the fatal switch
The heavy white doors of the hospital corridor flew open as a female scientist sprinted through, her breaths coming in ragged, desperate gasps. Her face was pale, lined with a deep, consuming worry that made her look completely frantic. As she ran, her hand remained tightly shoved into the pocket of her white lab coat, her fingers trembling as they desperately hid a mysterious, secret injection from sight.
Spotting a passing nurse, she skidded to a halt, her chest heaving. "Where is Eshvan Acharya?" she asked, her voice tight with panic.
The nurse looked startled by her rushed, breathless demeanor. "In the ICU," she replied quickly, pointing a finger down the long, sterile hallway.
Without wasting a single second, the scientist turned and began sprinting towards the ICU wards. But the hospital was crowded, and in her blind, reckless rush, she rounded a corner and bumped violently right into another nurse walking in the opposite direction.
The impact sent a sharp shock through them both. In the chaotic jolt of the collision, the vials they were holding clattered against each other. The secret injection the scientist was hiding and the standard medical injection the nurse was holding got completely mixed up, swapping places in an instant. In the heat of the moment, neither of them noticed the fatal switch.
The nurse quickly straightened her uniform, hurried away, and approached a young girl resting on a nearby hospital bed. She pressed the needle into the girl's skin and administered the swapped injection.
Meanwhile, the scientist continued running, completely unaware of the mistake, intending to give the medicine to her own son. But the moment she looked down at the fluid in her hand, her heart stopped. A cold sweat broke out across her skin—the injection was entirely different.
Panic seizing her chest, she spun on her heel and ran back through the corridor, tracking down the same nurse from before. "Where is the injection that you were holding before?" she demanded, her voice shaking.
The nurse, looking at the crisp white coat and thinking the frantic woman was a doctor, pointed a trembling finger toward the young girl's bed. "I gave it to her," she replied softly.
Horrified, the scientist rushed over to the girl's bedside. Without a word, she reached out, gently placing her right hand onto the girl's head, and closed her eyes.
Instantly, a violent surge of energy flared behind her eyelids. A series of dark, terrifying, and chaotic visions began flashing wildly through her mind, tearing through her consciousness with blinding speed.
Her eyes flew open in absolute shock. She stared down at the innocent girl lying before her, took another a secondary injection from her kit and give it to her. In a low, chilling whisper that seemed to make the very air freeze, she delivered the prophecy:
"You only have power to kill the Demon King."
