Eight years.
It's been eight years since he last saw her, Laylana. The dead look his eyes giving away his mental state, having to fight, kill, and sometimes eat the monsters he was forced to fight just to survive could do that to a person.
His appearance and strength made the higher ups lump him in with the creatures they keep captivity for the Grand fight and placed him in the same room as them.
As much as he fought the exotic monsters with bizarre appearances and abilities Valeo never got a chance to really look at all the creatures due to them trying to cut his life short. somehow his wounds recovered, some of them should've left a scar or two but none last for long.
laying the floor of using his top arms as pillow Valeo ignored the shrieks and roars of the various beast, growing long use to the noise and smell until light invaded his vision interrupting his thoughts.
The roars grew more restless as four people entered the room and made their way down the rows of cages holding creatures who were ready to tear them to shreds.
"M'lord I assure you there's other more qualified slaves you can take."
The announcer said to an elderly man with extravagant clothing. He was about to continue until the old man stopped him with his hand when he stopped in front of Valeo's cage.
"I'm a man of my word, she specifically spoke of this creature."
The absolute authority in this man voice which made Valeo squint his eyes, remembering the speech pattern from somewhere.
"YOU CAN'T!" The announcer grabbed the robes of the old man and began to shake him.
"Unhand me you cretin."
The old man swatted the hands away and pointed at the announcer.
"Feed this filthy worm to the creatures, they want to spend time with their master."
The old man's smile unnerved Valeo, the sounds of the fat announcer screaming for mercy and his cries of pain echoing. The old man turn his attention back to Valeo staring at him the cage with a look Valeo only saw in beast.
"Dear...thing, I'm here at the request of a mutual 'companion' of ours and being a man of my word, I must hold my end of the bargain. Back then you too were close I heard, I'm sure you heard the name....Laylana before."
the old man said but stepped back when Valeo shot to the bars of his cage, eyes mad and his teeth bear gnashing with a animal like rage.
The gaurds next to the old man aimed something at Valeo but he didn't care, this piece of crap dare say her name like that, Valeo wanted nothing but to maul this man to death.
"Now now if something were happen to me, what will become of little Laylana?"
The old man said with a smile that didn't match his words, for some reason the smile made him more angry but right now he has to think rationally. Valeo's heavy breathing slowed down as the threat halted his frenzy, he can only glare at the grinning man in front of him.
"With that out of the way, I'm Fillain von Apex, The Monarch of humanity and your new master."
Fillain boasted a smile, the monarch waved his hand flippantly to the guard in his left to ushere him forward, the guard made his way to the caged teen until he was inches away from the cage. Clapping his hands twice the guard summon a rift and reached inside, when he took his hand out was a metal collar with odd symbols around it.
"Put this on your neck."
Fillain said motioning to the collar that was in the shaking hands of the guard, the guay couldn't help but shake as the creature in front of him was nearly the height of two average adult men on top of each other with his appearance making it worse.
For the first time in years after Laylana was taken away Valeo spoke his duel voice unnerving the guards.
"If we refuse?"
"I'll pay Laylana little visit."
Blood dripped from the hands of Valeo as he clenched his fist of the lower arms getting the attention of the Monarch, the smile growing on the wrinkle visage of Fillain making Valeo clench harder.
Valeo yanked the collar attaching it to his neck with a click and a beep sounding from the device.
"Now, we are going to open your cage so be a good monster."
Fillain's smile was starting to drive Valeo mad, something in that smile just set him off and pushed all his buttons, his rage finally boiling over Valeo lunged at the monarch but got volts of electricity for his transgression.
"You filthy pile of feces, to attack your own master." Fillain grinded his foot on Valeo's head.
"Take it, I'll have fun with the thing later."
Valeo was swallowed by the rift and was sunkimg into the ground to a place unknown, he watched as Fillain walked away rage and fury burning in his body, so he decided to have the last word.
"Count...your...days."
Then darkness swallowed him whole.
* * *
Muffled sounds reached his ears first as consciousness faded in Valeo's head, someone was shouting and another....their voices were oddly familiar but he still couldn't tell who they were.
"YOU SAID YOU WOULD FREE HIM."
The feminine voice shouted, sounding sickly.
"I did free him just like you asked, you just didn't specify what I can do afterwards."
Valeo recognized Fillain's voice, even his voice makes his blood boil.
"Now a deal is a deal, tell us where the map is."
A different voice said, more younger but still as pompous and arrogant as Fillain.
"It's in a place."
"WHERE!"
A slap echoed making Valeo raise his head, he saw the back of Fillain and a man next him wearing clothes similar to Fillain. It seemed they were talking to someone but the round body of the man next to Fillain made it hard to see who.
"We had a deal you fanged wench." The man next Fillain said.
The woman coughed before saying,
"You didn't specify."
Her laugh lead her into a coughing fit, blood splashing on the floor, this when Valeo decided to stand up since he wanted to see who they were talking to.
The chains attached to his cuffed appendages rattled as Valeo stood up grabbing the attention of the other occupants, his staggering height made the fat man step back little in fear.
"Dear chime father, he's more hideous than I remembered."
The son of the Monarch said taking another step with his father staring at Valeo, the woman they were interrogating raised her head to meet the four armed boy.
"Y-you've grown so much little o-one."
Valeo's blood felt cold as a pit formed his stomach upon realizing who this was by that name alone, no one else called him that.
"L-Laylana?"
She was completely unrecognizable from her old self, her hair was shaved bringing to light the scars littering her scalp just like the rest of her body.
A small metal object embedded in the middle of her forehead giving off an erie glow.
The finale thing Valeo noticed.
She had no legs.
Pure-unadulterated-bloodlust washed over the room, no one moved, no one breathed, no one can utter a single word.
The look in Valeo's eyes would haunt the nobles till their death.
Valeo couldn't form the words that wanted to escape his mouth only the sounds of a snarling beast.
The tears Laylana shed sent Valeo over the edge as he thrushed and roared at the Monarch.
The human Monarch snapped his fingers as bolts of electricity shot through Valeo's body making him scream in pain dropping to his knees, the son punched Valeo in his face sending to the ground and started to stomp on his head.
"YOU DARE, FILTHY FUCKING SCUM!" The son continued to stomp spilling blood on the metallic floor.
"PLEASE, STOP THIS!" Laylana cried seeing the boy she cared for being brutally beaten by the noble. The monarch lifted his hand motioning his son to stop, turning his attention to the vampire he slowly walked to her, kneeling down on one knee the monarch grabbed under her chin making her look at him.
"Talk."
Jerking her head to get his hand off of her chin as the metal object began to glow a feint blue, a small pale blue projection of a sphere of intricate patterns and lines wrapping appeared in front of them. Fillain's old wrinkle visage seemed to grow younger as he gaze upon the projection.
"It's in a w-wigsi temp-ple, I don't
kn-know the exact location." Laylana said
"That's all I need." Fillain walked away along with his son who kicked the down Valeo one last time and exited the cell the door slamming shut. Valeo groaned in pain while a headache was slowly developing, he didn't do anything to repay the son due not wanting to get shocked again
"Little one." Her voice quivered as her chest began to shake and sobs escape her lips, to see the boy she cared for all those years ago made her normally calm exterior crumble, Valeo got up to look at her and he couldn't help but cry also.
"Laylana." He said tears running down his face, they sat their looking at each other for nobody knows how long, finally they stopped crying but their expression were still the same.
The two had no words but yet so many to say, they just didn't know where to begin it all. Finally after a couple of minutes in silence Laylana broke it.
"Valeo, you've grown up so much." The warmth in her tone brining tears his eyes once more, he missed her voice, the comforting hum she she always did, he missed all of that.
"We had to....we had to survive." Valeo said.
Laylana looked at Valeo puzzled.
"We? Was there someone else with you?"
Valeo shook his head confusing her even more, Valeo pointed at himself then spoke.
"Two in one." Valeo didn't elaborated further confusing the vampire even more, minutes went by as Laylana ponderd the saying until slowly coming to a realization, her breath hitched in throat catching Valeo's attention.
"You're, two people in one." The very notion impossible in so many levels, the room went silent as Laylana tried to figure out how Valeo was two people in one.
"What's that thing on your head?"
The question Knocking Laylana out of her thoughts.
"Fillain is a scientist at heart, he likes to....experiment. this thing on my head is my new eye, somehow he found a way to give me my sight back through this, and like you saw it can materialize memories." She pointed at the 'eye' "Now my echo location is redundant."
The sad smile broke Valeo as he tried to think of something to change the subject.
"The tales of Valeo, you knew so'thing about it when we first said it, have you read it?" Valeo asked, this made Laylana smile remembering fond memories.
"My father use to read that book before I went to bed, it always brought a smile to me and great dreams." Laylana answered, Valeo closed his eyes in a gesture of him smiling.
"Could you tell us the story."
For the next couple hours Laylana told the Valeo the adventures of the hero he was named after, from saving a princess in distress to saving the Wigsi tribe from extinction.
"Can we learn what the Wigsi is now?" Valeo remembered her mentioning the Wigsi before she was taken and from earlier.
"The Wigsi were an ancient tribe dating back three thousand years ago, they were masters of the wind and quite advanced in technology much more then The Apex, nothing was impossible for them to build. But over the generations they slowly split apart into the three major races of today. The humans, the undead and finally the ani-folk."
Laylana was about to continue until the cell opened and Fillain walked in with a strange device, walking over to Valeo brandishing a small knife and cut Valeo on his cheek, he quickly grabbed the blood with a cotton swab and placed in tube connected to the device.
"What are you doing?" Valeo asked backing away from the monarch, the older man was tapping the screen of the device.
"To see if you are a waste of time and resources, your role will tell us everything." The screen of the device lit up as Fillain stared confused at it, taping on the screen again Fillain waited for a couple seconds until the device lit up again.
"This should possible, this can't be possible." Fillain said taping the screen again "There's no possible way someone can possess two roles, it's just not possible."
Fillain stop and looked at Valeo with eyes full of insanity, the look made Valeo be on guard, as the monarch walked out of the cell Valeo saw his smile and it dropped a pit in his stomach. Laylana was shocked at the revelation that Valeo had two roles, she turned to boy who was in thought about something.
She saw him in a different light now, someone with so much potential shouldn't be here, in a cell, used as guinea pig for someone's sick pleasure.
That smile made Valeo paranoid as he also saw the hunger in Fillain's eyes, that same hunger when a beast found its prey.
* * *
The prisoners were sleeping albeit very uncomfortable but still, some shut eye is better than none, that was the case until the cell door opened, with confidence and madness Fillain walked in with a lab coat, syringe in hand.
"Let's see if the readings were correct." The needle stabbing the side of Valeo's neck who was waking up from the noise, his body froze as his senses went numb but he was still conscious.
"Wait where ARE YOU TAKING HIM?" Laylana's words fell on deaf ears as the mad monarch waves his hand and guards rushed unlocking Valeo's restraints and dragging him off.
"Don't worry little fang, if the readings were correct, he'll be back before you know." Fillain said walking out the cell leaving the distraught Laylana.
* * *
Valeo didn't like the feeling of not being able to move, it reminded him of when Laylana was taken and the revelation of his birth.
The guards put the paralyzed body of Valeo on a operating table while Fillain walked in wearing a doctor's coat and face mask.
"Strip him."
Two other people wearing the same doctor robe took his garb from the arena off and placed it somewhere out of his line of sight, the lights in the room blinding him and he couldn't do anything about it since his eyelids wouldn't respond to him.
"The graph showed you have two roles."
Fillain said voice full of curiosity. Valeo couldn't move or do anything as Fillain grabbed a small blade and cut his cheek again.
Placing it in the device once more it lit up making Fillain's face do the same.
"Mitosis and merge, the merge I'm not gonna to trouble myself with, but.... mitosis I'm very excited for, it explains a lot if your really think about it, the injuries from the arena not leaving a single scar."
Fillain leaned Valeo's face eyes shining with glee, promising pain and suffering.
"So what if we cut off your arm?" Valeo for the first time in forever wanted to run, to run away from this psycho. He wanted to run to Laylana and be held by her, to hear her soft humming.
But he couldn't, his body wouldn't respond to him, Laylana couldn't help him, there was no one there to.
He sees Fillain pick up a medical saw and walk to the left of him, blinding pain invaded his senses as tears run down his face while his body remained still when Fillain began to saw off Valeo's top left forearm.
Valeo has been stabbed, slashed, cut and biten but never one of his appendages left their appropriate place, he wanted to black out but not even that was possible.
But the gasp of the other doctors got his attention as in the glass pane to his left he saw something not even he expected.
The stub were his arm use to be was slowly constructing itself a new arm, when it finally finished it was like it wasn't amputated, hushed whispers from the doctors was droned out as Fillain's face hovered over Valeo's.
"Oh what fun we are going to have."