Chapter 6 - Flora's Surprise Discovery

The following day, after the discussion in the throne room, Flora kept herself inside her Biology-lab, burying herself with work. The lab was massive, almost the same size as the Royal Palace, but underground. The entire place is a maze, filled with equipment only Flora knew how to operate. Arcland was known to have technology ahead of it's time, but Flora's private labs easily outclasses that. She had many work spaces all over the country and outside the borders too. Unlike the other members of the Royal Family, she tends to work alone, with no assistance to aid her. 

Even an important from project like the Life Project was being conducted by Flora alone. Currently, Flora has gathered twelve children from outside their underground cages and brought them to her lab. She picked kids who were capable of fluent speech and reading, which was hard to come by. Most prisoners after being locked up for years and being used as batteries eventually lost their ability to speak. 

Once the children arrived at Flora's lab, she instructed them to sit on the chilly ice floor. The children followed her command without hesitation, trembling at the thought of what might happen if they hesitated. 

The Princess took out a orange colored syringe and displayed it to the children, twirling it around as if flying a paper plane. "I will be testing this drug on you lot. Please keep your screams to a minimum if it hurts" she told the kids.

She awaited their response, in which the children nodded to please Flora. Everyone stood in a line from left to right, side by side, prepared to receive the injection. Nobody questioned what was inside the syringe, neither did they showed much consideration for their safety. 

For these children, simply leaving their cells felt like paradise. Flora started by approaching the young boy on the far left, leaning in to administer the injection with the mysterious syringe. "Stay still" she ordered. 

She injected the whole bottle in the boy's neck, then swiftly took a few steps back. A few seconds flew by, awaiting for the boy's reaction to the drug. "Are you okay?" Flora asked, curious of his condition.

Blood started pouring from the boy's eyes and his nose and he proceeds to cough out a lot of blood. He fell on his face, squeezing his body tightly, in agony. "Save me!" the boy begged, looking up at the emotionless Princess. As the boy's life gradually faded away, Flora grabbed on to the boy next for injection. Flora sighed in relief, "Good thing I stepped away. Can't have your filthy blood touching me".

Those were the last words, the boy heard before utterly losing his life from internal destruction. Flora pulled out another syringe, the same orange color but this time it was darker than the last. "This is one should work, it has a higher chance at least"

Aside from the next boy Flora already grabbed onto, the rest of the children panicked and jumped to their feet. Scared of what's to come. 

A little girl ran towards the lab's exit, desperately turning the doorknob to escape. The door did not budge, leaving the children trapped inside with the Princess.

"For those who wish to escape, just raise your hands. I wont keep you" Flora told them. The children all raised their hands, wishing to preserve their lives. 

"At least you all are honest. I will send you back to your cells right now, to the place with no lighting. Just an silent eerie with vicinity, where food is so scared, many of you die on a daily basis. Is that where you truly want to go back? Didn't you parents ever tell you can experience hell while you are alive?" Flora caused the children to rethink their decision. Odds are that if they leave the laboratory now, it would be their last chance of exiitng their rotten cells, with zero care for well-being. 

"I'll ask again, who wants to leave? I highly encourage you all to test my drug, there's reason why I asked for children to partake in this activity" Flora said, putting on a warm smile. "It was in the off chance that any one of you managed to survive the transformation, you would work under me. I promise to give you a happy life, filled with whatever you could desire. All in the price of taking these syringes" she said, comfortingly. 

The children hurriedly went back on the floor, awaiting the injection. The proposal Flora offered flooded the kid's heads with optimism and a potential future. Flora injected the another child, and he too met the same fate as the first. Bleeding from every part of his body, until he dropped dead. Flora tried it on a girl next, and the effect proved the same. 

The next syringe she brought out, was a green colored one. "Alright, time to give this one a test" she said, a bit disappointed with her results.

Next up was another girl, who shared similarities to the previous one, resembling each other like sisters. She raised her hand, in an attempt to ask Flora a question. "What is it?" Flora asked before injecting. 

"Umm, would you mind telling us the purpose of that liquid? What is it supposed to do?" the girl questioned. 

Flora patted her on the head, then gladly replied, "Finally, someone asked. A new creature was discover four days ago. An endangered species that lives in the ocean". Flora brought out a photograph and threw before on the floor, for the children to get a glance. This new sea creature was massive, at the same height as a shark but slightly smaller than an adult whale. Two ginormous fangs, so big that it could not hold in the creatures mouth. It's skin was a mixture of green and orange, with no pupils. 

"The Exploration Team sent out to captured it failed, but they managed to bring home a few DNA sample for me to tamper with" Flora explained, shaking the syringe in her hand. "A name has not been decided for that creature yet, so for now let's name it Emerald Fangwhale"

"So in other words, I am hoping to create a humanoid Fangwhale. I have been in need for a expert water explorer for a long time now" Flora explained.

"Turn us into chimeras? Monsters" the girl muttered to herself. Flora injected her with the syringe, and just like the previous two, she collapsed without ever transforming.

Flora sighed, after staring at the remaining nine. She left the room, telling the children that she will be right back after making a few adjustments. As soon as she got out of earshot, the children began conversing. 

"This woman is insane! What's her problem" one boy complained.

"Turning us into chimeras, she's practically telling us to become her slave" another sighed.

"But, aren't we considered life stock to Arclandian people, I say slave is a major upgrade" uttered another girl. The girl who last spoke received intense stares from everyone else. "I am not lying. Have you seen the life outside on the surface? They get to do whatever they want, whenever they want while feeding off of our lives"

"Shut it! We don't need hear something so obvious. Right now, I say we try to escape" suggested the boy, who was up next once Flora returns. 

The girl continued on to say, "Escape? Even if we escape this room, the guards tasked with underground were trained to shoot on sight, ask questions later"

"Sounds like you've given up, stop talking if you have" others told the girl, and from point onward, she sat silently. 

Four boys and four girls rose, resolute to depart from the laboratory. Initially faced with two options: return to their cells or become test subjects for Flora, they now sought a third choice - to break free without returning to confinement. Each of them looked around, searching for any useful clue as how they could get through the door. Sadly for them, the room was rather empty, hardly any furniture was inside and there certainly was not any key present. 

Flora came back, witnessing the futile attempt of the children. "Huh? I could have sworn I gave you all a choice earlier? What's with the change of heart?" She questioned. 

"You never told us you would turn us into monsters" one boy yelled, shaking in his boots.

POW! POW!

Two bullets pierced the boy's skull the instant he raised his voice. The boy fell on the floor, deceased. "Oh boy, I really hope he wasn't the compatible one out of you lot" she said, mildly annoyed. She proceeded to explain to the others, "This room you're in is a personification of myself. I hate loud noises when I am at work, especially when I'm in the process of testing. So please refrain from shouting, or screaming for that matter. The room was designed to silence those who raise their voices. I too could get shot if I am not careful".

....

Flora proceeded to forcefully inject each child up until one remained. So far, the subjects had been collapsing to death, even faster than before. Seems like her adjustment has only made things worse. The final child, was the girl who had given up from the start. She sat down, facing straight ahead of her, not daring to look Flora in her eyes. 

"So, you're the last one" Flora sighed. 

"As the last one, you are deserving of some last words, don't you agree? Fire away" Flora added.

With deep breaths, the girl pointed at the corpses next to her. "The first boy died of blood loss, the second died of his heart bursting, the third just had his nerves shut down while the remaining had their organs burned internally, as if traces of acid was inside the syringe" the girl pointed out. Flora did not expect those to be her final words, so she gave her another chance. "Hmm, you knew the exact cause of death for each person, that's commendable. Is that all you want to say" Flora edged her. 

"You lied to us, you don't turn people into chimeras byinjecting them. You use another method, unbeknownst to me. This syringe is to kill those who were capable of still speaking in the harsh environment we were confined in. You all are scared of us, scared of the slight chance we come together and plot a surprise revenge scheme from underground. TO turn us into chimeras was a lie, to scare us into panicking. Hoping for one of us to raise our voices, get killed and instill absolute fear in who's left. It worked masterfully" the girl said, with a straight face.

Flora became amazed by the girl's assumption. "What's your name?" Flora asked, gaining interest in the girl. "Alice Souken" the girl replied blandly. 

"Alice, who are your parents? They still alive?" Flora interrogated.

....

"I won't kill them, I am just curious about your background is all" Flora reassures her.

"My dad's name is he's been dead for a long time I hear. I never knew who he was. . As for my mom, who knows where she is or who she is. The only thing I know about her is what some adults told me, her name" said the girl. 

"What's your mom's name?" Flora asked.

"Sue, she goes by the name Sue Fong, everyone just calls her princess in my home town" the girl answered.

Hearing the name Sue Fong, caused Flora to lose her composure. She grabbed the girl by her arms, and inspected her form head to toe. "Hmm, there is a little resemblance, your eyes are the same but that's it" Flora muttered, trying to make sense of this information. 

"You said you don't know where your mother is right now?" Flora confirmed.

The nodded yes in reply, "I don't know. Perhaps she's in one of the cells far away from I am"

Flora's heart began to race uncontrollably, for years Flora has conducted search parties to find Flora and bring her back to the palace, but not once have they picked up on a single clue. It was as if she had disappeared from the world. On top of that, she was now hearing Sue's daughter was sitting right before her, as one of her test subjects. 

"Hmm, this is serious" Flora said, sweating buckets.

The girl looked at the princess, for the first time, surprised by her reaction. "What is it miss?" she asked. 

Flora decided not to tell the girl who were mother truly was. From the sound of it, Sue has not told her she was royalty who ran away from her duties. Should Flora tell anyone? Or just simply kill her like the rest? Flora was unsure of her next move. 

For several minutes, she contemplated on the killing the final child. Should she kill her sister's daughter or use her for a greater purpose. This choice reminded her of Ricardo's decision when Shawna got executed. In front of Fei, Ricardo beheaded his fiancé, ripping their relationship apart for eternity. 

"If Sue is alive and out there, she will come for her daughter" Flora concluded. 

"Then killing her would not be wise, for now" she sighed, as she placed her syringe in her back pocket. 

"Umm, where exactly did you and your mom live before being brought here?" Flora questioned.

Alice instead of answering, asked "What's with the quesiton? Why are you so interested in my family?"

"Answer me first" Flora demanded.

"We lived up in the Cold Mountains" the girl replied. That information told Flora that up until last year, Sue was indeed alive with her daughter before Fugo's soldiers raided that area. "Alright thank you, and the reason I am interested in you is because as of today, you are going to become my assistant" Flora smiled, she only just decided that mid-sentence. 

"Assistant?" Alice repeated. 

"Yes, I hope we work together well. You dont seem like the type to make a lot of noise, and you seem more intelligent than the average prisoners. Come with me and you'll be happy" Flora said, pushing her hands out for a handshake. 

Alice shook her hands, still hesitant. "T-thank you, I will try my best" Alice states, shocked by the sudden turn of events.