Subject Zero: CONFIDENTIAL (Short Stories)

The Doctor (3)

Part Three: Number Two Looks Just Like You

Third Person's POV
The Orphic Reflected Abditory, otherwise known as the Mirror World, has around several thousand creatures in it. Orphic is a word which means mysterious and entrancing; beyond ordinary understanding. An abditory is a place into which you can disappear; a hiding place.
This world is a place of monsters; a place of decay and death. It's a world created by a lab subject who made the mistake of talking to the mirror, to her shadows, using her imagination. It wasn't her fault, she didn't know she was capable of creating her own world.

The Orphic Reflected Abditory is almost completely unrecognized by the human race; the only humans who know are the humans that reside in Norwood's National Laboratory.

It has existed since 1947 — before the subject even knew the world was real — and Shades have had an agreement with the humans in the lab since 1950. But there are some things some monsters are capable of.

For example, there is only a single known being capable of turning humans into creatures like himself. He's turned four humans into monsters; one of which was killed four years ago, and another tried to avoid him at all costs after he was manipulated by him numerous times. But the other two have only recently been turned.

He found two young girls, feeling desperate enough to ask him to turn them into creatures just like himself. But all the positions are filled, he thought to himself. ...Except... Balance. Ah... Yes, ...these two will do quite nicely.

Araneidans, Hidebehinds, Marshes, Puppets, and Shades.

Their preferred food: humans. They'll eat other mammals of the human world if necessary.

They kill humans and feed on them — Marshes do so more than any other monsters.

Their physical prowess is remarkable. Wounds heal in the blink of an eye, even quicker for Araneidans. Flesh is restored after being hacked off, and severed limbs can be newly regenerated. Most Puppets cannot be killed, they are already dead. Araneidans can slice off someone's hand by using their own. Marshes can travel through swamp-like pocket dimensions. Hidebehinds can hunt someone down without being sensed or spotted, even in plain sight. Shades can shapeshift, and some even have otherworldly powers.

Most can be killed by decapitation. Shades can be killed by sunlight. It is extremely rare for any other species to burn in the light.

Four mere humans became these monsters, in their mortal bodies. Since they were humans before, their wounds are slow to heal, and, once lost, their limbs don't grow back.

Even so, two of them still fight and train, so they can avoid being in such scenarios, and to fulfill the roles they volunteered to play.

December 4, 1984

The Doctor's POV
Since November 19, I've been a teacher... or mentor, I suppose.

My job, as of now, is to train Tui and La to become the roles they were given, as Yin and Yang.

I'm unsure if any of the other Royals have had mentors; it is not likely.

But these two are growing stronger at a surprising rate.
Just on the first day, Tui was able to walk through Ares.
On the second day, she and La were able to sense nearly everything in their surroundings.
On the third day, their very first day of training, Tui was able to heal La and restore her energy, and La used her own shadow to push a few traps out of the way and reveal them.