by Luca Braña
He could feel Tela giggle, somehow, which sent a ticklish feeling down his back. This was another thing that was unique to her telepathy, the feelings that she could transmit to the people she spoke with, which really made Cyko want her to meet Myo. She would undoubtedly be of great help to him.
“I know what you are trying to do but thank you anyway! I certainly do blame them for everything, and I won’t let myself forget that!” He could feel her smile, and it somehow made him smile as well, she was back to her encouraging self. “Remember, everything they do is with a purpose. Either they lied to try and make us depressed, or they ran into some problems. Chances are that we’ll be having another socialization time soon enough, hopefully,” she said with a little optimism in her voice, which Cyko couldn’t help but feel as well.
“It’s always nice talking to you, heck, I can’t imagine how many people try to talk to you each day!” he exclaimed, which earned him a feeling of amusement in return.
“Oh, it’s certainly a lot! It’s a good thing I can partition my mind. Right now, I’m talking with you and about fifteen others at the same time,” she declared, which made Cyko nearly jump out of his bed.
“You what now?!” he said with wide eyes, which earned him a pause from the telepathic girl.
“Uhh, I’ll explain it later, but don’t worry, the feelings I am transmitting to you are genuine. On that note, you haven’t told me your name yet, and you talk to me nearly every day,” she said with some humor in her voice, to which Cyko simply chuckled. Well, she had a unique ability, and if it allowed her to plan better, then it was all good.
“Well, it’s just that I want to tell it to you face to face. And so you can meet Myo as well,” he said to her honestly, to which he felt a sense of approval.
“Don’t worry, I’m not offended, I was just curious. Anyway, can you tell me how the experiment went? Were you hurt badly?” she asked with genuine concern.
Cyko laughed slightly, trying to send her the confidence he was feeling over what had happened earlier. “Nah, if anything, I loved to be able to lash out as much as I did today. Sure, I got some scrapes, but somehow, I am not hurt at all. A little tired and sore, but all they used on me were shock rods and some flamethrowers,” he explained with pride, which earned him an amazed feeling from Tela.
“Flamethrowers?! Are you sure you aren’t hurt? How many did you destroy?” she asked in amazement, which made Cyko feel even more proud of himself for his accomplishment.
“All one thousand of them. The geniuses told me to fight against a thousand robots to see how long I’d last… I turned all of them into rubble!” he told her with pride.
“You are amazing! To destroy all of those robots… Even I couldn’t do that! That’s so cool! I really want to meet you personally now!” she said happily, and somehow, her feelings of amazement were rolling off him in waves, making him blush.
“Aww, you are embarrassing me!”
“Hah, sorry, sorry! It’s just… With each passing day, dozens of children contact me to comfort them, and very few are as determined as you… With your help, I believe that we are one step closer to our freedom. I’ll be counting on you,” she said with a smile that somehow Cyko could just feel was there, and it warmed his heart, as well as filled him with more determination.
“Thank you, Tela, I promise I won’t disappoint you,” he thought to her with that determination, and once again, he felt a warm sensation around him. He was about to say more, before he heard the door to his room open—it was Myo!
“Tela, I’ll talk to you later. Myo is back,” he said hurriedly to her as he got up, which earned him an understanding feeling.
“Very well, please, comfort him as much as you can, you are a good big brother, I know it. Till then.” Giving him one last wave of comfort, Cyko felt the connection fade away, just in time to catch Myo, who was harshly shoved inside by the tall guard, who closed the door with a loud bang.
“Myo, Myo! Are you all right?!” he asked in concern to the younger boy, who simply looked up at him with terrified eyes and then, wrapped his arms around him and started sobbing in his chest. “B-big brother… I-I-I’m sorry…” the little boy managed to mumble as he burst into tears. Cyko’s arms circled the boy and brought him into a comforting hug.
“Myo… There, there… It already passed… You’ll be all right, trust me…” he whispered as he tried to comfort his little brother and as he did so, he felt the hate for the people of this prison increase even more. Myo was the living proof that what they did here was wrong, that they should pay for their crimes, that no child should be subjected to this.
The young brunette’s cries slowly diminished in strength and eventually stopped all together, although his body was still trembling as he let out the occasional sniffle. Cyko picked him up in his arms, gently, and moved to put him in his bed.
“Myo… Don’t worry, rest for now.” He saw something white jump in the bed. It was Snow, and she started to rub herself on the smaller boy, making Cyko chuckle slightly. “And where have you been, huh? Hey, Myo, look, Snow is here!” he said gently, and sure enough, Myo slowly moved his neck to gaze at the beautiful white cat. He pet her with a smile.
“Are you all right now?” Cyko asked gently, to which Myo gave a small, embarrassed laugh. “Sorry, big brother… It’s just… they made me do the gravity test again… But this time, there were those two drones… They could fire electricity… I had to either run or fight them… I-I-I couldn’t… do… either…” he said in a small voice, looking as though he was about to cry again, but Cyko placed a hand on his arm, giving him a gentle squeeze.
“Myo, don’t think about it, it wasn’t your fault! You don’t have to feel bad about being weak, or about being afraid… Because I’ll be strong and brave for the both of us!” he said with determination, reminding himself of Tela’s encouraging words. His surrogate brother looked at him with admiration and tried to blink the tears away.
“B-big brother… Thank you so much…” he said with a big smile. This had become a routine for them these past few weeks. For some reason, the scientists deemed themselves to pick on Myo as much as they could. Whereas Cyko would only be called for experiments about three times per week at most, Myo would be called five or six times, and he could tell that it was beginning to strain the poor boy.
With each passing day that he went to an experiment, his condition, both mental and physical seemed to worsen. He would have nightmares often, would sometimes break down in tears and at other times he would simply stare into the distance for hours on end. Cyko was trying his best to keep Myo optimistic and happy, but…
He didn’t know how long the little boy could hold out. For his sake, he would keep trying, and he would help Tela as much as he could, that was for certain.
3
Cyko and Myo looked at the large metal doors before them, the former with confidence to encourage his surrogate little brother and relief at finally being allowed out of their rooms and having the chance to meet his family once again, the latter was both nervous and afraid. Nervous at what was going to happen, even with his big brother there, he held his hand, afraid of the guards behind them who were just waiting for an excuse to lash out.
Cyko was well aware that as much as he hated the adults from this place, he was glad for this opportunity and hopefully, the nut brains won’t lie to them again just to make them feel miserable for days on end!
“All right, rats, you should know the drill by now. Cause any large-scale confusion, and we will fill your tiny bodies with bruises. Now, get moving!” the large guard yelled at them as the metal doors finished opening, leaving the children to eagerly run inside the huge gymnasium, both to get away from the guards, and to find the friends they made the first time they had this meeting.
However, as they made their way inside, Cyko immediately noticed that something was different… The doors that are opening… were different? he thought to himself with a frown, having a bad feeling about this,
he looked around and saw that the other kids from his corridor didn’t seem to notice it yet.
What does that mean? he wondered as he looked around. Then he remembered what Tela had told them all last time, about how many wards exist in this prison, and that not all of them had been allowed out to meet each other. Does that mean…
“Hey, Tela, can you hear me?” Cyko said in his mind, concentrating on the feeling he got whenever he talked with the telepathic girl, and after a few seconds, he felt the familiar feeling of observation wash over him.
“Yes, ahh, sorry, I’m in the middle of an endurance experiment right now…” Her voice sounded somewhat strained, and he could feel a bit of stress leaking through.
This worried him, but more importantly, it meant she wasn’t there. “Tela… We are having a socialization right now,” he said to her, looking around as children started to pour out of the new gates, and just at taking a single glance at them, he could tell they were new faces.
“W-what?! Are you serious?” she exclaimed in surprise, to which Cyko nodded, before shaking his head and replying with a single word.
“Yes.”
Walking forwards alongside the other children of his ward, Myo still holding his hand, he made his way towards the center of the gym to get a better look at the new kids.
“From what I can see, these kids aren’t the same ones that went last time,” he said while looking side to side, and then at Myo. The younger boy was nervous, that was obvious to tell as he was frantically looking everywhere, his eyes never landing on one thing for too long.
“Ahh… I see, then I was correct about them holding so many others here,” she said to him, both sadness and worry could be sensed from her tone. “Unfortunately, my ward doesn’t seem to have been invited this time around, so I won’t be of much help. If something happens, please keep me informed,” she said sadly, her current stress still being transferred via the mental link.
“All right, I will. For now, please take care of yourself,” Cyko said with a worried voice, knowing that she was likely going through something very unpleasant right now.
“Don’t worry about me, it’s not as bad as when I first arrived here. I’ll survive,” she said sincerely, a surge of reassuring warmth enveloping his body in response to her words, making him smile again. She was definitely someone to look up to.
As he arrived at the center, he looked to Myo, who still appeared frazzled. He glanced at the other children from his ward, and he could see that they all seemed confused, which was understandable as the new children arriving from the gates were all fresh faces and not a single one of them, from what he could tell at least, were in the previous meeting.
Wait, what? He blinked and stopped as he looked towards a particular gate on the leftmost side of the gym. Coming through was another large group of children, but… they were different; very, very different. Myo, sensing his pause, looked up at him in confusion before eyeing the direction that he was staring. The smaller boy’s pupils widened, and he immediately hid himself behind Cyko’s back.
Other children from his ward and even from the others also paused and gazed in shock at this particular group for they are all different, very different and most importantly… intimidating.
Some were standing on two legs, some on four and some on multiples from different animals—there were furry legs to scaled ones to tentacles. Very few of them had any similarities to a human. They were beings of animalistic visages; a beast given form.
A two-meter tall brown bull with a muscled humanoid torso and legs; a feral looking werewolf with razor-sharp fangs and claws whose steel-like gleam could be seen from a distance; a lion-man with a rigid gaze and hard muscles; a massive bat-like creature that took flight, displaying its enormous wingspan from the ceiling, where it was joined by two other bat-like beasts… Several such creatures streaked forward to meet the normal group of children.
However, the most striking one was the beast that was walking in front of them all, like he was their leader and demanded such respect. Standing at a massive five meters, the beast looked like it could single-handedly crush the gates it had come through. The only piece of clothing it adorned was the brown rags that covered its lower body, showing off its muscled chest which was covered in soft yellow scales that shifted to green as they made their way out to the extremities of its body.
Giant clawed hands twitched as its yellow, reptile eyes glared at the children, who were looking up at it in fear and shock. Massive wings, curled up behind his body, expanded to their full length, making the daunting figure even more intimidating. Its head was that of a dragon, a narrowed shape that seemed to originate from the most dangerous area of the world.
A dragon. It was a gigantic dragon-man, and he was glaring at them all with barely contained hostility. Even the commanding and intimidating beasts walking behind him seemed scared by the display of powerfulness their apparent leader displayed.
The group of children from many different wards joined together to look at the new beings, and needless to say, some were very scared. The ones that had awakened were on the verge of activating their many powers in case a fight broke out, but even those were clearly frightened of the gigantic creature.
Myo was shaking, hard, and refused to come out from behind his brother’s back. Cyko was looking at the giant dragon with wide-eyes, from both shock and from a tad bit of fear… as well as anger. Those beasts… those beings… they used to be children? Children like them?! What the hell happened to them all?!
“Tela… We have a problem,” Cyko said in his mind, hoping that the telepathic girl received the message, and just as he felt Tela’s attention turn to him, the dragon beast opened its mouth.
“I am Drago, the mightiest of the mutant ward.” His bellowing voice echoed through the entire gymnasium; the pressure he was exuding caused many to fall on their knees in terror. “Known that I am the strongest of all, I used to be weak, but the scientists from this facility strengthened me, they gave me power… They gave us all power.” He gestured to the many beasts behind him, some flinched at his words, as if in fear.
“I can see many of you who are trembling before my might. Pathetic little weaklings! Have you no pride at all?! Look at me! I used to be no different, but now, I am strong.” He raised one of his massive arms and flexed it, making arcs of electricity run down his powerful limb. “Tell me, don’t you want to be as powerful as I?” He lowered his arm and snorted, clouds of smoke coming from his nostrils and mouth.
“Know this. Only the strongest will survive this test of endurance. Those who are too weak, too pathetic… They will meet a miserable end. And if any of you ever try to do something to stop this glorious ascension to power, I will personally end you!” he bellowed once again, making many of the children flinch at the volume of his voice. Then, the giant dragon made his way towards one of the ends of the gymnasium.
“…Hey, hello! Is everything all right?! I could detect many large auras near you all, including a truly massive one! Are you all right?!” Tela asked him frantically in his mind, likely being able to sense his current emotions. Cyko snapped out of his daze, recognizing the worry in her voice and took a look at Myo, who seemed petrified at what he just witnessed.
“Dang it!” He took his little brother in his arms and walked as fast as he could away from the gigantic dragon and the other mutants. This has gone horribly wrong! He wanted Myo to meet his family and Tela, so he could gain some confidence, but this brute just had to appear! Now the poor boy will be even more traumatized!
“It’s bad, really, really bad,” he thought to Tela, whom he knew was still worriedly waiting for his answer. “Those monsters… If it was not enough to make us go through that torture! Listen, Tela… One of the gates, the one in the leftmost corner, near a bench full of workout equipment, the… people that came out of that place… They are no longer human,” he said to her grimly, his young mind struggling to fully comprehend what had happened to the children from that w
ard.
“W-what?!” she exclaimed in a shocked, terrified voice. “What do you mean?!”
“Exactly what I said,” Cyko thought with a frown as he gently placed his little brother on his feet, to which he immediately fell to his knees. He still seemed paralyzed by what he had witnessed earlier. “Those people… The biggest one referred to themselves as ‘mutants,’ are basically animals in human form, but much bigger and meaner looking, mostly. There are some I saw that are less feral and more human-like, but…” he paused, unsure how to phrase what he would say next.
“Mutants… Half-animals?! Oh no…” From the link the two shared, Cyko could feel a lot of sadness coming through. “This is terrible… I knew some children whose powers allowed them to transform into animals, but to actually be permanently warped… This is too cruel…” she said with sadness in her voice, making him wince in sympathy even as he tried to calm Myo down.
“It gets worse, though… There is this massive… dragon-man that has made himself their leader, and he looks very powerful,” the cyan-haired boy said with a tense voice, “… and he seems to support their methods. From what he told us, he values only power, and nothing else. I find it hard to believe that he ever was a normal child. He is dangerous, all the non-mutants and even a few of them are terrified of him,” he explained to her with hands trembling. Myo was still afraid but seemed to be responsive as he latched onto Cyko and began crying.
“… Not only warping us, but brainwashing as well… This makes things… much harder for us, but…” The sadness in her voice and aura changed to something else: determination. Her resolve was back with full force. “I will not allow this to stop us! We will all escape this prison and we will be free! This cruel project… it will be stopped!” she declared with determination, even as both her willpower and her sadness started to mix together.