Chapter: 1√C

After Mr. Arigold had called his friend Binber over, we were able to get in using a Gadget that mimicked the Voice that Demitallis was using. We run through the maze of Corridors, it’s a massive Maze that Mother had installed in case of an Emergency like this. She had made sure that enough knew how to navigate it, to guide the rest, in case She wasn’t there. I look over at Mr. Arigold while we continue running: “My Sibling, they- they were only a Day old… So how-” Mr. Arigold cuts me off, as we run. “Their HDR.” Mr. Arigold spits out an Acronym, and I can only give out an audible: “Hd- wuh-” Mr. Arigold continues to look straight ahead, as we run. “Their Hyper Developmental Reflex, or HDR for short.” Arigold thinks for a moment, and continues. “My presence must have stressed them out too much and their HDR kicked in.”

What is a Hyper Developmental Reflex? Do all Puddles Kids have that?

The HDR sounds interesting, whatever it was, it not only allowed our Sibling to escape, but to also figure out how the Gate Worked.

Good point, I’ll get as much info from Mr. Arigold as possible.

Good luck.

I speak up again, as we take a left. “Um, what does this HDR do?” Mr. Arigold looks at me with that deadpan look for a moment, almost like he’s trying to get me to realize something. “Let’s see, it’s a Fight or Flight response in all creatures. It starts developing thousands of Skills per second until it finds one that can save the user. It also consumes almost all the Stamina and Mana in the Creature instantly, so they usually die of exhaustion the moment they get to Safety.” My eyes begin to widen as I realize why Mr. Arigold hasn’t gone after my Sibling. “Does- Does that mean they’re dead?” Arigold looks forward again. “Yes, they most likely are. I was actually going to raise the Sentient Puddle Kid, and create a new set of Armor.” I look at Mr. Arigold again after making another Right. “What- You killed my Mother, you got my other Sibling killed, you destroyed my Home, you made all my Siblings cry, and all you can think of, is your stupid Armor?!” Mr. Arigold stops instantly, and I slide against the floor for a moment. “Yes.”

This can’t be real, he’s indifferent to it…

Great, he’s also a Psychopath.

Mr. Arigold stares directly at me, and I involuntarily take a step back- “My Orders are to capture every living Creature in Genesis Haven. This Facility has been cloning all of the Species that had nearly gone extinct, there’s a Male and Female of each Species, they were actually separated into 2 holding areas. You’re from a certain Family of the Feline Demi-Human, they were a deadly family of Lightning Users. The Majority of them were at least, they usually took up jobs as Assassins thanks to their enhanced Speed and Reflexes. They suddenly began to die out when a group of them went for my Father’s head…”

My eyes slowly widen at the revelation, and Arigold looks away again. “H-How many-” As I try to speak, Mr. Arigold interrupts me again. “I don’t seem to remember. But if it means anything, I haven’t killed off nearly as many Species as you might think. I only got rid of them since they were in my way.” I continue to just stare at him, trying to understand the atrocities this Man has commited. “You know, it’s kind of funny, no matter how much I talk to you, how much I tell you, I still feel nothing. I could kill you at any moment without a second thought. I’ve been accompanied by Alimond and his Friends for 5 Years now, we’ve shared so many adventures and experiences, and once again, I would feel nothing. Even the Woman I’ve been planning on marrying, I can tell She loves me, but it would change nothing if She died. I even killed my younger Brother when I was 5 to see if I would regret it, and there it was, his limp corpse on the Floor, slowly draining of Color. It might as well have been alive anyways, I felt nothing.” I couldn’t find the Words, I just sat and listened, and he looked at me once more. “So yes, I’m currently thinking about the Armor I won’t be creating. Now let’s continue.” Mr. Arigold stares at me, as I begin to guide him again, and he follows behind me.

Turns out it’s worse than I thought.

I’m going to die, he’s going to kill me and all of my Siblings.

His Orders are to just capture us, and there’s not much we can do right now anyways.

I promised mother-

If at least WE are useful to Arigold, we’ll survive, and we can convince the others too. If we play it right, we might even be able to break free some day.

Fine…

I take one more left, and I come upon a large Opening. Mr. Arigold has disappeared, and my Sister Steriya is standing where the Controls are, ready to shut the Door when I run in. At first She was happy to see me, but after a moment Her expression changed to surprise, and She gasped.

What, Mr. Arigold isn’t even here, what’s wrong?

The others heard the Gasp, and they all looked at me, the same expressions of complete shock and surprise covering their faces. “G-Guys, what’s wrong?” Veloura walks up. “Y-You’re covered in Blood Lex-” I blink for a moment, and look at my clothes, they were drenched in Mother’s Blood, from when She had hugged me. “Oh- oh, I-” Calvin steps forward next to Veloura: “Could it be lexis-Cordial-Genesis, did you kill the assailants with Mother? Where is She?” My Siblings, they begin to develop expressions of Hope and Pride in their Sibling, it was amazing. But…

“No… I… I’m so sorry… I couldn’t even save Demitallis…”

I drop to my Hands and Knees and I start crying, coughing and screaming. “I’m so sorry, I couldn’t do anything!!!”

My Siblings look on in horror as Mr. Arigold stares at them, his Deadpan expression refusing to nudge. “I killed your Mother while you were all running away, Lex here tried to save the Puddle Kid but it tried to escape using the Pipelines.”

My Siblings stare at me in this pathetic mess, as Mr. Arigold speaks. “I will be taking you all to The Golden Kingdom, you’ll all be trained by my Soldiers, and will be joining my Army. Anyone who refuses to work will be executed. If I think your Performance isn’t good enough, you will be Executed. If you do anything that I have told you to not do, I will execute you. Once I have decided you are too old to work anymore, you may retire. Lex here will keep watch over you until I come back with the other Half. I WILL know.”

I look up in horror at my siblings as Arigold walks away, my Brothers and Sisters stare at me with mixed emotions. Rage, Disbelief, Pity, Betrayal, Resentment, Contempt, it’s all here, and it hurts so much.

Veloura runs over to me, and screams: “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” It’s an earth shattering and heart wrenching Noise that tears me apart. “Who’s blood is that?! Why did you lead him to us?! What were you thinking?! Now not only have you put yourself in danger, but you lost Demitallis, and now everyone else is in danger too… I- We- we could have escaped, we could have rescued you… Why?!”

I can’t bring myself to move from this pitiful position, as Veloura slams her Fists against the hard Iron Floor, tears streaming down her face. “I’m sorry Veloura, he would have found you guys eventually anyways, there was no escape- This blood- This blood was from Mother’s Dying Words, She asked me to take care of everyone, to make sure they’re happy once again, I couldn’t risk him finding and killing any of us- I had to bring him Here, if I didn’t, who knows what he would have done! Please help me Veloura, I don’t-” I begin coughing again, but Veloura grabs Me, holding me up in a Hug, crying with me. My eyes widen as I begin to realize that Veloura has broken down too. She wasn’t angry, She was just sad. Like me. Like everyone else.

Flare flies over and joins us, then more of our Siblings, until everyone is trying to hug Me, Calvin had simply crawled away in resignation, and curled up in the corner of the Room.

Everyone had cried for almost 10 minutes until we began to disperse, and everyone surrounded me again. Flare spoke up finally. “L-Lex, wh-what do we d-do?” I look at Her, and I start. “We… We have to do what he says for now, I saw him Kill Mother, all he did was walk past Her and placed his Weapon into Her Back. She couldn’t do anything. There really is no escape. At least... Not until we can get out of his Sight, if we can just find some way to make a lot of distance without him or his Subordinates knowing, we can escape, we can live our lives.”

Everyone nods at me, and they all find a place to sit down. Flare flies over to Calvin to comfort him with the rest of his Friends. This is usually what he does when he’s sad, he curls up in the corner of the Room, and refuses to budge until he’s ready.

Once I have calmed down, I begin to get tired, I collapse and fall asleep, but not before I notice one of my Siblings coming up to me.

Goodnight, we’ll try again later.

End of Chapter: 1√C “The Demiurge has appeared, welcome to Hell.”

Thank you for reading.