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Author: Falcon15
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My awareness of this world and this life began in darkness. I could feel more than hear the low throbbing pulses of sound threaded through with a steady sibilant hiss. Even now as I lay back in the darkness with my eyes closed the emotions that defined my self during that dawning of my awareness come flooding back.
Fear…
Betrayal…
Pain…
Oh, the pain! Swaths of red agony painted upon my very nerve endings as if by a cruel child with a razorblade brush. My awareness of that dark beginning was defined in periods of emotional drain, physical agony, and mental exhaustion. I lived inside my darkness like a tortured animal with no way of knowing that this was all wrong…
I existed alone…or did I? If I strain my memory, concentrate with my eyes closed I hear voices over the remembered thrumming and hissing. Faint, but distinct voices:
The first voice, soft and nervous:
“Subject E showing elevated blood pressure, adrenal function above 50 percent.”
The second voice, firm and controlled:
“Sedate Subject. Monitor all cerebral activity and endocrine function. I do not want this one crapping out on us like Subject D. I want a full emotional map and memory implantation. Use the Alpha set.”
A third voice feminine and cold:
“ Probe inserted, emotional mapping begun. Memory implantation commencing.”
I remember straining to hear more when suddenly my universe of darkness exploded into a cascade of stars, an infinite spray of pinpoint lights. A soft blue-white nimbus seemed to float before me. A voice, inhuman but somehow superhuman, washes over me:
“Do not be afraid. I mean you no harm.”
“What? Who or what are you?” I ask.
“My calling, my name is H’Nathra. I am a Kheldian,” the voice replies.
“How the hell am I supposed to know what a H’Nathra or a Kheldian is when I do not even know what or who I am,” I rage at the nimbus. I feel impotent, confused.
The first voices intrude upon my internal anger and disorientation like a cold knife lain across the back of my neck:
“Subject showing increased Epsilon wave activity in the frontal lobes,” the cold feminine voice says.
“Interesting. I see what could almost indicate two sets of brainwaves,” firm voice says, almost bemused.
“Endocrine function off the charts. Fight or flight instincts kicking in. Something in the memory set is scaring the hell out of the Subject,” first voice, not so soft now, more concerned.
Firm voice snaps a quick command: “Stimulate pain centers directly, I want to get this under control, now!”
The razors of agony go tearing through me. The inhuman voice, H’Nathra, washes over me like cool soothing water on a scalding hot burn.
“It is not real. Pay no heed to the flesh. Transcend your body,”
Lances of fire torment my already raw nerves as I growl back “Fake? Are you kidding me? It hurts like hell!”
“Pain is a flesh thing, a thing of the embodied. Let me show you,” H’Nathra’s nimbus expands and envelops my awareness. The pain ceases immediately and suddenly I am H’Nathra, I open myself fully to his light, it becomes my universe.
“As I said,” H’Nathra’s voice surrounds me, encompasses me “I am a Kheldian. I am of an ancient race, one of energy and thought, diplomats and scholars, but also fierce warriors. I am also dying.”
“Dying?” I am scared, for this gentle being has done nothing but kindnesses to me.
“My kind can and does exist alone in the universe. As I said, we are scholars and diplomats for uncounted races. We are the repository of a billion extinct races cultures and histories, but we have internal strife. We are split between two factions and fight ruthlessly. I was caught unawares and injured badly. In my weakened state I was captured.”
“I must be insane. I must be living some bizarre fantasy inside my mind-“ I begin to babble to myself
“You are sane. Be silent, for my time runs short and there is much to say and do,” H’Nathra sounds pained and tired.
“As I said I was captured. Those that torment you captured me in my weakened state. I am being held in the same facility in which you were created. Yes, before you interrupt, you were artificially created. All embodied life is created, whether by procreation of the biological sort or other non-biological means. You are the fifth in a new series of “Revenant Hero” experiments. I know not what these things mean; I only skim the surface thoughts of those nearby. Apparently you are not going to be a success either, for the project leader is now thinking about killing your physical boy and grinding it down to a paste to extract the chemicals, DNA and other important components from your form. He thinks of this process as “rendering”. Unless we were to join.”
“Join?” I reel under the implications of the statements made, barely able to keep up.
“Yes, I am dying, you are slated to die. Alone we face dissolution, but together we can pool our resources, combine my powers with your genetically enhanced body. We become one, our memories become your memories. Our thoughts become your thoughts. Our abilities become your abilities. When your physical form passes from life to death as all physical life does, I will depart your flesh and you will become part of me. We will be joined forever. I do not wish to die, and I sense you do not either. Together we have a chance for freedom!”
It took no time to consider these things, no choice has been clearer, before or since. The we became I and the I became the being known as Enath!
I opened my eyes then, for the first time. I was floating in a thick, syrupy fluid, with cables and hoses attached to my body at various points. I observed the group of scientists as they became frantic. First things first, physical freedom: I could feel the ebb and flow of cosmic energies around me and I began drawing them into my body. Extending my arms straight out I touched the sides of the pod my body floated in and I released the power through my hands. Ballistic plastic and steel exploded outward from me and I was falling, the sharp quick tugs of the cables and hoses being yanked from my body as they fell away with the remains of the pod do not distract me. I smiled and willed myself up! I floated in the air, dripping wet and naked but elated. The scientists started scrambling for weapons they had secreted away, to no avail, as I laid swaths of energy down, repaying pain with pain.
Soon it was over. I spied a suit of armor hanging on a mannequin nearby and decided it might be better to be clothed than nude. After donning the armor, I drew deeply on the cosmic energy around me and focused my gaze at the skylight above me, harsh blue-white beams screamed forth from my eyes, blowing out the glass with a shrieking crash! Grinning, I willed myself into the air, up and out to freedom! Look out villains of Paragon City a Peacebringer is born!
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