The very first thing she noticed as she awoke was a repetitive synthetic beeping next to her. A red light display shone its artificial light into her groggy eyes. Then came the smell of hyper sterility, like someone had cleaned every inch with hazardous chemicals. Tubes hung over her head with long pipes snaking their way around her limbs and into her body. It was cold and unnaturally quiet.
The hospital! Yes, I got into an accident. My siblings.
Oh Fuck.
Sharp pain stung in her body but she ignored it; she needed to get out of there. Juniper’s first attempt at reacting was to get up and leave wherever she was inside of. But her limp leg would not budge; the other was held together in a cast. She tried to sit upright, hoping to unlatch it from the cast, but her chest felt too weak to move.
Her head started spinning, her body convulsing—she felt her eyes trying to take her back into the darkness of sleep. Her resistance was met with a sudden jolt that sent pain through her whole body. It was agony. She felt like she couldn’t breathe for a moment before it stopped, taking deep breaths as her heart rate spiked. Then she calmed down again, her pain fading slightly.
She stared at the archaic analog clock in front of her face. It was around two o'clock, past midnight. Time had gone on without her for a while now. Her siblings! She needed to know. She needed to find her phone right now.
Her weak arms fiddled around every machine and drawer around her... None of her belongings were nearby. She did, however, notice the Depotmart bag on the ground. She tried reaching for it, but it was like climbing a brick wall, only downwards. Her bones hurt, and her muscles were aching. She gave up eventually, tears welling up, not because of the pain, but the fear that she had left her siblings alone for so long. Anything could have happened. Her brother was a legal adult, but a kid to her all the same. Her sister wouldn't survive at all.
Something about the air changed; it became harder to breathe. The air was heavier, the dynamism of the moonlight itself froze, and the wind that sneaked in from her open window suspended itself in midair. The analog clock stopped its incessant ticking. The machine’s robotic hammering ceased.
A soft but soothing voice spoke out of nowhere. “Do not be afraid, Juniper.”
Goosebumps. Her hair stood on end, chills went down her fragile spine. She felt the urge to piss herself, but the machines took care of that. She had to be hallucinating; there was no way. Was it a cape? Perhaps it was the person who rode over her, coming to finish her off, just in case she saw a face or heard the inkling of something she shouldn't have. Maybe it was a ghost, and she was already dead.
“Metatron!? Gabriel!? Lucifer!? Azazel!? Baal!? Wha–who is there?”
The voice giggled, childlike. “I’ve met them before, but I’m not them. They are children, like you are to me.”
“G-god?”
Or death.
“Not quite, though there hasn't been one around the earth in a while…”
“Who are you… what is this…” she said, frightened. Her fingers twitched; she was scared to move even her hand.
A spark appeared, and a glowing orb of light manifested itself in midair, shaping like playdough, but if that playdough was plasma or something. A bubbly, squishy, marshmallow-like furry creature in the form of a cute red fox appeared. However, there was something utterly alien about it. Its fur was acting dynamically like walking flames. Colors shaping every second. She didn’t know what to do; it was straight out of a piece of fictional media. But that otherworldly fright that shook her remained.
“Call me Quixis, or Dandelion, or maybe Kitbooh, or maybe Fluxreon, or maybe…”
It kept on yammering, dozens of names, unending and unraveling its absurd but cutesy names. Quixis was all she heard; it was all she could make sense of at the moment.
“...”
“Oh, uh, sorry, I get carried away sometimes,” it apologized, closing its glowing eyes. “Just call me whatever you want. As to why I’m here…”
“You’ve come to collect my soul,” she started, feeling the weight of her own body holding her down. She did feel like maybe she could just pass away; it wouldn’t be that bad, all the pain would be gone, her emptiness as well. However, the nagging irritation that her siblings would get thrown into supervised homes did not sit right with her.
It let out a deviously cute laugh. "I haven’t done a soul-hunt in 800 years—and even then, that person and his horse caused so much chaos." It approached. Every time its paw moved, she felt her heart stammer like the earth itself was shaking. "I only found him after he was dead and his corpse had been hidden—can you believe it?"
Genghis Khan!?
“Regardless, I come from a realm outside of your universe, the planes of Elysium. And you, Juniper Pinewell, you have been…” It pondered, tapping its little paw as it stormed its mind. “Awakened, yes, not chosen.”
“I-I don’t understand…” she said, overwhelmed by the theatrics. Was this her brain playing a trick on her? A dream? If it was one, it was very vivid indeed.
“Powers, or magic in some variations of time and space, you will come to possess one, maybe two. But your powers are not of this world’s making.”
“A cape, me?” she said, confused. But the possibilities of what she could do marauded her head. What powers?
“Every once in a while, we caretakers are tasked with planting life seeds that often grow into something, whether it be a place, a person, or an animal. You, Jun, are one of those seeds… your birth, while not planned, was always going to result in… well... you, of course..”
What the hell was it speaking about? She was some kind of talking seed?
“I… don’t believe you. This is some kind of trick, some kind of sick ploy. It can’t be real, it can’t be,” she yammered, panic mode activating. The room was dead silent; she could hear her heartbeat drumming under her chest. "Yeah, a hallucination. It has to be."
It held out its paw like a wizard did with its staff, waving it in a circular motion, and her nerves settled. Easing, her breathing came to a calm still, and she felt at peace again. The creature then stared at the midnight ball of light.
“It appears things have changed, and I won’t have the time needed to explain everything tonight. Let me run the basics with you real quick.”
She listened attentively but was skeptical of what she was seeing. The chances were very good of being brainwashed by some creep, lulled into thinking she was safe, and then slowly murdered in her sleep.
“Seven years from now, alien invaders will plummet this planet into nothing but a ball of resources, and the human race will be wiped out. That’s why people like you are born, Juniper, to counter threats like this.”
“Capes!”
“No, you’re a byproduct of something else. But you'll fit right in, I'm sure.”
"I’m… special,” she stammered. She felt giddy all of a sudden; it was rare for her to be complimented. But this wasn’t a human she was dealing with.
“Well… in the grand scheme of the cosmos, no,” her eyes dropped down and looked at her broken leg. “But here on earth, I’d say yeah. SO… here’s the thing.”
It became bipedal, standing on its cute hind legs, fur floating like water in space.
“In most of the realities I foresaw, planet Earth has a survival rating of point twenty-one (0.21) without any lifeseeds, however, when you awakened, it bumped up to three (3%).”
“Huh?” she deadpanned. It had to have made some mistake; there was no reason she was of any importance to anyone or anything.
“You mean everyone I know will be dead in seven years?”
It nodded, smiling like it didn’t just tell her the worst possible thing.
“Yes, everyone, including your family.”
Effy gone, she couldn't imagine that. Remy broken, it would hurt her. But maybe there's nothing she can do about it.
She winced, sweating. Seven years wouldn’t be so bad; she’d get to see her sister grow up, maybe see her brother getting the treatment he deserved with the money from his career plan. Perhaps laws would be lifted and she could see her mother again. Maybe she could turn her life around.
“That 3% of yours can go to a 5 if you’re extra super-duper prepared.”
It stared at the moon again, expressionless.
"That's not very reassuring."
“Don’t worry. Others like you exist elsewhere. If you all work together, it could go to 45%. You'll be isolated mostly.”
Others? More seed people?
Its head turned and it frowned. “I need to leave, urgent matters elsewhere. I will see you again, Juniper, on some other quiet night.”
“Wait, these powers of mine, how do I use them!?”
The creature shrugged. “I don’t know, I’m not all-knowing. I merely sensed your awakening and came to inform you. Use your imagination.”
The creature balled up again, liquidating into a field of plasma before zapping out of existence, leaving her with more questions than answers.
She felt overwhelmed.
“What the fuck was that?”
Time resumed. The machine started beeping, the wind started flowing again, prickling her skin.
She was skeptical. No way that was true. How was she even supposed to guess what she was capable of?
A faint memory of her bleeding out got stuck in her head. Before she passed out, she saw words, highlighted like that of a video game.
Was that her brain coping? Gaming was the only thing she loved as much as her family.
She held her hands out. “Uhhh… main menu!”
Nothing happened. Just silence.
“Inventory.”
Still nothing. What was she supposed to do? If there was a chance of her actually having powers, it could change their lives. Effy could go to a safer school, and she could get her brother the treatment he deserved. Panic arose again. What if that really was a dream? She was just hallucinating to make herself feel happy, a trick.
It cast a spell on her and made her calm. Sorcery, witchcraft even. But what if it was real? Then where were these powers, Quixis promised?
Her mind shifted from her surreal experiences. She remembered the more important matter; she was attempting to find her phone. There was a large button on the machine next to her labeled ‘Call nurse.’ She started tapping, the button chiming every time she tapped it. Then her monitor beeped like a dysfunctional alarm. An older lady came rushing inside, a nurse with long black hair.
“You’re awake!?” the lady exclaimed. “I’ll get a doctor immediately.”
She lifted herself up, ignoring heavy aching pain, holding her hand up to the nurse, working the courage up to ask. “Wait, I need to make a call. I need my phone.”
The nurse came to her side, panicking, and attempted to push her back to lie on the bed. “Please… don’t move, you need rest. We can sort everything out in the morning, darling.”
She tugged at the older woman’s arms, clinging to her like a baby to a doll.
“Please, I-I need to call my brother, it's urgent.”
She felt a sharp tingle travel from her arms, which sparked something in her brain, making her chest jump. The nurse looked at her in horror, unable to discern what was happening.
[Mimicry skill activated.]
[Mimicry Analysis]
[Super Audition Level 1 - Heightens your ability to perceive sounds severely]
[Auditory enchantment limited to a 1-mile radius, control impossible]
What was this?
At first, she heard something fall behind her, with a heavy drop. She spun around, staring at the wall, frightening the nurse. Then the flow of water spilled into someone’s throat, gurgling as it went down their esophagus. Then came the cats with their unending wailing, all at once.
She stared at the nurse wide-eyed, who was still investigating the cause. Looking up, she heard the squeaking of footsteps as someone passed a room, the snoring of a patient two floors up, two people’s bodies slamming against a wooden desk, the droning of electrical circuits below them whirring and buzzing, the beeping of server machines.
Blood leaked from her nose. “Make it stop," she begged the nurse, shaking her body. “Make it stop.”
“Make what stop, dear!?” the lady asked in fright.
“The noise, it’s getting louder.”
It got sharper too, more persistent. A hundred voices coming in all at once. The cutting of knives, dogs barking down the street, honking, turning, and spinning of every car near the road. A door hammered open and shut. She heard the sound of flesh being cut at a molecular level.
She started suffocating, her breathing intensifying. She could barely hear her own thoughts. Memories came flooding in, the day of the calamity when her parents were separated from them and thrown into an armored truck. The three of them were pulled back into the depths of the city.
Tears welled up; she couldn't hold it in. She wanted to kick something but she couldn’t. Her muscles felt like they were turning from the inside out. She started shaking. Screaming was all she could do. She yelled her lungs out. Her body convulsed.
The frightened nurse scrambled to get out of the room.
She couldn’t think; she couldn't hear herself. She wanted her mother. She didn’t want to be alone. But her mother was long gone.
Heavy running footsteps came inside her room. Strong arms held her down tightly. She felt a needle jabbed into her arms. It made it worse. Her legs woke, and she started throwing herself around. Adrenaline kicked in. She slapped the man away as she snaked out of his arms. Another needle pierced. Then it slowed. Her eyes resisted and she felt the world grow dark once again.
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