Alan immediately felt the blood enter the veins within his hands, travelling upwards through his body. It burned, like a thousand ghost peppers had been condensed into hot sauce and directly injected into his blood stream. His body turned feverish, sweat pouring out like rain. He began having difficulty breathing, his throat drying up, the entirety of his self aflame. Abruptly, the two knives liquefied, entering Alan’s body through his bloodstream.

Alan tried to break free from the Predecessor, his body writhing in pain. The Predecessor calmly watched, holding Alan’s hands firmly in place. Alan had long ago activated the Ignore Pain ability in an attempt to relegate the liquid fire pulsing through his veins to the back of his mind, but it was to no avail. The boiling blood within his body grew hotter with slow intensity, from a steady blaze to a roaring inferno.

It felt as though Alan was standing in the middle of a flame, as if he had been engulfed by lava. Nerves began to shut down as he lost sensation in his hands. Alan thought with utmost certainty that his body was becoming a charred mess, melting like candle wax. He couldn’t handle this, whatever this was. He began to panic. Soon, his entire body was left without feeling. Alan stood, motionless, fearful of any attempts to try to move his body.

Then, slowly, feeling began to return. A message popped up:

The Predecessor let go of Alan’s hands, carefully drawing out the knives which painfully materialized out of Alan’s body. It carefully placed them on the ground then stood up straight, slowly making its way over to the power generator holding the black crystal. Alan staggered backwards as the pain began to clear from his head, glancing down at a knife, trying to examine its stats. He almost fell over as he read the message he saw.

Alan looked down at the knives, feeling a strange connection to them. It was almost like the connection he felt with Eve or other AI, but not quite, as the knives lacked consciousness. It was odd, like the feeling he felt when Eve was off doing something without him. He bent down and picked up the knives. With a push of will he forced this sense into his body, and the knives liquefied, entering and sealing the wounds. A familiar dull burn shot through Alan’s body.