The Edge of the Cliff
Chapter 8
Metroid Regeneration
Through a maze of corridors, junctions and tall structures the two fugitives were led. Gleaming metal reflected itself off the GF soldiers' armour, making light play and dance on the walls. The tension was like a thin super-cooled liquid, as if it would shatter if anything came in contact with it. The soldiers were uneasy with Samus Aran's daughter walking beside them, if the rumours were true she could take out a whole battalion in minutes – what would she do to a light escort? Serina also felt this tension, her tongue was dry and she was nervous enough to twitch at every noise. After some time the air seemed to become fresher and soon two six metre wide doors opened vertically to let the group enter a lush, dense forest. Sunlight shone from above and tinted light from the leaves cascaded onto the armour of the group.
Small creatures drifted in the wind, they had sapphire wings which glinted with every stroke, and one began to circle a GF soldier's head, he grew more and more agitated until he snatched the creature form the air and crushed it in his hands. It squealed in pain as it felt muscle reduce its organs to mush; the GF soldier wiped the remains on a tree and kept on walking. This event reflected the current state of the forest, a rose, a façade – hiding evil deep within. The silence was occasionally broken with a metal foot struck wooden stick and dry leaves in the undergrowth, this quiet rhythm seemed to be the mechanic of the group, every one of them was a robot set along a straight path from which they never left.
This rhythm came to an end abruptly as the forest cleared to show the edge of a cliff, overlooking a deep gorge. Serina wanted to die, the cliff only teased her with ideology of freedom, that death was the end; her rational mind shattered these pitiful ideas and forced Serina to think logically again. She snapped out of a daze and gazed around her; the outline of trees was dotted with GF soldiers blocking every direction of escape. The commander stood a pace ahead of the trees and signalled to the ranks, two of them grabbed Weavel violently and led him back into the forest – stumping plans Serina had and forcing to think new ways around the situation she was in. The Commander signalled again and a GF soldier gingerly went over to Serina with gravity cuff links and tied her feet to the floor and her hands together.
The Commander began to walk to the edge of the cliff, now he seemed to have muscle spasms and jittered slightly, suddenly he dropped to his knees facing the empty space above the valley floor. He raised two clenched fists; in one hand he held a syringe, in the other a metal weapon. He began to laugh manically and then spoke in a forced voice, "Enlighten me! Oh Great Spirit of life, give me the strength to destroy the daughter of your enemy. Let me suck her life force for you!" and he stuck the syringe into himself and, Serina presumed, forced the contents into his blood. This ritual seemed to gain nothing for the commander, but his soldiers seemed to believe in this chanting as each of them backed away into the safety of the forest. The commander began to scream, as if in pain, nothing seemed apparent but still Serina was wary. She soon found out she had reason to; the commander began to jitter and squirm, his skin seemed to want to jump out of his armour. Like snakes it stuck out and wriggled, suddenly the commander's body mass expanded rapidly until it had tripled and the violent snakes of flesh had calmed down. This skin now discarded the armour like an outgrown skin and wings unfolded from the creature's back like a butterfly after metamorphosis. The creature's hide turned dark and textured like scales, while its arms became laden with muscle and its hands ripped open into claws. It turned to Serina, chilling her insides with its grotesque features and sharp attentive eyes trained on their target, her. These hungry eyes seemed a stark contrast to the rest of the creature's primal body, the eyes were intelligent; they calculated, measured distance and speed.
A dark shadow fell over Serina, as she realised the complications of a thinking monster such as this. A monster like this was built as a final judgement; it would not fail because it feared nothing, not even the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy's daughter. Something inside Serina told her she would have to teach this maliciously built monster what he had to fear, sadly Serina's courage was misplaced and she was finding it hard to coax it back. She stared at the monster, every detail became clearer and clearer with every slow steady footstep that the monster took towards her, every loud sound made her heart jump, as if it was playing her life's song. She noticed that she was the correct size for the creature's mouth, which was rimmed with teeth pointing inwards to stop prey escaping. Saliva oozed out, as if this monster was already relishing this tasty meal before it; causing Serina's imagination to run wild and make her squirm, almost believing the thick solution was running down her arms. The monster twitched as if about to jump, causing Serina to mimic vainly in her chains; again it moved suddenly and soon it dawned on Serina that this creature was playing with her. She felt ashamed, alone and hurt – this creature would certainly suffer for its teasing of her, she would make sure of it. Anger overruled Serina's heart, turning it black once again – she embraced that darkness that would attempt to crush her sanity and sense, but she had now reason. A dark aura spilt in her blood, sending evil signals all over her body and preparing her to fight this mutated, created creature.
End Chapter