Kyo

He lay there in his cell cum surgery room. He heard footsteps out in the hall, but they didn't interest him too much. His eyes, to the causual observer, would have appeared glazed. He was listening for a very specific set of feet coming for him. He had the entire night to think to himself about what would be worse than the blue button. The white one, his mind told him, must surely be terrible. Eventually, the heavy steps denoting the demonic scientist approached. Mayutainoi swept into the room, Ashwireh a second behind him. The routine became set; the looming, the prodding, and the questions. Then, it happened. They stepped back from the table and the irridescent white button was depressed. A sense of wonder overtook Kyo. He felt no pain what so ever. In fact, he felt pretty good. Great actually. Childhood memories played through his head, the best of times. Berry picking, games he played, books he read, seeing magic done for the first time. He was feeling damn good for being in a torture room. Suddenly, his memories took a turn. He still felt happy though. It was a new memory.

Five year old Kyo stood in the moddle of a dusty road. Two people were walking toward him and he wanted to-

Help me

run to them and play. They looked like nice people nice enough to-
Help me Kyo. I can't do it I need your-
Stop and play catch for a while. Maybe they'd spend the night. The figures-
Help. They're killing me Kyo. They'll move on to my brothers and sisters next-
drew closer. One of them had wings. He smiled and greeted Kyo. "Hello. I'm-
so please, help. Kill the one called-
"Mayutanoi. Will you help me find someone? His name's Kyo."
The five-year-old smiled and pointed at himself. "That's me, mister faerie."
The odd winged 'Faerie' chuckled and drew a small, sparkly dagger.
"See this?" He said. "It's a special toy, made just for you. Want to play with it?"
Long fingers twiddled the dagger back and forth. Kyo nodded, entranced by its shiny beauty. Mayutanoi kneeled down and drew the young boy close. Then he stabbed him in the heart.
Kyo woke up from his sleep with a start. It was just a dream. He moaned and his chest heaved. "Just a dream...just a dream..."

Wide eyed, he glanced around. It was dark. Nighttime had come...or at least the facsimile the labs created when the lights went out. A shudder coursed through his body. They had suggestive control over his brain for the entire time he was asleep. That, he thought, was truly terrifying. Kyo had suspicions though. The voice that had asked his help had asked him to destroy Mayutanoi. Surely the Demons wouldn't want that idea running through his head, would they? Leaning his head back down against the cold stone table, he sighed. Thinking about what the next day would bring, he ccould only imagine the worst. Gradually, he sank into a thready, disturbed slumber, neither dreaming, nor reaching the blissful dreamless. He went through the night watched by the Demon staff. They noted his fitful rest, then went home.

Falcon

She awoke in her cell, terrified and not remembering why. Looking down at herself, sudden rememberance surged through her like acid. A hideous, wraked sob tore from her lungs as she gathered a blanket, so thoughtfully left, around her. The night had descended on her corner of the world. Timidly, she looked out of the zoo-like cage and noticed that all the animals that had been so active earlier were staring at her. She was more than a little freaked out by the attention, so she shrank back into the shadowy depths of the cell. A paper-thin voice from her left tried comforting her.

"Itss not ssso bad...the living conditionss. Be thhankfull that you are compatable with your child." the voice, she realized, came from the deformed concoction that was most likely left here to die. What it had said startled her.

"Ch-child? But, how do you-?"

A tsking sound came from all around her. The animals, no, prisoners she thought, sympathized with her. The same, genderless voice answered her.

"We can tell. I for exssample, am partly telepathic. Enough to tell minor thingss...not enough to be a sssuccess. Like I ssaid, be thhankful. My mother died bringing me into thhhiss unforgiving world becausse the Sspirits didn't approve of my..." a dry chuckle rang out "heritage I guess you could ssay."

Curiosity peaked, Falcon inquired "What exactly are you? I've never seen such a variety of beings before I came to this...rathole..." that brought chuckles from all around the compound. The purple horse-mantis thing answered for the others. Its voice was a mental carress compared to the others papery sigh.

I am officially called an Equiris, though I am the only one of my kind. Call me Ed if you choose. The Manticore with headgear is, by the Demonscum, called a Devash'o, though he prefers to go by Ryith. The lady to your right, I know you cant see her, is a silver dragon who has had several... Ed paused, not sure how to say the correct term, the lady answered for him.

They took my children from me, lured me into a trap, and then they altered my mind! They can control me physically by the press of a button, but they'll never control my mind!!!

Ed made a coughing sound to calm the dragoness down.

Her name is Wique. The Wise One, who first spoke with you, has been here before I was even created. The Wise One was the First among us. They have tried to kill the Wise One many times, but Lady Arweia has stopped them. The Wise One thinks he was made to suffer, that Lady Arweia allowed him to live so that the Demonscum would have a reminder that they are not perfect. This makes the Wise One depressed sometimes.

Wique moaned loudly. She spoke aloud now, disregarding the possibility that the guards might overhear her.

"Listen, human. Your baby's growing fast. I think that they injected you with some type of chemical to speed the proccess along. I think you got about a month left. I can tell you your fate though. You are gonna be a slave. The other human females didn't concieve, so they're gonna get killed. You're the one that Dominick chose, so, congratulations."

Falcon blinked at that sentiment. "I would rather die than be a slave though..." She explained. Ryith brought his head up as he shook his head.

"No, no. See, if you become Dominick's slave, then you're gonna get taken care of. If you stay here, you're gonna have to attend the Arena. If you chose the Arena, you'd have to face one of us. Ed here, usually is the first to be faced. They control us all when we're out there. Make them mad, and they get you back for it. Ed's claws have more blood on them from people he didn't want to kill than the rest of us put together. IF you beat Ed, you'd have to face Wique or I. You know what they did to Wique. You wouldn't stand a chance. Dominick, how ever, is looking for heirs. Even if they are half human, he'd love them as his own. Consider the paths, child." The Manticore lay his head down again.

Falcon lay down as well. She might have jusdt imagined it, but as she drifted to sleep, she felt a fluttery movement in her abdomen.