Chapter 1CH1 DONE
“Time to wake up, child.”
Naoki Hayashi woke to a gravelly taste resting on his tongue and upon looking behind found he had washed up on grey sands. Behind him an unnatural blackness stretched until it and the sky became one. Despite lying on a beach, he was not wet. In fact he was bone dry. The sky above looked cloudless, bleeding black and purple together in an entrancing miasma of colours. A stick prodded the side of his head.
“I do not have time to wait for your action, child. For here there is no time at all.”
Naoki got to one knee and noted a strange stiffness to his movements. “Where am I?”
“Trust me that answer will not satisfy you. You have not the capability or the means to understand where you are. Know that are to embark on your final journey. For beyond these sands lies your inevitable end. Please stand.”
Naoki stood and took everything in. Not that there was anything. The bank he stood on led to a flat plain that stretched forever in all directions.
“Where would I even go?”
The strange figure prodded Naoki’s chest with his stick.
“Though it no longer beats, it can guide you. That and any faith you might have. You’re kind gave up the old ways. Many of those you once worshipped are here now. Trapped, rendered obsolete by the existence of time and its inexorable march. Here it holds no power and thus anything that ends up here, will be remembered.”
“So I just head in any given direction. Should I expect to encounter anything?”
“Perhaps, no one said the journey would be easy. I can’t even blame your kind for that. Across the eons, many a race conjured their own perception of the journey. Now that journey has fused with the remnants of those rendered obsolete. There may be perils, travellers of the dark lonely abyss but again- ” it prodded his chest harder now. “It will guide you. You just need to listen.”
“Fine,” Naoki said taking his first few uneasy steps. Despite some stiffness there was also a weightlessness to his movements. And soon he stood at the threshold. The point where grey sand became grey dirt.
“The point of no return. Once crossed you cannot turn back.”
What does that even mean? Naoki had got sick of asking it questions. It sounded like something he would meet in a dream. Perhaps that’s all this was and he would soon wake up. But as he stepped across the threshold and stood now on dirt. A cool wind drifted around him. Almost as if this place was affirming its existence. This is no dream. This is your reality.
He was about to continue when he heard commotion behind him.
“Morbius’ Bane, why do you defy the universe’s will.”
The creature, hunched over at first but bristling with muscle emerged from blackness like a demon driven by an insatiable need. It’s eyes were firmly on Naoki Hayashi. It did not acknowledge the being at its side. Instead its laboured movements soon put it at the threshold.
“This is the point of no return. You cannot cross that line, foul cur!”
The creature snarled and took two steps over the line. Naoki remained frozen in place. It was pointless to run. And something told him he wouldn’t get far. Not against that.
No words were exchanged but the creature thrust itself at Naoki, scooping him up over its arms before hoisting him onto its large shoulders. The creature turned and faced the being that viewed it with great derision.
“Legion, I hope I’m not the one dealing with your host again after all things are said and done. I suppose his other journey is not yet done.”
The creature again said nothing and returned back across the threshold. It marched past the being and stood in the water. Naoki looked down expecting to see his reflection in this inky water but he saw nothing. “I can swim you know.”
The creature looked back at the being.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” asked the being.
“Standing aside.”
The creature started walking and the strange liquid began to climb. Naoki instinctively took a breath as first his head disappeared but soon all parts of him were submerged. And then nothing. No indication of movement or anything. Just endless nothing. He did not suffocate, he did not even need to breathe. If anything he felt himself rising fast. Until the darkness became splendid light.
Pain shot through his back. It made him lurch forward only for someone to push him back down again. His strained eyes struggled to adjust to everything around him. But soon someone came into focus. Mae Li, now in a loose fit doctor’s coat had a prepared syringe balanced between her long fingers. “Oh – this?” She remarked holding down his shoulder. “It’s to help numb the pain. You’ll feel it soon enough. It is perfectly normal.”
Normal. None of this is normal! What the hell happened to me?
“Where am I!”
Li smiled and took hold of his clenched fist. “What matters, my dear, is that your safe. You’ll remain with us until I know you’re stable. Try not to resist, please.”
“My head. So many voices.”
“Well, that could be because we’re linked now, that means we may share things from time to time. You might find yourself having some odd dreams too. In time. It will subside. So I wouldn’t worry. I’m sure you’ll be just fine.”
“Right.” That did not sound very reassuring.
Before he could ask her any more questions he heard the door open and in walked a silver skinned Kaskari man in a black and white pinstripe suit. He looked likely to be the leader of the bunch.
“How is he holding up, Doctor?”
Li looked rather smug. “Better than most, Kobayashi-san. I did some preliminary scans while he slept and the human to Mortan conversion is already around seventy per cent complete. It is by far the fastest conversion I’ve seen to date. Something’s eager to get its foot in the door. That being said, the Symbiote itself is still sleeping. I would have thought planting it like I did would force it to wake early and be more proactive. But even with healing it’s doing that rather passively too. Maybe it’s deliberately biding its time.”
“At least there’s no rejection issues like with some of the others in the past.”
“No, but the early growing pains are always the worst,” Li said folding her arms.
Naoki was about to speak when a pain similar to that of a cramp hit his stomach. He couldn’t stop his body from contorting and curling up in on itself.
“That’s my cue, Boss. Now, Hayashi-kun, relax! We’ll talk more once your awake again.”
She grabbed his arm and drove the needle into it, the strange blue liquid that had been inside the syringe now found itself coursing through his body.
Reference PONR
The artificial rain from the underside of the platform above stirred him from his slumber. It fell in a torrent onto his motionless body. The concrete ground around him became damp under his fingers. And upon sitting up he noticed he sat in an enclosed circle of darkness. He climbed to his feet and began walking until a light puddle came into view. It flickered for a moment plunging him into darkness. Loud whispering began to torment him from all sides, getting louder to the point that he instinctively covered his ears. It stopped suddenly and a heavy silence descended. Only broken by the patter of rain onto the ground around him. When the light came back on someone, no something now stood in its glow with their back to him. It took him a minute to realise what it was, the monster. He had seen it once before on that distant shore. It had been the one that dragged him back into the darkness. It turned around slowly and began its lethargic stride towards him. The light died again, when it next came on, it had vanished. Now becoming a voice in his mind.
<I won’t abandon you like he did. Do not be afraid,> its gravelly voice echoed around him.
Naoki felt his panic surge into his chest as he began running trying to get away from the voice.
<You can’t from run from me. We’re together now.>
“Who are you?”
He felt something sliver in behind him, it brushed up against his ankles.
<Sekai.>
Another light flickered on above and this time he heard it come from behind him. Someone else was standing in it. The face was familiar but the others not so. Doctor Li? She was being held by two soldiers, while in front of her on their knees was a bound male and behind him stood an armed soldier dressed in a more faded uniform. They carried a rifle of the old world and had it pressed into the kneeling man’s back. The soldier began speaking in Chinese and to Naoki’s surprise he understood, enough to get a basic grasp of what they were saying at least. Is this the byproduct of us being linked?
“Where are they hiding?”
“Who are you referring to?” Li cried out.
The butt of the rifle was slammed down onto the back of the man’s head.
“I don’t know who you are looking for!”
That answer did not satisfy the soldier. He took a step back and fired at the man. The gunshot echoed around the mind of Naoki who found himself looking away. The darkness and silence soon returned. Looking back at Li, he saw she could barely hide her fury. The soldier responsible for the execution ordered her to be returned to her cell. The light blinked out but this time he felt weightless as he fell through a void of memories.
The feeling of falling soon ended and lifting his head he noted the black sea now bled into the blotchy, swirling cloudless red sky above. Around him stood prideful mountains, jagged and pointy; shaped in a way that made him think of teeth. In font of him but, facing the the other way, stood a tall, imposing creature. As he panicked, a single hand fell on his shoulder, “Don’t be a afraid. We are not your enemy,” Li said now at his side. She helped him up to at least one knee, as the creature turned to face them. “Ah, my symbiote is Zhànshì. I call it Zhan most of the time.”
Naoki watched the strangely coloured liquid below him ripple away from Zhan as it too began a slow, methodical approach towards them.
<You can trust us,> it said outstretching its claw. <This is my personal abode. A sanctuary, built on the memory of what came before. I call it the Maw.>
“What did you two do to me?” Naoki asked standing up without grabbing the Mort’s hand, “What will become of me?”
“You will either adapt or perish. It was this or let you die,” Li said.
“So you did me a favour. Is that what you’re saying”
<Yes. Many people misunderstand what we are, I hope you will start seeing us differently now.>
Naoki got to his feet and still couldn’t shake feeling uncertain about all this. “I somehow doubt other Morts are like you though.”
The beast gave him a toothy grin. <Yes, but at we at least try to play by some rules. The ones in the underground are not so friendly. Though a Mort only goes there if the symbiote has completely taken over. Or if it has have nothing left to lose…>
“Are there any Morts on the upper level?”
<On the sky level? I wouldn’t know and if there are, they’ve done well to conceal their identity.>
“So I just have to act like none of this happened? Live my life like normal…”
Li looked at him now, “yes, if you value your current existence and wish to see every day that comes after. You will learn to live with that, which now lives inside you,” she said leaning forward. “But right now, it’s time for you to rest. You’re safe now. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
When he next awoke, he found himself alone and bandaged up. The yellow light above hummed as he tried to sit but in that moment a strong pain seared through his chest and he had stop for a moment. He swung his legs over the side of the cot and pushed himself forward. Still unsteady he approached the nearby door and tested it. It opened on a similarly yellow looking corridor. The sound of humming followed him as he left the safety of his room. He considered calling out but that would just land him back in his cot. I don’t know these people. I don’t know what they did to me. I’m not one of them no matter what they say. I don’t even know how I got here or why I’m here. Why does it hurt when I try and remember what happened?
His eyes looked towards some flickering light and a ghostlike figure stepped out of view. The shadow of their form looked familiar and he couldn’t help but follow it. He used the wall to help feel his way forward. And he soon reached what looked like an elevator that would lead to the upper level. He was about to press the button when he heard breathing behind him.
<If we leave this place, we will die.>
“They said you were sleeping,” Naoki didn’t realise he was talking out loud but he refused to face that thing.
<That is a half truth. I became active the moment I ended up inside you. Truth be told I’ve never done this before but then I want to make up for past mistakes.>
“What do you mean?”
<Where he failed, we will succeed. Oh - they noticed.>
He hadn’t noticed the elevator come to stop in front of him. On the other side stood Li and the man from earlier, Kobayashi. Naoki backed away but stumbled and fell to the ground. This caused a knotting pain in his chest and he curled up into a ball.
The elevator grate opened and the two of them stepped out together. Li came over and placed one hand on his hand.
“Shh,” she whispered. “It’s okay. I know your scared. We need you to recover. Then we can talk proper.” She looked over to the silent man who stared on with disdain. “If either of us wanted you dead, you wouldn’t be here. It trusts us. Now it’s your turn.”
She looked past where Naoki lay and he had to strain to see it too. The creature stood tall under the yellow light, its skin a deep brown. It stared on in silence before fading away. What was that?
“A projection that only other Mortans can perceive. To anyone else you would be a nutter,” Li said holding out her hand.
Still a little reluctant, Naoki accepted it and was pulled to his feet. The woman turned to her friend. “I know heavy lifting is beneath you, Kobayashi. But I could use your assistance here in getting this one back to his bed.”
“Fine, let’s just hope he stays there this time.”
She glared back at Naoki. “So do I.”