Chapter 12- Test Of Wits 9

"Volatile Hyper Syndrome."

The voice of a man in his late thirties echoed in the room, as a little boy suddenly jerked away, the smell of disinfectants and antiseptics assaulting his sense of smell as he did so.

He groaned lightly, his hands rubbing his head as a panting headache receded while his view of the world grew clearer by the second.

"What? VHS, but how?."

A second voice echoed a familiar one this time. It didn't take long for the yellow-haired boy to regain his vision and land on the window outside of his recovery room.

Their conversation seemed to permeate through the hospital walls as if it required him to listen to their conversation.

"We did the surgery now, so he'll be more stable for a while….but once he gets selected for the Server Test, it will be for nought."

The boy blinked, his gaze shifting to his body as he inspected it.

Just like they said, the suture marks were on his body and were living proof of the surgery.

'Volatile Hyper Syndrome….is that something to be scared off?'

He wondered, his thoughts drifting into space.

The last thing he recalled was suddenly crashing into the side of a hovercar on his way back from school when he was agitated, but he assumed it was normal.

His reflexes, compared to others, were absurdly fast for a normal human and too unpredictable to control. It was a cause of disaster and a lot of his injuries until now, but now that he found out his condition wasn't normal, but instead, very abnormal, he couldn't help but laugh.

"But how could he have gotten it, Doc? We don't have anyone in our family who's ever gotten a Pixel Syndrome."

The doctor sighed as he replied.

"The Pixefication process occurred over a thousand years ago and humanity lost all of their technology in a span of ten years."

He chuckled lightly.

"It's impressive that we've regained not just all but more than the technology than we once had….and you could say it was thanks to a lot of things during that process….but you can't actually tell just how far your history goes."

The man sighed, his tone laced with hesitation and dismissal.

It was absurd and perhaps troublesome, but the Pixel Syndrome was like a brand. It labelled people as Challengers from the onset, so this man was well aware of the hurdles his son would face in the future.

"You're trying to say that a distant relative could have gotten it….perhaps someone who was affected by the Pixefication Process? Well, that is understandable…"

The man sighed begrudgingly.

"Yes, occurrences like this, though rare, are mostly linked to distant relatives in the past who experienced the Calamities of the world when the Glitch monsters first descended."

The doctor said with a nod.

"How many people know about this?"

"Only his mother and I. We prefer to keep things like this to ourselves….there's no telling how others would react or treat him.

So far, they've taken his reflexes as a product of a gaming tool."

The doctor laughed out loud.

"Keep it so. Paxton doesn't require the attention that comes with being a patient of the Pixel Syndrome.

Perhaps it could aid him in the future, Hyper reflexes are required in the test, aren't they?"

The man sighed, a loud clicking noise echoing within the room, while the young boy stared at the two men from the window.

"We don't recall the specifics of the test when we're done with it….just the end results…"

The doctor scoffed as he turned around to walk away.

"Take care of Paxton, Mr Zen; his condition is rarer than the rest. I believe he shows progress in many aspects that a normal human wouldn't."

The door opened and Mr. Zen, Paxton's father, walked in. At the same time, Paxton's vision seemed to have blurred, a voice ringing in his ear in an attempt to snap him from his thoughts.

"Zachary! Zachary!"

He raised a brow in confusion, his thoughts reeling in.

'Who's Zachary?' He thought, unperturbed by it, but it suddenly rang louder and firmer, snapping him out in a second.

"ZACHARY!"

With a sudden pull, his gaze snapped back to life, his head tilting as his reality dawned on him.

His vision landed on the pale-skinned girl with the silver hair, his thoughts adjusting to the situation as he looked around for a moment.

"I drifted off?" He muttered, his tone laced with a hint of regret.

Dollina arched her brow, her fingers going through her soft silky hair as she dropped the candlelight on a raised platform.

"You did…for about five minutes."

'Oh, that should have been enough time for Bryan to do what he needed to do.'

He thought to himself, a sigh escaping his lips as he rested on the wall.

"I'm not the killer, Dollina."

He said as he folded his hands.

Dollina scoffed. "I find that hard to believe, Zachary….if that is really your real name."

Paxton raised a brow. "That isn't the problem here, dollina. The problem is you believing that I am."

"We've lost too many people to not suspect anyone here….you're on the top of the list, don't you understand…and there's no telling if you'll go after Bryan next….or Zon…those two are onto you."

Paxton chuckled inwardly.

at least the plan worked….' He thought when a sudden explosion of gunpowder echoed within the walls of the Mansion, startling the two figures, Dollina especially.

This was a sound that was much clearer and distinctive than the last as if it was occurring right in front of her.

Her gaze slowly widened as she rushed towards the door with the light, swinging it open and walking in, nearly tripping on a figure lying on the floor.

She walked round it, Paxton walking out of the room at the same time, his light pointed at the dead body as a stifled groan escaped his lips.

"You interrogated me while the real killer was out there….you see where that's gotten us?" He asked, his gaze lingering on the dead body of Kenhi, which lay on the floor in a pool of his own blood.

Dollina remained silent, her thoughts reeling in as she looked around in confusion.

"Wha–What happened now?" She muttered. She could clearly make out the bullet wound on the side of his trunk, but still, it wasn't adding up.

'I thought Paxton was the killer….the only one with a gun is Ferralo…so is he the killer?'

She wondered, her gaze drifting apart as a slight migraine attacked her senses.

She panted lightly, questions rising in her head.

"Where's Bryan?"

A moan pierced the room, followed by a loud voice echoing from below.

"What's going on up there? Dollina, Bryan?! Get down here."

Zon called out from below, grabbing their attention.

She glanced forward, turning the light to the spot, and there, she found Bryan, lying on the floor, a dagger stabbed at the side of his trunk.

"Bryan!" She called out as she rushed to the other end of the Attic, while Paxton walked towards the entrance.

"They got Kenhi."

He said, his gaze landing on Zon and Goliath as he descended from the attic.

"Bryan's injured with a stab wound as well."

"What killed Kenhi?"

Zon asked as Goliath sighed outwardly, his complexion turning thin.

"It sounded like a gunshot…so a barrel."

Zon held his chin, confusion etched in his expression as he retreated to his thoughts.

'Well, to be honest, there was another barrel. I noticed the bizarre nature of his wound, so he must have placed the bullet wound on top of the stab wound…..but they'll be too distraught to notice anything.' Paxton thought as a smirk formed on his lips.

'It's amusing….if the killer wasn't smart enough then they would lose in a matter of minutes. Going over our plans must have helped in some way….well.'

He sighed as he looked up at the attic door, staring at Dollina as she helped Bryan down.

'One more to go….and then we can be done with this messed up test.'

"Kenhi died?" Zon asked, his gaze lingering on Dollina as Goliath walked over to her to assist them in picking Bryan up.

The young boy groaned in pain, blood dripping from the stab wound as he did so.

Dollina nodded. "There's nothing we can do about it."

She froze for a moment, taken aback by her own statement. Never had she seen herself as someone who whisked away a person's life in a conversation.

He was truly dead, just like Naomi, Jonn and Risa…what could she have done?

Her grips clenched as she bit her lower lip.

"What do we do, Zon? This is getting out of hand. The killer is at large, we don't know who it might be."

Zon sighed as he looked away.

"Treat Bryan first, Zachary, come with me."

He turned around to walk away, his thoughts reeling in as a goal etched in his movement.

"You're going to go after Ferralo?"

"All evidence points to him…His paranoia when he killed Naomi could have been fake compared to this…"

He turned with a frown on his face.

"Let's get this bastard dead."