EXISTENCE

PROLOGUE II: Dancing with Fire

When Tarek awoke, he found himself in a small chamber with no windows, all steel walls. His hands were chained. The doors were closed. He couldn't tell how long he'd been out, let alone if it was night or day. He was tired, but he wasn't alone.

There were more people in the cell with him than there were back at the lab. This could only mean that the doctor had made some more experiments...and probably had a few more "failures" to add to his results. He scanned the crowd in an attempt to find Antonio or Luis, anyone he could feel comfortable enough to talk to. But who he saw tucked away in a corner left him stunned.

It was Rodrick.

Tarek was overjoyed to see his friend, but then concerned as well. If he was here, that meant that he'd undergone the same procedure everyone else had. But then again, that also meant he had survived. He had to go talk to him. He got up and limped slowly towards Rodrick.

Rodrick was unsure of just what happened. He had begun to get dressed for bed and was ready to start watching a movie with his wife, when the knocks came. He had no idea who in their right mind knocks on someone's house so late at night and was readying his sailor mouth as soon as he got to the door, where a lone man with a black jacket and square-rimmed glasses was waiting for him. Next thing he knew, he was brought to a lab where a doctor was saying something about "unlocking his inner power" or some such nonsense. When he was strapped onto that mattress he knew this sick quack was being serious. That's when he stuck the syringe in his arm, and he never felt the same since. When he awoke, the people next to him were dead. He was alive but nothing was happening to him...he just felt off. He never felt so alone, trapped in a cell.

"Rodrick, is that you?"

Rorick looked up and gasped. Standing in front of him was Tarek, looking happy to see him. The two embraced each other. 

Rodrick didn't know what to say. "Ta...Tarek..."

Tarek put his finger to his lips. "Not a word, man. You look like you've seen some tough shit."

Rodrick hung his head in despair. "...something's happened to me, Tarek. I don't know what it is."

"I have a pretty good idea what happened to you, Rod."

Rodrick looked up inquisitively. "Did they stick you with it too?"

Tarek looked away. "Yeah. And it hurt. Bad." He faced his friend. "But I'm still here. You're still here. We have powers now. We can break free from this wretched room."

Rodrick raised an eyebrow. "You actually believe all that gook that came from that quack's mouth?"

"Well yeah. But not at first. It wasn't until I did this-" Tarek lifted his shackled hands and let loose a pair of flames from each wrist, burning off the chains in the process. Rodrick was absolutely dumbfounded.

"How...?!" 

"I don't really know myself. But I think I'm getting the hang of it. I just imagine the fire and it's there." His hand went ablaze once more. "And I'm going to bust us out of here and take us home."

Rodrick couldn't believe it. He took a good look at his friend, the same man he served with during the countless wars and raids they had waged. Back then he was determined and capable, determined to the point where the mission was almost all he cared about. But he still cared about his comrades, the soldiers that were helping him. Now, in this cell, he saw the same thing, but this time he noticed something new about Tarek.

He was invincible.

Tarek burned his friend's shackles off and proceeded to do the same to the other occupants of the cell. He noticed that Luis and Antonio weren't inside after all. That didn't matter - he had Rodrick. And he had a plan.