"Why is that relevant?" Anan asked.
"He is one of the most dangerous humans in existence and you let him go" Jace complained but without any blame in his tone, after all, he wasn't in any position to tell Anan what to do.
"Human?" Anan asked feeling confused. No one was human anymore. With everyone gaining new abilities, their physiology changed too. For example, Light was no longer a carbon-based organism at all but instead had a mysterious plasma form. She was one of the more extreme mutations/evolutions but just like she changed to suit her abilities, so did everyone else. In fact, hardly any two people of the same species!
Thus, the term 'human' was no longer in use at least not in speech.
"His ability is unknown. There's a theory that he is one of the unaffected" Natalya explained.
Anan stared at her for a while then let out a sigh. He couldn't even be bothered to explain anything.
"So my guess is, everyone appeared here by accident save for those two thieves...and you" he indicated at Light who immediately opened her mouth to defend herself but he shushed her by holding out a palm.
"It doesn't matter anymore," he said.
"The reason you were able to get in here, by teleporting or however else you managed, is because someone deactivated the energy shield around this Island. Unfortunately, it is a natural phenom so it pops right back up even stronger whenever someone tempers with it. It will be a while before it goes down again and you can leave but until then, welcome to Purgatory" Anan smiled brightly at them but only Natalya returned it, recognizing that he was making a joke.
"What are you smiling at Bit*h, he just said we're stuck here" Light growled at Natalya.
"Hey, what's your problem?" Jace jumped to her defense.
"Mind your business dog" Light shot again.
Anan watched merrily with a smile on his lips as a fight broke out between Jace and Light. Unfortunately, the schoolboy was no match for a degenerate like her.
*****
Night found them within West Unity Laboratory, something which immediately mellowed Light and Jace as their irritability was snuffed out and replaced with apprehension. Natalya however was too occupied with her thoughts to pay any attention.
The room was well emptied and Anan put a rectangular table in the middle, finding chairs for all of them.
Jace and Natalya sat by each other at one end of the table, Anan say by the head and Light sat alone by his end of the table.
Seeing the food he provided them, Natalya turned to him in puzzlement. How could he cook such a normal homey meal in a place like Western Unity?
Ignoring the steaming cup of tea and spaghetti before her, she voiced her questions.
"How did you end up here Anan?" her expression laced with concern.
Startled by the question, he looked up from his food at her, his eyes folding into a squit as he tilted his head.
"Why?" he asked.
"Just curious" Natalya replied feeling that it was the end of his response but Anan surprised her.
After a short pause, he said, "I was born here"
His reply made Jace and Light stop eating and turn to him with confused expressions.
"Your parents?" Natalya asked though she already had a dreadful suspicion of what happened to them.
"Dead I assume, I know nothing of my father, and my mother I think lived here for a while" he continued to explain. Perhaps he hadn't realized it yet but he wasn't as combative as he was when they first met. Perhaps he had been alone too long or he had lightened up to them.
"You think?" Light asked, picking up on that minute detail.
"I never knew her" Anan turned to her, relaxing his back on his seat he gave her a quick weak smile which sent the girl's heart into a slight frenzy.
"Who raised you then?" Jace asked.
Anan turned to the boy, surprise evident on his face. It was like he was asking without saying the words, 'Why do you care?'
"I raised me" he replied still.
"You raised you?" Natalya replied questioningly.
"You see, I wasn't born a baby but more of a... mass"
"A mass?" Light asked.
Anan's face crunched up into a frown as he glared at her, his wine-red irises turning crimson.
"Can I eat?"
His tone with different this time, showing how disturbed he was by the questioning.
"No" Natalya replied almost immediately.
Light and Jace turned to her in shock. Their thoughts were identical, 'Was she tired of living?'
Perhaps Natalya was a naive child but she didn't see in Anan what the other two saw. He was a person capable of immense cruelty, and he was as vicious as he was powerful. Although he acted calm and always smiled, his heart wasn't cold but white and uncaring. It was as if from his perspective, everything, even life was inconsequential. He simply tolerated it and that took effort because he was also volatile, quick to anger as he was to kill.
Anan turned to her, his mouth open agape. What in the world was this situation before him? Where a strange girl dared to tell him what to do after intruding on his territory? Indeed, living alone in the wild had twisted Anan into something like a wild predator...
"Why not?"
...but he was still civil.
"Tell us first" Natalya replied without any fear as she looked at him. Every moment she spent with him made it easier for her to see clearer, see him clearer. And it baffled her that she wasn't seeing a 'mass' as he called it but a boy, not even an old or middle-aged man. Wasn't she supposed to see truth just like she heard it?
"I was born a living mass of organic matter. Think of it as a ball of flesh, but alive" he replied and quickly stole a mouthful of spaghetti. Glaring at Natalya, he chewed slowly.
"So what are you?" Light asked shoving down her fear with curiosity.
"A Shapeshifter?" he glared at her again but this time she found his tantrum funny.
"I'm like you dammit! My cells are independently alive, each one having a memory to copy each form I learn but as a baby, I had no muscle memory or control over my body so I was born relaxed like every other baby, only a relaxed Shapeshifter is quite different from other relaxed organisms" he explained in detail despite his annoyance.
"But other Shapeshifters are born normal" Natalya instantly retorted.
"Yes, and that's why they don't shift like I do. They can't shift into Light for example."
"What makes you different?" Jace joined the questioning again.
"Simple. Because I am the First!" Anan gave a smug smile.
"Of Shapeshifters?" Light asked causing his smugness to deflate instantly.
"Of everyone. I was there at the zenith of The Beginning of the End. When all life ended and started anew, I never ended and never had to start anew, I was before everyone else died and before everyone else was born."
"You are not God" Jace interjected but Anan did not react as one would expect, instead he asked,
"God?"
"No man can be God. I am Anan, not mighty, not powerful, just full of life and without a form. I am a man, human, like you but of a different kind."