After Days - Chapter 10

“Do you know where you are?” The Master General asked Leon as he dangled tightly in the clutches of the large contraption. “Do you know why you’re here?”

Leon struggled to life, a searing pain burning through his entire body as though he had been crushed by a building. His mind had recovered enough for him to remember the sights before he passed out, falling rubble and a tumbling corpse. The hideout. Ueda, Laza, the twins! Each second brought its own concern as the past began to piece together. Inevitably the image of Ueda’s head leaving her body flashed through him with horrific detail, dragging him back to reality and leaving the fog of his sleep behind him.

Leon’s eyes scanned the room, though he recognised nothing in this alien place. The walls flowed with pipes and tubes leading to god knows where, with strays hooking up to consoles and panels. A spooky green hue lit the room with tinges of blue leaking from the crevasse beneath him and the generator above him. It was like being inside a Whisper’s gunfire. Adapting to the pain, a tightness pulled at his chest and arms, his stomach and back itching with an irritable sensation.

His attention peeled away from the room and glued to himself. A set of heavy clamps engulfed his hands, swallowing his arms almost to the elbow. They led back to huge hydraulics to ensure that his arms did not move. That explained the tightness, but what the hell was that sensation? His head hung, wobbling as he looked down to his bare stomach. It seemed that the ends of the tubes didn’t just lead back to computers and convertors, but some of them found their way into his body, deep by the feel of things.

His mentality shook as he focused on the skewering pipes, bringing the burning pain to the forefront of his mind, making it unbearable. Panic began to settle in, making itself at home in his gut. He tried to lash out, move, do anything to free himself, but he was trapped.

“It would be best if you kept yourself still. We wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself now would we?” Master grimaced, somehow managing to pin the whole situation on Leon.

The terrified man jolted at the words. He hadn’t even seen the man wrapped in black, standing almost twenty meters behind the handrail. “Who the hell are you? Why am I here?!” He tried to pull at the clamps again, but it was useless.

The Master let out a disappointed sigh. “I take it you cannot answer my questions then. Such a pity, perhaps you really couldn’t hear us in your subconscious. My professors even took the time to talk through the process with you, so that I wouldn’t have to. Though I suppose I have no choice now.” Something in his voice revealed a guilty pleasure as opposed to nuisance.

Leon felt his head pull away as he tried to distance himself from the short, wide man. To look at, the Master was nothing to be afraid of, as a matter of fact he seemed approachable, hunched, passed middle aged, and comfortable in his surroundings. But the sight of his prize hanging in the centre of his machine painted his face with disturbing delight.

“Oh come now, no need to feel so uncomfortable, well apart from the harnesses, I cannot help you with those, but I can put you at ease perhaps. Allow me to answer your questions first. Who am I? I am Master General Franklyn Steel, head of Celestia and answerable only to the Order.” He took particular pride in his introduction, watching his captor closely.

Confusion and worry were erased as anger surged through Leon. He thrashed and pulled, kicking his legs inside a tall, technical vice which sealed his bottom half from sight. Curses and threats trickled into Franklyn’s ears like a sweet melody, Leon’s hate caressing his fiendish satisfaction.

Finally, from an upsetting lack of success, Leon tired, demoralised. “You’ve killed millions.”

“Billions, actually.” Franklyn corrected. “Which brings me onto your second question, why are you here? Why would I have need for a lowly rat such as yourself? Just look at you, you’re nothing, all you are is some petty little man we found, hiding in the dirt in the middle of a ruin. What use does the great Celestia have for you?” He paused for a moment, letting his insults eat at the already broken man. “Well, actually, you’re going to help us.”

“No! You took everything from me. I’ll die before I help you.” Leon’s throat was rusty with dehydration, his starvation not even a concern to him now.

“I’m sure we can change your mind.” Franklyn said, more preoccupied with the discomfort of his gloves than Leon’s refusal.

“Is that what this thing is? Some sort of machine to make me talk? Go ahead, use it! I’ve suffered more than you could know.”

"My my, you certainly are a fighter, unfortunately it seems that you aren't much of a thinker. That device above you, can you tell me what you think it is? I'm curious." Franklyn trailed off as he marvelled up at the colossal generator, wrapped in wiring and metal rings, suspended by girders in the centre of the room.

"I'm not going to tell you a thing you sack of shit."

"Oh good." He replied, surprisingly not insulted in the slightest. "I have much to explain to you, and honestly, I am a man with little time. So let's jump right to the point. This machine does not use its power to make you talk, in fact, you are going to use your power to fuel it." His hands flung open at arm’s length as though he were introducing Leon to his new home. Leon tried to talk, but Franklyn was not joking earlier, he had little time, and so he declined the interruption. "You are something that we servant of Celestia call a Titan, whether you know it or not, it is what you are.”

“You’re out of your mind! Call me whatever you want but I won’t help you.”

“Of course, the Order refuses to acknowledge such terms as Titan, to them, you will always be a Kel’Dar.”

Leon turned to ice as the man began to make sense, how did he know who he was?

"We have a lot of insight into the Kel'Dar. What makes them tick, where they come from, even how to kill them. Now I may be a brutal man, dear boy, but I know when it is better to harness something than destroy it. This is such a time."

He knew about Kel'Dar, and how to kill them? Laza! Where was Laza? "What have you done with my brother?"

"The small boy? He is here, but I cannot say that he is safe. Both of the children you were found with were taken by some, well, some men of a savage nature. Once they have served their purpose, they will be disposed of." To Franklyn's mind, he had only given the truth. When the group had arrived, he had instructed for the most twisted men aboard to take the children and interrogate them. Naturally as word was passed down through the ranks it had become a blur of the original instruction, and had turned into 'You and you, take these kids and find out how they're not dead yet'.

So he didn't even know about Laza. That was something at least, no matter how small it was, there was a chance of rescue. "If I leave this station without those kids, I will turn your reality to ruin, just as you did mine."

"And how do you plan on doing that, hmm?"

"You said it yourself, Kel'Dar." He brimmed with confidence, expecting his threat to pierce through the Master, but he didn’t so much as flicker an eye.

"Yes, well, that would hold some weight if you weren't inside that machine. It is called Icarus, by the way, named after the man of ancient times who flew too close to the sun and found his wings burned in its light. That is what Icarus will do to you, drive you to the edge until your very soul burns, and leave you with nothing. How about an introduction to its majesty?"

With a wave of his hand, the team of scientists wrapped in dark coats scurried to their consoles, typing furiously on the keyboards as their screens danced with code and simulations. Leon hadn’t even noticed the team, how many other people were watching? For all he cared the world could watch because he was not going to bend a knee to these monsters of men.

The rings around Icarus began to whistle and hum as the light inside them brightened. The room grew brighter along with them, and for the first time, Leon could see clearly. The world may not have been watching, but there were dozens and dozens of men, clearly of various rank and purpose, all watching eagerly. He felt like a freak in a circus. Freak. Not for the first time, he wished his mother had been there to tell him that it would all be okay, that there were no monsters. But he was grown now, a man, and he was at the mercy of the monsters which he had been promised did not exist. This was no time for fairy tales or what could have been, his battle right now was between him and this machine.

The humming turned to winding, components twisted and the clamps pulled tighter, pulling him to the limit. Leon readied himself as the light became overwhelming, knowing that whatever was about to happen, he had to take it.

“Light him up.” Franklyn gave the order as two scientist, on opposite workstations, threw a set of great switches. They clunked into place and Icarus roared into life. A moment of delay divided the machines screeching and Leon’s screams. The pipes coming from his body rocked and tugged as they sucked the energy out of his body.

Leon could not control his agony, cries and bellows escaped against his will, though if he had the strength to look passed the pain and beg for them to shut down the machine, he would have. He couldn’t comprehend it, the way it felt being subject to Icarus, it was as though his mind, body, soul, now and for all the days he had lived, were being simultaneously ripped apart.

Instinct took over and his training kicked in. Ueda had taught him to detach his mind and keep it away from the pain so that he could deal with the situation now and the damage later. This hurt was unreal though, like nothing he could have ever foreseen. There was no escaping from this.

As he could feel himself about to split, the machine gave in, winding down and slowly sparing him from the torture. Franklyn applauded as Icarus shone brightly in the dark, round room, overjoyed with the success of his plan. He laughed in victory. “You see, dear boy, you cannot hope to fight here. This is your purpose now, and until you turn to dust, this is where you will remain.”

Leon dangled, his light brown hair concealing his face, though he had to heave his breaths and his muscles twitched, sore from the experiment.

“It looks as though even someone as confident as you can be broken by the might of Celestia.”

 Leon whispered in return, but it was too quiet to hear.

“What’s that, boy? Speak up.”

“I…am going to…kill you.” He repeated. Franklyn took his threat lightly, barely even bothering to add Leon to his mental list of enemies. Gradually, the whining of the device was matched by the hiss of a growing breeze as the air began to spiral around the captured man. His muscles thickened as he groaned, snarling as he began to lift his restraints. He didn’t care if this could kill him eventually, he could use Kel’Dar now, destroy this station, kill these men, and still save the twins. Ueda would have things her way after all.

His head slowly lifted as he wanted to take one last look at the Master, longing to make him nothing more than a bloody corpse. The sight of his triumphant smile tipped Leon over the edge, his lips pulled back as his pupils tipped into his head. This was it.

“Power!” Franklyn quickly ordered, realising the consequences that were about to engulf him. The levers clicked back and Icarus stormed once again, ripping into Leon. The pain was enough to snap him from his rage, bringing back from the brink of Kel’Dar. He had been too slow, or maybe he had thrown away the one chance he would ever have at being more than just a survivor. He screamed with anguish as his head thrashed around, trying to shake off the tearing sensation.

“Leave him here until he dies. No use in keeping him alive once he is empty.” That was his final order, and with it given, Franklyn left the dome, relishing in the humming of his success and the cries of his prize. Everything was coming together.