Chapter 7: The Trials Part 1

Phoebe and Titan were each other's Sublimes. Phoebe was 5'8" with ice blue eyes, and wavy sandy brown waist length hair. She was triangle shaped, noticably smaller on the top, with a full bottom.She was put through multiple gymnastics.

"You want to escape?"Her British accent was thick.

"Yes."Stella leaned on Fenrir's stable body.

"I'm not going anywhere without Titan."Phoebe said decisively.

"We know."Stella said gently.

"Can we actually pull this off?"Shira was a mixed breed like me. She had vampiric blood coursing through her veins as well as Siren's blood. She was 5'6" with beautiful floor length straight silver hair and ruby red eyes that almost anyone could get lost in. She had fangs. As well as braids on the side of her head that pulled back into a pony tail in the back.

"What about Alistair?"Fenrir's voice was laced with anger.

"What about him?"Shira was confused and a bit irritated.

"We could use him to get out."

"How are we gonna get out?"Alistair's voice came from behind Fenrir and Stella. He came through the door.

"You decided to help?"Fenrir's tail began to wag.

"I talked to the Earth. She said I should help."He smiled, "So I'm all in."

"I'm not going anywhere without Titan."Phoebe crossed her arms.

"No one asked you to."I was fed up with Phoebe's attitude.

"We are all going to get out of here."Stella twitched.

"Tch..You are a dead weight."Phoebe grumbled.

"She isn't even your Sublime and yet you'd be willing to take a drug addict with us on a trip that's already dangerous as it is. Shira?"Phoebe stared at Shira for back up.

"Stella is our friend Phoebe, how could you say that?"Shira looked disgusted with her.

"I'm just using logic."Phoebe genuinely didn't mean to be so rude, but she couldn't help it. As a Cerebral, her mind was always going one hundred miles an hour and logic guided her more often than she let her heart guide her.

"I'm gonna go find Titan."Phoebe sighed.

"He is still in personalized weight training."Alistair spoke up. "They are trying to strengthen his force fields."

"Who is that?"Phoebe pointed to my Sublime.

"That's Ambrosia. Kaiser's Sublime."Stella smiled.

"She sure is a beautiful thing."Phoebe laughed, "She looks too good for you."

"Guards are coming."Alistair's anxiety spread to me.

"We meet back here tomorrow night."I rushed, ushering them out.

I went over to the bed and laid down, playing with Ambrosia's brown curls.

When I woke up, I was in restraints again and Ambrosia was no where in sight.

I was in a body cage.

"Where's Ambrosia!!!"I screamed.

"She is here."My Father's voice was biting and icy.

There she was, my Ambrosia, laying in a glass coffin, looking as though she was peacefully asleep.

"You must pass 10 tests to keep Ambrosia by your side."

"I knew you'd never let me keep her."I grumbled bitterly.

He paused, I'm guessing for dramatic effect. "We will subject you to brutal beatings, psychologically torture you, you will succumb to one of the ten trials. And when that happens Ambrosia will...Well you don't need to worry about that."

Two large soldiers walked up to me and began to beat me. I felt the hatred behind the throws, which made it even more painful. The hatred...The immense hatred and spite. With each blow I could feel my resolve get stronger and stronger.

They beat me until I was unrecognizably bruised.

"That's it?!"I yelled spitting out a mouth full of blood, "That's the first trial?!"I was disappointed in my father.

I told myself I was used to stuff like this. Which I was. Next a technique called "Death by 1,000 Cuts". It was a technique used to boost our regenerative abilities. I was tied to a post and soldiers stood at strict attention in a line to come and cut me. I refused to scream in agony, while it did hurt, I refused to give my Father the satisfaction of seeing me in pain. Not yet anyway.

"That's all you got!?"I kept provoking him. I would never let him get away with this. I just didn't know how I'd...No I couldn't think like that. I got this.

The first cut was healing even before the second knife sliced into my flesh. My skin crawled with anticipation. It was like it was hungry. Hungry for what though I didn't understand yet. All I knew was that I wanted more. I tilted my head back relishing in this torture. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think I'm a sadist... I don't think... But something about these sensations got me riled up. I wondered if it had anything to do with being a Deadman.

My father watched on in silence. He studied my every move, though I was restricted. He scrutinized me like I was the last of an extinct beast.

"What's the next challenge?"I said as the last cut scabbed over. He looked deep in thought for a moment before he finally spoke, "We will be giving you a pill that dampens your regenerative abilities."He looked pleased with himself.

'That's not fair.'I thought to myself, glaring up at him.

"You're thinking that this isn't fair son?"He laughed.

I didn't answer him.

He composed himself and straightened his collar. "Well life isn't fair son."

"I thought you wanted to see my abilities?"I was curious as to what it was he really wanted.

"You know nothing of what I want."His monstrous glare choked away my breath for a moment.

When the doors opened, he must have seen me relax and ready myself.

"Stop."He commanded and the soldiers and the scientist haulted.

"Do not resist son. Or else."

I wanted so bad to test him, but Ambrosia was on the line, so I did as I was told. But that didn't keep me from honing in on what he began saying quietly to a woman.

"I want him broken by the time this is over."He straightened his back.

"But sir...Why not just use 0-000?"The familiar sounding voice spoke.

"I may be cruel, but I'm not heartless. Believe it or not I do want my son to be happy. Eventually."He looked off to the side.

I guess 0-000 was Ambrosia.

"He relaxed where normal people and most Abnormals would tense up."He paused for a moment, thinking about how to put his next words. "That's the sort of thing that cannot very well be taught. It's natural to tense up when you know something is coming. But 7-777...I mean Kaiser... He is truly incredible. I need to see how he is when his regenerative abilities are weakened."

"Most Abnormals have great healing speeds, but none like 7-777."I couldn't put my finger on where I'd heard that voice before.

"That's his devil nature. Boosting what's already there. I've done a fine job with him. He had the best genes, he is the most powerful in our line."

That sentence struck me harder and worse than any beating or knife could. Bruises heal, wounds scab over, a knife could be pulled out, but words...Words stick in your soul, unable to be forgotten or taken out.

"If he is the most powerful, how is he so easily controlled?"

"The same way we've managed to control 0-000...Through tech, drugs, and a whole lot of tainted blood."