Jay trudged across the dusty expanse, his boots crunching against the coarse sand and scattered rocks. The canyon walls behind him had faded into a palette of orange and brown, leaving him in a wide, open plain that seemed to stretch endlessly. The heat from the sun bore down, each step a small battle against fatigue and the growing realization that survival here would demand more than just his newly acquired powers.
He paused, scanning the horizon. "Alright, Jay, think. Powers, revolver, talking AI, and… oh yeah, that note. Don't die. That's your main goal. Right. Totally achievable." His voice was dry, almost hoarse from the wind and dust. He flexed his fingers, feeling the hum of the Ruin Engine Interface in his hands. Materials nearby—small stones, scattered metal shards—reacted to his touch almost instinctively, reminding him of the bizarre arsenal at his disposal.
Cortana's holographic form flickered beside him, her expression still a mixture of curiosity and confusion. "Jay… I… think we should establish a baseline for your abilities. Your Ruin Engine, your Blink, HUD, inventory, and… the other systems. It might help if we catalog what you can do before… well, anything else. Can you absorb anything beyond solid material? Air, space, light… abstract things?"
Jay groaned, running a hand through his hair. "Baseline? Really? Fine. Ruin Engine—I can absorb stuff into my storage, refine it into useful components, merge identical materials to create something better, and eject them back when needed. Blink—teleport short distances, apparently very poorly if you believe the bruise on my shoulder. HUD—check vitals, readouts, skill levels, and skill trees for Blink, Ruin Engine, and my body stats; plus other data I'll figure out. Inventory—I can store and manage items, upgradable too, separate from my Ruin Engine storage which could probably fit a mountain at this rate.""
Cortana floated nearby, watching him. "Jay… your ability to manipulate materials could be useful for reconnaissance. Small diversions, traps… perhaps even more. Have you tried experimenting with what else you can absorb? Air, light, space?"
He took a deep breath, and, half-joking, tried inhaling a small amount of air into the Ruin Engine. He immediately started coughing violently, hacking and sputtering until he let it go. "Yeah… air isn't a great idea," he muttered, wiping his eyes. "That could kill me."
Encouraged by curiosity, he focused briefly on surrounding light. The Ruin Engine seemed to pull some of the light, shimmering and distorting faintly in his field of vision. The process was exhausting; sweat beaded on his forehead, and his chest tightened. "Okay… light's kinda absorbable, but wow, the stamina drain is real."
Finally, he dared to consider the abstraction of space itself—stretching, twisting, the empty nothing around him. It felt… enormous, too much for him to handle at his current stage. "Nope. Definitely not yet. Too much. Way too much," he muttered, shaking his head..
"And the rest? Uh… crafting, cooking… you're really going to want me to catalog cooking? Maybe after we survive, Cortana."
A faint shimmer in the air caught his attention. He focused on nearby rocks, absorbing them into the Ruin Engine, feeling their mineral composition and refining them into tin, iron, and other elements depending on what the rocks contained. He experimented by merging smaller chunks into larger, more useful pieces and then ejecting them, small fragments flying harmlessly before settling back onto the ground. "Okay… okay. Absorb, refine, merge, eject… pretty impressive," he admitted grudgingly. "Don't get used to being impressed, Jay. You'll just be disappointed."
He moved forward again, every step a calculation. The distant horizon hinted at jagged mountains, possibly more caves, maybe signs of civilization—or more threats. He muttered to himself constantly, running through contingencies, failures, and probable deaths. "If I fall into a hole… probably die. If I run into something bigger than me… probably die. If I get eaten… yep. Definitely die."
Hours passed with the sun tilting lower in the sky. Jay experimented more with his powers, using Ruin Engine to craft crude projectiles by refining chunks of rock into iron shards and merging others into larger tools, throwing them with surprising force. Blink allowed him to skip over particularly rough terrain, though miscalculations led to the occasional tumble. His bursts from the Jakobs revolver were wild, and he grimaced with each accidental misfire.
"This is… chaos, pure chaos," he muttered. "And somehow I'm loving it."
Cortana floated nearby, watching him. "Jay… your energy patterns fluctuate when you overextend your powers. You need to pace yourself. We can't afford mistakes if something comes along."
Jay huffed, brushing dust from his jacket. "Yeah, thanks, AI mom. I got it. Let's hope something comes along slowly, and preferably not as… terrifying as that humanoid thing in the cave. Seriously, that was weird."
By dusk, he found a small ridge overlooking a narrow valley. Shadows stretched long, and a thin wisp of smoke rose from somewhere distant. He squinted, trying to discern if it was natural or a campfire. "Alright… maybe civilization? Or bandits. Could be worse—probably." He crouched behind a rock, absorbing small stones and refining them into tiny iron spikes. He molded some into a crude figurine of himself and merged others into small tools, tossing them lightly into the valley as a test. It bounced harmlessly, but the slight movement it caused in the dust below gave him an idea about stealth, distraction, and observation.
"Alright… Jay's first lesson in survival, Borderlands style. Step one: don't die. Step two: maybe use powers creatively. Step three… improvise. Always improvise."
Night fell, and the temperature plummeted. Jay settled near the ridge, the Jakobs revolver at his side, the ECHO device flickering softly. Shadows moved in the distance, vague shapes that might have been rocks—or perhaps something more. He absorbed a few nearby stones, refining them into small scrap metal tools he might need in the morning, merging pieces as he went. Jay muttered to himself once more. "Okay, Jay. Sleep lightly. Powers charged. Revolver ready. HUD active. Inventory existing. Ruin Engine storage full of potential. AI looking over. And remember… don't die. Or at least survive in one piece."