1 Transmigration (1)

In the dark space, a white space shuttle travels inside an ocean of lights. Pushed by the wave, the ship quickly made its way to its destination. The ship's A.I controlling the ship, keep the ship from going off track. When the ship reaches the end and pushes out of the ocean of light, the ship lights up as the engine activates. The previously dark interior lights up as the numerous machines activate after a long time.

[Exiting the Starway, confirmed.]

[Engine activated, set course to the destination, Planet F-1023.]

[Activating oxygen supplier.]

[Activating artificial gravity.]

[Activate ship's appliances.]

[Deactivating Cryosleep.]

As the A.I made multiple announcements with its cold mechanical voice, the ship gradually came to life. Inside a room, a cryosleep bed lay opposite of a normal bed. With a beep, the cryosleep door opened. Inside is a handsome man with a skinhead, he is 180cm tall with a medium build. He is naked. Not long after the door opened, the man slowly opened his eyes. His eyes are gold in color. He sits up and massages his eyes. 

[Good morning, sir.]

Inside his head, a cold voice of a woman greeted him. It is less mechanical than the ship's A.I voice but it is similar. It is the voice of his nanobots, he set it to sound like a woman. 

"Good morning, Ley." 

The man, Imba Guntur, greeted the voice back. 

"This cryosleep is like laying inside an ice coffin. I dread the return voyage, I don't want to lay in it again."

Imba rubs his hand, his body is devoid of warmth. 

[Detecting the host's body temperature is too low, it is best to take a hot shower quickly.]

"Ah, I'll do just that."

He stands up and walks to the bathroom. Under Ley's control, the door opened and closed automatically.

"Set the water." 

[Yes, sir.]

The number on the shower displays 38 celsius and the water sprays out. His body regains the long lost warmth, the water splashes his whole body. Imba cleaned his body thoroughly. During the cryosleep, the body will be put in a static hibernation state inside an air-tight coffin, so there won't be any sweat or dust on the body. Imba just feels uncomfortable after sleeping for a long time.

"How long did I sleep, Ley?"

[30 years and 2 days.]

"30 years?! Just where did the federation intend to take me?"

Imba doesn't expect to travel for so long. He was practically abducted from his home, he wasn't informed of anything about the trip. He still remembers last month, no it should be 30 years ago, he was still inside his apartment watching a movie when an agent of the federation suddenly came and said he was being sent on a secret mission by the order of the president. He wasn't told anything else and was sent to space riding the space shuttle followed by a small group of soldiers. When he entered the ship, he was quickly ushered inside the room and was not allowed to exit from the room.

He wasn't allowed to bring anything, other than the clothes on his body, which was taken away when he entered cryosleep.

He is just a normal citizen with no bad records and he is also not a soldier, so Imba is puzzled by the sudden event. He was anxious and worried back then, but now he calmed down. He throws the worry and other negative thoughts to the back of his mind. He is never one to worry much about things, his motto is 'If it happens, it happens.' he just deals with it as best as he can.

He lives alone and doesn't have a stable job. He doesn't have family or anyone close back home so no one will worry for him nor does he have any desire to go back. His stuff? Nothing but cheap stuff and the most expensive thing is the mattress. As for his apartment, he is sure the government will save it for him. Besides such a secret mission should have a plentiful reward, right? Now, Imba just hopes the mission won't be a dangerous one. As for why he is chosen, he only has one talent and if his talent is the reason, he could guess what the mission is about.

When he is done showering, Ley turns off the shower. A mechanic arm gives him a towel as he walks out of the shower room. Clean and dried, Imba walks to the normal bed, a compartment open beside the bed. Imba takes out the clothes and wears them. A boxer, long black pants, a black shirt, and a black jacket. He also wears black shoes.

"Ley, please."

[Yes, sir.]

White lines suddenly appear on the black pants, jacket, and shoes. The black shirt turns white. Simple combinations of black and white, it is Imba's favorite. Imba looks at the mirror and spreads some oil on his hairless head. Imba is just about to sit down on his bed when suddenly a message is sent to his nanobots.

[Sir, a message. It said to gather in the meeting room. The map of the ship is attached to the message.]

"Well, they finally let me out. Lead the way, Ley."

[Yes, sir.]

Imba stands up and walks outside for the first time in 30 years. That said, the space shuttle is too big. Walking will take too long. So, a flying board is usually used to navigate inside the space shuttle. An oval-shaped white flying board already waiting for Imba outside his room. Ley controls the flying board to the meeting room.

Imba looks around, there are few people around, maybe because it is a secret mission. 

"There are few of those guys around, this should be a new shuttle." 

Imba finds some people that don't wear a uniform, they are ignored and people walk by past them. These people's eyes are empty and just standing still. The difference between them and other people is that they are a little transparent.

"No dangerous one, so far so good."

Imba ignores them, he can deal with them but he is too lazy to care for these weak lost souls. Besides they are harmless. Suddenly Imba sees a kid not too far from him.

"Ley, stop."

The flying board stops, Imba looks at the kid, he is floating behind a staff, while the staff seems to stare at a photo. It is a rare physical photo. Imba hesitated before going to the staff. He can't ignore it, he always has a soft spot for kids.

When he is near the staff, he can see the kid and the staff in the photo. They are smiling while the staff is carrying the kid. The staff is much older than the one in the picture, the staff looks like he is in his thirties in the picture but the staff in front of Imba is at least in his fifties.

The kid doesn't look that different besides the pale face and is slightly transparent. The kid keeps looking at the staff and saying something but the staff can't hear him.

"Excuse me."

"Yes?"

The staff put the photo in his chest pocket.

"Can I help you?"

He looks at Imba with slight impatience.

"Hey, I'm Imba. A civilian conscripted for this mission."

"Carlos."

"(Kurt and impatient with red eyes that seem to be caused by crying. He is still grieving.)"

Imba doesn't get annoyed, he faced a lot of people in this condition in his work.

"You might not believe me but I'm what you call a medium."

"Heh, yeah I hear about you folks from the captain. I don't know why they call you charlatans for."

Faced with the sneer and mocking, Imba doesn't feel anything. He hears it too often. They usually shut up when he starts talking. Imba looks at the kid.

"You lost your son, he had brown hair and wore a black shirt that said father's little buddy and red shorts. He had a mole on his neck and lower right lip. And his name is Jimmy."

Carlos swallowed back the ridicule he is about to utter, he is stunned. He trembles, all the things Imba said match. The hair and mole, Carlos can say Imba knows from the picture. But Imba can't guess what his son wore. Carlos lost his son due to sickness and his son did wear the clothes Imba said when he died. Only Carlos and his mother know about it. Imba knows the clothes and moles just by looking, as for the name, Jimmy himself tells him.

"You… you, how do you know that?"

"Will you believe me if I said he is standing behind you right now?"

Carlos turns around instantly but he sees nothing. But Carlos's action excites his son, Jimmy hugs Carlos but unfortunately neither Jimmy nor Carlos can touch each other. Jimmy looks like he is about to cry, Imba pats him in the head. Carlos can't see Jimmy and can only see Imba patting thin air but he knows that Imba is patting his son.

"Pat him here. He misses you."

Imba takes Carlos's hand and places it on Jimmy's head with his hand touching Carlos's. Jimmy suddenly can feel his father's hand again, he cries while holding Carlos's hand.

"Jimmy…" 

Carlos can feel the nostalgic feeling of patting his son and he breaks down crying. 

"You can hug him."

Imba moves behind Carlos while his hand is on Carlos's shoulder. Carlos opens his arm and hugs his son. Imba looks at them and feels his nose sour, he knows this but a brief reunion before parting. He can't let Jimmy stay long in the world of the living, it will be dangerous for him. He already stays too long in the world as it is. The only thing he can do is help them reunite for a brief moment and hope it will soothe them. If not, he can only try the hard way.

Carlos stops crying and looks at the empty air in front of him. He can't see but he knows his son is here. His hand touched his son's cheek with a loving look. He looks back at Imba.

"Thank you."

Carlos doesn't know what else to say other than thank you deep from his heart.

"Your welcome. I hate to say this but Jimmy needs to move on or it will be bad for him. You need to let him go."

Carlos doesn't say anything, he knows that he needs to let go and let his son move on, it is hard but the grieving in his heart already lightens after this reunion. He looks at where his son is.

"Jimmy, I'm sorry for holding you back so long. Father is okay now. I love you son. Your grandmother also loves you."

Jimmy smiles and says something.

"Jimmy said he loves you and grandma too. He said you can talk to him at his grave if you miss him and that thank you for staying with him until the end."

"Jimmy…"

Carlos cries again, Jimmy hugs his father for the last time. Carlos hugged him too. Jimmy's body becomes more and more translucent. Right before he disappeared, Jimmy looked at Imba and said thank you. His face is no longer pale and ghostly, it is the face of a cute and innocent boy. Carlos can't feel his son any longer, he falls to his knees crying. Imba doesn't disturb him.

"Ley, go to the meeting room."

[Yes, sir.]

Imba leaves Carlos to sort his feelings, he wipes tears on his eyes as he leaves. He is glad that it resolves nicely as he really doesn't want to resort to a hard way, especially against a pitiful young soul like Jimmy. It is already sad enough that they died young. There are few staff on the ship so there are no witnesses to this little event.

When Imba reaches the meeting room, there are already people inside. Two people wearing army uniforms and two people wearing the same clothes as him but different colors. One a middle-aged man and the other is a young woman. They all seated at a circle table. 

"Sorry, I'm late."

Imba smiles and sits across the man in uniform. The two people don't look at him, the man in uniform sitting across him nods so does the one behind him.  

"Now that everyone here, let me tell you about the mission. I'm Lieutenant Jack, You three are selected to participate in this mission due to your particular talent. First look at this."

Jack pushed a button and a hologram of a planet appeared in the middle of the table. 

"This is planet F-1023, codename Fantasy. As to why it is named like that, it starts when we notice peculiar energy from the planet. The expeditionary force sent down a drone to survey the planet and found this."

The image zooms in and changes into the image of a black ethnic hut, it is dome-shaped with black grasses as roof and walls. A thick unknown leather acts as the door. Ten meters from the hut there is a circle of hemp robes with blackened herbs hanging. It is unknown how old the herb is.

"If you are asking me to investigate the hut, you got the wrong people, I know neither history nor architecture."

"I know, our problem includes the hut but not the history of it. We have other experts working on that."

Jack doesn't mind Imba's little joke, the two other people look at Imba like he is an idiot. 

"The problem starts when we send a squad to investigate the hut. Our first trouble is that this seemingly ancient hut is protected by smoking barriers and we have no way to breach it unless we brute force it with large explosives. The second problem is that invisible hostiles are surrounding the hut."

Jack shows a video where soldiers are suddenly torn apart by the waist, their hands suddenly cut, the head separated from the body, and many other gruesome ways of dying. And it all happens without the camera capturing the assailant. The two people in casual almost throw up when they see the video. Imba doesn't feel anything looking at the blood scene, some of the ghosts he sees back home are even more terrifying and bloodier. What caught his attention is the ghost in the video. 

While Jack doesn't see anything, Imba can see the assailant clearly and it makes his blood cold. It is terrifying, the scariest ghost he saw back home is just a kitty compared to this. There is no blood or scary face, the assailant is a group of ghosts that look like an emaciated old man. Black skin, a body with nothing but skin and bones, no hair whatsoever, empty eye socket and mouths like the abyss, and abnormally long limbs and fingers.

And the thick black blood dripping from the creature is the one Imba feels the scariest of all. If Imba were to name it, it can only be called filth. Sin and evil so deep it drips down like blood. But Imba is the only one who can see the creature so clearly, the woman and man can only see a blurred humanoid shadow but it already sends chills down their spine.

"We tried everything from ultraviolet, infrared, etc but nothing worked, the energy view barely worked but only showed us a silhouette. And even when we can see them, none of our weapons work. Our think tank has determined that the creature is metaphysical by nature. So we invited you all to help us deal with the creature and if possible, catch it."

"If I may, sir."

"Yes, miss Spira."

The woman put one hand over her mouth.

"I can help you bless the soldiers so they won't be disturbed by the creature but catching it is impossible."

"I hold the same opinion as miss Spira."

The middle-aged man, Foster, speaks up.

"I can try to exorcise the creature for you but catching it is impossible. This is not a creature we should mess with, it is an evil creature."

Jack hears their opinion and stays silent for a moment.

"What about the barrier?"

"I can't say anything without seeing it with my own eyes."

"Me too."

"I see, I'll see to it that you can see the site in person. Then, how about you, Mr. Imba?"

Imba is still looking at the video that is on the loop, Imba then looks at Jack with a smile.

"I can't do anything about the barrier but I can help you catch the creature, of course with some condition."