" Chapter 1: The Mysterious Crystal

October 20, 2012, 8:00 AM

""Time to get up, sleepyhead... Time to get up, sleepyhead..."" A pleasant, lilting voice echoed through the room as the alarm clock blared. Even though someone was clearly present, they ignored the calls, sitting as still as a statue on the living room sofa.

""Ah! Damn it!"" Liu Yi had been sitting like that on the sofa for an entire hour. Only after the alarm finally fell silent did he speak.

""Hell! What the hell!"" His second utterance in an hour followed closely. Staring at his desiccated right forearm, Liu Yi fell silent again after his outburst.

……

He’d been working late the night before. While waiting at the bus stop on his way home, he noticed how late it was. Only two people waited at the stand – him, and someone dressed entirely in black. That person left in a hurry before the bus arrived, leaving behind a suitcase behind. Liu Yi had tried to call out, reminding him he’d forgotten something, but the stranger completely ignored him and swiftly vanished into the night. Liu Yi ended up taking the suitcase home.

Bringing the suitcase back, Liu Yi had entertained many possibilities about its contents. But upon opening it, he found only an exquisitely crafted wooden box. Inside the box lay a single yellow crystal ring, incredibly beautiful.

Admiring it, Liu Yi slipped the ring onto his right hand. Just as he was marveling at it, entranced, something bizarre happened. He lost consciousness. When he awoke, he was horrified to discover his entire right forearm had turned shriveled and desiccated, much like the formaldehyde-preserved cadavers he’d seen years ago in the anatomy lab during medical school.

He was stunned. Utterly dumbfounded. And that shock lasted a full hour, only broken when the alarm clock began its insistent call.

……

""Initiate. Affirmative! Genetic recognition: Earth Human! Male. Physical constitution: Subpar. Absorption, commencing…""

These words had surfaced naturally in his mind in the split second before he blacked out. However, by then, Liu Yi’s consciousness was already fading. The last thing he remembered before darkness consumed him was the dazzling yellow radiance erupting from the yellow crystal ring on his right middle finger, enveloping him completely. Beyond that, he knew nothing.

""How... how is this possible? What’s wrong with me?"" Liu Yi murmured the question to himself.

At that moment, a tingling warmth radiated from the palm of his withered right hand, snapping his attention back. That localized warmth quickly spread like wildfire across his entire right forearm.

As he lifted his arm, Liu Yi noticed something. The jet-black, shriveled skin seemed to be gaining a faint flush of color. Slowly, very slowly, his arm began to fill out, its skin tone gradually returning to normal. The change was excruciatingly slow. If he hadn’t stared fixedly at his arm for so long, unmoving, he never would have spotted it.

""It has to be that damn crystal! That thing did this!""

His mind considerably calmer now, Liu Yi recalled everything leading up to his blackout. He was certain of his suspicion. His eyes involuntarily drifted back to his right hand.

The yellow crystal ring was still there, snugly encircling his right middle finger. Yet it seemed somehow thinner now, clinging tightly to his skin like a second layer. And in the very center of his right palm, a yellow spot had appeared, roughly the size of a fingertip. It looked unnaturally bright, like a smear of oil paint dabbed onto his skin.

""What is this?"" Liu Yi carefully stretched his left hand to touch the yellow spot... ""Sss!"" His left hand instantly recoiled. The moment his fingertip made contact, a sharp, searing pain flared, as if he’d touched hot metal.

He sucked on the stinging fingertip, forcing his breathing to even out. After all, he was trained in medicine. He’d seen bodies in all sorts of states. The only difference was seeing it happen to himself.

Staring intently at the fingertip-sized yellow spot, a thought struck him: This spot seems to be the source of the heat! In the moment that thought formed, he perceived a faint… wriggling. He rubbed his eyes, squinting hard for a closer look.

""It really is moving! Oh, god! What’s growing on my hand? Shit! And it’s getting more active!""

No sooner had Liu Yi registered the movement than the yellow spot began visibly transforming. It expanded into a yellow blotch, then into a larger patch, relentlessly spreading across his entire forearm. The heat radiating from the limb intensified dramatically.

""Oh, god! Give me a break! What the hell is this? Did I catch some kind of disease?""

Liu Yi watched in morbid fascination as the yellow patch ballooned, expanding relentlessly until the lurid yellow hue consumed his entire right forearm. Only then did its advance seem to halt.

Calm finally deserted him. He leapt off the sofa, bolted into the bathroom, and frantically cranked the cold water tap on. He shoved his entire forearm under the icy stream. The searing heat momentarily eased under the frigid assault. But the moment he pulled his arm out, the agonizing heat surged back.

Panic took deep root now. He stood in the bathroom, rooted, just staring. As he watched, a grotesque protuberance – a fleshy bud – slowly pushed its way up from the center of his palm. And it was growing, visibly swelling before his eyes.

If not for his five years in medical school and another year working in a hospital, if he hadn't seen his fair share of corpses and death, Liu Yi knew his nerves would have snapped right then. He would have screamed, howled in terror. But that experience granted him a threshold of composure beyond the ordinary man.

Under Liu Yi’s horrified gaze, the fleshy sprout on his palm rapidly matured. Within moments, it formed into a bizarre object, half the size of his palm, before finally ceasing its unsettling growth. Upon closer, disbelieving inspection, the strange thing resembled a miniature human face. And chillingly, it bore an unsettling resemblance to Liu Yi himself.

""Hell! What the hell is this?!""

The curse escaped him before he could stop it. He glanced at his own reflection in the mirror, then back at the miniature visage on his palm... that tiny face. Except for the lack of hair, it had everything: eyes, nose, mouth, ears. The features were complete. And even more unnerving, it was beginning to shift and twist, showing flickers of expression.

Meanwhile, the yellow color covering his forearm had faded. Simultaneously, from the moment the small face formed, the withered appearance of his arm vanished almost instantly, replaced by its normal, healthy state. ""Wh-what kind of monstrous thing is this?"" Liu Yi stared at the repulsive object, a wave of nausea washing over him.

""Ow! That really hurts!"" Still unable to process the surreal scene before him, Liu Yi pinched his own thigh hard. A sharp cry of pain immediately followed his act of self-doubt.

With the painful confirmation that this wasn't some hallucination, Liu Yi steeled himself. He extended a tentative finger towards the grotesque face. Yet, the very instant he formed the intention to touch it, he saw the tiny mouth on his palm twitch and open. A voice, small yet distinct, resonated directly in his head: ""I am not a monstrous thing.""

Liu Yi yelped in fright, stumbling backward uncontrollably. He crashed hard onto the bathroom floor, his head smacking against the wall. Groaning, he struggled to his feet. He looked warily back at the little face. For a long moment, all he could manage was a stunned whisper: ""You... what are you?""

""I am not a what!""

""Ah! Not a what? How can there be a 'not a what' that's even a thing?!""

The bizarre unfolding of events had hopelessly overloaded Liu Yi’s brain circuits. He retreated to the living room and sank back onto the sofa, his gaze fixed intensely on the unnerving face. ""What are you?"" he demanded, the confusion battling with a rising anger. ""Why are you… why are you attached to me?""

""I am your Symbiotic Vassal!""

""V-vassal?"" Liu Yi's mind stalled out again. It took several seconds for his thoughts to re-engage. He struggled to assemble his scattered wits. ""Symbiotic? What does that mean? How... how did you even get onto my body?""

""The moment you donned the Yellow Crystal Ring, its genetic authentication system activated,"" the miniature face explained in its small, clear voice. ""From that instant, I was bound to you as your Vassal. Just now, the implantation process was successfully completed, and I have achieved my revivification.""

""Genetic authentication? Implantation? Revivification?"" Liu Yi sputtered, utterly bewildered. Then, his eyes fell again on the ring on his finger. A glimmer of understanding dawned. ""I never asked for any of this! I didn’t ask you to plant yourself inside me!"" It clicked. This was all because of that damned ring.

""You activated the authentication and implantation protocols by voluntarily wearing the Ring.""

After this brief exchange, Liu Yi found himself calming slightly. ""Then what about my arm earlier?"" His sharpening mind latched onto specifics. ""Why did it shrivel up like some corpse? Like all the moisture was sucked out?"" A semblance of his usual analytical approach was returning.

""To initiate the Ring and facilitate my implantation and revivification,"" the face intoned, ""it was necessary to extract a portion of water and organic compounds from your body. Without the resources, the procedure could not have been finalized."" Liu Yi felt a knot tighten in his stomach as the confirmation sank in. That horrifying, desiccated state, and now this thing… it had literally fed on him.

torrent of thoughts crashed through Liu Yi’s mind. Having this alien thing permanently attached? It couldn't lead to anything good. Forget finding a girlfriend – what woman wouldn't flee screaming at the sight of it? And that terrifying arm transformation... What if it decided to do it again? What state would it reduce him to next time? Would he even survive? What if...?

The potential horrors cascaded one after another. He couldn't let this stand. ""What are you, exactly? Wait, no... What is your nature?"" Liu Yi backtracked, remembering the face’s earlier objection. ""Can you... can you leave my hand now? Please?""

""I am Akatilaputusmanlefeiergei! The implantation and revivification sequence is final. I cannot be separated from my host symbiont. Forcible separation would result in the complete cessation of biological processes for both host and symbiote."" As the miniature face stated its designation, a flicker of... pride? …crossed its minuscule features.

""Akatilaputus... what kind of nonsense is that?"" Liu Yi stammered, trying to wrap his tongue around the impossible name and failing utterly. The second part of the answer drove a spike of cold dread through him. ""Complete cessation? So... so you mean... you're never leaving my body?""

""Affirmative.""

""Holy shit,"" Liu Yi breathed, the enormity settling over him like a leaden weight. ""This is twenty-first-century Earth. Stuff like this isn't supposed to happen!"" A profound sense of injustice and despair welled up. Winning the lottery seemed more plausible. Yet, this cosmic-scale absurdity had landed squarely on him.

He couldn't help himself. He reached down and pinched his thigh again, hard. Another desperate hope this was all a nightmare. The instant, sharp ""Ow!"" that escaped him dashed that frail hope completely. It was real. All terrifyingly, irrevocably real.

""Pre-revivification informational packet designated for Master's review. Accessing now."" The small voice cut through his dread.

""Huh?""

Abruptly, a block of information materialized directly in Liu Yi’s mind. He stood frozen as he absorbed it, his face undergoing a rapid, dramatic shift from confusion to shock to utter disbelief. Moments later, a choked cry erupted from him: ""Th-this… how is this even possible?!"""