User blog:JeielYozama/Backdoor Controversy - RP-related Short Story



A creak from an opening door echoed in the halls of a laboratory room. The flasks and tubes lined up above the white-tiled tables bubbled and hissed steam, liquids stored in them changing color under the influence of heat. There was a strong scent of sulfur or some other nasty chemical burning in the air. Tables and blueprints of an undeterminable shape were left on drawing tables stashed on the ends of the room.

But despite the unnatural atmosphere lingering in the room, a certain person didn’t seem to mind it as he shuffled inside. His pale blue eyes traveled from one end of the table holding his stored chemicals to the next.

And a sigh from him was a clear sign of his boredom.

He passed his hands on the flasks and vials. Grumbled.

“If only our subject had stayed with us until the end of that year. A pity we had to isolate him when the Maou’s forces invaded. And then that happened.”

The one who said this with clear irritation, a pale blue-eyed man with upturned hair and a widened grin abroad his face – a grin that stuck even with the subtle change in his expression – found himself answered by a grunt from someone emerging by the doorway. An older man bearing lines of age on his cheeks and below his eyes, possessing eyes white as winter tundra.

“Things happen for a reason, Levenstein.” He replied in a seedy voice. The man Levenstein stared at his compatriot.

“Not our, Parsades. Ours had promise – and had that bastard Themadon not threaten the kid, he wouldn’t be compelled to leave. In fact, he might’ve stuck around to fight. THAT – I would have wanted to see.”

“Warmonger.”

“Hah. Age before grace, old man.”

“At least, I try to seek solace, not cause a disturbance when I want it done.”

“True. That shows how much boring you can be.”

The verbal refute between the two wasn’t out of spite. To them, this was common. They would discuss things in length on a daily basis, then correct each other, then root up wrongs in the past that the other had committed.

And this, which they were conversing about, wasn’t just any random topic.

It was something that they had let loose by accident years ago….who is now living and breathing in a place far from their reach.

“Are you keeping track of him, then?” said Levenstein as fumbled through vials and picked up on bearing a frothing green liquid. Without blinking, he tosses this behind him like a toy he didn’t want anymore.

“All the time.”

Parsades lifts up a small device atop the tiled surface – a squared metal box sealed shut on its center. Unlocking it revealed an entire system of codes and blinking lights that measured the vital signs of an identity named on the side as ‘SUBJECT – 022’.

And on the far left corner, a sign glowed with words ‘ALIVE’.

“For some reason, he’s experiencing some kind of mental stress. It’s causing his thought processes and ability core to act out of sync. It’s the first time I’m seeing it.”

Levenstein’s head turned a little. “Emotional influx?”

“Probably. Can’t be certain, though. We only have his vital stats, but we can’t see what he’s doing.”

Levenstein rests his foot on a vacant chair near Parsades and props his arm on his knee, thinking. “You know, just a bit more nudge and we can send him to the right direction. “ He suggested. Parsades swerves to him with a confused reaction. “Are you suggesting something?”

“Well, look at it this way. From what I can recall, he still has a goal in mind. That is, to look for that one person who is a reminiscent identity of who he formerly was in the lands away from the Mamono Realm.”

Levenstein laughs with shaking shoulders. “Maybe, if we can toy with that idea, we can worm out the thing sealed within him…”

“Impossible.”

Parsades closes the stat box and stands up, looking hazily towards chemicals in the experiment tables. “As of late, the being known as Circe has placed a field barrier over the Beast. It restrains it from leaking out using her own Demonic Energy as a wall, and that being now protects him like a second persona.”

“You seem to forget, old pal of mine.”  Levenstein wagged a finger. “Who is still in control of his own body? Is he not the owner? Circe…. Is just piggy-backing. Should he manage to exceed control of his own emotions….. the thing that is also, a part of HIM won’t be stopped. It will occur naturally. And if that Circe tries to stop it, she might as well find herself swallowed by it.”

Parsades falls quiet and stares at the box. From it, both men can still hear the beeping and clicking of internal machinery.

“Then what do you propose we do?”

“With that, I think I can be of assistance, ” came a shady third voice.

Levenstein and Parsades hear the slithering of noisy, snaking objects tepidly moving against the tiles, making unnerving, obscure sounds of chaotic meaning. A chilling aura of terror gripped the empty air…

.. and before they could realize it, a Mamono of sinuous red skin, tentacles on the sides of her head and trailing down what is to be her legs,  and alluring grace appeared before them. Her multiple, muted green eyes unceasingly gazed in all direction, but the one pair on her human-esque face narrowed towards the two men.

A Mindflayer.

Parsades made a sickening look. He wrinkled his nose, as if he wanted to pinch them shut.

“Disgusting.”

“You could say that all day, human, But I can care less.” The Mindflayer gestured with a tentacle wrapped on her humanlike arm. Levenstein stepped in front of his revolted friend and bowed curtly. “Forgive me. My old friend isn’t used to.. seeing your sort of people above the surface.”

“That’s a usual reaction toward Mamonos of my ilk.” She smiles. And both men know that the intent behind the smile was nothing more than fake.

“You say you can help us with something, then, miss….?”

“Marie.”

The Mindflayer bowed curtly, pinching the ends of her side tentacles to make it seem as if she was lifting a skirt. “And I have something of business…. with your little… Project NEMESIS.”

Parsades’s eyes widen.

“Where did you get that name?”

“I have my sources. But isn’t that was you used to call him?”

“Yes.” Levenstein answered with a nodding head. “That was the plan, until our idiotic boss went in with the name ‘Janus Excelsior Liber’. Like we’re trying to free something. “ He waved a hand in his exasperation. “I would’ve stayed with NEMESIS. It made him threatening, instead of seeming like a gifted child.”

“Wasn’t he?”

The Mindflayer, Marie, moved a bit as she gazed at bubbling chemicals on the tiled tables. “At a young age, he is proficient in combat and magical prowess, but as his intelligence grew, so did the idea that maybe….a war of Mamono and man is a ridiculous notion.” She sniggered. “That maybe, it would be better for the two kinds to… coexist.”

“That was when things took a turn for the worst.” Levenstein chipped in. “But we shouldn’t bore ourselves with the failed past. What I want to ask is… you can lure him to where we want him, then?”

“Yes. It shouldn’t be a problem. He knows who I am. And just by seeing me, it’ll be enough to make his emotions boil to its peak.”

Levenstein whistled soundly. “Sounds like we’re in business.”

“You’re going to trust her?” Parsades said aloud. Levenstein shrugged. “Better than us grafting a plan from scratch. Besides…”

All of the sudden, Levenstein pulls a menial-sized object from his coat pocket – a gun – and angles as if to fire directly at Alcamarie’s head. “..if she plans to do away with our prized prosepect, I won’t spare the litany of not killing an Abyssal spawn.”

“Ooh. Scary.”

Alcamarie tips the end of the gun downward. “Don’t get your guns running, boys. I’m aware of your situation, so I’d rather not interfere in your ‘affair’. “

A smiles creeps eerily across her face. “But….who’s to say I won’t get anything from this in the end? He’s my prey too.”

At those words, Levenstein placed his gun back in his coat pocket. “We’re in agreement then.” A small object hurls itself to his chest and he catches it. It was a small cracked piece of a wall mural that came from Marie.

“That will be YOUR lure.”

Levenstein and Parsades both pick the piece up and hold it upward to see it better. The sign on it was barely visible, but they could understand, well enough what it symbolized. “Isn’t this from that.. island realm that he had been investigating priorhand?” asked Parsades.

“Yes…….. so it pulls him in direct link to that person, mm?” He looks back to Marie. “Sidapa, the Death God of Filiphilos.”

“And the origin of who he is now.” Marie seconded. “That should confuse him for a little bit.”

“I heard of the stories. But using this as bait… is in fact, resourceful.” Levenstein pocketed the item. “It’ll pull him in.. as well as his other friend.”

Marie shrugged. “That other one won’t be that much of a problem. Once ‘he’ becomes less interesting to him, that one won’t be much of a help anymore and leave the scene. Leaving ‘our’ target defenseless.”

Marie turns away and coils to the darkness, slowly fading. Until she is nothing but the immaterial.

“To you, both.. I bid Adieu.”

As soon as she disappears, silence visits the room, followed by the once more, boiling of chemicals and beeping of technological gears. Parsades grabs the sealed box of SUBJECT 022 and looks concernedly at Levenstein. “You’re mad.”

“I’m not that mad, friend. Think of me, more like, a visionary.” He suggested. “We’re just exacting our own means of getting our subject back. Better that we do it than let him run loose and leave himself all over the place.”

“Which he already has.”

“Exactly. “

“What about the other 21?”

Levenstein grabs for several vials of interest and popping a lid in each of them, stuffs them inside a handy briefcase. As soon as he is done, he shuts it and turns off the systems of the room and removes the power.

“They’ll come right after. Something tells me… someone else is putting all of them to good use. We just need to claim… what belongs to us.”

And as he said this, the two exit the room, locking the room and leaving it to the company of darkness once again.