Crimson Tempest III: Past Revisited

        "What did I do to get into this mess," Clarissa said as she walked beside Timaeus, while Fenrir lead the way.  She looks to Timaeus and tells him,"I blame my bad luck, ya know?  I'm probably the most unlucky person in the world."  Clarissa was only eighteen years old, but had been through many hardships, enough to make a person grow up quicker than they should.  Her parents left her at a young age, and her foster parents were only interested in the pay check that came from keeping her with them.  When she was only six, her foster father began to beat her mercilessly on a daily basis.  She had became addicted to pain killers shortly after because of the injuries she incured from her father's  way of showing affection.  She ran away at the age of fifteen, and had been a drifter ever since.  She tells all of this to Timaeus, who listens intentfully.  It had been a long time since anyone other than a therapist had listened to her so carefully, and even longer since someone hadn't judged her.

       

      "That's a very interesting, and coincidental story," Timaeus says while lighting a cigarette.  Clarissa wonders why he said it was also coincidental.  Timaeus picks up on her confusion and says,"It was three years ago Fenrir and I ran away from what we called home too."  Clarissa asks him politely if he would like to share, and Timaeus hesitantly agrees, warning her that she is not to tell anyone.  She agrees, and tells him that his secret is safe with her.  Timaeus begins,"Fenrir and I were part of a secret government project based upon using the souls of fallen warriors to enhance the attributes of the average human.  The study stated that each of us had a special gene which made us prime candidates for selection.  Other than the two of us, there were nineteen others who were part of the study."



      Clarissa stops Timaeus to ask him,"You expect me to believe all that?"  The idea of something like that was completely absurd to her.  "I asked you for the truth, and you feed me this bullshit?  I'm not stupid you know?"  Timaeus simply laughs at Clarissa's frustration.  "Don't laugh at me!  All that's a li, and you know it!"



    Timaeus angrily tells her,"You didn't here a word of judgment come out of my mouth when you told me your story.  Now, are you going to listen, or should I just shut up?"  Clarissa cowers in fear that Timaeus my hit her, but he continues to tell his story.  "We all went through the most grueling tests, and eventually were turned into indestructable instruments of war.  We had lost our humanity.  Fenrir and one other, Raido, were special cases.  They were the only two who had been born with a spirit already inside of them."



      Clarissa asks him to explain how they were treated.  "We were treated like dirt.  Every day was pure hell.  The only sleep we got was when we lost conciousness, and the only praise we got was when we killed someone.  They tried to make us feel as if we were nothing, and almost succeeded."  "How did you manage to keep from going insane," Clarissa asks.  "Raido, the strongest of all of us.  He was our pillar of strength.  Always telling us that we were much more than what they made us out to be.  He made us feel as if we ment something to the world.  He was actually Fenrir's best friend, until that day."  "What day," Clarissa asks him intently.  "The day Raido was killed by Knight.



      "Knight was the one who gave us our freedom, but took the only thing that gave Fenrir and I hope.  He staged a revolt one night at the facility in which they kept us all.  Raido tried to stop him, and tell him that there was a better way to gain his freedom; but god damn it Knight cut his guts out, he took off his arms and legs, and laughed while he was doing it.  Fenrir and I couldn't do anything, all the others were guarded Knight, and we could only watch as his sword pierced Raido's skull.  Fenrir and I tool off and grabbed our swords.  We decided that we would get away while we still could and deal with Knight later.  After it was all over, over 300 guards were slaughtered; twenty of them by our own hands."



      Timaeus looks over to Clarissa, who is now crying.  "Someday, somehow,we will kill Knight, and we won't leave him a healthy-looking corpse."



                                                                                        (To be continued...)





Next chapter: Crimson Tempest VI: Dhalia