Chapter 1, Wrath
Once upon a time, there was a tree. Its branches spread throughout the endless void and its roots are forever bound in the blankets of the unknown. Each of the branches has undescribable width and length passing through each other, each houses infinite space. Only the tree knows when will the branches break, and only the tree decides what branch will continue. The branches can only be stopped by time as it is time itself that makes it grow and flourish. Inside every branch, there is life, a life that is unaware of the tree that brought it there. But will they be forever ignorant of its existence? Only time will tell. . .
A fully restrained woman is dragged into a room that looks like a lab. She struggles out of rage, that she was taken in without her consent. She then head-butted one of the lackeys that were holding her, it left his nose bleeding. This made the lackey furious and punched the woman in the face, followed by insults.
As soon as the lackey throws another punch, one of the guards stopped the lackey before he could do any more damage. Then two men entered the room which shocked the woman; It was her friend Led, and her commander Bero. She now realized why she was there and glared at them, It was their plan to turn her into a living weapon, and a puppet.
"You betrayed me! I trusted you!" ~The woman
"I'm sorry Selene, I had to save my family" ~Led while avoiding eye contact out of guilt and shame
"We warned you what will happen if you disobeyed an order" ~Bero mocks her
"Soldiers are meant to serve their country unquestioned, Selene" ~Bero
"The word no is an insult to disciple and loyalty, it is insubordination" ~Bero
"Therefore you must be disciplined to ensure this will never happen again" ~Bero
"When the higher-ups learn what you're doing here-" ~Selene
"Sorry to disappoint you, but they were the ones who sold you off" ~Bero
"You're lying! They would never agree on-" ~Selene was stopped after Bero shows a signed contract of Tyronne, a general.
"Once the benefits outweigh the cost, moral values are easily discarded. Especially for a greedy man like him" ~Bero
"Besides, this project will turn a human close to the very thing we called "God" It will make our authority unquestioned throughout the world! It will put an end to all wars, isn't that what you always wanted!? You're the only one who can do this Selene-" ~Bero stopped because Selene spits at him
"Kill me now! If I get out of here, I swear. I will kill you, and your family!" ~Selene while looking at both Bero and Led
"If you get out, don't get optimistic. Trisha! Start the first phase of the experiment" ~Bero calls Trisha to start the experiment
"Sir! we haven't applied anesthesia yet." ~Trisha to Bero
"She doesn't need it, she needs to learn her place. Now go!" ~Bero then fits something in her mouth to avoid her from biting her tongue during the experiment
"I'm sorry..." ~Trisha whispers to Selene
As the experiment began, the tubes injects a glowing substance into her veins which made her scream and writhe in pain. It felt as if her body was melting and constantly being torn apart. If she were to black out it would be the end of her but her rage keeps her from insanity. Bero then laughs and mocks Selene while she struggles. After a while, most of the people left the room except for Trisha and one guard.
Moments after screaming and writhing in pain. She saw something, a pillar of light with a tree-like shape. She couldn't understand it, she could see it clearly but she also knows that she is inside it. It's as if the tree exists everywhere but at the same time, it doesn't exist. [I'm going insane] ~She thought. But the tree felt real, more real than her own existence.
As the substance reach her brain, she finally understood what it was. When she tried reaching one of the branches, she noticed that she is shapeless. Then when her shapeless form touched the branch, it filled her like water flowing to an empty container but she can only take so few that the branch shape didn't change.
Upon waking up, she sees the world differently and got better control of her body. When Trisha noticed that she woke up, she approached her.
"Are you feeling better?" ~Trisha asks Selene
"I'm really sorry, they threatened me and my mother" ~Trisha
"I never wanted to be a part of this, but I had no other choice" ~Trisha
Selene didn't answer because she is furious, and shocked that she can see a trace of what Trisha will do in the next 10 seconds.
"Next time, I'll apply anesthesia before you enter the room." ~Trisha
"So that Bero wouldn't notice" ~Trisha
"Let me go. I can protect you and your mother." ~Selene
Trisha then thinks that even if Selene is the rumored "War maiden" who ended the war. She doubts that Selene can take on the entire state.
"I can't. I might be able to escape but once I do, my mother won't. I'm really sorry." ~Trisha
When Trisha turns around to look for something. Trisha heard that something fell, so she looked and saw that Selene is still restrained. So Trisha continued searching for something. Turning back she noticed that Selene wasn't there anymore even though the restraints and shackles are still intact, Trisha started to panic and ran toward the panel to call for help.
But before she can do so, Selene who was hiding in the corner, gave her a concussion. It appears that Selene experimented on how well she can control her cells, first by pushing the needles off her. The process is painful and it's as if the nerves around the needles are pulsating. Regardless, she succeeds in pushing it off. Selene then broke a few bones to escape and repair them again afterward.
She decides to swap Trisha and her own dress and looks at a mirror nearby to shift her appearance to resemble Trisha. At the end of it, Selene put Trisha in restraints and covered her face with a cloth.
The Guard then enters the room and saw the cloth on the woman's face.
"What happened to her?" ~Guard
"Oh nothing, her face is just sensitive to light. It happens after injecting the substance." ~Selene who's pretending to be Trisha
"Really? Never heard of it." ~Guard
"Well, you heard of it now." ~Selene
"Yeah. This is the first time we got this far, they usually melt after this" ~Guard
Selene became serious knowing this isn't the first experiment, and that there are side effects.
"Can you remind me how many times we did this experiment?" ~Selene
"You forgot them already? I feel sorry for them. This is the fourth experiment, Ma'am" ~Guard
"You don't happen to know what's the next phase of the experiment, do you?" ~Selene
"I do Ma'am, the next phase is washing her memories and controlling her motor something-something. And after that is giving her "mental powers" or so if I remember correctly" ~Guard
"Why do you know this?" ~Selene
"Oh, sorry. I overheard it from Bero while he was talking to Tyronne" ~Guard
"You have a good memory" ~Selene then pats guard in the back
"Thanks, ma'am" ~Guard then blinks at Selene
"I'll get some drink outside, stay here." ~Selene
"Okay ma'am" ~Guard
[Trisha's looking hot today, I didn't know she has this side] ~Guard thought
After a while, Tyronne enters the room and immediately touches the woman's hand. The guard got creeped out by Tyronne's unusual behavior.
"Why is her face covered?" ~Tyronne
"Trisha said her face is sensitive to light, Sir." ~Guard
"What bullshit is that?" ~Tyronne
"Sir, I swear." ~Guard
"And what happened to her skin?" ~Tyronne
"What? her skin?" ~Guard
"Never mind that, where's Trisha?" ~Tyronne
"She went to buy a drink, Sir" ~Guard
"A drink? Didn't Bero tell her not to leave Selene alone?" ~Tyronne
"I'm here sir" ~Guard
"Besides the cafeteria is closed where is she--- hmm." ~Tyronne then removes the cloth and saw it was Trisha
"What?" ~Guard
"You useless piece of-" ~Tyronne
"I swear Sir I really saw her" ~Guard
Tyronne then ran to the panel to alert the guards around the facility. "5 has escaped the lab wearing Dr.Trisha's clothes pursue her immediately, we need her alive!" ~Tyronne using the Panel. Selene heard this and prepares the gun she took from the guard when she patted his back and started running for the exit.
While running, she ran into a guard who was looking in the opposite direction. She points the gun at the back of the guard's head.
"Give me your keys" ~Selene
"Keys?" ~Guard while hands up
"For your car" ~Selene
"I don't have a car, I own a bike" ~Guard
"Give it to me!" ~Selene
"Okay, it's in my pocket you can have it" ~Guard
Selene then reached into the man's pocket for the keys, and when she found them she also took the guard's wallet.
"Thank you." ~Selene then gives the guard a concussion
When she finally went out of the building, there were guards waiting for her near the steel wall so she hid behind a car. She then started looking for the bike, she checked them one by one until she can start one. Then more guards went out of the building to the parking lot, she knew she was careless because the lot had cameras.
So immediately she rode the bike and shoots at the incoming guards. The guards near the wall heard this so they started closing the door but the door takes a while to close. She rushes through the gate while the guards were shooting at her. She barely managed to escape but now she has a lot of gunshot wounds, luckily for her that it's dark and it's going to be difficult finding her.
She left her bike in a nearby forest. After a while of walking in the forest, she tried to regenerate her wounds once again. She now knows that she can regenerate lethal wounds, which made her curious about its limits.