Chapter 7. Rubeus? (Part 2)

The blinding light faded and when I could see again it was from the perspective of Rubeus, my younger self sat before him. The memory played out, just as it had for me when I viewed all my erased memories, and something deep inside of me relaxed. Not knowing if any of my memories were real until now, seeing it from Rubeus's point of view relieved me. As Rubeus bled out from his wound everything went black, at the same time there were multiple simultaneous scraping noises and a deep rumble. It sounded like metal scratching against metal, the piercing noise deafening me.

Finding myself back in front of the sliding metal door I turned around to see that the maze of hallways had shifted. My brow furrowed in curiosity amused by the complexity of the mindscape. I continued through the maze until I found the next door, it took me a bit longer this time as I found multiple dead ends. Approaching the door it creaked open slowly and made a terrible screeching sound. It was the nostalgic noise that a worn-down automatic door would make, frequent in older buildings.

Entering the memory I once again merged with Rubeus, experiencing what he experienced. Blinking awake he saw guards carrying him frantically to the medical ward. His hand moved up to his throat where there was some scrapped-together cloth to attempt to stop the bleeding. He pressed his hands against it and coughed up some blood, feeling unconsciousness about to claim him again.

Hearing the same shrill noise, I found myself once again standing in front of the door, the maze behind me shifted once more. However, this time the environment was degraded, just like the end of the first hallway in Rubeus's mindscape. Navigating the maze I had to avoid holes leading to the ethereal void occasionally. I carefully made my way to the next door, luckily not finding too many dead ends. Walking up to the door, this time instead of the blinding light I was surrounded by darkness, only being able to sense what was going on around me.

I could hear a commotion, there were multiple hurried footsteps, and loud voices all yelling over each other. I could smell the blood soaking through the cloth and gauze in his neck. I could taste the blood in the back of his throat, hot and metallic. It felt warm and cozy, even through the chill and gripping feeling from the oxygen deprivation and blood loss. Giving in to the warmth he subconsciously relaxed into, a buzzing flatline following as he did so. Many moments went by, doctors attempting to resuscitate to no avail.

THUMP...THUMP

The thumping resonated out, echoing for a few more seconds before the scene shifted back to in front of the door. Blinking and out of breath I stared down at my hands which were shaking, I slapped them against my face and attempted to collect myself. It had all felt so real like I had really just died, or come close to it, and experienced the memory firsthand. Catching my breath and shaking off the feeling I turned around expecting to see more maze that I would have to traverse. However, what I saw instead were the destroyed remains of the structure floating around rhythmically. It was as if they were trying to form back together, reaching out and ultimately coming back to their starting position.

At the end of the rubble was one last door, and a concise path leading to it. Jumping to the nearest piece of floor I landed slightly off balance. I half expected the chunk of floor to tip over and deposit me into the abyss below me. Thankfully It stood firm and I was able to get both my feet settled on the decaying floor. I proceeded carefully, taking my time and remembering to breathe. As I got closer to the next door anxiety hit me, but I quickly overcame it clasping a hand over my other shaking hand. Making it to the door I looked on from a distance, noticing there was no actual door. All there was, was a frame that led into a deep darkness that made me uneasy the longer I looked. Decidedly, I walked through the doorframe into the dark void, transitioning into the memory.

It picked up right where it left off, the incessant thumping noise growing louder as the flatline persisted. After minutes, and even hours the thumping noise continued, the experience feeling tortuous. Breaking the monotonous and persistent thumping, a voice rang out.

"Rubeus huh? Wow, he truly seemed unkillable, more like an idea than a man, it's unfortunate that he's dead." An older man said somberly. Almost like he was close to him but also completely distant. Another voice spoke up not long after.

"Dead? He is not deceased, can't you hear it?... I suppose not...." a mysterious voice said.

"Who-who's there?" The older man said, stumbling back.

Still in complete darkness I could only hear the exchange, even still the voices sounded like they came from every direction. Or more that I was hearing them from all directions, like I was positioned around the whole room.

"Calm yourself Gerald, I mean you no harm on this delightful evening. In fact, I need your experienced expertise with something very.. hmm.. important." The mysterious person said through a smile.

"What are you talking about? Not deceased?" Gerald said, pressing his fingers against Rubeus' neck. "No pulse, what nonsense are you rambling on about? And who are you anyway?"

"Trust me, he's alive, just barely. We need to get work immediately." The mysterious person said hurriedly, seeming to rush into action. As the mysterious individual spoke, Gerald gasped at something he saw and immediately got to work, following along with them. A few minutes went by when suddenly there was a shift in the memory. Things started to get fuzzy as vision returned but from three different sources. Slowly, vision came back, disoriented and confused, both on my account and from Rubeus's.

"Alright, Rubeus, your circumstances are complicated, However, I'm here to explain." The mysterious person said.

Getting a good look at this person I noticed something highly unusual, they were completely blotted out. Where a person should have been there was instead a dark void in its place. Their voice, appearance, everything seemed to be masked somehow.

"I'm positive you are experiencing disorientation and extreme confusion presently, nevertheless it is imperative we rip off the bandaid post-haste." With a contemplative sigh, they continued. "In every sense but one you died, with any ordinary individual what you went through would have most indubitably resulted in death. However, you managed to hang on by a hair's width. If you request the specifics, I am more than happy to explain in great length." The mysterious person said.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

From the three different perspectives, I saw them look down at themselves and then at each other, and finally at Rubeus still lying on the embalming table. Luckily they were all tailored with their own suits, but on the other hand, I was still experiencing everything they experienced. From my point of view it was mind-bending, finding it too overwhelming I tried to block out two of them and stay with just one. Successful in this attempt I could finally think and focus on the memory at hand. The Rubeus I decided to stick with spoke up with a serious tone and asked for clarification on what exactly was going on, no word gymnastics. His tone was also filled with deep reverence and respect, and maybe even a tinge of fear.

"Of course, let us speak casually Rubeus. To put it simply, your host body sustained a significant amount of damage and it resulted in key functions to cease, well, functioning. Ordinarily, this would be enough for a human to die outright, but in some cases individuals have made miraculous recoveries or been able to seemingly come back after being deemed deceased. Whether it be luck, or in your case your will and determination, this phenomenon is how you are still with us. Even still, without mine and Gerald here's intervention." They say gesturing at Gerald who is awkwardly sitting at a device monitoring some data. "You wouldn't have survived. Now, to address the elephant in the room as it were, there being a total of 'four' of you now." They said, their words holding such authority and confidence it was almost impossible to not be intimidated.

As they spoke the last line I could feel their attention on me, it wasn't apparently obvious right away which way they were facing but I could feel it. pressure had washed over me and was constricting me from every direction. They sauntered over to the Rubeus I was inhabiting and stopped just a few feet away. Whispering something seemingly to themselves they said. "Ah, Brian, what a fun surprise meeting here, like this. I apologize that 'this' is how we are meeting."

"Huh?" Rubeus asked, confused.

"Oh nothing, I was just rambling to myself out loud, do not concern yourself with it." They responded.

Although Rubeus was unable to hear them, I heard them loud and clear. A deep spike of despair ran through my being at the whispered words. It wasn't just because of the implications as terrifying as it was, it was something instinctual.

"Ah yes, like I was saying, you were by all medical and scientific reasoning, dead. However, your soul had not given up. I'm sure by now you've gotten to the understanding that the soul and body are connected, yes?" They said animatedly, walking around as they conveyed their point. "This specific fact is what makes humans so special, to the point it's beyond complicated. Until recent times the brain was considered to be extremely complicated and potentially beyond understanding. The soul in comparison is an insurmountable leap in complexity, let alone how it interacts with the body. This much even the junior scientists know, but even then we've made leaps in understanding. I don't intend to lecture you of course, as this is your field of expertise. But this connection is imperative to how we were able to do what we did, me and Gerald that is. We actually used a variation of one of your experiments, integrating artificial intelligence and mechanical parts into clones. Instead of doing this with a makeshift artificial soul, we did it on your dying soul." they said before being interrupted by the Rubeus in the middle.

"So because of my, 'host body' as you put it, being damaged you cloned me to what, connect them to my soul because my body is important for the souls' survival?" Rubeus interjected, pondering out loud.

half-baked "Hmm, that's partially correct I suppose, I'm honestly perplexed the plan I devised succeeded. I believe most of what made it work was your resilience, both naturally and from your raw determination to live. But yes, we cloned three of you, as a precaution however, and they all worked. A lot better than anticipated actually, the expectation was that we could save your soul by giving it a new vessel but they all took. The expectation was also that they would be mindless or half-baked, that assumption was also incorrect. All in all it went way better than we anticipated. Your original body will be back up and functioning soon, so you can ostensibly do 4 things at once. So the last thing I will to say to you is what are you going to do now?" They finished, handing each Rubeus an ID card respectively.

"I, no, we will continue to serve you, not only did you save me but there is still so much to do," Rubeus said pragmatically

"Excellent," They said before going over to Gerald in a hushed tone. "Keep an eye on Their vitals and activities, and set up monthly visits to check their psyche. If anything significant comes up, contact me."

Suddenly I was violently pulled from the memory and back to the ethereal void, in front of the door once more. The seemingly infinite space shook and lurched, and as it did so an uneasy feeling bubbled within me. Looking down at my hands they were starting to decay, the skin was slowly starting to flake off and I felt myself withering. Quickly, I made my way back through the maze, making only one or two wrong turns in total. I quickly noted that indeed, the whole space was inside a small rectangular cube, but I tried to not ponder on it too much.

By this point my hands were completely gone, the tendons, muscles, veins, and bone peaking through, It was all slowly decaying away. the phenomenon was interesting to look at but also concerning, to say the least, in any case, it seemed I had overstayed my welcome. Setting sights on what used to be a metal cube in the middle of the space was now gone, in its place lay an unusual scene. Getting a closer look I was able to fully grasp and understand the sight.

Laying in a futuristic chamber was Rubeus, there were wires coming out of it and hooking up into devices. He was submerged in a strange liquid and fully enclosed within this chamber, incidentally he was also fully naked.

"Of course," I said out loud, rolling my eyes. "Definitely didn't need to see that." I continued, averting my gaze before one last cursory glance. prevalently on his throat was a gnarly scar but beyond that was the rest of his body. Surprisingly or unsurprisingly taking into account his childhood, his body was littered with scars. The decay had reached my elbows and I really didn't want to stay around any longer than I needed so before leaving I took one final look around.

The devices around Rubeus's little coma pod appeared to be keeping track of vitals and any abnormal fluctuations in his status. They also seemed to be remotely keeping track of the three rubeus clones which were apparently up and about while the main body was still immobile. The mysterious figure in the memory mentioned that Rubeus would be up and running not long after his grievous injury. Assuming this was a one-for-one of Rubeus's actual condition and surroundings this unconscious state must be from being one of the lucky few to be affected by the incident. His clones showed signs of superhuman strength and durability as well as some sort of ability.

Deciding it was as good a time as any to leave, I attempted to exit the mindscape but found a tiny issue with the attempt. It didn't work at all. Slightly panicking at the failed escape I looked down to find my arms completely gone. I then attempted to leave how I had come in returning to the closet. Entering and shutting the door behind me with my legs, I hoped that this would allow me to leave but to no avail. I returned to Rubeus and sat up against the chamber, nothing more I could do.

As I decayed more and more I stared up and around at the beautiful space. Not knowing the nature of my fate this was all I could do as I slowly faded away. I ignored the state of my ever-disintegrating body and tried to remember the good times. As the last remnants of me washed away my vision returned to my body and the scene playing out in reality. A hand was gripped around my neck, Rubeus restricting my airway. I tried with all my might to rip him away but all my efforts were in vain.

Guards surrounded us and I could feel consciousness slipping, in the mindscape it had been minutes to hours but it should have only been a few moments out here. Yet, Rubeus seemed to have been choking me the entire time. I didn't understand how it was possible but my power was very limited, my only thought being that I pushed myself too hard physically and mentally. Rubeus smiled widely and whispered to me.

"I guess you would call this...check and mate."

I passed out, giving Rubeus a hard sneer my rage bubbling out before I slipped to darkness.

"Sir we have to go!" A man in a lab coat hurriedly stated. "They are here."

"Humph, alright let's go, we've got what we needed."