Page 73 of The Wind Dancer
“Beginning purification. Stage one: removal of impurities.”
An immense pain spread through every cell in my body. Something was burning me from the inside out. I could feel my skin getting hot, my veins throbbing like they were filled with acid. I couldn’t even scream. My throat was paralyzed, and my lungs filled with a thick liquid that appeared to be alive.
“Elimination of toxins... 32 percent. 45 percent. 67 percent.”
A part of me was dying. Literally. I saw clots of murky substance coming out of my body, and they looked a lot likedecomposed flesh. I could feel it leaving an icy void inside me in its stead.
“The first cleansing is complete. The parasitic remnants shall be burned away.”
There was a flash. I saw myself from the outside. My body was suspended in an inky liquid, dotted with glowing symbols. I saw these creatures melting something into me that I couldn’t recognize.
“Resistance of the nervous system has been detected. The deviation from the standard process is above twenty percent. Initiation of forced synchronization.”
An explosion of pain took over my senses. Reality became torn, fragmented. I could hear voices... dozens of voices screaming in my ears, but I couldn’t understand the words. Faces appeared before my eyes. They were so alien, ancient, and completely indifferent. They were watching me, judging me.
“Preparing to transition to the next stage. Synchronization with legacy: 89 percent... 95 percent...”
A voice broke through the darkness. My voice.
“What... are you... doing to me?”
The Sanctuary didn’t respond. It just kept going. A second later, the darkness cleared and the dragon statues emerged again studying me closely.
“The first stage has been completed. The bearer’s performance has increased by one hundred and twenty percent. Initiation of the rewriting stage. Embedding information into the bearer’s nervous system.”
Everything burst into a bright light. I wasn’t in the vat anymore. Or maybe I still was, but reality stretched like skin over the bones of the world. Word after word, line after line, information poured onto me. And they were tearing me apart.
“Expected reaction: rejection of 23 percent. Neuropathic exhaustion is at 12 percent. Embedding speed... increased.”
I felt like my brain was boiling. Words I had never known screamed out in my mind. I saw equations, formulas, patterns, but I didn’t understand them — until the Sanctuary made me understand.
“Rewriting is 62 percent complete. High proclivity for mnemonics.”
Shadows broke through the streams of light. I recognized myself in them. My fears and weaknesses. The Sanctuary dissected them like in an anatomical textbook, showing me how insignificant I was.
“Integration complete. Forced expansion of cognitive perception. Changing the optic nerves.”
Reality crumbled again. I was falling into an endless void. Something was changing in my eyes, my bones, the very essence of my being. The world was becoming different. I saw it in a different way. It was as if it had become both brighter and had way more depth.
“The rewriting stage is complete. Beginning neural stabilization.”
My skin moved.
It wasn’t that a muscle twitched, it appeared like something was moving under my skin, pushing the flesh fromwithin. I breathed in, and the air burned my lungs, as if I had swallowed needles instead of oxygen.
“Initiation of the configuration stage...”
The voice sounded off.
Previously it was level and emotionless. Now there was a strange oscillating vibration in the tone, as if it was stuttering.
“Analysis of structural components...”
Silence.
Then there was a sharp screeching sound, as if gears were breaking somewhere in the walls.
“Error. The leading element is missing.”
