Felinis: *looks at stack of hw* I know I said once a month. But, I can't stand cliffhangers like the rest of ya
Flynn pets Yuri as they wait for the Heracles to arrive in a secured portion of the coliseum. It'll be a few hours and then Alexei's men can work on saving Yuri. He looks at those flickering tails and finds his stomach turn. Yuri may hate him for now, but once he learns the truth then he'll understand. It's all for him. All to cut out the parasite cuddling on his chest that is killing the man he loves.
He hasn't forgiven Yuri for murdering Ragou or Cumore. Flynn understands Yuri's reasoning, but he won't agree with it. Can't agree with the idea of taking the extreme to fix the now when it could make things worse down the road. No, forgiveness must be earned, but Flynn cares so deeply for Yuri. He wants to save him. Wants to remove the knot of calamity and malcontent that has come to plague him. The idea of Yuri dying... of him suffering like this...
Yuri whines at him and Flynn realizes he's been crushing Yuri in this tight embrace. "Sorry." Yuri nips at Flynn's neck and he winces. His teeth- no those aren't teeth- are sharp and thick like a wolf or lion. Flynn runs his hands through Yuri's long hair. The texture of the ends is familiar even if the color isn't but the further his hands drift the more that texture begins to feel less like hair and more like fur. It really looks like hair from a distance, but the way it holds oil or the thickness of the fibers is different. The color, oh the color, is stunning but it's not Yuri's in the way Flynn has always known. It's not the same face even if to most it would seem unchanged. The paws disturb Flynn most of anything and he grimaces a little every moment he sees them.
Yuri groans a moment his eyes slowly filling with clarity. "...Flynn...?" Flynn wastes no as he castes the same arte he's been for the past two days. Yuri starts to yell, but his throat dies as those pupils lose intelligence again. Flynn feels disgusting continuously inducing episodes, but Yuri will try to run otherwise. The arte won't progress his illness, but it will cloud Yuri's mind. Yuri tries to speak again and Flynn castes once more as it finally sticks.
Yuri whines in discomfort pressing further on Flynn. He tries again to say his name, but it's merely garbled noise. "Shh. Just let it be."
Yuri is trying so hard though to cut away at the fog. His mind tearing between wanting to revel here and wanting to understand. He thinks pretty one is feeding the first half because every time he gets close that spell knocks him back into fog and webs. Yuri pants as he inches himself further and further towards awareness. It's not as a hard now as he cuddles his pretty one.
Flynn.
Pretty one is Flynn. Yes, that Flynn and he's Yuri's. He's starting to think again but it's all thin. Yuri pads around as he starts grooming pretty Flynn starting at the head "Y-Yuri!"
A knock comes and Yuri growls leaping up to protect his pretty Flynn. The man at the door smells of blood as he enters with his troops.
"Well, now, Captain Scifo when you said you knew how to handle him I didn't think you'd be such an expert." Flynn pulls on Yuri's collar clicking his tongue. Oh, pretty Flynn says he's safe. Yuri huffs in annoyance as Flynn stands up.
"You give me too much credit." Flynn just places his hand firmly on Yuri's head to steady him. Yuri just presses on his leg. Hey, Yuri demands more scritches!
"He's very affectionate. "
"I'm not sure why but he tends to turn cuddly when he's like this." Flynn laughs awkwardly.
"Did arte I gave you help keep him in line?"
"Uh, yes. But, there were a problem towards the end. I think he's beginning to form an immunity."
"How troublesome." This is boring and Yuri has dirty paws. "It's sad to see the man like this, but with what you told me I don't he would have complied unless sedated like this. Let's get this young man started on his road to recovery."
"Yes, your excellency." Flynn chirps as Yuri is lead on the leash to the Heracles. It turns difficult as Yuri is reluctant to press on as the enter the ward of monsters. A scientist takes the leash as Flynn is guided back out. He looks at his friend panicking and all Flynn can do is walk on. Yuri will be fine. "Sir, will Yuri be coming back to his senses soon."
"Don't worry. I can assure you that your friend will be to his senses soon enough."
The Fierta drifts through the night on the current. Patty man's the helm while Rita works to fix the broken ceres blastia. Estelle sits near the mage curled in a ball. Everything is ruined and she's not sure why. How could Flynn do all those things? Estelle is trying so hard not to cry because in all this she needs to be strong. She needs to be sensible. There's an answer to all this… A good one! There has to be!
Because, Estelle doesn't want to think she was wrong about Flynn.
Her power hurt Belius too. She didn't- Poison… maybe she really was a poison. A Plague on the world. Rita looks from her work with a long sigh. "Okay, what's wrong?"
"Huh?"
"You look you're about to burst into tears. So, what's wrong?"
Estelle's lip quivers. "Rita, am I poison? Am I a terrible person? I could have helped by fighting but I stood back and when I healed Belius it just made things worse. I just- just- Flynn- and I couldn't-"
"Idiot!" It's a shock when Estelle finds herself smacked with the hard edge of a book and she yelps. "Don't go thinking that everything comes back to you or some shit! Okay, you made mistakes, now learn from them. You're better than this Estelle!" Rita turns to her work again her shoulders falling. "All blastia can hurt people, but it's up to the people using them to harness that power to better our lives. Everything in this world can become a weapon, but it's how you choose to harness it."
"But my power-"
"Did you know almost all medicine is made from some form of poison? In fact, the plant we get gel bases from is highly toxic except for the gel seed. Toad oil causes people processing it to get sick if not done correctly, but it's still considered one of the best lubricants mechanics can use. Fungus powder is used for arthritis, same with paralyze powder. Soul grass is extremely important for recovery but it has to be boiled or you'd die. Despite the fact we still use all these things." Rita falls silent and she keeps her eyes as from Estelle as possible. "Look, I'm not at the whole comfort thing. You'd be better off talking with Karol or Patty."
Estelle hugs Rita from behind, the mage's body growing stiff. "No. Thank you, Rita. You really care."
Rita's cheeks are a vivid red as she pushes herself out of the hug. "I-I guess. You don't need to make a big deal about it." Estelle lets those tears fall softly. "What the hell!? Why are you crying?"
"I'm sorry." Estelle sniffs. "I just… Rita, what if Yuri's in danger right now?"
"Ugh, one piece of drama at a time." Rita puffs as she gets back to focusing on her work. "Get some rest and after that we can deal with the whole situation."
"Rita…" Estelle grips her hands in shame. "About Judith-"
"Yeah, I should have seen it coming." Rita says tightening a few bolts. "I was beginning to suspect, but I was hoping I was wrong about her." Rita stomps her foot. "To think she was going to hurt you! Unbelievable! When I find her I swear...!"
Estelle feels a strange relief. "Maybe she has her reasons. I hurt Belius and Yuri… I think she has a right to hate me."
"That's no excuse for just flying off on her own! Honestly!"
"You girls interested in some late night stew?" Raven says breaking the conversation. "It's nice and hot."
Estelle takes a bowl while Rita refuses and tells them both to leave. Estelle is distracting her and Rita needs to fix this blastia. In the cabin is strange as everyone attempts to find comfort in food. Repede seems even more distraught than Karol as he curls on top of the boy. Harry, the Don's grandson, sits in the corner silent.
"So what do we do now?" Karol grits his teeth. "Yuri's been kidnapped, Belius is dead, and Palestralle might go to war with the Union along with the empire." Everything was a mess and Estelle grimaces at the idea of a war.
"Not to mention we now know that apatheia are Entelexeia corpses." Yuri had said that the apatheia sounded like a core and Estelle looks at the blastia on her wrist starring at the core in revulsion. "Damn, everythin's a mess. I guess, the first thing is to take this idiot-" Raven jeers a thumb at Harry. "-Back to Dahngrest so we can salvage somethin."
"What about Yuri?" Estelle says and Karol sighs.
"What can we even do?"
Estelle narrows her eyes. "We need Judith. She'd know how to find him."
The swings open, Rita and Patty walk in with exhaustion plastered on them like dried mud. "What we talkin' about?" Rita grabs a bowl soup plopping next to Estelle with a yawn.
"What to do about Yuri."
Patty crosses her arms firmly. "Well obviously we must go rescue him!"
"Yes, but by the time we get to Dahngrest they'll probably have taken him somewhere." Karol says.
"Could we just bypass Dahngrest and go somewhere else?" Estelle asks but Patty shakes her head.
"No. While we did have a spare ceres blastia the ship itself isn't stocked to carry us out any farther."
"The trail will be cold by then."
Raven shifts in his seat a little. "Maybe our genius mage can track him down."
"How would I do that? We don't know why they took Yuri in the first place."
"Did ya miss the part about the Lowell project Yuri mentioned? Pretty interestin' the empire's core production project happens ta mention Entelexeia and have the name of our good friend." Raven twirls his spoon between his fingers. "Now, where there's smoke there's fire so think about how Flynn was ordering the arrest of any Krytians in the city."
"Isn't that just the empire being racist?" Rita blurts sloshing soup. "It's the only reason I could see them wanting to gather any."
"Ya ever hear the old fable of the Krytia who tried to fight against the goddess and return to godhood?"
Karol straightens a little. "Oh, yeah. The Kryitan warrior Nerio! The goddess saw his disobedience and was outraged. She warned him three times to abandon his quest for power, but each time he ignored her because he was really arrogant. Well, the fourth time he stood at the cusp of godhood with his fellow followers, a whole village, and told him that if he did not resign from his quest she would punish not only him but the whole village and-"
"The great goddess Martel angered by his firm decree that he would stand as a new god and rise above her said 'So be it. If you wish to stand as an unslayable beast then a beast you shall be'. The goddess rang a bell and all who heard screamed in torment as their bodies began to twist into that of beasts. 'This bell will ring three times each day at the first light of dawn. By the fourth none of you will recognize yourself as men.' The men all panicked fear stricken at the goddess's words. 'There are two ways to escape this fate. For the ones who truly repent I will save; or should you Nerio survive the ordeal with your mind intact then I will give you a seat next to me as a god and your followers spared.' The goddess knew he would fail because only a righteous heart would survive such an ordeal so she waited atop the bell. When some tried to run to the goddess the other followers killed them for lacking faith in their leader, but then distrust bloomed. As the dawn of the second day some men lost sense entirely and preyed on the others. Then an idea came to one man 'if we kill him then maybe the goddess will spare our souls'. So it was that all but a handful men betrayed Nerio and attempted to kill him. Nerio was not to be outdone and he killed the traitors in his fury, but that quickly turned to bloodlust as he slayed his allies and then his mind became nothing more than a feral monster. On the dawn of the fourth when Martel asked Nerio for his name there was no reply. His wish was obtained; Nerio was now an unslayable beast who'd stand as her guard dog till the end of time.
The tale serves as a warning to any Krytian who dare to reach godhood. Only the most worthy can reach it, the rest who try shall become nothing more than monster damned upon the earth." Estelle blushes a bit; how rude of her to just interrupt. "Sorry. I really like that story. It's very old-world gospel."
Rita nods. "Yeah, it was written before the reforms or something."
Patty scrunches her face. "Nice horror story, but what that have to do with anything?"
"A lotta myth includes the origin of the Krytia as reformed monsters or fallen gods. Don't that sound like an Entelexeia? So just imagine if there's truth everywhere then wouldn't it make sense to put a warning for Krytians not become 'gods'." Raven says with a clever smirk. "Like for say, it has mental repercussions for most along with becoming a monster. Sounds a lot like Yuri's problem."
"But, why would the empire…" Karol's face twists in horror. "Cores. They're making cores."
Rita looks like she might vomit. "But, doing that would require massive amounts of aer and the formulas- I can't even imagine how complicated a formula that rewrites a person's genetic code would be! They would need a huge space to work in! Not to mention grand blastia capable of generating that kind of… The Heracles. They wouldn't take him to some lab hidden away. They'd have to have him somewhere that be easy to gather new… materials…"
Patty is looking at her bowl so intently. "I feel like this is familiar. People turning into monsters! I know it was something that I saw once."
"Maybe you escaped a facility?" Karol suggests.
"But, why take Patty? She's human." Karol just shrugs.
Patty puts the bowl aside and straightens her hat. "If what we think is true then I'm gonna work to make sure we make sailfish look like a sunfish."
Rita does the same. "Yeah, I'm going to work on that ceres blastia till dawn if I have to."
"Wait, so what's the plan?" Raven exclaims as everyone starts moving about.
"If this is as big as we're thinking we need the Don backing us."
Estelle nods. "Not to mention Judith. I'm sure she knows more than she's letting on. I'm going to narrow down where she could be. Then I'll try to work out the most likely nearest spot for the Heracles."
"I'm willing to help, Rita. I'm good with tools so just tell me what to do! Same with you Patty!" Karol declares proudly shrugging off any fatigue. "Raven you help Estelle work out a plan."
"Why me?" The old man groans.
"Because, right now what's going on here is bigger than us. As an adult you should strive to help guide people towards the brighter path." Patty says as she walks out in a sagely manner.
"I swear, that kid is one weird cookie." Raven says as he looks at the princess. "I guess saving Yuri is somethin' I feel fine doing."
"Raven!" Estelle exclaims and he just rolls his eyes. "This affect the lives o-"
"A bunch of people. But, by the end of the day the only thing I care about is keeping that kid alive." He'd promised Hana that much. But, this is serious. Far bigger than any plan Alexei had shared with him before. He hadn't even known that they'd been gathering Krytians in the first place or why Lowell had been killed before he became a Krytian. If it's all for apatheia… Geez, why does everything always end up so damn complicated?
When Yuri finally wakes up he's inside a cage that's half the size of his prison cell in Zaphias. He remembers Flynn inducing an episode… and then- was he cuddling Flynn? And why did he keep thinking Flynn was the pretty one? He's naked much to Yuri's displeasure and when he's finally fully awake the clamor slams into him. A torrent of voices pleading for help and to be saved mixed with the cries of monsters. Before his eyes is a Krytian who's skin is turning into a viscous cobalt ooze that's trailing all over the floor of the cage. The head… It's barely a head opens to reveal hundreds of needle teeth. Yuri jumps back looking to the left. What was a Krytian woman, but now more a ruby dragon. Those antennas and hair bled into her skull like a feathery gold mane; the only clue that she was one human is the slight idents on her chest were her breast barely remain.
She eyes him curiously and lurches as near as possible to the edge of the barrier enforced cage. Yuri backs away avoiding the look of those leering black eyes like that of a basilisk. He regrets looking the other way at a thing that all he knows it's a mass of tentacles. Nothing to his back! Good Yuri scoots as far between his neighbors as he can with his back pressed firmly on the wall. When he dares let his eyes drift farther there are more monster. What is this place?
Factory
Lab
Cores
Scattered words fill in, but most is muddled by cries for Yuri to save them. His ears snap at the sound of footsteps and Yuri curls into a defensive stance. They stop just before the person reaches his view and laugh. "My, my, children really do take after their parents. Growling like an uncivilized beast. How shameful Yuri Lowell." From the shadows comes the person that Yuri really hoped he wouldn't be right about. "Make sure to note that."
"Of course, your excellency." A man in a white coat says to the commandant.
"Wanna fill me in over hear." Yuri barks and Alexei ignores him. "Hey, you listening! Tell me what the fuck is going on!"
"It's much like Scifo confirmed. Near instant lucidity." Scientist says eagerly. "Very different than the others. I wonder if it has anything to do with the prolonged incubation period."
"Don't be daft. It's more likely related to the fact his body mutates in large chunks instead of gradually like the others."
"But, it stands the DNA sat unchanging for a long time which does bring to mind what the trigger might have been. Cells only completely regenerate every seven years so the prior rate adds up."
"I believe exposure to the Child of the Full Moon is to thank for that."
"Yes, but now it's progressing too far and too fast." Yuri can't believe it… He's actually in a cage as an experiment for people to test. Why… how could Flynn do this to him? "Stopping the process will be an interesting challenge."
What?
"Oh, looks like he's intrigued." The scientist face forms a wide grin as he lunges for the bars. "Hello my little cutie! We're going to are very best to keep your body from changing."
"Then why the cage and the other freak shows?" Yuri spits.
The scientist just laughs pushing up his horn rimmed round lenses. "Oh, cutie-" the playful tone drops to a gravely smokers cough. "We have no intents of curing you. All that matters is the perfect catalyst for artificial apatheia construction! And finally, I have one."
Alexie nods in agreement. "Yes, it was a terrible thing to have to constantly lacking in the proper materials. When we discovered you it was a miracle. I couldn't even punish the fool who failed to kill you. Sir, Garista's prior experiments with pure Entelexeia blood continued to prove that the high concentration and turned volatile. He found you're DNA while not as powerful would make for a more stable material."
"Then you just changing and changing. The concentration higher and higher till it was perfect. We could even use it in the Hermes subjects to jumpstart things. Sadly, you are becoming too close to an Entelexeia so the only choice now is to find a way to halt this process entirely until we can form a synthetic replacement."
Yuri just cringles his nose. "Then why not just replace me?"
Alexei just blinks. "Oh, we've tried very hard. It was one of our first attempts, but sadly Entelexeia don't breed well with humans or Krytians. Almost always the subject was stillborn or simply didn't live long enough to provide data. Even when we used a female Entelexeia the results were useless and the gestation time proved to long for us to bother The Krytians here are only to be used in core processing since they're DNA corrodes at an alarming rate once harvested." It's so wistful when the man says it. Like human experimentation is normal. "Yuri Lowell, I do hope you come to appreciate that your body will help user in a new age of blastia."
This can't be happening! "I take it Flynn doesn't know your dirty little secret."
"No and if you do anything to inform him I will be sure he's taken care of." Alexei's face takes on a sick mad grin. "Are you aware the process of turning a Krytian into a monster can work on a human as well? It takes more energy and resources, but I'm sure I could make the arrangement."
"You bastard! Don't you dare touch him!"
Alexei bellows. "How loyal. Even after he threw you in here!"
Yuri slams against the wall furiously. "You tricked him! I know it! Flynn would never have done this if you hadn't said something!" Yuri starts barking growling clawing madly at the cage. "I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!"
"I think not." Alexie presses a switch in his hand and Yuri falls back yipping in pain as he spasms on the ground. His vision going-
Black.
Flynn pets Yuri as they wait for the Heracles to arrive in a secured portion of the Coliseum. It'll be a few hours and then Alexei's men can work on saving Yuri. He looks at those flickering tails and finds his stomach turn. Yuri may hate him for now, but once he learns the truth then he'll understand. It's all for him. All to cut out the parasite cuddling on his chest that is killing the man he loves.
He hasn't forgiven Yuri for murdering Ragou or Cumore. Flynn understands Yuri's reasoning, but he won't agree with it. Can't agree with the idea of taking the extreme to fix the now when it could make things worse down the road. No, forgiveness must be earned, but Flynn cares so deeply for Yuri. He wants to save him. Wants to remove the knot of calamity and malcontent that has come to plague him. The idea of Yuri dying... of him suffering like this...
Yuri whines at him and Flynn realizes he's been crushing Yuri in this tight embrace. "Sorry." Yuri nips at Flynn's neck and he winces. His teeth- no those aren't teeth- are sharp and thick like a wolf or lion. Flynn runs his hands through Yuri's long hair. The texture of the ends is familiar even if the color isn't but the further his hands drift the more that texture begins to feel less like hair and more like fur. It really looks like hair from a distance, but the way it holds oil or the thickness of the fibers is different. The color, oh the color, is stunning but it's not Yuri's in the way Flynn has always known. It's not the same face even if to most it would seem unchanged. The paws disturb Flynn most of anything and he grimaces a little every moment he sees them.
Yuri groans a moment his eyes slowly filling with clarity. "...Flynn...?" Flynn wastes no as he castes the same arte he's been for the past two days. Yuri starts to yell, but his throat dies as those pupils lose intelligence again. Flynn feels disgusting continuously inducing episodes, but Yuri will try to run otherwise. The arte won't progress his illness, but it will cloud Yuri's mind. Yuri tries to speak again and Flynn castes once more as it finally sticks.
Yuri whines in discomfort pressing further on Flynn. He tries again to say his name, but it's merely garbled noise. "Shh. Just let it be."
Yuri is trying so hard though to cut away at the fog. His mind tearing between wanting to revel here and wanting to understand. He thinks pretty one is feeding the first half because every time he gets close that spell knocks him back into fog and webs. Yuri pants as he inches himself further and further towards awareness. It's not as a hard now as he cuddles his pretty one.
Flynn.
Pretty one is Flynn. Yes, that Flynn and he's Yuri's. He's starting to think again but it's all thin. Yuri pads around as he starts grooming pretty Flynn starting at the head "Y-Yuri!"
A knock comes and Yuri growls leaping up to protect his pretty Flynn. The man at the door smells of blood as he enters with his troops.
"Well, now, Captain Scifo when you said you knew how to handle him I didn't think you'd be such an expert." Flynn pulls on Yuri's collar clicking his tongue. Oh, pretty Flynn says he's safe. Yuri huffs in annoyance as Flynn stands up.
"You give me too much credit." Flynn just places his hand firmly on Yuri's head to steady him. Yuri just presses on his leg. Hey, Yuri demands more scritches!
"He's very affectionate. "
"I'm not sure why but he tends to turn cuddly when he's like this." Flynn laughs awkwardly.
"Did arte I gave you help keep him in line?"
"Uh, yes. But, there was a problem towards the end. I think he's beginning to form an immunity."
"How troublesome." This is boring and Yuri has dirty paws. "It's sad to see the man like this, but with what you told me I don't he would have complied unless sedated like this. Let's get this young man started on his road to recovery."
"Yes, your Excellency." Flynn chirps as Yuri is lead on the leash to the Heracles. It turns difficult as Yuri is reluctant to press on as they enter the ward of monsters. A scientist takes the leash as Flynn is guided back out. He looks at his friend panicking and all Flynn can do is walk on. Yuri will be fine. "Sir, will Yuri be coming back to his senses soon."
"Don't worry. I can assure you that your friend will be to his senses soon enough."
The Fierta drifts through the night on the current. Patty man's the helm while Rita works to fix the broken ceres blastia. Estelle sits near the mage curled in a ball. Everything is ruined and she's not sure why. How could Flynn do all those things? Estelle is trying so hard not to cry because in all this she needs to be strong. She needs to be sensible. There's an answer to all this… A good one! There has to be!
Because Estelle doesn't want to think she was wrong about Flynn.
Her power hurt Belius too. She didn't- Poison… maybe she really was a poison. A Plague on the world. Rita looks from her work with a long sigh. "Okay, what's wrong?"
"Huh?"
"You look you're about to burst into tears. So, what's wrong?"
Estelle's lip quivers. "Rita, am I poison? Am I a terrible person? I could have helped by fighting but I stood back and when I healed Belius it just made things worse. I just-just- Flynn- and I couldn't-"
"Idiot!" It's a shock when Estelle finds herself smacked with the hard edge of a book and she yelps. "Don't go thinking that everything comes back to you or some shit! Okay, you made mistakes, now learn from them. You're better than this Estelle!" Rita turns to her work again her shoulders falling. "All blastia can hurt people, but it's up to the people using them to harness that power to better our lives. Everything in this world can become a weapon, but it's how you choose to harness it."
"But my power-"
"Did you know almost all medicine is made from some form of poison? In fact, the plant we get gel bases from is highly toxic except for the gel seed. Toad oil causes people processing it to get sick if not done correctly, but it's still considered one of the best lubricants mechanics can use. Fungus powder is used for arthritis, same with paralysis powder. Soul grass is extremely important for recovery but it has to be boiled or you'd die. Despite the fact, we still use all these things." Rita falls silent and she keeps her eyes as from Estelle as possible. "Look, I'm not at the whole comfort thing. You'd be better off talking with Karol or Patty."
Estelle hugs Rita from behind, the mage's body growing stiff. "No. Thank you, Rita. You really care."
Rita's cheeks are a vivid red as she pushes herself out of the hug. "I-I guess. You don't need to make a big deal about it." Estelle lets those tears fall softly. "What the hell!? Why are you crying?"
"I'm sorry." Estelle sniffs. "I just… Rita, what if Yuri's in danger right now?"
"Ugh, one piece of drama at a time." Rita puffs as she gets back to focusing on her work. "Get some rest and after that, we can deal with the whole situation."
"Rita…" Estelle grips her hands in shame. "About Judith-"
"Yeah, I should have seen it coming," Rita says tightening a few bolts. "I was beginning to suspect, but I was hoping I was wrong about her." Rita stomps her foot. "To think she was going to hurt you! Unbelievable! When I find her I swear...!"
Estelle feels a strange relief. "Maybe she has her reasons. I hurt Belius and Yuri… I think she has a right to hate me."
"That's no excuse for just flying off on her own! Honestly!"
"You girls interested in some late night stew?" Raven says breaking the conversation. "It's nice and hot."
Estelle takes a bowl while Rita refuses and tells them both to leave. Estelle is distracting her and Rita needs to fix this blastia. In the cabin is strange as everyone attempts to find comfort in food. Repede seems even more distraught than Karol as he curls on top of the boy. Harry, the Don's grandson, sits in the corner silent.
"So what do we do now?" Karol grits his teeth. "Yuri's been kidnapped, Belius is dead, and Palestralle might go to war with the Union along with the empire." Everything was a mess and Estelle grimaces at the idea of a war.
"Not to mention we now know that apatheia are Entelexeia corpses." Yuri had said that the apatheia sounded like a core and Estelle looks at the blastia on her wrist starring at the core in revulsion. "Damn, everythin's a mess. I guess, the first thing is to take this idiot-" Raven jeers a thumb at Harry. "-Back to Dahngrest so we can salvage somethin."
"What about Yuri?" Estelle says and Karol sighs.
"What can we even do?"
Estelle narrows her eyes. "We need Judith. She'd know how to find him."
The swings open, Rita and Patty walk in with exhaustion plastered on them like dried mud. "What we talkin' about?" Rita grabs a bowl soup plopping next to Estelle with a yawn.
"What to do about Yuri."
Patty crosses her arms firmly. "Well, obviously we must go rescue him!"
"Yes, but by the time we get to Dahngrest they'll probably have taken him somewhere," Karol says.
"Could we just bypass Dahngrest and go somewhere else?" Estelle asks but Patty shakes her head.
"No. While we did have a spare ceres blastia the ship itself isn't stocked to carry us out any farther."
"The trail will be cold by then."
Raven shifts in his seat a little. "Maybe our genius mage can track him down."
"How would I do that? We don't know why they took Yuri in the first place."
"Did ya miss the part about the Lowell project Yuri mentioned? Pretty interestin' the empire's core production project happens ta mention Entelexeia and have the name of our good friend." Raven twirls his spoon between his fingers. "Now, where there's smoke there's fire so think about how Flynn was ordering the arrest of any Krytians in the city."
"Isn't that just the empire being racist?" Rita blurts sloshing soup. "It's the only reason I could see them wanting to gather any."
"Ya ever hear the old fable of the Krytia who tried to fight against the goddess and return to godhood?"
Karol straightens a little. "Oh, yeah. The Kryitan warrior Nerio! The goddess saw his disobedience and was outraged. She warned him three times to abandon his quest for power, but each time he ignored her because he was really arrogant. Well, the fourth time he stood at the cusp of godhood with his fellow followers, a whole village, and told him that if he did not resign from his quest she would punish not only him but the whole village and-"
"The great goddess Martel angered by his firm decree that he would stand as a new god and rise above her said 'So be it. If you wish to stand as an unslayable beast then a beast you shall be'. The goddess rang a bell and all who heard screamed in torment as their bodies began to twist into that of beasts. 'This bell will ring three times each day at the first light of dawn. By the fourth, none of you will recognize yourself as men.' The men all panicked fear stricken at the goddess's words. 'There are two ways to escape this fate. For the ones who truly repent I will save, or should you Nerio survive the ordeal with your mind intact then I will give you a seat next to me as a god and your followers spared.' The goddess knew he would fail because only a righteous heart would survive such an ordeal so she waited atop the bell. When some tried to run to the goddess the other followers killed them for lacking faith in their leader, but then distrust bloomed. As the dawn of the second day some men lost sense entirely and preyed on the others. Then an idea came to one man 'if we kill him then maybe the goddess will spare our souls'. So it was that all but a handful men betrayed Nerio and attempted to kill him. Nerio was not to be outdone and he killed the traitors in his fury, but that quickly turned to bloodlust as he slayed his allies and then his mind became nothing more than a feral monster. On the dawn of the fourth when Martel asked Nerio for his name there was no reply. His wish was obtained; Nerio was now an unslayable beast who'd stand as her guard dog till the end of time.
The tale serves as a warning to any Krytian who dare to reach godhood. Only the most worthy can reach it, the rest who try shall become nothing more than monster damned upon the earth." Estelle blushes a bit; how rude of her to just interrupt. "Sorry. I really like that story. It's very old-world gospel."
Rita nods. "Yeah, it was written before the reforms or something."
Patty scrunches her face. "Nice horror story, but what that have to do with anything?"
"A lotta myth includes the origin of the Krytia as reformed monsters or fallen gods. Don't that sound like an Entelexeia? So just imagine if there's truth everywhere then wouldn't it make sense to put a warning for Krytians not become 'gods'." Raven says with a clever smirk. "Like for say, it has mental repercussions for most along with becoming a monster. Sounds a lot like Yuri's problem."
"But, why would the empire…" Karol's face twists in horror. "Cores. They're making cores."
Rita looks like she might vomit. "But, doing that would require massive amounts of aer and the formulas- I can't even imagine how complicated a formula that rewrites a person's genetic code would be! They would need a huge space to work in! Not to mention grand blastia capable of generating that kind of… The Heracles. They wouldn't take him to some lab hidden away. They'd have to have him somewhere that be easy to gather new… materials…"
Patty is looking at her bowl so intently. "I feel like this is familiar. People turning into monsters! I know it was something that I saw once."
"Maybe you escaped a facility?" Karol suggests.
"But, why take Patty? She's human." Karol just shrugs.
Patty puts the bowl aside and straightens her hat. "If what we think is true then I'm gonna work to make sure we make sailfish look like a sunfish."
Rita does the same. "Yeah, I'm going to work on that ceres blastia till dawn if I have to."
"Wait, so what's the plan?" Raven exclaims as everyone starts moving about.
"If this is as big as we're thinking we need the Don backing us."
Estelle nods. "Not to mention Judith. I'm sure she knows more than she's letting on. I'm going to narrow down where she could be. Then I'll try to work out the most likely nearest spot for the Heracles."
"I'm willing to help, Rita. I'm good with tools so just tell me what to do! Same with you Patty!" Karol declares proudly shrugging off any fatigue. "Raven you help Estelle work out a plan."
"Why me?" The old man groans.
"Because right now what's going on here is bigger than us. As an adult, you should strive to help guide people towards the brighter path." Patty says as she walks out in a sagely manner.
"I swear, that kid is one weird cookie," Raven says as he looks at the princess. "I guess saving Yuri is somethin' I feel fine doing."
"Raven!" Estelle exclaims and he just rolls his eyes. "This affects the lives o-"
"A bunch of people. But, by the end of the day, the only thing I care about is keeping that kid alive." He'd promised Hana that much. But, this is serious. Far bigger than any plan Alexei had shared with him before. He hadn't even known that they'd been gathering Krytians in the first place or why Lowell had been killed before he became a Krytian. If it's all for apatheia… Geez, why does everything always end up so damn complicated?
When Yuri finally wakes up he's inside a cage that's half the size of his prison cell in Zaphias. He remembers Flynn inducing an episode… and then- was he cuddling Flynn? And why did he keep thinking Flynn was the pretty one? He's naked much to Yuri's displeasure and when he's finally fully awake the clamor slams into him. A torrent of voices pleading for help and to be saved mixed with the cries of monsters. Before his eyes is a Krytian who's skin is turning into a viscous cobalt ooze that's trailing all over the floor of the cage. The head… It's barely a head opens to reveal hundreds of needle teeth. Yuri jumps back looking to the left. What was a Krytian woman, but now more a ruby dragon. Those antennas and hair bled into her skull like a feathery gold mane; the only clue that she was one human is the slight idents on her chest were her breast barely remain.
She eyes him curiously and lurches as near as possible to the edge of the barrier enforced cage. Yuri backs away avoiding the look of those leering black eyes like that of a basilisk. He regrets looking the other way at a thing that all he knows it's a mass of tentacles. Nothing to his back! Good Yuri scoots as far between his neighbors as he can with his back pressed firmly on the wall. When he dares let his eyes drift farther there are more monster. What is this place?
Factory
Lab
Cores
Scattered words fill in, but most are muddled by cries for Yuri to save them. His ears snap at the sound of footsteps and Yuri curls into a defensive stance. They stop just before the person reaches his view and laugh. "My, my, children really do take after their parents. Growling like an uncivilized beast. How shameful Yuri Lowell." From the shadows comes the person that Yuri really hoped he wouldn't be right about. "Make sure to note that."
"Of course, your Excellency." A man in a white coat says to the commandant.
"Wanna fill me in over here." Yuri barks and Alexei ignores him. "Hey, you listening! Tell me what the fuck is going on!"
"It's much like Scifo confirmed. Near instant lucidity." Scientist says eagerly. "Very different than the others. I wonder if it has anything to do with the prolonged incubation period."
"Don't be daft. It's more likely related to the fact his body mutates in large chunks instead of gradually like the others."
"But, it stands the DNA sat unchanging for a long time which does bring to mind what the trigger might have been. Cells only completely regenerate every seven years so the prior rate adds up."
"I believe exposure to the Child of the Full Moon is to thank for that."
"Yes, but now it's progressing too far and too fast." Yuri can't believe it… He's actually in a cage as an experiment for people to test. Why… how could Flynn do this to him? "Stopping the process will be an interesting challenge."
What?
"Oh, looks like he's intrigued." The scientist's face forms a wide grin as he lunges for the bars. "Hello, my little cutie! We're going to do our very best to keep your body from changing."
"Then why the cage and the other freak shows?" Yuri spits.
The scientist just laughs pushing up his horn-rimmed round lenses. "Oh, cutie-"the playful tone drops to a gravely smoker's cough. "We have no intents of curing you. All that matters is the perfect catalyst for artificial apatheia construction! And finally, I have one."
Alexie nods in agreement. "Yes, it was a terrible thing to have to constantly lack in the proper materials. When we discovered you, it was a miracle. I couldn't even punish the fool who failed to kill you. Sir, Garista's prior experiments with pure Entelexeia blood continued to prove that the high concentration turned volatile. He found you're DNA while not as powerful would make for a more stable material."
"Then you just changing and changing. The concentration higher and higher till it was perfect. We could even use it in the Hermes subjects to jumpstart things. Sadly, you are becoming too close to an Entelexeia, so the only choice now is to find a way to halt this process entirely until we can form a synthetic replacement."
Yuri just cringles his nose. "Then why not just replace me?"
Alexei just blinks. "Oh, we've tried very hard. It was one of our first attempts, but sadly Entelexeia don't breed well with humans or Krytians. Almost always the subject was stillborn or simply didn't live long enough to provide data. Even when we used a female Entelexeia the results were useless, and the gestation time proved too long for us to bother The Krytians here are only to be used in core processing since they're DNA corrodes at an alarming rate once harvested." It's so wistful when the man says it. Like human experimentation is normal. "Yuri Lowell, I do hope you come to appreciate that your body will help usher in a new age of blastia."
This can't be happening! "I take it Flynn doesn't know your dirty little secret."
"No, and if you do anything to inform him I will be sure he's taken care of." Alexei's face takes on a sick mad grin. "Are you aware the process of turning a Krytian into a monster can work on a human as well? It takes more energy and resources, but I'm sure I could make the arrangement."
"You bastard! Don't you dare touch him!"
Alexei bellows. "How loyal. Even after he threw you in here!"
Yuri slams against the wall furiously. "You tricked him! I know it! Flynn would never have done this if you hadn't said something!" Yuri starts barking growling clawing madly at the cage. "I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!"
"I think not." Alexie presses a switch in his hand and Yuri falls back yipping in pain as he spasms on the ground. His vision going-
Black.