The Reincarnated Luna

Manticore Evaluation

Cora and Sam met Lilly and I at the front door this time. Mana wasn't there when I woke up but that's become the new normal now. I just hope he's staying safe. 

Halfway to the Lab Lilly was complaining about her legs hurting so I put her on my back and we kept pointing out little butterflies and caterpillars on the various different trees we passed to try to keep her occupied. Sam even picked a tiny flower to put in her hair. Once the building came into view she started to squirm and want down almost making me fall just as the doors to the lab swung open. 

"You gonna hurry up or what? Everyone else is already in here." Nia yelled before turning her back to us and marching back from where she came. I hadn't talked to Sam or Cora about what happened yesterday and gave them an uneasy glance.

"It's okay they've been working hard. You all got this." Cora sent me a reassuring smile taking Lilly's hand from mine. The walk through the halls felt as if it drug on for hours. My mind raced to everything that could go wrong. 

Hell, how would the pack react to things even if they went right? Eli isn't here to back me up on this, so the only support I have is what I can win over.

"We don't always need him. We can stand on our own against whatever they throw at us." 

Speak for yourself.

"I am." I gave her a quick eye roll. Selene's sass always tends to either make me smile or irritate me. Mainly because she's a spitting image of myself and it's hard to admit it.  We arrived at the large open room, which may have been a gymnasium at some point. I stopped and let the others pass me.

"Aren't you coming? You are the star of this show honey bun." Sam turned to me, but Cora and Lilly continued in.

"I'll be in there I just have to prepare myself." She nodded with a sympathetic smile before walking in herself.  I took one last deep breath to steady my heart and pushed the large double doors open.

I'm glad I steadied myself before I walked in because they definitely brought a lot of people. There were at least ten or fifteen others in the large gymnasium not including the staff. Nia and Jedda standing proud beside three others who looked a bit different from the crowd. They gave off a different feeling or aura. They radiated power, not as much as Eli but more than Walsh.  

"Elders."  The that bald man from the first initial meeting was there, along with two other men who looked ancient compared to him. One's hunch back was so bad it looked like he was trying to bend over, and the other looked like he'd get blow away if the wind picked up. Nia's smirk told me everything I needed to know. The crowd was to discourage me.

"Keep your head up. If anything happens I'm right here, but don't let their feeble appearance fool you; they hold immense power."  Selene reassured me as I walked up to the makeshift habitats that we had made to house the different species of manticores. 

"Where should we start?" Walsh handed me a clipboard as Isabella scrutinized hers.

"Let's start with the retile bug hybrids first." I gulped.

"Aren't they the most aggressive?" We had three groups to analyze and evaluate today: the Reptiles, the bird hybrids, and the most tamed group which was a mixture of DNA from Hippos, and bears, along with gorilla. They had proven to be the most docile but also the strongest. 

"We should ease our way into this love, save the worse for last." I agreed with Walsh. I'm not trying to have a heart attack as soon as we start. After she gave it some thought, Isabella called over the group that had been working with the Gorilla Manticores. 

"We'll start with them, then the birds, and then save reptiles for last." I nodded and gave a few directions to the handlers on how to react if their Manticore isn't responding well. Just like we had practiced. After a brief run-through of what they'll be doing, I moved to the side of the room near the crowd and let Isabella and Walsh take over.  A small thing started to rub on my lower leg and I realized it was Mana. I bent down to silently pet and thank him. I don't know how but he always seems to turn up when I need him the most.

 The room went silent as the first four creatures all stepped out accompanied by Walsh, Isabella, and four other handlers. All the gorilla Manticores looked fairly similar to one another. They were very large despite their young age, and almost double the height of Walsh. All of them had the anatomy of a gorilla, but the skin and hind feet of a hippo. I noticed Nia scowling at them as the instructors lead them around the room and gave them commands. 

"It's like they're dogs." I heard Jedda whisper with slight awe in her voice. They began to lift heavy equipment that had been placed in the room.

"At this age yes. Their IQ is similar to that of dogs, but once they surpass the one-year mark their intelligence grows. Right now they can understand about 160 words or commands. That paired with a regular gorilla being able to lift two tons, these Manticores can do almost four times that."  The elder's eyes never left the Manticores but Jedda and Nia stared daggers at me. 

Once the Gorilla hybrids were done, then came the birds. These were various different types of animals that had somehow grown wings. Mana would have been apart of this group if it wasn't so large already. A different group of handlers came out, two hybrids per handler.

"Are you sure there should be this many people here? The handlers are outnumbered." An elder asked the other beside him. No one answered. Sam had Lilly protectively between us, along with Corra behind her. Out of nowhere a Manticore that resembled a Vulture with a horse-shaped body sprung into the air and landed on some of the beams in the ceiling. An enormous growl that shook the entire room erupted from its large frame. Everyone around me began to stir as I watched the handler. I noticed she was motioning for the animal to do this.

What is she doing?

"Is she trying to sabotage the experiment?"  With the motion of her arms, the large animal leaped from the rafters and down in front of the elders, daring them to make a move. The Elder that had been in the meeting before stood his ground, almost nose to nose with the creature. Everyone in the room was uneasy but no one panicked.

Do they think this is apart of the training?

"Maybe. We haven't been informed if it is." I noticed Nia with a wicked grin. A high-pitched whistle drew my attention to Walsh, who had also managed to get the Manticore's attention. It stopped watching its assigned handler and now Walsh was commanding three of them. The handler's demeanor changed suddenly before she quickly ran from the room. 

What just happened? I watched as her other Manticore fell in line with Isabella's. 

"He must have mind-linked her and told her to leave. Thank god, she could have ruined the entire evaluation."  Luckily the group was finally finished and returned to their habitats.

"Don't relax yet. The insect-reptile hybrids are last." I cursed myself for not letting them go first. I need to remember to always deal with the most challenging things first. 

Sadly, only three of these species were docile enough to be admitted into the program. All displaying their features differently as they were escorted out of their habitats. One was almost as tall as me and stood like a praying mantis with a large snake-like face and a long whip-like tail that is sharp enough to pierce straight through you. Another was about the same size as Mana but was nearly twice as long, resembling a kamado dragon with wasp-like wings and a stinger to match.  The last one was younger than the other two but also stood almost seven feet tall with legs like a praying mantis. It has two large human-like hands with talons as long as my fingers, and its eyes are made up of thousands of tiny lenses just like a bee's. It was by far the creepiest of the three. 

A handler I hadn't seen before was working with the youngest, and immediately I had a bad feeling in my stomach. 

"Isn't that the one that lashed out on the last person to handle it?" I nodded and made sure Sam had a good handle on Lilly before I stepped closer to the group. All three of them had lassos around their necks, but Walsh and Isabella handled theirs with ease. The other person was much shorter than the Manticore itself and I could feel the waves of uneasiness radiating off of them. 

"Hey. How's it going?"

Why now, of all times do you have to be here. I turned slightly to see Rowan standing to my left, his bright smile beaming down at me.

"Well, one crisis has been averted. Let's just hope-" I was cut off by an ear-piercing scream followed by a loud thump of the handler falling to the ground. Chaos erupted. Sam swooped Lilly into her arms and Cora looked to me. I nodded at them to leave as the Elders stood in front of the crowd in a protective stance. Nia and Jedda had already shifted, but no one had made it to the door yet. They were all watching, still waiting to see what would happen. Walsh and Isabella were struggling to keep their two manticores in line and were unable to help the girl that was now pinned on the floor. 

My skin began to tingle and become prickly as I dashed ahead of the crowd and towards the Manticore. Its long stalky neck and human-like hands were twitching erratically.

"What could have agitated it this way?"  I didn't have time to think. Nia and Jedda in their wolf forms were large, and only the third and fourth actual wolves I had ever seen. Luckily they hadn't reacted quite as fast as I did, and I was able to squeeze myself in between the cowering woman and the hybrid. My fight or flight instincts kicked in, and I definitely wasn't going to abandon this girl that volunteered for my program. 

"Rowan move her!" As he went to grab her from behind me I had a vague sense of Deja Vu. I remembered the night everything changed, and my father was attacked. My hesitation cost me, a deep burning sensation crossed my abdomen followed by warm liquid spewing from the gash. I back stepped, grasping at the wound realizing the manticore was radiating fear. It lunged at me again, this time I dropped to the ground to avoid the blow, wincing but never stopping. I rolled to the side just narrowly avoiding the long finger-sized claws. My palm began to itch as I sprang to my feet, Mana lunging at the hybrid. Still being very small he was easily thrown off and bounced off the ground before quickly regaining his feet.  I aimed for the hybrid's sporadically twitching neck to try to close the height distance. Using my weight to my advantage I swung as Mana tried to take out its legs.

"What the hell are you doing? Get out of there!" I could hear Rowan scream over the crowd. The Hybrid lost its footing and began to sway. Its large hands covered most of my midsection as they began to puncture my abdomen. I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to look into it's bulging eyes. A low buzz filled my ears as a deep fear overcame me. An image glossed over my eyes of a large pair of pliers began removing my fangs. Another removing my claws as I'm tied down so tight I cant even thrash to try to get away. Anything to stop this pain. It flashed to me being alone with the handler while she whipped me. She stood in the corner of the habitat so I couldn't reach her from my short leash. I started to huddle in the corner and wait for her beatings to end.  I was confused, hurt, and driven by a deeply routed rage. A rage I was made with, that rested deep within my DNA.

 Finally, I was back in my own body, feeling the burn of the Manticore's long claws in between my ribs, and the deeply routed hatred towards humans and the Amaruq still fresh in my mind.