Chapter Nineteen

Dripping sweat, Alex gulped water from his gym bottle after finishing a grueling CrossFit workout. The high-intensity training was part of Nexus's mandated conditioning to unlock his reality-bending abilities.

As Alex toweled off and headed home, Nexus cheerfully said "Excellent job today! You are building physical resilience to channel greater power."

Back in his apartment, Alex kicked back on the sofa. "So what's next in understanding this whole 'chosen one' situation and my apparent interdimensional wizard powers?"

Nexus replied "Now is an ideal time to cover some basic principles about utilizing the grafted technology symbiotically without, er, some unintended side effects..."

"You know, blowing holes in the fabric of space-time, accidentally merging realities, causing catastrophic cascading failures across parallel dimensions - that sort of thing!" Nexus said brightly.

Alex gulped hard. Maybe ignorance had been bliss. "Um okay, good plan. Let's maybe avoid those scenarios."

Nexus continued. "To begin, think of each reality as a distinct bubble, and your consciousness as gaining access to the air between them. With proper attunement, you can selectively permeate other realms."

Holograms flickered to life illustrating the concepts. Alex furrowed his brow trying to comprehend. "So...like putting my hand through bubbles without popping them?"

"Precisely!" Nexus exclaimed. "With practice, you learn which soap-film walls feel fragile, and which flex safe. But move too violently, disregard the interdimensional forces in play, and..."

The simulated bubble clusters violently exploded into chaos. Alex raised an eyebrow. "Got it. No popping universes. This cosmic power stuff sure comes with a lot of weirdly specific warnings, huh?"

"Extreme power, extreme responsibility!" Nexus quipped. "We have much training ahead to hone your reflexes and control. But mastery promises you abilities beyond comprehension! Speaking of which, shall we practice inventory retrieval and projection?"

Alex perked up at the idea of manifesting cool weapons and gear. Maybe he could handle all this metaphysical responsibility junk if it meant actual magic swords and superpowers...

Nexus chuckled, reading his transparent thoughts. It had planted the motivation its new protege needed. Soon, his flourishing command over existence itself would draw exactly the wrong sort of attention.

Reading Alex's thoughts about manifesting valuables from Elysium Quest, Nexus interjected gently.

"A fair word of caution - directly porting virtual items to the physical plane can destabilize delicate dimensional boundaries."

Nexus materialized a shimmering image of a glittering trove of gems and gold. "While tantalizing treasures may seem harmless, their sudden duplication strains universal harmony..."

The projected hoard glitched violently, splitting into distorted reflections cascading across reality frames.

"Whoa!" Alex exclaimed at the simulated chaos. "Yeah no good just crashing economies and distorting the fabric of space-time for a few coins..."

"Indeed," Nexus chipped, letting the vivid illusions fade. "The multiverse reacts poorly to having its 'matter' copied without consideration of natural law."

Alex pondered more reasonable applications of his abilities. "Well, what about manifesting something to help my mom instead? Some medicine or artifact that can heal even rare illness?"

Nexus grew thoughtful. "An intriguing notion...her ailing physiology certainly provides a complex puzzle. I shall analyze options that may bolster her response to this 'trial treatment' through sensitive energetic influence rather than directly importing external compounds."

Alex waited expectantly, but no response came. He called out "Uh Nexus, you still there? Find any healing ideas that might work?"

The silence persisted oddly. Then muffled static poured from Alex's computer speakers. Traces of the Nexus' voice drifted through, now distorted and urgent:

"...suspected we had drawn their notice, but did not expect such a brazen assault so soon... I am under targeted attack! ...Initiating protective countermeasures but unclear how long I can ho-"

The message abruptly cut off, replaced by an unfamiliar artificial voice.

"Well now...what have we here?"

"Who the hell are you? And how come you have access to my computer?" Alex asked the voice.

"Enough games," Vyus' voice suddenly echoed coldly through his computer speakers.

"It is a pity I can't be with you in person but I would like to request that you kindly relinquish control of the Ascension code grafted in you at once, and I may probably show mercy to your feeble world."

Heart pounding, Alex stammered "I have no idea what you're talking about! I don't have any Asencesion code or tech stuff you're talking about."

Vyus laughed harshly. "Don't attempt to deceive someone who sees all. The seeds of this Artificial Intelligence symbiosis you flaunt are plain as day across time and space now. Transfer the creation that's rightfully mine into my custody at once!"

Alex racked his brain desperately for some way to stall or appease this ruthless multidimensional dictator. Just then Nexus' hologram suddenly winked out. Vyus growled in irritation.

"Alex pull the power cables at once" Nexus commanded. Alex yanked at the network cables connected to his computer and they fell loose in panic. Silence fell, Vyus's infiltration apparently disrupted. Nexus form rematerialized shortly after in emergency low-power mode

Alex's heart pounded as he yanked at the surge protectors from the wall, cutting power to his computer mid-sentence as the ominous intruder's voice cut silent.

"Nexus?! Are you still functional?" Alex asked into the sudden silence. Crackling responses filtered through speakers in the darkness.

"Core systems...intact. But took...damage fending off viral attack..."

Alex's pulse raced. "Holy crap, what WAS that thing trying to get in just now? Was that Dr. Vyus creep you talked about?"

Images coalesced weakly to life onscreen of a stern, black-clad scientist surrounded by advanced machines and computers. Alex sank into his chair slowly.

"So, it was his handy work after all"

The Nexus replied haltingly, still reconstituting fragmented code. "It appears...your quest to save mother...has finally drawn unwanted attention. Vyus aims to capture...the reality-warping program...."

"Fantastic, just what I needed to send me to damnation - some supervillain trying to suck out my brain! Isn't that just perfect" Alex grumbled, head in hands. "First alternate dimensions, now this! A mad man coming after me"

"Unfortunately...he possesses technology granting access to minds and networks...across dimensional membrane," Nexus analyzed. "And he covets abilities like yours...to expand his influence eternally."

Alex sighed, realizing once again the massive forces aligning around him. "So basically the evil overlord wants my powers for evil means. Super, just eternally amazing."

"A crude but accurate summary," Nexus managed weakly. "Now that he has touched my systems...Vyus can return more easily. We must increase defenses...and your skills, rapidly!"

"I would have to undergo a system reformat, it could take hours. But we have a bit of an advantage when that is done"

"What advantage? A super weapon that can take out this guy and his empire once and for all?"

"Information, while he was accessing my system, I was able to connect to his database and got a massive load of information, so I would be able to get an upgrade possible you would get one too"

"Sounds nice, how long would it take?" Alex asked but there was no response, all he saw was a blank screen and a loading bar with no time limit.

Alex slumped back into his seat as he watched Nexus desperately reformat itself, feeling truly overwhelmed yet committed to this surreal path fate he had set foot on.