Forged Legacy

Harvey sat motionless, floating in an empty void of eternal darkness as regret washed over him. He had no eyes to cry and no body to feel the pain washing over him as he thought about what he’d done.

He’d felt so angry. So alone. But he’d give everything to have the chance to feel that way again, because now he felt nothing. He’d heard stories of the instant regret people who survived attempts always shared, but never really believed someone's view on life could 180 so fast. Now he believed it. The life he’d been so quick to throw away now seemed like the most precious gift he’d ever had, and it was gone.

He didn’t know what the voice in his head meant at the end. He’d read books and watched movies about Earth being integrated into the multiverse, so he figured it must be his dying mind’s way of rationalizing the pain he put himself through. The pain he caused some innocent bystander who’d done nothing to deserve the fate he’d given them.

He hadn’t hit a wall, he’d hit a car. A car driven by another person, whose only mistake was being on the road when he lost control. He wanted to sob. To beg for forgiveness that his rage could have taken more than his own life. It felt so strange, being overcome with emotion without any way to make it real. To feel it in his bones. Maybe this was hell, and his fate was to suffer the sorrow caused by his final moments for eternity with no way to move past it.

The truth sank in as his consciousness drifted through the vast nothingness. He’d never see his family again. Never hear Max’s excited shrieks every time he got French fries. Never get to hug his mom again. Never spend another night in the garage helping his dad work on a car or building some new furniture for the house.

His problems felt insurmountable just moments ago, but now they felt like nothing at all compared to everything he’d lost to escape them. He wished he could go back and tell himself to hold on. That everything was going to be ok if he made it another day. All he needed was a little perspective.

Sure, his job was stressful. Aurelia could fail, his boss could fire him, and he could end up unemployed. That still left him with a capable mind and the opportunity to go find a better job.

Cleo could cheat. Leave him sad and alone. But that didn’t mean he’d never find love again.

Every obstacle could be overcome as long as he was still alive to keep trying. But it was too late, he’d given up the chance to strive for something better.

As he despaired, a light bloomed behind him.

There shouldn’t even be a behind him, direction was meaningless in the void until it wasn’t. Eternal black lit to faded gray as two eyes appeared in front of him. One, the dark brown he’d stared into his entire life, the other a teal iris set in a gray eyeball. His sight restored, he saw himself staring into a large crystal mirror, taller than a door and framed in golden scripts in a constant state of flux.

The light above his eyes pulsed, and the body he remembered slowly appeared in the reflection. Inch by inch, it was reconstructed from the top down, his senses returning one by one. His ears heard his mouth breathing, even without any lungs to fill. He felt his heart begin to beat, and his muscles stitch together as arms, legs, feet, and hands appeared. He was naked as the day he was born, revealing a shocking change. All over his body, patches of dull gray skin splattered over the healthy body he knew, leaving him a splotchy mix of tan and gray. His brown hair was mixed with patches of jet black.

It was him, but it wasn’t. He ran his hands over his face, the gray patches coarse and chalky like concrete.

“What is happening?” He asked, pleased to hear his own voice.

Your body has been reconstructed to allow participation in the Integration trials. Congratulations. Prepare for legacy imprinting. The same disembodied voice from before spoke directly to his mind. It was deep and resonant, like a god commanding the universe to bend to its will.

“What?” Harvey asked before a guttural scream escaped his throat. Light erupted from his body, and he felt a red-hot knife carving into his soul. His reflection lit up like an angel, and as the light faded, he saw a network of inky black veins covering his entire body. A thick black line stretched down his chest from his throat like a river, with smaller tributaries moving down his arms and legs until everything from his fingertips to his toes was covered in thin tattooed lines.

It felt like he’d been burned alive, the pain radiating through him until the light faded. He panted, sweat dripping from his forehead as he struggled to compose himself. Just as the wave receded, a new light burned out of his chest right above his heart. Compared to the full-body agony, it was manageable. Like a cattle brand being held against his skin instead of the sun burning his body as fuel.

When it faded, a tattoo of a black and brown noose had been connected to the inky veins.

Imprint complete

Text appeared on the mirror beside his reflection.