Chapter one
Men and Monsters
Hello! My name is Adam.
I am an almost 30 year old desk clerk, and… I’m hanging from a tree using my tail, eating some tasty fruit. I’m snapping into a fawn’s neck and rolling in the river. I’m soaring in the sky, leading my flock to a far destination. I’m sucking blood under a hair strand from an old man’s nape. I’m standing tall in a rain forest, flexing my branches while feeling small insects marching on my bark. I’m slithering on an ocean floor, burrowing myself in wait for prey.
I am… I am walking a barren earth with an army of giants with big, long heads, holding weird guns. I’m facing throngs of insects like monsters that are blasting the horde with laser-like bullets that leaves small mushroom clouds, huge craters and thousands of dead insect monsters.
This is so different from what I had in mind regarding the afterlife.
This feels like a loop of the nearly endless perspectives of creatures I know most of, along with a mixture of feelings that were weird to me. The oddest perspective I have is about these giants. They look human but way bigger and the shapes of their heads are kind of funny. The weapons and armors they are wearing look like pieces from a sci-fi movie.
If this is truly the afterlife, endless points of view of every single creature on earth and god knows what else, then… this is fucking boring.
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**North of the gray sea – relic hunters guild branch 23:35**
“Grobo, what’s all this fuss about?” A tall thin man in purple robes said, who had a thin mustache and monocle that seemed to be embedded in his skin.
“Sir, the deep-sea excavation found some interesting haul this time. Less than 3000 kilometers deep, we found a dead body of what seems to be a human, missing almost all of its limbs. It is enclosed by a kind of biological gel with some weird wires running through it and tendrils coming out of it. It seems that its purpose is to preserve the body,” said Grobo, enthusiastically.
“Intriguing. Show me where this body is,” said the thin man, also known as Bertini Dolciano, the head of the Gray Sea Branch of the Relic Hunters Guild.
The Relic Hunters Guild was an organization that mainly excavated deep sea levels in search of lost technology left by The Great War 1500 years ago that happened on earth, leaving it as a barren planet that can’t support life. The humans were on the brink of extinction if it were not for the Noran Empire’s help terraforming the planet, saving the human race from extinction, taking it under the protection of the empire.
In a small room stood Bertini, Grobo and five other men in white coats that gave them the look of scientists.
“Cut the membrane, carefully. I want it intact as much as possible,” said Bertini, sounding somewhat commanding.
One of the scientist began waving his hands and made particular finger movement on a screen. A robotic arm started forming a light blue ray, cut into the wire filled gel membrane and revealed the dead limbless human inside.
“Scan the body. I don’t want anything funny to happen,” said Bertini.
“Yes sir. We’re on it,” replied another scientist, who was in front of the computer controlling the robotic arms.
“Starting scan in 3… 2… 1...” announced the soldier.
“Sir, it is 100% a normal human being, and he’s deceased. We are not detecting any signs of life,” said the technician, with a hint of relief on his face.
“Ok people. Great job. It’s getting late. Ice the body and the membrane. Tomorrow morning, we continue working after transferring it to a bigger lab,” said Bertini, with a tear forming in the corner of his eyes from the constant yawning, a result of him staying up this late.
“Yes, sir.”
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**North of the gray sea – relic hunters guild branch 03:22**
I woke up to the coordinator's voice calling my name along with a throbbing pain in my head and an inability to breathe. I literally felt like a mummy that came to life, which, as it turned out, happened to be somewhat true.
“Coordinator? Am I not dead? What’s happening? I'm not breathing! It’s freezing! I'm starving! I feel like shit. Did you follow me to the afterlife?” I asked, panicking in my state of utter confusion.
“You did not die in the first-place, Adam, and I know that you want to… nickname me. So, Cordi will be acceptable and I also adjusted my personality to suit your preferences,” replied the coordinator, with a surprisingly warm reassuring voice that sounded like an expert butler.
Getting over my confusion, I kept asking Cordi about what happened after I presumably died. It explained that I was in deep sleep for, to my shock, more than 1500 years … Deep in the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean after it initiated a detonation protocol to escape the Noran forces.
Apparently,I was picked up by some humans in an excavation and we are now in a place that used to be Italy back when I was… alive. Cordi tricked them into thinking that I was dead. They were interested in some membrane that was adding a layer of protection and nourishment to me while I was slumbering.
“Cordi, how’s it that I’m still alive after all this time in a freezing cold ocean floor for 1500 years? Are you kidding me and what happened to the this Ijna woman and the jellyfish people? With this useless body, how am I going to‒?!”
“Adam, all your questions will be answered in time, but for now, you should save what little energy you have that I’m directing into your brain to get out of this situation. I can’t manipulate the essence with these low energy levels you have. Now, we have to get out of this facility,” echoed Cordi, in my head.
Regaining my sense of rationality, the innate urge to preserve my life kicked in. Like a cornered animal, I wanted to live.
“O-Ok, Cordi. What s-should we d-do?”
“I will draw a three-dimensional graphical interface in your head of the room we are in, and I will direct all of the remaining energy left to your core muscles which have 96% less mass now due to your hibernation. So, with the assistance of yoctobots, I will tell you to fling yourself to the tub next to you, the tub that contains the membrane that was enveloping you. It should have sufficient nourishment for the next part of the plan.”
The lines of alien codes in the back of my head started morphing into some 3D projection of a room. I was sitting on some kind of a table emitting some kind of freezing smoky substance. Next to me Is something like a fish tank containing what looks like a bed sheet... thing. So, from what Cordi says, I have to eat that?
As planned, I felt a sudden surge of energy within my body, and I braced myself while tightening my whole body, or what’s left of it. Then, with a popping sound followed by a small splash, I landed in the tub next to the membrane, sinking into some smelly liquid. I thought I was going to drown, but I turned out to be fine for some reason.
“Adam, you need to eat this membrane in order for me to collect enough energy,” said Cordi, with a stern voice
I didn’t pay attention and starting devouring the icky substance, sucking it with my mouth directly into my stomach without even chewing it, not that I have any teeth for that matter. It tasted like jello, fish, and rubber. It was so bad, I wanted to throw it up, but I couldn’t allow it. I was so hungry, even dirt would make my mouth water. With the last piece coming down from my mouth into my stomach, I felt a burning sensation in the lower part of my body and it got more intense by the second.
[Siphonaptera] [ Panthera tigris] [Homo sapien]
*CRACK*
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
*CRACK* *CRACK*
AHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
AHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!. “PLEASE STOP, PLEASE” I gurgled, screaming from pain.
“CORDIIII,” I roared, anger flaring inside me, feeling like I experienced death many times over the last few minutes. This pain was impossible to imagine.“I know, Adam. I apologize, but it had to be done,” whispered the AI in an apologetic tone.
Now I’m experiencing the weirdest feeling ever. I just grew legs, which definitely doesn’t feel like legs.
“Now, Adam, we don’t have enough energy to do the rest. Get out of the container, and follow my instructions carefully,” echoed Cordi.
I mentally nodded and climbed out of the smelly tub, but as soon as I got out, I fell down like a newborn animal. These are not legs, it’s something… more. I stood up bit by bit, trying to adapt to a new pair of weird legs. In a few minutes, I was walking straight. I was shocked that I was able to rotate my joint 180 degrees.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“That’s just weird,” I thought.
Trying to follow the 3D projection in my mind, Cordi marked the door. So I walked up to it only to find that it had no knob or handle. As soon as I thought about asking Cordi, the door slid opened.
“Apologies for the delay. I was hacking the facility security’s subsystems,” said Cordi while the door finished opening. “Now, run, Adam.”
The 3D room view turned into a bird’s-eye view of the facility. I started moving my legs faster to run, but in less than a second, I shot out like a speeding bullet and hit a wall.
“Ouch! What the fuck is this?” I thought, coping with the pain of smashing into the wall.
“Easy, Adam. These legs are not the same as the pair you used to have. It will take some time for you to get used to it, but for now, take it slowly.”
I tried jogging. Same result, way too fast. So, I tried walking a bit faster than normal. It was manageable.
“Cordi, how fast am I going?” I asked curiously.
“41.258 - 48.115 kilometers / hour” answered Cordi, nonchalantly.
“…….”
“O-Ok, Cordi, can you put something like a speed meter so I can see how fast am I going? This would make things a bit easier.”
A speed meter with the number 44.245 going up and down appeared in my vision. After that, I started navigating through the facility following the map Cordi drew in my head. Soon, I reached a bigger door at the end of the map. On its side, I identified as sentry bots from my memories of games and movies, which Cordi probably hacked too.
The big door opened and the map disappeared, dragging me back to my dark world and taking a bit of the joy I had being able to navigate away with it.
“Do not worry, Adam. We will fix that soon,” said Cordi, reassuringly before saying, “It seems that we are in some sort of remote location. One moment.”
A road-like interface appeared in my vision. It wasn’t as detailed as the facility map, but it was still easy to navigate.
“Now, Adam, run!” echoed Cordi, enthusiasm filled in its voice.
I felt my lip curl as soon as the AI said that. After a small boom, I found myself dashing like a bullet train. I looked at the speed meter and was shocked. I was running at 450 km/h, easily. Turning around proved a bit harder to grasp, but my excitement got over me and I kept speeding, paying no attention to the freezing cold wind hitting my naked body.
After running for what felt like miles, signs of civilization began to appear gradually. A coastal medium-sized city by what the map was showing. From what I was seeing on the map, it had an amazing master plan; colossal buildings stacked in a neat circular way surrounded by a river line followed by another circular line of buildings and repeats for more lines. In the center of the city was a huge circular building which looked like the point around which the whole city revolved around.
Neat. I mentally whistled in awe at this masterpiece city plan.
I didn’t want to contact civilization in this sorry state of mine, so I kept my distance from the city.
“What’s the name of the city, and what’s this huge building?” I asked, curiously.
“The city of Neo Roma, and this building is called The Flavian Amphitheatre. The Colosseum,” replied Cordi.
“Oh! That makes sense. You said we’re in Italy, so I wonder if they have‒?”
“Adam, several vehicles are approaching at high speed,” said Cordi, sounding distressed.
As soon as I heard Cordi, five red dots appeared on my map. I picked up speed, trying to avoid them, but they located me anyways.
How did they find me so fast? I kept on trying to get away as far away as I possibly could from my pursuers.
“They are tracking your bio signatures. Energy levels are dangerously low. Probability of escaping is low. I advise hiding underwater,” stated Cordi.
Panicking, I sped up to the direction of the sea. My speed meter showing 485 km/h, yet they were rapidly approaching. My only hope of shaking them off of my tail was to jump into the sea and somehow survive. I didn’t know how, but I could miraculously breathe in water, like i did in the fishtank.
The sea finally came into my map view. A toothless grin appeared on my face. I put every single ounce of strength that I had into my legs and jumped into the air.
“WHAAAAAAAAA!!!”
For a moment, the world around me went silent and as chilly air hit me, I closed my nonexistent eyes. Bliss that I had never felt before filled my heart.
“So this is what feels like to be free, ” I mumbled, soaring through the cold weather. My heart felt so warm, it could fill an entire universe with hope.
These words actually came from my mouth this time. They may be somehow incomprehensible in the form of language, but it’s the first time words came out from my heart, and not my brain.
“Cordi, show altitude,” I demanded, trying to contain my excitement. It seemed that I jumped way too high up. A whooping 560 appeared in an altitude meter in my vision. It wouldn’t matter if I fell into the sea from that altitude, I’ve done worse.
As soon as I started falling, bracing for a big splash, something that felt like a net covered me. In an instant, I felt myself flying back away from the sea. I started to panic like crazy.
“Adam, stop moving,” Cordi’s voice came in vain.
I started kicking and squirming, only to get myself more entangled in the net. Suddenly I was hit with what I thought to be a lightning strike; I think thousands of volts surged through me. I started to smell burned flesh. Losing control, my body spasming like a belly dancer, the resistance stopped.
I was dragged into some flying machine’s cargo bay. Where I lost conscious.
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*** Bertini Dolciano’s POV ***
I finally caught that damned thing. I have no idea how it escaped the facility, but the son of a bitch fried the entire system, including all the cameras footage. Good thing we have cloud backup on our data, or we would have been utterly fucked.
I hate to admit it, but I had to resort to hiring bounty hunters. Those brainless boneheads only know two things, combat… and money. No matter, it seems that they caught it, but the dumbasses didn’t have to fry the damn thing, I hope it’s not dead. I’m gonna take my time cutting the fuck out of it. I will know how it grew legs and where it took the membrane.
WHRRRRRRRRRR!
BOOM!
“What in the fucking hell? “I heard Galavie, a huge, bulky, battle scarred ex-military man and the leader of the bounty hunter team shout, watching the hovercraft that caught the thing crash into the rocky coast beneath.
“All teams, prepare for emergency landing! Now!” Galavie kept shouting, his face about to explode from shock and anger.
All four crafts landed near the crashed one, soldiers pouring out from them. I approached Galavie who just ordered one of the soldiers to check on the pilot.
Galavie kept swearing and shouting until all teams formed around the fallen craft.The soldier came back saying that everyone in the craft ... To me and Galavie’s shock …. wass dead. Their brains splattered all over the craft, more like they blew up.
For some weird reason, Galavie kept silent for a while, then ordered the soldiers to open up the craft’s cargo bay where this thing was in. After moments of hesitation, the soldiers went and opened the cargo bay, and, contrary to my expectations, the thing was still lying there, covered by the net and not moving a muscle.
Per Galavie’s orders, soldiers went inside and dragged it out of the craft. The smell was horrible; burnt rotten flesh. Some of the soldiers, at least, the human ones, started wincing and covering their noses. One of them came with a life scanner and ran it across the body.
“No signs of life, sir,” shouted the soldier, scanning the assumed corpse.
“Captain Galavie, this thing is not dead. I fell for the same trick back in the lab,” I said to the unexpectedly calm Galavie.
“One way to be sure then. You, empty a mag into it’s head,” ordered Galavie, the soldier still holding the life scanner.
“Captain, you can’t. I need the bod‒!”
“Shut up! This shit probably did something, something that killed eight of my finest troops! You won’t speak another word!” Galavie shouted, spraying my face with spit.
As soon as the soldier took out his rifle and pointed it to the thing’s face, the atmosphere changed. Weird vibration filled the air, the monster’s corpse starting elevating and shaking. The soldier, next to it, started trembling, tossing his weapon aside and dropping on his knees.
Confused, I looked in Galavie’s direction only to see his eyes gleaming with fear. Suddenly, he took a deep breath. filling his lungs with the chilly night air and shouted that which almost made my knees give way. “PSYCHIC ATTACK! EVERYONE! RUN!”
Everyone started panicking. I dashed away as much as I could before there was an explosion behind me.
BOOOOOOOM!
I was lying down while my head was in a messed up state. My vision became blurry while insanely loud whistling sounds rang in my ears. I tried to focus and looked towards the thing, only to find it lying there motionless. The soldier, next to him, had a hole the size of a fist in his head, his eyes are out of the sockets and blood was gushing out of every single pore in his body. Half of the soldiers were lying there, motionless The other half was on their knees holding their heads and trembling like children that just had terrible nightmares. The air was full of blood particles dancing in front of the rays of the rising sun.
I looked beside me only to find Galavie lying down on his back with his face in a bloody mess. It seemed that like he was alive and conscious. He reached out to his earpiece and hardly moved his lips while making barely audible sounds.
“C-C-Code P-Purple… R-Requesting assistance on my lo-location… B-Bring the S-Spettro t-team...” the captain said, before losing conscious.
I looked into my digital monocle and found that my vitals weren’t that great either. I sent Grobo an urgent message asking for immediate dispatch of the medical team to my location before following Galavie into the nothingness.
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*** Adam POV ***
I suddenly opened my eyes and saw that I was standing near my apartment door. My heart was beating at a lightning fast pace. I opened the door and found that everything was where I had left it. Looking at the mirror near the entrance, I could see myself… a whole. My arms and legs. My everything was there like it originally was. I put my keys on the counter, put away my shoes and had a huge sigh of relief.
“So, all this shit was a dream… That was fucking… intense,” I whispered, in amazement.
I began walking into my living room, readying myself to continue my dull daily routine of watching the news after coming home.
When I turned around, my jaw dropped. The living room wasn’t there. It was a… cage! I looked from outside it and saw nothing but the back of my big couch and shut down TV. Cautiously, I began to walk to the cage’s door. There was no keyhole nor knob or handle. I just gave it a little push and it opened.
I approached the couch and…
“What the f‒!” I shouted, but I stopped my sentence midway because of what was in front of me.
A little girl, not older than six, sitting comfortably on the couch and giving me a childish grin while moving her feet in a playful manner.
She had white eyebrows, eyelashes and a shoulder length white hair tied in a ponytail with a bow that looked like a skull of some creature. She wore a plain black dress and had a pair of small feet covered by flip-flops. Her eyes were dark as the night with no white at all, which gave her an extraterrestrial look.
“Come, Adam. Sit,” she ordered me in a playful manner.
Like an obedient dog, I followed silently and sat on the couch beside her.
“You’re probably gonna ask who I am, what I’m doing here, what this cage cage... blah blah blah,” said the girl, her tone was older than what she looked to be. Then she giggled in a strange manner.
I did some motions that barely came close to nodding.
“Hehe. Lets watch some TV, Adam,” said the weird little girl, pointing her head to the now switching on TV.
I was neither able to open my mouth nor close my eyes at what we were watching. Floating in the air was a man, surrounded by colored jellyfish aliens who were producing vibrating sounds. A blue one was dismembering him with tendrils coming out of its body. Just by touching a limb, the limb disintegrates into particles, while a red, and what seems like a transparent one, watched the process.
The man suddenly woke up and the one eye he had shot open. It was scanning his surroundings. Yet after some vibrating sound, he lost the eye he had with a touch of the blue jellyfish’s tendrail.
“Ooh! Exorians. They grow up so fast,“ she sniffled. ” Boooriiing, Let's switch the channel!” the little girl said, wiping the fake tears in a dramatic way like a mother watching her children.
A scene of a white room where the limbless bald man was laying down on a table appeared on the screen. Next to him was a fish tank with something that looked like innards of an animal. The man somehow flung himself into the tank and started devouring the stuff in a gross manner.
Suddenly, he started wailing and gurgling as some sort of legs grew out of his waist.
“Boooooooooooriiiiiiiing” the little girl said with a pouting voice, switching the channel with a slight movement of her head.
The next channel showed a running creature, with the body of the man who was on previous channels. He was running so fast with happiness showing on his eyeless face.
“Yeaaaah. That’s way better,” cheered the weird girl, sitting next to me on the couch while her feet moved faster, showing her increased excitement.
The man jumped as high as a skyscraper, with a blissful expression on his face, readying himself to take a dip in the sea. Suddenly, a net enveloped the man. He started resisting and moving around until the net’s color changed to light blue and electric sparks started engulfing the scene and the man stopped moving, smoke coming from his burnt flesh.
“Ewww… Gross… Switch,” the girl said, making a disgusted look on her small face.
“Ooh! Ooh! This is my favorite part!” the girl shouted, arriving at a new channel.
Suddenly, she stood up and started jumping on the couch while signaling me to stop looking at her and focusing on the screen.
I saw a group of futuristic soldiers standing near some crashed military craft. The man’s body was lying there like a dead animal. A bulky soldier, that looked like their leader, said something and a soldier took out his weapon and pointed it to the dead man.
Suddenly, the man floated and the soldier threw his weapon away and got down on his knees. Bluish energy bursts followed and everyone turned to run away.
“SERVES YOU RIGHT SUCKAAAASSSS!!!” she yelled. The girl’s excitement peaked, she started jumping madly, punching and kicking the air, then posing like some anime character, all of which made me chuckle a bit.
After she calmed down a bit and sat down, she looked at me with a stern eye and started talking with a voice way too mature for her.
“Yes, Adam. You are in a state of dream. Everything you have been through was real. I don’t have a name, and for what I am, that is a little complicated But to simplify it, for now, I am a part of you. We grew up together, shared moments together, laughed and cried together, we witnessed the best and worst moments of your life… together.
“I am, what you have been calling, Cancer.”
I started shivering, not believing what was happening nor what this little girl was saying to me, but as soon as I started opening my mouth, she continued.
“No, Adam. I am not a cancer, not a tumor, not some merely mutated cells, I am much… much more… I have existed since the first human treaded earth billions of years ago, as for why are we in a cage –” black tears started pouring down her eyes, giving her a look that you see only in horror films.
“- you are the one trapping me here. You are not strong enough yet to break this cage,” she said, emitting a sad tone in her voice.
“H-How can I g‒!” I tried to speak, but she was way faster.
“Thank you for the visit, Adam. I really had fun being here with you. You should go now and remember to visit me again,” interrupted the girl, wiping her black tears and snot, making her face messier.
She led me to the door and waved goodbye, leaving me in a confused state thinking about what she just said. Then the light in the room was no more and everything became dark.
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*** Neo Roma – The bounty hunters headquarters 03:22 ***
There stood 3 men. Bertini Dolciano, head of the relic hunters guild and the one who issued the bounty of the creature lying there in front of the three men.Beside him, stood Captain Galavie, the leader of the bounty hunter squad that had captured the creature after losing more than half of it’s force to the creature’s psychic attack.The third was a middle aged bald man with a stern face, wearing futuristic armor with lines of light running through it and holding the helmet under his arm.
This man is called Vega Atifo, the leader of the spettro team and commander of the bounty hunters organization running in Neo Roma. They just came back from a mission that most people believed to be impossible. Capturing a Grokati overlord without suffering any loss, which is a miracle since the Grokati, especially their overlord’s, are extremely powerful with a nearly indestructible body.
The Spettro team was a specialized unit for working with psychic users in head hunts. Their reputation was well known in the city as the strongest and most elite team, being able to deal even with the most dangerous of foes.
“A-Are you sure the device you put around his head will work, Vega? I know well about psypressors, but that attack was nothing like I’ve ever seen before. Some of the men got their heads blown off for God’s sake!” Bertini said, looking really worried.
“I saw the projections, Bertini, and I’ve been through much worse than this. The suppressor can handle an attack that disintegrates people, not merely just blowing their heads off, ” replied Vega, his voice filled with calm.
“What are we gonna do about this monster then? We already refunded your credits, Bertini, since it’s too dangerous to release this thing even near the city. You saw how fast it was, and what it was capable of. We should dispose of it immediately,” said Galavie in a rough voice, frowning at the body in front of the three of them.
“Ending it would definitely be a waste, and it wasted a lot of our men. Killing it would be an act of mercy‒!” said Vega, deep in his thoughts, before continuing. “We throw him in the colosseum, along with that Grokati overlord. That would make quite the show,” stated Vega with a small grin on his face and eyes gleaming like a madman.
StealthEdit V1.07 13feb17. Please move along, you didn't actually read that line -paranoid author