No Turning Back Now

1:00 PM

“Hail, Pius!” shouted the crowds from the top of their lungs.

Emperor Pius was the star of a sudden parade on a Saturday afternoon. Before the parade started, he declared no work for the rest of the day. He was wearing a red hood with a new red robe with more intricate golden accents. General Vogel was right beside him and stood proudly.

There were crowds everywhere in Germany chanting the Emperor’s name. People were either watching TV or outside chanting his name. Compared to King Richard, the people truly believed in him.

Reports circulated that King Richard passed away due to a hereditary disease. It was unanimously decided to promote Pius as the new King of Germany. Pius believed he was not worthy enough for the King’s title, so he decided to become the Emperor of Germany instead. Adeline, the Queen of Germany, would be his lawful wife as well. She had no objections.

Adeline’s son, Otto, was still too young to inherit the throne.

The parade would eventually conclude after an hour. Emperor Pius and General Vogel would use a pad and head inside the medical facility.

2:10 PM

“Sire, should I go hire a new Doctor?” asked General Vogel.

“No, Vogel, I will take control of this medical facility now. You may go now and deal with the boy.”

“Yes, sire,” said General Vogel.

General Vogel used the pad again and left. Now it was Emperor Pius in the medical facility. He doesn’t remember the last time he was in here. He smiled.

He began to head over to the hallway with the white door at the end. As he walked by the nurses, they smiled and waved at him. His reputation was still undeniably perfect. He briefly looked through the windowed doors as he passed by and noticed the white rooms were clean. He couldn’t stop smiling.

When he reached the white door, he swiped his keycard and was able to bypass all the security measures. He walked through into the dim hallway and could smell the immortal blood immediately. It had a bittersweet scent. He walked by the harvested bodies and grinned. There were so many bodies that stretched throughout the hallway, and it was all because of him. He slightly chuckled.

He reached another door at the end, which had the three test subjects in the room. He opened it and noticed all three of the test subjects were alive and well. They were behind a large steel glass window. Each of them was separated into connecting see-through cubicles.

“Good afternoon, subjects,” he said to them.

They all looked at him with confused looks.

“Where’s Dr. Roberts?” asked one of the subjects.

“He had to go, due to personal matters.”

“But he promised us—”

“Personal matters…Josh. Josh Wilson,” said Emperor Pius, as he looked at the data sheets on each of the test subjects.

Josh was visibly frustrated and demanded answers from the Pope. They didn’t know what had happened outside of the room.

“You will go first, then,” said Emperor Pius.

The Emperor snapped his fingers and an android walked into the room. The android was holding a syringe containing some form of liquid.

“Let’s get this final test over with, shall we?” said Emperor Pius, while he grinned.

The android opened a door that suddenly appeared on the steel glass window and opened it into Josh Wilson’s cubicle. Josh began to slowly back away from the android.

“P-Please don’t…” said Josh as the android got closer to him.

Josh eventually backed into a wall and closed his eyes. The android reached him and ejected the syringe into his arm. For the first couple of seconds, Josh didn’t notice any changes to him.

However, after ten seconds, his body began to expand rapidly, with his skin deteriorating as well. His left arm was getting bigger, with the veins becoming more and more visible, while his right arm became skinnier. The skin on his legs began to rip apart. One of his calves kept growing and his right hamstring was getting sucked inward. The fat throughout his body either grew or shrank. His face was becoming lopsided at an alarming rate.

He transformed into a monstrosity. He was barely able to breathe now and couldn’t move his body at all. Emperor Pius began to laugh.

“What kind of fucking liquid is in these syringes?” said Emperor Pius.

The Emperor already knew that the liquid was some form of immortal blood. What he didn’t realize was how close Dr. Roberts was to creating a man-made variant of the immortal blood. He would continue with the other two test subjects as well.

One of them tried to fight the android but was shot immediately by it. The hands on the android were modified to have bullets inside, which allowed the android to shoot through its fingers. This safeguard mechanism was added to all androids when sensing danger. The other test subject’s body exploded after getting injected.

“Dispose of them,” Emperor Pius said to the android.

The Emperor turned off the lights in the room and left. He walked down the dim hallway without a care in the world. Why would he care about anything?

He finally had Germany in the palm of his hand now. No, he now had the world in the palm of his hand, just like back then. Only this time, he would be in the spotlight. There was no turning back now, only moving forward.

3:00 PM

I was starving. I don’t know how long I’ve been in this black room. I can’t even think straight. I don’t even hear Orthos anymore. What is going on with me?

I heard a noise like someone just used a pad.

“You’re still alive, huh,” said a man’s voice.

I looked around but couldn’t see anything. It was pitch-black. Then, a sudden light brightened the room. I covered my eyes.

“Come here,” said the man.

I felt my arm being pulled onto a chair. When I tried to move, my arms and legs were already strapped to the chair. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the man from earlier, the man who killed Dr. Roberts and took his family away.

“I believe I haven’t formally introduced myself yet,” said the man.

He was in a red military uniform. If I remember correctly, Dr. Roberts called him the General.

“I’m General Vogel, and you are…Tom Wilson, correct?” asked General Vogel.

I just nodded. Orthos, are you there?

…

No response. What happened to him?

“Alright, Tom, let’s get started then, shall we?” said General Vogel.

I noticed there was a rectangular-shaped console behind him. There was also a headset that was connected to it. I looked over at him and was slightly surprised by his stare. I think he was staring at me the whole time, while I was looking at the console.

“It seems you’re interested in this piece of equipment,” said General Vogel.

“Um, yeah. Sure, I guess,” I replied, without really knowing how to respond to him.

“Let’s try it out on you, then,” he said.

He proceeded to put the headset on me and turned on the console. When he turned it on, a projection of a screen emitted from it. It was requesting for a date, time, and place.

“Hm…two days should work,” he whispered to himself.

He began to type in the numbers for the date and time. He then typed the medical facility for the place.

“We’re about to go back in time, inside your head, Tom,” he said.

I have to see this for myself. I’m sorry, Tom. It seems I can make myself invisible to him.

I asked, “Why is it set to Thursday?”

“You know why, Tom, whether you remember it or not. You were there in the medical facility, you had to be there. Otherwise, those blood stains on your old clothes wouldn’t make any sense. I have to confirm this for myself. Then…I’ll harvest you,” he said.

Blood stains? Oh, the red stains from my shirt a couple of days ago. Wait…how the hell did he get my shirt?

“How did you get my shirt—”

I suddenly felt very…sleepy. Tom passed out.

General Vogel looked at the projected screen, waiting for the device to display Tom’s memories. Orthos was also watching the screen, but General Vogel couldn’t sense his presence. Orthos was Tom’s shadow in a pitch-black room, with only one light source coming from the ceiling. He was leaning against the wall, far enough for him to not be seen under the light.

After a minute or two, the screen finally displayed a scene. The medical facility.

THURSDAY, 11:30 PM

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon!” the man yelled.

He was holding me in his arms. The alarms were going off. The beeping from the alarm was deafening.

“You’re going to make it, Tom,” said the man.

I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t feel my body at all. He entered into a white room and placed me on a table. I was able to slightly tilt my head and saw him bring another table near me. There was a boy on it. He looked about my age.

“That bastard better not get caught. I gave him enough vials and the directions,” the man said under his breath.

I noticed the man was wearing a lab coat. He must’ve been one of the doctors. I looked over at the other boy and noticed he was sleeping.

“This better work,” said the man in the lab coat.

He brought a machine over and placed a headset on me and the other one. He began to turn it on and started typing. I could barely hear what was going on, with the alarm still going off. I was somehow able to hear a distinct button being pressed.

My body felt numb. Was I vibrating? I looked down and saw my physical body on the table.

What the hell?

My hands were see-through. My whole body was see-through. I looked over to my right and saw the other person levitating as well. I got a closer look and realized who it was. Orthos? The second son of the King? Why the hell is he here with me? I had too many questions going through my head.

I started to feel my body being gravitated to his physical body. I was being pulled forcefully. I saw his floating body slowly going into my physical body.

But I didn’t want to go inside his body, I wanted to be in mine.

I was slowly entering his physical body. Right as my whole body was about to align with his physical body, two Royal Guard soldiers broke into the room. They aimed their rifles at the man.

“Dr. Johnson, put your hands up right now!” shouted one of the soldiers.

As Dr. Johnson was about to put both his hands up, he pulled out a handgun with his right hand from his back pocket and began shooting at the soldiers. One of the soldiers got shot twice in the chest and once in the head, while the other soldier used him as a body shield.

Dr. Johnson ducked behind the machine. The remaining soldier started shooting his rifle and destroyed it. My levitating body went back into my own physical body immediately. I opened my eyes and looked over to my right again. Orthos was shot in the head. Fuck.

Dr. Johnson got out of cover and shot the remaining bullets from his handgun. The soldier got hit in the chest and throat. He fell to his knees and then hit the floor. Dr. Johnson went over to check Orthos’ body and was shocked.

“I failed,” he said.

He looked over at me and couldn’t believe that I was still alive.

“Run, Tom. You have to get the hell out of here. The exit is straight ahead and to your right,” he said to me.

“O-Okay,” I said.

I slowly got off the table. I could move my body but I felt sort of…out of place for some reason. It was as if my body didn’t recognize that I was moving it. I managed to walk out of the room.

I noticed more Royal Guard soldiers coming from the left side of the hallway, so I started to jog into the hallway that was straight ahead of me. When I reached the end, I turned right and saw an exit door. I looked back one last time and saw…the King. I saw the King with some Royal Guard soldiers entering the room I just left.

I was looking through the window door from afar. I could see the King talking to the doctor, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I noticed the Royal Guard soldiers aiming their rifles. They proceeded to fire.

I immediately ran for the exit door and managed to get outside. It was raining, heavily. I looked up and noticed it was dark out, it must’ve been late. I ran to the front gates and realized it was locked. I looked over to my right and noticed the fences. They were high, but I thought I could still climb it.

As I was climbing the fence, the heavy rain was making it harder for me to grip the fence with my hands. When I got to the top of the fence, I carried my right leg over but got my left leg stuck. I kept pulling and pulling until my pants just ripped. I felt a sudden pain in my head and couldn’t move.

3:30 PM

“That explains everything,” said General Vogel.

The projected screen cut to black.

Dr. Johnson tried to help me…

“Dr. Johnson was let go due to personal matters, huh? None of my men told me about this,” said General Vogel.

He looked at Tom, who was still unconscious in the chair.

“So, then, Orthos is really dead,” said General Vogel, while looking at Tom.

“Or is he?” General Vogel wondered.

He pulled out his handgun and aimed at Tom’s head.

“Better safe than sorry, I have to make sure the souls are contained. It’s a shame he couldn’t be harvested,” muttered General Vogel.

As he was about to pull the trigger, Orthos went inside the General’s physical body. General Vogel stood still, with the handgun aimed at Tom’s head.

What the hell is going on? General Vogel thought. He was unable to pull the trigger.

This body is mine now, General.

I-Is that you, Orthos? He thought to himself.

Goodbye, General.

At that moment, General Vogel’s body began to move again, except he wasn’t in control anymore. Orthos was somehow able to successfully take over the General’s physical body. He slowly lowered the handgun and put it back in his holster.

For a split second, General Vogel wondered how any of this was possible. How could a soul be able to roam free? He came to a sudden realization, before losing all control of his physical body.

When the Royal Guard soldier shot the machine and Orthos’ body, his soul could not go back to his original body. This meant that the other boy, Tom, had two souls inhabiting his physical body. None of this should have been possible…in theory.

General Vogel’s soul was sealed away deep within his physical body. Orthos was only beginning to realize just how powerful he was as a free, roaming soul.

Now, in General Vogel’s body, Orthos began to walk around to get a feel for this new physical body that he had taken over. He walked over to Tom and took off the headset. He also began to free his arms and legs from the chair as well. Tom slowly opened his eyes.

There was a bright light hurting my eyes, as I slowly opened them. I looked down and noticed the straps around my arms and legs were released. I saw the General just staring at me.

“What the hell?” I said.

“Don’t worry, Tom. It’s me, Orthos…in the flesh,” he said.

I just stared at him blankly for a couple of seconds.

“Y-You’re Orthos?” I asked, still trying to understand.

“Yes, Tom. I am, indeed, Orthos, in the General’s physical body right now.”

“Whoa! T-That’s insane, I didn’t know you could do that.”

“I know, Tom, I know. I’m still trying to figure out my powers as well,” he said.

“Well, what do we do now?” I asked.

“We head for the medical facility, that’s where we’ll find your mother.”

“How do you know that?”

“I have access to the General’s memories, but they’re all over the place. I did catch glimpses of your mother though. There was a mention of another name…Josh…Josh Wilson?”

“Josh Wilson? That’s my older brother. He’s been missing for a while now.”

“Well, supposedly he’s at the medical facility as well. We don’t have much time,” he said.

I got out of the chair and followed him. He suddenly stopped moving and turned around to face me and asked a question.

“How do we get out of this room?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know? Can’t you look inside this guy’s memories?”

“I’m trying but there’s nothing with the black room in it.”

“Damn it, man,” I said.

It took around five minutes, but Orthos was finally able to get a memory that showed how to leave the black room. He began to slowly walk forward and reached a wall. The light was still on, so the walls were more visible than before. He tapped the wall three times and a door suddenly appeared. He checked his pockets and eventually found a keycard. He swiped it on a panel for the door and it opened. We were finally free.

As we walked out, we were in an area that I had never been in before. I looked over at Orthos and noticed that he seemed to be on edge.

“What’s wrong, Orthos? Do you know where we are?” I asked.

“I know where we are, Tom. We’re on the bottom floor of the King’s Quarters. The basement of the kingdom. I didn’t know they had these black rooms in here though,” he replied.

We both saw a pad and walked over to it.

“Do you know the code for the medical facility?” I asked.

“Yeah, I know it. I just want to ask you something, before we get on the pad.”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Are you ready?”

“Am I ready? I think so, yeah.”

“I need a yes or no, Tom, because I’m going through this man’s memories and there’s some disturbing shit going on behind closed doors.”

“Then, yes, Orthos, I’m ready.”

“There’s no turning back now after this, you understand?”

“I understand, man, let’s go already. I want to see my family…or at least what’s left of them,” I said.

Orthos didn’t have the courage to tell Tom about his mother. He wanted him to see for himself.

They both stepped onto the pad and teleported to the medical facility.