Episode 3 – The First Rift
The hospital cafeteria buzzed with the same chaos as the ER. Forks clattered, gossip spilled faster than coffee, and whispers of Michael Carter's "miracles" spread from table to table.
"Did you hear? He saved a terminal TB patient."
"No—he cured cancer. The senator's wife."
"That's bullshit. It's impossible."
Michael sat at a corner table, hoodie half-zipped, earbuds dangling, a joint tucked behind his ear like a pencil. Calm. Smirking. He let them whisper. He didn't need to defend himself—his work spoke louder than any rumor.
[XP: 900 / 4000]
[Level 3 – Prestige 0]
The numbers floated in his mind like a silent HUD. Every save fed him. Every patient made him sharper.
But the higher he rose, the more enemies circled.
⸻
Jealousy Breeds Enemies
Dr. Lang was one. The man's ego couldn't handle a rookie outperforming him. He'd started spreading rumors—that Michael slept with nurses for case favors, that he falsified reports, that he was buying his way into impossible saves.
And Lang wasn't alone. Other residents started glaring, whispering in shadows, plotting. Roosevelt Memorial thrived on betrayal. Everyone wanted a piece of the throne, and Michael had become the shining star overnight.
But he wasn't fazed. He had a bigger game to play.
⸻
The Affair
That night, the on-call room was dark except for the glow of a bedside lamp. Jessica, the married nurse from last week, slipped in quietly. Her hair down, lips bitten, eyes burning with hunger.
"You keep saving lives, Carter," she whispered, sliding onto his lap. "And you keep making me break every fucking rule I swore to follow."
Her kiss was hot, desperate, tasting of wine stolen from the resident's lounge. Scrubs hit the floor. Breathless gasps filled the room, bodies pressed together with raw urgency.
"Fuck—Michael…" she moaned, fingers digging into his skin as he grinned, calm, steady, deep.
He lit a blunt after, exhaling smoke as she lay trembling against him.
"You're trouble," she said, half-smiling.
He smirked. "Trouble saves lives."
But their tryst wasn't as secret as they thought. A shadow lingered outside the door, watching, seething. Lang.
⸻
Case #4 – The Impossible Wound
The ER doors burst open at dawn. A man staggered in, blood pouring from a wound in his chest. The cut was… wrong. Not a stab wound. Not a gunshot. The edges glowed faintly, like burned by plasma.
"What the fuck happened to him?" a nurse gasped.
The man collapsed, whispering words no one understood. His eyes glowed faint green.
Michael's pulse quickened. He felt it—this man wasn't from here. His body didn't map like a normal human. His blood carried strange energy, cells vibrating with foreign rhythm.
The attendings froze. "We… we can't operate on this. He's not—what the hell is this?"
Michael stepped forward, gloves snapping on. Calm. Dangerous.
"I've got him."
Lang spat. "You're insane, Carter. He's not even—fuck, he's not human!"
Michael ignored him. His hands glowed, brighter than ever. He reached into the wound. For a second, his vision split—he saw not just flesh but something deeper, threads of alien energy woven into bone and tissue.
He rewove them. His power surged. The glow spread across the man's body, sealing the wound, restoring what shouldn't even exist.
The monitors steadied. The man gasped awake, clutching Michael's wrist with inhuman strength. His eyes burned green.
"You…" the man rasped. "Healer… across worlds."
And then he vanished. In a flash of light, his body flickered out of existence—leaving only silence and stunned faces behind.
[XP +2500]
[Balance: +$1000]
[Level Up! You are now Level 4 Healer.]
[Skill Unlocked: Dimensional Awareness.]
Michael staggered back, heart pounding. He could feel it now—like cracks in the air around him. Rifts. Gateways. Openings to other worlds.
⸻
The Rift
That night, as he walked home through the bummy streets of New York, Michael saw it.
A tear in reality. A glowing scar in the air above an alley. Most people walked past, blind to it. But to Michael, Level 4 Healer, it was blinding.
He stepped closer. Heat rolled from the rift. His Dimensional Awareness tingled, warning and calling at once.
"Limitless worlds…" he muttered, smirking. "Guess I just found my invitation."
Before he could reach it, his phone buzzed.
Jessica.
"We need to talk. It's bad. Lang knows."
Michael slipped his phone away, lighting another blunt. The glow of the rift pulsed above him. Trouble on both sides—hospital politics on one, the multiverse on the other.
He grinned.
"Guess tomorrow's gonna be fun."
Hospital Chaos
The next morning, the hospital was electric. Whispers exploded. Lang had told half the staff about Michael's affair with Jessica. Word spread fast—nurses giggled, doctors sneered, and Jessica avoided his eyes, flushed with shame.
Michael didn't flinch. He walked the halls calm, unbothered, letting the rumors burn around him.
At rounds, Lang cornered him. "You're finished, Carter. Fucking finished. You think curing patients makes you untouchable? I'll destroy you. The board will hear everything. The chief will bury you."
Michael leaned close, eyes cold, calm.
"You can't bury someone who doesn't die."
Lang froze, shivering despite himself. For a split second, Michael's glowing eyes flickered—and Lang realized this wasn't just some cocky intern. This was something else. Something beyond human.
⸻
The Next Save
Later, an overdose came in. A young woman, convulsing, foam at her lips. Normal protocols weren't enough. She was gone in minutes—until Michael touched her.
The glow flared, coursing through her veins, purging the poison instantly. She gasped awake, clutching him, whispering, "You… you're an angel."
Michael smirked.
[XP +1200]
[Balance: +$1000]
[XP: 2600 / 5000]
His reputation grew, despite the scandals. The hospital hated him. The patients worshiped him.
And the rift outside his apartment pulsed stronger every night.
⸻
Limitless Horizons
Michael stood on his roof that evening, smoke curling from his blunt, eyes fixed on the city. Behind the skyscrapers, the rift shimmered like a wound in the sky.
"Limitless people to save. Limitless lives to change. Limitless ways to fuck up this world—and every other one out there."
He grinned, the city's lights reflecting in his glowing eyes.
"Lang thinks he's my enemy. This hospital thinks they can break me. They have no fucking clue. I'm just leveling up."
The rift pulsed. Somewhere, out there, another world was waiting for his scalpel.