: First Steps into the Supernatural

Chapter 1: First Steps into the Supernatural

The sound of leaves crunching under his feet brought him back to reality. Where was he? Everything seemed blurry, strange. A musty smell of mold and rotting wood filled the air. His eyes opened slowly, and the first thing he noticed was the dilapidated structure around him: an abandoned house, ravaged by time. A chill ran down his spine.

"What happened? How did I get here?" he asked himself as he struggled to stand. The last thing he remembered was sitting in front of his computer, watching yet another rerun of Supernatural. But now, he was in this old house.

He rubbed his eyes and turned toward an old wooden table. On it lay a rusty kitchen knife. "Why am I here, and why is there a knife?" Suddenly intrigued, he approached the object and reached out to grab it.

As soon as his hand touched the handle, a strange sensation ran through him. It felt like an electric shock, but softer. His eyes widened as a transparent screen appeared before him, floating in the air, resembling a video game interface.

Name: Rusty kitchen knife

Owner: To know, download 1 MB

Creation process: Hand-forged, 1984, to know, 20 MB

His heart raced. "What is this? A game?" he thought, confused. He stood still, his eyes fixed on the screen. Slowly, he saw the download begin. Information flowed into his mind at 1 MB/s, allowing him to feel the weight, texture, and even the years of wear on the object. When it reached 100%, he put the knife down, now fully aware of its history.

"I... I'm downloading data..." he murmured, stunned.

His curiosity sparked, he began to explore the house. As he entered an adjacent room, another screen appeared before him, this time above an old dusty wooden dresser.

Name: Wooden dresser

Owner: Unknown, to know, download 2 MB

Creation: Hand-assembled in 1956, to know, 30 MB

"What's going on?" he wondered, astonished. "I can download information about objects… does it work on people too?"

That's when he felt a cold presence in the room. A chill ran down his spine. He turned slowly, and his gaze fell on a floating mist in the corner of the room. His breathing quickened.

A new screen appeared:

Name: Elisabeth

Age: 38 at death (28 years ago)

Race: Minor spirit

Simplified story: 5 MB

Full story: 30 MB

Skills/Abilities:

Intangible body (Rare): 500 MB

Telekinesis (Beginner): 100 MB

Perception of the veil of death (Rare): 50 MB

Teleportation (Uncommon): 300 MB

Choose what you want to download.

Maximum 2 downloads at a time.

Current download speed: 1 MB/s.

He stood frozen, stunned by what he saw. "I can… download abilities?!" he thought, staring at the ghostly figure floating in front of him. Reality had just become far more complicated than he could have imagined. His first real challenge had appeared.

Breathing heavily, he focused on Elisabeth's figure. His mind began to analyze the situation. "She hasn't noticed me yet..." he realized, observing how the spirit floated, motionless, as if in a state of slumber. This gave him an advantage.

He knew he had to remain still, not make any noise. His survival instinct kicked in. His whole body tensed as he studied the options on the transparent screen. "Download..." he murmured to himself. The choice was right there, within reach.

He saw that he could choose two abilities at once. "Intangibility and Telekinesis..." he thought, concentrating intently. These two abilities could be very useful. Mentally, he selected Intangible body , then Telekinesis , and triggered the download.

Progress bars appeared before him, slowly advancing at 1 MB/s. The download for Telekinesis progressed much faster than that of Intangibility, which would take much longer. He gritted his teeth, hoping the spirit wouldn't wake up before the process finished.

"Don't make a sound… stay calm…" he repeated in his head. The download continued slowly, second by second. He could almost feel the tension rising, each moment stretching into eternity. But as long as the spirit remained in its slumber, he had a chance.

Seconds passed, and he stood perfectly still, waiting for the process to reach 100% for both abilities.

Minutes ticked by, and he stayed motionless, focused on the slowly advancing progress bars. But gradually, fatigue began to set in. His arms, still tensed, started to go numb. "Damn… I can't stay like this forever…" he thought, his muscles burning under the strain.

He cast a quick glance at Elisabeth's spirit, still dormant. Once the two initial abilities had downloaded, he felt a slight relief in his mind, as if part of his burden had lifted. However, he didn't want to let this opportunity slip away.

"I might as well take everything..." he thought, quickly selecting the remaining two abilities: Perception of the veil of death and Teleportation.

The download bars reappeared. Perception of the veil of death progressed quickly, needing only 50 MB. However, Teleportation advanced slowly, with its 300 MB to download. He took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. "Just a little more patience…"

Seconds continued to tick by, the weight of his body becoming harder to bear. He gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to move. "Stay calm, stay focused…" he kept repeating in his head.

As the download approached 70%, a slight movement of his foot broke the silence. A tiny crack, but enough to draw the spirit's attention. He immediately felt the atmosphere change, a cold wave filling the room. Elisabeth's spirit suddenly opened her eyes, her hollow gaze fixed on him.

"Shit!" he thought, his heart pounding. In an instant, the spirit lunged at him, slicing through the air with terrifying speed. Panicking, he turned and started running toward the kitchen. "Salt… I need salt!" he thought, remembering the Supernatural episodes he had watched hundreds of times.

The download continued in his mind, but he couldn't afford to slow down. The sound of the spirit's steps echoed behind him, drawing dangerously closer with each passing second.

"Come on, faster! I need something to repel her!"

His mind raced. Just before sprinting into the kitchen, he quickly spotted an iron poker meant for stirring the wood in the fireplace. "This won't kill her, but it should at least slow her down…" he thought, grabbing the object. He remembered that iron could repel ghosts, even if it wasn't permanent.

Elisabeth's spirit was still rushing toward him. He gripped the iron bar tightly, ready to strike. At the last moment, he pivoted and swung the bar forward. The strike sliced through the air, hitting the spirit. A piercing scream filled the room as Elisabeth's form dissolved into a wave of cold energy, her spectral body dissipating from the impact.

"It worked… but not for long." He knew the spirit would return, probably angrier. He didn't have much time.

Without wasting a second, he ran toward the kitchen, adrenaline driving him forward with every step. His mind stayed focused on two tasks: finishing the download and finding salt. As soon as he reached the kitchen, he frantically searched the lower cabinets. Relief washed over him when he spotted a bag of coarse salt.

Without hesitation, he grabbed it and spread a generous amount of salt around him, forming a circular barrier just in time. As he finished, Elisabeth's ghost reappeared at the kitchen entrance, floating silently in the air. She could no longer advance, repelled by the salt barrier.

"I've bought myself some time…" he thought, breathing heavily. The download was finally nearing 100%. "Just a little more, and I can use these abilities."

Elisabeth's spirit relentlessly attacked the salt barrier, her movements becoming more frantic as if she sensed her time was running out. He watched her, his eyes fixed on the floating figure as she struck the invisible barrier. "She doesn't seem capable of reasoning…" he thought. "She's like an animal or a program, unable to think for herself."

This realization made him understand that even if he downloaded her full story, he probably wouldn't be able to connect with her emotionally or rationally. "It'll just be a collection of memories… nothing more."

The ability downloads continued to progress, but it took him a moment to process what he had already gained. Intangibility and Telekinesis… He closed his eyes briefly, feeling the information settle in his mind.

He focused on Intangibility. He felt a strange lightness in his body, as if he could pass through walls at any moment, but this ability required a certain level of concentration to master.

"This will come in handy…" he thought, glancing at Elisabeth's spirit, still trapped at the kitchen entrance. Time was running out, and the remaining two abilities were almost ready.

Once the download of the last two abilities was complete, he took a moment to focus on what he could do with Telekinesis. He quickly realized its limits. "I can't lift heavy objects… only small things," he thought, eyeing a bedside lamp in the room. He reached out, imagining the lamp moving. With a slight effort, he managed to push it a few inches but couldn't lift it.

He then tried with a small knife on the counter. This time, he was able to make it levitate, but only for a few seconds before losing control. "Okay, I can lift really small objects, like this knife… or a bit of salt." He visualized 300 grams of salt floating in the air, but knew he could only maintain that effort for a few minutes at most.

Meanwhile, the salt barrier held strong. Elisabeth's spirit continued to strike unsuccessfully, and he felt relieved, knowing it would hold until the download was complete.

Once the two abilities were fully downloaded, he returned to the interface. "Now, I need to know more about her." He quickly clicked on the option to download Elisabeth's life summary. If something was keeping her bound to this house, maybe he could discover it through this summary.

"Maybe I'll find where her body is… or what's preventing her from moving on." The summary download was much faster, needing only 5 MB. As the information flowed into his mind, he mentally prepared himself for what was to come, hoping this new piece of the puzzle would offer a solution.

The information about Elisabeth's life quickly flooded his mind. He learned that the key to her attachment to this house was likely connected to a special brooch. This brooch, a gift from her son and husband, represented her last happy memory before her life fell apart. Her son disappeared, her husband left her, and she died alone, consumed by grief.

"The brooch… That's what's keeping her here," he realized. It must be in her bedroom, probably hidden among her belongings. But time was running out. The salt barrier was weakening under the spirit's repeated assaults.

Luckily, he had just downloaded Teleportation. He could now move about five meters, which was more than enough to teleport behind the spirit and run to the bedroom. "The only problem is how to destroy the object…"

Quickly searching the kitchen drawers, he found a small box of matches. He opened it to find only five matches inside. They looked old, probably unreliable. "Not a lot of chances this will work, but I have no other choice..."

He knew the brooch had to be burned to free the spirit. He took a deep breath. The moment had come to act. He watched the salt barrier, which was about to give way under the spirit's violent blows. "I have to act now, before she's free..."

Before teleporting, he remembered a crucial detail: in Supernatural, to burn an object tied to a spirit and banish it for good, you needed to use salt. He rushed to the bag of coarse salt he had found earlier and grabbed a handful, slipping it into his pocket along with the matches. "If I don't burn this brooch with salt, she'll come back," he thought, aware of the danger.

The plan was in place. The salt barrier was on the verge of collapsing under Elisabeth's increasingly violent attacks. "It's time to move." He activated his Teleportation ability. In an instant, he was behind the spirit, having bypassed her without her noticing. Without wasting a second, he sprinted toward the bedroom, gripping the matches and salt in his trembling hands.

As he ran toward the bedroom, he remembered it was upstairs. He hurried up the stairs, but halfway up, he felt a board crack under his foot. Before he could react, the board gave way, and he nearly fell into the void. His heart stopped for a moment, and without thinking, he activated Teleportation.

He reappeared three meters farther ahead, but the shock of the effort immediately drained him. "I could only teleport three meters…" he thought, panting. His body was exhausted, and he knew he wouldn't be able to use this ability as effectively for a while. But he had no choice. He had to keep going.

After catching his breath, he carefully climbed the remaining steps. He finally reached the bedroom. He searched quickly until he found the brooch in a wooden box, hidden among other items.

With the brooch in hand, he took out the salt and a match, ready to execute his plan. He knew Elisabeth's spirit would soon find him, and he had to act quickly.

He entered the dusty bedroom, frantically searching every drawer and corner. Time was running out. "Where is that damn brooch?" he muttered, knocking over an old wooden box. And there, among other insignificant items, he spotted the brooch. It was a small, delicate piece, adorned with floral patterns tarnished by time.

Without hesitation, he took the salt from his pocket and sprinkled it generously on the brooch. He struck a match, scraping it against the box with apprehension. A flickering flame appeared. "Come on, stay lit…"

He placed the match under the brooch, hoping the fire would be enough to consume it. "If this works, she'll be free…" he thought, all the while keeping an eye on the spirit, who could appear at any moment.

As the flame flickered beneath the brooch, he felt a sudden change in the atmosphere. A chill ran down his spine. "She's coming…" he thought, feeling the urgency grow. Elisabeth's spirit, sensing that the end was near, rushed into the bedroom with terrifying frenzy. She knew he was about to free her from her torment, and her survival instinct drove her to act.

She lunged at him with blinding speed, ready to kill him before the fire could consume the brooch. He felt the pressure mount, and in a split second, he reacted. Just before the spirit reached him, he activated Intangibility.

Elisabeth's spirit passed through him entirely, confused by the lack of resistance. Startled, she quickly turned, but it was too late. The flames had already begun to lick the brooch. The fire spread rapidly, consuming the old metal and the memories tied to it.

As the brooch burned, Elisabeth's spectral body began to disintegrate. Ethereal flames surrounded her, engulfing her in flickering light. She let out one final, piercing scream before vanishing completely, freed from her curse.

Breathless, he collapsed onto the dusty floor of the bedroom, his gaze fixed on the smoldering remains of the brooch. "It's over…" he murmured, his body tired but relieved to have survived the ordeal.

Then a ding echoed in the room, breaking the silence. A translucent window appeared before his eyes, floating like a game screen.

Congratulations on exorcising your first minor spirit: +2.0 MB/s added.

Congratulations on exorcising 1 spirit: +1.5 MB/s added.

A satisfied smile crept across his face. "My download speed just increased… by 3.5 MB/s." He realized how important this victory was, not only for his immediate survival but for the future. His downloading would now be much faster, and he could acquire more powerful abilities in record time.

The immediate danger had passed, but he knew this first victory was only the beginning. More spirits and supernatural entities awaited him, and with this new speed, he would be ready to face the challenges to come.