The Bent World (Formerly: Multiverse Revenge Story): Chapter 7 Noticeable Changes

Chapter 7

Noticeable Changes

“What?” Sarina screamed as she drew back her hand from my forehead. A hand that was now caked in sweat.

“Uh, hey, what?” I mumble groggily as I try to pretend like her screaming just awoke me.

Slam.

Of course, my likely award-winning acting performance went unnoticed as Sarina was already bolting out the door and surging down the long hallway.

Clip-clip-clop.

Her now elongated strides could be heard echoing like a galloping horse through the hallways, rebounding around and echoing off into the distance.

This was good, for only after she left did I start to feel an odd tingling sensation within my torso. It started with my stomach, but then soon seemed to spread as an odd surge of white-hot energy surged to my heart.

For a moment I thought I was having acid reflux, the pain was so intense.

Shallow breathing.

I forced my mind and body to try to calm down as I began to experience odd tingling sensations over most of my body.

My arms and legs felt lighter, but then I could all but feel the surge of energy flow around my body, the seem to stop as if alive. All before it lunged upwards into my head.

Pain.

At that moment, white hot pain coursed through my brain as I felt like a dozen tiny pins were all jabbing into the back of my eyes.

Closing my eyes didn’t help, as all that did was seem to amplify the sensation for whatever reason.

Then I felt heat, as if my mind was suddenly being overclocked and forced to charbroil itself. Simultaneously, I felt my mind come to life. I remembered equations and mathematical formulas from my last life. Sequences of how to create nanites, then the equations that showed that nanites were counter to Psionic effects.

I remember these, then the partial purging effects.

We couldn’t get rid of all nanites, as that was deemed to be too disruptive to the system. But partial release. I remember these moments, focusing on natural brainwave amplification techniques. How it was believed that there were realms beyond just Telekinesis available, if we just studied the human condition.

Then just as quickly as those formulas and memories seemed to burn their way into my mind, the surge of pain and power moved on, carving and burning even more processes into my mind.

Something was incredibly wrong with this situation, but at the moment I was powerless to do anything to stop or otherwise change the outcome.

All I could do was just sit, gripping the bed sheets and comforter tightly, as my hands desperately needed to do something, to be engaged in some way.

After what felt like hours, but was likely only moments, I felt and smelt a scent of burning copper.

My ears were ringing, which was likely why I missed the sudden return of Sarina. Only when she began speaking did I realize that Sarina was even with someone.

“I don’t know what happened. I was out investigating the breach. The window from down the hallway was open, and so I went to check. To make sure none of the void creatures entered the manor. That’s when I went to check on the young gentleman.” Sarina explained her words rushing at a mile a minute as fear was clearly getting to her.

As she spoke, I felt more than I saw a large presence nearby.

Suddenly with my eyes forced closed, as I tried to keep my already burning eyes from receiving even more painful stimuli, I could feel the overwhelming power of the monster next to me.

It was subtle, but clearly there.

My instincts all told me that if the other person next to Sarina chose, I would die within seconds and there was nothing I could do to stop them.

“Let me check,” the woman next to Sarina spoke. Hearing her speak, I could almost make out who she was. Though my mind was so foggy that I couldn’t even focus long enough to try to remember.

Touch.

There was a touch, and suddenly I felt an odd burning sensation coursing through my body.

“AHH!” I cried out as my body reacted on reflex and I opened my eyes to reveal the Doctor touching me, with Sarina a pace behind her. Concern was etched in Sarina’s face as she saw me cry out in pain.

I don’t know why, but that look seemed to etch its way into my deep memories. One of those odd snapshot moments of life that you know you will always be able to recall, even on your deathbed. That was the type of moment I had, then I was distracted by the way the Doctor continued to speak.

“There is something fighting my power,” the Doctor exclaimed as she placed her hand over my body.

For a moment, I took in a deep breath, half expecting pain to course through me again, but the Doctor chose a more formal approach.

Rather than continuing to fight me with magic, she first diagnosed my condition and mental state.

That’s when she paused as she looked at me and wiped away the odd congealing liquid that was now at the base of my nose.

Pulling her finger back, I could see that it was clearly covered in blood. Well blood and other loose clear fluids.

“Turn the lights on, give me something to work with,” the doctor demanded.

Then like that, the perfectly still with her hands fidgeting together Sarina sprang to life and sent a quick jolt of electricity through something that caused the lights to flare to life around us.

With the lights on, my eyes even burned a bit more, as the intense sensations just behind my eyes seemed to intensify their stabbing efforts.

The Doctor for her part, used this time to look at me thoroughly.

For a moment she seemed to be at a loss, but then her mouth went wide with a knowing oh face, as she instinctively raised one hand to cover her mouth.

“What is it? Did you find something?” Sarina asked.

“How close did you say the anomaly was?” The Doctor asked.

“Two rooms down on the left, but I checked, there was nothing that got through to the house. Despite the barrier and window being broken.” Sarina answered a bit defensively.

Hearing the words, the Doctor shook her head.

“Relax, this isn’t about you, but about…” The Doctor began, her mind working overtime as she then looked at me. “Missala, listen to me, this is very important.”

I almost wanted to argue with her about my real name, but instead just focused through the painful haze that was now clouding my mind.

“I’m going to ask you a few questions, and I need you to be very truthful with me.” The Doctor began and then paused before continuing. “Do you understand?”

I nod and instantly regret the action as my mind takes the sudden shift in reality and chooses that moment to spin violently. I clinch my eyes shut tightly as I hope for the spinning to stop, fortunately the Doctor has the good patience to wait until I can once again open my eyes. During this time she begins speaking to Sarina.

“All right, Sarina, I will ask you to leave the room for the moment,” the Doctor demands.

“What, but I…” Sarina begins to protest, but a stern look from the Doctor is enough to send the normally argumentative Sarina out the door, where she promptly closes the door behind her.

By now I have recovered enough to look around and I’d swear that Sarina has her head next to the door listening in for what is about to be said.

“Not the best, but it’s what we have,” The Doctor begins as she stops staring at the door and finally turns back to me.

Fortunately, by now the spinning has stopped and I can once again focus on the world around me.

“Okay, now I need you to answer me truthfully. Know that I will believe you, regardless of how fantastical you think the truth might be, I have seen it all. And as your Doctor and as a partial Matriarch of the family, I am protected from having to repeat anything you say to me back to your mother. This means that anything you tell me right now will be kept secret, but it also means that I need you to tell me the truth, if I am to help you. Do you understand?”

With that, I am about to nod again but quickly stop myself as even preparing to nod my head is causing the world to start to spin in my mind.

“Yes,” I manage quietly.

“Okay, good. Now answer truthfully, did you go out to investigate the anomaly? It should have appeared as a bright purple glowing sphere in the sky. Anyone would be curious and drawn to look at such a structure.” The Doctor begins.

It is clear from her language that this is not the first time something like this has happened. The fact that she even describes it and notes how anyone would be drawn to seeing such a sight is fairly intelligent.

“Yes.”

Hearing my honest reply, the Doctor nods to herself and continues.

“Okay, did you get close to the anomaly, close enough that you could see the monsters through the window of the room?”

“Yes.”

Again, the Doctor nodded her head.

“Now again, this was very important to answer truthfully. I’m not asking how, but if, remember this. Did you kill any of the creatures that came from the portal?”

With this question, I know I am likely getting into a dangerous area and am glad that Sarina is out of the room as I would not have been able to answer truthfully otherwise. Somehow with her, I feel that she is one of the few people that I could answer truthfully.

“Yes,” I reply.

The Doctor nods again.

“Okay, this is good. Now we just have a few more questions. Again, these are just yes or no questions, I don’t care about the full answer but know that if you want me to properly diagnose and treat you, then you must continue answering truthfully.”

“Okay,” I respond.

“Weren’t you frightened by the large monstrous insects?” She asks.

Hearing her question, I look at her like she had gone crazy.

Seeing my confusion she nods to herself.

“Good, so you can describe the creatures that came out of the portal?”

“Large six-legged rats,” I reply.

Hearing my description the Doctor pauses, but then seems to move on with her evaluation.

“Okay, now that we had established that you did see and kill one of these monsters. Did you kill more than one monster, again I don’t care about how. I just want to know if you did so.”

“Yes.”

“Okay, and final question, did you stay around until the end, when Sarina and Talandra closed up the anomaly?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I think I understand,” the Doctor states as she collects herself and stares off into the distance.

“What should I do?” I ask.

“You? Nothing. For now, all we can do is sit here and wait.” The Doctor exclaims.

“Wait? Wait for what?”

“Well, normally this would be where a female would partially awaken. The amount of feedback provided by the closing of a portal, even a small one like was closed here would be enough to spark some sort of experience gain. That and given your noted contribution by as you say killing two or more of the beasts, means you would be entitled to at least a portion of the experience,” The Doctor explained.

“Experience?” I ask, trying to determine what this new word means.

“Yes, experience, it is a common term for gaining partial power of a rift being closed. The more your contribution, the more of the experience, or residual energy you can be expected to receive,” The Doctor noted.

“Okay, so I will partially awaken?” I ask, trying to understand.

At that comment the Doctor just lowers her head and shakes an apologetic no.

“Unfortunately, you are a boy, and therefore unable to experience a true or even a partial awakening. This is why you are suffering from such violent feedback now. Feedback where even the addition of my healing energy is only going to serve as an irritant, as your body is actively working to expel the energies that you were exposed to.”

Then pausing for a moment to let that sink in, I find myself asking.

“So, what does that mean for me?”

“It means that this night will be very painful for you. But should you survive, you will be healthier and stronger than most males your age,” the Doctor answers, a note of concern etched in her voice.

“Is there anything I can do?” I ask.

The Doctor stared at me for a moment, before seeming to come to some sort of decision.

“You can, move around. Run, work out every muscle in your body that you can for as long as you can. The more you force the alien energy within your body to move, the less it will settle and possibly rupture a more sensitive organ. This is why we try to protect our males and keep them away from anomalies, until their delicate bodies are more able to handle the strains that are placed on them.”

There it was, bias against him.

“So, I need to move?” I ask already sitting up and feeling dizzy from my efforts.

 “Yes, you need to move and not stop, not until the intense burning sensation of the energy is gone. Even then you should try to push beyond that limitation,” the Doctor described.

Following her advice I shakily rose to my feet, but then soon found myself first walking, and then outright sprinting around the room.

Tap-tip-tap.

My feet pattered across the floor as quickly as possible, but it was cleat that all of the constant turns would slow down my momentum.

“Yes, like that, but faster,” the Doctor cried out.

“What is going on in here?” Sarina asked, darting into the room her curiosity finally getting the better of her as she charged in.

The Doctor who had been observing me and every step just turned to see Sarina, before glancing back at me.

“This is probably for the best, go down the tunnel and start your normal run outside. Be sure to hit your standard workout spots.”

The Doctor exclaimed.

“Wait, what?” Sarina exclaimed, but I was already darting under and past her. Even that little hesitation, that slight dipping was enough to cause my heart rate to spike and to cause me to feel like I was about to explode.

Worst of all, this only helped the energy in my body.

The energy that was still flowing through my mind felt so intense that I could barely think straight.

“Stay here, there is something I need to discuss with you,” the Doctor stated to Sarina who was about to race after me.

And like that, I began doing an impromptu night exercise program.

I even began working in my standard Telekinetic exercises, but the standard objects that I focused on weren’t enough. Nor was the distance.

For the moment, it was as if I could reach out and touch objects dozens or even a hundred feet away.

While the weight, it wasn’t increased tenfold as I could expect by going up a Tier in power, but it was at least doubled.  For one of the stone benches that I often practiced control while lifting was able to be lifted by just one Telekinetic arm, and not two as was normally the case.

Then my speed and conditioning also improved.

I was running faster and harder than I ever had.

I didn’t have a watch, but I could count on the movement of normal objects, the slow but steady rotation of the moon in the night sky. The way the clouds moved overhead at a creeping pace.

Everything spoke to my being much faster than ever.

Ding-dong-ding.

The master clock began to chime, its loud tones echoing out on the open fields. Even with its loud tones, I could only hear it chiming when I was close to the central window.

I began my next lap, never stopping or slowing my strides. Just continuing my grueling pace.

I got to the overhead latices.

These were wooden structures that were used to hold and grow plants that needed more support.

The structure was solid and while not designed to hold a fully grown adult, they could hold a rampaging six-year-old who used them as wooden monkey bars. Jumping up high into the air, grabbing the bars pulling my body up with my legs sticking straight out ten times.

Then I dropped before sprinting around again, doing a second set of ten modified chin ups on the other side of the garden as well.

Only for me to go back around to the main hall.

While I wasn’t fast enough to make it back to hearing the chimes at full volume. I could still hear the faint trails of the last chimes as I began to make my way towards the mansion. Only to repeat again and continue.

All the while I pushed both my mind and body onward as far and as hard as I could.

I did as Auntie, the Doctor said.

Now that she was gone, and I had time to work off some of the burning energy within my body, I could think of her as my Auntie again.

Remembering Auntie, I also remembered Sarina and the way she had been held back to discuss something.

I don’t know what they were discussing, but I figured that whatever they were discussing was first about me. And second, well I figured that Sarina would react to the discussion in one of two ways. Either she would immediately act upon the information given as if it was gospel, or she would completely forget and disregard the advice given.

For the moment I don’t know which of the two options would be worse, Sarina and Auntie talking about me and Sarina forgetting important information, like how not to have your organs blow up on you. Or that those two could talk about me, something important could be said, like complete organ failure and she would forget.

Honestly, with Sarina it was a mixed bag and the only way I could truly know for certain which way it was would be how she reacted to seeing me.

Then just as I had that exact thought, that is when a clearly annoyed Sarina could be seen. Apparently, she had come about sometime in my last lap and just stood there, impatiently. Her arms crossed over her chest, as she tapped her right index finger in an annoyed crescendo against her elbow.

Seeing her stern expression, I knew I was toast.

Unfortunately, I still needed to keep running. Though Maybe my running was a good thing, because hopefully after this was over, I could pass out and not deal with whatever Sarina clearly looked like she had to say.

So I kept running.

With each lap around, I could feel her eyeballs all but burning into my skull and body.

Each time around she just stared angrily, while incessantly tapping her finger against her elbow.

Seeing her anger, only caused me to increase speed, which in turn caused her to tap faster.

I could keep up this sprinting speed for a bit, but would always find myself slowing down a pace or two on the back stretch to regain my breath.

Then when she saw me I would again feel her gaze and speed up.

Only by the tenth trip around did I start to feel stupid as I realized she wasn’t annoyed. At least her tapping was a sign of her annoyance, but it was her naturally keeping track of my paces. That was why she sped up as I began to speed up under her intense glare.

By now I no longer had to alter the objects I was manipulating with my seemingly enhanced, at least for the moment, Telekinesis. For my range had seemingly increased, meaning I could keep a mental grip on any item I levitated from anywhere on the garden, making my training just that much easier. I raised and lowered five unique items. While running laps, performing pull ups, and working out different muscle groups.

I felt alive.

Then the power finally faded, even the over charged burning sensation within my mind, but I pressed on, not wanting any damage to occur.

I ran through exhaustion.

I ran until I could no longer jump up and grab the overhead bars that had served as my pullup station. Then I just ran or tried to.

Each time around Sarina’s piercing gaze seemed to relax slightly as her finger slowed down its incessant pacing.

Then finally darkness hit me, and all I remember is the cool refreshing feel of well-manicured grass cradling my face, before I closed my eyes. For a moment, I half expected the world to spin, it did, but only mildly, before I could exhale and finally relax.

I took one breath, then two, then nothing, because I don’t remember anything after that.