I had lived thirty-one solar cycles when I suffered a series of unexpected blackouts.
The first happened during a congress at the GNA. I felt the floor rise to swallow me, and then everything went dark. They said the auditorium fell utterly silent. For me, time had already ceased to exist. That fall foretold what was to come.
The second happened in my office.
The third… Ah, the third was my ruin.
I was addressing the International Council of Law when I blacked out. The smell of burned metal enveloped me, and the screams of those who admired me became hollow echoes. The bitter taste of blood spread through my mouth.
I woke in Santa Geordana with a diagnosis: Vaktiria. They told me I had two more cycles to live. That I would be sent to a treatment center. The Ren-10 Refuge.
Yesterday, I was one of the most powerful beings in the world. Today, a dying man with no control over his own life.
Zenith had no room for failures. It discarded me like trash. I was subjected to drugs and experiments. Became a test subject. A number. They used our disease as an excuse to practice sadism.
Yes, this place where we are… I've been here before.
How am I alive? The protests came. The NGOs I had despised so much fought on my behalf, demanding those centers be closed.
Une Côte, a resistance group against the Aether Network, discovered that the leaders had decided to eliminate the R-Refuges. The Aether Network announced to the population that it would create specialized hospitals and transfer the patients to those institutions.
But it lied. Une Côte hacked the security systems of some refuges and freed the sick.
During my escape, I met the woman who changed my life. I stumbled, losing blood, my vision darkening beneath the anguished night, when she grabbed my arm and shouted, "C'mon, you can do it! Run for your life!" Those words rekindled a light.
I had given up. Accepted the price of my greed. Accepted nature's revenge in all its forms. Accepted death. But that woman… She brought fire. That day, I was reborn.
The A.T.F. bombed us. Explosions filled the air as I ran with clouded vision. I inhaled air that burned and fragmented my insides. Wounds sprouted across my body, searing my skin.
I didn't know it yet, but I had just crossed into Nobody's Land.
…
I passed out.
…
When I woke, I was something beyond human. And forever will be.
But perhaps, now, I am an evolving anomaly.