Cold Blooded

Chapter 25

The Dark Lord stood, hands behind his back, with Russell standing beside him staring blank faced as normal. "Project Sparks: Number 673" was the first child to be called, a young boy with blonde hair and small yellow looking horns slowly walked forward and sat down, he looked worried as his yellow eyes darted around. "Project Flame: Number 900" The Dark Lord's voice echoed. Another young boy approached, he had long red hair, curved orange horns that protruded from his forehead, and awkward looking knees. Eira wondered if it was the result of one of the Observers experiments. His face showed an expression of anger and resentment "Project Fear: Number 666" the number and code name seemed appropriate to give to this boy, Eira thought he looked terrifying. Several people split and made a pathway for him as he walked to the front and sat next to the red haired boy. he had deep blue hair, dark grey skin, and multiple red eyes on his face. He seemed almost uncaring or disinterested.
"Project Earth: Number 1289", A girl this time, slowly waddled her way to the front and sat next to the previous child. She had long green hair, bright green eyes, and tree branch-like horns on her head. A peculiar trait about her, she had the same awkward knees as number 900, the flame boy. She seemed worried but held a strong exterior.
All was quiet, the children waited in anticipation to find out who the last one was going to be. Eira felt her heart beat loud and hard in her chest, the anxiety building more and more after each second of silence. "And finally, last but not least" The Dark Lord started, some of the children leaned in, grinding their teeth in nervousness. "Project Ice: Number 878" his booming voice called out, Eira felt a rush of relief and worry as she stepped up to the front and sat down next the the green haired girl. Murmurs filled the room, some of the other children were angry, some were fearful. "Guards! You know which children get sent where, take them away already!" Nerugo shouted; The guards quickly went to work, sorting the children and taking them to where they needed to go. Finally, the room was empty. All that remained were Nerugo, Russell, The Dark Lord, and the 5 children seated on the ground. "You should all feel so proud of yourselves. You stood strong amoungst the weak and now your names carry a powerful meaning! Congratulations!" The Dark Lord exclaimed, clapping his hands with glee. Eira strained her neck upwards to look at The Dark Lord. The many stairs in her line of view seemed large from her angle and blocked much of what she was trying to see. "Russell and Nerugo, Please take the 5 of them upstairs so they can see their rooms!" The Dark Lord ordered, the two males nodded. Russell took The blonde boy, While Nerugo took the red haired boy. They were gone for a couple minutes before returning. This time Nerugo took the blue haired boy with many eyes, and Russell took the green haired girl beside Eira. Eira sat alone on the ground awaiting the return of one of the males. The only other person in the room with her was The Dark Lord. Eira could feel his eyes burning holes straight into her but she was unable to see any details of his face so she wasn't able to guess what he was thinking. Finally, Nerugo returned and ushered her up, he instructed her to pay attention to her surroundings as he would not be guiding her to her room again. He lead the Eira through some winding hallways with many twists and turns, at some point, she could feel the warm air slowly drop in temperature the more the they progressed forwards. The temperature got increasingly colder until they reached a shiny silver door in the wall. Shivering, Nerugo reached for the handle and slide it across, opening the room up for Eira. "This is your new living space. Later you'll be able to put in an access code. Remember it and don't make it something stupidly easy because you only have to set it once. More will be explained later. You have a few moments to get settled before you'll be called down for your first group meeting. There is a new uniform in your closet. Change into it before you get called down. That is all. Congratulations, Eira." Nerugo said, giving the girl a frim nod. Eira nodded back, "Thank you, Nerugo" she responded before walking into the new room. Nerugo shut the door behind her and she was left to take in her new surroundings.