The Ghost

Chapter 6

The Counter Inception

"Clear the way!" a familiar voice keeps howling, the same voice that I heard while I was dying on the snow- "We found her- Clear the way and get everything ready for the Counter Inception!"

Who is that?

This deep, harsh voice definitely comes from someone that I know, but to me it sounds muffled, like it was coming from a thousand miles away... my weakened mind cannot recall who the man is, but his hands are caressing my hair and a pair of huge, lively blue eyes are looking right into my face.

"Natalie, are you there?" a younger voice asks, somewhere to my right- "Please, save her!"

My sight is a disaster, but I can see worried faces here and there and white lamps hanging from a high metallic ceiling. It seems to me that I am lying on something soft, perhaps a hospital bed that is being pushed along a corridor. Other voices are screaming technical instructions, and then, a door is opened and we enter a very dark room.

"We cannot save those hands" a woman says, her voice worried and sad- "Jab, do you actually think that Natalie remains inside?"

"There is only one way to find out..."

The name Jab scrambles a powerful feeling somewhere in my mind, just like those brilliant blue eyes... The dark room is suddenly full of green and blue lights coming from computers, they cut the clothing off me and then I am plunged into a purple liquid that feels syrupy and cold.

I am inside a large aquarium or perhaps a chemical tank with walls of glass, and when I see her, I start to think that I have gone mad:

There is another me, or at least, a perfect replica of my body floating in the liquid to my left.

My beautiful clone is wearing a simple white dress, her eyes are open and she looks like a specter, just floating lifeless in this liquid- The glass tank is closed with a silvery lid, and then a weak, tiny voice speaks inside my mind:

"Natalie?"

"Traveler" I reply, still feeling like I am in another world- "Traveler, I thought that I had lost you, I thought you were gone..."

"Natalie, what happened? What is this?"

"I have no idea..."

"Counter Inception in process, Stage thirty seven: Connecting the bodies" a female voice says, speaking to others in the world outside of this liquid- "Purple energy charged seventy percent, eighty, ninety..."

"Traveler, stay with me..."

The voice says something else outside, and then, the purple liquid around us gets freezing and electric at the same time. The color starts to change from purple to green, from green to blue and then purple again... this feels like an invisible, electric force is pulling energy from me, a sparkling red light emerging from my eyes-

"Natalie!" Traveler screams as she is forced to abandon my body...

The feeling of emptiness and solitude returns, but as I witness how the red, sparkling energy enters the eyes of the body beside me, I already know what is happening. The voices are cheering outside, everyone seems to be celebrating and then the purple liquid is slowly drained from the tank.

I sit up coughing and gasping, the tank is opened and I find many people talking to me all at once.

"Natalie... are you in there?" the man of blue eyes says, his face almost radiant with happiness- "Come on, wake up, Silver Star... Welcome back!"

The other Natalie wakes up beside me a few seconds after this, opening her glowing red eyes...

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