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// Test Subject “Demon” 
// Story: Subject 27 
// by Phyrexian 
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					Chapter 24 - Test Subject “Demon”

        “It’s a pleasure to meet you Nyuel.” My legs start to turn cold as I sit there in the cot, I look up at Nyuel with a worried look on my face.

        “And I you, Demon. I forgot to mention to your extremities might feel like they’re petrified; I wanted to see how my recipe for a new healing potion would work.” She says as your frown starts to turn into a smile.

        “Would work?” My legs feel as if they’re made out of lead.

        “Yes Demon, I’ve been experimenting to make a stronger healing potion, so far there are a few ‘minor’ side effects; one of them being petrified limbs.” She turns around and trots back to her alchemy table and fetches another sickly green potion.

        “Awesome... I’m test subject...again. How long should these ‘side effects’ last for?” Nyuel trots back to my cot with another potion in her mouth, she places the potion on my lap and looks up to me with the smile still plastered on her muzzle.

        “Please, take this potion and drink it, I must study my new creation; The more I learn from you the better chance my tribe has in surviving the war.” She studies me carefully as I nod and down the second prototype healing potion.

        I feel a little light headed only a few minutes after taking the potion, I bring my right hand up to my head, something foreign now rests in the palm of my hand; I try to keep calm as I run my hand along the bone that jutted out from my forehead. It’s rough surface has indents on it as if it was covered with tiny scales, It curves and twists upwards and follows close to my head; The horn-like bone curves back continues going toward the back of my head until it comes to a point that barely extends past my ear. I move my hand slightly to left and it touches another horn that juts out from my forehead, it follows a identical pattern as the first.

        I look over my body, seeing if I’ve accumulated any other unknown parts. I look down my right and left side and see black scales coming from my back, I move my hand across my back and feel scales covering my whole backside; I run my hand up the back of my neck as scales continue traveling up, stopping at my hairline.

        All I can tell is that my back and neck is covered with scales and I now have horns sticking of my head; I’ll have to check my lower half of my body when I’m not in the company of any unwanted eyes. The feeling of warmth quickly starts to return to my legs just as fast as they became petrified. The second potion eases some my body’s aches and pains from my fall, I’m grateful for the stupid luck I’ve been given in my life and to whatever god there is in this crazy world that I was able to survive the fall; I might not be as lucky the next time.

        “Well...What effects does the second potion have, Demon?” Nyuel stands there with her head cocked to the side as she stares at me if I was a mad man while I moved my arms around like I had no control over my body.

        “I can feel my legs again and some of th-.” Why is my chest so itchy all of the sudden?

        I frantically start to scratch at my chest as it feels like something is digging its way through me. The itching stops as I start to scratch my skin raw, it feels like I was being slightly squeezed around my ribcage. I look up to see Nyuel now with a even more confused look upon her muzzle.

        “Are you well, Demon?”

        “Yeah, I just had a itch that needed scratching, sorry about that Nyuel. As I was saying I can feel my legs again, some of the aches and pains that my body is riddled with are now starting to fade with this second potion. The only strange thing is my head feels a little dizzy, but other than that I’m doing much better, thank you.”

        “Light headedness is not one of the side effects from my potion, must be the Poison Joke that filled the hole you made when you fell, you were covered in a sea of it.” This can’t be good.

        “Poison Joke? By chance is it a small blue flower that has a sickeningly sweet aroma to it?”

        “Yes, Poison Joke only plays an ironic joke on whomever comes across it, hence the name ‘Poison Joke’. I can make you cure for what ever joke it played upon, but I lack the necessary ingredients to brew it; If you can fetch me these ingredients I’ll gladly brew you this powerful stew.” No, the dizziness isn't from the Poison Joke... It’s something else... I can feel it...

        “No, that’s quite fine, but I would like to know more about these potions you’ve been brewing. Whatever you can teach me will greatly aid me while I’m here.” Nyuel no longer has a confused look but more of pride after I make this request.

        “I did not expect an outsider like yourself to wish to learn our ways of healing.”

        “I don’t have any means of healing myself and I’m always looking for ways to increase my knowledge or to better myself; Nyuel will you teach me alchemy of your people?” Without Friend here to heal my injuries I’ll need a different means of healing..

        “You speak truth with your words, every demon or evil spirit I have ever heard about has  spoken only lies and mischief; But you on the other hoof only speak truth and kindness. I shall be happy to be your teacher, Demon. I’ll teach you all that I know but it will be difficult and long; It will take many a night before you can brew the simplest of potions.” A voice from outside the hut calls out for Nyuel, a zebra steps in not noticing me until he was fully inside.

        “Nyuel, I’ve brought you some more herbs and ingredients for your new poti-.” He comes to a dead stop as his eyes go wide with fear.

        “Ah, thank you Tikki for fetching these for me.”

        “D-D-DEMON! It lives!” He yells out, causing Nyuel to step back away from the cot.

        “Tikki, settle down! He’s harmle-.” He interrupted her as he charges at me.

        I quickly get to my feet before he makes it to the cot, he pivots 180 degrees on his front hooves and brings his hind hooves up; I go to deflect his buck but he pole-vaults off the ground and over me, catching me completely off guard. He lands on his hind hooves as he hits my spine with both hooves, my scales absorbs most of the impact, but he wasn't going for damage but a paralyzing strike instead.

        I collapse under my own weight and hit the floor of the hut, kicking up cloud of dust. Tikki waste no time as he easily slides out from under me before I fall on top of him, he does a quick jab with his front hoof at my throat but I see this attack coming as I grab his hoof and raise him into the air as I hold him above me as he flails about wildly.

        “Let me go, Demon!”

        “Calm down! What have I done to provoke you so?”

        “You devoured Zikki’s spirit! I watched him die with my own eyes!” He cries out, his words hitting me like a sack of bricks.

        His paralyzing strike starts to fade as I hold him in the air by his hoof, I slowly get to my feet as Tikki still flails about swinging wildly in the air trying to land any blows on me. I rotate him around to see eye to eye with him, his face is filled with rage and bloodlust as he stares at me.

        “Who was this Zikki to you?”

        “Demon, Zikki was Ti-.” Nyuel tries to say but only to be drowned out by Tikki’s rage filled shouting.

        “HE WAS MY BLOOD BROTHER!” His words take me by surprise.

        I lower him down back to the ground, he looks up at me and all I can see in his face was pure rage, I know that face all too well. He lunges at me, but in his state his attacks are sloppy at best. I easily sidestep his attack, he tries to land another paralyzing strike but I deflect his hoof with my hand, he throws kick after kick at me, but each one easy to protect against and avoid. After a flurry of attacks not even coming close to touching their mark, he starts to pant as tears run down his face, fatigue starts to set in as he collapses on his hunches. I kneel down in front of him, looking him in his bloodshot eyes, his anger still burns in them but he’s just too exhausted try to strike at me.

        “I understand your pain all too well Tikki, I’m sorry to hear about your brother’s death, I’m truly am. But I was not the one who shepherded his soul to the abyss, I couldn’t have when I was unconscious in that crater. Please. You must believe me.” I place my hand on top of his head, he just sits there crying.

        “Little one, Demon speaks only the truth with his words. Whatever took your brother’s spirit must of been trying to consume Demon’s soul as well. But Zikki happened to stumble upon whatever it was instead.” Nyuel makes her way to my side as she says this, Tikki looks up to her as she speaks.

        “I-I’m sorry Nyuel for my ignorance.” He pushes my hand off his head with his hoof as he stands up and leaves Nyuel and I alone in her hut.

        Nyuel turns around and picks up the small basket of herbs and other ingredients off the floor and makes her way towards the alchemy table, I make my way to the table and see many  parchments and other ingredients lying on top of it. I pick up one of the parchments and it’s written in a language that I don’t recognize; But it looks so familiar.

        “Nyuel, is this written in your tribe’s tongue?”

        “No Demon, any and all formulas that I create I have written it down in an old forgotten language only known by a handful, so just encase anything would happen to my tribe during a raid, my secrets won't fall into the wrong hoofs.”

        “Well you teach me this forgotten tongue?”

        “In due time, but first you need to learn the basic herbs and plants you can and cannot use for potions.” We spent what it seemed like an eternity going over just the very basic herbs.

        “Okay, my head hurts now. Would you mind if we took a break?” I sit there on the ground, as only the alchemy table comes up to my upper chest as I sit.

        “Very well, we shall take a break from studying. Demon are yo-.” The sound of my stomach makes itself known to the both of us as it demands food.

        “Sorry about that... My stomach has a mind of its own, do you have any food to spare for me?” I place my hand on my stomach, trying to silence it.

        “Yes, let me go fetch something to eat for us... Wait, what do demons eat?” Her voice is filled with curiosity as she says this.

        “I can only speak for myself, but I’ll eat pretty much anything you put in front of me...” Wait, that didn’t come out quite as I attended it to...

        “Oh? I might need to watch where I’m at than.” She laughs as she steps out the hut, leaving me alone.

        I stand up and start to stretch, popping my back and my neck. My chest feels tight, as if someone is giving me a bear hug and squeezing me. I stumble over to the cot and flop in it as I struggle to breathe. Each second my chest tightens making it increasingly difficult to take a normal breath. My breaths become short and shallow as I sit there, I desperately struggle to breath as I try to force my lungs to expand with air. Only a few minutes past before the vice like grip around my chest eases up a little, I start to breath a little easier now as I try to think what is causing me such great uncomfort.

        I take my PDA out of my pocket and I’m relieved to see not a single scratch was on it from the fall, I thought to myself that whoever built this meant for it to last through pretty much anything. The screen comes to life as I turn it on, I type in the main passcode and clicked on the picture folder and than the subfolder named ‘Research’. I type in ‘Eixirt’ for the passcode it requires and the folder unlocks itself for me, multiple folders pop up inside this one, I scroll through each one until I find one named ‘Horrors’. I open the folder and I’m admittedly flooded with information and pictures on the Horrors from one of Arkis’s memories, I look over each pictures of the Horrors that was taken.

I found one with a skeleton lying on the floor and I studied it closely, its skeletal anatomy looked similar to a human’s, I zoomed in on its chest and see its ribs were riddled with scarring as the virus violently mutated its host’s body. The rib cage itself was much thicker than a normal human should have, the organs that it housed was probably shifted or mutated along with the body.

I look through some of the files and notes that Arkis saved on the PDA until I found one that caught my interest. It was a note that Arkis written himself about his encounters with the Horrors and how the virus spread from person to person. I skimmed through most of it until I came to a part of the file that was specific to the virus. I read through it slowly and came to a part that I had to reread so I didn’t miss a single detail.

“I’ve found and lost the only cure to the Horror Virus that section three of the bunker was creating, my immune system is superior than any normal humans but I doubt it can fight this. I was rarely sick and the only things that would affect me were some of the more deadly pathogens; But even then my body easily adapted to them and fought off whatever foreign bodies that were in me. But a man-made virus such as this one might just be the thing that beats me, ironic if you ask me. I manage to survive small armies and unforgettable abominations of this world and the thing that kills me is a simple little virus. With a little help of a certain ‘Friend’ I just might be able to suppress the virus long enough or make it go dormant until I’m able to find a cure for this...thing.” I turn my PDA back off and slip it back into my pocket after reading this note.

“I see, so that’s how Arkis survived the virus, with Friend being sealed by the zebras the virus is free to run rampant throughout my system and make itself at home. Hopefully I can survive long enough to create or find a cure either through alchemy or through zebra magic.” I think to myself out loud, after a moment later Nyuel trots back in the hut with a small basket with fruit and vegetables in it.

She trots over to the cot and jumps in, sitting down next to me as she places the basket of fruit and vegetables on my lap. She looks up to me with a joyful smile upon her face and then  she grabs a piece of fruit out of the basket and starts to eat it. I reach in and grab a random vegetable and bite into it, she stops eating her fruit and starts to laugh at me. I sit there slowly chewing as I feel an intense heat building up in my mouth, I quickly swallowed the mouthful of hot chilli and devour the rest of it in just two bites. My eyes start to water as my lips go numb and my tongue feels like it’s resting in a bed of hot coals. I can hear Nyuel laughing hysterically as I stick my tongue out and start to pant, I start to sweat as the heat in my mouth only becomes hotter with each inhale I take; My whole head feels like it was on fire!

Nyuel rolls around on the cot holding her sides as she laughs at me, tears of mirthful laughter start to run down her face. I run over to alchemy table and grab one of the prototype potions and drank it greedily, the potion numbs the heat slightly, just enough to take the edge off. I turn around to see Nyuel still holding her sides as she cried with laughter, I do gotta admit that was a pretty good prank and one hell of a hot chilli.

“Very funny Nyuel...” I say now staring at her.

“S-Sorry Demon, I could not contain myself! My curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see if you would eat a Phantom Chili.” She says as she starts to wipe away her tears.

“It’s quite alright, that was a rather humorous prank you just pulled there on me and if I was in your position I would do the same. I did not expect that this world would have such hot chillies in it, to be honest.” I made my way back over to the cot and sat down next to Nyuel, her eyes still had a few tears left in em.

“I’ll have to take a few of these chilis with when I leave, but that won’t be for quite some time.” We sat there and ate the rest of the veggies and fruits that Nyuel brought in with her.

I lean back and pat my now filled and happy stomach, I look down to see Nyuel curled up and now is fast asleep next to me. I smiled at the site of the cute zebra sleeping next to me, I place my hand on her mane and pet her before I get up from the cot and made my way towards the alchemy table. I set down on the floor of the hut and looked over the what very little I learned today, I must be diligent in my studies and find a cure before I become one of those... Horrors.

Credits

Editor

frieD195