Shattered Planes Archives (Seasons 4 & 5)
Saeculum Galaxy => Tefillin => Topic started by: Beware Ye Who Enter Here on March 05, 2012, 03:47:35 PM
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Soon after the group of Heliphlean left the RAPTURE facility another was brought by the local defence forces. He was found in the wreckage of their spacecraft, put into stasis and rushed to the city under the mountain upon mysterious orders.
Once the Zarethian Planetary Defence Forces had dropped the man off he was transported into the mountain's medical facility and brought out of stasis to endure advanced surgical magics to heal his many wounds.
That was two hours ago.
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Mr. Outside smoothed out his black suit and tapped the side of his thigh where his hands remained. He was riding down an elevator to the very depths of the RAPTURE facility, to the medical bay. He had already talked to several of the Heliphlean and had gotten good results. He could tell that they were afraid, confused and some where a bit embittered by the treatment. Somewhere deep inside him a small pang of regret registered. He sometimes wished he could tell everyone the whole story so he didn't have to hide behind these veils of vague suggestions and subtle hints. He was brought out of this brooding stupor when the elevator dinged and opened its gray doors to reveal the blindingly clean white of the hospital sector. He stepped out and spread his arms out beside him as the decontamination spray blew over him.
Once the spray had gone on its methodical spurting run twice, he stepped forward and saw a doctor exit the room at the far end of the hall.
"Doctor Wu, how is our patient?" He asked smoothly, striding up to the short, yellow skinned man with black hair and purple eyes.
"Ah, hello Director." Wu said, looking up from his dataslate. "The patient is making a fine recovery. You can go see him if you wish." He said, turning and pointing at a door marked Room 52 in bold black letters.
Mr. Outside nodded faintly. "Alright, I'll do that. Thank you doctor."
"MMm." Wu said, turning back to his dataslate and heading into the workroom.
Mr. Outside stepped past him and opened the door which contained the last of the Heliphlean Crew. Calto, as he was called.
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Calto had awoken twelve minutes prior. He was lying in a cheap white bed, restrained and hooked up to an IV cable. Looking at his reflection in the mirror he was guessing was a one way mirror thoughts of fear began to hit him. He had just been through another torment spike, hadn't he? Oh no, oh no, oh no. His one chance to prove that he could do something truly great without a fit, and he had failed.
With a nervous uncomfortably, he looked at his retrains. It was then that he realized something was wrong. The bondage looked unfamiliar. Something was wrong. This was no CODE facility.
Calto lay back a second, and he breathed heavily, and deeply. He tried to focus is thoughts. Eyes closed, he pictured the room he was in, and he pictured the room outside of his. There was some kind of doctor, obviously not Heliphlein, with black hair. Several others were milling about. Wait, did that girl have purple hair? Feeling a bit unassured that his skills in uncallous focus magic were as good as he had wished, he decided to simply forget it. Besides, who was this man coming down the hall? The old man wearing... something black. Or maybe navy blue. Or probably none of the above. I mean, Calto did think he had just seen a girl with purple hair, and that couldn't be real, could it?
Oh no, the man was coming in.
Upon the opening of the door, Calto sat up on his cot.
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Mr. Outside stepped into the completely white room, his eyes on the ragged, skinny man in front of him. He straightened his suit again and stepped further into the room. His salt and pepper hair was cropped short and almost had a gelled look to it. His black eyes looked Calto up and down. So this was the one that caused them all to crash... with one of their torment spikes? Legitimate, considering the circumstances, he thought to himself. He's quite powerful... I hope I can establish good relations from the onset.
"Calto?" He asked simply. "How are you feeling?"
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"Where am I?" Calto said, not having the Zarethian's idea's in mind.
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Mr. Outside sighed mentally. "You're in a secure Zarethian Facility. You came under the influence of a torment spike which destroyed most of the attacking beasts but simultaneously heavily damaged the ship you were on. Luckily for you, the ship managed to warp out of the system into the space above the planet you're on. The mass of dead Lorcar, that is the species you killed, caused quite a... well, a panic." Mr. Outside paused and then continued. "Most, if not all, of your accompanying crew survived unscathed and are quite keen on continuing your mission. Rest assured, you're safe here. Those restraints are simply for for your - and my staff's - safety."
Mr. Outside pulled up a plain white wooden chair and sat down on it.
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Calto thought for a moment. That's right, the New Gia mission had just begun. And Olix had thrown him into a torment spike. Ohohoh, the nerve he had...
Calto suddnly noticed that he was feeling a tiny trickle of flame on his fingertips. Quickly extinguishing it, he looked back at the old man.
"What are the Zarethians?" he asked.
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"The Zarethians are a Zarethoid species. This group encompasses all those who look similar to them, such as humans, most sages, Narrikians and, you." Mr. Outside said. "But I don't think you want the biologicl nature of the Zarethians, no. I think you mean as an empire and a people?" He asked.
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"I don't know," Calto answered. "I've never heard of you before."
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"Well, we are perhaps the largest empire in the known dimension. We encompass six or so planets, more then most other empires can say, and are allied with the Mechera, a race of mechanical beings, and the Ferrarian Empire, the K Empire, the Empire of Lus and the Neo Narrikians, a rather... odd mixture of beings. Of course, you don't know who any of these people are but I'll get to that in a moment. We are extremely peaceful and only wish to be left to our own affairs and to help those who we can. We have taken care of you and your fellow crew not simply because we care for the well fair of other beings but because we wish to establish diplomatic negotiations with any empire that we can. In these dark times, full of strife and war in the galaxy, newcomers to the galactic politcal game should be well warned... Though I'm sure this sounds a little too nice to be true." He assured him. "But it is."
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Calto paused for a second, then said, "I don't think I'm exactly qualified to lead diplomatic negotiations and such for my people. I barely even made it into the mission."
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The mysterious man laughed. "No, no. I was not referring to you being the lead negotiator for an intergalactic treaty. I'm sure that you're extremely intelligent, otherwise you wouldn't have been sent out but what we plan to do with you is to return you and your crew home and set up negotiations there with trained diplomats who represent the interests of the people." Mr. Outside assured him. "Like I said, we wish to make peace and what better way to do that is to help out those in need?"
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Couldn't argue with that, but one thing still was pushing on Calto's mind.
"What do you need me for?" Calto said, knowing he had been set apart from his crew for a specific reason.
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"Need you for? Well, we would like you to recover properly. As I'm told, those torment spikes can be very nasty." Mr. Outside met Calto's eyes, his mouth forming the shadow of a reassuring smile. "Other then that, you'd be free to go with your crew who are being transported to the transport designated to you."
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"Alright," Calto said. "Am I free to walk around?"
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"So long as you keep the IV cart with you and don't leave the base, yes." Mr. Outside snapped his fingers and the manacles holding Calto down fell off his wrists. "I would, however, like to inquire about your people. Your culture, values, species... diplomatic perogatives if we are to start off on good terms."
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"What do you want to know?" he asked.
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"I'd like to know a brief summary of your history, if you would. And what the political situation was when you left.."
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Calto thought for a second, and then explained, "Well, we haven't proven how far back we really come from, but legends say we were once a proud race, roaming free throughout the universe. Sadly, an evil being cursed us, making our magic completely tied to our emotion. The evil one's enemy saved us and hid us behind a great shadow. We named it the Aserical Shadow, after him. We didn't bode well with the Enrakni, the other race inhabiting the world we were put on, but Aser came back and saved us from each other."
Calto cleared his throat, and then continued. "A long time later, when this was starting to be seen as simply a myth, tribes across the world of Heliphlein began to unite. It took a long time, but it happened successfully. The United Republic of the Heliphlien was successful for a long time, until they began to fear people, like me. They were afraid of people with torment, so did all possible to stop its prerequisite, Eros, from ever forming. they made marriage legally required to be arranged. The nonmagics were outraged by this because the laws applied to them too. A bloody civil war nearly broke out, but in the end the republic was split into a confederacy. A weaker government was extended over all, but other governments would keep their own rights. It started with just Ephlan and Velif, but since then Enris, Crfl, Ipa, Kaltjnheim, and several others have been added."
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The man nodded. "Ah, yes. Has everything proceeded smoothly, or have you all just recently been outside of this veil?"
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"We were the first mission to see if there even was an outside," Calto answered.
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Mr. Outside was silent for a brief moment, nodding to himself. It made sense. They were frightened. He felt a brief pang of guilt and regret before he shelved the emotions. They were worrisome and he had more pressing matters to concern himself with. "You said..." He started slowly. "That the Aserical Shroud protected you from powers beyond your system... Now, tell me... does that have any link to an Aser?"
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Calto's eyes widened for a second in surprise, and he then answered, "Yes, he was the one who gave it to us."
OOC: Okay, well that theory's out the window. I was thinking Outside would be Aser.
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OOC: No, he isn't.
Mr. Outside nodded, so they remembered. He was surprised. Angelic beings are common in mythology, but... "And what sort of role does play in your religious lives, if any?"
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"Throughout our history he was worshiped as a creator, even though the old legends and such said he was our creator, and that the...other one was our creator. Anyway, many people believe different things about him, but most people I've known haven't been super religious. Some people though, they're obsessive!" he answered.
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The man chuckled quietly. Of course they had. People always looked towards religious beliefs to justify the world around them. Sometimes they weren't wrong, other times they were... Off. "My people are the same way." He stood up. "Well, thank you for your time, Mr. Calto."
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"You're welcome," said Calto. "Anything else?"
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"Not unless you've got any questions of your own." Mr. Outside said.
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He paused for a second, then asked, "Who is Aser, really?"
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Mr. Outside nodded, biting his cheek. He'd expected this. "Aser is, first off, not a god. He has immense power, extraordinary influence and galaxy spanning goals but he is not a deity. Aser, is, as far as we are able to tell, simply a being of extreme power working to further his... inscrutable goals. Many believe that he is attempting to bring balance to the universe but, until he choses to appear and explain himself to us... I don't think we'll ever know." His stomach churned. He hated the lying.
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Calto was still filled with the uncallous focus magic he had used to scope out the outer room earlier. The last answer had seemed ever so suspicious, but Calto would let it go. Instead, he got up, and started to head for the door. "I'm going to look around a bit before I go back to bed," Calto said, pulling his cart along beside him.
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Mr. Outside nodded, relieved that his story was believed. "Let the doctors know if you have any trouble or anything of that nature." He said, turning his back on the man and opening the door for him.
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Calto left the room for the outside room and took a look around, looking at the various personnel working around the medical bay.
OOC: Your post in Harboring the Planet
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Mr. Outside followed him out, then proceeded to the elevator, deep in thought.
Around were various technicians, doctors and nurses, dressed in bright, stainless white, form-fitting uniforms. They carried on with their work, showing each other datapads containing complex graphs and statistics, examining data posted on the holoboards or otherwise carrying about their scientific duties.
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Calto walked up behind one of the Zarethians, then inquired, "What do you guys do here?"
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(Sorry thought I posted)
The scientist turned towards him, eyes shining brightly with youthful enthusiasm. In human terms, the man looked about twenty. For a Zarethian, he was about forty. He grinned. "What don't we do around here?"
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Calto chuckled a bit, but then gave the man more of an, "Are you serious?" look.
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The man shrugged. "If you mean down here, well, we work on genetics, medical stuff. Life saving procedures, how to regrow limbs and organs without intrusive technology.... That kinda stuff."
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"Ah, so this is the experimental procedures bay?" Calto asked.
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"Essentially, yes. Very exciting stuff, really." The man smiled.
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"I guess it's a good thing I was brought here then," said Calto. "I wouldn't want you using standard Zarethian strategies to fix me considering we probably have really different bodies."
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The man's smile widened. "This is true. Alien biology is often hard to deal with, especially when performing operations on them. However, like any citizen, you were entitled to proper care and we did the best we could, given the information we had at the time. I think it went rather well, really."
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Calto paused for a second, then said, "Wait, I'm a citizen now?"
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"Well, you're a citizen of another empire that we're not at war with... And you're sentient, its only right for us to help you out in your time of need." He said slowly.
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"Ah, well, that's good, " Calto said. A question poked into his mind, and he asked, "Are there any wars going on right now?"
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The man turned back to his work, a slight frown on his face. "Well, you could say we are dealing with a bit of a terrorist problem.. as are many people right now."
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"Terrorist problem?" Calto said wit a face full of concern.
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The man nodded. "Yes, a group called the Anrufe are intergalactic terrorists, brutal thugs, really."
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"These, terrorists, what do they do that's so horrible?" Calto asked, seeming genuinely concerned about the situation.
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"You mean other then kill innocents, enslave races, take over planets and otherwise make a nuisance of themselves to the galactic governments? Well, they don't have tea time." The scientist snarks.
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OOC: Is it bad that that made me laugh?
Calto paused for a moment with a look of concern on his face, then asked, "Are most of the people you get their victims?"
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The man smirked. "We don't get very many people to begin with. We're a very... private site, really. You're virtually unique in that you were taken here for recovery."
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"What made me so special?" he asked.
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"Other then you being an alien species that crash landed on our planet that brought with it what seems to be half the Lorcar fleet?" The man smirks. "Well, you hit a fountain."
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"The giant creatures that attacked us? They followed us here?!"
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"No, no!" The man said, shaking his head. "All the ships that were jumped into orbit when you appeared were destroyed."
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"Oh thank Aser," Calto said breathing out.
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The man nods. "If they werent.. well, you'd be in a lot of trouble for bringing such danger to this world." He chuckled.
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"Yeah, it would suck," he said back.
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"But anyway..." The man said. "I suspect that you're well enough to go off and be returned to your homeworld."
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"I think so. I still feel a little weak, but I can get over it," Calto replied. He paused for a moment, then replied, "Why are we being forced to return to our homeworld?"
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The man snorted. "Forced? Hardly. It was simply assumed that you would rather return to your world instead of of staying on our... alien planet."
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"You do realize we're explorers, right?" said Calto.
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"And you just crash landed on an alien world after sustaining major injury from an overuse of your magical abilities." The man answered. "Most individuals would think thats enough adventure for a small time."
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"We set out on a mission that was supposed to take at least three years. We were all unsure if we would ever even return. We crashed in less than a day," said Calto. "We signed on knowing there would be risks, but we also signed on hoping for rewards. We've just made it through a trial, and finding a whole nother civilization to learn about is our reward. A whole nother universe to learn about! None of us want to loose that."
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"You haven't lost the information that you have gathered. Our government has plenty of ships, if you wish, I'm sure the director would be willing to give you and your fellow crew members a craft of some kind... After we establish diplomatic negotiations with your government." The man said, assuring Calto.
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"I know we haven't lost the information. However, as far as I know, we hardly have any. We've discovered giant insects who hate everything called the Lorcar, and a group of kinder people known as the Zarethians. That's about it."
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"THere are many other peoples in the galaxies.... We are not the only ones." The man informed him.
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"Which is exactly why we can't go yet. We wanted to find everything the universe had to offer, and we've barely scratched the surface here! We can't simply give up that fast: we have to continue," said Calto.
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"What about letting your government know what is happening?" The man asked, eyebrow raised.
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"Our government would expect us back so soon, or without taking initiative," said Calto.
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"Whatever you say." the man shrugged. "All I know is that mr. Outside likely would like for you to send a good word to your governemt."
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"That we can do," said Calto. "However, immediacy may not be the best route to take." As a victim of torment, the words rolled off his tongue with much gravitas to them.
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The man shrugged again. " it's not really either of our jobs to decide."
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"True, but we still get our say," said Calto.
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The man nods. "Well, I hope thats true.' he presses his hand to his ear piece. "Though it looks like you're about to go."
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Calto sat for a second, and sighed. Well, disappointingly enough he was being forced to leave, forced to leave the mission incomplete. He felt like clinging, clinging to this new alternate reality he had, but unfortunately it seemed that was for another time.
Calto turned back to the scientist, and offered his hand, saying, "It was nice meeting you."
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The man nodded. "The pleasure was all mine." He handed hima medical slate that listed all the infortmation that the Zarethians had gathered, from blood pressure to magical signature. "Please, take this. The guards will take you to Mr. Outside." As he said that, two guards in black, white and grey ZPAA exited the elevator.
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"Alright then," Calto said with a polite smile. He then proceeded to walk forward, but he had forgotten the IV cables and the cart. As it pulled out he would feel suddenly dizzy and fall to the ground.
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The man rushed forward and grabbed him by the arm, the guards quickly following. Together they lifted him up. "Whoops, easy there. You forgot the IV." The man smiled, re-inserting the needle into Calto's arm.
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As Calto is being lifted up, something happens. His chest begins to hurt massively, and he starts shaking. His skin starts becoming paler and paler, and his hair almost seems like it is loosing color. His breathing becomes short and erratic. His heart is beating like he had been running suicides. His face reflects three things: pain, confusion, and most brutally of all, fear.
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"Mate?" The man asks worriedly. "Mate, whats wrong?" he asks again. The guards project a magical forcefield around Calto so anything magical he might do would be stopped.
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Calto doesn't answer. He sinks to the ground, unable to control his spazzing muscles and hairs began to blacken on his head.
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His breathing also sounds awful.
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The man magics the cart back and injects him with a steroid that would be used for victims of breathing trouble. He also, with the help of the guards, heaves Calto onto a bed-tray and encases him in a protective layer of healing magic.
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The healing magic would have an unexpected effect. Calto suddenly fell unconscious, the rest of his hair turning black, and his ears shriveling up.. Upon checking his pulse, they would find that he was completely normal.
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They stared on bewilderdly. "I think you may want to tell the boss." The man said finally, turning to the guards. They looked at each other through their black visors and nodded, hurrying off towards the elevator. The man pulled up a chair, hooked up a chart for medical signs and watched, waiting. There was something very odd going on here, he decided as he watched Calto's chest rise and fall softly. Something very odd indeed.
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Something very odd indeed. Calto had plunged into space, leaving the shadow as one of the first Heliphlein in history, knowing that his life would never be the same again. He however never had dreamed how drastically it would change.
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OOC: Bump
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All action seemed to cease. Calto lay on the ground, his hair now black, his skin now paler, and his ears now rounder. It would seem everyone was afraid to touch him. As he opened his eyes, they would find that they were no longer blue, and as they tested his blood, they would find it no longer that of a Heliphlein. They would find it to be that of something far more...familiar. All signs would say that it was, in fact,
Zarethian.
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OOC: Could've sworn I'd posted in this topic...
The scientists were very perplexed. They double and triple checked the blood tests and, when the tests reacted the same, began to use magic. They scanned his body, checking for the organs of a Zarethian, bone structure, examined his brain and other such things to truly determine if his blood tests were correct.
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Upon further inspection, hey would not only find that he was Zarethian, but that all of his DNA souls seem to match the scientist who had been caring for him.