Cyberpunk of Remnant

"Mister and Mrs.Blud, when you brought your son here after he broke his leg in the park and hearing how it broke, I decided to give young Garn a deeper examination than usual to confirm my suspicions, and what I found shocked me."

"What did you find, doctor?"

Mr.Blud asked with dread and got an unpleasant answer.

" Mister and Mrs.Blud, I regret to inform you that your son has been diagnosed with a rare growth disorder causing his internal organs to grow at an elevated rate that the rest of his body can't keep up, along with brittle bone disease and likely won't live past 13."

The doctor calmly informed the worried parents with a solemn expression after they brought their son to the Civilian Hospital in Atlas after he broke his leg despite the fact that it shouldn't have happened under ordinary circumstances as it did. Mr.Blud, a man with dark red hair, matching eyes, and pale skin, asked with dread and worry.

" Is there nothing that can be done, doctor? This is Atlas. Surely with the kingdom's advances in medical technology, there should be a treatment or something? Money is no object since my wife, and I work as research assistants for Atlas's brightest minds."

" Mr.Blud, while there are prosthetics that can replace various parts of the body, even organs like the heart, it is not possible to replace every organ within your son's body, which is what would be needed to save his life from premature death. While the brittle bone disease can be treated, the treatment does not account for his growth disorder which greatly complicates your son's unique situation."

Mrs.Blud, a woman with light brown hair and fiery red eyes and the same complexion as her husband, asked with misty eyes, tears almost leaving her eyes.

" Doctor, what about a healing Semblance or even Aura itself? Wouldn't that help my little boy?"

" Unfortunately, there is no Semblance on record, past or present, that could help your son's situation, and even if his Aura were to be unlocked, it would only be a stopgap measure that would, at most, buy him a few more years."

Mr.Blud asked his wife gently.

" Dear, don't you have a cousin in the military? Even if Aura is a stopgap measure, it would still buy time, and maybe in the future, a treatment or something might be developed by then. Atlas is far ahead of the other kingdoms in terms of scientific research, after all, so there is hope."

" I'll try to get in contact with him, honey."

Mrs.Blud said with a shaken tone at learning her 6-year-old son was going to die long before them, and the doctor said as he left the room.

" I will give you some space to process your son's... New circumstances."

The doctor felt the parents were holding on to a very faint hope but kept his mouth shut as it was not his place.

***

Meanwhile, within the hospital room where Garn Blud currently resided with his new cast on his leg was entertaining himself by reading one of his father's old books on robotics. He had his father's hair and his mother's eyes with the same pale white skin as his parents but was always an odd but quiet boy that generally kept to himself. As he combs through the book that his father loaned him as he always had an interest in his parents' work in Atlas's research and development department since they often spoke about work at the dinner table.

Mr.Blud worked in the robotics wing of the department while his wife was in the Aura research wing, which often worked with the other parts of the department. Which was how they met and eventually got together but anyway, Garn was starting to get bored out of his mind from laying on the hospital bed as he was rereading his father's book to kill time. As much as he wanted to be up and about, he had a slight fear that he would break his other leg if he did since his leg broke when running through the park ahead of his parents to get some fresh air.

Garn was about to leap as he ran, then a loud snap was heard, then more pain he had ever felt in his short life hit him like a sucker punch. Needless to say, his parents panicked as they got him to the Civilian Hospital as quickly as they could while he cried his eyes out until he got a sedative to numb the pain. Garn sighed as he complained to no one in particular.

" When are mom and dad going to show?"

Hours went by until Garn's parents finally appeared with a man in a standard Atlas military uniform, which surprised the boy. Garn asked his parents while eyeing the man in uniform and helmet.

" Mom, dad, who is this?"

The soldier smiled at the kid and introduced himself with a friendly smile.

" Hello, Garn. I am your mother's cousin, Ray, and you can call me uncle. Your mother called me to meet you and to give you something."

" But it's not my birthday, nor is it any holiday I know of involving gifts?"

Garn stated in confusion which made Ray chuckle, and he held out his hand as he told his young family member.

" Give me your hand, and I will give you your gift."

Garn looked at his parents for confirmation, and they nodded, so the kid complied with his uncle's request by giving his hand. The next moment Ray's Aura shined a soft yellow color as he chanted.

" For it is through duty we achieve our destiny. Through this, we become guardians against the darkness and for those that can't protect themselves. Infinite in our honor and unbound by our weakness, I release your soul and stand shoulder to shoulder with thee."

Garn's Aura was unlocked, and it shined purple for a brief moment before dissipating, and the kid looked at his hands as he asked.

" What was that?"

" That was Aura, Garn. Now I need to let your parents explain some things to you about why I unlocked your Aura."

" Thank you, Ray."

The soldier smiled as he said.

" Anytime, cousin."

" Bye, uncle."

Garn waved goodbye to Ray as he left the room Mister and Mrs.Blud sat next to their son as they braced themselves to explain their son's illness. The father started with a solemn expression.

" Son, after you broke your leg, the doctors discovered something wrong with your body..."

" Dad, my leg broke. Of course, something is wrong with me. It's pretty obvious."

Garn pointed to his cast matter-of-factly, which made his father smile with wry amusement at his son, stating the obvious, and his mother picked up from where her husband left off.

" Garn, what your father means is that there is something wrong with you beyond your broken leg."

" Like what?"

Garn tilted his head with curiosity as he asked his parents, and they shared a look before Mr.Blud continued.

" To put it in simple terms, son, your bones are far more brittle than they should be, and your internal organs are growing faster than the rest of your body."

" And that means?"

The kid asked as he didn't quite understand what his father was getting at, and he continued to explain as best he could.

" Garn, you remember that time you broke your glass because you dropped it?"

Garn nodded as he remembered what his father was talking about, and Mr.Blud then explained.

" Son, your bones are almost as brittle as glass, and we didn't notice until now because you weren't really physically active, so you need to be careful from now on, as a single misstep means broken bones. With organs, you know what happens when a balloon has too much air put into it?"

" It pops?"

Mr.Blud nodded, then stated carefully.

"Your situation is similar but not as extreme because your body can't handle your organs being bigger beyond a certain point."

" Okay, now what?"

The kid asked, as he was not sure how to take this information. His parents looked at one another as they went on to the next problem, and the mother said with a sad smile.

" That's not all, sweety..."

Garn focused on his mother as she explained his other issue, his life being cut short.

" Sweety, with these problems of yours, you don't have long to live, which is why I asked Ray to unlock your Aura to give you more time in hopes of a treatment being developed in the future."

" I'm going to die..?"

Garn understood what death meant since he had seen his pet cat die months ago by getting run over and processing what he had learned. His parents hugged him in sorrow as he came to grips with his new reality, and a simple thought went through his mind from a deep primordial fear that all people feel to a degree.

" I don't want to die."

***

Six years later.

Within a room, there was a vast assortment of books of varying genres, robotics, the study of Aura, engineering, neurology, programming, and a vast number of other subjects on bookshelves and scattered across the room. The room belonged to Garn Blud, which was currently asleep at his desk from his studies. Garn was twelve now, but he was on the small side of being 4'7" with a thin, weak body, as it was difficult for him to develop muscle mass due to his condition. The young redhead sleeper until the watch on his wrist gave him a small electrical charge that woke him up immediately.

Garn yawned as he turned off the alarm on his wristwatch that he had modified and rubbed his tired eyes as he mumbled to himself.

" Creating a composite material with silver as a base with Lightning Dust to surpass standard 100 electrical conductivity is viable but needs extensive testing to find the right formula to make it work as intended."

The young redhead continued to mumble to himself about various materials and their properties to himself until an electronic voice called out.

" Young master, it is time for breakfast with your family."

" Thank you for the reminder, Nurse."

Nurse was originally an older model of the Atlesian Knight series but was modified by Garn's father after pulling some strings to acquire the soon-to-be-replaced robot. Mr.Blud removed the weapon systems of the old Atlesian Knight and replaced them with medical gear tailored to his son's needs with his brittle bone disease and growth disorder. After Nurse was built, Garn's father earned a promotion in the design along with his friends, that helped him make the medical bot for his son by James Ironwood. Currently, all hospitals in Atlas now have Atlesian Nurses serving as CNAs to the hospital staff, which helped immensely in saving lives and treating diseases.

Garn activated the hover chair he was currently on, and the Gravity Dust hover engines lit up as they softly hummed. The redhead had Nurse help him change into clean clothes while being careful not to fall and break his bones as he hasn't gotten treated for his brittle bone disease, as his growth disorder continues to complicate the procedure. No heavy amounts of research into his condition have made it possible as of yet to receive treatment to strengthen his fragile bones. As Garn had his hover chair take him to the dining room with the medical bot shadowing, it's charge closely.

The redhead was greeted by his parents as the mother set breakfast on the table.

" Morning, Sweety."

"Morning, Garn."

Garn grunted in reply as he ate breakfast with his mother and father, respectively. Mrs.Blud looked at the hallway and grumbled with exasperation.

" That girl."

" I'll get her, dear."

Mr.Blud offered as he got up and went to one of the rooms in the hallway and soon returned carrying a little 5-year-old girl with light brown hair in his arms. He sat the girl at the table, and she immediately rested her head on the table, trying to sleep some more. Garn's mother asked her son with a tired tone.

" Garn, sweety, did Rory stay up late again on her Scroll?"

" I think so because I heard her laughing as I passed by her room last night to go to the restroom."

Mrs.Blud sighed, then complained to her husband.

" I told you that we should not have gotten her a Scroll for her fifth birthday; it's too soon, and she can't use it responsibly."

" In my defense, dear, Garn never gave us any issues on the matter, plus I heard it's fairly common nowadays for kids her age to have Scrolls."

In the six years since Garn was slated to die in his late teens at the latest due to his condition, a number of things have changed for the Blud family. For starters, the eldest child of the family became a big brother with his little sister Rory Blud which he felt indifferent about since he had other priorities that required his attention, like saving his own life. Garn's parents were more than willing to meet any reasonable demand of their dying son, and he simply asked for books and to attend classes through an online course.

Mister and Mrs.Blud was hesitant to agree as they wanted their son to at least have a few friends, but Garn then stated at learning their reluctance in letting him do online classes.

" Wouldn't that be cruel to have any friend I make attend my funeral?"

His parents dropped the matter afterward, and the eldest child of the Blud family studied intensively with fervor and graduated from standard education in three years. Mister and Mrs.Blud felt both proud and worried about their son as he quickly moved on from any sense of childhood and started attending the Atlas Institute of Technology, or AIT for short, at nine and is still studying there in hopes of finding his own solution to his frail body. While the parents bragged about their genius son, they also felt despair that every year might be his last.

The parents cheered up immensely once their little girl was born and had zero health issues unlike her brother. Rory quickly became their favorite as she was a normal happy child, not that they would ever admit it, and Garn knew but wasn't bothered by it as he understood that unless he found his own solution to his dying body, they were trying to lessen their pain at his eventual passing on a subconscious level. The eldest child of the family continued to research on his own for an idea he had to preserve his life.

If his body is killing him, why not replace it? This was Garn's idea, to construct himself a new body to reside in, but there are, of course, issues with this particular idea. The biggest being that no one had ever considered doing it before on the scale the redhead had in mind, and while there was research into mechanical prosthetics, it did not focus on replacing an entire body. While Garn brought up the subject to his parents when he first had the idea, they ultimately deemed it highly unlikely or next to impossible. In the end, he decided to take his destiny into his own hands at a young age.

As Rory snoozed and even drooled on the table, her mother warned her daughter in a harsh voice.

" Rory Blud, you wake up right this instant or so help me; you will be grounded with your Scroll taken until I feel like I can trust you with it!"

" I'm up! I'm up!"

The youngest child of the family squeaked in fear at hearing her mother's wrath, and she rubbed her eyes after a moment and yawned. She looked around and greeted her family.

" Good morning, mom, dad, Wimpy."

" It's evening, Brat, so you are doomed."

" What!?"

Rory screeched at Garn as he had a slight smile that she did not notice, and Mr.Blud chuckled as he assured his little girl.

" He's kidding, Rory."

The little sister glowered at her elder brother and said.

"You're a meanie, Wimpy."

" And you are a Brat."

Garn retorted plainly, and before Rory could say anything back, Mrs.Blud stopped them from devolving into a childish argument.

" That's enough, you two! Eat your breakfast before it gets cold."

The eldest shrugged as he started to eat while the little sister complained.

" But he started it, mom!"

" No buts, Rory!"

Mrs.Blud stared down her daughter, which forced the little girl to look away and eat her breakfast with a slight pout. Mr.Blud looked toward his son and asked with a smile.

" You excited about the guest lecturer at class today, Garn?"

" Yeah, I can't wait to pick Dr.Watts' brain about some ideas I have."

" I am not surprised; Arthur is undoubtedly one of Atlas' brightest minds, so while some of your ideas may interest him enough to offer his thoughts on the matter but don't get your hopes up. He is a busy man with a lot on his plate."

Garn nodded in understanding as he finished up his breakfast to head for the AIT for class.

***

Garn entered the gates of AIT on his hover chair and made his way to the mechanics and engineering building to attend the guest lecture by Arthur Watts. The lecture hall was, of course, packed as any aspiring student would not miss a class from one of Atlas' finest minds, but he managed to get on the shortlist for attending the guest lecture by working his butt off to show he was worthy. The redhead settled on the upper far right of the lecture hall near the windows as he enjoyed the feel of the sun against his skin.

Garn started setting up various recording devices to overview the lecture at his leisure once it was over. As he set things up, one of the redhead's fellow students came up and said.

" So, you managed to get into the lecture after all despite being a cripple, Blud, or maybe someone just took pity on you."

" Hello, Gabe."

Garn nonchalantly greeted the tall, muscular blonde without looking at him, as he had better things to do than soothe the ego of someone with the reputation of buying his way through classes or using connections to pass. Gabe disliked the redhead's attitude at being disregarded and snarled.

" Look at me when I am talking to you, Blud!"

" Don't you have anything better to do, Gabe, than antagonize a cripple half your age?"

Garn plainly stated with a neutral look, as he had no interest in entertaining the blonde's notations of power plays to assert his dominance in class before the lecture started to try and gain Arthur Watts' attention beforehand to further his desired career. The redhead was more than aware that Gabe's goal in life was to get a respectable position in the science wing of Atlas to coast along without needing to do anything complicated such as resource management or as a direct assistant to one of Atlas' lead scientists to please his family.

Garn did not care about Gabe's reason, as his singular goal was to save his own life from his steadily worsening condition. The redhead ignored the blonde as he clicked his tongue and went to grab a seat before the lecture started. Not long after everyone settled, Arthur Watts walked into the hall. He had short, black hair with dark skin and sharp green eyes. He wore a white lab coat over his yellow turtle neck with gray pants and black shoes. Arthur examined the room for a few moments and said.

" As you all should be aware, I am Doctor Watts, and I am here to lecture on advanced robotics and their inherent programming. Let's start with modern examples of Atlesian Knights and their variants."

***

After the lecture was over, Arthur was packing his things when Garn approached him.

" Doctor Watts, may I trouble you for a moment of your time."

The scientist looked at the redhead and said with a mild.

"You're the Blud family's, young genius."

" I am no genius, doctor, just determined and focused."

Garn said calmly, as he knew the amount of work he put into studying and researching to try and save his life. Arthur quirked an eyebrow at what the young redhead said but decided not to pay any heed to it as the vast majority of 12-year-olds could not attend the AIT through effort alone and asked.

" So what is it you want to know, Young Blud?"

" I just want a second opinion on a project of mine."

Garn handed a flash drive to Arthur, and he put it in his Scroll to see what was on it. The scientist looked at the data the flash drive provided with a bored expression that soon morphed into intrigue as he reviewed more and more of the data provided. Arthur took out some electronic items from his bag and used them to crunch some numbers for him as he looked over what he was seeing. After several minutes the scientist took out the flash drive and handed it back to the redhead, and said.

" Your idea is ambitious. I will give you that, and it does have a chance of working as intended."

" I am sensing a BUT."

Garn quipped as Arthur continued.

" This procedure of yours is risky, if not fatal if the slightest thing goes wrong."

" I am aware of that, doctor, but I am dead if I don't, dead if I do, so I want to take at least some chance of living to see past my twenties."

" I am somewhat aware of your situation, young Blud, so I can understand your desperation to a degree."

Arthur said, after viewing Garn's plans, felt it would be a waste to let such a young talent die before his time. The doctor then offered out of goodwill.

" If you are willing, I can provide you with resources I have on hand to help in your endeavor."

" Thank you, doctor Watts, but those resources are likely property of Atlas, so if I use them, my tech would be confiscated by General Ironwood under the pretext of the greater good, which would waste time, time I don't have."

The scientist frowned, not at Garn but at the thought of James Ironwood's likely course of action in learning about the redhead's plans. He had more than a few conflicts as of late with the half-metal man and decided to drop the matter. As Arthur finished packing his things, he told Garn.

" I wish you luck on your project, young Blud."

The redhead nodded in reply and looked at his plans that displayed a chamber designed to store brains while maintaining functionality.