'Mysteries of the Past'

[Sl'askia]

this is a short fic that i actually wrote a quite some time ago (I think if i remember correctly it was written during either 'Trials of Life' or 'Pack of the Spider'). This starts about 8 months before 'Shriek'. Who's POV is this? hehe you will have to figure that out on your own. *grin* (those that know...NO TELLING!)

Chapter 1

I stretched as I awakened. It was morning, I could tell by where the light from the window fell in my cell. I looked out at the other cells in the room, everyone else was still asleep, as usual. I was normally the first one up so after a final stretch, I let out a short sharp squawk, the signal for everyone else to awaken. I jumped when Goliath accidentally bumped the bars as he stood up. I sighed, poor Goliath, being the largest of all of us, his cell was too small for him.
I looked around again, there were 11 of us in all; 8 males and 3 females. All have gotten up save for Delta, who was in the cell next to mine. I sighed again, he was always the last one to get up. I walked over to the bars and poked him sharply with one of my claws. He jumped up startled. So he wasn’t asleep. Sometimes I wonder if he purposely pretends to sleep in, just so I would have to wake him up physically. He looked up at me with an annoyed look on his face.
“I was expectin’ somethin’ a bit more gentler y’know.” he scowled.
I rolled my eyes. He was using slig speech again, just to annoy me.
“Will you quit with the slig speech…you know it annoys me…” I said.
“That’s why I do it.” He said with a grin as he poked his head in-between the bars and nuzzled my neck with his snout. I returned the gesture, purring softly. Despite how annoy he was at times…I still loved him.
“If only these bars would disappear…” I muttered, tears starting to well up in my eyes.
“Beta…” Delta said as he wrapped his face tentacles around mine, “Don’t start this now…. Someday the masters will let us be together, we just have to be patient.
“I know…it’s so hard though…to just keep waiting…not knowing if they well ever will remove these bars…”
“They will…I’m sure if it.” He made a move to kiss me, but the main doors opened and he quickly pulled his head back into his own cell, looking disappointed. I gave him a maybe next time look and turned to see who had came in.
As I suspected, it was just the feeders. The two sligs went around slipping bowls of meat through the bars. Delta and I waited eagerly for them to get to us. There was a sudden ‘snap’ of a whip and a short yelp. I could hear Delta mutter: “Sounds like Charr and Invy got caught smoochin’ again.”
I sighed, I didn’t know why they didn’t like us showing affection for each other, no of us did. My guess was that it showed as a sign of intelligence, which was dangerous. They didn’t like it when we appeared smart and punished us when we did. It was why we didn’t speak when anyone else was in the room other then us. I noticed Goliath stick his head outside of the bars, eager for his share. As always he was drooling all over the place, something he couldn’t help.
“Gah!” one of the sligs said as he pushed Goliath’s head back in, “Quit slobbering all ‘ver me yer disgustin’ beast!”
“Ah quit it will yer? Yer know this one can’ ‘elp it.” The other slig said as he gave Goliath his food.
“Feh, near the whole lot of ‘em are either disgusting or mischievous. Now this one…” the first slig said as he came in front of my cage, “I don’ mind at all. Hey pretty lady” he said as he rubbed my neck. I purred and closed my eyes.
“Feh, she’s just a crossbreed like the others.” The second said as he gave me my food. As I dug in they gave Delta his.
“Jus’ what are all these a mix of anyway?” I heard the first ask.
“Same mix as ‘the first’ one. Slig, paramite, and one other creature whose identity top secret.”
“Makes sense…they all look simular.” They exited the room then, leaving us alone once again.
“What do you they meant when they said ‘the first’?” Delta asked between mouth fulls, “You were the first of us to hatch right?”
“That’s what I thought…” I replied, just as puzzled as he was, “but now it seems that there was one before me….”
But who? I thought, And what became of him or her?….

[Sl'askia]

Chapter 2

It had been a few weeks since I had first heard about ‘the first’ and I still haven’t been able to figure out who it was. But right now there seemed to be something else going on. Lately the sligs have been talking adamantly about an experiment the masters were going to perform. This news of course had all of us worried. We didn’t know what they had planned. Then one day a pair of sligs came in, one of them holding a strange metal stick. It wasn’t a shock stick, for it was open on one end and seemed hollow. I could feel the tension in the room, we weren’t sure what was going to happen.
“Which ones did they want?” one of the sligs asked.
“Um…” the other slig flipped a page on his clipboard, “Beta and Delta”
I jerked my head up when I heard my name, and backed into a corner, frightened.
“Alright then.” The slig with the stick said as he raised it and pointed it at me. I whined in fright, unable to run or hide. The stick suddenly made a loud noise and a felt a sharp pain in my arm. I looked and saw what I recognized as a dart sticking out of my arm. I suddenly felt very tired and laid down. I looked up as they did the same with Delta, who howled angrily at them. I saw no more after that….

Sometime later, I was awakened by someone nudging me gently. I opened my eyes and saw to my surprise Delta standing over me, smiling.
“Looks like I woke up before you for once.” He chuckled and he helped me stand up.
“Where are we?” I asked. We were in some sort of large room, there were no windows and only one door, which obviously only opened from the outside due to a lack of a doorknob. The floor was lined with some sort of soft material, a pleasant change from the cold hard metal floor of our cells.
“Beats me…but does it matter? We are finally together…no bars separating us.” He said as he embraced me. I stiffened a moment, still unsure.
“Perhaps now,” I said, “but for how long?”
“Don’t know, so let’s make the most of it shall we?” he said as he kissed me. I melted into his arms, enjoying it. I knew he was right…we had to make the most out of whatever time we had. And I wasn’t about to deny him anything…

[Sl'askia]

Chapter 3

I don’t know how long where have been in here, as there is no sunlight to judge the time by. But I DO know we were having the time of our lives and now we were both utterly exhausted. We rested, wrapped up in each others arms. We were both fighting to stay awake, fearing that if we fell asleep they would separate us again.
I notice Delta yawn and close his eyes. I nudged him, trying to help him stay awake.
“Please, don’t fall asleep now.” I muttered tiredly. I was having trouble keeping my own eyes open.
“I trying not to…”he said wearily, “It’s so hard though…”
“Maybe, if just one of us sleeps a while, then switch off…”
“That could work…you sleep first.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
I rested my head on his neck and immediately fell asleep, completely expecting him to be able to stay awake long enough….
When I woke up later, I realized to my horror that he was gone. I was now alone in the room. I whaled in despair, not knowing where they had taken him and if they would bring him back. I laid down again, longing to be by his side again, and waited….

They never did bring him back…instead they just keep me in here, all alone. I don’t know how long it has been. The only thing that gave me any sense of time was when they came to feed me. I have noticed that they were giving me more food lately, and I noticed that I was gaining weight. I also was finding it uncomfortable to sleep on my stomach and was forced to sleep on my side.
One day, after Odd knows how long, I felt a nasty cramp in my stomach. It passed after a few seconds, but came back a few minutes later. Then it went away again, but again it came back. This kept going on like this, and I cried out in pain.
After a few more minutes a couple of sligs came in. They went to either side of me and one of them injected me with some sort of drug. I blacked out not long after…

When I woke up, I found myself in my old cell. I felt very tired and sore. I felt something nudge me and I weakly looked up to Delta, with his head sticking through the bars, looking at me with a worried expression on his face.
“I was so worried about you..” he said, “When I found myself back here I was so afraid that they had killed you or something.”
“Delta..” I said weakly, “How long…was I gone?”
“Um…six months if I counted right.”
“Six months!?” I jolted up, only to collapse to the floor again.
“Easy Beta…whatever it was that they did to you, you are still too weak from. Just rest” he rested his head on my neck, he was barely close enough to do so, “At least we are together again…bars or no bars at least we can see each other. These last few months have been pure torture not knowing whether or not you were alright…”
And I had to agree….

[Sl'askia]

Chapter 4

A couple of weeks later, I was awakened late one night by the sound of a couple of sligs entering room. I looked up at them, wondering what they were doing here at this time of night. One of them had a bunch of thick looking papers in his hands, and he was looking at them as they went around the room, stopping briefly at each of our cells.
“So what are we doing again?” one asked
“The bosses wanted ter find out which one of these creatures most closely resembled ‘the first’ one.” The second answered.
There was that reference again; it was starting to drive me crazy with curiosity. I wanted so much to ask them whom they were talking about, but it was too dangerous to do so. Instead I listened intently, hoping for some clue as to who ‘the first’ was.
“Char here is pretty close..” the first said.
“Yeah save fer that he is practically all black and his spines run to the top of his head.” The second said.
“True, ‘o Spider was a dark green, with yeller eyes. And his spines only reached halfway up his neck.”
Spider? That was his name? I listened even more intently, wanting to hear more.
“Why did they call him ‘Spider’ anyway?” the second asked.
“Bastek gave him that name, mainly due ter the special pants he gave ‘em. They never got a chance to bring ‘em ‘ere to join the rest of these critters.” The first answered.
“Why not?”
“’Cause that idiot Myron wanted ter run a bunch of test on ‘em, ended up driving Spider ter near insanity. Myron ended up getting killed by Spider, and Spider managed to escape the labs. No one has seen him since…nope definitely does not resemble Goliath.”
I quickly closed my eyes and pretended to sleep as they came to my cell.
“Well Beta here is close. Jus’ needs ter be male, a darker green without stripes and a few more spines.”
“Don’ forget yeller eyes. None of these critters have yeller eyes.”
“That’s right and most, save for Goliath and the females, are ‘bout the same size.”
One of the papers the slig was holding slipped out of his hands, and it landed in front of my cell. Curious I quietly moved to the front of my cell and looked at it. It was a picture of another like us. He had dark green skin and yellow eyes like the slig said. Two rows of spines started halfway up his neck, but they changed to only one row at the base of his neck and continued that way all the way down to the tip of his tail. He was a rather handsome looking male and looking at the picture took my breath away.
“Heh, Delta here isn’t even close. He doesn’t have spines at all.”
“That and his ashy skin color. Oops dropped one of the pictures…”
I quickly pretended to be asleep again as the slig picked it up. Fortunately they didn’t notice that I was awake.
“Well it turns out Hoth is the closest.” One said as they left the room. I couldn’t get back to sleep, the image of ‘the first’, of Spider, still fresh in my mind. I felt an odd feeling, one that I thought I would never feel. I wanted to escape…and find him…

[Oddusty]

Höhö...
good story, dragadon...

not all of us can wrote so good chapters...
thats shitty... i cant draw so good like alector... shes a very good drawer...
but i???

[Sl'askia]

Chapter 5

Things have not been going well between Delta and me. Ever sense I found out who ‘the first’ was, he had been cold toward me. I suppose it was my fault…I had kept telling everyone about what I found out about ‘the first’ and apparently Delta didn’t like the way I kept describing him.
“Why are you so cold to me now?” I asked him one day.
“You keep talking about this ‘Spider’ like your in love with him.” He growled back.
“Well I’m not…”
“Well you have been purring in your sleep lately, muttering his name. What else am I supposed to think!?”
It was true…I had been dreaming about him. I couldn’t help myself…I wanted to find him…and be with him. I lowered my head and sobbed.
“I’m sorry…” I said between sobs.
“That’s all you can say? Sorry? That doesn’t help me any!” Delta growled, getting angrier.
“What else can I say? What else could I possiblely do?”
“Well you could just forget about ‘em!”
“I can’t just ‘forget’ someone just like that!” I said as I put my snout up against his. I was starting to get mad. “You just jealous that’s all! Jealous of a male that none of us will ever meet, jealous that he is even better looking then you!”
Oh Odd I didn’t mean to say that…but the damage had been done. The next moment I found myself on the other side of my cell, the left side of my face a fire with pain.
“I guess our relationship is over now…” I heard him say as he turned way from me, “Bitch.”
All I could do was cover my face and cry…

[MrBoj]

nice story so far, but you didnt re-read it to correct errors. And why not just give it to us all on one sitting if it's already written?

[Sl'askia]

because when I first started posting this, i was kind of stuck on the other fic i was writing 'Shriek'. I started posting this one so the readers would have something to read while I worked on the other one. Plus some readers don't like extremely long posts as it is a strain on their eyes.
Anyway...here is the next chap. Only one more after this one.

Chapter 6

I have never felt so alone…all I did was just laid there in my cell, depressed. Delta wouldn’t even look at me anymore, which made me feel even worse. The master thought I was sick or something and had taken me in for several examinations, though each time they found nothing physically wrong with me. I was so depressed that they didn’t even need to sedate me when they came to examine me. I only vaguely remember all the hallways and doors they took me through during those times. They finally placed me in a separate cell in a room away from the others, so they could keep an eye on me. It was several days before I even bothered to really look around at my new surroundings.
I was in a decent sized cell, there were regular walls on three sides and the door was the familiar cell bars. The floor had a soft lining on it, similar to the lining of the room me and Delta were in one time. I looked out and a saw an examination table in the middle of the room beyond my cell. There were a series of odd-looking pictures on the walls. My view was suddenly blocked when one of the masters came in front of my cell.
“Well missy, we don’t know why you are acting this way.” The master said as he opened the door to my cell, “Come on out, lets have another look at you.”
I was hesitant at first, but stepped out. This was the first time they had ever let me or anyone else come out of our cells under our own power. I was a little weary as I walked around the room, looking around. The master let me, he was watching me the whole time. They never let us have this kind of freedom before, and it worried me somewhat. I came across a series of pictures on one of the walls, ones I couldn’t see before. They were of us, all of us. Some were of us as hatchlings, others as adults. There were a couple of hatchling pictures that I didn’t recognize at first…until I realized this hatchling had yellow eyes. It was of Spider when he was a hatchling. I stared at it a moment, then looked at more of the others. I saw a couple more of Spider, this time when he was full-grown. Again I lingered next to those before I moved on. At the end was a couple of pictures of Delta. I whined and couldn’t the tears from coming. Oh how I now wished I had never ever heard of Spider. It hurt so much the Delta no longer cared for me.
“Pity…” I heard the master say, “It would appear that you have achieved an amount of knowledge and emotion, something we can not permit.”
I looked up at the master, suddenly frightened. The master turned to a nearby slig and told him something I couldn’t hear. The slig nodded and disappeared a moment, when he returned he had one of those strange sticks. I whaled in fright backing away.
“Just be still, this is fer yer own good.” The slig said as he pointed it at me. I panicked and bolted, heading for the doors. I heard a loud noise…and felt a sharp pain in my arm….

[Sl'askia]

last chap...poor Beta...

Chapter 7

“Idiot! You missed the neck! Now it will take longer for the drug to take effect!” I heard the master say as I burst through the doors. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to get as far away as I could. I ran down the halls, sligs and other creatures I haven’t seen before jumping to get out of my way. I could feel a tingling at the back of my mind, but I ignored it. I took turns completely at random, not knowing which way to go.
I reached a door at the end of a long hallway. I could hear sligs coming down the hall toward me, so I couldn’t turn back. I tried the door, it opened and I was nearly blinded by the intense light that suddenly hit me. After a moment, my eyes adjusted and I saw a completely different world from what I knew. I stood there a moment, frightened, not sure if I should brave it or not. Hearing the sligs coming even closer, I made my choice. I ran out. I felt I didn’t have anything to lose. I cried as I ran, I knew I was leaving the others behind, but I had no choice.
That tingling I was feeling before was stronger now, and it was starting to hurt. I did my best to continue to ignore it and kept running.

I don’t know how long I had ran…I just know it was nearly dark. I was walking now, my head felt like it was on fire. It was starting to get hard to think. I was by a large body of water and I stopped to rest.
Oh Odd my head hurts so much…why am I out here anyway? Why do I feel so tired? Why is it so hard to think now…? Why am I crying…? I…can’t remember…it…hurts….so…..much…….to…….think………who.........am...........I....?... .....