Spoiler: Spoiler
Hey everyone, this is my first time writing fiction, so please go easy on me. I became addicted to the LitRPG genre a few years back and have bought and read a lot of the books available on Amazon. I thought it was time to give it a shot and tell my own story.
I don't currently have anyone else editing, so please point out any mistakes or inconsistincies in my story. All constructive feedback and thoughts are welcome!
I'm still a serving military member so my goal is to push out one chapter a week at this point, however the schedule may be erratic at times. So apologies in advance!
After a decade as a 'digger' in the Australian military, Sargeant Harry Santosa was ready for a change of pace, to kick back and travel the world. Instead, Harry was boots on the ground in Iraq. A place that even a decade ago, he as a cyber security specialist, never would have found himself in. However, the last two decades had rewritten the rules of war and now the cyber domain was just as much a front of the war as traditional warfare.
Harry was off duty and lying on his bunk playing Eve with his buddies back at home when the attack siren sounded. Leaping off his bed, Harry sprinted through the tent towards the bunker just outside the tent door, when suddenly he felt a massive pressure strike him face on and the world went black.
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Drifting in a dreamless state, Harry briefly saw flashes of bright light interupting the endless stream of darkness that seemed to engulf him. For what seemed a moment in time, he saw faces staring down at him from what felt like a great height, then a voice seemed to whisper in the darkness "it might be a kindness if he never wakes from the coma".
Slowly, his thoughts became clearer, yet the darkness remained.
Alone, with only his thoughts for company, an eternity seemed to pass.
Fear gave way to rage, rage gave way to loneliness and over time calm and acceptance settled in. "Is this hell?" he thought to himself. "An eternity in damnation?"
As acceptance of this state of being settled in, Harry began to rely on his imagination more and more to keep himself sane.
As an eternity passed in the black nothingness, he realized that he was the architect of his own mind and that the only limitation was his own imagination. Thinking about how good good a beer by the beach would be right then, he soon imagined it into being. Laying on a beach lounger on a pristine white sand beach, surrounded by a sea of black, he started chuckling to himself, thinking "this may be keeping me sane but any doctor would probably classify me as insane at this point".
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In his mind, several decades seemed to have passed and Harry had become a master of his imagination. As had become his habit, Harry was sitting meditating on the corner wall of his monastry, breathing the fresh mountain air before opening his eyes to watch the sunrise over the mountains.
As he opened his eyes, a blue box suddenly flashed in front of his eyes.
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Entry requirements for Origin System met. Sufficient mental capacity found. Sufficient DNA levels met.
Origin System Initilisation Commenced.
DNA synchronisation at 50%.
Estimated time remaining for synchronisation: 720 hours 37 minutes.
"Well shit, this is new.." thought Harry, "I guess I really did go insane."
Testing an idea, Harry threw his arm out swiping to the left and the box disappeared. Shrugging, he closed his eyes and returned to meditating.
Suddenly, the calmness was shattered, Harry struggled to breathe and everything went black.
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"..you hear.. ..Santosa.. ..Can you hear me, Sargeant Santosa?"
"Uhhhh.." thought Harry.
"Sargeant Santosa, I need you to open your eyes and look at me" stated an unfamiliar voice.
Slowly Harry opened his eyes to see random shadows in the blinding glare of a room. As his vision cleared, he realised he was in a hospital room, surrounded by doctors and nurses. "uhh.. wha..at? huh?" he croaked.
"Take it easy Sargeant Santosa, we weren't sure you were gonna make it out of the coma. My name is Doctor Hamilton, I've been the doctor in charge of your care. Do you remember anything about what happened?" said Dr Hamilton.
Harry just slowly shook his head, then croaked "water.. please?".
"Of course" said Dr Hamilton holding a cup up to Henry's mouth.
"You seem cognisant enough so I'm going to tell you what's happened. I'll start with the bad news but keep in mind there is good news too. Now, there was a airborne IED attack on your base, which unfortunately for you and your platoon, struck directly above your tent. The shockwave threw you into the side of the concrete bunker. The severeness of your injuries meant that we had to put you into an induced coma to give your body time to heal", continued the doctor.
"How bad am I Doc?" whispered Harry.
The doctor paused, assessing whether he thought Harry's mental state could handle the truth.
"Well.." Dr Hamilton paused again, "for a while there, we thought you weren't going to make it. You see, when you hit the concrete bunker, the sharp upper edge struck right between the C4 and C5 vertebra, crushing them and almost severing your spine. This was likely going to leave you a quadraplegic for the rest of your life. You've been in the coma for 3 months now and we had to Medivac you back to Sydney, Australia, where you've remained in critical care."
Taking a breathe, he continued, "That was the bad news, however don't give up hope yet, there is good news, as of yesterday we began a new treatment thats still under development utilising stem cells injected into the spinal fluid to promote growth in your spine."
"For the first 18 hours, it didn't seem to be helping, then astoundingly, we saw a rapid spike in growth of new cells and healing occuring along your spine as of 2 hours ago. It's absolutely amazing! I've never seen anything like it before! I began reducing the drugs into your system only 20 minutes ago in order to bring you out of the coma as you're suddenly showing signs of recovering remarkably fast", exclaimed the Doctor.
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Two weeks had passed since Harry had been revived from the coma and his body continued to heal at an amazing rate. Following the success of the first stem cell treatment, Dr Hamilton decided that the stem cell treatments would commence on a daily basis until it was no longer effective. Dr Hamilton was ecstatic with the result; while Harry was still unable to move his limbs, he had gained some basic feelings in both his hands and feet.
This was both a blessing and a curse, as with the return of feeling in his limbs, also came the return of pain. At first, he lay in pure agony wishing to die, however as the days rolled on he was able to find that same meditative state that he had discovered in the coma. The pain didn't diminish, however in the meditative state he was able to block the pain from becoming his world.