Slumrat Rising

The morgue was not nearly as quiet as Truth had hoped. He had never stuck around the bodies he made. He had certainly never paid attention to the noises they made once they were dead. It wasn’t so much that it was creepy. It was that it was inexplicably creepy. Why was it noisy in here?

There was a boom he could hear all the way in his drawer, as well as a tangible shake. Bombardment, terrorism, something like that. Sure sounded like a civil war was breaking out. If it wasn’t, if it was all for control of the “Secondary Anomaly,” he could only imagine the utter bloodbath taking place around the “Primary Anomaly.” They would be going in with crossbows and steel blades. Nasty work.

Not often you feel lucky to be in a morgue. Truth wasn’t a traditionalist in most things.

Must be why no one has turned up for the examination. Wherever this place is, it’s being bombed. Worse, I’d bet cash there is some insane dealmaking going on to get access to the autopsy. Either inserting their own people or at least having observation rights.

Not that he was rushing them. Every extra moment to get things under control was appreciated. Now that he wasn’t being jostled, he could make some real progress. At the very least, he could stop the random pain. Get his nerves all working properly. The absurd spikes of energy could be wrangled into place.

Did he feel safe enough to try and run Cup and Knife? He thought it over carefully, but decided not to. Just too much random energy popping off inside of him, and too much of it was “sneaky,” hidden in his tissues and silently becoming a long term problem.

How long had it been since he crawled out of the playground? Had to have been a quite a few hours. You lose track of time when you are in screaming agony and stuck inside a fancy bodybag. Just one of those little things that remind you to wear a watch. Well, if nothing else, it helped him stay focused.

The explosive energy was all getting stowed away. Once it was processed through his apertures and pacified, the energy was sent back out into the rest of the body. The orderly power helped push out the dangerous stuff, and shove it into the cultivation cycle, repeating the cycle of purification and pacification. Any excess power built up in his flesh, waiting to be processed by the Meditations into an ever stronger superreal body.

I could probably talk now. Maybe sit up, if I was careful about it. Not that I’m going to be moving a single muscle until I have to.

As a body cultivator, Truth was keenly aware of every nook and cranny of his body. He was therefore unable to say he ached in places he didn’t know existed. He knew all about those places. It was a remarkably varied tapestry of hurt. He wasn’t going to push moving until he had to. He was in no rush. No rush at all. Well, he was, but he was just going to-

The door banged open. Figures.

“I’m sorry, Senior.”

“That’s a start, Junior, but we both know you are sorry to be here with me, not sorry that I have been strong-armed into this moronity.”

Wait. I know that voice.

“If there was literally anyone better available, I promise you, we would have-”

“They aren’t better, Boy. They are better at this. This being an autopsy. Quite literally any medical examiner would do a better job analyzing the body for cause of death and the like.”

“I can’t speak to that, Doctor. But I can say that I’m going to clear out of the room before that bag opens. The energy leaking through it is already enough to make me worry about my health.”

“As you should.” This time the creaky old voice sounded serious instead of waspish. “Eat a lot of dark, leafy greens. Spinach, broccoli, kelp. If you have a source for it, red meat. It’s probably too late to take potassium tablets, but it couldn’t hurt. And then you must cultivate. As many hours of the day as you can. Cultivate and drain the energy from your flesh.”

“Thank you Doctor. May I pass on your words to the recovery team?”

“Both of the survivors, you mean? Yes.”

“It… wasn’t quite that bad.”

“Junior, I don’t care even a tiny bit how many of your thugs died. I care that you brought a damn war to my damned hospital!”

“Again, I am so sorry. But there really wasn’t anywhere better.”

There was a snort, then the sounds of people moving around the room. “Yes. Tell them. Tell everyone. Once upon a time, in the ancient days of two months ago, it was common knowledge. Any intelligent spirit could give you the same advice. Now? Now I can barely find one that still functions.”

The younger voice had gone silent.

“Oh get out.” The waspish voice snapped.

“Senior… I must set up the recording talismans.”

“Junior?”

“Yes, Doctor?”

“Clench your teeth.”

There was the sound of a heavy slap and someone falling on the floor.

“You have been going on and on about how highly energetic this anomaly is. You just got told how to treat your acute energy poisoning! But you still want to ‘supervise’ the autopsy I didn’t want to do in the first place? Glad to see your balls are working fine. For now.”

“I have my orders, Doctor.”

“You are a Level Three ant who thinks his gang is scary. Piss off. If your bosses don’t like it, they can come down here and do the damn autopsy themselves.”

“General Mortenson-”

“General Mortenson can tell me how his daughter is doing in track and field. I hear she got third place in the last varsity meet. Nice of her to send a card celebrating to the doctor who cured her paralysis, you incompetent, insignificant boob! Do you know how many people are suffering and dying right now, in this very hospital, RIGHT DAMN NOW? DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY BODIES ARE GOING INTO THESE BOXES BECAUSE I’M WASTING MY TIME DOWN HERE INSTEAD OF SAVING LIVES?”

“Senior-”

Stolen story; please report.

“One more word. Just one. See what happens. You don’t even need to say the whole word. Just open your mouth.”

There was silence once more. Then footsteps, followed by the click of a heavy door shutting. A few seconds later, there was an extraordinary sound, like metal being smashed.

“Bastards!”

He definitely knew that voice. Well. This wasn’t ideal.

The drawer opened. The tray was pulled out. The bag unzipped. Truth pressed a finger to his lips.

“If you make a scene, Dr. Sun, I can’t guarantee there will be any survivors left for you to save.”

Truth thought it said a lot that the undying menace masquerading as a doctor was still wearing his sandals, baggy pants and loose, wide-sleeved jacket. No need for scrubs at his level, apparently. Truth would have worn at least an apron to an autopsy. Perhaps that was the difference between him and a real professional.

The doctor sat on the exam table he hadn’t smashed into scrap. Truth sat on the edge of his shelf. The doctor glaring. Truth just looking back.

“Somehow, calling you an Anomaly feels right.”

Truth nodded. “Yep.”

“Just ‘Yep?’”

“Yep.”

“Care to explain what the hell happened tonight?”

Huh. Didn’t see that tack. He was banking on subtle threats or concealed panic buttons getting jabbed. Maybe even an instant attack. He was prepared to play along. His cultivation was still running. Every minute spent talking was a minute closer to being combat capable.

“Sure. I was in the Ghul nest in the slums-”

“You were what?”

“In the Ghul nest in the slums. I was just dropping by to visit. You would not believe how many of them there are right now. Or the sculpture they made.”

“You just… dropped in on the Ghul.”

“Yep.”

“And they didn’t tear you apart.”

“Nope.”

“Why?”

“Religious reasons, I believe.”

Doctor Sun looked like he was seriously reconsidering violence as an option.

“Religious reasons.”

“Very religious people, the Ghul. In fact, they hardly do anything else but be religious. Don’t ask me to explain the theology, because I don’t know. Anyhow, I was up there when I saw the Antitheist’s attack go off.”

“Nothing to do with you, I suppose.”

“I understand why you might think I was involved, but honestly, I’m innocent on that count. My spell-breaker magic is kind of the inverse of how theirs works.”

“Not what our analysis concluded.”

“Not saying it wasn’t modeled on their tech. Just runs on the opposite lines.”

“Mmm. So. You were innocent of the worst terrorist atrocity in world history, but you were hanging out with dozens-”

“North of a thousand,” Truth corrected helpfully.

“Of Ghul. There are thousands of Ghul in the city?!”

“Yep.” Truth gave a fairly accurate recounting of how he helped stop the spread of the dead zone, how he investigated inside, and how devastated he felt seeing it all. He wasn’t trying to gain sympathy. It was just the truth, so why not tell it?

“So what happened to create the anomaly?” The old man's voice had gone a little softer. Not soft, but softer. There was something in his eyes that hadn’t been there when they had battled. Truth wasn’t quite sure what. The old monster wasn’t that sloppy.

“Me.”

“You created the anomaly?”

“Yeah.”

“Just… yeah again? Is this something you can ‘Yeah?’”

Truth nodded firmly. “Yeah.”

“Your teachers must have loved you.”

“I’m not entirely sure they were capable of love. In retrospect, I don’t think they even loved themselves.”

Dr. Sun gave him a weird look. “Not the kind of observation I would expect from Hell Prince.”

“It should be, if you think about it. The various propaganda departments have been very clear about my skill sets. Honestly, I was amazed to learn how capable and accomplished I am.”

“Bugs you?”

“No.” Truth thought about elaborating, but it was too much. He really didn’t give a damn. He just shrugged instead.

“You created the anomaly.”

“Yeah.”

“How?! What is it exactly?”

“Mechanically? I don’t want to say. But I just…” Truth groped for words to express a feeling that could only have existed in that singular moment. “Look, I’m guessing you have been in a situation where there are just way too many people dying, and triage is only going to get you so far.”

“Oh yes. Dozens of times.” The Doctor’s voice was soft, his body quite still.

“And at some point, you just wanted to scream in rage. You just wanted to scream out that, maybe you can’t save them all, but this one, the one right in front of you is going to live.”

“Hundreds of times. Thousands.”

“Well. That's what I did. The whole area got killed because of bullshit logic, the whole planet is going to lose most of its population out of, essentially, spite and nepotism, and I decided… not here. Not in this one spot. There will always be cosmic energy here. There will always be magic. Life. A single ray of light in the dark, no matter what.”

He couldn’t puzzle out what was in the Doctor’s eyes. He was certain Doctor Sun hated his guts. It wasn’t all hate, though.

“A single ray of light. A literal beacon of hope.”

“Yes.” Truth nodded. “Did you check what I said about the mutilated souls? Starbrite’s swearing in ceremony and all that?”

“Oh yes.”

“And?”

“You were telling the truth.”

“Did you do anything with that information?”

“I’m not in the System personally. Or my people. But other than that? No.”

Truth shook his head. One of the most earth shattering revelations in the planet’s history, and the doctor could just shrug it off. It seems that it didn’t matter.

“You understand what’s going to happen soon, right? Mutilation is only the first step. The next is the collection. He’s going to start his harvest.”

“Yep.” The doctor’s grin was quite nasty in its own right. “Was obvious once you knew what to look for. Millions are going to die. Tens of millions. Hundreds of millions, maybe. At this point, I can’t even calculate the carnage.”

“And you did nothing?”

“Everyone knew, Boy! Everyone who mattered! Which, despite being Level Seven and the best damn doctor in the world, was a list of people that didn’t include me. Did you know there is a second category of employment in Starbrite, other than the usual tiers? You can become an affiliate member. No access to the System Astrologica, but you get most of the other benefits and paid in Wen. Strictly for members of very, very elite families. They all knew. For years now.”

“Then why do it? Why do something so dumb?” Truth demanded.

“It’s not dumb. It makes complete sense. Their own juniors and servants will be perfectly fine. It’s just everyone else who will die.”

“Letting Starbrite clear out the competition.”

“Exactly.”

“And the response of the legendary, all time best person who would definitely not delight in keeping someone alive and in agony indefinitely, Doctor Sun?”

“I thought it was inhuman. Then I thought it was very human. Then I laughed myself sick, because I no longer knew what a human was, or even what they looked like. I gave up on humans. I gave up on being a human. I became a Rat Doctor instead.”