I took my place beside the president.
"As a reward for all of your hard work, and for going above and beyond the call of duty, I'm promoting you to my personal body guard!"
The sounds of clapping fill the stadium.
"Thank you, Mister President!"
"Please, call me John."
"Of course, John."
"Now, before we get started, there's one more thing I need you to do."
"What is it?"
"Wake up."
"wha--"
------------------------------------------------------
My eyes flicked open. To my horror, I realized I was underwater. But it wasn't water. No, water is blue, this was green. I let out a yelp of surprise which was muffled from the liquid. Thankfully I was able to close my mouth before any was able to get in. The bad part about it, though, was that little yelp had cost me most of my oxygen. I knew from experience that I needed all I could get, and panicking was only going to make it worse.
I forced myself to calm down. My training kicked in, reminding me to observe the situation around me. It turned out that I wasn't actually in any kind of weird ocean or lake, but rather some kind of container of liquid. It seemed to be oval, standing on its side, and had one black bar on each "Side" of the oval. Inbetween each of bars seemed to be some kind of rough-looking, slightly transparent material that made up most of the container. I reached out to touch it, and it felt like leather. It bent slightly at my touch.
This thing doesn't seem too tough.
I reached to retrieve my knife from its tactical sheath strapped to my chest only to find it wasn't there.
I went for my gun, but it wasn't there either!
What? How am I supposed to get out of this now?
The rear of your right boot. You keep a swiss army knife in there, remember?
I was ready to question why there was a voice in my head, but the burning in my lungs decided to remind me of why I needed to stop asking questions for the moment.
I'm not done with you yet.
Duly noted.
I bent down and retrieved a swiss army knife my the rear of my right boot, just like the voice said. I had completely forgotten all about it, but I do keep one in there. It's not useful in a fight, but it's handy for situations like this.
I flipped open the knife from its "resting" position and flipped it around in my hand. I raised my hand above my head and thrusted it into the material. Just as I had hoped, it cut right through it. I tore the knife straight down through the material and cut a line through it. The liquid started pouring out of the cut as soon as I made it. I brought my left hand to the outside of the leathery material and pulled myself towards the cut I had made.
This definitely isn't water. It's harder to move in than any kind of lake I've been in.
I put my right leg out of the cut and searched for any solid ground. Thankfully I found some in a matter of seconds, and put my weight on it before swinging the rest of my body out of the container. It took all of my willpower to make sure I was far away from the torrent of liquid pouring out before gasping for some much-needed breath.
After catching my breath, I decided to take a look around, starting with the container I was in. Looking at it from the outside, it looked more like a chrysalis than a container. But something else caught my eye, namely the rows of chrysalises that looked exactly like the one he was trapped in. Each one glowed with a luminescent green light bright enough to light up the immediate area around it, but nothing more.
I walked over to the chrysalis nearest to me, and put a hand on it. It cast a soft glow across my arm, and it had the same texture as the one I was trapped in earlier.
There's so many, and they're all empty. How long have I been here?
I brought my hand level with my eyes.
My fingers are pruned. Surely there's no way I've been in there THAT long. I'd have been long dead by then.
"How are you awake?" A panicked feminine voice called out.
I turned towards the source of the voice only to find a horse. But it wasn't just a horse. It was a horse with a horn. Not only that, it had holes going right through its legs, and, on closer inspection, wings too.
Time seemed to stand still while I buzzed around inside of my head for answers.
Genetic experiments, maybe? I've heard B.O.W.'s were getting popular on the black market. It formed a coherent sentence, though! Does it have human intelligence? I thought the point of B.O.W.'s was to have a super soldier that doesn't question orders. Whatever. It has intelligence, so maybe I can reason with it.
All of these thoughts had taken place in one second to the outside world. They don't call me a quick thinker for nothing.
"Hey. Take it easy. My name's Leon, I work for the president. Can I ask you a couple of questions?" I said carefully.
"What? I...I suppose so." The creature said hesitantly.
"That's good. You wouldn't mind coming closer, would you?" I said in the same tone I would use to talk to a small child. Just because the creature had intelligence doesn't mean it had the experience and teachings of a grown adult.
The creature hesitantly stepped forward into the light of the chrysalis. I could see its face clearly now. It seemed to be... afraid? It was tall enough to be level with my neck. I could see from the way the light shined off of it that, instead of skin, it had a rough, black exoskeleton.
Remind you of something? Starts with a 'verdu', ends with a 'go'.
I shivered slightly at the memory of my fight with the verdugo. The creature's expression seemed to lighten up at my shivering. Now it seemed... Cocky? It's hard to tell with B.O.W.'s.
"Afraid?" The creature asked in a proud tone.
"No, you just reminded me of someone." I replied back coolly.
"Oh." She(?) replied in a dissapointed voice. Her ears folded back against her head as well.
Alright, horse ears do not work that way. It's time to get some answers.
"If you don't mind me asking, who or what are you?" I asked.
"In all honesty, I should be the one asking you that. But I suppose you did already give your name and occupation, so I suppose I should do the same. I am Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings." She said witha sort of practiced grace.
Changelings. Lets see... the offspring of trolls and...elves it think? Don't the parents abduct a child of two human parents and put the changeling in its place? If that's true, what was I doing in a chrysalis?
Good thing you got into the supernatural after Raccoon City, huh?
"Could you tell me what I was doing in those Chrysalises?" I asked.
Heh, Chrysalis' chrysalises.
"They were going to..." she trailed off into a mumble.
"I'm sorry, I can't hear you."
"I said they were going to..." She trailed off into mumbles again.
"Seriously, speak up. I can't hear what you're saying."
"I SAID THEY WERE GOING TO CHANGE YOU INTO A CHANGELING!"
My eyes popped opened in surprise. "WHAT! WHY?" I demanded.
"So you could survive in this world! Your quantum structure wouldn't survive in this world, so I had to change your structure!" she quickly said.
I calmed myself, and slowly nodded my head before speaking.
"Yep. That's definitely the biggest pile of crap I've ever heard."
She looked surprised. "What? How did you know?"
"I can catch even the best liars from a mile away. It's part of the reason I was chosen for Secret Services." True story.
"Secret what now?" She asked confused.
"Nevermind. Now, I'm gonna ask you again, and I want the truth this time: Why was I in the chrysalis?"
She hesitated for a couple of seconds with a nervous expression before finally relenting. "Because we're afraid of you."
"What? Afraid of me? Why?"
"We saw everything you did! That town, the castle, the Island, even everything while you were passed out! How are you still alive after all of that?" she exclaimed.
What? How did they even see all of that?
He sighed. "Alright, we're gonna play a game. I'm gonna ask you a question, and you're gonna answer truthfully. Then you get to ask me a question, and I'll return the favor..."