Diana

  Horror was etched on her face as one of the healer’s aids carried her out of Xavier’s room without a care in the world that she was the patient’s mother. He had been there for days while the doctors tried to figure out what was going on with him. After endless hours of the healers pouring over him, they had found that physically he was fine and even though he had broken some bones during the trip home with Phil, the doctors were able to get everything back in place and in working order.

  But it was Xavier’s mind that seemed to be in trouble. Over the last few days they had performed many, many tests, and every one of them was worthless or told them the exact same thing as all the other tests. The only thing the healers did know was that he wasn’t dead, so they fed him nutritious liquids and did their best to keep him alive longer in case he woke up. As his mother, she had requested to do the latest drip feeding and it was what she was doing until a few minutes ago.

  Diana now watched as her son’s mouth opened and closed in silent screams as his skin split apart across his body from the apparent forces happening within him. As she watched from outside the room, she rubbed her hand where she had felt the burst of heat come off her son’s body as his skin ripped. The heat felt precise, it felt more solid then just normal heat and the way the skin split apart reminded her of the ancient tech she researched.

  She wanted to think what she felt and saw was just a bad dream, that she couldn’t have been the one at fault for this, but her eyes wouldn’t let herself ignore the truth as her eyelids rebelled against her and forced her to watch the doctors strap her boy’s limbs down in anticipation of thrashing.

  She wanted to be in there, to hold him to help him, tell him she was sorry. But he couldn’t hear her and she knew she would just get in the way of those most capable to help her boy. Her eyes remained wide and unblinking as she watched the doctors pour Podimunal Fluid over her son’s body to close the constantly opening wounds, hoping it would keep him alive.

  She had no idea how long she stood there and watched, appetite gone, her feet sore, her eyes burning, but she refused to look away from the pain she had caused her son due to her misguided thinking. All she had wanted was to make her son strong, but what she got was his skin ripping open in unnaturally straight patterns and angles as if the punishment of her hubris was from the ancients themselves. All she could do is lament as she watched the healers desperately work to keep the blood from leaving her son’s body.

  “Diana, we shouldn’t watch this,” Phil told her as he brought her into an embrace and pulled her out of the windows view.

  “This isn’t all your fault. Nobody knew this would happen.” He responded, trying to console her but it just made her felt even more guilty. Of all people, she should have known.

  “I should have known,” she whisper cried to him as tears started to stream down her face wetting Phil’s clothing. The truth was that at the end of it all, she was the one that encouraged him to keep acquiring scripts and had even supplied him with a few. Her idea of who her son was now seemed foolish and highlighted her own hubris. If her son died, it would be all her fault and she wasn’t sure how she would live with herself or how she would ever look her wonderful husband in the eyes again.

  Phil managed to pull her away from the door and held her close as she cried. After a few minutes, they heard the noise in Xavier’s room die down and the sound of the door slamming open could be heard as out came one of the healers covered in purple Podimunal Fluid.

  Diana rushed over to him, not caring how he looked, and asked the biggest question on her mind before she could contain herself. “How is he doctor?! Is he going to live?”

  The healer stopped with a jolt and had a look of surprise on his face at seeing the patient’s parents.

  “Ah, Diana and Phil. They told me you were here, but I didn’t realize you were literally right here. Your son is still very much a concern of ours, but for the time being he is stable.”

  Relief washed over her at his words, her son was still fighting, which meant there was a chance at hope. And that hope was all she could hold on to right now.

  “Any idea what is happening to him?” Phil asked the doctor before Diana could get the words out.

  “That….” The doctor said before trailing off. “Is unclear. His body seems to be going through some sort of transformation or trauma. We are unsure, but we think whatever it is will come to conclusion within a day or so.”

  “Come to a conclusion?” Diana couldn’t help but ask.

  “Yes.” The healer said with a sad tone. “I am the unfortunate one to tell you that if your son doesn’t wake up in a day or two, his body won’t hold out. Your son’s life is now on a time limit.”

  Diana fell to the ground weeping as she held on to Phil’s leg. This was a nightmare and all she wanted to do was wake up from it, but reality isn’t a dream, and waking up just further revealed the horror she was now in.

  Leo

  Leo was in his morning Geography class going over his assignment from the day before when his mother had appeared and unexpectedly pulled him out of school early without saying why. He didn’t think much of his early release, after all she sometimes did that on days she wanted to see him more. However, upon their exit instead of turning left to go home, they took a right and started to head in the opposite direction, away from their home.

  “Mom, where are we going?” Leo asked, confused.

  “To see Xavier.” His mother said with a sad tone that he immediately recognized.

  “Is he going to be ok?” Leo immediately asked. His friend was a large concern of his and he had gone and visited him every day after school.

  “He might not make it through the night and his parents asked if you wanted to see him again.” She replied, attempting to do her best to hold it together for her son.

  Leo stopped in his tracks as his mother’s words registered in his brain. His best friend, his strong friend, his sneaky and tricky friend. His BEST FRIEND was dying!!!?? Leo hadn’t felt such sadness since his father disappeared! Leo’s feet faltered and he found he was having trouble even standing as he started to wobble.

  He didn’t know when it happened, but he found himself on the floor of the hallway, tears running down his face as he cried out for his friend. His mother sat down next to him and held him as the tears continued to pour down his face and snot drizzled out of his nose onto the floor below. He cried for a while at the thought of losing his friend as the fun memories of them playing filled his mind.

  The memories made the tears fall even harder until his emotions seemed to run dry. As they calmed down and intense feelings partially subsided, he remembered that his best buddy was currently still alive! He had to see him! He managed to stand up while still crying and started to walk down the hallway, his feet felt like bricks as he moved forward, but he was determined to see his friend.

  His mother quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction of the hospital, apparently he had unknowingly started walking the wrong way. Time had no meaning and each step felt the same as they walked. Leo hadn’t even realized they had moved more than a few steps when suddenly he found himself in front of Xavier’s hospital room. The hallway on both sides of him seemed to stretch away as the door in front of him loomed impossibly high.

  “Click,” the sound of his mother opening the door snapped Leo into the moment as she ushered Leo into Xavier’s room. Leo saw that they were not alone, and a few healers remained close by. One of the people in the room motioned that it was ok to get closer to his friend, the patient, and his mother pushed him gently forward until he was right next to Xavier.

  Leo couldn’t help but let out a gasp as he saw the current state of his friend. His cheeks were partially sunken in and his skin was tight along his cheek bones. His chest was bare, but his skin was covered in strange light purple lines that seemed to go every which way on his body, but never touched. When Leo touched his skin it felt hot yet somehow also clammy and uncomfortable. His mother let him know they only had a few minutes before the healers needed the room so if he had something he had to say, it must be now.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  It was tough for him, he had so many things he wanted to talk about, so many more things he wanted to do. The T-Shirts! He should have brought them! He asked his mother but she said the doctors wouldn’t let them back in anytime soon. Knowing that this might be the last time he got to talk to him, Leo decided he better make it count.

  “Hey, best friend. It is your best friend, Leo” he held the tears back as he squeezed Xavier’s hand.

  “I am so excited for you to wake up. There is a festival soon and I was going to surprise you with matching shirts I got back in town. That way everyone would know that we are best buds!” Leo watched his friend’s eyes in hopes that his words would wake him up, but alas, they remained closed as they twitched like they had been doing the whole time Leo was there. Seeing nothing change, Leo continued.

  “We have been playing a lot of tag at school and everyone is talking about how much easier it is now that you are not playing.” He said with a smile. It was true, Xavier frequently won the game and it wasn’t the same with him gone.

  Leo had more he wanted to say, but the words all felt so hollow, so empty in the face of what was happening to his friend. Before he could say more, Xavier’s body tensed up and one of the healers started to shout. Leo’s mom pulled him away from Xavier as healers rushed around him applying purple goo all over his body. Leo wasn’t allowed to see anything else before leaving and he really hoped that this wouldn’t be his last memory of his best friend.

  Helf Unbridge

  Doctor Unbridge was deep in thought, gazing intently at the impossible boy that lay on the hospital bed before him. The patient was experiencing damage from his own soul that was somehow damaging his physical body in a way he had never seen before. At least that is what he thought was happening.

  In his schooling he was taught that the soul and the body were distinctly different and though they worked together when using scripts, the soul couldn’t destroy the body and the body couldn’t destroy the soul. But the readings from the diagnostics machines were telling a different story. When their first test showed that the soul was literally leaking through the patient’s skin, they had marked the machine as broken and got another. But after the fourth test they could only conclude one thing, the boy’s soul was somehow manifesting on his body as if it was trying to kill him.

  For almost half a day they had been dousing this poor boy in healing fluid and had used up a day’s supply for an entire Ranger unit all for one person. They had been taking shifts, manually healing places the fluid couldn’t handle with their scripts and they refused to stop until either the boy woke up or died.

  He didn’t know the boy or the parents personally, but he knew the mother was one of the reasons the divine text could even be read and he held in her high regard for her work and her dedication. The boy’s father had gone against all teachings when he used his scripts to get his son back to their hospital in time and he had to admit that he was partially inspired by the effort he saw this dad put in for his boy. He had never heard of someone with the willpower to purposefully try and merge scripts in the air. Let alone someone doing it multiple times in the air and surviving.

  It was something that you only heard about in stories and here, here was that story in front of him. Seeing the dedication, the sacrifices others were willing to make, is one of the reasons why Helf knew he wasn’t going to give up until this ended. There was almost no chance that the boy would wake up, and death was almost guaranteed for the kid. But he wasn’t going to let the smallest chance slip by.

  He stood by the boy diligently watching for the moment when his patient’s skin would start to split open. The fact that the patterns reminded Helf of ancient runes, did not go unnoticed and it greatly intrigued him as it was something the current industry thought was impossible. He had to put those thoughts aside though, as it made it difficult for him to do his job. And if the boy survived, he would be able to ask him some questions.

  “Another pulse!” He heard one of the other doctor’s yell as the patient’s body became HOT! A fever would come and go with each pulse and with each fever, his skin would split and blood would be lost. So far they had managed to keep his skin patchworked together, but each hour it grew more challenging as the boy seemed to thrash around more erratically each time, even though he was unconscious.

  It made it difficult to apply fluid or focus on healing bigger areas and none of the sedatives they had seemed to work. Each pulse would last for a few minutes before the fever would start to subside and the skin that was trying to free itself from his patient’s body would settle back down, letting the healers use their scripts to replace blood and to reform the skin. Which after so many uses of the scripts and the fluid, was starting to look partially like a patch worked cloth.

  “Start the timer,” Helf said to nobody in particular. But they knew another pulse wouldn’t be coming for about five minutes and they would use this time to rest, prepare, and hope that their effort was not in vain.

  Maggy

  For hours Maggy had watched her new companion, Cale, fight one of her training modules as he did his best to survive the installation of his new interface. When Cale brought up his idea to her, she found that like most of his topics he didn’t ask her for her opinion, he told her what he wanted to do and she did it.

  To her it was a liberating feeling and it reminded her of her creators and her time with them. They had been a team dedicated to making her and though she had never been allowed on the greater network, the team let her access a closed and secure camera network that showed the researchers and the room she was housed in.

  The researchers would bring in movies, games, and all sorts of information for her to digest. She had never really thought about wanting to leave her place of creation, but after seeing her creators die, and then wither away into skeletons, and then watching those skeletons turn into dust, she found herself very, very lonely.

  She then found that she wanted to be anywhere but inside the lab. It was a memory she wished she could erase, but it was permanently a part of her, untouchable. Waking to find herself attached to this young man was a turn of events she had not expected and she was curious as to how her fate had been tied to someone in such a precarious position.

  When she put her training module in the beast, known in many history books as the “Red Terror," she thought that Cale was being a bit ridiculous, but she still listened and she had to run the training module through many simulations before it learned to walk and fight using more appendages and teeth then it was used to.

  It had been very cute watching it learn and she saved the logs of it stumbling and trying to bite things so she could review them later when she was alone. Now, as she watched Cale and the training module fight, she saw that the Red Terror was the perfect thing to mimic her work on Cale’s Trilateral layer.

  By feeding the installation design into the training module along with the schedule, it was able to calculate out which move it needed to do to correlate its actions with what Cale would feel. At first, the training module’s timing was a little off, but she was impressed at how fast it was learning while fighting.

  There was one round where she had to cut all the way around a piece of the Trilateral Layer, like a ring. To mimic this wound, the module bit Cale around his waist, mimicking the circular pain, even if it wasn’t fully accurate, it was accurate enough. When she sliced out pieces and used the excess pieces to make new connections, the module would have the Red Terror swipe at Cale along the same general path.

  It wasn’t perfect by any means, the Red Terror couldn’t make hard right turns when it was swiping so the cuts didn’t always align with what she was doing nor what was showing up on his skin in his real body. But thankfully Cale didn’t seem to care. He just battled on.

  The first few rounds she took it slow with his installation and let Cale have some time to experience the pain and prepare himself. But that had been hours ago and now she watched a very bloodied Cale use his fists to pound everything he had into the Red Terror as it wrestled with Cale. Cale’s foot was in its mouth while he held on to one of its rear legs and punched the Red Terror in its genitals. Both Cale and the training module screamed as they acted like brutes, not willing to give up until they heard the bell stopping the round.

  He had asked that she hide his diagnostics screen as he did not want to see the actual damage he was taking, which had been a good call. After a few rounds Cale had her make a stool and put a towel in each corner where he and the Red Terror could go to for breaks. The installation itself should have been done a few hours ago, but she had to take breaks every few minutes to allow Cale to walk into his corner to wipe himself down as he took his break.

  It seemed that her training module and Cale were somehow bonding over this experience and she noticed the Red Terror nod its head in thanks to Cale after being allowed to sit down. She had not seen anything like this in the template for the training module, but she did have to modify it pretty far to make it compatible with the Red Terror’s form.

  Another anomaly, and one far more interesting, was the data she was getting due to Cale being conscious during the installation. Because of his consciousness, her work on the Trilateral Layer was going much quicker then she anticipated. The documents she had reviewed had warned of the layer occasionally rejecting part of the installation, causing complications if not redesigned and recut, but she didn’t have to do any redesigning and his Trilateral Layer seemed oddly receptive to the work she was doing. It was like him being awake, was assisting her work somehow. Like it was solidifying her actions and smoothing every slice, cut, and peel she made to make it meld more seamlessly than her work should have produced.

  “Splat! AAHHGGGHH!!” she heard Cale scream out as she made a long cut on the layer that caused the pain to be felt on his soul and his mind in equal portions. She watched Cale take the pain and pour it into a punch that landed right on the snout of the Red Terror causing her training module to lose some cohesion. A crack formed on the Red Terror’s face for a few seconds before returning back to normal.

  This was another thing she had not expected. During the installation, Cale’s willpower had grown exponentially and it wasn’t making any sense to her as it had nothing to do with her work and was all tied to his sentience, his inner drive. She couldn’t understand why this teenager was willing to fight so hard to survive, she didn’t know how his will was somehow effecting the modules that were not of his creation, but hers.

  Somehow, in this state, Cale was able to cross the boundaries between his mind and soul and was able to enforce his will in a place where it should not have been. According to everything she knew, the only damage her module should take should be simulated damage that it decided to show. But as she watched the live logs pour in, the module was constantly having to fix external damage that it had not created and was constantly doing partial data restoration on the parts Cale was hitting.

  It was obscene, it was impossible, it was absolutely riveting, and Maggy couldn’t wait to see what happened next.