18 Chapter 16

   Soooo, im really disappointed in my writing and the existence of this book. Im going to do a major rewrite of the earlier chapters. Just thinking about this makes me sad. Ill finish it though because I owe it to RT and Tian. But. This is the first time ive wrote romance after all.

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RT guided him down a hallway devoid of both maids and warriors. The walls and flooring weren't as well maintained as the ones in the Prince's quarters. Often enough tiny bugs wiggled across the floor into deep crevices or through windows. The hallway was well lit by natural light, however, but places to put the candles when the lights went out were very spacious. It almost seemed abandoned the further they went. The smell wasn't as anesthetic and clean, either, and left a bad odor in Tian's nose. However, he didn't dare complain after having to live in the disgusting carriages for so long.   

Their footsteps echoed against the stone flooring. RT gestured towards a door that was much plainer than the others Tian had seen. He unlocked and pushed the door open before gesturing Tian inside.

"This will be your home for now. It's not much, but there's a bathing room to your left. Maids will be here soon to help you get cleaned up. The prince expects you to report to the labs later this evening for the first tests."

"Now you're a glorified butler, huh?" Tian snapped, whirling around to face the larger man.

"I help the Prince out of loyalty," RT answered simply. "I'll be going now."

RT turned and locked the door behind him. Tian sighed, setting down on the posh four poster bed. It was disgustingly soft covered in silk sheets that felt wrong against his bare arms. He'd never seen a canopy bed, either. It was fascinating, why did capital people feel the need to cover the bed when they slept? The curtains were see through, so it didn't actually serve much purpose. A window across from the bed let in small rays of sunlight amongst the heavy-wooden boards nailed to the sides.

He got up and gripped one of the boards with both hands before pulling. The board groaned, but it didn't budge. At the third try, Tian was ready to give up when his eyes flashed gold and the board shattered in his hands. He peered out from the hole to watch warriors sparring in a large grassy field that gave way to a shoreline. Waves crashed against the rocks, spraying into the air. He'd never seen a sea before, and everything in him wanted to go to the water's edge. The warriors were dressed differently from the ones that had come to his village. They wore heavy armor and brands around their necks.

The door behind him unlocked suddenly and two women came in clutching silken clothing in hand. Their eyes were trained on the floor, but their small frames were racked with tremors.

"W-we're h-here to s-s-show you the bath," one stuttered, glancing up at Tian fearfully before shrieking.

"I won't hurt you," Tian stated irritably. "The Kukouk weren't the ones who slaughtered."

He stomped off towards the washroom with the two maids in tow, 5 feet behind. They shakily showed him all the functions of the large shower, being careful to not touch him. They almost peed themselves when they went to undress him, as their orders stated. Tian stepped away from them and shooed them out so he could peel the clothing from his limbs on his own.

The bruises from that rainy night were still evident, and the blood had long since crusted against his skin. He definitely stank and his body was a little worse for wear. When he stepped under the stream of hot water, though, his muscles relaxed eagerly. The water was stained purple at his feet, getting sucked down into the drain. The wounds that were still open stung, but he didn't dare step out from the warm water. It'd been a long time since he'd bathed in something so warm. 

He picked up the container the woman had set out for him, shakily explaining that it was used to clean and soften hair. He underestimated the pump, though, and snapped it clean off the bottle.

"Shit," Tian cursed, trying to shove the plastic piece back onto the bottle with no avail. He had no choice after that but to unscrew the cap and use it. It smelt amazing, though, like the lotions the woman of the village often traded for to soften their skin.

When he finally got out, the water had gone cold and his skin was wrinkled. He used one of the towels to dry his hair and his body before pulling on a pair of jeans that had been left for him. The shirt was big like the last one, and dark. Beside it, though, was a similar concealer cream like Marie had. Without thinking, he smeared it across the black lines with ease before looking into the mirror. He looked human at least, more human than normal. He was still a little gaunt looking, and the bruises still shadowed against his skin but otherwise he looked normal.

When he emerged from the washroom, there was a plate of food sitting on a small table near the door. He peered at it nervously, picking around. The meat was most likely beef, but everything else was something he'd never seen. Fancy and expensive. Little sweet cakes and bread wrapped vegetables.

It got too quiet, too fast. He paced the room long after the sunlight disappeared from his window. The building lights went out around him. People walked by his door, but the door was still locked. Out across the city, major lights spurred and disappeared. Vehicles came to a stop and candles were lit. Tian stumbled in the dark briefly before his eyes adjusted. Then his door opened to reveal RT with a small candle. The man looked even more tired than before with his face partially shadowed.

"Come with me."                                     

He followed the man down a small hallway that opened up into a small room with no purpose and no lighting. They trekked across the dusty floor, following a bunch of footprints against the wooden floors towards an inconspicuous wall. RT pressed his palm against the wallpaper and the wall opened up to reveal a dimly lit staircase.

"This way," He whispered before leading them downwards.

The stairs kept going and going and going until they came across a large stone door. He inserted a small key and the door slowly groaned open to reveal a room brightly lit by huge torches. People he'd never seen before bustled around only to come to a stop when Tian walked in.

The Prince emerged from a large group. He pushed a bunch of papers into one of the other men's hands before coming stalking up to Tian. "You clean up well. I hope you've eaten."

"Yeah…" Tian trailed off. "What is this place?"

"This place? It's my lab. We've been curing diseases and cloning things here for years. Our recent project is a Kukouk man, which is why we need your blood. Come."

He led Tian over to a set of odd pod like machines, just long enough for a small human man. "Why are you cloning Kukouk people?"

"They were amazing people when they lived, Tian. There's still a small batch of us in the capital who believe that they had a right to live. And, now that they're gone, we want to bring them back."

"Now…the Kukouk cells we had been using hadn't been strong enough. Too young. And the Kukouk that we created were mindless and sick."

"You want my cells?"

"To attempt to form another Kukouk," a woman said, placing her hand on his shoulder. "I understand it must be scary to even think about it, but if we're successful we can restore Earth's protectors to their rightful place."

"History repeats itself," Tian answered, looking over at her. "I'd be willing to help you, but history does in fact repeat itself."

"Not this time. These Kukouk won't have the same weaknesses as the originals did. Especially half-lings. They'll be significantly healthier."

"What's in the pod, then?" Tian asked timidly.

"Ah, yes. This was our latest creation, come," the woman grinned before guiding him towards the pod.

Inside, a huddled, bare man sat . The black marks along his skin were weaker than any Tian had ever seen, and he was small, like an original Kukouk man before they came out from beneath the ground. His hair was black as night and splayed out in the water around his shoulders, and his skin was atrociously pale. Abnormally so. 

"He's too pale," Tian suddenly stated, surprisingly.

"Yes, we've noticed that as well. We've tried to reconstruct the Kukouk DNA as closely as possible, however, when we were trying to assimilate human qualities into the DNA so they weren't as susceptible as they were, we ran into issues. Kukouk DNA wasn't originally supposed to intermingle with human DNA, and there are actual cells created to attack human white blood cells."

"Kukouk don't have white blood cells," another man stated excitedly. "Which is why they were so susceptible to illnesses that humans carried. It took a lot of generations to build up immunity to certain diseases through a different process. Kukouk culture bacteria inside them, good bacteria that is otherwise deadly to humans, to kill the illnesses that plague their bodies. Bacteria that can't survive outside the body on the surface of Earth."

"And what's even more fascinating about the Kukouk bacteria is that fact that, over time, it became hereditary. Meaning that the bacteria actually became a part of the Kukouk bodily DNA system and was passed down from parent to child over a series of generations."

"Which came the problem that we faced. We can't be anywhere near that bacteria. We can't culture it without dying, a few of our friends died trying to culture the bacteria. So every Kukouk we cloned… it died as soon as it breathed the same oxygen that we did. And just introducing human cells into the Kukouk fetus led to adverse, deadly reactions due to the pesky cells. It was those cells, in fact, that led to so many half-lings dying. The ratio that we calculated, was for every 50 half-Kukouk, half-human babies born, only 5 would survive. A shocking 1:10 ratio."

The woman interjected. "As we kept researching, we found out about you. You were the Half-Kukouk that RT was looking for the years he's been alive. You were a perfect balance, as well, of the human and Kukouk. All your siblings were, but we know the stories. And are sorry for you to have lost them the way you did. However, your entire half-ling family survived the first seconds outside the womb, and that made you unique."

"We were lucky that you existed at the same time as us, however, which helps RT along with us. So please, lend us your DNA and blood so we can save the Kukouk in this pod and the ones to come."

The Prince came up alongside Tian with a small smile. "See, not all humans are bad. I know we've had a bad start but… trust me, we only want the best for your people."

Tian stared into the pod at the small developing Kukouk man. The man's fists clenched and unclenched unconsciously as he curled up even further amongst the fluids. He seemed so young, yet familiar. "Just tell me what you need."

Everyone exploded, after that, racing back to their tables to grab clipboards and needles. A woman screeched as she collected a bunch of vials. They cleaned a spot on Tian's skin before drawing two vials worth of blood. Then they swabbed the insides of his cheeks for DNA samples before disappearing in a flurry back to their tables.    

And as he watched, he lost track of time. Hours turned into days, days into weeks and the scientists kept working. The man in the pod got larger and got healthier with Tian's cells. They worked on into the night by candles and backup generators for the pods. Half of the men and women separated to work on cures.

RT hung close to them, watching and taking notes as they worked while the Prince watched onwards. During the days when Tian woke up, the sun was usually already low in the skies. He wasn't allowed to step out from the room until the castle went to sleep, but he'd found that his evenings weren't as boring. RT had become a constant in his life, often showing up unannounced with new reading materials or updates. The first couple of times, he excused himself quickly until Tian told him to stay. After that, RT stayed and kept Tian company. 

When Tian wasn't at the labs, he was outside with RT training. The man pressed him hard, honing his reflexes and bringing out the Kukouk in him. He knew how to give Tian control over his abilities. The man was stronger than anyone Tian had ever met. He endured Tian's speeds and hits, he was amazingly durable. But he was kind, something Tian was only starting to find out the more they talked.

The more they got along, though, the more Tian realized just how complex RT was. He didn't talk as much as Axel, and often carried pregnant pauses in their conversations. He was distant most of the time mentally, but physically in front of him. But when RT looked him in the eye with those stormy dark eyes, Tian felt calm and energy flow through his veins. It was something he'd remembered from his childhood when he was trying to find a home.

Back then, he'd been cold and hungry on top of the fear that raged its way through his body. He hadn't known where he was, he didn't know what governed the land back then. Bears roared at him, forcing him backwards before they attempted to sink their massive teeth into the soft flesh of his arms. Wolves hunted him regularly, always an inch behind. Every time Tian had faced death, something had always taken the hit for him. And he'd smell the soft breeze of pine before his nerves were instantly calmed. 

    Now, as he looked RT in the eye and could smell the same scent, his body naturally eased itself.