Chapter 8
The Cell
I was loaded into a military transport truck by SDC officers in full tactical gear, their faces hidden behind reinforced masks; apparently this was necessary to transport one half-dead dock worker.
"Careful with the merchandise, I'm a collector's item."
"Shut the fuck up, murderer."
They shoved me onto a bench that was welded to the wall and secured my wrists and ankles with reinforced cuffs. Which was hilarious, considering how broken I was.
I closed my eyes.
I saw Rell's face as Dad pulled her into that final embrace. Her eyes wide with betrayal and terror. His spinning teeth. The sound… god, that sound.
I puked on the floor of the transport truck.
"Aw, fuck!"
"Sorry, just remembering my last breakfast with Dad."
The guard took a step forward, but the one in charge held up a hand. "Leave him. Hoffman wants him delivered intact."
The ride was rough, with every pothole sending jolts of agony through my broken body. When the truck finally stopped, I was drenched in sweat from all of the pain.
The back doors swung open, revealing the SDC Holding Facility, which was a massive concrete building.
"Ah… Home sweet home."
They walked me through security checkpoints. Metal detectors. Scanners. And a bored-looking guard.
"What's your name?"
"Fischer Magni."
"Are you Sacred?"
"Nope."
"Did you kill your sister?"
"No. My father did."
She made a note on her tablet and waved to the guards to proceed.
They took my hospital gown, hosed me down with something that burned skin, then issued me a gray jumpsuit with "SDC PRISONER" stamped across the back.
"Any items to declare?"
"Just my winning personality."
"Any medical conditions?"
"Broken all over, and I'm pretty sure I've got the infection working its way through my body."
That got his attention. He looked up sharply. "You’re infected?"
"I think. I started having dreams last night. Or for the last few days… not sure I was knocked out for a while."
He pressed a button, and a red light began flashing silently above his station. Within thirty seconds, a woman in a white lab coat appeared, accompanied by two guards.
"How long since the first symptoms?"
"A few days. After my father murdered my sister and threw me through a wall."
She ignored everything except the timing. "Elevated temperature? Visual disturbances? Hallucinations?"
"Yes, yes, and I keep hearing my sister scream as she's being eaten alive. Does that count?"
"Put him in Isolation Block C. Room 17. Full monitoring, Sacred-grade restraints, emergency response team on standby."
"He’s probably going to die anyway, let’s just throw him into gen-pop…"
"You want to be responsible if he manifests a deadly Origin and tears this place apart?"
The guard shut up.
They brought me deeper into the facility. The air grew progressively colder and damper as we continued. By the time we reached Isolation Block C, I was shivering uncontrollably.
Room 17 was a six-by-eight concrete box with nothing but a toilet, a sink, and a platform that could generously be called a bed.
"Meals three times daily, you’ll get med checks twice daily."
The door slammed shut, and I was alone.
The room was lit by a single light recessed into the ceiling, protected by the same metal cage as the ones in the hallway. There were no windows or clocks.
"Well, Rell, looks like I'm getting that Sacred awakening I always wanted..."
◆◆◆
I woke up gasping, drenched in sweat despite the cell's chill.
When I stumbled to the sink and splashed water on my face, my reflection in the polished metal above it caught my eye. My eyes had changed. The brown irises were now ringed with gold, and the whites had a faint reddish tinge.
"Shit…"
I'd seen Rell go through this.
First the dreams, then the physical changes, then the Trial. But Rell had Dad to guide her… to prepare her for the trial. All I had was a concrete box.
I sank back onto the bed, pressing my palms against my burning eyes. The infection was working its way through my body, preparing me for the Trial.
"Is that what you want, Dad? Two for two? The complete set of dead children?"
◆◆◆
The meals were enough to keep my body functioning, and nothing more.
My medical checks were done by a different Sacred each time, who scanned me with their Origins, made notes, and never spoke directly to me.
I could keep track of time by these interruptions. Three meals, two checks. One day. Then another. And another.
By the fourth day, the changes were impossible to ignore. My skin had taken on a ghostly quality, the veins underneath visible as dark lines. And my eyes—the gold rings around my irises had grown thicker, the whites now definitely red.
The dreams intensified. Each night, the bone field grew larger, more complex. The worms were more numerous, more active. They formed structures now, towers of writhing ivory, even crude humanoid shapes that walked on legs of twisting, squirming white.
On the fifth day, someone new showed up. It was a woman in a crisp SDC uniform with the insignia of the Research Division. She studied me through the small observation window.
"Fischer Magni, I'm Dr. Eliza Santos. I'll be monitoring your Awakening."
"Lucky me, do I get a party hat?"
"Your infection is progressing rapidly… I'm here to help prepare you."
"Bit late for that, don't you think?"
"The SDC has protocols for emergency Awakenings, we can administer stabilizers to slow the process, and give you time to—"
"To what? Get my affairs in order? Write a will? I've got nothing left to lose, Doc. Let it come."
She studied me for a long moment. "Your father predicted you would say that."
The words hit like a physical blow. "What?"
"Mikkel Magni has been cooperative with our investigation. He's provided extensive information about both you and your sister. Including predictions about how your respective Trials would unfold."
"He's lying to you. Whatever he's told you is bullshit. He murdered Rell. He ate her and stole her Origin. He's not a grieving father… he's a monster."
Dr. Santos took a small step back, though the door between us was reinforced enough to withstand a Sacred beast.
"I know what the fuck I saw."
"What you saw was your sister's tragic death by your hands, followed by your own violent attack on your father. Trauma can distort memories, Mr. Magni. Create false narratives as the mind tries to process unbearable events."
"He told us everything before he did it! He explained how he'd been planning it for years, how he needed her Origin to evolve his own. He opened his mouth and—"
Dr. Santos made another note on her tablet. "The delusions are consistent with late-stage Signal infection. We'll continue monitoring."
"They're not delusions! He's manipulating you! He's manipulating all of you!" I shouted as she turned to leave
"Your Trial is coming, Mr. Magni. I suggest you focus on surviving it, rather than these elaborate conspiracy theories."
"When I come back, when I Awaken, I'm going to find him. And I'm going to make him confess. And then I'm going to kill him."
"That… is exactly what he said you would say."
◆◆◆
On the sixth day, the guards started watching me with the same nervous respect given to an unexploded bomb.
The medical Sacreds who scanned me kept their distance, their faces carefully blank. But I could see the fear in the way their hands trembled slightly, the way they hurried through their examinations.
They knew what was coming. What I was becoming.
That night, the dream changed.
I wasn't just observing the bone field anymore… I was part of it. The worms burrowed under my skin, replaced my bones, and filled me from the inside out. It should have been horrifying. Instead, it felt right. Inevitable.
I sat on the edge of my bed, oddly calm.
The pain from my injuries had faded, replaced by a strange numbness that spread from the inside out.
"Any last-minute advice, Doc?"
"The Trial reflects your deepest fears, but it also reflects your potential. Your father believes your Origin will be exceptional."
"Of course he does, he's planning to eat it too."
She sighed, clearly having given up on convincing me of my delusions.
A pain like nothing I'd ever felt before tore through my body. Like every cell was being ripped apart and reassembled. I fell to my knees, a scream caught in my throat.
"He's transitioning!" Dr. Santos shouted.
The world around me began to fracture, reality split. Through the cracks, I could see a landscape of blood and bones.
"Fischer, find something to hold onto. A memory, a person, a goal."
As the world dissolved around me, as I felt myself being pulled into the Trial, I focused on one thing. Not a happy memory. Not a loved one.
Revenge.