I felt like molten lead was coursing through my veins. My body was heavy and my blood vessels began to twist and swell under my skin. Right away a series of bruises appeared all over my body.

I tried to scream but no voice could escape my throat. The expanded arteries were pressing against my larynx and trachea, making it impossible for me to emit even the tiniest of sounds and making it difficult for me to breathe. I gasped as if I was drowning but with enormous effort I still managed to forcibly swallow in the air.

An electrical discharge ran through my body. My heart began to beat at a frantic pace and my muscles began to contract and relax with ever increasing frequency and strength, fueled by the increased blood flow reaching them. With my remaining strengths, I desperately grabbed the sides of the cot to try to keep me still. My fingers twitched and I felt the metal slowly yield under my grip.

Suddenly, I heard audible bursts coming from inside of me. A crimson veil tinted my gaze and I soon found myself blind. I tasted iron in my mouth and began to swallow a mixture of air and blood, which had taken on the consistency of tar.

The convulsions intensified and I felt my bones give way under the pressure exerted by the uncontrolled muscle spasms. My heart rate increased even further and even the unbearable heat I was feeling coursing through my bloodstream intensified.

For a moment, my vision became clear and my bones were forced back into place and fused back together. Looking at my chest, I could see the stitches made by Faye catch fire and felt as if my sternum was being welded together by a flame coming from inside my body. The next instant another rush of current went through me, my vision turned red once again, a series of spasms ensued and my bones shattered again.

This process repeated itself over and over. Due to the surgery, my circulatory system had been modified and had become capable of retaining the aura generated by my body, conveying it inside itself. In this way, the aura was being accumulated and transported to every point of my organism. Due to the high aura concentration, my body was being forced to evolve, leading to an increase in aura generation, which was getting channelled into the bloodstream as well, in an ever repeating positive feedback-loop.

Unlike a circuit, which by nature should have had a series of systems aimed at expelling excessive aura, the circulatory system was not born with the function of conveying the aura through the organism. My bloodstream had been forced to perform a function to which it shouldn't have been assigned. Now, it was a race against time: my organism would have to adapt to its new conditions, or it would tear itself apart.

There were various ways I could have ended up: shattered and splintered by convulsions, killed by the widespread bleeding from bursting blood vessels, and others. My speed of regeneration, amplified by the accumulating aura, appeared to be my lifeline, as it seemingly was able to avert these possibilities. It could also have been the cause of my downfall: after all, if certain parts of the body started to grow in an uncontrolled way they could very well devour the rest of the organism, spelling my doom.

For some reason, at some point in time I had stopped feeling pain and had become capable of thinking clearly. While my body continued to convulse, with my muscles twitching and my bones shattering, I no longer felt anything. I felt like I had separated from my own body and my mind had cleared. This particular sensation was probably induced in part by the fact that any sensory input had been interrupted, as I had become deaf and blind, my sense of touch had been overloaded by pain and, I imagined, my nerve endings had become damaged.

I thought back to my first moments in this new world, my first meeting with Faye, the gruelling workouts with Marnie, the silly plan I had envisioned for the future. Then, my mind went back to the surgery and for the first time I realized how stupid I had been. I had gone to an abandoned mountain to have my chest opened and my heart pierced by a needle. I wondered how I could have been so crazy but I couldn't give myself an answer. Shortly thereafter, I felt my mind relax and I surrendered to a strange numbness.

I woke up with a grunt. My head hurt. I tried to open my eyes but closed them quickly: the sunlight that filtered through the window annoyed me. I tried to cover them with my hand, but I felt something blocking my movements. Without thinking too much, I exerted more strength and brought my hand to my face. I opened my eyes slightly, waiting for them to get used to the light.

I didn't know how long it had been since I had lost consciousness, but at the moment I didn't particularly care. I just wanted to get out of the room and find something to eat as soon as I could, as I was starving. I started to get up but something was impeding my movement once again and was forcing me onto the bed. Annoyed by this, I squirmed around to free myself. I heard high-pitched metallic noises that hurt my ears.

Still with an unfocused gaze, I walked unsteadily towards the exit. I tried to open the door, but it refused to move. Pushing harder, I finally managed to get out of the room. I heard a thud coming from my side, but I continued on without paying it any attention.

Even though I didn't see very well, I managed to find a few bags of provisions. I began to dig inside them and gulped down whatever I found, regardless of the flavour. Slowly, I felt my energy return. It took a while for my vision to return to normal, but when I got a good look at it, I realised I was chewing on a log of wood.

Disgusted, I threw it away violently. I felt it hit the wall, but I didn't hear it fall to the ground. Uninterested, I focused on finding actual edible food and started eating that.

I was finally able to satisfy my hunger. I laid down on the floor, stretched my limbs and closed my eyes. I still wanted to sleep. Suddenly, I heard the front door swing open and a shadow appeared above me.

“J-John ?! Is that really you?!” the figure exclaimed.

I felt a warm liquid fall on my face. Opening my eyes, I recognized Faye, with her mouth wide open and crying her eyes out.