As the hours passed by, the sound of the heavy rain hitting against the worn down buildings grew louder like the war drums. The strong scent of damped and muddy pavement mixed in with the chilly air of the night. Aineus and his group had scouted the area and had concealed themselves perfectly within nearby buildings and alleys as they prepared for their mission. Their objective was to eliminate the traitors under a pretense of negotiating a transaction for the recently developed weapons in the black market from a small local gang. As a Capo, the head of his group, he was responsible to be present and to make sure that the plan went smoothly. Aineus waited patiently in the black Porsche Panamera Turbo with a couple of his men as he smoked his favorite brand of cigar, Cohiba. Either it was because of the rain, which reminded him of bad memories, or the mission itself, Aineus was especially tense, although he was trying to hide it.

"Remain at your posts. Remember, DON'T fire the first shot. We want to have a legitimate reason for this," Aineus called out to his men through the transmitter attached on his left ear.

As the rain subsided, a couple of black cars arrived on the scene, and all the men from the other cars stepped out and quickly aligned themselves into two single file lines, awaiting for the driver from the middle black car to stepped out. As the driver opened the back car door, an old man, in his mid-50’s with a robust build, stepped out with an authoritative air. Aineus and the men in the car stepped out as he extinguished the cigar on the ground. Then, both leaders approached closer in silence, but one could feel the heavy dangerous atmosphere surrounding them like a violent storm. The old man, the boss of the small local gang, slowly took out a cigar from his jacket's pocket as one of his man lit it up. Within those moments, Aineus could feel his anger slowly boiling as he observed, in his casual calm composure, the arrogant old man taking his time enjoying smoking his cigar without even acknowledging Aineus who is a representative from a much larger and powerful gang.

"Mr. Boaz, we both are very busy men, so let's stop this childish game and let's hurry along with the business for tonight," Aineus spoke up with an authoritative, but respectful tone.

Mr. Boaz heaved a sigh and lazily diverted his eyes toward Aineus as he carefully dissecting him with his judgment.
"Shouldn't yah boss feel ashamed for sending a mere rookie to negotiate with his long-term partnah?"
"Our boss sends his apology for tonight as he has an important meeting to attend. However, he wishes for this transaction to go smoothly, and he will contact you when he's done with his business."
"Well then, why don't we git started with our business...?"

As Aineus and Mr. Boaz simultaneously pulled out their guns, the remaining soldiers* from both gangs quickly drew their weapons and prepared for attack.

"Yah'll regret going through with this, kid."
"Why don't you take your own advice, Mr. Boaz?"

As soon as Aineus finished, a shot violently rang from nowhere, and a painful cry soon followed as one of Mr. Boaz's soldiers fell to the ground. Aineus, bewildered from the event, instinctively spun toward the direction of the shooter, and it turned out to be one of his men. Without any time to explain, it was too late to stop the prevailing storm of animosity as both sides started shooting at their enemies. Bodies after bodies continue to drop like the rain which quickly followed afterward. But now, the damped air was wrapped with the stench of blood. As Mr. Boaz called for more back-ups, Aineus and his gang realized that they were outnumbered. Nevertheless, they continued to fight; not because it was their mission, but it was to avenge their fallen comrades. After several hours of fighting, the battle ended with the majority of Aienus's group killed. Barely surviving from all his wounds, one of Mr. Boaz's soldiers violently dragged Aineus' tattered body and tossed him down in front of Mr. Boaz.

As Mr. Boaz watched Aineus' suffering, he shook his head in pity, "Tsk tsk. Youths these days. Having no respect and such short tempah. Just because yah become a Capo, yah think yah all that. Yah know, maybe if yah be a bit more obedient, yah wouldn't get betrayed by othah membah in yah boss' gang hah?"

As Mr. Boaz burst into maniacal laughter, the ringing in Aineus grew louder. Laying there in the cold muddy puddle, he felt hot despite the fact that he was bleeding profusely and his breathing became quick and shallow. His comrades, the only real family he’d ever had, are dead – because he wasn’t strong enough to lead and protect them.

“Now… what shall we do with you –”

----------
Aineus’ eyes frantically shoot opened and he finds himself breaking in sweats. His lungs are gasping for air as he continues to breathe rapidly just like in his dream. Half daze, it takes him a short moment to recognize where he is – floating inside a clear, liquid-filled, cylinder container within the testing room of the lab. An oxygen mask is strapped on his face to transfer the oxygen to him as the scientists carry out their experiment. Aineus slowly tries to move his fingers, but there is no strength left in him. As he calms down, he tries to recollect the memories of before he wakes up in this room. It seems like one of the guards has knocked him out when he has refused to go before they drug him so he couldn’t fight.

“His condition has been stabilized, Doctor,” a short, slender female assistant in a white lab coat reports.
“Excellent. Take him out.”

In a few minutes, the liquid in the container quickly drains down, allowing Aineus to collapse onto the bottom of the container. With no strength to hold himself up, Aineus bitterly allows himself to be manhandled and dress by the guard who later tosses him back to his cell.

“Urgh – what a pain,” Aineus thought as he lies lifelessly on his bed, “it’s going to take a while for the drugs to wear off.”

It has been a week since he is transported here by the Government. Apparently after the bloody fight with Mr. Boaz’s gang, Mr. Boaz decides to “volunteer” Aineus to be a test subject for the Government’s project. “Be useful to the society” is what Mr. Boaz said jokingly before he left laughing.

“That bastard will pay when I get out of here,” Aineus mumbles angrily, fully aware of another presence mocking him from the other side of his cell.


*Soldiers: in the context of Mafia, soldiers belong to the first rank in the mafia hierarchy. In other word, they are underlings.

Keira was running through the streets. The rain was pouring hard as she ran from the shadows that followed her closely. “Shit.” She cursed as she ran through the narrow alleyways. The footsteps that trailed behind her were getting closer and closer; no doubt that they were from the government. She turned to a main road and blended in with the crowd of bustling people. She discreetly turned another corner, hoping to have lost her pursuers, but it was the opposite. A shot to the chest, and Keira fell down to the cold hard floor. Her vision started to blur as she heard footsteps approach her fallen body.

"Got her."
"She's as good as dead anyways. Do you want to just leave her here? Say it was an accident." A gun clicked.
"No, let's just take her in so we can get the damn money."

When Keira awoke, she was in a prison cell, arms bound. In front of her was a man in a lab coat. He was examining her body with a crazed smirk on his face. "Oh, you'll do quite nicely indeed." Without so much as another word, the man left. The next day, was drugged and transported elsewhere. The soldiers threw her body down in a cold cell before he locked the door.

Her peaceful slumber was once again disturbed as she felt a cold liquid enter her blood stream. She screamed as the pain increased; it felt as if her veins were about to explode. Afterwards her vision turned red. She punched at the thick glass screen that separated herself from the other scientists that were watching her. "You fucking bastards! Let me out!" She looked over her at her arms, all attached with cords directly into her bloodstream. She reached over to grab them in an attempt to yank it out from her when she was shot with another dose of the foreign cold liquid. She scream at the burning pain as it once again entered through her blood stream and fell to one knee.

"Oh, what a fine specimen."
"Indeed, a lethal dose and she still standing. This is a keeper."
"Alright. That's enough for today. Take her back to the cell."

A scientist pulled a lever that released sleep-inducing effects into Keira, and she dropped to the floor unconscious once again. When she woke up again for the umpteenth time, she was in a cell; all alone. She stood up and punched the walls, pulled at the bars; anything in hopes to escape. But the walls were study; there was no way out. She sat in despair, trying to collect her thoughts on exactly what was going on. That was when the soldier opened the steel door and throwing in another body. She snickered as the man groaned in pain. It looks like she wasn't alone in this hellhole after all.

Keira walked over to the other corner of the cell to make room for her new cellmate. "Yo, you alright, kid?" She finally asked, seeing how the man was still near-faceplanted on the floor. No response. Keira rolled her eyes and finally let him be. She sat in the corner, now trying to continue her thought train.

"...LYN!!!!"

A young man sat up and reached out into the emptiness. He dropped his extended arm, and placed his head on his palm.
"Ow..." he thought to himself "When did I get this headache?"
The young man got up and looked around. He was on the beach, his clothes tarnished and had a small pouch on his waist. He stared out into the ocean for a while.

"...lyn..." The name ran through his mind. "Lyn? Who is that?"

The young man searched the beach, inspecting everything around him and everything he had. A notebook, a few pens and a knife fell out of his bag. The notebook was blank, with many pages torn out. The pens still worked. The knife... on the knife was a shallow engraving. "??? (the engraving was far too shallow to read)...L...Y...N..."

"Lyn... Is that my name?" the young man thought. Then, he looked into the surface of water. His hair was pure white and disheveled. A black satin cloth covered his right eye. He opened his mouth to speak. "..." Nothing. He was mute.

"Nice to meet you." He thought to his reflection. "My name is Lyn. I've lost all my memories, and apparently I'm unable to talk. I guess I live near here and..."

A loud roar disrupted his thought. Lyn looked around and saw a lion-wolf's claws slashing down at him, and then blood...
------

Lyn sat up sweating. He had the same dream again, the dream of his first memory two years ago. He managed to get away from the lion-wolf somehow with a large wound on his shoulder. He made his house on the edge of the beach and defended it from animals and people who seldom came to raid him. Lyn got up. The sound of crows nearby meant it was time to hunt. Lyn grabbed his knife and headed out. Journeying alongside the beach, Lyn stared out into the ocean, as though in a trance. He always stared out into the ocean, but never found out as to why.

"KAW KAW"

The sounds of the crows snapped Lyn out of his trance. They're close. Lyn picked up his pace as he entered the forest, then broke into running. Soon afterwards, he sighted a large manticore.

"Lucky," he thought to himself. "Tonight will be a feast."

Thinking of how to gut the beast, Lyn tripped over a tree root, barely scratching the manticore's wings. The manticore let out a loud roar loud enough to tremble the entire island and dashed off further into the deep forest. Cursing at himself, Lyn chased after it.

Although he noticed another presence in his cell, Aineus didn't recognized that he was in a different cell with a new cellmate until he heard a female voice since it was dark and Aienus was still affected by the drugs. Still face-planting on the pillow, he made an effort to turn his body over to have a better look at his new cellmate, but he couldn't make out a detailed feature of her face since it was shrouded away in the shadow by the darkness of the room. Nevertheless with a stroke of light from outside the cell, he was able to see a slender but athletic figure sitting quietly in a corner while facing toward the barred metal door. Aineus quietly observed his new cellmate for a few minutes until his interest lasted no longer. His eyes then drifted away, surveying the room to pass by time while waiting for the drugs to wear off.

"Hmm. Two beds, a sink and toilet... Not to mention a fairly large and equipped room for just two people. My old cell holds four people in a cell this big... seems like I've got an upgrade," he thought.

"So Miss, can you tell me where I am?" Aineus finally spoke but in his usual business manner.

“Your guess is as good as mine. Now what were you saying about being upgraded?” Keira asked, her head tilted out of curiosity. “From the look of it, you’ve been here for a long, long time.” She glanced at the punctured holes on his neck and shoulders and sighed. She’s become a guinea pig for science. Figured. “I can tell that you’re a smart one, and if you can’t break out, that means we’re doomed.” She said, sitting back on her bed.

Weeks have passed since her first day. Both Keira and Aineus were constantly tested until their bodies dropped from exhaustion. But all the while, they’ve started showing signs of inhuman powers. In those two weeks, they had to transfer the two of them into different holding cells; Keira was putting dents into the walls and the scientists were worried that she might actually break out.

One morning, they were simply sitting around as usual and expecting the guard to haul them in for another set of body tests. Keira perked up as she heard a terrifying scream from down the hall. She bolted towards the door to peer outside the hallway, and saw trails of blood. “The fuck is going on…?” She turned to Aineus and knocked the man off his bed. “Yo, Aineus, you might want to see this.” She pointed at the trails of blood through the tiny window. There were no guards around. Moments afterwards, the alarm went off, illuminating the area with that familiar red glow. Keira was growning concerned; if there were no guards, then something dire must have happened. This was probably a good time to escape. With all her might, tackled the metal door and broke it down. “Huh…that was…easier than I thought.”

She took a step out of their cell and looked both ways. The halls have been empty for a while now; she couldn’t be too sure. They quietly made their way into the testing lab. The doors were all forced open and there was blood everywhere. “What…the hell…happened?”

Lyn looks up at the sky. Winged creatures fly north in huge flocks- harpies, crow-vultures, gigantic moths, crying out against the sound of the alarm. Something's not right. Wanting to know what happened, Lyn grasps his knife with precaution and heads south, following the sound of the alarm.

Nearing the sound of the alarm, Lyn smells blood, putrid, tainted blood. The smell of human blood mixed with chimera, acids, metal, and sulfur. Then, a strange smell hits him- a sweet nostalgic scent. Where has he smelt it before? It familiar, too familiar, as though it belongs to a long lost memory. The scent becomes unbearably sweet to the point of sickly bitterness. Lyn gags and stops for a quick breath. Suddenly, the floor shakes.

Great. An earthquake, Lyn thinks. The scent begins to get to him and he begins to grow dizzy. Perhaps it's best to head home and ignore the strange sounds. Lyn turns around and faces a huge stampede of chimeras of different kinds- wolves, bears, lions, scorpions. The scent of blood attracts them and blinded by greed and glutton, they rush towards Lyn. Shit. With a small cloth over his nose and mouth, he runs further south towards the sound of the alarm with the large army close behind.

"Seems like an experiment gone wrong..."

Staring at the bloody scene, his instinct was to scan the lab for any potential weapons that could help them escape. Soon afterward, he found a large locked cabinet, but the lock was just child's play as he easily pick-locked it in a few seconds. He opened the cabinet and revealed a storage filled with all sorts of weapons.

"So this is where they keep all the prisoners' weapons huh...Hey Keira. Check this out," he called over.

As he looked around for suitable weapon, he found his collapsible sword within the pile and he face lit up in surprise and joy.
"Oh my precious sword! I thought I'd never see you again!!" Holding it in hand, he extended the weapon with a swift jerk downward, revealing a thin but sharp metal blade. After seeing that his weapon is fine, he retracted the blade and scanned the lab. Something obviously inhuman escaped from here seeing how brutally these corpses had been mutilated. He eventually found the corpse of a particular scientist who loved to probe a couple of needles and dissections into Aineus when he was his experimental subject.

"Tsk. Good ridden that bastard's dead although I'd prefer killing the him myself," he thought.

Turning over to Keria, he urged her to hurry and they quickly left after Keira got her weapons.

Escaping the rampage, Lyn faces the buildings he had seen far too many times. Something was off about those buildings; the men who once pointed guns at him no longer move, the fence torn open, the security breeches filled with corpses. Even the eerie scent of chemicals emitting from the pipes was off. Lyn approaches the building, surveying the corpses. Some men were decapitated, others appear trampled or suffocated by toxins. No one was alive.
Lyn approaches the building and yanks off the destroyed door. His head begins to throb as he ventures deeper and deeper into the building. He had been here before, but when? A strong, putrid scent hits Lyn as he passes by an examination room. The sickenly sweet scent from the vents smell familiar, as though calling out to him. On the verge of puking, Lyn considers leaving. No... he had come too far . This building holds more than it seemed. Perhaps here, he can finally find his lost memories.
Floor after floor, Lyn went down the basement. Visions unknown to him appear before him as he draws closer and closer to the source of the tainted atmosphere.
Hey, I'm ---! What's your name? A young girl's voice calls out to him. Surprised, Lyn turns around to face an empty corridor. Yet another hallucination. Lyn grasps the bloodstained railing along the walls, forcing himself to go further down into the basement while wading through corpses.
At last, he reaches the last floor. The door at the end of the corridor creeks as it sways, as though beckoning Lyn to enter.

This is it. Lyn thinks to himself. Behind the door must be the answers he seek: What is this place? What are the secrets to this island? Why is it calling out to him? Who... Who is he?

Inside the last room, Lyn sees a broken human test tube where the putrid chemicals emit from. Pieces of flesh cling to the wall, slowly leaving behind trails of blood as they submit to gravity. On an examiner's desk, Lyn finds a black journal with a bloody handprint on the cover. Aside from the handprint, the cover is completely clean, unlike its surroundings. Someone must have closed the journal after killing everyone. Lyn picks up the journal and flips through it.

21xx, Fifth phase of the moon, 31:70.
Experiment #457
Experiment Code Glass Maiden
Test Subject #91 Caitlyn Meison
Status: Failure, set for departure on the Eighth phase.
Notes: Test subject's cells from growing old, but cells do not multiply. Small prick from needles one week ago has not healed. We are moving further away from immortality. Test subject set to departure.

21xx, Fifth phase of the moon, 13:48
Experiment #691
Experiment Code Transmogrification
Test Subject #86 Kyrrha Tephyr
Status: Failure, set for departure on the Eighth phase.
Notes: No positive changes in physical statuses after wolf-man heart transplant. Genetic code completely ruined. Harvested organs not salvageable. Test subject set to departure.

21xx, Ninth phase of the moon, 85:18
Experiment #19379
Experiment Code
Test Subject #791012 Keira Van Zandt
Status: Ongoing

21xx, Tenth phase of the moon, 05:19
Experiment #19501
Experiment Code
Test Subject #810682 Aineus Kinlan
Status: Ongoing

21xx, Tenth phase of the moon, 36:66
Experiment #19628
Experiment Code Overlord
Test Subject #968106 (Name blotted out by blood)
Status: Success
Notes: Overlord experiment complete. Mankind has found its savior.
On the bottom of the page, someone has hastily scribbled in blood: The experiment has gone haywire. Test subject has received too much solution. He is a danger to the NEW WORLD PROJECT. He plans to create an army and destroy our mainland. Someone, please! DESTROY THIS ISLAND BEFORE #9968106 ESCAPES.

"So, another bastard made his way here," a voice calls out behind Lyn. "You must have some death wishes"

Lyn turns around and faces a demon who can no longer be recognized as a man. Instinctively, Lyn reaches for his knife, but the demon spoke again: "You... You're not one of them. Were you experimented on too?"

Hesitantly, Lyn nods, keeping his hand by the hilt of his blade. "Join us," the demon continues. "With our army, we can destroy the wretched world that made us suffer like this. With their last experiment, these fools gave me - gave US - the power to seek vengeance."

"Caitlyn..." No longer shrouded in the confusion of his past, Lyn reaches out to the demon's outstretched hand. "They made us this way. If only they did not exist, she would still be here."

Ripping out a page from the journal, Lyn writes I've been surviving in the wilderness for two years without my memories. I finally know my purpose after coming here; I will join you. My name is Kyrrha. There's someone I must avenge...

END