《BEAST》Vol 1.6 - Truth in Lies
Advertisement
Jean awoke to the sound of the rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor. Dazed, he found himself lying in a hospital bed hooked up to multiple different tubes and machinery. Jean inspected the room itself and despite his blurred vision, he knew that this was no ordinary hospital. The room didn’t have the same bleached white color typical hospitals had nor the did it have the blinding white lights installed in the ceiling. Instead, the room was elegantly built with dim white lights emanating from hanging lamps. There were no windows or any semblance of ways into the outside world.
Jean sat himself up to see that despite the unfamiliar setting, the bed and the machines he was hooked up to were familiar. As he adjusted himself, the only door into the room slid open with a hiss. A tall lady with long dark hair, tied up in a pony tail, entered the room.
“Glad to see you’re up,”
She placed a clipboard down on a wooden table beside the bed as she leaned over slightly to write something down.
Her voice seemingly matched her appearance. Independent and authoritative yet elegant in its own right. Her clothing mirrored that of a stereotypical medical practioner found in TV shows or movies. Long white coat, turtleneck, and a pencil skirt. However, rather than the unrealistic high-heels that entertainment had a tendency to use, she wore white sneakers.
“Yeah…um, how long was I asleep for?” Jean asked awkwardly.
The woman put the pen down and positioned herself next to Jean’s bed.
“About two hours,” she responded.
In her straightforward answer, she leaned took Jean’s arms and began extracting the multitude of tubes that were resting inside his forearm.
“To be honest with you, I expected you to wake up on the ride here. You got quite a bit of time to relax considering the trouble you managed to cause today,”
Jean didn’t say a word. He simply sat still and watched as the last needle slid out from under his skin.
“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what happened earlier this afternoon,”
Jean looked up to meet the woman’s eyes.
“I... I-”
His voice was wry and was filled with anxiousness. As Jean unconsciously held his breath, hoping for the doctor to drop the question, the door slid open once more. Klaus walked into the room wearing his usual attire. With a low and soft voice, he asked;
Advertisement
“Belle, would you mind leaving me with Jean for a moment?”
The lady, named Belle, took all the tubes and needles and threw them away as she answered Klaus.
“Sure,” she replied.
Her answer was short and to the point. Grabbing the clipboard, she made her way towards the door. She stopped at the door before leaving to say;
“I’ll be back after analyzing the data recovered from the incident.”
Without saying another word, she closed the door behind her as the sound of her footsteps began faded away. Klaus turned his head back towards Jean as he pulled up a chair and took a seat. He let out a brief sight through his nose and patted Jean’s legs.
“How’re you feeling?”
“I’m…fine?”
Klaus could sense Jean’s confusion and uncertainty. He pulled his chair closer to the bed before attempting to say anything. Klaus took a few moments to organize his words, which was clear to Jean by his halted sighs.
“Jean, I didn’t want you to have to find out the way you did. As a matter of fact, I was hoping that I would never have to tell you this.”
Klaus’ eye’s locked with Jean’s and he could see the terror growing within him. Klaus staggered his sigh once more.
“You’re different Jean. Far more than you can comprehend and there’s no easy way to tell you this,”
Klaus paused before continuing.
“All this, everything that you’ve been surrounded by is a lie…”
As if there was something lurking behind him, holding his mouth shut, Jean couldn’t muster the strength to say anything.
“The world that we live in isn’t as kind as the one you grew up in. I know you feel it in yourself that there has always been something off. Off about yourself and town that you grew up in.”
Finally, Jean managed to find his voice and asked;
“Then was everything up until this point a lie?”
Klaus couldn’t look Jean in the eye’s.
“No, not everything. The people you knew were all real. The perfect life was the lie. Growing up in a small rural town, no financial worries, health issues, or threats. Those were the lies.”
Advertisement
“And by threats, you’re talking about that thing that attacked the school?”
“Yes,”
Klaus’s answer was cold and blunt. However, Klaus couldn’t find it in himself to continue lulling Jean into a false sense of security.
“The world we live in is a dark place. Perhaps you and the people in the town were the only ones to have experienced any semblance of peace. There are more of those creatures out there Jean. And all your life, I’ve been killing them off before they could get to you or anyone around you,”
“So, it was you in the school,”
“Yes, it was,”
Tears began to crawl down Jean’s face and with a stuttered voice he asked;
“Then why hide it from me? If the world was so dangerous, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Klaus flinched at the question. He took a moment and began to reach for Jean’s hand. However, before he could grab it, the door slid open once more.
“Because you’re the asset,”
Klaus and Jean’s head immediately turned towards the direction of the deep voice. Klaus, seeing who it was, let out a sigh as he turned back around to face Jean.
“Jean, this is Sannith Richter. Head of damage control,”
Jean wiping away his tears, grew a puzzled look on his face as he introduced himself.
“Good to meet your Mr. Richter. But, what’s this about damage control and what do you mean I’m an asset?”
Richter took of his trench coat and hung on a nearby rack as he approached the two.
“You haven’t told him?” asked Richter.
“I was getting there,” Klaus said with a slight annoyance in his voice.
Richter crossed his arms and stood at the end of the bed facing Jean.
“I’m sure by now you’re familiar with beasts,” said Richter
“You mean the thing that attacked the school?”
“Yes, exactly that. Have you ever wondered why you were so much more athletically capable compared to your peers? Why your injuries healed far faster than humanly possible? Hell, considering that you woke up only two hours after sustaining the amount of injuries you did, should be raising questions in and of itself. “
Jean felt his heart begin to sink lower than it already was. Richter was right. Klaus had always brushed it off as genetic luck and convinced him that he was just a normal boy. But he was right. He knew it all along.
“It seems I was right. You’ve asked yourself these questions your whole life, yet your caretaker has chosen the hide the truth from you,”
Richter turned his attention to Klaus who was beginning to grow visibly angry.
“As I said earlier, I mean no disrespect. But, todays incident never would have happened if you had told him what he really is from the beginning. Yet, I hear from HQ that you’re planning to pour more resources into training that could have been done earlier in his life. This could all have been avoided if you had just told the boy the truth about his bir-“
Klaus jolted up from his seat and violently pushed Richter up against the wall. The impact managed to shake multiple framed photos off of the wall. Holding him by the collar, Klaus lifted Richter off the floor as his back slid up the wall.
“You keep your mouth shut. This is a matter that is not under your jurisdiction. You’ve overstepped your boundaries quite a bit in this situation Richter… I suggest you leave the room now,”
Klaus loosened the grip on Richter’s collar and let him down gently.
Richter glared into Klaus’s eyes. Klaus glared right back at him.
Jean, despite seeing the altercation, was still in too much shock to respond accordingly. However, he looked up and locked eye’s with Richter and asked;
“Mr. Richter, what am I?”
Richter brushed himself off and grabbed his coat as he began walking towards the door.
“A part of you is the very thing that killed all those people today. Including your friends,”
Advertisement
The Reaper's Legion
Earth: An advanced inhabitable world in the ideal colonizable range. Moderate temperatures and consistent weather patterns make this planet an incredible resource, along with a wealth of animals and wildlife beyond most worlds. Inhabited by the sentient species designated “Humans,” Earth would likely have joined the galactic community of its own accord. Levels of technology in local populace indicate a sharp trend towards interstellar travel, but still needs to make the last push to acquire reasonable interstellar technologies. Up until quite recently, Earth has not been a fully classified planet and was largely unknown. Due to biotic activity in the quadrant, however, attention has been drawn to Earth and many other possibly habitable planets in the regions, primarily for quarantine and control tactics. Matthew Todd was not a particularly unique human being before the meteors struck the earth. Average athletics, above average intelligence, but somewhat gifted in marksmanship, the post-apocalyptic earth has been a trial by fire for him and many others. Creatures that resemble bastardized wolves roam the land in packs numbering in the thousands. With entire cities decimated, those that remain are left with the harsh reality that they may be witnessing the end of humanity. And yet, there is a chance. Humanity knows they are not alone in the universe - the wolves are case enough for that - but what they do not know is that they are not alone in their plight. They are not without aid. Obelisks descend from the sky, giving the people a means to fight back. With tools ranging from guns to advanced mechanical apparatus and more bizarre tools, the people must cull the Biotics. Or, be consumed by the ever growing and mutating threat. Join Matthew in the fight to exterminate the Biotic threat, and to ensure the survival of human kind!
8 191The Year Before Eternity
A retelling of the classic tale, Beauty and the Beast. After 100 years, Kieran Pietre Erik, Crown Prince of Gaerin, has lost his chance to break the curse that befell his kingdom. Now, he lives for all eternity as the beast. The only people left alive in the abandoned castle to keep him at bay are a maid, her child, and the Prince's guard. Stuck in an endless cycle, they've lost all hope of freedom. Until someone resets the curse. Astrid Delacroix is beautiful and intelligent - and vain. She longs to be free of her boring life in her small hometown, where she has to put up with the small-minded. She toys with the people around her; she knows she doesn't belong in their world. The only things keeping her from running are her ill father and their crippling finances. When her father, in a desperate attempt to steal a rose made of solid gold from an abandoned castle, is held captive by a beast, Astrid switches one form of captivity for another. But her attempts to gain her freedom trap her into the curse that imprisons the castle's inhabitants. Now, with a new addition to the curse, they are given one, final year to free themselves from this neverending nightmare.
8 215Road
Life is a road we thread. This story is about the life of people trying to live a second, better life.
8 89Demon Slayer Douma: The god in the shadow[Spanish]
¿Qué pasa cuando un joven cobarde que siempre estuvo bajo la influencia de las decisiones de los demás, que tuvo que ver como el mundo seguía un curso que el disgustaba mientras no tenia ni el carácter ni el poder para cambiar las cosas muere en circunstancias misteriosas ?¿Qué hará con un poder gigantescos en un mundo donde los talentos y los demonios se baten a muerte ?¿Sobrevivirá o tendrá una muerte trágica ?-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------habrá spoiler del manga en algunos casos ,además
8 105The Immortal's Reckoning
A familiar sounding story takes a sharp twist when a young man winds up in another world and realizes he isn't the Chosen One of this story. The Chosen One is his friend, who was kidnapped for her power by the insane evil Emperor, who is trying to mold her into his perfect enforcer. Follow this tale as the two friends, trapped on opposite sides of a conflict, desperately try and get home. This is the first book in the series. I won't be publishing all of it here since I have already published it in other places like Amazon, but I'll publish enough to get people interested. Check out my website at www.worldsoflara.com or support my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/marisianking.
8 223Critique And Editing Info
I critique and edit
8 95