The very first thing she noticed as she awoke was repetitive synthetic beeping next to her. A red light display shone its artificial light into her groggy eyes. Then the smell of hyper sterility, like someone cleaned every inch with hazardous chemicals. Tubes hung over her head with long pipes snaking their around her limbs and into her body. It was cold and unnaturally quiet.
The hospital! Yes, I got into an accident. The kids!!!
There was pain, but she ignored it, she needed to get out of there. Juniper’s first attempt at reacting was to get up and leave wherever she was inside of. But her limp leg would not nudge, the other was held together in a cast. She tried to sit upright, hoping to unlatch it but her chest felt too weak to move.
Her head started convulsing and spinning, she felt her eyes try to take her back into the darkness of sleep. Her resistance was met with a sudden jolt that sent pain through her whole body. It was agony. She felt like she couldn’t breathe for a moment, before it stopped, taking deep breaths as her heart rate spiked. Then she calmed down again, her pain disappearing mildly.
She stared at the archaic analog clock in front of her face. It was around two ‘o'clock, past midnight, time had went on without for a while now. Her siblings!
She needed to know. She needed to find her phone right now.
Her weak arms fiddled around every machine and drawer around her... None of her belongings weren’t nearby, she did however notice the Depotmart bag on the ground. She tried reaching for it, but it was like climbing a brick wall, only downwards. Her bones hurt, and her muscles were aching. She gave up eventually, tears welled up, not because of the pain, but the fear of leaving her siblings alone for so long. Anything could have happened. Her brother was a legal adult, but a kid to her, all the same. Her sister wouldn't survive at all.
Something about the air changed, it became harder to breathe. The air was heavier, the dynamism of the moonlight itself froze, and the wind that sneaked in from her open window suspended itself in midair. The analog stopped its incessant ticking. The machine’s robotic hammering.
A soft but soothing voice spoke out of nowhere. “Do not be afraid, Juniper.”
Goosebumps, her hair stood on ends, chills went down her fragile spine. She felt the urge to piss herself, but the machines took care of that. She had to be hallucinating, there was no way. Was it a cape, perhaps it was the person who rode over her, coming to finish her off. Just in case, she saw a face or heard the inkling of something she shouldn't have. Maybe it was a ghost, and she was already dead.
“Metatron!?Gabriel!?Lucifer!?Azazel!?Baal!? Wha–who is there.?”
The voice giggled, childlike. “I’ve met them before but I’m not them, they are children, like you are to me.”
“G-god?”
Or death
“Not quite, though there hasn't been one around the earth in a while…”
“Who are you…what is this…” she said frightened. Her fingers twitch, she was scared to move even her hand.
A spark appeared and a glowing orb of light manifested itself in midair, shaping like playdough, but if that playdough was plasma or something. A bubbly, squishy, marshmallow-like furry creature in the shape of a cute red fox appeared. However, there was something utterly alien about it. Its furs were acting dynamically like walking flames. Colors shaping every second. She didn’t know what to do, it was straight out of a piece of fictional media. But that otherworldly fright that shook her remained.
“Call me, Quixis, or Dandelion, or maybe Kitbooh, or maybe Fluxreon, or maybe…”
It kept on yammering, dozens of names, unending and unraveling its absurd but cutesy names. Quixis was all she heard, it was all she could make sense of at the moment.
“...”
“Oh, uh sorry, I get carried away, sometimes.” it apologized, closing its glowing eyes as it. “Just call me whatever you want, as to why I’m here.”
“You’ve come to collect my soul.” she started, feeling the weight of her own body holding her down. She did feel like maybe, she could just pass away, it wouldn’t be that bad, all the pain would be gone, her emptiness as well. However, nagging irritation that her siblings would get thrown into supervised homes, did not sit right with her.
It let out a deviously cute laugh. “I haven’t done a soul-hunt in 800 years, and only then that person and his horse riding caused so much chaos. I only found him after he was dead and his corpse was hidden somewhere, can you believe it? ” it approached, every time its paw moved, she felt her heart stammer like the earth itself was shaking.
Genghis khan!?
“Regardless, I come from a realm outside of your universe, the planes of Elysium, and you Juniper Pinewell, you have been…” it pondered, tapping its little paw as it stormed its mind. “Awakened yes, not chosen.”
“I-I don’t understand…” she said overwhelmed by the theatrics, was this her brain playing a trick on her. A dream. If it was one, it was very vivid indeed.
“Powers, or magic in some variations of time and space, you come to possess one, maybe two. But your powers are not of this world’s making.”
“A cape, me?” she said, confused. But the possibilities of what she could do marauded her head. What powers?
“Every once in a while, we caretakers are tasked with planting life seeds that often grow in something, whether it be a place, a person, or an animal. You, Jun, are one of those seeds…your birth while not planned was always going to result in… well you.”
What the hell was it speaking about, she was some kind of talking seed.
“I…don’t believe you, this is some kind of trick, some kind of sick ploy, it can’t be real, it can’t be.” she yammered, panic mode activating. The room was dead silent, she could hear her heartbeat drumming under her chest.
It held out its paw like a wizard did its staff, waving it in a circular motion and her nerves settled. Easing, her breathing came to a calm still, and she felt at peace again. The creature then stared at the midnight ball of light.
“It appears things have changed and I won’t have the time needed to explain everything tonight, let me run the basics with you real quick.”
She listened attentively but was skeptical of what she was seeing, The chances were very good of being brainwashed by some creep. Lulled into thinking she was safe, and then slowly murdered in her sleep.
“Seven years from now, Alien invaders will plummet this planet into nothing but a ball of resources, and the human race will be wiped out. That’s why people like you are born Juniper, to counter threats like this.”
“Capes!”
“No, you’re a byproduct of something else. But you'll fit right in, I'm sure.”
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I’m…special.” she stammered. She felt giddy all of a sudden, it was rare for her to be complimented. But this wasn’t a human she was dealing with.
“Well…in the grand scheme of the cosmos, no.” her eyes dropped down, and looked at her broken leg.”But here on earth, I’d say yeah. SO…here’s the thing.”
It became bipedal, standing on its cute hind legs, fur floating like water in space.
“In most of the realities, I foresaw. Planet Earth has a survival rating of point twenty-one (0.21), however, when you awakened it bumped up to three (3%).
“Huh?” she deadpanned. It had to have made some mistake, there was no reason she was of any importance to anyone or anything.
“You mean everyone I know will be dead in seven years?”
It nodded, smiling like it didn’t just tell her the worst possible thing.
“Yes, everyone, including your family.”
She winced, sweating. 7 years wouldn’t be so bad, she’d get to see her sister grow up, maybe see her brother getting the treatment he observed with the money from his career plan. Perhaps laws will be lifted and she could see her mother again. Maybe she could turn her life around.
“That 3% of yours can go to a 5 if you’re extra super duper prepared.”
It stared at the moon again expressionless.
“That; 's not very reassuring.”
“Don’t worry others like you exist elsewhere, if you all work together it could go to 45%.”
Its head turned and it frowned. “I need to leave urgent matters elsewhere, I will see you again. Juniper. on some other quiet night.”’
“Wait, these powers of mine, how do I use them!”
The creature shrugged, “I don’t know, I’m not all-knowing, I merely sensed you waking. And came to inform you, use your imagination.”
The creature balled up again, liquidating into a field of plasma, before zapping out of existence. Leaving her with more questions than answers.
She felt overwhelmed.
“What the fuck was that.”
Time resumed again. The machine started beeping, the wind started flowing again, prickling her skin.
She was skeptical, no way that was true. How was she even supposed to guess what she could do?
A faint memory of her bleeding out got stuck in her head. Before she passed out, she saw words, highlighted like that of a video game.
Was that her brain coping? It was the only thing she loved as much as her family.
She held her hands out. “Uhhh… main menu!”
Nothing happened. Just silence.
“Inventory.”
Still nothing, what was she supposed to do? If there was a chance of her actually having it, it could change their lives, Effy could go to a safer school, and she could get her brother the treatment he deserved. Panic arose again, what if that really was a dream? She was just hallucinating to make her feel happy, a trick.
It cast a spell on her and made her calm. Sorcery, witchcraft even. But what if it was real, then where were these powers, Quixis promised?
Her mind shifted from her surreal experiences. She remembered the more important matter, she was attempting to find her phone. There was a large button on the machine next to her, labeled ‘Call nurse.’ She started tapping, the button chiming every time she tapped it. Then her machine beeped like a dysfunctional alarm. An older lady came rushing inside, a nurse with long black hair.
“You’re awake!?” the lady exclaimed. “I’ll get a doctor immediately.”
She lifted herself up, ignoring heavy aching pain, holding her hand up to the nurse, working the courage up to ask. “Wait, I need to make a call. I need my phone.”
The nurse came to her side panicking and attempted to push her back to lie on the bed.. “Please…don’t move, you need rest. We can sort everything out in the morning darling.”
She tugged at the older woman’s arms, clinging to her like a baby to a doll.
“Please, I-I need to call my brother, it's urgent.”
She felt a sharp tingle travel from her arms, which sparked something in her brain making her chest jump. The nurse looked at her in horror. Unable to discern what was happening.
[Mimicry skill activated. ]
[Mimicry Analysis ]
[Super Audition Level 1 - Heightens your ability to perceive sounds severely]
[Auditory enchantment limited to a 1-mile radius, control impossible]
What was this?
At first, she heard something fall behind her, with a heavy drop she spun around staring at the wall. Frightening the nurse. Then the flow of water spilled into someone’s throat, gurgling it down as it went down their esophagus. Then came the cats with their unending wailing, all at once.
She stared at the nurse wide-eyed, who was still investigating the cause. Looking up, she heard the squeaking of footsteps as someone passed a room, the snoring of a patient two floors up, two people’s bodies slamming against a wooden desk. The droning of electrical circuits below them whirring and buzzing. Beeping of server machines.
Blood leaked from her nose. “Make it stop, she begged the nurse.” shaking her “Make it stop.”
“Make what stop dear!?” The lady asked in fright.
“The noise, it’s getting louder.”
It got sharper too, more persistent. A hundred voices coming in all at once. The cutting of knives, dogs barking down the street, honking, turning, and spinning of every car near the road. A door hammered open and shut, she heard the sound of flesh being cut at a molecular level.
She started suffocating, her breathing intensifying. She could barely hear her own thoughts Memories came flooding in, the day of the calamity. When her parents were separated from them, and thrown into an armored truck, as the three of them were pulled back into the depths of the city.
Tears welled up, she can't hold it in. She wants to kick something but she can’t. Her muscles feel they are turning from the inside out. She starts shaking. Screaming it’s all she could do. She yelled her lungs out. Her body convulses.
The frightened nurse scrambles to get out of the room.
She couldn’t think, she couldn't hear herself. She wanted her mother. She was alone, she didn’t want to be alone.
Heavy running footsteps came inside her room. Strong arms, hold her down tightly, she feels a needle jabbed into her arms. It made it worse, her legs woke, and she started throwing herself around. Adrenalin kicked in. She slapped the man away as she snaked her out of his arms. Another needle pierces. Then it slowed, her eyes resisted and she felt the world grow dark once again.