Eli was now in a hospital room—the same one he had always stayed in when he was here. It felt unchanged. Exactly how he liked it. Exactly how he needed it to be.
Though… he might break his own rules about the pillows and bedsheets. Just because they looked clean didn't mean they weren't still stained—with dirt. Dirt that carried his essence. Essence from a time he hadn't even experienced.
Life was stolen from him.
All because of a "young, old fool."
Just as Eli was getting ready to jump off the bed, the door cracked open.
He looked up.
He had never seen his mother cry.Not until today.
And it was… quite a feeling.One he never wanted to experience again.
She walked over and checked his forehead with a firm but defeated smile.
Not completely defeated—but Eli had never seen her carry so much sadness.
"Mom… where's Dad?" he asked.
That small candle of hope flickering in her chest nearly went out.
Her face faltered.
"Don't worry about that now," she said softly. "Try and get better."
Her hands were shaking.
That wasn't right. Her hands never shook. They were always stiff and still—calm as water.
Eli wanted to ask again… but he could already read the answer.And neither of them wanted to say it aloud.
He tried to change the subject, to pull her back to her usual silence—not this empty, sinking pit.
"I had a nice dream," he said. "I was playing the whole time. I even made the biggest bomb in the world."
He smiled a little.
"And then you appeared and smacked me in the head… for no reason! I still don't get why."
He looked up at her, making the most puzzled face he could.
"Mom, why did you hit me?"
She stared at him.Her eyes brightened, just slightly.
"Eli," she said gently, "get some rest."
She got up and stepped outside the room.
Outside, Ms. Lorraine leaned back against the door.
Her frown quivered, stretching slowly into a tiny smile—then faded again.
A single tear slid down her cheek.
Then she slid to the floor, sitting against the door as the floodgates opened.
Ms. McCall rushed over and knelt beside her.
"It's okay," she whispered, hugging her close.
One of her own tears slipped free.
The part of herself Ms. Lorraine had been missing for all those years had finally returned.
So why… did it feel so heavy?
Mr. Stilinski watched the mother and daughter as they exited the hospital.
New to town, and already stirring up so much drama—he almost wanted to arrest them just for that.
But that would've been unreasonable. And he was a reasonable guy. Especially because of his son.
He rolled his eyes and shook his head.
Still, he was grateful. Extremely so.
Eli had survived the accident.
If not for Eli's mother… then for his own son's sake.
Should he tell Stiles?
They used to spend a lot of time together—those three.
Maybe later…When the town wasn't busy with wannabe serial killers.
Eli didn't think he could sleep.
He'd done enough of that already.
His mother had tried to take him home, but the hospital insisted he stay.Oddly, they forced her to leave.
Wasn't she a doctor here?That didn't make sense.
But those were questions for tomorrow.
Right now, he just wanted to walk around a bit.Stretch. Move. Maybe find that plant—the one he'd grown using fox fire.
He slid out of bed and slipped into small, fluffy hospital slippers.
Opening the door, he instinctively reached for his bucket.
Power trickled into him, flowing carefully around the red zones in his mind.
He let it activate.
The hallway lit up—not with light, but with essence.
As long as he didn't let the energy touch the red zones, he'd be fine.
At least until he figured out what the hell was going on with them.
Turning to glance back into his room, something caught his eye.
A glowing, orange-gold figure.
For a second, Eli thought it was a ghost.
But no—it was his mother. Or… some echo of her.
As she stepped inside the room, several pale blue humanoid shapes followed.
They didn't act like ghosts.
They weren't aware of him.They were just repeating actions.
A new development.
Eli focused on the orange-gold version of his mom.
She held the plant.His plant.
The one he'd come looking for.
As he honed in on her, the other images vanished.
His eyes followed her figure as she walked toward the door—and faded.
He opened the door to follow…
But the trail was gone.Or rather… covered.
It reminded him of when his powers first evolved—from simple x-ray vision to essence sight.
Back then, too much visual "noise" made it hard to focus.
Now? It was worse.
Colored shadows. Auras. Footsteps.All merged into a rainbow stream of disorienting movement.
It was overwhelming.
He sighed and looked down at the floor. Something caught his eye.
"What's this?"
Though faint, he could make out a reddish hue—mingled into the trail of normal blue footsteps.
He leaned closer to inspect it—
—and slipped.
His nose came dangerously close to the glowing red spot. He barely caught himself.
But it was too late.
He inhaled.
A jolt ran through his spine.
Where was he?
Everything felt strange.
His body… was it even his body?
He was seeing in red.
He dropped to all fours and ran.
He was chasing something. Or someone.
They looked… familiar.
He snarled. His teeth sank into flesh.
And then—
He snapped back.
Back to his body. Back to the hallway.
He staggered, gasping.
"What the hell...?"
That had never happened before.
And whose body had he been in?
It wasn't just visual. He had felt everything.The anger.The rage.The pure, blind need to kill.
And the worst part?It felt right.It felt justified.
The thought of becoming something like that was more terrifying than whatever the creature actually was.
Could the Focus Marble even stop something like that?
Eli didn't think so.
It might protect him, yes.But fight back?
How could he do that?
He felt around his fingers, searching for his ring.
It wasn't there.
Where had it gone?
The hallway was still too bright. He tried lowering the energy through his pathways—but the colors only faded slightly.
Barely any difference.
Should he still go for that walk?
After what he'd just seen?
No way.
There was no part of him that wanted to go outside right now.
But sleep?
He wasn't doing that either.
The Next Morning
Eli sat on his hospital bed, staring down at the syringe in his hand.
This was a hospital. He could find syringes anywhere.
Item: SyringeLevel: 1Attribute: BloodDefense: 0.5 / 0.5Attack: 1 / 10Synchronicity: 5%Description: Dirty medical tool. Do not play with it.
He wasn't playing.
At the foot of his bed was a bucket filled with sand—failed attempts turned to dust.He couldn't just let it gather on the floor.
Every usable item he could scavenge from the hospital—discarded, broken—was in that bucket.
He planned to upgrade all of them.
Not just to Level 8.
No.
He was going for Level 10.
Though sometimes... it felt like a waste.
Eli closed his eyes.
He whispered, "Upgrade."
Paused.
Then again, firmer. "Upgrade."
Inside his mind, the energy paths surrounding the red ones now carried a faint blue hue.
The border between them and the red zones was sharp. Unmistakably clear.
Item: SyringeLevel: 9Attribute: Blood, WaterDefense: 20 / 23Attack: 500 / 550Synchronicity: 45.5%Description: Medical tool. Do not play with it—and handle very carefully.