I regain consciousness.
Someone is dragging me by the arm. I still feel weak, so I can't move as I'd like.
"It's me. I've caught a curious one." Keze's voice comes through, speaking on the phone.
"I don't know, he's wearing the Fort Academy uniform, so he must be a cadet. I took his phone, but I can't turn it on."
Damn. He found out.
"I sedated him. He should remain unconscious for another 7-8 hours."
Eh? I'm actually already recovering. Did it fail? Well, one in five men experiences that.
"Alright, I'll do that. See you tomorrow morning, I'll be waiting for you." He concludes the call.
I pretend to remain unconscious and let myself be dragged like a sack of potatoes. I don't have the strength to escape, so resisting now would be futile.
At some point, he stops walking and approaches a room. He enters some data on a numeric keypad and opens it, then throws me inside.
"Tomorrow will be your end, or rather, your beginning..." He says these last words before closing the door and walking away.
I slowly lift myself from the floor and sit down. The room is pitch black; I can't see anything.
What will happen to me now? What will they do to me? Will they use me as a guinea pig for experiments?
I lie down on the floor. Before panicking, I need to think.
I thought I could only live in the academy to personally experience what would happen there. This turn of events doesn't make sense, so was I wrong? If it's not a mistake, then something must happen to bring me back safely to my comfortable room 2694.
I stand up slowly and stretch a bit, but I sit back down quickly. The sedative's effect is decreasing, but it's still present in my body.
"Is anyone there?" A voice resonates in the dark room. It surprises me, but not so much, considering this is still a laboratory where experiments are conducted. The voice is so hoarse that I can't discern any clues about the person.
"I'm your new cellmate, although I don't think it will be for long." I speak, showing my acceptance, though it might sound a bit ironic.
They don't speak anymore, but I feel them approaching me very slowly, probably crawling, unable to see anything. They clap their hands on the floor, perhaps trying to figure out where I am.
After a while, I receive a slap on my face.
"I knew this would happen..."
I look in the direction from where the slap came.
"You found me now, are you happy?" I ask with a sarcastic tone.
"Why do you seem... so happy? Do you have any idea... what will happen to you now?" They ask with a panting voice.
I continue to look in the direction where they should be and then speak:
"At this moment, I feel like Alice in Wonderland."
They remains silent. Now that I think about it, maybe they have never heard of it, so I try to explain myself better: "What I mean is that I am fascinated by situations I don't understand, and I'm curious to see where they might lead."
After a while, I hear their voice again saying these words:
"Are you perhaps insane?"
...
I don't know why, but I feel understood.
"You know, I've been wondering that for five years continuously. It might be true." I reveal cheerfully.
They remain silent again, then speaks again:
"My name is Kataleya, what about yours?"
Mmmh... Kataleya... So, it's a girl.
But where have I heard this name before...
Kataleya... If I'm not mistaken, she was Kronos's sister, a member of the Revolutionaries.
"How long have you been here?" I ask her, trying to confirm.
"I don't know..."
"Before coming here, were you in another facility for many years?"
She starts sobbing; I think I was too direct. I stand up and, with some difficulty due to the darkness, I hug her.
"Come on, don't cry. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you remember sad things."
Kataleya and Kronos are two siblings. About ten years ago, they were kidnapped by a gang of criminals and delivered into the hands of some scientists, including Dr. Marco.
But they didn't have the same fate...
After being separated and taken to two different departments, they started undergoing experiments using demon flesh.
Since Kataleya would have been around 6 years old at that time, they didn't force the issue, and that's why she managed to survive until now.
But from what I know, she has never appeared in history.
When Kronos was kidnapped, he was fifteen. He endured being a test subject for three years, but in the end, the experiments killed him. This is because, being older than Kataleya, he had to undergo heavier experiments.
But this is just the story that the scientists told Kataleya. They never met inside Sidark, so neither of them knew what the other was doing.
Starting experiments on adults gives lower chances of success. The scientists knew this, so in collaboration with the Revolutionaries, they tested Kronos.
They asked him a simple question.
"If you had to choose between saving your sister and saving the world, what would you choose?"
With this, they wanted to verify his attitude, to understand if it aligned with the ideals of the Revolutionaries.
Kronos didn't speak immediately, but when he did, he answered clearly and decisively: it was the world that needed to be saved.
So, while Kataleya faced the worst hardships, Kronos joined a crazy murderous group. Later, the scientists brought out the story of the brother's death to make her lose all hope of gaining freedom.
Now she's in this laboratory because she probably didn't achieve acceptable results at Sidar, the facility where she has been all this time. So, I can deduce that they brought her here... to suppress her definitively.
After about half an hour, I'm fully recovered. I don't know how, but Keze must have made a mistake with that sedative.
Kataleya seems to have calmed down, and perhaps, embarrassed by the situation, she moved away and remained silent.
Kataleya has already undergone experiments... But then we can get out of here; it depends solely on the demon she had to deal with.
"Kataleya... can you hear me?"
No response. Did she fall asleep?
"Kata-" I don't finish speaking because I hear footsteps; apparently, she has approached again.
"What's wrong?" She has a broken tone.
"I know it's tough for you, but in the past, did you use any strange abilities?"
"Yes... But now... I don't know how...to use them anymore." She confirms, and that's all that matters.
"It doesn't matter. Can you remember what ability it was?"
She enters another state of reflection; I hope she doesn't start crying again because I have difficulty handling these situations.
"I could generate... electric shocks... from my hands." She declares sadly.
This makes me smile; it must be the flesh of the Lightning demon.
Once acquired, these abilities are always at their disposal. The current uncertainty about their use stems only from the scientists' lack of knowledge. They still don't understand what triggers the demon's power in the subject. The trigger, in reality, is fear, which is always at the core of everything related to demons. Using their abilities is possible only by experiencing intense fear at the critical moment.
By telling her that her brother was dead, they did nothing but demoralize her to the point of desiring death. Imagine being afraid; she probably looked forward to the moment when everything would be over.
"Do you want to live?" I ask her curiously. To experience fear, she must have some attachment to life, even if minimal.
She remains silent again, then responds only after a few minutes.
"Why should I? There's no one waiting for my return."
"You didn't answer my question. So, do you want to live or not?"
This time she answers immediately.
"No. I don't want to live anymo—" Her voice gradually lowers until I can't understand what she said.
I'm not a psychologist. How do I convince her now? I remain silent for a few minutes, contemplating. Should I tell her that her brother is alive and left her there to die? I can't bring myself to do that.
Mmmh...
"Don't you want to seek revenge on those who did this to you?"
"For what purpose? I'm afraid... of revenge... I just want it to end."
There seems to be no way out. So, if one can't rely on the present and the past, one must rely on the future.
"Don't give up... Even if you don't have happy memories, you can always create new ones once we're free, right?"
"I don't think I can ever be happy..."
"If you don't try, how can you say that? Let's get out of here. You'll spend some time outdoors, and if you're not satisfied in the end, I'll kill you myself. Okay?"
Enough. I'm not good with kids; I've already been patient enough.
"Okay..." Finally, she gives a positive answer, and in my mind, Queen's 'We are the champions' starts playing.
Then she continues, "How do you plan... to get out of here?"
"Oh... I won't do anything. You'll do everything."
"What!? Are you really insane?"
"We'll get out of here thanks to your powers. With those, you'll surely be able to open the door." I move cautiously in the dark until I find her, then gently try to grasp her hand.
"Wait, don't move. I just want to hold your hand." She stops wriggling, and I manage to grab it.
"What... are you doing?" She responds scared.
I remain silent until I reach the iron door. "This should be the door of this room. It's electronic, so you just need to short-circuit the circuits, and it will open. Then you'll do the same with the other door."
Given the silence, she's probably giving me a skeptical look.
"I'll teach you how to do it."
"H-How? But who... are you?"
Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself.
"My name is Azka Ban. I'm a cadet from Fort Academy."
"Fort Academy? What is it?"
"I'll explain everything when we get out, okay? Now do as I say."
I make her touch the door. "Don't remove your hand from the door. The way to control your powers is through your fears. Try to remember an event that caused you intense fear and keep it firmly in your mind."
"Eh? What are you saying?"
"Trust me. After you've impressed that moment in your mind, use the electric shocks!"
I move away from her just to avoid getting electrocuted.
After a few seconds, the room is illuminated due to a violent electric shock originating from Kataleya's hand.
I approach Kataleya. I had already sensed it after hugging her, but seeing her tightens my heart. She's skin and bones. She'd probably die soon.
I pick her up.
"W-What are you doing?"
"We need to get out of here. You have to open another door, so don't forget what that fear caused you."
I head left but reach the end of the corridor, revealing a dead end.
Damn. I have to go the other way. At that moment, I remember why I did this stupid thing.
" Did they tell you what they wanted to do to you?"
" Eh?"
" Those who brought you here, did they tell you their intentions?"
"I don't remember. They talked about ending a project."
So, they're not conducting experiments here? No, impossible. I remembered that exams took place in these labs, so I should be able to find some samples.
I quickly search the rooms; however, as expected since they were open, they contain nothing important...
...except one.
Heh, I found my phone.
I walk towards the exit, hoping to find something along the way. This leads me to a room with a locked door.
"Can you open this one first?" I ask gently, then step back a few meters.
"Okay."
A few seconds pass, and as before, an electric shock shorts out the door, opening it.
"Good, good, you're strong!" I praise her.
I enter alone, leaving Kataleya at the entrance. The room is full of display cases. Inside, there are numerous glass bottles with pieces of flesh.
From their disgusting and strange appearance, I don't think I'm wrong to consider it demon flesh.
I take three bottles and put them in my coat. One would have been enough, but better safe than sorry as I wouldn't want to come back here.
I go out and pick up Kataleya again.
"Now we're leaving."
Since we escaped from the isolation cell, at most three minutes have passed. Even if a silent alarm went off, we should be able to escape in time.
Within another two minutes, I reach the gate I entered.
"This, you just have to open this, and then we're free."
She nods.
As a precaution, I distance myself and witness that spectacle of lights again.
The gate opens.
Having Kataleya is like having a universal key. I pick her up again and run towards the staircase at the back of the cavern, reaching it in a minute.
No one is chasing us yet.
"Hold on tight because now we have to go up."
She hugs my neck, and I start climbing the stairs as fast as I can.
I soon reach the end of the stairs. I open the hatch, and...
Finally, we're outside.
It's 2:06 AM.
It's night, and it's cold. I can't even curse because the alternative to this was death.
Kataleya seems to have fallen asleep on my back.
Ah... I would like to sleep too right now.
At this hour, there's no bus around, so I think I'll have to walk all the way to the Academy.
I don't even know where I'm finding the strength to walk...
Is it you, adrenaline?
After hours and hours of walking, I glimpse the academy, and behind it, the sun is rising.
I lean the phone against the entrance gate and enter the immense building.
I climb the stairs, trying not to make noise. I avoid the elevators since I'm slightly claustrophobic.
I reach the fifth floor, struggling with breathlessness and muscle spasms. By divine grace, I reach my room, open the door, and close it quickly.
I place the bottles on a piece of furniture, then collapse on the bed with Kataleya.