The Ultimate Quest

Chapter 2.

"Doctor, how is my son? Will he live?" Woman subbing…

"He has lost a lot of blood. He won't be in this condition if they had found him earlier but we promise to do the best we can,"

Benjamin Carson gently opened his eyes when heard the sound of conversation. Dazzled by the ray of sunlight coming into the patient room he looked right and past the door which was open, he saw his mother speaking with the Doctor. From the distance he could tell that she had been crying for a long time now.

"Please… I just need an assurance that he will be fine," Lisa said, still in tears.

"Considering how much blood he has lost, it is a miracle that your son is still alive. It shows that he is a fighter. If he perseveres I am sure he will do well," The doctor replied. Those were the last words Benjamin heard before he blanked out again.

The next time he opened his eyes the room was quiet and the doors were shut but this time he was feeling a lot stronger than before. Seeing he was able to move his body he took off the drip, slowly sitting upright as he rubbed his hand on the side of his head.

[Good morning Benjamin]

He was startled when he heard his name as he looked around to find what spoke to him but there was no one in the room.

[I am In your head you Idiot!]

The voice came again as he jerked up from the bed. He was about screaming but stopped when he realized the consequences.

"What the heck are you?" He asked, still frightened and confused, at what was happening to him.

[Don't pretend to be ignorant. I can tell that you know what I am. My name is Vortex]

At this point Benjamin knew that his life was in danger. The past two days have been a complete headache. Just a day before yesterday he was hoping to pass the awakening process enabling him to pursue his dreams but it didn't work out as he planned. Yesterday he was a human in deep regrets of how he was going to spend the remaining years of his life among folks that hated him and today he is possessed by an alien being that if discovered in anyone, they must be put to death.

"How much do you know about me?" Benjamin asked.

[Benjamin Carson, Born in 2080… Mother's name is Lisa Carson, father died in a plane crash in 2098, your mother's financial status is…]

"That's enough!" Benjamin interrupted. "This is madness. I am insane. I am talking to myself…" He began to mumble with a few disturbing movements.

[Those should not be your major focus. Now you know where you stand. A nurse just figured out what has befallen you. He will walk inside in the next two minutes so you must let me erase everything he knows about you]

"What! I can't let you do that," Benjamin said.

[If you don't allow me do it then you will be killed]

"It doesn't matter, you can't just tamper with a person's memory,"

[You have just ten seconds left… Nine… eight… seven…]

As soon as the countdown began Benjamin laid back on the bed, he put the drips back on and closing his eyes the door fluttered open.

The nurse walked in with a perplexed countenance as he approached the bed with a little scanning device.

[Sending signal to hosts system, Activating nerve, Activation complete]

Benjamin heard those strange words and immediately afterwards he was forcefully pulled up from the bed by an external force. He felt super strong as his body motioned some interesting moves that landed the nurse on the bed.

"What the heck are you doing, you are hurting him," Benjamin said while struggling to refrain from any violence.

[Stop fighting back, you have to let me do my work. Focus is on threat, erasing memory of threat, erasing complete]

Hearing those words Benjamin got control over himself again but the nurse was now lying unconscious on the bed.

"What have you done? You killed him,"

[He is not dead. I put him out so that you can do what Is necessary. Reading demo mission…. You must escape the hospital without being caught]

"What! How I'm I supposed to do that? and what am I going to do with him?" Benjamin wobbled in fear with his eyes on the unconscious doctor.

[Two nurses are approaching. You have ten minutes to evacuate the building]

"What do I do?" Benjamin asked again hoping for a response but there was no feedback. "Vortex, Vortex talk to me," He said but there was still no response.

"Shit!" He exclaimed in a whisper when he heard sounds of conversation outside the patient room.

Without further hesitation he exchanged outfits with the nurse. He put the drip on the nurse then covered his face with the nose mask as he left for the door.

He walked out of the room and without saying a word to the nurses discussing by the right he diverged to the left with his face downward.

"Excuse me," Another nurse stopped him. He felt a cold run through his body and he turned to her. "Can you take this patient to her parents, they are waiting for her by the exit," the female nurse said as Benjamin looked at the little girl on the wheelchair. "I need to use the restroom, I would not have asked if it wasn't urgent,"

"Sure," Benjamin flashed a smile at her then took hold of the wheelchair as he led the girl away.

On reaching the exit Benjamin presented the girl to the woman and her husband. They showed their appreciation and afterwards he left for the exit.

Walking out of the building, he came across a young lady. Her name was Lily Sullivan and she was his course mate in college. Unfortunately, she was also in the same department with him so she knew him well.

Lily was one of the few persons who felt bad for how he was being bullied and Benjamin knew that. He also knew that they might have gotten along with each other if his odds at school weren't severe.

"Benjamin Carson," Lily addressed him by his full name as Benjamin stopped.

He was just three feet away stunned at her presence. "Hey," He said in an odd manner with chaos lurking within.

"What are you doing here and why are you in a nurse outfit?" She asked.

He looked at his dress and back again at her. "I have a part-time job here and today's my first day," He lied. "What about you?"

"I came with my parents. We came to pick up my little sister…" She replied.

Benjamin knew that it must have been the couples who he had delivered the little girl to. He would have loved to know more about the circumstance but considering the threat posed on him as long as he remained in the environment, he excused himself, swiftly leaving her presence.

While Lily was puzzled by his sudden haste, the hospital security men came out in their number in search of him but he was nowhere to be found. Lily was also glad that they never spotted him with her because if they did, she would have to answer a series of questions.

In the midst of the commotion Lily walked into the hospital to meet her parents and her little sister who was in a wheelchair.

"Dad, what's going on?" Lily asked her father.

"We were so lucky today, the young man who brought your sister to us wasn't a nurse, he was a patient," Lily's mother replied and Lily wavered.

"Why do you seem so shocked?" Her mother asked.

"I know the patient. His name is Benjamin Carson and he is my course mate," She replied.

When they heard her, her mother insisted she said something to the authorities since Benjamin could still be unsafe but Lily and her father disagreed with the idea. They thought it was better to keep their mouths shut about it.

"If you get to school tomorrow and he doesn't make it to class then we will engage in this," Her father said.

****

After running several meters Benjamin ran into a compound along a lonely road. There were clothes hanging on a rope towards one end and seeing there was no soul watching, he changed his outfit.

"Whoopee! that was fierce but exciting," He said accompanied with a soft laugh. Still overwhelmed he heard.

[Demo mission completed: Host is fit to coexist with system. Host speed has been increased to five percent, strength: two percent, agility: five percent, stamina: five percent]

"What the heck are you saying Vortex?" Benjamin said.

[Congratulations Benjamin, you have passed the first test. You will be given daily missions which you must complete. As you make progress you will be gifted with not just natural intelligence and strength but you will also be gifted with multiple powers, wealth, influence and mostly you will be able to achieve beyond your dreams]

He wasn't surprised since he had heard a little about systems, whereas he was beginning to like Vortex. His mind flooded with the possibilities of what he will attain with time. His revenge on the boys who have been maltreating him was finally sure.

"What do you get out of this Vortex? I am sure that none of your kind comes without an intention,"

[You are right. My People have heard how much the authorities of earth slaughter my kind. More of my kind are coming and when they arrive, a fight will break out between them and those who are awakened with super powers here on your planet so I am here to stop that from happening. If we are able to prevent the war, you will be granted your Ultimate request]

"What is an Ultimate request?"

[It means that anything could be granted to you even up to the ownership of half the entire earth].