A wave of dark energy erupted from Ada's body, so intense it made her dizzy. The darkness materialized around her, dancing and swirling as if she was alive. The lion stopped abruptly, surprised by that sudden display of power. The darkness reached towards him, hissing and clawing at his body like furious claws.
Ada didn't understand what was happening, but she let her emotions take control. She had been afraid, she had been frightened and terrified. Everything she had suffered was aimed at her "home", at the scientists who had treated her in that way and at the lion, the final executioner and her personal nightmare.
If her identity was true, if she was the daughter of a goddess, she wanted that power to be unleashed against her enemies. The darkness responded to her will and continued to move towards the enemy like a raging river, swirling around the demigoddess at the same time. Without her realizing it, her body had been engulfed by it and had taken the form of a feline, a panther of pure darkness.
The beast jumped back and changed its posture, no longer that of a predator ready to attack, but of a cautious and respectful creature. Then, to the girl's surprise, he spoke in a human voice.
"Finally!" He sighed.
Ada found his voice deep and gravely. There was also a note of satisfaction in his tone, as if he had been waiting for this moment for a long time. The demigoddess stood still, in disbelief. She didn't think she could get to such a situation and was quite confused.
The lion could speak, but she didn't know what he meant by 'finally'. His mind throbbed as he tried to make sense of everything that was happening. Moments ago she was about to be devoured by her predator and now she could converse with him.
She began to doubt whether the lion was aiming to kill her. Indeed, he had had no shortage of opportunities during those months, but Ada had survived every time. Perhaps his objective was different.
"What… what do you mean?" she asked, surprised by her own small voice.
The fear of the moment was gone, as was the great tension that had accompanied the hunt.
The lion sat on his hind legs, but his eyes never left Ada's.
"You have finally embraced your true nature, young girl," he said positively. "The power in your body has awakened."
Ada felt a shiver run down her spine. So it was true. She was truly the daughter of a goddess. That knowledge continued to destabilize her. She couldn't help but think about it and feel inadequate. She didn't think she was special and certainly had no sense of belonging to that world. It was too small to belong to an outdoor location. She had always lived in the orphanage and her memories, however negative, remained linked to that place. Her only home was there.
"You… you knew?" She finally asked, her voice trembling with repressed emotion.
The lion tilted his head in an almost human gesture.
"I was here to push you to your limits, to force your power to awaken… and eat you if you failed," he explained. "That's why I'm here. I did the same with the others too. But you, you failed the test again and again."
The creature's words hit her like a punch to the stomach. All those days of terror, of desperate escape... had they just been a test? Anger rose within her, causing the darkness to flare up.
"A test?" Ada hissed, the shadows around her beginning to stir in response to her fury. "Did you kill and eat kids for a test?"
The lion showed no sign of remorse.
"It was necessary. Only the strongest can survive what lies ahead, young man. You have proven that you are one of us and have earned the right to live."
"One of us?"
The creature roared, startling her.
Ada felt tears burning behind her eyes, but she blinked them back. She wouldn't cry, not at that moment.
"Not yet. You're not ready yet, panther."
"And now?" she asked, genuinely worried. "What will become of me?"
The lion stood up, his imposing form looming in the darkness.
"Good luck," he laughed at her, "Now that they know who you are… they won't stop testing you. You have awakened your power, but you do not know how to control it or shape it to your will."
Ada looked at the shadows and darkness dancing around her. She could hear their call, mixed with the sense of danger.
The temptation to get lost in that darkness was enormous. Ada wondered if the lion had fallen victim too.
The creature stared at her for a long moment.
"You can't refuse what you are," he added. "You can only embrace the darkness so as not to be consumed by it."
Ada felt the weight of those words. She looked at her hands, realizing the dark feline shape she had assumed, and then back at the lion.
He was right.
She couldn't pretend to be a simple girl. She was the daughter of a goddess, with dark power coursing through her veins.
She was special, but she deserved to be free.
The wolf boy and the snake girl were like her and hadn't had the same chance as her. She wondered if they too were children of the same deity, that would make them half-brothers.
If her guesses were correct, then Ada had never been alone. She had a family, but it was all taken away from her by the scientists and the lion. The scientists watched the scene with avid eyes from the other side of the glass. They were not satisfied with the way the creature was acting, they feared that it might ruin their plans. One of them, a man with a hard, detached look, spoke into the microphone. His metallic voice boomed in the room, yet Ada, locked in the dark domain, could not identify its location.
"Lion, you've said enough. Attack and injure the subject."
The beast didn't hesitate. With a deafening roar, the lion of darkness rushed at the girl. She screamed, terrified and paralyzed with pain, as the powerful claws dug into her body. She felt her flesh tear, her skin burn under the creature's relentless blows.
"Enough!" She shouted, the sound muffled by a lump in her throat.
Tears streamed down her face as the pain continued to pound her body. The world around her became a vortex of darkness and despair. She tried to hold on to something, anything that could save her, but she found nothing.
She was alone, weak, and too scared to use her powers.
Blood ran down her sides, her vision became blurry. The darkness, which she had tried to control, was leaving her. She couldn't fight anymore. A thought, clear in her chaotic mind, crossed her brain as she felt her life slipping away.
I'm dead.
Then, she closed her eyes and settled into absolute nothingness.
She remained in total silence until a buzzing noise disturbed her, as if a mosquito was flying in front of her face.
It was annoying, she wanted it to disappear, but she didn't know how.
Ada opened her eyes suddenly, as the white light of the sterile room hit her brutally. The cold seeped into her bones, making her shiver. She slowly looked up and realized she was lying on a metal bed. The wounds on her belly were gone, replaced by a series of scars running along the skin. She tried to push herself up, but her body responded with a dull, oppressive pain.
She had only one certainty: she was alive.
After that event, the change was sudden and drastic. One day Ada was prey, the next day she was treasure. She was the new center of attention of a team of researchers and scientists, their eyes shining beyond the glass of the clean room with a mixture of excitement and thirst for knowledge.
The first few weeks after her powers awakened were a whirlwind of tests and exams. Ada was subjected to brain scans, blood draws, and an endless series of physical and mental tests. The lion had warned her, but she didn't think her words were true.
She was in all respects the guinea pig of a laboratory, something else, not a young girl, nevertheless there was a new respect in the way they treated her. She suspected it was due to the demonstration of her power, as if they realized they were handling something precious.
The days passed impersonally, as if she was a spectator. As time passed, she stopped reacting and defending herself. She began to accept the tests, to obey like the guinea pig she was and repress every feeling.
She was becoming an empty shell, devoid of identity.
The only moments she knew she was alive were when the lion was chasing her. The hunt, in fact, continued every day as before, however, it had stopped being a game. The beast was a constant presence around her neck, chasing her and wounding her without the slightest restraint. Ada tried to run away, terrified by the way he didn't seem to have any compassion for her.
Shen couldn't even understand her own attitude. Having awakened her powers should have given her a confidence which, combined with great anger, would have pushed her to fight.
Contrary to that logic, however, Ada was terrified of him to the point of trembling every time the distance between them closed.
After their brief discussion, she thought that the lion would be on her side somehow, that he was one of the scientists' victims just like her.
She hoped that he would no longer be a threat, but a guardian or mentor.
A perfect unattainable utopia.