Though nothing good lasts forever… it wouldn’t be but a few years of pleasantries on Sundays. That lady I told you about, yeah the one that brought the food to us… yeah well it turns out she wasn’t supposed to be doing things she was doing. I overheard an argument from the next room over, I recognized her voice. It was the only nice thing I had to look forward in here after all. I only could make out bits and pieces of the yelling, but from what I understand is that the oatmeal she was bringing us, not ok. She was using too much oats and overserving. Oh that Sunday deal I talked about, yeah that was bad to… I guess the facility we were located was scarcely staffed on Sundays, and she snuck into some control room and lifted our cages up for us to get some fresh air. A sympathizer they called her, weak minded and unfitted for the “goals” of the organization. The next day, the woman did not return. Instead in her place was another one of those armored guys. This one was exactly like the rest, rude, cruel and abusive. He made no attempts of communication; only stopping as necessary to partially fill a bowl with his dirty hands submerged into the new “goop” they would call food. It was awful… The taste was disgusting and tasted of rot. This was to be our new food source for the remainder of our years there.
Well that’s not exactly true… one night the woman found herself back inside our room, running for her life it seemed. The rest of the children could only watch in fear as we observed. She came bursting into the room, flicking switches as cells began to open. She only managed to open a few before armored men followed through the doorway. “RUN!” she screamed at the kids whom cages were open. Two of the five kids whose cages had opened made a run for it… If I my cage had been opened, I might have run to… I’m glad it didn’t though… The woman was dragged away out the door, her screams echoing down the hallway until she could be heard no more. Shortly after the silence, a man returned to the room and flipped switches until the cage doors were shut. “Don’t worry kids… ill make sure the others return home….” There was evil glistening in his eyes, tomorrow, a Sunday; we would see why... when morning came, we received no food. Instead a loudspeaker buzzed to life as a man broadcasted his message of doom. “That woman last night and the children that attempted to escape would like to put on a show for you… I’m sure it will… warm your hearts.” Immediately our cages begun to rise and the ceiling parted to allow the cages through. When we arrived at the surface, we were met with a scene of terror.
The woman and both children were locked inside a cage atop a mountain of wood. The cage was similar to each of our own, barely allowing room for the trio to remain inside. The loud speaker crackled again. “Let this be an example to all of you, this is the fate that awaits you if you ever attempt to disobey in such a manner.” The mound of wood burst to life as flames consumed the area. The woman and two children screamed as the flames licked the cage walls, slowly crawling closer and closer. “This isn’t exciting enough… how about this…” Our cages begun to descend and re ascend to the surface top, each time the scene grew more and more horrific. It seemed another of the children couldn’t bear to look at it and began to freak out. He started screaming and rocking his cage back and forth. Then he gave one shake too much and the cage came off its bearing, but still somewhat attached to the pedestal it originally sat. But the cages were still going up and down, so when it came time for the cages to resurface, his cage was caught in-between the ceiling and the pedestal. There was hesitation and then the sound of metal on metal and the hydraulic system prevailed and pushed past the obstacle. There was the sound of bending metal and the crunch of his body. The cage had caved in on itself and crushed the boy inside, break bones and bursting organs. His face still bearing the look of horror as his cage repeatedly rose and fell while the trio above burned to death. I no longer cared for Sundays after that day.
As time went on, the experiments got more complex and twisted. At first it was simple blood work, reflexes, the usual doctor type of checkup. Then it evolved into more intrusive testing, such as testing pain tolerance or how long we could hold our breath. I thought that was bad at the time… I didn’t even know, how could I… The days of needle pricks and being water boarded came to pass and move on, what replaced it would drive most insane. I remember being cooled to a state of unconsciousness, having been submerged in a tub of ice. I would be forced to stay there until I felt nothing and soon passed out. I would be revived on a metal table with heat lamps until I began to sweat. Hours would go by with this back and forth cooling and heating. This was just one of the many so called “experiments” they performed on me. I say me only because none of the other kids there cared to share their experiences. Why would they? I certainly didn’t feel like talking after a session of that. I tried to get Kasen to tell me what they did to her, but she would always just tell me in a shaky voice “Nothing serious, I’ll be ok nii-san”. I knew she wasn’t completely honest with me, but all I could do was respect her bravery in holding on this long. I say this only because as the experiments grew more gruesome and inhuman, so too dropped the rate of returning “subjects” from the labs. One by one the kids began to disappear, leaving for testing only to never return and their cage remain eerily open. What’s worse is that I couldn’t help but notice the consistency of our meals thickening after each child’s absence. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but I doubt it…
Every few months they would either give up on whatever they were trying to accomplish or perhaps gathered the data they wanted from each particular experiment they performed on me. With time they seemed to grow lax, openly discussing the tests they were doing, and theories about how it would affect me. Testing my body’s limits often proved painful, but that was no surprise. One such experiment I think might have just been out of bored mind seeking entertainment. With no anesthesia, they filed my teeth to a point, making jokes about how “scary” I looked now. I could barely breathe let alone eat for a week with my nerves exposed like that.
Near the end of my time there, they began to do genetic testing on me. Poking and prodding me, injecting me with trace amounts of “serums” as they called them. Some had no effects at all while others burned within my blood for days. This is when so many of the other children began to disappear. Soon enough there was only five of us left. I guess they needed to us to keep our strength up for these new genetic trials, since they moved us to a new room. It was about the same size, maybe a little smaller. No windows or openings minus the door in. Each of us had our own bed, nothing fancy of course. A straw mattress with no pillow, it laid directly on the floor. To others it may have been substandard to what they knew in their old life, but Kasen and I were in heaven. No cage, freedom to walk around. The bed beat the crap out of our cardboard box we had… We didn’t say a word about it lest they take it away and force us back into the cages.
For whatever reason or another, we proved more durable than the rest of the children that came before us. Before we didn’t think it necessary to bond or converse much, seeing as how we would probably never see them again. But these last few seemed hardy and so we bonded. Besides myself and Kasen, there were two boys and another girl. The two boys were named Taiho and Shiryo, the girl was called Gisei. We came to know them quite well and became good friends. We were each other’s support group, or hope, or “rays of sunshine” if you will. I confided in them with what had been done to me and then in return shared their experiences as well. For the most part they were the same, up until the genetic experiments started. We were being put under very different tests, it seemed. Kasen remained silent during these times of conversation, never sharing a single thought on the matter. I don’t blame her though; she was the youngest of us all.
Hmm? Why didn’t we just walk out if we weren’t in cages anymore? Well, we thought about that actually… Gisei volunteered to be our scout to see if the coast was clear. The door was always unlocked you see… She peered out the doorway down the hallways, seeing nothing. She took only a single step out the door, where then her collar, the ones I mentioned a while ago, started to blink and beep. Quickly flashing and beeping faster and faster until… -BOOM- Within ten seconds time, her collar exploded. I want to say I was shocked, but the flashing image experiment they did I guess sort of prepared me for that. Flashing pictures of gruesome and grotesque images makes you somewhat immune to gore like that. I can’t say I wasn’t upset by it though, I mean… she was a good friend, and offered up her life to attempt an escape. Seemed those things were rigged to blow should we attempt to escape without some sort of deactivation prior to leaving the room.
There was an “accident” one day; a day that I personally think changed my fate forever. During another one of their DNA tampering processes, they injected me what I heard them call C.S.1 I can’t recall the exact events that transpire, I only know that after they injected it into me, I passed out and awoke to a burning inferno around me. I was unharmed, but the lab techs and guards were dead and burnt to a crisp. That was the last time I got to see my friends and my sister for some time… They considered me a “hazard” and locked me in my own personal room. I began to have vivid nightmares, often of myself burning alive. My blood somehow turning to fire, sometimes I would see myself exploding. Each time I awoke my bed was turned to ash and my walls scorched. The doctor never explained it to me, despite my pleas. The guards avoided me like the plague, along with any lab techs. All communication had been cut off for me… I would be alone in my mind for months before I would see the face of another, not a single word was spoken to me.
My meals were scarce, barely half of what I previously was being fed. I would have starved to death if it hadn’t been for their over abundant rat problem. I can’t say they taste good, but you either get used to it or don’t care because otherwise you’d be dead. These rats were a boon to me in more ways than one. Seeing as how most rodents of that class often carried diseases; I eventually contracted something. It may have been worth it in the end, but the journey was grisly and dreadful. It began with simple headaches, eventually progressing towards my entire body aching in pain. Then the rashes formed and the vomiting came. I probably could have withstood it, but a fever set in. I could barely move save for hacking up half a lung or spilling what little I contained within my stomach. I don’t know how much time had passed before they realized something was wrong with me, but eventually they came and took me away. I hated those guards, don’t get me wrong. But the blinding light that shined throughout my room as the door opened, revealing a guard to take me away… yeah that was a good feeling, knowing I would not die that day.
I was kept under heavy guard and surveillance during my time in their infirmary. This allowed me to hear their conversations once more, giving me much peace in my mind. No longer being forced to eat rats and talk to the shadows on the wall felt nice… In time I recovered and they began to suggest moving me back to my single cell. There was one that protested on my behalf, which confused me. They never cared about us or our situation, we were nothing but human lab rats to them. But this one did and did so with ease. There wasn’t a fight, an argument, just a simple ok. It was as if by some form of magic that the agreed to it. So instead I was allowed to remain in the infirmary, gaining back much needed strength. Strength I would need for would transpire in the near future.
Over the span of a few good weeks spent in the infirmary, the guards that were normally posted there became fewer and fewer, to a total of only one guard. This one happened to be the one that suggested that I remain there. He didn’t talk much, only single worded sentences’. Any other time it seemed as if he wasn’t even there mentally. It came out of nowhere, I would never really understand what triggered it, the man turned to me and uttered the last words I would ever hear him speak, “It’s time.” With that he would run over and trip the alarm. The building went into lockdown mode and everything began to seal off. The man ducked out of the door before the bars came crashing down. It seemed I was sealed within. Whatever alarm he had tripped was a bad one, seeing as how it activated some sort of self-destruction system. Over the intercoms I could hear a monotone voice talking about it, giving off a miniscule time frame for evacuation before the self-destruct sequence activated.
Now you can imagine the mind of a ten year old being told that if he doesn’t leave, he is going to blow up. My state of mind was not unlike that of a wild animal backed into a corner. Something inside was triggered and my fight or flight senses were kicked into some other level of functioning, fight AND flight. My body became to feel strange, I couldn’t control my emotions and my body temperature spiked. I felt like I was going to die, pass out and explode all at the same time. I started to pound on the door that the man had previously escaped. It was no use, I was merely a young boy with no strength of his own, none that I was aware of anyways. I stood at the doorway all but defeated, nowhere to run; only minutes before my death became a reality. It was then that I heard it, a scream from down the hall. It was Kasen! This wasn’t the scream in pain or meaningless screams of a child fooling around, no, this was a scream of pure terror. She was in trouble and I was stuck in that damn room. I needed out, but couldn’t get out but I had to! My brain became fuzzy going back and forth with itself; you can imagine the process of my thinking. My mind went blank, and my eyes rolled into the back of my head. Destroy… that was the only word that ran through my head. My body exploded with energy, flames radiating from everywhere, uncontrolled, unchecked and uninhibited. The door burst open and was embedded into the wall across the hall. I was free, on fire, but free.
I gained somewhat of my conscious back, but I remained aflame. I could hear a guard coming down the hallway, soon enough he spotted me in the doorframe. He yelled at me to stop and get down on the ground, raising some kind of weapon at me. “No…” that was all I could think, I was consumed and enraged in my inner hate. The man instantly burst into flames, dying on the spot. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening, but I didn’t care. I had only one goal and that was to save Kasen. I ran down the hallway towards the room we were kept in, the one with all the cages. Thankfully they never bothered to cover our eyes when transporting us, so I knew the hallways well… for the most part anyways. I could hear a ruckus in the room as I drew near. I burst through the doorway to see a single guard on top of Taiho; he was strangling him to death. How he even managed to get out of his cage was what would seal his fate. I needed to get the man off of him. I ran over and will the full force of my body knocked him over, freeing Taiho from his grasp. Positioned myself between Taiho and the man, attempting to shield my friend from any more harm… I wish I could go back and change it, but this was just the way of the world. The guard got up and twisted his hands together and released a wave of energy. It seemed Taiho developed some form of power from the experiments as well, much like myself. Just as the energy beam would have hit me, I felt something pull me and I found myself in the spot were my friend was previously lying. I looked up and watched Taiho’s final moments as the energy beam hit him and could only watch as his body exploded from the blast. Pieces of him hit me and quickly sizzled away by the flames that coated my body. The smell of burning blood and flesh filled the air. I… I couldn’t contain myself anymore after that point; the urge to end this man was uncontrollable.
I rushed the man once more and punched him as hard as I could. I watched as my fist passed through his armor with ease and felt the embrace of his organs as they fried around my arm. I yelled at the top of my lungs releasing another wave of fire and the man boiled from the inside out in front of me. The man practically melted in my arms, literally. I turned and saw Shiryo still locked in his cage, staring at me with a strange combination of amazement and fear. I understood why… Kasen entered the room just after I melted that guy, seems they placed her in segregation as well. They just watched another of their friends explode and then myself melt a person… I myself would have been in shock if it hadn’t been for the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
I ran over to the control panels, pressing the same buttons that lady did all those years ago. All the cages opened, releasing Shiryu. Thinking of the only way possible to escape, I yelled for them to get on top of the cages. Once they did so, I pulled the lever that raised the cages and ran over to one myself. Once we reached the surface, we would surely be free. It could never have been that easy though. Awaiting us at the top was another 10 guards, somehow knowing we would attempt to leave this way. “On my command!” One of the guards, obviously in charge prepared the rest of his group. The rest raised their weapons, and prepared to fire. Just before they fired, Shiryu made a mad dash for the tree line… he didn’t make it far, just after passing by Kasen, another beam of energy struck him and exploded in a shower of blood, guts and gore, raining down upon Kasen and I. Before I could even move or talk, he gave the order to fire… and so they did.
We should have died right then and there, but something more triggered within me. I felt my body changing inside, the heat rose within me. I felt like I was going to explode with power if I didn’t release what was inside. Kaen’s skin felt like it had begun to bubble, as if boiling.. Energy began to concentrate in his pores and once critical mass was attained… They all fired off in tandem. The horror was unreal, bodies partially disintegrated, others horribly disfigured as their legs and arms were either torn off or bones sticking out in all directions. Not even the facility was safe from his devastation. The entire complex came crumbling down in on itself. The sudden buildup and release of all that power, far beyond the reach of any normal boy his age, caused Kaen to pass out immediately from exhaustion. This was the last thing I remembered before waking up in a strange unknown location.
When I did finally regain consciousness, it was my dear sister Kasen that nudged me back to reality, her little fingers poking my sides. For the briefest of moments I had nearly forgotten everything that happened to that point and even chuckled a bit as the fingers dug deep into the perfect spot for tickling. But when I opened my eyes I knew it was all real and not some horrific nightmare. The room was dark, save for a large cluster of strange glass frames, each holding a variety of unknown symbols and pictures. Wires were strung about the room in a hastily fashion, as if ready to be packed up and gone in a moment’s notice. It wasn’t but a minute later a woman walked into the room. Slender in frame, adored with waist length reddish hair… Kaen liked her already. She had an unusual sense of fashion, with her outfit being composed of a white long-sleeved blue-rimmed dress shirt. Her shirt was tucked into a pair of black shorts on top of black tights, held up by a white belt with a gold buckle. A red tie hanged loosely around her collar, and she wore a loose khaki jacket that covered her upper thighs, and had black and white straps at the end of both sleeves and the rim which were used to keep the entire jacket on her arms. She also wore a pair of black boots which were partially unzipped and folded down.
She addressed herself as Azumi, explaining that she had “been watching us for some time now…” The creepy vibes were present, but she did save us… Given the circumstances, we gave her the benefit of the doubt. From what little details she gave us at the time, there was an inside source that had been infiltrating various facilities like the one we were held. What she did tell us is that her employer had certain goals, and she requested that we help her in those goals of liberating hell holes like the one we were raised in. We were grateful for her helping us and believed in her cause, we agreed to help.
Thanks to the teachings of Azumi and a few of her “associates”, we soon figured out we had great power, able to perform great feats of magic and strength. Over the years we stayed in her service, assisting her in her own goals. It was the least we could since she essentially saved our lives. And her ambitions were not completely unattractive from we ourselves wanted. Under her tutelage we honed our own unique abilities and grew in strength to an immeasurable level. We traveled the lands searching out those who would dare attempt the things they did to us, liberating and destroying facilities and those working them, in the hopes that one day that evil would be gone from this world.
Our searches eventually brought us to Wind country, rumors of taboo medical experimentations were running amuck. We were given orders to enter as refugees and begin our search. We did as best we could to blend in with the other inhabitants of Sand. There Kasen took a liking towards the medical field and studied under the teachings of a ninja called Akujin. With him she learned the magical marvels of medical ninjutsu. I kept myself occupied in doing miscellaneous work doing manual labor or commissioning a random mission as a freelance. Acquiring official missions from the main village of Sand proved difficult as they were somewhat persistent on keeping outsiders and refugees away from the knowledge of their inner workings. Kaen believed in time they would eventually agree to let him participate in their “Ninja world” as fewer and fewer shinobi were available or willing.
Finding work as a manual laborer was easy enough, Kaen's body was strong and capable. But it was no proper living wage, like that of the shinobi of Wind Country. With the aid of his sister's medical mentor, Akujin, he was directed to inquire about joining the ranks of the elite at the academy. From there he met with the headmaster and eventually worked out a deal that would allow him to take the final exam in lieu of attending classes. While his written exam did not go as well as he had hoped, his practical applications of ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu were exceptional for someone of his age. His ninjutsu is what fascinated the instructors the most as his unnatural genetic injection experimental powers were far beyond what was normally capable of a child of his age. With such a display, it was unanimously decided that Kaen be given the rank of Genin and would begin missions immediately.
For the time being we reside in the boundaries of Wind country, searching for any clues as to the location to the ones we seek. The future for Kaen and Kasen still remains untold, as is the fate of any other “shinobi” that dares threaten the safety of myself or Kasen…
His hand would be searing hot but it would grip with an impressive, constrictive force that would yank her in. Movement from one plane to another was unpleasant, like being born but in reverse. The crushing weight of his mind and the fiend's searing touch that did not burn would be only mere seconds but to Sara it would feel multiplicatively longer. It was enough to take one's breath away. But once inside if she took his hand and endured this journey she would find herself in the same cinderal ruins she saw before. This was the portion of Kaen's mindscape that he occupied and had remained dormant for all these years until the forged hybrid. The air was heavy with the scent of sulfur and ash and it would feel as if she had stepped into an oven as a burst of hot air would slap her across the face. 