Kyle was drifting from dream to dream, foreign concepts and thoughts whirling around in his mind. One moment he was in his scrubs serving patients, the next he was standing in the middle of a ruined city all alone. Then he was in water, a pond skater struggling to escape from a fish, only to be whisked off to being a drone bee in a hive refining honey. Then he was back in school, learning the basic concepts of mana control. He knew that this had to be related to the mutation he’d gone through.
Underpinning all of the dreams and memories was a pain entirely different than any he’d experienced before. It had started in the realm of the physical – he knew that much – but it had somehow burrowed deeper into his being than even the nerve pain he felt as a backlash from using HASTE.
The agony grew more and more familiar as he dreamed, though the familiarity did little to lessen the intensity. Then, abruptly, it vanished. It wasn’t just the pain, every sensation ceased except a rhythmic pulsing of mana. It was foreign, but Kyle had spent enough time exposed to it to recognize aspects of the chaotic mana he’d been living in and recovering from for nearly half a year. With everything else filtered out, he could much more easily feel the flow of the mana infusing his body, giving strength as it also created strain.
He marveled at that for a brief moment, until he felt an odd sense of connection through the mana. It felt like it came from the same source as the instinctive anger he’d felt towards the fly he’d killed, but orders of magnitude more potent. It wasn’t anger this time, and as he focused on it the connection started to shift. He felt the attention of… something turn towards him. Kyle couldn’t explain it, whatever it was he knew it was ancient and vast, possessing unimaginable power. Unable to move or react, the only thing Kyle could do was wait as the incredible presence focused on him.
That was the moment Kyle knew what it was like to be less than prey. Whatever this presence was had taken notice of him, and despite feeling no hostility towards him Kyle felt exposed and utterly terrified. Then, as quickly as it had rested upon him, it was gone. Kyle felt a faint tinge of approval before pain once again washed over his body – although this time there was no doubt the pain was physical. Kyle’s eyes popped open, his hoarse throat letting out a scream at the sudden return of all the pain he’d been bearing.
He expected to see the open sky, but instead saw the sterile ceiling of the kitchen he now called home. Taking deep breaths, he tried to move each of his limbs before sitting up. His heart rate slowed as he continued breathing, and it was only then that he noticed he was not alone in the room. He was shocked to see the three strangers, in the room with him until he saw the familiar sight of C.H.A.D.D. floating close by. They look familiar, he thought, where have I? Oh, yeah. The memory of the people they’d saved came back tohis mind, and after a quick introduction the older gentleman took his granddaughters outside to give Kyle time to clean up.
As Kyle moved and washed, he noticed a series of cracks across his skin. They didn’t hurt, but as he pushed at one, he found the skin extremely brittle.
“C.H.A.D.D., can you run a scan of my body? Something’s wrong.”
[I’VE ALREADY TAKEN THE LIBERTY, DR. MAYHEW. A FRESH DERMAL LAYER APPEARS TO HAVE GROWN AND SOLIDIFIED UNDER THE LAYER PRIOR, RESULTING IN A NETWORK OF CRACKS. THE NEW DERMAL LAYER ALSO APPEARS TO HAVE MORE NUMEROUS AND ROBUST PATHWAYS FOR MANA CIRCULATION AND IS APPROXIMATELY THIRTY PERCENT THICKER.] Kyle could only sit and blink at the information from the drone. Sure enough, as he pulled back a layer of the external skin, a new layer existed directly below. The next half an hour was spent sloughing off the old which was an incredibly uncomfortable endeavor.
What the hell am I turning into? Still, when the work was done Kyle had to marvel a bit at the results. Old scars and blemishes were completely gone with the new layer of skin, and he could feel it was not only thicker than before, but much stronger. The chitinous weave was tighter and higher quality, which was at the same time exciting and terrifying.
Whatever that red gem was that he touched, its integration into his body had resulted in his non-human characteristics being magnified further. While it likely came with more power, it also came with risks, most of which Kyle didn’t have a grid to identify or understand. With a sigh, Kyle dressed in a set of fresh clothes they’d found and sat down cross-legged, deciding to enter meditation and take a look at his center before inviting Frank, Arianna, and Amalia back into his home. As he entered his center, he immediately saw the changes, much more significant internally than what had happened with his body.
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The pattern he had grown so accustomed to seeing had shifted materially. Where once had been a void with a facsimile of himself within it, now there were streams of energy twisting and circling around the image. The pattern representing his core attributes had also shifted. Before, he had looked at an empty circle with seven slowly rotating arms that represented his core attributes. The seven arms were still present, but they bent and swayed as they moved, each arm with three flowing circular patterns that attached at various places along the arm. One of the circles was glowing red, but Kyle chose to finish his examination before looking at the details.
The circle at the core of the arms had changed as well; it had expanded and added a smaller set of concentric circles inside. He saw that he’d gained a level and identified the familiar motes of light that indicated free attribute points, but those were now only in the outermost ring. The next two layers of circles were empty, with the very center holding a flickering energy the same shade as the dust he’d absorbed from the fly. Steeling himself, he once again focused on the image, bringing the words to his mind.
KYLE MAYHEW. ARTHRO-HUMAN CHIMERA (AWAKENED), HEALER. LEVEL 51
VITALITY: 183
ENDURANCE: 183
STRENGTH: 59
DEXTERITY: 122
WILLPOWER: 139
INTELLIGENCE: 185
PERCEPTION: 188
FREE ATTRIBUTES: 12
He was a little surprised at how… normal it looked. He noted the word “Awakened” had been added, but he had already been awakened for many years beforehand. Maybe it’s in reference to the ‘arthro’ aspect? He allocated his free attribute points in an even split between Vitality, Endurance, Intelligence, and Willpower.
That, too, felt very normal. He noted that the points he’d added to Endurance went to the arm with the glowing red node, and he focused on that as well. At first nothing happened, but as he continued to focus he got an impression that quickly changed to words. ADAPTIVE ANATOMY – 1/? – ENHANCED CARAPACE. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it, and it didn’t give him much in the way of explanation. Looking at the other arms with the empty nodes, the best guess he had was that as the nodes filled he’d see similar changes that would directly relate to the attribute in question. The ADAPTIVE ANATOMY he saw when he first shifted to a chimera had gained a point, and Kyle thought back to what he’d absorbed from the fly.
He tried taking time to look at the red energy flowing around his image and the concentric circles with the energy in the center, but he wasn’t able to get more than vague impressions of power, none of which was helpful to him. Leaving meditation, Kyle felt overwhelmed. Whatever had been happening to him, he was more powerful than he’d ever been, at the cost of becoming less human. He thought about the anger that had he felt towards the fly, the primal, territorial rage he’d experienced.
When he’d killed it, he wasn’t thinking about survival. He just wanted to see it dead. When he’d killed it, he was satisfied. And that thought chilled him. He thought about the anger he’d felt towards Garth and the others from Duilleag. What would have happened if they’d been on the receiving end of that emotion? Would he have been able to stop it? Not now, Kyle. Control what you can control.
These thoughts lingering in the back of his mind, he stepped outside to greet the family he’d saved. Feeling the midday warmth on his face, he saw Frank walking his older granddaughter through a martial arts routine with two sticks. They stopped when they saw him, and he waved in greeting.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted to let you know you’re welcome to come back inside, and I also wanted thank you. I don’t know that I would have made it if it wasn’t for your help in bringing me back.”
The old man broke into a broad smile as he responded. “One hand helps another. I was hoping to talk about what comes next in any event, though maybe after we eat.”
Taking the sticks offered by Arianna, Frank and the girls made their way back into the shelter. They brought Kyle up to speed on everything that had been happening, and he was honestly shocked. Like he’d suspected, the damage was reduced significantly the farther they moved past Nierburg, and there were large groups of survivors and settlements that had been established in the smaller cities.
Frank, Arianna, and Amalia were in one such settlement before they left, having caught wind of an awakened warlord and his bandits travelling in their direction. Many chose to stay, but Frank wasn’t willing to take the risk with his granddaughters. Knowing there was safety in Nierburg, they had decided to make the journey.
There was a question that had gone unasked, but Kyle picked up on it and decided to address it directly.
“I’d be happy to help get you close to the city, but I’m not exactly welcome there myself. Still, if I can get you close enough you’ll be able to make it the rest of the way safely.” The relief was evident on Frank’s face as he smiled.
“You have no idea how much that offer means.”
Kyle smiled back, “I’m happy to help. It’s already mid afternoon, you’re welcome to spend the night here and we can take off in the morning.” People help each other. Kyle thought. I’m still me, damnit. Oblivious to the conflict in Kyle’s mind, Frank and the girls nodded in agreement.
Frank asked one more question. “You’re welcome to any of the rations we have left over after the travel tomorrow, but is there anything else we can do for you or help with before we go?”
At that, Kyle couldn’t help but grin as he gestured to the Escrima sticks. “How exactly do you fight with those things?”