I see nothing, feel nothing. There is only darkness. Scenes stagger through my mind like reels from a broken movie. I wonder if they are real or not. Bright, flashing colors in a cabin living room. Crouching, afraid, behind an energyShield. Dad falling into the shadows past a dark doorway. Three men. Dad comforting me, but even he can't deceive me of the fear in his eyes, the mind behind them aware of the lies even as he spoke them.

"You'll be alright, Kaz."

Lies.

I feel the sharp claws of anger scraping at my heart. I can feel the rage burning within me, tugging at my mind, the heat that simmers deep in my soul. I think a part of this might be directed towards Dad. But I know for whom the bulk of it is saved.

Akato. Chairman Gato. Sangsum.

I'll rip them to shreds. But how? I'm weak. I can't avenge anything. I am nothing in this huge world; they are all that hold it up, the pillars of society.

But there were other things besides these terrible dreams. The sights of people gathered over me, wearing masks over their faces while holding drills and power tools in their hands. I remember the excruciating pain that would shoot up my limbs, bloom through my body, tearing into my flesh and savaging my nerves. I could only hear the sound of my own screams through these endless days and nights.

There were other feelings and sensations too—a thousand needles bearing into me, the chafing of my skin against leather restraints which dug into my flesh. I slept through countless nights, all my waking hours a daze of blurred memories and fitful dreams.

The first thing I see when I finally open my eyes, in possession of my entire consciousness and mental faculties, is a wooden roof. It is of beams and panels in the traditional style. Shafts of sunlight shoot through the wooden, latticed windows, and the room is warm. I wake fully from a bout of coughing. My throat is parched, my stomach so shrunken that it feels as if t's shriveled.

I loll my head to the left. There's only a wall. When I turn it to the right, I notice an older man sitting in a chair at the corner beside the bedstand. He is reading a book. He's dressed in a traditional black robe, but his hair is even darker. He has brilliant green eyes which pierce me with their gaze when he hears the rustle of my sheets as I wake.

He stares at me long and hard, as if slowly turning the pages of a book in search of a particular passage. I turn away from his stare, too afraid to ask anything, too much in pain to attempt to speak anyways. I try to look down at my body, but I can't see anything because of the blanket wrapped around me. It feels strange, though, and unlike me.

"You have your mother's face," the man finally says.

I hesitate to answer. Something about him is ominous and foreboding, as if I'll be punished for speaking out of turn. He stays quiet however, so I begin thinking that he may want me to answer.

"Did you know her?" I ask quietly. My tongue is barely able to form the words.

"I did." He stands. "I will have the healers come and inspect the state of your body and mind." He leaves.

I stare after him long after he's shut the door. I feel like I've seen him somewhere before, but I have a hard time putting my finger on it. I don't have much time to think, in any case, because not five minutes after he's left, two men and two women crowd into the room. They are dressed in traditional grey robes. The one at their head, a tall woman with long, yellow hair, looks me over. She checks my teeth, flashes a light in my eyes, asks me a few basic questions.

"Your name?"

"Kazin Moyashino."

She nods. "Age?"

"Eighteen. Nineteen in a month. Well, before I was out, at least."

She nods again. "Last thing you remember?" She looks up when I don't answer. "How you were injured."

I swallow. "Sangsum Gato."

She nods. "Very good. Cognitive function undamaged." A man behind her scribbles some notes onto his tPanel.

She waves to two of her assistants, and they shuffle towards me and remove the blanket.

I look down. My mind can't comprehend what I see. A torrent of emotions engulf me, and I fail to understand what I'm feeling, or if what I'm seeing before me is reality.

My entire body has been tattooed. I can hardly see any clear skin anymore. Blue, black, red, green, all colors of inks run through my limbs, my torso, everywhere. Designs of ancient styles, of animals and spirits and fire, wreak havoc upon every inch of my body. But it's not the drawings which scare me most—it’s what they're meant to conceal that drives me into the corner I now find myself in.

Endless metal chips and steel plates have been fixed to my body; riveted to my bones or anchored to my muscles and limbs by some magic of medical sciences. Some are blinking as if in startup mode, others are awkwardly sunken into the surface of my skin, as if my body has yet to decide whether to make them a part of its anatomy or not. The bioEnhancements run across my hands, up my arms and shoulders, down my torso, through my legs. I still have naked skin which defines me human, but there's more of me that's plated in chips.

I gasp, and I feel the punch of nausea. I would throw up, but there's nothing in my stomach to vomit, so I merely hack and heave.

"You'll be bedridden for the next several days," the healer lady explains. "Until your body accepts the enhancements as a new part of its physiognomy."

In my panic, I try to break free of my restraints, but my muscles are powerless.

"Not just yet," she warns me. "We haven't activated your spinalChip. You need to heal first."

"What have you done to me?" I rasp. "Am I even human?"

"You're as human as the rest of us," the healer says nonchalantly. "Your mind is still whole. Your nerve centers were destroyed—your spine was wholly severed from your brain. You need these enhancements to your skeletal frame muscles, your nerve endings, everything, really." She looks down at me with judgmental eyes. "Before you give in to anger, you should remember that you should be thanking Commander Norbu. He has allowed these operations and borne the entire cost of the operations himself. It would appear he values your life highly."

Commander? Of what?

I stare up at the ceiling, thinking. "When can I move again?" I finally ask.

"We will activate your spinalChip in a few days, when your body has had enough time to heal," she explains. "Until then, you'll be fed and cared for by Yukia here." She points at a girl beside her. She has brown hair and golden eyes, and I hate that she's pretty. I blush despite myself at the thought of having to shit and piss myself in her presence. It seems trivial, and a part of me whispers that it should be the last of my worries in my current predicament, but damn, I'm a teenage boy, and that's the only one that runs through my mind at the moment.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Now then, until we meet again, Kazin Moyashino," the healer says as she leaves. Two of her minions follow her, but the one named Yukia stays. She seats herself in the chair that the man from earlier was sitting in, and she draws a book from within her robes.

"Let me know if you need anything, Mr. Moyashino."

"Yeah," I say quietly. I continue to stare at the ceiling, wondering what my life has come to. Despite my anger and Yukia's presence, the tears come unbidden to my eyes, and I turn my head towards the wall on my left so that Yukia doesn't see.

***

The next several days are filled with pain. The powerful anesthetics they had pumped me full of for the procedures are beginning to wear off, and I'm left with nothing but searing pain as my bone tissue begins to consolidate the screws which rivet the bioEnhancements to my skeleton. The slightest use of my muscles leaves my limbs numb and in agony as the fibers work around the steel to move properly.

One of the worst things, however, was the first piss, and after that, the first shit. At least pain is something that I can feel alone, without having to care about anyone else or what they think. But damn, that first piss was hell; and just when I thought I couldn't drop any farther, I felt that first shit rushing to my bowels, and I realized that hell was bottomless.

I sat there for what seemed like several hours, wondering how long I could hold it. Then came the piss, and soon after the uncontrollable number two, and Yukia smelled them both before I could formulate my next steps. I shut my eyes through the whole thing and thought of ramen, or pizza, or whatever else, because I'm a teenager boy.

Yukia didn't make me feel awkward though, and her face was unreadable. She cleaned me up, got me in a new diaper, washed her hands, and sat back down as if nothing had happened. I was immensely thankful to her for that, and following that first incident, going about my business became less difficult over time.

I didn’t make much effort at conversation—not that she answered any of my questions anyways. It didn't matter, though. I had too many of my own thoughts to work through. I had to come to terms with the reality I was now confronted by. If what the healer said was true, and I still had use of my limbs, then that was one thing I could be thankful for. But I still had to come to terms with what happened to Dad and Hazgal.

I've never felt such strong hatred. I continued nurturing it so that it no longer burned so strongly within me, and it transformed into a dull heat throbbing in the back of my mind. I was always aware of its presence, but I wouldn't let it control me.

The fare they gave me was enjoyable. I was allowed to request anything I wanted to eat. I decided to go with things that weren't noodles, because I figured noodles would be too troublesome for Yukia to feed me, and I didn't want to cause her anymore trouble. The first meal tasted exceptionally good—Takoyaki and pork cutlet. Yukia fed me three balls of medicine afterwards—they were horrendous. They were bioRejuvenators, she said, to accelerate tissue healing and minimize scarring. The taste was so bad that I asked her if I could have them before the meal the next time. She laughed at that and agreed.

I had nothing to do, and I couldn't use my limbs either, so my days were filled with blank staring at the eScreen. I didn't know I had one available to me until Yukia asked if I wanted it. She pressed a button on the wall, and the eScreen came sliding out of it right near the foot of the bed.

I had a nervous pit in the bottom of my belly as I began watching the news. I listened for news of my dad—and sure enough, the anchors announced the latest updates concerning a huge Joryoku battle. Brief mugshots were shown of those slain, and my dad's picture flashed by on the screen, with the subtitle of "Gunman" below it. I hadn't even known Dad had a mugshot. Now that I think about it, what did I know about Dad's past? Why hadn't I cared more for it before? I’m both angered and saddened by my previous indifference, but also upset that Dad had neglected to tell me himself. I thought I had known my dad, but I hadn’t even known his shadow.

Vorin was killed too, it seems. I don't hear his dad's name though—the one named Danba. I wonder if Sangsum and Chairman Gato and Commissioner Akato killed them all too.

But the dead Joryoku and Contractors are old news now—they’re just quickly reviewed and cast away like the day's weather report. The main piece of sensational news these days is the slaying of a popular councilwoman by the name of Shora Asano. She was found in her apartment by her driver. There are scenes of him tearfully relaying the news during a press conference, recounting how he had found her dismembered head, cut clean through by a blue flameSword, with another golden one stabbed through her heart.

The analysts are discussing the significance of the mode of execution. flameSword executions are a Joryoku favorite, they claim, but blue is the color of the Kargu, and gold that of the Yamda. They have no idea what it means, but by the tone of their voice and the things they're saying, I can sense foreboding—they’re suggesting that tensions have reached a boiling point, and that violence in the city will now bubble over into chaos.

As promised, the healer returned after several days to check on my body.

"The bioRejuvenators have worked wonders on your body," she exclaims in amazement. "I've never seen such rapid rejuvenation." She nods in approval. "You might even be ready to meet with Norbu by tomorrow. Good job feeding him the meds, Yukia."

"He takes the bioRejuvenators without a word of complaint," Yukia says. She sounds almost proud. "There's no force-feeding on my end." She gives me a wink as she says it, and my face grows unendurably hot.

"We have us a little warrior," the healer says, nodding. "I'll let the Commander know. We'll have a hoverChair in here by tomorrow morning. I'll escort you to the Commander myself."

All night, I sleep restlessly and am plagued by fitful dreams. I don't know what to expect of this Norbu character. What will he demand of me in return for his generosity? Why did he save me in the first place? I wonder if my newfound life has become a sort of curse in itself, and I find that I'm scared. When Yukia wakes me up the next morning, I'm exhausted.

The healer arrives with the hoverChair. I realize I've never asked for her name.

"Can I get your name, doctor?" I ask her as she and Yukia place the flattened hoverChair beneath me. "I never got to thank you for saving my life."

"I'm no doctor," she says with a chuckle. "I'm a clan healer. You can call me Damera. And as for thanks, save those for Norbu." She presses a button on the hoverChair, and it slowly folds into the shape of a chair and hovers onto the floor.

"Why did he want to save me?" I ask, trying to tame the trepidation in my tone.

"He'll tell you that himself, if he wants to," Damera says.

Several days of unanswered questions is enough to tire anybody out from making futile attempts, so I keep my curiosity to myself for the duration of the journey. They take me out through the doors, and I can see now that I'm in a traditional-style house with wooden floors and sliding doors with wooden latticework on the windows. They lead me through the corridor and descend some stairs, then down a second flight of steps, before taking me out into the main courtyard.

The main courtyard is a beautiful garden, filled with ponds and hanging trees and flowers and bushes. I can see the curved pinnacle of a rocky mountain peaking over the treetops. The weather is nice, and there's a slight breeze to accompany the shady cool amidst all the trees and vegetation.

Damera and Yukia take me to an enormous pond near the edge of the grounds. Just past the thicket of trees, I can see high wooden walls which appear to surround the compound. There's a wooden hall with sloped roofs rising from the center of the pond, and they lead me into it by way of wooden bridge.

When they open the sliding doors, I see the man who had been sitting in my room when I first woke up. He's standing in the center of the hall, training with his flameSword. It's golden in color.

I'm with the damn Joryoku. I feel dread weigh on my mind like a deep shadow.

When he sees me, he stops immediately, and his eyes widen.

"So quickly?" he asks.

Damera nods. "I am quite amazed myself, Commander Norbu."

Norbu beckons, and Yukia and Damera push me closer.

"Do you know who I am?" he asks me.

I shake my head. "A rich benefactor?"

He laughs loudly, and I feel the tension within me dissipate a little. "Of sorts." He gestures to Damera. "On with the spinalChip, then."

Damera draws a small case from her pocket and clicks it open. There's a shiny silver chip within, shaped like a semicircle. She holds it against the back of my neck, just at the spine, and presses. Suddenly, there's an unbearably heavy pressure in the center of my neck, and it feels like my eyes and nose and mouth will burst from my skull. I gasp in my shock. The world around me spins, and my stomach ties itself into knots.

But all of that ends in a heartbeat.

I feel power surge through my limbs, strength as I have never known before. I feel like every fiber of my being is quivering, as if every single part of me has been transformed into a crackler, filled with the potency of wild vitality. I pant and shiver, and I let out a bellow of ecstasy that I can't contain, despite my company.

Norbu smiles. "Stand, Kazin Moyashino."

I obey. I feel like I can leap through the roof and fly. My entire body is shimmering with blinking lights and colorful fire as the energy from the bioEnhancements ripple through my being. The dragon twining itself around my body writhes in a fit of light, its scales glimmering.

I feel powerful. I feel like I can do anything. Suddenly, I feel revenge is within reach.