It was merely a coincidence that I was named Sephyr. They later told me I resembled a fictional Japanese character by the same name - but only by my striking blonde hair and rose-tinted brown eyes... not so much in my newfound abilities. I also had an older brother and a younger sister, like Sefar - but we will get to that part of the story later.

Subject C4 they called me in the beginning. They had reordered the entire group to make that play on words for nothing more than their own amusement.

There were three groups: A, B, and C. Four children in each group, making twelve in total - an number higher than any of our ages. We were all so small, so fragile - until they changed us.

When they administered the first round of testing. The results were superb, and their delight palpable. Every child looked visibly healthier and stronger - except my sister, B3. I only caught a glimpse of her grasping her head in pain. It saddened my brother an I that she was not in C with us. I couldn't understand the logic in sorting us merely by our hair color - but her hair was classified as brown while we were blonde, and there was no use protesting the placement.

It was only the second round when a disaster occurred. A1, ironically, was the first to go, and it went downhill from there. Half were dead by the end of it. Whether it was their heart or their brain that couldn't handle the power I didn't know - but the screams of one boy as he broke out in unnaturally blue boils were forever imprinted.

I saw my sister carried back alive, but unconscious. My brother in C2 came back again, unscathed, but he looked terribly antsy, eyes darting too and fro, bouncing on his toes. The night before he said he felt more alive than ever before... but I started to wonder if that was a good thing.

It was when C3 came back that I felt true fear for myself. Her skin was pale, but leathery patches covered her calves and neck. Her eyes were no longer doe brown, but a bright red, and her hair smoldered like a freshly put out campfire. When began coughing uncontrollable, I half expected flames to burst forth... but instead she vomited - black liquid and blood.

That's when they opened my cell, dragging me again to the testing room. They strapped me to the chair - a metal clamp to keep my head still, long straps over my chest and hips, and four more to secure my hands and feet in place. They placed the wires, the electrodes... everywhere. And the thin clear tubes in surgically prepared holes into my chest and head.

Then it began. My eyes closed against my will and I could feel my face and body twitching. It hurt - the worst pain I had yet experienced in my short life... thought that may not have been saying much.

And that's when it happened.

Everything turned white.

And then I could hear - I could hear the whispers from two scientist in the back of the room. The tesseract. That's what they were so hushed about - that's what flowed through us. They were worried. Worried about the survival of any of us through a third test. Someone was crying in another room. Probably another test subject.

The smell - it was overwhelming. Bacon. That's what the man immediately to my right must have eaten for breakfast - and oh, I wanted some. We were too poor to ever have bought it, but the kids on the rich block raved about the meat. But that wasn't the most noticeable scent. No - not noticeable. It was faint, but it was the one that caught my attention most. The scent of burnt flesh.

I couldn't finish examining these newfound senses because someone started screaming.

Oh. That was me.

There was something inside of me. I could feel it growing. Not something in just the physical sense of the term. There was something else - in every sense of the term.

Then it was black.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When I woke up, I was back in my cell. It smelt terribly. Like rotting and acid.

C3!

I opened my eyes to see the girl's blank eyes staring back at me from the next cell, her body curled in an unnatural position.

"Sephyr!" My brother's voice was raspy but overcome with relief.

"I'm okay," I reassured him, trying to move to sit up. My muscles, my bones. They felt like they were torn apart.

I touched my face to feel dried blood all around my nose and mouth.

"Is- is-" I couldn't finish my question.

"I haven't heard anything yet. She might still be out."

We would just have to wait and hope.

He watched me as I watched C3. "She's been gone for a few hours." He murmured softly. How long was I out?

"At least she's not in pain anymore." I could still feel him watching me, concerned. He never liked it when I was sad or scared... he would always try to come up with a distraction.

"Hey, watch this." My brother stood, took a deep breath and than began running in circles around his small cell. And he went faster. And faster.

It should have been a blur. Blue streaks stretched out behind him. He was even beginning to run up the walls. But it wasn't a blur. I could see each and every movement.

He stopped, barely breathing any heavier than before.

"Wow." Is all I said.

"Looks like those experiments are doing something."

"Yeah." I sighed. I wondered if any of us would be alive by the end of it. "They're doing something."

I knew this place was evil, but my young mind was just beginning to grasp the reality of it. They told us there was a chance we wouldn't come back alive... but were they truly going to just torture and kill us all?

I later realized that the answer was no. They weren't going to torture and then just kill us.

The future was much, much worse.