Chapter 15 - 15 - Awaken, Chosen One!

In the relatively small, cozy dining room, three figures were sitting around the table, the silence surrounding them as they feasted on the modest dinner, some quickly made sandwiches. A single slice of ham was all the meat they could afford.

Martha and George weren't rich, they were at the lower end of the social spectrum. They did manage to live by with what they managed to earn. The government wasn't too generous, despite reaching the age for pension.

They sold the game George hunted during the season and lived off of that, as Martha's pension she got from her lifetime of service as a nurse wouldn't have been nearly enough to go by. Even then, they were happy, lived their lives in relative happiness. Their only regret, their only sorrow was the fact that they never got children.

There was nothing wrong with either of them, at least none of the examinations and visits to the hospital turned up anything. They were told that they were simply 'unlucky'. Still, feeling they were cursed, after almost two decades of trying they gave up.

They never turned to adoption either, however that was mostly due to the fact that they were desperately trying for themselves after being told that both of them were healthy. By the time they realized their attempts were futile, they were already 'too old' to turn to that alternate route.

So now, that they shared their table with this young man, a young teenager, they didn't know how to react at all, how to reach the boy. Especially since the boy had the same, cold, indifferent look on his face ever since he woke up from his 48-hour-long slumber.

While the two elders were trying to figure out how to approach the cold-looking boy, Lucien was still confused about everything happening around him. He just managed to escape the place that would others easily associate with the literal hell itself only to faint and wake up in an entirely different place. Two elderly figures with unknown intentions supposedly nursed him back to health, however, he just couldn't figure out what did they want. What was their game here?

Lucien couldn't understand. The strange feelings he felt from the woman before just added to his confusion. During the years he got quite proficient in figuring out the always present underlying meanings behind each and every word that others uttered. He could see the familiar glints in their eyes, as they looked at him with disgust and contempt. Sometimes disguised, sometimes clearly displaying their true feelings.

The only difference to this rule was the demoness herself, Dr. Frida. While she herself had her goals, and she was the worst of them all, there was never contempt, nor disgust in her eyes. No there was a manic grin, a deeply buried desire, a thirst for something dark…

As his thoughts wandered, he finished his food. Taking a cough he stood up, looking at both adults with the same indifferent coldness.

"Thank you for the food. If you do not mind-"

Before he could finish, the woman jumped up from her seat and spoke up, interrupting him.

"You can stay for as long as you like! Do not speak about such things for now! We can discuss it during breakfast tomorrow, okay?"

"Yes, please.. Let's just rest for now, okay boy?" The man added, both smiling with kindness and warmth, something that Lucien just couldn't place anywhere.

'What do they want from me? They shouldn't be aware of the Facility, that should be top secret… To them I'm just a worthless, talentless boy…' He lamented for a bit, before nodding at them.

"Fine. In that case, I will go back to rest. Thank you for allowing me to stay a bit longer." He spoke with no emotion in his tone, turning around and leaving towards the living room.

Watching his receding back both elders slumped back to their chairs, both heaving relieved sighs. George turned towards her wife, speaking in a hushed whispering tone.

"What do we do now, Martha? I'm not sure if we could talk to him… I also can't understand why are you so adamant about this. We do not know him at all!"

"Enough of this George! Heaven sent him to us, we have to protect him! He is the son we never could have, he is the family we missed so dearly! How could you just let him walk out of your life!" Barely being able to keep her raging emotions in check, Martha responded with an emotional look on her face.

"But he himself doesn't seem to want to stay! Also, think for a second! He was laying on the ground half-dead in the middle of the forest, bloodied and beaten! Whoever he is, someone is obviously searching for him! Someone we cannot offend! At the very least we need to call the police to let them know… We could be complicit in some crime!"

However, no matter how good he argued, how good his facts were, Martha was adamant about her position. She couldn't be moved, no matter what he tried, she wouldn't budge.

"Enough, I'm not gonna listen any more of you! Fate has given you a chance and you want to throw it away! You clearly have no desire to have a family of your own! As long as you can go hunt every now and then you are content! Well… I am not! I need more, George!"

Her eyes were hazy due to the thick layer of tears forming a liquid barrier in her eyes. She turned away, storming out of the dining room, doing her best to hold back the inevitable outburst.

Left alone in the kitchen, George sighed. Leaning back on his chair, he looked at the ceiling searching as if he was certain he could find the answer somewhere between the thin cracks. Sadly, that was not the case, he sat in silence, sighing every now and then, as thoughts of both sides kept tormenting him for hours after dinner.

---

Lucien was laying on the couch, alone. His right arm was in front of his eyes, he was deep in thought, still in the midst of processing all the events that transpired in the span of one day. So much has changed in just a few hours. His life, if it could be called being a lab-rat like that, has turned upside down.

He, who whilst was always defiant, never hurt anyone before. Now, suddenly he not just killed but even ate, consumed their flesh? What was he? A monster? Was this always inside him, or was this the result of some of those horrible experiments they conducted during the past 5 years?

He could remember a new presence suddenly emerge from the depths of his mind, and fiercely push him to the back. It was a sentient creature, who wanted nothing more than to escape that place. However, in the midst of battle, he felt his hunger, he needed something from the deceased.

He could feel this creature, this organism as it rapidly transformed his body. His cells reinforced, he showcased many incredible and terrifying abilities. He could feel like the creature sliced those guards apart with ease, he felt his pain as the storm of bullets pierced through his skin, tearing his flesh.

As he thought back, he recognized another fact that he missed back then. In the end, as they emerged from the underground, he could feel his thoughts. He was concerned… about him? He thought about the…

MESSAGE!

Lucien's eyes abruptly sprang open, he sat up. Focusing his weary mind, he brought the dark opaque screen up and looked, as the blood-red symbols materialized one after another.

But his shock couldn't subside. For in place of the unrecognizable set of symbols a clear message has appeared in front of his eyes.

[…:::The Prophecized time is upon us! Awaken Chosen One!:::…]

Shocked of what greeted him, he unconsciously muttered the message, mumbling it under his breath.

"The Prophecized time is upon us! Awaken Chosen One?! What does this me-"

Before he could finish the thought, the screen changed once again, a new text slowly formed with the same ominous looking font.

[Awakening Conditions Met, start up sequence initiated…]

[...10%...]

[...20%...]

[...30%...]

.

.

.

[...100%...]

[System loaded… Merging with host…]

As the message appeared a sudden surge of pain, similar to the tormenting headache he felt before surfaced once again. Electricity surged through his brain, akin to a bolt of lightning.

Through great difficulty, Lucien managed to remain relatively silent, only muffled grunts escaping through the grid of his gritted teeth.

The pain was temporary, after a minute it subsided by itself, slowly easing up on the pressure he felt.

Following that, his vision turned blurry once again, as a much larger image appeared in front of him. It still had the same dark semi-opaque background, and the same blood-red, scarlet letters, showing a single message, a strange greeting at the top.

[...::: Welcome to the Prime Evolver System, Host:::....]