A rod inserted above the subclavian vein, through the chest, leading to the heart. Catheters inserted into the aorta and pulmonary arteries. The blood clots were destroyed and the oil was drained before passing through. Thirty-two beats per minute. He was passed out on a surgical table, with large circular lights exhibiting his insides. The darkness had spread throughout his upper-body, contaminating his blood. When the surgery was done, an organ was dissolved into the cut, sewing the aperture.

  A stinging sensation on his arm, and it felt unusually heavy. “The operation was successful,” she said. “You seem to be doing better.” Still dazed and in confusion, his vision made out the silhouette of the standing person. “Your heart rate,” the voice continued, “had dropped to dangerously low levels. There was a clot in your heart, which was pumping a black liquid into your body. We removed most of it, but a lot is still circulating in your blood. So, you’re going through dialysis. Hopefully, it will be temporary as long as the liquid does not damage your organs.”

He caught the face of the lips who spoke. “Shuang?” he said.

“Yes?”

“You performed the surgery?”

“Yes. How are you feeling?”

“You wanted to be a doctor, right?”

“Yes, you remember?”

“How could I forget the top of my class?” He pulled himself up. “Glad to see you’re doing well.”

“You’re going to be hospitalized for at least a week while we figure out what was in your blood.”

A small machine with the word ‘Autohyper’ carved in at the center, wrapped around his arms like a sphygmomanometer, and was cleansing him. “What was in my blood?”

“A black liquid. We don’t know how it got into your blood and we don’t know what it is. It’s being tested in the lab, but for now you should rest.”

“Black liquid? In my blood?”

“Yes.”

“Did you remove it from my heart?”

“We removed the clot from your heart.”

He lifted his hospital gown, and saw the dark anoint upon his heart, how the oil made its way through the veins and dissected his follicles, rendering them useless. “Is there a mirror?”

“There’s a restroom down the hall.”

He threw his legs off the bed and they fell with the force of an anchor. He could barely lift his body up even with the help of his arms, being as heavy as a colossus.

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She helped hold him up with her shoulder. “You should rest for now.”

“No,” said Vick. “I think I’ve seen the black liquid before.”

  They stumbled over to the restroom, and he leaned on the door as the doctor retrieved a cane for him. “Thank you,” he said and entered the room, locking himself with the being in the mirror. It frightened him. “What’s happened to me?” he whispered to the reflection. The shadows under his eyes had grown immense, his cheeks a rotting green which made the yellow from his lips obtrude, and the dark bulging veins on his temples shaped a pattern of lightning. No longer was he witnessing the slick, cold, and blue of Rorohiko and its people, instead he was looking at the hands belonging to a deteriorating being.

  “What did you see?” enviously asked Gus, who had yet to touch the lunch he had prepared.

“The trees were huge!” said Willard and took a bite of his apple. “They look so small in the plane,” he said with his mouth full, “but they are enormous.”

“It’s dirty down there,” said Roy. “I had to take a lengthy shower after we returned. I had just started searching, but Mister Vick called it off quick.”

“He was feeling ill,” said Andrew.

“I know, hopefully we can search longer tomorrow. I wanted to figure out how the trees grew so tall. Here,” he said and took out his phone, showing them the pictures of the marks on the trees.

“What is that?” asked Gus.

“Some kind of claw marks on the tree’s trunk.”

“Do you have a full shot of the tree?”

“I don’t think so.”

“If the branches were torn and leaves were messed, an animal might have climbed it.”

“They’re huge!” said Willard. “They were like one-thousand meters tall.”

“One-thousand meters?”

“And they were just as wide.”

“Yeah, I could barely see down there,” said Roy. “I don’t think an animal could snap its branches.”

  “Shuang, what does it mean to see faint figures? I saw one during the venture at night above the clouds, and I saw it again during the expedition.”

“Visual hallucinations? I’ll get you an eye exam.”

“I get terrified when that happens, I keep thinking it’s—How long do I have to keep this machine on for?” he said and tapped the halo around his arm.

“For a couple hours, I can only give you a rough estimate. The machine will turn green when it is finished. Oh, and Vick.”

“Yes?”

“It’s Doctor Shuang.”

  Rorohiko grew into a soft amber, akin to the sun ever so slowly. The Great Technological Statue stood impenetrable by the shift in tone, radiating its sapphire at the heart of the edifice. The clique, bolstered by the inspiration from their expedition, ventured away from their home to fathom the chimera. When the teacher had fallen asleep due to his fatigue, and when the boys had quickly run out of time as Rorohiko dimmed, it made its transformation to the previous cold and blue spirit. The teacher firmly planted his feet onto the floor, lifted his featherlike body, and looked to find a familiar person looking back at him. The scars from the torture he went through were only witnessable on his chest, like a shotgun torn through his heart. The boys awoke early as well, hopped into their attire and were ready for another day of expedition.

  Oseye and Yolanda, who joined from another district to supervise the expedition, were with the class in the same formation as the previous venture. Breaking Vick’s rule, Gus was made in charge of the gyroplane again, and when a Coward was born, it was targeted. Oseye, Willard, Andrew, and Roy, who were in the same gyroplane as Gus, had their gears ready at the hatch. As soon as the dot vanished from the radar, the group made their hastily descent.