Chapter 1 - Arkiel Lutifolde
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It was the year 2022 on Earth, in a certain forest in Arkansas, United States.
The early birds were chirping without a care in the world, deers frolicking about, the epitome of freedom.
However, there was a seemingly out of place and well-hidden green building in the middle of the forest.
There were no big logos or signboards to determine which person or what company owned this low-key building, giving a person the impression of them trying to hide something.
The barbed wires with signs all over that read 'Danger– do not approach or risk death' menacingly hanged on it while surrounding the building with guards patrolling would make that person reaffirm his conjectures now that it definitely had big secrets contained inside.
Inside the building’s underground section, there was a silent white room with dried and fresh blood stains splattered across the walls and the cold carbon floor, only the sound of someone faintly breathing could be heard, in severe contradiction to the carefreeness of the animals just right outside.
A black-haired young man with two different colored irises was seen tied up with leather straps on a metal bed in the middle of the room.
His left eye was a dark shade of black similar to his hair color, while his right eye was of a deep crimson red, as if he had heterochromia.
Arkiel Lutifolde was positioned flat on his back with blood still dripping down to the floor from the bed, the spot where his fingernails originally were already had scabs that were forming after they had been forcefully clipped off with a plier a few minutes earlier.
He had just been subjected to a two hour long daily session of inhumane torture by scientists tasked with researching his special ability to rapidly recover from injuries and wounds.
As the only man on Earth discovered to have an ability that defied science, he was captured through a devious plan made by the US government under the guise of a highly confidential mission to research him.
The war-hungry higher-ups of the US government had dreams of cloning his ability and giving it to the soldiers -- if that had really happened, world domination might not seem that far away for them.
Thus, this was something important towards taking a big step forward in science and military power.
The young man looked directly above and stared at the circular surveillance camera on the ceiling.
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“All of you better fucking pray to whatever god you believe in that I never have the chance to be untied, I will kill each and every one of you.”
He declared with a devilish smile hanging on his lips and a voice loud enough that the surveillance camera above could pick up what he said.
Arkiel Lutifolde seemed to look fine, his breathing was regulated and showed no signs of being in pain, if one ignored the visible injuries and blood that was still present.
The group of scientists looked at the live surveillance footage of Arkiel Lutifolde and one of them commented without any sense of morality, “We’ve been researching his ability for the past year and till now, I’m still amazed at his ability to endure pain, or rather, does he even feel it? Do we all agree that we should take it up a notch?”.
“I agree.”
“Same here.”
Voices of agreement echoed out and soon, all of them turned towards the only female scientist that had remained quiet.
She tightened her hands into a fist as she protested meekly, “Aren’t you all… scared? What if he really breaks out? And, it’s-it’s too cruel… He's just a young boy!”
The Japanese scientist spoke in fluent English about her honest opinion, but the other scientists just laughed as if it was the funniest joke they have ever heard.
“Akira, pardon me for being rude, but aren’t you being delusional? This institute has been tested and proven multiple times throughout history that it’s impossible to escape. We have guards on standby 24/7, patrolling every corner with each of them armed to the teeth, and cruel? Since when has science ever cared about morals?”
The Japanese scientist gritted her teeth and kept her mouth shut after she heard her colleague’s harsh and truthful remarks.
James Bolden, the head scientist of the Arkansas Research Institute, raised his hands up slightly to hush the scientists and spoke.
“Alright, settle down. The specimen in question, Arkiel Lutifolde, has been here for nearly a year and the progress we’ve made with his cells are significant to say the least. I don’t think we need him anymore.”
James Bolden turned his head slightly to his left to face Tsubaki Akira and gave her a set of instructions.
“Akira, you’re too emotional to be a scientist, how can you learn and improve like that? Henceforth, I’ll give you a task to demonstrate your worth. Dispose of the specimen within a week; if not, you can bid farewell to your future as a scientist. Everyone, the meeting’s over, disperse.”
The scientists all exited the surveillance room while whispering to each other about random things related to their jobs, leaving only the conflicted Tsubaki Akira standing there and spacing out.
She hesitated for a good few minutes and made up her mind, she then walked with a fast pace towards the white room’s entrance.
After passing by several corridors, Tsubaki Akira stood outside the white room and took a deep breath to calm herself, her last bit of hesitation disappeared. She tapped her card to the reader and the door opened as she walked in.
The moment Arkiel Lutifolde spotted the person that came in the room, he immediately began to cry loudly to attract her attention.
“Ahhhh!!! Akira, I don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna die! Please, you can help me, right?!”
His tears and snot was overflowing as Tsubaki Akira just silently watched him cry it out, her hand slowly went on to pat his hair as she soothed him like she always did.
“There, there. I know that person inside of you always comes out whenever you’re being inflicted pain. I-I’ll try to find a way to get you out, I promise.”
“R-Really? It hurts so so bad!”
Tsubaki Akira looked at the boy in front of her with pity, he was diagnosed with having split personality disorder shortly after experiencing repeated torture for a few days.
Akira was the personnel assigned to comfort him after every session of ‘research’.
Initially, she had disagreed with the methods of research towards a boy that did not even look like he was eighteen years old yet as it was too inhumane.
Her disapproval was quickly rejected as no one seemed to care about things like morality and human rights. She could only motivate and encourage Arkiel Lutifolde to endure it throughout the past year.
Tsubaki Akira’s eyes then turned firm and she steeled her resolve, “Tonight, don’t go to sleep, wait for me, I’ll get you out of here once and for all.”.
Arkiel Lutifolde’s eyes lit up, he gave a beaming smile that melted her heart and said softly, “Won’t you get into trouble…? Even though I wanna leave, if Akira gets into trouble because of this, I’ll feel sad!”
Hearing this made Tsubaki Akira even more guilty than she already was. She gripped the corners of her white lab coat and reassured him before leaving in a hurry.
“Don’t worry, wait for me to come here tonight! Don’t fall asleep, ok? I’ll be going first!”
Arkiel Lutifolde’s beaming smile slowly turned into a cold one instead as he silently watched her leave the room.
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