Four days past, Oberon leg is almost healed. The ointment wasn't of normal manufacturing. Father used mystical options after all. Even with an injured leg he still had to take part in classes, conditioning, MTI, and sparring. In fact, he is sparring this very moment.
Oberon stares at Edna; they are paired once more. In his hand is a red rose.
"I thought we weren't suppose to use our power," Edna taunts.
"I thought that too, ended up getting a burnt leg. Do you know in sparring you're suppose to minimize damage to your opponent?" Oberon flips Edna off.
"Woah!" exclaims Aurelian; who's on the sidelines. "That's our thing. Don't you do that."
"Shut up," Edna and Oberon announce in unison.
"Begin!" Father declares.
Edna starts the assault, like last time, he throws punches and kicks. With the spell of deja vu, Oberon dodges the oncoming attacks. A high kick is sent at Oberon, gazing him.
Edna mouth lights up as flames start to build up. The rose turns into a thorny, green whip. It latches around Edna's throat. Edna gasps for air, minor cinders puffs out of his mouth as he coughs.
"Try breathing fire now, you inconsiderate reptile. Yield or I'm choking you out."
Edna coughs. "No. You." Edna body starts to flare.
Oberon eyes open wide. "How many rules are you going to break?" Abandoning his rose whip, Oberon distances himself from Edna.
Edna is consumed by a spiraling inferno. Everyone watches in disbelief; except Apep and Father who stare at him with portraits of neutrality. Stepping out of the fire is a scaled figure. Edna is now a dragonoid of red crimson scales with sharp claws and talons. He has small, undeveloped wings on his back. He charges at Oberon with an overhead claw swipe.
Father intercepts, blocking the attack with his wrist. One of the claws break from contact. "That's enough. Next."
Edna growls. "I'm not finished yet!"
Edna throws a next swipe at Father. Father grabs his wrist, canceling the swipe. He commits to a 360 turn while holding onto Edna, taking him for a spin. Upon completion he throws Edna and the force sends him flying to the other side of the court.
Father removes his coat. "Edna, I advise you to calm down or I will have to deal with—" Father is cut off as he swats a ball of fire into nothingness. Edna launches himself at Father, the ground crack from the force. Father's long gray hair catches Edna, binding him. Edna struggles, it seems he's going to escape. It's just a facade. The hair locks around him like a python. It sucks the life of Edna, forcing air out of his lungs. Edna becomes limp and the hair rests him on the floor.
Father didn't seem upset, not even disappointed. It's hard to deduce his emotions. Another Father enters the room and collects Edna then leaves.
"Report to the classroom for a test," Father says as he heads for the door. Everyone follows suit. Oberon lingers, once alone he swipes a strand of hair off of the floor. It belongs to Father. He pockets it and leaves the room.
Oberon autopilot through the test and the rest of activities set for the day. Oberon heads to his room. Across from his room is Apep. Apep open their door; nothing but darkness is present. The two enter without hesitation, closing the door behind them. Oberon stares at the closed door.
"...Weird," he mutters. Oberon walks away from his door. Heading to a door with the name: Gaia, Oberon knocks on the door. It opens, inside is a lush forest.
"Welcome, less impressive me. How may I be of service?" Gaia ponders as vines set her before Oberon. Gaia has green eyes, ivory skin, and is red-head.
"Hello, Gaia. I'm not less impressive."
"You're a charlatan. You minor in plants and nothing more. Besides, I have the superior green thumb."
"Are you willing to bet on that?" Oberon smirks.
"...What is your fiendish mind cooking up? Regardless what it may be. I'm willing to entertain you. What's the bet?"
"You can grow anything organic in soil as long as you have a trace of it. I have a strand of Yin's hair, and I want to pull a prank on her," Oberon says, he pulls the strand of hair from his pocket. Yin has hair similar to Father, she's the perfect scapegoat.
"Hmm. Yeah, I could do that. It won't be sentient, just a flesh-doll copy. I'm invested. Hand it over," Gaia demands with her palm open.
Oberon hands it over.
"Come back tomorrow. It needs time to grow. Shoo," Gaia says. A mass of vines push Oberon out of the room then slam the door.
"Rude." Oberon brushes himself off. He returns to his room, retiring for the day. The following day he follows standard procedure: group shower (of the same gender), get dressed, and following the schedule Father provides them for that day. Ranging from classes, test, conditioning, MTI, sparring, and tutoring if you're behind in a subject.
Oberon drifts through the system, during conditioning Father halts him.
"There's no need to change. I have a different task in mind for you. Come," he gestures for Oberon to follow him. Father leads Oberon to his personal room. It's a simple, neat bedroom. He approaches his bookcase; pulling a book it parts revealing a secret corridor with three doors, one straight ahead, one to the right, and one to the left.
Oberon is panicking. Does father plan on getting rid of him? Has his mental barriers been faulty this entire time?
"Oberon," Father says, resting a hand on his head. "Why are you shaking?"
"Just nervous is all," Oberon says with a nervous chuckle.
Father cocks his head to the side. "Why would you be nervous? You're safe by my side, there's no where safer. Come, your assignment is in the door straight ahead."
Oberon recollects himself. "Yes sir."
Father walks down the corridor and opens the door. Inside are three men; beaten and bloodied, however, the one on the far right seem to have gotten abused the worst. His blond hair, corrupt with dirt and blood. They're all tied up in a black rope.
"I see you've brought a friend," the middle dark-haired man says, smiling with his swollen lip; it's as if a bee or wasp had stung him. "Is he going to sell us scout cookies? I could go for some sweets."
"Shut up," the near-corpse blond tells him.
"We're not going to tell you anything. And you're not going to get inside of our heads. Just kill us," The bald man on the left says. His face has several fresh cuts on it.
Oberon pride raises to the challenge. Oberon focuses on the man, hoping to enter his mind. He struggles to gain access, it's like he's pressing against a brick wall. Oberon shakes his head. He looks at the dark-haired man, he manages to enter his mind. It wasn't hard to access, but his thoughts flow like water. It's as if a waterfall of thoughts are collapsing onto Oberon, attempting to drowning him.
Father pulls Oberon out of the man's mind. "Their minds aren't as simple as the people I bring you. I've cracked one after tormenting him for days. You're here because this is a perfect time to test your moths."
"It takes a lot of energy to create them," Oberon says.
"Create a cocoon. Place it inside of him"—Father points at the blond man—"I have no use for him."
"What did he just say?" the bald man ask.
"Oh boy," the dark-haired man says, laughing ever so lightly. "We're screwed."
Oberon approaches the blond man. His violet eyes become cyan. He opens his hand; silk strings of cyan energy pillar upward. They form together to create a cocoon. Oberon balls his hand into a fist, careful not to crush the cocoon. His fist enters the blond man. phasing right through. He leaves the cocoon inside of him and retracts his hand.
"What did you do to him!" exclaims the bald man. "And using a kid too, I expect nothing less from someone who works for her."
"What is he talking about?" Oberon questions.
The bald man and the dark-haired man exchange looks. "He doesn't know," they say in unison.
"They're talking about the person you'd refer to as mother. Oberon, everything will make sense in due time."
The blond man screams out in pain. "Something is inside of me! I can feel it. God, it hurts!"
"It hatched faster than last time," Father quips. "Gentleman. My son has the capabilities of creating ravenous moths. However, to outright produce these moths at full maturity places a lot of stain on him. So, it's possible for him to use organic creatures as vessels. He places the cocoon inside, it hatches, the creature begins to feast. Then once it eats enough, it starts to multiply; then those hatch, then eat, and the cycle repeats."
The blond man shuffles about on the floor like a worm. "Make it stop!" He begs.
"It's kind of slow, yet fast. In the next thirty minutes, he'll be no more," Father explains. "Let's enjoy the show."
The bald man screams out threats and swears, the blond man cries out in agony; begging for clemency, and the dark-haired man oddly enough can't stop telling jokes. With each passing minute the body of the infested man starts to wither. His muscular mass shrinks, it looks as if his body sank into itself. By the thirty minute mark, he's a lifeless skeleton with flesh still compassing it. Inside of the flesh something probes, trying to escape. A huge cloud of ethereal, cyan moths erupt out of his chest cavity, their bodies coated in speckles of blood. The swarm dives down to the corpse and in seconds they devour it, leaving no trace.
The dark-haired man looks entertained. Oberon is puzzled, he isn't sure how he fits here. The bald man stares on in complete horror. In that moment, his mental wall cracks. That crack is all what Father needs to slither through and invade his mind. In just a matter of seconds, his mind is under siege; a losing battle for the victim.
"I've extracted what I needed. Oberon, you may leave, thank you for your contributions. Disperse the moths."
With a wave of his hands the moths drop to the floor, their glow fade away. Oberon turns around, leaving the way he came.
"And Oberon," Father says.
Oberon turns around. "Yes sir."
"...Never mind. That'd be out of character for me. You're done for the day, you may head to your room." He closes the door behind him.
Oberon peers at the door. He wonders what Father was going to say. Also, who were those men? And did he just confirmed that they do indeed have a mother? So many questions with no defined answers.
Oberon leaves his father's chambers. He was sent to his room, however, that's not his destination. He pays a visit to Gaia's room. The door isn't lock, well, none of the doors can lock; with a single one being an exception. He finds turned soil, this is where she buried the hair. If it was a seed, she'd use her powers to grow it; she isn't patient when it comes to plants.
Oberon starts digging up the soil, dirtying his clothes. He unearths the Gaia-made clone of Father. He creates a cocoon and places it inside of flesh-doll. He's aware of when the cocoon hatches and how many times it multiplies. He commands the moths to surgically cut around its right wrist from the inside; severing it in the process.
Oberon commands the moths to eat the flesh-doll, if the severed hand fails he doesn't need evidence lingering about. "This better work." He clutches the severed hand tightly.