Warning, largest chapter yet coming trough. There was just so much stuff to tell that I could not possibly split it up. This chapter is also quite unique, since any part of it is not from Legionnaire's perspective. This chapter will bring some much needed information about Venatores, not everything of course, but quite a lot.
Chaos is the Prize Chapter 10
Kaltrina read the message over three times in a row, making sure she had understood its content clearly. She immediately extracted the attached files, saving the homework details for the soon-to-come processing. She had been about to make a cup of tea for herself before going to bed, but that could wait until she had completed the assignments give to her by Azuhrius. The orders of Azuhrius always came first, always, without anything eclipsing them, and she would follow them with absolute obedience.
"Did you get them?" came a last confirmation message from the Legionnaire currently at Beacon, written in a crypted code that Kaltrina could read and translate fluently in an instant.
"Received," she sent back in same language that would have been meaningless to anyone not explicitly trained to understand it by the XXth.
"You have your orders. This is all for now. Hydra Dominatus."
"Hydra Dominatus," she replied and closed the application. She deleted all data from the recent communication, wiping her scroll clean of any sign of recent messaging. Then she disconnected from the scrollnet that was strictly used only for the communication between the two of them, joining into another network that was used for nonsensitive sharing of information, which homework definitely was not.
Her surprise had been great when Azuhrius had told her that he had made contact with two Venatores thought dead at the academy, and she certainly had not expected to be assigned to do their homework for them, like she was already doing for Orchid. Lazy drug fiend.
But if Azuhrius had decided it would be beneficial for this to be done, she was not one to question his judgement.
Kaltrina was sitting by a simple wooden desk, located in the corner of the tiny apartment she was residing in. Azuhrius had decided it would be best for her to remain in Vale, where she could provide support quickly should it be required. She also needed to stay in the Kingdom so that they could communicate using scrolls, since using an interkingdom communication station was naturally out of question.
There was really nothing in the room that could be considered personal or anything resembling extravagant, for she required little else to fulfill her duties here. She considered the small kitchen to be practically luxurious, for normally she did not have a chance to make herself tea if she felt so.
She opened the files containing homework to begin her task. It would take some time, especially as she not only had to do it for three different people, but also make them seem like they actually could have been done by the person they were for. There had to enough flaws in Orchid's assignment after all, to seem genuine.
She glanced shortly to her left, glimpsing at the small mirror hanging from the wall, which also was bigger than what she was used to. Her own side reflection answered her gaze, her eyes drawn to the Hydra tattoo on her shoulder revealed by her black sleeveless shirt. That mighty symbol that meant so much. Seeing it always brought back memories.
Kaltrina was sitting in a corner of the storage hall's room, hugging her knees. It was cold, not too cold to bear, but it sure felt uncomfortable, as her worn clothes were unable to offer much protection against it.
There were other children around her, sitting in a similar fashion along the concrete wall of the, some in small groups but most on their space, like her. There were maybe ten girls beside her, and perhaps over twice that many boys, she was not sure of the exact number. They were all more or less same age as her, some a little younger, eldest maybe around nine years old. They were all silent. When the men in black clothes brought more kids in, the newcomers usually cried or screamed. The sound however always died down quickly, and the silence returned. Some children still quietly cried out for their parents, but those were in the minority. She had never done that, for she had nowhere to go back to. This place was not terribly different from the fringe streets of Vacuo, and at least here she got something to eat regularly.
There were no windows in the stark space, so she could not follow the passing of night and day. The only light came from the weak light bulbs in the ceiling that barely provided illumination. She did not know how long she had been here, it already felt like forever.
The men in black clothes always brought them food before she could get truly hungry. The bread and rare vegetables tasted alway like a heavenly meal after waiting, their quality however varying.
Why were they all kept there was a mystery to her, and none of the other children she had asked really knew anything either. It was said they were some kind of criminals, but that was pretty much all she could gather. Some kids whispered of human trafficking, but she did not know what it meant.
The big rusty red door opened like it always did when it was time to eat. A man in blue sunglasses and the same kind of black clothes as all the others came in, pushing a metal cart filled with whatever they were getting fed this time.
She rose to stand with the other children and headed for the cart that promised relief for the hunger. They formed a loose line in the usual spot, each waiting to get their share. The man was handing each of them two round bread pieces each, and when one received their portion, they retreated back to whatever segment of the floor they had chosen as their own.
Kaltrina raised her hands and the man gave her two pieces of loaf, one in each hand.
She turned and started heading away without saying a word. However when she was about the reach her corner, she felt someone grab her hand. She turned to see a boy with blue eyes and brown hair holding on to her, motioning to the bread in her right hand. The boy twisted the precious sustenance from her hand, and then moved away from her with his prize in hand.
There was nothing she could do, as the five or so men in black guarding the room certainly would not care. She accepted it and sat down, beginning to consume her remaining piece of bread.
The boy who had stolen from her was however stopped himself by a hand falling over his shoulder. He turned with a angry look on his face, only to come across a another boy, who was holding a pistol aimed at the thief. The gun was same kind of as what the some of the guards used, and Kaltrina could only wonder how the boy had managed acquire it. He covered so much of it with his hands that the guards would not have seen it, even if the lazy and bored thugs had payed even decent attention what the children were doing. The boy with a gun motioned at the hand of the boy who had stolen from her, and the boy reluctantly gave up his bounty. The boy hid his gun away, took the food and proceeded to walk right at Kaltrina.
He stopped in front of her, held out what was stolen from her, which she reached out to accept. No words were shared, and the boy walked a short way from her along the wall, before sitting down to enjoy his own share of the food.
Kaltrina was genuinely touched that somebody was able to care with the situation they were in. She rose from the concrete floor, and walked a short way to reach the boy who had preserved her meal. She sat down next to him, keeping however a slightly respectful distance. The boy blonde haired boy looked at him with his gray eyes, face showing no emotions for her to interpret.
"Thank you..." she said quietly enough for nobody else to hear, trying to fill her voice with all the appreciation she felt.
The boy did not say anything, he just nodded. They both ate their modest meal in silence, enjoying every last breadcrumb.
There was a tap on one of the walls, where the children could go to fill a plastic bottle for them to drink. Many of the children moved to it to quell their drought after the food, but Kaltrina was not thirsty yet, despite her bottle being empty.
She continued to sit next to the boy, both of them leaning against the wall. After a time that felt like eternity, even if it felt like that most of the time, she opened her mouth. "What's your name?"
The boy jerked upright a little. He had probably been on the verge of falling asleep. He turned to her, observing with a worn expression. He said his name with a hoarse voice, and Kaltrine mulled over it in her mind, trying to pronounce it without making a sound. It was rather common name, a nice name.
"My name is Kaltrina," she told him her own name.
The boy nodded, barely, an almost invisible tinge of a smile on the edges of his lips.
At that moment, something out of ordinary happened. There was a sound of a muffled gunshot coming from somewhere beyond the red and rusted door. Everybody in the confined space looked at the door, ears perking up from the sudden sound.
The usual and constant silence settled after the lonely spike in the noise levels. Nobody said anything, palpable tension filling the air.
"What the hell was that?" one of the black clothed thugs standing guard exclaimed.
Before anyone else could say a word, there was a metallic pounding, as someone knocked on the red metal door.
The guards shared a look among themselves, before the one who had spoken approached the door. He carefully grabbed the doorknob, and the proceeded to open the door.
The was a loud *smack* as the black clothed man was smashed across the room, crashing against the stone wall opposite the door. His meager Aura reserves saved him from the worst of it, but his face was half covered in blood that was leaking from his forehead. He staggered against the wall, totally dazed by the sudden hit. There was a sharp swooping sound, and the man was nailed against the wall by an arrow that pierced his depleted Aura and his skull.
The other guards pulled their weapons as a group that certainly did not look like they were with their captors entered the room. There were sounds of gunfire as the ones armed with guns started shooting, but soon the sound was overlapped as the clangs of melee weapons replaced the booming. Some of the children sitting on the floor let out cries and hugged the floor, scared by the sudden outburst of the battle. Others were too stunned or terrified by the sudden action that was happening around them to even move a muscle.
The fight was over as suddenly as it had started. The black wearing kidnappers were totally annihilated, and none were left standing. One was laying on the ground close to Kaltrina, and she could see the vivid blood leaking from his unmoving body. The attackers had suffered no casualties, and looked like they had not even broken a sweat.
There was once again relative silence as things calmed into a tension filled arrest. The children did not move. Like Kaltrina they were just sitting there, some letting out sobs, watching these new people who were now stalking around the room, watching them in return.
There were four of them, all male, and they brought to Kaltrina's mind what she had seen and heard about huntsmen, the most powerful warriors on all of Remnant. These people definitely were Aura users, but they did not match the noble and righteous image she had gotten from the protectors of the Kingdoms. Her face lingered on the corpse that was on the ground, the coppery smell of blood invading her nostrils.
There was a painful moan that captured her attention. Near the center of the room, laying on his back in a small pool of blood, one of the dark clothed thugs was still alive, whining quietly because of his injuries.
Three of the strange Aura users gathered around him, to look at the man in pain at their feet.
"This one yet lives," said one of them with a cold voice. He was dressed mostly in black, with some modest white decoration. He was wearing a dark grey mask, that in it's almost peaked muzzle reminded her of a bird. He did not seem to have any apparent weapons on him, but Kaltrina could have sworn she had seen one of the guards fall before him.
Second of the Aura users, this one clad in white leather with black decorations raised a glaive he was holding, but last of the three, a brutal looking boy in deep red clothing and a few metal gray armor pieces, halted the motion with his hand
"No, I have a better idea," he said with a rough voice, a hint of a smile in his face. He turned to the kids that were afraid and did not dare to move a muscle. The red eyes swept around the large and stark room, causing Kaltrina to flinch when they passed her. "Is there anyone here who wants to be a be a strong and fearless warrior! Now is time to step forward!" he bellowed to the room full of children.
A silence ruled ones again, as the boys and girls on the ground turned their heads if anybody would do something with pale expressions.
Kaltrina also looked around, but her vision happened to cross with one of the Aura users on the other side of the room, who was almost completely in blue clothes, holding large and dangerously looking crossbow on his hands. His expression showed contempt and she quickly looked away, hopping he would not mind her.
"Ah, good. We found one. Come here," the boy in red said, motioning with his hand.
Kaltrina looked around and found out someone had indeed stood up. She even recognised him. It was the boy who had tried to steal her half of her food from her. They all watched as the boy hesitantly started walking forward towards the three strange fighters looming over the wounded thug, whose muted sobs accompanied him all the way. Kaltrina had to admit, the boy had courage. She could not have even remained standing in this situation.
The boy reached the red warrior, who was looking down on his with a merciless red eyes and a small grin on his rugged face. The kid was barely over the waist of the Aura user who towered over him.
The crimson fighter stepped aside, giving the a boy clear view of the black clothed man bleeding on the concrete floor. There was a muted metallic scraping noise as the red Aura user pulled a bladed weapon from its scabbard on his belt. It was a crude but clean bladed weapon, like an overly large dagger, too small for it to be a sword. He handed the weapon to the boy next to him, and the nine year old child at most accepted it with tense hands. It looked absurdly large in his hands, and he had to hold it with both hands for it to be steady in his grip.
"Now," said the one who had given the dangerous weapon to a mere child. "Kill him."
The boy looked up at the face that had given him the weapon that now shook slightly in his hands, and then he looked around the other two circling the person he was just told to murder in cold blood.
"It is because of him that you have been kept in this place as prisoner. Don't you want retribution? He deserves it," the Aura user in white and black said, encouraging the little boy.
With the edge of the blade directed at the maimed criminal on his back on the cold floor, the boy took a step forward to close what little distance was remaining between them. If the man who had been judged for execution by the fighters tried to speak for his defence, to beg for mercy, Kaltrina's ears did not pick on it.
The light danced along the silvery blade of the sharp weapon as it was slowly raised by the boy above his head, while dreaded anticipation was so thick in the air that the weapon he was holding would not have been enough to cut it.
"Do it..." the fighter in red said.
There was a wet crunch, as the weapon fell, and a one last whine was heard from the man before he was silenced for eternity. The pool of blood around him started to expand just a bit faster, as his life liquid was given new opening to flow from. There was a second sound as the young boy raised the weapon for the second time, giving the already dead victim one strike more to be sure. He raised the weapon from the body, and it leaked crimson matter onto the ground and the kid's hands, staining them both with in red.
The Aura user let out a rough laugh and proceeded to take his weapon back from the boy's hands and flicking it in the air to make most of the blood fly from the blade to the floor. "That's the spirit," he said grinning in a very disturbing way. As he sheathed his weapon away to his belt, he took something from chest his pocket with other hand. "I am making an early pick," he said as he pressed a small sticker on the front of the little boys shirt.
"Why do you guys get him?" said the fighter in white with a displeased tint in his voice.
"Because it was my idea," the red one replied grabbing the so much smaller kid from the shoulder and pulling to make him stand next to him.
"We should hurry up," said the one wearing blue clothing from the other side of the room, motioning with his crossbow at the children still sitting on the floor. "Everybody, stand up!" he barked with a commanding voice.
All the kids rose to their feet one after another, some instantly by the force of the command, some more warily. Some who looked like they were not getting up fast enough or at all, received threatening looks from the fighters surrounding them.
As Kaltrina got to her feet like the rest of them, the boy next to him grabbed her shoulder.
"Listen carefully," he said with a voice that was barely a whisper. "I am going to use my gun to cause a distraction, and at the same time you must run to that door and get out of here. Don't stop until you find your way out of the building and find somebody who looks they can be trusted. Tell them what is going on here, tell them to call the Kingdom's police forces." He pulled the gun from behind his waist where it had been hidden, concealing it with his hands. "Do you understand?"
Kaltrina was little taken aback by the boy's sudden words, but she nodded in understanding. He would do something, and she should at the same time try to escape from here. But what about him? Was she suppose to just leave him behind?
"Ready?" the boy said, focusing her on what he intended.
She was about to nod for the second time, when a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed the boy's arm from the wrist. Another hand twisted the gun from the boy's grip with ease, taking the possession of the weapon.
"I don't think so," said a new voice just behind them.
They turned and saw a figure dressed in what looked like some blue and gray military uniform.
He had blue hair and green eyes that observed the two of them with keen stare. He seemed like he was part of the Aura user's group, as the other four in the room did not react to his sudden appearance. Kaltrina had no idea where he had come from. She had not seen him come through the rusted door, that was the only way into the room, and she certainly should have noticed if he had tried to sneak behind them. It felt that he had just materialized from the thin air.
"How did you get this?" he asked with a calm and cool voice, looking at the boy he had just disarmed.
Kaltrina looked next to her and saw that the kid who had lost his gun was looking defiantly up the fighter who was calmly held it, keeping it out of their reach.
When he did not receive a answer of any kind, he just let out a passive "Hmmp" as he tucked the gun behind his belt. When his hand came back, there was a something small and round in it, which he pressed against the young boy's chest. When he pulled away, kaltrina could see a sticker similar to that what the other boy had received. It was yellow in color, and had what looked like a hand drawn three headed snake of the color green.
After placing the strange mark, the fighter in military uniform pulled away with a slight smile on his face. "Don't take it off," he said before turning his gaze to his comrades around the room.
The one with the crossbow pulled against his chest was walking steadily among the standing children, who took a step away from him when he got too close. "Are there any Faunus here? Raise your hand if you are one," he said with a stern voice.
The children looked at one another, only one hand raising, even if there had been some more Faunus on among them. The sole girl with no apparent animalistic features who had the courage to raise her hand was shaking, and Kaltrina could not understand how she had even had the guts to declare her Faunus heritage.
The Aura users crossbow moved, as if he was about to level it at the girl, but he was interrupted by the one in the uniform who had surprised Kaltrina.
"Don't. She is a female anyway. XXth is taking all the females."
The crossbow was lowered, accompanied by a dismissive grunt from its wielder.
"Okay, everyone, form a line to the door. We are leaving. Anyone who tries to flee will be put down," the Aura user in white leather said as he stood by the door, while his comrades hurried the children together.
Kaltrina started heading forward towards the slowly forming line, scared, but more scared of not obeying. The boy grabbed her shoulder firmly, looking at her with affirming look in his gray eyes. "Everything will be alright," he said, as they left behind the miserable place that had been their prison for such a long time.
Kaltrina did not remember much about the journey or her first days into the place that she had never even knew existed. She suspected those who had taken her and the rest of the children from the remote location in Vacuo had given her something that made her sleepy during the journey. When she woke properly with a clear head, she was somewhere that was the strangest place she had ever witnessed. Old looking stone walls, ancient looking elaborate decorations and rooms and corridors that felt somehow haunted. There was no sunlight, and in places there seemed to be pure bedrock instead of built walls, which made her think that where ever they were, the place was underground.
She did not see the boys from the warehouse prison anywhere, but the ten girls that she recognized from before were with her.
And then there was the man. The man with blue hair and green eyes, who told the young girls to call him Alpha.
That was the start of a new life for Kaltrina. She was trained, fed and modestly cared by the strange Aura users, for a purpose she did not know. The only strange Aura users she saw at first where from the "XXth", as they called it. The twentieth Legion. In the beginning she was not sure how many of them were there. She never saw them gather together, and there was not one distinguishing feature between them. They were all identical to her eyes. Same blue hair, same green eyes. Only after listening to them speak did she realize there was more than one, with the only slight variations in how they sounded.
Kaltrina had never gone to a proper school, but the Alphas gave her what would be closest to one she would ever experience. She was told so much. About Terra, about the Legions. About the Gods.
She was told of the greatest Kingdom to ever exist on the face of Remnant, and of its downfall. And this mighty Kingdom had been ruled by an extraordinary being, who created 20 Legions of unrivaled strength for his own 20 sons to command, who in their own right were like gods among common people. And with these mighty armies, they had started the Great Crusade, a task eclipsing any other similar feat in the known history. They had marched out beyond the walls of Terra, and they had taken the continent in which the Kingdom was located from the creatures of Grimm, which were exterminated nearly completely from the land surrounding Terra. They had created a nation of a size of previously undreamed of, and there seemed not to be anything that could stop their march.
Eventually the Crusade advanced beyond the continent almost completely under the rule of Terra, and that was when Crusade was faced with the other four Kingdoms, and the massive war that had just ignited among them. The Great War, it was to be called, and Terra saw an opportunity to advance its own goal: the conquest of all of Remnant and uniting all of humanity under the His rule from Terra.
So the greatest of Kingdoms joined the war, sending its Legions into battle that would be the largest human conflict in the history. Terra became the third front in the war, for its goals and ideas were in conflict with all the other nations. The war marched on, the mighty Legions commanded by the Warmaster, who the Lord of Terra had chosen and raised among his own sons, and he lead the might of Terra into battle with the other KIngdoms. Terra was the largest and most powerful Kingdom in the existence, fielding the greatest army ever heard of, and many thought is was only the matter of time before Terra's ultimate triumph.
And then the Heresy happened. By the orchestration of the Gods, Terra was plunged into civil war, the rebels lead by none other than the Warmaster himself, and soon the continent in which Terra was located became a war zone in which the Legions fought against one another. Terra disengaged the best it could from the war of colors waging around it, and the two sides fought for the dominance of the realm which they had created.
In the end, after unimaginable battles and terrible desolation, the traitors stood victorious over the ruins of Terra. But their victory was short lived. The Kingdom was in ruins, not even a shadow of it's former self, and amidst the final moments of the Heresy, an old enemy returned. The creatures of Grimm ravaged the continent, bringing destruction to everything Terra had built in its height of glory. The soulless creatures poured from the darkest corners of the land, and the Legions, broken by the war, could not stand against Grimm destroyed Terra, wiping out its human population almost completely, erasing any chance of it to rise again as a Kingdom. The remnants of the Legions took shelter in the depths of Terra's deepest underground dungeons and catacombs, forced into hiding in the ruins they themselves had caused. And they still remained to this day.
Kaltrina was told all this, and so much more.
Slowly, she was molded into something that that she never would have become of her. A tool of the great Hydra. For the first time in her life, she was given a somewhere where she belonged to, a sense of unity, a purpose, a duty. Hydra Dominatus.
Kaltrina did not know how long he had been in that place… Not that place. Terra. The Closest thing to home she'd ever had. Whatever life she had previously was quickly fading and losing meaning to her, indoctrinated away by the XXth. And she found she did not mind. She even embraced this new path in life that had been granted to her. Hydra Dominatus.
Nothing else mattered that much to her anymore. She was being rewritten as a new Kaltrina. She herself was becoming second priority to herself. What mattered was was the Legion, and the will of its masters. Hydra Dominatus
She was still just a little girl, but she estimated she had been there at least few months. Then one day, Alpha required their assistance with something great. On that day, she and the rest of her eleven comrades left the portion of the underground catacomb they had been confined in for all their time in Terra.
Kaltrina had learned that the place they were in was the very core of the once greatest Kingdom ever to exist. A palace of some sort among the ruins of the dead kingdom, and the Legions used its vast underground domain as their safe haven from the larger world outside, and the soulless creatures forever roamed the surface of the entire world. There was not however much left of the ancient days of glory in this place. The place was a ruin on its own right, a worn husk, or a weak ghost of eminence and majesty. Once, countless of humans had walked its halls and worked on its many corridors and offices, maintaining the matters of the Kingdom by the will of their Lord.
Now the place was almost empty of life. Only the handful of Legionnaires that were all that was left of the great Legions, and the ever fewer lesser human serfs that served them were the only beings that lived here. Unless one counted the creatures from beyond the veil of reality.
Alpha explained to them, that because of the severe lack of human serfs, the XXth was providing its operators in training to help with the matter of unrivaled importance to the Legions. He lead them deep into the confines of the palace, through many deserted corridors and halls. Twice she saw a glimpse of a Legionnaire on their way, but they past them quickly. Then they reached the pure white metal door, probably the most well maintained Kaltrina had seen on all of the palace.
What waited them inside, vast room filled with dozens and dozens of beds of varying kind. Most of them resembled hospital beds, some looked like they had a rather improvised origin. And on those beds, were lying children, strapped with bindings to the surfaces where they laid. Kaltrina realized she recognized some of male children that she had been locked in with by the kidnappers were all there, although there seemed to be others that she had never seen before. There were maybe about forty of them by quick estimation.
Two Legionnaires as well as few human serfs stalked among them, using worn and strange looking medical devices to observe the conditions of the children confined to their beds.
As Kaltrina looked upon this, Alpha explained what it all was about: Adding new recruits to the ranks of the Legions. Making new Legionnaires.
From that day on, Kaltrina and the rest of young operators worked in the "Apothecarion" by the instructions of the Legionnaires that were responsible for the operation. She carried out what she was ordered to do, as Alpha and the two other Legionnaires performed their work on the children.
The room was often filled with screams, the painful cries let out of those being operated. They told her that they could not have used any sort of pain relievers, even if they had possessed some. It was necessary for the recruits to remain conscious, and so they had to live through all that was done to them. She learned to block out the most of the voices, her new training by Alpha helping her.
As time went by, it was revealed to her what exactly they were doing to the young boys. They were altering their flesh, but not to make their extremities stronger, bigger, more durable or faster. They did not install additional lungs or hearts, nothing of that sort, where would someone even get such ideas?
They were making them Aura users.
The male children were implanted with something the Apothecaries called a "Geneseed," a revered biological organ that would transfer the ability to use Aura powers to even those with barely no natural aptitude, as well as some mental molding. The implants were touched by the power of the Gods, most not greatly but with the subtlest of exposure, ensuring the influence of the Pantheon upon the recruits. They were mass producing Aura users, the most powerful beings on the planet. They were making genetically modified warriors.
As Kaltrina was refilling a water bottle, she glanced around the Apothecarion, her eyes pulled to the empty beds spaced among the ones still occupied. There were far fewer of the children remaining, just barely over a half of the number there had been when she had first stepped in this room all those months ago. Some of them just did not endure the implantation. Any that died early were unceremoniously removed from the Apothecarion, their corpses taken away and discreetly disposed. Those that did not reject the Geneseed and survived to the later stages, but were on the verge of failing and death because of their own weakness, had their bodies scavenged by the Apothecaries who sought to save the precious implantations whose host was perishing.
There were not as much screaming in the room anymore. All the implantations were done and now it was just a mater waiting which ones survived to the end of the transformation into Aura users.
There were only eight of the girls other than herself left, tending the recruits with the even fewer cultists serfs. One had died of infection soon after she had wounded herself with a dirty surgeon tool. The other was killed by a Legionnaire on the corridors of the palace for "failing to show respect".
It was just the nine of them that formed the Hydra Network, which was a rather grand name for bunch of kids still in training, but the Legionnaires of the XXth insisted on using the name. There had apparently been many more people in the network, but they were not around anymore, a similar situation with all the Legions. It seemed slightly weird to her how the Legionnaires held on to the ancient ways, despite the current reality being very wretched for them.
She walked with the filled bottle in one hand, a bucketful of water and rags in the other, passing between the beds with young boys lying on them almost motionless and silent. Most of their eyes were closed, and very few could be said to look healthy. Some of them never said anything, and some on the other hand only let out meaningless gibberish. She made her way past many of them, finally arriving by one bet near the corner of the room. There was a boy resting on it, flanked by two empty beds that had previously had an occupant of their own. He was the same boy who had used the gun to stop her food from being stolen when they were being held in the storehouse, the same that had tried to help her escape when the Legionnaires arrived.
She placed the bucket on the floor next to her, crouched to drench one of the rags in the cool water, and then proceeded to place it onto the boy's forehead that was unnervingly hot. He had not talked to her, he had not even opened his eyes in her presence since his implantation. He had been one of the first ones the Apothecaries operated, so she had not yet been present during his implantation, which Kaltrina was glad since she did not have to hear his screams. His expression was that of a sleeping person, but of one having unnerving dreams. As Kaltrina fixed a plank laid over him, he could briefly see the ugly scars left by the implantation in his chest and his neck.
She did not care about the others, even about the other recruit of the XXth that was two beds away from where she was crouching by the bed. She stared at the face that no longer resembled its original form, but there was still something left that she could recognize. If he would only live. If only he was strong enough to live.
He left the water bottle next to the boy, where it would ready when he would require imbibing. She was just about turn away and return to other task so that nobody would blame her for lingering, but at that moment the boy left out a small, almost inaudible sound from between his dry lips. She immediately crouched back, looming by his side and waiting for something.
And then he opened his eyes. The boy's eyes were hazy, unfocused like he had just woken from a deep dream. The left eye was fully green, but the right one still had a slight spot of original gray visible in the corner, where the change that was also turning his hair blue had not yet completely prevailed. He looked around, and finally spotted Kaltrina next to him.
He just stared, his eyes sharpening and then focusing again as he tried to make sense of the world around him.
Kaltrina smiled. A gentle, happy smile formed on her lips that had not formed the expression in quite a while. "Hey," she said, before calling his name.
The young and weak boy frowned a little, before actually opening his mouth and speaking for the first time since arriving here. "That… it not my name…" His voice was hoarse, untuned by the long period of unused, but it still resonated clearly enough for her to understand. "I am Alpharius…" he said, while his hand moved to rub his other shoulder, where a very recent and fresh tattoo of the great Hydra was displayed.
A tear flowed down Katrina's cheek, and her smile only grew more sincere. "Yes…" she said with a frail happiness in her voice, her right hand reaching to touch the boy's hand, while her left hand proceeded to touch the same symbol of the three headed snake on her own shoulder. "Yes you are…"
Woah, this long chapter will probably not come again in a while. If there are any question left in your mind about Venatores, please voice them to me so that I might handle them in future chapters.
Big thanks to DragonTurte 3, who helped with proofreading this chapter and will also hopefully help with future chapters. His help came at just the right moment, since there was so much stuff with this chapter that needed tweaking.
Last one of the four (you will never guess who) has been posted on my DevianArt Profile, as well as the full version of the team poster. If you could tell me which of the four Venatore pictures looks best in your opinion, I would like to know. Also, try guessing in which order I made them, I wonder if anybody gets the exact order right. I might try to think up some sort of prize if you get them all right.
Leave a review, if you feel it in your heart, and have a nice day.