Zeka appeared barefoot on the cold snow, no shoes or socks; he never got the chance to wear any anyway. Day four since the curse of the activation started with him; he seemed fine today, as if the activation sequence had vanished somehow. Yesterday, he had a hard time even breathing.
He looked around; he found Liora standing beside him, watching the two twins make up a duo attack, mixing their powers to create something even rarer. Genseki was behind him, waiting in front of the closed door; he seemed to be thinking about something.
Maybe stress? Zeka thought quietly as he looked at the tree, the same tree from yesterday and before yesterday. "The tree is tall... probably the tallest in the forest," he said more to himself. Liora immediately looked beside her and found Zeka staring at the same tree from last time.
"Oh, the tree? Yeah, it does look very tall. What about you, Gen-Gen? Do you think this tree is tall too?" She called Genseki in a playful tone, trying to lift the mood since it was much quieter than before, but Genseki didn't turn around; he was still watching the closed laboratory door.
Earlier, the scientist had taken Akari into the experiment room that morning, and she hadn't shown any sign since. He wanted to know what the intention was for taking her away today specifically. But there was no reading the man — his face had always been blurry, but what could he possibly do about it? The scientist took Akari without any explanation.
A sudden hand rested on his shoulder; it was Zeka. His arm was visibly shaking because he was forced to do it; Liora made him do it so he could beat his own anxiety from the rest of the kids instead of making it another curse to him. She was watching from behind, waiting for him to make progress.
Genseki finally woke up from his memories as he turned his head slowly to look at Zeka's face; he shook his head as he lifted Zeka's hand off his shoulder so Zeka could be more comfortable around without necessarily making every move stressful.
"What are we talking about?" Genseki asked as he looked at Liora, who was pointing at the tree.
"The tree- what do you think about it? Gen-Gen?" She asked again as Genseki's body stiffened up from the nickname.
"P-Please. Don't call me that; just call me Genseki or just Gen..." His eyes caught the tree as he looked up. "The tree? Yeah, it is tall; actually, the tallest tree in the forest." Genseki said as both of them stared at the tree.
Zeka was the last one to turn around and look at the tree again, and suddenly the tree looked blurry; it became further away than before, and when he was about to complain, he looked at Liora, and she was a little blurry too. He wiped his eyes, thinking it was just his eyes trolling him, but nothing changed; it became worse, and the vision became more blurry than before. He accidentally bumped into Genseki as he fell on the ground.
Genseki looked beneath him and found Zeka, wiping his eyes constantly; maybe snow had entered his eyes. He thought quietly. He reached out his hand to pull him up, but there was no response. Zeka was still wiping his eyes harder every time he couldn't see clearly.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Genseki asked, leaning over him, confused. And again there was no response. Zeka didn't hear it; the sound started to fade inside Zeka's brain, and everything just flipped upside down inside his own brain. What's going on? I cannot see anything; my eyes hurt... Zeka thought, and he didn't even realize his ears weren't working either.
Liora found him on the cold snow. She rushed to see what was going on. She touched his shoulder, trying to get his attention; no response at all. Zeka didn't feel her coming; he didn't even feel the touch on his shoulder, and deep in his mind he was panicking; everything became unclear; his vision was getting worse every second pass, and his ears felt completely blocked; he could only hear his own heart running across his brain; it was loud, very loud. He tried to move his leg, but he noticed something: the cold of the snow was suddenly gone; he couldn't feel the cold on his feet, as if he had become skinless.
Zeka looked up to try and see once more, but everything was blurred; he could see a shape, maybe a shadow. He really didn't know what was on his shoulder, which made him jump when someone was moving him. He didn't even feel the touch at all; he tried to see who, but it only became worse when he couldn't even notice who it was. He felt paralyzed.
Zeka tried to stand up, but his leg felt uncontrollable from how anxious he was; it was fear. He felt completely isolated; even though Liora and Genseki were right in front of him, he just couldn't sense them anymore.
When Liora looked at him, she realized he couldn't hear, see, or even sense the touch at all. She immediately remembered that the six-day trial wasn't over yet, and somehow Zeka was suffering the most while Liora looked completely normal. She felt guilty from just watching it; she hadn't felt anything wrong since day one, and he was the one paying for it. The first day was a heart attack, the second day was paralyzed legs, the third day was... breathing, I think. And now he can't sense anything. It really is a curse to him. Liora thought quietly as she tried to make him rest by the wall; she knew it wouldn't end until the day ended. And the sun was still high in the middle of the sky.
Meanwhile
Akari was sitting on the experimental chair; It wasn't the chair behind the glass windows in the experiment room she knew — this one was somewhere beneath it. And the scientist was standing at a specific counter, grabbing a small thing. Akari looked at him, getting something. But she couldn't see it; the place became more blurry, and the oxygen was low inside this room. It became harder to breathe, and slowly she collapsed faster than expected. She didn't fight it or complain; she just collapsed.
And moments later she woke up, feeling a bit dizzy from the room, but she was inside the main hallway now, sitting by the glass window that looked into the experiment room. She felt a little weird; something new was running through her body, but she couldn't quite name it.