In the corridor of an advanced laboratory, a man was limping forward, barely managing to keep himself from falling.
His white lab coat was drenched in blood, and there was a bloody gash on his stomach from where blood was dripping unceasingly.
"Arghhhh,"
"Fuck, goddamn it…."
"That bastard, Erik, he stabbed me in the back, after all…"
The injured man left a trail of bloody footprints with each of his steps, while cursing in pain.
He hurriedly opened the gate to a room on the side and locked it right after entering.
"Huff, hufff….hoh", the injured man breathed in and out rapidly, feeling dizzy.
Step… step….
"Shit, they knew I would be coming here…."
So, he did not stop at that position, hearing the subtle traces of many footsteps approaching closer. Gritting his teeth, he started limping towards the west corner of the room where an interface lay, his target.
Bang!!!
Bang!!!
The people outside started smashing the door open, not even attempting to communicate.
Just as the bloody man touched the interface with his crimson hands, the door of the room was flung open, and…
Boom!!
"AHHHHH!!!!" screamed the man as he was shot with a bullet in his right shoulder. His body fell to the floor, unable to keep standing anymore.
Despite the immense pain, the injured man controlled his expression and looked at Erik, who was smiling coldly at him, standing behind the dozen soldiers.
The traitor chuckled, "Hand over the formula, Nile, and I will let you live…"
Nile laughed, showing his bloody teeth, "Do you think my intelligence is as lacking as yours to believe such bullshit??"
Erik's expression faltered, he snatched a gun from a soldier and pointed it at his head, and screamed, "I said now, you bastard!!! Give it to me…"
Nile grinned despite the pain and whispered, "Deimos, initiate project Demiurge…"
The lights of the entire lab flashed red, and an AI voice reverberated through the entire facility.
[Project Demiurge had already been set to deploy, initiating deployment instantly.]
And what followed in the very next heartbeat was a monstrous, beastly shriek of a carnivorous abomination created by Nile's own hands.
That made everyone's hearts tremble violently. Erik whispered in horror, "You madman??? What have you done???"
Nile showed a cold smile, "Since I'm bound to die anyway, why should I not drag all of you dogs with me??"
"Hahah, all those who betrayed me, not you or a single one of your accomplices or..."
"The soldiers and government officials, none can leave from this facility alive," Nile declared with a tone of insanity.
Bang!!!
However, he could not continue his words as Erik shot a bullet right in his heart.
***
Nile's eyes snapped open, with the pain of an unmistakably heavy object crashing onto his stomach, with a loud thud.
"Arghhh,….." he groaned, experiencing a familiar pain. Still groggy, he looked at the cute little toddler who literally did a WWE slam on him like Prime John Cena from the top of a table onto his bed.
The toddler girl looked at him worriedly and asked, "Brother, are you okay? You were screaming again. Did you have a nightmare?"
"Ah, fuck…" cursed Nile, as his groggy mind somewhat cleared.
He remembered that he had long been reincarnated into a fantasy world, a world overrun by Beasts, and now he was in a 12-year-old kid's body, after that brutal death, but the day of his death still seemed to haunt him endlessly in his nightmares from time to time.
Suddenly, he realised something amiss, as his little sister grinned like a mischievous little devil.
She ran away before Nile could stop and shouted, "MOOOMMMYYY??"
She screamed right outside the door, "Brother cursed again, he said the F word… he said it…"
Slowly, the sound of heavy footsteps drew closer.
Nile gulped and crawled back on his bed; it was as if the final boss was approaching. Gradually, the visage of a beautiful, mature woman appeared, but she held a wooden sandal in her hand and wore a ferocious expression.
The woman stated, wearing a smile that was not a smile, "Kale, my sweet son, how many times must I caution you not to teach your 5-year-old little sister about bad words??"
That's right, this body he was inhabiting, his name was Kale, he stammered, "No…um, wait, please wait, mother, I had a nightmare, ask Iria if you don't believe me."
But alas!! His pleas were useless.
SLAP x100!!!!
Kale clutched his ass in pain, tears gathering at the corner of his eyes, as he looked at the ceiling with a lost expression,
He whispered in his mind, 'Just what the hell did I do to deserve this??'
"I, who was once the most glorious Genetic Engineer on planet Earth, am now reduced to being a kid who can only take sandal slaps on my ass from a village mother. Wow, just wow….' He couldn't believe his own shitty luck.
But amid his senseless monologue, another figure walked into the room. He said softly, wearing a pleasant smile, "So, tomorrow is the big day, isn't it, son?"
Kale's expression changed the instant that thought crossed his mind. He nodded towards the tall man, who was the father of this body.
Tomorrow, he would go to the viscounty to attend the awakening ceremony, something that he had been waiting for almost 12 years since his reincarnation into this world.
***
The next day, at the first light of dawn.
Kale stood at the edge of his village, the only roadway connecting this barren countryside to the viscounty, where the awakening ceremony would be held. By his side stood two other 12-year-olds, twin brothers from the village, Josh and Jared.
Only the three of them were deemed to have the chance of awakening amongst the many 12-year-olds of the Dagan village.
Kale kissed his little sister, Iria, on the forehead. Then hugged his mother.
As for his father, the man ruffled his hair, wearing a smile. He seemed almost excited rather than worried.
Behind his family stood hundreds of people from his village, all wearing hopeful smiles and bright anticipation as they looked at him. Many of the elders came and blessed him,
"May the Dragons bless you."
"You are the blessed child of Dagan."
"You are the one blessed by the Dragons."
"You are the chosen one of nature."
"May you, Kale Ardentis, prevail…on your path."
"And shine brighter than anyone else."
Though Kale found it all so annoying, it was a unique tradition of his village. So, it can't be helped, and since everyone in the village loved him dearly, he had to accept it.
Thus, he forced a smile, gazing at everyone, and spoke sincerely, "May the Dragons bless us all."
The three of them departed in a carriage being pulled by a horse-like beast.
Josh said in a jealous tone, "I know you can talk to animals, and all, but everyone in the village loves you too much; most of the elders did not even wish us luck."
Jared sighed as he said to his jealous brother, "Well, he is stronger and faster than most of the adults in our village, and good at almost everything."
Kale chuckled, "Don't worry, the two of you will also find your own speciality after the Awakening ceremony. I'm sure."
He spared a few more reassuring words for the jealous kids. It was quite an easy thing to do, considering he was a grown man in a teenager's body.
However, the calm front he put on for the two kids was nothing but a facade to hide his overwhelming excitement at finally taking the possible first real step towards his impossible dream.
That first step was to awaken as a Tamer.
As the Best Genetic Engineer on earth, he always had an almost unachievable, childish dream in his heart.
To create something as powerful as a Dragon and to make a mythical, magical entity into his mount, upon which he would soar through the skies of the modern earth, but that naturally could not happen, yet in this world, Dragons already existed.
But there was also a big problem: Dragons were not merely powerful Beasts in this world; they were the rulers, at least from what he had come to know, because almost all the humans of the Human Empire worshipped the Dragons as deities.
For that, no one could know about that impossible dream of his; otherwise, he would simply be hunted down and killed by the public, named a heretic.
Eventually, Kale reached the Ebon viscounty—the place where the awakening ceremony would be held. As the three walked down from the caravan, many others who had travelled alongside them followed. All around, Kale saw similar scenarios.
In total, more than 200 kids had come for the ceremony, walking towards the Dragon Church's field gateway, where all participants of the awakening ceremony were being divided into multiple batches, one after another.
Kale finally couldn't hold in his excitement and grinned, because the sight of his once unreachable dream seemed to be now within his arm's length.