Theus' entire body was ridden with fear and shock as he heard the most horrifying screams produced by his own kind. He fell to the ground, holding his head in an attempt to keep himself together.
'This… This can't be real. It's some sick joke, right?'
Everybody on board–some legally adults, others not–were still unmistakably young. All the people who boarded this ship had, unbeknownst to them, put the safety of their lives in the hands of a rogue organization, one going against the very superpower that was The Messengers.
The ship was thrown into a fit of frenzy. Its passengers consisted of those praying that all of this was a dream while cowering on the floor, and those that were yelling desperately at the loudspeakers, praying for some semblance of humanity to wash across the organization, allowing everyone to go home and be free.
Despite their pleading, the loudspeakers watched in silence as cold, mechanical witnesses.
Just then, the door to the cockpit of the human cargo ship opened wide, with the face behind it all being revealed to the public.
A fearless, battle-ready man stepped slightly in front of the Pilot's door. Regardless of everyone's deep-rooted hatred against the man for tricking and luring them into this parade of corpses, he exuded a presence similar to that of a commander. He wore a helmet, hiding his true emotions behind the confines of the mask, with his body toned and lean, deep scratches ridden across his suit.
Theus, curious to everyone else's reactions, took in a view of the population around him. The general number of people were all lost in awe at the seemingly powerful Pilot in front of them, yet there were a few that caught his eye especially.
One of them was even gritting his teeth, looking around the room in disdain.
The Pilot cleared his throat, causing a wave of silence to blast across the room, hushing any murmurs. Then, he began to speak.
"I'm aware that you all have had a… less than pleasant reaction to the news that you will be traveling into unknown territory. It disappoints me to hear that the new generation of young minds aren't as explorative as my own ones were-"
The Pilot's speech was cut off by slowly accelerating footsteps, turning into a sprint.
A hulking titan of a man burst through the front of the crowd, running towards the Pilot with disgust written all over his face. He had a defined, handsome look to him, one of a soldier, with his dark brown hair cut short and a slight stubble forming on his face.
"You bitch, you think we all just wanna throw away our lives like that?! Huh?! Why's it up to you to decide what we do…"
The man's shouting was outshone by the gut-wrenching sound of old, rusty conveyor belts whirring back to life. The lever next to the Pilot was flipped, bringing the lasers at the top of the roof down the makeshift carbon belts on the flimsy interior of the ship, forming a wall of lasers that the man was headed towards.
Then, his anger was replaced by fear as he screamed out in pain. The man had tried to stop his momentum, yet was too slow to do so. His right arm caught in the wall of lasers was eviscerated, being cut all the way up to the tendon, his wound being cauterized by the heat of the lasers, preventing his death from the immense loss of blood.
Gasps and little yelps spread across the hull, but were cut short once again as the Pilot continued.
"The database chips you all have received will be installed in a surgical chamber stored within the cockpit of the ship. Obviously, we can't bring you all in there at once, so we will start based on your numbers assigned to you. We will explain the usage of the database prior to your designated surgery."
The Pilot turned his head towards the burly man, giving him an unknown look hidden by his helmet once again.
"The flight to the unknown planet should take about four days, so long as there are no further interruptions. As for the surgeries, we'll start calling numbers out by tomorrow starting in reverse order. We hope you all get well acquainted with one another with this given time. An uncooperative team will only spell this ship's downfall, after all."
Finishing his abrupt speech, the Pilot waved goodbye to the captive passengers, and his figure disappeared into the cockpit once more.
Long, drawn out sighs of relief were given by the passengers, as a few of them ran over to help the man who rushed towards the Pilot.
Theus took this time to gather his bearings and assess the situation. As far as he knew, he was getting a ride straight to the secretive planet that The Messengers had never promoted any method of exploration for, turning instead to the newly habitable planets of Mercury and Venus. He had already asked his mother for all the information possible about the other planets, so the idea of exploring this new planet, especially since it was prohibited- Theus was stoked.
Despite this, however, this also meant he had little chance of seeing his mother any time soon, and with little knowledge of who his 'employers' were, or their true intentions, his fate seemed almost certain.
He'd most likely die on this planet.
Startled into awareness, Theus ran back over to the safety of his corner he stole from the invisible boy, and decided it fruitful to gain as much information about the capabilities of his Desire as possible.
He knew that his grasp on his powers would determine whether he lives or dies.
*****
A quarter of the interior of the cargo ship was now cut off by a wall of piercing red lasers, the area behind the wall was where the important parts of the ship lay. Its engine and pilot system rested in the confines of the cockpit, and even the controls for the faulty laser mechanism were near the entrance to the cockpit. On the other side of the laser wall, the group of three-thousand were lost in confusion and fear.
Two people were trying to comfort or round up the people, one was a teenage girl with bright, blonde hair and light, olive eyes, while the other was a charming boy, about the same age as the girl, with dark black, swept back hair and an alluring face. Both were fairly good-looking and pleasant to the eyes, adding even more to their calming, or in the boy's case, captivating voices.
Theus, huddled in one of the corners, could care less about what advice the two had to give to the group of people. Instead, his eyes were focused on the small blade of a knife he had just created. This knife, however, had no handle. It was merely a blade.
'I asked and thought about a knife! Not just the sharp part of it!'
Theus threw the blade on the ground in frustration, still having difficulty with the terms of his abilities, then he looked up at the veiled woman kneeling down in front of him, and pushed himself further back against the corner.
"Wha-?! Where did you come from- The hell?"
The woman took Theus' hand in a form of apology for her startling entrance, and introduced herself in a calm, serene voice.
"Ah, my name is Caylie. My apologies for scaring you so badly… number three-thousand?"
Theus' eyes focused again at the calling of his number. He was in the process of trying to discern the face hidden by the veil, yet couldn't make out anything. The slender, yet well-built woman had long, platinum blonde hair flowing down her back, with a solid white veil covering her entire face.
"Oh! Sorry, It's Theus, ma'am. Uh, how come you're not with the rest of them?"
Caylie turned around, her hair following gently behind her back as she looked at the swarms of people listening to the two, seemingly natural leaders. Regardless of whether or not Theus could see her face, he knew that this woman was either royalty, gorgeous, or both. His face flushed at the thought that this elegant lady approached him, of all people. Caylie turned back to look at Theus, who promptly looked away in embarrassment, she let out a small giggle.
"They seem too bothersome, and I saw you form this out of nothing. Your Desire, I'm guessing?"
She picked up the blade while saying this, with extreme delicacy in mind, then looked up at Theus once again.
"Yeah, it's my Desire, the Desire for-"
He felt an urge deep within him that made him retch and look at the ground. Then, he blurted out.
"The Desire for Construction!"
Theus cursed The Mutation internally for his incapability to share the truth of his Desire, then his mouth gaped open in horror at what Caylie was trying to do.
She was lifting the blade to her forearm–calmly, deliberately–as if the fear of pain was unbeknownst to her.