“Sixty,” Aponi says wearily.
Giving the cub two more breaths, I turn toward Eden, “You stopped reading.”
“I-I… Yeah.” She looks at the cub worriedly, “Do… do you think we might have been too late?”
I sigh and look away, “We’ll know within the next few minutes because that’s when we should reasonably stop trying.”
“Y-yeah.” She nods and pulls out another piece of paper, “There’s only one more recent entry…”
“One-twenty”
I give the cub two more breathes.
“Uh, ‘Day 6890: I’m in the cellar and will be heading down soon. Either I’ll come back to update these logs, or I’ll leave them here for when Two Palm units arrive to retrieve documents or reclaim the facility. Most of these logs are in the system, but there are many things I’ve written in these drafts that I didn’t officially submit. Mostly complaints, but still, I want the higher-ups to know of them! Damn the Consortium, and screw Phillis! Phillis didn’t actually do anything, I just don’t like her, and I want her to know that when this comes across her desk to be filed. Note to Self: Remove the last sentence if you return... or not who cares. I’ve been here long enough to say what I want to who I want! Signing off!’”
“Thirty.”
Moving downward, the cub’s body suddenly shivers and, “Guhll,” it vomits up some gray goo.
Eden gasps and Aponi sighs in relief as the cub begins to thrash about in confusion.
I fall back onto my rear and stare at the ceiling, “I… I didn’t know if that would actually work.”
Suddenly, I feel something walk into my dress and I nearly strike it with my claws, but stop when I hear a soft cooing. Pulling back the hem of the dress, I see the bear cub shivering violently and groggily propping its head against my thigh.
“Furball, you are so lucky that Rob—” I stop my words abruptly and cough nervously, “that I did that stupid online course when I was thinking about getting a pet.”
The cub doesn’t say anything obviously but just spreads the gray goo on the inside of my dress while shivering.
Aponi stares at the cub with a mixed smile, “He’s probably got some broken ribs. That was a lot of CPR for a little animal, not to mention the injury it suffered that caused all of this.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Hopefully, it doesn’t have any internal bleeding,” I respond.
‘...I have a way to save it if that’s the case, but it would permanently stunt its growth. I’m sure some would love to have a pet that’s forever a puppy, kitten, or in this case, a cub, but… let’s just see how things progress.’
A moment later, I feel two more wet furballs crawl into the base of my dress and curl up next to the other cub.
“...Okay, I went easy on the one that almost died, but you two come out!” I grab the two cubs by the scruff of their neck and hand it to the perplexed Eden.
“Is something wrong?” I raise an eyebrow and tilt my head toward Eden. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Well, nothing’s wrong. I’m just not used to seeing you so… patient,” Eden responds.
I laugh and roll my eyes, “Give me a break. A lot has happened, and a lot more still needs to happen.”
Afraid to move with the cub using my dress as a den, I take a deep breath and look toward Aponi, who seems exhausted. “You still have your rifle?”
“I have the rifle, but I’m out of ammo.” Aponi swings her hand with frustration. “Sam was carrying my bag.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember now,” I reply.
I hold up my hand, and a new bag appears, “Might be some ammo in there. Oh, and maybe a scope or binoculars. We’ll need it to search for the item the ward is cast on.”
“...This is a US Army bag? When did you get this?”
‘I took it from those people when I stole the blood bags… Hey, wait. I might still have those people’s bodies.’
“Uh, I borrowed it awhile ago.”
Aponi looks at me disapprovingly before going through the bag, “Well, if it’s possible, tell them I said thanks.”
“Yeah. Will do.”
…
…
…
A half-hour passes as we recover, and Aponi equips herself with whatever is in the bag. I remove the cub from my dress and keep holding its shivering body in my arms.
I walk up behind Eden, who sits spreading the papers out on the ground, trying to let them dry. “Find anything else in the notes, Eden?” I ask.
She nods and looks at the cub and then me with a flat face, “Well most of the pages are complaints about the other projects, whatever the Consortium is, and a woman named Phillis, but that’s still helpful. I’ve learned there was someone here he called ‘worm boy’ and later started calling him ‘worm man’. A few cloning experiments were going on, including one that apparently wanted to clone an extinct snake called ‘Titanoboa.’ He called it a waste of time and resources for various reasons. Anyway, most of the projects he didn’t know about because it was secret, but that didn’t stop him from complaining about it anyway. Other than that, he just mentions going ‘down there’ several times, which seems to be somewhere below the warehouse.” Eden reaches down and picks up a small stack of papers, “As for these, they were dyed gray by the goo, and aren’t legible.”
“I hope there wasn’t anything important in there about whatever he was talking about ‘waking up.’ Anyway, come on Aponi, let’s see about finding the wards.”
Stolen story; please report.
“Eira, are we going to be fine? Those things are still around?”
Watching my peripherals, I see more of the things we’ve come to know as ‘Palms’ watching us, “Yeah, just don’t go to sleep or get caught in any strong mind magic. I don’t think they do anything until they’ve pulled you into your memories.”
“Oh, about that, Eira, who was the woman and that boy? Everyone else looked like different versions of themselves except younger, but who were they?”
“...Uhm, the woman… she’s my mother!”
“Y-your mother!” Eden’s eyes grow wide, and she moves closer.
“That was your mother? Can I meet her sometime? Wait, what about the boy? Who’s he?”
“Yes. No… and my uh…” With my free hand, I scratch the back of my head with a frozen smile on my face, “ and my brother… stepbrother!”
“...Oh, can you at least tell me about them?” Aponi and Eden look at one another before Eden continues, “We don’t actually know much of anything about your past.”
“Uh…” I glance around nervously, “What is it you want to know?”
Aponi and Eden glance at one another again, and suddenly I’m being bombarded with questions.
“Where were you born!?”
“When were you born!?”
“Do you have other siblings!?”
“Who’s you, dad!?”
“Do you have a dad!?”
“Is your mother really old like in some vampire novels!?”
“Is your stepbrother human or something else!?”
As the questions continue, my expression stays frozen as the back of my neck turns cold with sweat. I lift the hand that isn’t supporting the cub and wave it at the two, “L-let’s do this later! We need to break those wards after all.”
They both look at me with pursed lips and narrowed eyes.
----------------------------------------
--Kardama POV--
‘Wh-where am I?’
“Boy. Get up,” an old tired voice rings in my head.
‘Uh? I recognize that voice… is it you Gramps? Wait, am I lying down somewhere?’
“Boy!”
**Slap**
“Ah!” My eyes shoot open as I spring from the floor angrily. Jerking my head from left to right, I find myself in a small open room with a single table in the center. Noticing the person sitting at the table I realize what’s going on, and I awkwardly start to access the rest of the room before giving them my attention. Tapping my foot against the floor, I find it seems to be made of some type of smooth black granite. Then glancing at the nearby wall to see they look to be made of planks of redwood.
I rub my head and turn my attention to a familiar old man across from me who is clearly a Shadow Demon sitting with their legs crossed. His right horn curls several times while his left is broken near its base His skin, black as an abyss, is wrinkled and scarred showing his long difficult life. The old man nods at me with a big grin causing his sharp ears and long white goatee to bounce.
“Boy.” The old man looks at me with his yellow eyes and rectangular pupils with a knowing smirk, “You understand what your being here right now means, don’t you?”
Giving a bitter smile, I turn my eyes away from the old man, “Unfortunately, Gramps.”
He smacks the table with his palm, “That’s right; it means I was correct!” he laughs loudly and continues to slap the table. “Remember what you said to me!? Paranoid? Waste of time? Waste of gold!?” he laughs louder.
“Yeah, yeah, Gramps…” I sigh and look at him with a troubled expression, “It’s good to see you.”
Gramps stops slapping the table abruptly, “Dammit.” He narrows his eyes, “Did I die or something?”
“...Yeah. About twenty years ago.”
“Damn…” He sighs dramatically, “Well, how’d I do it? Did I go out like I always wanted?”
“...Uh, no. You did not go out in the brothel like you always said you would.”
“Oh. Well, that’s disappointing. Then how did it happen? Did I hit on the wrong woman?”
While rolling my eyes at my perverted Grandpa, “No one knows, really. You just kinda disappeared, and a messenger eventually arrived with your hand in a box.”
“...Wow! That really blows!” He shrugs and puts on a peaceful smile, but his eyes still look fiery, “Oh, well, if I’m dead, I’m dead. More importantly, I want to hear you say it!”
“Fine… You were right, Gramps… the mind magic mitigation spell worked.”
He smacks the table again, “It WORKED! You’re lucky I’m presumably dead, or you wouldn’t hear the end of it until… well, I died,” he shrugs dismissively. “Now, say the rest of it!”
I sit down and stare at Gramps bitterly, “It wasn’t a waste of time or money like I said it was. You aren’t paranoid, and it very well might save my life.”
“Boy, this was a moment I was really looking forward to, so stop staring at me like this is my funeral. It takes the fun out of it.”
“Sorry, Gramps… I-I just miss you.”
“Don’t be a pansy boy…” He looks away, “but don’t forget I love you,” he mutters awkwardly at the floor. He looks back up and coughs, “Anyway, how’d you end up here in the false memory? Mess with the wrong demon? Get involved with the Pit’s Maw? You probably did something stupid, right?”
“Gramps, I don’t even know how this happened. I was just walking around normally, then I started forgetting things, and next thing I know...” I think back to the girl with sharp ears and snow-white hair.
Gramps looks at me with a raised eyebrow, “What happened, boy? You look like you want to say something, but you’re afraid to.”
“I… I found some vampires.”
Finally, Gramps looks at me seriously, “Ironic to say the least boy,” he shakes his head with a sigh, “that it would be you to find them. Someone who denied their responsibility so wholeheartedly. Someone who went even beyond that and tried to undermine the very idea among the others.”
I jump to my feet, “It was holding us back, Gramps! Tens of thousands of years of waiting!? For who, for what? Why us!?” I scream.
“It had to be us, boy. You know that.”
Throwing my arms up, I continue to shout, “Know what!? That we live in self-imposed exile? That we are still glorifying a dead god? That the long-dead ‘Night’ Demons are revered as the zenith of Shadow Demons!? That...”
Gramps holds up his hand with a disappointed look, “You’re exaggerating. Life was not as you say… and if you can’t do the one task that was left to us by the Mother, then just stay out of the vampires’ way. The worst thing you could do is undermine them or cause them hardship.”
“You just want me to stay out of it. How the fuck am I supposed to do that, Gramps!? It’ll be impossible for the Shadow Demons to just ‘stay out of it’ when the truth comes out! Besides...” I bite my lip, “one of them isn’t letting on as much as she knows. I want to know how much she knows about us.”
Gramps calmly holds out his hand, indicating for me to sit, “If you’re done yelling at your dead Grandpa, may I speak now?”
“...Fine.” I sit down as Gramps gathers his thoughts.
“Boy…you’re your own person, and if you don’t want to be involved with the Blood Race or the vampires, that is fine. However, you cannot make that decision for everyone else. I’m sure you know what my stance would be if I were still alive, but now the choice falls to the Patriarch… or Matriarch, I don’t know, I’m apparently out of the loop.” The room begins to creak, and Gramps looks around a bit sadly, “Anyway, the spell is about to wear off, and you’ll wake up wherever you are. The spell will mitigate the effects of all mind magic for 24-hours. Make sure you make the best of it wherever it is you are.”
“Gramps…”
“Don’t be sad, Kardama. Whatever your decision, your Grandpa is proud of what you’ll become… but just remember the message the Mother left us.”
I nod and recite the part I remember, “Child of shadow and children of night, I shall return to you one day alive but different. Until then, steel yourselves, stick to the shadows, travel in the night, and in the darkness, we shall come to find retribution. The dawn is but fleeting, and ultimately shall be eclipsed by the night.”
Gramps chuckles, “Well, you never were great when it came to memorization, but I’m glad you at least remember the last part.”
I smile at Gramps, “Whatever, old man. If it were meant to be memorized, then it would have been kept short and sweet.”
Gramps scolds me with his eyes before the two of us begin to laugh. The room starts to crumble around me, and I soon find myself being dragged down a long hallway.