The world around Juno seemed to be moving in slow motion as he watched the hand of the figure make its way towards his chest. He couldn't move his body even though his brain was telling him to. He knew what was going to happen, but there was nothing that he could do about it. The first wave of pain struck him when the hand had began to penetrate through. Juno could feel his sternum shattering with ease, his nervous system already threatening to shut itself down due to the amount of pain that had started to assault it. The hand went further in, easily tearing through the cardiac muscle and other tissues around. His mind went blank, the only reason it was still functioning properly was through his sheer will. The pain was becoming intolerable, and he was sure he should have died by now. But for some incredulous reason, he was still alive. Failing to control the rush of iron through his body system, he began to cough out liters and liters of blood.
"Gah!" He struggled to breathe as part of his already injured lungs had now being pierced through. He weakly lifted his head to look at the figure that towered over him. The only emotion that his eyes sported wasn't that of hate, anger or pain...it was that of utter confusion. The sole question that run through his mind was, Why?.
The figure maybe might have understood what he was trying to express, he began speaking in the similar gibberish Juno had heard from him all this while. This time, it was as if he was trying to have a conversation, to tell Juno something, but the latter was feeling too much pain to barely maintain any train of thoughts. Juno really felt like he was going to die...and then, the figure did something intriguing. He pulled out his hand from Juno's torso, then thrust it in again, this time with the blue rock clenched in his fist. The rock began to disintegrate once it entered Juno's body, causing the energy contained inside to leak into his vessels. The energy moved through his veins, arteries and capillaries, such that if one were to look at Juno now, they'd be able to make out the blue snake-like lines that had appeared over his arms, face and neck. His black pupils had began to emit a blue hue which only got stronger and stronger as the seconds passed. Juno could barely make out all these strange happenings, for he'd started to move in and out of consciousness.
The strange figure slowly pulled his hand out after he saw the energy begin to dissipate gradually. Struggling, he attempted to walk away, but had barely taken a step when he let out a painful grunt and coughed out blood. He fell right then, coughing out more liters of blood from his mouth, having finally succumbed to the grave wounds on his body. He was going to die, and he had wanted to tell Juno something, but all that came out from his mouth was the similar gibberish from before. Despite his final efforts, there was no way he was going to get his message through. With a weak smile and a heavy sigh, he hung his head for the final time, his eyes losing any sort of life they'd once held.
'Dammit! How dare you die?!' Juno could only watch silently as the strange figure died before him. He himself felt his very end was near, and it scared him so much. However the pain he was feeling now made him wish he were already dead. 'Am I really going to die?' He asked himself, still puzzled as to why the strange figure attacked him all of a sudden. 'I can't believe I really am going to die. And in such a strange manner. What cursed luck was I even born with at all?! All my hard work and aspirations...they are now for nought!'
From a very young age, Juno could be considered incredibly smart amongst his peers. He got As easily, took awards, participated in national competitions and won trophies. However, his efforts could never impress those around him. Be it his family, friends or even neighbours. Why? His sister Elora, had already achieved every single feat he'd. To them, it was completely natural for Juno to do all these, for Elora had showcased such capabilities in the past. To him though, it was as if his life's path had been defined for him because of her. He was always going to remain in her shadow, barely recognized for who he was. Instead, all his achievements were mainly due to Elora.
In order to escape this reality, he had become a shut-in during his developing years, barely going out to have friends and socialize with others his age. He had become introverted. And now that Elora had manifested her abilities, he knew the cycle would probably be the same even if he ever managed to manifest his. He was never going to get the center stage...he was always going to be a side character. But then no side character wanted to die a silly death, and Juno was no exception. The only things keeping him barely conscious were the stray thoughts he kept having, along with the intense pain that rocked his very cells and tissues. However, with the constant loss of blood, the dizziness grew increasingly causing him to blackout occasionally. He knew he wasn't going to hold on for much longer.
'Heh...' He chuckled inwardly and weakly laughed with regret. 'It's a pity I couldn't even give my family one last goodbye. Especially that annoying older sister of mine...I wonder if she'd even miss me when I'm gone.'
A teardrop snaked down his cheek as he prepared himself to take his final breath. There was no saving grace for him now, at least not this time around...or maybe there was. As he hung his head to give up his final breath, a weird mechanical voice suddenly rang in his head.
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A virtual screen then appeared in his mind.
[Do you wish to login, User 7?]
[Yes] [No]
At that moment, Juno's mind was in chaos. He couldn't think straight as his thoughts were in a mess from what he just saw. Everything was incredulous to him. But he had already resigned himself. 'I just wish I would be able to see my family once again.' With this final thought, he gave up his last breath...
The screen in his mind dimmed all of a sudden. However, new characters had appeared on it.
[Login Successful, User 7]
[You now have access to the System]...
Juno's body lay still on the forest floor...
* * *
The first thing that greeted him was the brilliant flash of light which threatened to pierce his eyes. He lifted his palm to block his sight, whilst struggling to sit up. After adjusting to the brightness for about a minute, he began to look around.
'Where am I?' he thought. 'Wait...is this a hospital?'
He looked at the miniature bed he was currently lying in and then turned to look around again. Yes, he really was in a hospital. The blue gown, the beds, the white walls, the smell of disinfectant...He was completely sure now.
'How did I end up here?' he wondered. His thoughts were in disarray at the moment, and he couldn't quite remember the events that might've resulted in him being brought here. Everything was foggy and unclear to him. And a splitting headache also seemed to be encroaching.
'It'd be better to just continue resting. I'd probably remember everything that happened when I wake up again.'
Just then, the door to the room opened and a pretty lady in nurse outfit entered. She was startled the instant she made contact with him, nearly dropping the files she had been carrying along with her.
"I see you are awake, huh." She said with a genuine smile whilst making her way to his side. "You are quite the heavy sleeper."
His face turned red in embarrassment. She probably didn't know how spot on she was. He cleared his throat and tried to speak. "Why am I in here?" He asked.
The nurse tilted her head in confusion. "You mean you don't remember? That's strange, your file didn't state that you suffered any major form of concussion." Her delicate face sported a frown as she rushed through the files in search of his.
"Found it!" She exclaimed, pulling out a big white file that had his picture and name printed on it. "Patient 296842, Master Juno Klak." She quickly scanned through and turned to look at him, "Yep. There's no report of suffering concussion of any kind, so I'm guessing it's not a memory loss...at least not a permanent one."
"Memory loss?" Juno laughed confusedly. "Sorry, but I'm not suffering from any kind of memory loss, I perfectly remember who I am and my family. I just can't seem to remember the events that led to me coming here...to the hospital."
"My bad." The nurse gave an apologetic smile, and said, " You can't remember how you came here? That's strange. Well according to the report, you were found lying somewhere in the forest with ghastly wounds on your body. Maybe you'd really have died if you hadn't been found and brought here on time."
"Forest..." Juno murmured, then it all came flooding at once. The outing...the shooting star...the destruction of the forest...the strange figure...THE STRANGE FIGURE...
"The other guy?!" Juno blurted out all of a sudden. "What happened to him?!"
"Huh? Other guy?" She was now confused. "You were the only one they'd brought in. There was no one else with you."
Juno frowned. It shouldn't have been possible. The strange figure had been lying dead right in front of him. There was no way they hadn't noticed him too. 'Maybe they sent him to the morgue directly since he'd died. But that guy...he didn't even look to be human at all...so what if...what if they took his body away so they can experiment on it.' Juno internalized. 'What am I even thinking?, there's no way aliens like that actually exist. It's probably all just in my head, maybe I never really came across that guy in the first place, otherwise I really should be dead by now. After all, he had tore through my chest completely, there's no way a normal human like me could survive that.'
He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he failed to notice the nurse's worried look. "Is everything okay?" She inquired. "You seem to be thinking about something."
"It's nothing." Juno gave her a friendly smile. "Just a bad dream I had." He didn't want to arouse any sort of suspicions just yet for he was sure there had to be a reason for the disappearance of the body...if there ever was one. "Earlier, you said I was brought in by some people?"
"Yes. Officials from the National Bureau of Mutants were the ones who had located you in the forest."
'The officials? Not my family?' Juno began to panic instantly. "M-my family?" He asked in a shaky voice. "What about them?"
"Safe." Came the response. "Everyone came out fine. Your mother had fractured her arm during the event though and would have to use a shoulder sling for quite some time. I'm sure that she might be fine over the course of this month though."
Juno heaved a sigh of relief. "That's great to he-... W-w-w-wait, did you just say a m-month?" His eyes opened wide as realization dawned upon him. His worst fears were yet to come.
"Yes Juno." The nurse said. "You've been unconscious for more than a month and half."
Juno sat staring blankly at her...
* * *
The Capital of The Northern State...
The Capital of the Northern State was named Capital City, similar to all other capitals across the globe. It was akin to a modern day metropolis, much better in many aspects though. The number of high rise buildings and skyscrapers easily exceeded the thousands, probably in the tens of thousands, an absurd number to think of...
East of the Capital stood a very massive skyscraper, which looked very much like the Avengers Tower. Except this structure had much larger girth, and was surely taller than that one. It's glassy windows were made in such a way to reflect the light from the afternoon sun to the parts of the city beneath it, thereby giving it a picturesque look. This building was the head office of the National Bureau of Mutants...
Inside the bureau, a set of elevator doors opened to the uppermost floor. A man in dark blue suit walked out of the elevator. His blonde hair was nearly combed to one side and the dark shades hid his navy blue eyes. His figure was tall and imposing, his facial features, like those of a first rate model. He made his way to the only door that was on the floor, at the end of the long and wide hallway. He had barely knocked on it when a voice was heard from the inside, telling him to come in.
After entering, what greeted him was a room of raw extravagance. The decorations on the walls were made of pure gold, and the curtains were the colour of crimson roses. The carpet adorning the flooring looked posh, and anyone who entered would opt not to walk across it. Not even the man in blue dared to. He stood at one end of the room as he addressed the figure sitting on a chair at the other end.
"Were you able to find out anything?" The figure sitting in the chair asked.
The man answered in the negative. "Not yet, Sir. However, I have good news for you."
The figure made a gesture for him to go on. He nodded, then said. "Miss Elora is showing great progress just like you speculated. I believe it's time to begin her training. If I may, I request to train her myself, Sir."
The figure just nodded. "I don't care whether you are the one who trains her or not, just make sure that she's ready later."
The man replied with a respectful bow. "I assure you I'd do everything in my power, Sir."
"Mm." Was the response. "And her brother? Has he woken up yet?"
"I'm yet to receive any news from the hospital, Sir. Once I do, I'd be on my way to go and see him."
"Alright then. You may leave." The figure said waving his hand impatiently and turning his seat around to face the other way. No one could tell what he was thinking.
"As you wish, Sir." The man gave another bow, then turned to take his leave.
When he had just gotten into the elevator, the comm device in his ear rang out. He stood silently for a few seconds then responded. "Is that so? Alright then, inform them that I'd be there soon."
He punched in the button to the last floor as the elevator doors closed up behind him...