My Telnari Prince

Chapter 1

"Close your eyes. See her chained to that planet, crazed and beyond reason. Hear her screams and shrieks as she dies over and over, only to be reborn anew. Then look into her eyes as a moment of clarity washes over her and in a crazed victory cries her name out into the empty night." – D

Vesryn

I woke up to pain first, my head was pounding. It took me a moment to realize I couldn't move my hands or feet. I was bound in a spread eagle position. I slowly opened my eyes and had to close them again. The light was near blinding white. I opened my eyes again, blinking to adjust to the light. When I could, I looked at my surroundings.

"Subject B12k-23D is awake, and responding to environmental stimuli." A feminine voice said, coming from my left side. I frowned as the realization dawned on me that I was strapped to a table in a lab somewhere. I shook my fists, attempting to jerk my arm from the straps.

"That won't work, the titanium is much much stronger than any strength you could even muster at the moment. Speaking of, the paralytic, if you would dear." A male voice, this one came from my right shoulder, too far from my range to even try to look at.

"Yes, doctor." The feminine voice again.

"No!" I growled, "They were killing them! Killing my-" My voice stopped working, it felt like sludge had been dumped into me. I looked over to my left side. I had a catheter in my arm. And the short, brown haired nurse smiled at me as she pulled the syringe back from the catheter. I wanted to kill her then. I wanted to punch every white tooth out of her jaw until she was a bloody mess. My body had other ideas. In fact it felt like my body decided just then to ignore everything I wanted it to do.

A mask was placed over my nose and mouth. I could watch. I could listen. I couldn't move my arms or legs or even breathe on my own anymore. I panicked, but that did nothing. I was being punished for standing up for my kin. I watched helplessly as they arranged tools on a metal tray with a 'clunk' every time they set one down.

"Prepare the injection sites." The male voice again, the doctor I assumed. I felt several cold spots on various parts of my body. My neck, my arms, my legs, even my belly. Then it was gone.

"Prepared, Doctor. All the vials are ready." The brown haired nurse said.

"Begin injections, then step back. The others have been violent despite the paralytics." The man said. A new wave of panic rolled over me.

"Heart rate has increased." The woman said, looking over at the Doctor.

"They always do, remember they can still hear us." He said.

"Of course, injecting now." The woman said and in moments the same spots that had been cold were now pinched and stabbed. It felt like liquid hot iron was being shoved into my body. The burning spread slowly and painfully. I wanted to scream, I wanted to jerk and writhe away from the pain. As the fires spread, I found the doctor was right. I was somehow becoming stronger than the paralytics. I growled loudly, the sound was guttural and hoarse. The table shook under me as I thrashed. Then everything went black.

Kol'Tal

The intense sting in my lungs woke me first, and the pain of my arms and legs followed quickly after. I looked around to find snow around me. Everywhere, as far as I could see. Where was I? Outside, but not on any planet I could remember. I squinted up at the pair of suns. Along the horizon there was a mountain range, but anything beyond that was imperceptible. It took a moment more before I realized the bonds around my wrists and ankles connected to a slab that supported me on my feet. I was held very firmly in place by cold metal, made stronger with what looked like a plasma cuff wrapped on the outside. It was new technology that I didn't recognize either. I struggled against the wrist restraints, my fingers and toes were burning. I could already feel the pain of frostbite settling into the small bones. It was only a matter of time. This was how I died? Frozen to some slab, out in a winter wasteland. What new hell was this? I groaned, my teeth began to chatter, and I shivered violently. I cried out in pain and frustration. I couldn't get out. I was trapped! I thrashed against the restraints, tried violently to escape but the bands held fast.

I stayed like this for several hours before my strength failed and I began to drift off into sleep. I had begun to warm up. It was comfortable. Easy to fall asleep. My eyes closed, and slowly, my chest stopped rising. I stopped breathing. Everything ceased. Thoughts, feelings, the pain. It all vanished as I fell asleep. I felt like I was floating now. I could see my body below me. See the pathetic creature I had become.

Like a flash I fell back, and felt fire in my blood. I felt a heavy pressure in my bones, it burned and burned in my chest before I took in a deep wheezing breath. Everything was on fire. My mouth hung open, as I struggled to gain enough breath to scream. It felt forever before my lungs filled, and with every ounce I had, I screamed my frustration and pain and anger to the sky. To the mountains beyond. To anyone who would listen, god, mortal or otherwise. For a brief moment, I was warm and okay. Then the hungry gnawed at me. It's claws sank into my belly and radiated through my torso. The newfound strength I had found was no use. I was held fast by the restraints.

I snapped my mouth closed and yelped loudly when a sharp point bit into the tender flesh of my lip. I swiped my tongue over the wound, tasting the copper tang of my blood. I felt a sharpened edge and ran my tongue over that as well. A sharpened fang? That was new. Was it part of what had been injected into my body? Or had some miscreant took a file to the tooth while I was out? I investigated it's mirror image, and found that I had a complete set. The surprise of my new teeth had lost it's value quickly enough. Hunger clawed at me still. I found myself groaning against the pain. Then it started again. The pain in my fingers and toes. The deep ache of cold seeping into my bones.

Again I felt everything burn with cold, felt my body slow and drift into sleep. Everything going black, everything slipping away. I floated above my body again, watched the poor wretch of my body turn blue and black. Then again, I was thrust downwards, pulled by a heart that refused to die. Again, I felt the life awaken in my body and the burn of cold seep away. Then it sank in. This was my punishment. Death and renewal. The panic settled into my chest like a heavy weight. I was the prison. I was the warden and the inmate. I gnashed my teeth. I had a moments' breath, a small respite before it started again.