LUCID Hibernation

Chapter 2

Sweat sleeks down my back and drips from the tip of my nose as once again I heave my chin over the bar. I'm only up to ten and my muscles are already screaming, but I continue on, I have no other choice I need to become stronger. Unfortunately for Hibernators we pay a price for being gifted with our abilities, usually it's the misfortune of losing our family, which I have. However because of my special case, I lost more than that. My abilities feast on my own body causing me to be extremely weak and the only way I can prevent myself from being completely consumed is to exercise every day for a great length of time. The way it works is, I exercise and build up muscle and strength. Then suddenly I'll go through one horrible day every few months where the side affects of my abilities kick in and my body wreaths in pain until all my strength is gone and I resemble a skeleton. It's far from pleasant but there's not much else I can do about it, except train.

I suddenly feel something boring into my back. I turn my head to look behind me and accidently let go of the bar in shock, landing painfully on one foot and then falling onto my behind in a very unmanly manner. Obi is standing directly behind me, his gaze void of emotion, he seems almost broken, I wonder what he experienced in the last hour; it can't have been good. Either way, he'd surprised me once again; usually Hibernators scream before waking up, they tend to relive a horrible experience from the past. Once a kid jumped up, still asleep, and started to knockdown everyone in the basement, it wasn't until Nero came down that we were able to wake him up. I shiver at the memory. I'm about to ask Obi if he's okay, but he speaks before I have a chance. 'What was that?' He gaze suddenly turns venomous, but he remains still, his voice low and soft, which only serves to freak me out. Gosh, this guy is making me want to flee the country, forget the state. 'That was you're first Lucid Hibernation,' I say trying to remain calm, but I can feel my legs shake, so I sit down on the mat cross-legged and gesture to the spot in front on me. Hesitantly he sits, 'you know you're taking this rather well,' I tell him, attempting to keep the nervousness from my voice. He remains quiet. 'Most people find it hard to speak after there first time.' Still nothing; he just sits completely still, his eyes never leaving mine. I sigh, he's going to want a full explanation, 'okay, just to start off, I'm not going to ask what you saw, in fact I don't want to know. 'We all have our demons and it is hard enough living through our own; we don't need to add others' to out list of concerns. 'What I presume you went through though was a fragment of your past, it would have been very vivid and confronting, it may have also been frightening and many have fallen into shock when they first woke up. 'It's normal, you would have noticed that unlike normal dreams you were able to change the past, you were able to fix the mistakes of your past.' I pause, quelling my own pain, now is not the time to remember about Dad or my own demons, it is Obi's turn and I need to be fair and not make this personal. 'However, your past remains the same, the reason you are instructed to not think about your past before falling into Lucid Hibernation is because that instruction to not think of the past, automatically causes you to think of it. 'It's a cruel trick, but a necessary one. 'There have been some who thought that they could go back and change things and it ended in the loss of their sanity. 'The rest of the serums you take in the future will be controlled and specially modified so that you won't be able to enter the world of your past. 'Instead you will learn how to control your dreams; it's like going through combat simulations to learn strategy. 'The more you practise the better you'll get and once you're finished with you're training you'll be tested, what you'll be tested on depends on Nero.'

My throat's sore from talking, but I remain seated. The whole time I was trying to gauge his reaction to the whole thing, but his face is straight and his eyes seem almost glazed over. I sigh inwardly and stand up, 'you should probably go home and rest, you need it'. I turn back to the gym equipment, I need to rest too, but I can't afford that. I reach up to the high bar to restart my chin ups, but I'm suddenly dragged backwards and slammed onto the mated floor. 'You're the one who needs to rest, you're dehydrated, you have rips and blisters all over the palms of your hands and you've twisted your ankle.' I stare up at him, eyes wide. Obi face is almost angry, yet his voice wasn't raised or even threatening in the least, in fact he said it so softly I wouldn't have heard him if he weren't so close. Seemingly unaware of the awkward position he's placed us in, he grabs my hands and starts to tear the loose skin off, he does it so quickly that I don't even feel a thing. 'Where's the first-aid kit?' He asks not looking up. Still in a daze I gesture to the left with my index finger and he drags me over, sitting me down on some of the folded bedding. He opens the first aid cupboard on the wall and pulls out antiseptic and bandages. After he treats my hands he moves down to my foot and tightly wraps it up. Before I know it he's finished and gets up 'you need to drink some water soon and you better go get some sleep.' At the word sleep I recover from my daze and shake my head, 'I can't.' Obi frowns, 'why not?' I smile icily, 'you know how I said, we don't share our demons, well this is one of those and I'm keeping my mouth sealed.' He looks slightly concerned, but nods. 'Thank you for helping me, but you should really just worry about your own self.' Obi's eyes suddenly shine, 'I can't.' I frown, 'why not?' Now his eyes are almost laughing, 'you know how you said, we don't share our demons, well this is one of those and I'm keeping my mouth sealed.' I gape as he repeats my exact words. Rising he says, 'don't kill yourself and thank you for helping me.' Then he's gone, leaving me completely befuddled.

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