The Beginning

2112, December 13th, The Room

The room was dark, with padded walls and different contraptions to help "test" her true potential, or so that is what they said. Serenity had been told multiple times since she had come to be here how extraordinary she was and how they would help her get to that full potential though she never fully understood what they meant; that was up until about two years ago.

Two years ago, today, that is when she had her first breakthrough. Serenity had woken up in a dead sweat with her eyes feeling like they were burning, her jaw in excruciating pain, and her skin itching. She got up, went into the bathroom, turned on the cold water, splashing the cool water onto her face, and tried to relieve the burning sensation in her eyes. After about five or ten minutes, the feelings passed, her eyes no longer burned, her jaw felt fine, and her skin no longer itched. She reached for the towel drying off her face setting it down, and looked up into the mirror. Her eyes widened as her mouth dropped open as she stumbled back from the mirror. She stared into the crimson red eyes that looked back at her; her top canines had been elongated. Her skin became a warm, fair color lighter than her natural skin color but not a snow-white color.

Her mind and judgment clouded with anger and fury; her body reacted instinctively, and her right arm swung, and her fist collided into the mirror multiple times before she stepped away and her back hit against the wall. Her body grew heavy as she slid down the wall before she fell to the floor completely, tears streaking down her cheeks, but no sound came out before she drifted off to sleep.

That is the earliest memory of her so-called potential these people claimed she had. Tests run every day; besides, occasionally, they give her a break from the experiments. Today would not be one of those days since she had a breakthrough again last night, and now small horns were steadily growing out of her head. "You know what to do," the doctor spoke up to her, nodding slowly; she began making her way over to the chair that she started and ended every day of testing on. Her feet stop just in front of the chair, slowly turning around meeting the nurses and doctors' eyes as she sits down in the chair, resting her arms on the armrests and her back pressed tightly against the back of the chair. The nurse approaches her, strapping down her wrists, forearms, and torso to the chair as the doctor comes with the syringe filled with whatever they had been injecting her with for the last five years.

Her body involuntarily tensed up as the doctor approached with the syringe, but she took a deep breath to the body to relax as she closed her eyes. "now be good, and you can spend tomorrow in the gardens," the doctor said to her making a promise. Her fists clenched, knowing she would not have to endure testing tomorrow since any time they made that promise, they meant it. Then she felt the cold prick of the needle into her vein, waiting until the doctor had finished emptying the serum into her bloodstream, and then they pulled out the needle, putting space between themselves and her. Nothing that is all she ever felt at first but as soon as the serum reached her heart, she strained and kicked in the chair. Her skin and blood streaming feeling as if they were burning her from the inside, her veins turning black as her heartbeat picked up, shuddering in agony. The pain and burn went on for fifteen minutes before the serum settled into her bloodstream ultimately.

Her head dropped, constantly feeling weak after every injection she gets. Her breathing is shallow as she tries to regain control over her consciousness before finally feeling a bit better. The nurses approach her and begin unstrapping her from the chair. The bodyguards come over, forcing her to her feet. She stumbled at first, trying to catch her bearings before they dragged her over to the tub of water, putting her inside, leaving her arms and head out as they pressed a button, sending a low electricity shot into the water, shocking her. Her body spasms for a few seconds and then calms. Subjecting her to another shock at the same voltage, waiting until her body stopped spasming. They slowly cranked up the voltage continuing to repeat the process until she fell unconscious. "She was able to withstand a higher voltage this time; she is truly progressing," the doctors said amongst each other.

Serenity came back around to the shock of sharp pain on her cheek; opening her eyes, her head leaned towards the side of her cheek that was in pain. The nurse was squatting down beside the tub next to her with a knife in her hand. The blade had blackish, crimson-colored blood on it. "You really are changing; your blood used to be a bright red, and now it's nearly black." The nurse snickered as she stood up, walking back over to doctors wiping the blood into a vile as Serenity sat up straight, regaining her bearings. She slowly put her hands on the rim of the tub, lifting herself up to stand inside the tub. Raising her leg, she steps over the side of the tub, placing her wet feet on the cold tile floor and then her other leg fully stepping out of the tub. Her eyes traveled towards the giant clock hanging on the wall; five and a half hours had passed since she had stepped into this room.

Her body shivered in the cool air of the room; due to being wet from the water, she was extra sensitive to the room temperature. She grabbed the towel next to the tub and began drying her body off, watching as the doctors and nurses discussed which test they would subject her to next. Soon one of the doctors and two bodyguards approached her, motioning for her to go over to what she called the pit. Her body froze on the spot, looking towards the pit before taking a shaky breath and began approaching it. Reaching the outer ring, she walked around to the stairs looking back at the doctors, who nodded for her to continue. Looking back towards the pit, she began descending, her eyes staying focused on the small dirt platform at the bottom that she would spend who knows how long on.

Reaching the platform, her eyes wandered back up towards where the doctors, nurses, and bodyguards had filed into the closed-off control panel room. Then her eyes scanned over the area; it had been a long time since they made her do this experiment. The stairs lowered and then were covered up into the wall, which the small platform she stood on was only about shoulder-width round; the walls were at a slant and smooth. Soon liquid began coming down the wall as panic began to sink into her body before the whole pit around her went up in flames. It burned, hot so hot, she screamed in agony from the heat collapsing to her knees on the platform. The fire completely engulfed the pit, trapping her with nowhere to go or run to. The fire whipped against her skin, burning, and marking her skin from the amount of heat the brilliant flames produced. She felt as if she was wasting away until finally, the pain began to subside, looking down at her arms and legs. The fire was no longer leaving any marks on her skin or causing any pain, but the temperature made her feel as though she was suffocating.

After what seemed to be an eternity, water poured down onto her and the raging fire until the fire was no more. Standing up onto her feet, she wobbled a bit, waiting for the stairs to reappear before beginning to ascend them; her head hung down the entire walk. Her long hair was drenched and clung to her skin and clothes as she fully stepped up back into the central part of the room. They were all standing there waiting for her as the bodyguards grabbed her arms holding her in place. The doctors approaching, beginning to look her body over. "No burns on you this time. Looks like your breakthrough last night progressed you quite far along; before you know, you will be complete." The doctor said as he finished the exam of her skin's state; the bodyguards let her arms go. Eyes wandering to the clock, three hours had passed, it being 3:30 pm already. Her mouth felt dry as her stomach growled; the doctor turned his head towards her. "We prepared some food for you with lots of meat. Then you will have two and a half hours of combat training, and then you may retire for the day," he said.

One of the nurses had come walking into the room carrying a plate of food. Serenity went and sat at the little table with the folding chair that she ate her second and only other meal of the day. She pulled the cover off the late a food, her nostrils being bombarded by the delicious smell of a steak, chicken breast, and a loaded baked potato. They didn’t feed her poorly here, but she went through daily; at least she had meals to look forward to. Picking up her knife and fork, she began cutting into the steak happily, seeing it was well done taking a bite into it. The piece melting in her mouth as she begins to eat down everything, taking her time, not wanting to make her stomach upset by eating too fast. She had finished with twenty minutes left before she would be forced to begin fighting. She approached them, letting them know she was ready to start the walk to the training room. They got up from where they were seated, and they all walked out the door. The bodyguards followed behind her while everyone else led the way, even though she knew how to get from here to the training room by heart at this point. They spent about ten minutes walking the walls before reaching the large steel doors that lead into the training room.