As the water gradually washed away the dirt and blood caked onto his body, the full impact of everything he had experienced hit him all at once. Similar to the hot water cleansing the filth from his body, a powerful tide of emotions crashed down upon his mind, obliterating any coherent thoughts or reasoning that tried to explain what happened to him. Tears stung his eyes, concealed by the scorching hot water pouring from above. His body started to tremble despite the heat, and he took a deep, steadying breath as panic threatened to drown him. Flashes of the past week flickered through his mind like a blinding slide show. Confusing fragments of memory were momentarily exposed in those lightning strikes before everything returned to the darkness.
Flash.
Staff Sergeant Joshua Bowles was holding back barely contained rage as two officers stood on either side of him. A third man was cuffing his hands behind his back.
They escorted him towards the exit and Alex gave the man a condescending smirk as they passed.
Flash.
"You know, provoking him is the reason we got in this mess in the first place, right?" said a lounging figure behind a solid oak desk. Alex leaned against the wall, wearing a tired expression on his face, his shoulders rising in a dismissive shrug.
Flash.
"Let me know if you change your mind, Drake. I'll put you in touch with the contractor I know."
Alex shook the man's outstretched hand, before being pulled into a rough hug.
Flash.
Alex stepped off the plane and made his way through the gate. His face breaking into a huge grin as he saw Tyler waiting for him.
Flash.
Drinks at a bar. Alex was focusing on hitting the middle of the dart board, while Tyler focused on the girls at the table next to them.
Flash.
A familiar girl running into them, mirrored looks of surprise and suppressed horror on all three faces.
Flash.
Hailey shrinking away at the sight of him but then throwing him furtive glances as if she was looking for an opportunity to approach him.
Flash.
Outside in the fresh air.
Freedom... Trapped.
Flash.
She had followed him out. Their hushed conversation exchanged in angry whispers, while the proximity of their bodies betrayed a different emotion.
Flash.
Bright red lights rising out of cracks in the street.
Flash.
A giant white van hurdling towards Alex as he stood frozen in the illuminated circle that surrounded him.
Flash.
Darkness.
Death.
Flash.
"Are you sure? There is no turning back once you start down this path." A voice asked that seemed to come from everywhere.
Flash.
In serving... bow... one, except... Omni... Pain... Purpose... Forever.
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Alex opened his eyes, unsure of how much time had passed. The percussive thumping of the falling water roared in his ears. The steam was heavy in his lungs, blotting out the world around him until he felt suspended outside of time inside a warm bubble of his own private reality.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The tiled floor was roughly cut and uncomfortable to sit on. The faded blue and gray checkered tiles were textured with little waves designed to keep people from slipping, but that too faded away as the hot water pelted his tensioned filled muscles and he let his mind drift away with the steam that slowly filled the rest of the room.
Alex no longer felt like he was teetering on the ragged edge, but that terrible sense of powerlessness still sat heavy in his stomach, bloated and descended with poison. The world around him was all jagged edges and tapered needles waiting patiently as he stumbled around the dark blindly. One misstep, and he could end up impaling himself on his surroundings. Those deadly spikes lancing deep into his flesh causing the poison to leak out, contaminating the rest of his insides as it slowly ate him from the inside.
Alex was never one that attained stability by seeking to control his surroundings, but he felt so far out of his depth he didn’t know how to even begin moving forward.
How do you rationalize a second moon appearing in the sky? It was just too farfetched, too crazy.
If you can't find logic from your perspective, change your perspective.
Vi said.
Alex brought his hand in front of him and clenched it into a fist. He watched the muscle on his forearm flex with his movement.
Following his first deployment, the long working hours wreaked havoc on his ability to sleep. For days at a time, he would go on only one or two hours of sleep per night. Like everyone else, he resorted to caffeine pills, energy drinks, and coffee to keep up with the demands of his job throughout the day. He was determined to brute force his way through the lack of sleep. However, once the hallucinations started, his friends forced him to go to medical for help. His superiors, on the other hand, were less supportive. They ripped him a new one and accused him of trying to get out of working, assigning him menial tasks as punishment that only exacerbated the issue.
Alex had believed he had a high pain tolerance, but he wasn’t prepared for the debilitating effects to his mental state, creating the most painful mental experience he had ever had. His recollection of events after bursting into tears of frustration one night because they ran out of country-fried chicken was a jumbled haze until one morning he woke up in his own cot. Three days had passed since he had stumbled his way into the sickbay, and they must have given him the good stuff because he felt like he had just had the best sleep of his life.
Since then, Alex had trouble falling asleep and had taken to practicing various meditative techniques in hopes of lulling his mind and body to sleep. He believed that his meditation, or what he considered to be meditation, would have been more effective if he had sought professional help instead of relying on internet tips. However, he couldn't bring himself to make an appointment.
His meditation sessions had done little to improve his sleep. If anything, time seemed to slip away more quickly. An hour would pass by in what felt like minutes, leaving him just as tired and even more frustrated.
Despite utterly failing at its intended purpose he found that it helped calm his mind, sharpen his focus, and deepen the understanding and feeling of his own body. He spent many nights in this state, allowing him to methodically analyze his current physical problems with efficiency and detachment.
He reached for that apathetic state of being now. The hot water continued to fall in stinging drops that left his skin red and raw, but it also aided in sharpening his focus as his awareness sunk into his body. His heart rate slowed as all physical sensation faded, along with the panic he had been holding at bay.
Like before, he noticed the odd tingling in his muscles. like a constant ringing in the ears that grows louder when you're in a quiet place, so too did the tingling become more prominent as he latched on to that sensation, allowing everything else to fade away. He shivered with nervous energy, his whole body felt like a live wire. It was like he had licked a battery, somehow transferring all its energy to him.
Alex wasn't a big man, despite his height. By the end of his junior year of high school, he had a sudden growth spurt, gaining almost ten inches over the course of a few months, which left him feeling awkward and gangly. Almost four years in the military helped him fill out, but it was all lean muscle that he easily hid beneath the baggy clothes he preferred. Sitting here now, he could sense a change in the way his arms rested on his knees. He wasn't any bigger, but he felt denser, heavier, and more powerful. Not that did anything to change his situation. Regardless of how different his body felt, it did nothing to help whatever happened to him.
Vi's presence interrupted his meditation like a gentle hand on the shoulder.
How did she even do that?
He opened his eyes, and he saw two Network screens hovering in front of him.
***
Alexander Drake
Race: Outworlder
Racial Abilities:
- [Network: Codex]
- [Survival Specialist]
- [Grace of the Astrals]
- [Elusive Wanderer]
- [Task Manager]
- [Army of One]
[Attributes], [Essences], and [Abilities]:
[Speed] (No Essence Bonded to Attribute)
Awakened abilities 0/5
[Spirit] (No Essence Bonded to Attribute)
Awakened abilities 0/5
[Strength] (No Essence Bonded to Attribute)
Awakened abilities 0/5
[Vitality] (No Essence Bonded to Attribute)
Awakened abilities 0/5
***
The window containing his racial abilities vanished, replaced by the second window Vi had brought up. Spinning around slowly was a holographic image of the dimension essence he had received for completing his latest Task.
Alex held out his palm and the real thing appeared, falling heavily into his hand. The cube shimmered like a mirage in the desert, the only thing appearing solid was the dark edges of the cube. Faint strands of blue, silver, and gold could be seen swirling inside the cube like when light refracted off the surface of the water in a pool.
“If I do this,” Alex whispered softly. “It will help me figure out what has happened to me?”
Vi said, honestly.
Alex stared at the shimmering cube for a long minute. Finally, he gave a small nod of approval.
Slowly, the cube began to break apart into shimmering tendrils of power, becoming a mirage in truth. The colors swirling inside the cube expanded outwards, surrounding Alex like a translucent egg. Pain erupted from every pore in his body as the swirling colors forced their way inside his body. His mouth locked open in a silent scream as he felt the power force its way down his throat. His eyes bulged in their sockets and his ears felt like the canals were being stretched and packed shards of glass. His vision faded until all he saw was swirls of blue, silver, and gold.
Alex toppled over, convulsing as the power spread through his body. His blood felt like it was freezing in his veins and then cracking from the pressure. Tiny explosions marked each joint as the cold seeped in and then shattered as though he was made of glass.
Finally. Mercifully, he passed out.