Sync-Whole (A Cereus & Limnic Novella)

Sync Whole Intro Demo Trailer

Summary

Weeks after the events of Cereus & Limnic, a dying young woman (Jinhua Ma) is thrust into an adventure to discover mysteries behind her strange ability to read minds.

Enemies near and far block her path, as she fights to save herself in a data-worshipping society.

The narrative explores themes of religion, motherhood, and power – with plenty of action and moments sure to stimulate your senses.

No preachy lectures here.

Supported by comic-book style visuals, a stacked cast of unique characters, and an original soundtrack – this trip will show you the true nature of power under pressure.

Ideal Audience Information:

Female (Ages 17 – 40)

Ideal interests: Action, adventure, JRPG roleplaying video games and stories | technology | anime

Contains:

Graphic Violence, Sexual Awakening, Sexual Themes, Mind reading, Mind control, Anime Cheese, Nudity, Yelling, Loss of Consciousness, Guilt, Shame, Embarrassment, Male Gazing, Female Gazing, Religious themes, War, Government conspiracy, Betrayal, Motherhood themes, Blood (some), Fantasy elements, Regret, Robots, Rural small American towns, Combat

Ideal reading conditions:

Time of day: Early to mid-afternoon

Location: In a shaded area outside or on the living room couch

Snack: Small bowl of cashews or a sliced green apple

Drink: Glass of cold orange juice

Table of Contents

Part 1 – Forest Fight for Life

Part 2 – Strangely Dressed Assistant

Part 3 – The Greatest Showman Scientist

Part 4 – Pleasure, Pain, and Power

Part 5 – Dreamwalker

Part 6 – Upgrade Trial

Part 7 – A Cursed Gift

Part 8 – Ghosts in the Machine

Part 9 – Betrayal and Blood

Part 10 – Conduit of Faith

Sync Whole (Screenplay)

This is an independently created project. If you enjoy it consider donating to support it.

Part 1 – Forest Fight for Life

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Listen to raw audio here:

Colors swirled before my eyes and the world tilted at a dangerous angle.

Will this be the last time my power consumes me?

The thought was a welcome respite from the constant fear that haunted me since my abilities first manifested. I always knew I was different. But I never imagined these gifts came with such a terrible price. Now, as familiar pain tore through my skull and my body quaked, I found myself longing for the blissful oblivion of death. Anything to escape the weight of having the power to read minds, but not write the future.

I gripped my wrist to steady the tremors, then inhaled a breath. They stopped. Neither Noe nor Van realized my internal panic from the front seat—or at least, I hoped they didn’t.

The realization struck me as I gazed out the window of the old blue van, watching the imposing neo-gothic monoliths of Washington D.C. recede into the distance. Tree-green replaced the gray as we crossed into the wooded countryside.

What was the trip like? As planned, we made our way across America’s heartland, my first time leaving California. With my head hopping talent, Noe, and Van by my side—I thought I knew it all. Turns out, I still had a lot of growing to do.

“I’m telling you, we’re lost,” Van said, “We should have turned off of this road by now.”

“No, we’re fine. I know exactly where we are.” Noe spoke, but her eyes were locked on the road ahead. Her death grip on the wheel and scrunched posture were signs of concentration.

Van huffed, “You said the same thing back in Oklahoma. That added hours to our trip!”

“Hey! It’s not my fault you don’t know left from right. That was all you.”

Van grunted in frustration. “Let me see your device.”

“What’s wrong with yours?”

“My battery’s dead from using the road navigation you ignored.”

Noe shrugged. “Okay, okay, it’s in the glove compartment.”

After some rummaging, Van retrieved the item. “Got it.”

“Make sure you use the secure browser! Some maniacs might be scooping up data on the other end. You can never be too careful,” she commanded.

“Yeah, yeah, I will.” He searched the device, then suddenly craned his neck to get a better view out the window. “Noe, Noe! It’s there! Next exit!”

She was in the far left lane. The exit was less than half a mile away. Noe cranked the wheel right, swerving through traffic. Through the beeps, inaudible yelling from neighboring vehicles, and brake stomping, my stomach flipped. Despite the discomfort, we got off the highway in one piece.

As soon as we did, we were in rural Virginia. Is this where I’m going to die? I shook my head. Can’t think like that now. Gotta try and survive somehow.

Among the three of us, the atmosphere in the van became tense while sturdy trees scrolled by, cooling the air outside. The winding road beneath our wheels became unpaved as the thickening woods closed in. Then Noe stopped the van, switching it off with a click. From where we parked on the shoulder of a rock-studded road, I took in an odd sight.

“Is this the place?” Noe asked.

It was a structure that seemed to defy the very concept of a traditional building. As if a child had bricked it together with the most interesting components available, then discarded the rest.

Unconventional (and a little tacky) was how I saw it. Normally, I would have been repulsed by such a gaudy display. But given my condition, I wasted no more thought on its appearance. I needed the person inside to get better and save myself from this collapsing body.

Noe stood, eyeing the foreign structure with the eyes of a huntress. Resolute, hands on hips, she took two steps ahead in her survey. My eyes gleamed with admiration at her courage—a woman of forward motion and thought, her mind sparked with bursts of activity that were at times too incandescent even for her to handle.

Where does one get so much confidence through the fog of fear? I wished I had more of it. That I had the power to protect her for once. Then my eyes fell to my hands. I watched the golden light flicker beneath my skin. Was this power a blessing or a curse? A gift for saving or ending lives?

“Jinhua, are you okay?” Noe asked.

“Yeah… all good,” I smiled. Noe searched my eyes for a second, as if trying to read my mind. Even though it wasn’t possible, she didn’t seem to need my power to understand what I was thinking or feeling.

“You’re shaking,” she said with concern.

I was freezing on a warm spring afternoon, an event that was becoming more and more frequent, along with a litany of other issues.

“I-I know.”

“Do I need to blast the heat in the van again?”

“No, no, it’ll be alright. Let’s go inside.”

“Let me know if you don’t feel good,” she said, placing a warm hand on my shoulder.

“Will do.”

“Uh girls, we got a problem,” Van called from the path ahead.

The three of us looked up toward the entrance of the lab. When we did, four figures emerged from the treeline beside it. Their faces were obscured by dark brown hoods, dirty and ill-fitting. Even from a distance, the pungent odor of vinegar and sweat emanating from their garments assaulted my nostrils, making me recoil.

The leader, a tall, broad-shouldered Asian man with a rugged scar running down his left cheek, stepped forward. His eyes glinted with malice. The face was one of disciplined devotion to some code or craft. I silently called him “Yamato.”

“Well, well, well,” he sneered, “if it isn’t the Cereus scum who killed Janus. We’ve been looking for you.”

Noe tensed beside me, her hands balling into fists. “We did what we had to do. Janus was a madman.” (and also my biological father I never knew) Noe’s stray thought slipped into my mind.

Yamato laughed, a harsh, grating sound that made birds vacate trees. “You’ve stolen away my life of bliss and peace.”

“That was an illusion! You were being manipulated by Janus’s control. Now you’re free!” I said, my voice more forceful than he or I expected.

“(自由か?) Freedom?” He lifted his stubbled chin to a dignified angle, “Freedom to pay insanely high taxes? Freedom to exist in this technological dystopia where we watch robots do work meant for PEOPLE? Does this sound like freedom to you?”

My posture withered involuntarily. “I…”

Noe and Van took singular footsteps in front of me, taking a defensive formation. “Jinhua, it’s no use. There’s only one form of communication guys like him understand.” Noe unslinged, then raised her rifle. Van drew a midnight black pistol, elevating it to a competent angle.

The man laughed. When he did, the scar on his face glowed. The only thing on his mind was murderous vengeance. I viewed our lifeless corpses, bloody and broken, through his mind. A sight I’d seen too many times in the last two years.

“You will die, as my dreams have!” he roared.

Play “Cereus Crew Work”

With a gesture from Yamato, the three other figures sprang into action. A man and a woman, both wielding glowing energy blades, charged us, while a towering mech lumbered forward, its metal limbs whirring and clanking.

Noe fired off a few rounds. The fighters evaded. “Shit! Okay, come on then!” In a flash of magenta light, she split into her Quantum form. As two, she engaged the human attackers in a blinding flurry of strikes, parries, and shots. Van fired off rounds at the mech. The bullets ping-panged off its armored chassis. He’d become quite a good shot, thanks to Noe’s instruction.

“I don’t think it’s working!” he called through gritted teeth. The armored mech continued to advance. “Jinhua? A little help?”

“Got it!” I said.

I focused my mind, tapping into the wellspring of power within. Yellow light, bright and searing, erupted from my hands, engulfing the mech in a blaze of energy. The machine staggered, its circuits frying under the onslaught. When the energy was spent, my lip quivered. A speck of blood wet the tip of my tongue—salty and surprising.

“Holy hell, YES!” Van cheered. But the moment was short-lived as the energy blade wielding woman slashed at him, leaving a smoking black gash in the once beautiful grass. Van narrowly avoided the blurred blow by jumping back.

On the other side of the lawn, Noe struggled with the male fighter. Both disarmed, they were in a fistfight. A red fist connected with Noe’s rib. The crack was a silver stab of lightning in my head. Enraged, still standing, Noe punched back harder, connecting with his jaw. He recoiled, but continued with shifting kicks shuffled with smart footwork.

“Noe, I’ll help you!” I said.

I felt another blast coming, but as I poured more power into the rising attack, the world around me began to shift and warp. Noe’s punches and parries left trailing echoes of electric blue, while Van’s gunshots exploded in bursts of pulsing grape purple. The acrid scent of burning metal filled my nose, mingling with the coppery tang of blood. My vision swam; it was hard to stand. “Noe, hold on… I’m coming.” In my mind, I was running, but in reality, two labored steps were the furthest I could go.

Yamato noted my sluggish movement. “I can’t believe it was you who killed our leader! Your weakness is a disgrace!” He lunged toward me with a crackling energy whip, brandishing glowing green light. Time seemed to slow as the weapon arced through the air, swiping a shimmering emerald wake as it extended toward me.

Unexpectedly, Noe appeared just in time, her quantum selves merging back into one as she intercepted the attack. The whip coiled around her arm, searing her flesh, but she hardened her stance and held fast. “Van, SHOOT HIM!”

Van aimed his pistol at Yamato’s head, but the man was too quick. With a flick of his wrist, he released Noe’s arm, then sent the energy whip snaking in the direction of his would be attacker. WHIP-SNAP! The crackling tendril wrapped around his throat. Van’s eyes bulged red with fright when he realized what was happening.

“Van!” I screamed. Choking and burning, his body jerked and spasmed as Yamato drained his life force away in a swirling vortex of sickly, forest-green colored gobs.

Noe’s face contorted with rage. Sounding a savage cry, she dove at him. He was unprepared for her direct assault; even more so when she proceeded to bash his face repeatedly with increasingly bloody fists. Eventually, he stopped moving. But I couldn’t tell exactly what happened. My vision began to cloud. “Noe… Van…”

Confusion consumed me. I staggered to Van’s fallen form, wrists aching with trapped light energy. Through climbing pain radiating up my arms, I reached him, then fell to my knees as the spinning world darkened. His eyes were clamped shut in wordless agony. All I could do was lift his head gently.

As I cradled him in my lap, I could feel his life slipping away, his neck bleeding from the ringed-red wound. Tears streamed down my face, as my vision tunneled. Out of nowhere, Noe and a taller brown-haired woman wearing a jangling blazer and glasses came over to guide me to my feet.

At last sight, Van’s form was just like the haunting image I’d seen in the mind of our enemy minutes before. That was the final picture I saw before I passed out.

Part 2 – Strangely Dressed Assistant

There was a softness to the light that matched the pillow’s coolness. The scent of a sterile environment floated into my nose. It was a pleasant in-between state, difficult to wake up from.

“Jinhua?”

My eyelids fluttered open, adjusting to the light. The blur cleared, then the white walls of a guest room came into focus. How long was I out? Judging by the outdoor shadows maybe an hour or so. Damn.

Losing consciousness felt like a thief stealing time from my life. A precious irrecoverable resource gone forever. It was the first time it happened to me. I hoped it was the last.

The room was a pristine oasis of calm, with sleek, minimalist furnishings and a large window that bathed the space in soft, natural light. A gentle breeze disturbed the sheer, white curtains, carrying the faint scent of blooming flowers from a garden outside.

I turned my head, wincing at the dull ache that pulsed through my temples, and saw Noe sitting beside me, her face bruised and battered but alive. She nursed her cracked rib with a healing wand whirring under her shirt. “Noe,” I said, my voice hoarse and weak.

“Thank god you’re okay!” she said. She shut the wand down and set it aside. “I was worried.” Noe reached out a hard hand and brushed a strand of my hair away from my eyes.

I laughed softly. “I’m alright. Thanks to you and Van…”

At the mention of his name, Noe’s face turned serious and sad, like a old statue on display at a museum.

“Oh no… Van. What happened? Is he…?”

Noe leaned forward, her expression grim. “Van’s in bad shape, Jinhua. He’s in a recharge unit now, but it doesn’t look good.”

“I-it..it’s all my fault! None of this would have happened if I’d been able to control it! I don’t know why I blacked out!” My tears flowed as if from a faucet.

Noe flinched, fighting the pain of her healing rib to embrace me. “Shh, shh, that’s not true. It’s okay. You did everything you could.”

“I don’t know what happened. The sounds and colors felt like they were gonna swallow me whole.”

Noe let me go. A perplexed look formed her face. “So that’s what it was. You looked like you were about to collapse. What else did you see?”

I wanted to tell her about the flashing colors. The taste of blood, dizziness, surges of cold and heat – all of it. Odd occurrences I had no explanation for.

“I saw…”

The door to the guest room swung open and the brown-haired woman walked in. She was tall with long limbs, moving as if a spotlight was on her – center stage. Her eccentric outfit defied simple description – buckles and buttons in unconventional places, sneakers, a conservative yet revealing pink blouse, and a leather pouch too small to hold anything but spare coins nobody used anymore. I had no idea how to interpret her style, but her expression was strictly business.

“You must be Jinhua Ma,” she said. “I’m glad you’re awake.”

Noe stood slowly, wincing as she held her recovering rib. “Thanks for helping us out back there,” she said. “We owe you.” She strode over and shook her hand. For a second, the gesture rattled her. As if she were a delicate piece of glassware being smudged by oily fingers.

As Jean introduced herself, I observed the ease with which she managed the room. Her commanding presence stirred resentment within me. How could she carry herself with such assurance, when here I was, a heap of broken abilities and guilt?

She stepped back and raised a hand, “No need to thank me. Boss’s orders. Just doing my job.” Her lips flattened, “You’re no stranger to that, right Ms. Acosta?”

Noe’s eyes hardened. “Yeah… what was your name again?”

“I never said it. It’s Jean. Jean Lee.”

Noe drew a breath to speak, but Jean Lee spoke first. “Mr. Khuni is in a meeting and will be ready to receive you in ten minutes. Until then you can take time to…” she sniffed in snorts twice. Her nose crinkled, but her face remain flat “…freshen up. I’ve pulled your luggage from your van.”

“Van,” I said, sitting up in the bed, “How is he?”

Jean Lee raised her hand, as a teacher calling for silence would do. Were we the students? I wondered.

“He’s in critical condition. The recharge machine will work tirelessly to save his life.” She turned to go, but stopped and threw a glance over her shoulder, “Sorry about your friend.” Then she exited, closing the door softly behind her.

Noe didn’t move for a few seconds. She just stared at the door. “What a stuck up bitch.” She raised her arm and smelled under her armpit. “I don’t smell that bad do I?”

I laughed. “You fought hard, and we’re alive. That’s all I care about.” Seconds of silence ticked by. Noe still seemed bothered.

“Well? What was she thinking?”

“All I saw was you,” I said as I stifled a smile.

“Wha-!?” Noe crossed her arms and pouted. “Wait a minute…! Clothes on, or off? C’mon tell me!”

I smiled and shook my head. “We should get ready. I’m feeling a little better now.” I removed the blanket and stepped out of the large bed.

“You’re no fun,” Noe said.

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This is an independently created project. If you enjoy it consider donating to support it.

Part 3 – The Greatest Showman Scientist

An hour later, Jean Lee led us downstairs toward the lab.

With every step, the faithful assistant became more animated – “loose” was how Noe described it. Her entire being lifted.

“Is that… music?” Noe asked.

“Sounds like it,” I said. My neck inclined toward the sound as I walked.

Play “Club Lab”

A few more steps and we were there. I felt bass vibrating my skin as Jean Lee entered a code on a small control panel pulsing with green light. She completed a sequence, then the futuristic doors slid open.

When they did, a wave of sound crashed over me like a tidal wave. The room pulsed with a lively mechanized beat, each thump sending jolts of neon leaf green surges through my bones and blood. Swirling lights bathed the space in a dizzying array of colors, transforming the once ordinary office into a carnival-esque wonderland.

In the center of the mad display stood a short man in a white lab coat with lines like veins in the stitching. Dark purplish light zipped at rhythmic intervals. His dark hair was an artful mess, as if he’d just rolled out of bed after a night of debauchery. But it was his eyes that caught my attention – they danced with a mischievous light, harboring secrets.

Jean Lee, who had been standing beside us moments before, now hovered at his side like a worshipper at the feet of a deity, bouncing to the beat. Her once stiff posture had melted into one of reverence and adoration, her eyes wide with a fervor that set my teeth on edge.

The man spun around, his coat flaring out with a flourish. He smiled wide and pointed with flair.

“Noelani Acosta and Jinhua Ma!” His theatrical voice boomed over the music. “Welcome to Amelio Khuni’s lab! I’m thrilled you made it!”

I glanced at Noe, trying to gauge her reaction to this over-the-top display. She stood with her arms crossed, her face a mask of irritation. But there was a glint of amusement in her eyes, a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth. She was suppressing a smile, I saw it in her mind.

“Is this guy for real?” she muttered, leaning in close to my ear.

I shrugged, unsure what to make of the man who stood before us. He was certainly a character, but there was something about him that made me exercise caution. A sense of unpredictability, of chaos barely contained beneath the surface rolled behind the spectacle.

As if sensing my unease, Amelio’s gaze locked onto mine. He snapped a finger at Jean Lee, who immediately began to fade the music and raise the lights, both at a steady rate. I wondered how many times he’d put on his welcome party.

He strode over, then looked up at me. His smile widened, revealing a row of perfect white teeth.

“Jinhua Ma, 19 years old,” he said, his voice smooth. “I’ve heard so much about you. The girl with the power to read minds. So young, so powerful.” He took a step forward, his eyes never leaving mine. “Tell me, what do you see when you look into mine?”

I swallowed hard, my mouth suddenly dry. I didn’t want to look. But there was a pull, a magnetism to him that I couldn’t resist. I let my mind reach out, tentatively at first, then with growing confidence.

“But! Before you do, I’ll read not your mind… but your heart,” he said, interrupting my action.

“You can do that?” I asked.

“Yes, I can,” Amelio said with a smirk.

Noe made her sound of skepticism. It was a vocal sigh that resembled a stubborn horse defying its owner. It never failed to make me giggle.

“Jinhua, don’t listen to him. He’s full of shit. No way he can do that.”

Amelio’s smugness fell away. He rushed over to her. “You may be beautiful, but you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ll prove it to you!”

With that, he produced a device the size of an old penny from his coat pocket and raised it into the air. It gleamed under the lights. “This is the Emotionator. It allows me to see through your…” Amelio gazed at Noe’s chest, “…SIZEABLE breasts straight to the heart.”

Noe crossed her arms, covering herself. “You! You’re an asshole!”

Amelio didn’t seem to hear her comment, he was adjusting something on the Emotionator. “Jean Lee! Ready?”

“Roger, boss!” She had moved to a console with lots of complicated monitors. She suspended her finger over a button. At some point, she donned safety goggles that made her look as if she were about to go snowboarding… or watch an atomic bomb test blast.

I gulped. “Do we need those too?”

“BEGIN EXPERIMENT IN 3… 2… 1… GO!” Amelio said.

A brilliant flash of light plastered our shadows against the wall. Then, a puff of penny-sized smoke rose from the device.

“What the? What happened?” Amelio looked confused. “I thought sure I recalibrated it.” He investigated the tiny machine in a frenzy. He mashed tiny buttons, turned it in his fingers, held it up to the light – results were inconclusive. I covered my mouth to hide my snickering. It was a comical display.

Noe burst into laughter and walked over to him. “Looks like you’ll have to wait a little longer to look under my shirt.” She leaned forward with a cheeky grin.

Even though she wore a t-shirt, Amelio’s eyes were stunned momentarily. “Uh Boss? You alright?” Jean Lee inquired, sliding to his side. The stiffness had returned to her voice. Noe flashed a devilish glance in her direction then straightened her posture.

“Look, we appreciate the welcome, but we don’t have time for this. I’m sure you got the brief about us from your Dad, right?” Noe asked.

Amelio lowered his eyes. “Outside of his first message saying you were coming… no, I haven’t. We don’t talk much now.”

Noe noticed the hesitation but continued. “I see. Well, here we are. The two freak women with special powers that are slowly killing us in mysterious ways. Some faster than others…” She glanced at me with worry. “Can you help us?”

Amelio eyed her as if she were a sinner and he the priest. “Of course I can. And I will. But first,” he clapped twice. Instantly, a wheeled robotic servant descended from a slot in the wall. It rolled over as if it were one of the old radio-controlled cars I used to play with in my robotics committees. Quite cute!

Then it grew. What was a bowl-shaped bot transformed into a humanoid about the height of Jean Lee. “Tom?” Amelio asked.

“Yes, Amelio?” the robot’s voice was natural and native. It spoke with an Australian or British accent. Since it was a robot, it was probably British.

“Tea for 4, please.”

“Yes, sir.” It rolled off with Jean Lee toward what I assumed was the kitchen.

Amelio straightened his lab coat and raised his arm toward a door in the distance. “This way, ladies. We’ll talk in a more comfortable setting.”

Part 4 – Pleasure, Pain, and Power

As we settled into the plush chairs of Amelio’s private lounge, I couldn’t help but marvel at the randomness of the space.

The room showcased his eclectic tastes, with sleek, modern furniture juxtaposed against ancient artifacts and cutting-edge technology. The display distracted me from a tremor building in my lower back. I subtly repositioned myself to make it go away. It stopped, and I felt some relief.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. Noe poked around the room, while Amelio busied himself on his device. All was quiet until I began to hear water. It started as a trickle, no louder than a dripping faucet, then swelled into a rushing stream. Suddenly, my vision filled with strips of blue. At first, the hue was sky-colored, then it walked the spectrum – deeper and darker…louder, closer, and crushing…

“Jinhua.”

Noe appeared before me, deep concern on her face. Everyone else also stared in confusion.

“Amelio just asked if you wanted sugar in your tea… are you alright?”

I rubbed my eyes. “I’m okay. Guess I’m still recovering from the fight.”

“Good!” Amelio said. He sat in a stately high-backed chair meant for a much taller man. “Now, tell me a story.” He leaned forward, assuming a position of intense interest.

Noe stood and began to recount the harrowing events that had brought us to this point. There was a lot to cover.

“It all started with DD-5428, a secret self-destruct order embedded within Cereus’ charter,” she said, her voice steady and clear. “When your pops activated it, everything went to hell.”

Then we told him all of it. About Cereus, the Founders; Janus’s plan to corrupt the minds of billions around the world. The clash of ideology and technology among key players. When we got to the parts about our powers being awakened and the battle against Janus, to my surprise, he didn’t react.

That’s when I realized he was indeed a Khuni. Much like his father, the dramatic flair was window dressing concealing a deep intellect. I saw it all. His mind moved like a high-speed computer. It organized, compared, and synthesized new and old multimodal information with uncanny speed and precision – a piece of the divine winking cosmos. Is it possible to fall in love at first sight with a mind? To have it open and available for exploration in all ways? I imagined it was. And if so, for the first time in my life, the light of love stimulated my senses. Every clasp of insight or grip of understanding cast his head-universe in amazing splashes of color. I viewed it as from a telescope – my own nebula spinning a countermelody. For a brief moment, I glimpsed a reply, and we listened to space music together, our heads nodding to the flowing rhythm. I let it fill me. When the song ended, we were strangers once again – but there was a connection now, too difficult to describe through intellect alone. I forced myself to fall back to Earth. It was a hard landing. From my seat across the room, Amelio’s physical form hit me with a smack. I sighed, spell broken. That mind was a beautiful sight housed in an otherwise obnoxious human being.

Forty-five minutes later, we finished our story. Amelio sat thinking about many things for at least ten minutes. I could see them all but had no idea which one he’d bring up first.

An out-of-place grandfather clock chimed. It was 5 o’clock. I felt my stomach growl, even though I wasn’t hungry.

“Well? What do you think?” Noe said, shattering the silence.

He returned an irritated glance, “I’m THINKING! Is that okay?”

In response, Noe slammed herself into the velvet-lined chair, elbows on knees, and scoffed. I noticed Jean Lee smile for the first time since Amelio’s welcome.

Then he stood and paced tracks into the thick carpet. All the pieces lay clear in his mind; he just had to put them together.

“Okay, okay, here’s what’s gonna happen.”

He turned to us, an expression of anxious excitement formed on his face. “First things first, I have to admit something… I can’t read hearts.”

“Called it,” Noe retorted.

“Yes, you did.” Amelio flashed a smile of admiration at her. When he did, that meteor-strewn space in his infinite mind shot through the void. A powerful fire flare burning with hints of desirous energy. It was meant for Noe but hit me too. I saw and felt it. In a breath, blurry pink halos floated into my view. What felt like a soft breeze tickled me in unexpected places around my body. It felt… nice. No, a level or two better than nice. At that realization, my breathing deepened and stuttered. Evocative images formed in my brain as pastel-hued cotton-textured soft orbs of light swirled like clouds. They stuck to the sides, forming an insulation that expanded along the walls of my mind, blocking the usual geometric thinking that took place there. The growling in my stomach went quiet.

Why is my heart pounding? I was grateful to be the only one who could read thoughts at that moment. I felt as if I could melt into the plushness of that chair. It was soft – sooo soft. Then suddenly, I was lifting out of my seat. My chest rose, and my eyes followed as if pulled by invisible tethers. Higher and higher I went. Through the roof into the sky. I didn’t want to come down. Somewhere in my euphoria from the distant ground, I heard Amelio talking.

“…BUT I can harness ’emotional intent’ through the use of technology called “the Empath”.”

Noe raised an eyebrow. “The Empath? Sounds like something out of a cheesy sci-fi movie.”

Amelio ignored her jab and continued, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. “The Empath is a revolutionary device that allows us to tap into a magic system I’ve designed. One that uses human emotion as an energy source.”

Jean Lee and Tom clapped with excitement from the corner.

The words “magic system” penetrated the pleasure bubble that fogged my headspace. I floated down to the room and back into the chair. I was me again. I took a large breath to calm myself and crossed my legs to avoid suspicion. Better ask a question to look engaged. “Magic system? How does it work?”

Amelio grinned, clearly in his element. “I thought you’d never ask. The Empath utilizes a combination of advanced neural imaging, quantum entanglement, and emotional resonance technology, as well as physiological cues to map and interpret the emotional states of individuals.^[1] By analyzing the unique patterns of emotional energy, we can effectively ‘read’ a person’s intentions and harness that power for various applications.”

Noe looked skeptical. “And you think this will help us understand our abilities better and keep our powers from killing us?”

Amelio nodded. “Absolutely to the first. Uh, not so sure on the second. To counteract the effects your powers are having on your biology, I’d need to run a lot of tests on both of you really fast, and from the looks of things… uh, is she okay?”

He was looking at me. So was everyone else.

“Jinhua! Your face is super red. What’s going on?” Noe asked, worry lining her face.

I raised my hands and felt the warmth of my cheeks. It was as if I’d been hit with a sudden fever. An unknown slick sickness slithered through my veins. From within, it constricted me in a pillowy eye-watering embrace. The sensation had returned stronger than before, and I was losing it. “I-I, I’ll be right back!” I rushed out of the lounge, away from the bewildered faces. I dashed down the hall and into the toilet we passed on the way from our room. My shoes squeaked on the floor as I flung open the first stall door and rushed in.

When I slammed the door shut and locked it, my body felt like it was burning from within. If pleasure and pain were two sides of the same coin, some malicious entity was spinning mine repeatedly. Flicking it across a table with varying rhythm. Playing with it. Every toss wound me tighter and tighter. One second, the push of pleasure had me teetering on the edge of sweet release. Then the pull of pain would rip me back and chain me to the hot, stony floor, sweating and begging for solace. Two sides – red and pink – colored me as I sat on the toilet seat, hating and loving myself.

Then a knock at the stall door.

“Jinhua? Are you okay?” It was Noe. She sounded ready to bust the door down in the most caring of ways.

“Y-yeah, j-just give me a minute or…five… I’m c-coming… out.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll wait outside.”

As soon as Noe exited, it came. The coin broke, and I was split in two. Heaven and hell tugged at me north and south, stretching me long and hard to bliss. I wanted to scream, but out of modesty, I tensed every muscle in my body in an attempt to silently absorb the rending. I didn’t do a very good job, because I collapsed onto the cold bathroom floor, panting on hands and knees, as wave after wave of pinkish-yellow aftershocks radiated from my core, crashing into my consciousness. An unexpected smile accompanied by wavering laughter left my lips. Power – at its most pure – ran through my every pore. It oozed out like the drops of sweat dripping from my hair. Somewhere in the dull depths of my mind, a question poked through – is this my fate? To become so powerful I can’t control my own desire? There on the bathroom floor, chest heaving, soaked above and below, I found no response. My spinning head was still in a post-climax cloud and wouldn’t function properly.

Eventually, I stood, opened the stall, and dragged myself to the sink. I felt like I was wearing body armor, just like that night in the tower two years ago. Weak and weary, I viewed my reflection in the mirror. My shirt looked as if I had been standing outside during a hurricane. Hair was stringy and shiny with sweat. At the sight of my debilitated form, the fuzzy feel-good insulation fell away from my brain. Deep dread replaced my previous thoughts. My hands trembled as I looked at myself: a ghost of a woman, out of control with no idea how to stop a raging body that she never wanted.

Utter embarrassment was what I felt. What would they say? After I… lost control of myself in front of them and… enjoyed it?

What’s wrong with me? This body doesn’t feel like mine. Some strange demon commands it from within. Not me. How long will it go on like this?

My legs wobbled, wrecked by emotions wound tight like an overworked muscle. Then all at once, it pulled with an aching claw grip. Equal parts pleasure and pain attacked my senses in a white flash. The room spun, and I collapsed. For a second, I thought I glimpsed my ragged form unconscious on the tiles. Or maybe I dreamt it? Whatever the circumstances, I took it as confirmation my soul had left my body at that moment.

It hovered happily above me, unwilling to return to the convulsing vessel it belonged to – me.

In its gleeful vision, Noe burst into the bathroom with a towel and robe (probably unsure which one I would need). She gasped, then went into reflex training actions. With speed and as gently as possible, she flipped me onto my back, then performed basic life-saving procedures with serious rigor – check pulse, airway, wounds. Her hands were shaking. I wanted to let her know that I was fine, better than fine. Hey, up here! Look here! But I knew she couldn’t hear me.

When she scooped up my limp frame, I felt called back. Time was up. The bang of the toilet door closing was the last thing I heard.

[^1]: The Empath technology combines several cutting-edge scientific concepts to create a plausible system for reading and harnessing emotional intent. Neural imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG), are used to map brain activity associated with emotional states. Quantum entanglement, a phenomenon where particles become linked and share properties regardless of distance, is employed to establish a connection between the Empath device and the individual being analyzed. Emotional resonance technology, a theoretical concept, involves detecting and amplifying the unique emotional energy signatures of individuals. By integrating these elements, the Empath can effectively interpret and harness the power of emotions, forming the basis of the magic system in the story.

This is an independently created project. If you enjoy it consider donating to support it.

Part 5 – Dreamwalker

My eyes flitted open. Glancing at my device, I saw it was 0051. I’d been asleep for some time, but now I was wide awake. Darkness enveloped the room, broken only by the faint glow of the half moon filtering through the window.

I sat up slowly, sore but clean, clothed in my thin sleepwear. Turning my head, I saw and heard Noe dozing on the floor next to the bed. Thank you, I thought.

Mentally, I conducted a physical assessment. There was no cause for concern; the tremors that had wracked my body earlier were gone, replaced by late night lucidity – hours for the brightest or darkest thoughts. The bad ones found me first.

The Empath.

I shuddered with tempered excitement. Could Amelio’s technology really influence my power and save my life? I needed answers but didn’t want to wake Noe.

Eyeing her again, I saw her body curled up defensively under a thin blanket, her slow, steady breathing signaling deep, enviable peace – something I rarely enjoyed. I thought to reach into her mind for answers but abruptly stopped.

A conversation between us in a cheap Oklahoma City hotel surfaced in my thoughts. That night, I had been testing a newly discovered ability: dreamwalking.

Play “Dreamwalker”

Reading conscious minds was simple, something I’d gotten used to. But dreams were different, giving new life to hopes, fears, and secret desires. I had tried it on a sleeping security guard in the hotel lobby. The next morning, I woke up in a rage, prone to fits and outbursts. Noe and Van were patient with my explanation and out of character behavior, but the episode shook me. I learned quickly that dreams are sticky, the most potent ones infecting all who see and hear them with profound, difficult to escape emotional depth. Preparation and care were vital when exploring them.

That’s why I devised a defense I called “dream shield” – a protective aura that acted as a barrier between me and any foreign feelings that might invade my psychic state. It was a high energy cost ability, but vital for long dream walks.

I discovered its limits on my first and last dream walk in Noe’s mind. For two hours, I witnessed her regret and pain over her mother’s death. Lili’uokalani Keahi, a Cereus Founder, transformed into a feral beast resembling a werewolf-bear hybrid, chasing her only daughter around an abandoned medieval village. Noe discharged every weapon she could find – bullets, flamethrowers, lasers – but none had any effect. Lili’s skin absorbed them all as she rushed Noe until there was nothing left but to fight with fists and teeth.

Noe fought hard but was overpowered and pinned. Arms restrained, breathing shallow, she asked with sadness, “Mom, why?”

“You let me die. You should have stayed when I told you to go.”

Noe shook her head, admitting, “You’re right, I… I fucked up.”

Beast Lili snarled, “You never appreciated everything I sacrificed for you. All the gifts Janus and I gave you, you’ve wasted them.”

Closing her eyes in shame, Noe lay lifeless in the dirt as Lili plunged fangs into her neck, ripping her throat open, warm blood dripping from her jaw.

With my barrier active, I was safe from the bitter regret at the grisly murder. But the next morning, I sobbed uncontrollably. The horrific vision seemed to leave Noe unfazed. Seeing me crying, she asked why, and I told her.

Her initial reaction was measured, but she wasn’t happy. “Jinhua,” she sighed, “you should stay out of my head. It’s not a very fun or safe place.” Her eyes were cold. I agreed not to do it again. That was weeks ago.

Now things were more urgent. I felt the muscles in my face constrict, then tasted salt. Alarmed, I placed two fingers in my mouth. Blood – much more than this morning. As silently as possible, I crept out of bed and into the attached toilet. I ran the water, slurping and spitting into the sink, dots of blood lining the basin. When it was all out, I swallowed gulps of water like a desert dweller days without the vital liquid. Fear rose within me. How much longer do I have? How much worse will it get? I willed myself to shut it out, but one thing was certain – I’m running out of time and need answers. The last six hours were lost to me. Only one person could help me recover them. This time I’ll be more careful, I promise.

Climbing back into bed, I closed my eyes and focused on Noe’s mind, letting my consciousness drift into her’s – a familiar sensation, like slipping into a warm bath. I searched through her memories of the evening, looking for missed conversations.

There were two notable ones. The first pulsed with lascivious energy. I breathed deep to prevent a repeat of today’s episode. Soon, a yellow aura of protective energy clothed me like a skin-tight bodysuit. “Dream shield” was active.

I stepped inside the memory, an astral onlooker. In it, Amelio sat at his desk in his lab coat as Jean Lee, stern and straight, looked on. Noe was in the shadows, wearing a dark navy blue t-shirt and athletic shorts displaying lotioned, lean legs. (I wish mine looked like that sometimes.)

Amelio’s eyes gleamed as he scanned endless streams on information, fingers flying across the keyboard. “How much did we get today, Jean Lee?”

“Another 100TB of battle data,” she responded with a purr, her gaze lingering on Amelio’s feverish expression.

“Excellent. File it, tab it, add it to the pile. There’s got to be more.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Watcha doin’?” Noe’s playful voice cut through Amelio’s concentration. She tiptoed closer, grinning mischievously. “Porn?”

Amelio scrambled to close the countless tabs, his postured straightened. “No, no, of course not!”

Noe’s eyes sparkled. “Oh, too bad. Woulda been kinda hot.” She spun his chair around, leaning in close. Amelio’s gaze drifted down her waist, drinking in the sight of her, his head looking about ready to bust from excitement. “Mind if I ask you something?”

He nodded vigorously.

“What’s with all the numbers and stuff? I don’t get it.” Noe backed away, tilting her head curiously.

Shaking off his stupor, Amelio leaned back, his expression turning reverent. “It’s information in digital form. The lifeblood of our world. With enough of it, we could unlock the secrets of the universe, reshape reality itself.”

Noe raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like a tall order.”

“It is. But I won’t stop until I’ve gathered every byte, every scrap of information I can get my hands on.” Amelio’s voice dropped to a whisper, his eyes alight with holy fervor. “No matter the cost.”

“Oooh, right. Numbers, yay. Sounds pretty boring to me.”

Bristling, Amelio stood. “You wouldn’t understand,” he said.

Noe considered his comment. “You’re right, but that’s why you’re here. To help me understand… right?”

Amelio’s face softened. “Yes. I could. IF you were willing…”

“I AM willing, Amelio. I’ve have been since we got here. Unless you were too obsessed with your experiments to notice.” She reached out her index finger and flicked his lower lip with a feather touch.

“We’re not talking data anymore, are we?”

Noe shook her head, a flirtatious smile brightening her face.

Amelio smirked, made his way over, and pulled her in tight. In the next second, their lips met with familiar force, hands roaming. He reached under her shirt, finding her breasts, cupping and squeezing. She leaned in, sounding a soft moan. Noe’s hands unbuckled, then reached down his pants, jostling and extending him. He released a long, guttural sigh while pressing his weight against her, countering with greater strength.

I forced myself to turn away, looking around to ensure my golden veil was secure. It was. My body felt calm, as if sleeping, but my mind spun with sexual energy.

Closing my eyes, I took several long, deep breaths, walking out of the fantasy bubble. Cries, groans, moans, screams, and slaps reverberated behind me.

After the sounds faded, I walked briskly toward the other memory, a dark vibe burying my previous feelings as I stepped in.

In this memory, Amelio and Noe leaned over my unconscious body on the guest bed. He held a syringe in his hand. Thankfully, both wore the same clothes I’d seen them in today. It was a real memory.

“What are you doing?” Noe demanded, her voice sharp.

Amelio looked up, his expression serious. “Shh! Do you want to wake her? I need to analyze her blood. There might be clues in her DNA that can help us understand her condition.”

Noe looked skeptical. “And you couldn’t wait until she was awake to get it?”

Shaking his head, Amelio said, “Look, after today’s ‘excitement‘ and all the other symptoms, I’m 100% sure our gifted girl is dying… well, 95% sure, but that’s still pretty high!”

Noe groaned but didn’t protest.

He raised my limp arm and drew the sample, his movements quick and precise. Jean Lee stood beside him, her face neutral.

“Time is of the essence. If we’re going to save her life, we need to act fast.”

I watched as Amelio took the blood sample to his lab, his movements brisk. Minutes later, he returned, his face grave.

“What did you find?” Noe asked in a tight whisper.

Hesitating, Amelio’s eyes darted between Noe and my unconscious form. “Her cells are breaking down at an alarming rate. It’s quite fascinating actually, but the explanation will have to wait. Bottom line – if we don’t find a way to stop it soon, she’ll be dead within a week. Or even sooner…”

Noe looked at me with the same steadfast determination she’d given me after my father had been shot that night in the tower. But I had no idea how she could protect me from my own body.

Amelio turned to go.

“Where are you going?” Noe asked.

“To bed. There’s nothing we can do for her now. Let her rest.” He took a step, then looked back from the door’s threshold, “You comin’?”

Noe smirked. “You wish!”

Jean Lee smiled and shrugged as they both walked out.

I pulled out of Noe’s mind, my heart racing. A week or less? That was all I had left? The thought made me tense with worry, but the effect was numbed by “Dream shield.” How long had I been dreamwalking? I’d lost track of time. My arm left a blurred rust-colored streak in the air as I raised my device to my eyes. 0230.

Oh no. I felt myself fading fast into sleep.

Before my eyes shut, I looked at Noe’s sleeping form, guilt running deep. She had endured so much already, and now she faced the added burden of possibly losing me too. I couldn’t bear the thought of causing her more pain.

As I drifted off, I made a silent vow to myself. I would fight this with every ounce of strength I had left. I would find a way to live, no matter the cost.

Part 6 – Upgrade Trial

I awakened to the warmth of the morning sun filtering through the curtains. As I sat up, the weight of the previous night’s revelations hung over me like a heavy cloak, but I refused to let it darken my mood.

“In life’s pivotal moments, how you confront the unexpected doesn’t just define you – it can determine your fate.” The words of my father surfaced in my mind. As usual, his wisdom upon my parting on this journey was as powerful as ever.

I won’t run, I won’t hide, I’ll fight till the end. The others’ presence strengthened my resolve.

The spot where Noe slept was vacant. She was an early riser and had probably been up for hours. I checked the time – 10:45. Last night’s dreamwalk really drained me, but there was no time to waste.

Fueled by a newfound sense of purpose, I dressed quickly in jeans, a fresh bra, a teal t-shirt, and a light jacket – a comfortable and functional outfit. I brushed my hair and teeth. In the mirror, new lines of fatigue had drawn themselves under my eyes – a sign of youth’s end. My reflection was someone new, the person I needed to become to survive. Not just for my sake, but for Noe and everyone else who loved and protected me. I have to stay alive for them.

Ready, I made my way back to the lab. Upon entering, I found Noe and Amelio, their attention focused on a computer screen. Jean Lee stood in her usual random attire, busy analyzing a display of weapons and armor on a screen. She looked as if she were hiding something, but by the time I peered into her inner world to see it, there was nothing but a droning newscast memory. I was surprised by her mental discipline and agility.

Upon noticing me, they all dropped what they were doing and stared, a mixture of surprise and concern etched on their faces. Their thoughts were various pictures of anxiety, doubt, and respect. Only the sound of thrumming machines filled the air.

“I know about my condition,” I declared, my voice steady. “And I’m ready to do whatever it takes to survive.”

One by one, their expressions transformed. Pride shone in Noe’s eyes, a small smile tugging at her lips. Amelio and Jean Lee exchanged impressed glances, while Tom, the robot assistant, flashed his eyes green in approval.

“You’re a courageous girl,” Amelio said, “and I applaud your bravado. But… there’s a problem.”

Noe threw up her hands. “What is it now?”

“When we developed the Empath, we split it in half as a security precaution. Y’know, such potentially powerful technology needed to be kept in check.”

“Go on,” I said, walking over to join them.

“Right. There are two sides of the device. One is ‘Acumen’ – the one I possess. It represents keen intellect. Like yours truly.”

Noe rolled her eyes, hiding a smile.

“And the other?” I asked.

“That would be ‘Ardor’. It governs passionate enthusiasm. For the Empath to work at full capacity, we need both halves. And unfortunately… I don’t have it.”

My gaze fell to the floor. Vibrations of disappointment shook me from within. It smelled strong, like burnt toast, then a melting battery – bitter and steely.

“Well? Where’s the other half?” Noe demanded.

“It’s currently in the possession of my old classmate, Mensah.”

“Mensah?” I asked.

Amelio scratched his stubbled chin. “Yeah. Just a guy I had a bit of a spat with back during my research days. He co-developed the technology.” He laughed uncomfortably. It reminded me of his father.

There was silence while everyone processed the new information. Noe appeared impatient for an explanation. Among the tangled network of Amelio’s thoughts, I glimpsed fragments of the fallout.

A girl? No, a woman – older. A bad exchange. Money (of course). Misunderstanding, then a gun on a silver table in a bright room – like a hospital ward with religious artifacts.

“Hey! Are you listening? I’m only gonna explain this once,” Amelio raised his voice.

“Uh, yeah, I heard you. You were talking about the Empath, right?” I guessed.

Noe silently pumped her fist at an angle only I could see.

“Yes, I was! As I was saying, I can give you access to the part of the Empath that I have – ‘Acumen’. It should grant you new abilities. And if we’re lucky, give you a little more time…”

A shadow cast itself over the room at his comment. It pressed on everyone, me most of all.

Noe looked up then stretched her neck. “When do we get started?”

“Right now.” Amelio snapped his finger, then both Jean Lee and Tom sprung into action as if soldiers who’d received movement orders.

With a few keystrokes, a low hum filled the room. Noe and I exchanged curious glances as a strange sensation washed over us. A moment later, I flinched as reality rewrote itself around me. Everyone dissolved into clusters of dots as the lab faded into endless white.

What happened?

A new setting entered my vision, first slowly, then all at once. It was a vast gladiator arena, its high walls shimmering with a metallic sheen. The sandy dirt crunched under my shoes. A domed blue sky full of lazy clouds floated overhead.

A second later, Noe materialized beside me. She appeared disoriented and confused as she patted her hands over her body to confirm her existence.

“What the hell?” Noe exclaimed, her eyes wide.

Amelio’s voice echoed through the space. It sounded like an announcement over a PA system at a state fair. “Okay ladies, welcome to your combat trial! Jean Lee, is ‘Acumen’ ready for activation?”

Jean Lee’s voice took over the microphone, “Ready, sir!”

“Excellent! Prepare level 1 discharge in 3… 2… 1… ENGAGE!”

In that next moment, I saw Noe gasp. She clapped her hand to the back of her neck, face in agony. “Uuugh! It burns!”

A second later, the charge struck: blue-white waves crossed my vision. “I can’t see!” Both my hands were on the nape of my neck as my knees hit the dirt. “It’s so hot!” If a light bulb had nerves, that minute described its life. A bright, glowing surge of energy bouncing rapidly among tiny filaments.

“UUUgggh!” Noe was on her knees beside me, doubled over as energy ran through her.

Soon the pain subsided and the colors faded. My vision gradually returned. I caught my breath and stood. Noe looked better too.

“You good?” she asked.

“Yeah, okay.”

Noe raised her fist toward the sky, “Hey jerk! Mind giving us a warning next time before you pump us full of electricity?”

Amelio spoke, “Apologies! This technology is still experimental.”

“You could’ve cooked us!”

“You did fine,” Amelio said casually. “How do you feel?”

I was still analyzing myself after the charge. I felt… different. Lighter and clearer somehow.

“Good enough to hit you when we get back,” Noe retorted.

“Perfect.” Amelio’s tone was devious. Something about it made me nervous. Then my eyes flew ahead. “I knew it.”

On the far side of the arena, eight Limnic fighters appeared. They looked like copies of the ones we’d faced in the Trans-America Pyramid two years ago. The colors they wore were different, but the menacing glares from the mix of mechs and humans were real. They were rushing right at us, weapons raised, charged, and burning – fast.

“Uh Noe, this isn’t good.” I raised my hands.

“Amelio, this isn’t funny.”

“Now for a tutorial!” Amelio said, excitement in his voice.

“Jinhua, your code-based magic has evolved, allowing you to create, break down, and control digital machines, even puppet people to a limited degree. Maybe. Not sure if that bit works or not – test simulations were shaky. You’ll have to find out on your own.”

“Even people…?” my voice trailed off.

I looked down at my hands. My veins thrummed with sun-toned energy. “Incredible,” I whispered.

“And Noe, your Quantum form has been upgraded, granting you the ability to split into three forms. Oh, and you now wield unlimited ammo in your Quantum state – at least that’s what the computer says.”

Noe grinned, cracking her knuckles. Out of nowhere, her trusty modified M-4 appeared in her hands. “Now that’s what I’m talking about! Let’s see what these new powers can do.”

“Battle Start!”

Play “Deadly Combination”

As the Limnic fighters charged towards us, I focused my mind, tapping into a deep reservoir of newfound power. The world spun retrograde – slow. A ring of golden light circled me, tousling my hair, stirring the air. The yellows of the sandy dirt beneath my feet became more vibrant, while the blues of the sky above took on an electric hue.

I raised my hands, feeling the code-based magic flowing through me. With a flick of my wrist, I sent a stream of yellow light rays towards the nearest mech. Unexpected shotgun-like recoil caused me to jump back. BANG! The rays engulfed one of the approaching death machines, causing it to disintegrate into a pile of flaming metal. The sight was both exhilarating and terrifying, the colors of the explosion painting my vision in a stroke of reds and oranges.

Beside me, Noe split into three forms, each one wielding her modified M-4 with deadly precision. Gunfire erupted, its staccato rhythm pulsing in sync with the flashes from her rifle. Magenta-coated bullets tore through the human fighters, their bodies jerking and falling to the ground as they wailed and screamed, splashing blood into the sand.

I turned my attention to the remaining mechs. I analyzed their digital structures, reached out, and took control of one of the machines. With a single thought, I was transported to the other side of the area. A wave of confusion washed over me as I adapted to my new situation. It didn’t take long.

Then I glanced over at my human body. Eyes glowing gold, arms slack, expression empty. I looked possessed. My ghoulish visage and the cold metal body I inhabited placed me in two worlds at once. I had the urge to retch from the dissociation whiplash, but there was no digestive tract to release it through.

“Jinhua, lookout!” Noe cried.

A Limnic laser had landed where my body had been a second prior. Noe tackled it to the ground in a protective clench, then unleashed a close-range burst at the angry woman who shot at me. Her head exploded as the hot rounds found their target.

In the mech, I didn’t know what to do, so I pointed my arm and thought to fire the cannon. It went off with incredible force – BOOM! – attracting the attention of the final mech. It rushed me, then knocked me to the ground.

Noe was approaching with her rifle, but the armor was too thick. It was up to me. The mech restrained me against the earth, but it hesitated for a moment. Probably confused by the shot from an ally machine. A series of beeps and flashes went off in its eyes. Target discernment – my only chance.

I kicked hard, and it fell back with a ground-shaking slam. This time I lifted both arms. BOOM-BOOM! Nothing but explosions, smoke, and sparks.

“Nice going!” Noe said.

Then another sensation struck me. A pinging sound in my ears. It started slow and faint, then became fast and loud. My head felt like it might burst. An explosion of spectrum light and in an instant, I was on the other side of the arena again. My thumping heart and warm skin were a clear sign I was human again. I felt smaller, yet more powerful that way.

While I reacclimated, Noe took care of the mech I’d inhabited. Its confusion after being taken over made it easy prey.

As the last enemy fell, I felt a rush of exhaustion wash over me. The colors around me began to fade, the world returning to its normal hues. I stumbled slightly, my knees threatening to give out beneath me.

Noe’s forms merged back into one, and she rushed to my side, her eyes filled with concern. “Whoa, Jinhua! You okay?”

I nodded, taking a deep breath to steady myself. “Yeah, just a little overwhelmed. These new powers are incredible, but they take a lot out of me.”

Noe grinned, patting me on the back. “You were amazing out there! The way you took control of that mech? Absolutely badass!”

Breathless, with the thrill of battle punching through my veins, I replied, “You weren’t so bad yourself.”

As we stood there, catching our breath, Amelio’s voice once again echoed through the air. “Impressive work, ladies! You’re already adapting to your new abilities quite nicely.”

Noe scowled, looking up at the sky as if she could see Amelio’s face. “Yeah, no thanks to you! A little warning would’ve been nice.”

Amelio chuckled, his voice taking on a more serious tone. “Consider it a taste of what’s to come.”

To come?

“Jean Lee? Prepare Level 3!”

“Ready when you are.” I heard Tom the robot’s confirmation in the background.

“Now!” Amelio bellowed.

A swirling spiral of deep purple appeared in mid-air. It spun with lazy revolutions at first, then picked up speed until it released a jet beam of dim light with a sound Noe later described as a bone-rattling whoosh-whirr. The sound of a menacing foreign body appearing for the first time in a horror film. When the light died, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“!… It can’t be.” I mouthed, my eyes narrowed while I raised my hands.

“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Noe growled, shouldering her rifle.

Through the black fog, a familiar figure materialized before us. My breath caught in my throat as I recognized the red armor and glowing eyes of Silas James, one of the Founders of Cereus. The man we killed two years ago. His burning eyes thrust an old hatred at us from across the battle space. He wore his farmer’s clothes, with his left hand strained into a fist and on his right – no hand at all. It was the barrel of a glimmering laser cannon – wide, empty and surging with radical heat. It was pointed directly at me.

I felt my heart hammering in my throat as his accusatory eyes reminded me: You killed me. Your first kill. Virgin’s blooding. How did it feel?

“Long time no see, Jinhua,” he said through gritted teeth. “Remember when you cut me up like a piece of watermelon? I look forward to doing the same with you and your friend.”

He raised his hand and began to chant.

“Dammit! Not this again!” Noe said. She began to rain rounds on him. But Silas’s shield absorbed all of her shots.

Panicked, I recalled Amelio’s words “…you might even be able to puppet people…”. “Just like the mech… right?” I concentrated on Silas’s chanting figure and made the leap.

He dropped his arm and I felt it. His hate, anger, and lust for slaughterhouse revenge overwhelmed my unprepared psyche to the soul level. Too… strong. The pinging rang in my ears; the spectrum of light cracked like lightning then I flew back into my own body. I immediately felt my stomach lurch then vomited. The watery contents of the discharge were spotted with specks of blood. Noe rushed over to help me up.

Silas shook his head. “Aw, you poor girl!! Did I make you sick?? ‘Fraid your new little trick won’t work on me. Now I’ll punish you for tryin’ to control me!” He lifted his arm and resumed chanting.

I regained my composure and began to return fire, but it was too late. He pointed at me and suddenly I was frozen in place.

“That’s a good position for you,” he said. “Just stay right there.”

He lifted the laser cannon with age-defying strength. “Now DIE! HELL BEAM!”

A blinding streak of crimson energy burst from Silas’s cannon, hurtling towards me with terrifying speed. The air crackled with the searing heat, my skin prickling as it approached.

“JINHUA!” Noe’s scream pierced through the chaos.

I struggled against the invisible bonds that held me in place, running through every possible means to escape and fight back. The beam’s light screamed toward me. Its burning fire-burst intensifying with each passing millisecond.

Just as I thought all hope was lost, a flicker of yellow light caught my attention. It was a gold-toned bar floating in my periphery. An outline of a human brain sat in a similarly colored circle as it pulsed with energy. It said “MIND” at the bottom. Is this… a new power? It was almost full, I’d hardly noticed it was there before. Now a tug of intuition spurred my words. Last chance to avoid the attack. What if we…?

“Noe!” I called out, my voice strained. “Do you see a meter filling? I think it’s a mind meter! Fill it!”

“What? You have one too? Okay!” She understood, then began firing her rifle at a rapid clip. With every shot, I watched as her mind meter filled to max, the amethyst-hued light growing taller and brighter.

The Hell Beam was nearly upon me now, I felt as if I stood before a hot oven, ready to be pushed in. But just as it was about to make contact, a shimmering barrier of yellow and purple light erupted around me, deflecting the beam harmlessly into the air.

Silas stumbled back in shock. “No! What the hell did you do?”

I grinned, feeling power running through me. In full control of my faculties for the first time in weeks. “You underestimated us, Silas. We’re not the same as we were before.”

Noe appeared beside me, her rifle at the ready. “Damn right.”

Silas snarled, raising his cannon once more. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll still destroy you both!”

Before he could fire, Noe and I locked eyes, a silent understanding passing between us. She raised her rifle. My hand flew up beside it. Our mind meters pulsing as one. Utter intuition guided our intent to a singular goal.

“DEADLY VIBRATION!” we shouted, our voices echoing through the arena.

A maelstrom of yellow and purple stream of brightness spiraled from my hand and the muzzle of her rifle, intertwining in a resplendent rain of force. It shone so bright I clasped my eyes shut. It was almost blinding.

When it landed, the glowing ray demolished his feeble defense, then tore through his flesh like a blowtorch through a sheet of aluminum foil. His armor cracked and splintered, the metal twisting and warping under the onslaught of what I imagined were solar-level temperatures. His familiar screams of agony bounced in my skull – just like before.

When the light faded, Silas was gone. Only a black pile of swirling ashes remained.

Noe and I stood there, breathless and exhilarated. We turned to each other, relieved it was over.

“We did it,” I said, my breathing ragged.

“Yeah, what a ride.”

Suddenly, the world around us flickered and faded, revealing the familiar lab. Jean Lee stood with lined lips, by the console. Her delicate fingers danced over a keypad. Robot Tom flashed cool blue bulb-eyed blinks, then rushed off after receiving orders to prepare our room and a meal. Amelio himself stood with arms crossed, a smug grin on his face.

“Well done, ladies,” he said, clapping his hands. “That was quite the impressive display. I didn’t expect that reaction from a sim.”

Noe scowled, crossing her arms. “Bringing him back was low.”

Amelio nodded, his expression alight with mischief. “It was. I admit it. But I’m not sorry. You needed training, I needed data. Win-win, right?”

“It was helpful,” I said, looking at Noe.

“Yeah, yeah,” she responded.

Amelio spoke, “I was prepared to brief you about your combined attack. See, it’s here in my script.” He held up his device before Noe’s eyes. “But you went and figured it out on your own. Oh well. The experiment was a success. Acumen worked. Your powers are, well… more powerful. And I got most of the combat data from your chips.”

Noe softly shoved his screen away. “Of course you hacked us. Why am I not surprised?”

“If I warned you in advance, the data wouldn’t have been pure.”

Jean Lee completed her task and walked over. Her heeled boots clicked with every step. “The data is now processing. Good work.”

“Oh, thanks,” Noe said. “I was beginning to think you didn’t like me.”

“I was talking to Boss and Jinhua,” she replied, her inflection flat as a table.

Noe’s face inflated with frustration.

I giggled, feeling the exhaustion settling into my bones. “So, what now?”

Amelio’s expression grew more serious. “Now, you eat, get cleaned up and rest. We’ll leave to see my old pal Mensah in a few hours.”

Noe, hands on hips, said, “We?”

His eyes twinkled. “Yes. I’m coming with you.”

Upon hearing his words, I saw Noe smile with lemon-drop warmth. My heart fluttered at the sight of her rare smile, but something still bothered me about him…

This is an independently created project. If you enjoy it consider donating to support it.

Part 7 – A Cursed Gift

We returned to the room, both sweaty and exhausted from our fight. I’d forgotten how real sims felt – the experience made visceral via our chip implants.

The excitement of battle tapered off and I felt like a normal mess again, as if the morning’s adrenaline had never happened. My thoughts, previously as clear as the blue sky of battle, now a congested traffic jam of disoriented, blaring sights and sensations. Among the chaos, one stood out from the crowd: Amelio.

Though I had glimpsed his brilliant inner world multiple times since yesterday, his true intent was a mystery. Searching his mindspace was like looking for matching leaves in a forest of thick trees, then placing them in the proper sequence before they flew off in a sudden breeze. In my current state, it was much too difficult. But Noe… She likes him. That could be dangerous for both of us, if his goals didn’t sync with ours.

I looked over toward the corner of the room. Her wet shirt, muddy pants, and the rest of her clothes lay in a heap. Noe draped a towel over her arm. Her movement was swift as she prepared for a shower, toiletries in hand.

Initially, seeing her naked bothered me. But in her own way, with time (and repeated exposure), she made it okay. It was how she thought about – or DIDN’T think about it at all. Her mind was a steaming locomotive – constantly flying ahead. Body insecurities? She had no time for them. They flew out the window past the rushing rocky landscape. Witnessing it made me more comfortable in my own skin, though I wasn’t quite ready to be as free about it as she was.

Maybe it’s not a good time. But…

“Noe,” I began, my voice hesitant, “we need to talk.”

She glanced at me, her brow furrowed. “About what?”

I took a deep breath, steeling myself. “I know you’re always protecting me, and I appreciate it more than you know. But I feel like I’m not doing enough to protect you in return.”

Noe’s eyes widened, surprise etching across her features. “What are you talking about? We protect each other, that’s how it’s always been.”

I shook my head. “It’s not the same, and you know it. You’re constantly putting yourself in harm’s way for me, especially since my… my power started going haywire, and I just… I want to be there for you, too.”

She turned and said, “I know. And you were great today. I wouldn’t have survived in there without you.”

“I know, but… I wasn’t just talking about fighting.”

Noe shot a quizzical glance. “Oh? Then what did you mean?”

“I was talking about Amelio…”

She tensed, her eyes narrowing. “What about him?”

“I just… I think we need to be careful. We don’t know him that well, and he seems to have his own agenda.”

Her eyebrow began to twitch. “He’s Barto’s son. Why shouldn’t we trust him?”

Silence. Red dots darted before my eyes. Noe bored her gaze into me. The muscles in her arms quaked. She spoke first, “And besides, you know I’m a good judge of character. I think you’re overreacting. It’ll be okay.”

“But what about your feelings for him? I’ve seen the way you look at him, the way you… think about him. I don’t want you to get hurt or waste your time, that’s all.” The words tumbled out before I could stop them.

Noe froze. Lines of anger shadowed her face. “I know what’s at stake Jinhua!” She exhaled sharply. Her knuckled hands on hips crunched the towel. “And… have you been reading my mind?”

I tensed, recalling last night’s dreamwalk. The spicy fantasy and the very real revelation of my death sentence popped into my head. I willed the images away as my pulse accelerated.

It was a perfect time to mention the blood I spat into the sink, how bouts of nausea seized me from stomach to brain stem at all hours of the day, but I decided not to bring them up. Those were excuses. I knew it and she would too. A lie was no good either. They always took too much time to unravel and by then, things usually got worse. I had to own it. “I did, and I’m sorry. I wanted to know what I missed when I blacked out… but -“

She cut me off. “That’s not an excuse, Jinhua. You can’t just go prying into my private thoughts whenever you feel like it. We talked about this! Wait a minute – is that how you knew you were dying?”

My head dipped. “I’m sorry, Noe.”

Noe dropped the towel, throwing up her hands. “Dammit, Jinhua, you could’ve just waited and asked me!”

“I know, I know…” I said, forcing down tears. Suppressed, they transformed into a storm of red rays, like a firing squad taking aim at me. I was Ethan Hunt in the old 2000s Mission Impossible movie: a silent order and I’d be torn to shreds.

Noe’s jaw clenched, her hands balling into fists at her sides. “Who I’m into, or what or who I do in the privacy of my own skull is none of your business! I’m here to keep you safe, not be your entertainment or your mother!”

All the lasers fired at once, searing my skin black. Blood-red wounds burst open, coloring me a dangerous hue. “I never asked for your protection! I didn’t ask for Van to get hurt, to get caught in this fight, or to be born this way at all!” I spat, forcefully gesturing at my body.

As I spoke, I tasted a mouthful of bitter bile, fresh from the depths of my stomach. A thick metallic flavor bubbled with it. I swallowed the vile concoction down with a large gulp. I’m sure Noe saw my throat expand then relax, but was too angry to acknowledge it. The feeling was mutual.

Absentmindedly, a picture of her mental landscape rushed into my head. The previously clear desert landscape was now fortified as if prepared for a blitzkrieg land assault. A ramshackle cement wall rose, lined by rusted razor wire. Spike strips extended under arches of skin-ripping brambles along every entrance and exit. I couldn’t see the train anymore. In her mind’s angry thorns, a weak light of regret waved among the thicket—but it blew out. I forced myself not to look where it had been.

Noe took a step forward, body inclining at a sharp angle. I stood my ground, even though my legs were shaking. “Jinhua, youー”

The door to the room opened.

Aware of Noe’s nudity, I covered myself up with my arms even though I was still clothed. Beside me, she gasped and dove for the towel, but there was no time to wrap herself in it.

Heart pulsing in my neck, body a mess, emotions in turmoil, I registered the unannounced entrant with a glance.

It was Jean Lee with robot Tom.

“Have you ever heard of knocking!?” Noe blasted.

Jean Lee studied her with analytical vision. Tom rotated his head toward the hallway, then rolled away.

“I’ve been knocking for the last five minutes. Did you not hear?”

“We didn’t,” I said, making no effort to hide my contempt. “What is it?”

She adjusted her glasses. “Boss says movement time has been moved up. The situation has become… complicated.” A beep from her device somewhere in her many pockets chimed. “It’s him. He says he’ll brief you on the way. Departure is in an hour. I suggest you dress and be in the lab, fully equipped, in thirty minutes.” She lowered her glasses, took one last scan of Noe’s nakedness, then clicked away. The door closed softly behind her.

Noe rushed to lock it. Safely wrapped in the towel, she turned to glare at me.

Play “The Gift’s Curse”

The silence lasted longer than I was comfortable with. Out of respect, I blocked out her thoughts. I had never done that before. It made me profoundly sad. This was what it was like to feel increasing distance from someone you thought you knew so well. The feeling was like sitting on a desert island with no water or resources – a slow death of understanding and connection. I hated it. I hated myself for causing such a rift between us. I wanted to open my mind to tell her – show and shake her, “If only you could see what I see!” I would say. But it was impossible.

It was then that I knew that my ability to read minds was worthless. Stupid! It was a curse, a malevolent force that had only driven people away or killed them. Harpreet, Daniel, Bear, Kyler, and now Noe: all were victims of this diseased shell that was corrupting my life inside and out. What’s the point of any power at all? If it consumes everything good, I’d rather have none.

An everlasting void of speechlessness expanded between us. Trapped under its influence, I understood that words and thoughts alone wouldn’t be enough to repair the damage. Noe knew it, too, because she stormed by me without a word. I heard the bathroom door slam behind me.

I stood there, stunned, as I gazed at the door. Minutes stretched into an eternity, the door’s bland whiteness offering no clues to alleviate my guilt. I heard the shower running on the other side. Cold regret rained over me in waves. It drowned me along with the fear of my imminent bodily death. If guilt could kill, I wouldn’t last another night.

Part 8 – Ghosts in the Machine

Normally, I enjoy long road trips, but they lose their appeal when you’re wedged between a near stranger and a loved one you’ve just quarreled with.

I looked out the window to preoccupy myself. The forest green of rural Virginia heavily contrasted with the crackling California grass I grew up around. The trees held my attention briefly, but soon the autumnal-colored leaves fluttering in the breeze captured my buzzing mind. It was somewhat beautiful, yet a shame no one else could see them. They were an illusion. One of the many my failing body conjured today – a form of self-palliative care.

We rode in the back of Amelio’s vehicle. Like everything else he owned, it was a fusion of ideas. It challenged my notion of anything I thought I would ever see on the road.

He called it the ‘Commander,’ a hybrid of limousine, SUV, and tank. It combined the best features of all the above, he told us. A beast so wide it appeared to spill into adjacent lanes as we glided down the highway. What made it even more jarring was the driver’s seat was vacant. Tom ferried us remotely from the lab. Is this even legal?

“Tom’s been with me all my adult life. (I built him myself). I don’t know a better driver!” Amelio told us at the lab.

“‘Commander’ is the Boss’s pride and joy,” Jean Lee said in a monotone voice.

“That’s right!” Amelio exclaimed as we loaded up, “I couldn’t decide which one I wanted, so I had to have all three.” He smiled, looking like a dog who’d proudly caught a frisbee. Neither of us responded in the expected manner. We entered in silence without a word.

Amelio’s expression melted. I glimpsed his thoughts, but I couldn’t bring myself to read them. They were slanting downwards, as if falling off the lines on a sheet of school paper.

Minutes later, “Commander” glided along the winding roads, its sleek silver exterior gleaming in the afternoon sun. I leaned back in the plush leather seat, trying to ignore the tension that hung in the air between Noe and me. We sat on the same side. The two empty seats that separated us were airy and cold, as she stared, stone-faced, out the window. The argument from earlier still played in my mind, a discordant melody that refused to fade.

“Jinhua, what do you know about the Hollic?” Amelio’s voice cut through my thoughts, his tone curious.

Across from me, the brilliant blues of his inner universe twinkled behind his eyes. My frosty mood warmed by a single degree at the sight of it. “Not much,” I admitted. “I’ve heard rumors about a holy clinic where people worship some sort of data god and undergo a cleansing ritual, but beyond that…” I trailed off, shrugging helplessly.

Amelio nodded, his lips curving into a knowing smile. “The Hollics are a fascinating phenomenon, born from the ashes of the cyber attacks that nearly destroyed our world. You remember the Cyber Wars, right? I know they were before your time.”

I nodded half-heartedly. “I’ve read a little about them, but my knowledge is patchy. What caused them?”

Amelio leaned back, spreading his arms across the large seat. “Politics, resource scarcity, technology – the usual factors. But it was different from any previous human conflict in history.”

“How so?” I asked.

“Because most of the ‘battles’ took place online. They weren’t kinetic. Few bled or died. Most of the ‘casualties’ were psychological, in the form of misinformation and hurt feelings. The great militaries of the world figured out that while people lived in the physical world, most of what they considered ‘real life’ existed in the digital realm – their identity, self-worth, hell, their entire livelihood.”

Suddenly, I was leaning in, my mind quiet except for his words.

“They realized the easiest way to ‘attack’ rival nations wasn’t through drone strikes or troop movements. It wasn’t even unplugging the Internet. It was slowly manipulating individual data until large swaths of the population fell into despair.”

“Sounds like a silly strategy,” Noe said dryly. She focused exclusively on Amelio as if I wasn’t even there.

Amelio shrugged, yet his lips maintained a playful angle. “If you’re thinking short-term, then yeah, it might appear that way. And true, do it to one or two people, it won’t make a difference. But what about a hundred thousand or a hundred million? Suddenly, large parts of society would be inflamed with conflict, which is exactly what happened. Individual companies were incapable of solving the issues because the cyber attacks had been so well-engineered using a combination of malicious AI and conventional black hat tactics. So who could they turn to for help?”

“The government…” I said darkly.

“Yes. I was still a kid when the Cyber Wars hit,” Amelio said, his gaze distant. “I watched as our society crumbled, torn apart by the very technology we’d come to rely on.”

I leaned forward in anticipation. Fragmented pictures of his past began to download into my head. “What happened?”

He inclined toward us and lowered his voice. With his back curved, without his signature swagger, he became a different man. “Computers became weapons: disinformation, hacking, cyber subterfuge—all caused chaos.” Amelio’s jaw clenched. “My family… they were caught in the crossfire. I had a sister… Now… I don’t.” He resumed his casual posture, but I saw right through it.

His sister – she was a young woman, not much older than I am. Taller, with an ample figure and pale skin. Though he remembered her smiling, it looked crooked to me, as if affixed by an outside force. Her dark eyes quivered as dilated pupils drank in light from all corners. I noted a hint of desperation in the stare before they closed. Then her hair went wild, as if someone had turned a giant fan on in her face. She must have felt relief, because the smile squeezed onto her lips before her image instantly vanished from my view.

Suicide.

“Amelio… I’m so sorry,” I whispered. In the adjacent seat, compassion carved into Noe’s face. Even without knowing the full story, she felt for him. I didn’t need to read her mind to see it.

He shook his head. “From that day on, I swore I’d never be powerless again. I’d gather as much data as possible and use it to build things that will help us understand ourselves and each other better. So that no one would ever have to suffer like I did.”

The Emotionator. The Empath. Now I understood.

He let a dramatic pause punctuate the moment. Noe stared softly. My attention remained locked.

“Sorry about your sis. I remember those days. It wasn’t easy for anyone.” Noe said.

Amelio relaxed his shoulders, then leaned back. “I appreciate that.” He lifted his face to meet hers. When they connected, a wonderful star shower burst among the stars of his internal galaxy. I imagined Noe’s train lifting off the tracks as it rushed toward the stratosphere, defying the laws of her physical world to meet the explosive display. I wanted to freeze that moment and show it to both of them.

He cleared his throat, then hooked his ankle on the opposite knee. There really is a lot of space in here.

“Anyway, using floods of numbers to manipulate common people was nothing new,” he said. “The early social media platforms were built on it. But short-term annoyance wasn’t enough. To bring an entire economy to its knees, they needed common folks to fight among themselves. This wasn’t hard to do. By the 2040s, most had lost the ability to think critically about much of anything. They took what was measured over the words or experience of any human. That meant strategic manipulations of data worked swiftly. Division led to despair, which led to disaster first at the national, then global scale.” He paused, his expression grim. “Deaths from violent unrest began to mount in the ‘real world,’ fueled by the madness of our twisted data – an infinitely expanding and incomprehensible set of exabytes quantifying human experience. It became the DNA of our undoing.”

I sat dumbfounded.

He went on. “In the wake of such devastation, people sought solace, a way to purge themselves of the corruption that had seeped into their very souls.”

I leaned forward again, my curiosity piqued. I ignored tiny jolts of pain around my ribs that shocked me every time I took a breath. “And the data-cleansing process? How does it work?”

“It’s a complex ritual – a fusion of ancient rites and cutting-edge technology. The supplicants surrender themselves to the will of the Data God, their bodies and minds stripped bare and cleansed of any lingering traces of corrupted data.”

“So it’s more than just a hard drive wipe?” Noe asked.

“Much more. A simple deletion leads to digital death. That’s not what they want. It’s transformation they’re after. They want to be reborn.”

“So it’s manipulation then,” Noe said with resounding bitterness.

“Of the divine order,” Amelio said.

“So the Hollic is where they perform the… ‘rites’?” I choked. The electric sparks in my chest cavity ascended. Every pump of my heart threw needlepoint pain to surrounding areas. My eyes began to water. I blinked the wetness away. It took significant effort, but I forced my attention back on the conversation.

Amelio made an affirmative gesture. “High marks, Jinhua. It’s that and much more. They serve as administrative centers, places of worship, and sometimes as fortified labs for all kinds of things – a holy fortress.”

The idea of a supreme digital deity was both thrilling and terrifying. Had technology become so ingrained in our lives that it took on spiritual meaning? It certainly controlled our actions. Making it a source of spiritualism seemed like a logical leap. And what about the believers? Did they really find peace after cleansing? The more I learned about the Hollics and their practices, the more conflicted I felt. Part of me recoiled at their fanaticism, but another part couldn’t help but be drawn by their faith in something outside themselves – a rare thing in the old world. Maybe power had a greater purpose for them. Not to protect, kill, or defend, but to save, study, and heal.

“You have to be careful with that kind of power,” Noe said, her eyes locked on mine. “It can change you, make you forget who you are – or who you can trust.” I deserved it, but her jab hurt. Alongside a silent surge of fresh guilt, I couldn’t help but wonder: who am I, really? As the second successful human fusion of the biological and digital – who or what did I want to become? Could I trust myself if I turned into something I didn’t want or recognize? Perhaps, none of these questions would matter much longer.

Noe sat in silence. I felt my mind reach out to hers, not to read it, but for that familiar stability. I stopped myself, recalling our argument. She rotated her head toward the window again.

Outside, the scene changed—from thick trees lining the highway to open green fields. My vision shuttered at a rapid clip – open, close, open – as unbidden dots of throbbing green lights rose from the trimmed surface. The display lasted for a minute or two until it disappeared. Oddly, the pokes of pain went with it. I could breathe again.

Then Amelio spoke. “Noe, I must say, your dedication to Jinhua’s safety is truly admirable. The bond you two share is something special, indeed.”

Upon hearing my name, my attention snapped back into the vehicle.

Noe’s neck tensed, her eyes narrowing as she locked onto him. “She’s my responsibility,” she said, her voice cold and clipped. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe.”

Amelio’s smile widened, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Of course, of course. But you know, even the most dedicated protector needs to take care of themselves from time to time.”

He scooted closer to her. His knee brushed hers.

Noe eyed him with a thin mask of suspicion. She didn’t smile, but sunlight brightened her face as she crossed her arms. “What do you want?”

He cocked his head to a pleasing angle. The slant of his chin was appealing, I couldn’t deny it.

“Nothing much, just to invite you to grab a drink sometime, just the two of us. Even the greatest warriors need to have fun every now and then.”

Noe’s gaze softened. Her rigid posture relaxed. “I… uh, well…”

He waited with laser focus. My neck pulsed with envy. It wasn’t at his amorous attention toward her, but the fact that she had been calmed by him, an effect I usually had on her.

“Oh, why the hell not,” she answered.

Amelio’s arm made an uncoordinated gesture of excitement. I saw a star shoot from one side of his mind to the other. It birthed a light as bright as the sun of his inner world. His smile was genuine, but it held a glint of something sharp and calculating, gone so quickly I wondered if I’d imagined it. As before, the unease that settled in my gut from earlier today remained, a whisper of warning I couldn’t quite shake.

“Sir, apologies for the interruption, but we’ve nearly arrived.” Tom’s voice sounded at an even volume from an ankle-level speaker.

My pulse quickened. The outcome of this meeting could be the difference between life and death for me.

As we approached Spotsylvania, the Hollic came into view, its pristine white walls gleaming in the fading sunlight. I expected to see a throng of people milling about outside, queuing for salvation. Instead, there was no one around. Here it was, a Sunday afternoon, and not a soul in sight.

A pinch of fear snapped my ear with black force. Something didn’t feel right.

We pulled into a deserted dirt parking lot on the side of the building. The great “Commander’s” motor stopped. For a few seconds, it was silent while Amelio made feverish taps on his device. A moment later, he was finished. He lifted his eyes and said, “We’re here. Remember what I said before we departed?”

We nodded.

“What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you,” he said, bringing a hand to his ear.

“Let you do the talking,” we replied in sullen unison.

“Right!” His device buzzed.

“Yes, Jean Lee?”

“Sir, I’m ready on this end.”

Ready for what?

“Perfect.”

I reached for the handle of the door, but my hand disappeared. Shock, then shaking. My vision tumbled, heart stumbled, unable to find footing.

Thunder clapped in my brain. Boomed in my ears. Tremors rocked me from forehead to feet.

Noe’s flew to my side. Her lips moved in panic. No sound reached me. Her strong hands gripped me, trying to stabilize my convulsing body. She yelled at Amelio, her face contorted with fear and anger.

Amelio held a large, intimidating needle. Noe clutched me protectively, pulling me close to her chest. They argued with muffled voices. Were they arguing over me? I couldn’t make sense of it. The world was slipping away.

Secretly, I wished for the end. Rest, sleep – no more worry or concern. The black electric circle closed in, narrowing my vision to a pinpoint.

My arm extended against my will, guided by unseen forces. A frozen bite pierced my skin, cool, then cold. Ice water slid through my veins. The coldness spread, numbing my limbs and slowing my thoughts.

I tried to focus on Noe’s face, but it blurred before my eyes. Sound faded, replaced by a hollow ringing in my ears.

The last thing I felt was the steady thump of my heart, growing slower and weaker until it only a tapping. Soon, even that sensation died, and I surrendered to the encroaching darkness.

In the final moments before oblivion claimed me – a grip involuntary of fear. What will happen to me? Will I ever wake up again? But as the icy tendrils sleep dragged me under, even those thoughts scattered like leaves in the wind.

And then… nothing.

Part 9 – Betrayal and Blood

“Jinhua?”

“Jinhua… I…I’m sorry.”

“I told your father I’d look out for you. With my life if I had to.”

[Silence]

“…but I did a half-assed job. (Why am I such a fuck up?)”

“Protecting you wasn’t about just your physical safety. It was about your feelings too… after Mom I… I should know that by now.”

“Remember our promise at the lake?”

“We promised to keep each other safe. But I didn’t let you hold up your side… and now look at this. We’re in deep shit.”

[Fist pounds against the wall]

“Please get up. Open your eyes and let me try again. Okay?”

I was lying on my back on a cool, hard surface—probably a cell. As I lifted my eyes, the flaking white roof and bright lights confirmed it. The weird smell, the drab gray wall to my right, and the thick bars emitting a low buzz to my left, all told me something had gone terribly wrong.

I tested my limbs. They were like unlabeled gym dumbbells – easier to move after the initial surprise passed. With effort, they responded sluggishly.

Through the bars in the adjacent cell I saw Noe there. Her navy blue battle shirt was dirt-stained with dots of black spots among microtears. Is that blood?

She slouched against the wall, head buried between her knees – a rare posture of defeat for her. I wanted to run over, embrace her, and tell her she’d done her best, like countless mothers throughout history. Even if it felt insufficient, I still loved her for all her efforts and sacrifices. We weren’t dead yet.

“Noe?”

She lifted her head. Red and swollen eyes returned my gaze. It hurt, but I smiled.

“Jinhua! You’re awake. Ah shit,” she turned her head away. She turned away, features contorted by shame.

“I’m sorry for what I said in the room,” she .

I giggled involuntarily and shook my head. “No, no I should be the one to apologize. I should have respected your privacy.”

She nodded, then planted her hands on her hips, head still bowed. “I appreciate that, but I really fucked up… in more ways than one.”

I stood, the world shaky yet surprisingly clear, and made my way to the bars with some effort. “How so?” I glanced around. “What happened to Amelio?”

“How so?” I looked around. “What happened to Amelio?”

Noe’s eyebrows slanted with sharpness. “You were right… that smooth-talking motherfucker betrayed us.”

My breath caught. “No…” A sudden jumble of emotions froze me momentarily – satisfaction, shock, searing anger. It all crashed together, overwhelming me. During the second I took to reset, to avoid saying something I’d regret, I noted Noe’s expression.

She was angry, naturally. But the slant of her mouth and the uncharacteristic softness in her eyes revealed an unusual sentiment – disappointment at a promising relationship cut short.

“Oh Noe, I’m so sorry.”

She stomped her boot and bit her lip hard. “It’s… fine.”

“What the hell happened?” I asked.

Noe squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, that familiar readiness I admired returning. “See for yourself.” She shut her eyes tight, as if bracing for a punch.

I didn’t understand at first, but then it hit me – she wanted me to read her mind. Her explicit consent brought tears to my eyes. I wiped them away, nodded, and reached out to open the door to her memory.

What I saw caused my heart to thump with anxiety.

Noe peeked at me. “Did you see it? I can’t believe he was in bed with his old buddy this whole time. That shit-bag sold us down river. You were right, and I didn’t listen, as usual. I’ll do better from now on.”

Suddenly, her expression morphed from determined to alarmed. “Jinhua! Your nose is bleeding!”

I touched my nose with a steady hand. Bright red blood stained my fingertip. I was getting worse.

With each passing hour, I felt my control slipping. My powers, once a source of strength, now felt like a prison, locking me into an inescapable fate. Was this my destiny, or did I still have a choice? The thought flitted through my mind as I recalled what I had seen.

Nothing.

I had seen nothing but my own thoughts grasping at a new reality.

Noe’s eyes were frantic. “What did you see!?”

“She saw nothing.”

Amelio entered, flanked by a giant of a man – bald, bearded, with walnut-toned skin. He stomped in under the sterile light, eyes bouncing between Noe and me, assessing the situation with a swift glance. Assessment complete, his full lips curled into a grin that mirrored Amelio’s. The two seemed like soul brothers.

In my peripheral vision, an arc of light made me whip my head away from our captors.

“Noe!? You okay?”

She stood, eyes red with electric fury. “Son-of-a-bitch electrified the damn bars! Damn you Amelio!”

He shook his head. “You won’t be booting your way out of this one, love.”

“Don’t you call me that!” she fumed. “What the hell did you do to Jinhua? You fuckin’ backstabbing scum.”

The dark mountain of a man stepped forward, then spoke. “You weren’t kiddin’ about the mouth on her. Might have to wash it out with somethin’ later, eh ehehe.”

“Go to hell!” Noe yelled.

Amelio turned to him. “Now, I’ve held up my end of the bargain. Here they are,” his hand waved toward us. “I believe it’s time you honored yours.”

The man considered this but made no response.

Amelio tapped his foot. Seconds strained by, his demeanor anxious. “Aw come, on man! How long are you gonna keep her waiting.”

Out of nowhere, he thrust a thick fist at Amelio’s chest, knocking him to the floor. His expression was like ice on a winter day.

“Ya cross’d da line, frien. Ya think this is easy for me? I gotta lifetime a screw-ups weighin’ me down like an anchor. Dis mission… it’s my last shot at makin’ somethin’ of myself. I won’ mess it up!”

Her. That was the trigger word.

Amelio winced, raising his hands in a weak defense. “Okay okay, my bad, Mensah. But you and I both know we’re out of time. You need the code to ‘Acumen’ by tonight. And I’ll make good on the other part of our deal.” He breathed heavily. His words came out wrinkled, his usual smoothness gone.

Mensah. So it was him. His old partner.

A smile molded onto Mensah’s face as he reached down to Amelio. “Yeah, you’re right. Mah’ll be here in an hour to see little miss ‘light show’ here. Bes’ settle our terms by then.” His speech was like fine leather – smooth, slow, and thick. Images of kids I’d grown up with in the California Central Valley snapped into my mind, along with throbbing headache. My back tensed as I absorbed the pain, like blows inside my skull. More blood dripped from my nose. Why can’t I read minds?

“Still gotta few more things ta prepare,” Mensah drawled. “Send the feisty one for cleansing. And give the Asian girl another shot a juice.”

Cleansing? As in data-cleansing? Juice?

Amelio dug in his jacket and produced a syringe. Then Mensah’s device buzzed somewhere in his pants.

“One sec,” he said. “Hello, Mah?”

As he listened, his cheeks softened. The face assumed doe-like innocence and his posture dipped betraying his massive frame. The shelf of ice rolled into the sea as he inched out of the room.

“Naw, naw Mah… I was gonna do it but―No, don’ call Sissy, I can handle it!” His words echoed into the hall.

When he was out of sight, Amelio strolled over to us, peeking quickly behind him.

I stared him straight in the eyes, ignoring the forces shoving brain against my skull.

“Amelio… why?” I asked, standing as straight as I could.

He looked up. “Because this was the only way… “

“To what? You dickless traitor. When we get outta here…” Noe hissed.

I held up my hand in her direction and shook my head. Noe calmed down momentarily. Somehow I sensed we didn’t have much time… at least I didn’t.

“No, I want to hear it directly from him,” I said evenly.

Amelio glanced over his shoulder again. With a swift movement, he approached my cell and leaned in.

“It was the only way to get you in here! Shh, yeah, yeah you hate me. I shoulda told you the plan. Blah blah blah, save it for later when we get outta here. Take these.”

My mind reeled as he reached through the bars, careful not to touch them. He extended a small black pill box, about the size of a large painkiller, between his fingers. I hesitated, unsure. Jolts of pain jabbed at my head with every pulse, bringing waves of vertigo. Any potential relief, even unknown, tempted me, but…

He held it out impatiently. “C’mon! We don’t have much time. One is a transdermal pill. Press it to the skin, it dissolves, you get the meds, quick-fast!”

“Jinhua, don’t touch that.” Noe crossed her arms, her gaze sharp enough to melt metal. “Explain.”

Amelio began to sweat. Another first. “Okay okay. Long story short, me and the big guy aren’t on the best of terms. I mean, you saw what just happened. So, well… when he found out we were coming, he enacted countermeasures against you.”

“You mean our powers?” I asked.

He glanced back toward the door. “Yes! He suspected I’d already given you the other half of the Empath and freaked, so I had to… adjust my plan.”

“You made a deal,” Noe said with a frustrated sigh.

He nodded frantically. “I did. I offered to surrender you.”

“Amelio!” Noe said, disappointment dripping from his name.

“Yeah, yeah I know, it was a low thing to do. But my original intent was always to keep you safe. And it would have gone smoothly too if―”

My heart pounded painfully in my ears. “My seizure… “ I said dipping my head.

He nodded, taking another furtive glance over his shoulder. The words flew out of his mouth. “When I saw you, I had to act fast, I injected you with a special dose of epinephrine to stop the seizure, a personal blend. According to your blood test, it had a 60% chance of interacting with your power. I liked the odds, but we were unlucky. While you were out, a simple field test showed a significant decrease in the cells associated with your abilities.”

“So that’s how you knew…” I murmured.

He looked at me with as much sincerity as he could muster. “I apologize.”

His eyes reflected humility in that moment. For a man used to being the smartest, best-looking among those less capable and willing, it must have been incredibly difficult. Because of that, I decided to trust him. It was a risky thing – but placing complete faith in another person always was.

“It hurts doesn’t it?” he asked.

I nodded weakly.

“Take this, feel better, follow this beacon to the Hall of Cleansing. That’s where the other half of The Empath – ‘Ardor’ will be. Understand?”

I looked at Noe. She gave a single nod of approval. I immediately snatched the pill and beacon from his hand, then pressed it into the bend of my arm with as much strength as I could gather. I lightly massaged the area, drawing deep breaths to hopefully hasten its effect.

While I did, Amelio stepped in front of Noe’s cell. Confidence crept back in his voice and appearance. “Here’s the key to the cell.” He reached in to offer it to her. When he did, Noe snatched his collar and yanked him toward the bars, ripping his shirt in the process. I lifted my arm to block the flash of light and smoke I saw amid his softened groan.

Amelio fell back, singed hair on his now-exposed chest. I hadn’t noticed how chiseled it was before. His unkempt dark hair and dazed expression were a stark contrast to his usual put-together self.

Noe stood triumphant, easy satisfaction on her lips. “There. You look much hotter that way.” Her joke made me giggle.

Amelio rebounded from the confusion, then adjusted himself. “Ha ha ha good one. I suppose I earned it. Now we’re even.”

Noe shook her head slowly, a roguish smile rising. “Not even close.”

“What’s goin’ on here? What in the hell happened ta ya?” Mensah returned, flummoxed by Amelio’s condition.

“I touched the bars, when giving her another dose of meds. You should have told me they were electrified. I could have pissed my pants!”

Mensah studied him for a moment, then laughed. “Ya always were a clumsy fella. Come on. Mah’s gonna be late. We gotta cleansin’ to prepare.” He threw a brief, dismissive glance at Noe.

“Lead the way,” Amelio said.

Remember what I told you. Find the other half of the Empath. Be careful.

I smiled inwardly upon receiving Amelio’s message. My powers were back and I felt a little better, but not much.

As soon as the men were gone, Noe turned to me. “How’re the meds workin’? You don’t feel weird or sick do you?” She felt my forehead through the bars.

“I’m good enough. What about you?”

“I feel ready to take on an army.”

Then I heard boots at the door – several pairs. Suddenly, the small room filled with four guards dressed in strange uniforms. Armored white robes with hats shaped like two triangles sewn together. Two women, a man, and a bot, all stern-faced.

The short, dark-haired woman in the middle stepped forward, melancholy eyes fixed on Noe.

“Noelani Acosta. You gonna come with us for data-cleansing.” She pulled a light flail from behind her back. Her delicate hands strangled the thick shaft, a visual paradox. But the spike ball dangling from the jangling chain was fitting metaphor for her demeanor. How she would wield such a weapon in close quarters was a mystery.

“Will it hurt?” Noe asked innocently.

A faint smile ghosted the woman’s lips, like a figure in a church painting. “Of course not. When the light of Lord hits you, all worries and sins go away.”

Noe nodded solemnly, then tensed.

“Now face the wall,” the woman commanded. “No tricks.”

CLANG!

Noe’s boot slammed into the cell door – Amelio must have killed the electricity somehow.

The sudden opening caught the black-haired believer by surprise. She jumped back, crashing into another guard.

For a tense second, nothing happened. Then she swung the flail at Noe’s face, with deadly precision. Noe sidestepped the spiked ball, snatched the chain, then wrenched the weapon and woman toward the cell. A brutal headbutt, made her eyes spin back. Then she shoved her out stumbling into the shocked guards.

The man in the back pulled an unfamiliar pistol with inexperienced technique. I raised my hand from the cell and bathed him in golden rays clean through. Blood leaked from his mouth as he collapsed.

Now Noe was out of the cell, the woman’s fallen flail in hand. The humanoid bot shot a burning blue laser from its lens, slashing Noe’s neck. making her recoil. She recoiled and ungracefully hurled the medieval weapon at her opponent. It wrapped around its neck but did no damage. The mech continued to approach, but in the next instant stopped.

It removed the chained killing implement, then turned to face the last guard. A plump woman with a wood-toned complexion toting a heavy rifle. Seeing the mech had malfunctioned, she dropped the weapon then fell to her knees.

Even while inhabiting the mech, I heard her thoughts.

I am data. I am nothing.

My body may die. But my data will live.

Forever. Lord deems it so.

Though I am afraid, my data is not.

It is eternal, transferable, and free.

“Almost forgot you could do that,” Noe said as she shot the mech with the dead guard’s pistol. I returned to my body.

Noe stood over the woman. Why didn’t she run? I wondered.

“I am data. I am nothing.

My body may die. But my data will live.

Forever. Lord deems it so.

Though I am afraid, my data is not.

It is eternal, transferable, and free.”

She spoke the words shaking, but her thoughts floated free.

Kill me. Free me. Make me whole.

“Noe wait! Don’t―”

Too late. She stood her up, spun her around and put her in the most loving of chokeholds. When her body sagged, eyes closed in rest, Noe dragged her over to the cell and laid her on the floor. The woman was smiling, I was too.

“Can’t read her thoughts. And I don’t know what god she’s talking to, but I’m not gonna kill someone praying for their life.”

[Why isn’t she prepped for cleansing!?] Mensah’s voice sounded over a nearby speaker in the hall. “Go and get her immediately!”

“Dammit! We gotta go!” Noe said. She unlocked my cell, and I stepped out with unstable legs.

“Can you run?”

“Ye-yeah I can.” My breathing felt tight, like a weight was on my chest. A drop of blood dripped from my nose.

“No, we’re running out of time,” Noe said, breathing deep to maintain her calm. “You know the way, right? To the Empath?”

I nodded.

She snatched up the woman’s rifle, then checked to make sure it was loaded – it was. It was a wicked long gun that said “Vice rifle” on the side. There were three modes on the side: “Single”, “Burst”, and “Aura.” Noe glanced at the name and the settings. “As long as it blows things up, I don’t care what it’s called or what the modes do.” Inspection complete, she whipped her head toward me. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” I said breathlessly.

“Stay close.”

We moved into the hallway.

This is an independently created project. If you enjoy it consider donating to support it.

---

Part 10 – Faith and Power

We crept through the dimly lit basement halls of the Hollic, our footsteps echoing off the cold linoleum. Noe moved ahead, the rifle ready in her steady hands, checking each corner before motioning me forward.

Every step was a battle for my body. The once-vibrant colors of the world faded to a dull, throbbing grey, pulsing in time with the relentless pounding in my skull. The temporary effect from whatever Amelio gave me was already fading. I felt like an animated zombie – barely lucid, propelled by pure animal instinct. I must have looked like one, too. Noe’s thoughts towards me were pained revulsion, though she did her best to appear supportive.

The corridors of the Hollic possessed an unsettling fusion of sterility and reverence. Stark white walls met polished stone arches that soared overhead. Stained glass scenes depicted abstract figures bathed in pulsing data streams. Unseen speakers filled the air with soft choral music.

As we paused to catch our breath, a shadow of movement caught my eye. I squinted, trying to focus through the haze of exhaustion. There, hovering in my peripheral vision, were our mind meters, pulsing with an almost full charge.

Strange. I’d never seen them so vibrant before. And was that… a second slot beneath each meter? An empty space waiting to be filled?

I blinked hard, and the phantom slot vanished. Probably just another symptom of my deteriorating condition, a cruel trick played by my fevered brain. Then a sudden wave of heat engulfed me, and I stumbled against the wall, barely suppressing a groan. Forge fire flowed through my veins, searing me from the inside out.

Noe was at my side in an instant, her face tight with worry. “Jinhua? What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing,” I managed through gritted teeth. “Just need a moment.”

I reached for my power, letting it surge through me in a desperate attempt to stave off the worst of the symptoms. Golden light flickered around my trembling hands, and for a brief instant, the pain receded to a more manageable level. The effect of the black pill was nearly completely exhausted.

Noe searched my face, her eyes reflecting the fear I felt. “We’re almost there. Just hold on a little longer, okay?”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Mustering every ounce of determination I had left, I pushed off the wall and forced my leaden legs to keep moving.

At last, we located a winding staircase leading up. With a final glance behind us, we began to climb, ready to face whatever awaited us above. The Empath was close. It has to be.

We emerged onto the first floor, eyes adjusting to a hall bathed in low red light. The soft choral music had given way to the shrill wail of alarms. A disorienting sound that pressed pins into ears.

“Damn it,” Noe muttered. “Mensah knows we’re out.”

As if summoned by her words, a fresh wave of Hollic guards poured into the hallway, their weapons raised and faces set in grim determination.

Noe sprung into action. Her procured Vice rifle cracked with every shot as she dispatched oncoming attackers from a distance. I joined the fray, golden light erupting from my hands to stop a few.

With each blast, I felt my body temperature rising as if roasting on a sunny beach in mid-summer. Soon my shirt clung to my sweatsoaked skin. Tiny black dots floated across my vision. I faltered, my knees threatening to buckle beneath me.

Noe appeared at my side, her strong arm wrapping around my waist to keep me upright. “I’ve got you,” she said, her voice strained with exertion and worry.

Together, we fought our way down the hallway. Noe bore the brunt of the assault while I supported her where I could. The guards seemed endless, their numbers replenishing as fast as we could dispatch them.

As I sent another guard tumbling with a blast of golden light, a searing pain lanced through my skull. I cried out, my hands flying to my temples as the world tilted wildly around me.

Noe’s eyes widened in alarm. “Jinhua!”

She turned to face the remaining guards, her rifle blazing as she put herself between me and the onslaught. Her movements were fierce and fluid.

I watched through a haze of fiery pain, marveling at her strength and determination. She was a force of nature, unstoppable in her resolve to protect me. Noe, you’re amazing. I love you.

As the last guard fell, she sagged against the wall, her chest heaving with ragged breaths. “You can’t keep using your power,” she panted, her gaze serious. “It’s making you worse.” She pressed a sweaty palm to my forehead. “You’re burning up.”

“I-I’m… I can keep going. I… have to,” I wheezed.

A resolute smile appeared on her battle-weary face, “I know, I know. But if you keep going like this… “

My head bobbed with a understanding as I held her gaze. Even words were becoming draining, I couldn’t waste any.

Noe must have seen the acceptance in my eyes, because she nodded grimly. “Just focus on staying alive. Got it?”

I managed a weak smile.

She helped me to my feet, and together, we continued down the hallway.

We turned a corner, and the wave of guards ceased. The only sound was the alarm pounding my ears. A flood of light glowed from under two massive double doors. Amelio’s beacon sounded a low ping. This was it.

“There,” I said, as a chain of violent coughs rattled my bones. Noe supported my weight as she heaved it open.

Upon entering, I noted the theater style lighting, low and calming. It was a rounded room, stone-floored, with dense carpets running through the rows. Sets of portable stadium seating enclosed, a giant open space where seats should have been. The place demanded respect, with ego squashing design and scope. The Hall of Cleansing.

“Woah,” Noe breathed, her jaw wide open. “This place is…”

“Incredible,” I managed, my gaze sweeping across the cavernous expanse of polished stone and gleaming metal.

“Look at those benches,” Noe said, pointing to the rows of hard, wooden seats that stretched along the sides of the hall. “So this is where they wanted to… ” she swallowed, “…cleanse me.” In my feverish state, I glimpsed an image of her encounter with the reality annihilating Digital Extermination Device (DED) two years ago. One of the only things she truly feared.

My gaze drifted to the center of the room. Glaring lights blasted the wide stage from all sides. In the center was an altar with a symbol carved on the front. Two touching triangles with a third one rotated 60 degrees suspended above them, a perfect circle shown in the center. In the negative space, I recognized a blurry letter “V”. At least that’s what I guessed it was. My vision was like an old pair of fixed binoculars atop a tall city building, unreliable and foggy.

Next to the altar, Mensah stood tall and proud, his dark eyes glinting with righteous fervor. Beside him, Amelio shifted uncomfortably, his gaze darting between Mensah and our approaching figures.

Mensah’s lips curled into a smirk as he caught sight of us. “Well, well, well. Look who done showed up at last. Welcome to the heaart a dis’ Hollic, the Hall of Cleansing.” He circled his arm cordially. “I would offa ya a beverage, but seein’ as you “enserved” so many of us in cold blood, I’m not so obliged.”

Enserved?

“Where’s ‘Ardor’?” Noe said, fiercely.

Amelio turned to face him. “Mensah, it’s time. Hand it over. We had a deal-“

Mensah silenced him mid-sentence. “Hush ya traitor! Ya think I ain’t seen what you been up to?” He pulled Amelio by the arm in front of him, then thrust kicked him off the platform.

Noe gasped, as he hit the hard floor then rolled.

“Amelio!” she cried. I felt her arm flex to run to him, in her mind she comforted him, then shot Mensah dead. But she didn’t move. Her rifle remained elevated like the true guardian she had become.

Almost instantly, he rose, then limped toward us as if the kick and fall had been intentional.

Mensah scoffed, then turned to Noe and me, his gaze settling on me with icy intensity. Then he produced a tiny silver object from an interior pocket sewn into his vest.

“I got it right here. This technology is… perfect. Specifically designed for someone who has the potential to become the “prophet” of our modern era. Ta speak directly da’ great machine.”

“What the hell is he talking about,” Noe whispered in Amelio’s direction. He returned an unsettled look, but said nothing. My head was too full fighting for my life to see the cause of his uncharacteristic response.

Mensah thrust a finger in my direction. “Jinhua Ma, ya been chosen for a mighty special purpose. Ya mind readin’ power, ya ability to talk to data, marks you as a conduit for Lord! A fitting vessel for this precious piece of technology.”

I stood as straight as I could, my body aching with every extension of my spine. “Me? Why?”

Mensah’s smile widened. “You, darlin’, are destined to become a saint, a bridge ‘tween the physical world and the realm of Lord. With ya talent, we can usher in a new age of transcendence to discover “Lord’s Sacred Equations.”

Lord’s Sacred Equations? All the foreign ideas landed on the floor of headspace. There was no room for them on the splintered shelves. Blood dripped from my nose, as I shook my head, endeavoring to raise my strained voice above a raspy whisper. “I… I don’t want to be a saint… I won’t be your puppet.”

Mensah’s expression hardened, his hand reaching into his pocket. “I was hopin’ you’d come quiet-like, but seems you need a bit more convincin’.” He held the tiny device ‘Ardor’ out toward me. “This little gadget holds the key to unlockin’ your true potential, Jinhua. It could even save your life. All you gotta do is accept your destiny and serve Lord. Whaddya say?”

I glanced at Noe, saw the fury and determination in her eyes. We both knew what we had to do. “No! I won’t be…forced to serve a god I don’t know or understand,” I said, my voice steady despite the fear of his threat and my failing body.

Mensah sighed, shaking his head. “Dat’s too bad. But no matta. I figur’d it wouldn’ be dat easy, seein’ how you folks roll.” He looked me up and down. “Ya ain’t lookin’ too hot, Jinhua. How long ya got? A day? A few hours? All I gotta do is wait ’til you hit the deck, and then once those sinful parts of you are cleansed, you’ll see da light.”

Noe stepped forward, clenching her rifle. “Over my dead body.”

Amelio moved to stand beside us, his expression grim. “I won’t let you do this, Mensah. We had some good times. But you’ve gone too far.”

Mensah laughed. It reverberated through the hall. “Y’all think ya stand a chance against me? Against the power of Lord?” He beat his chest with a heavy fist.

In response, a loud clanking filled the air as Tom, Amelio’s robot companion, rolled into the hall. But as he approached his creator, his form began to shift and change, metal plates sliding and locking into place. He encased Amelio’s body in a sleek, silver armor. One arm was his fist, the other was a blaster cannon. It reminded me of Daniel.

“I’m here for you Sir.” Tom said, dutifully.

Then I heard Jean Lee’s voice from a speaker near Amelio’s ear, “Boss, got you some back up… be careful.” Her voice wavered. She was right to be afraid for him.

“Understood,” Amelio responded in a low tone. He shuffled his feet, assumed a showy fighting pose, then smirked at Mensah. “You were saying?”

Mensah’s face contorted with annoyance, his hand tightening around the Empath as he returned it to his pocket. Then slowly drew the golden crossbow with a watch attached to it off his back. “Y’all come in here, murder believers, an disrespectin’ dese holy grounds.” He reached behind him and dragged a large box into view. It was full of long black rods that I couldn’t make out from where I stood. My doubled vision made discernment much more difficult.

“I can’t let that go unanswered,” he said, drawing one of the rods up. “Now, Jinhua, you’re special. I don’ wanna hurt ya, (well not too bad at least).” In my shuddering sick haze, it hit me what they were. Those are crossbow bolts – really long ones.

He continued to prepare his weapon as he spoke. With care, he lubricated the rail and the bow, placed his foot, pulled string, then loaded one of bolts. It made an audible CLICK when it was ready. My heart rate sped up at the sight of it.

Mensah pushed the barrel of bolts behind him, but within reach. “But your friends: the turncoat Amelio, and your loyal knight Noelani, well… ya trespassed on my property. Where I’m from, dat’s cause for nastiness.”

Noe and Amelio hardened their battle stances. My posture went erect as I pointed my palms at him with languid motion. It was the best my laboring body could manage.

Around us, boots dozens of boots scuffed the floor as Hollic followers filed into the pews. Some were guards – armed like the many we’d faced on the way here. Others wore white robes, unarmed and innocent. Whether they were here to support Mensah or witness divine judgment on behalf of their fallen comrades, I didn’t know. But it meant, we were trapped. It was get the Empath or game over.

Mensah aimed the crossbow in my direction.

“Let’s see how much time Lord gives you.”

Play “最終同期 (Final Sync)”

When he fired the menacing bow, time seemed to slow down. The world around us faded away, leaving only the pounding of my heart and the cold, hard reality of the weapon pointed at my chest.

“Got ya!” he said.

In a flash, he pulled the trigger, and a long, black bolt streaked through the air towards me. But before it could reach its target, Noe leaped into action, firing her rifle at the bolt. The aura bullet collided with the projectile, exploding in a burst of strange, shimmering energy that sent the bolt careening off course.

Amelio, now fully encased in his battle armor, charged forward, his blaster firing a barrage of shots at Mensah. But despite his size he was nimble, dodging and weaving through the onslaught with uncanny speed.

I summoned what little strength I had left, my hands glowing with the familiar yellow light of my code magic. I sent a flurry of attacks towards Mensah, the air crackling with the power of my abilities.

Mensah laughed heartily. “Y’all think ya can stop me wit ya damn parlor tricks!?” He raised his crossbow once more, and suddenly, the world around us began to warp and twist.

Pockets of reality shifted and distorted as Mensah manipulated time with the tips of his bolts. In one moment, Noe’s movements slowed to a crawl, her bullets moving through the air like molasses. In the next, Amelio’s attacks sped up, becoming a blurred frenzy of motion. Miss, miss, miss. Nothing landed.

I struggled to keep up, my head pounding from the constantly changing flow of time and my deteriorating condition. But I pressed on, moving with adrenaline fueled agility. I poured all of my energy into precise attacks, desperate to break through Mensah’s defenses. Every shot counted.

The battle lit the hall. A dizzying display of bullets, bolts, and bursts of code magic. The Hollic followers watched from the pews like haunting statues witness a thunderstorm.

Suddenly, Mensah raised his crossbow high, a wicked grin splitting his face. “Enough playin’ around. Time to end this.” The watch on his crossbow began to glow, the hands spinning faster and faster until they became a blur. “CHRONO-ERUPTION!”

A massive bolt of energy erupted from the weapon, hurtling towards us with terrifying speed. Noe and Amelio leaped in front of me, their weapons firing in unison, but the bolt tore through their defenses like paper.

I felt the impact like a physical blow, my body flying backwards and slamming into the hard, cold floor. Pain exploded through every nerve. My vision blurred and faded at the edges..

Through the haze, I saw Noe and Amelio, their bodies battered and bruised, their mind meters pulsing with the same desperate need for more strength, more power.

In that moment, I knew what we had to do. With a supreme effort of will, I pushed myself to my feet, my legs trembling beneath me. Noe and Amelio stood beside me, their faces grim with determination.

Together, Noe and I raised our weapons, our mind meters merge in a blinding flash of energy, the Deadly-Vibration building between us. Amelio charged a beam then let it loose with a crack.

“DEADLY-VIBRATION!” we screamed, our voices merging into one as we released the attack.

The hall exploded with light and sound, a maelstrom of raw power that engulfed Mensah in its fury. He howled in agony, his body convulsing as the attack tore into him.

“That did him,” Noe said through ragged breaths.

“Great work team!” Amelio cheered.

Then the light faded.

When it did Mensah still stood, his crossbow held high, a twisted smile on his face. With a cruel mocking laugh he said, “That all y’all got?” The fabric of his shirt had been torn from the blast revealing an intricate tattoo of a clock on his chest. “Vitruvians! Join me in castigating the unsorted foul ones!” He raised his arms high.

That was the signal.

Around us, the Hollic guards began to move, faces fevered with the spectrum of human emotion. They rose from the pews, producing weapons from under their robes, slowly encircling us.

My body swayed with exhaustion. I could barely stand, my vision dimming and blurring with each passing second.

“Mensah!” Amelio yelled.

His armor whirred as he lunged toward Mensah but he was too slow. With a swift counter-attack, Mensah’s fist collided with Amelio’s helmet, sending him crashing to the ground. Sparks flew as his armor failed, falling off of him like a poorly constructed home bot.

“Boss! I’m, I’m sorry.” Tom’s mechanical voice filled with concern before a burst of sparks and screeching metal silenced him forever. Amelio, unsuited, crawled and scooped up broken pieces of the machine that had been his servant, companion, and friend for his entire life. “Tom… no,” grief made his head dip.

Mensah took elephant speed steps forward, stowing his crossbow. “Looks like dat armor wasn’t no good.” He drew a massive knife from a hip holster. It gleamed under the lights of the platform.

“Where I’m from, you know what we do to traitors?” He eyed, the knife, then looked at Amelio, “Well… I think ya know the answer.”

Amelio turned and stood as Mensah lunged with the knife.

Noe, her breaths ragged and uneven, jumped on the platform just as Mensah moved. “No!” she screamed.

“Noe!” I screamed. As I did, legendary pain in my abdomen joined the collection of dizzying internal body trauma registering in my brain. I swooned, but forced myself awake.

The knife plunged into her belly. Immediately, a crimson stain began to bloom across her shirt.

Mensah gripped the knife as Noe clasped his mammoth hands, staring deeply into his face. Her blood ran between them. He seemed unsure what to say or do. A frustrated gaze was all he could manage.

Then a change. His face softened, tension slacked, the doe-eyes returned. He released his clench on the knife. When he did, Amelio saw the opening and caught Noe, easing her to the floor.

Mensah threw the knife away. Then spoke.

“Hey Amelio. Remember the old days in the lab?” he said, his voice softer now, almost wistful. “Dose were good times, right? Here, we made this together, but I never want’d it. It was all for Mah. Ya know how she gets. I love her, but I tell ya she’s too much sometimes.” He walked over to the stunned Amelio, produced the tiny Empath from his pocket then stepped away several steps. “It’s time for me to let it go. I’m okay, I’m free now.”

“Mensah?” Amelio asked cautiously.

Suddenly, his eyes rolled back into his head, and the giant man fell hard to the ground. The thud echoed around the Hall of Cleansing, causing the approaching Hollic guards to halt in confusion.

“No. Jinhua?”

I stood behind his crumpled frame. Body screaming, head pounding, blood dripping from my nose onto the cold, hard floor.

“It was you. It was you…” Amelio repeated in a tone of haunted relief.

I staggered toward them, then dropped to my knees before Noe, uncontrollable tears in my eyes.

“Hey, hey no tears,” she said, reaching up to brush a strand of hair from my face, “that was r-really, cool… you did it, you saved me. I always knew y-you could.“

I cried openly, paying no mind to the Hollic guards who resumed their movement. Closer and closer they came.

I reached for her hand, my fingers trembling as they brushed against her clammy skin. “You were so brave.”

“A-all for this…” she said. Her voice was so weak. Seeing her like that hurt more than any physical pain I was in.

I looked toward Amelio. “We can use it now, right?”

A deep sigh escaped his lips. “Yes, but… only once… for a single person…”

The Hollic guards closed in, their boots thumping against the ground, their weapons trained on us. They were ascending the stairs with respectful trepidation. Noe, her voice strained, turned to Amelio. “Use the Empath on Jinhua. I-It’s her only chance.”

Amelio looked at her, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. “But what about you, dear? We’ve only just met. It can’t end like this…”

I extended a shaky arm. “Let me have it,” I wheezed, my lungs burning with each breath.

Amelio hesitated, his grip tightening on the Empath. He studied my face. For the first time, I saw fear wrapped respect in them. Fear of me, of my power. Slowly, he handed me the device, his fingers brushing against mine.

I looked down at the Empath, its surface cool and smooth against my palm. In that moment, everything crystallized. My faith in this journey, the power I commanded, my very identity – it all led me to this point. And though the path ahead was uncertain, I knew with a sudden clarity what I had to do.

Through falling velvet curtain around my vision and swirling black dots half-blotting out her face, I met Noe’s gaze, a smile tugging at the corners of my lips. “You’ve saved me so many times,” I whispered, my voice tiny. “It’s time for me to return the favor.”

“Jinhua, don’t—”

But it was too late. I activated ‘Ardor’. It began as a spark, then shot a fire-hued spiral to the ceiling. I poured every last ounce of its power into Noe, the closest person to a mother I’d ever known. A blinding light enveloped her. Soon the blood flowing from her abdomen stopped. She must have felt her strength returning, because she began to look like the woman who had protected and loved me in my last days, even when I didn’t deserve it. She lifted her shirt to find a shock. Where there should have been a mortal knife would was unblemished skin. Noe raised her head and gazed at me in awed agony once she realized what I’d done.

As the light faded, so did my strength. I collapsed, the world fading to black around me. Noe jumped to her feet and shrieked as she rushed over. “Noo! It was for you! It was FOR YOU!” Noe’s anguished cry echoed in my ears, distant and muffled. “Aaaah! You stupid girl! Why didn’t you use it for yourself!?”

She cradled my corpse in her arms. “No, no, no! Jinhua! Jinhua get up!”

Her tears felt warm against my skin, her sobs shaking my body. But I was no longer there. Not dead, but somewhere else. I didn’t know where it was, but before me was a jarring sight.

I saw my face. Two lines of dried blood under my nostrils. The eyes closed, still wet with tears. Then a voice sounded. So close as if standing right next to me.

Jinhua I’m sorry! I should be dead, not you. I would have been a terrible mother. I was a terrible mother figure for you. First Mom, Dad, Janus, now you. I can’t protect anyone!

Was I… inside Noe’s mind?

Before I could act, something shifted. Next to Noe’s familiar magenta mind meter was a new one. Silver-colored with a red pulsing heart sitting on top.

Noe’s heart meter appeared! The Empath, it worked. The full meter glowed with energy. There wasn’t much time, but it was work a try. I passed a message. Noe’s eyebrows raised, I felt her heart pumping in her chest, releasing adrenaline into her system.

The timing was perfect because Mensah was on his feet, probably slowly processing the gap in time he’d just experienced. A throng of Hollic guards and believers stood behind him. Then all threw up their hands to block a blast of luminescence.

Noe split into five forms, each one surrounding my body in a protective circle. As the shine grew brighter, I felt myself rising, my body weightless and free. A small supernova illuminated the room with a lightning clap. At that moment, my eyes shot open. Physical body animated once more. I was me again.

Mensah and Amelio watched below, their mouths agape. “How, is it possible?” Mensah asked, his voice in utter disbelief.

I smiled, my voice ringing out clear and strong. “Data is transferable. I transferred myself briefly into Noe’s chip. With the power of the Empath, our hearts and minds are synced, allowing free data transfer between us. Noe transferred 50% of her Empath power back into me, giving me the strength to rise again. We are now Synced Whole.”

As the heavenly light enveloped us, my heart meter filled to max. I’m not sure how, but I closed my eyes and healed my wounds. The pain, the fear, melted away. All that remained was clear peace.  

With control, I descended back to the stage with a sphere of golden light surrounded me, radiating warmth.

Upon seeing the sight, the Vitruvians fell to their knees. The guards dropped their weapons. Some cried, others rejoiced, a few shut their eyes and prayed fervently. Among them was the brown-skinned female guard Noe spared. Watery eyes accompanied the tranquil smile she wore. Even Mensah bowed his head in reverence.

My normal thoughts found no place in that moment, neither did anyone else’s. Against, my desire and intent, I became a god.

---

SYNC WHOLE – SCREENPLAY

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