The next day
A voluptuous woman in a nurse outfit comes into the room holding a clipboard tight to her chest. Erin opens his eyes to look at her.
“Hi Erin, nice to see you’re awake now. The doctor says you should be good to walk whenever you feel like getting up.” The nurse lays down a plate of delicious hospital food on the table.
“Th-thanks,” Just as Erin was about to begin eating, he sees that she’s still standing next to him with a bright smile.
“What happened to the other nurse? Don’t we have designated nurses?”
“She took the day off today, maybe she was feeling ill. Why, could it be that I’m not good enough?” The nurse teasingly comes closer and it's only now that Erin realizes how alluring the woman is, her assets are especially plentiful.
“N-no, no. It’s fine.” Erin looks down in an attempt to hide his red face.
‘Core, a little help please?’
‘I’m busy guiding your body into perfect recovery, you might even gain some benefits from this. As long as my efforts go well…’
‘What do you mean experiments, and can you please-’
“So, Erin.” The nurse grabs a chair and sits closely to Erin, giving him a clear view of her deep blue eyes.
“I heard you were a very brave man at school.” She slides her slender fingers up and down his legs.
“I know it’s a little early, but I would very much appreciate-” she gets up close to Erin’s ear and whispers- “If you would tell me the whole story of how you saved that girl and fought off that crazy boy.” Erin feels a surge of blood rise to his head before a lightning flashes through his mind, waking him up.
“I- I saved a girl?” Still looking flustered, Erin scratches the back of his head,
The woman frowns and takes her hand away from Erins leg. This time she comes closer and holds his arm tightly into her chest.
Erin nearly falls into a daze again before he forces himself to focus, realizing the strangeness of the situation.
“You don’t remember? This stupid kid took enough drugs to overdose a cow and suddenly went crazy. He started attacking everyone including his girlfriend, but you pushed her away and saved her. I heard he was strong enough to break the tables and crack the floor, don’t you think it was strange?” The woman blinks her wide eyes at Erin.
“Did that happen?” Erin’s puts his finger on his chin as if trying to remember what happened.
“Yeah there’s even signs of a desperate struggle, you even stabbed him in the throat with a sharp weapon!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re starting to confuse me. What happened to me?” Since when is a ceramic tool classified as a weapon? This chick is trying to get something out of me! The woman let out a dejected look.
“Haah. The doctor said you might have some memory loss, make sure to rest well and eat healthy. If you remember anything, call me.” A card with a number falls next to Erin’s cold food as the woman turns to leave. Erin thoughtfully looks at her back as she walks out.
‘Could she be part of the police? It could also be a news reporter. Or maybe…’ When something humans don’t understand comes to existence, there will always be a tide following it. There’s no way to explain Erin’s abilities and John’s reactions to taking drugs, maybe this is going on all around the world and special orginizations have formed to take control of the situation. For now, Erin decides to enter the world again..
Standing up, Erin feels the effects of laying on a bed without moving for so long. It feels like he’s many times heavier, and only after breaking a sweat does he manage to struggle up.
‘Shouldn’t there be a nurse to guide me through this? My legs feel like twigs…’
Looking around Erin spots a wheelchair at the corner of the room. He looks at it but hesitates to sit on it.
‘Only with my own efforts can I get back in shape, using a wheelchair will only set me back.’
Erin walks out of the room, leaning on the wall for support. The people that pass by stare at Erin as he walks hugging the wall. Many of them give awkward smiles and weird looks. It’s only now that Erin looks down and realizes he’s dressed in a light blue hospital gown, and the back of it was quite loose. Erin’s face turns red, and he quickly tightens the string to hide his behind. He looks down at his feet with a pondering look.
‘That explains the breeze... I really need to wake up already. Some clothes would be nice too.’
“You think this hospital is your own home or something? What do you think you’re doing!”
Erin turns around in a panic only to realize the screams weren’t directed at him. Across the hall he sees the nurse that took care of him the other day be screamed at by a fat old man in a suit.
“I-I don’t know how I fell asleep! I was just drinking my morning coffee and then-”
“I don’t need your excuses! Meet me in my office, we need to have a serious talk about your work…” The fat man turns around with a lewd, evil grin as he walks away.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Erin hides his disgusted face as he walks away in the opposite direction.
‘That woman doesn’t seem like the type to slack off at work. The nurse from earlier said she took the day off, but she was here all along... I need some fresh air.’
Finally outside, Erin takes a deep breath. He feels a chilly breeze sweep through his practically non-existent clothing. The ominous smell of a hospital has already become an nuisance for him, being cold is completely worth coming outside. The courtyard is full of green grass with a tree planted here and there. Other people can be seen walking on the pavement, or sitting on benches. Eren walks to a secluded corner behind bushes and a tree before sitting down with his legs crossed.
‘Corey, are you finished yet? I want to try out my powers.’
I’ll be paying attention, just don’t get caught.
‘Thanks for the help!' Erin stretches his body before focusing on a small twig next to the tree. He feels a surge of energy within him leave and wrap around the twig, and within a moment the twig disappears. Erin looks within him to find the twig lying in an empty space.
‘14 meters of godlike space! I feel like I’m in control of everything within.' Erin’s eyes gleam in excitement, imagining all the ways he can exploit this power. He look up to see the bird chirping then once again concentrates on the twig within his space. He uses his mind to stretch and compress the stick, changing it into various shapes. Sweat starts to slide down his brows, making him realize how much concentration is needed. Finally the wood forms a tiny and crude bird figure. He takes it out and examines it with his hands, despite being exhausted he feels a sense of accomplishment.
‘I have complete power over this space, however it’s a bit hard to control. I’m going to have to make a program that allows me to modify things more easily.’ As Erin fiddles with it, he hears the bushes to the side move, and a young girl around his age comes out with a baby bunny lying comfortably in her arms. The girl had a pretty, but emotionless face that gave other people a sense of inferiority. Her black hair was braided into long, silky pigtails and she wore a set of striped sweats.
“You… you’re not cold wearing that?” She looks confusingly at Erin’s hospital gown, making his face turn red.
“Being cold is better than being in there.” Erin turns around to face the old and creepy hospital.
“Yeah, you’re right.” She scouts out the area as if looking for something. Erin looks at the bunny resting in her hands before coming to a realization.
“You’re looking for its home?” He points towards the infant bunny.
“Mhm, I’m trying to get it back home before night time. Did you make that?” She looks at the wooden figure in Erin’s hands.
“Yeah, kind of. It came out pretty bad though, I guess I just need more practice.” The girl ignores Erin and continues looking around. Erin closes his eyes once again, pondering within his mind. He occasionally opens one eye gazing nervously at the girl’s presence.
‘Maybe it is possible... Corey do you I can make some sort of radar to help me look for things?’ Erin ends up waiting a few seconds before getting a response.
With source energy, many things are possible!
‘I need you to search my memories and refresh everything I know about programming.’
Sure, one second! Searching Saved Files… Making Separate Folder… Uploading to present memories…
Erin feels a surge of information enter his head as he begins to remember most of the things he forgot from his programming classes, including the online textbook he skimmed through without much care. This makes him wince in pain as he falls backward from his sitting position, making the girl turn around.
“Are you ok? Should I call the doctors?” She calmly looks at Erin who is rolling around the grass with his hands pressing against his head.
“No! I’m fine!” The girl shrugs her shoulders and continues her search in another area, ignoring Erin whose eyebrows are still twitching.
‘Corey… I really wish I could slap you.’
Haha! No pain, no gain. You should hurry up and move inside the soul.
Erin sighs at his helplessness and calms down once the pain turns into just a slight itch within his mind. After focusing his thoughts, he begins working.
Log Start: Terrain Scanning
“Source energy should be the key here. I need to use it as the sensor.”
Def Scan(Range = X of Source Energy level / User input…)
...
Def Land(...)
If Protrusion = True
Then
…
Log End
This is too much information for your brain to handle, I can help you sort it out for now, but in future you’re going to need to allocate a core to process the information as it increases.
Two hours later, the sun starts setting down and the bushes once again tremble, making Erin open his eyes as he finished testing and modifying his program with the help of Corey. Erin looks at the girl's silver eyes. Her hair was all messy with leaves and scraps of wood in it and her eyes were beggining to slope down in exhaustion.
“Your back.” Strangely, even without Corey, Erin can easily converse with the girl.
“I was just checking if you were still alive.” She turns around slowly as if she’s about to leave.
“It’s getting dark, if you want I can hel-”
“Sure!” The girl immediately turns around and agrees before Erin can even finish his sentence, making Erin smile awkardly.
“So what areas have you searched? And by the way, my name is Erin, Erin Knight. What’s yours?”
"Alice Vi Britannia."
...
A few minutes later Erin is crouching down next to the girl, looking at a baby bunny slowly enter the hole which it calls home.
'Even with Corey's help, using Terrain Scanning takes a tole on my mind, I'll need to fix this later.' He turns around to see the very messy, and usually emotionless face of the girl, break out in a warm smile, making him feel the urge to pat her head. Erin feels a satisfaction swell up in him as he breaks out in a laugh. This makes the girl turn around.
“What?” The smile on her face disappears and now contains a tinge of annoyance.
“What if I said, you should smile more often, pretty lady.” Erin, stands up with a wide grin, feeling embarassed and stupid inside.
“Pfft- you're disgusting.” The girl manages to hold in her laughter as she gets up and pats herself down. Just as they start to walk, Alice falls down to her knees with her hands grabbing on to her shoulders.
“It-its happening.”
Source energy detected!