"One should not need a reason to be kind." The words echoed through Talen's dark and empty subconsciousness.
Glowing crimson liquid rose to the echoes.
The liquid slowly twisted and bubbled, molding itself into a silhouette of Henry.
The silhouette gazed at Talen, not with its eyes, as it had none, but with an empty void in its sockets.
Talen recognized the gaze. It was empty, devoid of all emotions, akin to his own.
It twisted its head. "You killed me. You are the reason I am dead. Yet you feel nothing. How cruel." It gurgled.
Though it resembled Henry, its voice was a grotesque impostor; deep and gurgling.
He shivered at the sound.
Talen opened his mouth, trying to speak, trying to clear his consciousness, to apologize maybe. However, no words escaped, only a squeak of a cry.
He looked down, examining himself, only to discover he was nothing but a mere defenseless infant.
'How?' He thought, stunned.
Henry's words continued to echo, his silhouette repeating itself inside Talen's darkness, while a second silhouette took form.
It swirled into the silhouette of a woman. Someone Talen knew all too well.
'Mother.' He thought, his heart raging in its cage.
"Do you not love me? I died for you. So why, son? Why do you not care?"
The silhouette chanted in a similar deep, slow, gurgling voice.
Talen desperately tried to speak, wanting to correct them, wanting to tell them, and deep down tell himself.
"I care."
However, he could only produce baby noises.
Both Henry and Seraphina's silhouettes kept chanting their words in eerie harmony, approaching him.
Noticing their movements, Talen began crawling to escape.
Still trying desperately to speak, only to cry.
Nevertheless, the silhouettes ignored his cries as they quickly caught up to his slow crawls.
They stared at him with grotesque grins that morphed their once peaceful faces into nightmarish horrors.
"Why are you running? Do you hate us?" They spoke in sync, their previous words still echoing.
Shaking his head, Talen cried, trying to say, "No."
They slowed down, ensuring Talen was ahead as they slowly followed him, tormenting him.
On his desperate crawl away, Talen searched his surroundings for an escape.
However, only still darkness met him, making him realize this was truly his inside.
More silhouettes rose from the darkness, all resembling lives that fell to his hands in the hell that was 7734.
Hundreds of silhouettes now ran at him, maws agape as they repeated a sentence in sync, a sentence that mixed with Seraphina and Henry's chant in a grotesque symphony.
"You monster, you killed us all, you enjoyed it." They chanted as he crawled.
Talen crawled, his movements fueled by desperation. His cries grew louder.
Eventually, the horde of silhouettes caught up to his slow crawls, lunging at him.
However, the next moment, a bright flash of light tore through them, blinding Talen.
Blinking, he adjusted his vision slightly to the light. As he did, he was met with the sight of a familiar Hexagon emblem plastered on a sterile white ceiling.
His nostrils were similarly bombarded by the familiar scents of antiseptic, blood, and ozone.
And his body was invaded by familiar cold fluids.
A weak smile slowly crept onto his face. 'It was all a dream. Since when were my nightmares like that?' He thought, placing his hand on his drenched forehead.
Clenching his fist, he felt the silk of the scarf rub his palm.
"What a terrible dream you must have had." An unforgettable, eccentric voice said.
His weak smile turned wry.
"Doctor, is that you?" Talen coughed, his voice raspy.
"Oh, it would seem the first of a kind remembered me. I am honored." Doctor Evan replied, clicking away at a screen next to Talen's bed.
The next moment, Talen's thirst vanished as another cold fluid flowed through his body.
"That feels much better." Talen said, glancing at the Doctor.
An empty gaze locking onto an infinitely curious one.
With a smile, the Doctor declared. "You have yet again shocked me, Talen." He paused, glancing at the whirling holograms of his patient's vitals.
"You ascended from an Enhanced to a Manifest. Of course, ascension is inevitable, but not this early." He commended, looking at Talen like a proud father.
"Unfortunately, I now cannot observe the effect of my new invention on a dual enhancer. Truly tragic." The Doctor sighed.
"Thanks, I guess." Talen replied, secretly glad.
His experience with scientists and their inventions has never been pleasant.
At Talen's blatant disinterest in his own great achievement and the marvel he had created, his smile crumbled.
"You want to run away again?" Evan asked, the excitement in his voice gone.
"Am I fit enough to?" Talen asked, glancing at the Doctor.
Silently, the Doctor turned his chair, facing Talen's holographic vitals.
He sorted through all of them, studying each in detail. His fingers gliding across the hologram, logging all of Talen's details.
Spinning back in his chair, he answered with a smile. "You are the healthiest you will be in a while."
Taking in a deep breath, he continued. "Although, why you are that healthy is a mystery."
Glancing at Talen, his smile disappeared.
"Fighting immediately after your body ascends could have easily crippled you. Permanently, or worse, killed you. But you were lucky, I guess." He explained, his tone serious.
Talen listened attentively to the Doctor's explanation.
"So I'm good to go?" He asked, nonchalantly.
It wasn't that Talen didn't care for his life; it was more that thinking over it would only waste his time. Moreover, he believed even crippled he could still fight.
So to him, the supposed risk he took was equal to walking with the risk of tripping: it had to be done.
However, he was severely underestimating the warning.
After his body had been rebuilt, he himself needed to adjust and allow his body to settle to its new status. Depriving it of that could have caused a terrible reaction from his Nether, which would kill or cripple him.
Managing to gather his thoughts after Talen's shocking reply, the Doctor answered. "Yes."
Hesitantly, he removed all the tubes going in and out of Talen, disconnecting him.
As Talen stood on his own feet, he noticed how light his body felt. His body felt so light, Talen was led into the illusion he could jump beyond the stars.
With a smile, he clenched his fist; similarly, he felt immense strength surge through them. Again, he was led into an illusion.
'I can definitely get used to this.' He thought, pleased by his newfound prowess.
Satisfied, Talen observed his body. As he did, he froze in shock.
All his scars, his terrible scars, had vanished as if they never existed. Each and every one, gone.
He glanced all over his body, searching for at least one, which he found.
Right where the branch had impaled him.
Watching him search his body like a confused yet excited child, Doctor Evan laughed.
Talen glanced at him, his eyes asking the question.
Calming his laugh, Evan answered. "The Nether broke down your cells and rebuilt them to be able to absorb, contain, and sense Nether. And more, depending on your Zone ability."
Talen nodded, listening to the explanation. 'Cells full of Nether, healed wounds, no scars.' He thought, smiling.
Taking a deep breath, he asked. "Does that mean I can heal or I can potentially regenerate?"
Chuckling, the doctor answered. "Not unless that is your Zone ability. Nether in your cells simply means enhanced physical abilities, a sixth Nether sense, and Nether absorption. For now, at least."
A bit disappointed, Talen sighed. Not only could he not heal, but his Zone ability was practically useless, at least he thought so.
So he couldn't help but question what he was to use for his revenge, for his life as a weapon, more importantly for his journey of finding his lost self.
'Nothing is ever easy, huh.'
Glancing around the clinical room, Talen asked. "Got anything for me to wear?"
"Sure." Evan replied, snapping his fingers.
A repeat of their first meeting occurred as a familiar robot brought Talen his uniform.
With his uniform on and scarf wrapped around his wrist, he headed for the door.
Glancing back at the doctor, he said. "Thanks."
The Doctor smiled. "You will soon discover how unique you are. The question is, how many enemies it will acquire you." He mumbled.
Talen began walking through the compound, navigating his way to the Ensign dormitory.
He walked in silence, allowing his thoughts to run wild.
'Did he actually play me?' He wondered, remembering his interactions with Kestis.
He went over each and every word Kestis spoke, searching for a meaning he might have missed.
He pictured every expression Kestis made as he spoke, looking for a crack in the facade he thought he had.
But all Talen found was nothing; he could not find any hidden meaning in Kestis's words.
"He wasn't lying." Talen whispered, pausing mid-step.
"He lied to me, using the truth." He mumbled, clenching his fist.
A sly smirk slithered onto his face as he continued walking. He couldn't help but acknowledge Kestis's wits in being able to lie with the truth.
Talen had always thought all he needed to survive and thrive was his fist and the occasional strategic thinking.
However, the fact Kestis was able to eliminate Henry without even lifting a finger was something Talen respected, even admired.
"Impressive..." He froze, unable to move or speak.
Here he was, happily admiring and praising Henry's killer, while claiming Henry meant something to him.
How hypocritical.
'What's wrong with me? He killed.' He thought, massaging his forehead.
Flashes of Henry's bloody silhouette crying to him, as it clawed its way out of Henry's corpse, tearing each of the corpse's muscles, ran across his eyes.
He clenched his eyes shut, running away from them.
His breathing turned labored, his chest heaving.
He kept his eyes shut, mumbling. "I care."
Gradually, he opened his eyes to the familiar halls of Hexagon.
Managing his breath, he whispered. "I care." While continuing his walk to the dormitories.
On the rest of his travel, Talen tried his best to keep his mind as clear as possible, steering his thoughts clear of anything linked to his nightmare.
Instead, he focused on investigating his newfound ability.
'Blood.' He thought, remembering the ethereal whisper he heard.
The word itself could mean a multitude of abilities: creation, control, connection, and so on. However, that mystery was already a closed case for Talen.
His immediate ability to control his dripping blood meant he had control over his blood, or any blood?
Even more pressing was the question of whether control was his limit, or only the beginning.
Regardless, the details will eventually unravel as Talen pushed himself. His real pondering was stationed in his curiosity of how he controlled the blood, for some reason he felt knowing that would open a wide door of opportunities.
Sighing, Talen put away his thoughts for the moment, as he had approached the dorm's massive gates.
He watched the gates open with a whir of compressed air, his mind as still as he could make it.
He then made his way into the hall of rooms.
Looking around, Talen noticed only four rooms had the usual purple front light still active.
He walked through the scentless hall, his black boots clacking against the metal, when he suddenly paused.
The gate leading to the canteen was wide open, and with his enhanced hearing, Talen could hear muffled noises up ahead.
He smiled.
"I'm owed a thank you and a sorry." He whispered, walking to the canteen.