‘Cause I’m a beast (Where you at) I’m unleashed (What’cha doin’) I’ll sink my teeth (Ya’ll can’t fathom) I’m a beast (Oh my god) There ya go (That’s a beast!) Nah Fo’real (That’s a beast!) Ya’ll just know that, that’s a beast, it’s been unleashed ‘Cause I’m the beast.
“You failed them! All of them! You put on that Morpher, you turned and you failed!”
You failed again… just like you always do… Now do it again… one last time.
“I won’t.”
You listened to the whispers…
“I won’t.”
You will again…
“No. I won’t.”
Oh by the gods you will…
“I WON’T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.”
“NEVER AGAIN.”
“I’M A BEAST. I AM IN CONTROL.”
“I WON’T HURT THEM AGAIN.” “IT’S MY LIFE, MY POWER TO WIELD.” “I AM THE BEAST. I AM THE ONE IN CONTROL.”
– [!] Ranger Corps [!] The Whispering Dark [!] Chapter. 2 End [!] –
When you find your love, you’ll find your song Even though you’ve been digging through the break of dawn You’ve been pushing and the push is gone You think it makes you strong Strong
Ohh Nobody knows when it goes When it goes
Love takes some time to bloom When it’s right, it’ll find you When it’s right, it’ll find you
Like sunlight breaking through When it’s right, it’ll come to you When it’s right, it’ll find you
We have mostly wasted time Half-asleep and have-to-buy Waiting for the faintest lie And waiting for these wounds to heal
No, we’re never as lost or as found as we think we are
No, we’re never as lost or as found as we think we are
Love takes some time to bloom When it’s right, it’ll find you When it’s right, it’ll find you
Like sunlight breaking through When it’s right, it’ll come to you When it’s right, it’ll find you…
“Over a Ranger’s lifetime, as long as they are bound to the Morpher they wear, there will always be whispers. They.. linger in our minds, beckoning us to bring harm, rather than stop it. The whispers of the darkness, of the world beyond that lay shrouded in shadows. That world where no light enters, and no light escapes. The Void, itself. Some could call it one of the seven hells, some would want to believe that. But… No. Us?”
“We know better.”
– Unknown Ranger [1549]
Belladonna sat upon one of the many bits of unmoved rubble, her eye trained on the main entry to Rhalgr’s reach from the Fringes, her back against a pillar and a pack of supplies in her lap as she waited for what felt like an eternity. Caravans and adventurers came and went, time after time, all the while the hails on her pearl for any assistance would be met with simple silence.
It was an easy request, ten armed and trained men and women to join her on a hunt for a Bloodbeast… yet her words seemed to fall on deaf ears, or ears who refrained from ever speaking. To say she felt hurt wouldn’t be too far off from the truth. She didn’t want to hunt alone, mostly everything that could go wrong would if she did.
But as the fates would have it… no aid would come to her. No adventurer passing through would be willing to risk it all just for a sporting hunt, just to capture a beast horrendous to strike fear into any mortal man. Bloodbeasts were known to stir terror and frighten hearts no matter how hearty the man who stood before it would be. Beasts of utter necrotic life, born from the dead and raised once more in a twist of disgusting ashkin.
Life breathed anew into a different monster all together. It was something Elizabeth had been known to do, to pluck life from anything, morph it, corrupt it and bring about something utterly new and terrifying. Her presence had been sporadic, Elizabeth’s. Something disheartening and concerning all together in the far reaches of Gyr Abania, tucked off far along the eastern coast, towards The Bounty Sea, and perhaps deeper.
These creatures were born from the darkness, lingering wisps of the ere’long black seemed to feel all too familiar to the beasts she found endlessly, wave after wave in her younger days. Back when the Rangers were still strong, when they were many. But now, so few and far in between are left standing.. The spirit of the Ranger is all but extinguished, left and held up by a memorial. A reminder of those who fell and those who still yet stand, the unsung few who remain.
The distant thunderclaps rumbled through the open air, echoing into the small valley, practically jolting Bella awake. Her one eye blinking to surf the crowd of faces that were spread throughout the reach, some lingering hope that in her mild stupor assistance had come. But alas, none ever did. No flag that bore significance, no face that recalled memory… nothing.
She was left alone.
A hand shifted to a scar, hidden behind her garb. Scratching it and striking away at the old wound in some slight annoyance as her expression dropped behind her metal helm and the woman slipped off the rubble, heading for the back-road to nowhere. Time became irrelevant as she traveled for nigh near countless malms, the sun fading behind darkened clouds, painting the skies and the earth below in grey shades of dismal life.
Belladonna suffered in the times she stood without a soul at her side, the whispers of the past, the echoes of memories and burning cries of the scars all flooding into her mind without even so much as an ounce of stopping. Before she knew it, the world had gone darker, the sun was setting and her time of the hunt drew ever near. The sounds of a stomping beast began to creep closer and closer, her target was towering over some of the many rocks, a ruud suud in origin. Yet this beast… it was no longer one of Gyr Abania..
It was of Elizabeth.
The spine-chilling gurgles and groans from the beast, echoed into the air. Cries of its victims resonated as their flesh, their bones and faces showed themselves, melded to the giant’s flesh. Their eyes of milky white or non-existent all together as the Ruud Suud turned Bloodbeast began to march itself down the lonely road, bound for the next small homestead to add to itself… to feast… to meld.
In the blink of an eye, Bella cast two fingers forward, sliding along her right arm to brush over the red jewel on her morpher with a scowl to the world before her as she brought the hand to her belt.
“Henshin.”
As her token word wad spoken a brilliant yet muted light washed over her person, cascading over her like water, before fading the next instant over. In her stead no longer stood the little hyur, but a Ranger of blue and gold.
|| GO-GO MIGHT MIGHTY BLUE RANGER!! ||
As the armor cascaded over her person, covering her adventurer’s gear. The churning whispers of the black began to echo into her ears. Her one-eye blurring as its countless voices began to overload her senses. The call of the dark grew stronger the closer the beast marched, its abyssal eyes cast onto the Ranger as she began to stagger. Falling to her knees the woman shuddered, a hand gripping at her head, the other crashing into the ground, pounding the earth with a mailed fist.
Sweat began to form along her brow as the voices thundered in her head time and time again, every move she made only seeming to make them scream. The whispers of the dark echoing over and over, slipping into her mind. Every word that came to her felt heavy, crushing, stomach-churning, each and ever whisper brought the woman down, sick to her stomach as the beast approached. The ground trembling beneath each grotesque squelch of flesh and scale.
Get up…!
It’s getting closer…!
Get up…!
It’s almost here…!
The words churned inside her head, each voice louder than the last, their tones lingering, some delightful, some nauseating, others grating, few chilling. Each word garbled as it brought about a different scream, a different pain within the Ranger. Her mind a blaze in the violent maelstrom from the cacophony within her mind.
Get up…!
We can’t wait…!
Get up…!
You will join us just like those before…!
Belladonna let out a roar as she grasped at her helmet, the beast lingering closer and closer, each step shaking the nearby earth as the hyur fought to stand, each motion jerked and unsteady as she snarled. Teeth clenched and seething as she forced her legs to ignore this new found pain in her mind. The spikes along her spine were flared out, twitching and flicking at their own agony as pain from every voice surged through her over and over. The whispers of the dark poisoning her every movement, tainting every thought… screaming and echoing from the black.
[!] It had been sometime since the Attack on the Glass Network HQ, the workshop has been rebuilt and its facilities remade and refurnished with new tech. Yet the ever so storied Ranger board of the morpher schematics. Cormag finds himself a bit caught behind on the progress, much has been made yet never quite finished. Set-back after set-back is what came into the way of the little Ranger and the ever sought completion.
Frustration was easily seen along the cluttered floor near the board itself, papers, empty bottles and tossed ideas lay strewn about. Below the board sat a snoring Dino-bot lay, unable to be disturbed by anything truly, even an explosion. Cormag’s eyes gaze about the board as he figures out the pace of the empty workshop. Bella was present somewhere in the vast room, a trail of diminishing activity lead to one of the upper catwalks. Belladonna was fast asleep, curled up in one of the few bed rolls that had been strategically laid about for whenever the little mutant finally succumbed to the exhaustion.
Time seemed to slow as the highlander felt the urge to reach forward, the whispers of the Ranger’s history always seemed to echo, resonate within him. A set of stories only told through placards in a museum, now lived through ever so vividly with such intense magics. As he felt his mind open to the same feeling as he once felt before, a blink.. once… twice… three times and his senses took him away from the workshop, the gentle hum of ceruleum generators and engines, the low buzz of the magitek projections of plans to be made, the light snoring of a mechanical dino-bot. They all slowly faded, soon he found himself in the heat of perilous fight. Flames liked at the sides of a low cut building, the walls and floor covered in soot and drying blood as bodies of voidsent lay strewn about.
Further into the room stood six soldiers of colored armor, Rangers. No doubt about such a thing, they stood at odds, one set of colors and their counterparts were of the same, yet darker shades. Shadows to the Rangers, darkness to the light that they brought. Behind the three Dark Rangers stood a man dressed in many a robe, his robes flowed behind him like wings of feathers, cloaking him in shadow. Behind the three of light stood a man garbed in tattered and torn cloth, his hair disheveled and his face tired.
Before long the Rangers reached for their respective morphers, whether it be placed on their belt or their wrists. Calls to arms resonated through the broken building as they, became enveloped in a brilliant light. With Rangers formed, and swords readied they wasted no time to charge at their dark doubles.
Their clashes were relentless, giving no quarter as the two seeming overseers stood still, locked in a death-dealing gaze while their warriors of the light and dark fought without a second thought. Each clash gave a wave of near earth shattering power that washed over the area, cries of civilians trapped in the rubble could be heard through it all as the Rangers clashed time and time again.
As Cormag looked to the cries to be heard, the urge to rush to their aid surged through him, yet despite his want, he could not muster the strength to move. His body disagreed as he was reminded that this was only just a memory to be watched, that nothing could happen here that he could change. Were these souls to die in this place, then that was their fate.
Yet his despair would not be had in full, admist the fire and blood that spilled and scattered through this ruined battlefield, another set of Rangers could be seen working to rush for those in need, pulling them from the jaws of death and into safety’s warm embrace. Among these, he could recognize a familiar armor, a serpent he had seen before in different visions as result of his interaction with such magics along the Ranger board and in his current time….
Belladonna.
Her voice could be heard loud and clear as she ordered the rest of her team along side a red Ranger at her side. With orders strong from such a young woman they followed to the letter, lifting the heavy rubble to pull civilians out and take them to safety. The young Ranger gave a nod to her team as they dispersed once more. Another cry for help came to bear, Bella without a second’s passing of hesitation turned to find the source.
Cormag blinked as the source, he would find was right as his side. His eyes fixated on a young child held and locked tight, clamped down below a large piece of rubble. The Ranger of blue, Belladonna skids to a halt as she kneels before the child, her actions sure and without fear as she commands to remain still while she lifted the heavy structure. Slowly but surely Bella managed to hoist the rock and wood high enough for the child to wiggle and crawl free. A small chuckle came from her as she embraced them. “Brave little one, aren’t you?” she asked with a laugh.
Suddenly her laugh was cut into a cry of pain as a blade found her back plating, slicing with a deafening ring. Behind her stood one of the Rangers of the Dark from before, in one hand, the helmet of another Ranger, bloodied and battle scarred. The other carried their bloodied blade, raised high and prepared to strike a final blow. Time seemed to halt as the scene looked to meet it’s end, yet it would not be. Only the time between the seconds pass as two Rangers from Bella’s team prior crash into the would-be and has-been killer, toppling them onto the ground with an ever unceremonious clatter.
The time passed quickly, as the two Rangers rush to their feet, and escort the child away from the chaos. Belladonna could be seen coming to a stand, her hands raise before forming fists of rage. She lets out a dragon-like snarl before clashing her fists together as the Dark Ranger comes rises from the ground, laughing in some sickening amusement. Both of the Rangers charge toward the other, their blows catching the other, counter per counter before dodging the other’s follow up, time and time again.
Yet as their fight progressed, Cormag’s senses begin to tingle, the scent of burning crimson began to fade as he awakened slowly but surely to the familiar sights and sounds of the GN workshop. Despite the slow awakening, the transition was quick, the visions and sounds of combat faded into memory. With another look around the workshop, he would have found that during the rather… intense dream, his mind had been at work. The progress on the schematics, both magical and mathematical proved promising…
(( Warning! It’s still sorta a long post! I promised to try and make it shorter, sorry about that! I hope you enjoy it! ))
“It will be over soon…”
“Don’t be scared.”
“Don’t be scared…”
“Don’t be…”
Those words echoed into the chamber as much as they did her mind. Yet even with those few comforts, she found herself shuddering, shaking, on the painful verge of tears as she retreated to the center of the pod, awaiting what came. There was fear in her eye, and the nurse knew it. One could even say that guilt and perhaps their own tinge of uncertainty lingered as she closed the door behind Bella. The pod sealing itself air-tight. There was a churn of machinery as the magitek machine revved back to life.
Bella couldn’t see much of the room from inside the pod, only foggy shapes as the glass doors sealed and shifted to become a foggy cloud that kept her away from the unknown shapes of the world outside. A cold sweat broke out upon her upper brow as a hand moved to cover her working eye to hide the fact that she was tearing up. As she retreated to the center of the chamber, her knees begged to buckle under the weight of a nervous heart. The thunder in her chest was deafening as the machine’s lights within the pod grew dim and gave to darkness. The only true light came in from the outside’s cool blue light behind the foggy glass.
A shuddering breath was all she could muster as the spikes along her back silently flared out to their full length. Despite the towel that wrapped around part of her body, the spikes and their sharp edges poked through and ripped the threads till there were slots to be filled by her mutation. With arms wrapping around herself to keep some semblance of steadiness in her heart, Bella could hear the sounds of shifting panels within the pod itself as the machine’s features showed themselves.
Wall and ceiling panels gave way to small capsules, each glowing a different color. Shades of blues, reds, greens and purples began to illuminate the small pod, every color giving the woman a different feeling of sickness all together. The whirr of magitek machinery humming above all else made her heart sink despite their purpose. The lights bathed the small chamber and cooling and warming auras, enough to churn the hyur’s stomach even more as her nervousness came through.
Suddenly, as red lights began to fade she felt a sharp pain shoot right through her. It felt like a heated cattle brand stuck through her gut and pierced straight through her body. The pain screamed at her senses as a hand reached forward to grab the close yet distant wall as she fell to the floor, curling onto her knees as the other hand grasped desperately for her stomach.
Searing pain was all she felt as her stomach seemed to churn and twist within. The lights pulsed save for the missing red within the chamber, the pulses quickened for some few seconds before slowing to a gentle heart’s beat. Yet despite this, the pain traveled along her body and spread to every corner of her person. No inch of her was left alone by the pain as it ached and stabbed at her mind over and over, driving her to the floor in a sob. Tears were fought back as she cringed and tried to forget the sharp pain as it ate at her.
For so long had she be bereft of pain, any injury she had sustained in combat or elsewhere was met with a muted numbness that she felt ever so disturbing. Yet even as she was without such a factor, she could still feel it. Whenever the spikes along her back would fall out of place and grow back, the pain she felt as they grew back to full length was indescribable. Belladonna never mentioned it to her friends, her loved ones that she felt this pain, she never would. Even as she would be healed by a conjurer or something other,the magic they wield caused more pain than heal.
This, what she felt in the pod was something so close to that, eerily close. One by one the lights began to fade properly, the panels slid to a close, yet as the lights faded, the stabbing and searing agony she felt surged more and more. It drove her to heave, choking on her own air as she retched what little she had onto the pod’s flooring before her. Choked sobs were all she could muster now as she attempted to wipe her mouth clean, a hand gripping at her gut.
Time passed as she folded in onto herself, trembling as the pain began to subside. The waves of anxiety, fear and the crippling ache washed over her as her meek heart clocked over-time to keep the little mutant alive. The humming of machinery thrummed in the background as the results came to the medical staff in droves while the nurse and assistants stood at the door, ready to retrieve the patient when the process was done.
Slowly the doors gave way, opening the small pod to the rest of medical staff. What they saw was bleak, an ill-promising outlook on the woman’s condition entirely. The poor mutant was curled up along the floor, trembling as the spikes were flared out at full length. A mix of vomit and blood turned red pooled the floor of the pod as tears trickled down her face. Without so much as another word of utterance, the staff stepped into the small pod, and lifted her. One after the other nurses and assistants would help the woman to her feet at as the others worked on covering her up once more in a larger towel, guiding her back to the curtain where her she could be cleaned and change back into her clothes.
As the time ticked away, Bella was given the help she needed to come back to her fairly regular self. Nurse Cecilia remained at the mutant’s side throughout the ordeal as others came and went. Bell sat in one of the chairs, still recovering from what she had experienced in the chamber. Her mind drifting to the faces of the staff, their expressions, their reactions to her and the data that streamed to the monitors from the machine.
Not long after, a man in a pristine white coat parted the long curtain to step in. A knock against the wall signaled his entry. “Miss Slater.” He gave a bow. “The report is ready for your viewing.” The doctor stepped forward as nurse Cecilia returned the bow, scooting to the side as he handed the mutant a small magitek tablet. Written on the viewing screen were the results of what transpired, of what the machine did to Bella.
Her eye traced over the data, the resulting graphs, and even the descriptors of what each and ever light did. Much of what she saw… unfortunately she already had guessed and or knew. Each graph she glanced over gave her less and less confidence as each defined a piece of her that would never be fixed. That her condition was truly, and officially… irreversible, unfix-able, and unending. That if, and when she steps back onto the field, the more injuries she sustains the harder it will be for her to keep going, that traditional means of healing… practical and without magic might be her only source of true health… As true as it could be. How she looked now would be permanent and, her age, truly registered at fifty-years plus, yet she looked ever so young. The scars will never truly heal, the pain from injuries untold will always weigh her down… and her mutation… is forever.
In the end, she knew that. She knew it all along, the mutant didn’t need something to tell her that she was going to be a monster, that she wouldn’t be able to feel the shining sun or the pouring rain for what they truly were, that they would only be whispers in the the wind to her. This day just confirmed it, sealed it with a cruel mark. It brushed away any uncertainty that she may yet be… feel… even seem “normal”.
She wouldn’t be.
She couldn’t be.
“Miss Slater…?” With a sharp inhale she blinked back up to stare at the doctor, a weary expression painting her face in all manners of sadness.
“Is there anyone you would like to send this medical report to…? I’m sure that there’s st-”
“N-no.. I’ll take it, don’t… d-.. there’s no one to send it to.”
“A-ah… I see.” The Doctor came to a stand, nodding his head solemnly “I understand.”
Moments pass before Bella’s bid farewell by the doctor and the medical staff. With Nurse Cecilia at her side, she’s escorted out back into the white hall beyond. Before Cecilia exits the room, she’s flagged by the Doctor yet again. The man hands her the small tablet and steps away.
“See this to the Creator.”
With a silent nod, she slips it hidden before joining Belladonna in the hallway. The nurse gestures back down the hall, and with small steps they make their way out.
“Don’t be scared, Miss Slater..” “Don’t be scared of the change..”
((Warning! It’s a bit of a long post! But I hope you enjoy it! I promise part 2 will be shorter…. probably.))
How many moons does it strike now? How long have I been this way? How many bloody days have i spent in pain, in a pain i can’t eve describe to someone. How many does am i gonna keep going..?
Questions. Those words, these questions that always seemed to cycle the little mutant’s mind during every waking hour of the day when her mind wasn’t taxed down by the nigh near millions of tasks that she was assigned, either by the Glass Network, or by her Ranger Duties. They ate away at her, viciously like wild and rabid dogs on a freshly hunted meal that was their first in days. The hunger for an answer drove her insane, her thoughts and mind swelling over and over till it all grew blank.
Belladonna sat alone in a long white hallway, her chair was of a soft cushion’d weave that sat her a fulm or two off the white tiling. Her feet would just slightly dangle were she to sit tucked into the chair itself. Doors lined the hallway in gentle indents, each own blank and without a handle on the outside.
A small stained glass windowpane decorated the upper half of every door. The design of the glass pane was ornate, each colorful in various different shapes. Every design telling a different tale of trial, and triumph that the ocean-side city had bore witness to. Despite the hallway being of a lone shaded hospital white, across the doorways sat large windows, two fulms high off the ground and climbing to the ceiling.
The windows mimicked the ornate stained glass designs that the doors had, each different to match what sat across from them. The late afternoon sun could be seen pouring through in vibrant colors along the white tiled floors. Bell’s eye idly danced along the shades of blues and reds, remembering each battle the told. She had lived through almost all of them, been present in some fashion, as a child or as a Ranger.
A painful sting of pride resonated in her heart as she recalled the perilous battles that she and the Rangers fought to protect their isolated city. The pride swelled only to give way and mix with sorrowful heartache as the memories faded and changed to the pain of losing them all to the same old war.
The bone spikes along her spine flared our quietly, stirring her her mind from dwelling too deep. In the distance, heeled footsteps could be heard clattering down the way on her left. The woman’s eye trailed the floor till it found the source, the nurse dressed in a white dress, an apron of vibrant skyblue and a white cap could be seen making her way towards the mutant. In their hand and arms sat a small magitek tablet, she was humming some faint and familiar tone.
A simple child’s song no doubt. Something that all children in Grisana were taught in some fashion at some point or another in their lives in the city academy. The nurse was young, her hair was kept in a small ponytail, tucked and hidden by the white cap she wore. Age hadn’t tarnished her young beauty, she was twenty-five, pushing twenty-six by Bella’s guess.
Belladonna sat as still as she could be, her hands together as her fingers intertwined, thumbs fighting the dreadful anticipation of simple waiting for news or even interaction. Her nerves despite her age were getting the best of her, her little heard pounding away in her chest causing the rest of her body to shiver in the seat despite the warm air of the city that crept through the hall.
The seconds droned on as the Nurse down the hall made steps closer and closer, the click and clack of heels echoed louder as she closed the distance between herself and Belladonna. The spikes along the mutant’s back were idly filling the otherwise silent hallway with their twitches and rattles as they shifted along Bella’s spine.
Bella seemed to tense as the nurse came close, nervousness plagued her face as she shied away and cast her one-eyed gaze to the floor, choosing the stare at ornate colors rather than the nurse as she arrived. With a sympathetic look, the young woman approached, a hand keeping her tablet close before lowering herself to a slight kneel, offering to have gentle eye-contact. Now near eye-level, Bella took in a shuddering breath as her head turned hesitantly over to the nurse, her body shifting and tensing more.
Despite this, the nurse offered a kind smile to the mutant. She paused to glance at her magitek device before nodding to herself. “Miss Slater..? The room’s ready.” Her voice was gentle, and comforting. Light as a feather yet could carry pride and the duty that she needed to as a medical professional. Bella gave a nervous nod to the Nurse before they spoke again. “I… recognize you from the museum. And your name’s pretty big in the city. It’s an honor to meet you. My name is Cecilia, you and the Rangers saved me when I was little.”
The nurse’s words stirred nerves and gave Bella a bit of comfort in the situation, her heart starting to slow and ease its thunderous beat within her chest. A moment passes between them before the mutant could respond, visibly she was at a loss for words and she was struggling to play catch up. As Bella looked over, her voice audibly struggled, the nurse couldn’t help but smile and offer a hand in return. “It’s alright.” she said reassuringly. “I’m here to help you, we all are, Miss Slater…”
Without a verbal response, Bella rose a shaking hand to take the nurse’s as she came to a stand. The woman’s hand as strong, despite her gentle appearance, the firmness of it gave the mutant a moment of reassurance through it. Bell was given an assuring squeeze before being let go. “The room’s ready, if you’ll follow me?”
Giving a nod, Bell slowly gestured for her to lead the way. Soon the hall was once again filled with the click clack of the nurse’s heels, but it was met and joined with the mutant’s rattling spikes as they made their way past several doors down the hallway. Their destination door held yet another ornate glass pane design on its upper half, the design spoke of the Ranger’s creation, that it was prophesied long ago in caves and ruins long forgotten on their island. It was a tale all too familiar with Belladonna. Something that she took to heart yet buried it away for as long as she could remember when she became a Ranger so very long ago.
Cecilia brought up her magitek tablet up to the door, a her right hand pressing against the flat metal door devoid of any actual detail aside from the ornate glass. A low chime of some melodic tone akin to a child’s rhyme, it was something similar to what the nurse was humming previously but yet still different entirely. A moment passes before the door yawns open, the door swinging outward. A stream of blue lights pour into the already bright white hallway from within the room beyond. The churning of magitek machinery could be heard humming in the room before they stepped in.
The warm air from outside was soon stripped away to give into the colder and cool air within the service room. The room was large and square, yet the corners were no where to be seen as if the design of it was made to give a feeling of endlessness as the lights dimmed along the walls to bolster that thought. Along the edge of the room sat medical console and tables with magitek machinery atop, screens blinking light greens and blues, displaying zeroed vital signs and medical reports of the would-be subjects. Medical staff were seen in the room, by Bella’s count at least eight others without counting Cecilia and herself. On the far side of the room sat some few chairs, a medical examination table and curtain that hang off a metal rail extending from the left-most wall. The curtain could curve along the metal railing, to provide privacy of the table and chairs.
In the center of the room sat a large magitek machine, the hum of it’s power source was what churned and seemed to be what was exhuming the truly cold air in the room. The machine itself was large, it stood from floor to ceiling, bundles of wires led from it to the machines and monitors on either side of the room along the walls and atop the tables. Within the machine, down its center was a clear glass pod, it was big enough to house the largest Roegadyn in the world no doubt about it. Belladonna could feel like nothing but an ant in comparison, yet even then that was an exaggeration.
“Miss Slater?” Cecilia spoke up, “Follow me to the back and we’ll get started.” Without another word she headed towards the curtain, with a nod to the other medical staff within the room. The doctors and nurses stood attentive to who walked in, silent for some small few seconds before turning back to their work. Few spying eyes sneaked glances to Belladonna’s rattling and flared out spike mutations, some curious, some fearful.
Slowly they stepped further into the room, passing the machinery. Bella’s singular eye, despite being hindered by the lack of sight, could still see fine details in everything. A small trait she had learned and picked up to try and adapt to what she had lost, and what had changed. She saw her own name along some of the monitors in passing, her medical history over the years, both Imperial and local. Height and weight changes, and even some slight documented facts of her mutation as well, nothing she didn’t know already.
Finally they reached the curtain, in which the nurse ushered Belladonna behind it, and moved it closed. “You can start removing your clothes here. When you’re done, Miss Slater, there’s a towel over by the table that you can use to cover up and then we can begin.” With a bow she stepped out of the curtain to give Bella privacy.
To say that she was nervous still was an understatement, the spikes along her spine were rattling, they had been the entire time they entered the room, truthfully. Despite this, she took shaking hands to her clothes. Slipping out of her boots and socks, stripping herself of her clothes one by one, piece by piece till she stood bare. Even though she couldn’t truthfully feel the cold, the senses that remained, what little there was told her all that she needed to know of the air. Her body was beaten, bruised and scarred, something she had only slightly gotten used to seeing. Imperfect skin, blotches of discoloration, thin and thick patches in variation. Something she found disheartening in a way, a grim and bleak reminder that she could never be fully healed to a degree that could even be deemed “fixed”. It was a change that she found to be crushing in the weight of it all.
With a shaking breath, Bella walked over to the table. Her hand reaching down to take hold of the blue towel that sat neatly folded. As she reached out, she found that her arm, had seen better days. Her hands and arms were in a poor state, but the distraction of the nurse’s kind words and face were truly that, a distraction. It was another insult to injury, something she hadn’t noticed all this time. The fact that her condition was everywhere along her body, and there was no fixing it. Her skin looked burned, beaten and bruised, matching the rest of her body. Even if she had come to terms with seeing it on occasion, it was still just as jarring to see it elsewhere, whether in the mirror or places that make-up couldn’t hide. Her heart sank deep into her chest, the heartstrings she had felt like they were going to snap at any moment.
Pulling the towel to her chest, she sunk to the floor on the verge of a silence collapse as she curled in onto herself. Grit and clenched teeth as she fought back any sound that could’ve been taken as a sob. The hum of magitek machinery wouldn’t hide it if she lost herself now. On her knees, she curled in, a hand hiding her eyes as the other pulled the towel close. She was shaking, shuddering… crying in silence. She wanted to wail, she wanted to sob. The reminder that she was so poor in health, the reminder that she looked this way, this… freak… this mutant ate at her till she was a shell, always.
Did she ever tell anyone how she felt…? Did she ever say anything to her sisters…? Did she ever say anything to mother… to father… to her brothers…?
No.
Not even fabled all mighty Creator had been spoken to about it… Yet he knew. He somehow always knew.
Her mind was blurring into her sobbing shell, only to be interrupted by a gentle knocking against the wall nearby.
“Miss Slater? Is aught amiss?” It was the nurse, Cecilia.
Taking in a quiet yet heavy breath, she fought to calm herself, wiping her tears into the towel before uttering a small response. Moments pass before she pulled herself to a stand, wiping her eyes one last time before the towel was wrapped around her torso. With a small “yes" the curtain was pulled open gently, allowing Bella to step through.
Despite Belladonna’s best attempts, her fight to hide the fact she was in tears only moments ago resulted in failure. Cecilia gave a small frown, fighting her own expression to keep professional. A hand was held up to stop Bella from moving as the nurse pulled out a small set of tissues, moving to wipe around the mutant’s eyes before moving to her shoulder to give a reassuring squeeze.
"Right this way, okay?”
Leading the way, Cecilia looked to the other medical staff who offered a silent thumbs up to her as she guided Bella to the chamber in the center of the machine. Her hand along the mutant’s shoulder was firm, comforting, reassuring as she led her in.
“You don’t need to do a thing, there may be a few scary noises, and the lights within the pod might turn off, change color and a few other things.. but that’s normal. Okay?”
Bella nodded in silence as she stepped into the small chamber. The pod itself was of a glass make, the opposite door of the chamber seemed to harden, and fog up forcibly, offering some shielded privacy while the other door remained open. The floor was admittedly cold, a slight mixture of metal and glass. The entire chamber was spotless and clean. Overhead hung warm lights, coating the small pod in a wave of comfort, no doubt made by design to reassure patients before scanning.
The hyur’s heart was thundering deep within her chest, but the air of the small chamber helped to calm her to some degree. Behind her nurse Cecilia grinned, giving her small words of encouragement and assurance before pressing a few buttons along the door’s console.
“Just stand there, okay? The process will be over soon, I promise.”
I’ve been gone for a while now But only to gain my power I’ve been fighting my demons And now I’m back up on my feet The harder you fall down The stronger you come back later Now I feel like an army And I’ve only just begun
I’ve only just begun (only just begun) I’ve only just begun
Hey, give me all you got Bring the grenades and your loaded guns Hey, trying to take me down I’m coming right back, back, back like a boomerang Oh whoa oh ohoh whoa oh ohoh Yeah I’m back, back, back like a boomerang Oh whoa oh ohoh whoa oh ohoh Yeah I’m back, back, back like a boomerang
It's Morphin' Time - XIV 