Chapter Three
A rumbling sound coming from Lightning's stomach woke her up. She was again in her prison cell, with all but nearest light turned off. Her weakened body was shivering from the unpleasant experience. What the hell was that thing? When the machine was activated, it only caused her intense pain, both physically and mentally. It was as if she was cut over and over again with incredibly sharp blade. Were they torturing her for information? Could be, but aren't they suppose to ask first for information, then perform action based on her response? Or the young warrior was some kind of a test subject?
Lightning continued to reach a reason for what Vurgul and his men did to her. After several minutes the silence was broken again by her stomach. Now that she was not lost in her thoughts, the girl spotted a large plate filled with various fruits and vegetables. Next to it was a half transparent bottle filled with water. Probably they wanted her with restored energy before using that device again. For a she knew there may be more the crap, responsible for blocking Lightning's powers. Usually such substances are efficient, but they quickly lose effect. Another thing is that such substances are toxic in higher dozes. If Vurgul want Lightning alive, they should be careful how often she is dozed with such things. With some hope she decided to try and see if the effect had worn off. The girl pushed herself again to manifest a fireball. Still nothing. Something was different. The specific pain in her left shoulder was also missing. The meaning of this fact was that she was clean from the substance. Now matter how hard Lightning tried, still there was no fireball in her hands. She was standing like a statue with clenched fist, confusion written on her face. Whatever was happening to her, there was one person that knew what it was.
"Vurgul! I know you can hear me! If you want a deal, get yourself down here!". Her words echoed lonely in the corridor. They were listening, probably there is camera somewhere. Lightning was too valuable not to be monitored all the time. Even if they choose to ignore her, she could use other more dangerous methods to attract their attention. Such drastic measures were unnecessary as after ten minutes Doctor Vurgul himself came to visit Lightning. Of course he was not alone – two armed men were accompanying him. He stared at the girl, which was stopped shaking, and started:
"This is interesting. The prisoner wants a deal. Was your will crushed by the 'unpleasant' experience or you also have demands?". Although he said that much, Lightning was getting pissed of the way the Doctor was talking.
"You want me to cooperate, don't you? Then give me answers, not history lessons!"
"Fair enough." Vurgul was interest by the idea and dropped the sarcastic voice. "What do you want to know?"
"For starting why I can't blast you off the face of the world?" Showing niceness was not the purpose of her question.
"You mean why are your magical abilities missing? Well to put it simple, it is because you don't have any...".
"What! What the hell are you talking about?"
"First we used omnilision to temporary stop you from using magic. Then you were threaten by the WARP device."
"You mean tortured. So now I can't use my powers permanently?"
"For now. If your treatment is complete, you will be able to use your magic again. Of course then your purpose will be greater than escaping from here."
"How is putting you on that machine for greater purpose?"
"I assume you don't have any more questions for now? Then after four yours we'll send you for the next treatment." Doctor Vurgul and his men turned around and started to walk away. After a few steps he stopped, and said to Lightning:
"And please, try to eat something and rest until then. If you don't have your energy recovered, it will take longer for your treatment to complete." After those words, he left with his men.
"Like hell I will!"- ran through the young warrior's head.
Four hours passed unnoticeable as Lightning was thinking over Doctor Vurgul's words and what to do from now on. She needed more information about her surroundings. Gaining their trust will help her obtain other crucial info as how Vurgul did knocked her out when she attacked the guard. Also it will make them lower their guard and provide opportunity for escaping. She needs to play ball for now. When Vurgul came again, Lightning did not resist. With hands tied, she was lead out the corridor. From there, she passed through several people, all dressed in civilian clothing. They did not payed any attention to her as if something natural was happening. After passing several corridors, she ended up in a familiar room. Everybody there was using their terminal, probably preparing the WARP device for the girl. Doctor Vurgul turned around and said to Lightning:
"Good. Your cooperation will be rewarded." Then he turned his left wrist. There was an electronic bracelet with buttons. He pressed one of them and looked at Lightning. And the effect almost kicked in. She closed eyes and her head handed down. Now that she was once again unconscious, it was safe to untie and prepare her for the treatment.
Hours have passed before Lightning regain consciousness. She was again in her cell, trembling and weakened from exhaustion. "This really starts to get on my nerves...". Now there was no way to tell how many hours, or even days had passed since she left for that fake mission. For all she knows, right now the Guardian Corps might be looking for her. If all Vurgul said was true, they will never find her. She have no choice but to be patient and wait for the moment. When the time comes Lightning will have to be at her maximum, even if she cannot use magic. The hunger was stronger and it is part of the reason she feels so weak. A decision was made and the girl looked at the food plate. It's content was replaced with fresh fruits and vegetables. She walked over, bend down and grabbed an apple. It was no different than the ones back at Bodhum. With a here-goes-nothing expression, she started eating it. The young warrior was still shaking, mainly because her body was again put through the effects of the so called WARP device. Was it really going to return her powers? More importantly, why are they doing this? To Lightning Vurgul and his men were zealots with some strange cause. Their goals were still hidden from her, but it was told that she is important to it. Whatever was it, her escape will surely put their plan in a frozen state. And then Sanctum will deal with them. She only wanted to take care of Vurgul alone. That was the payback for what he was putting her through. Lightning's plans were interrupted by the sudden illumination of the corridor, signaling for somebody's arrival. The girl stand up and looked at Doctor Vurgul, who was accompanied by two of his men. He started the conversation:
"Good to see that you finally gave up on your hunger. It would be pity to see you die back on the chair." He expected a response from her, but all she gave him was blood freezing look and silence.
"I'm sure you want to know we have chosen you for this. But first allow me to finish..."
"The history lecture?" There was the awaited response.
"Call it whatever you want. More important is to hear it than name it." Vurgul had a quick breath before returning to his story:
"Around three years ago I discovered unknown signal. It was so strong that I detected it two hundred kilometers away from it's origin – ruins from the War of Transgression. Of course the ruins were heavily guarded by PSICOM, but I had to find what was emitting that signal. I kept my discovery among my colleagues and after a year of deep search, we found a way to enter in that area, without being discovered. And when we did, we discovered the WARP device. For over a month we stayed there and studied that machine. We were troubled by no one because fear from Purge were stopping even PSICOM from entering. What we found was amazing – the device was older than earliest recording of fal'Cie or human civilization."
"What, did the Maker built that thing? That is ridiculous!" The Doctor responded with words, filled with excitement :
"But the lack of any activity from ancient civilization and the fact that the signals were coming from a crystal only support this theory! Even it had writings on it, written on fal'Cie language!" He returned his voice to a normal state and continued:
"We translated some of the text. According to it, this device was capable of giving extreme power only to people, who were capable of using magic. The crystal itself was a power source, and it was almost dead, so we were unable to powered and test it."
"Seems you found a way around it..."
"Not we, but the people of Emiga! They also had found the signal, but because of Sanctum, they never went to explore it. Eventually we had to leave this place, and then... PSICOM found us. They didn't care at all how we got there, they just wanted us Purged. On our way to Pulse the people of Emiga came to our aid, and made everything look like an accident."
"And they just happened to know of your discovery?"
"Of course not. After their crude experience from the world above, they begin to monitor all radio transmissions, in case Sanctum found out about the complex. And that's how they found about me and my men. What's even more impressive is that after I told them about our discovery, the people of Emiga successfully recovered the device. They even had a almost fully charged crystal from the fal'Cie. The machine was operational, and my team started to study it more deeply. Two years we experimented with it, and when we confident enough that it works... we captured you."
Lightning turned her head around, remembering with anger how she was deceived.
"The truth is we needed someone in excellent physical and mental condition, someone that is strong enough to withstand the pain from the WARP device, someone capable of using advanced magic. The members of the Guardian Corps were covering perfectly our requirements. And they sent you."
After Vurgul's last words, Lightning couldn't hold her anger back:
"You're telling me that I'm here by chance? And that machine will give me more power? This is insane!"
Doctor Vurgul and his men did not pay any attention to the girl. She tried to control her emotions as they were walking. But before he leave, Vurgul had one last thing to say:
"Believe whatever you want, Miss Farron. In the end you will see things our way and... just accept it."
With those words left to echoed, the corridor went dark again. Only a single light in front the jail cell was left to work. Lightning was finally calm, but her hatred for this guy had reached new level. "You bastard, what are you trying to accomplish?"
