The Light Burns, But It Sets Me Free
Summer 2021, Week 5
Monday midday
Helico, Downtown
Murvitt Olin
He was awoken from sleeping in a rolling chair parked at a counter by the sound of a machine beeping, the indication that the mixing of compounds was a success. It takes a few seconds in his groggy mind as he lifts his head from the counter, then cheers in celebration. "I've done it! I'VE DONE IT!" He had made two compounds, one that had been treated with a dose of power muting, and the other with his empowerment. The blood from the Evelyn woman served as the catalyst for change, and the mixtures had different compounds to 'convince' her blood to either accelerate the change the powers caused to his body or completely remove any trace of radiation. Checking the genetic composition, and filtering out any trace of Evelyn's DNA, he sees that the two end products were.. completely different. It was as if the accelerated sample had undergone a complete metamorphosis, while the muted sample remained mostly the same. But.. the muted sample has changed slightly, and exhibits no trace of any power left.. surely the Sidorovs wouldn't want me to remove young boy's powers completely.. He frowns, and takes the samples back in his hands. This.. this decision is not mine to make. He heads to the room where Alexei and Kirill stayed, and he nods towards the expectant Alexei. "I-I have completed a s-serum that will p-produce one of t-two results."Kirill Sidorov
Kirill seemed… not entirely himself, pacing back and forth within his containment chamber, his once finely tailored black suit now seemed very nearly shredded near the hands and face, the ever present sickening green glow emanating from within his body cascading through the clear wall, washing over the observation area.Storyteller
Alexei, who had been napping on the floor near a vending machine, stood quickly, rushing to Murv. “You have made… two. Yes…” His face displayed a range of emotion in only those few seconds, remembering the dilemma they now faced. “Have you… settled on a medical plan?”Murvitt Olin
"The t-treatment will b-be a s-single oral d-dose, but the q-question will be.. do you w-want his p-power to d-dissappear and he b-becomes healthy, or risk a b-big change that may b-be very painful for the b-boy for a m-moment?" His face bears a grim look, and adds, "I would m-make decision t-to remove p-power, but I d-do not wish t-to incur wrath of S-Sidorov family. The d-decision should be h-his." His eyes move to the pacing Kirill, and is slightly unnerved by the way he looked like an agitated lion in a cage.Storyteller
Alexei followed the doctors gaze, shaking his head. “Kirill, he is… troubled. My question is this: you take option number A, yes, power is gone, but Kirill no longer have radiation? Sickness is still in him, but he cannot get worse, yes? Or… option number B, power grows strong, good for business, good for Sidorov, but power will eat the boy.”Murvitt Olin
He looks a bit confused at the statement. "I g-guess I am c-confused. Option A m-means he is c-cured of radiation, and sh-should feel as if he has t-taken years of ch-chemotherapy, thanks to blood of another Evo doctor. But you are c-correct, p-power will be gone, and w-will not make him s-sick like he is n-now." He gulps before continuing. "Option B, his p-power remains, but it w-will completely ch-change his body. Like c-caterpillar to b-butterfly. Good for S-Sidorov family b-business."Storyteller
Alexei sighed. “Yes, good for business… Kirill is not like us. Brother Artyom is strong, rip bars from window, throw car at police, he good for family business. Brother Alexei, handsomest brother, he take punch, he have shot on him, he take energy and punch it back. Is good bodyguard, enforcer, good for family business. Brother Kirill… he radiation inside him, he in pain and in sickness very much. You take the power, he is normal boy for first time, but Sidorov lose weapon. Strong weapon, important weapon. If weapon grows, if Kirill have more power, also he have more pain, more sickness.” He took a moment before shrugging and turning away. “This is just my thought, you are number one best of the world science man.”Murvitt Olin
"I.. I w-wish the d-decision were easier. I w-would make boy n-normal, b-but m-my h-head w-would b-be on p-platter. B-But if I make h-him stronger, I l-live, but I also f-feel g-guilt entire l-life for p-pain I c-could have s-spared Kirill." His head hangs as his gaze lowers to the floor, to his shoes. "I.. I.." He holds his hands up, grasping the treatments in either hand. In one, the key to curing Kirill of his pain and agony. In the other, assurance of his life for a while longer at the cost of his conscience. He decides to take the risk of his own life, making the decision to uphold his moral code as a doctor. "I will c-cure him. I only ask.. you n-never mention alternative to f-family. Tell them th-this was only w-way."Storyteller
The man stopped in his tracks, back to Murv, turning his head slightly. “There is no other option. To save the boy, the power must fade. Otherwise both boy and power will die.”Murvitt Olin
He nods, a smile spreading across his face. "I w-will give t-treatment immediately." BLINK He teleports to the lab, disposing of the treatment that would enhance and accelerate the process of sickness and keeps the treatment to remove the sickness. BLINK[Teleportation, Minor x2, -2EP (13/15)]
He blinks just outside of the door leading to the room Kirill is currently in, and knocks twice before entering. "Kirill? I h-have last t-treatment that w-will remove s-sickness. No injection, j-just drink."Kirill Sidorov
Kirill’s pacing stopped as he slowly turned to face the doctor. “Enter,” he said in his mother tongue, his voice odd and echoing within himself, like someone speaking through a fan. His eyes had milked over, his face terribly gaunt and clammy as his black hair, now oily and ragged, hung loose in front of his face. His skin shone brightly with the putrid green glow, a faint outline of black bone visible beneath his flesh. “This power… it burns!”Murvitt Olin
Entering the room and trying his best to avoid recoiling from the ghastly sight, he presents the vial of liquid. Replying in kind to the use of the Mother tongue, he explains "Th-this is the final d-dose. It will t-take away p-pain and r-restore you. It i-is an oral d-dose, you only n-need drink it." He starts to feel sick to his stomach, likely due to exposure to the pervasive radiation emanating from the boy.Kirill Sidorov
The boy reached a hand out, a ragged, misshapen hand, towards the vial. His fingers a little too long, the skin which covered them a little too taut, the joints and knuckles swollen and inflamed, the digits angled in nigh unnatural fashions, as though every muscle in his hands pulled in a different direction. His laboured, raspy breathing echoed through the chamber, as if the very sound of the glow which burned beneath his flesh, that sickening light washing over their surroundings, casting long shadows that danced across the floor and walls, Kirill's thousand minions, flittering back and forth along with their master, stretching as an army behind his back. The boy's head cocked to one side as he observed the doctor, cloudy pale yellow eyes examining his treatment in Murv's hand, the outline of the black skull burried deep within the boy's own face shining through, as though his very flesh were translucent, more akin to sheets of gelatin than his usual pale white skin. "This dose... will burn the light? As last time?" he asked, the energy within his chest altering the waves of his voice, a ragged, raspy whisper, shaking through each glowing, radioactive vocal chord before being released into the world, and into Murv's ears.Murvitt Olin
He trembles with fear and nausea, his form flickering in reality as his instinct screams at him to run, to flee, to hide from this horrific sight and escape the toxic glow. Taking a shaky breath to calm his nerves, he states "I c-cannot p-promise it w-will not b-be p-painf-ful, b-but it sh-should s-snuff the b-burning l-light inst-stead of m-make it b-burn b-bright-ter." His response, albeit very panicked and full of stutters, was genuine.Kirill Sidorov
One would not have thought it possible, given the state of his body, but Kirill visibly recoiled from Murv's words, his milky white eyes widened, his brow furrowing. "Snuff this light?!" his voice boomed, the glow within his chest sputtering before becoming measurably brighter. "This light, this power, it boils in my blood, it weighs on my bones, but this is power!" He raised his arms, a wave of heat releasing itself from within him, along with the first display of emotion the boy had shown in quite some time. His fingers flexed into a fist, the muscles in his arm trembling as he did so. "This light burns bright. It burns, so very much, but it sets me free! I feel... Alive. Do you want to take that from me? From Sidorovs?" Kirill had leaned in towards Murv's face, allowing him to see the broken and twisted state of his body, the features warped and disfigured from the handsome, pale boy he had met in the diner. This being, this body, was a monster, but the boy was alive.Murvitt Olin
"But the light is going to burn you out if it continues! You may feel alive now, but it will consume you and doom you to very short life!" The lie issues forth, somehow clear and concise amidst the panic and terror that pounded in his heart and mind. His form flickers in and out of the current reality as he focuses every ounce of courage he could muster, his heart and mind both racing as he struggles to maintain a consistent hold on his present position. The sheer panic he exhibits, the avoidance of Kirill's gaze, the trembling, his breath quickening to a rate of hyperventilation, all could potentially mask the fact that Murv lied to him, and continues with "Every test that you keep power, you die because of it!" His chest tightens, his mind floods with panic, he feels sick to the point of vomiting, his breath becomes a fevered wheeze as his body goes into a state of sheer panic.Storyteller
A tap on the wall behind Murv, Alexei stared into the observation chamber wide eyed, an expression of fear and awe in equal parts. For the past few days, he had sat across from the shambling, nuclear visage of his younger brother, but never had he heard this monstrous boy speak.Kirill Sidorov
His head cocked to the side, a bit surprised by the passionate yells of the stuttering doctor, a smile cracking across his face as he remembered both of their lives on the line. Kirill gripped Murv’s upper arm tightly, the burn of his hand immediate as he examined the man’s face, grabbing the vial and raising it as though it were a shot. “Doctor,” he muttered, staring intently into Murv’s eyes as he downed the treatment.Murvitt Olin
Murv shrieks in pain as Kirill's hand grasps his arm, the harsh sickly glow burning through his lab coat and into his skin, causing it to blister and boil beneath the elongated shell of what once were normal hands. FLEEI need to show him I can be trusted
PAIN
I am a good doctor. I am healing the boy
BURN
I must stay; he needs help
I betrayed his trust
Sacrifices for the greater good
I will be hunted
I saved their boy. It is better this way
No good deed goes unpunished in this world The last thought echoes in his mind, the cruel joke that reality plays made evident in that, even if he is saving the boy, he is suffering immediate pain. And once the dose takes effect, the fear of being hunted will begin and last a lifetime.
Storyteller
The dose of the concoction seems to take an immediate effect, the similar existential agony from the blood of Eve wracking Kirill's body, but the sickness, the harsh burn of the light that has plagued Kirill for so long, fades into a dim memory as the pain subsides. But although the pain is gone and it seems the power will no longer plague the boy, he and the doctor don't see that it simply inhibited the power, not completely removed it. Not unlike a dam holding back a flood, it stands resolute.. for now.Kirill Sidorov
Kirill’s death grip released immediately as the boy doubled over, letting out a shriek of pain as the nuclear green glow pulsing up to blinding before fading, leaving his chamber in shadow, the reddened, swollen, disfigured shell of the boy curled up on the floor. His hands could hardly move, gnarled finger joints like an old man, pale skin splotched with red.Storyteller
Alexei, watching this interaction, had pulled his necktie away and wrapped around his knuckles, tearing back to smash the plexiglass wall of the observation chamber before Kirill fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious. “What… this help better be the best help!” He yelled to Murv, the tension that had built up within his chest releasing in a massive sigh, knocking his forehead into the wall.Murvitt Olin
His eyes still wide with terror and tears of pain blurring his vision, he breathes in short, rapid bursts, clutching his burned arm as if he feared it would detatch. OhnoohnoohnoohnowhatdoIdo? Hisbodydidn'trepair. Itdidn'trepair. Whydidn'titrepair? His mind was racing, the terrifying amalgam screech still rang in his ears as he was seated on the floor in the throes of his panic attack. The lightheaded feeling that overtook him from lack of oxygen and exacerbated heart rate made him lose focus. BLINK[Teleportation, Minor x1, -1EP (13/15)]
He reappeared against the back wall, shakily clutching for anything to grab on to as he tries to slow his breathing, his eyes darting wildly around the room to try and find something to aid him in regulating his breathing. "N-need. S-someth-thing. C-can't. B-breathe. B-bag."Storyteller
Alexei looked up, turning to face Murv and walking to him… rather slowly, head down as he did so. Tightening the cloth wrapped around his hand, Alexei cocked back and swung, leaving a hole in the facade of the vending machine, approaching Murv with his hands open. Placing them on the doctors torso, one in the center of his chest, the other on his back, lining the two up with each other and releasing a gentle but firm vibrating shockwave through his entire body, forcing him to breathe in a steady pace.[Energy Manipulation, Basic, -0EP (15/15)]
Murvitt Olin
The rather unorthodox means of regulating his breathing seems to work. "Thank you." He says as Alexei finishes and puts Murv back down. "Now we just need untreated version of healing Evo blood, to repair damages to his body. It seems results are.. very bween, da?" He smiles at his attempt to relieve tension for the giant man.Storyteller
With a chuckle, the mobster released Murv, patting him on the shoulder. “Bween maybe, but your arm is no bween.” Unwrapping the tie from his fist, Alexei let out a laugh. “Look at us, speak like real American, da? You should fix arm though, is very burnt.”Murvitt Olin
He nods in agreement, the burn on his arm still smoldering from radiation of Kirill. "F-First the boy. If there is any l-left over, I will use on myself, but the boy is n-needing it far more than me." He takes a few shaky steps towards his lab before deciding to save the effort and teleport. BLINK[Teleportation, Minor x1, -1EP (11/15)]
Storyteller
The doctor, slowed by his injury, would make sure to treat Kirill to maximize his chance of survival in his current decrepit state and utilize a series of doses over an extended period of time, closely monitoring and running a few tests to be absolutely certain that the results were positive, and putting his patient on a full recovery from side effects of the power that dwelled dormant within him.
Type
Record, Historical
Medium
Digital Recording, Text
Authoring Date
July 19, 2021
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