The screams continued, as loud and annoying as a thousand flies buzzing around your neck.
Jarek waved his arms nervously, trying to calm the cluster of exasperating voices that only focused on raising the volume. And it wasn't like he didn't understand them. Being attacked by giant beasts, with the strength to destroy a bus and the speed to kill you five times before you hit the ground, was a trauma few could recover from.
—¡But come on, I just saved you all!
The people recoiled in panic after feeling the vibrations of the shout rattling their bones.
¿What was he supposed to do?
As much as he wanted to leave, it wasn't a good idea to let so many witnesses who had seen him go free. He needed to stay hidden from the public eye for as long as possible, away from trouble with the authorities.
At least until he grew strong enough to become some kind of mysterious, invincible character who randomly appears to save you from certain death at the hands of a monster thirty levels above you, only to vanish the next second.
Jarek thought carefully about his next plan. Of course, killing them all and swallowing their corpses was out of the question.
On the other hand, immobilizing them and altering their memories…
Jarek smiled, the sharp, disproportionate pins forming his fangs glinting with a dangerous shine.
Looking directly at the survivors, Jarek spoke in his calmest tone, though his own voice—worn, somewhat feminine, and horrifying—ruined any serenity the moment the words left his mouth.
—Nothing personal, buddies.
The more perceptive ones didn't hesitate. They didn't care that their girlfriend, friend, or a frail elderly person unable to care for themselves was beside them when they started running with all their might, scattering across the meadow.
In an instant, each was caught by intertwined blue tentacles that dragged them back in a flash. The others, who hadn't even started running, knelt. With their foreheads on the ground, they begged for their lives as they were gently enveloped by the tentacles.
—¡W-wait! — shouted one of the youngest. With his one free arm, he reached into his left pants pocket and pulled out his wallet stuffed with bills. — ¡You seem like the talking type, dude. Let me go, and I'll give you all my money!
Jarek smiled warmly.
—¡Wow, how sweet you are! — He pocketed the wallet and then placed his massive hand on the head of this kind and unexpected benefactor, filtering some of his biomass through the skin's pores until it reached the brain.
The spectators' screams returned, with a force that made the previous ones look ridiculous.
Altering memories wasn't particularly difficult after all the experience gained from surfing Andy's memories. Navigating the boy's hippocampus and prefrontal cortex was like rifling through folders in a damp archive.
Jarek sifted through the young man's memories: the fear, the guilt, the desperation… it was all there, perfectly labeled. All he had to do was disconnect the trauma threads and rearrange them like shuffling a deck of cards.
The boy stopped screaming. His body relaxed, and his eyes clouded over completely.
—There you go — Jarek whispered, slowly withdrawing his hand. —¡Next!
The pulsing blue arm stopped inches from the next victim. Jarek felt a momentary loss of control in his joints. Confusion overwhelmed him, though that pathetic impulse only halted him for less than a second. Something felt off, a writhing deep in his chest.
With a wail that sounded more like a lament, half of Andy's face dragged itself out of the symbiotic suit covering her.
Just enough for her chin and right eye to peek through, amid thousands of filaments fused to her skin, but not to the point where her most distinctive features were easily identifiable.
—¡Ah! — Andy shouted.
—¡Ah! — Jarek shouted.
—¡Ah! — the trapped people echoed.
The redhead fought to break free as her pleas were silenced by the biomass.
Jarek's control over the tentacles faltered; it grew harder to keep holding the nosy passengers. In seconds, it turned into a ridiculous scene. Jarek's body twisted with every tantrum from Andy, while the trapped passengers screamed as if joining the chaos was mandatory.
The symbiote's patience ran out. He shoved Andy's body back inside and squeezed tightly until he regained control. The redhead's desperate screams now existed only in his mind, confined to the inner silence they both shared.
The first impression ended up being, at best, a terrible nightmare for everyone… except him. For a moment, he considered erasing this day from Andy's mind and waiting for another chance to introduce himself.
¿But was it really necessary?
As he suppressed the survivors' records of his involvement in this Ultrath skirmish with the same tentacles keeping them immobile, he rubbed his chin, pondering different scenarios.
"Well, when life gives you lemons…"
He'd come too far to worry, and in the end, he preferred to avoid the fatigue of setting up a proper scene.
Once the records of his participation in the Ultrath altercation were successfully erased from everyone's minds, nerves buzzing, he allowed Andy to emerge by retracting all his biomass back inside the woman.
Her knees dirtied as she fell onto the grass, still covered in chitin fragments and traces of something green dripping from the dismembered flesh.
Andy tried to stand, but her legs wouldn't respond as her breathing grew erratic. The buzzing in her ears drilled into her head. The grass was burned in irregular patches, mixed with a fine layer of ash clinging to her skin.
A jaw embedded in the ground, the murky reflection of a window still smeared with human handprints. A faint hum rose from the engine wreckage, mixed with the constant drip of viscous liquids falling from the dead creatures.
Above it all loomed the body of the largest Ultrath, deformed, turned into a bleeding, foul-smelling mound.
Andy remembered it all too clearly. Her flesh melting, her bones snapping one by one as her mind floated between pain and unconsciousness.
The sensation of being trapped inside herself, unable to move a single muscle, unable even to scream.
She brought both hands to her face, pressing hard, trying to hold back the vomit burning her throat. Everything around her swayed as if the world itself had forgotten how to stand.
—¿Pretty gross just to look at, huh?
The same viscous, deep voice, like a stagnant well, vibrated inside her head. Her breath caught. A shiver ran down her neck, making every hair on her skin stand on end. Andy spun in all directions, searching for the source of the voice. But she found only unconscious bodies and scattered corpses amid the smoke.
—No, no, no… — she murmured, rubbing her eyes with her hands. — I'm just hallucinating. It must be a side effect of thanocardia… yeah, that's it.
Still trembling, she forced a clumsy smile upon seeing her reflection in a half-buried window fragment. Her pale, dirty, shaking face stared back with a grimace trying to look calm.
This wasn't real. It had to be a nightmare.
—That parasite is messing with me
She exclaimed, with a nervous laugh that sounded more like a sob.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. But her face was no longer what was reflected.
Her reflection in the broken window was replaced by a mockery of herself. The glass surface darkened, as if trying to seem alive rather than a mere trick of light. The figure mimicking her moved a second before she did.
The smile in the reflection stretched too wide, too alive, filled with disproportionate fangs grotesquely placed around its gums.
On its face was a crude copy of a human, barely a suggested outline, without defined features except for two eyes glowing white-blue, burning like beacons under the stagnant water of a dark well.
Two luminous maws, pupilless, suspended in the shape of a body that seemed woven from liquid shadows. A deep blue with dark spots slowly shifting across every part of its silhouette.
—Well, technically that's true.
the voice murmured, viscous, so close yet so far in her ears.
Andy recoiled immediately. Her trembling hands sank into the wet earth as she pushed herself backward, clawing the ground with her nails in a desperate attempt to get away. If she didn't scream, it was only because her voice refused to come out.
—This is just as awkward for me.
The voice buzzed, vibrating in her head.
Reason had abandoned her, replaced by the sole desire to flee from whatever that thing was. She backed away without the slightest care for her surroundings.
The earth collapsed under Andy's weight, right atop one of the many underground paths carved by the Ultraths.
The ground gave way with a crack, and for an instant, everything was darkness. But Jarek stopped her before the abyss swallowed her. From the shadows sprouted several blue appendages, like gangly arms, stretching until they gripped the earth.
Slowly, he dragged her back to the surface.
Andy gasped, trying to catch her breath. The tremor in her hands wouldn't stop. She could feel the damp earth stuck to her fingers.
The appendages holding her slowly dissolved, retreating to her back, where they had emerged. At the same time, a strange mass emerged from her chest, twisting and molding until it took the shape of a floating head.
The entity watching her with childlike curiosity.
The blue of its skin fluctuated, breathed. With every word, the tone shifted like a viscous tide responding to its voice.
—¡Ta-dah! — it said, tilting its head in an almost human gesture.
Andy jerked away, crawling backward until she felt the hardness of a rock against her back. Her lips moved, but her throat only let out a hoarse whimper.
—No fucking way.
She fainted.
Jarek, for some incomprehensible reason, felt deeply offended. He had no choice but to force her awake, stimulating the reticular formation in her brainstem. She came to with a deep gasp.
—Now you're overreacting, mot.
Andy's eyes snapped open, with a gasp that felt more like a contained roar. Her throat burned.
—¿What… What the hell…? — she stammered, propping herself up halfway.
—First of all — Jarek interrupted, raising a finger that didn't even have a defined shape, —you're welcome for saving you TWICE.
Andy stared at him with the exact expression of someone who had just woken up in the middle of an overbudget hallucination. The blue head floated in front of her, spinning slowly like an annoying balloon that refused to pop.
—Oh no — she whispered. — This is a dream.
—¡One that came true!
Jarek floated playfully around the girl.
—¿What are you? — Andy said after a long silence.
"Seriously? Not even a thank you?"
Jarek complained internally. But the discomfort didn't last long. After so much time without interacting with anything intelligent, he was finally talking to someone who could actually respond. The mere idea of having a conversation with a person—even if she was rude, ungrateful, and full of cliché questions—made his chest boil with excitement.
—¿Me? — he repeated theatrically.
The blue biomass began to expand from Andy's body, flowing in soft waves that rose and molded in the air.
—I am the great…
The viscous tide deformed, taking the shape of female figures with short skirts made of sticky liquid and headbands adorned with a single feather tilted at a flirtatious angle. Around their necks, large scarves mimicking feathers fluttered with a life of their own.
—The incredible…
A group of musicians appeared similarly, playing drums that made gelatinous noises when struck as they surrounded Andy. The faceless dancers moved in unison to the exaggerated beats.
—The amazing and incredibly handsome being who just saved you TWICE in the same week.
All the bizarre and noisy silhouettes pointed to the center, the dancers bowing as the musicians sped up their arms.
—¡Jarek! — Sticky applause erupted around him. — At your service.
The slender smile on his face stretched until it nearly split his face, and the flames of pride burned in his chest as he beheld his own masterpiece of a presentation.
¿How long had he practiced control over his body to achieve this incredible feat?
Only Martín and he knew.
He watched Andy closely, waiting, almost begging, for the slightest reaction. But she just stayed there.
Motionless and expressionless like a mannequin.
Jarek pretended to clear his throat before speaking.
—At. Your. Serviiiice.
Both stared into each other's eyes.
.........
The elevator music irritated Dania in an inexplicable way. Maybe it was the fatigue, the nerves about the meeting she was heading to, or simply that classical music wasn't to her liking.
Ignoring her discomfort, she stepped out as soon as the doors opened and approached the next area. The platform's slits creaked under the woman's hurried steps.
—¿Password? — asked the small feathered doorman, flapping his wings rapidly.
—They're waiting for me, Pipsy. I don't have time for this.
Pipsy's short fur and iridescent feathers dulled, turning a pearly gray of annoyance. With a brief, grumpy whine, the little one raised his tiny hands and traced a vertical slash in the air.
In front of the scaffold where Dania waited, space distorted like a liquid veil, opening in soft waves. Dania entered after a dry, curt thank you.
A warm, perfumed gust enveloped her as she crossed; a complete contrast to the icy air she remembered from entering Förskott.
Dania deeply appreciated this change.
The floating dome she arrived at was, by far, unlike any other. The transparent ceiling filtered golden, rippling light, as if the sun itself floated beneath the surface of a suspended ocean. Before her stretched a perfect beach: fine white sand like flour, streaked with quartz reflections glittering like buried star fragments.
The sound of the sea was soft, rhythmic, hypnotic. Waves lapped the shore, and the breeze carried the salty scent mixed with something sweeter.
Translucent-leaved palm trees swayed slowly, casting shadows that seemed out of sync with the light. On the horizon, the sea blended with a pink sky, plagued by clouds glowing as if burning from within.
For a moment, Dania forgot why she had come. She felt this corner of the sky was made specifically to distract her from her goal.
But there was no time to get caught up in its beauty. She gave herself a couple of slaps on the cheeks—just enough to refocus—and headed toward a small cabin built on a nearby pier.
The wood creaked under her boots, crisp and rhythmic, as the warm wind played with her hair. Upon entering, she was greeted by a cozy room made of rustic, meticulously polished wooden planks, infused with the aroma of salt and freshly brewed coffee.
In the center, a round, velvety sofa hugged a low table where two steaming cups rested. The vapor rose lazily, drawing spirals that mingled with the golden light streaming through the open windows.
—¿Coffee? — asked Oliver, lifting the larger cup.
Dania observed him in silence for a few seconds. Just a few, but enough for the old man to start fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat.
—No, thank you — she finally replied, her voice firm and toneless.
Oliver drank the contents of his cup in one gulp, letting out a satisfied sigh before standing with a slight creak in his knees.
—This is why you're still single.
A fleeting grimace crossed Dania's face, vanishing as quickly as it appeared.
Both moved to the next room, where Dania's team awaited.
The murmur of voices and the hum of equipment filled the room. Various instruments were scattered across a long metal table: frequency detectors, thermal cameras, portable monitors, and a tangle of cables snaking across the floor.
— ¿Is this what you wanted me to see?
asked Oliver, lazily scratching his beard.
—Correct.
—It's a rock… — said Oliver.
At the table's center was a medium-sized rock, its irregular surface covered in grooves and scars that seemed formed under unimaginable heat. A large crack ran through it side to side, and inside gleamed jet-black fragments that caught the light.
Oliver thought it was just another meteorite that hadn't fully disintegrated upon entering the planet's atmosphere.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
Dania leaned over the table, watching the erratic dancing graphs. The lines rose and fell in irregular intervals.
—It's not just a 'rock.'
With a soft click, she pressed a button on the control panel. A glass dome deployed over the meteorite, closing slowly until it sealed completely. The glass darkened with a faint hum, and then the room was tinged with reflections.
From inside the dome, flashes began to sprout. Light filaments twisted in the air, swirling around the object. The colors shifted without apparent rhythm. Cold blues, electric purples, yellows that paled before fading, leaving a phosphorescent trail that lingered.
Oliver stepped back involuntarily. His narrowed eyes focused on the light show before he clicked his tongue in displeasure.
—¿Where did they find it?
—The sensors detected it entering the Ips mountains — Dania replied, not taking her eyes off the dome. — A few hours from the village where the Druz'ya died.
The old man clenched his fists.
—By the glow's intensity, I'd say it emerged sometime ago. Thirty or fifty days, at most — Dania added, adjusting the monitor's graphs. — Obviously, the trail is about to vanish.
Oliver crossed his arms, thoughtful.
—So… ¿this thing is no longer connected to whatever came with it, right?
—It stopped being connected long ago — Dania responded.
Oliver rubbed his temples. The following silence was thick, broken only by the dome's soft hum.
—Tell me — he said, turning to her — ¿Did they find any clues? ¿A new conscious virus coming out of this thing?
Dania shook her head.
— No signs of it being a shapeshifter, nor a symbiotic weapon responding to a host. No remnants of organic material or regenerative tissue. Its role is, apparently, that of a simple 'rock.'
She paused before adding, with a mix of caution and curiosity.
—Though personally, I consider it might be the remnants of a shell molt.
— You mean someone—or something—shed this? — asked Oliver.
—Exactly. —Dania straightened and pointed to the still-fluctuating graphs on the monitor. — Look at the emissions. They're residual, not active. No metabolic flow, but by the break's shape, something broke it from inside.
The old man let out a low grunt.
— That means whatever lived inside survived… and left this behind.
The garden has awakened.