Liam groaned as he attempted to move, but his body rebelled, responding only with sharp pain. The back of his head throbbed, pressed against something unyieldingly hard. He strained to recall his location, his mind flashing fragmented images: a dead forest, a diminutive woman, a tainted pond... The visions cascaded but slipped away just as quickly, evading his grasp. Eventually, the onslaught ceased, leaving not even a wisp of the dream behind. Liam lay there, drifting between consciousness and oblivion. Abruptly, a voice stirred him from his haze.
"Liam?" that sure is a beautiful voice "Liam, where are you?" Is she looking for me? "Oh, God!" She sounds worried, I wonder what's wrong. "LIAM!!" With monumental effort, Liam managed to pry his left eye open just a slit. Hovering above him was the most captivating woman he had ever seen. Her straight, dark brown hair cascaded down to her waist, framing a face with gentle features and the kindest, most caring eyes he'd ever gazed into. Tears streamed down her cheeks, adding to her poignant beauty.
Liam reached up, his hand gently brushing away her tears as he croaked, "What's wrong, pretty lady? Why so sad?" He could see that Isabella looked distraught and unmistakably panicked.
"Oh my god, Liam, I thought you were dead!" Isabella exclaimed, her voice laden with relief and terror as she tried to embrace him. She quickly pulled back as Liam flinched from the pain. Frantically, she began checking him over. "Liam, you're bleeding! We need to get you to the hospital," she urged, her panic mounting.
Liam slowly lifted his head, taking in his surroundings: the familiar wooden fence, the half-cut lawn, the push mower lying just five feet away. "What... what happened?" he murmured. Isabella's eyes sharpened, and Liam knew she was about to deliver the final blow—not with malice, but with the kind of definitive point no husband could ever hope to refute. There was nothing he could do but brace for impact, in the most marital sense of the word.
"I'll tell you what happened," Isabella exclaimed, her voice a mix of exasperation and concern. "You stupidly decided to mow the grass, even though I told you it wasn't that important! Even though I told you it was going to be 102 degrees today! I come home from work and find you out here in the backyard, nearly dead! I swear, Liam, you're so stubborn! If I hadn't come home when I did, who knows what could have happened!"
Liam winced at the verbal onslaught, aware that she was right; they only had each other, and it had been that way since they first met. Liam had been found wandering the streets 12 years ago, starved, dehydrated, and covered in lacerations and bruises. He was brought to the local hospital knowing only his name, with no records of him found in any system and no one coming forward to identify him despite numerous newspaper ads and appearances on the 8 o'clock news. It was at the hospital that he first met Isabella, a 22-year-old fresh out of nursing school, grieving the loss of her parents who had died just a year before her graduation. An only child with no other known family, Isabella saw something in Liam that others might not have. To outsiders, it might have looked like love at first sight, but for them, it felt like a recognition of souls long intertwined. When he could no longer stay at the hospital, she offered him a home. Six months later, they were married—since then, it had always been them against the world. “You're right, you’re always right, Isabella,” Liam admitted softly.
Isabella's expression melted into a gentle smile. "You're a pain in my ass, you know that?" she said with a hint of affection. "Come on, let's get you seen by a doctor."
Liam grinned. "Yeah, I know, but you still love me!"
***
Liam awoke in his bed, the darkness of the night enveloping the room with no hint of dawn's light peeking through the window. Beside him, Isabella slept soundly, undisturbed by the silence that lacked the morning rush of commuters or the early chirps of birds. Careful not to disturb her, Liam rose slowly and made his way downstairs.
His throbbing headache had roused him from sleep. He trudged to the kitchen, glanced out the window at the backyard where everything remained untouched since they had left it. Reaching for the Ibuprofen on the counter, he swallowed a couple of pills, hoping to dull the persistent ache in his head. The doctor had told him he was fortunate; it wasn't a heat stroke but clear signs of heat exhaustion were present. Additionally, there was the stone that had embedded itself in the back of his head—luckily, it hadn't caused permanent damage, though it would likely leave a scar.
Liam's gaze drifted to the far end of the counter where a small zip-lock bag lay. He had insisted on keeping the stone, telling himself it would make an interesting memento of the ordeal, yet he couldn’t deny the primal pull it exerted, the undeniable need to possess it. He reached out, picking up the bag to examine the stone more closely through the plastic. It resembled volcanic rock—rough with sharp, jagged edges, and clumps of his hair still adhered to it. The typical holes seen in such rocks appeared larger than usual.
As he scrutinized the stone, something reflective caught his eye, buried within the porous surface. Curiosity piqued, Liam opened the bag and wrapped his fingers around the rock. The moment his skin made contact, vivid green lettering seared into his vision.
Initializing…
Liam recoiled, dropping the bag, but his fingers clung stubbornly to the stone. "Fuck... Fuck... Fuck!" he muttered under his breath, shaking his hand violently, desperate for it to respond, to release the stone.
Initializing 2% complete
Liam felt an instinctual dread, certain he didn't want whatever was beginning to unfold. It was the definitive reluctance of a child who knows they don't want a shot. Then, a wall of text began to scroll across his vision, relentless and unbidden.
Initializing 5% complete
ERROR - internal damage detected.
Unable to proceed.
Lazarus protocol activated.
Analyzing…
Available energy 41%
Damage detected
Brain damage -
Concussion - 10% required.
Memory loss - *beyond feasible capabilities*
Skeletal damage -
Hairline fracture of skull - 7% required
Muscular damage -
Minor muscular tears multiple - 4% required
Muscular exhaustion - 3% required
Epidermal damage -
Minor lacerations multiple - 3% required
Partial Avulsion - 8% required
Use 35% Energy to recover?
WARNING - Can not continue Initialization until recovery is complete.
SYSTEM OVERRIDE AUTHORIZED
Recovery process has started.
A green light began to pulse from Liam's hand, growing brighter with each passing second until it was nearly unbearable to look at. Uncertain of what to expect, Liam was taken aback when a final flash of light erupted from his hand. Despite the promises hinted at by the green text, he was utterly unprepared to find that all his injuries had healed—well, almost all of them.
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Lazarus protocol complete
Initializing 6% complete
Liam experienced a whirlwind of emotions as the text scrolled through his vision—excitement, joy, disappointment, and annoyance. He had always harbored a hope of regaining his memories, a hope that had faded over time as doctors cautioned they might return only in fragments, if at all. Yet, he had never caught even a fleeting glimpse of his past. The barrier to his memories remained firmly intact. So, when he initially speed-read the text and saw a mention of his memory loss, a flicker of hope ignited within him. But upon reading it a second time, that hope was extinguished; the text confirmed that he was not going to regain his memories, possibly ever.
Initializing 20% complete
His disappointment was manageable; after all, he was no stranger to letdowns. Deep down, he had accepted that his memories might never return. However, his annoyance was tangible—fueled by the green text that dangled an option before abruptly snatching it away. Once healed, though, his annoyance and paranoia largely dissipated, replaced by quicker, clearer thoughts. “Well, shit, how do you suppose I could recharge this thing?” Liam mused, only half-jokingly.
Initializing 50% complete
Liam was more trusting of this stone after it had healed him, however it did occur to him that it could be trying to turn him into one of those tin men that were always trying to kill the guy in the blue police booth. But from what he had seen on T.V. that was a very painful process, and probably a work of fiction.
Initializing 75% complete
But the implications lingered; if the stone had the power to heal him, what else might it do once initialization was complete? Liam’s better judgment urged him to halt the process until he understood more about the stone, but how could he stop it? His hand remained clenched shut, unresponsive to his attempts to pry it open with his other hand. For a fleeting moment, Liam considered cutting off his hand, but he quickly realized that such a drastic measure would likely create more problems than it solved. As he internally debated his next steps, time slipped away, and without warning, another wall of text scrolled across his vision.
Initialization complete!
Liam experienced a disconcerting sensation in his hand, as if the stone were pressing harder into his palm. Gradually, he felt the mass of the stone diminishing until there was nothing left, leaving his hand feeling eerily empty but finally free to move. He opened his hand and stared at his palm, where nothing remained of the stone. In its place, however, was what looked like a tattoo—a dragon encircling the Earth, guarding it as if it were its personal treasure. The image slowly faded away, like a dream upon waking.
Integration of Coryphaeus stone complete!
Preparing pulse wave scan
Pulse wave scan complete!
Temporal Asset Partition added!
Quest system added!
5 new quests found!
Activate TAP
Access and explore your Temporal Asset Partition (TAP)
Rewards: 50xp, 5 Dollars.
Recover memories
Recover your memories and find out who where and maybe who you still
are?
Rewards: 20,000xp, unknown, unknown.
Unlocking a rocks potential
While your Coryphaeus stone has been integrated successfully, much of its
potential is locked away. Figure out what features you are missing out on
and how to unlock them.
Rewards: 5000xp per unlock, UNLIMITED POWER!
Find a path
What's your path in life? Find items that will let you choose the correct
path.
Rewards: 100xp, A path to help you get stronger.
Rescue Isabella
It seems that the pulse wave scan has attracted unwanted attention,
protect Isabella.
Rewards 250xp.
Liam's stomach churned as he read the final quest delivered by the Coryphaeus stone. Despite having no concrete reason to distrust the stone, he harbored a desperate hope that it was deceiving him, or that none of this was real. Driven by urgency, he sprinted towards the kitchen, snatching the cleaver from the knife block on the counter. His abrupt movement sent the block flying off the counter; it hit the floor with a crash, scattering knives that clattered and skidded across the tile.
As he bolted towards the stairs, Liam made it only a quarter of the way up before a force slammed into him, nearly knocking him off his feet. A sharp, searing pain erupted in his shoulder, eliciting a scream from him. From the top of the stairs came a nasally, high-pitched cackle. Emerging from the shadows was a creature straight out of his nightmares. About two and a half feet tall with green skin and long pointed ears, it bared a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. Dressed in a brown leather tunic and tattered cloth pants, the creature wore a psychotic smile, laughing menacingly at him while it casually neglected to reload the crossbow in its hands.
Liam's eyes narrowed in fury and determination. He charged up the stairs, the creature's smile quickly turning to panic as it fumbled with the crossbow. Before it could load another bolt, Liam reached it and brought the cleaver down on its head with all his might. He felt a sickening crunch as the blade split the creature's skull, ending its life instantly.
Snatching the crossbow, Liam quickly inspected it, figuring out its mechanics. Once he understood how it operated, he loaded a bolt, ready for whatever came next.
Liam glanced down at his shoulder and saw the bolt jutting out. He instinctively reached to pull it out, but Isabella's words echoed in his mind, "If you have a knife stuck in you, don't pull it out. Let a doctor do that." She had shared that advice after a shift at the hospital, recounting the story of a man who, under the influence of drugs and with a self-inflicted knife wound in his leg, had pulled the knife out himself. Within minutes, he had bled to death. Taking her advice to heart, Liam refrained from touching the bolt.
He moved quietly down the hallway, the cleaver in his injured arm and the crossbow in his good one. He paused at each of the spare bedrooms and the guest bathroom, relieved to find the doors closed as usual. Pressing his ear against each door, he listened intently, ensuring no threats lurked beyond.
Reaching the turn in the hallway that led to their bedroom, Liam cautiously peeked around the corner, only to jerk his head back as another bolt whizzed by, embedding itself in the wall. The same type of creature he had previously killed stood menacingly in the bedroom doorway.
Reacting quickly, Liam darted around the corner right after the bolt struck the wall. He aimed at the creature’s head and pulled the trigger. The bolt, however, wobbled through the air and struck the creature's arm instead, causing it to drop its crossbow. Seizing the opportunity, Liam charged, hurling the now empty crossbow at the creature. Switching the cleaver to his functioning hand, he tackled the creature to the ground. Despite its attempts to block, Liam's relentless assault eventually broke through its defenses, and he killed it with several forceful cleaver strikes.
Liam slowly rose to his feet, his face flecked with blood. The door to his bedroom was slightly ajar, emitting a strange green glow that seeped through the cracks. With caution, he pushed the door open, unsure of what awaited him inside. Another grotesque creature stood on his bed, its attire a bizarre mix of cloth, feathers, and bones. It held a staff to its forehead, eyes closed in concentration.
Ignoring the pain and fueled by desperation, Liam charged, leaping at the creature with his cleaver raised high. Mid-air, he felt an eerie slowdown, as if time itself were thickening around him. Abruptly, he stopped, suspended momentarily, then, like a rubber band snapping back, he was hurled backwards with greater force than his charge. His back slammed against the wall of his bedroom, the impact breaking several bones.
Blurred vision and excruciating pain clouded his senses as he struggled to push himself up. The creature opened its eyes, its glare piercing through the dimness. With a flash of light and a deafening boom, it vanished, leaving Liam alone in the dark, broken both mentally and physically.
He lay there, overwhelmed by a crushing sense of defeat. He had failed to save Isabella, the only person who truly mattered to him. As the reality of his likely demise sank in, despair enveloped him, the silence of the room amplifying the echo of his loss.