Creatures of God

Dangerous Times

Hello there! Welcome! Welcome back to the Future. Thanks for continuing to read. That's amazing to me. 

Present time, in the year 139:

The boy from Earth's past staggered about the darkened lab, breathing between sobs of sadness and despair. His head ached, and he grabbed at his skull, trying to contain an unrelenting pain. He studied his arms and legs, which felt numb and heavy, as if not his own, unrecognizable; the body of a stranger. Everything seemed wrong. Everything was different. He was different. He let loose a contracted cry and scream, and collapsed to the floor, weeping.

Minutes later, the young man was able to ease his breathing, but a torment remained in his chest. His eyes pulsed an electric blue. From his crouched position, he blinked and squinted at his dark, half-lit surroundings. The isolation lab was empty; without life, without solace. Alessandro was truly alone, a stranger in a strange land. He closed his eyes and shook his head, his headache still slashing through his temples. He took a hand to his forehead to soothe his troubled mind.

The situation was without resolution. What am I to do, Alessandro thought. He slid a hand over his neck, not thinking, until his fingers ran over a certain, scarred surface -- evoking a phantom menace. He gasped. He feared his submittance. He gritted his teeth and stood up at once. He could not escape his being. He threw his arms out in the air, trying to suppress another outburst of despair; pleading, imploring.

And then, he noticed it there, still in his hand. The reflecting disc. He had forgotten he had been clutching it this entire time. The glass lens was shiny and transparent, roughly the size of his palm, capable of magnifying the tiniest of objects, but also as Alessandro had discovered, capable of revealing a specific truth, serving as a kind-of magic mirror for himself.

Intrigued, Alessandro had noticed that the glass disc reflected his outer clothing -- but did not show his corporeal head or body. His pullover shirt would parallel his truncal movements, but his bare face and arms were nowhere to be seen. Initially odd, but then instantly horrifying. The lens had revealed an inner truth -- an invisible man -- or more frighteningly, someone without a soul; Alessandro's true self as a demon.

He shook himself back to present time and tightened his jaw. He leaned back and threw the lens to the floor, shattering it into a thousand pieces. He fell to the ground and laid amongst his broken dreams, crying again.

———-

"Alessandro!"

Elliot had entered the isolation room of the pathology lab and found the young stranger sprawled out upon a minefield of broken glass.

"What happened? Are you hurt?"

Alessandro looked up from an outstretched arm.

Elliot's eyes widened.

Alessandro looked different. His eyes were puffy, engorged and bloodshot. Moreover, his face had filled out, and his jawline had lengthened. His hair had grown longer and thicker.

"W-what happened to you?"

The boy froze and looked again at his extremities, which were more sculptured than he had remembered. His clothes and body were covered in glass, the sharp pieces jabbing into the exposed areas of his arms and face.

Elliot followed Alessandro's gaze to the shattered glass.

"You're lucky you're not bleeding," Elliot exclaimed. He reached in to remove a jagged shard.

The young teen threw up an arm. "Don't touch me!" he said in a deep, unfamiliar voice.

Elliot raised his eyebrows. "Whoa, hold still! If you're not careful, you're going to need stitches!"