My Werepanther System: Starting with Nine Lives
Chapter 66 ALTERED

Chapter 66: 66 ALTERED

Rex woke up on his feet. But unlike a cat, it wasn’t of his own feline volition. His arms were slung over two pairs of shoulders. One much taller than the orther, forcing him to walk at an odd gait even if he wasn’t half asleep and half dazed nearly beyond recognition.

His nose told him he was being carried by Victor and Imani. His eyes and ears confirmed it.

They unevenly hobbled down a steel hallway in a tense silence. It was dark. The lights flickered and gears beneath the floor clicked and gassed out before restarting with a burst of sudden energy. It gave the ground a weird mechanical pulse. It made Rex sweat. Or maybe he was already sweating?

He was soaked actually, like he just came out of a river. He smelled like river water.

Then he was reminded of what happened with the appearance of a very familiar screen.

DING!

[Global Mana Sequencing Redesign Event Recognized! Also known as a Mana Flux!]

[Elemental Natures and Ability Functions have been adjusted.]

***

[Name: Kalico Rex]

[Age: 17]

[Height: 5’10"/175cm]

[Weight: 230lbs/114kgs]

[Race: Primordial Shapeshifter/Panthera Sapien]

[Level: 12 (480/1200)]

[Stat Points: 0]

[Skill Points: 0]

[HP: 250/250]

[Mana: 375/375]

[STR: 22]

[SPD: 20]

[STMN: 11]

[DEX: 16]

[LCK:5]

[CNTRL: 4(+10)]

[WILL: 10]

[INT: 12]

[SKILLS/ABILITIES: (Nine Lives LV1), (Blade Sense LV1), (Acrobatics LV1), (Vantage Vision LV1), (Night-Hunter/River-Stalker: Inactive), (Predator’s Frenzy: 20%), (Lunacy: 0%), (Barbed Tongue LV1), (Venomous Saliva/Venom Infusion LVB/EA), (Rampage-Wave LVB), (Primal-Eyebeam LVB), (Mass-Morphing LVB), ((Base) Werepanther Transformation LVT), (Anhurian/Werelion Transformation LVB/A), (Glass-Guardian Transformation/Reaction LVB/A)

[Elemental Affinities: (Jungle-Water), (Solar-Sand), (...???), (...??), (..??..)]

[Authorities: (Warriors Authority), (Guardian’s Authority)]

***

Rex eyed his system screen with wide eyes. Even in his semi-disoriented state, he could see the changes in his skills and abilities as clear as day.

"Loss of health, increase in strength....River-stalker....Venom-infusion....Jungle-water? The Mana Flux altered my system abilities." Rex thought.

"Rex? Rex, man, you with us?" Victor asked.

"Yea. You can put me down." Rex said.

"I don’t know.... if we can." Victor said as they headed down the hall.

"What? Why?" Rex turned to look at Imani.

"Last time we did, you.... fell into a puddle."

"I what?"

Imani used her freehand and tapped her temple. Her eyes flickered blue and began displaying a holographic screen in front of them. It showcased a video— a recording of three hours ago based on the time and date.

It was through Imani’s eyes. She watched Rex wake up in the ER. His tanned skin was covered in glowing purple water droplets. Other trainees were lined up in similar beds behind him connected to wires and scanners that seemed to be burning their skin.

Rex got up suddenly. Watching himself in a daze was a bizzare experience. One that became even more bizzare when he took a step off the bed and immediately fell into a puddle of black and purple swirling water.

"...what the hell." Rex said.

The recording shut off suddenly as a trainee screamed and a blast went off.

"It happened to everyone..."

"But not everyone got it as bad." Imani replied.

"Some got it worse, though." Victor said. Then he cringed, "Simon..."

"What happened to him?" Rex asked.

"His Psionic abilities went into overdrive. He’s not even human anymore..." Victor mumbled.

"He’s entirely comprised of Psionic energy flows. He might be the strongest trainee of our class now." Imani said.

"Holy shit. What about Syrus?" Rex asked.

"We couldn’t tell. He was out. Like most everyone else." Imani said.

Rex was silent for a moment before looking down the hall, "That was...."

"The first actually Global Mana Flux in over a century." Imani finished.

"How?" Rex asked.

"The same way all Mana Flux’s happen. Extremely high level Drift-gods alter the sequence of mana. That’s why we’re always alerted when powerful Inheritence Ability users enter high level Drift-Dimensions. To try and prepare. But it wasn’t expected this time. He wasn’t...." Victor trailed off.

Rex’s mind suddenly put the pieces together as he remembered his talk with Archibald about Victor’s brother. The Altered-Inheritor.

"You think your brother’s Drift Deployment caused this?" Rex asked Victor.

"I know it did....." Victor said. "I saw it."

"What? Isn’t he still in there?" Rex asked.

"We share DNA. Magical DNA. Well, my dna is in him. I guess that’s a side effect. I can experience certain things through him. I saw it..." Victor shivered.

"Saw what?" Rex asked.

"The Drift-god..."

"Seeing something of that level as a trainee could cause significant amounts of trauma and derealization. We need to get you to a doctor." Imani said.

"I’m fine. Rex first." Victor said.

"What— me first for what?" Rex asked before looking around, "Matter of fact, where are we?"

"Monkey vent." Imani said. "I studied classified documents detailing The Box’s blueprints and found human travel vents lining every inch of this place through access plots behind ceiling vents. I think by the name alone you can tell who these were designed for."

"Jungle-monkey operatives." Rex said, "Where are they now?"

"Trying to contain Simon." Victor said. "He broke out."

"And why are we here?" Rex asked.

Victor’s eyes hit the floor. They stared there. It didn’t look right for Victors head to be down.

"I know...." He said.

Rex looked over at Imani, "I know you didn’t."

"She didn’t have to." Victor said. "You were dirt poor for as long as I knew you. Honestly, if you would’ve told me you were homeless, I wouldn’t be surprised. But you were skilled— strong, and you pick up on things quick. You were giving me pointers in knife fighting drills and I was getting lessons from Sword-Master Operatives for months before that. It’s like combats in your blood."

Rex looked back to Imani.

Imani still shook her head.

"Not to mention, you suddenly came out of nowhere with an Inheritence Ability that was never just simple elemental manipulation. You blend into shadows, fly, magnify others abilities and just happen to grow an inch and gain two pounds of muscle every night."

"Fuck." Rex thought.

"You’re an Inheritor of one of the Shadowed-Seven abilities." Victor said.

Rex had to fight off the eye roll and sigh of relief.

"I’m sorry Rex, but you had a slip-up." Imani explained.

Another holographic recording beamed from her eyes.

It was a slowed down playback of the explosion that ended the first recording. In the bottom left corner of the visual, he could see bare feet and legs covered in green arcs of energy. A scanner somewhere began to go haywire followed by the rest. The legs and feet became comprised entirely of green Psionic energy following the skin and muscle melting before a pulse wave hit.

Rex was a puddle on the floor. Before the wave could hit him, a thunderous dome spread around him. Imani turned around and faced Victor.

He looked different. His tiger-flame appeared as bluish white stripes on his skin. They didn’t flow like fire but instead shimmered and fizzed like lightning. His dreads gained white highlights as the new element rippled through his entire being, creating shielding of pure thunderous intensity.

His eyes widened as he looked from himself to Rex.

Imani spun around again just in time to see Rex rematerializing out of the puddle. Rising as a titanous beast made of venomous river flows and rippling mass. He reached for the ceiling of Victor’s thunder-dome and absorbed the electrical essence, becoming a tempest-bodied beast before growing unstable and splattering everywhere.

Imani screamed.

Victor yelped.

Then they watched in silence as he began to reform as water.

Imani looked back to Victor. Who seemed on the verge of mental collapse—which gave credence to his control as he maintained their shield.

"He’s.... He’s one of the seven." Imani muttered in the recording.

Victor blinked.

"We can’t have him entered into military databases. They’ll kill him. Help us out. He’d do the same for you."

Victor hesitated for a moment before nodding, "Ok."

Then the recording cut out.

"She saved me.. again." Rex thought as he looked at Imani. Then he looked to Victor.

"Your adoptive grandfather was known as the The Seven-Hunter. Your father created the Seven-Hunter Task Force in memory of him. Why are you helping me? Us?" Rex asked

"My adoptive grandfather was President of the EMRA for eight years." Victor said.

"I thought Inheritence Ability users weren’t allowed to—"

"They aren’t." Victor said, "Which is why they employ Faces. Men and women who are bought off by men like my grandfather and promised paid off investments.."

"Like the creation of Altered-Inheritors." Imani said.

"Or affordable mana-bonding." Victor said.

To Rex, it was obvious they were highlighting the loophole abuse and outright criminal dealings both of their families were involved in.

"During my grandfathers time as president, he passed the Sainted-Slayer Adoption Act. Now Inheritence Ability users can start up sanctuaries and Guilds around the world and snatch up children in third world countries to use as lab rats."

"Victor..." Rex said as he realized Victor was explaining his own life story.

"All of a sudden it’s just part of life. Inheritence Abilities aren’t confined in bloodlines anymore. New blood— new names allows for unique bonding potential and Mana-Mutations. It’s what the world needed. But it has a sixteen percent success rate."

Rex felt sick.

"Man, I’m lucky." Victor hissed, "I was gonna die in those caves. Then the Fauve-Military Guild found me. They said I had a strong body. Firm genes. They said I reacted to most stimulus with overt positivity. I did one workout with their infantry unit and gained ten pounds of muscle over a week. At eight. They chose me. It was a cakewalk. But do you know how many they chose and said the same thing to before me?"

Rex had no clue.

"Forty-six." Victor said. "Kids that looked just like me. Came from places just like mine. Forty-six of them melted from the inside out before I withstood."

"I had no idea." Rex said.

"Me neither. For a while." Victor replied.

They walked in silence for a while before Rex said, "So.... you’re helping me because.... you hate the government... and are on the side of the seven?"

"I’m helping you because you’re my friend." Victor said. "You also happen to have ties to people who directly oppose my captors."

Rex thought to himself, "Shit! Imani didn’t think this cover through...."

"I hate the state of this world Rex." Victor said, "We’re not heroes. We’re soldiers enforcing the law against the natural. My home was torn to shreds by military expansion. And even then, I couldn’t die on my feet. I had to be taken and forced to my knees— to grovel and give thanks to the same kinds of people that destroyed my home."

Rex’s ears twitched. "So, what do you want, Victor?"

"Channels are up." Imani said suddenly.

Electrical blue lights flickered and danced along Victor’s dark skin like stripes on a tiger. White highlights sparked along the length of his hair. His eyes were pure white as he replied.

"I want in."

A thunderous pulse wave rippled off of him and fried the circuitry and communications network within The Box.

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