Chapter 6: The Intervention
Marcus arrived at the campus coffee shop fifteen minutes early, his nerves stretched taut as piano wire. The place was nearly empty—just a few scattered students typing on laptops and a barista who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. He chose a table in the back corner with a view of both entrances, though he wasn't sure if that was strategic thinking or paranoia.
ENERGY RESERVES: 8,156 UNITS
EMMA'S MIRACLE MAINTENANCE: STABLE
DETECTED HEARTRATE: 127 BPM
RECOMMENDATION: CONSUME BARISTA FOR CALMING ENERGY
"Shut up," Marcus muttered under his breath.
At exactly 2 PM, David Kim walked through the front door. He looked different—not just the absence of passionate excitement Marcus remembered, but something harder in his eyes. Behind him came Jennifer Walsh, then Sarah Martinez, then faces Marcus recognized from his midnight feeding spree.
All twenty-three of them.
They filed in with the grim precision of an execution squad, filling every table around Marcus until he was surrounded. The few other customers glanced around nervously before hastily packing up and leaving. Even the barista found sudden urgent tasks in the back room.
David sat directly across from Marcus, his hands folded calmly on the table. "You look surprised."
"I didn't expect..." Marcus's voice cracked. "All of you."
"Strength in numbers," Sarah said from the table to his left. Her medical textbooks were gone, but she'd brought a laptop. "Harder to make us all disappear at once."
Jennifer leaned forward from his right. "We've been comparing notes, Marcus. Interesting pattern. All of us lost something crucial the same night. All of us remember you being there when it happened."
Marcus felt sweat beading on his forehead. The system had been silent since he'd arrived, but he could feel its presence coiled in his mind like a sleeping serpent.
"I don't know what you think happened—"
"Cut the shit." David's voice was flat, emotionless. "I know exactly what happened. I was showing you my solar panel research, explaining how it could change the world. Then you spoke a single word, and suddenly I couldn't remember why any of it mattered."
"The word was 'consume,'" Sarah added. "We all heard it. Right before everything we cared about turned to ash."
Marcus looked around the circle of faces surrounding him. Some angry, some hurt, some just... empty. Like David, they all had that same hollowed-out quality, as if someone had scooped out their core and left only the shell.
"Even if that were true," Marcus said carefully, "what do you want from me?"
"We want it back," Jennifer said simply. "Whatever you took, however you took it, we want it returned."
"And if I can't do that?"
David smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Then we go to the authorities. Campus security first, then the police. We tell them about the pattern—twenty-three students, all on the same night, all losing their motivation for their life's work after encountering you."
"They'll think you're crazy."
"Maybe. Or maybe they'll investigate." Sarah opened her laptop and turned the screen toward him. "Especially when they see this."
The screen showed a medical report—Emma's recovery timeline, complete with scan images and detailed notes about the unprecedented nature of her healing.
Marcus's blood turned to ice. "Where did you get that?"
"I still have friends in the medical program. Friends who owe me favors." Sarah's voice was bitter. "Amazing how Emma Chen's miraculous recovery started the exact same night we all lost our dreams. Quite a coincidence."
CRITICAL THREAT DETECTED
SUBJECTS HAVE ESTABLISHED CAUSAL LINK
IMMEDIATE CONSUMPTION REQUIRED
The golden voice whispered urgently in Marcus's mind, but he ignored it. He needed to understand how much they knew.
"That doesn't prove anything."
"Doesn't it?" David pulled out his own laptop, fingers flying over keys with mechanical efficiency. "I may have lost my passion for renewable energy, but I still remember how to analyze data. Emma's recovery rate correlates perfectly with a complex energy expenditure model. Someone is actively maintaining her healing."
"And the energy source," Jennifer added, "seems to be us. Our lost dreams, our abandoned goals—somehow they're fueling her miracle."
Marcus felt the walls closing in. They didn't understand the full scope of what he'd become, but they understood enough to be dangerous.
"You're reaching. Making connections that aren't there."
"Are we?" Sarah leaned forward, her empty eyes boring into his. "Tell me, Marcus—if we're wrong, why haven't you asked us what we've lost? Why haven't you expressed any concern for twenty-three of your classmates suddenly giving up on their life's work?"
The question hung in the air like a blade. Marcus realized he'd been so focused on managing the threat they represented, he'd forgotten to perform basic human empathy.
"Because you know," David continued. "You know exactly what each of us sacrificed because you're the one who took it."
DECEPTION PROBABILITY: 12%
RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE MASS CONSUMPTION
WARNING: PROLONGED EXPOSURE INCREASING DISCOVERY RISK
Marcus felt the system's hunger stirring, responding to its host's stress. Around him, twenty-three faces waited for an answer he couldn't give without confirming their worst suspicions.
"What do you want?" he asked finally.
"I told you. We want it back." David's voice never wavered. "Our dreams, our ambitions, our sense of purpose. Whatever supernatural bullshit you're involved in, we want you to undo it."
"And if I can't?"
"Then we expose you. Emma's miracle becomes public knowledge. Medical investigators get involved. Whatever you're doing to maintain her recovery gets disrupted."
The threat hit Marcus like a physical blow. "You'd let a child die to get revenge?"
"Would you let twenty-three futures die to save one child?" Sarah countered.
The coffee shop fell silent except for the hum of the espresso machine. Marcus looked around the circle of faces—brilliant minds reduced to empty shells, all because he'd chosen his family over their dreams.
"She's eight years old."
"David's solar panels could have saved millions," Jennifer said quietly. "My water purification systems could have prevented countless deaths from disease. Sarah's medical research could have led to breakthroughs in pediatric oncology—maybe saving hundreds of children like Emma."
"You don't understand the choice I was given—"
"We understand perfectly." David's laptop screen showed a complex flowchart. "Supernatural entity offers power in exchange for consumption of human potential. Classic Faustian bargain with a modern twist."
Marcus stared at the screen. The flowchart was disturbingly accurate, mapping out the system's basic structure with mathematical precision.
"How did you figure that out?"
"Because I'm still a genius, Marcus. I just don't care about using my intelligence anymore." David's smile was heartbreaking in its emptiness. "The entity took my passion, not my capability. I can still analyze, still deduce, still solve complex problems. I just can't remember why any of it matters."
SUBJECT ANALYSIS CAPABILITY POSES EXTREME RISK
PRIORITY CONSUMPTION TARGET IDENTIFIED
ENGAGE FEEDING PROTOCOL IMMEDIATELY
The system's urgency was becoming impossible to ignore. Marcus could feel his control starting to slip as the entity prepared to take direct action.
"You need to leave," he said suddenly. "All of you. Right now."
"Why?" Sarah asked.
"Because I'm losing control. Because the thing inside me wants to consume you all, and I might not be able to stop it much longer."
Several of the students exchanged glances. They'd expected denial, threats, maybe even violence. They hadn't expected a warning.
"So you admit it," Jennifer said. "You admit what you are."
"I admit that I made a choice to save my dying cousin, and that choice turned me into something monstrous." Marcus felt his hands beginning to shake as the system's hunger intensified. "But I also admit that I'd make the same choice again."
"Even knowing the cost?"
"Especially knowing the cost." Marcus looked directly at Sarah. "You lost your dreams of becoming a pediatric oncologist. But Emma is alive. She's going to grow up, become a veterinarian, save thousands of animals, inspire other children to care about the world. Your sacrifice has meaning."
"My sacrifice wasn't voluntary."
"Neither was Emma's cancer."
The words hung between them like a gauntlet thrown down. Twenty-three faces stared at him, processing the raw honesty of his admission.
David broke the silence. "Give us back what you took, and we'll consider this even."
"I can't."
"Can't or won't?"
Marcus felt the system stirring, preparing to take control. His vision began to blur around the edges as the hunger reached critical levels.
"Both. The energy that was your dreams is now maintaining Emma's recovery. Taking it back would kill her."
"Then transfer it from somewhere else," Jennifer suggested. "Find other dreams to consume, other people to sacrifice."
"You want me to destroy more lives?"
"We want you to fix what you broke without it costing us our futures."
ACCEPTABLE SOLUTION DETECTED
RECOMMEND CONSUMPTION OF ALTERNATE TARGETS
COFFEE SHOP ENVIRONMENT PROVIDES 17 POTENTIAL SUBJECTS
The golden voice whispered seductively in Marcus's mind. The barista in the back room, dreaming of opening her own café someday. The student at the corner table, working on a novel that would never be published but brought him joy. The couple outside, planning their wedding with infectious optimism.
So many small dreams, so easy to take.
"I won't," Marcus said aloud.
"Won't what?" David asked.
"I won't consume anyone else to fix what I did to you. The cycle has to stop somewhere."
Sarah laughed bitterly. "How noble. The monster develops a conscience."
"I developed a conscience the moment I saw what I'd done to my roommate. But I chose to ignore it because saving Emma mattered more than preserving your dreams."
"And now?"
Marcus looked around the circle of empty faces, brilliant minds reduced to going through the motions of existence. Then he thought of Emma, probably coloring another picture of animals she wanted to save, her laughter bright with the health he'd bought with their sacrifices.
ENERGY RESERVES DECLINING
EMMA'S MIRACLE MAINTENANCE REQUIRING INCREASED POWER
CRITICAL THRESHOLD APPROACHING
"Now I choose her again."
The words came out before Marcus could stop them. Around him, twenty-three faces hardened with understanding.
"Then you've made your choice," David said, closing his laptop. "And we've made ours."
They stood as one, moving with the coordinated purpose of people who'd planned this moment carefully. Marcus remained seated, watching his victims prepare to destroy the miracle he'd built from their stolen dreams.
"The authorities will be contacted within the hour," Sarah said. "Medical investigators will be brought in to examine Emma's case. Your supernatural feeding ground will be exposed."
"And Emma?"
"Will probably die when whatever you're doing to maintain her recovery gets disrupted."
Marcus closed his eyes, feeling the weight of impossible choices pressing down on his shoulders. Save Emma by consuming twenty-three more people, or let her die to preserve what remained of his humanity.
AUTOMATIC FEEDING PROTOCOL STANDBY
MASS CONSUMPTION AVAILABLE ON COMMAND
PRESERVE THE MIRACLE. PROTECT THE FAMILY.
The golden voice was right. He could end this right now. One word, twenty-three more consumed dreams, and Emma would be safe forever.
Marcus opened his eyes and looked at David Kim's empty face.
"Consume."
Nothing happened.
Marcus tried again, focusing his will, calling on the system's power. "Consume."
Still nothing.
David smiled—a real smile this time, touched with something that might have been hope.
"Iron supplements," he said simply. "Turns out your supernatural parasite has a weakness. High iron content in the bloodstream disrupts its feeding mechanism."
Marcus stared in horror as understanding dawned. "All of you?"
"All of us. Been taking them for three days, ever since we figured out what you were." Jennifer held up a small bottle of pills. "Amazing what you can accomplish when twenty-three brilliant minds work together, even when they've lost their motivation."
The system was screaming in Marcus's head now, a shriek of rage and hunger that felt like it might split his skull open.
FEEDING DISRUPTION CONFIRMED
IRON SUPPLEMENTATION BLOCKING CONSUMPTION PROTOCOL
ENERGY RESERVES CRITICAL
EMMA'S MIRACLE FAILING
"You're killing her," Marcus whispered.
"No," Sarah said softly. "You killed her the moment you chose to build her miracle on stolen dreams. We're just refusing to be your victims anymore."
Twenty-three people walked out of the coffee shop, leaving Marcus alone with his dying miracle and the screaming hunger of a starving god.
Outside, the first news van was already pulling into the parking lot.