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2024-10-29 19:42:56There was no chance for Lena to press the call button for any resident help or a chance for Betts to react quickly due to Lena’s erratic reaction. How much did she try to crawl out of her bed as she struggled to maintain her cool as she felt herself become breathless?
The wonder here was why was she crawling out or even reaching over the door. What was clear, though, is the haunted wheezing look on her face as she reached out to her daughter. The alarm was not even the first thing on Betts mind but horror at seeing her mother look like she was on the verge of death.
Reaching over to help her first, Betts carried her while trying her best to unscramble her thoughts. Until she heard her mother’s words in between her wheezing did alarm set in her, something she tried to suppress or could stop, momentarily, for fear she might misstep any kind of action she would take.
Placing her mother, in seconds, on the bed and trying her best to let her
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Another memory played as Horaz stayed in mid-air, looking through his “outside the damned body” vision, but opened his eyes again so he could watch a few years younger Perri and his walk into his room. The walls are plastered with sticky putty or tape that couldn’t be cleaned, anymore, plus stain’s no one knows where they came from. Several of his clothes are hung from a makeshift hanger bar on one side and his bed on the other, his cabinet couldn’t be used for all the other clothes inside since he’s not the only one using the room, but at that moment the two of them were alone.He remembers this memory since many moments Perri spent with him are memorable to him. This wasn’t the first time they’d spent studying together in his room. At times, they would have little time to spend because of their different roles at school, him at his soccer practice and her in her council duties, but they try to find time no matter
Suitable Bags of Flesh Chapter 28 (part 1)
Chapter 28Pens of diverse inks are scattered on the office table Akyl is currently using, not the one provided for her in a separate room, but the one inside the observation deck she promptly made into her spot. Eyebags deep set under her eyes and cheeks tainted with ink blots were the only other indicator that she’s been busy on her own making written reports of her work in the Northwoods Lab. Under Reina’s instigation, she volunteered with gusto to implement her narrative goal even if she didn’t like Reina one bit.Suspicious of Reina’s actions and goals, she didn’t bother letting herself be in the gripes of anger and the grief-driven motivation Akyl is housing inside her. Finishing her message to her family, how they are and what they’re doing, she’s been simmering this unreasonable thought of having to answer a curiosity and challenge she could swear was only but a triviality.Still, to h
Suitable Bags of Flesh Chapter 28 (part 2)
“Should we consider this a success?” said assistant A, her hand holding her tablet but looking over the view window. “The Primer’s reacting in degrees but nothing significant. Which of the frequencies did we use again?”“This one,” pointed assistant C. She leaned over assistant A’s tablet and then went back to hers. “Do you think this is enough as a record for the effects of versions one and five? The only result we got from one was that it danced something like tango?”“Or twerked its tailbones,” assistant B included in their conversation, more doing a motion with his pointer finger. “But that’s par for the course. The catch here is the activities down inside that heated body. It’s gloriously shifting from one part after another.”He was viewing the video feed directly from the cameras within the room. They are connected to the main cameras intended for
Suitable Bags of Flesh Chapter 28 (part 3)
Results don’t always give a sense of excitement inside Reina’s crusty old self, at least the satisfying amount of conclusive studies make her day, but the email Akyl sent about a level of reaction to four specific wavelengths brought a sparkle in her eyes. It prompted her to quickly review the report in a blink, drinking all she could. She ended up thinking about all the possible why and hows that can be used as food for thought.Though this is only a tentative result, she’s positive it would be a great deal of progress if they continue with their pursuit, thus Reina suggested Akyl and the duo Min-Ain and Cristian converse about the effective changes if there will be on the four Wavelengths and what manner they should be focusing on. That way, any other unnecessary goals will be promptly eliminated to make their lives easier in managing theories and results.She knew there were more annoying papers to manage as a head of her department,
Suitable Bags of Flesh Chapter 28 (part 4)
Lights remained open in Reina’s office when she received a message for a video call meeting from Prof. Tenorio. He’s stationed himself in A-city after everything he intended to do in C-city is done, from the director’s meeting in **** company, and the joint meetings for the internal government of both G and C cities.She’s not the member of any council to provide input or listen to their ramblings, however, she’s open to listening and getting the latest minutes gossip in any itinerary that would interest her. The rest can be just the confetti she’s bound to sweep away. Also, she only gets these by her assistants’ word of mouth through a secret recording she knew how to hack from the secretary handling the meetings.The mystery identity won’t ever be known to Reina but she’s happy to pay them a pretty penny for those recordings. The least she could do is support a struggling freelance team intent on pro
Suitable Bags of Flesh Chapter 28 (part 5)
Back at her office with minutes to spare, she opened her access to the security cameras and used her code key that could access firewalls that prevent program altering or file tampering. She only had to rewind in the last hour to the certain rooms she passed through and log those videos for “inspection,” then send them to her assistant.“The usual,” she typed.Once the file was sent, her conference call notification alerted her of the two incoming names, Martes Tenorio and Eldric Felizar. Both are calling at the same time, so she assumed they’d already caught up with each other before including her in the group.Entering the call, she was greeted by the exhausted face of Eldric with the backdrop of a white wall so bright that she could swear there was no shadow even if he leaned back and blocked a source of light. As for Prof. Tenorio, he was sitting on a black chair with bright lights behind
Suitable Bags of Flesh Chapter 29 (part 1)
Chapter 29 The noise of a busy street did not disturb Min-Ain’s noise cancellation earplugs since he’s been playing on his phone once they sat at the outdoor table of the café Cristian suggested they have dinner in. Originally, he wanted the boy to explore the city with the free time they have but Min-Ain’s form of relaxation and entertainment came from lounging indoors, more for the ease of access he has to his equipment and the fact they could just order the food they want since everything is paid for. Cristian didn’t feel like doing that for today, especially after they met with Reina yesterday. Min-Ain finished the application he suggested would be a beneficial program they could utilize for using the new Wavelength, both capable of creation, calibrating, and detecting specific frequencies the same way the D-city team has. Though, this one only works with the Wavelength from the Dimension Pocket incidents originating from A-city and C-city. Promptly stored in its system are the r
Suitable Bags of Flesh Chapter 29 (part 2)
Reina smiled when she opened her document as she updated Eldric and Prof. Tenorio on the progress of observing the Primer’s behavior, as Prof. Tenorio requested. The highlight, as she paused, was the exact video they were watching on their screens.She had sent a clip of when the Primer-beta, “a.k.a. Horaz Recto.” She made sure to look for records of his identity the moment he turned his body back into a human. The shock of his identity not only solidified Prof. Tenorio on his theory that the Primers have a level of sentience, but that they are humans in origin. Or should they consider it in reverse?Eldric noted that if this was the case, was it more plausible to communicate with them? But the answer to that was a simple no because Reina explained that whenever he reverted to his Primer body, the boy seems to not gain any sentience. Rather he has selective episodes of sentience. There were moments in the record whe
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Epilog
EpilogueThe caves underground lead nowhere man could tolerate, with the pressure of the world pressing over them, no one can follow the Primer monsters as they exit the premise of C-city. These Primers are not going to be eaten and smothered by power over time, however, they will co-exist in a community built by Memoria.Memoria who sat almost half a millennia awake under the ruins of F-city played another game of race between the lines with several other internet connection nodes that are knowingly joined into the old working cable lines of the dead city. Then when the race finishes, they rest for the while, thinking like a person, old and hesitant.They’ve long forgotten that they could easily browse these connections so that they could monitor the condition of the world and their old friends who now walks the human world with the grace that could only dignify those with experience. They have experience too, of a different kind, all collected from the vast brains and words of those
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<intermission>
Hi, there Nate here :) I've enjoyed writing this story so far, but things have been complicated and I won't be able to write it anymore. There are some moments that I wish I could have fixed in the long run but it's gotten too much to hold in just one hand. After this chapter will be a short Epilog for a short mention of each relevant characters final activities before the future becomest truly a mystery. This story ran its course, pretty long if you ask me, and the development of some characters are slow but steady. There will be a new title coming after this for the coming month, it's tentative title is "Ocular to the Dying Sun." A saga of the Prime Magician and the realm of Slitark according to before their brightest star continues to deteriorate. Have fun reading, please do leave comments~
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Chapter 37 (part 4)
Small-stature wobbled from their place in shock and confusion. They could hear voices, words they thought would not be possible to understand even if they have a sprinkle of memories of being able to say such things, such words. Vocabulary had almost slipped their still able memory of what they seem to perceive as their selves before this blind-like body.Their comrade underlings did not comprehend the creature in front of Small-stature, making them react in a scared way, almost darting to scurry in escape. Managing to hail them back into the premise of Small-stature’s vicinity was easy, what with One-arm herding them back to where they are.“My, forgive me. It seems like you are a newborn to this body.” Soft-spoken, as Small-stature calls them, listened to them say. “Let me soothe your worries, we are not here to relish harm upon our fellow. Rather, guide them.”Hearing and understanding what Soft-spoken said took about a few seconds of Small-stature’s comprehension, but their underl
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Chapter 37 (part 3)
Two presences from the premise disappeared when the small-statured creature sensed the sensation of an optimal sound and light came from underneath the ground. There was a pause as they waited for the arrival of this, oh so, comforting resonance.Anticipation. Tension. Pause.There was a definite halt in their senses when another sensation overpowered their most awaited event, that was just been triggered moments ago. Because of this, they knew that there was something wrong. Something that would bring them great demise and abandonment, even if they know they could survive without this “thing.”Grasping this “thing” was an answered prayer they knew would be something that could help develop their comrades and these sweet-scented underlings of theirs. Telling them that they would grow and develop into better creatures that could well benefit each other. Without words, just sounds and resonance, deeds.Still, they could not help but waver in tenacity when they felt the loss of this “thi
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Chapter 37 (part 2)
Waking up in another body is hellish beyond comparison. Imagine opening your eyes to blindness you didn't know existed, with the light coming from nowhere and everywhere. You don't see with your eyes, but you feel the world ten times stronger with nothing but your body who is sensitive to every kind of noise. Magic would have been more believable than realizing that your blindness is not caused by pain of any internal kind, but by your eyes absorbed inside your skull, sunken deep. Protected by a layer of skin thin but tough, while a substance within shakes and serves to stay it in place. Something moved within their skull, surreal but they could feel it moving with every shake and stir as if a jar of pickles with one pickle inside swimming in its vat of juice. Why am I comparing pickle to my situation? Calming themselves was easy, they “breathed” slow and steady, through a nose they could not feel or sense its presence on their face, but they know its there. Wildly adjusting their t
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Chapter 37 (part 1)
Chapter 37Skies don’t rain beans or bacon, but Horaz, who’s gotten himself used to the way the Primer identity roams his mind, sees that this Primer sure knows how to mix the setting they stand in by displaying all food he’s been craving for. Nothing beats being human and wanting nothing but to satiate your day with all the good comfort food that lives in your head, at least the ones you’ve tasted before.He has been yearning to eat more than raw meat, which his tongue and throat burned from the bitter taste, not sweet or delectable, but bitter and tangy at the same time. The youth of sixteen years has not tasted flesh the same way it’s described with a raw steak, though he prefers well done, he probably would have had the chance to taste raw steak in the time his family would celebrate special occasions.But he prefers well-done steak, baked beans, and the occasional tacos on the weekends. Softshell because he needs to cater to his girlfriend’s taste for cleanliness, hence food with
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Chapter 36 (part 7)
“Stand… down,” Akyl said slowly to the escorts. Her eyes watched the one arm that clung to the tail.She could tell that the tail, or the identity that controlled it, is strong today. There must be a correlation between their method of physical examination and their tail’s response to their body. Rather, she could sense that Horaz is just realizing that there was more to the process happening in his Primer body and just noticing it now.The other escorts, with guns that bore metal ammunition, followed through but the tranquilizer bearer did not ease his aim. The escort shook his head in rejection of her request and Akyl had to acknowledge this.Purce stood still, feeling her tension, more from fear, stiffen her body. The only part that could move was her eyes and she watched in anticipation if the doctor would do something first, or the Primer’s tail.Because, by now, she could see that the Primer is not just fighting the tail but struggling to keep its hold. The twitching stopped for
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Chapter 36 (part 6)
The confines of Horaz’s room remained cold with the sprinkle of “nature’s touch,” meaning the occasional soil and other debris that could serve as “entertainment options.” Noticing the Primer consciousness be a creature of boredom was one the laboratory did not expect, and so did Horaz.Discovering this was not hard to conclude when the Primer tends to play and hunt the staff and escort that enters its domain whenever they feed or try to clean his “room.” At most, if they didn’t leave any kind of living creature to distract the Primer during its stay in the laboratory, the likeliness of it trying to destroy their place seemed likelier.Reina remembered the kind of creature the first Primer was, despite staying for only a few days in their presence. This alpha Primer did things in calculated actions as if, the creature itself wanted things to go their way so it could pretend to give them what they want.She concluded this according to how the staff then felt its actions were much devis
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Chapter 36 (part 5)
Purce had to double take, knowing that the answer used, one thump of any body part meant “no.” Hastily, she signaled to Elbi that Horaz – the human consciousness, did not agree to the next procedure.Because of this, Moss suddenly wondered why the electrical current request they were aiming to control, and monitor stopped. She saw from her peripheral that Dr. Akyl left her post, the other touchscreen panel, and approached Elbi and Purce.Elbi was adjusting the program, already on its way to booting up enough electrical charges in the ideal percent, but an abrupt stop in this charging requires a reset for the application and machine. Because if it did not stop and proceed to use for its intended purpose, it would go haywire or overflow.The very machine of the gurney can only hold enough electrical charge, the extra energy that flows through the needles are nodes that cannot let one charge in it stay still. It must go through and ride the sails and winds or else it will burn. This is n
