"Transcendent…"
Merlin's eyes twitched at the words, then he asked.
"Transcendent? So you mean to tell me that there's an out of control corrupted creature in this building?..." He looked around first then turned to the researcher and asked again.
"How many shards were infused?"
The researcher shivered slightly then answered again.
"Thr… three…"
Merlin wanted to clutch his head and cry out to the world.
'it wasn't bad enough that it was a corrupted nightmare creature, it just had to be a demon on top… I hope that isn't the goal of this nightmare… heh, oh my wishful thinking'
Merlin took a deep breath and said to the researcher calmly.
"Is there any warrior powerful enough to kill it in the city?"
"We've already requested for help, the warrior generals will be here soon, they are on the same rank with the abyss creature, so they should be able to restrain it" the researcher explained.
"Good… that's good, let's hope they arrive on time" Merlin nodded as he turned to the researcher.
"First direct me to the sealing chamber of project X…"
"It's dangerous, that area is overrun with stronger abyss creatures" the researcher hurriedly explained with fear in his eyes.
Merlin sighed as he said.
"That doesn't matter, just point me the way, you can continue on to the exit by yourself"
The researcher agreed and gave Merlin the directions to the laboratory, then he went off on his own in the other direction. Merlin followed the directions he got from the researcher and moved towards the laboratory, on the way he killed more of the hybrid creatures, as he got closer, the creatures he killed also became stronger.
He walked until he found the room he was looking for, the metal doors of the laboratory had already been torn open, and the monster being held had already left the area, and it left a lot of bodies in its path.
Merlin walked into the room, his eyes scanned the scattered area, he saw the destroyed pods, caved in walls, scattered chemicals and the like, there were also dead researchers around.
His eyes locked on to a paper in the room, it was a file, the blood around had already covered most of it, but he was able to see a little information, it held a name [Ariel - Project Alpha], and beside the name was a picture.
From the look of it, Merlin figured that the girl in the picture would be twelve years maximum, she had pale white hair similar to Silver's, but her eyes were grey and her skin was fair. He stared at the picture as his eyes narrowed slightly.
"To use someone so young for experiments… What a heartless scientist… sigh" Merlin's words echoed in the room.
Then he heard a sound, more like a whimper coming from behind the broken pod, he instinctively got on guard as he activated his spirit vision to check the place, earlier he had divined the safety of his little expendition, and the details he received was 'dangerous but acceptable', the dangers had come mostly from the creatures around, and those were dealt with by him.
In his spirit vision, he saw what seemed like a silhouette crouching in the corner, but he couldn't make out more details from it. He walked calmly with his sword in hand as he approached the broken pod.
As he got to the position, he bent over to see what was behind the pod, and as he did, his eyes narrowed, crouching behind the broken pod was a child, precisely a twelve year old child, Ariel. The frightened little girl had buried her head in her knees and used her hand to shut her ears, she sat on the cold ground as she sobbed quietly.
'Project Alpha huh… she truly is just a child…' Merlin sighed inwardly as he called out.
"Hey…"
Ariel shuddered, but she didn't move or reply, even her sobbing stopped as she just froze in place, seeing this Merlin smiled softly and said again.
"You know I can see you right, staying still doesn't make you invisible…"
Ariel jolted softly, then she lifted her head slowly as she turned to him, her grey eyes were reddened with constant crying, her face filled with fear as she looked at him.
Merlin gave a soft smile as he said.
"Hey nice to meet you… I'm Merlin, what about you?"
"Ah… I…I'm Ariel" Ariel replied in a dry voice.
"Okay Ariel… let's get out of here first, it's not safe here" He said, his voice still soft.
Ariel hesitated, then she nodded, Merlin smiled at her as he stretched his hand.
"Here come… let's leave this place"
Ariel paused for a second, then she took his hand as he drew her closer to him. As she stepped out, fear flashed her eyes as she turned to look at the room, but contrary to what she expected, the room was empty, just with a few things scattered here and there, the bodies had mysteriously vanished with no trace of blood left.
"Come on…" Merlin, who had covered everything up with an illusion, led Ariel out of the room calmly.
The child's gaze turned to him in surprise, but he simply gave her an encouraging smile. He could tell that she had questions, but she was too scared to ask them, and he wasn't really in the mood to start explaining some things to a child.
As they left the room, Merlin led her down the path he had come from, he guessed that since the researcher was going that way, it was certain that it would be the way out, or maybe an emergency exit.
"So Ariel, how did you end up in that room anyways?" Merlin inquired as they walked, from the information he heard, coupled with the amount of dead bodies he saw, he was certain that the room they just left was the most dangerous location in the entire building.
'The room in question held a corrupted demon that slaughtered everyone and destroyed everything in sight, and just so happened to not see the little kid hiding in corner… yeah, no… even if you kissed lady luck twice, that won't save you from that kind of situation'
Ariel shuddered as she turned to him, tears already welling up in her grey eyes.
"If… if I tell you, will you kill me?"
"What? No, no I won't" Merlin shook his head surprised.
'Where did that idea even pop up from?'
"You won't kill me?" She asked again.
"I won't kill you… trust me Ariel" Merlin smiled calmly.
She nodded then spoke in a voice laced with guilt.
"I… I went to dad's lab because I was bored, and the other white guys wouldn't play with me, then inside I saw the big guy, he was alone like me too, so I gave him my shadow…"
Her breath hitched as she continued with an almost tearful voice.
"Then he woke up, but he didn't play with me, he just jumped out and started destroying everything, then the white guys came in, and he… he…"
He sighed and hugged her as she burst into tears.
"It's alright, it's not your fault…"
While she cried in his arms, his mind went back to her story.
'So I'm guessing the reason for all this is because she was bored… what the hell is up with this nightmare… sigh, at least on the plus side, I know that this nightmare is probably centered around her and that project X'
He pinched his temples as he muttered inwardly.
'I guess there's no way to escape this, I have to kill a corrupted demon… but hey, they never said I had to kill it alone right'
'If I'm not mistaken that researcher said that they're a few transcendent people around… heh if I just join the rally, I can maybe hitch a free ride through this nightmare' (Yeah… like I'll just sit back and let that happen →_→ ).
Ariel's sobbing was interrupted as they heard hurried steps approaching their direction, Merlin immediately stood alert as he hid Ariel behind him.
A few seconds later, a person who wore light armour with a sword in his hand entered their field of vision.
As he locked eyes with Merlin, he immediately became alert, but he quickly composed himself and raised his free hand in a calming gesture.
"Hello… I'm ascended Jamiel, I'm here for the emergency"
Merlin stared at him for a second, as his danger sense didn't warn him, he calmly replied.
"I'm Merlin, I arrived earlier and heard the alarm, I managed to get this child out" he gestured to Ariel.
"I see…" the ascended, Jamiel nodded, then he asked " so what happened here… I haven't gotten word on the situation" his words were polite, but still carried undeniable authority.
Merlin stood his ground and calmly answered, he retold the story that he heard from the researcher, but he skipped the project Alpha part, and also the fact that Ariel was probably responsible for the entire thing, he also told him the few he observed, the explanation gave the ascended a clear view of what happened.
"...well that's what I heard from the researcher, any other information and you would have to ask someone who works here"
Jamiel listened calmly, then he nodded and turned to Merlin asking calmly.
"Thank you for your help, but please we would like to ask a few more questions, so I hope it would be possible for you to wait behind for us…"
"Sure, I'll be outside when you're done" Merlin replied as he held Ariel's hand and continued walking forward.
Although he appeared care free as he walked towards the ascended, his eyes never left the latter's face, if Jamiel tried anything funny, Merlin had no doubt that he would beat the shit out of the other party, just the amount of recorded abilities he had stacked could potentially end the life of anyone below transcendent.
As they walked past, Jamiel turned around, then continued his journey towards the inside of the building, meanwhile, Merlin led Ariel through the building, along the way, they met other awakened and ascended that were moving into the building.
The series of questions and answers and explanations left him tired as he finally arrived at the emergency exit, as he pushed open the door, he was finally able to breathe in the air that didn't smell like chemicals, the light of the sun warmed his body as he turned to stare at the scene before him.
'Well… it looks like I'll be doing some time in the station' Merlin sighed as he looked at the sight before him.
He, or rather the entire building was surrounded by what seemed like officers, although they were a few awakened among them, the rest were mundane people that held guns that were less upgraded compared to the ones in the waking world.
Merlin felt that he would be spending a rather long part of his nightmare in the cell, or maybe even worse, with a sigh, he simply gave up resistance as he raised his hands to the air.
..
.
"Is that truly all you witnessed?" A burly man that looked fierce and had a scar over his eye asked in a commanding tone.
For the past hour, he had been answering questions nonstop, the interrogation process had gone rather smoothly, the people didn't even try any shady means, not that he would sit back and let them try, if it ever came to that, then he would just end up being the nightmare's most wanted criminal.
"Yes… that is all the information I know, you can confirm it with ascended Jamiel and the dozen or so other guys that walked into the building and saw me" Merlin replied calmly, but inwardly he was shaking, normally in a second nightmare, he would take on the identity of someone within the nightmare, but him, he had awakened in the body of an experiment specimen, and worst of all, he had already changed his looks into something else.
'Hah… what route will I take now, the traveller route or the illegal immigrant route'
As he expected, the ascended in front of him proceeded to ask.
"So who exactly are you? I don't recognize your face among our warriors. Where are you from?"
Merlin sighed and turned to look at Ariel who sat quietly by his side, then he turned back to the ascended in front of him and answered calmly.
"As for who I am… well I don't know, or rather I don't remember, the only thing I remember is waking up inside a pod in the laboratory, the pod number was 047, from there I only went through the process I described earlier… apart from that, I have no other memory of this place"
Merlin chose the truth, well most of it was the truth as long as you ignore the fact that the soul inside the body of experiment 047 is not even from this world, but apart from that, all other information lined up with facts, after all his file is there, his pod is empty, and other stored creatures also awoke because of the commotion.
"Is that so…" the ascended gave him a suspicious gaze then stood up and walked out of the room as he said "...wait a while, I'll confirm that"
Merlin nodded then watched as the ascended walked out of the room, he turned to Ariel and asked her calmly.
"Hey Ariel… how are you feeling?"
Ariel gave him a distant look as she said.
"My dad, I killed him… didn't I"
"It's okay, it's not your fault" Merlin comforted the child that had already started to cry again.
She cried for a while, then she looked at him with her teary eyes and asked.
"Can I stay with you?"
Merlin looked at her then smiled and answered.
"Yeah sure…"
He didn't have a place to stay, but that didn't stop him promising the broken kid, at worst he would sell the little shards he had collected so far and get a place, that was considering if his home won't be a cell.
In the end, he just sighed and sat back in his chair, he didn't even know where to begin solving this nightmare.