Xander was once again drifting in his subconscious.

As much as the young man would rather be awake and aware of his surroundings, he had no pull deep in his mind’s machinations.

Somewhere within him, he earnestly wanted to know what happened to his body. Brief snippets of what caused his current condition flitted past him.

I remember… I screwed up.

The voidling he arrogantly considered as too weak to be considered a threat was actually a trojan horse for something vile.

He recalled the condition of Officer Nathan and the other bodies and surmised that was how they met their end.

What a shit way to go.

The pain ran deep and even as he floated about like in a lucid dream, he still felt echoes of that burning sensation.

He brought his hand up to his face and felt nothing.

But he knew the condition of his physical self was likely not pretty.

His imaginative mind conjured a horrific image beyond his control where half his face melted off. The white of his skull showed bare as acid began to eat away at flesh and bone alike.

An audible sizzle dampened the sound of Xander’s agonizing scream while the smell of cooked pork and rot entered his nose.

It spiraled down to a nightmarish scene where his corpse was dragged to the ground. His body was encased in purple goo and yellow pus.

He felt every fiber of his being be digested. Every bit of him is converted into a nutrient solution for some monstrosity that will go out into the world and wreck havoc.

It scared him. For the first time since the apocalypse started, he truly felt fear. Trapped in a nightmare with no control.

He never did like tiny spaces. He tried to ignore the discomfort whenever he was in a tiny elevator.

Xander had always preferred the open outdoors.

And to be shoved in some stomach and slowly melted into nothing was like a dagger in his mind. It was something so deeply terrifying that he’d never wish it on anyone.

He never wanted to feel that pain. The sensation of acid on the skin. He heard of grievous burns taking so much that the victim’s pain receptors are instantly destroyed. But the acid from that voidling was like venom.

Apart from the damaging fluid, certain toxic compounds would travel down his veins like liquid flame. Xander prayed it didn’t actually damage anything inside.

A tiny part of him even wished he’d never wake up and see his wounds. He wanted to drift away in this void of memories and color.

Xander wished he could see his soul once more. He wanted to lay in that silver ocean and gaze on the canvas that was him.

He wondered how beautiful it was now that he’d incorporated Ichor into his sun.

Did it grow?

Was it more dazzling than before?

But as much as he wanted to travel to that landscape, he had no control over where he wanted to go.

More importantly, Xander felt repulsed by that act of running away from his problems.

Of course, he could say he was repulsed by his desire to hide in his inner psyche as much as he wanted, but he couldn’t lie to his heart.

He felt like a man caged inside his own mind. One which was delving deeper and deeper.

Xander so glimpses of his childhood. A time when he dearly wanted to go back to.

Nothing was stronger than nostalgia when deep in a stressful part of life,

I want to stay here.

Just thinking those words felt like a betrayal. But he’d rather look at memories than see what became of him in the real world.

And thrown back into shit.

Xander floated away as he looked at an image of his life.

An elementary version of himself and Anna were playing around in a nearby park. Xander saw how the two enjoyed the simpler things in life. Feeding pigeons with bread crumbs. Petting stray dogs. Running around playing dakup-dakupan (tag) and other Filipino children’s games.

It was sweet, like ube ice cream under a blazing hot summer sun. A time when he and Anna were innocent kids having fun.

He remembered this particular memory.

As they were playing around, a group of kids passed by—ones from a different school.

Even in modern times, school rivalry was a common thing among the younger generation. An instinct to form tribes among peers and see others as competition.

Usually, it stayed civil. A bit of name-calling and insults, maybe an impromptu basketball game.

But for some reason, the leader of this group of kids was arrogant and in a bad mood.

Xander remembered the high and mighty look on the kid even to this day.

He saw how his younger self pulled Anna. They moved away from the group slowly and inconspicuously. Though, it didn’t matter as they had never been good at sneaking around at that time.

The leader of the group of kids saw him and Anna and called out to them.

“Hoy! You two, where are you from?”

Younger Xander gave a minute shake toward Anna to keep quiet.

The current Xander snorted at the display. He probably should have done more to ensure Anna doesn’t open her mouth. The younger version of her was much more crass and foul-mouthed.

Though she’s still a bit hotheaded these days, she was like a little hellion as a kid.

Xander could see the young Anna pursing her lips as she tried to contain the barrage of insults and curses from coming out.

The struggle was all for naught once the leader of the group of bullies opened his mouth.

“Are you two deaf? Or just stupid?” The arrogant kid spoke with a contemptuous sneer.

Young Xander and present Xander both groaned as they watched Anna’s eyes glint with jubilation that she was given an excuse to start something.

“Ah, sorry,” she began innocently but the mischief was plain in her face, “it’s just that we didn’t want to breathe in the air you contaminated with your stink.”

“...” Young Xander and the group of bullies all stared at her with gaping mouths. The young girl didn’t care, it was too late to stop now.

“Is it because your head was up your butt for so long that it smells like it?”

Anna giggled as she pointed at the shocked leader.

When a kid from his cliche chuckled under his breath, all hell broke loose.

Yeah, that was obvious.

At this point, a two versus five erupted in the park under the afternoon sun. Young Xander was quite tall for his age but didn’t have the muscle to back it up. Anna on the other hand was like a little ball of fire. Still, the two held their own for a while, amassing a number of bruises and bloody noses.

After a few minutes of brawling, a number of adults including a younger Ben arrived on the scene.

The fight was broken up with both sides having minor injuries. Of course, Anna and the enemy leader exchanged a few choice words before departing.

Current Xander smiled knowingly. Not because of the funny scene involving an irate Ben scolding Anna and younger Xander, but because that was the first time they met Enzo and Chico.

The former being the leader of the bullies who came from a pricey private school, and the latter being the kid that chuckled at Anna’s insult.

It was all water under the bridge once they hit middle school. Enzo mellowed out and even apologized to the two, though he still had a rich kid’s pride. Chico became even more of a jokester, while Georgy who they had met for the first time was rather quiet and the middleman between the three guys.

I’m glad things went the way they did. Those three could be a bunch of stooges or musketeers depending on the situation.

Xander chuckled at the memory.

He felt content to just browse his life. Days where they played video games in internet cafes with all five of them to graduating junior high.

A time when he braved his biggest fear in asking Anna to prom and confessing his feelings.

He cringed at the awkward phase as they navigated through their relationship and the few months they spent on break from each other.

Xander felt relief as the two reconciled with each other just before they entered college with Enzo, Chico, and Georgy.

This went on and on as more and more memories came rushing through his mind until something clicked.

All the things he’d seen were the people that brought joy to his life. The struggles he had to endure throughout his twenty-one years of life. Pain and happiness, Xander would fight for them if it was the last thing he’d do.

He was still afraid, there was no doubt. But the reminder helped a bit.

Soon, Xander felt a tug and knew his meandering within his inner being was soon ending.

When Xander opened his eyes—or well, eye—he noticed he was in a different hospital this time.

He recognized the familiar creamy white walls of Puerto Community Hospital. He spent a few days here one time to recover from a broken leg.

Xander lay still as he took stock of his condition.

His body felt exhausted and sweaty.

His left side from his hip, torso, arm and face ached and stung. But the agonizing pain he expected was nowhere to be found.

Apart from that, his chest felt heavy as if a weight was placed on top.

But the familiar scent of coconut brought a smile to his face. Though the small action made him wince as his left cheek felt taut.

Xander tried to bring a hand to feel it when the young woman using his chest as a pillow stirred awake.

“Hrmm… Xand?” Anna mumbled half-asleep as she slowly raised her head. Once her eyes locked with his, she jolted upright with concern and worry.

“Xand!” Anna exclaimed as she moved to the side of the white hospital bed.

Xander placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he slowly sat up.

It was easier said than done, as his body continued to ache in an unpleasant manner.

“I’m fine, Anna… urgh…” he groaned as he removed his blanket.

Xander remained silent as he looked over the mass of bandages covering his left side. Xander sardonically thought he looked like half an Egyptian mummy.

Anna remained quiet as the young man looked over himself.

Xander humorously chuckled as he slumped back on the bed. He looked toward the young woman beside him as he caressed his bandaged face.

“Well, it could have been worse…”

Anna bit her lip, clenching her fists.

“You lost your left eye,” she spoke with a low low croaky voice, “damn it Xand. You were melting. I… fuck—”

Xander saw Anna begin to tremble as she mumbled through her words. He gently held her hand and pulled her into a hug. The young woman held onto him, careful with his left side, as her body was wracked with light sobs.

“Hey, it’s fine, Ann,” he spoke softly as he rubbed her back, “I’m still alive.”

She said nothing in response, choosing to focus on his presence.

Xander felt drained and was still in the process of taking stock of his wounds. But Anna was always open with how she felt as hot tears flowed down her cheek and onto his shoulder.

He looked to the window outside and saw the sun through the distant planetary bioshield touch the horizon and cast a reddish-orange glow throughout the city.

After a while of comfort from both sides, Xander and Anna pulled away from each other.

Anna sniffled one last time before she lightly smacked Xander on his uninjured shoulder.

“Hey, what was that for?” the young man asked with a raised eyebrow.

Anna frowned at his question as she adopted a mocking face.

“Save the bullet, Anna. I’ll take care of it with my big hammer, Anna. It’s just a voidling, Anna,” she spoke in a crude imitation of him—which was just her voice spoken overly deep. She made sure to hammer in the fact by swinging around an imaginary hammer in a clumsy manner.

After her brief impersonation, she looked at Xander with a grimace, “sound familiar?”

Xander sighed and raised his hands in defeat, “alright, alright, it was my fault. To be honest, that was really dumb of me to do that.”

Anna scoffed before she gave a slight smirk, “good. Next time, when I point a gun at something, you let me shoot the thing, got it?”

Surrendering under her sharp glare, Xander obediently nodded, “yes ma’am.”

He tried to give a mock salute with his left hand but only ended up wincing in pain.

Anna dropped her smug smile as she placed a hand on his injured side, “hey, careful. I wasn’t joking when I said you were practically melting.”

Xander weakly nodded before slowly getting off the bed with Anna’s help.

“Right, noted. Can you give me a rundown of what happened?”

“Well, after you got… blasted… We immediately called for help. The search was finished by that time, and Isaac found the rest of the rear team, all dead, with the exception of Kathy.

“A bunch of Supports came over in a pickup truck and brought you and me to the nearest hospital.”

Xander raised an eyebrow toward her, “Ben stayed behind?”

Anna nodded, “someone needed to help burn that hellhole to the ground. You can see the smoke from over here.”

Xander walked over to the window and looked into the far distance. Just as Anna send, a trail of black smoke was rising high into the clouds.

“Good riddance,” Xander spoke in relief.

“Yeah, Ben stopped by before heading downstairs to help. The hospital is packed with people now.”

Xander nodded in understanding before slowly walking toward the door.

Anna sent a worried look toward him, “you should rest more. The nurse hasn’t come to check on you yet.”

Xander shook his head, “because they’re too busy with more dire cases. I don’t want to occupy a bed more than necessary. We should find Ben and get out of here.”

Anna stayed silent before she relinquished.

“Alright, but you’re bedridden once we get home.”

Xander and Anna made their way out of the hospital room and into a busy hall. People with various injuries were carted here and there, and doctors and nurses alike had deep bags under their eyes.

“Can you tell me what they did to help me?” Xander spoke loudly through the loud noise.

“Well, they had a special IV bag injected into you and applied some kind of ointment on your skin. I think both had some diluted version of those stims. They even handed me a small container that you should apply twice a day until it runs out.”

Xander was once more impressed with the help hospitals were getting from ONIM tech, though he was a bit worried when Anna said “diluted”.

Soon the two reached the bottom floor and met Ben carrying a box full of medicine bottles. Anna’s older brother saw the two coming down the stairs and greeted them.

“Oh, hey, let me just put this in storage.”

“No problem, Ben.”

Once his side task was finished, the athletic man wiped his hand on his shirt before turning toward Ben. The man looked over Xander’s bandages before speaking.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like shit, Ben. Like shit.”

Ben nodded as he patted the young man on his uninjured shoulder. The trio then proceeded to leave the hospital and back into the SUV they had taken to Robins. This time, Anna was on the wheel after briefly arguing with Ben.

“I’m a good driver.”

“The two accidents on your record speak otherwise.”

“Those were new roads! I’ve never been that way, how the hell should I have known it was one way.”

Anna continued to grumble as Ben chuckled loudly.

Xander was content to listen to the siblings' banter. The young man looked out the window as the sunset slowly moved further below the horizon. He was interested to see the distant bioshield becoming less visible as time passed by, and a semblance of normalcy began to set in as nighttime arrived.

The three sighed out in relief as they passed the gates of their community and slowly but surely reached their home.

Xander put on his best smile as he passed the doors to his family home, though it failed to get the response he wanted.

The moment he came into full view looking like he had been excavated from a 3000-year-old pyramid, his mother, Maria, immediately went dizzy and fainted.

“Ma!”

The men from the Stahl family came to her aid and slowly placed her on a reclining chair.

“Son,” Xander heard the gruff voice of his father, Rommel, beside him and he winced.

The young man slowly raised his head as he scratched the back of his neck.

“Maybe tomorrow, pa. I’m fine, just dead tired,” Xander sent a pleading gaze toward his father.

Seeing his son’s face, the heavy-set man sighed, “Alright, son. But you better explain what happened tomorrow.”

Xander pursed his lips and slumped his shoulders.

“Will do, pa.”

Xander made his way back into the dining room where Anna and Ben were conversing with their family. The young man took a plate and retreated into his room where he ate in silence.

Before he head to bed, he brought up his ONIM to view his reward for getting his left side melted.

• Missions • Priority Extermination Mission: Robins Supermarket

The cultists, alien beasts, and the Senior Acolyte has been eliminated. However, Teams E and F failed to report on their whereabouts. Proceed to the storage area at the back of the supermarket and assess their conditions.

Threat level: Substantial

Rewards: 20 Nexus Merits, 400 Lumina Shards (Rewards may vary)

Objectives

- Stand by until all teams are present (Completed) - Eliminate all cultists (Completed) - Eliminate the Senior Acolyte (Completed) - Search for Team E and F (Completed) Mission accomplished! Bonus awarded! +25 Nexus Merits, +500 Lumina Shards Superlunary Matter: 3 mL of 'Ichor' absorbed.

Xander stayed silent as he read the numbers.

He felt nothing this time.

There was no sense of accomplishment, no elation from the rewards—just a numbness.

The young man closed the green window and stood up. Xander walked toward the mirror in his room.

He carefully removed the bandage on his face and shuddered when he saw his mangled eye and ghoulish fused skin. He froze at this sight as he touched the area, thinking it was an illusion.

When he felt a stinging pain, he stumbled back and onto his bed.

He hung his head low as he processed what he saw in the mirror.

There, alone in his childhood room with the light of a dim moon shining through his window, a tear flowed down the young man's cheek.