Simular Beings

New Game, New Rules

The moment Bread's eyes finally opened again, he felt heavy, awkward. He was suddenly incredibly uncomfortable.

The joints around his arms were stiff. As if his weight had just tripled. Every time he moved his neck, it would make this grinding noise. But across the dimmed room, he saw something that made him forget about all the awkwardness in his body.

Valkyrie, his idol and hero, was crouched in a corner, legs tucked, head down in her knees. Soft sniffles with the occasional tear slid down her cheeks.

She was crying.

Why is she crying? He tried to move, but when he stretched his fingers to reach out, he could feel a pressure pulling them back. His knees buckled; his arms didn't feel the same. Why did he feel this way? What was happening?

Peering down, he saw a jumbled mess of wires and metal plates greeting his eyes. An amalgamation of inorganic material.

What was all this? Where was his body? But then it hit him—he was looking at it. This was his body, his vessel. He connected all the dots—this was the real world. This was the place he'd always dreamed of experiencing...

But his body wasn't even real.

"Bread?"

The more aware he became of his form, the more he started to struggle. He wanted to get out, get away from this monstrosity. He didn't like it. It felt weird, unnatural. It didn't feel right!

"Bread, calm down!"

All his movements required over-exaggerated strain. Like he was holding up the earth. Each blink felt forced; each eye felt disjointed from the other. He tried to breathe, but he couldn't. Panic flooded in. Was he suffocating? He tried again, but his chest started to vibrate loudly. He tried to suck in air—a ragged rotary noise got stuck in his throat. It felt like he was choking. He was going to die. He wasn't going to survive. He couldn't breathe! He clawed at the air. He couldn't—

"Calm down." Val embraced her tightly into her arms. "It's okay, Bread. It's going to be all okay."

He finally started to relax.

"Breathe in..."

He breathed in. His chest heaved up, clicking and clattering, trembling ever so slightly.

"...and breathe out."

He breathed out. The vibrations started to subside.

"It's okay." She held him tighter; her eye was puffed up red with tears. Bread could feel the heat dripping down his synthetic arms. "It's all okay."

There was a deep grunt from the back. "Seems he's all fine, ain't he?" It was Coach. He started putting away a bunch of power tools.

"I'm so glad..." Val leaned back and examined him. "But I think we need to find you a better face. Not that naked skeleton you got there." She let out a stifled laugh, eyes almost tearing up again. "I'll get you perfectly set-up soon, okay?"

Bread didn't hesitate to nod. His eyes watered. How this fake body could do that, he didn't understand, but he was feeling fuzzy all over. She cared. He finally found someone who seemed to really care. For the first time in his life, he could finally belong.

"I just need some time."

"You need more than time," Coach said. His eyes fell on Bread's torso. "That core of his ain't gonna last."

Bread looked at where Coach was eyeing. Lodged in the center of his chest was a round, circular orb. It was connected to the wall by a socket and was shining light green at the moment. Every few seconds, it would flicker red. Something about the color told him it wasn't supposed to do that.