Wednesday, 8 May 2024, 5:22 pm
Reyn looks around in confusion and he finds himself back in his regular reality. The machines and apparatus around the Forge crack and fizz as they slowly wane to a stop after finishing Reyn's augmentation. His skin burns and sizzles as the newly installed aetheric circuitry settles into his flesh and stiffness besets his neck as he twists his head to get a feel for the power-core socket at his nape.
"Mitchells! Answer me, boy. How do you feel?" Ravinoks yells again as he walks toward Reyn, still strapped and mounted in the chamber. Reyn shifts his eyes under his blindfold and tenses and twists his tightly restrained arms and legs as he settles back into his old body. His senses return to him and he has a sudden realization. He could clearly remember what had just happened, every moment of the experience inside his mind was as clear as any other memory, maybe even more so. But even more shocking to him, was the fact that he clearly understood it. "Reyn! Mitchells! Speak boy!" The doctor scowls, ripping down Reyn's blindfold and grabbing him by his neck, evoking a yelp of pain, as the doctor's thick, rough hands rub against the sensitive flesh around his ARCH-unit. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Y-yes, Doctor Ravinok. I-I'm ok. I'm fine, sir." Reyn stutters. He had considered revealing the details of his true experience during his augmentation, but a brisk calculation of outlooks resulted in him electing to hide the details of his experience for the time being. While he understood much of what happened, a question still could not be answered. The reason why it happened and what it all meant still escaped him, and he would not reveal details of his aether-induced vision quest until he better understood it himself and whether his experiences would raise the wrong questions.
"Ah. My heart, boy! Are you sure you are ok? No funny business?"
"Um," The question raises Reyn's heart rate, he can feel Ravinok's distrust through the goosebumps on his skin, his stomach trembles with growing apprehensions. "Y-yes, sir. I'm ok. I-I don't know what happened. I…"
"It's ok, boy, relax, relax. We will get you out in a moment. We barely heard a peep from you in there! Did you faint before the procedure even started?"
"What? Oh. I-I guess. I mean, I think so, sir. I really can't remember."
Ravinok stares at Reyn intently. He looks deep into Reyn's eyes, almost trying to dig into his skull and pierce his mind. His look of intrigue and distress slowly shifts to a relieved sigh as he moves away. "Ha! If only Lunara was here to hear that!" He snorts. "Are you sure you are ok, Mitchells? Don't play hero with me. If there's anything wrong. Tell me now."
"I, uh, I don't… I don't remember anything sir. But, I think I'm ok. My back just…"
"Good, good. You had me worried, Mitchells. Your procedure, hm, we see some strange readings. Fluctuations in the aether. Very small, probably negligible, but still, peculiar." He leaves Reyn with a shrewd smirk as he sets his hands into his pockets and limps out of the chamber. "Don't worry, Mitchells, the team will help you out. Go get your augmentation reviewed and healed. We will see you again soon, my boy." The doctor disappears into a particle puddle and the chamber quickly fills with his assistants who remove Reyn from his restraints and briskly lead him out of the chamber. The ovation from his peers barely registers in Reyn''s mind as he tries to make sense of his strange mental experience in the Forge, but the sudden introduction of black-light to his vision startles him into focus.
He is quietly led through the dark room, the smell of sanitization chemicals and the cold touch of the floor tricks his mind into visualizing the room as a typical medical examination area, though all his eyes could capture was a deep blackness that seemed to have swallowed him. He is made to lay prone on a frigid metal surface and instructed to extend all his limbs to full stretch. Invisible hands and devices begin to poke and prod at the aetheric-circuits trailing his skin as the GAARD scientists inspect the intricate details of their work. "All good here, Mr. Mitchell's. Please relax, a healer will be with you shortly." a voice assures him. The shuffle of multiple sets of feet could be heard leaving the room and Reyn found himself again, a lone consciousness in an empty void.
His thoughts begin to dwell again on the mental experience he had endured and he begins his careful contemplation of its meanings. He thinks deeply about the new body he had been born in, the strange world that surrounded him in his inner-existence and the infinite ocean that he floated on. Each a piece of a puzzle to build his understanding of himself. But mostly, he considered what the experience meant. It was definitely a product the aether introduced into his body, but what effect was it having on his mind, he wondered. Perhaps the aether was slowly ripping his psyche apart, and the experience was his dying mind unraveling itself. Or, perhaps he was trying to tell himself something in a weird, existential way, or was it the aether itself trying to show him some greater universal truth, or a revelation of something beyond even that. The list of possibilities keeps growing and he finds himself more lost in uncertainty about himself and his future.
"You're Lunara's boy, uh?" A distorted and unnatural voice suddenly appears in the darkness, startling Reyn and eliciting a yelp from both his mouth and posterior. "Oh, shit! Sorry, shit, I thought you heard me come in." the voice says apologetically. Reyn had been too deep in contemplation to notice the footsteps of its owner entering the room. "Don't worry. I've been assigned to heal you. Just lay still and relax, ok."
"Oh, uh, ok. Sorry, I was, uh, just thinking. Uh, who are you?" Reyn stutters in response, embarrassed at his self-introduction and apprehensive of the hidden figure.
A sigh drifts across Reyn from the unseen man. "Classified, I'm afraid. You, uh, probably know how it is for healers, right?" Reyn responds with a sober nod, he knows all about the plight of aetheric healers. Healers are one of the rarest ARCH-types. Of the more than 200,000 archaners discovered since the conscription of potentials started more than 13 years ago, less than 100 would be found to have a biological healing ability compatible with humans, and even less have the resonance potential and capabilities to heal more than superficial damage and simple diseases. For this reason, powerful healers are highly sought after by many governments, organizations and private entities for obvious reasons. The ability to heal almost any disease or injury is invaluable to humans, meaning it is not uncommon for healers to be headhunted or even kidnapped by desperate parties. GAARD forces strict security protocols on the healers in its employ for this reason.
Reyn could not see it, but he felt the hairs on his back gravitate toward the pair of healer's hands hovering over him. "Relax, this will only take a mount. Won't hurt, I promise." Despite the black-light, the shimmer of the aether emanating from the hidden hands was still visible to anyone looking, and as it permeated through Reyn's skin, he could feel it move through his flesh, repairing and fusing damaged cells. "I know, it feels weird, right? You'll get used to it. front-line archaners tend to get pretty messed up out there."
Reyn snorts. "Yeah, that's, uh, putting it lightly."
"You know, Mitchells, I've met your mother quite a few times. Queen of the Elements! Man, she was gorgeous." A sudden cough interrupts the voice before it stutters on. "Uh, I mean, sorry. I'm not… uh. But yeah, she fucking strong too. Damn you must've been proud having a mother like that."
"Yeah." Reyn nods with a smile as he drifts through memories of his mother. "She was fucking cool. When was the last time you saw her?" He asks.
"Hm. Think it was 5 or 6 years ago, yeah, after the St. Petersburg invasion. Oh, man. Can you remember that? That one was so brutal. Fucking fairies! Ugh. I think they might have been the worst things out the gates so far. The way they ripped your mom's arm off like that. Blegh!" Reyn chuckles but the thought turns his stomach. The battle of St. Petersburg was one of humanity's longest of the gate invasion. Lasting almost a month and resulting in the destruction and loss of most of the city and a deathtoll that was best forgotten. "But man, she was relentless. Still managed to help take the guardian down with a missing forearm, and what about those, what was it, uh, ogres that dropped in L.A.?"
"Giants, those were giants." Reyn corrects him as he continues his aetherical work across Reyn's back.
"Right, right. Ugh, can't keep track anymore. But damn, she was slicing them up like freaking tomatoes with those ice blades of her's. Can you imagine the cleanup? I feel sorry for those guys."
"Yeah, she liked to brag about the L.A. battle, used to say she really painted town red on that one. But her favorite had to be the giant turtle guardian from the Hong Kong invasion. That massive thunderbolt that blew out the mountain to bury it. She was always talking about that." Reyn says, giggling as fond memories come flooding back and he can't help but indulge the delightful nostalgia.
"Yeah! That was insane. Or how about the stone-spiders in Johannesburg. Holy fuck! There were thousands and Joseph Brannon was just ripping through them like freaking jackhammer. The Pain Train!"
"Boulder's flying everywhere! My mom said she kicked his ass after that battle because she kept getting hit by flying rocks!" Reyn yells out excitedly. The men continue to happily reminisce on the accomplishments of Reyn's mother and her Strike Team, something Reyn had not had a chance to enjoy for too long.
"There ya go, Mitchells. All fixed up. Sorry, bud, but that's my cue to leave. Strict orders. Just relax here and one of the assistants will take you back out. Good luck, I'll be keeping my eye on you."
"Yeah, thanks, mister."
"My pleasure, Mitchells." The voice finishes and Reyn hears its soft footsteps fade away.
"This way, Mr. Mitchells." A different hidden voice suddenly appears and firm hand grips Reyn's shoulder. He is led back out of the black-light and into the dim-light hall containing the Forge and an eagerly waiting audience that greets him with thunderous applause on his arrival from the dark void.
"Reject the impossible!" A shout comes from the group, his voice is unmistakable and Reyn eyes Ghazal at the head of the graduate group waiting for his triumphant return.
"Victory or Death!" Reyn yells out proudly as he quickly makes his way back to the rest of the graduates.
"What happened?"
"Didn't it hurt? You didn't make a sound."
Reyn is showered in questions on his return and he struggles to answer, trying to find a plausible explanation for his experience in the Forge.
"Hey, give him some space. Jeez!" Jocelyn's voice breaks through the crowd as Ghazal's arm wraps itself around Reyn, pulling him away from the group.
"Thanks Jose!" Ghazal smiles as he leads Reyn away, she nods with a smirk and wink in response.
"How's it feeling, man! Shit. Looks painful." Ghazal asks as he inspects Reyns' augmentations, tugging at his collar and sleeves to get a better look at it.
"Pretty cool, right?" Reyn boasts while pouting proudly. The friends continue to discuss the fascinating technology as the day's activities progressed, eventually Ghazal is led to the Forge as well, with his experience leaving him strangely quiet for the rest of the day.
The procedures come to a close late into the evening and the group is led back up the elevator to the lobby by Agent McCain who had spent most of the day watching the procedures from her own office, in the upper floors of the administration building. "That's it for today, folks. Feel free to head back to your dormitories. I'm sure you could all use some rest." Agent McCain explains as the group moves through the lobby to the building exit. "You've got nothing scheduled for tomorrow, take some time to settle into your ARCH-units. Try to not mess with it too much, but it's pretty resilient, so don't worry, you won't break it. Now go get some sleep! Friday we get you type synchronizations done."
The late autumn sun has retired beyond the horizon, but some of its rays still find a way to creep over the mountains, laying a shade of auburn sunlight across the landscape. Reyn can barely make out the shimmer of the evening's first stars starting to twinkle in the sky as he pauses for a moment to appreciate the scene outside the building and soak in the feeling of his ARCH-unit touching the evening air for the first time.
"Like the view?" Jocelyn says smiling as she appears from among the group and prods Reyn as she passes, enticing him to follow her as she slowly strolls toward the dormitories.
"Huh? Oh, yeah! This place looks amazing sometimes." He sputters in response as Jocelyn seems to move closer to him as they walk. He compels his body to retain its self-control, but his eyes steal sly glances at Jocelyn's shiny hair, the little dimple on her left cheek and a tiny opening between her collar and neck, exposing a portion of moonlit décolletage, and Rey quickly finds his self-control severely lacking in the young woman's presence.
"Reminds me of home, growing up in Vancouver, heading up to the mountains with my Dad to hunt and fish. This place probably looks amazing in winter. Hope we get to see it." Jocelyn says as she playfully twirls around while they walk, eyeing the various views the facility has to offer from her current location. Reyn notices the glimmer in her eyes as she speaks fondly of her past and family.
"You miss them?" He asks softly, trying his best to sound sincere.
"Hell yeah, I've barely seen them in the flesh in 3 years. Can't wait to see them again. You? You miss yours?" Jocelyn responds excitedly.
"Yeah, I kinda do miss my dad and stepmom. But my little half-sister, Kayce, I think I miss her the most. Can't wait to see her, tell or the shit they put us through here. She loves all the archaner stuff." Reyn says with a sarcastic chuckle as Jocelyn stares intently into his eyes as he talks, her neck at a slight tilt, allowing her hair to hang beyond her shoulders and flutter softly in the evening breeze. Reyn tries to avoid looking at her eyes, but a flash of moonlight reflected in them captures his vision and quickly finds own eyes flicking between the deep, warm-brown pools in Jocelyn's, drowning hopelessly in their beauty. A quick cough and shift of his gaze would help recenter his mind and shackle his more primal urges. Jocelyn giggles.
"I bet she's super cute! I have an older brother. Bane of my existence. Can't believe I even miss him too." The two walk closely for a bit, discussing their family situations and past home lives as they survey the sky and landscape revelling in the last licks of sunlight.
"Do you ever feel like the moon is watching you?" Jocelyn suddenly asks as they stroll. Reyn turns to her in bewilderment and responds with confused grunt.
"You know. The man-in-the-moon. You think he's watching us right now? You think he cares about us little humans, trying to survive against those monsters?" Her hand points to a full-moon laying low on the northern horizon, peeking eerily over the Tahtali mountains. Reyn looks at Jocelyn in even greater confusion as she breaks out into stifled laughter. "I'm kidding Mitchells. You need to lighten up." She slaps him heartily on the back and runs off flicking her tongue at him as she moves further ahead to join her group of friends, waving him off as she leaves. He looks at the moon again and smiles. A man-in-the-moon, he ponders. Wondering what such a being would think of him.
"Come on, man, I need to get out of my head. That Forge fucked me up!" Ghazal protests, pushing Reyn faster toward their dormitories. "How the hell did you take that shit without screaming? Felt like my skin was being peeled off by those damn lasers."
"Four in, four out." Reyn grins.
Ghazal's pout turns to a grin and then to a roaring laugh. "You crazy fucker! What the fuck has gotten into you! I fucken love it!" He says proudly as he grabs Reyn's shoulder. "Saw you speaking to Jocelyn there. She's not hanging on your arm right now, so I take it your balls haven't dropped quite yet?"
"Ha. Ha." Reyn mockingly responds. "Give me a minute ok. I swear, I'm gonna ask her."
"Make it a promise then. If you don't ask her by the time we pass recruitment, you're banned from Ayame merch for a whole year! Deal?"
"What? That's just cruel and unusual, Gaz. Even for you. I'd never do…"
"I knew it! Mr. I'm-gonna-ask-her-out. More like Mr. I'm gonna-pussy-out. Deal or were you just pulling my leg with the whole big dick display this morning?"
"What? Argh. Fine. Deal, you sick fucker. God. Why's it always gotta be so dramatic with you."
"Gotta keep it interesting mate, come on. I need whiskey and soccer. I wanna go kick Paolo's ass. He fucking destroyed the last time." Ghazal scowls as he and Reyn strut back to their dorms cracking jokes and planning strategies to snatch victory from Paolo in a game of virtual soccer.
The graduates reach the dorms where many members immediately make their way to their rooms, disappearing for the day. Some decide to meet in the communal kitchen over a late snack to discuss the day's events. Reyn, Ghazal and a few others finish their day with a round of video games, hard liquor and random chatter in the lounge before heading for their own rooms.
Reyn reaches his room shortly before midnight, his body still felt light and full of energy due to the healer's work, but his mind was beyond exhaustion. The thoughts of his experience in the Forge have plagued him through the day as he struggles to make sense of the incident. He throws himself into his bed, mind racing, trying to find the rhyme or reason but he quickly falls into a soft slumber as his tired mind refuses any more stimulation.
The siren-sounds of his phone screaming for attention from under his pillow cuts short his rest as he hops up, looking around his dark room frantically, trying to find the source of the racket. Still half stuck in a dream state, he eventually reaches for the vibrating device under his pillow as his mind starts to fully awaken. "2 AM?" He wonders aloud, but before he could consider the situation further, a news headline starts scrolling across his phone screen and reading it blows away all disorder and weariness from his body.
"15TH GATE APPEARS! AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PREPARING FOR INVASION!"