C2: The Thirteenth Deity

Blackwood had never felt this nervous in his short career as a manager. This entire situation was something he'd expect to be the product of a fever dream.

One of the dead bodies in the morgue had never actually been dead? How did the forensic examiners miss this?

He had just paid a hefty sum to four different news reporters who had snuck inside the hospital while the doctors were examining the boy. Business wasn't booming in this season, and he didn't wish to damage their reputation further with news like this spreading throughout the city.

The comcell in his hand vibrated for the twelfth time this hour, but a look at the caller ID was enough to finally provide him with some semblance of relief.

Inspector Thorne, his old pal, had just reached the hospital with his inspection squad. With him controlling the legal procedures, Blackwood didn't think there'd be much to worry about.

He ran to the main gate of the hospital to welcome them in. Five inspectors, all equipped with voidvests to nullify magical interference; it was a formidable force in the street any day.

"Manager Blackwood," Thorne greeted him with a subtle nod. The gesture was enough to convey the hint that an appearance of formality had to be maintained from here on until the end of the investigation. This wasn't unexpected, considering the nature of the incident...

"Thank the Lord! You're finally here, inspectors! Come, come! Please, follow me. We've got the body- I mean, the boy, confined in one of the isolation cabins. Doctors are preparing a report on him as we speak."

Giving them another rundown of the events that had transpired over the last half hour, Blackwood steered them to a secluded area of the hospital.

A dozen stark white cabins sat in a row here, each equipped with enough resources to lock down many rare contagious diseases seen in the recent years. But two cabins in particular stood out from the rest, sporting metal doors, old-fashioned appliances surrounding the doors, and an armed security guard standing alert in front of them.

Blackwood led Thorne and his colleagues up to one of these cabins and lightly touched the scanner on the door.

First, the fingerprint, then the retina, and lastly the lengthy password; this threefold security was one of the most strictly administered protocols in the hospital.

Inside, the entry room contained a pair of protective suits. The doctors had taken their leave in a hurry after taking the testing samples. Thorne was free to interrogate the 'patient' for now.

Accompanied by one of the inspectors, Thorne entered the main cabin while Blackwood watched through the one-way mirror between the two rooms.

Inside the main cabin, the young man was sitting up on his bed placidly, legs folded in a meditating posture. Bandages had been applied all across his chest, back, and feet. But his movements hardly seemed to acknowledge the wounds there.

An air filter was covering most of his face, but Blackwood could clearly see the unbridled curiosity and eagerness in his eyes. The moment Thorne and his colleague entered the cabin, the boy's eyes lit up with interest.

"Good evening! I was just considering whether to contact a lawyer. I suppose enforcers would do fine as well!" He said, appearing quite normal compared to the previous time Blackwood had spoken to him.

Thorne held up the identification documents and replied slowly, "Good evening, Mister Merrywick. You were one of the victims of the maglev shuttle accident last night. I'm sure you've been briefed about the final outcome. My condolences for your loss."

The boy nodded. His features betrayed no emotions at the reference to the death of his entire family. Not even his gaze held any hint of change.

"The medical examiners have already taken my account of what I can recall before and after the accident. Would you prefer an interrogation session yourself? Don't feel bothered to ask. I want to get the formalities done and have myself discharged as soon as possible."

Thorne appeared somewhat stumped by how cooperative the patient was. He and his colleague exchanged a brief look before beginning their interrogation.

"We'll keep it brief. Firstly, we've already investigated the site of the accident and pieced the clues together. From your point of view, could there have been any external factors contributing to the accident other than the priest's sudden loss of control of the shuttle?"

"No," was the reply, succinct and unambiguous. Seeing Thorne's brows rise up in skepticism, the boy continued.

"It happened very abruptly. We made the mistake of not using the safety belts attached to our seats. My family was in a mood for celebration since I had just awakened my progression system as a mage. We were standing close to the driver's seat and having a conversation with Priest Edwards, God bless his departed soul. He was explaining how to apply to the public office to acquire Full Citizenship, now that I'm officially a mage. And suddenly, Priest Edwards lost control of the shuttle. My father grabbed the shuttle controller to try to stabilize the vehicle, but that only deteriorated the control further. I do not remember anything after that, except that I had a dream...and then I woke up inside the refrigerator. I thought I had been buried already, and in a panic, I could only resort to magic."

Thorne digested the account of events while his colleague recorded the session.

"You used a tier-1 magic spell, of the Natural Class, to strengthen your lower body temporarily and break the door of your compartment, from what I've heard," he said carefully, his eyes drawn towards the bandaged legs tucked beneath the young man's upright body.

"Correct. Alongside my progression pathway, I was given a Divine Blessing by Lord Sunbreaker, which came in the form of a Soul Guide. To enable me to use the spell, he tragically ended up sacrificing himself," Merrywick answered placidly.

Thorne's brows climbed higher up his forehead.

"We'll need to verify that claim, Mr. Merrywick. I'm sure you understand that the destruction of a Divine Blessing must be investigated and reported. The usual rules of privacy shall not apply. The examinations may be...invasive."

"Oh, certainly. Please arrange the procedures to be as fast as possible. I need to organize my parents' funeral and the consequences of this entire incident. By the way, has there been any word from the Church of Lord Sunbreaker? What happened to the body of Priest Edwards?"

A moment of silence passed before Inspector Thorne answered.

"The priest's body was damaged beyond recovery. We only managed to find bits and pieces. Evidence suggests that the maglev engine exploded at some point during the accident. His body took the brunt of the explosion. Even if something else took place... We have no way of knowing."

The last part of Thorne's sentence made Blackwood's heart jump.

Was there more to the accident than the news had revealed? Why did it seem like Thorne suspected the young man of some crime?

The young man looked as surprised as Blackwood was.

"I'm not sure what that's supposed to imply, Inspector...? I was unconscious at that time. Your tone seems to suggest that I had some active role in the horrible deaths of my parents."

"Ah, my apologies. I didn't mean that." Thorne was quick to deny the accusation. But the air of ambiguity persisted. Instead of clearing it, he checked his comcell and said, "After breaking out of the freezer, you faced the workers of the hospital and claimed that you've met God. Would you mind explaining this? Are you sure it isn't a vision awarded by Lord Sunbreaker?"

For the first time, a genuine array of emotions welled up inside the boy's gaze.

He looked reverent, slowly moving his head up to stare at the ceiling of the cabin. In a soft, shaky voice, he said, "I mentioned already that after I fell unconscious inside the wreck, I had a dream."

One of the inspectors standing beside Blackwood in the entry room suddenly pulled out a small, crystalline, blank emblem from his pocket. Seeing others staring at him, he whispered, "No chromatic movements. It's probably just a product of hallucination."

Blackwood vaguely understood the process. That emblem was probably an antenna to detect abnormal spiritual fluctuations. If the boy's dream was the result of magical interference, the emblem would display some sort of reaction around him upon tracing the residual mana. Devices like that were a common appliance in sacred site exploration.

Meanwhile, the young man continued to ramble in a fanatic tone.

"I dreamt of a world where all of creation bow down to a superior power. I dreamt of a searing light, an all-surpassing, all penetrating realm of colors, shapes, and mind-ripping revelations. I saw an infinite, twisted world that exists beyond our stars, the smokey abyss beyond the stars, and the infinite expanse of constellations beyond the unbreakable shroud that covers our sky, growing denser and denser until at the center of the universe-"

Blackwood was no longer listening. Neither were the three inspectors standing beside him.

The crystal emblem was aglow, and at its center, a finger-tall, pitch-black flame danced wildly.

With a pained gasp, the inspector holding the emblem dropped it on the floor, where it burst into countless fiery shards. The electric lights above their head blinked out once more, submerging them into a darkness comparable to the flames consuming the emblem shards.

From inside the cabin, a flash of pale orange light exploded out of the hands of Thorne and his colleague.

Blackwood recognized the familiar glow of magic being cast. What followed the sudden outburst of light was the vision of Thorne activating the voidcoil inside the cabin.

All magical activity within the cabin would be nullified, now that the coil had been activated.

Electricity came back seconds later. The scene inside the main cabin was once more visible. Not much had changed there, except that both inspectors now held revolvers in their hands, pointed towards the young man who hadn't moved an inch this entire time.

He lowered his head and calmly faced the cocked revolvers.

"At the center of the universe, a leviathan gazed back at me, and that gaze...shattered my dream. And in that moment of destruction, I watched my million parts be reformed by that existence."

The inspector whose hand had been burnt by the emblem put his comcell next to his mouth and made a call.

"Reporting from Sir Hector Hospital, sector 2. We may have discovered traces of a... Thirteenth Deity."