Into The Tainted Waters

Council

"Ah, i see we are already descending into name calling" the man named Alexander says. "You cheated your way onto this council, and don't deny that you did" the man yelling at Alexander said. "Cheated! I once controlled one of the largest empires Earth had ever seen. I destroyed the world's current strongest army at the time in a few months." Alexander defends himself "I have done more than enough to be recognized as a powerful Sentinel, you on the other hand have done nothing but sleep with another member of the Council, elevating yourself here". The man's face went red. "You know it is true Borus, you are a disgrace to this Council and should be thrown out" Alexander said. Borus stood up and lunged across the table at Alexander as an army of guards seemed to come straight out of the walls.

"Stop!" Alexander yelled. Borus froze. "Good, now turn around and sit in your chair" Alexander said, his eyes turning a piercing blue color. Borus crawled back into his chair, shaking in his seat. Another man stands up and shakes his head. "If you two don't behave yourselves i will tear you apart" the man said. "Sit down Animus, or i'll freeze you to your chair" a woman says with an icy tone. I lean over to Caoimhe and whisper "What the hell is going on". "This happens every time they meet, a bunch of powerful and egotistical-" she says but is cut off. "How dare you insult me like that" One man says holding his palm out at another man. "You wanna go shit for brains" the other man says, creating a flaming blade out of his right arm.

More arguing erupts across the table, and the extreme feeling of power ripples through the air. I felt completely powerless before these Sentinels, like i could be ripped apart with a thought. I look over to the speaker to see him with his face in his hands. He stands up and yells "Enough!" sending black snares at everyone bickering, strapping them to their chairs. "We cannot spend this meeting fighting, we have important matters to attend to!" he booms. "Now, Caoimhe, why are you here" he says angrily. "We found a testing facility manned by people claiming to work for Arkyn Hakon" she says. Whispers went out around the table, mixed with some snickering. "Arkyn Hakon, you've got to be joking" The speaker says with a chuckle. Everyone begins to laugh, infuriating me. "It's true, they had an elaborate lab, i'm having some teams empty it out as we speak. The Speaker's tone changes to anger "Do not waste our resources on wild goose chases, he is long gone, a team killed him shortly after he escaped". "An escape made possible by you, lest i remind you" he sneers.

I stand up and say "It's true, there were files detailing their plans on bringing him back". Everyone looked at me in silence. "Sit down, now!" Caoimhe whispered to me. "Who are you to speak out of turn" the Speaker says to me, sending chills down my spine. "Well, answer me!" he yells. "My name is Jack, Jack Roberts" i say shaking. "Well Jack Roberts, tell me what was in there" the Speaker says impatiently. "I found videos of scientists extracting the power from Sentinels and putting it into humans, turning them into psychotic monsters" i say. Gasps ran throughout the table. "What! How could they extract the power from Sentinels" the Speaker yells. Nate pipes in "Well, they were trying to pinpoint what gave them the-". "Did i ask you boy!" the Speaker cuts him off. "Actually, he's the one that found that information" i say in his defense. "Alright, speak" he says looking at Nate.

I could tell that Nate was holding back the urge to say a snarky comment. "Well, they were conducting a lot of tests to find out what exactly gave Sentinels their power" Nate says "They ended up coming down to DNA, chromosomal i think it was". "They had excised a large amount of it from the blood of the Sentinels they had captured and put it into regular people" Nate says. "It drove them crazy and they started killing the scientists" Nate continues "But they found enzymes in Sentinel organs that stopped the insanity from happening, so they started excising that too". "They did something to us, but i don't think it was the same process" he finished. "Us?" the Speaker asked. "Me, Viktoria, Charlyse, and Taylor" Nate said.

Charlyse raised her hand. The Speaker looked over at her. "Permission to speak sir?" she asked. "Permission granted" the Speaker sighed. "I had a theory, we each received the powers of our animal friends here" she says. "Well, i was thinking that they found a way to extract specific powers and implant them into people" she continued. "And since these animals had human bodies before, maybe they found a way to transplant consciousness too?" she finishes. "Hmm, that does sound likely" the Speaker says quietly. "We did go through many procedures to get us to these bodies" Nikolas says. "Hmm, that is troubling" the Speaker sighs.

"There have been more groups like this turning up, claiming to act in the name of their lord Arkyn" Caoimhe pipes "Although looking at the people, some of them seem like they are being controlled". "So now you are defending these cultists, as if falling in love with that bastard wasn't bad enough" the Speaker retorted. Caoimhe's face grew deep red. "He was very charming wasn't he, maybe that's why you let him escape" he said. "What is he talking about" i whisper to Caoimhe. She stayed silent. "We should have thrown you in a cell after that" the Speaker continues. I stand up and shout "Lay off of her!". The Speaker stands up and raises his hand to strike me. "How dare you speak to me that way!" he exclaims. He goes to strike but is caught by a hand that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "You will not harm them" the old man that appeared says in a cam soothing voice.