Project 045
The wind was brisk, and stung like icy needles as it whipped past in a howling gale, hurling itself against heavens floodgates like a petulant child as a dense fog gathered below; clouds torn from their thrones above to fall to the earth with whispery wings of white that seethed with oppression.
The smoky tendrils curled at the banks of a lake, the water roiling silver with stars that seemed to simmer beneath its surface, ones that made the studded black canvas of night pale in comparison. The smokescreen rolled around the edge of the banks, but made no move to drift across the water towards the shimmering white form standing serenely in the middle of the reflective pool of light- it was, in fact, a single pedestal that chipped at the edges, rising from the tumbling waves in an elegant alabaster carving.
Spider silk stretched across the waters, yet another layer of defense that shrouded the heart underneath the swelling currents, the gossamer pulsing with a distracting glow as water beaded on the strands. Storm clouds drifted across the velvet skies in an eternal life, watching over the figure crouched on the pedestal, so still they may have been made of glass. Frost glittered on thick black lashes, and spiraled down cheekbones in intricate designs, cupping a pale skinned chin and weaving around a slim neck to rest across collar bones like the clasp of a heavily decorated mantle. Their eyes did not open.
Deep in the fog, an intrusive aquamarine light pulsed, lost in the extensively built defenses as it searched relentlessly for a prey that would not come, yet neared closer to it all the same.
The figures eyes parted slightly, and a deep violet blaze spilled from their eyes to bathe its sharp cheekbones in the iridescent luminescence.
The aquamarine lights neared.
Eye lids drifted open partially, long eyelashes pushing laboriously through a thick liquid. Violet eyes stared unseeingly forwards into a beaming fluorescent aquamarine that pressed against him on all sides, numbing heavy limbs that ached dully; nerves slow to respond, the electric signals from brain to body even more so.
At the very same time he commanded his eyes to focus, the chemicals that seeped into his cells blocked them, sending violent tingles snapping down his spine, which arched slightly in reflex.
the slight movement dislodged pockets of the congealing liquid that clung to him like a second skin, sending quiet ripples into the rest of it. He was aware of being weightless, of the sharp pins and needles that whittled at his skin as he began to wake up; and suddenly he was crushingly aware of the cold that seized his chest, pressed against his sternum, of the pressure that bore down on him, making his head pound and flashing lights appear behind his eyelids.
There were muffled yells of alarm as his heartbeat began to become erratic; beat a war drums beat against his ribs so hard he feared it might rupture from the sudden acceleration.
A pneumatic hiss echoed through the liquid, and he felt the pressure ease as stale air began to empty itself into his body through metal pipes that extended from a mask that had been fitted over his face- at the sudden breath of oxygen, his heart began to settle and start pumping blood at an erratic pace, eventually stabilizing into a more active beat than before.
Blood rushed to his head, and the spike of pain doubled, before seeping away with the last vestiges of the fog that muddled his mind. As his eyes finally focused, he could make out a murky covering beyond the gel that surrounded him, frost sparkling at its border that painted the crew of humans wearing white lab coats in a pale white illumination.
They looked to be in awe, sunken eyes outlined by dark circles that painted their pale features in a butchered image of success. He just about made out the crisp script that was written on the borders of their lab coats, before a smell like rotten fruit crept in with his oxygen supply, and he felt himself slipping away, his musings drifting far beyond his reach...
Estraneo.
There was another intruder, one who simply walked through the thick fogs like it was nothing but a faint drizzle, making unerring progress towards the puddle of moonlight that lay in the heart of it. The intruder reached the edges of the lake banks, and unaffected by the increasingly vicious gale that transformed into an all-out hurricane, smirked and reached out a hand. A metal trident that glowed with indigo mist materialized under his fingers, and he simply tapped the spider silk strands, watching them to turn into Lilly pads at his whim, before he began to stride towards the figure on the pedestal with cat like grace.
"Kufufufu...It's rare that i find such a mind scape, skilled illusionists are rather hard to come by...and those defenses would have worked as well~"
He drawled lazily, eyes roaming over the frost that held the figure still. His brows creased slightly in unease, but he continued to speak, voice a deep velvet that dripped with deception.
"However, that rather large spike of mist flames just now was practically a lit beacon and a firework show all in one...surely it was dangerous to just release so much flames in just one flare? unnatural, even."
The figures eye lids lifted a bit more, and the violet lamps that were his eyes threw his surrounding area into sharp relief. Red began to creep across the spider silk, destroying it as it neared the heart of the web. The intruder's eyes narrowed.
"What is that frost?"
he snarled, and moments before the storm flames reached the invaders mist construction, his mind scape jerked, wavering, and something began to pull at him. words and scattered images drifted towards him, and a single word slipped past his blue lips before the crimson flame disintegrated the invaders form, a word that made their eyes widen in rage.
"Estraneo."
It was different from before. As his eyes began to drift open once again, awareness came easier to him; adressed the freezing metal clamps that clutched at his forearms, tubes that carried strangely colored liquids leading down to them- his neck stung terribly, felt raw like it had been burnt somehow as the liquid around him tingled, pulsating with green sparks that sent shivers racking down his spine.
His back felt weighed down, and he tilted his head slightly, the various devices attached to his face chafing uncomfortably. he could just about make out metal needles inserted down his backbone all the way to the tailbone, before he turned his head back to its normal position. There was no sweet smelling gas this time, and his watched the shifting figures in white lab coats with curious violet eyes. There were only 3 of them, and as he observed, they began to take up varying posts; one beside the monitors, the other beside a console that seemed to control his conditions inside the tank; and the third one beside a bronze lever hooked up to a large cylinder. As he stared unabashedly, the man lit up a crackling green light on the cheap looking green ring on his finger, and jammed it into the top of the cylinder.
The scientist at the monitors, an old woman with a shock of graying red hair, gave the two young, and admittedly scruffy, men the thumbs up. Apprehension trickled into his veins, and his fingers began to twitch, trailing the thick blue liquid uneasily as they curled into fists. The bronze lever was pulled back haltingly, and every time it was pulled further towards the operator, the gel seemed to become heavier; his blood churning nauseatingly as the white blood cells failed to recognize the modified chemicals that were being pumped into him; making his joints burn badly as though something was being forced into them. As the pain reached new heights, his mouth opened in a soundless scream, writhing in the tank with a vindictive viciousness born of the truly primitive base for the 'fight and flight' response.
The man beside the cylinder nodded, in a disturbingly apathetic fashion, before flicking a switch on the cylinders surface. the green crackling energy roared, before the needles inserted in his back began to charge him with lightning flames that shot into his nervous system, effectively commandeering it as the flames resonated with the chemicals settled into his joints. The agony made a short scream tear through his; apparently abused; vocal cords, before his brain shut down completely, and his previously straining body fell limp, head lolling.
He didn't re-enter the mind scape.