Experiment X

18 | The 13

18 | The 13

The darkness fails, and silver light springs through the opened metallic chasm as the Creator leads the flaming red-headed girl and the tan-skinned boy into what is called the Meeting Chamber. Emberly’s eyes scale the familiar walls: soaring, chrome, and concave, supporting a circular ceiling, where betwixt its massive circumference is a fire-enwreathed eye not dissimilar of that which burns in their suits’ cores. She is breath-taken at the mere enormity of this chamber, and the coolness breaths down her neck, the fear and anxiety builds, makes itself know in sweat and the pound of her heart.

Beside her Kel remains unusually silent, which doesn’t help much either. Her eyes widen still taking in the spectacle of this place; and, the Creator extends a long arm before them. His strange, terrifying eyes pierce through them, and he mutters:

“Go ahead, and meet the other contestants in the Red Circle; and take your places upon your transport circles, accordingly. You are the first two, as you are number one and two.” His strange, cutting voice is direct, demanding. Both of them instantly nod, and he departs sans the brace of padded-armored guards who station themselves at the chamber’s entrance, which seals of once the Creator vanishes beyond the threshold. Emberly and Kel stand for a moment only staring at each other, then they look ahead to where they must go.

Beyond them is the vast expansive of this shimmering, chrome chamber and the gleaming of a bright red plated circle, where there are embedded in surrounding relation are much smaller, darker circles. The circle is empty naturally, and so as they approach it, Emberly notices that the dark circles are labeled with numbers from one to thirteen. They each take their specified transport circles, and Emberly can’t help but think where they will transport them to, and silently wait. Time passes, and she can tell that Kel has become uneasy; he sighs, and she herself isn’t any sort of comfortable here, so eventually they sit.

They are afraid to make the slightest utterance, so quiet they remain, communicating only through their occasional intense eye contact.

As they do, they hear muttering of distant voices, scuffing, echoing of footsteps, and they look to find that the Creator is motioning two other contestants like themselves over to where Emberly and Kel are seated. Once the newly arrived participants become closer to the Red Circle, they direct their attention elsewhere. Of course there is one boy, and one girl. The girl is tall and statuesque in frame appearing around their age; she has the build of someone who is strong, and that of a fighter. Her skin is dark, complementing her flowing black hair; there is something terribly feral about her, something wild, and untamed in her nature. Emberly glances, and for a split second they make eye contact; her eyes are unlike any Emberly has seen so far, or can remember; they are a vividly light brown, almost piercingly so, but her eyes contain the fearfulness, the anxiety as they all do. Her full lips remain taut, as she takes her seat beside of Kel, and stares straight ahead.

Her partner, number four, is quite pale in appearance with a shock of golden brown hair, and sea green eyes gaze of them before likewise looking away, not wanting to incite any conversation. He is thin, and slightly shorter than his counterpart; the numbers three and four detailed upon their Specialized Suits. I wonder what their powers are, Emberly thinks to herself. Their names? Will we find out? Or be forced to find out through deadly ways? Out there…?

As time continues to draw on, the Red Circle begins to slowly fill, always two by two; the second set are both olive-skinned and dark-haired, with similar blue eyes, the girl five, the boy six. Are they brother and sister? How awful would that be…The following two couldn’t be more different in appearance: The girl, seven, is daintily-framed, and petite; the size of a child, with short choppy blonde hair, and big green eyes: eyes that carry so much weight, innocence even. Her partner, the boy, eight, is looming and formidable in stature, tan-skinned, even more so than Kel, and his face is planed with high, chiseled cheekbones and keen black eyes. The intensity of his glare and rippling muscles unsettle Emberly.