1 Rouge

The unceasing wailings of a newborn broke the still silence within the stuffy walls of a large, decrepit castle. A fair skinned woman with shoulder-length dark hair, angular features, high cheekbones, and a pair of squinted jade-blue eyes, lay on a bed cradling a baby in her arms.

A man dressed in black form-fitting leather, with any showing skin besides his face covered in black bandages, stood at the edge of the bed, his eyes focused on the child. The man had long, spiky wine-red hair with deep blue eyes and a thin beard that covered most of his lower face.

"He is strong," the man said in a flat tone. The woman nodded weakly as she gazed at her son lovingly. "Yes, he is. I can only hope that he will be strong enough...enough to..." The man's expressionless face softened as he walked over to the side of the woman and put a hand on her cheek.

"Rest now, Naru. There is so much more to be done, and I can't have you unfit for travel. We must leave soon, and I can't leave you here..." The woman, Naru, smiled as she placed her hand over his. "Do not worry, dear. I will be fine."

The man bit the inside of his cheek before nodding his head and scooping the child up from her arms. The man walked out of the room, his eyes drifting over the debris on the floor, but his gaze was fixated on the images flashing through his mind.

Mana Beasts from the Beast Glade were pouring forth into Dicathen, spreading terror and death to the far corners of the continent. The man set his jaw as a thick black fog materialized behind him. A tall, featureless being cloaked in a black, rippling, frayed cloak appeared from the fog, its eyeless gaze and numerous sharp teeth giving it a menacing aura.

"You called, Master?" The creature bowed when it spoke. The man picked up his pace as he said, "Acilus, I want you to deal with the rats outside before I depart." Acilus hesitated slightly before saying, "But Master, what about Mistress Naru...?"

The man stopped and Acilus froze before bowing sharply, muttering, "I am sorry, Master, I did not mean to off-" The man raised a hand and the creature stopped. "She has made her decision, and I will not disgrace her by questioning her choice. No matter how much I disagree with it..."

Acilus bowed once again, saying, "it shall be done," as he disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. The man raised a hand, the only light visible in the hall was from the dim moon shining through a cracked window, and whispered to himself.

"If only I wasn't bound since birth...maybe...maybe I could have helped you, Naru...maybe I could have saved you and our son both..." The man tightened his fist and resumed his walk down the hall, his face devoid of all emotions as he gently rocked his son in his arms.

---

A boy with short, wavy red hair, jade-blue eyes, and a boyish charm weaved through intricate stances as a man with long, spiky red hair and clear blue eyes watched and pointed out his mistakes. "Wrong, Rouge. Try again!"

Rouge threw his hands up in a flustered manner as he shot a quick glance at the eight other children standing off to the side. His good friend, Viper, smirked widely as he stuck a thumb up as he plopped his chin in his other hand.

Rouge clicked his tongue and was about to protest when a shrill whistle sounded, calling all students back to the main building. They were in a small village on the Western border of the Beast Glades, named Xera, and the population was close to a hundred, but not quite there.

There were very few children. Viper, Rouge, and the other seven children were all. Many of the adults were Mages and soldiers meant to protect the village in case of a Mana Beast attack, but there were some cooks and blacksmiths and such dotted around the village.

One of the tasks of the small school built for these kids was to find a job that interested them and learn it next to their studies. Viper went with the best blacksmith in the village while Rouge went into the guards under supervision of his father, Captain Levi Main.

Ever since he was brought to Xera, Rouge studied his father's notes and journals about a Mana Beast that he would one day inherit. He didn't believe what his father told him, as he had never seen the Mana Beast that his father reportedly had, but he studied nonetheless.

As the kids neared a large, circular topped building, a wiry man with oily gray-blue hair and a thin moustache snorted before yelling, "You'd better hurry, or else I'll set you to scrubbin' pots until your hands fall off!"

Each of the kids began to sprint wildly, just barely making it before another shrill whistle sounded, ending the time for them to return to the building. Viper was bent over and panting wildly, but he flashed a victorious grin towards Rouge.

They always made it a challenge to see who could get into the building first, and it was always a fifty-fifty. One of the boys, a child with ear-length gray hair, pale skin, deep purple eyes, and a perpetual frown walked over toward Viper and Rouge.

"Hey…Ghost…how's it…goin," Viper said in between his gasps for breath. Ghost ignored Viper and turned toward Rouge. "Do you have time after classes? I have something I need your help with." Ghost barely waited for Rouge to nod his head questioningly before turning and walking away.

"Strange guy, that one," Rouge and Viper muttered under their breaths. The children made their way through a corridor, the white plastered wooden walls and dark stained floors a common sight them. The kids walked through a sliding door that opened into a large open room.

A large scorch mark in the middle of the room was a reminder that the dangers these 'experiments' posed was far greater than they truly knew. They were just kids after all, no older than six years old. They only thought that these men were trying to protect them and teach them how to defend themselves in case of a Mana Beast attack.

The wiry man stepped through the door and, after making sure that all the kids were inside the room, he shut the door and calmly stepped toward the middle of the room with his hands behind his back. "Today, we will be experimenting with the Lightning Panther. Prepare yourselves. I want each and every one of you ready before I finish setting everything up."

The kids, divided by gender, moved to separate sides of the room and drew a long, dark blue curtain over a wide area, blocking the field of view of anyone outside so they could change into long white robes. They emerged from the curtains and waited for the man, who's name was Professor Wiles, to finish preparing the last syringe full of a blackish-cyan liquid.

The children swallowed audibly as sweat began to bead on their necks. They remembered the excruciating pain that these experiments caused, but they refused to give up, even if their numbers were previously culled by these very same experiments. A girl with honey-blonde hair and gentle gray eyes was the first one to catch Professor Wiles' attention.

Her name was Fortuna due to her extreme amount of luck and pseudo-divining skill obtained through her half-elven heritage. The Professor seized her arm as a forest green aura came out of his body and wrapped around Fortuna. It was a spell using the Wind element. After Fortuna was held still by his spell, the Professor took the syringe and placed its needle-like tip above a vein in Fortuna's arm.

He stabbed the needle through her skin and began to slowly inject the blackish-cyan liquid into her body. Fortuna gargled out a scream as she thrashed and tried to pull free. Professor Wiles used his free hand and placed it over her forehead as he muttered an incantation for a different spell. Fortuna collapsed like a marionette with cut strings as a gentle, soothing sound came from seemingly no where.

Professor Wiles was a well known Deviant, his personal spells devised to use Sound in order to control others were always a marvel to watch. Only Viper, Ghost, and Rouge were unfazed by the process. Once the liquid in the syringe had been depleted, Fortuna's eyes rolled back into their sockets as her body began to convulse.

Dark fur laced with cyan streaks, which looked similar to lightning, grew en masse across her body. Fortuna's teeth sharpened as her nails began to elongate and form claws. Rouge prepared himself to see yet another of his friends die, however, the transformation seemed to stop before it completely turned her into a Mana Beast.

Professor Wiles' face light up with excitement as he nearly jumped with joy. "It's a success…! It worked, the experiments have finally worked!" Rouge and Viper looked at their friends immobilized body as the fur and claws began to retreat back within her body, signaling that the experiment was a success. They did not know if they should be happy that Fortuna did not have to attend these mandatory experiments anymore, or regretful that they could do nothing for her anymore.

Professor Wiles used his control over Wind to spirit Fortuna out through the door and down the hall toward wherever it was he was taking her. The remaining children, excluding Ghost and Rouge, burst into conversation.

"Did you see that?"

"She turned into a Beast!"

"Is that what these tests are for!?"

"I can't bel-"

Rouge clenched his fists and walked through the open door. He rounded the corner of the hall and made his way outside where he spotted his father. His long spiky red hair was fluttering about in the wind as he waved away two of the new recruits.

"Father." Rouge's voice was dangerously calm. "Why didn't you tell me, us, that these 'tests' would turn us into monsters? Why didn't you tell us that we would lose our humanity for the sake of some damned experiment!?"

Rouge's face began to turn red from anger as blood trickled through his fingers and dripped onto the ground below. Levi turned his head toward his son, his expression colder than stone. "Everything that I do, I do for you and your future. I have sacrificed too much to let you slack, and this is the only way to get you prepared to take over the Contract." Levi took a deep breath to steady himself.

"It is up to your...'friends' to decide if they want to lose their humanity. They can learn to control what resides within them, or they can let it swallow them hole. That is their choice, and what they decide is not up to you."

Rouge ground his teeth in indignation as his eyes narrowed. "You would sooner let them die than risk your own life. You go on and on about this Contract or whatever, and you say that I'll inherit something, but you never show it to me. It seems like all you care about is forcing me to memorize your damn martial arts!"

Levi turned to fully face Rouge, the corners of his eyes twitching imperceptibly, and said, "Have you ever wondered why I make you train so much? Have you truly ever stopped to think about why I do what I do? About why I let Wiles perform his experiments?"

Rouge opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it once more before pursing his lips and shaking his head. "That is what I thought," Levi said as he let out a breath through his nose. "You will know soon enough. Very soon. I will be handing the Infinite Contract down to you, my son, but you must learn how to control yourself before you learn to control another being. That is all I will say."

Levi turned and walked off, barking orders at all nearby guards as a thin black fog curled underneath his feet. When Rouge turned to stalk back into the building, he could have swore that a tall man in a black cloak was propped up against a tree to the side of him. His face hidden by his frayed hood.