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2024-10-29 19:42:56Dirt between a child’s feet is harmless if the pavement it lands on is speck free of any obstacle that could harm them. By the time they surface through the years of their toddler years to the age nearing ten, the callous they’ve collected would have broken and bled out to toughen their skin. It was something that Imago found their internal selves completely devolving into an infinite sense of pity and profound desire to help them.
That’s why several times in the day, to occupy half their time in town; Imago set out to observe the children, which ended up being their form of charitable conscience. Through teaching a few children the value of a shoe or the concept of dressing themselves for the day. The number of children in the slum area of the town was a surprise Imago imagined but never expected to achieve in the slightest.
Being met with such a reality felt like a breath of fresh air that they could not manage to comprehend but are willing to be in
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The curtains on the main room for patients that need a better diagnosis, such as removing any article of clothing to show their skin or body part, were kept closed for most of the day Mirror helped in the clinic. More patients required internal checkups than external ones. Having incoming patients pile up outside without any means to lessen was what the life of a clinic in the current slums has become.Doctor Andy* is the resident who was not assigned but gradually took over from the previous doctor. They spent, most of the time, setting prescriptions for alternative medicines and cheap drugs for every person they entertained. He was not a particularly doctor-looking guy with his scrawny physique and passive personality. Not to mention the frailty he gaited as he moved around. Still, people approached him and accepted his professionalism and the range of sympathy and compassion he has shown them.Beyond that, nothing else mattered to Mirror because their purpose was to
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Mirror watched their partner’s life seem to lack luster through their internal monitoring. Since there was more energy left in Mirror’s body due to lack of physical exertion, they instinctively checked on their partner without consent. Most of the time all they did was converse with people and practically deal with their problems, a feat anyone with strong mental fortitude can accomplish. Thus, after quite a deeper deliberation, they would let Imago rest for a while as they dealt with the man in front of them.Problems don’t often arise at the worst times. Sadly the moment Imago was starting to prompt their sleep mode, the clinic’s door was rapped on by a loud succession of knocks. Everyone still in the corridor looked at the door before it opened with caution and the body of a man in what looked like a government uniform, that of an authority in the legal sector, entered. His face was stiff and rugged, complete with a semi-shaved face ri
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Days have gone by since Imago reported to Chipper about the missing children. No investigation, or search requests, could be found to answer this plight. Asking civilians about the issue or any case related to “missing children” would only be responded to by sardonic scoffs at the authorities’ incompetence. Some even thought that it was only a rumor, or just like Diyan, knowing who the family the child belonged to, thought they deserved the loss.Any empathy for the situation, and the missing child, is lost in the mundanity of every citizen’s impoverished lifestyle. That is how bad the people’s lives are in the sector of this town. Nothing short of practical built from indifference and apathy.Imago continued their playground classroom even if the threat of losing the children hung at the heads of each one, but what surprised them most was not the bravery or integrity the parents showed about the issue. There was never an iss
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There were more times that Mirror and Imago had fought, not for the simplest things but through the complexities of solutions they clashed with as their life progressed in the first few weeks of their first year. They struggled to become close even if Mirror did not like any of Imago’s stiff methods of doing things. However, there is a similarly empathetic side that Mirror applies to the “one rule” they’ve considered for themselves.Inside Mirror, there is still a struggle about why it should or should not be considered a decision but the autonomy they wanted to practice was a condition they were always built with.“Hey,” said the woman who sat in front of Mirror.The smile that was plastered on Mirror’s face tilted a bit as they droned thinking of Imago, but they poised it back into a natural one.“Hey, to you too, Mrs. De Guzman.” From there Mirror started handing them the sheet for reg
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Sitting in a dimly lit room while waiting for the person who would question Mirror felt like ages till someone bothered to tell them that they would be staying in the precinct for a while. Hearing this while not having access to their partner, Imago, for any form of warning or way notify them of their situation is a circumstance they knew would happen but felt slightly peeved that it did.Without any choice, Mirror used its senses to determine any person past the walls. The heat signatures for most of the rooms are dim, a vivid indication that they are either several walls apart or far away. The nearest heat signature was a room just to their left. If they adjusted their system to the correct setting they could hear whatever conversation behind the wall.Like it mattered if they would invade anyone’s privacy, they started listening by quickly adjusting their energy distribution to save a bit and use their sharp hearing.“—tter wha
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“Did you hear anything from Bartol, he was supposed to be the one handling the jail cells this morning? There’s a ton of paperwork still in need of organizing,” asked Chipper to one of his coworkers.This question could be heard in the corridor on the way to the jail cell where Mirror was half awake, looking at the iron bar door, waiting. Someone replied from another area of the corridor, but it was too muffled for Mirror to hear properly. All aspects of their enhanced senses have gone down to twenty-five percent, and even if they were provided with sustenance, the food they consumed barely gave them the energy their components can function with.“Ho—what?” Chipper said as his footsteps stopped, he was nearer to the door now by the volume of his voice. “Did you say they’re on indefinite leave? What the hell? They’ve been absent for no reason since they worked here, and now they’re skipping work again. How the hell am I supposed to do my fieldwork if people slack in the office?”Anothe
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The free day’s Imago had away from doing their daycare volunteer work feels like a respectful rest that was brought upon by the worry they were thrust upon. Concern was not the word that could surmise the loneliness they felt as they thought of Mirror and the time they spent apart. If not for the will they wanted to accomplish in integrating through the society they chose, or preferably the only one they have; they wouldn’t be “obediently” following the primitive law the humans established in this town.Subjecting themselves to learning about the society they thought would exist outside of the ruined city. Would the people fit amongst the technology they once stored and lived with back in the ruined city? They wouldn’t be having a hard time compelling themselves into weeding out potential lives to be loyal. As much, as they wanted to know what the world of humans is like now the most advanced city has sunken into nowhere but almost extinction.What is currently, slowly revealed in Ima
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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
