Darkness. Stillness. His concentration was at its peak.
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Come to me, Dragon.
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As Zero thinks this, his words echo into the void. No response.
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I know you can hear me. I simply ask that you reveal yourself to me.
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His words echo in the emptiness yet again, however there is a response.
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Massive dragon eyes appear before him. Although surprised and a little scared, he stands firm.
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"Who are you, and what have you done to my master?" Says the pair of eyes as the sound of rushing water fills the room. The source of it was the dragon's newly formed snout. The water continued to pass over his eyes and all the way to the end of his tail, creating the rest of his body.
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"I defeated your master in-"
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"DON'T LIE TO ME!" The dragon roars at him, shaking the emptiness surrounding them.
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"I am sorry to have angered you." Zero lets out a slight quiver.
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"I, Draconis, will only submit myself to those who are strong!” He says with outstretched wings before coming face to face with Zero. “You, however, aren't even as strong as myself, let alone my master."
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"A few weeks ago, your master was utterly defeated and is no longer able to fight. He lost because he wasn't strong enough. Knowing this, will you submit yourself to me?"
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A surge of water envelopes Zero. The water was actually Draconis' body, as he'd just eaten him. Draconis had swallowed him before he could react.
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Zero's lungs began to burn as they filled with water. His skin started to split. He felt like his eyes were about to pop.
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"I will not tolerate this disrespect, especially from someone as weak as you are." Draconis says as he flies, throwing Zero around in his stomach.
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His consciousness starts to fade.
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“Zero!”
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“Wake up!”
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“You are in danger!”
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He opens his eyes to find himself in his bedroom in Madu's palace, drenched in water.
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"What happened to you?"
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"Ah, Cem. It appears I've wet my bed."
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.
.
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After drying himself off, Zero takes a seat at his desk.
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"I take it this was yet another failure?" Cem says.
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"Yes, unfortunately so. However, for the first time since I obtained the ability, I was able to see and speak with the dragon. Progress, sure, but I don't feel like I should continue pursuing it."
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"And why would that be?"
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"Because he almost killed me. I have no idea what happens if I die in there, and I have no intention of finding out. He's probably been in a bad mood since the fall of his master, hence the silence and now, the attack."
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"I agree with your decision. Power is meaningless if you die before using it. My only concern is that you're almost at capacity. How are you going to get the other three you're after?”
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"I'm still figuring that out. More importantly, why are you back so soon?" Zero says.
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"I gathered enough information on the girl, so I came back to report my findings."
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"'Enough'? Go on." He says.
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"Rose Azor has been traveling to different nations and speaking with their kings, presumably to ask for help with Rahu's current situation. So far, she has gone to Kennis and Raske."
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"Interesting. That girl might be a problem later… What's your opinion on the situation?"
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"From what I've seen, I doubt she’ll be able to gather enough support from kings. Kennis and Sepp are the only nations that have a good relationship with Rahu. The only problem with that is-"
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"Lord Tyrol himself.” Zero interjects. “As long as he doesn't get directly involved I have an almost surefire win. As I am now, I don't think I'd be able to win against him in a one on one fight, let alone if Rose fought alongside him. Hmm… If she's leaving Raske, her next stop would be in Rahvas."
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"To add to the report, somehow, negotiations broke down and she ended up fighting Lord Therius."
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"I assume she lost?"
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"Of course."
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“Looks like this will be easier than I thought. It'll give us a little more time to settle domestic issues.”
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“And what might those be?”
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“One of them is our unsightly track record, littered with deception and betrayal. We can't fix that one until our showdown in Rahu. The one we can fix at the moment is that accursed research facility.”
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A large sign with the word M.E.R.D. spelled across it sits outside of a massive research facility. The Maduan Ether Research and Development facility, or MERD for short, was a place that existed since the discovery of Ether 150 years ago. The common folk don't have much knowledge as to what goes on here outside of ‘research’, but due to their previous kings’ actions, they are skeptical of it.
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Zero walks inside and is greeted by a young man around his age.
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“Ah, Lord Varasta! What brings you here on this fine evening?”
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He's new here. I wonder… Is he like the rest of them?
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“Nothing special today. I was just in the area and figured I'd stop by to see Dr. Katse.”
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“He's in the back, working with some… um… test subjects. I can take you to him if you like.” He says in a saddened tone.
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“Is everything all right? You were fine until I mentioned Dr. Katse.”
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“Well Your Majesty… If I may be direct, I don't really approve of Dr. Katse's methods. Initially, I came to MERD because it's been the driving force for ether research for a while. But since I've been here and actually seen what he does to the test subjects… I feel like this might not be the best place for me.”
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He might be worth keeping.
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“Hmm… I'm sorry to hear that. On the topic of what you've seen here, would you care to tell me what you've enjoyed in your time here?”
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The boy lights up instantly.
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“My favorite thing has to be the E.C.D.! One of the other doctors showed it to me and it was amazing! It picks up specific parts in a person's ether and-”
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“-and sifts out the part that's unique to that person. Did I get it right?” Zero says with a slight smirk.
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The ECD, or Ether Collection Device, was a research tool that was capable of harvesting a small amount of ether from a person for the sake of identification and allows for extended studies of a specific individual's ether.
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“You know about it too?” He sounds even more excited than before.
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“I've used it once or twice. Believe it or not, I used to come here a lot when I was younger.”
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“Really? Then let me ask you a question that the other doctors can't answer.”
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“Go ahead.”
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“So, if the machine is picking up small amounts of ether that are different between each person, what exactly is it picking up? What makes that ether different?”
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I'd rather hide this information from him if I can, but I get the feeling that I won't be able to.
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“Hmmm… I don't think I can answer that one. What do you think it is?”
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“I think… It's a part of the soul.”
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Zero chuckles and says, “What makes you say that?”.
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“Dr. Katse has a file on a few kids… I mean test subjects that monitor the quality of a subject's ether under several stimuli. Whenever they are hurt physically or emotionally, their ether quality dips. However, when I play with them and give them snacks, it increases.”
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“That's quite a find, but wouldn't that connect ether to emotions, or simply their mindset?”
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“That's what Dr. Katse says would be the more likely conclusion before dismissing the topic outright. While yes, that makes sense, I believe I'm one piece of evidence away from proving my hypothesis correct. This is another reason why I came to MERD. To find out if I could find that last piece.”
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Zero smiles and puts a hand on his shoulder.
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“Go home for the day.” Zero says.
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“But sir, I've only been here for an hour. Is there a reason why?”
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“You're getting a promotion to Head Researcher. I'm giving you a little downtime before you take on the workload.”
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“But isn't that Dr. Katse's position?”
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“I'm going to talk to him about it right now, not that he'll mind. He's getting old anyway. I'll see you here tomorrow at 9:00 AM sharp.”
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“O-OK. I'll see you then.” He walks away nervously.
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“One more thing before you go. What’s your name?”
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“Oh, I must’ve forgotten to introduce myself. Everyone here just calls me Uuden.”
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“Make that Dr. Uuden. See you then.” Zero says as he waves and walks down the hall.
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I hope this incident doesn't shake him up too badly. He's a bright guy with a genuine drive for research, and a good enough heart to not let it consume him.
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After leaving him, Zero continues down the hall to Dr. Katse's office. He sees several windows into the rooms of various ‘test subjects’ undergoing severe mistreatment, and in some cases torture for the sake of Dr. Katse's research.
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There's even more children here now than there was when I was here. This man's lust for knowledge knows no bounds.
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These rooms were the product of a working theory in the Ether Research Community. It states that a person's ability is based on the minute personality traits present at birth and those acquired shortly afterward. For example, a child who cries more would have a water-aligned ability while calmer, quieter children would have earth-aligned abilities. However, some individuals would go significantly longer without awakening one, and at the time of the theory’s initial publishing, 12 years of age without an ability awakening was the longest. Whenever this occurred, the individual’s ability would reflect life-impacting thoughts and events, more often than not resulting in a unique ability. This led researchers to wonder ‘what if we could influence a child's ability before it awakened?’.
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Each room has some sort of stimulus present at all times. The existence of unique abilities meant that they could attempt to get virtually any ability with the right stimulus.
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Zero activates his ether sight and scans the room. He sees dozens of children throughout the facility. One of them catches his eye down the hall. He approaches a door labeled “DARKNESS”. On the door, there is a piece of paper pinned to the wall. It had a brief description of the child and a log of the times the door had been opened.
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Name: Twelve. Date of Birth: December 16th, 1212. According to this time log, the last time the door was opened was… two weeks ago? I can see the child is alive, but… to be shrouded in darkness with a glimpse of light every couple of weeks for 10 years… I'm sorry you had to go through this for so long. Your suffering will end soon.
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“Ah Zero, or would you rather me call you Lord Varasta?”
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“What a dead man calls me doesn't matter.” Zero turns to see Dr. Katse standing at the end of the hallway. He was a tall, lanky bald man, dressed in a long off-white lab coat.
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“A dead man you say? Lots of people call me that but here I am, alive and well.”
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“Not for long.” Zero says while dashing up the hallway and crashing into a young man who had stepped into the doorway.
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Well he’s certainly sturdy.
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“I see you've met Seven. His parents abandoned him, so I did the only reasonable thing and took him in, and now he's our first successful attempt at influencing an ability.”
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He's part of the same experiment as I once was. I can only imagine what he had to go through.
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The young man was unfazed. Zero had staggered backwards, but Seven remained unperturbed.
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“Listen Seven. Stand down and I can free you from your situation.”
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Seven replies by lunges towards him while throwing punches.
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His fighting skill isn't very impressive, but his ability is a little more troublesome.
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Zero dodges each punch, and counterattacks with several jabs of his own. Seven takes each hit as if it never landed and continues his amateurish flurry of punches.
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“Wow Zero. I see you're no slouch in combat.”
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“Can you be quiet over there? Two men are trying to fight in peace over here.”
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“HA! You have your father's sense of humor.”
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“Don't compare me to him!” Zero says as he catches both of Seven's hands and throws him to the ground before dashing towards Dr. Katse. Despite Zero’s rush, Dr. Katse still smiles. Zero attacks, but instead of hitting Dr. Katse, he strikes something much harder.
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Ouch! How… How did he make it here in time?
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Zero turns to see a large stone where Seven once was. After being thrown to the ground, Seven had created the stone and leapt off of it to intercept Zero. While his head is turned, Seven throws a hard right hook, sending Zero flying across the room.
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“Unlike you, I influenced his ether with brute force. In response to daily beatings, he developed earth ether with a peculiar property: He can take the traits of earth ether and apply them directly to his body. Namely, the sturdiness of earthen constructs, resulting in a hardened body that feels little to no pain at all. Isn't it wonderful?”
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“I see your cruelty still knows no bounds.” Zero retorts.
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How does he sleep at night knowing these children are suffering like this?
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“Anything for the sake of science. You should know this about me more than anyone else. When you were still a test subject, I had aimed a tad high when I chose an ability for you. I wanted you to have an ability with Madu, or in this case Madu's Crest, at its core.”
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That damn snake.
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“Based on your reaction, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The Ouroboros. Once your grandfather took office, his actions warped its meaning: Madu had become a greedy snake that would consume everything until there was nothing left but itself to devour.”
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After hearing such a statement, memories of Zero's past come flooding back to him.211Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipv3vHNxLV
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