Chapter Four - A Force of Variation

There was no way of telling if Lyna had her eyes open or closed, for the room that she and the blue-haired boy ascended to was pitch-black. She was terrified to find out what was going to come next. All of a sudden, a series of flood lights hanging from the ceiling switched on, one by one, and the room was filled with light. It revealed a laboratory with dozens of human-sized cryogenic freezing incubation chambers lined along the walls on each side. Super advanced processors, control panels, and larger machines with blinking lights occupied the extra spaces. The laboratory had two floors, and the upper floor was visible only by the iron railing twenty feet above the first floor's surface. At the end of the lab that looked like a long hallway was a reenforced metal door, which was the only exit.

But the most shocking thing was how many scientists were standing in silence and staring at Lyna and the blue-haired boy. The number of people in lab coats was staggering, the professionals of the research facilities all had their eyes on the two youths. No one said a word, and that was creeping Lyna out as she looked all around the huge room. Everywhere she turned her head she saw more pairs of eyes that seemed to be piercing through to her soul.

Then the realization hit her. If she and the blue-haired boy stayed one minute longer within that city, they'd both be dead. She opened her mouth to express her gratitude, but she couldn't get her words out and was stuttering, "I, uh…well just…but, um, I…" but then another realization struck her like lightning. "Oh wait. Where's Dr. Smith? I need to speak with him."

One of the scientists, a middle-aged man with brown hair and glasses, among the crowd staring at her, stepped forward and spoke, "You must be the young mistress Clifford. We saw you had gotten lost in our facilities. Please accept our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience you just went through." He had completely ignored Lyna's question, and then he noticed the blue-haired boy lying next to the young Spur. "So, is this the Kindler that you've chosen?"

"What?" Lyna asked. "Didn't you hear me? Is Dr. Smith here?" She looked all around the room of faces, but none of them belonged to Dr. Smith. He was nowhere to be found. Then she glanced back on a whim at the blue-haired boy who was still laying down next to her, and she saw that he wasn't moving but was in pain, "Oh my goodness. He's hurt. Oh no. We have to do something. He needs a doctor. Somebody, please, we need to help him."

"Is this the Kindler that you've chosen?" the scientist asked again, disregarding Lyna's outburst.

Lyna held back a gasp. It was clear to her, now more than ever, that these people, and most likely the rest of the outside world, saw the blue-haired boy and all the other Kindlers as no more than tools. She sat there for a while, totally dumbfounded and speechless, as if she were the only person that didn't belong where she knew to be home. Complete worry and fright expressed on her face as plain as day, but no one else here seemed to notice, or even care for that matter. She felt all of their cold-blooded stares as though they were piercing straight into her soul. All alone in a sea of negligence.

Something tugged at the hem of her shirt. She looked down again and saw how the blue-haired boy was clenching his trembling fist, balled up in her shirt, holding onto her as if for dear life. His breathing was hysteric, and it got only heavier with each passing moment. He was in pain. So much pain that he could not hide it. But it would seem this wasn't the first time he had felt pain like this, pushing him closer to the brink of death with each passing moment.

He was struggling to not look so pitiful in the eyes of everybody else in the room. To these inconsiderate bastards who had stripped him of his human rights and freedom ever since he was born. Showing any sign of deplorability now would be labeled on him as pathetic and only prove his own inferiority. For people who have never known the true meaning of pain or suffering, he had vowed to make them all pay, muttering beneath his breath, hardly being able to display any anger due to the intense pain. The whole world around him was spinning.

Lyna stared at the blue-haired boy who kept trembling, clutching onto her with his grip tight and firm. Like he wanted to move. Like he wanted to say something. But every time he tried, the only sound that escaped his mouth was a mumbled noise of excruciating agony. Lyna could not bear to watch this, it made her want to gag, and yet she couldn't look away.

'I have to help him! I have to help him! I just have to! I can't leave him like this! Or he's going to die!' Lyna kept thinking to herself. These thoughts were an instinct to her, considering her own genuine kindness and sympathy towards other people. She was always the type to put others' well-beings before her own. The problem was, she didn't know what to do. Blood continued to pour from his wounds as seconds turned to minutes, and judging from how much blood he was losing, it was surprising that he was still breathing. Deeply growing concern and worry washed over Lyna as her mind raced, trying to think of what to do. Then an idea popped into her head. It was a stupid idea, but she couldn't shake it off. Without a second of hesitation, she looked up and asked, "If I choose him as my Kindler, can he be saved?"

"Is he the Kindler you've chosen?" all the scientists in the room boomed in unison, terrifyingly demanding an answer to the question that they keep repeating.

Lyna was honestly intimidated by this and her fear was on her face, but she had no time to ponder over it. "Yes! Yes, he's my Kindler." she finally replied, unable to hide the concern in her tone, but at this point, she didn't care, "I choose him as my Kindler. Now please tell me, can you save him or not?"

The scientists all looked at each other, nodding their heads, and then six more of them stepped forward to the spot where Lyna was begging and the blue-haired boy was desperately clinging onto life. They split off into two groups, one bigger than the other, and the lesser group helped Lyna to her feet as she was still shaky at the knees, while the rest took ahold of the blue-haired boy by his arms and legs and carried him over to a metal table that two others rolled over to the area. Laying the boy on his back on the table's surface, they gathered around him, while the other group separated him from Lyna and pulled her away from him, much to her dismay.

Lyna was asking questions like "Where are you taking us?" and "What are you going to do to him?" But she got no answers. Nobody listened to her, and she was losing sight of the boy as the lab coats got in front of her.

The blue-haired boy was too weak to fight back now, slipping in and out of consciousness, and then one scientist from each group pulled out a syringe and, without warning, punctured the needle into the left arm of both Lyna and the boy. Lyna cried out in pain and the boy held back a yelp while clenching his whole body. The syringes drew thirty CC's of blood from the two youths, and as soon as they pulled them out of their arms, those two scientists walked toward the same machine.

They emptied the syringe vials into separate holes on the control panel of the machine, which then processed the blood types and mixed it with certain chemicals that were stored in another machine connected to the first. The whirring and spinning of the gears inside were blaring, and on the end is where the resulting mixture poured out into two new syringes.

Lyna's mouth hung open as she was in awe during this process. Many questions were racing through her mind. But every time she asked, no one answered, and every time she moved, she was restrained by the other scientists. She had no idea what would happen next. The anticipation was killing her.

Two of the scientists each grabbed a syringe, and then one walked over to Lyna and the other to the blue-haired boy. One syringe contained a substance that was glowing a bright pink, while the other was glowing blue. The pink one was injected into the back of Lyna's left hand, and the blue one went directly into the blue-haired boy's neck. Both of them jolted in pain at the exact same moment, wincing from a huge migraine coming on.

Lyna fell to her knees, and the scientists standing around her backed away to give her some space. She was breathing heavily and holding her left wrist in her right hand. Her eyes were closed until a scientist in front of her knelt down to meet her eye level and began speaking to her, "We understand that you're in quite a lot of pain right now, but we need you to focus. In about sixty seconds, your Kindler is going to temporarily lose control of his supernatural power. When that happens, it'll be up to you to restrain him. Just focus your energy and attention on him and give a simple command until the loss of control fades. This is to determine whether or not you can handle a Kindler such as this one."

Lyna could not believe what she was hearing. After all this, was she going to lose her Kindler before she can obtain him? Her head felt fuzzy, and her vision blurred for a second before looking back at the blue-haired boy. He was thrashing around on the table but still laying on his back, and the scientists that were surrounding him have already begun to stand clear of him. Lyna saw that he was still hurting, and she couldn't let that happen any longer. But right now, she had other priorities. She stood back on her feet and walked towards the blue-haired boy.

Just then, his whole body burst into bright blue flames, and he screamed as his flesh began to burn in agony. He melted the metal table under him in a matter of seconds, and a liquid metal pooled onto the floor. The smell of charred flesh filled the air. The boy was actually dying. Lyna knew she had to get him under control, but would a simple command really work?

Eventually, she decided not to hesitate any further, for this boy needed her, and so she approached the situation in the only way she knew how. Summoning all the courage within herself, Lyna walked over to his side and knelt down next to the blue-haired boy. The scientists watched every moment, and Lyna reached out her hands and picked up one of his burning hands in hers. It wasn't hot on her skin, though, and she didn't catch on fire herself, either. It was a warm and comforting sensation, and she began cooing the blue-haired boy with her voice. She hummed a tune, one that only she knew from her late mother, and it slowly subsided his screaming.

"It's going to be okay," Lyna told him in a soothing tone and leaned her face in closer to his as she smiled, "Don't worry. I'm right here with you. I won't let you go. I know it hurts now, but I promise it'll get better. It's going to be okay…"

As she said this, a glowing pink symbol appeared on the back of her left hand, while a bright blue symbol began glowing on his chest from under his black shirt. Then he looked at her. She was still smiling as if she understood his pain.

He inhaled slowly and almost laughed at the thought that this Spur was empathizing with him. But as he thought this, the blue flames engulfing his body simmered down very slowly, and sure enough, the pain was going away. The fire settled, and all traces of his blood leaving his body vanished. His blood got sucked up back into his wounds, which then began healing up quicker than the naked eye could keep up with. His body felt light before his eyes closed and he succumbed to a deep sleep. The last thing he saw was her face.

Everyone else in the room was overcome with shock and awe. One scientist said, "That was unbelievable."

"How is this possible?" another questioned aloud.

"Because that's my granddaughter." A voice suddenly bellowed. The door at the end of the laboratory opened and from the other side came in Linus Clifford walking slowly with his cane in hand and tapping it along the floor. He strolled up to Lyna and smiled, "I see you picked out your first Kindler, and you handled it…well. I'm very proud of you."

Lyna felt a tear in her eye, and she was still holding onto the blue-haired boy's hand. Linus then looked down at the boy who was now unconscious, and he tried to hide his worry beneath his many wrinkles. "Why don't we get going? You have a lot of work to do now."

"Right," Lyna responded, "Oh wait! But what about him? Will he be alright?"

"We'll let the workers here escort your new Kindler outside to transport him to our estate," Linus stated, clearly more concerned with his granddaughter than some strange boy, "Don't worry about him. I'm sure he'll be a fine fighter in the Colosseums. Come along now."

That's right, the Colosseums. Lyna then recalled how the blue-haired boy had gotten badly beaten up because of the thuggish Kindlers from earlier. It should've made her question if she made the right choice, but in her heart in the heat of the moment, she only cared about his safety. There was no going back from it now. With some hesitation, Lyna stood back up and followed her grandfather and the Freederts' escorts out of the laboratory and back to their limousine waiting by the front.

Meanwhile, the ones who dealt with the blue-haired boy's transportation while he was sleeping weren't so delicate or careful. They dragged his body to the back of an overhaul truck where they strapped into a straitjacket and threw into the cargo hold as if he were cheap merchandise.

Lyna knew nothing of this, and she and Linus rode in the back seats of their limousine in style and luxury. Then Linus asked, "So, my dear, how'd it go with the selection process?" Lyna just looked at her grandfather with her eyes widened and her mouth moving as if she were trying to speak, but no sound came out. He tried rephrasing, "Well, I'm sure you gained quite a lot of experience. I hope to soon hear your thoughts about what happened. It'll be good practice for you in the long run. Not to mention, we're family."

That's when Lyna mustered her courage, realizing that she shouldn't hide anything from her own family, "Actually, Grandpa, there's something I should tell you…"

Linus listened intently as Lyna relayed everything she experienced while visiting the Freederts. He was an expert at not showing his true emotions and knowing how to fake a smile. Everything she told him was troublesome, and he had a gut feeling that someone was deliberately trying to hurt his granddaughter. But Lyna didn't think to worry about that now.

When she finally got through speaking, she failed to mention the fact that Dr. Smith had deliberately sent her into the Freederts' residential area. She didn't mind it, though, because she wanted to believe there was a special purpose for what he did. It led her to her first ever Kindler, after all. She then looked out the window behind her to see the overhaul truck following at a ten meter distance to the limousine. She thought about it, how she felt so drawn to the blue-haired boy upon first sight, wondering if that feeling wasn't there, and if he hadn't gotten so hurt, would she still have chosen him as her Kindler? A part of her hoped so, and she smiled.

She had more questions that didn't have answers. Why did Dr. Smith push her into the city? How long had the Kindlers there been subjected to such inhuman conditions? How come the blue-haired boy felt such hatred toward her and everyone else around him? But however she saw it, one thing was for sure: this experience checked off the first box on the list toward her becoming a Spur worthy of her family's legacy.