From Moving Crates to Killing Gods-Chapter 40: Awakening

Three days passed in a blur of white walls, antiseptic smells, and the constant beeping of machines monitoring Phinyx’s vitals. I spent a couple of hours each day, watching his chest rise and fall, my yo-yo dancing at the end of its string as I waited for any sign of change. The hospital staff moved around us with a respect I’d never experienced before, their eyes held something like reverence inside them when they looked at us, the new Ones.

"Any change?" Kira asked, appearing at the doorway with two steaming cups. She handed one to me, and the rich aroma of tea we’d grown up with made me feel at ease. Another perk of our new status.

"Nothing." I took a sip, the heat sliding down my throat. "They say his vitals are stable. Just...waiting."

She pulled a chair beside mine, her eyes fixed on Phinyx’s still form. His face was pale, almost translucent against the white sheets, dark circles shadowing his closed eyes.

"The doctor thinks he’ll wake up?" she asked.

"They’re not sure what to think. They’ve never seen someone overuse their ability, there’s not a lot of test subjects around to learn from." I let the yo-yo drop again, the familiar motion grounding me in the strange new reality we inhabited. "Brain scans show activity, but it’s... fragmented."

On that first day, we took turns sitting with him. Coco brought juice he’d made from the hospital water, and placed a glass on Phinyx’s bedside table, as if the smell alone might wake him. Rolen came with books and read aloud in his steady voice, filling the room with stories of Argent’s history.

I’d never seen the inside of the hospital. It was really clean, with equipment that hummed constantly, displays that monitored every aspect of Phinyx’s condition. The doctors, way younger than us but with amounts of knowledge that made me feel awkward about just having general education and being experienced with moving crates.

One of the doctors, a woman with sharp eyes and steady hands, explained. "His brain activity suggests he’s processing information, just not consciously." she said, her fingers gentle as she lifted his eyelid to check for movement in his eyes. "We’re supplementing him with nutrients. We believe his body will heal itself."

"And if he doesn’t wake up?" I asked.

She looked at me directly, her expression somber. "Then we have failed one of the Ones, and that failure will be a heavy burden for all of us." She didn’t need to explain further. The pressure in the room felt suddenly heavy.

Our new status changed everything. Doors that I didn’t even know existed, opened. People who would have ignored us now paused their conversations to bow their heads slightly as we walked. Food appeared without request, information flowed freely, and everywhere we went, eyes followed us with a mixture of awe and hope.

It was disorienting. Uncomfortable. And strangely addictive.

"What’s on your mind, new ’One’ Allaran?" Kira told me on the second day, as we watched a group of children press their faces against the hospital window, trying to catch a glimpse of the survivors.

"I don’t like them to think we’re something special."

"Aren’t we?" she replied, her voice dry. "Five from fifty three. The first to kill a Corruptor. I’d say that’s pretty special." She paused, watching the children scatter as a nurse shooed them away. "Though I’m not sure I like what it means."

I knew what she meant. The reverence in their eyes carried expectation. They looked at us and saw not just survivors, but saviors. Warriors who might push back against the darkness that had claimed their world. The weight of that hope was heavier than any crate I’d ever moved.

By the afternoon of the second day, Finn had recovered enough to join us. His eyes were clear now, the emptiness gone, replaced by a quiet determination I hadn’t seen in him before. He sat beside Phinyx’s bed, and... he slept!?

"Finn, come on, this isn’t a sleepover!" I said to him while thinking if all that determination vanished the moment he sat on the comfy chair.

We gathered again on the morning of the third day. The doctors started to show signs of tension. One of them, a young man with shadows under his eyes, confessed that they’d been working in shifts, reviewing every scrap of information about ability induced trauma they could find.

"We’ve never seen a case quite like this." he admitted. "We have been just throwing stuff into the wall and hoping something sticks."

"He’ll wake up... I suffered something similar in a smaller scale, he just needs time to rest." I said with small crumbles of confidence.

And then, as if my words had summoned him, Phinyx’s fingers twitched.

It was such a small movement that I might have imagined it. But then his eyelids twitched, and a soft groan escaped his mouth. We all froze, watching as his consciousness started to surface.

His eyes opened. Unfocused. Confused. He blinked several times, his gaze drifting around the room without recognition.

"Phinyx?" Kira leaned forward, her voice gentle. "Can you hear me?"

The doctor moved quickly, checking vitals, shining a light into Phinyx’s eyes, asking simple questions. "Do you know where you are? Can you tell me the last thing you remember?"

Phinyx’s confusion was palpable, his eyes moved from face to face, and the process of recognition started inside his mind. "You’re... Kira. And... Allaran." He looked at Coco, his brow furrowing deeper. "You make... juice? Why do I know that?"

"You remember us." I said, relief felt palpable in the air. "That’s good. You’ve been unconscious for three days."

"Three days?" His eyes widened. "That’s not... it felt like..." He trailed off, his gaze turning inward. "I was hiding. I had to... disappear."

The doctor made notes, his expression intent. "Can you tell us what happened? Why you ’had’ to disappear?"

Phinyx’s hand trembled as he reached up to touch his own face, as if confirming he was real. "The Corruptors. They were... everywhere. After the gliders crashed." His breathing quickened. "I couldn’t let them find us. I had to create a vibe that allowed us to reach the barrier..."

"Your ability." Rolen said gently. "You used your vibe of non existence." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Yes." Phinyx nodded slowly. "But not like before. Not just... dampening emotions or making us seem uninteresting. I had to push it further. Make us untouchable. Undetectable."

The room fell silent as we absorbed his words. I remembered the chaos after the crash, the desperate scramble as Corruptors converged on our position. I remembered Darien’s death, Mira’s, the headless king. But Phinyx... Phinyx had simply vanished from my awareness.

"Well it worked." I said. "You saved yourself."

"Not just myself." His eyes found mine, desperate for confirmation. "Lin was with me. I was protecting both of us." He looked around the room, his expression growing increasingly distressed. "Where is she? Is she still recovering?"

"We didn’t find her Phinyx." Said Kira with a grim tone. "And it has been four days since the exile happened. I checked and asked people around the barrier, but it seems like she’s truly gone..."