Chapter 37
Birth of a dark legend
The irony and sarcasm of the situations didn´t elude Kai. Again he was at the will of a tyrant…only his mind free to resist. But will he have the strength to witness again what was done to him? Something he knew as much as the records had shown him so far? Kai didn´t know anything about the outcome…so there was nothing he could prepare for…Taleron will unlock these memories bit by bit…and Kai was sure that this experience would be as unpleasant as if he was in the sways of His Divine Shadow, turning him into an assassin again. Kai´s inner self was shaken to the core when he realized the full horror of this situation…but could he do anything against it? No…
"Begin!" he heard His Shadow say. Kai stared at His Shadow who sat down opposite him to survey the following procedures…no doubt…the tyrant was really excited.
The other attendees in black and violet robes, his present mind knew that they were biovesirs, gathered back around him and their leader – it was Brizon – waited, holding a knife in his hand.
The assistants got busy and several fluids were injected into his body. He didn´t feel anything so far, but after some seconds, Kai suddenly felt a shivering rolling through is dead body… something changed rapidly with the ability to feel his body.
He still couldn´t detect any heartbeat, any blood in is veins, but he suddenly felt the cold air in here and the more cold touch of the head Biovezirs gloves on his bare skin. Kai´s eyes widened in shock when re realized it…a new terrific sensation grew inside him…they hadn´t…or?
They did.
Somehow these fluids restored the possibility to feel everything…like if he was alive.
Kai understood that His Shadow must have revived his body with a very small amount of protoblood…in a different way than later, because he hadn´t possessed the protoblood supply system at that time. The research of the biovesirs and their every-day work with other divine assassins had lead to the invention of many useful things…so he didn´t wonder about this possibility to make him feel again…
Then the blade of the knife sunk down onto him and Brizon pierced through the already damaged skin above his heart and continued where His Shadow had stopped…the knife slowly cut through his dead flesh all the way down…it was the work of a slaughterer, but unlike the poor animals, he was at full consciousness and completely capable to sense what the Biovezirs were doing to him.
The Biovezirs did their horrible work with the efficiency of well-trained and used-to-their-work servants of His Divine Shadow. More…especially Brizon was keen on testing newly learned knowledge from past surgeries on corpses. It was his aim to develop the best Divine Assassin he ever laid hands on…he was convinced that especially this dead man couldn´t be a better candidate for it.
They removed from Kai´s body what wasn´t of need for his future existence and replaced it with equipment that made Kai less and less human.
Full three days this hell lasted. Three days of endless repeating pain and screams, never a moment of relieving unconsciousness…never a moment of rest from this treatment.
Not a moment where His Divine Shadow stopped trying to break him mentally as well as he had already broken him physically.
But…Kai remembered that he despite resisted.
He didn´t give in, he didn´t give up.
But did His Shadow guessed how close he had been to succeed?
Suddenly the flow of these horrible memories was cut. He still saw the pictures, the open door to them, but his concentration was withdrawn from them, he somehow recognized that Taleron must have stopped the video and the mind probe…maybe to question him.
But the Biovezir would have to be patient…cause the BrunnenG sunk into unconsciousness… what he had remembered recently was too much. Millenia old memories of pain, pushed back and locked, now released with an intensity he simply couldn´t stand, left their trace…
Taleron bent down onto Kai, a bit disappointed that the BrunnenG had fallen into unconsciousness. Well, Taleron licked his lips, It seems that the memories of what he had felt at that time had swashed over into the present. In fact…it had been more than clearly audible! Taleron smiled cruelly, not a physical torture he knew was able to worm such painful screams out of his delinquents. Which impact it really had on Kai, he was unsure…as long as he was unconscious…
Taleron waved at his assistant and ordered them to wake the BrunnenG. He had to continue, the sooner he was able to break Kai the better…he needed to know more about their visit here…and he and his insect part enjoyed the procedure...
Only with half concentration he listened to the other assistant who told him stuttering that he wasn´t able to find out anything about the ineffectiveness of the truth serum. Taleron furrowed his brows but decided to drop this…it wasn´t that important to him now. He had to put his full concentration on Kai´s questioning…a truth serum might be the fastest way to get to information…but THIS was far more entertaining….time for something new…his usual work with other "volunteers" down in his research labs went quiet boring with the time…
When Kai woke from the short unconsciousness, he wasn´t sure if he woke in the here or now or deep in the past of this painful memories. With much effort he tried to get his mind clear again…he tried to avoid the lurking memories and fought his way back into calm water.
He knew that his reaction to this horrible treatment must have been clearly visible to Taleron, but what should he do? His willpower was still there…but it had suffered. He asked himself how he could have resisted His Shadow facing all this horror and pain.
Maybe because he wasn´t influenced by other things like an endless list of murder?
Kai realized that Taleron had quite a good chance to get all information out of him, a good chance to learn that everything was only one huge bluff…if that happens, he knew that Shereen and Xev were lost…and next to the option to just give up…he knew that the only acceptable one was those to hold on…he had to, whatever happens, and he didn´t doubt that behind this door waited so much more that was able to break him once and for all…
"Now?" he heard Talerons voice. Kai opened his eyes, his expression as deadpan as at the beginning, but his eyes gave him away, they spoke a clear language. "Measured by your reaction, His Shadows "treatment" hadn´t changed much over time…you have to know…I witnessed some "alterations" and till that point, most of His Shadows future assassins really fought against their later master…and resist. Astonishing? Isn´t it? But…well, in the end, it was always the same…His Divine Shadow broke them…like an obedient dog they all were!"
Kai winced a little when he heard that. Did His Shadow succeed in the end? He was obedient…but only because he had no idea who he had been…if His Shadow wants his servants that way, he just had to steal their personality…like he did with all Divine Assassins…or wasn´t this enough for the tyrant? He had told him that he wanted to break Kai´s resistance, that it wasn´t enough to him to have his body under his control…he wanted his soul as well…
So, did he succeed? Taleron seemed to be quite sure about this fact…he knew this records…and Kai didn´t has any memory of this final part of the things Talerons had just revealed.
The only thing that let him hesitate and admit that Taleron may could be right, was the fact that he hadn´t felt like a "broken" person when he regained his life and his soul. If His Shadow really had succeed in his efforts…it should have had consequences to the constitution of his whole living soul.
Or did his mind protect him from this facts too?
He saw that both outcomes were possible…
Kai pressed his lips together. It was Talerons aim to get this questioning to an end…and this meant nothing else than the same His Shadow had tried 6000 years ago…to break him, and Kai was decided to get more time…if one of them three was able to do something….they needed more time to act.
"Now, what is it? Do you really want to see what methods His Shadow had used to defeat your stubborn personality? Or do you just want to stop here and you tell me why you are here?"
Kai looked grimly at Taleron and shook his head, his voice was a bit rough, probably from screaming. "No," Talerons victorious smile disappeared. Of course he had hoped to gather this information soon…on the other hand…such a sudden end of this fun wasn´t what he really wanted. Without any further words he reactivated the mind probe and the record on his own. The beam sent Kai back into his hidden memories.
A cold cell.
Nothing was in there. Only four blank, stony walls and an iron door.
He was alone in this cell.
Alone after three days of horrible pain and never ending tries to make him give up.
Kai tried to sit up, and supported by the wall behind his back he finally succeed. He didn´t open his eyes…he felt that he was still naked and he felt fear rearing up…what would he see when he took a look down his body?
Kai sensed it.
He knew that it was unnecessary to breath…in fact, he couldn´t do that any longer…but despite he gasped when he finally managed to open his eyes and look at what had happened to him.
With horror he discovered the current state of what was done to him so far.
He only was a humanoid shape that was alternated with extreme brutality and disrespect. Biological and mechanical implants were in places where once human organs had been. His whole organism was changed to function on chemical-biological technology. All changes that would make him to this every human superior assassin.
Kai remembered the cell very vividly suddenly…the coldness, the loneliness, the hopelessness. Cuddled he had sat in the corner of this cell, his long hair the only protection to the chilliness and the loneliness in it. It just wondered him a bit that they hadn´t cut it, removed it, they just had opened the typical bun…now it hung at full back length down like a dark curtain.
Kai knew that His Divine Shadow was watching him and he tried his best to give him a good view.
Kai didn´t know what would happen next, but whatever it was…there was no escape.
No escape…the same as for all the other poor creatures who shared his fate and which he could hear cry and scream outside.
He hadn´t to wait long before they came in again to fetch him.
Kai remembered that he again tried to fight back, the resistance of a still rebellious, unbroken soul.
His Divine Shadow was with the guards and watched the resistance of him with interest and Kai felt the taunting delight of him, when one of the guards of the Divine Order kissed the dust and didn´t move any more. Kai was strong, he had been before, and with the new alteration it had grown additionally, and so the normal guards had their problems with getting hold of him.
Only vaguely he registered that he had caused the first death in his new existence; and exactly this demonstration confirmed His Shadows assumption that he would be an excellent assassin. Kai would have continued the fight in hope to find a way to escape, but His Shadow put an end to this skirmish when he saw that none of the others would…
He forced Kai down to the floor and the BrunnenG somehow felt the chilliness of the floor piercing through his unformed body as well in the past as in the present.
His Shadow pinned him merciless to the floor so the guards were able to tie him up. Overwhelming wrath filled him.
"Take him to the decarbonisation chamber, it is time we finalize his alteration!" he ordered the guards and the waiting Biovezirs who removed him from the cell.
When he was put into the so-called decarbonisation chamber…his memories faded into black…
What he remembered were more sensations…the process he didn´t remember…it was all too vague.
The alteration of his former human-biology based body into the decarbonized assassin caused him to suffer such agonies that it adumbrated everything else.
The records on the other hand were much clearer about that part as his own memories, and it wasn´t a relief that he was able to access this external "memory". What he was able to see changed significant when the pictures he had seen before were only fed by the record-source instead of his memories and the records together. The mind probe projected the records of his alteration directly into his mind and what he didn´t remember was burnt into his soul forever.
Kai felt his consciousness fading again…how was he able to stand all that? How?
But in the end he managed to stay with conscious and then this part was over…the memories returned when he saw himself lying on a table again…he guessed that it was only short after they removed him from the chamber…he appeared so pale that it shocked him despite he knew about it.
But did His Shadow succeed in his plans…to make him give up? To break him?
No…he didn´t. When Kai awoke anew from another torturing treatment…it was the first thing that came into his mind…don't give up He hadn´t…he didn´t see a reason to give up…
His Divine Shadow didn´t show his displeasure about it, but he heard the guards of the Divine Order and the Biovesirs whispering and exchange insecure gazes. More than one time he heard the words: "Mistake – prophecy – unbending BrunnenG – "
There was much shattered inside him, caused by the torment he had to go through, but the small spark of pride was still there and defended these unbending BrunnenG as brave as he could.
"You will be mine!" He heard His Shadow talk anew when he opened his eyes and watched them tying him to the table. His Shadow took a small tube and looked grimly at Kai.
Kai´s present state of knowledge recognized this tube at once…it was the tube that supported him over 2000 years with the protoblood. His Shadow explained him what he hadn´t known at this time:
"The protoblood will ensure that you obey every single order I am about to give you…you will obey…without questioning, without hesitation."
Kai remembered the hopeless wrath and the desperation that grew inside him. He didn´t want to grant His Shadow the control over his living mind.
"Never, I will never obey any of your orders!" Kai said and stemmed against the bonds that held him down. His Shadow didn´t react, instead he attached the tube to the new implant where his heart once had been. The protoblood-supply. "To reanimate you during the past processes, we only supported you with few protoblood, because your unformed body wasn´t ready to process more than only a very small amount. With your decarbonisation you aren´t only invulnerable from now on, no, now it also was the last piece to change you into a complete new being – a Divine Assassin." His Shadow stroke with his finger over the protoblood-supply and then up over Kai´s skin to his neck and his cheek. Kai turned his head away, but very fast His Shadow grabbed Kais chin and forced him back.
"The circle is closed…the last of the BrunnenG is past…you are past…the prophecy will be extinguished. From this day on you will enforce my order, my will. You will kill everyone who is foolish enough to rebel against my order and me…
You are going to serve me and my successors…-till eternity!" His Shadow announced.
Then, for the first time, he felt the full capacity of protoblood entering his system. It burnt its way through his artificial and non-artificial veins like cold fire. It revived his body, it woke every single implant to life. It took possession of him…slowly it swamped any natural sensation out his limbs.
Kai suspected that these sensations were the first, which fall prey to the protoblood. Will all other human sensations stop to exist like this? Love, Hate, wrath, anger, pity, anguish…?
Today he knew that exactly this was the reason for his incapability to feel. Maybe his undead state was also a small reason for it…but with the right fluids His Shadow had given him the ability to feel, to express the emotions…but the protoblood had changed this forever. There was no way back…even the regaining of his memories hadn´t changed that…
But there was more…the protoblood was about to take the ability to feel away from his past self, but he suddenly recognized something else that the memories showed him faster than the records:
The protoblood wasn´t able to carry His Shadows point.
At least…not as long as he had his memories – with it the part of his soul that was just him, and that he had defended the past days. Kai grasped the context very fast.
When he was freed of His Shadows control…it was only possible because he got his memories and his personality back. His own WILL was able to withstand that of His Shadows…the will of the tyrant, which was transferred through the protoblood.
And suddenly a few things became clear to him…His Shadow hadn´t had another choice as to put away his memories and personality…otherwise he would never had controlled him.
It was somehow a triumphant thought that rushed through his thoughts…but Kai suppressed it. What did it matter when there was despite the possibility to override it by stealing away his memories?
His past self understood those things not completely, but what it understood was enough to make His Shadow angry.
When His Shadow gave him the first order, it was no wonder that Kai didn´t obey. The BrunnenG awaited the inescapable moment when he was forced to obey…but it didn´t happen. He felt the protoblood rushing through his body, but next to the unaccustomed whispering of data, it didn´t cause the feared control. Kai was still himself.
And so he ignored His Shadows first order. He stood upright in front of His Shadow and controlled his body not to act like His Shadow wanted.
He may was at their mercy…but he will never ever obey, never would he give up his will.
With a firmness that belied all his past ordeal he triumphed over His Shadows will. Not a wonder that His Shadow was very unsatisfied and…very angry. Such a thing had never happened before.
"It is his personality, his memories," Brizon said, addressed to His Shadow. "Maybe it´s the length you allowed him to keep them. It´s possible that he had grown such a strong will over time. Keep in mind that no one else before had developed such a behavior…no one else had resisted you that long and persevering before – most of them broke after the first step!" "And what are you going to point at, Biovesir Brizon?" His Shadow asked calamitous. "Ah...well…," Brizon stuttered. "…the prophecy," another colleague whispered with big eyes. This of course was exact the wrong statement in His Shadows presence. "There is no prophecy…not any more"! The tyrant thundered and only a second later this Biovezir wasn´t any more too.
"Bear with it," he addressed to the terrified anxious guards and Biovezirs attending. He turned back to Kai, whose pale body was a shining contrast to the dark background of the black clad guards and the room.
Every muscle was tensed, but he knew all to well, that he had no chance to escape. He might be His Shadows most efficient assassin - but no assassin would ever be strong enough to turn against His Shadow by accident.
His Divine Shadow grabbed Kai´s body and pushed him with bone-breaking force to the wall. "You will never have again the opportunity to resist me!" the tyrant hissed. Never before there was such a case…The young BrunnenG showed a stamina and a will he had never seen on humans. He had been sure from the beginning that this character would ensure him an excellent assassin…but he had never counted with such willpower. He had seen it as challenge to break this willpower…but again he had failed, and this made him lost his temper. His anger grew the minute the more he had to determine that Kai´s will seemed to be stronger than his…
He had to break this one…he wanted to break him…his ego was more than ever keen on that…but now his wrath took over.
"We will start with your training, one way or the other," His Shadow announced and looked at Kai. The stubborn glinting in his eyes let the tyrant loose control…Kai had realized with what His Shadow had failed.
The Shadow let his anger run free and concentrated his whole wrath at Kai´s continuous healing body. The BrunnenG felt no pain anymore…this sensation had passed…the protoblood had taken it away. But something he still felt was that His Shadow extracted the memories from him some time later, and he fell back into darkness.
At this point everything ended for some time. The missing of own memories and pictures transferred to him through the mind probe, let him return into the here and now again.
Kai opened his eyes, trying not to give away what he was thinking and feeling facing this unspeakable horror. He of course wasn´t able to feel the physical pain, but this long forgotten pain was still echoing through his soul…and this was nearly the same. He never had seen himself as the victim in all what happened, he had no reason for it...so many people were killed by his hands…but now, for the first time ever, he felt abused.
He knew that the best thing he could do now was to attack…don´t reveal anything to the enemy.
"Why do you believe that you will succeed in something where His Shadow had failed?" Kai croaked. Taleron just stared at him when he heard that question and turned.
Indeed, Kai seemed to be much more resistant than he had expected. But he had also seen that everything that was revealed now was something Kai wasn´t aware of…he had seen the shock in his eyes, but despite…
What was it that made him so strong? Where does this strong will come from? Regarding to Stans information, Kai had to have suffered more than one trauma after getting this life back. Who was that strong to "ignore" this violent past and the death of innocent people? After all, this one was part of a society that had withdrawn from all violence and death…killing someone must have been an act of barbarism to them…oh, why hadn´t the BrunnenG been so peaceful 20 000 years ago? When the righteous and true rulers of the universes, the insect were about to rise?
And why wasn´t he able to get this one to talk?
New anger rose inside him…he turned back to Kai and grabbed his throat. "It´s a good question, but compared to you I know the complete records…and I am very sure that we will start to talk very differently after you´ve seen the last part…" He let go of Kai and waved his assistant. Kai shook his head. "Do you believe it or do you just hope it?" Taleron gritted his teeth. "I know it!"
Kai shook his head again, somehow he was sure that he had detected a slight insecurity in Talerons attitude when he talked about the fact that His Shadow had been able to break him. Maybe the outcome was much different to what Taleron believed or what he wanted Kai to believe. Kai lifted his head to underline his next words. "I will never give in!" he hissed. Taleron laughed, but it sounded a lot more insecure than Taleron surely wanted.
Hold on, he said to himself, it surely wouldn´t be easy, his innermost tensed when he heard Taleron talk about the "last" part that was still waiting to be revealed to him. How would this whole thing end? Will enough willpower remain to get over this? Enough to get out here? Free Shereen and Xev? He wasn´t sure, but he had to try. An end as mental cripple surely wouldn´t be helpful…
Kai´s train of thoughts was stopped and replaced with a continuation of those records…