No Second Chances: The Beginning Of The End - Chapter 35

The group was sent to some living quarters underground in order to wait for the reports to be processed and to be legally admitted or not. After several hours waiting in different rooms, the officer who wrote the reports entered the common lobby of the living quarters and requested the presence of Sinns, Gree and Chronos, since they would be needed for further testing and interrogation. Nat sat down as they left and Phil sat down next to her.

“Once upon a time, there was a family of elves that got sold to a wicked king in exchange for peace. These elves happened to be used as soldiers to suppress the masses who stood against the same king through hundreds of years.” –Phil started telling a story to Nat, catching her attention. “In the years the elves served the king, a new elf was born, radiating with hope and expectations of freedom. But as soon as this elf was able to speak and defend herself, she was taken away from her parents.” –He continued, noticing Nat was listening attentively. “The little elf was then made into a slave, but in the field, she would only be good for searching proximity mines. However, the elf was blessed with intelligence and understanding, soon becoming a really important tool for her owners.” –He stopped briefly as he noticed Elvira leaning against a wall behind Nat, also listening to Phil. “The ones who used her long passed away and she grew more knowledgeable, until one day from the kindness of their heart, the successor of those who used her as a tool, recommended her to become a scientist, so she could finally step away from the danger. Sadly, it was far too late to save her innocence as she already witnessed the darkest side of the world after decades.” –Phil stopped while getting flashbacks from the tales Gree used to tell him when he was younger.

On the other side of the underground facility, Gree and Sinns were separated from Chronos who was told to enter a large room with white walls, a long reinforced window, as well a normal and a large gate on both ends of the room. They really aren’t wasting their time, huh? Both the daughter of the ruler and I have to be further interrogated to leak information about the military, the soldiers Phil and Elvira are under surveillance along with Nat the civilian, and the one they don’t really understand is about to be tested. If this runs in a protocol, I will have to comply with their requests until we get our belongings from Casamira. The only thing I can’t cover is Chronos’ safety, so I guess that will be up to him as for what he does. –Gree deduced while being told to keep on moving after Chronos entered the testing area of the facility.

“The elf became a field researcher, taking readings and scanning dangerous zones along with a team assigned to keep her protected. However, nothing much happened the first 10 years, until a small civil war started, drawing closer even more unfortunate events that twisted her mind even more, or so she believed. 5 years later, after a small town happened to be raided by terrorists, her team was assigned to scan the area and retrieve any value from it so it would become a zone for operations for the government. There was only 1 survivor, a baby that miraculously didn’t die since the rubble falling from the ceiling fell apart and caged him into a very small hole. After hours of crying, the elf noticed the baby and saved him, naturally keeping him despite the warnings given by her teammates, who were worrying about the baby being a bomb.” –Phil narrated before getting interrupted by Nat who got rather confused.

“What? Who in their right mind would think about something so sick and disturbed?! –Nat complained as Elvira and Phil looked at her in silence knowing very well the answer to that. Nat after reading the moment understood they might have seen it already and so she looked down ashamed, letting Phil continue.

“Years passed, and the elf managed to take good care of the child, raising him to become a soldier so he could defend himself. The child also studied and learned what he wanted to learn, with the elf always taking care of him like a mother until there was the decisive moment to leave the life of a government pet behind. Both the Elf and the now grown-up kid escaped after learning about very dangerous information regarding the government, and so they managed to hide in a small town. They were welcomed by a very eloquent old man and seemingly his granddaughter. The old man sheltered the elf and the man and gave them jobs to do, helping them, granting them the peace they were looking for.” –Phil sighed as he finished the story and began to pat Nat’s head. Nat knew from the beginning of the story Phil referred to Gree and him, and so she tried to process everything in silence before going to one of the rooms of the living quarters. Elvira wanted to follow her but Phil stopped her, shaking his head quietly, letting her know to leave Nat alone for a moment.

On the other hand; Chronos patiently waited inside of the room, looking around in curiosity, silently trying to understand his surroundings better. After a couple of minutes, one of the gates opened, letting several infected inside the room, to which Chronos rapidly became alert of the sudden runners. As if it was a natural thing for him, Chronos gestured with his hands before countless particles revolved around simultaneously while creating the shape of thin spears before accelerating towards the heads of the infected and silencing 15 of them in a moment. “Please, proceed to the next part of the room.” –A researcher spoke through a speaker while looking at Chronos behind the large window.

Is this what would happen if I was taken along with the egg in Delcyt? Or maybe I would have been killed in the spot? In any case, I should be able to learn something if they let me fight like…this… -Chronos thought while walking towards the door where the infected came from, realizing there were dozens of them waiting for him. Effortlessly, he continued taking down as many infected as he could. However, after going on for hours, he suddenly began to feel drowsy; his body wasn’t reacting as how he wanted and Chronos ended up collapsing on the floor in front of the remaining infected, which were killed afterward in order to clear the place and retrieve Chronos. The scientists in charge of running the test for Chronos began to take blood, hair, and nail samples from him as he was unconscious in order to run a general diagnosis on his health and other matters regarding his compatibility with some substances developed in the facility.

While Chronos was being treated like a lab rat, Gree and Sinns were interrogated once again but this time by military officers in charge of the Intel department. The officer stated several facts they knew about Delcyt’s government thanks to Gree’s tablet, as they thoroughly revised the data in front of her. Sinns looked at Gree confused as to how she had access to so much information out of her expertise; Gree simply shrugged with a dismissive expression on her face. One of the officers pointed out the existence of an anomaly born from the death of DD, as Delcyt wasn’t the only nation that addressed the frequency distortion. Gree’s mind wasn’t focusing on the matter at all, showing her disinterest by yawning and taking longer to answer some questions in rather childish behavior. Sinns, despite not having previous knowledge about the matter, was paying attention during the whole conversation as she felt familiar with it.

Only when the officers began to imply about benefits upon collaboration, Gree began to take them seriously and explained his position as a former researcher along with the possible armament Delcyt might be developing as the interrogation continued. “Oh, I also requested something from the guy that interrogated the others; did he let you two know about it?” –Gree asked after remembering the session earlier that day. One of the officers pulled out of a drawer a recorder the size of a pen. Gree instantly played it and the 4 of them heard the entire conversation.

Several hours later, Gree finally convinced the officers to grant her a meeting with their superior in order to give them some of her designs in exchange of protection and a certain degree of freedom. The officers then advised Gree and her team to get ready in order to meet their superior as soon as possible before letting them go to the living quarters once again.

Upon entering the living quarters, Gree was met by Elvira sitting next to Phil. Instantly she smiled and narrowed her eyes in silence while walking straight to a sofa in front of them and dropping on it to instantly fall asleep. Phil sighed and tried to pick her up to carry her into an actual bed, but was stopped by Sinns who began to talk about the interview they just had.

“I see, but then, where is Chronos? He was also taken with you two and hasn’t come back yet.” –Phil asked after looking around and out of the living quarters.

Sinns shrugged and tried to remember the last time she saw him. “He was taken into a room with a very heavy door that sealed right after he entered, so it is improbable for us to see him until they let us.” –Sinns mentioned a bit worried about the matter, thinking about the chances of Chronos being subjected to inhuman laboratory tests as she did.

Chronos woke up on an infirmary bed and a scientist instantly gave him a couple of medicaments along with a glass of water. He hesitantly took them and drank the water. “Have you been in contact with the TDW virus before? Apparently, your body has been trying to fight it for a long time, so besides your magic, there is an abnormal quality about your body since everything else seems normal besides the fact, that you should be dead already.” –The scientist explained while looking into a chart he picked up after giving Chronos the medicine.

What does this mean? What is keeping me alive then? And why? –Chronos debated in his mind before a strong headache began to torture him.

“Ah, so the medicine is working now.” –The scientist mentioned while writing down the time of reaction on his chart. “Generally it takes longer to manifest in the ones infected by it. Since you are the first one recorded in this facility to be alive and host the virus, this is a special occasion.” –The scientist continued before finalizing the brief report of the effect. “Before I leave, I recommend you to take it easy, this medicine doesn’t cure the virus, it mutates the virus so it cannibalizes on itself. Since a regular infected is technically dead already, the medicine simply would stop all movement and terminate the individual. You, on the other hand, are a special case, so we will keep you here to follow the progress of the medicine.” –He explained before standing from the chair and leaving the room as Chronos was trying his best to endure the horrible pain.

Several Hours later, Chronos was finally knocked out by the pain and remained asleep while some scientists seized that moment to take samples of his hair and blood once again. At the same time, Nat woke up after crying herself to sleep, feeling pretty optimistic now that Phil tried to talk things out in a different way than normal. After coming out of the room she locked herself in, she was met by Elvira and Sinns who wanted to hear about the life Gree and Phil had while living in Argos.

Phil was taking care of Gree, who was also asleep, by bringing her water and asking patrolling soldiers for any sort of meal they could provide. He was surprised since the meal he requested turned out to be larger than expected and enough to feed the 5 of them. Phil also asked for the whereabouts of Chronos and the soldiers limited to mention he was under a protocol testing so he had nothing to worry about.

Nat kept herself busy by talking eagerly about her life in Argos and how everything was pretty calm for her before the incident. Elvira and Sinns paid close attention to the details Nat mentioned and often turned to see Phil to get a confirmation, to what made him sheepishly scratch the back of his head and nod while looking away from the 3 of them.

Gree suddenly woke up after coming into a realization in her dream, making her sweat cold and leave the room with a serious expression. Everyone turned to see her and Phil instantly stood up as he sensed something was off. “Call it a hunch, but they are up to no good with Chronos.” –Gree stated without much of an explanation while closing the door behind her and turning to see several soldiers gathering in the front of the living quarters.

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