From Other Worlds

2 》Experiments & Pain

"Sihnion! Wake up!" hisses Vilkas. My eyes snap open and I look right at him. The human looks panicked, his green eyes wide behind a few stray locks of his long, black hair. He looks at me, and I can taste his fear.

"What is this?"

"Guards are coming. They're bringing us somewhere on the ship. I don't know where, but they mentioned Dain. Who is that?"

I narrow my eyes. "Are you sure they said Dain?"

"Yes? Why?"

"Because he ..." I trail off, my gaze darting all over the cell. I see the shadows of the guards coming our way, and sit up. They walk in and grab me by my chains, yanking me up as they unlock the chains. Another two grab Vilkas's chains and drag him from the room.

I stumble, and the soldier hits my back, between my wings. I yelp, and stagger forward again. The soldiers laugh as I do so, and I hear Vilkas yelling words at him I do not understand or recognize.

Then, as we walk down sterile, white halls, I look past the soldiers and the chains and see the labs at the other end of the corridor. My heart lurches, and travels to the bottom of my stomach. As we walk into the lab, my racing heart seems to stop.

"Get them seated, we will begin the tests soon," says an Ohnea, a blue-skinned female with yellow eyes, and black hair that's long on one side and short on the other. She wears a white lab coat, which looks ridiculous on her huge frame. Her tusks are curved at the tips, one looks sorta cracked.

Vilkas is strapped down to one of the chairs in the middle of the lab, and I am chained to the far wall. Chains around my wrists, ankles, and throat.

I watch as they secure him to the chair, and they begin to prepare the machines scattered throughout the room. My gaze lands on Vilkas once more, and he looks as scared as I feel. But his fear, I can somehow tell, isn't for him. Somehow, he is more scared about what they are doing to me.

"Sihnion," says the Ohnea. She turns to me, her yellow eyes glittering with delight and her mouth quirked up. She turns to Vilkas. "And the human. It is time, time to begin the tests and experiments."

Before either of us can say anything, there's a loud beep. We both look up, as a giant machine that I hadn't seen before falls from the ceiling, its whirring parts clicking. The machine resembles an engine of sorts, with camera lenses on its whirring parts.

The machine clicks and stops, hovering just above where Vilkas is sitting. He looks up at it, and a shining, red light is cast down on him. Vilkas just stares, wincing at the bright light, before suddenly, he starts to scream.

I thrash against the chains, but as I am distracted by that, someone sticks me in the side of the neck with a needle. I flinch, and as the needle is retracted, everything goes fuzzy and distant. The world sways, and I slump onto my side.

Vilkas screams, his deep voice cracking as he does so. He seems to yell, "Sihnion! Run! Run!"

But I can't move any of my muscles. I just stare as the beings around us move away from him, and the red light grows brighter. Then, his screams fade, as it's replaced by an awful gurgling noise. I feel tears spring to my eyes, but I cannot stop them.

Vilkas. He's suffering. He's dying.

"No..." I whisper.

Suddenly, there is a terrible screeching sound, and then the light fades. And as it does fade, whatever they injected me with ends up knocking me out.