Powerless

“I still don’t understand why you would want to do this, Serena.”

We stood in the hollow skeleton of her newly constructed building.

“Why not?” she replied, her piercing blue eyes locked onto mine. “Is it wrong to want more from life? Is it wrong to let my skills serve others?”

“If you put it like that, then no…” I said hesitantly, running a hand through my hair. “But you’re trying to push a dangerous precedent, Serena. You’re suggesting that people should offer their services only if they can get something valuable in return.”

“That’s exactly what I want, Zehn,” she said firmly, her voice steady and unflinching. “I think money was a genius idea back in the day. Imagine it—I could make a lot of it and then get everything a hero like me deserves.”

The way she said it… There was something chilling about the conviction in her voice

Her words lingered in the air between us, heavy and unyielding.

For the first time in years, Serena felt like a stranger to me.

I swallowed hard, trying to find the right words, but nothing came.

“…I should get going,” I said softly, turning away before she could see the confusion—or fear—cross my face.

The air was cool as I drifted home on my airboard, the city stretching out below me like a shimmering mosaic of lights and shadows.

My mind raced.

Something wasn’t right with Serena.

She was never like this before. She used to be carefree, focused only on what was necessary—just enough effort to get by before returning to her cozy hoodies and lazy afternoons.

Where did this fire come from? This hunger?

Could it be… oxygen? Did it do something to her mind?

No. That couldn’t be it.

Kael was fine. I’m fine.

But still, the thought gnawed at the back of my mind like a splinter under the skin.

A splinter, huh?

Maybe I should get checked again. It was a new week, after all.

***

The hospital smelled sterile, cold, and faintly metallic. White lights buzzed overhead as I sat on the examination cot, mouth wide open while the doctor inspected my throat with a thin, glowing instrument.

“Aaaaah…”

“You still look alright to me, Zehn,” the doctor said, straightening and snapping off his gloves with a faint snap.

“Thought so… Anyway, Doctor, was Kael here?”

The doctor shook his head slowly, his tired eyes reflecting the pale glow of the equipment monitors.

“No. He doesn’t come here for check-ups at all. I’ve tried phoning him, messaging him—no response.”

“What about Toren and Liora? Are they alright?”

“They’re under a different physician’s care,” the doctor said, already tapping away on his holographic tablet. “I’m afraid I have no updates for you.”

The examination ended, and I excused myself, heading down the bright white corridor toward the toilets.

In the restroom, the ventilation fans filled the silence as water streamed into the sink, cascading over my fingers.

I splashed my face, letting the cold droplets chase away the fog in my head. But as I looked up, something caught my eye.

Under the harsh fluorescent lights, my reflection stared back at me.

But there, amidst the wild strands of my hair, was something off.

I leaned closer to the mirror, gripping the edge of the sink.

A grey hair.

It was thin, barely noticeable among the unruly purple strands, but it was there—a thread of ash woven into the fabric of my youth.

I froze, my breath catching in my throat.

“So… I’m getting old, huh?” I muttered bitterly to myself. “No wonder—I’ve been alive for 87 years already.”

As I stepped out of the restroom, the door hissing shut behind me, I almost collided with someone.

“Oh!”

“Ah, Zehn!”

Standing in front of me was Liora, her wide amber eyes darting briefly to the side before locking onto mine.

She was dressed in a light grey nurse’s uniform, her hair tied back in a messy bun, and her face was unusually pale.

“So you… came back to work?” I asked hesitantly, scanning her face for any clue about her obvious discomfort.

She flinched, her hands instinctively diving into her uniform pockets.

“S-sorry, I… I have to run!”

Before I could react, she bowed her head quickly and rushed past me, her footsteps echoing down the sterile hallway.

For a moment, I stood frozen in place, my mind catching onto something—something subtle but wrong.

Her hands.

When she pulled them away, just before hiding them in her pockets, I caught a glimpse of something on her left hand.

“Liora…” I whispered under my breath.

Without thinking, I turned and followed her, my boots clicking softly against the polished floor.

In the distance, I noticed her figure disappearing among the doctors and nurses, but there was only one place she could have gone to so I rushed after her – outside.

“Liora!” I called out only to be met by a muffled sound of… puking?

I crept around the corner of the building, leaning my head just enough to see her.

She was hunched over, one hand braced against the wall, the other clutching her stomach as her body heaved. Her slender frame trembled with every retch, her uniform stained slightly at the collar.

“Liora!” I called again, softer this time.

She snapped her head up, strands of auburn hair sticking to her pale, clammy face.

“Don’t come near me!” she barked, her voice cracking slightly.

My chest tightened as I tried to make sense of the scene before me.

“You’re… you’re throwing up. Are you… pregnant?”

A bitter laugh escaped her lips—sharp and humorless—as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“I wish I was,” she said, her voice trembling. “But no, Zehn. I’m not pregnant.”

“Then what is it? Vomiting doesn’t just… happen. Did you take a pregnancy test?”

Her nostrils flared slightly, and she glared at me through watery eyes.

“Who do you think I am, Zehn? Of course I did! But I haven’t had intercourse in ages, so it’s impossible.”

The silence between us felt like a taut wire ready to snap.

“Then… why are you—”

“I don’t know!” she shouted, her voice breaking like glass against stone.

I flinched. Liora had always been gentle, nurturing—the steady hand in our team when chaos reigned. Seeing her like this, frayed and unraveling, sent a cold shiver down my spine.

Her breathing slowed as she leaned back against the wall, her head tilting upward to the grey sky above.

“I’m sorry, I just… I’m so tired, Zehn.”

Her voice cracked again, and that’s when I saw it—her hands.

Her slender fingers trembled as they hung by her sides, stained with inky black spots that spread up her wrists like invasive roots clawing their way under her skin.

My voice caught in my throat.

“What’s… what’s that on your hands?”

Her eyes flicked down, as if she had forgotten they were there. Slowly, she turned her palms upward, letting me see the full extent of the black blemishes, their uneven shapes almost shimmering in the filtered daylight.

“I… I have no idea,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “And it’s not just my hands.”

Before I could speak, she gripped the hem of her green t-shirt and slowly pulled it upward.

Her exposed stomach and chest, save for the modest white fabric of her bra, were littered with the same black spots—clusters of dark blemishes spreading across her smooth skin like creeping mold.

Any other time, in any other situation, a glimpse of Liora’s fit body like this might have flustered me, made me glance away out of respect. But right now…

Right now, it was horrifying.

The black marks looked unnatural—foreign—as though they didn’t belong to her skin.

“Liora…” I whispered, my voice trembling.

“They started on my left arm first,” she said shakily, letting her shirt fall back into place. “Little specks at first, like ink stains. But then… they spread. Day by day, week by week. And now… here I am.”

“Have you spoken to a doctor about this?”

She nodded weakly.

“My physician’s seen them. But he said… he said he’s never seen anything like this before. Not in all his years of practice.”

Her voice wavered, and tears welled in her amber eyes.

“And you know what’s worse, Zehn? There’s nothing he can do. Nothing anyone can do. We stopped producing general medicine five centuries ago because there was no use for it anymore. We’re… powerless.”

A single tear broke free, trailing down her cheek before dripping from her chin onto the ground below.

“Zehn… what am I supposed to do?”

I wanted to comfort her, to tell her it was going to be okay.

But I couldn’t.

Because deep down, in some dark corner of my mind, a horrifying thought whispered:

This wasn’t normal.

Something… something was very wrong.

Chapter 5: END