Blaze triggered his transformation as soon as he got stabbed. Nale pressed the blade deeper and pain bloomed from the wound. Blaze wanted to scream. His knees threatened to buckle, but he held on. He grabbed Nale around the wrist to prevent him from withdrawing the blade.
Transforming was a bad idea. It was a desperate move. Blaze knew that, but he had run out of options. He reached within himself, and the voices came: a cacophony of shrieks and bellows. Blaze tried to put up mental walls to protect himself, but the combination of pain and the fatigue from multiple fights made it difficult.
He reached within himself and touched DNA. He had aimed for the Saurian. In his weakened state, the 4-armed lizard would be the easiest for him to control. It was also the most likely creature to recover from the stab wound… the most likely except for one.
Blaze let the DNA take over him. The voices faded away leaving only one. It spoke and Blaze's blood ran cold. It had coherent speech, and it said, "Freedom."
Blaze tried to abort the transformation, but it was too late. His limbs began to elongate. His torso grew slimmer. A silvery film swam over the surface of his skin and hardened into a metallic coating. Blaze twisted his neck and tried to tell the others to get to safety, but it was too late.
The Oscillan took over.
The Oscillan had no mouth and no eyes. It did not need them. The atoms on the surface of its skin began to hum, sending and receiving sound waves, giving the creature a perception far greater than mere sight.
Blaze perceived all this. He experienced everything the creature experienced, but it felt like he was strapped into a passenger seat.
He sensed the Oscillan thinking and processing the situation. The Oscillan noticed Nale. Its fingers were still gripping his wrist, and the Chintari man was staring at it with a hint of fear in his eyes. The Oscillan understood that. It knew that it was a fearsome creature. The Chintari man’s response was appropriate.
In fact, the Oscillan was offended that Nale was not more afraid. Nale should have been on his knees bowing. The Oscillan released its grip and placed one of its hands on Nale's chest. Blaze felt it channel its power. Its silvery skin rippled like a wave, starting at the shoulder and flowing down to its fingers. The air seemed to contract when the ripple reached Nale.
The air rapidly expanded with a loud bang.
Nale flew backwards and smashed into the wall behind. The Oscillan lifted its hand and looked at it. Blaze felt an old tremor run through its body. He sensed that the Oscillan was surprised at its lack of power. It had expected to disintegrate Nale, not simply push him back.
Blaze could feel the creature's thoughts churning.
It's me, Blaze thought. I'm the weakness. I'm an injured and fatigued host. The Oscillan reached the same conclusion.
It released a ripple of irritation. Then it tried to kill Blaze.
Blaze felt the thing somehow mentally reach within itself. It touched him, but that was a mistake. At the moment of transformation, Blaze had lost all control. As soon as the creature touched him, a connection was established.
The creature attacked him mentally, and Blaze pushed back with all his might. They fought for control of the body. Externally, that fight manifested as the creature's body beginning to convulse uncontrollably. Waves of energy burst out of it in all directions, rapidly turning the room to ruin.
Blaze panicked, worried he might have injured some of the others.
"Yield!" The Oscillan screamed. "Lesser beings must yield!"
"Never," Blaze replied.
They were floating now, still spasming in the air, letting off destructive waves. Blaze perceived something running through the destruction and leaping at them. On instinct he moved to block, and the Oscillan’s body responded.
‘I have some control,’ Blaze realised.
His outstretched hand fell upon something squishy. It was Nale's fleshy monster. The fleshy creature pummeled Blaze’s body, but its blows felt like meaningless tickles to the Oscillan.
For a moment, Blaze and the Oscillan worked together.
They grabbed the fleshy monster and channeled all their vibrational power into the monster. It squealed and writhed, as its body broke and twisted. Blaze and the Oscillan pushed until the fleshy creature was reduced to a mangled lifeless husk.
They released the husk and it fell and splattered when it hit the ground. Blaze still hovered in the air, but he felt very fatigued now. The Oscillan’s power faltered and they fell. Its body clanged when it hit the floor.
Blaze wasn't sure which part of the ship they were in now. Everything had been warped by the Oscillan’s power. Floors were caved in and beams were ripped apart.
Blaze tried to stand. The Oscillan let him.
It was too busy pondering its weakness. Even killing that pathetic creature had taken a lot, and it could sense that it was becoming weaker by the second. Blaze realised Nale's blade was still in the Oscillan’s flank.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The Oscillan saw this and ripped the blade out. It would heal its own body, but the damage to Blaze's body was done, and that damage was severely limiting it.
"Vaku!"
Blaze turned towards the voice. Nale stood on a pile of rubble, staring at the dead body of the fleshy monster. The Chintari man’s chest armour was wrecked, revealing a large bruise on his chest. Blood trickled out of his mouth.
Nale ripped out his red blade and pointed it at them. The Oscillan groaned in annoyance and then it paused and noted something: a lack of resistance from Blaze.
Yeah, Blaze thought. I’m not going to stop you here. You can kill that one.
The Oscillan gleefully took full control over its body and launched a massive wave-blast at Nale. The Chintari man hopped aside, avoiding the hit. He slashed and a fireball appeared.
‘He's getting better with that,’ Blaze realised.
Nale and the Oscillan entered a dance of flames and sound. The Oscillan had the power advantage, but Nale was driven and he seemed to be improving, fast. At first the Oscillan confidently batted away his fireballs with its bare hands, but then Nale altered the patterns of his drawings.
The fireballs took on the shape of a hound. The flame hound roared and its hue changed from red to blue. Nale launched it at the Oscillan.
Arrogantly, the Oscillan reached out to bat the flame beast away. The hound crashed into it and something strange buzzed through the Oscillan's body.
Pain, Blaze realized. That's what pain feels like to it.
Half of the Oscillan's body had been eaten by the flame beast. The Oscillan stared in shock at its mutilated body.
Nale cut through the air and launched a normal fireball. The Oscillan huffed. It regenerated, instantly regrowing its missing parts, but in that instant Blaze felt its power plummet.
It stumbled and chose to dodge this fireball, instead of batting it away.
Suddenly, another blue beast hit them. The Oscillan vibrated violently. Blaze felt more pain roll through its body.
It regenerated again, then promptly dropped to its knees. The creature's consciousness began to fade. The transformation was coming undone. Blaze’s limbs shrunk and the silvery skin melted away. He changed back to his normal body, stab wound and all. He coughed, blood spilling from his mouth.
Nale's blazing eyes were on him.
"You have been a thorn in my side, unlike any other," the Chintari man said. Then, surprisingly, his face softened. "A true warrior. It is a pity you were human. This is the end."
Nale suddenly froze and became fixated on something behind Blaze. Blaze mustered his strength to turn and look. He smiled softly and whispered two words as he lost consciousness.
"Hi Ben."
-CAPTAIN DOE-
Great Mother Clareesa swept into Captain Doe's office with the pomp and majesty of someone used to being in charge.
She had not knocked, but simply opened the door and stepped in. In fact, she hadn't even opened the door herself. One of her acolytes had done that for her.
An entourage swept in after her, arrayed in the same red and yellow cloth that she wore, the symbol of the Order of the First Light. They filled Captain Doe's office bringing with them a stifling heat and the cloying stench of too much perfume.
One of the acolytes pulled out the chair opposite Doe, and Great Mother Clareesa gracefully sat in it.
Captain Doe did not meet her eyes. He instead surveyed the assortment of individuals she had brought with her.
It was only after that that he looked at her. Unlike him, with his graying hair and bald patch, Clareesa had aged gracefully. He still remembered their days playing together in the convent. She had been a sweet child, full of laughter. Now she wore a sour expression that ruined her otherwise beautiful face.
Captain Doe spoke. "I didn't know this was going to be a party," he said dryly.
"I'm not here for wordplay, Daniel." Clareesa's voice was smooth and firm.
Doe sighed. He knew what she was here for. Clareesa was one of the best masters within the Order of the First Light. Year after year, she produced exceptional acolytes. Doe had heard that a few years ago she had produced an individual she considered her best student ever: Amara.
"You're trying to kill my girl," Clareesa said.
"I'm not-"
"You and the Abbot. You're trying to kill my girl!"
Clareesa had a penchant for the dramatic.
Doe sat back in his chair.
"Clareesa, why would I send my best agents to protect her if I was trying to kill your girl?"
"It's exactly because you didn't send your best agents that I am here," she responded. "I read their profiles. Your boys are mavericks. Rash. Experimental. And broken," she added with a hiss.
Doe held up a hand in disagreement. "My agents are not broken," he said. He ignored the statement about them being rash. He couldn’t argue against that. "As for experimental," he continued. "If you are worried about Agent Kuto-"
"Oh he's not the one I'm worried about."
Doe paused. One of Clareesa's main strengths was her ability to notice subtle details, particularly when it came to people and their behaviour.
"This Agent Wilson," Clareesa said. "He is trouble. Kuto is far more suited to be the leader, yet you gave this distinction to Wilson."
Doe scratched his chin. He was certain Clareesa had not just read Ben and Blaze's profiles. She had dug deep. She would not have been able to come to the conclusions she was making otherwise. She likely knew about Ben’s time with the Order. Doe chose his words carefully.
"Agent Wilson is probably your girl's best chance of survival out there. Yes, he has some weaknesses but he is an efficient killing machine." He had gone with the truth. No need to sugarcoat things.
"Why would I want a killer that close to my girl?"
"You know why Clareesa. Your order has flung the girl into underexplored reaches of space-"
"The Abbot did that. He went over all our heads and-"
Doe slammed his hand on the table, causing many of the acolytes to flinch. Some flared their mana in response. Others reached for hidden weapons.
Clareesa herself did not move, but she did stop talking and glared at Doe. Dense tension filled the air. Captain Doe gave Clareesa a wan smile.
"Sorry," he said. "We both know you tend to rant. Now listen, Clareesa. I know you are unhappy that the Abbot sent your best student somewhere nobody knows well. I know you were grooming her to replace you and this has thrown a wrench in your plans. But for as long as you have known the Abbot, have you known him to make errors?"
Clareesa didn't respond.
Doe continued. "And for as long as you have known me, have you known me to make errors?"
Clareesa's response was swift this time. "Several. Leaving the Order for one."
Doe chuckled. "Well if you will not trust me, trust the Abbot."
Clareesa regarded him silently.
"Okay," she finally said. "But if I notice any problems, I will not wait."
"That seems fair."
Clareesa stood up, gave him one last look, then swept out of the room with the same pomp with which she had come in.
Doe sighed and leaned back. He had been expecting her for a long time, even before she announced her visit. This outcome was among the best of the scenarios he had pictured.
As he reflected, he found that his own words continued to resonate in his mind. It was the truth. A truth that he was hoping would not change but would at least be modified over time. Ben Wilson is an efficient, stone-cold killing machine.
Novicius in Arte Medica A Novice in the Art of MedicineMedical School is a Warzone. Ashrahan was failing. Then, the System woke up.
Quote: Synopsis: Sleepless nights, borrowed notes, and caffeine. When exhaustion drags Ashrahan to the edge, a silent system awakens, transforming patients into interactive lessons and textbooks into living networks of surgical precision.