Reality

Sunlight streamed through the cracks between the windows and illuminated the place that resembled the image of a hospital, but with the difference that this 'hospital' was all but in the proper state that it should have been in to function functionally.

Not even the proper basic hygiene was present. Debris on all sides formed small irregularities in the slightly bumpy terrain, and could even cause an unsuspecting or inattentive person to fall.

In this same decrepit spot, stretchers with bandaged humanoid figures lay in a row. The patients in this hospital were all immobilized in their respective corners, like corpses in open-air coffins.

The lull did not last, doctors wearing white coats brought liveliness to this funeral painting. A middle-aged man and a young woman were talking in the corner, each carrying a clipboard.

The pens slid across the recycled paper over and over again, as if they were failing due to lack of ink.

The middle-aged man sighed as he said. "What a misfortune. They are all dead, the experiment is a complete failure! Erivon will eat us alive at this rate." The grief in his eyes didn't carry the slightest guilt toward the test subjects.

"Don't be so depressing Liman, we all knew from the start that the odds were slim. We are working against so many adverse scenarios that it is very difficult to even say what we can actually understand from our research."

The doctor huffed at the words of his female counterpart, telling her in an irritated tone. "Easy for you to talk. I may not know a lot of gossip, but I do at least know some things. Rumors of how you got here aren't the most pleasant to the ears of professionals like me, Emona."

"You! The fuck you know about me!"

Emona was about to give Liman a good lecture about keeping personal trivia out of professional life, when she noticed an odd reaction upon catching a glimpse of her partner's face.

Shock!

Confusion!

Happiness!

Waterfalls of emotions crashed into Liman's mind. After all, when he was doing his best to pretend to ignore the infamous bitch from District 42, the doctor in question noticed that one of the poor bedridden ones wiggled their fingers!

"Hahahaha!" Liman brought hysterical laughter to life, carrying his pure state of relief.

Emona's eyes widened, her lips going dry as her mouth dropped open to the point where she could fit an entire ostrich egg inside it.

"How…?"

Aside from Liman, Emona could proudly say that she was the second person with more awareness of the difficulty than they were trying to achieve. Since civilization collapsed centuries ago, many effective methods have been lost.

New ones had to be rediscovered or adapted, but they were still far from the glory of the past overall. Of course, not to mention that the new world created a lot of chaos and unknown random effects.

Days, weeks, months and even years of research could be spent without even reaching 1% of the original goal.

On this usual day, Liman and Emona made history.

Like fish swimming against the falls of a waterfall, they have succeeded in this path of uncertainty! Words piled high could barely portray the myriad sensations coursing across both their skins.

Emona looked down at her own arm, still wide-eyed, noticing that the small invisible hairs on her arm stood on end.

"Quick, Emona! Check this idiot's condition, we can't let him die at all. He's our way out of this shithole!" The more experienced Liman recovered from the shock first.

"Yes!" Emona didn't want to waste any more time either. Every second wasted was like being one step farther from her dream. Emona's wild ambitions about her dreams inflated at the thought that there was a real chance of realizing them!

Long ago, the clipboards that were in their hands fell to the ground, giving way to exotic metallic devices. If anyone from centuries ago were still present in this hospital, they would wonder if they were in the past, not a few hundred years in the future.

It was just too barbaric!

Scalpels? Stethoscopes? Defibrillators? The what you mean?

As the saying goes, if a blade can cut pork, it can cut human!

"Perfect! Magnificent! His vital signals are getting better at each second! Hahaha, Emona, we're definitely going to get filthy rich." The woman beside him didn't doubt his words, but the left corner of her lip twitched involuntarily.

The man paid no attention as he continued, still smiling excitedly. "And since that's the case, why don't you drop that old crook and come live with me?"

"TS No. 7252 is showing signs of regaining consciousness!"

"That fast?"

The white rags that covered the humanoid figure lying on the stretcher trembled. From the big toe to the tip of the nose, depigmented streaks wrapped around this lab rat. Only the strands of his black hair were visible, everything else was covered up.

The gloom created on the 'hospital' floor rattled.

Finally, the living mummy opened its eyes. The green color was reflected from his iris for a few seconds before fading quickly. Because of the intense light coming from the window, this emerald color was quickly sealed under heavy lids.

This person's slender upper limbs were lifted in an unsuccessful attempt to block the sun's rays. The burning sensation spread throughout the person's body: some muscle fibers were torn apart by his previous abrupt movement.

"Don't move, idiot. Your body is still very weak." Emona's female voice was the first thing the so-called idiot had heard in a long time.

"She's right, lad. I don't know what happened to make you end up in such a state, but it sure as hell wasn't a good thing. I recommend you breathe slowly and calm down." Liman was about to continue the standard medical procedure when a loud voice interrupted him.

"Aadd… Daa…"

Both doctors' eyebrows twitched like worms in the abyss's fire. They both stared at each other as the hearts in their chests sank into the same abyss that singed their wormy eyebrows.

"Hey buddy, can you understand us?"

Droplets of water condensed in the corner of the lad's eyes and trickled down his cheeks, preventing the doctor from speaking again. Emona, who was near around this crying idiot, felt that her ambitions were getting farther and farther away.

The man beside her mentally saw his mountain of gold getting smaller each time that this pitiful fellow in front of him uttered unrecognizable words, devoid of any hint of logical or cohesive reasoning.

The crying filled with sobs, added to the sparse murmurs, sealed the hope for both of them leaving this shithole.

"Emona, make an incision on this idiot and inject the serum that I prepared for special cases."

The person in question nodded and began the process. Liman helped her by holding the young, preventing him from harming himself or them somehow.

The moment of tension was short-lived, as the special serum proved to be quite effective. Less than five seconds after being applied, the target had already lost consciousness. Air currents filled the room, carrying with them both the air from the doctors' lungs and the grief they were currently feeling.

It was as if they were about to marry their life partner, but a nosy person showed up on the day of the ceremony and turned what was supposed to be a happy event into a living nightmare.

"Do you think he'll still wake up after this?"

"Let's stop raising vague hopes, Emona, we are doctors, not soothsayers. Whether he wakes up or not, it's up to him. You don't know, but the special serum I produced has a side effect besides making the person sleep: it induces a person to dream."

"Dream? Is this to make a sick person relax?"

"Yes, or something like that. In fact, it's a new field of study that I'm developing with Dr. Huari. The materials to produce this special serum are difficult to find, as a result we have little data to carry out adequate research."

Liman made the young man rest on the bed while he fussed with the colorless fabrics that covered him. In addition, Liman made a point of tying his limbs together, to prevent this crazed patient from causing harm to himself..

"Even so, the results are very optimistic. Back then, I suggested that we use the retired Hollow Frontier soldiers for testing, and with Minister Klaptem's approval I managed to obtain them. People who were suffering from acute PTSD attacks felt a good improvement in managing their problems." Liman said, smiling slightly.

"And why are you telling me about this?"

"Because we're going to get married, and there are no secrets between husband and wife."

Emona just looked at him with cold eyes.

"Come on, don't be like that. We're both perfect for each other. You and I are involved in this groundbreaking research, and whether it succeeds or not, we will share the glory of this project together."

"Are you threatening me?" She perfectly understood the underlying message in those seemingly warm words.

"Threatening? Far from it, my dear! I'm just worried that a certain person isn't as helpful as you think, and you end up being targeted by unscrupulous and shameless people."

Liman then decided to keep talking when he noticed that the cold glare he was receiving, flickered a little.

"However, once we get married, you'll be in good hands. Don't forget that I have a good relationship with Minister Klaptem, otherwise why would he approve my request? Wouldn't it be great to marry someone who is a friend of the Minister of Defense?"

The awkward silence in this inadequate medical operating room created an embarrassing atmosphere. Liman continued to look at the woman he wanted so hard to get, as if he was saying: What's up? Didn't you still realize that I'm the best option here?

"Before continuing to make empty promises, Liman, you should instead fulfill your previous promises first. Let's do it like this, after TS No. 7252 wakes up and recovers, we continue our conversation."

"Yes, my dear. We will definitely be very happy in the future!" Liman had to resist the temptation of his perverse male instincts, which begged him to step forward and conquer this beauty through force.

Liman's head turned towards the bedridden teenager for a brief moment before moving away, as if he was thinking about something.

After both doctors were sure the test subject condition was stable, they left. Thus, in this shabby corridor, only rows of beds were left where apparently dead people rested.

Thousands of tiny streaks of dust danced in the air and could be seen in the dim light that streamed through windows high up on the corridor walls. Silence would almost reign supreme if it weren't for the occasional gusts of air produced by the lucky ones who were still alive after the series of inhumane experiments.

However, there was one person who looked anything but lucky.

The young man who had the special serum injected directly into his bloodstream exhibited continuous expressions of pain. Sweat formed, running down and mixing with the tears that just trickled down his cheeks.

.

.

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In a simple dining room, a man and a young man were eating at the table. Wax candles took care of both: lighting and helping to warm the cold environment. Meals on the metal plates were few, but enough to satisfy their hunger. The cutlery on the table was also made of metal.

"Trevor, you must never forget: A doctor exists to alleviate people's suffering."

"Dad, you've told me this many times. But I still don't understand why we don't have half what my friends at school have. Nobody believes me when I say you're a doctor."

"Haha, that's because they don't know who I am. Also, what is the point of accumulating useless wealth? In times of crisis, all of this becomes nothing but a burden."

"But that's not how it looks. Glaceno even has a couple of dogs! A dog is quite useful from what he said. In addition to keeping people company and making people happy, it also helps protect the house."

"Of course, but did he mention the cost and difficulty of raising a dog? Every day, you have to feed him. Every day, you have to make sure the dog has a place to do his basic needs. Also, you have to take care of him constantly to make sure he doesn't develop disease or be poisoned by a nasty neighbor."

"..."

"That's why we have cameras and sensors installed here at home. In addition to being cheaper, it is more efficient and discreet." The man who appeared to be an older version of Trevor said as he used his knife to cut a strange piece of cabbage.

"But dad, what's the point of living like this? It doesn't look any different from being dead."

The shrill clatter of knife metal scraping against the metal of the plate, as it tried to cut the strange cabbage, stopped. The older man smirked as he looked at his son.

"You know, you look like your mom in that. She said I was always very paranoid about everything and couldn't enjoy the good times." He then moved the knife masterfully before successfully cutting the strange cabbage.

Trevor, however, had to rely on his own strength to achieve the same. Luckily, he succeeded after a few tries and bit off the piece he had cut. The weird cabbage didn't taste good, it felt like it was spoiled.

"Hm, like thinking about how the food tastes, instead of being happy to have something to eat?"

"Haha, like this." Trevor's father was about to continue eating when he patted his forehead. "Ah, now that I remember. Son, you said you needed a new set of school supplies, right? I bought it and left it in our room."

"What? Did I hear it wrong?" Trevor flashed a mocking smile.

"Oh? Okay, if you don't want it, I can donate to some needy children." His faceless expression of misunderstanding looked genuine.

"Haha, I was kidding, it was a joke, a joke…"

"Hmpf, shameless brat. When I was your age, I would have been much more grateful than you just by having some vegetables to eat. Your grandfather was much more stingy than me!" The slight smile on his face betrayed his proud pose, which was trying to express his magnanimous persona.

"Hhahaha! Even you recognize it!" Trevor burst out laughing.

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.

.

Similar scenes and memories like this flooded Trevor's mind. He and his father were always together in his memories. The whole world seemed to be happier when he was reunited with the person who had always taken care of him.

Life's disappointments melted like ice in this familiar warmth.

Yet…

Yet still...

Trevor was feeling nothing but sadness from these memories.

Trevor's body stopped squirming, sweat had long since dried on the bandages.

The lad's eyelids fluttered before opening again. The ceiling above Trevor's head was gray, but to his eyes it looked dark as the abyss itself.

The sunlight made the lad's eyes sting, but he treated this feeling like feeble winds. Compared to the bitterness in his chest, that sting was laughable. Still wide-eyed staring at the ceiling, Trevor muttered in an inaudible voice.

"Dad… where are you?"

The reality was cruel.