Tired blackish-purple eyes slowly trace along the walls of a tiny room until they reach a set of metal doors.
"Alright brat, let's go. We got a busy day ahead of ourselves so get ready for your medicine," a scientist, clad in white, calls out. He opens the door, interrupting the child's staredown with the wall.
Sitting in the center of a tiny room is a small Lupo child with long dark purple hair and eyes, though it can be easily mistaken for black. The child wears nothing but a white shirt and black shorts. To his right is a bed that's attached to the wall while the door sits to his left.
He stands up calmly at the man's words, a blank expression on his face. His eyes wander down the hallway, paying no attention to the man's jeers and mockery. Not even a smack to the head garners a reaction out of the Lupo.
"Good luck, and try not to die for us brat, else this'd be a huge waste of resources."
There's still no reaction from him, the scientist's words and abuse having long become numb to him, as he silently enters the room. as he silently enters a familiar room. His eyes scan from the left wall to the center. The room is barren—no medical stations, no doctors, just multiple shower heads lined up against the wall.
A few minutes go by with nothing happening, but the child already knows the purpose of this room. A few seconds later, a thick, black gas begins seeping into the room through the shower heads. It takes only three seconds for the gas to reach him, and another two for it to wrap around him.
At first, his breathing is normal—slow, steady breaths. However, soon after inhaling the gas, he begins to cough. The insides of his mouth feels like millions of needles are pricking him. The initial pain is surprisingly less compared to the four other times he's experienced this, but his surprise is quickly cast aside when his chest begins to feel like bursting. The Lupo places a hand over his chest, beginning to smack it as he falls to his knees. The growing pain makes his heart race, his coughs getting worse and worse as his breaths become scarce. Gasping for air, he takes in more of the black gas. His head begins to spin, the seconds feeling like hours of agony as his survival instincts flare, trying to find a way to escape the insufferable pain.
In another room are two people, observing the child as he struggles to stay standing. The ursus from before stands behind another man, a Lupo scientist. Lazily, he eyes the Lupo beyond the one way glass with a clipboard in hand. He sighs as he watches the child fall to his knees and eventually the floor. Thinking that another death is imminent, he opens his mouth to express his irritation. But before he could begin, the child manages to somehow stand back up. The two scientists' eyes widened as the man in front of him began to speak into a recorder with awe.
"Fascinating, it would appear that subject six has taken the Originium gas extremely well this time. Unlike the previous tests, six has not fallen unconscious yet. Something to note is that the child seems to have awakened some form of Arts. Ayin has reported that the child has been tracking members of staff through the walls in the observation room and those walking past subject six's room. Today's testing shows that something within the boy has definitely awakened. Further investigation is required to figure out the extent of this ability and the uniqueness of his Arts."
Placing the recorder onto the table in front of him he turned to the ursus behind him. "Well Ayin, I believe we have a successful experiment to push the program further."
Ayin could only dumbfoundedly nod his head as he began writing notes down on a clipboard for the next fifteen minutes.
The child tries to stay standing but his head only continues to spin. Falling back to his knees the Lupo's eyes began to shutter, barely able to stay awake. It isn't until Ayin opens the door behind him that he can muster the strength to make his way out of the room. The two silently walk through hallways and up a set of stairs, making their way to another door where the ursus stops.
The door opens, revealing another ursus scientist on the other side. He sits at the center of various machines which surround him like a makeshift island. Sluggishly, he makes his way towards the stool next to the man, having trouble climbing onto the seat.
"My, my Fenrir, you're actually awake this time?" He chuckles, taking out a case that holds four vials and a syringe and sets it on the counter. The scientist gives him a gentle smile. "Now remember this, everything will be easier for me and you if you just let me put this needle in your arm."
Fenrir already knows that his smile was fake. The urge to struggle pops into his mind but he immediately throws away such thought Aggravating the doctor in front of him reminds Fenrir of his prior punishments for resisting medical testing. They would beat him, throw him into another chamber and hook him up to machines that caused pain, starve him of food and water, and worst of all, throw him back into the medicine room.
Taking the silence as acceptance, the doctor grabs the syringe before gently stabbing it into Fenrir's arm, taking out some blood. The pain of something foreign stabbing into his body almost makes him flinch but he manages to keep calm for fear of punishment. The man puts the obtained blood into one of the four vials and repeats the process. After being excused, Fenrir leaves the room, feeling even worse than before. Ayin stands in the hallway waiting for him, opening his mouth to speak.
"Damn brat, I didn't think you'd survive another day of those tests," He seems impressed, "but now we're done for the-"
All of a sudden, Fenrir's breathing becomes uneven. He begins to hyperventilate, falling to his knees. The Originium he breathed in earlier appears to be taking its toll on his body, and combined with the withdrawal of four vials of blood, the boy's vision becomes blurry. His deafening heartbeat becomes the only thing he can hear through his ears as his eyes close and he hits the floor with a loud thump.
When his eyes open, he is in bed. Looking around, he finds himself in an ordinary looking bedroom with a wardrobe next to the bed and a nightstand on his left. Giving a sigh, he removes the blanket covering him and heads to the bathroom. His once long chest length hair is now neck length and done in a rat tail. Though his eyes are still as lifeless as they were before, it only takes a second for him to rectify that. He blinks, his eyes seeming to become normal.
After inspecting himself in the mirror, he dresses himself in a black shirt, pants, jacket, and cloak before heading to the nightstand where two short and thin black swords rest against it. Opening the top drawer Fenrir takes his radio and attaches it to his jacket while putting the earpiece in. He takes the twin blades and hides them within his sleeves. Pressing the transmitter on his radio he waits for a second to pass before speaking.
"Red Winter. Operation commencing. Objective. Eliminate Deathless Black Snake."
And that's a wrap for this chapter folks.
As you may have noticed, this is a rewrite of the original Red Winter. The reason behind this is because I didn't like how Fenrir's story progressed so rapidly and how inconsistent his character was at times. So with the help of a few friends and Dr. Hellastic himself, I was able to flesh out his story more.
I hope to bring you all a much better and more interesting experience as we watch Fenrir's journey through the harsh tundra. Will he break free from the chains that shackled him? Or will the Lupo's programing lead him down a path of death and destruction?
As always, any criticism is much appreciated and I bid you all a good day.
