A Grim Reality

ONE YEAR AGO

“Tom, didn’t I tell you to clean the dishes?” said a woman’s voice.

I looked up from my book. I completely forgot to clean the dishes after Mother left.

“I’m sorry, Mother. I was too focused on studying,” I said.

“I understand, Tom—but you need to also help out more around the house. Ever since your father…ever since he got into that freak accident, your older brother and I have had to work more to cover his medical expenses.”

“I understand, Mother. I’m sorry for not washing the dishes—”

“Just…just please help me out here, Tom. I don’t think I’m asking for too much, right?”

“Yeah, Mother. I’ll go clean the dishes right now,” I said.

I put my book on the table and walked to the kitchen. I could tell she was more stressed out than usual. The debt kept increasing for us.

Before I realized it, we ended up at the bottom of the lower section. Father passed away after only three months in the medical facility. My mother had to work extra positions to make ends meet. My brother sacrificed his future schooling to get a job as well.

I tried my best to help out around the house. Every night I had to shower in cold water. Hot water was a necessity that we couldn’t afford at the time. We couldn’t even have a proper send-off for Father…couldn’t even afford his ashes. I could hear my mother cry every night, while she took a shower.

After a certain time, I noticed my older brother coming home later than usual. I had a feeling he was getting caught up in shady stuff, but I knew it had to happen sooner or later.

I haven’t had a conversation with him since the death of our Father. He was always busy just like Mother. I needed to focus on excelling in school. I tried to apply for an early graduation but was still short on the requirements. I could only curse under my breath.

Germany was strict when it came to schooling and working. Students couldn’t work while in school and vice versa. After students graduated from school, they only had three options to choose from: more school, an entry-level job, or the military.

Not to mention, people had to pass specific exams for them to qualify for positions. People who were gifted with intelligence usually continued with more schooling. Others who were physically gifted had to join the military. The rest were forced to enter jobs. 

"Work sets you free"—a German motto that is still held true to this day.

One night, I was able to talk to my older brother for the first time in what felt like forever. He had just come back home late. I was sitting on the sofa in the living room.

“Josh, how’ve you been, man?” I asked.

“Tom? What are you doing up this late? Don’t you have school tomorrow?”

“Whoa, Josh—chill out, man. I don’t have any exams tomorrow, so don’t worry about it.”

“Still, Tom, you need to get some sleep, unless you want to end up like—”

“You?”

“Yeah…me,” he said.

There was a moment of silence between us. I didn’t feel any tension though. The vibe in the room was very calm.

“Be honest with me, Josh. You’re not doing anything shady, right?” I asked.

Josh hesitated to reply. He didn’t know how to answer his younger brother’s question.

“Yeah, Tom. I’ve been working in three positions. That’s why I’m always late,” he said.

“Okay, Josh, I believe you,” I replied.

Did I believe him in that moment? I guess I did. I knew the truth would hurt me and didn’t want to pry into it any further.

I got up from the sofa and walked over to him. I hugged him, and we hugged for a couple of seconds. I just kept hoping he would be safe, no matter what.

That night would be the last time I ever saw him.

4:23 PM

“Tom, please answer me!” shouted Orthos.

He was starting to get worried. He was finally able to get up but winced every time he stepped over a body. He kept calling for Tom’s name. Dim lights turned on in the area.

Orthos looked around and noticed he was in a spacious room full of dead bodies. The bodies were all in a horrific state. He threw up a little bit. He couldn’t believe such a room existed. This was truly a grim reality for Germany.

He kept looking around and saw Tom’s body. He began to increase his lunges to get over the bodies quicker. While walking through the bodies, he kept calling out Tom’s name.

THREE MONTHS AGO

“Because I don’t want you to end up like him!” she shouted.

“Like who? Josh? You don’t want me to end up like him, huh?” I replied.

We were having arguments more frequently. We kept saying things we didn’t mean. I always tried to keep a facade, but Mother would always see through me.

“Yes, Tom! I don’t want you to end up like your older brother!” she yelled.

“You don’t mean that…right, Mother?” I replied

We stared at each other. Tensions were high in the living room. I knew she was lying. She had to be lying…lying to herself. She proceeded to walk away and head up to her room. I could hear her holding back tears.

“You’re just going to let her go like that, Tom?” said a voice.

I turned around and realized it was Josh.

“Tom, don’t lose her,” he said.

As I was about to respond to him, I heard another voice call out my name.

“Tom, why didn’t you save me?”

I looked over to my left and it was…Claire.

“Answer me, Tom. I was screaming your name…why couldn’t you save me?” she said.

“Tom, son, please come home. I miss you,” said my mother’s voice.

Everyone was calling for my name.

“Tom!”

“Tom!”

“Tom!”

I felt something grab my arm.

“Tom, c’mon, wake up!”

4:30 PM

I slowly opened my eyes. My entire body felt wet. I noticed Orthos was above me.

“Tom, just calm down, alright?” said Orthos.

He tried to help me get up, but I noticed it was slippery, which made it harder for me to move. There were dim lights in the corners of the room we were in. As I looked down to see what I was lying on, I had the sudden urge to vomit.

I had to vomit. Luckily, Orthos got out of the way. I was lying on…bodies. There were so many dead bodies in the room.

The bodies were all in fucked-up shape. I noticed a lot of them were…skinned? Other bodies either had holes in them or were completely unrecognizable. These atrocities went unnoticed for who knows how long.

“What the fuck is this place, Orthos?” I asked.

“Hell,” he replied.

I gave a slight chuckle. Why did I just chuckle? Instinctive reaction?

“We need to move, Tom. Are you able to get up?” he asked.

I nodded and tried to stand up on my own. I somehow managed to get into a squatting position and stood up from there. It felt wrong to step over these bodies.

Orthos began to walk towards the end of the chute. I was following right behind him. As we traversed through the bodies, one of the bodies almost instantly caught my eye.

…Mother?

I immediately lunged over bodies trying to get to her. I got a closer look and was able to confirm that the body was, in fact, my…mother. Yet, I didn’t feel any tears coming out of me.

Throughout her body, she had big, gaping holes. Just imagining her being one of the bodies up there being harvested made me sick to my stomach.

How could they do this to her?

Why did it have to happen to her?

She didn’t deserve any of this. She didn’t deserve to suffer like this. I was holding her arm or whatever was left of it. At least her eyes were closed.

I kept seeing images of her hugging me, talking to me, and comforting me. They were all distant memories now. I clenched my teeth, knowing that I couldn’t make any more new memories with her.

I heard a slight coughing noise ahead of me. I looked up and tried to see if I was just hearing things. I noticed a body a little further ahead of me that was oddly shaped. Once I heard his voice, however, I knew I wasn’t just imagining things.

“…T…Tom…” said the voice coming from the disfigured body.

I let go of my mother’s arm and slowly walked over to the other body.

It couldn’t be him, right?

It shouldn’t be him.

I hadn’t seen him since that night. This body didn’t even look like him, yet he sounded just like him.

“Josh…is that…you?” I asked.

“…Y-Yes…it’s…me…Tom,” he said faintly.

I fell to my knees. I didn’t care about the blood getting all over my body. My brother was right in front of me and I couldn’t recognize him. His body was completely messed up.

“W-Who did this to you, Josh?” I asked.

“…P…Pius…” he said.

His voice sounded weaker every time he spoke, but I heard the name clearly.

Pius…the Emperor.

I felt anger starting to surge inside of me. Then, Josh tried speaking to me again.

“…T-Tom…p…please…kill…m…me…”

I just stared at him. I heard footsteps behind me and felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked over my shoulder and saw Orthos above me. He was holding a handgun. He was motioning for me to take it from him. I slowly grabbed the handgun from him. I began to aim it at my brother. My hand couldn’t stop shaking.

Earlier, Orthos had noticed Tom mourning as he was trying to get to the chute. When he got closer to Tom, he noticed the lights in the room were brighter than before. The lights were seemingly increasing in intensity. The temperature in the room felt warmer than before. Something wasn’t right.

I tried to stop my hand from shaking by using both hands to hold the gun, but the shaking wouldn’t stop. I noticed I was also sweating more as well. It felt hot in the room.

“Tom, I think we have to get out of here, like, right now,” said Orthos.

They both noticed the temperature in the room was starting to feel hotter than before. Tom was still holding the gun and had it aimed at Josh.

I needed to pull the trigger to end his misery. I mean…he was begging me to kill him. I noticed Josh was trying to say something to me, but I couldn’t hear him anymore. I was sweating a ton, almost too much. I had never shot a gun before. I couldn’t believe my first time shooting a gun would be in here, to put down my brother.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I pulled the trigger. I didn’t hear him talk anymore. It was silent now.

“Tom! We need to leave now!” shouted Orthos.

I opened my eyes but was able to look away from my brother’s body. I turned around and saw Orthos already halfway to the chute. He was waving at me to get over to him. I put the handgun in my pocket and began lunging quickly over to Orthos. There had to be thousands of bodies in here.

I started to grind my teeth, while lunging over the bodies. It was now burning hot inside the room. I could feel my skin starting to burn. I looked ahead and saw Orthos getting on the chute, trying to climb up. I was getting close to the chute as well.

Orthos realized he couldn’t climb the chute, especially not in the General’s body. He had to think fast. He could feel his skin starting to burn off. He came to a realization, it was so simple. He just needed to leave the General’s body.

He knew he could touch things physically in his shadow state. He saw Tom was now on the chute with him, but his skin was already blistering. He began to pat his body down to find the keycard. Once he found it, he gave it to Tom.

Orthos immediately left the General’s body and pushed it down with the rest of the bodies. He then grabbed Tom’s arm and pulled him up the chute. As he was pulling him up the chute, he noticed the bodies down below were being burned. He heard screaming and looked closer.

The General was burning to death, screaming in agony. It seemed he was able to gain control of his physical body again at the last second. He looked back at Tom and noticed he had passed out already.

Orthos got to the top of the chute and pushed the hatch to get out. He was able to pull Tom out with him. He looked over and saw Tom’s whole body was burnt. His skin was darkened.

Orthos remembered that Tom was in the soul transfer with him. In order for people to participate in a soul transfer, they had to be blessed by the Pope. He remembered that commoners blessed by the Pope were qualified for immortality. This meant that Tom had to be…immortal. He was immortal this whole time.

Orthos took another look at Tom’s body. His skin wasn’t healing. Why was his skin not regenerating? Orthos had to think hard again. As he looked around at the bodies getting their blood sucked, he was starting to connect the dots.

Why would people need to get their blood sucked? He began to look closer at one of the bodies. He noticed the tubes that were attached to the body were being connected to a container. The container was full of blood. Right under the container were…vials.

Multiple vials were being filled from the container. Orthos grabbed one of the vials and brought it over to Tom. He could barely hear him breathe. For a moment, he didn’t know what he was trying to do. He was holding the vial in his hand but couldn’t decide what to do with it.

Orthos would then experience a flashback, to where it all started.

TWO DAYS AGO, 12:20 AM

I couldn’t move my body at all. I didn’t even know where I was. My body was starting to move on its own. I could hear the rain pouring down. My eyes slowly opened.

However, I had no control over my body’s movements. My hands were moving, and I was looking around but could only watch as my body moved on its own.

Was this even my body? How come I couldn’t move my own body? More questions would come to my mind but I would soon forget them.

I felt pain in my head but couldn’t try to feel it for myself. Someone was calling out to me, but I couldn’t hear them. My body looked over on its own, where it looked like a soldier was talking to me.

No…the soldier was talking…to someone else. Who else would he be talking to, though?

Who was the soldier talking to? I couldn’t speak up. I felt like a spectator trapped in my own body. Why did I not have control over my own body?

I was starting to feel frustrated, but I was calm after a few seconds. It was like I couldn’t contain my emotions or questions for more than a couple of seconds.

I noticed behind the soldier that another man was running away from something. The soldier stopped talking to me and went over to the other man. The man had fallen to the ground and wasn’t getting up.

I saw the soldier calling out to the man. I looked closer and noticed there was red liquid spreading on the ground, which was coming from the man lying on the floor.

As the soldier got closer to him, the man proceeded to throw some of the red liquid at the soldier. The soldier was screaming in pain and his body began to deform into something…horrid.

My body wasn’t moving at all. I still had no control over it. I noticed my eyes were looking at the man now, who just got up from the ground. He was laughing like a madman.

He drank a vial that contained some red liquid and smiled from cheek to cheek. He began shouting some words, but I couldn’t make out what he said. The man exploded after a couple of seconds had passed by.

My body started to run away. There was shouting from somewhere, sounded like more soldiers were around.

Then, I realized something was off about myself. I didn’t even know who I was.

4:34 PM

Orthos knew he was taking a risk by getting Tom to drink the red vial. He realized that the red liquid was blood, immortal blood. That had to be the only reason why these bodies were being harvested. It had to be part of some sick process to obtain immortality.

He looked over at the bodies once more, realizing that the Pope had to have blessed all of them. He was starting to question the Pope’s blessings. However, now wasn’t the time.

He took a chance that Tom would be saved from drinking the red vial. He began to pour the red vial into Tom’s mouth. He closed Tom’s mouth to make sure he swallowed it. He noticed Tom’s skin was starting to regenerate and go back to normal. He couldn’t believe it worked.

TWO DAYS AGO, 11:00 PM

“Tom Wilson, that’s your name, boy?” the voice asked.

I opened my eyes and noticed I was on my knees in a dark room. There was a fireplace lit up near me. I could feel its warmth.

I looked up and realized the Pope was speaking to me. He had on white robes with golden accents, while wearing a white hood. I always wondered why he had a hood on everywhere he went.

“Tom Wilson, is that your name?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Good, boy. I will now bless you, Tom. Are you ready?” he said.

I nodded again.

After he blessed me, two Royal Guard soldiers carried me over to the pad. Their grips felt tight around my arms. I looked over to get another look at the Pope.

He just sat down in a chair staring at the fireplace. The Pope didn’t really seem like a good person, but I couldn’t really explain it at the time.

Now…I had many reasons to see him as a horrible person.

4:37 PM

I opened my eyes. My body felt…good. I got up from the floor and looked at…my shadow. Orthos wasn’t in the General’s body anymore.

I looked around and realized we were in the hallway with all the…bodies getting their blood sucked. I felt my body all over and realized my skin wasn’t burnt.

“What the hell happened to me?” I asked Orthos.

“Immortal blood, Tom. You’re an immortal. You’ve been immortal since we escaped the medical facility two days ago,” he replied.

I was surprised. I’m immortal? Me? I couldn’t believe it.

“How do you know that I’m immortal, Orthos?” I asked.

“Because…you wouldn’t be alive right now after drinking the red vial that I gave you. It seems that only immortals can drink the blood and survive. Plus, we almost swapped souls, Tom, which meant you were blessed by the Pope beforehand.”

“I remember getting blessed by the Pope, that’s for sure. I’m slowly remembering the soul-swapping thing that happened between us. I can only remember bits and pieces of it.”

“Don’t worry, Tom—I got to see your memory of that night, firsthand. Right now, we need to go find the Emperor,” he said.

I agreed with him and we both planned to get out of the medical facility. The more I found out about immortality, the more I realized the grim reality of it all. Our country was truly corrupted. And we had to put an end to it all.

As we were walking towards the white door, I felt my pockets and realized I still had the handgun on me. I pulled it out and wanted to check how many bullets I had left.

“Press the button on the side, that should display how many bullets you have left in the gun,” said Orthos.

I looked up from the gun and noticed he looked at me holding it briefly.

“Thank you,” I replied.

I clicked the button and a mini-virtual display projected on the left side of the gun. It showed, “9/10” in a white font. I put the gun back in my pocket and continued walking toward the white door, with Orthos right ahead of me.

Before opening the white door, he passed through me and went to the floor. He was now my shadow again.

I will try to catch the Emperor by surprise. We don’t need the cameras to see a floating shadow.

Understandable, Orthos.

I pulled out the keycard and swiped it to open the white door. Once the door opened, I proceeded to head straight for the pad. When we got to the pad, I didn’t know how to get to the church.

Here, let me take over for a second.

All of a sudden, I lost the ability to control my body. My body began to move on its own.

No…Orthos was controlling my body now. This is insane. I was watching my hands move, without me physically moving them myself. He began to click the buttons to secure us into the church pad.

Alright, we’re all set. I’ll let you have your body back now.

That would be much appreciated, thank you, Orthos.

I was able to gain control over my physical body almost immediately after we talked. I stepped on the pad and swiped my keycard. We were now inside the church.

This is it.

This is where everything will end.

This is where we take down Emperor Pius once and for all.