TF Chapter 43 Trauma

I gained awareness of something sticky and warm embracing my body upon returning to consciousness, yet for some reason, my eyelids refused to expose my pupils. They felt heavy...incredibly so! Even when I put in all my effort, all I got was a tremble for my efforts.

Where was I? Had I died and now my soul was somewhere...heaven or hell? I wondered, still fighting against the heaviness of my eyelids, which ultimately, I lost.

First off, why was I being embraced by something warm? It was directly touching mys skin, signifying the lack of clothing on my body. The warm liquid-like substance wasn't clothing as I already knew the texture. It wasn't my nano suit...by the way? Where was my nano suit?! Could I really have ascended to the afterlife?

As I was about to panic inside, they hit me, the things that had been in my mind all along, yet I had not decided to delve into them yet. There had been a sensation that I wouldn't be able to handle whatever they were, yet here, they had ambushed me, showing me what had happened before my loss of consciousness.

The memory alone conjured a phantom pain within me such that I fainted the moment I remembered the sensation of Celeste's punch connecting with my back, the pain, the crunch and shattering of bone, then even more unbearable pain.

-----

I don't know how long had passed before my consciousness once again returned to awareness. The situation was still the same, with me still within the warm soft embrace of whatever it was.

I tried to lift my eyelids once again before the memories could ambush me, yet I knew that with the previous experience, there was no way I could stop them. So, again and again I re-lived the nightmare that had been my last memory, lasting longer each time, but also feeling more unstable the more sensations I remembered from the incident, the crunch that had come from my face the moment it had hit the wall, the shattering of my finger bones, causing then to pierce through skin when my arm hit the wall in a bid to cushion my collision, and many more.

'Please, I want to get out of here! I want to forget!'

I pleaded within myself, hoping for salvation with every moment I gained awareness...yet none saved me, causing me to sink deep into the pits of despair.

My will started to become corroded with every awakening, with every nightmare filled memory. There was this vivid recall of everything that had caused me immense pain, like when a bone fragment had punctured skin, when a muscle had been compelled to do things it wasn't otherwise meant to do, causing it to tear, when the blood vessels had been torn through instantly by bone...and many others, something that had been caused because my spirit had managed to penetrate into my body due to the imperfections caused by the injuries, since it had been coating my form.

I tried to scream away the memory of the pain, but my mouth couldn't open, even though I could feel that it was separate from the influence of whatever was enveloping me in warmth, allowing me to breathe, a foreign sensation I had almost forgotten due to the special organs that had existed within me, which right now I was sure had been destroyed or injured.

As I was struggling, something different entered my lungs, something with taste and smell, unlike breathable air, penetrating and permeating through my body.

Lethargy enveloped me before taking over my mind and I lost awareness, this time, longer.

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Itchy was the sensation I felt first when I woke up, even preventing me from being drawn back into the nightmare from before temporarily. Why was my entire body this way? I asked myself, yet couldn't find the answer, except the fact that my circumstances of being enveloped in the warm...something hadn't changed.

In order to get rid of the uncomfortable itch, I had to enlist my hands, yet none were responding. Was I going to be trapped within my mind forever? That was a scary thought! 

'I have to think of something, or conjure a memory of something other than the nightmare.'

As I was scanning through my other memories, taking special care to will away the nightmarish ones, my eyelids fluttered open! It had been an subconscious order, yet now! I had managed to open my eyes!

Joy rippled through me at that achievement. It was surprising how something I always took for granted had now become precious in this moment.

At first, it was blurry, but as the yes adjusted, I started to see clearer, even within the sticky warm liquid embracing me...finally! The mystery put to sleep!

Through the liquid, I made out that I was in some form of tank, floating within since I couldn't feel anything in contact with the soles of my feet. My head was as unresponsive as my other limbs, so all I could do was rotate my eyeballs around.

First of all, I wasn't in heaven or anything of that sort. It was somehow welcoming to me that I was still alive even after...no no no, I shouldn't dredge those things up!

I hurriedly tried to move my interest to what I could see outside the glass tank. 

Many more were arrayed around, probably in horizontal rows and columns, some empty, others containing some figures within, humans, just like me. Was I in a lab of some sort? A healing chamber?

Within my limited vision, I could see that many of the people within the cylinders had injuries of varying depths, from missing limbs, to gigantic holes through their bodies, to some parts of them looking like they had been crushed by something heavy. All were unconscious, bringing a certain silence to the atmosphere within this place.

There were no other machines I could see since the cylinders were meshed in with the ground and ceiling...and don't get me started on the breathing apparatus, which I was trying to ignore since it seemed to be alive, an eldritch contraption that I was sure was made from biological materials! 

Where was I really?! Had I been abducted by aliens? No no no...I had to ponder upon this deeply.

I had been on Musana continent within the city. Among all the places I could now be in would be the mysterious academy. We had been booted out the moment we had finished the initiation ceremony.

Mmmmm...this was most definitely one of the many secrets of the academy, unless my previous alien hypothesis was right on the money.

Time went on, though, with is unchanging room and the silence, I had no way of knowing, instead wallowing in boredom. I tried very hard to try and lock the nightmare within my mind tightly. I didn't want to go through such an experience ever again!

Celeste!

Our tutor had injured me, for that I was very sure since her form had vanished in front of me before I was struck. Why did she want to kill me? 

I had to approach this logically. There was no way the woman would have wanted me dead, so why was I injured severely? The answer was in the drastic changes that had happened to her upon returning from wherever she had been before...

First off, she had become more impatient, as if working on a countdown. Her body language had been suggesting that everything had to be done in haste, why?! What had the forg-wait!

My eyes widened as a realisation sank in. What if all these humans within these cylindrical capsules were forgers?! It had a high chance of being true as we had come upon rumors of some apprentices having been assigned new tutors, with the old ones having seemingly vanished into thin air, while others were told that their replacement was temporary...could they...?

Oh my God! These injuries were much too severe to have come from a fellow forger! I could see charred bodies, as if they had been burbecued within a flame at high temperature, not to mention the other injuries. This was a recovery pod, judging by the fact that I was alive when I could have been dead, meaning, that these ones must be the lucky few to have survived whatever it was that had eliminated the others!

That also included those who were up and about, like Celeste...a headache overcame me at the name. Every time I recalled it, it threatened to unravel the locks I had placed on those nightmarish memories. How I wish I could simply delete them!

They were causing my current fear of even releasing my spirit. I didn't dare to, a trauma I was sure was going to be very hard to overcome.

Two figures appeared within my vision as if they had just popped into existence, something impossible in normal circumstances. The truth of the matter was that I had zoned out, losing concentration upon my surroundings, only managing to notice the two once they came right before my cylinder.

Through the transparent liquid, I could make out their features, with one of said figures causing me discomfort. 

With a lot of effort, I decided to directly ignore her and focus on the second figure, his features in particular.

He was broad shouldered with a very powerful looking chest that was covered in a magma colored military-looking jacket which had a lot of medals pinned on its left side. 

His face was large, with thick eyebrows that were currently frowning as he stared into my eyes. 

He was most definitely one of those elusive council members I had heard about, those forgers who had managed to make it to the third stage, the current limit of humanity.

His lips were moving, apparently in conversation with Cel-the woman. And judging by his current expression, he was less than pleased. Lip reading wasn't one of my skills, so I just opted to observe the man silently, wondering what they were discussing about.

It was most definitely me, but what I wanted to know most was if the conversation was in a positive direction.

There was also a groove in the middle of his hair, separating it into two halves, left and right, as if a laser had been launched at him, barely managing to hold onto his life with the close shave leaving that chasm behind. I was sure I could see some white within the charred mess...his skull. 

Even with I seemingly looking down upon the two since I was floating within the cylinder, I didn't feel as if I was any higher than the man, instead, it was the other way around. I wasn't feeling the weight of his spirit...(a curious circumstance)...but the experience within those eyes, the posture radiating authority, and the intimidating face were all pieces that served to make him appear to be larger than life in my eyes.

He pointed at the woman as if he was admonishing her of something, causing her to lower her head. Now that I looked closer, there was some resemblance between the two. Were they related? If it was so, were they going to kill me to cover up the incident? 

During my time on Earth at the company, I had seen many such dramas play out. The rich had enough privilege to make a person disappear. Was it finally turn?...

No, there is no way I would be within this cylinder recovering if it was like that.

Seeing that I was getting knowhere with my observations, I closed my eyes, intent on resting. I had locked away the nightmares right now, and gazing at her any longer might cause those things to break out, so I decided to cut off the sense with the most likely trigger for them.