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CH 23: The Beacon's Power
🕑 Added 2024-11-21 17:40:35 +0000 UTCReid stared at the beacon.
It was a large, yellow crystal that emitted a faint glow that was visible, even in the daylight. The crystal spun above a floating geodesic silver bowl, and pulsed a small shockwave every few seconds, like a heartbeat. No matter how he stared, though - he couldn't clearly see the crystal, or the bowl. His eyes slipped away and went out of focus whenever he felt like he was close to actually seeing them. He still tried to concentrate on them, until it started to give him a headache.
Reid took a step forward. The yellow glow bathed him, setting his hairs on end as an unusual feeling seemed to prickle his skin wherever the glow touched.
Behind him, Toby let out an uncomfortable cough. Reid gave the boy a glare for interrupting the very-important-feeling moment he was having. Then he sighed, and turned around.
"So, I just have to touch it?"
The boy nodded. After an awkward silence, he spoke. "Just... put a hand on it, and read some stuff about how the system works, and then you should be good to go."
Reid gave a nod. Toby had escorted him out here, and he didn't mind the kid watching.... whatever was about to happen. He just didn't like being interrupted. He sighed again, and turned back towards the glowing crystal.
It was still a longshot. Other people had tried to heal themselves with it, and nothing happened for them. But Reid wasn't other people. He had gotten special treatment already from the system - even if it had gone poorly. He was the only one in Sanctuary that was able to use skills without awakening. And he was the only one that was doing this with so much on the line.
He took another step forward, and his hand hovered close to the crystalline surface. The bowl was as wide around as a bicycle tire, and the crystal was the size of a skinny vending machine. It radiated warmth. Reid could feel the pulses it emanated deep in his chest. It felt like the promise of power, one that he only had to grasp. The rotation of the crystal slowed as he pushed his fingers towards it.
He focused his mind on what he wanted, the same way he had willed himself to heal and broken the mist-wall to unlock his skills. He thought of radiation therapy and surgery that would purge the disease from his brain. He thought of the magic feeling he had when pushing the headaches back in his mind. He thought of Susan's healing skill - and imagined how it would be to have it work through the cancer and cure him. He pictured himself, healthy and older - beaming as he watched Sara walk onto a grand stage and accept her college degree. He pictured himself, healthy and old - playing with grandchildren in a lush green yard, and spoiling them with sugar. He willed it all to become real.
His fingertip brushed against the beacon, and time slowed. It was burning hot to the touch. As soon as a connection formed, Reid felt a torrent of energy burst out from the beacon, and into him through his finger. It was overwhelming, like lava crackling with lightning was being injected straight into his core. The energy flowed through his body like it was following millions of invisible highways. It ate at his lungs, and tore through every muscle in him. It hollowed out parts of his stomach and tunneled through his bones. It burned his skin and flowed into his brain. Reid wanted to open his mouth and scream, but his body didn't respond. It couldn't. Only a fraction of a second had passed, and Reid was frozen in place.
Something had gone terribly, horribly wrong. There was no system message and no explanation of how things worked. There was no simple question for Reid to agree to. None of the typical experience was there. Instead, the beacon was a fountain of energy. Energy that was destroying Reid from the inside out.
More energy flowed into his brain. His body was already wrecked, and Reid could only imagine what the energy would do to his mind. Would it leave him crippled like a vegetable? What if it took his memories? Would the damage stop quickly enough that Susan would be able to heal him? Would she even be able to heal his brain? His knee tried to spasm, but he was still frozen.
Even more energy flowed into his brain. Then more. The energy rampaging through his body slowly shifted course, all of it being drawn up into his head. Reid wanted to scream. It was like the energy had a mind of its own, and it had figured out how to kill him. New energy was still flowing in from the beacon. It joined the other energy in making a quick line to his head. All of it was churning and rushing for him. Reid tried to focus in on himself. He tried to heal and fight and force his body to break the connection.
Energy kept flowing to his head.
And then it went... somewhere else. The energy vanished from Reid's perception, like a raging river that spilled down into some enormous underground cavern. It still existed, somehow deeper inside him. But he couldn't see it or feel it any longer. This cavern consumed all the energy that had been killing him, and then it took in everything that continued to flow into him. It drained and consumed as if it had no limit, easily containing everything. It continued on for what felt like hours, then the flow began to lessen. It went from an ocean, to a river, to a trickle of energy flowing out from the beacon.
Then, Reid blinked. Time was normal again. His hand was no longer touching the beacon, and the connection was ended. Toby was shouting behind him, but Reid's ears were throbbing - and bleeding. His entire body felt frail and damaged, like he'd let himself be consumed by the waves of rage, and lost a fight. It felt cold. It felt like dying.
#
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Reid came to in a dark room. Thick green curtains were drawn over a small window. Footsteps and hushed voices bounced in from the hallway. The room smelled like antiseptic, and the air tasted metallic. Reid shifted from his back to his side, and felt pulls on multiple parts of his body. A needle was in his arm, linked by a long piece of tubing to an IV bag. The bag was half-full, but Reid noted there was another empty IV bag sitting on the floor. A low wooden dresser sat against the far wall. Its drawers were labeled with marker written on bits of masking tape. A single table was next to the bed - topped with some sort of plant, and a piece of paper Reid couldn't read.
Reid shifted again to sit himself upright. The cot he was on creaked under his weight, and Reid threw off a thin sheet to see what had been pulling at him from underneath. He frowned. Reid was wearing an adult diaper which was - by some absolute miracle - dry. He also spotted a tube running out from the diaper and down to a collection bag. He pulled off the diaper and investigated himself. He'd assumed the truth, but it was still unnerving to see - and feel. Reid had a catheter in him.
He carefully shifted himself and disconnected the collection bag. If memory served him right, you weren't ever supposed to just pull a catheter out - you had to deflate it first. Reid stumbled over to the dresser, and rifled through the drawers until he found a pair of scissors. He cut the part of the tubing that looked like it had a valve on it, and started to panic. Liquid flowed out from the tube and splashed onto his feet and the floor. It took him a few seconds to remember the diaper, and shove it under the flow.
Thankfully, it was water. Catheters would often have a balloon filled with water in them to prevent the things from falling out. What he'd gotten on his feet and the floor was just balloon water. He still let the rest slowly drain into the diaper instead of getting it on the floor. He stared at the curtains again.
With nothing else to do but wait, Reid decided he should finally do something he hadn't in a while. He checked his notifications.
He started from the oldest, and found just about what he expected - just a line of kill and xp messages. He paused the notification review to check his xp gains. His most recent fight - throwing rocks at salamanders - had netted him 400 xp. It brought his total over 2,000.
Experience: 2389 / 3200
He couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. At lower levels, each fight seemed to bring impressive and immediate gains. But Reid had been stuck at level 7 through multiple encounters. He found himself idly wishing for a fight that could bridge the 800xp gap to level 8. But that wasn't a healthy thought - so he pushed the idea of xp aside.
He continued his review and made it to the most recent notifications. That was when things began to shift into place.
BEACON INTERACTION DETECTED - OPENING CONNECTION
ERROR: UNABLE TO ESTABLISH TWO-WAY CONNECTION WITH BEACON, SANCTUARY
ERROR: UNABLE TO BREAK ONE-WAY CONNECTION WITH BEACON, SANCTUARY
He read, and re-read the errors. This must have been the first few moments of his interaction, when his fingers had brushed the crystal. Something had almost immediately gone wrong, and prevented him from getting the normal, useful beacon experience. Even more interesting - it looked like the system had tried to break the connection to the beacon, and it had failed. Reid wasn't certain how that could happen - but it gave him ideas. If the system gave him error notices about the beacon and it wasn't able to control it, then the beacon wasn't a direct part of the system itself. That brought up a long list of other questions that Reid pushed to the back of his mind. He continued reading.
WARNING! Unstable external energies detected. Unstable energies may have adverse effects.
The unstable energy must have been the lightning-lava. Reid put a hand to his stomach as he thought of the terrible feeling of that burrowing energy. It hadn't killed him, and that was all that mattered, right? He kept reading.
Petrification [rare] Fully Unlocked!
Skill, Petrification, has been forcibly unlocked by unstable energies.
WARNING! Unstable energies have corrupted the skill, Petrification [rare]. Corrupted skills are highly unstable. Visit a beacon to awaken and resolve this issue. Unstable skills may have unknown effects.
Reid narrowed his eyes. Petrification was the only skill he hadn't unlocked when he'd broken the mist-wall. Somehow, the beacon-energy had unlocked it - and immediately damaged it. Reid wanted to scream - why the hell did all of this bullshit keep happening to him? Why couldn't he just have a normal experience? Was the system trying to fuck with him? He took a deep breath, and quieted the growing anger in his gut.
If it was unlocked, he may as well check on what the skill was supposed to do.
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Petrification [rare]
Scales with Level. Active use only. Create stone skin and stone spikes. Advanced practitioners can manually control the application of this skill. Highly advanced practitioners can manifest full petrification.
-
Well, that sounded awesome. Reid imagined himself as a rock-titan, hurling rocks, with menacing-looking stone spikes on his shoulders. He was being childish, he knew - but damn did the skill sound like it would've been neat. Stupid broken beacon. He returned to the last two notifications.
BEACON CONNECTION CLOSED.
WARNING: Unstable energy exposure and corrupt skill detected. Visit a beacon to awaken and resolve this issue.
Reid spoke aloud, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"That's great advice, really. Let me just walk right back to the thing that almost killed me, and shove my hand back into it. Maybe it'll finish the job this time."
Then, one of the last things Reid ever expected - or wanted - happened. A voice he hadn't heard in a long time echoed into his mind. A voice that was chipper.
Reid, you are awake! Kudos to you for your unexpected survival. It is truly outside of expectations.
