??? — Time Unknown
General POV:
His mind went back to the explosion. Even with the bioelectricity and his Body Supremacy, there was no chance of him surviving. He should have died. Maybe he did. But something held him.
"You were not born to die in silence."
The voice echoed in his head, soft and vast, like thunder whispering across glass. Light cracked through the dark. A beam split the abyss, and out of it stepped a presence, neither man nor machine. It didn't have a body. It was the light.
The Iris.
A thousand eyes formed in the shape of a flower, petals of energy cycling like a blooming supernova. Time here was wrong. His injuries pulsed in reverse, cells stitching themselves back together, nerves reconnecting.
"I didn't expect to meet you again. Especially not like this. Thanks." Shawn said, voice hoarse but real. "Where am I?"
"The thread between death and purpose. The fracture between what was and what must be."
"I'm assuming we're not meeting like this just for conversation. Do I owe you something for saving me?"
My vision darkens, replaced with a blue of what feels like a memory but not.
Shawn in a field of bodies, kneeling beside a dying soldier. His hand pulsing with blue light.
He gritted his teeth as something strange happens. A wave of power left him, and his wounds vanished from the soldier's chest, but pain blossomed in Shawn's side.
He smiled anyway.
The Iris had many gifts related to healing, but the truth was that some were more twisted than others. This was a gift not of healing, but of sacrifice. A bond of wounds where he would heal so others wouldn't have to.
'You are Rose. You blossom where blood is spilled. The path ahead is paved with bloodshed, but with you at the forefront, there will be no loss.'
"Apparently you know more than me. I assumed that the war was basically over with this victory. All we need to do is locate and eliminate any of Anubis' top supporters before narrowing him down."
'Yes, that is how it should be. That is how it is written. But the winds of change say otherwise.'
Another vision, this one of Anubis' statue. His eyes of flaming purple as orbs orbit his body. Even in the dream my spine shivered as I understood those were dangerous.
"How? I thought that Anubis wasn't able to create anything new, only improve on things that already existed."
'Desperation can cause some creatures to perform neigh miracles. Is Anubis any different?'
My body started to descend. I look down, earth in full view in the distance.
"Anubis evolves. So must you. You are the conduit. You will carry them back. Stitch the fallen to the living. Link heartbeat to heartbeat. Survive and become the breath between death and deliverance."
Shawn woke beneath a rusted bridge half-swallowed by sand. Blood crusted his lips. The air reeked of scorched plastic and dried flesh. His Overwatch suit was torn; the once-sleek fabric now ragged with soot and ash.
He blinked at the sky. Grey. Cloudless. No birds. No drones. The explosion had turned the California Omnium into a scar. And in its wake… silence.
He sat up, groaning. His limbs ached, but they moved. He took a stock on his person, taking note of his inventory or any possible permanent injuries he might have. No rations, no med kit, just the crackle of ozone lingering in his bones.
In the distance: the faint outline of a collapsed city. And beyond that far into the north, the Command Center. With no vehicle, it would be quite the trip.
He pressed a hand to his chest. No heartbeat out of rhythm. But his body still hummed. He could feel it, an electric thread pulling him toward others.
Someone… was dying. And they were close.
He found her under a collapsed freeway sign, a young medic, her arm pinned under debris, bleeding out. He wondered briefly on how she was there but realized how. With the fall of the omnium, it was evident that they would push to secure the area. She was obviously on such a team, but seeing as she was left for dead, the mission went bad.
"Easy," Shawn said, crouching beside her. She stared up, half-conscious, eyes wide in disbelief.
"R-Rose…?"
"Still breathing," he whispered. "Try not to ruin that miracle, yeah?"
He placed his hand over her ribs. Her lung had collapsed. Pulse was thready.
"Alright," he muttered. "Let's see if this is real."
A surge of power rippled through his palm, Vital Synch activated.
The wound transferred. Shawn gasped, chest tightening, as pain lanced his side. But the girl took a clean breath. The color returned to her cheeks. She blinked, shocked, no longer bleeding.
"You're hurt—"
"I'll live." He winced. "You wouldn't."
He hoisted her up slowly. The pain in his side went away as soon as he felt it. Body Supremacy paired with bioelectricity made his healing off the charts. He really was the best person to wield this ability. Although he secretly wished the Iris gave him another healing ability. But he wouldn't complain out loud as he'd trade worse for one more person walking.
Shawn moved through a silent graveyard of metal and flame. Bastion units lay scattered, some torn apart by explosion, others riddled with bullets. He passed makeshift crosses marked with soldier tags. Dug through debris to find survivors. Used his Synch five times. Every time it brought a smile to his face when someone opened their eyes.
"Hold on. I'm coming home."
The base had turned into a fortress. Omnics weren't just sitting idly by waiting to get picked off. They were led by Ravagers, picking at the base's defenses, testing for a counterattack, putting them on alert.
Until a guard shouted, "Movement!"
They raised weapons. Lasers primed. Tension electrified the air. Then one soldier whispered, stunned: "Hold your fire! It's him."
Shawn stumbled into the light, shirt torn, body partially exposed, carrying a fatigued soldier on his back. Another medic clung to his arm. Behind him, soldiers thought to be lost or MIA like him stumbled forward. But he couldn't contain his smile. Two long days and he was finally back.
"Got a few lost lambs," he rasped. "Hope you kept the beds warm."
The gates opened. Soldiers ran to meet him, while some grabbed the wounded to see if they needed further treatment.
S3bastian, shoved past everyone. "Took you long enough. Your tea was getting cold." Shawn collapsed into his arms.
"I missed you too, S3b."
Although some knew he wasn't ordinary, he was commanded to get checked in to put everyone's mind at ease. Wrapped in IVs and wires, Shawn lay in a cot as medics treated his nonexistent wounds. While they struggled to make sense of his body, his mind went to his vision. The dark orbs that surrounded him, they were familiar, yet he didn't know how he didn't recognize them immediately.
Was Anubis.... learning how to control Discord?