Ederios

Outside The Cage - Part 7

"Yaon?"
"Yaon is dead. I am Meneela."
"No."
"Yes. Accept it."
"You-you're not dead!"
"Meneela isn't dead."
"STOP MESSING WITH MY HEAD."
"I'm not doing anything. Your misbeliefs are leading your mind astray."
"STOP IT. YAON."
"Yaon is DEAD."

Yind saw a fire blaze in her eyes. She was angry, the fireball in her hand was ready to fire at him. He jumped as the blaze was thrown, then landed on all fours. Yaon spread her hand out, her palm facing the floor. She dropped a bead of marble, and stared at Yind with pure insanity.

She jumped, firing up into the air, the weight of the bead lifting her body up. She landed atop Yind and pulled on his hair. Yind screamed, pushing her off as fire was almost blasted at his skull.

She was too strong. He couldn't handle her for too long, he needed to get Lei out.
He shifted. Into his second form; wolf. He landed on paws, and growled at the monster before him.

She grinned, "Come on, wolfie. Show me how you intend to survive."
Yind pounced, taking her by surprise and landed upon her, toppling Yaon over. He dug his claws into her eyes, blood splattered her face.

"FUCK! BASTARD." She screamed.

She was blind, but her eyes would regenerate in ten minutes. Yaon shifted back into human, turned towards the doors, and ran.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lei crouched in the ventilation system just above the main floor entrance, covering her ears at the wailing sounds vibrating the whole building.

She had about five seconds to get down, and out of the building until she was stopped.
Five seconds.
Not quite enough to do what she intended.
It would have to do, or she'd be killed inside the system eventually.
Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

She pounded on the weak floor of the vent, and the system around her fell to the floor in dust. She clanged to the floor with huge intensity, her whole body hit so hard.

It didn't matter, she needed to ignore the pain and get up.
She stood, running outside the building and shouts and cries were yelled, "SEIZE HER! REBEL SCUM!" they yelled. She ran down the steps and aimed her grapple gun at a nearby rooftop, shooting for it and flying over. She shifted, skin against skin again, into a bird and flipped midair. She flew for the house where Yind would meet her in five minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yind entered the house, calling for Lei and waiting for a response.
"YIND!" she yelled, running up to him and throwing her arms over his shoulders, "THANK GOD YOU SURVIVED!"

He stared limply in her arms at the floor.
"Yind?!" she said, pulling back, "What did you find?"
"Yaon isn't dead."
"YES. OH MY GOODNESS. WHERE IS SHE?"
"She's at headquarters."
"WHAT? WHY – WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE HER BACK?!" she screamed.
"She's been tested upon as a subject for being associated with rebellion, tested on a chemical called 'Ederios'. The chemical turns the human being to demon."
"No. No..." she whispered.
"She's not technically gone – but she's practically dead."
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT."
"She goes by Meneela now, and I have no idea how to get her back."
"THERE HAS TO BE A CURE?!"
"I don't know. But it must be impossible to find out if there is."

Lei recalled her grandfather's words.

"There is a cure. My grandfather worked on it."
"WAIT- YOU KNEW ABOUT THE EDERIOS?!"
"No. I knew a chemical was being made. Back when I was eight or so, my grandfather worked for the Empire. He was working on something, he couldn't tell me what. But he told me it would extinguish my enemies."
"Do – do you know where the cure is?"
"Yes. My grandfather told me before he died, he told me one day that I'd need to find it."
"Where is it?!"
"Yind. It's impossible to reach."
"Huh?!"
"It's somewhere we can't go, somewhere the Empire knows we can't reach. Somewhere the Empire is guarding. I – I can't get it."
"WHERE?!"
"The outside world."