p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="8a83f19fde59b6007cbeb093aee48c65"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"(Third Person POV)/span/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="8932848968e3d2acd26f31924ef2efbb" Markus snaps awake, a pool of sweat beneath him as he breathed in and out heavily, nearly to the point of hyperventilation. This continues for a few moments before he finds himself capable of uttering but a handful of words."... W-What was- Where-Where am I..." He trembles in place, staring up at the ceiling of his bedroom as his chest went up and down from the breaths he took./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="bec8efcf4348b0101a84308ed413793b" After several more minutes, he sits up in bed. He places a sweaty hand against his drenched forehead as he lets out a low sigh. "What was that?... That felt so..." He sharply exhales as he shakes his head, slowly getting to his feet. He looks to the left of his bed to catch sight of the large poster that covered well over half of the nearest wall. It depicted Sanctum's logo sitting in front of a black background with a red border. A line of text that read "Fight for Glory" rested above the logo while another line of text that read "Fight for Honor" rested below it. Illustrations of armed soldiers dressed in standard-issue Sanctum military uniforms rested on the logo's left and right sides./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="f3f7916ebd1f787ca93c0fca77ed028b" Markus frowns. Several years prior, Markus's father had hung the propaganda poster up on his wall with the hope that it may assist in indoctrinating his newly-teenaged son to one day enlist himself into Sanctum's military once he had reached legal adulthood. Out of fear of inciting a negative reaction from Lloyd, Markus had never once made a move to remove this piece of blatant Sanctum propaganda despite how much disdain he held for what it represented. His eyes narrow, quickly developing into a glare. "One day... You will be removed from this world...," he says under his breath as he stares intently at Sanctum's logo. Rays of sunlight shine through the partly open blinds of the room's singular window indicating a brand new day./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6e67a6d9a5ec1469dfa1db6b80a5ee3d" Markus lets out a low sigh as he moves to exit his bedroom. As he reaches for his doorknob, he pauses. He begins to think silently to himself. Was that really only a dream? It felt so real... More so than any lucid experience he had ever experienced prior. He stares down at the carpeted floor below as he shakes his head, giving the doorknob a twist before pulling the door open and leaving the room./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="db84f1697c9979a605ca74cedba13bf5".../p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="0b32623c5111f07c55924f96d8287d3c" Two figures walked along a heavily reinforced hallway. One was a tall and slightly stocky middle-aged, Caucasian man who appeared to be dressed in a tan overcoat, while the other was a slightly shorter and significantly younger Asian man dressed in a variation of the uniform commonly worn by high-ranking commanders within Sanctum's military. The taller Caucasian man had shaggy brown hair and a heavily wrinkled face while the tall Asian male had a head of curly, dusty blonde hair covered by a black cap. Their arms hung loosely at their sides as they quietly conversed with one another, the taller man tightly gripping a briefcase in his right hand. "And these creatures... Would diverting resources in order to further study them really prove worthwhile, Lieutenant Ryun?" asks the taller male. "The shorter male gives a quick nod in response. "I believe so. If we can learn more of their true nature, we may be able to replicate their power and transfer it to our soldiers."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="efad60a6c865f83904f514fe4658e041" The two men stop in front of a pair of large metallic doors, the shorter man pulls a keycard from the lanyard wrapped around his neck, inserting it into what appeared to be a scanner. The scanner flashes green as the metal doors part to the sides. Inside was a vast, sparsely furnished space, what appeared to be a large glass enclosure resting against the wall opposite the door./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="629eb5f2d9a940a93e5df567cc5287d0" Inside of the enclosure were several strange humanoid beings. A handful of them were short, shadowy creatures with beady yellow eyes and antennae atop their heads. Just a couple of feet away from them was a similar creature. Although it shared the shadow-like body, yellow eyes, and antennae with the other two, this creature was nearly three times taller. Compared to the slightly pudgy build possessed by the two smaller beings, this one was visibly more muscular and had five digits on each hand compared to the others' three. It also had a number of blue vein-like markings along its body that appeared to glow rather frequently./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="cd2c8ad6486acc411e6a961de83b494e" Aside from these three, there were three additional creatures in captivity. Two of them were red bat-like creatures with what appeared to be hooks attached to their lower bodies while the remaining one was a levitating, robed humanoid being that held a large book in front of itself. Unlike the first three shadowy creatures, these beings each had the same strange emblem displayed on their body, the bat-like creatures having their emblems on the front of their torsos while the robed humanoid's emblem was marked onto the cover of the large book it carried./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="a3337c4be580e4517d7372cd942c824b" "They don't appear to display any signs of self-awareness. They do, however, seem to display a sort of predator instinct," Ryun states calmly as he begins to approach the containment unit. All six of the creatures appear to react immediately to his presence, beginning to bang and ram themselves against the bulletproof glass in an attempt to break through. The robed humanoid appeared to remain several feet behind the others, not directly assaulting the glass like the others, but instead hitting it with a barrage of strange, glowing projectiles./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="dce1da95a642a77039732e504cf59982" "Commander Lowe. Do you have those documents I requested that you produce earlier today?" The shorter male nods in response. "Yes, Lieutenant Ryun." He reaches into the briefcase, pulling out a manila folder containing a small stack of files. Lowe then hands the folder over to Ryun who proceeded to read through its contents. "We only have one viable candidate for the upcoming experiment?" Ryun asks with a raised eyebrow. Lowe nods slowly. "Yes, lieutenant... We performed a range of aptitude tests on our most qualified warriors... And Kenneth O. Takahashi is by far the only one to meet the standards set into place."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="a93de4bcab70a79844b33acd84bdd696" Ryun scans through the documents for several more seconds before inhaling through his nose and shoving them back against Lowe's chest. "Very well." He turns his back to Lowe. "Inform Takahashi of his selection at once. Tell him that he must be present at this facility tomorrow evening at 21:00 sharp." Lowe salutes. "Yes, lieutenant." He slips the manila folder containing the documents back into his briefcase before exiting the room./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="c2ae15101232784b1eb0c0d8bc6df7c7" Ryun just continues to stare at the creatures in front of him, a smirk growing on his face as the creatures try and fail to break through the glass in order to reach him. "Try as you will, insignificant worms... You are nothing more than test subjects. Tools to further develop Sanctum's military might..." A dark mist appears to emit from Ryun's being as he stands in place, the creatures beginning to struggle even harder against the glass as they bear witness to this as if this made Ryun even more enticing to them./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="8932848968e3d2acd26f31924ef2efbb" Markus snaps awake, a pool of sweat beneath him as he breathed in and out heavily, nearly to the point of hyperventilation. This continues for a few moments before he finds himself capable of uttering but a handful of words."... W-What was- Where-Where am I..." He trembles in place, staring up at the ceiling of his bedroom as his chest went up and down from the breaths he took./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="bec8efcf4348b0101a84308ed413793b" After several more minutes, he sits up in bed. He places a sweaty hand against his drenched forehead as he lets out a low sigh. "What was that?... That felt so..." He sharply exhales as he shakes his head, slowly getting to his feet. He looks to the left of his bed to catch sight of the large poster that covered well over half of the nearest wall. It depicted Sanctum's logo sitting in front of a black background with a red border. A line of text that read "Fight for Glory" rested above the logo while another line of text that read "Fight for Honor" rested below it. Illustrations of armed soldiers dressed in standard-issue Sanctum military uniforms rested on the logo's left and right sides./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="f3f7916ebd1f787ca93c0fca77ed028b" Markus frowns. Several years prior, Markus's father had hung the propaganda poster up on his wall with the hope that it may assist in indoctrinating his newly-teenaged son to one day enlist himself into Sanctum's military once he had reached legal adulthood. Out of fear of inciting a negative reaction from Lloyd, Markus had never once made a move to remove this piece of blatant Sanctum propaganda despite how much disdain he held for what it represented. His eyes narrow, quickly developing into a glare. "One day... You will be removed from this world...," he says under his breath as he stares intently at Sanctum's logo. Rays of sunlight shine through the partly open blinds of the room's singular window indicating a brand new day./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="6e67a6d9a5ec1469dfa1db6b80a5ee3d" Markus lets out a low sigh as he moves to exit his bedroom. As he reaches for his doorknob, he pauses. He begins to think silently to himself. Was that really only a dream? It felt so real... More so than any lucid experience he had ever experienced prior. He stares down at the carpeted floor below as he shakes his head, giving the doorknob a twist before pulling the door open and leaving the room./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="db84f1697c9979a605ca74cedba13bf5".../p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="0b32623c5111f07c55924f96d8287d3c" Two figures walked along a heavily reinforced hallway. One was a tall and slightly stocky middle-aged, Caucasian man who appeared to be dressed in a tan overcoat, while the other was a slightly shorter and significantly younger Asian man dressed in a variation of the uniform commonly worn by high-ranking commanders within Sanctum's military. The taller Caucasian man had shaggy brown hair and a heavily wrinkled face while the tall Asian male had a head of curly, dusty blonde hair covered by a black cap. Their arms hung loosely at their sides as they quietly conversed with one another, the taller man tightly gripping a briefcase in his right hand. "And these creatures... Would diverting resources in order to further study them really prove worthwhile, Lieutenant Ryun?" asks the taller male. "The shorter male gives a quick nod in response. "I believe so. If we can learn more of their true nature, we may be able to replicate their power and transfer it to our soldiers."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="efad60a6c865f83904f514fe4658e041" The two men stop in front of a pair of large metallic doors, the shorter man pulls a keycard from the lanyard wrapped around his neck, inserting it into what appeared to be a scanner. The scanner flashes green as the metal doors part to the sides. Inside was a vast, sparsely furnished space, what appeared to be a large glass enclosure resting against the wall opposite the door./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="629eb5f2d9a940a93e5df567cc5287d0" Inside of the enclosure were several strange humanoid beings. A handful of them were short, shadowy creatures with beady yellow eyes and antennae atop their heads. Just a couple of feet away from them was a similar creature. Although it shared the shadow-like body, yellow eyes, and antennae with the other two, this creature was nearly three times taller. Compared to the slightly pudgy build possessed by the two smaller beings, this one was visibly more muscular and had five digits on each hand compared to the others' three. It also had a number of blue vein-like markings along its body that appeared to glow rather frequently./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="cd2c8ad6486acc411e6a961de83b494e" Aside from these three, there were three additional creatures in captivity. Two of them were red bat-like creatures with what appeared to be hooks attached to their lower bodies while the remaining one was a levitating, robed humanoid being that held a large book in front of itself. Unlike the first three shadowy creatures, these beings each had the same strange emblem displayed on their body, the bat-like creatures having their emblems on the front of their torsos while the robed humanoid's emblem was marked onto the cover of the large book it carried./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="a3337c4be580e4517d7372cd942c824b" "They don't appear to display any signs of self-awareness. They do, however, seem to display a sort of predator instinct," Ryun states calmly as he begins to approach the containment unit. All six of the creatures appear to react immediately to his presence, beginning to bang and ram themselves against the bulletproof glass in an attempt to break through. The robed humanoid appeared to remain several feet behind the others, not directly assaulting the glass like the others, but instead hitting it with a barrage of strange, glowing projectiles./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="dce1da95a642a77039732e504cf59982" "Commander Lowe. Do you have those documents I requested that you produce earlier today?" The shorter male nods in response. "Yes, Lieutenant Ryun." He reaches into the briefcase, pulling out a manila folder containing a small stack of files. Lowe then hands the folder over to Ryun who proceeded to read through its contents. "We only have one viable candidate for the upcoming experiment?" Ryun asks with a raised eyebrow. Lowe nods slowly. "Yes, lieutenant... We performed a range of aptitude tests on our most qualified warriors... And Kenneth O. Takahashi is by far the only one to meet the standards set into place."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="a93de4bcab70a79844b33acd84bdd696" Ryun scans through the documents for several more seconds before inhaling through his nose and shoving them back against Lowe's chest. "Very well." He turns his back to Lowe. "Inform Takahashi of his selection at once. Tell him that he must be present at this facility tomorrow evening at 21:00 sharp." Lowe salutes. "Yes, lieutenant." He slips the manila folder containing the documents back into his briefcase before exiting the room./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="c2ae15101232784b1eb0c0d8bc6df7c7" Ryun just continues to stare at the creatures in front of him, a smirk growing on his face as the creatures try and fail to break through the glass in order to reach him. "Try as you will, insignificant worms... You are nothing more than test subjects. Tools to further develop Sanctum's military might..." A dark mist appears to emit from Ryun's being as he stands in place, the creatures beginning to struggle even harder against the glass as they bear witness to this as if this made Ryun even more enticing to them./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p