Chapter 151—Coming to Terms

Tom collapsed on the floor and covered his eyes with his hand. A scream bubbled about inside him, trying to force itself out, but his discipline kept it contained.

“Why, Kang, why?”

His body thrummed with imminent violence. Energy coursed through him.

“Why the fuck, did you make that choice?”

He struck the ground, then looked around for something to throw. He wanted to extravagantly indulge in violence. But there was nothing, not a plate, not a chair, not a screen, his subconscious had cleared the room to leave only the plain, unadorned metal walls. With all his heart, he wanted to throw something, anything, to smash things into unrecoverable pieces to express himself. Instead, he panted helplessly unsure about what to do.

Kang had made the choice. All he could do was honour it. Even if what he had done was stupid, there was no reversing the decision now. The only option was to live with what was left.

“Your job is to save humanity,” he reminded himself. “It’s what Kang and the others who have already died would have wanted.”

A minute later, he picked himself off the floor and returned to Existentia proper. A wave of memories struck him when he did so, but there was nothing interesting in them. Basically, his body had been mostly silently sitting beside Kang the whole time, and only responding with the barest of civility to the doctors when they had questioned him.

Kang lay in front of him still in a coma with drool pooling on the pillow beneath him.

The life support system surrounded him. It was alien to earth sensibilities. There were no ventilators or machines recording blood pressure, heartbeat, and oxygen saturation. instead magic pulsed around him doing all those functions. Apart from feeding that Tom knew was done manually by one of the adults forcing each bite into his mouth and making him swallow it.

Eloise was asleep on one of the cots they had brought in. That was good as she had barely been able to sleep the last couple of nights. Briana had her chair pulled up close to the bed and was reading a story out loud. Her voice pitched so that Kang could hear but quiet enough that it wouldn’t be disturbing Eloise.

“He’s going to wake soon.” Tom said quietly. The soul he knew had stabilised, but the body to soul connection had yet to be re-established. Based on his conversation with Kang he knew that was going to happen sometime in the next day.

“I know,” she answered nonplussed. “Maybe even tonight…” From her expression, it was clear that she didn’t believe it.

“It will. But Bri, I don’t want you to have false hopes. After this long, it’s not going to be a fairytale ending.”

“I know.”

This time, she believed her statement. It made him frown inside.

Tom watched her reading. It was forced, a desperate attempt to maintain normality and not be overwhelmed. Like what he always did. Magic flared around her hand periodically with a steady release of fate to support her attempts. Her fists clenched between each attempt and her lips twitched downwards. “What are you working on?” he nodded at her hand, more to distract than for other reasons. 

“This,” she held her hand up and a blue energy ball rested on the palm. It was not anything he recognised. “It’s a tier three spell.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Isn’t that a bit advanced.”

“Yes, it’s complicated and I haven’t worked it out yet.”

“What does it do?”

She tossed it at a wall and a moment later there was a splash and water ran down from the impact point. “Fail mostly,” she said with a dark chuckle.

“What was it meant to do.”

“It’s called Living Water.”

He waited patiently.

“I guess it creates something like a slime. It’s supposed to be a good finisher on something already wounded. It’s animated and it’ll crawl into the wound and then.” She shrugged. “That’s if I can get it to work.”

She returned to reading her book clearly not wanting to talk, the magic still flickering alive and disappearing at regular intervals.

Half an hour later, they were escorted by Dimitri who was carrying Eloise to their dorms to sleep

The next morning they went to visit and Dimitri as was often the case met them at the door. His Face was grave.

“Children, Kang’s awake but…” The big man shut his eyes for a long moment. “How can I say this? He’ll live. The danger of him dying has passed, but the prognosis is not good. He’ll never be the same man he was.”

“Can we see him?” Eloise demanded.

The headmaster sighed and stepped away. “Yes, but try not to get too upset. The experts say it’ll take months for him to gain full control back.”

Internally but not showing it on his face Tom winced. The experts were wrong. He was never going to fully recover.

“Be nice,” the big man cautioned. Which made Tom study him a second time and the distress Dimitri was feeling was clear. He understood why. Kang was a reincarnator and, seeing him damaged like this without knowing precisely why had to be unsettling. But he remembered Corrine’s words. If Dimitri wanted specifics, then he would organise the meeting. With Kang’s situation doing so wouldn’t even raise a eyebrow.

The three of them rushed into the room and Kang lay with a single open eye and it was little more than a slit.

“He’s conscious,” the thin man from yesterday said. “But as far as we can tell, the only thing he can move is his eye.”

The girls ran to his bedside and then hesitated apparently tongue tied.

“Hi Kang,” Tom said with false brightness following behind them, “I have the girls with me.”

The eye noticeably moved from one girl to the next and then to Tom.

Tom held his breath and then sighed in relief when an invitation came through. He had been prepared to use his own, but given Kang’s trait it was better if the boy launched the session.

He accepted, and he appeared in Kang’s new system room. It was the one from Earth, not Existentia. A hospital room that was kind of nice, but the hard linoleum floor, plastic and aluminium surfaces made it overall unpleasant.

His friend lay propped up on the bed. Both eyes were open here, and he waved one of his hands. The fingers were clumped, but it was mostly a good wave. Much better than his thumbs up at least. “Ellow.”

The girls were frozen in shock.

“How are you mate?” Tom said, walking up and grabbing the hand used to wave at them and giving it a squeeze.

“Ood.” He said, eyes twinkling and giving them a bright half smile, the best he could do with his disability.

“What’s up with him?” Eloise hissed having taken half a step back.

“He suffered a soul wound. He’s partially paralysed.”

“ellow Eleeze.” Kang waved his fingers with his index and pointer fingers clenched instead of straight.

“Tom, what’s happening?” she said. “That’s not him.”

“Eleeze.”

“This is not right.” Her hands went to her head, pulling on her braids. “He can’t even say my name.”

“It’s okay Elosie.”

“No, it’s not. That’s not Kang.”

“It is,” he said soothingly.

“It’s not!” She vanished. 

Tom felt like screaming at her for abandoning Kang like that, but he couldn’t as that would only make his friend feel worse. “Don’t worry mate, she’ll come around. It’s just a bit of a shock and she’s been so worried she hasn’t been getting any sleep. How are you doing in here?” The TV was on playing Peppa Pig of all things. “Nice choice of TV. Emily used to love that show. Briana, why don’t you come and watch.” The instant he suggested it, he regretted it. She was probably too old to enjoy something like that.

Tom focused, and a chair appeared next to the hospital bed for her to sit on.

“What’s this place?” she asked, looking wide eyed around the room. “This isn’t what our usual title produces.”

“No, it’s not. Kangs got a new communication ability. it’s great isn’t it.”

“Eleeze.”

“She’s gone mate. She just needs some time.”

The smile on his face faded, and then fate exploded out from him. Tom frowned as he recognised what that represented.

Briana pointed at the TV. “What’s that?”

“Oh that. It’s called a TV show, a cartoon. It’s from before humans had access to magic.”

“It’s an illusion spell isn’t it. That’s magic.”

“It’s not.”

“Eleeze.”

He patted his friend’s hand. “I’ll get her to visit this afternoon.”

Kang lost interest in the two of them, but he got the feeling just hearing their voice would help him. He spent an hour explaining why earth technology was not magic to Briana. Kang split his attention initially between them and Peppa and then halfway through, he fell asleep.

Briana finally noticed. “Tom, Eloise is right. He’s not the same.”

He sighed. “You’re right Bri. But it’s still him in there even if it’s hard to see.”

“I know.”

“You know, he could have healed himself. He wouldn’t have been as talented magically and he would never have gotten close to being a powerhouse, but he could have been normal. But instead he chose this.”

“Why would he do that?”

“I wish I knew. You saw him. He couldn’t tell me why, but I suspect he got Oracle questions and used them to make the decision.”

“An oracle what?”

“It was a learning aid from the tutorial. The details don’t matter. The point is, he could have gotten instantly better, but he chose this because it would help humanity more.”

“That’s stupid. I want Kang back.”

Tom shut his eyes. “It’s not Bri.”

“It’s stupid. He can’t even talk.”

She was helplessly crying.

“Bri, I don’t think you can understand what it feels like to know that if you fail billions will suffer unless you’ve lived it for decades.” He thought about Keikain, Clare and worse of all Sven. “You can’t possibly understand the choices that kind of pressure makes us make.”

“But you said he’s not getting any better. That this is it and then look at him.He can’t even talk. I mean, not properly.”

“No, he can’t.”

She started sobbing, and he gathered her in his arms and let her cry into his shoulder. He probably shouldn’t have tried to explain things. 

Once Briana recovered, they left, and he was surprised at how minimal the flood of memories were when he returned to the real world. Kang’s skill did not do the same as the GOD’s version did where the body carried on as normally. It did however do better than what happened when adults stepped into their system room where they became animated dolls, but the improvement was only marginal according to his memories. It would have been clear to the doctor who interacted with him that his brain was somewhere else.

He checked the time. They had missed breakfast by an hour. Eloise was gone and Briana’s face was red and splotchy from crying. Apparently, the body would reflect the emotions they felt in the meeting space. He was definitely going to have to do some experiments to confirm the boundaries.

While there was no hot buffet style breakfast, they still went to the gymnasium to take advantage of the cereal that never got put away. It was what Dimitri had ordered them to do. Briana was uncommunicative and after skipping the first-class Eloise when they linked up with her was much the same.

After lunch, Dimitri met them again. He was Tom noticed paying them extra attention but given Kang he guessed that made sense. It was rare for any student to suffer a permanent injury, so of course they were going to provide extra support in a situation like this, and Dimitri along with being a force of nature capable of taking on any single assassin out there was also their collective mom. “Sorry guys, I’ve been letting you skip the isolation sessions, but the rules are clear you have to attend the weekly trial.”

They looked at each other.

“I don’t want to.” Eloise said immediately.

“I do,” Briana said straight away.

“Why would you want that?”

“Have you tried speaking to the trial administrator?” Dimitri said gently. “If not, you should. The trial is designed to be so much more than a luxury retreat or training fields.”

“The trial administrator?”

“I speak to mine.” Briana volunteered. “He’s an old man and he listens and has really helpful insights.”

The other girl looked confused. “I don’t understand. I talk to the trial, but it’s a voice and not a nice one. Do you get a person because that’s not fair.”

“Yes, a human avatar.” Briana confirmed. “He always gives me hot chocolates and ice-creams.”

“No bloody way!”

“Calm down Eloise,” Dimitri ordered. “Ask to chat with the trial administrator and you can get the same treatment. From the sounds of it so far, you’ve probably only interacted with the automated systems, and they’re not as good.”

“You get ice-creams,” Eloise was yelling at Bri. “No wonder you like going so much.”

Tom smiled at their antics. For a moment, he almost didn’t feel sad.

Twenty minutes later Tom found himself in the coffee shop sitting opposite April.

She said nothing and just sipped quietly.

“Why am I here?” he finally asked. “Shouldn’t I be in one of your torture rooms?”

She tsked in annoyance. “Torture rooms, very funny. But no, not today. I can sense your inner turmoil, so I thought I’d bring you here.” She paused, examining him thoughtfully. “Did something happen to a friend?”

Tom’s head snapped up and then he stilled himself and wondered how many of his thoughts she had seen over the years. She was so far beyond him that he guessed he didn’t care. “I don’t do that.” Ahe said sounding annoyed.

“What? Mind read? Come on, you can’t say something that’s in response to a thought and expect a simple denial to be believed.”

April laughed and almost spilt her coffee. “I don’t and you know it. The answer was more mundane.”

He considered things further and then he realised that they always approached the trial in the same order. With him going last. Kang being missing would be picked up, and he could only imagine what Eloise would be shouting. He snorted. “So not mind reading. The girls said something?”

The angel smiled. “I couldn’t possibly confirm anything like that. Now I think you’re unsettled and need help.” She paused thinking and then nodded firmly. “How about I put my psychologist hat on and lead an impromptu counselling session.”

She waited patiently.

“What’s troubling you Tom.”

Tom sighed and rubbed his nose bridge with a pained expression. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Just communicate whatever you’re feeling. I’ll listen.”

What was he feeling? He asked himself. What could he say to her? That he was experiencing emptiness, rage, desolation? “I’m unsure of what you want to hear. Kang made the choice he did. It put him in basically a vegetable state, and it doesn’t make sense. Why would he do that to himself? What could justify that cost? He’s sacrificing everything. Giving up on getting a girlfriend and having kids. On having a life.”

“Did he do it as part of a tradeoff?”

Tom laughed and noted the edge of hysteria hitching a ride in the sound. “A trade-off? Yes, no, there was a bad one. The communication trait isn’t enough. It doesn’t compensate for the sacrifice.”

April studied him. “Why don’t you explain that?”

He did so.

She placed down her empty cup, and by magic it was replenished the moment she did so. Still staring at him intently she picked it up and took another patient sip. It was about the routine and what it, those slow deliberate sips, from a beautiful person, would do to someone from his culture. Despite knowing that there was a level of manipulation, it still worked. HE felt himself leaning in to listen. “Hypothetically, let’s say that this allows him to draw anyone into his room and freeze time and do it over unlimited distances and with no restrictions on minutes you still don’t think that’ll justify his decision.”

He nodded with furious tension. That hit the nail on the head about what was troubling him. “Yes, yes. That’s it.”

“But Kang made the choice?”

“Yes, and that’s what I don’t get. I just know I’m missing something. Yes, it’s a powerful trait and all that, but ultimately, it’s just a quality of life thing. What does it give us? Nothing tactical for sure because he won’t be out in the field with us. At best you could argue it might support reincarnator mental health. But that can be held together by this,” he waved at his surroundings, “more mundane meetings and, of course chatting with Bri in the divine champions trial.”

“And you don’t believe Kang would have made a mistake.”

“Exactly. Why would he cripple himself like he has? Why would he give up his mind for such a small bonus? He was smarter than that.”

“As is, I would imagine your patron goddess.” April said while taking another delicate sip of her coffee. “You mentioned you used a powerful trapped prayer. DEUS was involved. This was not a mistake. Maybe Kang has an ability he hasn’t shown you.”

“If he does, his fate didn’t show it to me.” Even as Tom said it, his thoughts went to hidden titles. There was an outside chance that he had something like that, but the prayer had already got him the Beloved of a Goddess title. He doubted a tier seven artefact could facilitate any more than that.

“You’ll work it out.” She said positively. “Now your soul has grown since you were last here.”

Tom’s eyes sharpened. “It happened in the other trial. Can you show me what’s changed?”

She nodded her head and handed him her clipboard. He started reading. 

Skill: Collision Mitigation (Tier 2)

Collision Mitigation utilises freely generated fate and environmental adaptation to reduce the impact of collisions on the user.

Effectiveness scales with level, and the amount of fate available adjusted by class level. Cannot be purchased from the competitor store.

This skill is an Earned Skill. 

The prerequisites you met to earn Collision Mitigation are:  

·        Used technical falling skills to stave off death before a collision on multiple occasions.

·        Used fate to stave off death before a collision on multiple occasions.

·        Used a non- momentum / gravity / force Spell to stave off death before a collision.

·        Used a non- momentum / gravity / force Skill to stave off death before a collision.

·        Used a trait to stave off death before a collision.

He read the skill description and internally shrugged. It was effectively a nice passive to have and would help when he stuffed up. Whether it was falling or surviving a giant lizard’s tail whip or an ogre’s club, it would be situationally useful. But it was not something to construct a build around unless you were a masochist.

Ultimately, it was a nothing ability. Maybe he could fold it into Fateful Earth Body, but until then he was going to ignore it.

He studied April. As far as he was concerned, the session was over and she didn’t look like she was about to disagree. “Can I go learn how to generate Lightning Affinity mana and its storage now?”

His body shifted, and he was once more standing in an arena like area with metal spikes jabbing out randomly. Blue crackling light zapped from one to another. There was no time for introspection. For now, he needed to survive.

He started to run.

AG. Hopefully I can slot into a three chapters a week frequency. Mostly I'm fine when I'm writing but the slightest bump in my mental state means I'll skip days which makes things hard.

In regards specifically to the story. I think I'm done with showing the mourning of Kang. It's a difficult decision regarding what to do. I have to show something but it's also kind of depressing / boring to be reading about it.

Finally in regards to why Kang made the choice I welcome suggestions. I have one, maybe two or three things I've already decided on, but it'll be interesting to see if anyone guesses why he did it. (And who knows someone might suggest something obvious that I hadn't thought of and I'll secretly borrow the idea. )