| Garret, or the man that used to be known as Garret, lay face down in the grass, the smoking remains of three Bees laying in front of him. Exhausted from the first time magical effort, Garret slept for what seemed like days. When he awoke, his body ached still, and he found that he would be in danger if he slept out here in the open. Moving to the nearby sanctuary of an agricultural dome, Garret fell to the ground once more. Again, he didn't know how long he slept for, but this time, instead of coming naturally awake, he was woken by a piercing screech in his head. As he got to his feet, grabbing his head in pain, the screech lessened until it became an audible voice, seeming to come from nowhere and yet everywhere at once. "The trail! Get to the trail!" Although the volume had lowered, the voice was clearly screaming at the top of its lung, shrieking, it seemed, with rage. Shivering with fear, he turned from his hidey-hole to see a pair coming up the trail. They seemed like a normal couple, although they were bedecked in battle gear. The blue-haired male carried a knife, while the woman, whose ears seemed strangely out of shape weilded a pair of steel bars. Unarmed and exhausted as he was, Garret feared them almost as much as he feared the voice in his head. Wracked with indecision, he let the pair pass him by. Suddenly, the voice screamed even louder at him and he passed out from the pain. Garret slowly came to hours later, surprised to find himself lying naked in the grass. He also sensed the slightest buzzing in his head. The buzzing quickly rose in intensity, until the voice from before filled his head again. It was a deep, booming voice, and its tone was calm and threatening now. "You see? What I have given you, I can take away, Zio." Garret looked around fearfully, before muttering. "Where are you, and who are you talking to? My name is... I'm not sure what my name is..." "Your name is Zio, and you are my... Pet. You shall revere me, and if you serve me well, I shall reward you..." Suddenly, Garret/Zio's black armour returned, covering his body like a second skin. It felt so right after the coldness of nudity, that Garret hugged the armour to him without hesitation. "But fail me, as you just have, Zio, and..." Suddenly, the voice was lost as it rose to a screech, driving Zio down to his knees in pain. "You see, Zio, who you are dealing with? I am your master now, and you are my pet magician - you hear me?" The voice boomed in his head. "But, but who are you?" Zio gasped, his now long black hair falling over his face as he doubled over in pain. "That is none of your concern." Said the voice, before Zio blacked out again. Urgh, I'm getting tired of this, thought Zio as he awoke from the darkness once more. The cold sweat of fear covered him, and he even began to shake as he recognised the mild buzzing that meant that whatever it was that spoke to him was present. In his head. The fear of what the voice could do to him chilled Zio to the bone. Putting a hand to his aching head, he spoke aloud; "What do you wish of me, master?" The voice was barely a contented murmur as it spoke; "Ahhh, that's better. "I want you, Zio, to travel to the Biosystems lab; I will guide you there. Those two that you failed to stop earlier are on their way there to ruin my plans, and you know what that means?" Zio almost didn't respond. As the buzzing grew in intensity, he quickly replied. "It means I have to stop them at all costs, Master!" The buzzing reduced to its ordinary level, but not before Zio could mutter; "But you didn't tell me to stop them, before." The pain returned in an instant, felling Zio. Gasping as the screeching refused to let up, Zio tried to struggle to his feet, but failed every time. Suddenly, through the screeching, the voice returned. "HOW DARE YOU QUESTION ME! YOU ARE NOTHING, AND I AM EVERYTHING! I am the darkness, the light, the pain, the fear, the death - I am Dark Falz, and I am your ruler!" Already on his knees, Zio assumed a begging position. "Yes, master, no master, whatever you say, master." The buzzing receded, but the cold fear gripping Zio's heart did not lessen one iota. Rising shakily to his feet, Zio once again struck out in a north-easterly direction, his swimming head making his walk a slow, and stuttered one. His speed did not improve over his travels, and the constant threat of biomonsters attacking slowed him even further, so by the time he reached his goal of the Biosystems lab, Zio's dark master was berating him constantly, causing Zio to become more and more cowed by his "ruler". As he came into sight of the tall building, he could not recall ever being so frightened, so depressed in all his life. Considering that his memory stretched back only days, that was no surprise. Entering the labyrinthine complex, Zio knew almost immeadiately that he was too late. Expecting to see some trace of his quarry, all the Black Magician found was row after row of glass capsules, housing biomonsters of all shapes and sizes. As he walked amongst them, a strange electrical hum was the only sound that he registered besides the ringing of his own boots on the steel floor. Zio was suddenly startled by a bubbling noise erupting suddenly from one of the canisters. He realised that while some of these creatures were still in a larval stage, some of them were fully grown, just waiting to be released. Not wanting to wake the sleeping monsters, Zio trod carefully. Although Zio's memory of his life at Garret had been erased, his morals and emotions hadn't. These were necessary to Dark Force to instil fear and respect in his "pet". However, seeing row after row of manufactured monstrosities, some of which had already been released from their capsules, and lay dead on the floor, filled Zio with revulsion. He couldn't imagine how or why anyone would release these creatures upon the world; although none of the creatures had been released to attack Zio, the biomonsters he had encountered on the way filled him with fear for their slumbering brethren. As Zio walked, the electrical hum became louder, until it drowned out even the echo of his footsteps. Rounding a corner, Zio came face to face with the Biosystems Lab's mainframe. A bank of monitors shone down at him, some showing surveillance pictures from around the lab, others showing technical readouts which were moving too fast for Zio to read, much less understand. Exhauseted from his travels, Zio slumped down in a control chair in front of the monitors, resting his arms on the keyboards on the arms of the chair. Suddenly, the centre screen blacked out for a moment, as the speakers around the mainframe suddenly crackled into life. Sparks flying from the speakers told Zio that they wouldn't be able to output the sound they were attempting to, as the sound of static filled his ears. Considering that some of the monitors were also smashed, he reasoned that perhaps a biomonster had been let loose and had done this damage. His attention turned back to the the centre screen as an image appeared on it. 5 men, dressed in white coats, faced a capsule much like the ones Zio had seen, however this one contained what looked to Zio like a Palman female; floating in the capsules liquid, her nudity was only concealed by the heads of the men in front of her, who seemed to be constantly marking things down in various notebooks. Zio didn't care about these side matters though, as he stared silently at the Palman's face... Never had he seen such beauty. Just as the first smile Zio could remember began to creep across his face, the scene changed. This time, the woman was laying flat on a table, her purple hair sprayed out around her, framing her face perfectly; at least to Zio's eyes. Slowly, the camera panned down, to show the woman covered by a white sheet. As it moved further down, Zio saw bright red stains spread across the sheet, the men in white coats reappearing from the darkness around the table, their clothes stained red also. Just as a large drill type machine descended from off camera, Zio's ears were filled with the buzzing that indicated Dark Force's displeasure. The world went black as the pain in Zio's head increased; suddenly, his armour began to tighten around him, cutting off his air supply. He slumped to the floor, writhing in pain. The buzzing receded, but the constricting of his armour did not as Dark Force's voice filled his mind. "How DARE YOU! YOU HAVE FAILED ME AGAIN, ZIO!" Zio tried to scream, to apologise, but no words would come. Suddenly, Dark Force's voice dropped to a soothing tone. "And what do I find you doing? Watching television? YOU WORM! NEVER FORGET THAT YOU ARE MINE NOW!" As Dark Force's voice dropped away, a trickle of blood creeped from the corner of Zio's mouth, dripping on to the floor slowly. Although Zio couldn't hear it for the ringing in his ears, the speakers suddenly crackled into life, although the video had long since stopped playing. "...Although the prototype grew to full maturity within a year, the rigors of constant testing means that she often has to return to her capsule to heal. Despite this, we are quite pleased with the results and are willing to proceed with the first of our "humans who are not human"...." As Zio blacked out, he thought he saw the men in white coats appear around him, but he couldn't be sure... |