"Shadow Talent."
Remmy said it one more time like he was tasting the words.Then he leaned back and looked at his colleague.
"Never heard of it."
Moko shook his head.
"Not on any record I've seen. Not even in the rare category."
"We'll classify it as rare for now."
Remmy stood up and straightened his jacket.
"Most rare talents turn out to be useless anyway."
He glanced at Sebi with something between pity and mild curiosity.
"So don't get too excited. You might still end up being exactly the same as before just with a label now."
Sebi said nothing.
"Anyway."
Remmy picked up the Talent Detector from the bed and slipped it back into his pocket.
"We've got to move. We'll be in contact if anything develops."
He paused at the door.
"One more thing now that you've got a registered Talent, you're eligible for the Awakeners Tournament. You should apply. Could be good for you."
"I'll think about it," Sebi said.
"Good."
Remmy nodded once.
"Take care of yourself, kid."
He turned toward the door.Moko followed.Their footsteps were quiet on the hospital floor, unhurried, professional.
And then a screen appeared.Right there in the air in front of Sebi's face soft, glowing, completely impossible.The same faint light at the edges.The same glass like surface that wasn't quite solid.
It had one notification.
One unread message.
"Hey"
Sebi shot a hand up.
"Remmy. Do you see this?"
He pointed directly at the screen.Remmy turned around slowly.Looked at the spot Sebi was pointing at.Then looked at Sebi.
"See what?"
Sebi kept his finger raised.
"Right there. In front of me. You don't see anything?"
Remmy and Moko exchanged a look.The kind of look professionals exchange when they're being polite about something.
"I think you need more sleep," Remmy said.
"Three months in a coma does things to the brain. Get some rest."
He pulled the door shut behind them.The latch clicked softly.Silence.Sebi lowered his hand and turned back to the screen still hovering directly in front of him.
"So I'm the only one who can see this," he said quietly.
The screen pulsed once.
Waiting.
Sebi stared at it.
"Should I have told them? About any of this?"
He thought about it for exactly two seconds.Remmy had already looked at him like he was losing his mind just from pointing at it.
"Yeah. No."
He shook his head.
"Not yet."
He stood up slowly from the bed, legs slightly unsteady after three months of nothing.He took a step toward the screen.
One unread message.
The notification sat there blinking patiently.
"Okay. How do I even open this?"
The door burst open.
"SEBIIIIIII"
Something hit him like a small, fast moving wall.Two arms locked around him with surprising strength and he stumbled back a step.The screen flickered but stayed.
"I thought you were never going to wake up."
The voice was muffled against his shoulder but he'd know it anywhere.
"I visited you every single day, Sebi. Every day for three months. Do you understand that? Three months. Don't you ever ever do that to me again."
Sebi stood very still for a moment.Then he wrapped both arms around his little sister and held on.
"I'm here," he said quietly.
"I'm not going anywhere."
Beth pulled back and looked up at him eyes red, cheeks wet, nose slightly pink.She studied his face like she was checking for damage.
Then apparently satisfied, she balled up her fist and knocked him square on the top of his head.
"BETH"
He grabbed his head and stumbled.
"What was that FOR?"
"For making me scared!"
She crossed her arms.But the smile was already breaking through huge and warm and completely uncontrollable, the same smile that could make the worst day feel like nothing.
"You're so annoying. I'm glad you're alive."
Sebi rubbed his head and laughed despite himself.
"You have a weird way of showing it."
Beth tilted her head.Then her eyes drifted past him to the space just over his shoulder.
"Hey what were you staring at when I came in? You looked like you were reading something."
"Nothing," Sebi said immediately.
"Just still a little out of it. Three months, you know."
Beth squinted at him with the very specific suspicion that only little sisters are capable of.Then let it go.
"Hey, random question," Sebi said.
"You play video games, right?"
Beth blinked at the subject change.
"Yes?"
"When you get an unread message like a notification how do you open it?"
She stared at him for a long moment.
"Sebi," she said slowly.
"Yeah?"
"You click it."
She spoke each word separately.
"You click it and it opens. That's how messages work."
"Right."
He nodded.
"Yeah. Obviously. Thanks."
Beth shook her head like she was reconsidering how glad she was that he survived.
"Okay. I just wanted to check in on you. I have to get home I've got class tomorrow."
She grabbed her bag from the chair and headed for the door.She paused with one hand on the frame and looked back at him.
"Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."
"Never."
She pointed at him.Then she was gone, footsteps fading quickly down the corridor.The room went quiet again.The screen reappeared immediately as if it had been politely waiting for the conversation to end.
Sebi looked at it.
Looked at the unread message notification still blinking steadily.
"Alright," he said.
"Let's see what you've got."
He raised one finger and clicked it.The message opened.Two notifications expanded on the screen one after the other.
SHADOW GOD SYSTEM
[ Congratulations. You have become a Player. ]
[ Reward Received. ]
A second screen appeared right beneath it.
DAILY QUEST
[ Train to Become a Formidable Player. ]
Run 0 / 20 km
Eat Fruits and Vegetables - Incomplete
Squats — 0 / 100
Push Ups — 0 / 200
WARNING
[ Failure to complete this quest within the given time will result in a Penalty. ]
Sebi read it once.Read it again.Then laughed.
"Run twenty kilometres."
He looked up at the ceiling.
"Hello? Are you serious right now?"
The screen didn't respond.
"And eat fruits and vegetables."
He pointed at the second task.
"My sickness literally prevents me from eating half that stuff. Did you know that? Did anyone explain that to you?"
Still nothing.
"Two hundred push ups."
He counted on his fingers.
"A hundred squats. Twenty kilometres."
He dropped his hand.
"You want to finish me off completely. That's what this is."
He shook his head.But somewhere underneath the disbelief a small part of him was already doing the math thinking about the tournament Remmy had mentioned, thinking about Beth and the school fees and the medication and the monthly check that was never quite enough.
He pushed it aside.I'll deal with this when I get home.I'm not running twenty kilometres from a hospital room.He turned back to the bed and started getting dressed pulling on his clothes, moving slowly, letting his body remember what it felt like to actually be upright after three months.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and bent forward to tie his shoes.The screen flickered.A timer appeared.It wasn't counting up.It was counting down.
DAILY QUEST
[ Time Remaining — 00:00:10 ]
Sebi looked at it.
"What—"
[ 00:00:09 ]
"Hey. Hey, wait"
[ 00:00:08 ]
He stood up fast, one shoe still untied.
[ 00:00:07 ]
"I said I'd do it when I get HOME"
[ 00:00:06 ]
[ 00:00:05 ]
"OKAY OKAY FINE I'll start NOW just give me a second"
[ 00:00:04 ]
[ 00:00:03 ]
[ 00:00:02 ]
[ 00:00:01 ]
[ 00:00:00 ]
PENALTY ACTIVATED
[ Player has failed to begin the Daily Quest. ]
[ Initiating Penalty Stage. ]
The world dissolved.One second Sebi was standing in a hospital room in a building in a city.The next second he was falling.Completely free falling.No ground beneath him.No walls around him.Nothing to grab.Just open air rushing past him at full speed and a massive jungle canopy coming up toward him very fast from below.
"WHATTTTTTTTT"
The trees swallowed him whole.