[Pacific Northwest, March 8th, 2025]

“Beep, Beep, Beep,” the dozer he was operating reversed and came to a stop. The bright sun beating through the cab windows, exasperated breathing, and with two hands clinching at his chest. “This is James on pile #6, I need an ambulance, I'm having a heart attack.” 

Arriving later than wanted, James was loaded into the ambulance. On the ride to the hospital the paramedic checked his vitals and ensured James’ comfortability the best they could. Noting on a clipboard the subject's ashen skin. Entering through the ER on a gurney, he was put on blood thinners and kept overnight.

Having to call into work that next morning was excruciating. Missing time off work, disappointing his bosses. He hated the feeling, and their passive aggressiveness didn’t help with the guilt. 

The late evening of March 9th came, he was home by then. He lived in a shared apartment with his younger brother. Sitting in bed he thought something he had been wanting to think for a while. “It’s time.”

Opening his bedroom closet, he pulled out a cardboard box. Out of the box came a small 2 liter metal tank, as well as a mask affixed to a rubber hose. Slotting the end of the hose over the release valve on the tank. James fitted the mask onto his face and laid back down. 

He stuffed a small pre-prepared note that he had kept in his wallet, and turned the valve. 20 seconds, that’s what he had read.

James began counting in his head, “1, 2 , 5 , 9, 14, 18, 24, 30. . . ” 

“What the hell!” James squeaked as he threw the mask off. “Why didn’t it wor. . .” He clenched his hands to his head, the panging grew and grew. On his knees he looked up to the ceiling, crimson vile streamed out of his nostrils. His eyes were a mix of white and red, blood vessels bursting. 

Unconsciousness came over James, like a weighed blanket fell over his head, his eyes glued shut. 

Before his eyes opened his nose twitched, an overwhelming antiseptic smell overwhelmed his senses. His eyes felt fused, attempting to open them manually, his hands struck something hard coming out from his mouth. Grasping the object, he gagged. As his hands bumped the endotracheal intubation, the tube moved and began hitting the sides of his esophagus. 

With the sudden uncomfortability, his eyelids gained strength and opened. He saw a very obvious protrusion between his eyes and under his nose, a blue ribbed tube down his airway. 

With his vision back, he looked around, side to side. He was laying down in a hospital bed, reaching for the buttons he began to raise the bed mechanically. When he reached the apex a nurse walked into the room, carrying a bedpan. Seeing the previously comatose man awake and unwisely sitting up, she dropped the pan and ran to his side.

“No James, we have to keep you down for a bit.” She moved his weak hand off the buttons and lowered the bed back down. “Hold still for a bit. I’ll go get Doctor Lee.” She walked out of the room leaving James with his own thoughts for minutes.

Strutting through the door entered a short woman, her lab coat was worn, the fringes soot covered, the rolled and cut back sleeves had faded red stains from failed washing attempts. James’ eyes followed the woman, he had seen her before on his previous visit. 

“Well, I'm glad you’re finally awake.” She sat down on a rolling stool beside his bed, glancing at the heart monitor, she jotted down some numbers. Afterwards she set the clipboard at his feet and looked into his eyes. “Can you nod yes and no?” she asked him. James responded accordingly by nodding his head. 

The lights in the room flickered, the heart monitor began alarming. James was silently shocked, while he saw the Doctor dismissed the occurrence. She grabbed a pen light and flicked it between his eyes, quickly jotting the outcome of the test on her clipboard. 

“Alright James, I'm going to call a nurse in and we're going to remove the intubation, okay?” She waited for his response. And James gave her an affirming nod. 

Moments later another nurse came into the room and while Doctor Lee was on his left side, the nurse stood to his right. “Hold still now, this will be uncomfortable but will be over with quickly.” The nurse firmly grasped James’ head with two hands, one over his forehead with her index and thumb pinching his nose, and the other holding his jaw open. 

With a squelch Doctor Lee carefully removed the tube, James gagging and spitting up phlegm. “Good James, we’re finished now.” Doctor Lee shooed the nurse out and sat back down on the stool. Her hand pressed down on the beds buttons, as she raised James up to be able to look each other eye to eye. 

For many seconds too long, Doctor Lee peered into James’ eyes. He noticed her flinch when he blinked at her. “Sorry, it's just. A lot has happened in the last week James. Is it alright with you if i go over some things?”

He tried to talk, but the pain and discomfort from the intubation hadn’t yet gone away. Instead he nodded at her. 

[Washington D.C. Remnants, April 21st, 2025]

The skyline was jagged, skyscrapers collapsed, new mountains formed, and colorful vortexes littered the remaining streets. From his office, David could see the newly formed landscape, and the remains of the old world. 

“Knock knock” A small hand wrapped on his office door. Before he could swivel his chair around to welcome the guest, she had already let herself in. “Ahh, Karen. How have you been?” The lady shot an icy stare at the behemoth. 

She dropped a yellow file onto his desk, “Here is the Incarnation Appearance Report you wanted." she immediately began toward the door, and reminded him, “The Chiefs of Labors 1 through 12 arrived, the performance can begin at your discretion."

“Sheesh” He exclaimed as she slammed the door behind her. 

Grabbing the report, his hand slipped by the plaque sitting on his desk. It read, “Chairman David Lee Geyoung, Bureau of Rift & Incarnation Management BRIM”

The loud murmurs from reporters and other board members of the BRIM echoed through the auditorium, the front most row of seats labeled for the VIP guests. 

The slim secretary Karen stepped out to the podium, she gave the mic a few taps before proceeding, “Chairman David of the Bureau of Rift & Incarnation Management, will now start his address.” She stepped back from the mic and in her place stepped a man wearing a white pinstriped suit, that and his white hair contrasted against the dark colored amphitheater. 

“Ahem.” He coughed into the mic. The people quieted, only the clicks of cameras and the rolling of tapes were sounding, along with the occasional flash from photographers. 

“The current census on Incarnations numbers 612,750. . .” He paused for dramatic effect, grinning and turning to his good side for the cameras, several flashes ensued.  

“That is the current nationwide number of people who six weeks ago on March 10th woke up with a second soul. . .” Again he paused for effect, leaving his sentence on an attention grabber. 

“That same morning, an event occurred, ‘The Worst Calamity’ as people have come to call it. . . That very calamity claimed the lives of eight hundred million people, ten percent of humankind. . .” With the death toll revealed, numerous parodied gasps and camera shutters rang through the auditorium. 

He took a break to catch his breath. “Ahem.” Then sipped on a small glass of water.

“In the six weeks since this disaster, our fellow nations have converged, fallen, and gone to war over resources and people, regretfully, several nukes flew those first few days. . .” Without looking up from his notes he continued, camera flashes outlining him against the dark backdrop. 

“This bureau, founded two weeks after the calamity, on March 24th, has remained steadfast in its original goal, to help the nation recover and conform to our new world. . . A world full of rifts, monsters, and spirits. . .” He continued without interruption. 

“You. The people of our nation, born under God, Indivisible, and with Liberty. . .  You are the backbone of the new world, the ones who will carry the carcasses of our fallen, and rebuild the Empire.” With a cough, a pageflip, and a sip he continued. 

“Our Rift Exploring and Exploiting Divisions, The Twelve Labors named after the herculean trials, are the pinnacle of our nation's heroes. . . These men and women are leading the charge directly into enemy territory. . . They are the keys who are unlocking these vaults. . .” Murmurs began in the audience at the mention of enemy territory. The Chairman noticed before continuing and regained their attention by sipping and then lightly slamming his cup into the podium. 

“Rift exports. . .” The pause allowed the media to focus and get photos, “These are the next stepping stones we need to pass over.” 

“We are arming ourselves for war. . . and we need you.” The Chairman raised an arm with a finger pointing at the nearest camera. “You are capable. You are the workers, the leaders, the farmers, and the bees. You are what our nation needs. . .” With another pause for the press, he lowered his arm and shuffled his papers. 

Bending slightly over the podium and staring directly at the cameras, no longer speaking to the people in the audience, “Incarnations, those of you who have these secondary souls. . . You need to take a step forward, to work for your fellow American. It is your duty to help rebuild the American Empire greater than ever before.” Drinking the last of his water he stepped back from the mic, allowing Karen to step back into frame. 

“We’ll take four questions from the press. You lady in the navy blue.”

[Pacific Northwest, March 17th, 2025] 

“James, listen carefully okay?” Doctor Jihae Lee, leaned in looking into his eyes. He gulped, not sure if he was ready to hear what she had to say. 

With a deep sigh, she began, “It’s been seven days since you were dropped off. It was the early morning of the 10th. . . I believe it was your brother, but we never got his name.” 

Hearing of his brother James focused more intently on what she had to say, he noticed her eyes were now on the floor. 

“Unfortunately, your arrival here wasn't the worst of it. . . There were pretty bad quakes for a while. I heard the number had risen to 1200 locals dead before 9AM.” With the news James’ mouth gaped, he tried his best to meet her eyes once more. 

“Later, maybe around 10AM. the first Rifts appeared.” Puzzled, James kept listening. 

“Out of them. . .” Jihae made eye contact again before continuing. “These monsters appeared.” She flipped her phonescreen around, showing James what looked like a picture of a giant dead lizard with wings. “The military based here did their best, and eventually they we able to kill them, but not before a lot more people were hurt.” 

At the sight of the photograph, James vomited. Surrounding the beast's corpse were smaller ones, human bodies. What little fluid he had in his stomach was no longer inside. 

“We’ll continue after we get you something to eat.” She told James while helping clean him. 

In a raspy and untuned voice James spoke, “No. . . Keep going.” Jihae thought about it for a few seconds before deciding to continue. 

After replacing James’ shirt, she spoke again, this time holding his hand softly, “When your brother dropped you off, it was. . . odd to say the least. You weren’t responding to any staff, but you weren’t unconscious either, your eyes moved and darted from face to face.” James visibly scrunched his brow and narrowed his eyes. “You never tried to move, and you didn’t fight against the nurses. But your eyes James. . .”

Without difficulty she opened her phone and used the reverse camera to show James his own face. At first he was confused. Then the new feature became obvious, “Your eyes are golden yellow, and your pupils they’re. . . like a cats, slitted. When we intubated you, your pupils widened, almost no yellow was visible. . .” He raised a hand towards his eyes, pulling at his eyelids, trying to get a good look at his clear deformity. 

After a personal examination, he looked at the Doctor and asked her still with a hoarse voice, “Why. . . what is it?” Tears began to form under his eyes. 

She grabbed his hand back and continued to hold as she responded, “That day, the same morning you arrived, others with similar. . . occurrences started appearing. Not any others in our small town, but on the news, social media, and forums.”

“It’s too soon to really pinpoint an explanation, but from what I've seen James, you got the best outcome, out of many people posting online, your new feature is not too worrisome.” She adjusted her seat as she scooted closer to James’ bed and continued.

“Others are having visions, night terrors, and schizophrenic episodes, saying they can see beings in other realms. . .” She paused, seeing if James had anything to add, he instead sat with a few tears welling, attempting to contain them. 

“Some of the stories are terrifying, I'm happy you’re not like that James, it wouldn’t help the situation we’re all in.” With the end to her knowledge of world wide events, Doctor Jihae Lee let James recuperate. Food had to be introduced slowly, it had been over a week since he ate anything. With a weak body, a burdened mind, and the thoughts of his brother being killed while James himself slept in a hospital bed. He did what he had to, rest more. 

The lights flickered off, soon after red emergency lights came on as generators roared to life from beneath the hospital. To save electricity and gas, the staff turned off power to non-essential rooms. The heart monitor connected to James stopped. 

James was alone in his thoughts and staring at the ceiling above. A thought within his head occurred. It wasn't verbal or visual, but a feeling, maybe even an instinct. “Status.” James whispered aloud. With a golden shimmer, his eyes revealed something familiar to James. Sitting relative to his head was a translucent screen. When he turned, so did it, always sitting a few feet in front of his face. 

With a tired hand he swiped at the irritant, it passed through without any issue. The numbers on the screen annoyed James, the last thing he wanted to do at that point in time was math. He closed his eyes, and to his delight, the screen wasn’t behind his eyelids. Sleep that night came quickly.