More than once before, Dante had been burned, and each time he was reminded of why humans feared fire so much, and why hell has always been depicted as a land of eternal fire. One thing about burning, however, was that its main cause was an external force.
Rarely, if ever, does such force come from inside the body, but one can still imagine how painful it would feel to burn from the inside out, and without having to experience it, people could still agree that it would be a harrowing experience. But people’s imagination has been proven to be lacking.
When he noticed the heat spreading out from the inside of his hand, Dante didn’t feel the same sensation he would have felt if he were to touch something hot. Instead, a slight discomfort struck him first, then came the pain, its source being his wrists; the area where his bones met the metal from the simple implant.
The agony flooded his nervous system in an instant and his consciousness almost slipped away. A sudden weakness struck his entire body, his strength robbed away as if a nasty disease had sunk its fangs into his very being. If he hadn’t emptied it earlier, his bladder would have given in by now. Not that he would have cared.
Plunging his hands into icy water, Dante felt the pain subside for a second, but then it returned and refused to go away. As he struggled to keep himself from screaming, the realization that he should have prepared something to bite on came to him. Unable to do so anymore, he looked around for the closest thing then pressed his face against the bed, biting into the blanket.
A muffled scream filled the room a second later.
With a clock superimposed on his vision, Dante was made painfully aware of how much time had passed since he chose the cursed [YES] option. Two minutes. Two minutes of nothing but excruciating agony. If he hadn’t watched the numbers change, Dante would never have believed that all the suffering he went through happened in the span of 120 seconds. Worse, there were no signs of it coming to a stop any time soon.
In the end, the process continued for another two minutes. Dante was somehow able to remain conscious through the whole thing, and by the time he received the notification, his mind was ready to give in.
Implant: Iron Fist (E) has been upgraded to Diamond Fist (D)
While listening to the sound of his heavy breathing, he stared at the words in front of him, failing to comprehend their meaning. The heat radiating from his hands slowly dissipated, and eventually, the coolness of the iced water prevailed, finally giving him a moment of respite. The pain wasn’t entirely gone, of course, but the cold water helped.
Sometime later, Dante had to force himself to abandon the comfort of the cold water. He took some painkillers, another thing he should have done much earlier, and wrapped his hands in bandages, even though his skin lacked any signs of injury.
Refusing to pass out, he dragged himself to The Clinic and had Larry check on his hands. The unlicensed doctor was utterly horrified by what he saw. According to him, it wasn’t so bad, but the nature of the injury defied logic.
While the skin looked unharmed from the outside, everything beneath it seemed to have been exposed to immense heat. Muscles and tendons were slightly burned, but it wasn’t to a degree that would’ve made healing them impossible.
In the end, Dante had to fork up 5000G for a shot of Nanomeds. He could have let the injuries heal on their own over time, but that would’ve left him without hands for three weeks at the very least.
While waiting for the nanobots to do their job, he went back to his apartment and collapsed right away. By the time he woke up, the pain was gone, leaving behind only a faint itch that’s impossible to scratch.
In the small open space behind one of Moonstone’s buildings, a group of teenagers gathered to enjoy one of their usual outings. They brought food, alcohol, and even convinced some of the ladies they knew to come out and play.
Before long, their laughter grew loud enough to rival the chaotic orchestra played on the nearby highway, but no one paid them any mind.
"And then I told him: How can you call it chicken breasts if it’s so ass!!"
Their laughter echoed again, died down, then came back once more. As the boys took turns telling jokes and funny stories, bragging and showing off to the girls, one in particular seemed entirely disinterested, continuing to stare at empty air.
Derick happened to notice the somber mood that one girl was in some time ago, but it took him a while to gather the courage to talk to her. Doing his best to appear natural, he slid to her side and cleared his throat.
"Hey, Kim, right? I noticed you hadn’t said much since we came here. Is something bothering you?"
His question was met with indifferent silence, and the longer it went on, the more awkward it got. As contempt slowly grew in his heart, the boy opened his mouth to say something. At that moment, the girl’s eyes shot wide open, and she suddenly jumped up to her feet, startling him quite a bit. Before he could wonder what had just happened, she grabbed her bag and dashed toward the exit.
A wave of laughter came from the side, alerting the boy to the fact that he was being watched this entire time.
"That’s one hell of a rejection you got there, Derick!" Said Ryan.
"Man! And they tell you the worst she can say is no!" Kevin cackled.
Pursing his lips, Derick then sighed and walked over, picking one of the cans from the cooler.
"The hell is wrong with her?" He said. "First, she ignored me entirely, then she ran away without saying anything."
"You picked the short straw, that’s it," Flinn said. "Was she your type or something?"
Not feeling like answering that question, Derick popped the can of beer open and brought it to his mouth.
"Seriously, though, don’t let it bother you too much." Sam, the girl sitting on Kevin’s lap, gave him a look full of pity. "Kim has been a little obsessed with this one game that came out recently, that’s all."
"I don’t remember the name, but... It’s one of those games where you go looking for things around the city. I think it has something to do with cards."
"A treasure hunter." One of the boys scoffed. "Who the hell still plays those?"
"A lot." Another one answered. "A dozen or so have gotten themselves killed in the last week alone. They keep wandering into the wrong spots for some reason."
"Morons. All of them."
While the others were discussing her strange behavior, Kim made it to the end of the alleyway. As she dashed, she paid no mind to the kid standing near the corner, the couple making out near the street light, or the red-haired youth who walked right past her and into the alley she came from.