Astro

Prolouge

The room was dimly lit, the fluorescent light bulbs glowing a dim haze of blue-ish white. Long ominous shadows were cast menacingly in the sharp corners and the sleek tiles softly glistened in the hazy light. The walls were drenched in cheap lemon cleaner in the small, cramped room. The smell alone was enough to make any sensible person gag.

and Keith was gagging.

He squeezed his eyes shut, a wave of nauseous slowly washing over him. 96 hours. That's all that Keith could properly comprehend, give or take the time gaps that he had been unconscious for. He sighed. The thick black leather straps dug into his wrist and ankles, a huge bruise slowly forming on the pale color of his skin. The surgical scars were still a baby light pink and fresh in the pain, along with the pounding headache that was beating loudly like thunder in his brain.

Keith breathed slowly, trying to unravel his many thoughts flooding throughout his brain. Tests... medications...surgery... warriors... galran... kingdoms... Loyalties... Zarkon... assassins... Voltron. It was all slowly unraveling step by step. The painful memories from his past bubbled within him, nauseating him. He held back his vomit, lolling his head from side to side. The drugs were still in effect and the current IV connected to his left arm wasn't helping him at all.

His eye snapped to the large rusted metal door being opened with a loud groan, listening closely to the dainty footsteps walking towards the surgical table. "How has he been reacting to the alpha-testing?" said a voice, low in volume but strained and exhausted. A male most definitely, one in his later years. That is...Professor Sendakz...what was he doing here?  Sendak has been dead for years, yet in his condition, Keith was absolutely sure that the voice belonged to him. "He's a positive in all of the testing, the most promising out of all of the candidates. Even with the given contingencies, Lotor wasn't as successful as he was. There's a good possibility that he will become a most ambitious leader, and serve our glorious empire well."

Keith's heart began racing, beating loudly within his chest. What were they talking about? Him...A leader? Better than even Lotor, Emperor Zarkon blood son? The figure came into view leaning over the surgical table to take a better look at him, shining an impossibly bright light into his left eye.  Keith, unable to focus his eyes properly, squinted beyond the shine of the luminous tube and peered at the source of the voice.

"Vrepit Sa"

In an instant Keith's entire body went numb, his eyes went hazy and his surrounding blurred into the fluorescent light. Everything relaxed, wetness pooling our around his thighs as his bladder emptied unknowingly and burning tears streaking down his cheeks. All of the thoughts that had occupied his brain suddenly burst and began swirling around like a whirlpool. His chapped lips parted, and before he knew it, he had already started speaking, the first in almost 96 hours. His vocal cords started to string and in a choked, dry voice he whispered...

"Vrepit Sa"