Cykopath- Birth

by Luca Braña

  “Many of us just want a better, more normal life, which is why this trick works so well. We can’t let ourselves be turned into drones who do nothing but fight.”

  “I agree with her,” Cyko said. “We need to work together and punish them for all they did.”

  Cyko sat down at the table, moving over so Magy could sit beside him. “I know you guys are worried about me, about what I am becoming… I know the price of that sudden surge of power I got, it will slowly turn me into a monster.”

  The table went silent.

  “Is that really true, Cyko?” Anna looked down to avoid his eyes.

  Cyko sighed and nodded. “It was the price I was told I would need to pay for the power I got. I wish I had known how to get it sooner, if I did, maybe Myo would still be alive… But you guys have nothing to worry about, I would never hurt any of you on purpose, not even at my craziest,” he assured them with a friendly smile.

  “Big bro… you are not a monster.” Everyone turned towards Starry, who had spoken. “The real monsters are the adults in this place. I know Cyko would never hurt us.” She created several dark stars that hovered around Cyko, as if he was the night sky, a sky they haven’t seen in a long while.

  The enhancer stared at her and then at the beautiful stars flying around as if orbiting his head. He chuckled.

  “She is right, you are not a monster Cyko, and to us, you’ll never be a monster,” Anna said, smiling wildly as she saw her siblings nodding in agreement.

  His siblings echoed their opinions, knowing that despite his change in appearance, strength, and eventually in personality, they would still love him the same.

  “Oh, guys…” he whispered, overwhelmed by his appreciation for them.

  They would be a family no matter what happened. They would fight together, they would laugh, they would cry… They would live and one day, they would all be free, together.

  5

  Several weeks had passed, it had now been two months since Myo died. Everyone who either witnessed or taken part in the battle to save his life was changed, for the better or for the worse. The rebels were increasingly more motivated, the loyal mutants wished to keep the army going strong and the ones that didn’t fall on either side were traumatized enough to partner with whoever scared them the least. Everyone had learned something from the riot… Everyone except him.

  Reddox had fought. His attacks were massive and powerful, many mutants were incapacitated, but once it was over… he didn’t try. He didn’t feel like it, he never felt like it. Ellyn’s encouraging words helped sometimes, along with the feeling of guilt that threatened to consume him whenever he looked at anyone.

  He was brought to this lab long before the others. Different from the rest and terminally ill, he was almost instantly discarded. Back then, he had been full of emotion and terrified of dying. He was lying on a bed when the doctors told him that despite the magic he awakened, it would be unlikely that he would survive.

  He became desperate. With everything in him, he wanted to live. He wished he could be like Luni, that he could do anything he wished, erase his illness, save himself and the others, no matter the price. It was a very surreal day for him, but he accomplished his goal: his illness was gone.

  And so were all his emotions.

  He didn’t notice it right away, thinking he felt numb because he was still recovering, but as the days passed, he noticed that nothing he did garnered any emotional response. He ate to satiate his hunger, but it didn’t please him. He went through the steps of experimentation and training, but didn’t feel terrified or scared. This earned the side effect of the scientists treating him like a favorite because he now did whatever they asked of him without complaint. This added to his powers, he was hailed as the strongest and most useful subject of the entire project, and the scientists went out of their way to please him. He got nicer clothes before anyone else, tastier food before anyone else…

  Although, there was one thing he noticed he could still feel… guilt. He knew he had almost a supreme power in this place, his magic coupled with his ability to ‘erase’ things and limited time manipulation made him valuable in the eyes of the scientists, but he never really felt the need to put forth all of his efforts—he didn’t even know his own full capabilities.

  Yet, recent events were changing his mind.

  “I know how you feel, Reddox.” Ellyn, who had accompanied him in silence for today’s meeting, looked at him with concerned eyes. “The wind can pick up on your sadness. You are feeling guilty again, aren’t you?”

  “It’s nothing, I’m just contemplating recent events,” he said, not wanting his perhaps only friend to worry about him. Besides, he was busy talking mentally with Tela.

  “Today has been a rather pleasant day, don’t you think? Let’s not talk about that stuff now,” Reddox said, causing Ellyn to sigh in annoyance.

  “I’ve known you for nearly six months now, Reddox, I think I know when you are trying to change the subject.” She shook her head. She would not let him get away with it so easily! “Despite what you believe of yourself, you do have feelings. I can pick up the guilt you feel every day. You want to help but can’t muster enough willpower to do so,” she said matter-of-factly.

  He stayed silent for a while. It was always like this, she would try to comfort him or encourage him, even when he told her it was useless, he lost his ability to care and to feel motivation. Or so he thought, anyway. This girl…

  “Then, tell me, Ellyn, what am I supposed to do? The last person I tried to help died under my watch, how can I expect to help anyone else if I can’t even muster enough emotional resolve? Can I even protect you, if it comes down to it?” Reddox asked, exasperated at his inability to care. When Ellyn clenched her hand on his, however, he felt a surge of serenity.

  “Then try again. Keep trying, Reddox. I know you want to be free just as much as the rest of us and if you can’t care enough, then let me care for you!”

  “Are you sure it’s a good idea? I don’t even know how I can help.”

  “There are many ways, don’t worry about it, what matters is that if we help, we can give peace to everyone here! What do you say, Red?” she asked smiling, letting him know that she would be okay with whatever he chose.

  Reddox turned his gaze away thoughtfully. He didn’t know if he could put everything into it, he may never feel the accomplishment of helping free all the children. He may not have many feelings anymore, but he still had a conscience… And the guilt that threatened to consume him was telling him he should try it, that fighting for something good would make up for his past mistakes and his lack of care.

  “Fine, then. I’ll do it.”

  “You won’t regret it, Reddox! I promise you! We’ll do our best together!” she exclaimed, letting the wind blow around them in encouragement.

  Nodding, Reddox kept looking around as she rambled about ways they could help, using the wind curtain she made to ensure no sound would escape and be picked up by the guards. Ellyn didn’t see it, but the mage couldn’t help but smile at how passionate she was.

  Yes, this girl somehow made him feel again, in a way. Pushing herself into his life the moment they met. Yet another feeling he thought he had lost, the feeling of gratitude. Maybe, just maybe he still had a chance of escaping the guilt and helping others, and he knew that the girl would make him try, even if he couldn’t muster the emotion to. She would feel for them both.

  6

  In her mind’s eye, many conversations were happening simultaneously, a constant flow of different emotions, thoughts, desires, and fears all ran through her heart, threatening to overwhelm her spirit, to break her concentration and send her mind into a breakdown. Yet, even as the stress of talking with dozens of children at once and monitoring the minds of hundreds of guards and scientists tried to consume her, she kept working to make sure everything would be flawless.

  In a world of darkness, Tela was surrounded by hundreds of glowing phantom monitors and by an
equal number of miniature versions of herself, respectively representing all the situations she was handling at the same time and her personality partitions that were focusing on them.

  It had taken her a while to get back to her normal self after Myo’s death, but when she did, she immediately noticed what the scientists were planning and went to work on trying to counter their brainwashing tactics with her own abilities, trying to change the minds of the children most likely to fall into the trap.

  It was hard, Tela really wished she could just convince everyone, even the loyalists of the mutant ward, that being free is the best choice, but… She couldn’t do that, not without trampling even more on their freewill than she already had.

  “It’s done,” Tela whispered to herself as her mental faculties finally completed a detailed map on the facility by combining all the information gathered by volunteers the past few months, painstakingly matching every single detail they had given her and comparing it with others, noting and removing errors of memory and mistaken information. The map appeared before her.

  The lowest first floor of the building was where the children were kept confined in their rooms and had little freedom. The floor was separated by wards, as they had already known, and in each of these was a large elevator that connected to the second and last floor she mapped.

  The second floor was the area where every single one of them was taken to be tested, experimented, and tortured for the sake of creating the perfect soldiers. The area had large corridors leading to the different kinds of labs.

  That was where her range died off, however. She knew that the second floor had many elevators that connected to the wards in the first floor, but she also knew that there were other elevators that connected to an unknown, third floor. Because the ventilation shafts didn’t connect to that floor and because the scientists never took the children there, what happened in that particular area and its structure was unknown to her. From that point on they would likely have to fight their way out.

  An element of surprise was needed. The longer their enemies took to notice their rebellion, the bigger advantage they would have. If they broke into the upper floors without the staff knowing, then fighting their way out would be much simpler, and to accomplish that… Tela had formulated a plan.

  Over the years she had spent as a prisoner, she had managed to tag every scientist and guard that worked on the lower levels. Now there were exactly 400 guards, spread unevenly over all the wards on the first floor.

  With nearly 500 children, they outnumbered the guards on their floor, but she doubted that those were all the numbers they had, because just on the second floor, there were about 300 other guards present and they likely had many more on higher floors.

  Out of those 700 guards on the first two floors, at least 20 percent she could feel had magical power… Not to mention the number of mutants loyal to Leo, which numbered around eighty-five. It may seem like a small number compared to the total allies she had, but each mutant was more powerful than a hundred guards. They would be dangerous opponents and chances are that a clash would be inevitable. She could always leave the mutants behind, but… many of them also wished for freedom, it would be cruel of her to deny them that. She had a plan to separate the loyalists from her allies, anyway.

  Regarding the guards, she had gone to great lengths to learn their behavior. She had noticed that many of them didn’t take their job seriously and had mainly feelings of boredom and anger at having to watch over children.

  Obviously, the guards started paying closer attention after dozens of them got killed, which caused tension amongst the normal guards and the magical ones, but thanks to the ‘peace’ that the recent change in conditions had caused and for how long it already lasted, the guards went back to being complacent, no longer believing that the children would be a threat.

  The guards weren’t the only security issue, however. The walls and the structure of the facility were the biggest obstacles to their freedom. Made with the strongest construction material available and with hundreds of magical barriers and wards on every surface, the facility was a veritable fortress that could easily withstand nuclear explosions from both outside and inside, the only exception being the ground of the Coliseum.

  The wards were the main problem that prevented her from getting access to the rest of the facility, because aside from reinforcing the structure of the facility, they also stopped all magical energy from passing through, which proved her mental abilities useless. She couldn’t contact the outside world for help, not even with their gods helping them, as the wards somehow blocked faith from passing through. They were truly and completely isolated from the world.

  Tela’s own mental influence’s sphere of propagation spread with the use of her tendrils, intangible and invisible, they manifested from the crown of her head and slithered either into the air or into the ground, seeking the target she designated, after which it would connect to that person’s forehead, allowing a mental link to exist between them as long as the tendril existed or maintained contact. Hundreds of tendrils could travel through the ventilation shafts at once.

  The reason she didn’t use them to map the floors was because she could control them, but couldn’t see through her tendrils, which is why she tagged people. Once tagged, she could easily find out where they are. Patrol routes and the movement of children were easily monitored in such a way, ensuring that everyone was all right being one of her top priorities.

  As long as there was a hole even as small as a needle, unprotected and with no wards, her tendrils could pass through, which made many great advances in their plans. Things that would have taken years to organize had taken just a few months.

  Everything was ready. Thanks to everyone’s efforts and help, they arrived at the point where conditions were ideal for their rebellion, for the final push towards their freedom. Already, her many fragments were subtly manipulating the guards’ minds to feel as if today was just a regular day, making them less likely to notice anything amiss. She concentrated her mind and informed everyone of what was about to happen.

  “It’s time. Rest well, for tomorrow will be our last day here.”

  CHAPTER 6

  REBELLION

  1

  Today was already tense, she could sense it. No one was talking, no one smiled, everyone clumped together in familiar groups, standing near the southern gate, opposite from the larger gate the mutants used to enter and exit their wards.

  Leo wasn’t present alongside half of his allies, they were all using many training facilities on the second floor, which just made things better for Tela. The leading loyalist present was a rhino mutant with super strength, who was wrestling against a Minotaur mutant while the other loyalists cheered. The non-violent mutants were mingling in the middle of the arena, occasional taking glances at her, those were the mutant allies, who sought freedom just as much as the rest.

  The guards, 50 total, stood at the corners, helmets and bulky armor concealing their bored expressions. For them, it was just another, typical day…

  “Tela.” A hand touched her shoulder, causing her to turn her head toward the person, meeting eager blue eyes. “No matter what happens from now on, I’d like you to know that you are one of my best friends. Without you, none of this would be possible. I, we, all of us owe you a lot.”

  “It’s thanks to everyone’s efforts that we got so far, Cyko. But I also consider you a great friend of mine, we went through so much in this horrible prison… You always believed in me, you never stopped trusting in me even after… after I couldn’t save Myo. You always stayed loyal, my friend, and that means a lot.” Her face was flushed, but the genuine smile of a friend caused Cyko to let out an embarrassed laugh.

  “So cheesy, but that’s what I like about you. Say, Tela, what do you want to be when you grow up?” he asked suddenly, causing her to blink.

  “Hmm… I never thought about it much, not since I got here, but… I think I might want to become a psychologist
, to help people heal and deal with their problems… I want to continue helping, and I think my powers would make me suited for that.”

  “That job fits you well, Tela. I can imagine how many people you would save, just like how many you’ll save now.”

  “What about you then, my friend?” the telepath asked through feelings of warmth.

  Cyko’s face for a moment looked resigned, but his own feelings never turned into sadness. “I might end up in an asylum for the criminally insane you know, at least that would be a much better place than in here,” he said in a joking tone, but his words still struck a chord with Tela. She knew what he meant, she had felt his change…

  Turning around, Tela put her arms around Cyko and filled his heart with warmth.

  “If you end up in an asylum, Cyko… then I’ll be the one who will assist and help you recover,” she whispered gently. He replied by putting his own arms around her.

  “I would like nothing more, Tela.”

  The announcement that declared that the meeting was over sounded just as they parted ways, smiling with determined eyes. Without a word being said, they turned in opposite directions—Cyko returned to Magy and his family’s side while Tela went towards the center of the gymnasium.

  The gates of all the wards were already open, and the mutants had started to walk in. The ones faithful to her got close behind. The guards noticed nothing unusual at first, but when the last loyalist entered and no one else had moved from their spot near the south most gate, they called out, “Hey, rats, get moving! We don’t have all day!”

  “… NOW!”

  At Tela’s mental yell, chaos seemed to erupt in an instant. The giant metal door that led towards the mutant ward closed abruptly, sealing the way. Darkness soon replaced the previously bright environment. Disoriented, but still trained professionals, the guards quickly grabbed for their weapons and aimed at the threat: the test subjects.

  Just as the emergency lights flickered to life, the children acted immediately. Energetic and physical attacks of all kinds went out at once. Cyko and Magy had already killed 10 guards by the time they took to notice what happened.