Warm darkness... strange vibrations in the air that Kiyt came to identify as sounds. A babble of excited voices, and several sounded upset and angry. Kiyt tightly closed her eyes, not wanting to leave the comforting darkness. Something soft and warm touched her forehead, and she finally opened her eyes to see what it was. The sudden bright light blinded her, and she blinked several times as things got into focus. Something moved in front of her face and she instinctively grasped at it, gazing in wonder at her hands and the new world she had entered into.
"Ahhh... she's so cute! Can I hold her?"
"Yeah... sure. But be careful... She has very fragile bones."
"She certainly looked delicate. What beautiful black hair she has... And what pretty eyes."
"Her eyes look like yours, dear."
"W-wait a minute... Hey... those eyes..." The woman speaking let out a small scream.
"What's wrong?! What- oh no..."
"One's green and the other's blue. She's a damn hybrid! Ugh..."
"Hey! Careful with her! Hybrid or not, she's still a baby."
"Who the hell cares about a hybrid?! Leave it alone to die somewhere."
"I say you should just stab it now and be done with it."
Someone started crying as the voices raised in pitch and volume.
"Throw it away in the dustbin outside. If you can't do it, let me!"
"Hold it! Someone will find out about this place... Take it to the edge of the city or something."
Kiyt was passed around roughly, hands that had been soft and comforting before now were rough and cruel. Feeling frightened and extremely uncomfortable at the new situation, Kiyt let out a loud cry.
"Oh great. Someone shut it up!"
"So who's going to do the job?!"
"Why don't you do it, since you have nothing to do until the evening comes."
"You're the same... why don't -you- do it?"
"You're the one who suggested it anyway."s
"Girls... please."
"Oh, fine! I'll take it and dispose of it."
"Good."
"Yeah-"
Kiyt was suddenly slapped across her cheeks to silence her cries and then handed over to someone, who covered her in a rag and carried her. She whimpered softly, not wanting to get hit again. Under the rag, she wiped away her tears with her tiny hands and felt a strange gurgling from within her midsection. Apparently, the person carrying her knew it too. The rag cover disappeared and she saw a woman's face looking down at her. She looked at her apprehensively, eyes wide. The woman's brows were knitted together and she bit her lip in indecision. "I'm sorry, kid. But this is a cruel world. It would have been better if you weren't born in it in the first place," she said softly.
The baby simply stared back at her, uncomprehendingly. "At least you're away from those bloodthirsty women for now. I won't kill you, and maybe you'll find some way to survive out there, even though it's highly unlikely." The woman shook her head. Why was she taking pity on a hybrid? She stared into the baby's large, odd-coloured eyes. 'The blue one is the same as her mother's,' she thought. 'However the green one...'
She was reminded of the time when -he- came.
Covered from head to toe with a large cloak, he had dashed into their 'house', panting heavily and begging them to hide him. Attracted by the sound of his velvety voice, she and the other women had moved closer, partly defensively and partly out of curiosity. The young, dark-haired woman who was Kiyt's mother sidled up to him and pointed a knife at his throat, demanding why they should harbour a fugitive.
The man was silent, but he took off his cloak, revealing a head of lustrous black hair and a superbly good-looking face. If he wasn't dressed in rags, they would have thought that he was from a well-bred family, or maybe even a prince. Flashing green eyes scanned the room before coming to rest on Kiyt's mother. Several of the women went forward eagerly, but Kiyt's mother stopped them, claiming that his looks alone would not do the trick. He raised his eyebrow at her, then glanced at the other women who were practically drooling. After that, he said something that none of them would ever forget. "There is no reason to help me, and benefit I could give any of you. But if you help me now, I swear on my life that I will repay back the favour in any way I can."
The women stared at him, then exchanged doubtful glances. Kiyt's mother gave him a speculative look, then removed her knife. "Fine. Your courage is admirable. You may stay... for the present."
Gratefully, he bowed elegantly towards her and kissed her hand. Jealousy surged through the other women, but they could do nothing about it. They hid him in a storeroom underground while the guards went past their establishment, only a couple staying to 'make inquiries within'.
The handsome man stayed only for a couple of days, after which he disappeared from their lives. However, she never forgot him, and Kiyt's mother was totally ruined by him. The woman was a were-wolf, and she had been a very strong-willed woman. At least before he came. Somehow, she had fallen in love with him and had expected him to take her away, or at least, to stay for a while. After he left, her character changed completely. She became weak and sickly, and if it wasn't for their former respect for her, they would have thrown her out long ago.
The woman now knew that the man had been a hybrid. But was Kiyt's mother the same? She had heard rumours about what happened to hybrid offspring. But what about the hybrid offspring of hybrids? Shaking her head to clear the thought, her steps slowed as she soon reached the edge of the town. Not wanting to look at the baby again, she covered it up with the rag and left it beside a rubbish pile.
Two shadows came out of the woods and stealthily moved towards the small bundle. Kiyt had fallen asleep some time during the journey, but she soon woke up feeling cold and still hungry. She let out a whimper, and heard quiet, soothing voices reply.
"It's alive! Let's take it back to base!"
"You carry it, I need to prepare magic in case anyone sees us."
"Sure, but I have no idea how to carry a baby."
"Sheesh, and you still call yourself a woman, Larali?"
"I'm only seven! What do you expect?! Plus I've only been among you guys all my life."
"Fine, I'll carry it, but you better learn soon, if you want to keep it."
"Duh. Who can rely on you guys for anything?"
"Whatever, we've already made too much noise. Let's get out of here."
Kiyt was aware of being handled clumsily and being carried to another place. When the cloth covering her face was finally removed, she blinked in surprise at the varied faces surrounding him. One had furry ears, one was blue, one had greenish scales and pointed ears. But all of them were smiling at her.
"She's adorable! What shall we call her?!"
"Er, Alera, you do know that technically, 'she's an 'it', right?"
"Shut up, Sevira. She looks female, so she's a 'she'."
"I know, let's call her Kiytiara. I've always wanted a child by that name."
"Whoa. Why are you acting so motherly suddenly, Larali?"
"Yeah, just because you're the only true female among us..."
"Haha. Don't be jealous, Qured. You're almost female yourself."
"What's that supposed to mean!" The androgynous, long-haired hybrid bristled.
"Shush, let's just call her Kiyt for short."
"That's cute. That'll do."
"Hi Kiyt, that's your new name, you know?"
"Hah! Like she'll understand."
"Hey, did she just smile at me?"
"What kind of hybrid is she anyway? I don't see any animal features at all. Just her odd-coloured eyes."
"Lucky her, she could pass off as a human in the city."
"Apparently not, or else she wouldn't have ended up in the rubbish dump. She was pretty lucky that we were out on a food hunt at the time."
"Let's introduce ourselves to her!"
"Sounds fun! I go first."
"As usual."
Kiyt was picked up by the blue-skinned and blue-haired female. "Hi Kiyt, I'm Larali. I'm too young to be your mother, but I can be your older sister. How's that?"
The next person was the furry-eared boy. "Erm, I'm not sure how to talk to a baby. Do I really have to do this?"
"Just say your name and pass her to me already, Ered."
Ered did so and passed her to the next person, the dragon-winged Pietha, who then passed her to the leader of the group, Alera. Sevira was next, and lastly, Qured, who shrieked and almost dropped her.
"HEY! What's your problem, Qured?!" came Larali's irate voice.
"Sh-she just turned into a snake!"
"What?! She's a shapeshifter?!"
"That's way cool!" exclaimed Sevira. "I've always wanted to meet one."
"Aww, she's back to human form now."
"But her hair colour changed! And so did her eyes!"
"That's awesome! Let me see!" Sevira pushed his way into the circle of kids holding the baby.
"Not too close! It's scaring her!"
"Shh! Someone'll hear us with the racket you guys are making," hissed Alera. "She's probably hungry and cold, let's get some food ready for her."
The hybrids took care of Kiyt and she grew up learning how to move quietly and to find her own food. However, on one fateful day when Kiyt was four years of age, there was a culling of hybrids in the city, and all her friends were either captured for experimentation or killed. Kiyt herself was severely injured and left for dead.
She lay on the killing ground, blood of all colours mingling around her. Red, bright blue, dark green and purple. What colour was her own? she wondered idly, not having the energy to sit up and look. She could barely even move her fingers. Things had happened so quickly she didn't even have the time to mourn her friends. Ah well, she was probably going to die soon. She felt so very sleepy. Maybe it was all a dream. Maybe tomorrow would be better. She slowly closed her eyes.
Cursing, Kogata ran to the clearing as fast as he could within the limits of the dimension. Most of the hybrids in the city had been killed by this time. Those that had been captured would be no better off, and security was so tight that even he would have a hard time attempting to rescue them. However, he still felt the presence of a small life that was slowly fading. At the clearing! One of them was still alive! He steeled himself for the sight of the massacre, but still, the multi-coloured blood shocked him a little. Gingerly picking his way across the mangled bodies, he headed straight for the life, but almost tripped over her. She was so tiny! He judged that she was four, almost five years old in human terms.
Quickly placing the chrono-dimensional shield, he started reconstructing the cells in her body. He had to work quickly. If any of the soldiers or even any townsfolk saw him, there would be trouble. Not only that, her condition was deteriorating despite the shield. He couldn't understand it at first, but realised that it was because her biology wasn't exactly human, although she appeared humanoid. Stopping his work, he reprogrammed the shield's parameters before continuing. This time, he succeeded. Leaning back in satisfaction, he watched as her complexion regained its pinkness and her wounds closed themselves. Then he realised his mistake.
In his rush, he hadn't adjusted the time setting properly. She would be stuck in the same age. And her memory would be seriously impaired. He shook his head in remorse. There was no use in crying over spilt milk. Maybe it was better for her this way. She wouldn't remember her friends' deaths or her tough life here.
Gently picking her up, he teleported back to his own dimension.