IV: Abschussen im Dunkeln

[Ramlock]

Cyril didn't join the chorus of well-wishing prisoners in their cries. They were cowards in a way... Their cheers, even if they were well-intended, were selfish. They weren't helping. Nia was the one who was in particular danger, not them. They were hidden, physically and among a group. And given what had just happened, it was only going to enrage Jyre, who could be capable of an awful lot...

Although, Cyril wouldn't have imagined anything capable of that level of noise. His head throbbed with pain, and the whole building felt like it might well come down... All because of Jyre? Any plans of escape via overpowering his captor were right out, it seemed. Physically overpowering him would have been improbable anyway... And with something like that, it wasn't even a consideration any more...

Closing his eyes, holding his breath and gritting his teeth, Cyril would wait for the noise to subside, finally breathing out heavily as his head continued to throb and his body returned to a normal state after all the vibration. And the silence everywhere... And the terrible dripping noise and sobs... They were disturbing as well. The heavy footsteps outside were ominous in their own regard. Jyre was likely not in as jovial a mood as before...

[Nayt]

The footsteps stopped only once they stood before Cyril's door. Keys rattled and clanged hard against the steel, twisted, and shoved lightly. Jyre stepped into the room without a second thought. He was as square and tall as before, back straight and posture utterly unchanged. He wasn't even breathing heavy.

"I apologize," he said as he stepped in, "The prisoners 'round here forget their manners from time to time."

And if there was anyone in the world capable of making a person remember their manners, it was probably Jyre. The man was a nightmare. It likely didn't matter if he was ganged up on, either. He was the alpha lion to end all alpha lions, for all intents and purposes . . .

There was a reason he had this job.

"Now . . . Where were we?" he asked; getting side-tracked with Nia had him forget the exact details of his conversation with Cyril.

[Ramlock]

"We..."

Cyril couldn't really remember either... If Jyre was sidetracked, Cyril had been riveted by what had gone on, in what felt like it was almost a literal way. Obviously, he didn't want to bring up Nia or the other prisoners... And on the other hand, he didn't want to offend by not saying anything. Well, in truth, Cyril could remember, but he didn't want to talk too much about Jyre being some sort of ascended shade, either...

"This fight in the city. What is it about? And why are there so few of you for such a large city, for that matter. I haven't seen any sort of... Well... City. Since I got here. Just a lot of empty buildings and a few people..."

The city they were in was reminiscent of the City of Sin, back in the real world... Only without the crushing amount of people. And without the crushing poverty, for that matter. Though the crushing violence still appeared to be as much of an issue as ever... Still. Even shade... People. Had to live somehow. Cyril hadn't seen food or anything... Particularly if he wasn't (as he hoped to continue not being) a food source for most.

[Nayt]

"The only people that populate this city are us-- Ersatzshad," Jyre dropped the name as if it were no big mystery.

To him, it wasn't. Everyone in this prison but Cyril was in on these little details, and they weren't exactly exclusive details. Jyre really had nothing to hide. And besides, even if he did, he could inform any one of these prisoners about such a secret, and he could probably guarantee their silence, too . . .

"There's a lot of science behind creating just one of us. In the labs, they say nothin' but hope goes into makin' every one of us. Like human parents plannin' to procreate, pourin' all their hope and love into the future of their kid," Jyre smiled, "Ain't that right, Nia?!"

His jab was met only with the same sound as before: hushed sobs, though they raised in pitch only when the young woman's voice was called.

"Truth of the matter is they ain't got our best interests in mind at all. You take a shade, evolve it to somethin' a few steps from human, raise it, tell it what's right and what's wrong, tell it who's friend and who's foe, control it--do it en masse and what do you have?"

[Ramlock]

"An army."

Everything made a bit more sense here... And if they could somehow change a shade into someone like Jyre, and then send them to do their bidding? So much the better for political means. Ersatzshad, then... All of them bred to be warriors, and now fighting over this city... If every one of them was like this... Strong, tough, imbued with strange powers? Cyril didn't stand a whole lot of a chance here. Especially when he was just learning all of this for the first time. He did, of course, note that Nia sounded to have been involved in their creation...

"What changed, then? Who is fighting who, and why?"

Jyre didn't seem sympathetic towards his creators... Who were likely the other faction at war here. Which would make a lot more sense... Cyril might even have a certain amount of sympathy if both sides didn't seem equally brutish and, well... Prone to beating him or consuming him...

[Nayt]

"Exactly," replied Jyre to Cyril's conclusion.

Cyril's reasoning was impressive, to be sure. It was a real shame he was a human that'd wandered into this city. Were he an Ersatzshad, he would've probably been a pretty good asset.

"To the brass, I figure they thought everything was goin' accordin' to plan. And to be honest with you, it probably was. At least 'til . . ." Jyre trailed off. He paused at length before asking, "You ever heard of Prompt?"

In the human world, there was a massive separation between the supernatural and the natural. Prompt was a prime example of that. Though it was a country immediately to the north of Xexoria, most people of the world knew it and its people by name alone. 95% of the human world was unaware of the existence of elves, let alone an entire nation of them. Nevertheless, it was a country in the human world, and Jyre felt it necessary to know how much Cyril knew about it. It would've been uncouth the patronize him with information he already knew, after all.

[Ramlock]

Cyril wouldn't have seen his conclusion as outlandish. There were three reasons people manipulated the morals of large groups: military, business, and gangs. They all blended together as to what was needed, violent or otherwise, but the only reason to come this far, and undertake a project on this scale, would be the military...

Cyril wasn't sure what Jyre was getting at with Prompt, though... Everyone knew about Prompt back home. It was an uninhabitable stretch of wilderness north of Xexoria. The only people that lived there were groups of nomads... It was odd that he knew about it, though. And kind of worrying. Frankly, Cyril wanted as little connection between the real world and this world as was humanly possible...

"Sure. Prompt is a stretch of wilderness by Xexoria. What does that have to do with here?"

[Nayt]

"Stretch of wilderness, huh?" Jyre grinned.

So, Cyril wasn't entirely up to date with his geography--well, that was fine. Jyre was more than willing to give him the inform needed to ensure he was up to date. Honestly, it would've been rude to withhold it.

"Prompt was a civilization north of Xexoria, populated by a whole race of people," Jyre made it a short description, "They weren't bad people."

Past tense. He was using the past tense. Not only that, but he was stressing it.

"Our boss Sinir was one of the good doctor's loyals, 'least 'til he was sent on a mission to Prompt. He saw what an army of Ersatzshad could accomplish."

Jyre paused. It was almost like he was recalling a somewhat poor memory for himself, too. By the lower tone of his voice, it wouldn't he hard to guess why.

"He was not pleased."

[Ramlock]

Cyril didn't really want to ask too much about the inhabitants of Prompt. He could guess. He'd just been in Rivenfelde City not long ago... Where there had once been human inhabitants. Until an army of shades came. An army of intelligent shades that likely didn't have much in the way of sympathy for humans? Particularly an army of people like Jyre? That was a poor thought...

"I was witness to a genocide too... I can imagine what happened."

Sinir and Jyre had been soldiers, then... And now they were revolting. Of course, there must have still been a sizable faction devoted to the doctor that had apparently created all of them. There must have been something going on, though. The doctor wouldn't have created an army without a way to control them...

"So who is this doctor? And how is he trying to control you?"

[Nayt]

Jyre tapped on his head as a silent compliment. Again, a very capable deduction on Cyril's part. There'd be no way total loyalty could amount a sizable enough force to push them into the underground.

"Medicine," said Jyre.

Jyre took a step forward, then another, and paced all the way to the back of Cyril's cell. He folded his arms over his chest and leaned his back up against the wall. This left Cyril's cell door wide open, yet even if weren't bound to a chair, escape like this might not have been the most ideal of options.

"Shades are just predators. Animals. They're like your wolves, just a lot meaner. They eat to live, and their packs are too large to just hit a small population of animals--a large human city is the only way to feed all 'em," Jyre began.

A large human city, of course, being the densest population center available--and not just filled with humans. Pets, livestock, wild animals . . . this made them ideal targets for hungry shades hordes.

"We're no different. We eat to live, but . . . well, see, a lot of folk think shades just eat souls, and souls keep shades livin'. But were that the case, they'd just hunt in Purgatory. Hell of a lot less danger for 'em. But souls don't give a shade life. They evolve 'em, yeah. The more souls it's consumed, the stronger it's gonna be, but what keeps 'em alive's adrenaline. Shades can't produce it, but without it, they wither up an' die, just like you guys do without food an' water. So, shades eat things that produce adrenaline. Eat to live. Simple as that," Jyre concluded, "Problem: shades ain't human; their bodies absorb adrenaline like your bodies absorb nutrients. Their bodies hold souls like your bodies hold genes. Now, the good doctor created us to be close to human; he gave us your biology, but what we need never changed. We can't process adrenaline like a shade can, and we can't produce it ourselves, either; the good doctor made a drug with everything we need to live, but he keeps it up nice an' tight, rations it out only to his loyals."

[Ramlock]

So that was how they lived. Both shades and Ersatzshad ate adrenaline... And this doctor created it here in Oblivion. So those were the two factions... Cyril was held captive by an army of disgruntled, poorly fed, superpowered soldiers. The other side was a group of soldiers who were better equipped. That was not good...

"How often do newcomers show up? I mean... Well, who else is in this prison, for one thing..."

Cyril wanted to dig a bit to maybe find out something about Edii... Not to mention the possible implications for the factions and war going on between them. It was a tough idea... To think that both your life and your continued existence might be in the hands of someone else... Really, what these Ersatzshad were facing was close to being stuck in a prison. Except maybe they could move around a lot more than Cyril...

"Sinir doesn't use the created stuff because he likes to feel free from influence, doesn't he?"

[Nayt]

"You're the only human we've seen in this city 'sans the good doctor," Jyre replied to Cyril's first question, "Everyone else I keep here's a loyalist or criminal. More of the latter; loyals usually fight to the death. We don't get much chance to capture 'em. The lady down there's the only one for now."

Suffice it to say, though, by virtue of everything Cyril heard and experienced moments ago, there was a fair chance that he'd had this or a similar job since before he defected.

Jyre shook his head at Cyril's second question. "No, we all gotta use it. Only way to keep livin'. Sinir eats humans 'cause . . . well, you guys got a sayin'--old habits die hard. He just likes the taste. 'Sides, he eats people ready to die already--or just recently dead. There ain't no adrenaline to be found there."

They were all in the same boat. If just eating humans could give them life, then . . . well--necessity was the mother of invention, right? Jyre had already said earlier that most Ersatzshad had given up on eating humans, but if that were to become one's only means of living--well, morality can be waived in the face of survival. Humans in the same circumstances would've done the same. And, technically, they did . . .

"Here's a kicker for you," Jyre began as a thought crossed his mind, "'top of our adrenaline needs, we got all your needs, too. Nutrients, fluids . . . It's all compounded."

[Ramlock]

Jyre didn't seem to have any useful information as to where he might find Edii or Maladi... That was allright, though. He wasn't any farther from his goal, by asking. In fact, it was probably better if they didn't get caught up in this... Both sides may well be hostile to humans. Actually... No, the other side was probably less hostile. He was less likely to be eaten by a side loyal to a human.

"So, how do you stay alive in a place like this, if you need to eat, too? I haven't seen much in the way of farmland or anything like that... Hell, I've barely seen water. Both sides must control something like that, too..."

Personally, that's where Cyril would have been. If this other side had no food, they had to come to the table on an even level with their medicine. But, maybe there was a reason that hadn't happened. Cyril really didn't want to take any side, as long as he could get what he was looking for. The sooner he could get out of this city, the better.

"Hey, I'd like to ask... Could you let me out of this damn chair? I don't even know where I am, and I'm not going to be breaking that door down any time soon..."

[Nayt]

"Barter with humans," said Jyre, "The good doctor's got his funding and so do we. Far as food and water goes, we're golden. It's that medicine we've got to ration out."

He didn't exactly say what they had to offer humans for food and water, but they must've had a way out into the human world in order to do so--and do so regularly, for that matter. They weren't just maintaining a small militia, they were maintaining an army.

"'Course," he said, but didn't move to let Cyril out of the ropes, "First, though, I've got a question of my own."

He walked forward enough to stand behind Cyril's chair, though, which meant a few different things. He could rail Cyril pretty bad if he was dishonest, on one hand, or he could free him of the ropes.

"The li'l shade you came in with," Jyre began, "What's the deal with her?"

[Ramlock]

That was a scary thought. Any connection between the real world and Oblivion was bad... Much less one that allowed for constant trading. With all the shades contained on this side, the terrible possibilities were way too dangerous. Cyril had already seen a well-populated and well-defended city be destroyed utterly by shades...

"Funded? By who?"

Cyril, of course, didn't move while Jyre moved behind him, hopefully to untie the ropes that kept him locked to the chair. However, Cyril wasn't going to volunteer any information if he could help it... Certainly not about Maladi and the shade qualities he was starting to exhibit, in particular. On the other hand, Tanner had probably already told them everything he knew...

"That's a good question. I don't really understand it myself. Her and her two little companions befriended the human I came here with. I knew they were a little different, but I didn't know they were anything special..."