Another Me

I walked through the once flat land. It was now pitted in spots, jagged pillars jutted out in oblique angles at random locations making waking harder, and a small lake had appeared where the banks rubble used to be. The water looked deep, but the waters "container" was man made. A hollow column burrowed downward, and faint lights could be seen fastened into the walls. They were still on, even though they were now covered in water. I glanced at it as I walked. But deep down, I still knew that standing next to the water when fighting squid monsters wasn't the smartest idea.

I shambled away. My head felt like it was filled with cotton and my legs were barely responding to my commands. As I walked, I began to make out some details, but it was like my feelings were turned off. I didn't feel afraid or horrified at the destruction. I looked calmly at the water tower that had been over there but was now ripped in two and seemed to have been tossed away like a discarded toy. The downed tree-house, that now had more red-black splotches on its walls and trunk. Destruction was everywhere and people were moving around me as I navigated my way back to the school's tents. They ignored me, and I ignored them.

I trudged, my bare feet scraping over the sharp debris that was scattered about. But I greeted the mild pain, because it was a reminder that I was alive. As I got closer to the school zone, I noticed there wasn't anybody around and most of the buses were missing. I wasn't sure if my school's was one of the missing ones, but the tent I came out of, before the fight, was still there and I moved in that direction with heavy footsteps.

I let out a sigh of relief when I saw my backpack. When I was wiping myself down before, I had noticed the long lines of bruises from where the beasts had latched onto me. And while I couldn't see my face, I was sure it also held the traces of my abuse. For now, I just wanted to cover as much as I could before anybody saw me. For some reason, I didn't count those I passed. In my befuddled state, they weren't people that knew me; even though I hadn't looked up to see who they were.

I wasn't sure if I was in shock or if the chemicals the beasts released had been messing with my senses. Whatever it was, I hadn't felt much pain as I walked, but whatever was affecting me was easing and as it did, my body cried out in pain. Still, I forced myself to strip off the oversized shirt, use the basin in the corner to wipe away any residue I might have missed, and then got dressed in one of the outfits I had brought. I did it quickly, afraid people would walk in and see the crisscross bruises that covered my body. They were a mark of what happened, and somehow I knew these marks could bring me trouble. Maybe it had something to do with how they used my body. It was something I should be upset about but wasn't. I just didn't want others to know.

Since I was alone, I cast 'Dynamic Neogenesis' and focused on my face. The spell would heal all of me, but it ebbed outward and the location I chose would heal the fastest. While my face was the least painful part of my body, ignoring my sore throat, it was the one area I couldn't cover easily. I kept the spell up until I heard movement outside the tent. Mr. Schmell's voice sounded on the other side of the fabric, "We need to go. Have we found any of the missing students yet?”

There was almost a growl in Mr. Stagnik’s voice as he responded, “No, we are going to have to report this to the Quick Rescue Workers. We can’t endanger the other students. Most of the volunteers are still managing to keep those people at bay, but whatever they made can shrug off half the spells we throw. If they have anything else up their sleeves... We need to get the kids clear before they get caught in the crossfire.”

“We don’t have much time.” I could hear the frustration and then anger as Mr. Schmell continued, “How can they have a base here? The mayor should be flogged if he’s still alive.”

“Leave the equipment and we’ll search one more time before we leave. With any luck we can find them,” a girl's voice came from a bit further away. It was faint, but it sounded like Miss Phillips’ voice.

I moved to go out to let them know I was inside, but their response was faster. I heard, “Who’s there?” before there was a tearing sound. The fabric of the top of the tent was simply devoured by something. It happened so fast that I hadn’t seen what did it. Without the top, the sides fluttered to the ground, revealing three of my teachers poised to attack. The air around Mr. Schmell’s portly body seemed thicker, as if I was looking through a pane of glass. Maybe it was a protection spell? It seemed likely. In his hands, tiny cyclones circled and were picking up speed as if eager to be unleashed.

Miss Phillips stood a few feet away with dozens of water blades swirling around her at high speeds. They encased her, protected her, but to me, it looked like she was standing inside a blender. While Mr. Stagnik looked like Mr. Stagnik. Honestly, while he was handsome, it was kind of a letdown compared to the other two. Have I been in this world too long that I began to think the same way? That power was more enticing than looks?

“Stephanie?” Miss Phillips asked first.

But when I nodded and Miss Phillips made to come to me, Mr. Stagnik shouted, “Don’t go any closer!” It was to Miss Phillips. He didn’t turn away from me and she was behind him so how he knew she was even moving was beyond me, but she stopped. Mr. Schmell didn’t say anything and if he had been in better shape, I probably wouldn’t have noticed him moving to flank me. But he wasn’t and wobbled on the uneven ground, making his movements more obvious.

Even more disturbing was the “thick” air around him "moved" when he did, and the shape became more obvious. The things outline towered above him, and my eyes followed the spiraling thick column that shot upward from Mr. Schmell.

The things tail coiled around him in a "protective" hug but spiraled into the sky. It was huge and its giant head never looked away from me. Its mouth was open as if it wanted to swoop down and gobble me up. It vanished whenever Mr. Schmell stopped moving and I couldn’t see any part of it. But that just made it that much scarier. That a dragon the size of a seven-story building was right there ready to eat me. That the slight distortion around my teacher was a monster. Very scary! I had heard of elements before but never seen them except for the beginner versions the students practiced. But theirs were weak and took on thousands of tiny shapes, like birds and small mammals. Mr. Schmell's elemental was on a whole different level.

‘What were they doing? Were they going to attack?’ My mind jumped to the worse scenario first, but I didn’t think I was wrong. It sure looked like the two men were getting ready for a battle. One I was pretty sure I couldn’t win. I finally couldn’t take it and shouted, “Yes, it's me!” to Miss Phillips question and then asked, “What's going on? Why is he moving to attack me?” I was getting ready to cast, to run. There was no way I was going to fight two to three teachers! I wasn't suicidal.

Just when I was looking for the nearest shadow, I heard Miss Phillips say, “It’s her. It’s her voice. Don’t attack.”

“You sure?” Mr. Stagnik asked like I wasn’t in his class. And maybe he had forgotten me. I barely said anything because I couldn’t cast most spells. But we had talked at least a few times! Whatever, as long as they didn’t attack. Even so, I didn’t let my guard down until they looked like they weren’t going to.

Which didn’t happen until Miss Phillips shot him a stink eye and said, “How can I not know my own student? I’m not tone deaf like you.”

He just shrugged and replied, “Okay, just in case take her to be checked out and don’t let down your guard until she’s cleared.”

I saw her roll her eyes, but she didn’t get any closer. I watched as the rotating blades around her stopped and moved to hover just beside her arms. There were six double-bladed water “swords” in total. I say swords but they really looked like small propellers you’d see on planes. It’s just that they now flexed and moved so that they never stopped being parallel as she gestured me to come over and then said, “walk in front of me and follow my directions.”

Other than telling me where to go, she didn’t say anything. Which left me to worry about if I was infected, would they have me strip, if so what about all the bruises I had hidden under my clothes? I was sweating over the unknown. The teachers seemed to think I could have been somebody other than I was. Would I turn into whatever that man had been?! I had worked myself up so much that I was almost shaking. Pictures of me being killed or sliced for medical research played in my head. My vast knowledge of “B” rated horror movies added to my imagination. Pictures of the government using me as a monster of war to aliens bent on world destruction played in my head. Instead, I was led to an old man I had seen standing next to Mr. Richard at breakfast. The man touched my forehead, said “she’s fine”, and then dismissed me.

After that, I was hurried on to the bus. Miss Phillips reluctantly allowed me to get my backpack because it was next to the remaining buses. As I got on, I found it almost empty and there was a bleakness that seemed to surround everybody on it. The confidence in the students’ eyes was gone; replaced by haunted looks. Of the sixteen students that came, just ten remained and only two of them looked unscathed. Most of them were either missing limbs or blood-soaked gauzes that covered horrible lacerations. Those that were missing limbs had been frozen in place, as if they were in stasis, and looked like macabre statues.

As for the two unscathed, maybe like me, they had been taken. They were both young men, around eighteen. I couldn't help but think of what I just went through. As men, I doubted they enjoyed it as much as I did or maybe they did and were conflicted. But that was just a fleeting thought. I ached everywhere and just wanted to sit down.

I found an empty spot near the back and huddled into myself. I didn't want to be looked at and didn’t want to see their sad looks. I wasn’t the only one. As if by agreement, the ten of us had spread out so that several rows were between us. The teachers sat in the front, their heads together, talking quietly. Nobody talked about the missing six students. It was like they were never here.

As we drove away, I spotted several Quick Defenders moving towards the new lake. They could have been out of a military recruitment video, if it wasn't for the bright yellow safety stripes that ran through their armor. Those glaring stripes broke the aesthetics because they didn't fit their cameo motif. The lake had grown since I had escaped and noticed its existence. The once still water now had ripples as things moved inside it. Those ripples only got bigger and more violent as the defenders got closer. I saw something big breaking the water as our bus got onto the ramp of the highway. The bus sped away too fast to make out any details.

I curled up and hugged myself. This was wrong. That nagging feeling, I had before was back. It was as if I had forgotten something important. The more I tried to figure it out, the more elusive it became, and I finally gave up. Instead, I pulled my arms inside my sweater, positioned my fingers so they were pointed at my chest, and softly cast 'Dynamic Neogenesis' once again. I made sure the super bright needles were quickly buried into my flesh. For the rest of the trip, I maintained the spell and let the energy course through me.

Nothing abnormal happened on the way back. However, Route 119 had turned into a parking lot, and we sat in traffic for over two hours. Honestly, I didn't mind. It gave me time to heal. Unlike the lower-level spells, I had to fight to keep it working. It hadn't started that way. Holding it for an hour was easy. It was to the point I could multitask, and I passed the time trying to figure out a little more about the spell I was currently using. Still, I could only figure out some of the more superficial parts. Most of the knowledge that constructed it was too complex or simply things I never had access to.

I had to stop trying to figure it out during the second hour and concentrate. At most, I looked at the beautiful landscape. I had seen the same rolling hills in the last world but here they seemed more "alive". It was Fall so the trees had started to change colors. It was just that there were more variants, and the colors were brighter as if somebody painted them. The landscape was just like this world, pretty on top but beneath the surface there were countless dangers. I looked at the multi-colored trees and at the crystal blue rivers that went under the highways and thought of the countless hidden critters moved within them. So, the pleasure of looking out the window was always associated with that unknown danger. A beast that might be able to break through the enchanted guardrails.

After the third hour, I began to sweat and couldn’t even look at the landscape. There was too much pressure maintaining the spell, and any distraction would cause it to break apart. Thankfully we were close to our town because I didn't think I would make it past to the fourth.

I couldn't tell how much I healed because my injuries were beneath my clothes. The only thing I could use to judge my progress was my pain. My breasts had been extremely tender after what happened, so I hadn’t bothered to put on a bra when I changed. It had made healing them easier and there wasn’t any pain now when I squeezed them. Those things sucking on them had made them swell, so I was taking the fact that they felt smaller as a good sign. It was hard to tell if there was any other soreness because I wasn’t moving around. And since I didn’t know, I did my best to continue to heal for as long as I could.

My phone had been in my pants pocket and had been dissolved the night before, so I didn't know when we left or when we arrived. I was guessing that it was around seven by the time we got into town because night had fallen. Our bus didn't go to the school. Instead, it parked at the emergency entrance of our local hospital. I hadn’t thought about the kids that were still in stasis. In fact, I actively tried not to think about anything that happened the night before and what it all meant. But it made sense that we were here. It’s just that I had wanted to go home and let my mom know my phone had been lost. I was a little worried she would panic if she couldn’t get ahold of me. I felt guilty over my thoughts, considering how injured the kids were but...

Ms. Mirth stood up, pointed at us, and said, "I know you all had a rough couple of days, but we’re back now. We need to heal your injuries and make sure there isn't anything wrong with you before sending you home. A few nurses will come out soon. Please follow their directions and we'll finish as fast as possible." She tried to keep her voice pleasant, but her resting bitch face and body language made her come across as more snarky than friendly. I decided not to say or ask anything. The way they were acting and how they treated me, prior to clearing me, had left me leery. Instead, I watched the half-a-dozen hospital attendants and three nurses coming out to collect us.

We were taken in, even those without wounds weren’t allowed to leave. I tried but my “I’m Fine” was only met with a professional smile and “We’ll know that after we check. Please get into the wheelchair.” Resigned to my fate, I was rolled into the hospital as if I had suffered some grievous wound that debilitated me.

I was separated from the other and made to change into a gown. I shivered as the slightly chilly air greeted my naked flesh. The female nurse didn't leave but watched me as if she was looking for something. Thankfully, the hours I spent healing weren’t in vain. The dark purple-green bruises that had marked my body were gone. I wasn't sure what they were looking for, but it couldn't be a good thing.

Once I changed, she asked me a battery of medical questions. Things like "Are you experiencing any pain? If so, where? When was your last period? Were you injured in the last week? " And so on. After that she took my blood pressure, listened to my breathing with a stethoscope, and took a sample of my blood and urine. It took over a half hour to complete and I was left to wait in a sterile emergency room. It was another hour before the results of whatever tests they had been doing came back and I was allowed to leave. The nurse gave me a sunny smile, probably meant to put me at ease, as she handed me two tiny paper cups. I glanced at them. In the one was a tan pill with a slight greenish aura around it and the other held a sip of water. "After the pipes broke, they said the water had become contaminated. So, this is to make sure you don’t become sick. It's a mild antibiotic. Just take it and you can go home."

I glanced at it again. The aura around it was a sign of it being enchanted but that wasn't uncommon in medicine. Even the most common aspirin had a faint glow about it. I didn't think much and took the pill. I wanted to get home. I had noticed when I was putting on the gown that my breasts had shrunk a little and I had a guess as to why. Now I wanted to go home and see if I was right. This wasn't the time or place to try figure it out. With a gulp, the pill went down. It was like swallowing a red-hot poker. The pain let me know exactly where the pill was and when it entered my stomach. It felt like it was trying to burn its way back out and I broke out in a cold sweat as I clutched my belly. The robotic voice was like an angel descending, "Chemical inhibitor detected, Analyzing... DNA Blocker Detected... Purging..." The pain came and went fast, but the nurse still noticed and wrote something down on her clipboard, didn't ask anything, and left quickly.

I didn't wait for the okay to leave and changed back into my clothes. Miss Mirth took me home after I came out. I didn't say much during the trip. My mind was on the message I got before the pain went away. I had heard something similar before when I took a birth control pill. Could those things get people pregnant or were they somehow parasitic? It would explain the guy at the start of the battle. But it was unlikely that anybody would explain anything to me. The fact they gave that kind of drug to me without parental consent was just another variation of this world I hadn’t expected. The only thing Ms. Mirth mentioned during the drive was that we all had tomorrow off.

When I got home, I called out "Mom I'm home" but the house was cool and empty. The lights were off and when I checked, there wasn't even a note. She must be with Roy, but I felt a little bitter. It's not that I didn't want her to fall in love but... Sigh, was I really this childish. I let it go. It was better that she wasn't home worrying about me. And I needed to check if there were any other changes to my body.

I ran into my room, shut the door, and looked at the full-length mirror I had fastened there. It was cheap with a plastic frame, but it did the job. Staring at my reflection, I let out a sigh of regret as I took off the rest of my clothes. My cheeks were definitely chubbier. I had known that Roy’s spell had a de-aging effect. Hell, it was what it was made for, and the "healing" was just the cells undergoing a reversal. It’s just that after using it for a few minutes, here and there, had only made my skin look more youthful. According to the nurse, I was only five’ one, not five’ two and my breasts had shrunk a little. The change wasn’t big, and others might not notice but I sure did. Looking down I also saw that my fuzzy little patch was a little sparser. It all added up to the fact that I was now younger. I could only guess what my true age was now. I didn’t know how fast a girl’s body grew, what these changes meant and finally comforted myself that I already had a mental age of eighteen; that my body’s age wasn’t important.

I checked the time and then turned on my computer. It was nine twenty, but I wasn't tired. Plus, I needed to shower and check the date. I looked around the house but without my phone, I had no other way of knowing. I took one last look at my slightly less curvy body and while the computer was booting, walked across the hallway to the bathroom to shower.

My mom had come back sometime while I was showering and for the second time, Roy got to see me wrapped in a towel as I scampered back to my room. For his part he only looked briefly until he realized I was half naked and then looked away. Honestly, he seemed to only have eyes for my mother. My mom was the same for him. They were so caught up in their two-person world that they barely noticed my existence and I ran back into my room without having to explain anything that had happened to me over the last few days or why I was half naked. While it was unlike how my mom normal would behave, I had also never seen her in love. I was glad she was distracted. She was too good at wheedling out my secrets and noticing my lies, so I didn’t dawdle. Once I was securely in my room, I didn’t come back out.

Instead, I jumped on my computer to see if I could find anything out about Huntington. The news wasn’t prominent, probably because it was a tiny town, but wasn’t restricted either. Several videos and news articles about how the community came together in “times of need” were ones at the top of the search. I read those first to get an idea on how this world handled minor disasters. The article used flowery wording, so I had to assume a little. If I was correct, it wasn’t much different from my world. People would donate goods or time while the government would send funding.

But that was for minor catastrophes. For major ones, they sent in the “Quick Response Units” with I had thought was like a swat unit for the city, but judging from some of the videos and pictures, they were more like national guards. They came when citizens don’t or can’t handle the issue. As for why normal people show up when the Quick Response Units can deal with the issues, the articles didn’t say.

The first articles were done in a slice of life kind of way, and I saw I was even in a few of the pictures. I was never the main subject, just lucky enough to be caught in the same frame. The later articles were done in a grim tone that brought attention to “invasive” monsters and what to look for. Invasive monsters came in a lot of forms, from tiny bugs like ticks that would latch on and slowly contaminate their host’s thoughts. The type that attacked me were known as the unseen. They would implant their children into men or women and then let them go. Once their children awaken, they normally grew inside the person until they broke free. There were others but the articles mainly focused on early detection and treatments of those two types.

I closed the articles and started reading the four new spells I had gotten. Everything happened so fast that I never had a chance to. I was curious if ‘Tentacle’ and ‘Grasping Doom’ were the same as the spells I knew. With that thought in mind I pulled up the spell displays and read through them. The tenacle spell allowed the caster to form one tentacle on their body. It can be as small as a pinky to twice the length of my arm and could me moved around by thought. ‘Grasping Doom’ was an area attack spell. The caster picked the location they wanted, and tentacles would sprout to grasp and attack everybody in that location. They were the same spells I knew.

‘Pulled to the Depths’ and ‘It Came from the Deep’ both required bodies of water for them to work, making them a little limited. But because of that limitation, they were both a bit stronger than spells at the same level. For example, tentacles would appear out of the water and pull the caster’s target to the Depths. But that wasn’t at the bottom of the water source but a completely new pocket location. Once there, the target only had a limited time before the gateway closed and left them to find their own way back. If they couldn’t breathe under water to cast, and have a spell to teleport them back, they’d be trapped there until they died.

The ‘It Came from the Deep’ spell opened a gateway and allowed a powerful creature to come out to fight for me. I read it as “summon monster.” It’s just that the spell was advanced, and I didn’t understand what kind of monster I’d get, how much control I’d have, or if it’d go back after a certain time. I wasn’t sure I should cast it. The scene of Huntington in ruins was still too fresh in my mind and without knowing, I read through the spell until I understood as much as I could. It was only when I started yawning, that I closed all the screens and fell asleep.