Haemos: Upgraded

Chapter 5

Day 1, zone 6.

Takeo (Tak-ay-oh) arose. He rubbed his eyes, then looked around. He almost fell over from the shock. He was in an ornate bedroom, made entirely of beautiful gems. He stared in awe at his room. The last thing he remembered was him, living on the streets in Kyoto, but now he was here! He walked out of the room, and found himself in a round chamber, with nine other doors and a stairwell in. Standing in the center was a large man, with soft blue eyes. He smiled at Takeo, and greeted him. "Hello there, what's your name?" Takeo understood him, despite never having been taught English. "T-Takeo." He replied.
"Well Takeo, I'm sure you have a lot of questions, so ask away. By the way, I'm Dan." Some other people came out, all around Takeo's age. Takeo then asked, "Where are we? I don't want to be disrespectful, this place is wonderful, but-" One of the other children interrupted, a girl with an Australian accent. "Yeah, where are we exactly? " Dan chuckled. "Well, I can't geographically say where we are for legal reasons," All of the children nodded. "But, I made sure that only those who needed it come here, and trust me, this place will be amazing for you. Now, who wants breakfast? " The teens eyes suddenly gleamed. They all followed Dan down the stairs, into the dining room, complete with crystal chandelier.

Dan had made pancakes for them, and as they were all contentedly eating, he spoke. "Look, there is one downside to being here though. " Dan said gloomily.
"What?" The Australian girl asked.
"The person paying for all of this is a scientist, and has given you all a genetic weapon called Haemos. Basically, he wants to see what happens to you when you're given it. He also said that every day after today, there will be a random chance that we will be selected to send a person to fight someone elae using their powers. I don't like it, but it would have been better than leaving you all as you were." Takeo kept a straight face. He had watched the kendo lessons that took place in the park near him, and knew his way around a sword. He was willing to fight to stay here. Everyone else looked at least slightly shocked. "How do these power things work?" Takeo asked, curious.
"Simple." Dan said, "Just cut yourself, focus, and bam. I also have it, in case you're wondering. Watch this." Dan used a nearby knife and cut his hand. Blood oozed out, and he began to crystallise it into the shape of a flower. He put the crystal flower on the table, and smiled. "Don't worry though, you don't need to worry about that today."

Takeo was determined to prove himself. He used the knife he had used for his food, and sawed into his upper arm, opening it. As the blood poured out, Takeo focused. Slowly, his blood began to float out of the wound, and into the air. There, it formed eight katanas, which orbited Takeo's body. "I did it! Look! I've got my power out!" Takeo shouted. Dan smiled again and said "Well done Takeo, do you think you could control those swords without touching them?" Takeo focused harder on the swords, and they began to move as he wished. He soon had them going around the room, independent from each other.

"Alright then mate, I reckon I can do that." The Australian said. "And just so you know, I'm Tammy." Tammy did the same cut as Takeo, across her upper arm, but when she focused, her blood began to ooze into her skin, making it much harder. She focused until her fist was bright red, then asked "Dan, how hard are them crystals of yours?"
"I can make them as strong as concrete if I focus enough." He replied.
"Well could you do me a favour and pop up a nice strong one, I want to see if this power of mine is good enough to break even your stuff." Dan complied, making a slab of crystal, about an inch thick. Tammy planted her feet in the ground amd threw a punch. Smash! Her fist went straight through the crystal. "Wow! I'm not too bad am I?" She asked nobody in particular. By now, everyone had loosed their powers, and Dan was sitting back in a chair, watching. "Oh well." He said, "You've got the day to yourselves, go on, head outside and have some fun." He opened the door, and revealed a grand sweeping landscape made entirely out of the crystals.

Takeo had been wandering for hours when he found a spire. It was a giant tower of crystal, almost touching the clouds. Takeo felt a sudden urge to climb it, and so he did. He slit his upper arm again, with a crystal dagger that Dan had given everyone. His swords came out, and he willed them into the crystal. He started using them as climbing tools, until he reached the top. He looked down, and saw that he was really high up. He could barely make out any details on the ground. Then, he looked around, and what he saw shocked him. To the north, there was a grey wasteland, with giant buildings, like those Takeo had heard were in cities like Tokyo. To the south, there was nothing apparent, only empty field. To the east he saw a massive colosseum, and to the west, the sea.

Takeo used his swords to make a staircase, each step being formed from four of the eight swords, and ran down. He bolted back to the house, and arrived after half an hour, huffing and panting. He opened the door, and saw Dan still sitting in his chair, relaxing. "Oh hi Takeo, what's up?" Dan asked casually.
"I saw a big grey city past the crystals, why is that there? And there was an arena and a massive field and are we on an island?" Takeo spoke really quickly, and Dan found it hard to understand him.
"Woah champ, calm down, that city is just the owner's place. The field is where a very nice lady lives, we are on an island, and that arena is where those fights I mentioned are going to happen. Satisfied? " Dan asked, and Takeo nodded. "Cool, but the sun's going down now, I'd suggest getting some sleep kiddo. You know where your room is." Dan then left the room, where Takeo assumed he was going to bed.