"AAAAHHHH...!", the deafening screams of a figure sitting amidst ruins and surrounded by shattered remnants of what once was, echoes throughout the night as if the very weight of his dark, loathful emotions threatens to consume it. And with the moon above casting it's cold, unforgiving light on the destruction illuminating the figure's small form against the backdrop of devastation and then as suddenly as it began, the screams faded into silence.
Heaving through his ragged breath, and body trembling with the force of his grief and rage he emerges from the rubble. With a clear picture of his unique, small yet delicate frame as that of a 10-year-old in rags perfectly being captured by the moon's light. With a calm, yet cold expression unlike one you'd expect from someone his age.
Yet, what made this scenery more unique was his glamorous waist-length white hair that resonates with the moon's light, with some strands standing out, trailing behind him like a tail and Two pairs of silver-like purple wings protruded majestically from his back, their delicate patterns shimmering in harmony with the moonlight, while intricate purple rune-like markings danced across his body like ethereal brushstrokes.
"Y—You do realize this is far from over, right!?", yells another figure of a man wearing glasses, who appears to be in his late 30's from his looks alone, wearing a lab coat covered with blood and with the airs of a doctor around him, as he emerges from the shadows having followed the screams. With his voice staggering as he tries to speak and his body trembling both from having lost his arm and having a metal bar cling to his sides and from the fear he felt when looking at the child in front of him, although he felt an unprecedented amount of fear caused by the child Infront of him, he couldn't help but feel awe by his majestic figure as he stood in front of him.
"I mean, an organization as big as ours doesn't operate on just a single building and we haven't existed this long surviving on it alone either."
As the doctor's words hang in the air, the child's gaze remains unwavering, as he fixed his eyes on the doctor's mangled form. The doctor's voice trembles again as he takes a step forward leaving a trail of blood behind him with the metal bar scraping against the debris. "Listen I—I know... Ugh, we did some unmentionable things to you. B—but!" Said the doctor with a change of tone. "You see, those experiments we did on you, were... To make you stronger, better and w—we did just that. Now... L—look at you! Your once weakened and pitiful self now looks nothing like how it did before and is even more majestic."
The child's expression remains unreadable, but a faint whisper of a smirk plays on their lips. The doctor's eyes latch onto this hint of emotion, and with a smile he takes another step forward, his voice growing more urgent. "Ugh, but... that was not all there is about the present you, and I know you can tell... That power that resides within you. if you! If you just come back with Me. We can further enhance it to something greater, something stronger, SOMETHING MOR—"
"T....ers?" Says the child, cutting of the doctor's speech with a faint and quiet whisper.
"Hmmm?"
"The others!?" The child demands, with a calm tone, his face expressionless and unmoving as he speaks, but his wings told a different story — ruffled and tense like a predator coiled and ready to strike at moments notice. "What about the other kids like me?! Why weren't... Why, Couldn't they be treated like me?!" He continues, as he tries his very best to suppress his surging bloodlust. Though, one could hardly tell what
Caught off guard by the question and the change in the child's atmosphere his smile quivers with his expression clouding over. "Ah, well... The others, the others umm... You were unique a speci— I mean, the experiment was meant t—to enhance the natural capabilities of every single species without any single, urh—aftereffect." With beads of sweat dripping from his face, he pauses choosing his next words carefully. "For those who didn't make it... I—I sincerely apologize for their tragic fates, for they weren't strong enough to survive through the procedure as for those who survived—"
"Don't bother! I... Released them from their torment. Well, at least they will rest easy knowing; one of those who caused their suffering apologized, I suppose." Retorts the child with a calm tone, as his wings unfolds, their tension easing and their majestic form gleaming softly in the moonlight.
"I know, it's rude to say this after all that just happened and... Urh, what w—we did. " He interjects with an apologetic look. "But you have to... Face facts here, you need to continue with the experiment. Hence, you need us for that and I know you know the reason." He continues, as he stares at a purple line that runs across and spreads out on the lower side of the delicate skin on the child's face.
Slowly turning his gaze towards the doctor, as if to hide the lines, "as perceptive as always, I see." Says the child.
"Y—yes... Ugh". Crouching to the floor with a smile, to speak at eye level while groaning in pain as the metal bar stuck to his side moves around, "you know well enough what the final outcome would be, so let Us finish and—."
"Why?!" He retorts. Looking at the doctor with his smile gone and expressionlessly continues, "I mean, why... Should I come with you... Docter?".
With those words, came silence one so palpable one could almost taste the tension it bought along with it to the atmosphere. But, it was nothing in comparison to the purple glowing eyes and the wings shimmering with the moon's otherworldly glow that faced the doctors way.
"W—well...?", the doctor understanding what might happen next if he gives the wrong response, stammers struggling to get the right words out, his eyes darting across ruins, avoiding the child's gaze while searching for an escape path. "I—"
"All in all... I've got to give you some credit doctor, you know... For this body, power!"
he interjects as he flicks his wing — accompanied by loud thunderous sound with debris exploding outward in a chaotic burst, fragments of concretes and twisted metal scattering, as if underscoring the share power of such a simple move. "... My ones dark world, is filled with so much colors, I've never dreamed of seeing till now."
Still reeling from shock, the doctor's face contorted into a bewildered grin as he heard the child's words, his smile stretching awkwardly across his face as he wondered if he'd somehow won the child over.
"But at what cost, huh?". The child's voice drips with disdain as his face remains unreadable as he speaks, "sacrificing if not hundreds, thousands of lives... For this!?". As he speaks a soft, "Shhhk" sound reverberates in the air. Caused by his lower wing swiftly piercing through the doctor's body with a swift deadly motion and lift him up, like a quiet slicing of fabric. A delicate sound, born from a delicate action, but with it came a deadly result.
The doctor's eyes widen, his body frozen stiff as he hangs in the air, with a wing having gone through his stomach. Coughing out blood, "why?!" He mutters, Surprised by the turn of events.
Staring intently at the doctor "Don't tell me... You thought, you'd be able to persuade me like, the others!?" The child asks, seemingly surprised by the question. "Goodness doctor! I may be a child and look like one, but I was never a normal one to begin with and you know that. Yet ask such question... For someone as ingenious as you, you sure ask the dumbest questions you know that, doctor?".
"I... huff huff... We... Ugh... Created you... We..." Heaving with ragged breath and pain caused from the incision. The doctor still in shock speaks up, but with each word he lets out the, the fainter and less complete it becomes, "MXII... Yo—" he groans, as if trying to call the name of the child Infront of him.
"Don't bother, It's over! the same goes for the organization, as well as that vessel, you all so cherish."
The doctor shocked by the child's revelation, who's refered to as MXII. but losing all strength within him to let out another word in protest and finally the light fades away from his eyes.
With his calm eyes pearing at the doctor's corpse he withdraws his wing from the lifeless body with a swift, fluid motion. The soft "shhhk" sound of the wing sliding out is then replaced with a loud, "thud" of the doctor's corpse falling forward. As he continues to observe the doctor's lifeless body. He flicks his wing, removing the blood there and turns around to leave but then pauses.
Being drawn in by something in the distance. As He stares and continues to bask in the moon's glow. With his white hair and wings resonating with the moon's light. "Rest well... Leave the rest to me" MXII mutters to himself. With a pained, yet faint smile forming on his face and with an expression that tells a story...
«Umbra Spicula».
Mutters someone, as the faint whisper of words hangs in the air like a spell, inaudible to anyone around nor to MXII himself. Yet, With those words, the change in the atmosphere could be visibly seen as the shadows cast by the moon's light seems to twist and writhe both in the literal and figurative sense of the word, like living tendrils snaking across the ground, moving slowily and inconspicuously towards MXII.
The air thickens with an almost palpable sense of darkness, heavy with the scent of damp earth and decaying leaves, as if the very fabric of reality was responding to the whisper. Yet, MXII's eyes fixed on to some distant point, remains oblivious to the subtle yet profound changes unfolding around him.
The tendrils continue creeping towards him and engulfs his shadow, and as suddenly as it happens... Black shadowy spikes shot out of his shadow, hurtling towards him with unprecedented speed and accurate precision aiming to impale: his wings, arms, legs while targeting non-fatal points in his chest. But... Before contact was made there was no one there.
"You know... For a doctor you possess the life force of a roach." MXII snorts, as he hovers in midair flaping his wings, having escaped the spike that had lunged at him. Yet, despite being a child who survived such an ordeal, he wore the expression of a seasoned warrior — calm, on-guard while ready for a fight.
«Mundus Tenebrarum - Umbrae Spiculae Iteratae».
Another faint whisper of a spell was cast. This time, the shadows cast by the moon's glow didn't form into tendrils; instead, they expanded rapidly, covering the entire ruins like a dark blanket enveloping stone. And finally stops along the edges of the plain, then as suddenly as it stops a volley of shadowy spikes shoots out once more but, this time with more numbers and sizes two times larger.
Seeing this MXII uses his wings pushing himself backwards, having dodged the first spike that lunged at him by only a hairs breath. All the while keeping his eyes locked onto the trajectory of the others. As more spikes were coming hurtling his way.
With a burst of speed, he propels himself with rapid, fierce wingstrokes, that left the wind rushing past him roar at his outburst. Visibly distancing himself from the deadly projectiles that came his way. Yet, they followed relentless in their pursuit determined to impale him. With numerous spikes mercilessly lunging at him at pinpoint accuracy, their metal-ish tips glinting in the dim light. But, they were always a fraction of a second too late, with MXII speed leaving them grasping at air, but without a hint of hesitation of said outcome they continued. As more volleys of spike continuesly lunges at him, going so far as blocking MXII's path forward attempting to either stop him or slow him down.
Noticing the change in the spikes' trajectory, MXII doesn't slow down. Instead he accelerates, beating both pairs of wings relentlessly, increasing his momentum while heading towards the towering wall of jet black spikes with no ounce of hesitation what so ever in his actions. But, just before said impact could take place. MXII twist and tucks his body All together into a compact form, while folding his wings around him. He spins, spiralling himself towards the spikes blocking his way like a bullet.
Whizzing through the wall of spike, the rush of air ruffling his hair as he feels the heat of their passage. Emerging on the other side, he unfolds his wings, beating them rapidly once more to increase his momentum, as he zigzags through the hail of spikes that remained on his trail. Performing a mid-air 360 spin, he dodges to the right, avoiding a trio of spikes that converge on his previous trajectory, their deadly intent thwarted once again.
Yet, there were too many, as more spikes shot out hurtling his way. MXII face twist in dissatisfaction albeit faint, at the absurd number of spikes making a split-second decision, as he angles his wings to propel himself upward. He shoots off into the sky, hoping to escape the spikes' range.
However, more spikes erupted from the clouds above, blocking his path. Encountering the unexpected MXII's eyes narrows, his mind racing for a solution. As he punders, He banks hard to the left, narrowly avoiding a massive spike that would have impaled him.
MXII continues dancing through the spikes, his agility and reflexes pushed to the limit. His wings beating fiercely, maintaining his altitude as he searches for an opening.
Yet he didn't give up, as he continuesly moves forward, zigzagging through the hail storm of dark shadowy spikes, dodging every single one that came his way. But—
«Mundus Tenebrarum - Carcer spinarum umbrae».
A figure yells out with a thunderous voice. As the words left his mouth it seemed to take on a life of their own, and the shadows coalesced into a prison of twisted, thorny spikes that surrounded MXII.
The spikes closed in, intent on impaling him. But, as he struggles to escape his massive wings hindered his escape due to area around them. Yet, Despite the danger, a faint smile crept onto his expressionless face as he spotted the figure behind the spell. Then, finally the spikes enveloped him, closing in on itself. Shut tight like a ball, with no glimpse of a hole or opening where someone could crawl out of, just a perfect sphere prison.
The figure confirms the result as he sneeres, convinced of his victory.
However, cracks form on the ball and then With a sudden, explosive burst, the prison of spikes shattered, its dark, thorny fragments radiating outward. MXII shot forth, his purple-like silver wings unfolding majestically as he soared through the air. The purple rune-like markings on his body seemed to shimmer, and his wings glowed with a soft, gentle light. A faint, purple thunder aura danced around his form, crackling softly as it wrapped around his body. As he descended with fluid precision, his wings tucking in at the last moment, he landed softly on the ground some few meters away, as his gaze locked onto the figure before him. The silence that followed was almost palpable, broken only by the soft whisper of his wings' gentle flutter.
The figure's eyes widened but it wasn't an action caused by surprise, no, it was one caused by awe for what stood before him. Taking a step back, his expression beaming with delight. "Subject MXII, you were supposed to be contained!" he said, his words contradicting his reaction at the sight.
MXII gazed at him with an uncaring expression, and the figure's voice dripped with subtle amusement as he spoke, "Normally said spell should have utterly pulverized one of your kind, but yet, here you are not a single scratch visible"
The child's wings fluttered slightly, a brief, almost imperceptible movement, As if in response to the mention of the words "your kind." His purple eyes gleamed, and for a split second, they seemed to glow with an otherworldly light.
Then, his voice steady, he replied, "Still up to your old tricks again, using your fellow humans and other creatures as your toy... Doctor." He paused ever so slightly before saying "Doctor," the pause lending a hint of weight to the title. As he stares at tattered corpse in the distance riddle with holes.
The figure who's revealed to be the doctor, follows MXII's gaze, "Oh, him!? Don't worry too much about it, he was a corpse waayyy before I even met you." ...The doctor's voice trailed off as he shrugged, his eyes gleaming with a manic intensity. He says excitedly. "Details, details, MXII. You're so caught up in the trivialities of morality. I'm not one to care of such you know. The pursuit of knowledge is all that matters." He turned back to MXII, a wide, unhinged grin spreading across his face.
"Now, shall we get back to the matter at hand?"
"And that, was...?"
"Oh, where are my manners? I, want to ask once more if you'll reconsider, coming along quietly with us? And if you say, yes! I'll even turn a blind eye to what you did here and we'll all just go back to being a happy family."
The words the doctor uttered may have sounded pleasant to anyone's ears. That is, to any normal person's ears. However having experienced first hand, what that so called "family" entailed. MXII, with his eyes glowing with a purple hue. He Outstretches both pairs of wings at full capacity and stares at the doctor with fierce eyes, that conveyed his rage as the words bought back a surge of memories, ones MXII suppressed and ones that lead to the turn of of present events.