Dusk and Dawn

Jessica

X Day : X Month : X YearThe thunder crashes nearby, I can hear it echo. Vibrating this monster I have been trapped inside of. I can't

remember where I was... who I am. I am afraid of where I am going, but of where that is I do not know.

I have long forgotten the day, or the time. The seconds seem to pass like hours, or perhaps they really are hours.

I do not know the faces that appear ever few hours, or what it is they inject into my arm.

It hurts when they do. Burns like a thousand tiny knives ripping through my blood.

And then, I wake up again. I don’t know what happens while I’m in the dark.

I hate the dark, it's frightening... vast and empty and dead.

More waves crash, and it rocks this giant cradle, bearing me to an unknown fate. I wish I could see myself,

remember who I am.

But there is no mirror, no glass... everything is cold and metallic. Even the cot provides little comfort.

There is a knock on the door... their coming again, coming to put me back in that dreadful dark...

XDay : XMonth : XYear
I cannot remember my journey here, it seems a lifetime has passed since I saw the sun. The florescent lights that

ignite this prison in burning light burn my eyes.

I know not the strange language for which I once spoke, its clouded and refuses to return, yet it fills half of this

book, and somewhere in the back of my mind... I am aware that I wrote it.Its been so long since I’ve seen color, when I see my reflect it stares back at me with vivid confusion. I wish I knew where this was. I get the feeling I am trapped underground, and sometimes it feels as if the walls are

closing in on me. The endless white and metal boring into my mind.

The hour has long left me and the days seem blurs of sleep and consciousness.

X Day : X Month : X YearThere is so little left, I fear my dreams are reality, and the reality I seek is but a distant dream. There is so much

emptiness, and wether it is cold I cannot tell.

I feel numb.

But there is pain such that I feel crippled, and doubled with it's feverish appearances.

And, there is fear.

Fear of what has been, and what is to come.

I do not sleep, but I dream. Of endless dark, and I am walking, there are obscure faces. I do and yet I do not know

them. THey are distant and worn, from a time long passed what I now see. I do not understand their calls and cries,

pleas for me to turn to them. To listen.

But their language is so foreign, yet sings to me like a distant melody. I walk, and walk and walk.

I see birth... a travel across a vast pool of death... and I see, a blinking, flashing instant. My own death.

But, who I see, and know is me, I feel a rejection that this is what I have become. Or, what I shall be.

And I am afraid.

I find myself flinching from shadows, and cowering from the men in white coats. I can smell their blood and hear

their heart pulse in their chests.

I know, how easily I could snatch that life, steal it. But, I am afraid. Afraid of the abyss I would be left to, caged and

confused like an infant.

This is my prison, a womb of sorts. Here, I change. I can hear their footsteps above me, and their breaths rooms

over. But I do not understand their chopped language.

And it hurts my ears.

I want to run from them, flee to safety and feeling again.

But I cannot, and why that is I do not know. X Day : X Month : X YearAll I have forgotten, all I desire so horribly to remember. Sits before me, scrawled in languages I do not know.

Cannot remember, and yet calls to my memory.The numbness is gone, but in its place there is constant pain. Unimaginable pain. I try to remember, what I was. IF I

was human in some distant lifetime, I try to recall faces that haunt my dreams... but nothing comes.

Simply the crippling pain, and a nostalgic fear.But I have harnessed this fear. And it is my weapon, it shall bring death upon those who wish to bring pause to my

soul. X Day : X Month : X YearYears have passed, that I know. I feel changed down to the very pores of my bones.

I had forgotten what paper looked like, thought I would have forgotten a pen, and how to write.

And yet, it comes back.

Actions, eating... fighting, moving, speech... it all comes back. But my mind is an abyss, there are no memories, no

dreams.

No distant singing voices or flashes of faces.

Who am I?I want so much to know, and yet fear I may never find my answer.Final Day : Final Month : Final YearFor seven days we have been aboard this ship. Every rise of the sun brings me pain, it hurts my eyes and abraise

my skin. I wish death upon it's flaming surface. I am a General. I must remain calm... I must remain in control, for everyone aboard this vessel needs their

commanders. I am not alone, there are other General's but... I must wonder if they find the same dire need to know. To rid

ourselves of this confusion and find truth.I do not know why I came, beyond that it was an order. And orders must be followed, no matter the cost. A puppet

led by an unseen puppeteer. But, is that all i have ever been?

A mutated life form, enhanced and perfected. A monster.

I hope not...A paige comes to tell me of a coming storm. They are nervous, frightened. I can hardly blame them.

I am afraid. Of what awaits us when we dock.This calm, this peace. A calm before a storm, one that will kill us or bring us truth. I must know, I must live and

discover what it is we are... what we were and why we are here.We, are Children. Bred, birthed and trained by the Labs, enhanced and sent to fight a creature ravaging and

destroying the Beautiful Earth. We are enhanced, having traits that make us special. The perfect fighting weapon.

Though, not every Child knows all of their gifts, or if they even have any that are unique. It is something one must

discover on one's own.

I do not know if it is beautiful as they say. I have only seen the ocean. And it is vast and dead. Bleak of life and

thundering with storms.

It stinks of decay and rot. And I wonder how life ever lived here, in the middle of this waste.I must also wonder, if these monsters we are being sent to terminate, are really any different from us.

They are mutated, out of control... but are we not in kind their brethren? Merely chained and trained to obey the

whim and command of the doctors?I hear whispers in the night, nostalgia so thick it churns my stomach. And fear.

Warnings to turn back and flashes of familiarity. As if this path is a well tred, familiar one. A journey I have made

before, many occasions before.But that is impossible, I have never left the labs. Have I?

A candle cast a grim shadow about the cabin, expressionless and showing no sign of being at all inhabited. There

were no pictures or ornate quilts, nothing.

He paused in his writing, keen eyes straining through weariness, debating on continuing his entry. A diary left for

any who may come after him, seeking the truth through these lies.

But would they be able to read it? Or would they, like himself, find that languages they should know. Seemed to at

some point know, evade all understanding?

He sighed, an effort that shook all of the lithe frame of the General. Closing his brilliant orange eyes, sleep tugging

at his consciousness. It was a tempting, sweet and seductive notion. To give into such desires, but he must finish

this duty first. Brushing lank, pink hair from his face he bent once more over the journal, signing the bottom of the

page in elegant script.

Decidedly complete in his mission, the General stood, supporting himself with the table a few moments as his

vision swam with sleep. His head throbbed painfully and he sought out the medications that would keep it at bay.

He paused only momentarily to observe himself.

In his opinion he looked nothing of what the other generals did. Deep shadows lined his eyes, and his lips pressed

decidedly into a frown of thought. No matter the books that he read through, or the theories he filled pages and

pages of paper with, he never seemed to reach an end of notions and ideas and realizations.

Philosophy, scientific interest, it had all left its mark.

His skin was fair and sallow, his features long and angular, though sharp and protruding with bone in areas where

perhaps it should not.

He was not tall, but he was not short. His build far too thin for that of a close combat fighter. But he was not such, a

General yes, but his cunning and wit had gotten him this position more than brute strength. He relied heavily on

his "talents" as the doctors put it, to fight.

His hair was un naturaly long, untouched by blade in years, lank and falling to his buttocks. Its colour owed much to

the genetic alterations of the scientists as well, and he had to vaguely question how much of what he saw was

what he had been born as.

It did not matter, and with a final prayer to whatever might hear him he hoped for the best when the vessel

docked at land. Silently, he crept into the hard cot, curling into himself and drifting into dreamless sleep.

For days the General had not left his room, many had come to the conclusion that their General could

not be trusted. After all, who could trust a man to lead them safely into war whom they had never

seen? These opinions and many more were being voiced at the table in the dining gallery that morning.

All hinting to the same conclusion, none of them trusted this swallow General that was supposed to

bring them victory.

Nathan frowned, a muscled, blonde boy with high cheek bones and unwavering eyes. With a decided

limp in every step that he took and an air of defiance to any in authority, he glowered at his plate. Yet

bit back his remarks to the men at the table, he had seen first-hand the General. They had not, the man,

however deceiving in appearances, commanded an almost eminent respect and authority. Nathan had

still defiyed him and the General said nothing… perhaps even more unnerving that the man’s lack of…

connection with the men whose lives he held in his hands. He speared another forkful of food and

brought it too his mouth, listening dully as the table continued to deliberate when a resounding slam

brought all of their gazes to the doors of the gallery. The ding of metal on metal still resounding about

the now hushed room as a figure strode into the room. All eyes on the vibrant pink hair and orange eyes

that seemed to look at all of them and each of them at once. Sweeping the room as he came to a halt,

“Today, you will be serving your training under myself. You are to meet me in the eastern most training

room in twenty minutes.” His voice boomed and yet grew barely above a whisper it seemed as he

turned and swept from the room, hands joined behind his back.

Nathan locked eyes with an auburn haired teen across from him who was decidedly colorblind and had

no sense of smell. In question they rose with many others and proceeded to the training sector, Adrian

and Nathan both had to marvel at the General’s speed for him to have made his way from the gallery to

the training sector without them catching so much as a glimpse of them. However, it was what loomed

within the sector that made them all wished they had remained in bed.

Six massive machines stood about the unusually large room, each being tested and prepared by doctors

and a large viewing mirror near the ceiling allowed them to glimpse more doctors still, running scans

and preparations. The General stood in the center of the room, seeming unpreterbed by the massive

machines behind him. A small smirk curled his lips for but a moment before he spoke, “Each of you will

be divided into groups, these groups, consisting of fifteen to twenty people will each face a Droid. You

shall be divided based upon accumulated data of tests and your documented abilities.” He gestured to a

set of rooms on a far wall, “You shall each be able to select a weapon and armor that you feel shall best

suit your needs. You will have an hour to complete your mission, to disable your Droid with effective

team effort and with as few injuries as possible.” He swept forward, and began picking them off into

teams. Adrian, the auburn haired boy, was not suprised to find himself grouped with Nathan and majority

of the less aimable candidates for the fight.

It was not, however, until they were strolling from the armory that the true meaning of this session set

in. Each were set into sections around the room, each group with a Droid. Each barred off with

holographic walls that caged them in and gave them terrain for which to battle. Nathan sighed, rotating

his shoulders and frowning at the Droid as the red and green lights flickered to life and its cybernetic

sensors fell upon them. The fight began.

Almost a full hour into their battle, with several taking cover to rest, Adrian glowered at Nathan.

What should they do? Their attacks had barely dented its armor and it was only missing one

sensor. Nathan growled, slamming his hands together and taking several steadying breaths, to

prepare himself for the amount of energy his task would take. Closing his eyes a moment before

reopening them and throwing his arms forward, a wall of what looked to be molten fire erupted down

his arms and bellowed into the droid. It screeched and lurched forward as Adrian summoned ice

, slamming his hands into the ground as the very particles of air they were breathing seemed to freeze.

All at once the terrain erupted with ice, sliding over the melted framework and twisting it into brittle,

bars of iron.

At last, they had defeated he droid, Adrian and Nathan weakening the armor as the others

smashed it. They were one of the last ones to finish, Nathan observed as Adrian collapsed to

his knees beside him. His gaze falling upon the final cubicle where its occupants seemed to be at a great

struggle. A girl who looked about 16 was clutching her side in a pool of blood near the wall, Adrian

frowned, “She’s hurt… they won’t let her die will they?” He asked looking fleetingly from the General

who was standing casually beholding the sight, to the injured girl. Nathan shrugged, quite unsure.

It was when they all thought he was going to leave the girl for dead that the General stepped

forward, keyed in a code and the wall split. The droid turned on him, its sensors targeting the

vivid pink hair and yet no sooner had it targeted him than he was gone. A screech and squeal of agony

from the machine as a singular, gaping cut sliced the droid in half. The General sheathing his blade as it

collapsed on the ground and gathered the girl in his arms, striding so fast to be argued he ran, he left

the training sector for the infirmary.

Nathan and Adrian followed him with baffled gazes, keeping a safe distance away as Nathan

hobbled at a near run and Adrian slowed his pace so he wouldn’t leave the other behind. They stood

just outside the infirmary as the General entered, placed the girl on the bed and engrossed himself in

heated discussion with the doctor of the infirmary. At last the man nodded and swept off, only to be

replaced by another who seemed to argue with the General a long while before the General gave a

mirthless laugh and left. The Doctor… no scientist sneered in triumph as he took out a key and went

through several pass-codes before he returned with a file, chuckling as he scribbled in it. Adrian read

what he saw aloud, “Valin Dezmartia” he murmmered reading the name on the file and gazing at the

thick

clip of pictures on the front in confusion.

Curious as to what the scientist had written, Adrian stumbled into the infirmary, pretending to

be ill and fell into the doctor causing him to drop the file. The man cursed and turned to Adrian, yet

seemed perplexed by his condition and helped him to a bed. Turning to talk with the infirmary doctor as

Nathan snatched the file and Adrian lept from the bed and they ran as fast as possible from the

infirmary.

Saftely within a storage room they opened a file, skimming several things on “DNA Splicing” and

other such things, and beyond that… a tally of “Experiment Terminations” while in action and rebirths

dating back sixty years puzzled them farther. The General was no older than they, eighteen at the most.

Though, it wasn’t long before the Scientist and two others had discovered their whereabouts and after

a rather nasty run in with a truth chemical, Adrian drug Nathan back to the infirmary. Where he was

thoroughly drugged up.

It was then the General had come in, a brow arched as he watched Adrian and Nathan stop their

whispered mumbles about his file. They stared at him a moment, and seemed shocked when he

requested their presence later so that he may discuss something with them. Surely he hadn’t heard

about them stealing his file?

Regardless, several hours later Adrian found himself hauling Nathan down flight after flight of

stairs to what seemed almost the bottom of the vessel when at last he reached the Generals cabin and

after knocking twice entered. The General, or should he refer, Valin, was bent over his desk, scrawling

quickly in a book. He looked up at them a moment before gesturing for them to sit and began to speak,

“May I ask… why you stole my file?” He inquired not looking up from his writing. Adrian looked

nervously at Nathan before jumping into their story. Explaining about the death and birth tallys, the

DNA experiments and the Scientists note about his “degeneration”.

Valin looked thoughtful a moment before leaning back in his chair, the pensive look never

leaving his face. “We dock, in one day, on unknown land.” He seemed to be talking to himself, deciding

something. “This place, though… I have never seen it before, I feel a sense of foreboding and nostalgia

as

if I have indeed been here before.” He leered, “Yet how could that possibly be? I have known nothing

but the labs.” At this he looked at the journal, “But HOW when I have dates and entries in here, in other

languages long before now.” He muttered almost to himself as Adrian and Nathan listened silently.

What the General now spoke of, what he questioned was heresy and trechery of the highest

degree to the Labs. Something the Doctors and Scientists would never permit. Yet here sat their

General speaking of such illegal things. Nathan looked guilty, “I too, have questioned these things.” He

mumbled, pulling the General out of his revere, “I’m sure many have… but fear.” He sneered, “Fear is

how they control us.” With this he turned back to his writing, the words curving and slanting elegantly

despite his hurried pace.

It was one day later when they docked in the Port at the “RED ZONE”. None of them knew what

to expect as they filed off of the vessel and looked in amazement at the world… the port around them.

The General was one of the last do leave the vessel, his eyes sweeping the terrain and he frowned.

Nathan and Adrian observed this with interest. The General had been acting odd lately and as he stood

there, staring off as if trapped in some long distant memory they were rushed off to barracks.

It was back in the hotel room when he was worst assaulted by the memories, vivid and horrid of

Faces and men in white coats standing just behind the green liquid. Just on the other side of the glass

womb that trapped him. Beyond the tubes and wires that connected themselves to his body, a mask

covering his nose and mouth… liquids sliding through the tubes and into his skin. Pain that seemed to

melt his body and sharp, unnatural sounds. And finally, sleep, numbing unconsciousness that was bliss

and heaven in itself.

He awoke the next day, coated in sweat and wracked with a trembling he could not stop. Laying

back down Valin clamped his eyes shut and curled up on his side. Remembering. Yes, he remembered

this place, a long time ago. Some distant haze of memory, as if it had occurred to another person as if

the life wasn’t his own. The memory another’s.

Fire, death… it was all there, they had called it “The Calamity” as they pried him from the arms

of his family. From safety, and aboard the metal monster that would take him to a prison, to green liquid

and vivid colored liquids and men with hard faces and white coats. The eternity.

It had been brief and it was already slipping beyond his memories grasp as he groped and

yearned for it to return to him. It was fruitless, nothing he tried could keep the memory fresh as it

caused a loathing, a hatred that was blinding to bloom in his chest and too human desires to wrack his

body. Perhaps he was degrading.

Nathan and Adrian got no news of the general until almost noon the next day, when they were

all due to be sorted into regiments and the frontal party and those that would remain as distance

fighters. Few were truly ready to face what lay just beyond the walls of the Port, and most were fretting.

The tangible air of worry, distress seemed to cloud them all. Slow time and speed it so that one moment

they were waking and the next they were waiting for the appearance of their General, it was now, as

they all waited… that a paige came and whispered in an undertone to several of the Captains. They all

glanced around a somewhat distressed expression painting their faces as they shot weary glances to the

“children” awaiting orders. “He’s what?” Nathan heard one utter in bewilderment, the paige nodded

nervously, “He hasn’t gotten out of bed… the doctors think he is sleeping…” he was cut off by another,

indignant captain. “How can he be sleeping when we are on the dawn of a war?” He hissed and the

paige fidgeted, “Well… I’m not sure. But no matter what they do he won’t wake.” The captains seemed

nervous and bothered now, each glancing at the other for some confirmation that nothing had gone

wrong.

Adrian took in a sharp breath as he eyed them, listening intently, as many others were doing. He

looked to Nathan who nodded and the two of them crept as unnoticeably as possible away from the

whispering captains and the nervous paige. It took all the effort and silence they could muster to get

them safely before the General’s cabin, where more hushed voices were gurgling within. Adrian

and Nathan pressed an ear to the door, listening raptly.

“I told you this has been coming all along.” Hissed the familiar voice of the doctor whom had

administered the truth chemical to Nathan. A snort of annoyance and perhaps disbelief made the doctor

snap, “What! I saw him, I wrote the note in his file…degenerating.” He insinuated with another hiss.

There was a brief silence, “Well… we cannot be sure if this truly is degeneration until he is tested. That

cannot be done here, we do not have the resources and we cannot allow this… er, drawback to withhold

our purpose here.” There was a finality in the man’s tone that spoke to whomever else was in the room

that allowed no argument, “We shall send him back to the labs.”

Adrian and Nathan’s eyes both widened, bulging from their heads as they held their breath.

Creeping away just as three doctors emerged from the cabin, “It is settled… he is in a coma and the

Captians will be in charge of sorting men into regiments to set out at dawn tomorrow.” The other two

nodded agreement. Nathan did not speak until the doctors were out of sight, “Send him BACK?” He

hissed in an undertone, glowering at the cabin door. “Whats wrong with him?” Without waiting for an

answer Nathan rushed to the door and slipped inside, he froze staring at their… “General”. Huddled like

a child on the bed, his skin more sallow than usual, his whole body seemed limp and unmoving, aside

from the occasional lift of his sides as he took a rare breath. Adrian soon entered the room and frowned,

“We should get back.” He whispered and tugged at Nathan’s arm, “Hopeless…” the blonde mumbled,

“should have known it was useless.” He kept ranting to himself, shaking his head wit ha scowl planted

firmly on his face. Adrian did not question him but kept walking, he knew Nathan was referring to the

brief hope he had, had in learning what had happened to him… who he had been before the labs.

They were there again… whispering above him in voices he could not understand, a bright light

was assaulting his eyes and a cold, solid surface seemed to bruise his very bones. He felt limp and

lifeless, unable to control the very body his muddled mind inhabited. They moved quickly above

him, he felt a twinge in his right arm as one slid a needle beneath his skin. An oddly vibrant liquid sliding

beneath the surface, causing his veins to burn and momentarily, perhaps he was insane, fade from blue

to a sickly green… red now and finally back to blue. He felt his mind sharpen… more moved, another tug

at his side now as several tubes were pulled from his ribs… long, glinting needles at their end. He wanted

to panic and pull away as the man pulled the sinister contraption away from his body, but found his

ankles and wrists bound with a painful strap. He winced, pain… no, not quite pain, but a small burning,

prickling sensation on the side of his neck, another just below his navel… another needle sending oddly

colored liquid through his veins. This time, igniting them a vibrant yellow before darkness encircled his

vision and left him in cold and numbness.

He did not wake again until much later, he was back within the green liquid, they were moving

hurredly about him… only now. They were clearer, everything around them sharper, and he could make

out many more of the green wombs like he himself inhabited. Others filled them, at least a dozen or so,

some with no tubes attached and some struggling against their life supports. He knew, somewhere, that

struggle was futile… yet he ever so longed to do so. They were looking at him now, he could make out

every wrinkle and splotch on the aging man’s skin. Every hair seemed to come into his focus as the man

frowned up at him, dark circles falling beneath his eyes as he gazed forward. His dark, eyes were not cold

and mirthless as the others were… no, they intrigued him with the depth they seemed to plunge. The…

sympathy? They seemed to give him… he hated this man, how dare he pity him. He wanted to rip him

apart and leave him lieing in a bloody heap, Valin felt a loathing beyond what any of the others had left

in him for this man. But, as if understanding… the man merely smiled and jotted down notes on a

clipboard, turned and walked off to another experiment. Valin cursed him with his last conscious

thought.

He heard a murmer of voices, much closer than the echoes of his past… of memories that were

again slipping through his grip. He could see, just beyond his eyes an orange glare of light and shadows

that meant people were near. “Catatonic… how can he just become catatonic. There were no

symptoms, no signs!” raged a voice he well recognized. An older, more sober voice took it’s place. “I’m

sure there were signs… however subtle, it seems… his memory has lapsed. Yet this cannot be confirmed

until we run tests.” Valin recognized this voice, he wanted to open his eyes and glimpse the face he had

cursed long ago. But he did not, for the other voice spoke now, “How long will he be like this? He cost

us, wasting time to send him out only to have him returned YET AGAIN.” The older doctor said nothing

and retreating footsteps told him that the cold, young scientist had left the room. His eyes fluttered

open as the old doctor sighed. He stared up, the closed eyes and aged face of Demetri, the head of it all.

The one who had begun the Labs and first taken a child for experimentation, his… experiences had

changed him. Unlike the others he had not become cold and power hungry, but had condemned

himself

from the first time a vile result had shown him the truth of his mistake. Valin did not speak, did not

move until Demetri opened his eyes and looked, shocked down at him, he offered no words to Demetri,

simply stared at him with as much hollow indifference as if they were strangers.

The aged man frowned, scowled almost before burying his face in his hands. “What have I done,

my child.” He hissed fingers slipping through his hair as Valin looked up at him, so much question in his

mind. Sure, Demetri had been closer to him than any of the other doctors… kinder, but close enough to

be in reference as a father.. he had no such memories. Well… that he knew of.

Valin tried to sit up, but a firm hand held him in place, he frowned coldly. “I’m not staying

Demetri.” The old man shook his head, “You cannot leave. You don’t understa…” He was cut off as Valin

shoved his hand away and lept lightly, silently from the table. “No, then tell me. I want to know.” He

began, eyes hardening as he leered at the aged man before him. Perhaps, the closest thing he had ever

had to a father. Demetri looked suspicious, “What do you want to understand?” Valin half smiled,

“Everything.” He said shortly as Demetri’s eyes widened in shock, “What is there to…” He was cut off yet

again, “Do not lie to me, Demetri. I know…. Or have such a sense as knowing very well that there is

more. More than THIS than this life, I am somehow aware of a past and flashes of memories. Things that

I know I haven’t done… nostalgia, I want to know what I am… was before this, before these labs.” He

hissed vehemently as Demetri took a seat in a chair, slightly shaken, his head turning from side to side as

he closed his eyes. “I am afraid…” He began but stopped and looked up at Valin.

“It was a mistake.” He said shortly and Valin looked slightly take aback, “What was?” Demetri

smiled a melancholy, half smile that seemed to deaden his eyes. Valin did not like it. “Everything… what

the experiments did to the first children. How they turned them into monsters instead of highly adapted

humans… how they carried diseases that wrecked havoc upon our world.” He stopped now looking

down as if in disgust of himself, “How we can now surpass and govern death… how we can change a life

and trap a very soul.” His eyes flickered back to Valin. “That…” He stopped a moment, “That my greatest

fault… greatest sin was that I allowed this. Allowed these experiments and tests to be performed upon

you. You…” He stopped again as Valin sat down. “ you who surpassed all our expectations. You retained

the DNA replications of the mutated monsters without the mutations, without the bloodthirsty side-

effects. Stronger… faster, no experiment to compare to this perfect life we had created.” He frowned,

“But you failed, you were sick… small, weak… you died and they drug you back.” Valin could feel

Demetri’s unease, sympathized with him but a moment before daring to ask his question. “What

happened?” Demetri frowned, “Again and again and again, we tried to bring you back., and again and

again and again we failed. Yet… finally we succeeded, but you were changed. A different language, a

different reaction. As if you were a completely different beign and yet still the same.” He shook his

head. “The… the experiments were more rigorous. They spliced your DNA… mutation your body, until

three more times that body died and another, another embryo was birthed from your DNA… and we

again managed to transplant the soul.” Valin felt the lurch of anger, like a white hot fury rising in his

chest. Prickling his blood and skin, but Demetri continued. “At last, we sent you back to the Red Zone…

and again you failed.” He shook his head, “And again you were reborn, stronger… faster, better in every

way than even before. But…” He sighed, “The body couldn’t cope, the body died. And now, here you

are… a final test, a final body that may also collapse beneath the sea of chemicals and destruction and

havoc that has been wreaked upon your body.” He shook his head as Valin sat motionless.

Neither spoke for a length of time, “And before… before the labs?” Demetri looked pained,

averting his eyes and face from Valin’s as he began to speak. “You were, born at the Port where the Red

Zone is. Perhaps this is to do with your memory lapse, just before The Calamity, you were taken. I

personally convinced your parents it would keep you safe and brought you here.” He stopped daring to

glance at Valin’s face which was cold and indifferent, “I never meant for the experiments to be

conducted on you… I” He shook his head as if he had done something very foolish, a dream of a crazy

old man. “I had hoped, you would be able to reverse our disasterous effects when I okayed the

experiments on you. For days I could not sleep,” He stated earnestly as if begging forgiveness as Valin’s

face became harder… colder. He could feel the anger threatening to explode in his chest, he felt the

desire to rip apart the man before him. “for days, and weeks I listened… I couldn’t bear to watch the

experiments. How they hurt you, the screams… the after effects, everything. It was all too much… and to

this final birth.” He stopped head falling into his hand. “I couldn’t bear it, I wished so badly… prayed in

some way you would be saved, that my mistake. My sin, would not condemn your soul as I have my

own.” He stopped looking up as he heard Valin rise and look of horror covered his face as cold steel

swept through his skull.

He could feel the white hot tears running from his eyes, burning an acid trail down his face and

skin. How could he? The very man he had once thought of as a father… quite possibly the only one he

had known, had given him up to this demon before of him. For what to be an experiment? To become

a monster, “We… really are nothing but monsters.” He whispered in realization to the man at his feet,

dazed and disoriented as he attempted to sit up. Valin walked off, “But it is okay Demetri. For I will be

the harbinger of your salvation… your forgiveness.” He hissed acidly as he slammed a fist into the first

panel of tabs he saw. Electricity coursed out, spilling onto the floor and the monitor flashed red.

On and on, without a second look back and leaving a trail of destruction in his wake Valin went.

Finding his sword and running through any who attempted to stop him. The green wombs and sleeping

children exploding and blood paining the metal walls red. Vials and jars and countless files bursting into

flame as he ravaged the labs room by room. Beds upturned, nurses sliced, wires left to litter the floor,

and sirens blaring like enraged birds in his ears. Alarms and a warning message booming over the sounds

and chaos as he swept like a condemning shadow through the halls and rooms.

It was hours later that he stood, the sun peeking above the dieing horizon, his absurdly hollow

eyes gazing down at the ruin and rubble and fire and fumes that were once the labs. The cause and

reason of the calamity… and the many deaths that should have been his last. How he wanted to collapse

and come to an end… but, that would be impossible. As his gaze swept to the crumpled figure of

Demetri beside him, he made up his mind. “I… I will correct your mistakes, Demetri. And we shall start

with truths to your lies.” He hissed as the man struggled to his feet, staring in shock at the rubble that

was once the most advanced place of technology on the planet. He turned and looked down into the

eyes of his downfall and laughed coldly, shaking his head. “Where do we start then?” He questioned and

a cold, mirthless smile curled Valin’s pale lips. Eyes glinting malevolently in the dawning sunlight before

turning to face it.

FOOTNOTE: Pleae review ; not too sure about this one either... don't know if I will continue it or not. Do not really know where it could continue too... if you have any ideas please please share them x.x and if you spot any problems grammar or whatever please also inform XD Review and Critique please .