Infinity Worlds

Cryogenic sleep was developed 20 years ago and has become one of the ways that people attempt to lengthen their lives. Some even use it as a way of resetting their lives by entering cryogenic sleep with the hope that in the future they will somehow have a better life. Or maybe they have lost a loved one and hope that this will help alleviate their sorrows. There are numerous reasons to enter a cryogenic sleep and these are just a few.

Currently, though the longest anyone has stayed frozen and returned is a few years. While most scientists believe that you can stay frozen for an indefinite length of time, there are some that remain unsure. They theorize that the constant frozen state will slowly reset the electrical impulses that make up the person's memories. This effect will cause them to forget not just who they are but completely wipe their mind like a blank slate. Despite that, the majority of scientist believe that electrical impulses aren't how memories are stored. Instead, they believe that once brain cells have been imprinted with a certain memory then it will last for as long as that cell remains undamaged.

Before anyone is authorized for deep space travel, they will be put into a short cryogenic sleep. So far, the only accidents that have happened were with people with exotic conditions that were not caught in the physical. By testing everyone ahead of time, it should reduce the mishaps by having trained professionals and a full assortment of equipment when people come out of the cryogenic induced sleep.

Interestingly, most people experience very vivid dreams while in a cryogenic sleep. So much so that on waking, it has taken up to a week before the person was able to understand that it was just a dream. So far that is the only known side effect, mild psychosis.

As Jack hovers in unconsciousness, he feels himself wake. His body hurts all over and he can hear the bustle of a city around him. Lying in bed he slowly tries to sit up and figure out what exactly has happened. Looking around he can see that he is in a rundown apartment with a small kitchen and living space and a room off to the side. Currently, he is laying on a couch and there appears to be a bed in the other room. As he slowly sits up he can feel his head pulse with an unbelievable amount of pain. Everything seems to be a mess in his head, hearing the creak of a door opening, Jack looks to his left and can see the dilapidated wooden door slowly open as a young man opens it while carrying what looks and smells like food.

"Tyrion what are you doing? You don't need to be sitting up yet. Just lay back down and rest your body."

As the young man's soft voice rolls over Jack, he slowly processes what the man said. Then like an avalanche, memories start crashing over Jack. Tyrion is the name of the body that he is currently possessing. Tyrion is an orphan. After both of his parents lost their lives in an assault by marauders while working as mercenary guards for a shipment of merchandise across the Ezoleth Desert.

After their deaths, Tyrion has done everything he can trying to survive. This has been a tremendous burdened for Tyrion. Working two jobs to try and pay off the debt that his parents left him, combined with trying to finish the basic mandatory school has nearly crippled Tyrion physically and mentally. Last night after failing to make a payment to the loan sharks that his parents borrowed from, Tyrion was assaulted. Normally the debt would not be the responsibility of the children of the deceased, but these are loan sharks. They prey on the needy and when a loan is defaulted on, someone will have to pay. While they were only trying to hurt him in their sick way of providing motivation, with his malnourished body and exhausted psychic, Tyrion was just hanging by a thread.

This precarious and delicate balance between life and death opened the door for Jack's consciousness to slip into Tyrion's body. As Jack is trying to integrate with Tyrion's memories, everything in his head is mixed up. The confusing memories are causing his head to ache like he's never experienced. The light around the room is blinding, the noise from the city and the young man, who Tyrion's memories recognize as Caltain, one of Tyrion's childhood friends, incessantly asking if he is ok, is debilitating.

Groaning as the pain inhibits his ability to perform any complex motor skills or string a cohesive thought together, Jack falls into a semi-conscious state. The memories of the past 46 years of his life as Jack and his short and brutal 17 years of memory as Tyrion slowly merge.

Unsure of what to do Caltain goes and digs through one of the cabinets in the small kitchen. Pulling out a rather dated looking device Caltain taps on the screen a few times and suddenly a light is emitted from the other side. Waving it over Tyrion's quivering body, Caltain performs a health scan of Tyrion's body. After performing the diagnosis, the device beeps as the light shuts off. Reading the display Caltain can see nothing critically wrong except for the same bruises, contusions, and fractures that Tyrion received last night.

Getting some water from the faucet, Caltain slowly pours it into Tyrion's mouth. Watching Tyrion slowly calm down, Caltain paces the room trying to figure out what to do.

Last night after finishing his shift at work Caltain had found Tyrion by the steps of his building. Caltain can either assume that he has stumbled to Caltain's building from sheer muscle memory or he was dumped here after receiving the beating of his life because Tyrion was completely unconscious and unresponsive as Caltain dragged him into his apartment.

Rubbing his head in his hands Caltain can only talk blindly to Tyrion to try to smooth Tyrion's and his own emotions. "Tyrion I really need you to get better. The entrance exam is only in a month. If we don't get into the Kasper Academy I don't think that we will be able to survive this place much longer."

After seeing Tyrion trying to sit up when he walked in Caltain was optimistic that Tyrion would quickly recover, but now that he seems to have regressed Caltain is unsure of the future. Pausing for a moment Caltain walks to the only other room in sight. "Alright Tyrion, I've got to get into the Academy. It looks like it is our only hope." Caltain says as he tries to motivate himself.

As the memories flood into Jack, he can tell that this is a drastically different world than the one he knows on Earth. Currently, he is in the city of Taal that is part of the country of Sherka on the planet Jakar in the Galaxy of Telawi and in the dimension of Vethindu. This all seems incredible. From Tyrion's memories, he knows that dimensional travel exists. While the memories don't provide too much detail beyond that, it is already enough to shatter Jack's perception of reality. Just as amazing to Jack is that all of these things are controlled by powerful martial artists that can create rain and fire with a swipe of their hands. Tyrion's and every other person's goal is to train to be a powerful martial artist, once that fails, as it does for 90 percent of the population, they fail back on their prototypical job system much like Earth, but with a few differences.

This system has created a unique environment where people put most of the education on hold till they turn 20 because after that they don't have a shot of becoming a martial artist or at least getting accepted into academy or sect. Interesting, the most impressive scientist are all martial artist. These practitioners of the martial way at some point fail to take the next step and will then focus their improved mental and computational abilities on making discoveries or inventions that greatly benefit mankind and their own future generations.

These inventions have created flying vessels, spacesh.i.p.s, space stations, autonomous robots and machinery, and numerous other marvelous instruments that make life simpler for the common man. With the basic necessities of life handled by these inventions, frees people to struggle along the martial way for as long as possible. Practicing martial arts has also developed a society of warriors that have a hard time accepting their lot in life and continue to struggle to improve.

This struggle manifests itself in trying to find rare spirit herbs and material and hunt dangerous wild beast. The reason that warriors are required to find these spirit herbs and materials is that even though they haven't developed a real consciousness, they have developed the ability to hide from the autonomous robots that would generally attempt to gather them. While there are more powerful robots available, no one would spend the money to have them search for these low-grade spirit treasures.

Also, the wild beast that plague the land aren't things that any person or cheap robot can cope with. They require coordination and planning to either avoid, capture, or kill. These wild beasts provide their own benefits to mankind with their highly nutritious and delicious flesh. While not as critical to the development of warriors as rare spirit herbs, the meat of wild beast can improve the constitution of regular people and replenish the depleted energy of warriors much more so than regular food.

This civilization of warriors has created millions of people that will scavenge the planet for these rare treasures and pursue wild beast in the hopes of making a relative fortune. For everyone else though, they will continue their education and eventually enter the workforce becoming a teacher, nurse, doctor, technician, engineer, factory worker, merchant, or whatever their heart d.e.s.i.r.es.

The city of Taal for its part provides a perfect environment for the warrior as well as the scholar. With educational establishments like the Kasper Academy, that is backed by the ruling Kasper Sect, providing the education for the cream of the crop of future martial artists and also traditional institutions that give direction to the mortal man.

Cities like Taal feel bright and bustling from an outside view with merchants, warriors, students, and workers quickly traversing back and forth across the city. Unfortunately, once someone gets into the gritty side streets, it can quickly become cold and heartless. The city is a trading hub sitting on the outskirts of the Ezoleth Desert that stretches for 2 million miles to the east and the small country of Sherka that is primarily controlled by the Kasper Sect.

Because of the city's close proximity to the Ezoleth Desert, that provides spirit herbs and has many unique wild beasts, it has become one of the main trading routes through the desert and has benefited greatly. The Ezoleth Desert provides a constant stream of income to the city, but also comes with extreme dangers. These dangers are not just about surviving the burning hot days and freezing night with little water available but in the terrifying beast and vicious marauders that plague it.

These issues have created an overabundance of orphans running the streets. The city does a relatively good job of providing food and shelter, but for a city like Taal, that is hardly the only thing that is required to survive. Slavery, prostitution, and death are always visible for those in the know. Tyrion has been constantly trying to avoid these death traps, but now with the loan sharks making their move, it feels like it is just around the corner. One more slip-up and he will either be killed or forced into slavery in some desert mine where he will slowly die alone in a dark cramped tunnel.

One of the ways that the Kasper Sect combats this dilemma is by releasing a basic martial arts body refining technique called the Ironhide Refining Method. This technique has placated the masses by giving them the hope they need. It also helps breed a stronger and more resilient people regardless of if they actually master the technique. For its part, the technique requires performing a set of forms that will help you feel the energy moving through your body. While this sounds simple, it actually requires a high degree of perception. It also allows the Sect to easily filter out the common from the uncommon.

Once someone is able to feel the energy flow through their body, they will have taken the first step in entering the Initiated stage. For Caltain and Tyrion, stepping into the Initiated stage would be a dream come true. It will allow them to step into the world of martial arts. Giving them the equity to build a better life. Of the trillions of people that live on the planet of Jakar, only ten percent can actually step into the Initiated stage, drastically improving their constitution and lengthening their life.

As Caltain begins to practice Ironhide, Jack continues to struggle with his dual memories syncing. Slowly the day passes for Jack as his memories slowly begin to sync.

As more days continue to tick by, Caltain continues to practice the Ironhide Technique while also nursing Jack, in Tyrion's body, back to health. Jack, on the other hand, is struggling hard with the integrating the memories of two people. These also aren't memories of all the happy times when Tyrion and his parents were together and Jack when he was with his wife and children. Instead, it is primarily the burning memories of Tyrion's parents' death and his tremendous struggle to keep his head above water. These memories haunt Tyrion and now Jack as he struggles with adapting to his new situation.

Soon two weeks pass following the same routine. As time moves on, Caltain becomes obviously gaunter as he struggles to feed two people on one person's salary. Currently, he is doing everything he can to nurse Tyrion back to health by providing him with food and medicine that he normally wouldn't have to account for.

Finally, Jack's mind starts to piece itself back together. From one standpoint he is Jack, but from another he is Tyrion. While he can feel the memories and emotions of Jack and Tyrion, they have now molded into one being. With the melding of the mind and body, Jack accepts that he is Tyrion, just as Tyrion accepts that he is Jack. Feeling better for the first time in weeks Tyrion croaks out a call to Caltain.

"Caltain…"

"Bro I'm right here. Are you ok?" Jumping up from one of the forms in the Ironhide Technique, Caltain rushes over to Tyrion's side.

"Not really, I feel like I got hit by a Mack Truck."

"A what truck?"

"Aww… I mean I feel like just sparred with a Kalrillan" A Kalrillan are a type of aboriginal humans that live in the Ezoleth Desert. With scaly covered skin, sharp teeth, and a short tail they are what Jack would categorize as a lizard man. They have cold aggressive personalities that will quickly attack at the smallest slight.

"A Kalrillan? I bet one of those thugs that beat your a.s.s has a little Kalrillan in him. Bro, I'm just glad that you are finally conscious. There is only a little bit of time till the Kasper exam. If we aren't ready, we will regret it for the rest of our miserable lives."

"How has your progress been so far? Can you feel anything yet?" ask Tyrion while slowly sitting up in the bed.

Laughing and developing a large grin on his face, Caltain embarrassingly scratches his nose. "I've made a little bit of progress. I can now feel a bit of energy flowing through my body. I believe that soon I'll finally step into the Initiated stage. As long as it's before the exam I'm basically guaranteed to get in."

"Amazing!" Tyrion shouts as he tries to get up and congratulate Caltain.

"Calm down Tyrion. You still need to rest. Don't get up. I don't want you to strain yourself."

"Don't worry. I'm feeling much better after hearing your news. I just feel weak and foggy headed. By the way, how long have I been here?"

"Two weeks Tyrion."

"Two weeks!" Tyrion yells. "I need to talk to my bosses now. Caltain get me the communicator."

"Tyrion, I already talked to them. They fired you a day after you were beaten. They probably don't want to have anything to do with your troubles."

"No…" dropping his head, Tyrion holds his head in his hands as he felt the hopelessness sink in. Without his jobs, he has no way of overturning his current financial situation.

"Tyrion don't worry. You can live with me until you get back on your feet. While I don't have much, it should be enough for a while."

"Thanks, Caltain, but what about the loan sharks? Even though they beat me within an inch of my life, I don't think they will leave it at that. They are probably preparing to sell me to the slave traders. I don't want to implicate you in my mess."

"Tyrion don't worry. I think you have a little time before they come and bother you again. Besides worrying won't fix anything. You might as well focus on getting healthy and practicing the Ironhide Technique. If one of us can get accepted into the Kasper, then f.u.c.k those guys. It won't be too late to teach them a lesson."

"Are you sure?" Jack asks while lifting his head slightly.

"Of course. What are bros for is not this? Now come on and practice with me." Clapping Tyrion on the back, Caltain proceeded to pull Tyrion into the other room to start their daily practice

Before the assault, Tyrion and Caltain would constantly practice with each other whenever they weren't at work. In Jakar, as well as most places in the known realm becoming an invincible martial artist is everyone's biggest dream.

Unfortunately for Tyrion and Caltain, they weren't born into a family of martial artists. Instead, they were born from mortal families without a dominant martial artist in the family line for centuries, if ever. While merchants still have the ability to make large amounts of money, if there isn't a martial artist in the direct family, they will almost be guaranteed to only operate as figureheads for some powerful martial artist.

As Caltain and Tyrion start to move through the forms, Tyrion can see that Caltain is stepping, punching, and kicking with more might and power than he previously showed. Caltain has always had some talent for martial arts, but it has always been a struggle for Tyrion. As Tyrion is moving through the forms, he is also internally trying to feel the energy in his body and environment. While Jakar isn't the most energy abundant planet, it has enough to promote a martial artist to the early Lord Stage.

From Tyrion's memories he knows that there are numerous levels of power, but because of his weak education in martial arts, he only knows the first four: Mortal, Initiated, Connate, Lord. The Lord Realm is currently the highest realm on Jakar and is what all leaders of the planet are in. Currently, Tyrion is only at the Mortal level just like everyone else.

These are all things that are new from the perspective of Jack. He can't believe that a world can have some sort of mysterious energy that can strengthen people. From Tyrion's memories, he knows that not all worlds possess such energy, like Earth, but most do to a certain extent in the known realm according to Tyrion.

With the addition of Jack in his consciousness, Tyrion has a whole different perception of energy. This seems to stem from the two different environments. From Tyrion's perceptive everything is the same, but from Jack's, it is like watching someone on a train pass by. He can perceive everything around him because it is new and different. He has never experienced such a rich feeling in his life. This world feels like it is bursting with a certain freshness that makes it feel like the world he was in before stale and old.

With this feeling of newness, Tyrion is finally able to feel the energy in the world. As he feels the energy enter his body, he can also feel it change his constitution and slowly start to heal the remaining fractures in his body. As he punches out he can also feel the energy push through his legs and then travel through his spine to his arm and out. As the energy blast from his fist an impulse in air booms out shaking the walls.