Point-of-View: Selesa Jeule
———————————————————————————
"Unbelievable, these are real dinosaurs, I never thought I would ever see one!" Exclaimed Dr Bug-eyes, staring at the velociraptor(I think) with fascination.
"Is it all that big of a deal? Did these reptiles not exist in your previous world? I have heard from those that have memories of their past life, all of them claim that monsters and magic did not exist in their old worlds," Said Dr Guyen.
"Oh, they did exist in my old world...however, they went extinct several millions of years before humans even came into existence."
"...I have too many questions, but we do not have time for that right now. I would like to pick your brain on this subject at a later time, Sibhan," Suggested Dr Guyen with interest.
"Sure, I do not mind."
Okay, seriously, what the fuck? You know what, I'm gonna totally talk about my reincarnation after this mission is over, if these guys can do it, why the fuck can't we? From the way Kuro acted when we met, it was clear that he was avoiding letting Les and Misen notice, I confirmed that when he made up an excuse after Misen questioned how he was so good at handling a gun. So that means that he probably had tried telling someone about his reincarnation in the past, and had that creepy voice interrupt him and tell him not to.
Well, you know what, bright light-creepy voice guy? If you're gonna intervene with me and other regular people while letting the bad guys talk about it as they pleased, then fuck you!
"Hey, what happened to that assistant of yours, Dr Reel?" Dr Matist asked Bug-eyes curiously.
"Hm? Oh, he's attending the Lapdog Elite Squad training camp."
Okay, his name is Dr Reel...I should repeat that in my head, or else I might actually blurt out 'Dr Bug-eyes' without meaning to. And if I do that, I'll probably end up dead.
"Retya, go extract about five Anima Orbs from these dinasour reptiles," Instructed Dr Guyen, handing me a couple of Spell Cards.
"It's pronounced 'dinosaur'," Corrected Dr Reel.
"Whatever, it does not matter."
Better hop to it. Let's see here, both of the Spell Cards he gave me were labeled...'remote activation paralysis' and 'Anima Orb extraction'. Okay, here goes...
I walked over to the caged raptor, which hissed and growled, the feathers on the top of its head standing up threateningly, as it tapped its hooked claws on the metal floor of the cage. I pointed the remote activation paralysis spell at it and ran my Mana through it, activating it...the dino slumped down, unable to move.
I then pressed the other card against it and ran my Mana through it...nothing happened. Huh? Am I doing this right?
"You need to keep that up continuously for a minute or so...and if you're activating it on a human, you must keep it up for five minutes," Informed Dr Reel, as he did the same to one of the other dinos.
"I see, thank you, doctor."
I put my hands through the bars again and started activating the spell, continuously running my Mana through it. A few seconds short of a minute, a purple orb appeared above the card, I grabbed it and looked at it. It was like a big, purple marble. It wasn't as big as a Mana Orb, but felt kinda the same.
Alright, four more to go...
I began moving my arms in through the bars of the cage again...when the raptor suddenly sprung back up and snapped at my hand. I quickly drew back my arms, but it slashed a deep cut into my right arm with one of its hooked claws, and...bit off my left pinky when it snapped at me.
It munched and swallowed my finger before licking its lips, staring at me hungrily.
H-huh...?
O-oh my God...m-my finger, i-it's gone! I bit my lower lip to keep from screaming, as I stared in shock at the blood gushing out of the stump where my left pinky used to be. I-it hurt...my body was trembling and had broken out in a cold sweat, as I stumbled back shakily.
"Tch, you fool, you know that the paralysis spell does not last for long! Here, heal yourself quickly, you can still work if you did not lose too much blood!"
I wordlessly and shakily took the healing Spell Card from him and activated it, nearly dropping it with my hands trembling. The gash on my right arm closed up without leaving a scar, and my left hand stopped bleeding...but my finger was gone for good. It was in that raptor's stomach, and would soon be freaking dino shit.
D-damn it, just c-calm down, get a hold of yourself!
I slapped the sides of my face as hard as I could, the impact stunning me and the small shock gave me a chance to regain control of my breathing and calm down. The three researchers got startled by the sound and turned to stare at me.
"Forgive the blunder and interruption, doctors...I shall not err again," I stated, paralyzing the raptor again and getting back to it, trying not to think about my missing finger...my left hand felt weak and a bit hard to move properly.
Damn it...
"Hm? Your assistant has gone some impressive nerve, Dr Guyen, that looked pretty painful," Remarked Dr Matist in amusement with a lick of her lips, as I gritted my teeth and extracted another orb from the raptor, before paralyzing it and activating the spell again.
Don't think about it, don't think about that fact that you're missing a finger...just focus on your mission and suck it up, get through it! After I finished with the raptor, I moved on to another dino, after that it was the hyena.
I finished extracting the orbs with a sigh of relief and put them away. I was the last to finish, no surprise there. With the extraction done, Dr Reel took out a bunch of syringes, each filled with a black fluid. Was that Dark Magic? How'd they get it in a liquid form?
I wonder what this would do to animals? I knew a little about how it worked when injected into humans, and that it had a really low success rate with them. Do animals have a higher success rate? And what would a 'success' actually entail?
They instructed me to slowly inject one of the animals little by little in fifteen minute intervals. I decided to go for the raptor. And for the first time, I noticed a large trapdoor in the corner of the room. Woah, how did I miss that...it was the same color as the floor, but still.
It looked more than big enough for these cages to pass through. There must be an underground chamber where the animals and dinos they capture are stored. Hm, there was probably a secret entrance somewhere else leading into it. Too bad I had stopped with the rendezvouses(yes, I know that's not a word) with Les, I could have asked him to look for a hidden entrance between The Empire and the savanna, as well as between The Empire and the beach area.
Oh, well, no point crying over spilt milk, and besides, it might have been too risky.
I shook my head and focused on the matter at hand. Gotta maintain my cover. I winced as I looked at my left hand again, but did my best to ignore it before paralyzing the raptor and inserting the syringe needle into its neck, injecting a few drops into it.
Its body stiffened and its eyes bulged...and as the paralysis wore off, it began howling in distress and pacing around the cage, biting the bars and looking increasingly restless and agitated. Fifteen minutes later, I paralyzed it again and gave it another dose. It's behavior grew even more distressed and pained, it looked like it was going crazy. Blood began oozing out of its eyes, it shook its head to try and shake off the blood, splattering drops of blood all over the place.
After the next dose, it began screeching like crazy, slamming its head against the metal bars and its body trembling like a leaf, as blood gushed out of its mouth, eyes and snout. The dinos that the others were working on were also starting to display similar behavior. It was a bit disturbing and unsettling, watching each injection making their behavior more erratic and agitated.
Later in the day, the human test subjects arrived. Eleven of them in total.
I'll cut to the chase, only one of them survived the extraction spell, and he didn't survive the implantation of one of the dino Anima Orbs. Their deaths were brutal and painful to watch, blood pouting out of every orifice, screams of pain and excruciatingly agonizing expressions.
By the end of the day...I was mentally at my limit.
I went back to my room, finally letting myself gasp out everything I'd been holding back and cry. Tears of pain, stress, disbelief, shock and relief at the day being over ran down my face, as my breathing grew sharp and ragged.
"What the fuck...blood here, blood there, screams, howls, screeches, shrieks...death, pain, and more fucking death...I lost my fucking pinky...was all that really just a few fucking hours!?"
It took me over an hour before I cried the stress out of me and managed to calm myself a bit. I have to get through four more days of this...? I-I don't wanna...
I could barely fall asleep that night, unable to get the puddles upon puddles of blood, tortured screams and growls, and bloody corpses out of my mind, haunting my nightmares...
...
The next day was more of the same, although none of the test subjects survived even the extraction part. As for the animals we injected with Dark Magic, some died, while some mutated grotesquely and became hyper-aggressive. Same with the next day. I don't know, they sort of passed by in a blur.
I was stressed, frustrated, and maybe a little traumatized. Time continued to pass me by in a blur and all of a sudden, it was the penultimate day of the infiltration.
I really need to get back on track and fucking focus...this is it...this dino stuff is just the kind of important information I was looking for, I can't just allow myself to get overwhelmed and let it slip by me. Tonight, I'll hide inside the building and snoop around once it gets late.
But, first, I need to get through another day of animal and human experimentation...
...
That night, after another grueling bloodfest of a day, I hid inside a bathroom stall in the research building and waited. At around midnight, I snuck out of it, using Flight to keep my feet off the ground and began hovering through the building, looking for an unlocked lab. It was unlikely, but still, this is the last night of my infiltration, I have to try.
Some of the labs were occupied, but...the rest were locked. I let out a sigh as I reached Lab 20...another one locked.
Looks like I had struck out-...that's when I got to Lab 21...
Huh, was it empty? The lights were on, it was unlocked, but...no one was inside. I began to open the door, when someone suddenly poked their head up from behind a desk. Crap, it wasn't empty, the occupant had simply been out of sight! And he spotted me...
And it's Arg Lehosa...oh, no...
He stood up and marched towards the door, I began to fly away, but he swung the door open and grabbed the back of my robe, stopping me.
"You...what do you think you're doing?" He growled, grabbing my throat and slamming me against the wall.
"No-nothing, I was j-just walking around-."
"You better not fuck with me, bitch! I saw you trying to open the door, you would dare enter a lab that I'm currently in charge of!?"
...huh? That's why he's mad? He, uh, wasn't suspicious of me...he was just being an arrogant dick.
"I-I was surprised because it looked empty, and w-was going to switch off the Light Crystals-."
"Don't talk back to me!" He snapped, tightening his grip on my neck.
I-I...can't...breathe...fuck, I don't have a chance.
I grabbed his arm and wrapped wind around my hands, before rapidly rotating them on his arm, leaving several shallow gashes in his forearm. He let a surprised yelp of pain and let go, I quickly broke away and took in a deep gasp of breath.
"You...you fucking cunt!" He screamed, spikes rising all around him.
Earth Magic...I flew away as he chased after me, using the walls and floor to raise several rows of spikes at me. Damn it, he's not giving a shit about any damage to the building, he's not holding back at all. And in a closed space like this, even if I went all out, which I couldn't without blowing my cover, his Earth Magic had the advantage.
Fuck, shit, fuck, I gotta get away!
I fired out blasts of Propulsion as frequently as I could, just about staying out of his range.
"Get back here, you bitch!"
No thanks, assface!
My speed suddenly waned as my vision blurred for a second, my fatigue catching up with me. In that instant, a spike pierced through my left foot, eliciting a cry of pain from me. I bit my lip and fired a blast of Propulsion from my right foot, using all my concentration to maintain Flight. If I fall, that's it, he'll kill me...I need to escape-!
Right as we passed by the gates leading into the Retribution Tier area, they swung open with a loud clang, and Sicario was standing there along with an angry look, along with a few lapdogs. Lehosa froze as he saw him, so I stopped too, maintaining Flight and hovering since I couldn't put my foot down, blood dripping down off of it onto the ground. Damn it, this hurts like hell...
Huh, Sicario's eyes looked kinda red...wait, Les did say that they were gathering weed, didn't he. The researchers in the nearby labs were peering out with curiosity.
"What is going on here!?" Demanded Sicario, staring at me with those slightly narrowed red eyes.
"S-sir, this is-," Began Lehosa nervously.
"Silence, I was not speaking to you. You have caused quite a number a problems as of late," Snapped Sicario, glaring at him, as he cowered in fear.
"Let me explain, sir," I cut in, "I had, er...fallen asleep in the bathroom after completing work for today, I woke up a short while ago, and on the way to the exit, as I passed by Lab 20, the lights were on but it appeared empty...I was surprised, and walked towards it, that's when Dr Lehosa appeared from under a desk, he spotted me and then attacked me impulsively."
Please believe me...
"Is this true? Do not lie," He said to Lehosa, staring at him with a hint of contempt.
I see, he already disliked Lehosa...that bias was working out to my advantage.
"W-well, sir, I simply misunderstood her intentions, I-!"
"Did he say anything to you before he attacked you? Did he give you a chance to explain yourself?" Inquired Sicario, looking at me.
"He said something like 'you would dare enter a lab that I'm currently in charge of', the rest was all rather, uh...profane, and I would prefer not to repeat that, sir."
I suddenly got dizzy as the puddle of blood under my foot grew wider...crap, I need to stop the bleeding ASAP...
"Ah, hold on, you are one of the ones working on the dinosaur project, yes? Go get yourself healed and get some rest. I shall deal with this one," He said, turning to Lehosa with a fierce glare, "You have consistently caused more problems than your work has reaped benefits...therefore, you are a liability. And so, you will be...!"
I didn't hear the rest, as I hurried over to get a healing spell from a lab. I found one and used it on my foot, as I began feeling dizzy and wobbly, the spell closing up the wound and stopping the bleeding, leaving a deep scar in its place. That's it, I'm done...I'm not taking so much as a single risk from here on out. I've had enough.
I painstakingly made my way to my room, fighting off several dizzy spells due to the blood loss, my head spinning while my legs struggled to walk in a straight line. My left foot was sore, healing spells have their limits, after all.
I reached my room after what felt like an eternity of stumbling through the Lapdog Tier area, I was drained and exhausted, my consciousness struggling not to fade. Without even bothering to change, I weakly flopped onto the bed with a long sigh, my body feeling like it weighed a ton. Time to sleep...
...
The next morning, I didn't have to wake up, I hadn't been able to fall asleep at all last night. I had dozed off a few times thanks to the fatigue from blood loss and general sense of exhaustion, but the nightmares woke me up again. I felt like I was losing my mind, I was so sleepy, my body screaming and aching to fall asleep, and yet my mind refused to do so.
It can't be helped, I guess. I just need to get through a few more hours...
I got up with a sigh and got dressed, testing my foot. It was still a bit sore, but fine overall. I really envy Kuro's Healing Factor right about now. After getting ready and having another gross-ass veggie pack for breakfast, I headed to the research building. As I entered and made my way to Lab 25, I noticed that Lehosa's damage from last night had been fully repaired, much to my surprise. There were a few signs of it, but they weren't noticeable unless you were actually looking for them.
I reached the lab and entered...looks like it was already open. Dr Matist was inside, extracting Anima Orbs from a dino. Each morning, the lab had a fresh batch of dinosaurs and animals in it for us to work on, and every afternoon, we were brought about a dozen or so test subjects to work on.
For now, I'll join in the Anima Orb extraction. I walked over to a cage that held small dinosaur, it was about knee-height with a long neck and tail. I paralyzed it and began the spell. Come on, me, just take it step by step, get through today's work without any problems and you'll be able to leave this godforsaken nightmare tonight...
"Hey, you...I heard that you had a run-in with Lehosa last night, all the researchers who were in the building at the time were talking about it."
"Oh, uh...that's right, he attacked me and tried to kill me, Sir Sicario stepped in before he could do so," I replied.
"Heh, that piece of shit is probably dead now. You're lucky Sir Sicario was the one who intervened. Despite being the highest ranked individual in The Empire after Lord Valaque himself, he sometimes ignores the hierarchy and treats researchers and lapdogs the same way. Well, I suppose I can't complain, that played a big part in me getting promoted to the Research Tier despite my screw up during the Goldway thing when I was still a lapdog," She remarked, continuing to work on her dino.
Before long, Guyen and Reel arrived, and the day got underway. Things went the same as the previous few days...until the test subjects arrived. This was easily my least favorite part of this project.
I walked over to one of them hesitantly and activated the extraction spell. Nothing happened for a couple of minutes, but after the third minute, his body started spasming and and blood began pouring out of his eyes, ears and mouth. I flinched slightly as some blood splattered on my face, before wiping it off and putting on a straight face and continuing. Two minutes later, he died.
My head kinda hurt, and I kept getting dizzy at times. The blood loss fatigue, lack of sleep and stress of this mission was all starting to pile up on me...
There were thirteen test subjects, and a couple of hours later, it was over, and the results were that...five of them survived, which the most so far.
It wasn't over yet, this was only half of what we had to do to them...we then began the implantation procedure...four of them died, just like all the previous ones.
"Bring me a dinosaur Anima Orb," Dr Reel asked me, as he stood in front of the last test subject, a man with heavily sunburnt skin, several scars on his face and body, with medium-lenfgh dark blonde hair, a red right eye and a faded blind left eye.
I'm so fucking tired...
I walked over to the table with the Anima Orbs and looked it over. There were four different dino types labeled...velociraptor, pterodactyl, procomsognathus, and gallimimus. I took one of each and put them on a tray, taking them to him.
"Set it down beside me," He said, as I got close.
I began to set it down, when I got hit with another wave of dizziness and stumbled forward before I could stop myself, the orbs falling onto the test subject.
"What have you-!?...wait, what is this?" Dr Reel began to yell, before trailing off in surprise as...all four orbs got absorbed into his body simultaneously.
"Woah, now this is interesting!" Exclaimed Dr Matist, looking on with interest.
The man's body began convulsing and he let out a cry of pain as blood poured out of his mouth and eyes, he let an agonizing scream and...then it stopped.
Suddenly, wings sprouted out of his back, as his legs from his knees onwards morphed into raptor legs, his hands and arms also morphed into dark brown reptilian forearms and claws, and a long green tail grew out of his lower back. His restraints snapped and he got up off the operating table, his breathing ragged and wild, wiping off the blood on his face.
He suddenly slumped to the ground, as Dr Reel activated a remote paralysis spell on him.
"I-I shall go get Sri Monaciello right away!" Volunteered Dr Guyen, rushing out of the lab.
"Shall I inject some Pain Amplifier into him, it'll keep him from moving," Suggested Dr Matist, taking a bottle and syringe out of her labcoat.
"No need, I shall activate the paralysis spell every thirty seconds."
Woah, a dino-guy! Oh, no...I might have just helped the enemy achieve one of the objectives. A few minutes later, Dr Guyen returned with Sicario.
"Well, well...how truly fascinating. Brilliant work! Who is to take credit for it?" Inquired Sicario, staring at the dino guy with great interest.
"The assistant, I suppose," Dr Matist nodded towards me with a smirk.
"I-it was just an accident, I got dizzy, stumbled and dropped all four orbs onto his torso...," I stuttered nervously.
"Interesting, so if you press multiple orbs onto a person with their original Anima extracted, they'll all get absorbed simultaneously? How interesting...," He remarked with a smirk.
Crap, what have I done...
The test subject was taken away after about an hour of Sicario questioning us with intrigue, and we were told to write up reports on the past few days. What a pain, I just wanna sleep...
It took me over two hours before I finished up the report, and after submitting it, wasted no time in heading back to my room. I flopped onto the bed with a groan, my body felt like it weighed a ton, I was so incredibly tired that I just wanted to pass the fuck out for a good fifty hours or so.
But at the same time, just like before, I still couldn't fall asleep. All that I could think of was blood and screams of pain, echoing and flashing in my head, the events of the last few days repeatedly replaying in my mind...fuck, man, I had two fingernails brutally ripped off, an earth spike puncturing my left foot, a dinosaur had my pinky for lunch...and that was just the physically painful side of this mission, where do I even begin with the countless psychological scars that I'd received!?
How much longer do I have to...-oh, that's right!
I'm supposed to leave today! What time is it? Crap, it's past 6:30 PM, Les has probably been waiting for me! I stood up in a rush, before my knees buckled and collapsed as they had gone numb. Damn, I was seriously exhausted, possibly more than I had ever been in my combined fifty-plus years of two lives...
I slowly got back onto my feet and smacked the sides of my face. Time to leave.
...
After I entered the Pawn Tier area, I looked around anxiously till I spotted the cart with Les on it, a wave of relief washing over me. He looked up as I walked over, a slight look of worry fading as her saw me.
"You're late, sister, I was-."
"Quick, let's hurry up and leave already," I interrupted as I hopped onto the back of the cart, not even listening to what he was going to say.
"Hm, what is-?" He began, turning around to face me, before trailing off as he saw my expression.
"Please, Les...let's just go already," I whispered, hugging my knees up to my chest and burying my face with a worn out sigh.
"Alright, then, let's go," he replied, taking the reins of the cart.
We got through the front gates without a problem, and went past the grassland area campsite uninterrupted as well. I let out a sigh of relief and felt like a crushing weight was lifted off my shoulders. It's over...i-it's really over...
"Okay, so what's wrong, sister? You seem-...wait, what happened to you fing-!?"
"Not now, little bro...I need...to...sleep...," I mumbled, as I felt my body ease up and my consciousness beginning to fade.
Finally, it's over. Time to nap like I'm a junkie Sleeping Beauty OD'ed on drugs...
_____________________________________________
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!
Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.