Sheep in Wolf's Clothing Chapter One
Sheep in Wolf's Clothing
Chapter One
Aster stared at the ceiling fan as it circulated the air in his room. He was tired and hungry from the day's earlier events. Living in the Sybak Research Academy was exhilarating as well as exhausting. There was always something new to learn and some field studies to execute and the other researchers were very kind to him even if he was only twelve-years-old, having entered the academy at the age of nine. Yet he still found time to be both bored and curious. There were a few places he was prohibited to venture and he wanted to know why.
The basement of the academy was one such place. The first time he set foot in the academy he was ordered not to go near the basement unless given permission and accompanied by either one of the research heads or the director. That had definitely put checking out the basement on the top of his soon-to-do list. Just what could be down there that the researchers didn't want him to see?
As if pushed by and invisible spring he sat up, his mind whirring with ideas. Most of the research teams were away for the day on field studies. This was his chance to see what was being hidden in the basement and he wouldn't sit idly and let this opportunity go to waste. Quickly, he moved from his bed to the coat hanger and grabbed his lab coat. This was, after all, a vital research prospect.
He quietly crept out of his room on the second floor and down to the first floor, being careful not to attract attention from any of the remaining scientists. After ten terrifying minutes of close-calls and the fear of being caught, Aster came to the last door of his quest. Behind it must have been the basement because everyone, he noticed, did everything they could to avoid being around this door. In nervous anticipation, he slowly opened the door.
When Aster finally got the door open enough to slip through his expression became a cross between confusion and disappointment. "I thought this was the basement since no one wanted to come here but…" the young blonde thought as he examined his surroundings, "… this is just another stupid hallway." It was a hallway that was identical to all the others in the large building, although he knew better than to assume that, being the genius scientist that he is.
After ten minutes of carefully inspecting the hallway and the rooms within it, he came to a dark staircase that seemed to have come straight from the Meltokio dungeons. "The basement has to be down there!" His search for the basement was finally starting to prove fruitful.
Aster descended the medieval staircase as quietly as he could so that any echoes he created would not carry to the upper levels or the ears of the other researchers. "This stairwell is so dark… I wonder if they keep it like this on purpose." His brain began to create scenarios and situations for the reasons why they didn't want him down here, and why they kept it so dark. "Perhaps they are keeping some sort of nocturnal monster… one along the lines of a Vroom or Archdemon, or maybe they are creating… no, researching a new summon spirit like Shadow. There seems to be an innumerable amount of possibilities to what could be down here."
In the midst of his deep-thinking he failed to notice the door coming up in front of him and ended up walking right into it, resulting in a rather loud THWOMP!
"Ow…" He rubbed the large red mark on his forehead, small tears coming to his eyes from the pain of his own idiocy and, of course, the huge wooden door he rammed his head into. Looking up the ominous staircase he said to no one in particular, "I hope nobody heard that. It would be a lot of trouble if I were to be discovered down here." He then looked toward the aforementioned door. "Guess I should check it out seeing as I've come this far."
He brushed the dirt of his coat as he arose, and raised a small pale hand to the handle of what was most likely the basement door. Of course it was scary but it was also thrilling, not unlike a really good horror movie. He licked his suddenly dry lips and pulled the heavy door open.
The room was dark inside as well, but was dimly lit by the eerie glow of the research experiment technology. He languidly advanced through threshold in an attempt to let his eyes adjust to the poor lighting before he proceeded. While his eyes were adjusting, he heard a hurried shuffle across the stone floor.
"Hello?" Listening for any kind of reply all he got was silence. "I'm not gonna hurt you… I just wanna know what's down here." He groped the wall as he moved around the room when he ran into something hard and tall. "Ouch…" That's when he found out what was in the basement of the research academy.
"What do you want?"