Greyham slowly opened his eyes.
What he saw in front of him was a room that was a stark contrast to the sleek design of the corridor and operation room. The walls were plain white and the floor was covered in tiles. The room was equipped with basic medical equipment such as a bed, heart monitor, and IV stand with 2 couch like chairs not far from him. A window on the left side of the room let in a good amount of natural light giving the room an ethereal feel. The room was quiet, the only sound was the beep of the heart monitor and nothing else, not even birds chirping.
However although he was foggy he could feel that something was different. He could now move his legs. He curled his toes as his heart raced with excitement, instantly snapping his mind awake. His longtime dream was now a reality. He felt a little emotional.
While Greyham was trying to move his legs someone walked into the room. Dr. Elias walked in now wearing completely different clothes. He was dressed in a long, black robe that covered most of his body, with a high collar and long sleeves. The robe was adorned with intricate silver symbols and designs, giving it a ceremonial and regal appearance. Underneath the robe, he wore a black bodysuit that covered his entire body, with a silver chest plate and black boots.
"You are finally awake Mr. Karmen" Said Elias as he walked in to check him.
"Doctor I can…I can.. Move my legs." Said Greyham. "So it all went well?"
"Yes the procedure was a success."
"I'm both grateful and relieved. I don't know how I can ever repay you."
"Ha-ha you can repay me by being better the next time we meet."
"Next time?"
"Yes, I'm the only Specialist around this region. Therefore I cannot spend too long at one place my services are required somewhere. Of course you will have a dedicated nurse to check up on you frequently." Said Dr. Elias as he finished checking up on Greyham.
"How long have I been asleep?"
"Nearly a week. This is a natural occurrence considering that we used your life-force."
"Okay Dr. Elias, so about my legs?"
"As you have realized you can already move them, what needs to be done now is for you to practice how to walk, run, whatsoever. It will take physical therapy to get you into a physically good space. " Dr. Elias continued " It's going to take you at least 6 months, maybe less or more depending on how hard you work to get used to your legs. " Said Dr. Elias as he opened the door beginning to walk out.
Greyham nodded, imagining the amount of work he had to do in the future, still this was only the beginning. He looked out towards the window. The place he wanted to be the most. The sky.
"Mr. Karmen your family is waiting to see you. So they'll be in here shortly. That said, I'll see you soon." Dr. Elias left. With his departure silence returned into the room but not for very long.
The Windhelm orphanage kids walked into the room with half excitement and curiosity. But when they saw Greyham they all flashed smiles and ran up to him. Followed by Mr. Boris and his wife Ivana who was already tearing up at the sight of Greyham. It was a wholesome moment as the kids began to recount all they had seen while on their way here. Limitless had brought out one of the communal busses that the staff used to travel, they really liked the bus but they quickly forgot about it when they entered the limitless headquarters.
Greyham recounted what he remembered before the operation and the missing pieces were filled in by Mr. Boris. When they heard Mr. Boris's explanation they were mystified, he explained how the magic room functioned, the magic, life-force and the nano technology. Both Ivana & Greyham could not even imagine it, the kids weren't even listening as they minded their own business messing around. Greyham, Boris and Ivana continued to converse like this for a long time.
Later on when the family was gone and Greyham was left alone. President Leon came into the room. Grabbed one of the chairs and pulled it close to Greyham's bed and sat on it. Leaning into it comfortably.
"I take it you heard from Mr. Boris?" asked Leon.
"I will be staying here for a long time."
"This is your home now."
"Can't I go back to the orphanage and come to limitless offices regularly?" asked Greyham.
"You can but right now in your state, it isn't safe for you and your family."
"is it Dragonsgate?"
"Not only Dragonsgate, there are worse things out there, like slavers for example."
"I see, but doesn't Dragonsgate have eyes everywhere?"
"They do but remember that they have bigger things to deal with and will only come to your aid after you have called them. Regardless of your status if you have no affiliation with them you are treated no different from regular citizens. Regular citizens always receive help later than usual, at that time what do you think your attackers will have done?" said Leon.
"I don't understand this at all, just because I'm an evolved? I don't understand how me being what I am is an excuse for me to be in constant danger." Muttered Greyham. Yes he had gotten his legs and he was happy. But it seems like, the way some organizations desired to have evolved was a negative. Everyone was rather aggressive about their pursuit.
Leon took a moment to observe Greyham before he began. "In order for you to understand why all this protection is necessary, I'll need to explain the status quo. Perhaps with a bigger picture for you to look at, everything may make sense."
"There are 8 superpowers in the Milky Way Galaxy. Each holding a piece of the galaxy with an iron grip. The biggest of these powers is the Titania Empire ruled by Humans stretching its influence deep into everyone else's territory. They are the only empire in this galaxy. You will always find different races in different sectors but humans can be found everywhere. All other powers pale in comparison to the Titania Empire's scale & Influence but make up for it with incredible military forces. Although it is the biggest, Titania is not the strongest that title goes the Aegir Kingdom.
The Aegir Kingdom leads a collective known as the Exalted. They hold a noblesse oblige to stabilize and protect the universe from inside and outside threats. They cannot compare to the 8 superpowers in influence and scale but hold power far beyond what one can imagine and if they so desired they could have been the true rulers of the universe but each hold a unique disposition that makes it impossible for them to do so.
It is unknown what happened, but the King of Aegir was involved in an incident of which its contents are unknown to most of us. And this incident led to his disappearance. Without their king, The Regent of Aegir, his brother decided to close the doors of the kingdom and their royal family has been quiet ever since. The kingdom itself is still active don't get me wrong. They still do come out to handle some business but are no longer active in many of their duties. One of these duties was actively keeping these super powers in check. The 4 exalted - Celestia, Aegir, The pulsar theocracy and the Cosmic Chamber of Commerce. All subsequently recoiled at the same time too we still don't know why."
"Later one of the Dukes of Titania would find himself at the side of the Ares Alliance, another superpower. Apparently the duke betrayed the emperor, the Duke & a few nobles took refuge within the Alliance, causing tensions between the two organizations to rise. Sparking a cold war, Titania then used its influence to bring in the Jade Imperium and Stellaris kingdom. Choking the Ares Alliance, they also went as far as using their influence within one of the Exalted organizations, the Cosmic Chamber of Commerce to levy sanctions against the alliance. The Ares Alliance used its influence to bring in the Mechanical Empire into the cold war which then escalated into a full blown conflict.
All the other super powers understand that without the exalted organizations acting as mediators, it's the best chance right now for expansion. So obviously the superpowers are preparing to strike, right now there is a mad scramble for power, everything from resources, military strength and influence are up for grabs with unlikely entities forming alliances. The less stronger organizations have been also gathering their strength, the only way to protect yourself when elephants fight is to be big enough not to bet squashed.
Not everyone has the resources to be able to build mega structures and massive fleets. This is where Evolved come in."
"One single evolved can equal the power of a single battleship." Said Greyham. Everyone in the world understood what a truly powerful evolved could do. He continued "I think I understand, the Aviators programs are ways for different organizations to gauge the power of their evolved outside of military combat while actively training them for experience."
"Very good. But you are still a little wrong, it's not really for military combat but to train more specialists." Said President Leon as he thought wistfully. "One single special evolved person can be capable of great things. The Aviation program itself is just one of many other programs for different types of Evolved. In this case a program to create people capable of destroying an entire military squadron."
"What?" Greyham thought he had heard wrong. How could there be individuals of such power.
"It's true, there are people out there capable of shredding an entire squadron. And the only way to bring about such people is to create them. Many organizations have gone to great lengths just to be able to have as many such people as possible. With that in mind, many evolved will never see that kind of power…ever, still any one evolved is a resource that could secure any entities future. That's why the evolved are the most wanted types of individuals in the entire universe. If you cannot protect yourself and your loved ones. You will struggle to control your own fate."
Greyham understood the situation. Everyone wanted to protect themselves and the evolved were a reliable knife that they could use. "I think I understand." Said Greyham wondering 'what kind of potential do I have as a natural evolved then?'
"With that said, all the events I've talked about affect this planet much more since it is held by Dragonsgate. I have no doubt that should a war escalate beyond its current state then this planet is sure to be affected. So you will have to work hard while preparing for that eventuality. Still the status quo has been like this for nearly a millennium so you might not live long enough to see this war reach this planet. I really don't know." Said Leon who still had many thoughts.
"I will have to work hard to secure the orphanages protection should that day come. Is limitless strong enough to survive such an event." Asked Greyham.
"Ha-ha I'm confident that as long as nothing funky happens we could do just fine." said Leon as he found Greyham's question. However Greyham still didn't understand the immensity of limitless and that wasn't his fault. There was no doubt that he still couldn't grasp the scope & reasons behind the current status quo too. He needed to understand the universe more.
"Greyham, for the next 6 months. You will have to be busy with Physical therapy. Get used to your legs stress and test them and master them. The final 6 months after your physical therapy will be your training period. We will teach you everything about being an evolved. Once I'm confident that you are ready I'll let you go out there and do whatever you want. If you want to fly to the ends of the universe that will be fine too. As long as you can protect yourself. I have to keep the promise that we made with Mr. Boris to protect you. You are an evolved of limitless. We have no weak evolved, all our people are pretty good they will help you become equal to or better than them."
"Yes sir." Said Greyham steeling himself for the upcoming journey.