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Corpse Crawler
Episode 3: The string's beginning

Episode 3: The string's beginning

King, my king, oh king of last.

You who searched for a cure to death.

You who ran with no more than your breath.

You who faced Nergal, I pity your terrible past.

King, my king, oh king of men.

Damn those clear skies for letting you see.

Damn myself for letting you flee.

Damn how naive we all were then.

King, my king, oh king of traits.

It who asked for our loyal help.

It who convinced us with its drilling yelp.

It who tricked us into our darkest fates.

King, my king, oh foolish king.

You who treated him like a brother.

You who loved him like no other.

It who stole you everything.

Laura was walking down the stairs. She had finished today’s patrol and was now heading to the exit of Ataki Tower located on the first floor. It was a very big tower from the outside, but it seemed even bigger from the inside. The only thing that she could compare it to would be the interior of an airport.

Ataki Tower acted as the main facility in Florida for Ataki, being one of the five towers of the company in the U.S. Ataki was a Japanese company which grew a lot in the past ten years, expanding all over the world. It was the biggest potens-related enterprise in the world and yet, it hadn’t begun as one.

Ataki had first started as a clothing brand. It began selling sportswear in Japan, quickly becoming a wealthy business. Despite having massive benefits, the heads of the company radically changed the core of the company. That happened four years after the appearance of potens.

Some said it was because of the incredible and financial opportunity potens could offer. Others said that its purpose was to research potens, get them inside labs so that they could study them with the objective of discovering how to get powers like theirs. And a very few said it was because the CEO of the company, Takeshi Ataki, had been saved by a potens and he just wanted to give every other potens that same chance of helping people.

Those few were ridiculed a lot.

At the time, it had been an incredibly dangerous move financially. Therefore, and incredibly stupid move. Fortunately, thanks to the circumstances and some events, they managed and thrived, becoming the number one in the potens industry. And despite being number one, they didn’t stop making clothes. In fact, they expanded their own horizons. For example, they began doing superhero merchandise.

As Laura was leaving through the main door, a tall man entered through the door to her right, less than three meters away. As soon as he saw her, he decided to head back to the sidewalk where he had come from. Laura saw him and decided to stop near the entrance.

He approached her with steady and confident steps.

“Hey, Jack,” Laura said.

“It’s good to see that you’re ok,” Jack said.

“Of course I’m ok. I’ve been struck by far worse,” Laura said with a small grin.

“I know. I was the one who saved your ass two days ago. Just like I did for two and a half years” Jack replied, seriously. His face froze into an unyielding expression with a frown.

Laura’s grin disappeared, and confusion appeared.

“Uhh…”

Wait, had she said something that wasn’t appropriate? Did she mock him? Disrespect him? Maybe annoy him or make him remember multiple occasions in which-

Jack burst into laughter.

“C’mon, you still fall for that one!?”

“Eh?” A surprised Laura said.

She then seemed to realize what he just did. She sighed, annoyed.

Jack, also known as Dimensional Pocket, DP for short, had been doing that since her first day as a hero, when she became his protégé. Although it seemed she wasn’t the only one who had suffered that kind of joke. If it could even be called a joke.

He would approach someone, begin a friendly chat, then, out of nowhere, he would shut up and stare at the other person with a serious expression, bursting into laughter whenever he saw the confusion and awkwardness in them.

The thing that made it really annoying was how insecure it made you feel. And it was even worse for his peers because they knew how serious and devoted he was to his job. It also didn’t help in the slightest that he was intimidating just by appearance.

Jack had a square face with gray hair, eyebrows and beard. The beard was the only section in which he still had some of his brown hair, hidden by the pale color of age. Despite his many years, he had a strong and wide figure with toned muscles. His height also helped to reinforce that ‘old warrior’ look, being somewhere between a hundred and eighty, hundred and ninety centimeters.

What was worse was that his look made even more annoying the smug face he made at the end.

“Is that all? I have to go somewhere, so I’ll see you around.”

She began walking away.

“Wait! Laura, wait,” Jack said while catching up to her.

He put himself in front of her and extended his arms outwards, prompting her to calm down.

“Sorry, sorry. It was just a joke.”

“I don’t know if you can call it a joke when you are the only one who finds it funny. Every time.”

“Sorry.”

“So, what did you want to tell me?” Laura asked while crossing her arms, a bit annoyed.

He sighed.

“I’ve heard about your brother. Were you heading there?”

“Yes. They discharged him, so I was going to pick him up and show him the city.”

“Wait, already? Wouldn’t he need to learn how to walk again or something?”

“No. He can move freely. He can speak too. Advantages of having Antuan, I guess,” Laura said while shrugging her shoulders.

“Antuan's power primarily affects the body, but it doesn't heal the mind. At least not like we would want to. It seems a little weird. Like… Something’s off.”

“Maybe this was an exception.”

“I doubt it,” Jack said, lowering his tone. “It has to be something else.”

“Well then, maybe miracles do exist.”

“You know that’s not true.”

Laura raised an eyebrow. She got closer to Jack.

“What are you implying, then?” She said, raising her head to match Jack's height.

“That you should be careful, and the same to your brother. We don’t know how people become potens. Some can burst at any moment, hurting people in the process. And sometimes, they can get abducted and tested like lab rats. Even though it’s only a few, it still happens. In both cases.”

“You’re forgetting the part in which my brother is not a potens.”

“It has been proven that potens’ awakenings have amazing healing capabilities. Maybe that was the trigger which caused him to wake up.”

“Antuan tried to heal him for years, and you know that man can do wonders. I don’t think it’s about physical damage. His mind was broken,” she said, taking a deep breath afterwards. “Master Mind took care of that.”

“I know! That’s why I’m saying it wasn’t Antuan. It was his power’s awakening, or maybe his power or something related.”

“He isn’t a potens.”

“We don’t know that-”

“No. Enough. He isn’t, ok? She said, interrupting him. ”He simply isn’t.”

There was a long pause.

“You know it’s possible. You know what can happen when someone isn’t aware of what they’re capable of. Why are you denying it?”

Laura avoided eye contact. She instead looked at the floor pavement.

(Because I don’t want to lose him again. I just got him back), she thought to herself.

Jack looked at her with pity. His eyes said everything. Just pure and plain pity.

“Just be careful. Please,” Jack said, showing his back to Laura.

He then slowly walked to the entrance he previously had used.

Laura raised her eyes. She saw how Jack entered through the door. She then turned around and continued her march towards the Grassland Hospital.

—-----

Ludwig stared at the distance. He was watching the movement in the streets through his window. There were a lot of people walking down the streets. They varied in age, but most of them were young.

The weather was warm. The sky was bright with barely any clouds in it that could block the sun, but there was a light breeze which cooled the weather down. Ludwig was finishing his breakfast. He was eating the last piece of it. A green apple.

It was pretty tasty.

The door behind him opened. Its creaking sound warned Ludwig. He turned his head.

“Hello, Lud Lud,” Laura said cheerfully.

She was wearing a pair of black jeans and purple shirt with a green sweatshirt with a zipper on top of it.

“Oh, good morning,” he replied as he went back to looking at the streets.

“It’s twelve p.m. I don’t think that’s considered a morning time.”

“Depends on who you’re asking,” Ludwig said, biting the apple afterwards. “What about someone on the other end of the world?” He said while chewing the apple.

“So, you’re already using quips. Glad to see you’re better.”

Ludwig turned around and gave her a smile.

“Are you ready to leave?”

“Mmm. I don’t think so. I don’t have any ‘normal’ clothes.”

Ludwig wasn’t wearing the medical gown anymore. Instead, he was wearing some white pajamas with vertical, light blue lines and some slippers. It wasn’t the best looking outfit, but it was comfortable enough.

“Don’t worry, I got you some.”

Laura then shook a brown bag with her right hand. Ludwig raised an eyebrow.

“Did you buy those?”

“No. Jonna left some clothes when he moved to college.”

Ludwig felt something as she said that. Being the oldest brother, he had always imagined that his younger siblings would be the ones to use his old clothes. Not the other way around.

“I wonder how he's doing.”

“He's fine. You’ll get a chance to see him. He will come whenever he’s free from tests or projects.”

Ludwig laughed as a thought crossed his mind.

“What’s so funny?”

“Ah. Nothing. I was just thinking that my little brother got into college before me.”

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Laura gave a fake smile. Well, not fake. The sadness in it was real.

“So, wanna get changed?”

Ludwig looked at her, then smiled, “Sure.”

He approached and grabbed the bag from her hand. He headed to a door on the right of the main entrance to the room. Before opening the bathroom’s door, he gave one last bite and threw the apple at a small thrascan he had nearby.

The bathroom had a decent size. It had a toilet accommodated for people with desabled mobility, a sink, and a mirror above it. Ludwig entered and left the door ajar.

“What do you plan on doing?” He asked from inside the bathroom.

“Well, not much. Walk around, show you some things and buy you some clothes and other things. Cool?”

“Sure,” he said while dropping the toilet’s cover and leaving the bag on top of it. “I don’t know if it’s necessary to ‘show me the city’. Maybe Miami has changed, but I don’t think it could have changed that much.”

“Ah, shit,” Laura said in a low tone.

Ludwig was pulling out his pajamas.

“What?”

“We uhh… We aren’t in Miami anymore.”

What?

“What?”

“We’re in Expansion Valley.”

“Where the hell is that?” He said, looking at the door.

“It’s still in Florida, it’s just… Some things happened,” Laura said, with uncertainty in her voice.

“Is everything ok?”

“Yeah. It’s just that we moved because you would get better treatment here. And something related to my work, but everything is fine. I’ll tell you about it later.”

That aroused some anxiety and curiosity in Ludwig. Still, he had just learned superheroes were real. Moving to a different city wasn’t much of a surprise compared to that. He pulled his pants off.

“Ok.”

He then looked at the mirror.

Ludwig saw a thin man with long and dirty hair, a messy beard and tired eyes. His body was skinny, his ribs marked. It seemed like it was in bad shape, not to the point of being rickety, but it also didn’t seem healthy.

Ludwig saw himself.

That shower hadn’t helped at all.

Despite the reflected image, Ludwig had thought he would be in far worse shape. Sure, he didn’t look like he used to. He had lost a lot of muscle. But he looked better than someone who has been asleep for nearly fifteen years should.

What was the strangest feature was his face. It looked different, but it seemed way too young to be the face of a thirty-year old. It belonged to someone with twenty, twenty-three years tops.

“Hey, Laura? Can I ask you something?” Ludwig said while examining his face.

“Yeah, sure. What is it?”

“Why do I look like I’m twenty, when I should look like someone who’s nearly thirty?”

“Oh. Well, Doctor Ernesto is not the only medical potens in this hospital. There’s also Antuan and some new guy who recently got in, although I can’t quite remember the name. Jorge, Wilson maybe? Uhh… Whatever.”

“While Doctor Ernesto takes care of emergencies,” she continued. “Antuan treats patients with illnesses or cases that require continuous or longer-lasting treatments. His power can cause a slight rejuvenation and can slow down muscle deterioration.”

“I don’t think this can be called a ‘slight’ rejuvenation,” Ludwig said whilst touching his cheeks and beard.

“He’s been treating you for a while. It’s most likely that the rejuvenation has been adding up.”

“So, his power is the reason why I don’t have a problem with walking. Although, now that I think about it, shouldn’t I have needed to learn how to walk again? Like, shouldn’t I have forgotten how to do it?”

Laura stayed quiet for a moment.

“Guess not,” she said without emotion.

Ludwig felt anxiety for a moment, but it disappeared shortly after. The feeling was so small that he discarded his attention on it in an instant.

Well, that was some good news. He hadn’t lost the entirety of his remaining youth and he got to walk from the get go.

Ludwig reached into the bag and pulled out some clothes. He examined the different garments as he put them on. The bag contained: some black trainers that were a tad too big for him, white socks, dark blue jeans, a belt, a T-shirt with a very realistic representation of banana on it accompanied with the word ‘Banana’, a garnet jacket with a zipper and hoodie, and a dark gray cap. They weren’t his clothes, but overall, they fit pretty well.

He opted for leaving the cap in the bag. He didn’t like wearing hats due to his long hair. They were uncomfortable.

Ludwig came out of the bathroom.

“How do I look?” He asked, extending his arms to the sides.

Laura looked at him for a moment, then laughed.

“Like if Jesus was from our time.”

“Nice,” he said, his tone dry. “At least I have the power of God and… Bananas by my side,” he said, pulling his T-shirt.

Laura smiled at the comment.

“Shall we go?” She said, moving her head in the door’s direction.

Ludwig turned around and gave a look at his room. He hadn’t been in it for too long. Well, only for him it looked that way, but he already wanted to get out.

“Yes. Let 's go.”

Ludwig and Laura left the room and entered the hospital's hallways. As soon as he turned right, according to Laura’s instructions, he saw a massive painting of a man made out of rocks. Ludwig stopped at the sight.

The man was big. He was shirtless, exposing what it looked like muscles made out of dark and gray rocks. He only wore a pair of black pants with a long skirt which had its front side missing. Maybe there were more details to the drawing, but it was possible that the author of said piece didn’t have enough experience nor the tools to express them.

Basically, it was a painting from a five-year-old made out of crayons.

Ludwig then looked around and saw other paintings. He saw a cartoonish knight, a blue and brown demon with tiny horns, an alligator-man with a skateboard, and a yellow and orange man with flames all around him.

“Hey, Laura. Who are those?” Ludwig said, pointing at the paintings.

Ludwig suddenly felt something. It had appeared yet again, although this time was bigger than before. He was feeling someone being anxious. Was it him? It didn’t feel like it.

“Oh. They are local heroes,” Laura calmly said.

The feeling of anxiety decreased.

That was weird. Maybe he was nervous about leaving the hospital and seeing a new city. Although he didn’t feel nervous.

“From Expansion Valley?” He said, turning his head around to Laura.

“No, from Florida.”

He turned his head around to look again at the drawings. They all had pretty much the same quality, but the alligator-man with a skateboard and the cartoonish drew his attention.

“What’s his name?” Ludwig said, pointing at the alligator-man.

“She’s actually a woman. Her name is Gator Skator.”

Ludwig jumped and turned his head towards Laura.

“Wait. Skator, like, with an O instead of an E?”

She nodded in response.

“I guess it checks out that she’s from Florida,” he said while scratching his head. “How are the rest called?”

“Why do you ask?” She inquired.

The anxiety suddenly appeared again. Even bigger than it had been a moment ago. The feeling was warm. There was also a small hint of fear and nervousness.

He looked around. The only ones standing in the hallways were him and Laura.

Wait. Did the anxiousness come from Laura? Was she anxious? But why?

It was weird. He felt her anxiety, if it turned out that it was her anxiety, but he didn’t feel it in a regular sense. Instead, it was more like he felt her anxiety through his… Own emotions? Something in his head told him that she was feeling anxious, but it wasn’t him reaching that conclusion. An emotion told him how was she feeling, although the emotion that was telling him that was his own? Was it a thought? Was he feeling her anxiety through his anxiety? But he wasn’t anxious.

The only thing he knew was that it was weird. He had never felt something like it.

If something happened once it was a coincidence. Twice, a very rare coincidence. But if it happened a third time that meant there was a cause behind it. It was intriguing.

First, to test if the anxiety was coming from Laura. He thought of something to test his theory. Something that would calm her sister.

“I mean, I need to get used to the city. That also includes the heroes, right?” Ludwig said, trying to sound convincing. “Plus. That way I know what to call them in case I need their help.”

The strange anxiety that Ludwig was feeling appeased lightly. It looked like it truly was coming from his sister. But why did she feel anxious? Was it because they were talking about superheroes? Was she scared of them? Or maybe she had had a bad experience with them? He would need to look deeper into it. That also included the strange anxiety.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Laura said with a relaxed tone, contrary to what he was ‘feeling’. “The rock-man over here is called Rocky John. The knight over there is called Don Quijote.”

Ludwig raised an eyebrow.

“Don Quijote? Not, Don Quixote?”

“That’s how he called himself, I think. The burning man is called Solarflare and, the blue and brown one-”

The anxiety spiked.

“-is called Gravity.”

She felt a lot of anxiety and nervousness towards Gravity. It looked like the anxiety was due to superheroes topics. Maybe she was the one who started it. But nevertheless, he didn’t want to make his sister suffer. Maybe it was best to avoid the subject.

“Mm. Let’s keep going,” Ludwig said as he began walking.

That apparently did help ease her anxiety. Ludwig was glad it worked. He would try the ‘feeling’ thing later.

Laura began walking as well. The both of them left the hospital behind soon after. They were in the road of the main entrance, the one which Ludwig had been able to see from his room. He pointed out the short and wide building with neon signs and a general Japanese style. Apparently, it was a restaurant. They served a combination of Japanese and Italian food.

He didn’t really see any part of the structure that would indicate an Italian aesthetic in any way. Except for the ‘Fusion’, maybe. He digressed.

Both Ludwig and Laura were walking on the sidewalk. She was going ahead, leading the way. Ludwig just followed her.

“What are we going to do first? Walk around or go shopping?”

“Whatever you want. I mean, we have time,” she said while turning left around a corner.

He followed her, and the image behind it surprised Ludwig.

An enormous tower greeted him at the distance. It easily surpassed any other building in its vicinity when talking about height and width. The tower was a giant. Ludwig couldn’t be sure about the exact dimensions of the tower, but he was sure that it was over eighteen hundred feet tall. He could see something that looked like a tree on top of it, crowning it as the king of the area.

“How tall is that?!” He asked, pointing out the gargantuan structure.

Laura followed his arm and saw the tower.

The anxiety raised a little.

“It’s close to being seven hundred meters tall. But I think it was something like six hundred and sixty or fifty meters tall.”

Two things bothered Ludwig. The fact that the anxiety had risen, and the usage of a unit he wasn’t familiar with.

“Meters? Why meters?” He asked. “And how much is that, anyway?”

She looked a little bit confused, “Because it’s the unit we use to measure things with.”

“Since when?”

“Since… Oh,” she said, raising her hand to her head, making a gesture with which it was understood that she had realized what was happening. “See, a couple years ago, the metric system was implemented in education. I think that happened some years later after you had the accident.”

For some reason, that felt more surprising than the existence of superheroes.

“Really? Huh. Another thing to learn, I guess.”

“I don’t know how tall the tower is in feet, but I thought you knew how to use the metric system,” she said, turning her head to Ludwig.

“A little, but not really.”

He continued admiring the size of the construction in silence.

“It is almost twice the size of the Empire State Building,” he finally said. ”I wonder what happens inside.”

The anxiety grew larger.

“Uh… I think-”

“Nevermind,” Ludwig said, interrupting Laura. “How about we buy some clothes?”

The anxiety diminished.

“Sure,” Laura said.

Ludwig felt like he was playing the hot and cold game, only that he was looking for the cold instead of the hot. It was a bit tiring.

They continue walking on the sidewalk. Ludwig watched the cars that passed to his right. There were some models he hadn’t seen before, but there were others he recognised. The streets seemed as crowded as ever.

He also observed the different people walking on the sidewalk.

He noticed that a lot of people were wearing green and purple clothes, just like his sister. Maybe they were the current popular colors. And also, that the people themselves varied far more than what he remembered. There were a lot of different ethnicities.

Everything was so different. But that didn’t mean he disliked it.

They arrived at a mall after a twenty-minute walk. It wasn’t as big as he would have expected. The tower from earlier was still on his mind. Nonetheless, it was big. It was longer than it was taller. It also was fairly similar to the ones he was used to.

The inside was decorated with warm and yellow lights, accompanied by the usual plants, which were in pots made out of ceramic, and some benches made out of a gray stone. The floor was composed of square and white tiles made out of some type of plastic. There were also the occasional black columns.

They came in pairs. One on the right side. The other one on the left side. They served as supports for the small bridges that connected both sides of the second floor, which had small tiles of glass that were meant to function as railings.

They entered a clothing shop that was on the left side of the mall’s first floor. It had a tall ceiling and, despite the width of the shop, the corridors formed between the clothes and people were somewhat narrow. The shop wasn’t overflowing with people, but there was a considerable amount.

Ludwig grabbed a red and short cart and greeted the security staff located at the entrance

The shop was ‘divided’ between male and female clothing. The former was at the bottom while the latest was up front. While Ludwig and Laura were going to the men’s section, he wondered why it was divided like that.

He believed it was due to some marketing tactic. He thought that the women’s section was closer to the display because they were the main demographic of the shop. He believed that was also the reason behind the bright red and yellow colors at the entrance. They caught people’s attention.

Of course, he could be entirely wrong.

He realized he had been speculating like that since he had woken up. He gave more thought to things.

(I hope that prevents me from committing another idiocy,) he thought to himself.

He began putting garments on the cart. Socks, underwear, some belts. He then looked at a jacket. It was blue, had a hoodie and a zipper, similar to the one he was wearing at the moment. It reminded him of another jacket he once had when he was sixteen. He grabbed it along with a few shirts and some trousers.

He went to a fitting room that was close by, located at the end of the store and near an emergency exit. He tried on different clothes, but stopped when he put on the blue jacket from before. He caressed it and, for a moment, he believed he had seen himself. Only when he was seventeen instead of thirty.

He saw a thread.

It was shining with a dark red color, almost as if it was emanating some kind of light. Ludwig grabbed and pulled it. It spread, revealing to be longer than what it looked. He continued pulling it. While doing so, he felt that the thread had a weird texture to it, almost as if it were metallic.

It seemed like the thread had no end. He tried to cut it, but couldn’t. It was much stronger than what it seemed. He decided to follow it to discover where it came from. He ran his hand through it.

He then touched his head. The red and shining thread was coming from his forehead.

He watched the mirror in front of him. It looked like the string had gone through his head. He panicked, and it then quickly retracted into his forehead.

Ludwig touched it, alarmed and scared, but found no evidence or trace on it.

He then saw another thread coming out from his right hand. This time it had an orange color to it.

He jumped back and moved his hand in surprise. The movement triggered something in his arm. A feeling.

It felt like a muscle. A muscle he had never used before. He slowly experimented on it and was able to see that, at the same time in which he ‘contracted’ it, the thread moved. As if it were another finger of his hand.

The panic left and he remained fascinated with the view.

His astonishment didn’t last long. He heard screams coming from the shop and beyond.

He then heard a gunshot.

“GET ON THE GROUND, NOW!” A voice shouted. “Okay, if everyone obeys and behaves like good boys and girls, no one will have to get hurt.”

Ludwig began to feel panic. He also felt the panic from the people around and near him.

The thread had retracted from the surprise, and there was only one thing crossing his head.

Survive.