A/N: The Prologue is rather short so here is the first chapter to go along with it. If anyone spots any glaring errors and wishes to let me know so I can fix them that would be greatly appreciated and any feedback positive or negative is nice so long as it is constructive.
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As my consciousness begins to return and the grogginess in my head starts to clear I notice that I am able to control my body. So I decide to try opening my eyes and instantly regret that decision when I am met with blinding pain.
Without wasting a second to think about it I quickly screw my eye shut again and as I do a woman's voice calls out from my left, “Considering your eyes have never been opened before they are currently hypersensitive to light I recommend slowly getting accustomed to it.”
Doing as she says I open my eyes a little to and eventually they begin to adjust. As I am waiting for my eyes to completely adjust I hear a man's voice this time.
“Well at least this one seems to possess some cognitive abilities, unlike the rest first generation specimens that awakened. Those were no more than monsters given a new casing, but I still wouldn’t get my hopes up for this one if I were you. These first gens have been defective products since the day they were created.”
The woman's voice answered back sounding rather angry, “I would like you to remember if you could that I was on the team that created the first generation and I would very much appreciate if you would simply let me do my work.”
Finally my eyes finish adjusting to the light levels and I was able to open them completely. Gaining my sight I start to take in my surroundings. I am currently in a room that looks like what can only be called a medical lab and I am currently laying on what appears to be a hospital bed. While looking down at the bed I pull one of my arms and the hand attached to it into view.
I was right in thinking this was not my old body because the arm in front of me looks like it belongs to a small child. After confirming that this was in fact not my old body I try to sit myself up to get a better view of the people that were talking just a moment ago. As I am trying to sit up I feel intense discomfort from my upper and lower backs.
I must have visibly winced because the woman says, “Slowly now there are probably quite a few things about your body you aren't used to.”
Things I’m not used to? Well I can already tell my hair is longer and this body is much smaller but how many things can someone not be used to with their body?
After struggling for a bit I finally manage to sit myself up with some aid from the woman. Turning my head to my left I begin to examine the group of people there. There are about eight of them in total seven men one woman and they are all wearing white lab coats. Some of the ones at the back are holding clipboards and seem to be writing things down. One of them starts shivering when I look over at him … it’s not really cold in this room, is it? The most striking feature all of them share however is the fact that all of them have animal ears and tails. Could this be some kind of strange cosplay lab maybe?
Perplexed I mutter, “Cosplay?”
The woman seems confused for a moment and says, “What do you mean cosplay … Ah!” She seems to realize what I am confused about as she traces my line of sight and her hand shoots up to touch her cat ears. “No this is not a cosplay we are all of the beastman race, see.”
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As the woman says this she moves her hair away from where her human ears should be and I notice there is nothing there. Seeing this I move my hands to my own ears and confirm that I do indeed have ears on the side of my head. My ears, however, are not the normal rounded ears I expected they are quite pointed at the ends instead. Reaching further up I find what I can only presume are horns. Now quite curious as to my appearance I start searching the room with my eyes looking for a mirror. After spotting one in the corner of the room I bring my legs over the side of the bed and attempt to hop down.
The woman seeing this moves to try to stop me but before she can I get down from the bed. Now let me just say that experiencing such a drastic change in body size and musculature really does a number to one's motor functions. Upon hitting the ground I grandly fall flat on my face.
After letting the woman help me get back up and wiping the tears that are starting to form in the corners of my eyes I let her slowly help me to mirror. The entire journey to the mirror is quite difficult because I’m having trouble moving my body how I want. When I finally reach the mirror what I see is quite surprising.
Staring back at me is a small five year old girl that seems to be about 3.4 feet tall. She has a small build that would probably invoke protective feelings in most people. Her skin is smooth and pale like unmarred porcelain. She is wearing what can be described as a hospital gown and on her back are a pair of jet black wings scaled that span about twice her height. Coming out of her lower back just above her butt is a long thin black whip like tail that is spined all along the back not unlike what one would imagine a dragon having only much thinner.
She has long silky black hair that falls to about mid thigh and on her head are two black horns. The horns start far back on the sides of her head curving completely forward at the base and curving slightly upwards at the tips just before reaching past her forehead. She sported an adorable doll like face including a small nose and mouth with thin lips that depressed at a slight downwards angle. Her eyes were wide set and large with lizard like slits for pupils. She must have heterochromia because while her left eye was a deep oceanic blue. Her right eye was like a glittering purple amethyst, but the most striking part about those eyes was that they seemed devoid of emotion.
It takes me some time to collect myself and realize that the girl I have been examining in the mirror is actually me. That means that damn “thing” I had to live with for 120 years is finally gone, but I could definitely have done without all the other extra add ons.
Now I have a ton of questions such as what was my age? What could my race possibly be? Does having heterochromia mean I am going to be seen as some kind of cursed existence? But the most pressing question in my mind is, can I trust these people? My immediate answer to that was; No!
Between this place looking like a lab and with what I heard after first gaining consciousness before being forced into unconsciousness makes me think that maybe I’m specimen 56. If I really am specimen 56 then that means I am a lab rat to these people. A tool to further whatever it is they are researching. With that matter settled in my mind, I have decided to take as much as possible from them while giving them back the minimum about myself.
After a brief struggle to turn towards the woman because I currently have the motor functions of a toddler, I point to myself and say, “Age … Race … Eyes?”