In the cold void of space, where there was nothing but oppressive darkness and twinkling stars, a corpse drifted... Yes, a human corpse. It wasn't intact; it was mangled and frozen. It was missing parts: the right arm was gone, the left ended at the wrist, the left foot was severed below the knee, and the right leg was cut off at mid-thigh. As for the head... the skin and flesh had eroded away, leaving the skull bare except for the right eye, which remained in its empty socket.
This was the corpse of Adam, the man who had been "gifted" immortality and regeneration from the sky.
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Adam's shift ran late—some of the guys at the gas station diner could be real jerks. He was supposed to get off at midnight, but they ended up dumping all the work on him. But from Adam's perspective, he kinda deserved it. Why? Because he never stood up for himself. He just never pushed back.
He was a twenty-year-old young man; that day was his twentieth birthday.
He couldn't say"no" to them or complain about them to the branch manager.
But what would that even change? The manager would just scold all of them, including Adam, and then launch into some stupid, pointless lecture about "teamwork" and how anyone slacking off would get fired. After that, he'd just go back to harassing the female employees. Yeah, his boss was a corrupt, sleazy guy. What else would you expect from a brown-nosing, sweaty womanizer like him? Unfortunately, nothing.
He couldn't handle the thought of getting fired. He was in college and had bills to pay. He needed this job. If he got fired today, he might not find another one before the end of the month. Or worse... it could take months.
He wasn't an orphan No, both his parents were alive and well.
He had no high-achieving siblings to take his parents' attention away from him No, he was the only child.
His father worked as a very low-level employee at a no-name marketing firm. Their business was slow and not at all successful, yet they were always busy... probably apologizing or begging for work. And just like the others, Adam's father could have used his salary to pay off some debts, but he was a selfish man—a taker, not a giver.
As for his mother, she was a housewife. She was always alone in the house after Adam and his father left for work. She was also terrible; she cheated on her husband with men from the neighborhood or guys from the grocery store. Her only excuse was that she liked handsome men, and her husband had long lost his looks, with the high probability of him getting fired always hanging over his head.
There were always fights and arguments between the wife and her husband, and Adam was always the one who ended up hurt by their actions
Yeah, an ordinary life for people in the lower class. It's the kind of life that's supposed to build strong, successful, and confident men—men who can make a name for themselves and build a prosperous life.
But... that only happens when you're mentally and emotionally sound. Unfortunately, Adam wasn't.
There was an illness that his grandfather had; he would hear voices and talk to them. He would see people who weren't there and have conversations with them. He was intensely anxious about everything, even the smallest things. His grandfather endured this torment his whole life, living into his nineties, until he finally committed suicide, finally free from the pain and exhaustion he had felt.
The risk of his grandchildren inheriting it was only 3% to 5%. That means the chances of getting the illness were extremely low.
But... Adam wasn't that lucky. Even though he had uncles, aunts, and cousins, no one else got it. Not his father, not his uncles, not any of their children. It struck Adam, and Adam alone.
There was no permanent cure for this illness, one that could erase it completely. If there had been, they would have given it to his grandfather long before he took his own life. There were specific medications that could reduce the symptoms a little, but not eliminate them entirely.
But Adam's father refused to buy them. In his eyes, they were useless. After all, his own father had taken the medications and still ended up committing suicide.
Besides, the medications were far too expensive; the cost was outrageous. How could someone who was sick possibly afford them? It made no sense. But that's just how the people in power had decided things.
And so, Adam had to cover his university tuition and also contribute to the household expenses. He was forced to pay up; his father had made it clear that if he wanted to keep living under his roof, he had to pay. Besides, living alone in his condition would have been even harder and more expensive than what his father was charging him.
This made his life even harder than it already was. Making friends was incredibly difficult. He had five friends, if you could even call them that... and he wasn't even the one who had initiated most of these friendships.
No, his first real friend was named Trevor. They'd been friends since elementary school. Trevor was normal; he didn't have those mental struggles. He had his own issues with his parents, and that was actually what brought them together in the first place.
I guess that saying is true after all: "Birds of a feather flock together."
As for the other four, they were really Trevor's friends. To Adam, they were more like acquaintances than actual friends.
People judged him from the moment they laid eyes on him, without even getting to know him. This meant he often ended up being the butt of jokes, a target for bullies, or getting labeled as gloomy, depressed, a psycho, or just plain crazy.
***
After leaving the diner, Adam put on the headphones Trevor had given him, turned on his music, and walked away.
After a short walk, Adam reached a crossroads. The left path led straight to his house with no turns—a well-lit, smooth road with no potholes. The chance of a car stopping to give him a ride home was high.
The right path led to the abandoned apartment complex, the one everyone called "haunted." People had vanished there without a trace, which made all the residents leave. Even the people who lived near the complex eventually moved away. This road was a long way from his house—a dark path, illuminated only by moonlight and the occasional, rare pair of headlights.
But he loved it; it was the path that made him feel more at ease, where he could listen to his music. This was his own personal kind of romance.
This didn't mean he was against normal romance or that he didn't have feelings for someone else. But everyone has certain situations and places where they feel comfortable. And that dark, moonlit path was one of the places where Adam truly found peace.
When he looked at his phone, he saw how late it had gotten. The walk itself took him a long time. He felt a deep sense of frustration; he really wanted to stay and sit for a while, to let go of all the exhaustion he was feeling. But he was already so late today, so he couldn't afford to stay any longer.
He decided he had to head back home.
"I don't want to go tomorrow..."
He kept thinking about the next day, about how he had to go to university. He didn't want to. It wasn't because he was a bad student, but because he had no friends there and was often the target of harsh ridicule. On top of that, he was being forced to go anyway; if he didn't, his grades would suffer—something he really couldn't afford.
Adam was smart, but since he didn't attend classes regularly, it was hard for him to keep up. He needed every single point he could get.
Just then, a bright light from behind cut through his thoughts.
"A car?... Should I raise my hand to stop it?"
"No... forget it. I'll just keep walking."
The light grew intensely bright. It wasn't normal; it was stronger than an ordinary car's headlights. Was it a large truck or something? Adam paid it no mind and went back to his thoughts about university.
But the air was getting hotter. The light was blindingly bright, yet the vehicle was taking too long to pass him.
Only then did his curiosity finally stir. He remembered the rumors, the disappearances that had happened around here, the recent cases of people vanishing. He thought there might be some maniac kidnapping people at night.
So, he turned his head slightly to look, and what he saw was unbelievable.
The light wasn't coming from a car, but from the sky. Everything around him was lit up as if it were morning. How had he not noticed this sooner?
When he focused, he saw something falling directly toward him from the sky, and it was already very close. It took him a few seconds to realize he was in danger. He snapped his gaze forward and started running as fast as he could, but he was already too late. So, he dashed towards a nearby building for cover. That was a bad idea, because the falling, luminous object clipped several buildings on its way down—including the very one Adam had run inside for shelter
The object pierced through three buildings before slamming into Adam's. It toppled them as if they were made of playing cards, reducing them to mere rubble. It finally came to rest in the dusty ground beside the building, after sending a tremor through the entire area. Steam and a faint light rose from it.
The place was deserted and far from the city center. The nearest police or fire station was a long way off.
On the other side, a few minutes later, Adam managed to crawl out from under the debris. He sat down on a chunk of rubble beside him. He checked himself over for any injuries; luckily, he hadn't sustained any serious wounds, just some minor ones.
The worst was a gash on his head, bleeding just enough to trickle into his eye. His clothes were filthy and slightly torn, his phone screen was cracked, and his headphones were completely shattered.
He picked up the headphones Trevor had given him. He stared at them for a long time, his expression darkening. His hand was trembling from what had just happened—it's not every day something destructive falls out of the sky onto your head.
He looked to his left and saw the steam rising from the crash site. What was he supposed to do now?... Yeah, Adam stood up and started walking in the opposite direction. It was the logical thing to do.
Something fell from the sky, easily smashed through four buildings, and landed creating a crater about 15 to 20 feet wide. Maybe it was a missile that fell from a plane and could explode at any moment, or something similar. Nobody in their right mind would want to get tangled up in something that dangerous. He had moved about 30 feet away when the usual voices in his head started their chatter.
Multiple voices chimed in; one was screaming, "Run away as fast as you can!" while another whispered, "Go back and look; maybe you'll find something valuable."
Adam was responsive to them, talking back as if it were the most normal thing in the world. It definitely wasn't normal, but what could he do? He was used to it.
He had gotten used to talking with the voices because he was lonely, and there was no one else to talk to. Sure, he had Trevor, but Trevor wasn't always there for him. So, he turned them into imaginary friends.
He started imagining them as characters similar to him, each with a distinct trait that set them apart in their personality—some were angry, others were cowards, and some were brave... They were different, not in appearance, since they all looked just like Adam, but each version had a name.
All these imaginary versions were closer to being normal humans than Adam himself was.
As the voices and arguments between them multiplied, one voice spoke up... When Adam heard it, he felt a comforting sensation, a feeling of familiarity, like hearing a dear old friend. Adam's expression quickly shifted into what might have looked like a goofy smile.
"Daniel!!" Adam said.
"Danny!..."
It was Danny, the character Adam had imagined, now manifested before him. He had the same appearance as Adam, just like all the other imaginary versions, but with a smiling face. His expression wasn't vacant like Adam's; it was... normal.
Danny said, "Adam."
Adam replied, "What do you think, Danny?"
The character of Danny was fully formed right in front of him, but it wasn't real—it was just Adam's imagination. Danny stood there, placing his right hand on his chin while supporting it with his left, as if deep in thought. A few seconds later, before Danny could even approach Adam...
Danny stepped closer and said to him, "In my opinion, you should go. You have nothing to lose, but you need to be careful. If you see the slightest sign of danger, you have to run for it."
Adam replied, "Okay, if you think so, then I'll do it."
Adam always listened to the imaginary Danny, convinced that this character led him to the best decisions and solutions for his problems. Well, sometimes its decisions were somewhat good and wise. He did as the character said.
Adam stood at the edge of the crater, looking at the object. It was a metallic cylinder, surrounded by what looked like a shimmering energy field. The field was small, tightly wrapped around the cylinder and taking its shape, almost like a silvery substance forming the cylinder's outer surface.
He moved closer, holding a stick he had found. The cylindrical shape was now directly in front of him. He gripped his stick and poked the cylinder.
The shimmering field flickered, stopped, and began to dissolve, melting away downward. Then, the cylinder itself lit up right before his eyes with lines glowing on its surface. These glowing lines separated from each other in a bizarre way. It became clear that they were segments, peeling back to reveal what was inside.
The moment it opened, an intense, golden light burst forth. Inside, there was a sphere the size of a soccer ball, floating in place. It held two colors that swirled within it as if it contained two seas: one gold and the other black. The waves moved slowly. The two colors weren't separate, one here and the other there; no, they were blended together, intricately intertwined, giving it a strangely alluring appearance for some reason.
All the voices inside and around him vanished completely, as if he were in a soundproof, isolated room, or as if he had gone deaf. Internally and externally, he could no longer even hear his own thoughts. For the first time in his life, he felt a sense of calm, peace, and comfort from within and without.
His eyes were wide open. His mouth was slightly agape. He raised his right hand and brought it close to the sphere. The moment he touched it, the waves inside began to churn and rage, but with a strange slowness. From it emerged seven little tentacles, gold and black.
The tentacles slowly approached his hand. When the first point of contact was made between Adam and the initial tentacle, he collapsed to his knees from the sudden, overwhelming pain. And just like that, everything came rushing back, but with brutal force. The internal and external voices returned, his senses returned, but they were accompanied by an intense pain radiating from where the first tentacle had touched him. It violently ripped him out of the peace and quiet he had just been experiencing.
He tried to scream or pull away, but he couldn't. His mouth was open, but no sound came out, as if the thing was experimenting with Adam's bodily settings. First, it had disabled his hearing, and now it had muted his voice. What was next? Would it shut off his sight, then his smell, leaving him to end by losing his sense of touch and feeling? But that didn't happen.
While the first tentacle was merging into Adam's hand in a bizarre way—it didn't pierce his skin to create a wound, no, it was as if it was fusing with his skin and flesh—the second tentacle slowly approached and made contact. The moment it touched him, Adam's body convulsed and he collapsed to the ground, motionless. The pain intensified.
Then came the third... His body shuddered again as he lay on the ground. The fourth and the fifth... This time, his body convulsed violently, allowing a flood of tears and saliva to stream from his eyes and mouth. The expression on his face was strange; it strongly suggested he was undergoing intense torment. The sixth permitted a faint, muffled moan to escape. Then came the seventh.
The sphere gradually shrank until it was nothing more than the ends of the tentacles. As the last part of it disappeared inside Adam, something seemed to be moving beneath his skin—or perhaps it was his skin itself moving. Then, just as suddenly, everything stopped, and Adam regained consciousness.
He was lying on his stomach in front of the cylinder, without any injury or pain. He felt none of the agony from moments before. Adam stood up. A few seconds later, he tried to run for it after one of the cowardly voices inside him told him to.
Adam turned in the direction opposite the cylinder and ran. He ran so fast that he tripped, causing him to fall and tumble, his back slamming into something hard and sharp. It was the iron rebars from the collapsed buildings. They were like spears, impaling him through the back and protruding from his stomach.
Adam stared with wide, terrified eyes. Blood trickled from his mouth. Sweat. Tears. His body trembled. He tried to call for help, but he couldn't. The pain was so overwhelming that his voice refused to come out.
"Danny, help me!!... I don't want to!... I don't want to!... I don't want to die!!... Please, Danny!"
Adam was pleading with Danny as if he were a real person standing beside him, but he wasn't; he was just a figment of his imagination, a character he had created from the voices.
A few seconds later, Danny replied, "Adam, stop for a moment and listen to me... Try to push yourself off the rebar slowly to free yourself before you lose too much blood."
He didn't question Danny's decision; he considered all of his choices to be wise and for the best. They weren't always the best, but sometimes they were good.
The moment he pushed himself forward, his body jerked free from the iron rebar. Adam screamed loudly then, but no one heard him; the place was deserted.
For some reason, the pain was even worse than before, but this time it was different. It was accompanied by a disgusting sensation. He
lifted his uniform yellow restaurant shirt and looked.
He found small, red, worm-like filaments within the wounds, intertwining with each other. It was a truly nauseating and painful feeling, as if worms were writhing deep within his insides. But it didn't last long before he felt the pain vanish completely, leaving him with only extreme exhaustion, fatigue, and a horrifying experience.
Adam tried to stand up. He leaned his left hand on a rock for support, but the rock crumbled to dust under his touch. Adam stared at his hand in fear, managed to stand, then felt a wave of dizziness and vomited violently. He tried to sit back down to rest.
Suddenly, a display materialized before him, resembling a panel of pure, matte blackness—like staring into a dark abyss. It had ornate golden edges. Inside it was a symbol that looked like two long, upward-pointing arches, one slightly taller than the other. Above them was a separate line, and inside the arches was a single dot. The arches were connected to each other by a line at the bottom.
Above this symbol were other strange golden symbols, and below it were more of them. The edges too were gold, and scattered across the pitch-black screen were golden glimmers resembling stars or nebulae, with nothing visible behind its profound darkness.
He tried to touch it, but it was useless, as if it, too, were just an illusion inside his mind. The cowardly voices and the other voices within him fell silent, leaving only Daniel to speak.
"What is this, Adam?"
"I don't know. It just appeared in front of me."
It seemed the imaginary characters could also see the screen. Adam didn't think too much about it. He stood up, still feeling exhausted.
He touched the spot where the iron rebar had impaled him. He found nothing. Not even a scar. But he was covered in a lot of blood on his clothes and stomach. Also, the wounds he had suffered when he crawled out from the rubble were gone too, though the blood remained. It seemed whatever it was could close the wounds, but not draw the blood back in.
Adam didn't question any of it; because this pain wasn't normal or something happening in his imagination like usual, like his typical hallucinations or delusions.
He heard the sound of police sirens and a fire truck approaching. The police and fire engines were late because the area with the apartments was isolated. The only thing near it was the gas station, and even that was still far away.
Adam wanted to stay and explain what had happened to the police, to tell them his story. But the cowardly voices screamed at him to run. They screamed horrifying scenarios of what they would do to him if they caught him and discovered he had such an ability.
The voices were saying:
"They will perform tests and experiments on you...Run!"
"They will cut you into pieces to find out the limits of your immortality!...Run!"
"Aaaah!!...Run!.. Run!"
"They will start with your fingers,then your hands, then they'll gouge your eyes out!... Run!"
Adam crouched on the ground, putting his hands over his ears to block them out. His hands—his whole body—was trembling violently. He was sweating profusely, his eyes wide open.
Adam screamed:
"Nooooo!...Nooooo! Nooooo!"
"I don't want that!...I don't want that!"
His imagination was so powerful that he was vividly picturing everything the voices were repeating in his mind, as if he were living those moments. Saliva and tears streamed from his mouth and eyes; he was a complete mess.
Adam said:
"Danny!...Danny! Danny, I don't want that!"
"Danny!..Please."
Some of the voices in his head were screaming while others laughed and mocked him. Then, the voices fell silent for a moment until Danny uttered the final command:
"Run, Adam!... Run!!"
It took him a few seconds to obey. Adam got to his feet and ran in the direction opposite to the police sirens. He ran as fast as he could, wiping tears from his face. He was so focused on escaping that he didn't even notice he was running with insane speed and power, each step more like a giant leap.
Adam got far away from the apartment complex. He looked back to check if any of the police were following him. But he tripped again. At this speed, the injuries weren't going to be minor.
Sure enough, Adam tumbled violently across the asphalt road and slammed into a large decorative rock placed beside the road. The impact broke his left arm and his right foot, and fractured the upper left part of his skull.
"Aaah! Aaah!.."
Painful screams and groans escaped him.
But just like the previous wound, it started with the sharp pain of the injury. Then, a few seconds later, a distorted, sickening sensation set in, accompanying a pain even more intense than before—so severe it would make anyone wish for death rather than endure it. Then, the pain would stop. This time, however, the horrifying sensation lasted longer. Was it because this injury was more severe than the last one?
But it came with a sharp increase in exhaustion and fatigue. Adam looked at his arm, which had been broken and dangling limply just moments before, now moving as if it had never been injured.
Then he heard one of the inner voices—it was Danny's—saying to him:
"It seems you've gained insane regenerative abilities,along with your speed and physical strength... But like I said, you need to run, Adam. We'll figure out what to do next later."
Adam replied,
"Okay."
True to his word, Adam resumed his frantic dash toward his home.
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Returning to the corpse floating in space...
The corpse drifted close to an unknown planet. It pierced the atmosphere at tremendous speed. The intense heat melted the ice, allowing the immortality ability to reactivate and begin the healing process.
While the extreme friction ignited it into a fiery blaze, tearing away flesh and skin, new tissue continuously reformed. This continued until it reached a point where the flames died down, allowing the regeneration to make some slight progress. It was a start, but not enough.
The corpse hurtled toward the surface of the strange planet, carrying immense momentum. When the body struck the ground, some of its parts shattered. It then bounced off the earth, rose a short distance, fell again, and bounced once more. It continued like this for a short distance until it landed in a small pool of a yellow, liquid substance.
It sank to the bottom. And there, those red and white worm-like entities emerged. They began clinging to each other, weaving together new tissue and bone for the corpse's remains, which were missing an entire head and parts of the upper body. The arms were shattered, and so were the legs, with only fragments left.