Victernus - Chapter 1 (2016 Edit)
Namara tilted his head a few degrees, fiddling with his cell phone while he eyed his feet curiously. Slouched back on the grey, flimsy couch that stood against the far wall of his living room, he sighed and tried to remember what he was doing. Rays of light shined in through the window blinds, casting thick shadows on his empty, depersonalized living room. For ten years, he had lived there without a care in the world - except for his work, that is. He couldn't care less about what he wore, what his house looked like or even who he was friends with. His project mattered to him most.
My project... Yes! He sat up straight and snapped his fingers, turning on the television that was mounted to the opposite wall. Its harsh light blurred his vision for a moment. Thinking about his sight for too long, he suddenly felt as if he was staring at the world through someone else's eyes. He frowned and shook his head in a feeble attempt to jolt himself back to reality. Meanwhile, the TV progressed without him. He could hear a lady on the screen, reporting about the latest news in the same pattern he had heard all the time. Watching the colors and shapes that represented the sounds of her voice and the cheesy news music, Namara realized that he was wasting time. Confused, he thought, How long have I been sitting here for?
His phone rang, sending red flashes of light through his vision. It was an alarm sound from an old game he used to play; the sound that played when his ship was about to explode. Crap, who's this? He glanced at the screen. Mahalia. That's a nice name...
After three more of the alarm sounds had gone past his eyes, he remembered that he still had to pick it up. He glanced down at the phone and pressed the 'Answer' button before bringing it up to his ear. In a groggy voice, he mumbled, "Mahalia?"
There was a pause, and then his wife asked, "Namara, what are you doing right now?"
Namara muttered, "Uhh..." and then glanced into the kitchen. Between the fridge and the microwave, a bottle of red tablets rested on the counter. Last night it was full, but now there were only three left. Huh... I'm almost done.
Mahalia's voice came through again, "Namara! Are you on drugs again?!"
Namara shook his head and mumbled, "No... no... Well, I mean, yeah... sort of. I just took some of the, uh... What's it called..."
Mahalia's voice continued sternly, "How much did you take this time? Are the scanners even ready yet?"
Namara shrugged, "I dunno. I don't think I trust the doc though, so I decided to do it today. I trust my former self from last night."
She began to rant further, but Namara tuned her out for a moment. He brought the phone away from his face slowly as he focused back on the television screen. Through a live news feed, he watched as security officers under contract with his own company entered the lobby of the lab he spent his past few years working in. He grumbled, "Lynn..." as the reporter spun a story about how Namara had become delusional and unfit for work. A familiar voice emerged from below, and then he remembered that he was still talking to someone. He lifted the phone back up and finished, "Hello? Oh, Mahalia! I, uh... have to go. Lynn is trying to stop me, just as I thought! You know where to find me... I mean, I'll find you. Or something like that. See ya!"
Still hearing her rant through the phone, he promptly hung up on her and took a moment to think. "Delusional..." So that's how it's gonna be. I should have expected this sooner, damn it! He rubbed his temples and exhaled slowly, an angry fire burning within him. For years he had worked on his project without interruption, and only three days after his research entered the final stage, the man who sponsored his work turned against him - and now was coming for him. He pored through the vast stores of information about the research he had done, but none of it showed him how to deal with betrayal. Namara's project wasn't totally ready yet, but now was his only chance to use it. _ _
This must end now, he decided as he stood up and headed for the front door. Taking his leather jacket off of the rack beside the door, he searched its pockets to make sure his handgun, silencer, and bullets were still there. When his hand touched the cold, dark metal, he smiled and slid on the jacket to accompany his jeans and his bland white shirt. Trailing towards his kitchen with determination in his step, he took his phone and placed it in the microwave to keep his whereabouts and his destination secret. While the device popped and sparked under the radiation, the reporter on the TV was still talking about how he was most likely going to be put in a rehabilitation facility until further notice, as one of his coworkers had ratted him out for taking some of the anti-rejection drug for his project.
The anti-rejection drug. Crap. Namara put his head in his hands and rested his elbows on the counter beside the microwave, fully aware of what could happen to him. This was going to be a lot harder than he first thought, and his current condition would only make things more difficult. Dissociating for the eighth time since he woke up, he felt the sensation of an animal's fur covering his body while a phantom tail curled around his right leg. The sensations were an amplification of his normal experiences, and while he was aware that there were some who felt this on a regular basis, he was not prepared for the sheer intensity of it - and he still wasn't "there" yet.
Namara's focus shifted towards the bottle of red tablets on the counter. Just about three more and your mind will be ready, Namara. Ready. Hell if you know what that means anymore... He grabbed the container and fumbled with the cap until it was open, pouring the last of the tablets out in front of himself. With twelve down and three to go, he was performing his experiment exactly as planned. But if he took them, there would be no coming back. Three more and his experiment would succeed, his own company would take him out, or he would be frozen in an animalistic state for the rest of his life. Staring down at the tablets, he screamed at himself in his head, Take them, Namara! You made this decision long before today!Yes, I did. I did! His hand swept them up and brought them up to his mouth. The magnitude of what he was doing shook through his awareness like an earthquake. Three. Three. Three... Damn, just do it! He grabbed a glass from one of the upper cabinets and filled it with water from the sink, popping all three tablets in his mouth and downing them like he hadn't drunk anything in days. Slamming the glass down on the counter with a loud thud, he sighed. It was done, and now it was time to execute the experiment.Namara walked back towards the front door, only to be hit with the sudden urge to get down on all fours. Not here. Not now! He clenched his hands and dug his fingernails into his palms to contain himself. There was no way in hell he would be able to operate the equipment by himself if he let his urges take control. Fortunately, small amounts of pain kept him from acting upon them, so there was a still a chance he could get by.
After relaxing his hands, he unlocked the door and swung it open. The mid-August morning sun shone down on him; a large contrast from his dark living room. He shielded his eyes with one of his hands and stepped out. A smile stretched onto his bearded face as a light breeze caressed his short, black hair. He grasped the railing by the front steps tightly. Exhilarated, he watched his hands carefully as the fur he felt on himself blew in the wind, which in turn caused his phantom tail to start wagging. He shook his head and chuckled, Darn, this isn't even real, is it?
Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he kept his head level. Because his home was far into the woods, he was confident that he was safe for the time being. There was a small, grassy front yard that he sometimes used with his friends, but aside from that, he was surrounded by trees. The forest was his home, and it always would be.
Inhale. Ah... Namara took in the fresh morning air of his forest and then descended his front steps. Walking along the stony path to his paved driveway, the round stones sparkled in the light and sent Namara into a fascinated trance. Coming out of it at the end of the path, he pulled out a remote from his pocket and summoned his hoverbike. The orange, sleek contraption floated out of his garage and stopped before him. While most other vehicles still had wheels, one of his close friends had designed a far safer and more efficient replacement a year earlier, in 2037 - and the best thing about it was that he didn't even have to drive it, which would have been somewhat difficult in his current state.
Namara stepped forward and put his leg over the seat, sitting down and grasping the handles tightly. Leaning in close to the frame, he commanded, "Take me to three-oh-four Hauser Road... Maplecrest, New York." And just like clockwork, the bike hovered over to the road. Namara pressed one of the small buttons on the right handle, shielding himself and the bike with a cloak of invisibility. When the engine reached its full power, a light hum traveled up his frame and the bike took off, causing wind to engulf his body. He hugged the construction and closed his eyes tightly, feeling like his fur was flying all over the place. I need to stay coherent... there's only a little bit left. A dark, untamable fear seeped into his core, causing him to shake with anticipation. He had to go through with this now. It was his only choice.
Following the road to the facility, the hoverbike twisted and turned around the bends and turns. This brought Namara another dissociation, like he was watching himself ride the bike from above. Feeling like he was in two places at once, he remained relatively confused until the bike slowed down outside of the facility. He opened his eyes and, when everything became clear again, saw a security guard about to walk into him. Holding in a yelp, Namara rushed the bike forward and then brought it up onto the grass. Peering through the glass-walled lobby from a distance, he could see that they still hadn't gotten the doors open for the lab. Perfect... My new codes worked. This makes this so much easier.
Carefully driving around to the back of the building, Namara stopped the bike behind some rocks near the rear entrance. A lone guard was posted beside the door, blocking his way into the lab. Namara stepped off of the hoverbike and crouched down, peering past the rocks. Reaching into his jacket, he readied his gun haphazardly, trying to get a proper grip of the weapon in his dissociated state. After fitting the silencer to the end of it, he poised himself over one of the big rocks and aimed for the guard's radio on their hip. Focus... You can do this. Three. Two. One... He fired the gun twice, disabling the guard's connection to the others and then piercing their thigh. The guard tumbled down with a groan and Namara stepped out and pointed the gun at him, "Don't move! A-and... d-don't call the others, or I'll shoot!"
The plump, blond-haired security guard sat against the wall and cringed while putting pressure on his wound, "So you're Namara."
Namara approached the keypad on the door and entered in the ten-digit code, trying not to make eye contact with the officer. When the latch unlocked, the guard pried, "What is it you really plan to do with whatever's down there? You know they'll never let you get away with it."
Staring off into space, he answered quietly, "I just want to be happy... If they want to punish me for that pursuit, then this society is already on its way out." He turned the door knob, opening the door and leaving it cracked open behind him without waiting for a response. And then, there was darkness. Before him, a flight of stairs led down into the lab. After that... freedom. Grabbing hold of the railing, his feet clinked against the metal stairs until he reached the bottom. A few feet after the staircase stood a large sliding glass door with another keypad. He entered in a different code this time, then made sure that it would only respond to him on the way out.
Inside the lab, the only life in the room came from the computer near the right wall. Good. The power hasn't been cut. A familiar contraption stood in the center, luring him in. After the door slid open, he walked triumphantly forward, switching on the device and starting up the computer that was across from it. The slight hum of the cooling fans sounded as its components were brought to life, which consisted of two chairs and two spherical helmets that housed brain-scanning devices. Hundreds of wires connected them to the small processing units under the chairs, and it was all of his own design.
While it booted up, Namara studied the room one final time. This was, for sure, the last he would ever see of it. Letting it go would have been hard if he didn't know where he was going next. He paced towards the main entrance and ran his hand along the sterile counter, already feeling nostalgia course through his veins. From test tubes to supercomputers, his lab had all he needed - and now he was done. It was surprisingly quiet, considering that there were at least twenty armed guards trying to get in, but in the silence he found peace.
Namara stopped at the very edge of the room. Sitting in the corner was a three-foot-long metallic case. A small glass window was built into the top, allowing him and his colleagues to see inside. But today was not just a day for seeing. Grabbing the handle on the end, he grunted and dragged the case to the device in the middle of the lab, positioning it at the end of one of the chairs. After letting go of it, he panted for a moment, exhausted because of its weight. And then he smiled, Finally... I'm here.
Namara bent over and undid the locks on the side of the case, then heaved the top open so that it rested on the chair. A grey, milky mist floated out and fell, almost resembling liquid nitrogen when poured out on the ground. As he peered into the mist, an intense feeling of longing rushed over him. He knelt down and reached in, running his hands through the fur of a young wolf. Its underbody and ears were stained crimson and the rest of its fur was a mix of dark grey and white - a measure taken to distinguish himself from true wolves. You are my key to finding Kairos, he thought. We will find it together. He lighted one of the helmets onto its head. You were made just for me...
Startling him, a sharp banging echoed from the main entrance. Namara looked up and saw the frame of the doors buckle. Crap, I took too long! Immediately filled with worry, he jumped up and started typing on the computer frantically. But, when he looked down at his hands, he felt disoriented again. His hands felt like they had become the consistency of soft butter, and he could not tell whether he had the paws of a wolf or actual human hands. He brought one them to his head and rubbed one of his temples while trying to finish what he came for with the other. It almost seemed as if his fingers were the illusion instead of the paws, but he found a way to work through it. After barely managing to access his personal files, he started a program that would wipe the database and the backups in a couple of minutes. He stepped back in a state of awe and then heard another bang that jolted him back to reality. Gerhalt Lynn's old voice came from behind the doors, "We know you're in there, Namara!"
A deep growl formed in his throat. He moved to the device's console, which was connected to the chairs by a movable mechanical arm. Moments after typing in the command to execute, he sat in the second chair and moved the console into the air above him. While he put his own helmet on, a warning flashed on the screen: OPERATION NOT RECOMMENDED; NINETY-FIVE PERCENT CHANCE OF FAILURE. Namara narrowed his eyes and shook his head, dismissing the warning and initiating the transfer. Screw you, Lynn. I already know the science behind this, and it's all in my favor now.
As the transfer began and the cooling fans beneath him ran faster, he recalled the words of a close friend he once had. _I know that you can find it. What they say will never matter - it's your journey now, not theirs. I can only imagine how beautiful this is to you, and I wish I could go with you... but my time is up. Now go find Kairos for both of us._Tension built up within his head while a numbing feeling crept up his legs.
I will...
Then with one final bang, the doors blasted open, the guards poised to shoot and Lynn shouted, "Fire!"