Underneath the golden sun, its light shone down on the beautiful girl as if she were the spotlight among the dancing nature under the sky. Trees surround the girl like walls dancing, led by the breeze. The white puffy cotton spread around the sky, observing the sleeping beauty as she slowly roused up from her slumber.
Her feet were unstained and lovely, with no trace of walking or it was used on the ground. Did someone drop her? Maybe she descended from heaven? She modeled a white robe decorated with a two-digit "22" on her chest. It was the same number that was in the pod near her.
As she slowly arose from the ground, without warning, thousands of shattered memories came surging without order, and it was a mess. A painful headache put her down. The pain was as if a thousand knives kept piercing her head, and she groaned as she resisted. When she thought it was over, a wave of dizziness washed over her, leaving her disoriented and unsteady. She toppled over again, her head spinning like a top, despite her best efforts.
She lay still, staring up at the blue sky. Her mind was a jumbled mess, memories, and thoughts entwined like a ball of yarn. She grasped the frayed threads, desperate to unravel them and make sense of the chaos.
But the more she tried, the more the memories slipped through her fingers. There were flashes of images - a crowded street, a faceless figure, tall buildings - but they were like fragments of a shattered mirror, too small and too incomplete to form a clear picture.
Frustration mingled with a tinge of fear inside her. What was his name? What happened to him? What was going on with him? She wanted to scream and lash out, but his voice was muffled by the fog of confusion. She closed her eyes, seeking refuge in the darkness behind her lids. Perhaps if she rested and let go of her search for answers, they would come to her naturally. Perhaps she'll wake up, and everything will make sense again. Or maybe she'd never find out.
One thing is for sure: he remembered he was in a room. In his room, the sound of a heart monitor leaves and enters one ear. He was watching the news on his normal day. It was not that relaxing, but anxiety and fear embraced him all day. How long should he keep fighting? When can he walk under the sun's rays? Without fearing his condition, which invites death.
*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*
"Good morning, sir." He didn't react, and his eyes were beginning to lose hope each day that passed.
He heard an unfamiliar voice. He glimpsed and saw a few men wearing black suits and black shades. Papers were held by one person who wore a white coat, which caught his attention. It was not the doctor he often saw around, and they were all unfamiliar faces.
"Sir, you are more like dead now despite being alive. Are you losing hope already?"
"There is nothing that can save us, and it has been a long time since the disease first appeared around the world, a cure that was thought to be effective didn't work, and countless successes that failed to find a cure."
"My, don't be like that, sir. There is one possible solution, and we are here for that reason. We need people affected by the disease to volunteer for the experiment to use this so-called "disease" to benefit the human body. When the experiment is successful, it will guarantee improving your body's ability to fight off diseases, slow down the aging process, and enhance your overall strength. You could potentially live a longer and healthier life."
"What exactly is this experiment?"
"It is an experiment that involves participating in a DNA-changing experiment."
"Using disease?" "DNA-changing?" Everything sounds risky. How does it prolong one's life?"
"I completely understand your concern, sir. The experiment seeks to explore genetic modifications that potentially improve our bodies and slow the aging process, and the idea is to rewrite certain parts of your DNA that could have a positive impact on your health."
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"I don't know anything about it, but isn't altering the DNA a dangerous approach? What are the potential risks involved?"
"You are correct, sir. Altering DNA is a complex and emerging field of science, but extensive research has been conducted to minimize the risks associated with such procedures, and the experiment has undergone rigorous testing on animal models, with promising results."
"What if something goes wrong?"
"I completely understand your concerns about the long-term effects, but the experiment is designed to be carried out with extreme caution and close monitoring. We have a team of highly skilled geneticists and medical experts who will closely observe every step of the process, and you will be provided with full medical support throughout the experiment."
"Last question: even if I don't participate, I'm still going to die sooner or later, right?"
He asked, but the white-coated man answered silent.
"I understand, and I will volunteer to participate in the experiment..."
Suddenly, a harmonious bird breaks through his lining thoughts. Peeking at the source of the melody, she saw a human-sized egg pod. The pod was cloud-colored, and its windows, which served as an entrance, reflected the sky and opened like a double door. Behind the pod were written two numbers: 22. Below the number were big yellow letters: CODE. Under the "CODE" was "IRIS."
Seeing the number, a new piece of memory emerged for her, making sense of her disarrayed past, but it was only a recollection of a specific person. That person was identified as 22. He was not her, and he was a different person. He may not remember his number, but during the experiment, he met a person whose number was 22. It was a girl with the same fate as him.
She leans back for support in the nearest tree after experiencing sudden dizziness and headaches. Sudden memories were like riding a thrill ride for her, and it was too much dizziness for her to handle. She was supposed to take a break and rest a bit, but one thing caught her attention once again. The reflective glass shows him the long silver hair of a girl. She went to see it clearly.
The girl had a well-defined face and rosy skin color, indicating that she was a sheltered young woman. Her large, gleaming eyes showed an expression of surprise and confusion as she inspected the glass, revealing a familiar face. She has freezing-silvery hair that glows beneath the sun's shines and faint blue-purple eyes. Her features were captivating, and she was gorgeous. Her own attractiveness had already captured and bewildered her. She kept looking till she saw something in her back that was translucent and had a slight frosty palette that acted as a cape for her.
Curiosity took over, and she tried to pull the thing hanging from her back. As soon as she touched those things, she let out a groan and a transparent-frosty wing of a butterfly spread to her back. It was beautiful to behold, but the feeling she had was painful after suddenly pulling her wings, with a slight ticklish feeling when touched.
She felt the wings as if they were part of her, but they really were part of her. She tried to move her wing rapidly and constantly, trying to feel the freedom of the birds in the sky. Looking at her trying her best sweats, she was more like a kid playing and pretending to be an airplane. She went by all four while her wing kept trying, but it did not work. She tried to jump like a superhero, but only to trip down. She tried to run as fast as she could while her hands moved along with her wings, but later on she exhausted herself.
"Ughh! What am I even doing?!" She was yelling as she gasped violently for air. Her voice was angelic, despite her furiousness. She wasn't surprised by her voice right now because the owner of the voice was also the same person who was identified as 22. The appearance might have changed, but the changes were still recognizable and resembled the 22 he knows. Well, it was really more strange when she heard his real voice in this body.
She tilted her head unconsciously and saw something in the sky, a smoke arousing in the sky." Wait! Are there other people here?" She was overjoyed, and hope was in her eyes for some reason. "However, maybe they know more about the situation we're in if there are more people who are longer than I am. Or maybe it is a shelter? But what if it is not what I expect it to be? Ugh! Better look for them for now! It's better than being alone in this place," she thought as she ran towards where the smoke was coming from.
Upon reaching the root of the smoke, one thing that came upon her was a giant mango tree. She felt fear and trembled, and it was hard not to scream in horror, but she resisted for the sake of living. It was not the tree that made her tremble in fear, but the one inhabiting it. On the enormous branch, one huge humanoid was lying there, holding a giant-shaped pipe that was smoking at the end of it. The giant was covered in hair, and its eyes were red, similar to sore eyes. Each time the pipe went to his mouth, he breathed smoke, the source of why she had come hoping for a survivor like her.