Raven Wolf - 05 - The Abandoned - Chapter 05 by Kurapika < Submission

Keywords male 1174004, female 1064116, wolf 190598, human 106455, tiger 38270, skunk 33729, fantasy 26405, story 13668, coyote 11888, sci-fi 4653, series 4576, book 4372, mink 3029, science fiction 1893, chapter 504, raven wolf 329, ongoing 88

Chapter Five

Alistair stands within a phone booth, taking a quick look over his surroundings before continuing his conversation with the Super Soldier on the other line, getting Vaan back indeed high on his priority list. “What kind of crystal am I looking for?”

The voice on the line changes, it now belongs to Shiya. “One that’s small enough to be carried and concealed.”

Alistair grins at the sound of the voice. “Is that the little wild princess I hear?”

“I’m the Chieftain…” He gives a small sigh as he continues with his description despite the insult that Alistair has given him. “The crystal will match the colour of his eyes.”

Alistair seems confused by the description. “Match the colour of his eyes?”

“Eyes are the widow to one’s soul, that crystal is much the same.”

“Right…”

Shiya continues with his explanation. “It will be something very precious to Dmitri, something that he will not want to be apart from for too long.”

“Just how much is this thing you’re trying to get me to steal for you worth?”

“It’s not worth anything, the person it is most precious to would be Dmitri. When you find it you will know why”

The communication ends with Eighteen hanging up, Alistair stares at the receiver for a moment before hanging that up as well. “Interesting… a crystal that’s so important that they would be willing to help their enemy get their intelligence model back.”

*******

Shiya looks over to Eighteen, the two of them are now watching Alistair from one of the floors of a tall building. “You have no idea where your other Super Soldier friend is, why would you lie and promise him that in exchange?”

Eighteen puts down a pair of binoculars that he has been using to watch Alistair. “It wasn’t a lie, Alistair would have known if I was lying.”

Shiya is a little confused. “So… you know where he is?”

Eighteen shakes his head. “No clue.”

“That doesn’t make sense…”

“I don’t know where he is, but we have a True Blood computer hacker on our side that may be able to track him down.” He turns away from the window as he begins making his way through the building. “Lumia has been outwitting Sixty Six practically since he has been on the project, if he’s so much as touched a computer anywhere Lumia will be able to recognize him and give us a location.”

“What if he’s not by any computers?”

“Then the search will be more difficult.”

“What if he doesn’t want to return to the military?” Eighteen comes to a stop as he looks back to Shiya, the wolf continues with his question. “You said before that all if the super soldiers except that one out there left the military before their ‘expiry’ dates. Maybe his disappearance was from his own doing.”

Eighteen shakes his head no. “I would expect something like that from Seventy Four, his own survival trumps his loyalty so I could see him leaving the military. Sixty Six though is a coward, afraid of confrontation, afraid of fighting, afraid of disobeying orders, he’s too scared to leave the military even if they are threatening his life, he would rather stay safe in the world he knows than go out into the unfamiliar. As for Two, though he acts out of line and does not work will with others he is loyal to a fault, once he finds someone he trusts and attaches himself to them he will follow them, despite what will become of him if he is to continue doing so.”

Shiya shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know these numbers…”

Eighteen comes to a stop as he looks back to him. “Number Seventy Four of batch Zero-Zero-Three-Three, combat model, domestic military codename: Kane Swartz, tiger lineage. Number Sixty Six of batch Zero-Six-Four-Eight, intelligence model, domestic military codename: Vaan Berights, feline linage. Number Two of batch One-Two-Eight-Six, combat model, domestic military codename: Alistair Quincy, coyote linage.”

Shiya frowns at him. “That doesn’t really help, you’re just adding more numbers and making it even more confusing…”

Eighteen doesn’t bother to explain it further. “Never mind, let’s just get back to the others.”

The two make their way through the building and out onto the streets, Shiya once again questions him when the crowds of people thin out. “Why do you still call the other soldiers like you by numbers? When we first met you referred to them and even yourself by names.” A confused look fills Shiya’s face, there is something even more baffling than Eighteen calling the others by numbers. “Why DO you call yourself by a number? You used to go by Chase when we were first introduced.”

“Eighteen is my name, that is why I call myself it.”

“And the name Chase?”

“Does not belong to me.”

Shiya gives him an annoyed frown, this does not explain anything. He gives up and instead of tries to question him further about it. The Super Soldiers that he has experience with has been acting in much the same way when he had first met them as well.

They come to a stop when they reach a bus stop, Shiya looks around him as the two of them begin to wait, the chieftain lets out a sigh as he looks over toward Eighteen. “Why can’t you drive?”

Eighteen crosses his arms. “I wasn’t awake long enough to get through the lessons.”

*******

Kane sits with his chin in his hand, a bored expression on his face, he looks to the side to see Eleven and Maigan standing near him and keeping watch as they usually do. He lets out a grumble as the two stare back at him, he’s not able to go anywhere without at least one of the two following him to make sure that he’s up to no good.

“You look very bored today.” Kane looks back to find Maigan and Kitchi’s mother approaching him, she carries with her a bowl of food and hands it to him with a smile. “You didn’t come to eat, warriors like you shouldn’t miss their meals.”

Kane doesn’t take the food from her. “I’m hoping that lack of nourishment will lead to hallucinations that I can somehow pass off to your Shaman as a spiritual journey.”

The wild laughs. “You’re a Super Soldier. From what I know about Eleven and Tahki you will have to not eat for a very long time before anything like that starts to happen. Why not just go on your spiritual journey instead of thinking of ways to pretend to have gone on one?”

“If I knew how to I would.”

Kitchi’s mother shakes her head with a grin. “No one knows how their spiritual journey will begin.” She looks back to Eleven and Maigan. “Perhaps you are the type that needs to alone for their journey to begin.” She gives Kane a pat on the back as she walks past them. “I’m going to go talk to your guards, feel free to slip away while they are distracted.”

Kane looks back to her very surprised to hear her say something like this, as from what he understands everyone in the tribe is cautious of him and doesn’t fully trust him. It does not make sense for one of them to want him to go around unguarded.

Just as she said she would Kitchi’s mother begins talking to both Eleven and Maigan, the two of them take they eyes off of Kane for a moment to listen to her, Kane grins as he gets to his feet and slips away as suggested. He makes his way through the village and out to the forests that surround it.

He lets out a deep sigh as he makes his way through the trees, it feels rather good to have a moment where his two guardians are not watching his every move. He looks around him as he continues walking, the cool air and quiet of the forest is very different from what he is used to, though relaxing for most people it wasn’t for him, as Kane found he is most relaxed and happy when working or reading through mission files.

The large tiger comes to a stop when he sees a deer staring at him through the trees, the animal has spotted him, it is not in a cautious stance and does not at all look alarmed. Kane stares back at it, the wild animals are always a reminder of how different it would be here among the wilds than it is with the domestics.

The deer quickly jumps back running off, Kane keeps his eyes on it as the wild animal quickly makes its way through the trees, his gaze on the animal stops when the animal runs near something, Kane’s eyes are now on that.

There alone in the forest is Iuana, kneeling on the ground with her eyes closed and her head turned toward the sky. Her mouth moving as she mutters something to herself.

Kane begins to approach her, curious to what she is doing here and to what is being said, what Iuana is saying soon becomes clear. “Be strong, be brave. Be strong, be brave. Be strong, be brave.”

Iuana stops her mumbling when she realizes that she is not alone, the pretty white wolf opens her eyes and looks back to the soldier that is standing behind her. “I did not expect to be interrupted.”

Kane shrugs his shoulders, not even sure of what Iuana is doing. “I didn’t know that you were in the middle of something.”

Iuana takes hold of a spear that is resting on the ground near her before getting to her feet and turning back to face him. “Where are Maigan and Eleven?”

“Not here, though I’m sure they’re already searching for me like diligent guards should.” He looks to the spear that Iuana is holding. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you do not trust me.”

Iuana looks to the spear she is holding. “This is not to ward you off.” She places both hands on it and she brings it forward, holding it out for him to see. “It is my father’s spear. I carry it with me because I miss and worry about him.”

Kane crosses his arms. “So then you trust me?”

She looks Kane over. “I know your objectives, that your former comrades have threatened to take your life and you have come to us, your enemy, to seek war and vengeance against them. So to answer your question, I know that you will not harm me, as doing so would make you lose any chance of revenge that you may have, but I also know that I cannot trust you, because you have sided with us for the wrong reasons.”

Kane shrugs his shoulders, supposing that Iuana may have a point. “So, do you normally come out here alone to talk to yourself?”

Iuana frowns at the comment. “I was not talking to myself, I was listening to the words of the spirits.” She looks out toward the trees. “They know that I am afraid, that I worry over Teddy and my father’s return, and that the task that my father has given to me to look over my tribe is a heavy burden that I do not feel ready for.

“They remind me of my place in life, that I have the blood of my father who lead and protected the tribe with all of his love and strength, that I am strong enough to lead as my father did.”

Kane nods his head. “That explains ‘be strong’ what about ‘be brave?”

Iuana lowers her head. “Teddy and my father are both gone, their fate unknown by anyone, I must not lose myself in worry over them, and if they by chance they do not return, I must not fall apart from lose.”

Iuana turns away from Kane as she continues further through the forest away from the village, still speaking to Kane she suspects that he would follow her. “My brother Yula told me that Teddy would become the Lightning Source. Do you know what that is?”

Kane shakes his head no as he begins to follow Iuana as expected. “I can’t say that I do.”

“The Lightning Source is one of the Six Sources. They are spirits of legend, more powerful than any and all other spirits and anything that exists, their strength and drive come from both power that is physical and power that is unseen, near everything that can be regarded as a source of power is governed by them. The fall and rise of all life, that is governed by them as well. Everything that exists both seen and unseen, everything is governed by them.”

Kane thinks this information over. “So they’re like gods then?”

“I suppose some may call them that, though me and my people do not. They are just spirits, and spirits are everywhere. Just as people are spirits are different from one another, some are weak and have little or no power to their name. Some are powerful, capable of great or terrible things. Some are hateful of the living and will try to trick you into taking your life, while others love those who are alive, and will nourish and cherish all things that have life.”

She looks back to Kane. “Even we have spirits, every single living thing does, every person, animal, tree and blade of grass.”

“That’s excessive.”

Iuana lets out a tired sigh. “I just finished explaining all of this to Teddy not so long ago, who thought I would have to do this again so soon?”

Kane hums to himself as he thinks over what Iuana had said. “So what does it mean when your brother says that your boyfriend will become the thunder spirit?”

Iuana corrects him, Kane had been a little bit off. “Lightning Source.”

“My mistake, Lightning Source. What does that mean?”

“I suppose that means that he will become like my father…” She lowers her head, having never considered before that Shiya’s unique gifts might be because he is a Source, her father was always so quiet when it came to the subject, Iuana had not come to realize until after Yula had spoken of his vision. “My father is the Ice Source…” Even when she said it this was hard for her to believe, not only was her father so kind and docile, but never until now has she ever heard stories of these powerful spirits having any kind of physical form, especially one that was mortal.

“For spirits such as the Six Sources to exist in such a form… it is not natural… nothing good will come of this transformation. I fear that the vision my brother saw of the end of the world will come to pass… how could anyone stop such a thing?”

Kane seems curious about this, having never heard of this until now. “The end of the world?”

Maigan’s voice calls out interrupting the conversation between the two of them. “Iuana!! Are you alright!?” He runs past Kane positioning himself between him and Iuana. “He was not doing anything to bother you was he?”

Iuana shakes her head. “No, he wasn’t doing anything wrong. Just asking me about spirits.” She looks from Maigan and back to Kane. “It looks as if your guardians are back.”

Eleven runs up next to Iuana, fixing Kane with a glare before looking to the chieftain’s daughter. “I’m sorry about this, our eyes were only off of him for a moment. We will not let it happen again.”

Iuana looks to Eleven, assuring her that there is nothing for her to be concerned over. “It’s fine, we were talking about spirits.”

Kane nods his head as he responds in a smug tone of voice. “Is that not what your crazy shaman asked me to do? Seek spiritual enlightenment.”

Maigan lets out a deep growl as he takes a threatening step towards Kane. “I doubt that’s your reason for coming this way.”

Iuana raises her voice above Maigan’s growling. “That’s enough Maigan! I will not have you threatening others over your own blind accusations. I have told you that he has done nothing wrong, my word alone should be enough.”

Maigan quickly turns back to Iuana to apologize. “I’m sorry Iuana, I meant no disrespect to you, but Kane should not be approaching you when you are unguarded like this! What reason would he have to come seeking you?”

Kane rolls his eyes. “I didn’t come here seeking her out, I caught sight of her out of the corner of my eye. Next time I’ll ask the deer I spooked to go running off in a different direction!”

Maigan seems a little confused by this. “Deer?”

Kane nods his head. “You should know what that is, it would be very upsetting if a Domestic had to explain to a Wild what a deer is.”

Eleven speaks up, informing Kane of exactly why Maigan might find this peculiar. “We are on an island surrounded by ice cold water. There are no deer here, there never have been.”

A looks of confusion fills Kane’s face. “That’s not possible, I know what I saw.”

Maigan doesn’t think this to be all that complicated at all. “You saw nothing! You’re just making up a lie to make us think you have no ulterior motive.”

Kane shakes his head. “No! That’s not it at all… I saw one…” He seems a little unsure, as the possibility of seeing one should be impossible. “I know I did…”

*******

Ember slowly and quietly closes the door to her room before walking over to the room that her younger sister is playing on the floor of, her mother looks over from the kitchen as she calls out to her. “Where’s Fenrir?”

Ember holds her arms crossed as she motions back towards the room with her head. “He’s sleeping.”

“Poor thing, he’s always so drained when he get time off. I wonder what his father has him doing this time.”

Ember shrugs her shoulders as she kneels down looking over the toys her younger sister is playing with, her attention taken when the door to the house opens and a man comes in, he looks over to Ember and questions her. “There’s an extra hand in the yard and no Wild with a broken collar for me to fix. Is this your doing?”

Ember frowns as she looks over to him. “Yeah Dad that was me.” She begins to explain her actions. “The collar was hurting him bad, it wouldn’t stop shocking him, you weren’t gonna get here for another couple hours so I took care of it myself.”

Her father argues back with her not pleased to hear that she had tampered with it. “Ninety percent of the time the collar’s break is because the subject they are on tried to remove them. Him getting shocked like that is his own fault, maybe next time he’ll know better than to try and remove it.”

Ember gets to her feet as she begins to argue with her father. “That’s only ninety percent of the time! What about the ten percent that don’t try to remove it and are getting hurt for no reason!?”

Ember’s mother looks back to the two of them. “Please don’t argue with your father Ember. How are you supposed to continue on his family business if you can’t keep from yelling at him as soon as you see him?”

Ember holds her hand to her chest as she defends herself. “I don’t yell at him every time I see him!!”

Lilly holds her finger to her lips as she gives her family a loud shush, everyone turns towards her as the little girls speaks to them with a quiet tone to her voice and a frown on her face. “Be quiet! Fenrir is sleeping!”

Ember’s father lets out a grunt. “Fenrir’s here? I think I like him the least out of the boys you’ve introduced me to.”

Ember lets out a groan as she turns back to her father. “You never like any of the guys I date!”

Ember’s mother joins the conversation, sticking up for the current boyfriend that her daughter has managed to catch. “Well I think he’s sweet dear, and a Soldier too.” She looks to her husband talking in a low voice so that her teenage daughter wouldn’t overhear her. “Maybe he can help straighten her out and she’ll stop hanging out with the wrong crowds of people.”

“I heard that mom!”

Lilly also joins the conversation. “I like his fluffy tail!! It’s super cute!!”

Ember’s father shakes his head dropping the topic as he looks back to Ember, getting back to the reason the two had been arguing over before Lilly’s interruption. “Don’t touch those collars without my permission and supervision. These things are dangerous! Do one little thing wrong and it could kill you!”

Ember places her hand on her hips as she looks to the side. “And even though they’re that dangerous you’re still clamping them around the necks of Wilds…”

“Don’t act like I’m the one that invented them. If you can think of a better more effective way to keep them under control than by all means share it with the rest of us. Until then stop whining and do what you have to.”

Ember’s mother chimes in from the kitchen. “Listen to your father dear, he only wants what’s best for you.”

Ember cringes, though her mother is probably right it is still something that she hates hearing over and over and over again. She refrains from saying anything in response though, as she does not want to be hushed by her little sister again for making noise that might wake her boyfriend up.

Her father turns to leave the house. “Well if there’s no collar for me to fix here then there’s no reason for me to be here, because of a certain someone that would rather be rebellious and get in trouble I have twice as much work to do back at the shop.”

Ember crosses her arms as she watches him leave. “You know electric collars can get really boring when you’ve been working on them all day, you can’t blame me for tinkering around the shop.”

“I can blame you for ‘tinkering’ together an explosive and almost blowing up my shop.”

“Your shop was never in danger! I knew what I was doing!! That bomb wasn’t gonna go off for no reason!”

“I should have you replaced after pulling that stunt!”

“Good luck trying!! You’ll never find anyone better than me at that stupid job and you know it! Plus you’ll never find anyone stupid enough to work for someone like you!”

Lilly gets to her feet, the little girl’s hands are balled up into tight little fists, her face red and puffed. “Be quiet!! Fenrir is sleeping!!”

Ember quickly stops talking, had been so worked up that she had forgotten again, her father just shakes his head as he turns to leave.

Ember’s mother looks over to her. “You should just get it over with and apologize to your father so you can get back to work, you’ve been lounging about at home for over a month now, with all the work the business is losing we’re having a lot of trouble making our payments on time.”

Ember looks back to her mom, there’s nothing to apologize for. “I wasn’t going to do anything with the bomb! I was just seeing if I could do it. I was going to take it apart right after.”

“Honestly, what would a pretty girl like you be making bombs for?”

Ember looks to the side, most of the explosives that the resistance have been using recently have been her handiwork. “I duno…” She looks down toward the folded paper that she is holding, now remembering why she had come out of the room. “Oh, that’s right, I have to go meet up with someone.”

“Right now? When Fenrir’s over?”

Ember nods her head. “I’ll be quick about it, besides he’s not going to notice he’s taking a nap anyway.”

“Honestly… you always manage to tire him out.”

“Don’t… make comments like that when Dad’s around… he’ll hang me.”

Lilly watches Ember leave, looking to her mother and questioning her. “Why is Ember so angry at daddy all the time?”

Her mother sighs as she looks back to Lilly, her older daughter has been reckless and acting out like this a little over a year now. “Oh it’s grown up business, you wouldn’t understand it.”

*******

Ember quickly makes her way through the filthy and narrow streets, her home is on the side of the city that not many like to go visit, as they are near the fenced in farms and housings of the Wilds the True Bloods use for manual labor and cultivating their food.

Ember walks up to the gate of a large fenced in area, she waves to the guard in the guard tower who upon recognizing her opens the gate to let her inside.

The area is bright and hot from the large lights that hand from the ceiling that are used to mimic the sunlight from outside to help the plants that are grown in these fields survive underground.

Tending to the fields and plants are many Wilds, each one with an electric collar around their neck. Some of them glance at her when she passes by them, but none of them stop their work.

Among each group of wilds is a True Blood, a caretaker to look after them to make sure the Wilds are healthy and to make sure they are doing their work, Ember walks up to one such caretaker and hands him the paper that Fenrir has drawn out for her. “I need you to show this to Blue. Fenrir says that the military has a Super Soldier and the Lightning Source waiting to be taken out of the True-Blood Military’s hands. He wants a decision on this, and if the decision is yes he needs to know the plan as soon as possible. This is an objective that is best done as quickly as possible, before the military is able to use the Source as a weapon.”

“I’ll make sure he gets the message. ‘For a free and open world.”

Ember nods her head before turning to leave. “For a free and open world.”

*******

Eleven and Maigan give one another unsure glances as they watch Kane search the forest floor, he has been at this for several hours now as he searches for any traces that may have been left behind by the animal, he is not able to find a single hoof print or trace of it.

Maigan speaks up, this search is pointless. “You’re not going to find anything. It’s like we said, there are no animals here.”

Kane shakes his head no, knowing what it is he had seen. “There’s at least one here. I know that I saw it!”

Eleven shrugs her shoulders. “Perhaps you were mistaken.”

“I was not mistaken!” He continues his search. “This was not the first time I saw it. It was near the village yesterday as well.”

Maigan raises an eyebrow. “An animal that cautious would not come close enough to the village to be seen from it.”

Kane clenches his hands into fists, this animal had to be real, if it wasn’t then that would mean that he is seeing things, but he refuses to believe that to be the case. “It’s around here somewhere, and I’m going to find it.”

Eleven shakes her head while Maigan lets out a tried sigh, the two of them know that Kane is not going to find anything no matter how long he searches.

*******

Teddy pulls uncomfortably at the metal collar around his neck, it is the only thing he has on as he now sits within a glass canister inside of a machine in the center of a room filled with scientists and computers. One of the scientists working with him notices this action and quickly gives him a warning. “Don’t do that, that thing is not friendly when it thinks it’s being tampered with.”

Teddy stops as he leans back against the glass enclosure that he is in. “It’s itchy.”

The scientist again gives him the warning. “Don’t touch it.”

Rebecca, the woman in charge of this research as well as Fenrir’s father and Commander General Zephyr’s wife looks over to the man that had spoken up. “He may not have anything to worry about, as the Lightning Source he may not even feel the shock that will emanate from that collar.”

Teddy seems annoyed to hear this. “Then why am I still wearing it?”

“For tracking and identification purposes of course.”

There is a flicker from the lights as one of the computer’s lets out a spark and shuts down, the scientist that was working at it letting out a frustrated groan. “Not again!”

Teddy looks toward him, though he is not sure how he knows by now that any problems that are electricity related are most likely caused by him. “Sorry.”

Rebecca silently reads over several screens of information that are being displayed to her. “We’re doing something wrong… the records I read through concerning the studies on the other Sources when introduced and successfully merged with a host stated that the Source should be dormant by now. We should be past the stage of these energy spikes.”

She looks back to Teddy this situation very problematic. “We can’t move forward until these stop.”

Teddy shrugs his shoulders there is nothing he can do about them when he doesn’t even know how it is he is doing them, Rebecca turns from him and looks over to another of her coworkers as she continues explaining. “We can’t risk losing this one to a sudden outburst of uncontrolled power like we did the other five.”

Teddy begins to question her, this is not the first time she has brought this concern up. “Who were the other five?”

The woman doesn’t stop working. “Now is not the time for stories.”

Teddy continues to question her despite the refusal to answer he had received. “Who was the first one to escape?”

Commander General Zephyr’s voice rises to answer the questions that Teddy has been asking, he enters the room to see how the project is proceeding. “A snow wolf named Shiya was the first to successfully host a Source, his was Ice. After that a leopard by the name of Shanira became host of the Fire Source, then a wolverine named Carla became the host of the Earth Source, next was Wind, who found its host within a male fox who was one of our un-named workers, followed shortly by Water, who also took an un-named worker as its host, I believe she was a pony or horse of some sort.”

Rebecca looks back to her husband, Zephyr turns her attention back to her work. “Keep working, I can deal with his questions so that he doesn’t interrupt you.”

He looks back to Teddy continuing on, now answering Teddy’s question on who had escaped. “Wind was the one to escape first, records state that we only had him for a few hours before he got away. Wind though was different than the other four, as the Source did not go dormant within its host like all the others before it did. From what I understand it was a very horrible and blood filled day for us. After that he went after the Water source, got her out only days after he had escaped.”

Teddy continues to question him, taking advantage of this opportunity that Zephyr is giving him to have his questions answered. “What about the other Sources? How did they escape?”

Rebecca sighs as she looks back to her husband. “You don’t have to answer, he’s only looking for a way to get himself out.”

The Commander General looks back to her. “Even if he does have this information it will do very little to help him escape, we learn from our mistakes, and will not allow the probems that happened in the past to be repeated.”

He looks back to Teddy, amusing him with an answer to his question. “Human error can be blamed for the Fire Source’s escape. Protocol was not followed as it should have been, and that carelessness ended up destroying the facility she was being held in and everything within a hundred miles, there was absolutely nothing left. When we were able to enter the area again the Source has taken the opportunity to escape and was long gone.

“Soon after that there was an incident in the facility the Ice Source was being kept in, there are written records of the Source growing unstable and starting to take over the host, before anything could be done about it the Source had a sudden surge of power that made it go out of control, destroying the facility and the city it was based in. We were able to capture and contain the Source once again but the transport carrying the Ice Source to the next facility was attacked by the Fire and Wind Sources, and the Ice Source disappeared during that mess.”

Teddy begins to question him again when the Commander General falls quiet, it sounds like he has finished his explanation, one of the sources though having been left out. “What about Earth?”

Zephyr looks back to Teddy. “The host of the Earth Source died when under the True-Blood’s care.”

Teddy is surprised to hear this. “Died? How what happened?”

“Poorly executed disciplinary practice.”

Teddy is not happy to hear this at all. “You guys killed the Earth Source!?”

Zephyr nods his head. “You have to understand, our means of confinement and control were much more… barbaric in the past. You should feel yourself lucky that you only have that collar on you and not a muzzle and a mountain’s worth of chains, I assure you getting a shock sent through your body is much easier to deal with than the means that were practiced when it came to correction and discipline in the past.”

Zephyr thinks back to the files he had read on it. “Carla was a very frail creature, they should have known that she wouldn’t have been able to endure that kind of abuse. It was a mess when she died… all that power she contained went out of control and we lost the facility, and because the Source was connected to its host we almost lost it too, as it could no longer return to its previous form after being connected with a host body. Do you have any idea what would have happened if the Earth Source were to die? There would be an imbalance in nature that would have led to the world’s end.”

Teddy seems confused. “If she died… then why didn’t that happen? Why didn’t the world end?”

“It’s assumed that is because the Earth Source managed to find a new host shorty before its current one died. Carla had a son named Ebon, whom was always kept close by for control purposes, when the military searched through what was left of the facility his body was never recovered. It is the assumption that he is now playing host to the Earth Source.”

Teddy thinks this over while mumbling under his breath. “Ebon Dmitri…”

Zephyr notices the uncertain look on Teddy’s face. “If you’re worried that we’re going to kill you let me assure you that you are in no danger of dying. We learn from our mistakes and will treat you with much more care then our ancestors did the other five sources.”

“That’s not what I was concerned about, but thanks for letting me know anyway.”

There is a spark as another set of computers are overloaded with a surge of power. Teddy sighes as he looks in their direction. “You know I’m really not taking out your computers like that on purpose.”

Zephyr stares at Teddy, now beginning to question him. “You know what these machines are?”

Teddy nods his head, not seeing how you couldn’t. “Yeah, they’re computers. They display information on monitors for you to read, though I mostly used them to play games on them… or more so fail at playing games on them because Yula was impossible to beat.”

“You seem surprisingly knowledgeable for a Wild.”

“That would be because I’m not a Wild, I’m a Domestic.”

Zephyr seems surprised to hear this. “You don’t look like a Domestic, and you were dressed as and found among Wilds where you were brought in.”

“My parents are Wilds that’s where I get my looks from. They converted to Domestics when their tribe broke up. I was born and raised I the city, I’ve always been a registered Domestic.” He shifts in his spot. “And for why I was with the Wilds when you found me, I left the Domestics to join them, I guess you could say I felt more at home there.”

The Commander General continues to question him, he finds Teddy to be rather interesting now. “Where did you get that scar over your eye?”

Teddy turns back to Zephyr as he answers. “I was wounded on the field back when I used to be a Soldier for the Domestic Military.”

“Not only a Domestic but a Soldier no less, I did not know that Domestics let Wilds into their military.”

Teddy frowns as he corrects him. “I’m a registered Domestic with Wild lineage.”

“Any more interesting things I don’t know about you?”

“I’m also a twin, is that interesting enough for you?”

“I never would have guessed.” Zephyr frowns as he turns away from him. “Though I’m sure that my knowledge of you will increase. You’ll be spending a very long time here after all.”

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Raven Wolf - 05 - The Abandoned - Chapter 05

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