Maxine woke up with a jolt and hissed in pain. A familiar searing pain was eminating from her left hand. She looked at her hand and saw her smallest finger had been cut off. Motherfuckers! They cut off my finger! They could've at least used a sharp knife and I have no idea how long it will take for it to grow back. I had my dimensional ring on that finger too! However in the next instant, she saw her dimensional ring on her middle finger. It almost made her forget about the pain. Huh? I thought grandpa Boreas said they couldn't remove that ring without my consent. So, how did it switch fingers? Could it be similar to mom when her soul was within that bracelet and have a mind of it's own? Or does it move to another finger automatically in the event that someone tries cut off the finger it's on? Either way, grandpa went all out.
"I was wondering when you would awaken," a mature sounding woman said from behind Maxine, "You can call me Alyssa." Maxine whirled around, but didn't see the woman identifying herself as Alyssa anywhere, or anything else for that matter aside from the interior of her cage. It was a ten by ten cube with two beds. One of which was already occupied by hydrakin boy with a sheet draped over him. However she didn't see any bars, but she could smell ozone in the air. A forcefield? It has to be a high-end one for my captors to think they can use it to keep me contained and considering how thorough they've been so far, it undoubtedly can. But that didn't concern her as much as the lack of shadows within her cell. There weren't even any in under her feet. It appeared as if every surface in her cage was made from some kind of material that glowed. I shouldn't be surprised that this woman took that precaution. They clearly know I need a shadow to create a portal.
"I have to give you my compliments. It's not every day that one of Kelgar's capture plans fail. He had other plans to capture you, but discarded them after seeing how you easily evaded capture," Alyssa said, "Thus why he moved personally to capture you. He was quite angry with me for putting him in that situation and I doubt he will ever perform another task for me again. And I'm sorry about your finger. I truly had no intention of harming you, but it was the only way to let your father know I actually had you. You see it's too easy to replicate any other form of proof with technology. Is there anything I can get you for the pain?" Nothing she has would work on me anyways, so why did she bother asking at all? But still, I'm surprised she's being this nice. I was expecting her to gloat or something.
After several minutes of not recieving an answer, Alyssa continued to speak, "You have every reason to keep your silence. I've kidnapped you and used your maternal instincts as both a woman and those of your bloodline against you. But I wanted you to know that I didn't kidnap you out of malice or greed, but desperation. My son, my baby boy, is extremely ill. I've requested countless healers and alchemists to heal him, but they couldn't even identify what he had, let alone treat it. After their failure, I tried to get your father to look at him multiple times through both official and unofficial channels, but he ignored me every time. I even tried getting in contact with him through your sister's husband and your father still turned me away. I was left with little choice but to hold you captive so he would heal my son." Okay, she's not a complete idiot. Instead I have to deal with a desperate mother that won't take no for an answer. Still, she could've asked me to look at him. I have the same knowledge as daddy. Although, I'm no where near as profficient as he is in alchemy, but I could still point her in the right direction for a cure.
Maxine turned her around to the hydrakin boy to check on the status of his health. He was still unconscious, but she found a new bruise on his forehead as if someone had punched him. Maxine unconsciously growled in rage before she could stop herself. Those fuckers must've hit him. I can only assume it happened while they were moving us and he woke up mid-transport. Why did they have to hurt him when they could've easily knocked him out with their spiritual sense?
"The one who beat the boy is the same man that you clawed across the face," Alyssa said, "While I don't condone his action of beating that poor child, he has served my family faithfully for centuries and is like a grandfather to me. And now he has been poisoned by the venom on your claws. If you have an antidote for it, can please I have it?" There is no real antidote to give. Still, he should live as long as he gets proper medical care.
Maxine didn't pay Alyssa any mind as she extended her spiritual sense to continue her examination. She sighed in relief when she didn't find any sign of swelling around his brain, but her anger intensified once she noticed just how much bruising he had spread over his whole body. She wasn't joking when she said that prick beat him. Fucking asshole.
However, she was still calm enough to check on the status of his autoimmune disease. His anitibodies were now only attacking specific cells without any discernable pattern that she could percieve. It's almost as if his body is relearning what cells belong and don't belong in his body. This is phenomenal. If the doctors on Earth could study this, they might be able to figure out how to reprogram a person's immune system and possibly develope a cure-all for autoimmune diseases.
"Amazing isn't it?" Alyssa remarked, "Hydras have one of the most sofisticated, yet simple, immune systems in the known universe. They are able to fend of literately any illness or disease with little to no effort, even one induced by the side-effects of a potion. Although I wasn't certain it would work in this scenario, but I'm glad that it did." ~Okay, that's too many times in a row that she's guessed what I'm thinking. She's either extremely gifted at reading people, an actually fucking telepath or reading my thoughts covertly through spiritual sense. But it doesn't matter. I just have to wait until Horatio Quay finds me and I won't have to put up with this bullshit anymore.
"I wouldn't count on that," Alyssa said in amusement, "Kelgar is giving him a merry chase through the cosmos. He only had to knock you out and place teleport beacons on you two. After that it was child's play for him to create false images for him to carry as he fled. By the time, your teacher figures out that he's been played, there will be no way to track you down." That's getting creepy. Don't you know it's rather rude to read other people's thoughts without their permission? I could be thinking about tentacle porn for all you know.
"What's tentacle porn?" Alyssa asked and Maxine smiled devilishly as she created a mental image of it, "ACK! That's disgusting! What kind of vile miscreants came up with such.. filth! I mean who would even ... ugh. And how did they get a greldzian to do that to a young woman?! No! I don't want to know! Just, please, stop thinking about that!" If you don't like it, stop reading my thoughts.
"Fine! I will stop so long as you talk to me," the Alyssa yelled in frustration.
"Then return the curtesy and show yourself," Maxine said coldly, and as soon as her those words left her mouth, she felt a pinch near the end of her tail. She looked behind her and saw the hydrakin boy was the culprit. He was trying, and failing, to bite through her scales. It looks like he's hungry again, but I really need to teach him how to properly behave. At least, someone thought to put a pair of shorts on him.
"That's adorable," Alyssa said as she walked close enough for Maxine to see her. She looked to be in her thirties and had very long brown hair and green eyes. Her breasts were at least two cup sizes bigger than Maxine's, but it was hard to tell her exact size due to the baggy grey dress she wore. Maxine also spied a ring with the same insignia on it as the one on the sheet of paper that Horatio Quay showed her earlier.
Maxine took her eyes off of the mature woman and tried to retrieve some jerky from her dimensional ring. However, she wasn't able to. Her dimensional ring had been sealed. "He's just letting me know he's hungry," Maxine said, "Do you mind undoing this seal so I can feed him?"
"Sorry, but I can't do that," Alyssa replied calmly, "You could have a device that could interfer with the function of your cage within it or have a means to teleport yourself to another location."
"He still needs to be fed," Maxine asserted, "Or do you want him to go berserk? That happens to me when I go for too long without eating."
"Very well," Alyssa said, "I'll have something brought up."
"Make sure it's meat and get me something as well," Maxine added, "Hydras are carnivores afterall."
"Fine, fine," Alyssa said before disappearing into the shadows. While she was gone, Maxine attempted to manipulate the shadows beyond the forcefield, but her energies were stopped by the forcefield. It was worth a try.
Maxine looked back to the hydrakin boy that was trying to savage her tail with his teeth. Now what do I call you, my little tail biter? Perhaps, I should give you an elvish name? Or would a draconic one be more appropriate? I'm the worst at picking out names. Emily criticized me more than once about my name choices for Kerrigan and Silky. Maybe I can contact her through my constructs and get her feedback. She quickly tried to contact her construct within Emily's shadow, but for some reason, she wasn't able to. That's strange. Next, she tried to expand her spiritual sense beyond the shield, but to her surprise, her spiritual sense only spread within the confines of her cage. That's not good. Immediately, Maxine scanned herself with her spriitual sense, but didn't find anything. Shit, they've made one hell of a cage to hold me if it can block my spiritual sense without special materials. I can't imagine how much it cost to make this thing. There goes any chance of escape without help. On the positive side, at least, this gives me plenty of time to figure out what to call this little guy. And now that I think about it, he isn't biting me nearly as hard as he could. Is he perhaps trying to play with me?
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She tested out her theory by gently swishing her tail back and forth. The hydrakin boy grabbed onto her tail with both clawed hands and held on tight. She saw a twinkle of enjoyment in his eyes as he hung on. So, he is trying to play. He has a real wierd way of doing it. Maybe this is his way of learning how to hunt. I remember digging my claws into beasts and holding on until it collapsed from either my venom or exhaustion.
She accidentally swished her tail too hard and dislodge him, but she lowered herself into a playful stance as soon as the hydrakin boy got to his feet. He tackled her and began wrestling with her. She was very gentle with him as she wrestled back, but he still insisted on play biting her. She didn't want to accidentally hurt him. However, their play session was cut short when a pedestal rose up from the floor with a rather large covered tray on top of it. And there is the food that was promised.
"There you go," Alyssa said.
"Thanks," Maxine said casually as she took the metallic cover off of the tray. It was heaped with raw meat. Ugh, I would've prefered it if it was cooked, but screw it. I'm hungry and so is this little guy. Without ceremony, she and the hydrakin boy began to eat the meat. Although at first, it looked like the hydrakin boy was sneaking food off of the platter rather than eat it openly. But after a handful of seconds, he began to eat in earnest once it was clear to him that Maxine didn't care if he ate the presented meat or not.
After Maxine ate her fill, there was still quite a bit of meat left and she put the tray on the ground to let the hydrakin boy finish it off. However she spied a datapad on the pedestal. It apparently had been underneith the tray the whole time. She picked it up and activated it. It contained a very thorough medical examination of an eight year old boy and he had been sick for nearly six months.
Maxine glanced to the side and saw that Alyssa was seated in a chair that hadn't been there before with a hopeful look in her eyes. So, she was reading my mind at that time. Well, I might as well take a look since I have it on hand. It's not like I have anything else I can do in here. While she looked through the medical records, she sat down, but she was distracted when the hydrakin boy put his head on her thigh before taking a nap. This little guy is almost acting as if he believes I'm his real mother. Although, I doubt that's actually the case, but I need to make sure. I think a small peek at his thoughts wouldn't hurt.
However when she peeked at his thoughts with her spiritual sense, she nearly laughed out loud. The hydrakin boy was under the impression that he was taking advantage of Maxine's misconception that he was her child and was going continue to do so as long as he could get away with it. That cunning little shit! At least, I don't have to worry about him lacking intelligence due to his forced transformation.
She simply shook her head as she stroked his head before going back to the datapad. It took her roughly an hour before she discovered the little boy's name and what he was afflicted with. Little Eliot had been infected with an engineered virus that was highly resistant to all forms of known treatment. But when she looked at it's genetic structure, she was extremely confused. Who would go to the effort to engineer a virus of this degree and not make it lethal. It's like a heavily improved version of the common fucking cold with a few added symptoms to make it appear nasty. Not only that, it isn't contageous in any form and it's got this built in self-destruct timer. It will last at most another year. Who would even make something like this? And why?
"Judging by your expression, you can't figure out how to cure my son either," Alyssa said sadly.
"It's not that I can't. I just don't see a point to it," Maxine replied, "That virus was engineered to burn itself out after say a year after infection and it would take me the same amount of time it has left to burn itself out to develop a cure. But I'm surprised the others didn't catch onto that. Or they knew about it, but didn't tell you for some reason."
"Those healers wouldn't dare. It would ruin their reputations to do such a thing, if it ever got out," the mature woman retorted.
Without warning, the hydrakin boy's head shot straight up and began looking around fearfully as he clung to Maxine's side. She was confused for a few seconds until she felt as if a great predator had locked it's gaze on her. The sensation wasn't that strong, but it was very slowly getting stronger. Shit, it looks like someone is on their way to silence everyone, except for possibly me.
"Does anyone know where we are?" Maxine asked while trying to keep the fear out of her voice.
"We are currently on board my starship and we are surveying a planet for an anomynous individual as a form of cover. Why?" Alyssa asked.
"We need to leave orbit now," Maxine said with urgency as it only took Maxine an instant to figure out what's going on. FUCK! Someone is planning on using this woman as a scapegoat and went so far as to bribe the healers and alchemists involved. And they knew to strike when both Kelgar and Horatio Quay were too far away to make it in time. Whoever planned all of this is smarter than I am. They knew exactly how Alyssa would react to her son being afflicted with an unknown illness and it was just to bring me out into a place where they could capture me without leaving any trails to them. Clearly, this person is an enemy of daddy's or wants his alchemical knowledge without getting murdered by him. So, I need to get out of here before they get here and from the feel of it, I don't have more than a handful of minutes before they arrive. At this point, the hydrakin boy was trembling in absolute terror.
"What is wrong with-," Alyssa began to say, but was cut off when the whole ship shuddered. Shit, they are way faster than I thought. No, that powerful being is still a ways off. This might be his advanced forces. If I just had access to the contents of my dimensional ring, I could just use one of the two warp stones in it. Although I don't remember exactly where they both go, but I know I can create a portal back to the academy within minutes of arriving. I guess my memory isn't as flawless as I thought it was.
"Ma'am, five warships have decloaked around us and were able disabled our engines before we could raise the shields," a gruff man's voice said, "We deployed the decoy signals of Guan's daughter in random directions to buy us some time, but it won't be long before they figure out they're fakes. What are you orders?"
"Initiate plan five," Alyssa ordered, "I will head to the emergency escape ship momentarily."
"Understood," the man replied, before Maxine began to hear a hum.
"What's plan five?" Maxine asked.
"Plan five is to jettison your containment pod towards the planet's surface as soon as I leave this room," Alyssa replied and waved her hand in Maxine's direction, "I've undone the seal on your dimensional ring and I suggest you use your portal ability as soon as you leave the ship. That containment pod will release an energy signal identical to your own for up to an hour even after you leave it. I hope you manage to escape before whoever planned all of this arrives."
The forcefield glowed a vibrant blue as Alyssa turned around and left. A few moments later, the cage she was in jerked violently downward and she saw a metallic surface for a few moments before she saw the face of a planet. It looks so much like Earth. No! I can't get distracted. I need to escape with this little guy immediately. Whoever is causing my instincts to go wild is almost here!
Maxine swiftly withdrew one of the two warp stones left in her dimensional ring and wrapped arms around the hydrakin boy. But she hesitated for a moment. This thing is meant to transport only one person. I have no idea what it might do by transporting two people at once. It might make the previously safe warp into a dangerous one or make my exit vector random. Fuck it. There are cultivators way bigger than me that use these things and with this little guy's mass added in, we should still be under the maximum limit. Even if it sends us to a random location, I can still just create a portal back to the academy. She still coated the both of them in a layer of her energies just in case, but made sure the one around the hydrakin boy was three times as dense as the one surrounding herself.
However as Maxine crushed the warp stone, she saw someone rushing at them out of the corner of her eye. It was a man with grey hair wearing a blue Alchemist Association badge. A blue badge?! He's a mid-level immortal tier alchemist! That explains a few things. Unfortunately, she didn't get a clear look at his face before space twisted around her and both, she and the hydrakin boy, were warped away.
Seconds later, she landed on her back in a cavern of some kind that had a few glowing blue crystals. She spread out her spiritual sense to scan her surroundings and to find an exit to this cave. The closest thing to an exit was to the cavern wall that her tail was pointed at and she had to dig through six feet of granite to get to a tunnel. But she immediately noticed another problem. The mana levels in the air were far too low to be her intended destination. I guess I was sent to different planet than was intended. Damn, I lucked out to have ended up on a habitable planet. I could've ended up in space, on a volcanic planet or on the surface of a fucking star. On the plus side, if I don't know where I am, chances are that asshole alchemist doesn't either. Now all I have to do is get out of this place and figure out how to use my mana to create a portal back to the academy to say goodbye to Ismena and Reina. After that, I'm going home and spending time with my family. I've just had enough of this scheming bullshit for a good while and if anyone doesn't like it, they can eat shit.