Chapter 31. The Gift

Six days. It had been six days since the events on the detention facility. I was touch and go there for a while, but I was stable now. Apparently, those blades of Anthragors had some sort of ability that hindered healing. Elvis had been able to figure it out, but it took a couple of days. I had to be sedated during that time.

For the last several days I had confined myself to my quarters. Elvis had an A-ganger bring me food. Tiff and CJ had visited me several times trying to raise my spirits, trying to get me out of the depression that I had fallen into.

I stared at my arms, now mangled and incomplete. Anthragor had put me down without me being able to so much as scratch him.

Over the last few weeks, I had begun to form some sort of heroic self-image. I had somehow convinced myself that I would be the one to save Earth. Hell, I was even going to take a shot at the Universal Council. Nothing could stop me.

Now as I was lying in my bed, my arms a mangled mess, those thoughts were gone. The reality of this situation had not just struck me, it had beaten me to a pulp and taken my arms. I just wanted to be back home, I wanted everything to be back to normal.

Normal was gone though, it was never coming back, and I sure as hell wouldn’t be the one to bring it back.

As I lay there, alone, my mind drifted to my family. I missed them and I hoped that things on Earth weren’t as bad as they were here. I knew time worked differently there but I wasn’t sure how much time had really passed. If the Lacertines were there then things had probably taken a turn for the worst.

I regretted not setting out to find my family after the drop. I was actually considering making the trip soon, but something always came up. I could make the trip on foot in a few weeks; it wasn’t the distance that kept me from going though. It was the fear of what I would find.

Fear was a powerful motivator; I knew that firsthand. In my mind, If I didn’t go home then there was always a chance that my family was safe and had been surviving. The fear told me that I could go home and find nothing and no one there to greet me, and that kept me from making the trip to find out for sure.

I still missed them though, and I hoped that they were okay. If I ever got the chance again, I wouldn’t let the fear stop me from seeing them.

I didn’t know what would happen now. Elvis had assured me that he could fit me with prosthetics that would function well enough for me to continue. There would be an adjustment period, but eventually I would get most of my functionality back. He was currently working to fabricate them, what other option did I have?

Tiff told me that there were places in the universe that had the capability to regrow limbs, but the process was long and painful. That was a great idea, but those places weren’t available inside the dungeon. So, for now, I was keeping to myself. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this and I was ashamed of my failure.

I reached over to the small bedside table to grab 3 more of the sleeping pills that Elvis had given me, only to be reminded that I no longer had a hand. I laughed in embarrassment and shame as my eyes welled up with tears.

“What a hero…” I said as I leaned over and nudged 3 of the pills away from the others with my nose.

Elvis was insistent that sleep would accelerate the healing process. I didn’t care about that, I just wanted to escape my reality for a little while, so I grabbed one more to make sure I slept as long as possible. Elvis had warned me to take no more than two at a time, but I didn’t care. Honestly, how much worse could things get?

I took the pills with a drink of water that CJ had left for me with a straw poking out. I slumped back into my bed and thought about my failures, my family, and my planet while I drifted off to sleep.

*****

“XO Tiff, Captain’s pulse has dropped extremely low. He is in need of assistance,” Elvis said as Tiff sat on the bridge along with CJ and a few members of the team who were rescued from the detention facility.

Tiff immediately rushed to Andrew’s quarters, CJ following close behind. As they entered the room, they saw him lying on the bed asleep. The sleeping pills scatted on the table beside his bed.

“Elvis, what is the issue? I thought he was through the worst of it?” Tiff said as she touched his neck to feel his pulse.

“Captain may have taken too many of the sleeping pills I gave him, He was instructed to take no more than two every 8 hours. By my count, he has taken too many. Get him to the med bay and I will purge his system,” Elvis replied.

Tiff and CJ lifted Andrew out of the bed and carried him into the med bay. This was a scary situation on top of an already impossible one. Tiff and CJ looked at each other nervously as they placed the captain onto one of the open beds in the med bay.

Elvis immediately went to work, a tube snaked out from under the bed and entered Andrews's mouth as it began to pump his stomach. At the same time, a medical drone attached an I.V. line to begin administering intravenous fluids.

“Captain will be fine in time. He need to rest now,” Elvis spoke sadly as he continued working on Andrew.

*****

I knew I was asleep; I remember drifting off. I remember seeking peace and escape from the nightmare I currently found myself in, but all I found now was nothing.

I was in a space of sorts; it wasn’t a room though. There was just pure white space all around me as far as the eye could see. I looked down and saw my bare feet standing on a white floor, I couldn’t see an end to it.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What is going on?” I asked, “what kind of dream is this?"

I raised my hands to look at them and felt my stomach drop as I stared at the two bloody stumps.

I can’t even escape it in my dreams… I thought to myself.

“Why do you seek escape, Andrew Dawes?” an ethereal voice said.

The voice was neither male nor female but a mix of both. There was power in the voice. I could feel the words resonate inside me as the voice spoke. I didn’t know who was speaking, or where it came from, but I knew that it didn’t hold any ill-will toward me.

I extended my injured arms once more, “I can't do this anymore, this is too big for me,” I said, “what can one man do against a universe full of evil?”

“How can hope grow without someone to tend it as it blossoms, Andrew? You have been given a gift capable of spreading hope in this universe, and after receiving this gift you abandon the opportunity?”

At this, I stiffened up, the emotion of everything I had experienced over the last few weeks hitting me like a fist.

“Opportunity?! Opportunity?! My world has been invaded; the invaders are already working toward domination. I was stolen away and given a responsibility I didn’t ask for. Even so, I accepted that responsibility and tried to do my best, and what did I get in return?!”

I held up my mutilated arms to the voice showing the reward I had received for my efforts, “I got my fucking arms taken away, that’s what I got!”

“Your arms? Are you saying that arms would allow you to accomplish your goals, Andrew? Is a lack of arms the reason you are broken, the reason you have chosen to give up?” the voice said.

“Your words are meant to explain your weakness, but still, you speak false, Andrew. The loss of your arms has allowed you to accept defeat, but you never completely gave yourself to this cause. You held back a piece of yourself and played the part of Hero. You lost your arms because you never truly allowed yourself to commit.”

I slumped to the ground as the voice spoke. Emotions washed over me one after the other, fear, resignation, anger. I knew the voice was speaking the truth but what would anyone else have done in my shoes? Who could truly be thrust into this scenario and just accept that you had to save your world while killing anyone and anything that stood in your way? It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right.

“You are right, Andrew, it isn’t fair,” the voice said.

At those words, I broke, and tears began streaming down my face. I was alone, and empty.

“What do you want from me?!” I shouted, “who are you?!”

“We are allies. We are the true benefactors of this gift that you have been given. We are the Coeus.”

I sat, dumbfounded, “The Coeus, but aren’t you the ones who designed this whole nightmare? Why would you give me anything? Why would you help me?”

“We have watched the atrocities committed by the Council for millennia and we can no longer stand idly by while entire civilizations are wiped out of existence. We cannot directly take action against the council, so we have chosen a champion to lead this fight,” the voice said.

“What good is a champion with no arms?” I asked.

“You cannot even begin to understand the power that you have been given, Andrew. What you possess is not merely a suit of armor. It has manifested itself as armor because that is what you required at the time. If you continue to require armor, it will continue to manifest in that way. Do you understand?” the voice asked.

“No, I don’t understand. The armor can’t even operate for more than five minutes. How is it some great power? You aren’t making any sense,” I said.

“All will be revealed in time. We had to set parameters on the use of the gift while you were still acclimating to its abilities, but it is capable of more than you know,” the voice said.

“This gift is now yours. If you decide to give up, then hope will be lost. The choice is completely yours, Andrew, but if you are in need of something, the gift will aid you.”

“You must however remove any doubt or resignation. Fear will always exist, it is natural. You must trust the gift, however. If you can allow yourself to trust the gift, you will understand.”

I stood back up looking up into the blank white nothingness, “Understand what?!”

“Understand that you and the gift will no longer be separate. If you trust and commit yourself, you will truly become one with the gift. You will be able to manifest the gift however you see fit, for any period of time necessary," the voice replied.

“You can make a difference. You can be the hope that this universe needs. Something is coming, something that will change the universe forever. Earth will need you; the universe will need you.”

“What is going to happen?” I asked.

“We cannot explain it all in the short time we have left. Just know that after the Red Moon of Alcara, the dungeon will never be the same. The Coeus will no longer be complicit in slaughter,” the voice replied.

“Now you must accept the gift fully. You must be its master. Show that you can do that and move forward to be the hope you are meant to be.”

I looked down at my injured arms again and focused on my armor. It materialized, but my arms were still missing. The stubs were still there, but now they were covered with armor.

“Focus on the gift, Andrew, not the armor," the voice said encouragingly.

I dismissed my armor and took a deep breath. I had always focused on my armor when I summoned it. After all that is what it was. When I had first seen it, I saw a suit of armor. I never thought of anything else when I summoned it.

I closed my eyes and focused. I tried to feel the armor inside of me. I searched, digging into the recesses of my mind. I focused on my body trying to feel every part of it, trying to feel the armor. After a few seconds, I felt something unexpected. I could feel something inside me; not physically inside me, but more like it was in my soul. It was hard to explain but when I focused, I could feel something foreign, something that wasn’t originally me.

It wanted to merge with me completely; it wanted to become one, but I hadn’t allowed it to. I breathed in deeply; my eyes still closed. I pictured myself with the foreign entity. The entity was behind a door, and I was on the other side as it knocked loudly.

I reached down and grabbed the door handle, turning it slowly. The entity slammed against the door as fear rushed through me once again.

“Do not fear, Andrew; it means you no harm, it wishes to serve you. It is merely excited,” the voice said reassuringly.

I closed my eyes again, seeing the door once more. I reached for the handle and heard the banging again.

“Allow yourself to be great, Andrew. Allow yourself to bring hope,” the voice said.

I opened the door, and the entity consumed me. It was a black cloud, and it covered my entire body just like the armor did when I first equipped it. It was violent in its actions, it swirled like a tornado around me as I stood in the eye of the storm.

“No,” I said unmoving, eyes closed.

“No, you answer to me.”

With that, the tornado began receding, its violence was replaced with warmth. The entity covered my body like a light mist before sinking into my skin.

I felt it inside me, its immense power making me feel like I would explode at any minute.

“Calm,” I said.

The power receded; still there but waiting to explode upon my command.

I lifted my arms looking at the disfigured stubs. As I did, black tendrils began forming at the ends of each arm. I looked back and forth between each arm as the tendrils grew into forearms, then palms, then fingers.

I formed arms out of the gift. The lower half of my arms were black like my armor, mechanical in appearance, but they felt like my arms.

I touched one arm with the other, then my face. I could feel everything just like I could with my normal hand.

“Good Andrew, you have accepted your role in what is to come. Prepare yourself, and prepare your friends, everything changes after Level 1. You must survive.”

My eyes shot open as I lay in the med bay, Tiff and CJ staring down at me in amazement.