When he processed soul number twenty, and turned at a corner into the storage wing, he saw someone was sitting against the wall.
It was a person.
A woman in scrubs, her knees pulled to her chest, and her head down.
Eli recognized her immediately.
The nurse from the morgue. She ran during the chaos.
"Hey," Eli said softly.
Yet she didn't move.
He stepped closer. "Hey. Are you—"
She looked up, and Eli could see her eyes glowing faintly blue, lively.
"Eli?" Her voice was hoarse and shaking. "What… what's happening to me?"
Eli's gut clenched.
He looked at the soul inside her, and it was flickering, fractured at the edges, but still intact.
[CORRUPTED SOUL DETECTED]
[CORRUPTION LEVEL: 8%]
[ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL FULL CORRUPTION: 3 HOURS]
She just died.
Maybe from a heart attack during the panic. Maybe from snock. Maybe one of the corrupted had gotten to her while Eli was unconscious.
But it didn't matter.
She was dead, and her soul was starting to corrupt.
"Eli," she whispered. "Something's wrong. I'm… I'm still here but I'm not supposed to be, am I?"
Eli couldnt answer. He only stared at her with genuine pity.
She looked down at her hands. They were starting to glow brighter.
"It hurts."
"What's your name?" Eli asked quietly.
"Amanda." Her voice cracked. "Amanda Chen."
'Chen? Was he her—?'
He dismissed the thought. There were so many people with the surname of Chen in this world.
"Please," Amanda said. "I don't want to become like thim. I don't…"
She looked up at him with her glowing eyes. "Can you stop it? Can you help me?"
Eli was silent.
He knew exactly how, and could help her. It was only grasp, pull, and consume.
But she was still aware of herself.
And he knew it was better to do it before she corrupted fully, and became one of those things, into a revenant. He would have to fight her and kill her again.
At least then he wouldn't be killing somone who could still talk.
"Eli? If you know something, please help me… I don't want to be a monster," she said quietly.
[CHOICE DETECTED]
[OPTION A: CONSUME NOW - PREVENT FULL CORRUPTION]
[REWARD: +50 EXP, -2% HUMANITY]
[OPTION B: WAIT - ALLOW FULL CORRUPTION]
[REWARD: +150 EXP, -3% HUMANITY, COMBAT REQUIRED]
The system chimed in, giving him options.
Both ended with Amanda dead.
One was faster and she wouldn't suffer.
The other gave more experience, but made her into a threat he would have to put down.
'What kind of person chooses the second option?' he mused.
Amanda was still looking at him, waiting for an answer.
Eli knelt down in front of her.
"Amanda. I can help you. But…"
He couldn't finish, yet she saw it in his face.
"It's okay," she whispered. Glowing blue tears flowed down her cheeks. "I understand. Just… make it quick?"
Eli's hands were shaking again, but he reached out. His mental grip found her soul, and wrapped around it gently.
Amanda, a little shocked as she thought he would kill her, closed her eyes, smiling. "Thank you."
And he pulled.
The soul came free smoothly without resistance. She let him take it.
Her body slumped against the wall, and the soul rushed into him. Her memory flooded him, and Eli collapsed to his knees.
[SOUL CONSUMED]
[+50 EXP]
[SOULS PROCESSED: 21]
[HUMANITY INDEX: 74%]
He stared at Amanda's body.
She looked peaceful now, like she was sleeping.
'I just killed someone who was still conscious,' Eli thought distantly, and waited for the guilt to hit him.
However, it didn't come.
He took a deep breath, and stood up slowly, walking deeper into the morgue.
*******
Eli processed three more souls before the system stopped him.
[SOUL CONSUMED]
[+50 EXP]
[HUMANITY INDEX: 68%]
[WARNING: CRITICAL THRESHOLD APPROACHING]
He was reaching for the next corpse, when his hand frozed mid air.
His muscles were locked.
"What—"
[CONSUMPTION ABILITY: TEMPORARILY DISABLED]
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Eli snarled. "You were the one—"
[EMERGENCY INTERVENTION REQUIRED]
[CURRENT HUMANITY: 68%]
[CRITICAL TRESHHOLD: 50%]
[IF HUMANITY DROPS BELOW 50%, IRREVERSIBLE CORRUPTION WILL OCCUR]
Eli stared at the floating text before him. "Irreversible?"
[YOU WILL BECOME A REVENANT.]
[HOSTILE PREDATORY. INCAPABLE OF CLEANSING.]
The words were like a death sentence for him.
Eli looked down at himself, at his body. The blue light in his body now had the same pulse with the corpses he saw.
His heartbeat was too steady, his thoughts were too cold.
When he had processed Amanda, the nurse, he felt nothing.
"So what do I do? You locked my ability. There are still twenty four souls in this building."
[YOU MUST LEARN TO CLEANSE.]
"I thought cleansing unlocks at Rank D?"
[CLEANSING CORRUPTED SOULS: RANK D]
[CLEANSING SELF: AVAILABLE AT ALL RANKS]
[EMERGENCY TUTORIAL INITIATED]
The temperature dropped once more around him, and his breath misted in the air.
[PURIFICATION RITUAL: BASIC FORM]
[REQUIREMENT: MEDITATION, FOCUS, WILLINGNESS TO ENDURE]
[WARNING: PROCESS IS PAINFUL]
"Of course it will," he muttered.
[SIT. CLEAR YOUR MIND. FOCUS ON YOUR CORE.]
Eli looked around. The corpses were laying scattered on the floor, those blood on the walls, and the distant sound of the walking dead around the area.
"You want me to meditate in this place full of walking corpses?"
[YES.]
"You are the worst tutor ever."
The system was silent, then Eli knew he didn't have a choice.
He sat down with his back against the tile wall. His legs crossed automatically, a muscle memory from a yoga phase his ex-girlfriend had dragged him through two years ago.
Eli closed his eyes and tried to breathe.
But his mind was too loud for him to focus. The memories of the souls he processed circled in his mind.
[FOCUS.]
The system's voice cut through the noises in his head.
Eli gritted his teeth and tried again. Breathe in. Breathe out.
He focused on the center of his chest, the center of the blue light on his body. The exact spot where the pressure had built up before, and where the souls had rushed in.