Stage 01

Every time I go to sleep I am thrown into the same place. The same dream ... the same memory.
The very memory I pray to forget every morning as it follows me.
It haunts me even in my waking hours, even as I tend to my daily duties.
This planet, this memory ... this heart of mine; It will not let me forget.

The world was dark, void save for the constant noise of pumping in his ears from his own blood. He felt weak, drugged, and as if he were slipping in and out of consciousness. Indeed, he was. Falling, collapsing into this emptiness that had been thrust upon him yet again. The man in question was in his late twenties, 28 to be precise and pushing 29. He was lying flat on a bed in the middle of a small room; machines were running, lines of tubing attached to his body which was strapped down as if he were a mental patient. The sound of sirens had filled the room nearly 30 minutes before and he'd paid no mind as this place, this facility of which he'd been kidnapped to, was constantly noisy. Something however, pressing the 40 minute mark of his solitude, was strange and caused the young man to stir - to push against the binding confining him. Something was wrong, something in his gut was telling him so, and it was insane to think otherwise to be honest.

The light glow of a red light that was constantly flashing revealed the features of the man regularly, his eyes now open and clearly trying to focus on something - anything - in the room that would break him of his haze. He was attractive, at least what one could see of him with the strange lighting, and was large. He was clearly well over 6 foot 3 and of a medium, sturdy, build with defined muscular structure; almost as defined as the tone beneath his skin were the scars that littered his chest, back, and forearms. His hair was shaggy, cut as if it had been razor-ed simply to try to keep it tame, and came to the base of his neck; his bangs were wild and the brown color suited his tanned skin tone. Little did one know, but the eyes searching desperately were of a deep, chocolate, brown and were severely troubled. Yet again he forced upwards, against the machines and wrappings holding him down.

To his pleasure he heard a light pop ... the seams of one of the straps holding his shoulders had started to give way.

This man was no mere man. He was a weapon, genetically altered and bred in a facility much like this one many years ago when he was a child. The very facility where he fled and where his story began; the very facility where his memory began to haunt him. Where regret and guilt began to alter his reality and change the way he associated with any but his adoptive Father. Leon, this was his name. Leon Dwyer. The favorite of the terrible witch Elaina whom stole children for her experimentation in the middle of the night. Who altered their genetic code with that of demons - the servants of the Goddess Avyanna - to make an army to rise against the very deity whom created she and this planet.

Leo. The demon child who rebelled, who fled and promised to return and rip the redheaded woman's heart out and force it down her throat. To make her pay for all the suffering she had caused not only he, not only the children, not only this world ... but his family. Those he held dear. Those who came before him. He was no martyr, no chosen hero to save humanity ...

He was simply a man out for redemption. For vengeance. For justice.

Finally, one strap relented and the male with the strength to punch straight through a man's skull lifted from the uncomfortable bedding lightly. His shoulders arched and forced against the remaining bonds holding him and grunted as another frayed and broke at last. He had to go - he had to get up. He had to get out of this place again and find them, find his family.

Find his Fathers. Find his siblings. ... Find his light.

Finally, hands freed, he yanked at the tubing in his mouth and nearly vomited as he pulled the breathing tube he'd been fitted with. Next came the various IVs that led to four bags hanging filled with blood. The type? He knew all too well. He'd been experimented upon again, poked and prodded and pumped full of more demon blood. Hell, was he even part human anymore? He doubted it - not with what that woman was planning. Alas, that was fine ... the stronger he was the easier it would be to rip her skull from her shoulders. At last Leo stood, legs shaky and breathing heavy as it adjusted from the pure oxygen to the thick air in his cell. Yes, even a room here was a cell to this man; even a room with a door he could easily open and walk down the dim hallway from.

Which is just as he did, falling against the wall almost instantly from fatigue. He still felt tired, sore, foggy; they'd prodded inside more as the bandages around his back and abdomen suggested. S**t, what had they done to him this time? Coughing the brunette stumbled around a corner, eyes fixed on the end of a new hallway where his gut was leading him. He was sure he had heard his name called from here; certain he'd heard a voice he loved down this way. Mustering his voice with another cough his usual baritone, cautious tone escaped in a weak plea, "Sara?!" The name echoed down the hall and bounced off of the empty halls, leaving him to listen in silent anxiety. Where was she? He knew they were here - he could smell them all.

Hell, even his adoptive Fathers: Cael and Vincent, were here. Raid. Charlotte. Astra ... even Zane. She was here, she had to be here as there wasn't a way she would avoid being here. Sara, the woman whom he was desperately searching for now most likely brought them all here. She probably forced the rebel organization they all were a part of, that Raid led, to act and attack the large facility in the middle of the Egoist desert where he'd been taken.

Leon neared the end of the hallway and a shrill sound caught his ears, something that forced his weakened body to break into a run. Suddenly he found himself bursting through a large door and thrown out onto a high platform, thrust into a railing on which he barely caught himself to keep from plummeting to the ground below. Taking a moment for his eyes to adjust to the sudden light, bright from large windows on the ceiling of the massive hanger he'd found himself within.

"I'll be damned ... if it isn't the star of the hour."

"Leo!"

The latter voice he recognized instantly, much like the shrill panic and concern that resounded in the young woman's tone. The first voice however took him a moment to register, took his mind a moment to wrap around as
it was a terrifying sound. Instantly the brown eyes shot down below him to two figures, both with the same ballerina like build; both were beautiful and had long hair that reached to their mid backs. Both were covered in blood and panting, however one held black hair and beautiful green eyes while the other held platinum blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. The blonde was whom Leon focused on, terror shooting into his expression along with disbelief. His voice came suddenly in a low whisper, "Lilly ... "

The woman he grew up with in that facility many years ago, the woman he cared deeply for ... the woman whom he'd punched through and ripped her beating heart from her chest in an induced rage. The woman he'd killed when he was barely a boy. How? Why? "Sara ... what is this?"

"S**t ... I was hoping to have her out of the picture before you found her." The blackette spoke softly, green eyes focused on the blonde whom had begun circling her again. They'd been at it for nearly 20 minutes and both were fatigued from blood loss; yet Lilly was like Leo. She was a half-demon breed and far stronger than a human - she'd been toying this whole time most likely. It was a flash, a mere second, when the blonde darted forward and sent the short sword she brandished towards her opponent. Sara grit her teeth and retaliated by shoving the bladed knuckles she'd been fighting with deep into the woman's abdomen. Both were pierced in their torsos, both were filled with a spark of pain.

Lilly laughed, pulling away to lock her eyes upwards and stumble backwards with her withdrawn weapon, "Just in time to watch the one you care for most die .. again."

Something that was mimicked by the man gazing down above them, followed by terror, "Sara!" Without thinking he started fumbling down the winding stairwell as fast as his shaking legs could carry him. "I'll f*****g kill you again!" Rage had laced in his words as he focused on the blackette, watching her stumble backwards clutching her impaled stomach.

"In time to watch you die, actually ..."

Lilly let out a cackle, "Please, I'm no human you swine ... I don't ..." As if a switch had been flipped her voice caught in her throat, blue eyes flooding downward towards the double impalement in her own torso. What? Burning, her internals were starting to burn with a fire that caused her vision to blur. "You b***h, what did you do?!" Stumbling lightly the blonde wrenched her gaze to the young woman whom was lovely even covered in blood; she was barely 22 and here she was in this type of situation. In response Sara laughed, pleased with herself, "Poison. You can't regenerate what is destroyed on the cellular level ... b***h."

Her family, massacred, was a clan known as Lotus. They were assassins, historians, poison masters, and many more things that they dared not speak of. Sara Lotus was the last of her kin, and here she was falling to her knees, "Go die." The poison she'd used was specific, deadly to the level that it was forbidden in her clan. It had a reputation of killing those whom attempted to use it as well as their victims.

Lilly let out a muffled grunt, arms clenched around her stomach in agony as she fell to her knees writhed in pain. She felt as if she were being pumped with acid, her blood was circulating the deadly concoction and by this time it had reached her heart. It felt as if it would explode.

Leon had reached the bottom of the hanger, already running forwards and falling to slide into the young woman whom he'd been searching for. Instantly the green eyes he'd become familiar with over the course of a year locked with his own, her head falling to rest against his shoulder. "Damn it Sara why the hell would you engage her?! You know what she f*****g is!" Feeling a small laugh shake the blackette's form caught the man off guard. Then again the words that followed were much like a punch in his own gut, the tender hand that had placed itself against his cheek causing a shiver to reverberate down his spine.

"I couldn't let you see her ... she's hurt you enough, dummy ... " Sara laughed lightly again, taking a deep breath. She was trying to make him laugh, to ease his worry ... to ignore the blood spilling from her chest cavity and lack of feeling in her legs. Her world was spinning, she felt her hand starting to fall and instantly forced it to hook on the back of the man's neck. "Her death ... it's no longer on your hands."

The last words that slipped from the young woman's mouth caused another shiver to slip down his spine; this was one of relief, of sadness ... of worry. Leon leaned forward, pressing his forehead against that of the weakening young woman; he felt her blood spilling, felt her breathing going ragged. He knew better than to say something foolish, something that would cause her pain, "You fool ... why would you put yourself in such peril? You're supposed to let me do the fighting. Let me protect you." His fingers had locked into the messy black locks, eyes closing a moment to force a wave of something down - something very unfamiliar to him. At least something that had left him alone for many years. "We can get you to Astra ... she can ..." his voice was silenced by a coughing fit belonging to the woman in his arms. Partially he was thankful for his voice sounded weak, as if he were begging to try to convince himself of such a miracle.

Sara smiled, her breath dragging out harshly, "Promise me ... promise you'll live." She felt herself falling away, and lifted her hand to extend her pinky. It was reminiscent of a memory, of a gesture the two had made upon them parting several months before to prepare for the raid that had led to Leon's capture. To when they separated in the mountains of Akeno. It was something that caused Leo to shudder and press his head against the dying woman's harder. His other hand reached out, pinky looping with her shaking one, "Promise ..." Yet again his voice was hollow and clearly engulfed by a churning ocean of tears.

"Leon ..." The 22 year old was silenced, a rough pair of lips catching her words as if he already knew.

The hand that had wrapped itself with the young man's fell limp, and as if a tsunami broke the tears flooded outwards and were followed by a deep scream of agony and loss. The sound was deafening, something that shook the panes of glass above that allowed the sunlight inside of the hanger. It was the sound of an enraged, broken, animal; an animal that was lost and aching. A man, once lonely, whom had suddenly had the star he'd been following stolen forever.

There ... right there. When he was screaming, writhing in agony with tears spilling over his face. Cursing the name of Elaina, of Lilly, of his breaking heart that had been swollen with a tender love ... That is precisely where he woke: every morning.

Leon gazed upwards from his makeshift bed of dew covered grass to the fading sky and stars that twinkled as if they were trying to reassure him, to comfort him. His dark eyes watched the rings that had formed around the planet nearly 15 years ago - one of the moons that had once orbited very close was destroyed by the Goddess and took on the form of them. It was a sign, a promise, that the world would heal and the chaos which had taken hold of it was over. It was the sign that he was done fighting all those years ago ... that he could rest. Years? My it had been a while, nearly 15 hadn't it?

Yet here he was, never aging and looking just as he did the day his world changed to a dull gray; he had been altered again that day. Blended with the genetic coding of the witch herself and gone from a mere weapon to a full demon spawn and turned immortal. Fate was funny, for it seemed he was destined to spend immortality with Cael. Cael, the Drake whom was as old as the planet itself; the Fire beast who reigned over nearly five countries since the other three elemental dragons had fallen. One of old age, one of betrayal, one whom he'd killed for the stated betrayal ... and through this sadness and ruin had been given new life. For Cael had found a daughter he never knew he'd had, and Leon a little sister thanks to his Father.

Yes, his adoptive Fathers were a Drake and a bisexual sniper whom was stolen from them both from cancer nearly ten years ago. Vincent, the lively dirty blonde whom had bewitched the male drake and lead him away from his fiance in the city of Akeno many years ago.

Leon shuddered, rolling to his side as he thought of the face of the man who found him wandering in the deserts after he'd escaped the LIFE facility when he was a young boy. The man whom raised him and taught him things not only about life but the world, honor, integrity ... love. Clutching at the ground below him the brunette finally allowed his eyes to flood to the giant cherry blossom tree which grew in a large open courtyard between his home and the bar - Sith - he owned and ran. It was the link between the two, walled in and without a roof ... it was the place they had been buried and where he slept night after night as if something would happen.

Where he lay, just to his left was where she'd been laid to rest; where the tree could use her to bring forth new life. Sara was a Terrist and believed in nature and the natural order; she wished to be buried with a tree so she could give it life with her decaying body. It was something she'd whispered in his ear as they'd laid under these very stars, even though they were now fading to day, in Jelena. On the other side, buried as if with watchful eyes over his home was Vincent; he was buried such so that he could kill any who dared his son harm. This, confided to only Cael - his husband, was so he could watch over his child even after death.

Leo allowed a sigh to escape, the sun starting to break over the horizon and cast the sky into a beautiful array of colors. Yes, this man still looked the same save for the five o'clock shadow that covered his face ... yet he was more a loner now than he had ever been before. Less talkative as well, not that he'd been much of a talker to begin with. As if a wake up call the sound of shifting grass caught his attention and forced his gaze upwards towards his bar.

Zane, once one of the two remaining Summoners on the planet, was approaching. He had been there fighting all those years ago and had been one of the reasons he'd had the opportunity to defeat Elaina. However, the boy had suffered and been cursed with a mild insanity from mentally linking with the demonic witch; to not only disable her actions but to protect the other summoner, his now wife, Astra. Zane paused to look over the rousing male, his mentor and safety net in many ways, "Cael will be here soon. His birthday is today, remember?"

Zane had moved to Jelena to stay with Leon a few years ago, particularly out of fear of losing his mind and knowing the brute would be the only one capable of ending him. He also worried about the brunette, and felt he was the only one whom could understand his plight.

Leon sighed, far too aware of the reality of the situation. What was that reality? Cael was as old as dirt and still expected an extravagant party. "F*****g old lizard." Without another word, or thought, the man rose and started forward with Zane towards civilization. Towards Jelena. Both men looked weary, war torn ... and despite this, thanks to Cael's coming, had a mild spring in their steps.

Author's Note

Italics are thoughts

Reviews

[Rainheart]

Awesome! Mind checking out my book on Amazon?

http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/AndreGoover/1727235/