Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Lutetia City: The Den Cellar

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

5 years ago...

Baron descended the steps into the gloom of the cellar which was broken by only a single flickering light that swung loose on a chain. There were others already down here, tending to a kid resting on an old cot that had been setup in one of the two wrought-iron cages that sat at the back of the cellar.

The boy couldn't have been more than sixteen or seventeen years old.

"How's he doing?" Baron asked.

"It's not looking good," Julienne told him as she got him from where she had been sitting on the cot edge washing out a festering wound on the lad's arm.

He could smell the infection in the wound all the way from where he stood, but there was nothing a doctor could do for him now.

"It won't be long now," Carlisle said. "A few more days, if he makes it until then."

Baron entered the cage and took a seat on a wooden stool that sat next to the boy's cot.

"Hey Jason," Baron said. "How are you feeling."

"Like shit," the kid managed to chuckle out before wincing against the pain the action had caused. "Is it always this bad?"

The boy's skin was clammy with fever and he was shaking as the infection invaded every cell of his body, merging with and forever altering the lad's physiology.

"Are you kidding? This is nothing," Baron told him. "We'll get you through this."

He wet down a rag that was draped over the edge of a bucket of water and lay it over the kid's forehead to try and help bring the fever down.

"Promise?" Jason asked through cracked lips.

"I promise," Baron replied. "Have you remembered anything yet? About the wolf that bit you?"

The kid shook his head weakly.

"It's alright, get some rest," Baron told him. He clapped a hand lightly on the kid's shoulder before he got back up. "Call me when it's time," Baron told the others as he headed back up the cellar steps.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

3 nights later...

Baron heard the screams well before he reached the cellar door and as he descended the steps once more he took a long drag of his cigarette before throwing it on the floor and stubbing it out with his shoe.

"It's happening," Julienne told him.

She and Carlisle where lifting Jason to the floor so they could remove the cot from the cell, and the movement only drew more agonized screams from the boys throat.

"Here, bite down on this, kid," Carlisle told him as he placed a wound up rag in Jason's mouth to stifle the screams.

The bar had been closed for the night, but they didn't need police showing up tonight of all nights if someone decided to report the commotion.

The boy's screamed turned to stifled moans as he writhed on the floor. Another scream tore from his throat, only marginally muffled by the rag that fell from his lips in his delirium.

"Help me..." he whimpered. "Please... help me."

Tears streamed down the boy's face as Carlisle moved out of the cage and pushed the door closed with the clang of metal before locking it.

"Jason," Baron said sharply as he squatted down next to the cage. "Jason look at me. Stop fighting it. It'll tear you apart if you don't let it out. Jason, do you hear me? Just let it out."

Jason clawed at the floor through another tortured scream and Baron stood back up and began shedding his clothes. His eyes lightened to the amber hue of a wolf's eyes as his own body began to contort and writhe. Around him, Carlisle, Julienne and the others where following suit.

The groans and popping of realigning bones and bulging muscles filled the room, and with the energy of the pack to show him the way Jason's own form was being shed. The first transformation was always the worst, and his screams turned to feral snarls as the bones of his face elongated into a snarling muzzle, and his fingers elongated into clawed digits. His form was lean and gangly, with arms a bit too long for a bipedal creature, but powerful rear legs capable of maintain an erect position if necessary. Despite his seemingly gangly form, the rippling muscles that bulged along his back and biceps where hard as a rock and lean as wire.

As Baron shook himself off, he was met with the yellow eyes of Jason staring back at him through the bars of the cage before the lad turned wolf threw his head back and let out a keening howl.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

The following morning...

Jason woke with a groan as he sat up on the cold concrete of the cellar floor. He ached all over but he was alive, and the festering wound on his arm was little more than a faint scar.

He looked around the dim room in time to be hit in the face by a pair of balled up denim jeans.

"Get dressed," Baron told him through the open door of the cell.

"Gee thanks..." Jason told him.

"How are you feeling?" Baron asked.

"Tired... sore. Starving."

"The first time can really take it out of you," Baron explained.

A shirt hit Jason in the face next, draping almost comically over his head.

"Hurry up, we'll get you something to eat," Baron told him before heading on back upstairs. This time he left the doors open for Jason to come on up also once he was ready.

____

Jason was met with the cheers and light shoulder claps from the pack members as he made his debut into The Den, as one of them.

"You're hard as nails, you know that?" Julienne teased.

"Good to see you up," Carlisle added as he ruffled the lad's hair.

Jason grinned sheepishly at all of the attention was receiving as he was practically shoved/guided towards the bar and plopped down on a stool where two plates of steaming food was slide over to him. Bacon, eggs, toast, ham, pancakes, french toast... the aromas mingled together into something irresistible as he started shoveling food into his mouth with a fork.

"This is amazing, I didn't think food could ever taste this good," he managed around mouthfuls of food.

He was famished, enough so that he didn't even notice that Baron had departed.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

The following night...

Julienne found Baron down in the cellar where he was seated on a stool with one foot propped up on an empty wine cask, smoking a cigarette.

"What's going on?" she asked him. "You haven't said a word to anyone in two days."

Her eyes caught notice of the half empty bottle of whiskey next to him and her idle curiosity turned to a frown.

"What happened?" she asked.

He didn't answer for several minutes as he took another drag of his cigarette and Julienne finally turned to head back upstairs before he finally said anything.

"Jason has Lunentia."

Julienne stopped, a hand on the railing of the steps. "... you can't know that. It's too soon to know that."

Baron shook his head and took another drag. "I saw it in his eyes the other night. I looked into them, and there was nothing there."

"I don't believe that. He's a good kid, we've all seen that. We'll get him through this," Julienne replied.

"And will you be the one to put him down when he hurts someone?" Baron asked sharply.

"We can lock him up-"

"For how long, Julienne? You know it's only a matter of time before the sickness takes his mind."

She had no retort to that and she turned and went back upstairs without another word.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

Two months later...

"Yeah yeah... I'm going, I'm going," Jason said as he descended into the cellar.

Julienne followed at his back giving him a playful shove.

"If you don't get your ass moving, I'm going to wipe the floor with it," she told him with amusement.

The sun was setting, and the full moon had the skin along her arms prickling with anticipation of the nights run. The full moon had a way of drawing the wolf in all of them out, even those who had mastered their ability to change forms. For those who hadn't, the process could be a rough ride.

"I might like that too much," he told her with a wink.

She rolled her eyes and gave him a shove into the cage so she could close the door behind him.

"Keep it in your pants, kid," she told him.

"When will I be able to run with you guys?" he asked as he stripped his shirt off.

"Just as soon as you can learn to control yourself when the change is on you," she explained. "I'll come let you out in the morning."

"Don't forget me down here," he called after her as she headed for the steps.

"Forget what?" she called.

"You're a bitch, you know that?" he yelled back.

"You know it," she yelled over her shoulder.

She left him to the cellar alone, and he could feel the change nearing. It wouldn't be long now.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

2 weeks later...

Baron was down in the cellar working at one of the cage doors with a welding gun where a rusty hinge had given out the other week. He hadn't gotten the time to come down and fix it, but after Jason had nearly gotten loose last full moon it needed to get done.

With the welding helmet on and the sparks flying from the hinges of the gate he didn't even hear Julienne shouting for him upstairs until the door banged open.

"Baron!"

He turned the welding gun off and lifted the face shield of the helmet as he turned around. Julienne looked aghast as she stood at the head of the stairs and was holding one hand over several long rends in her left arm.

"What happened?" he asked as he put the gun down and took the helmet off.

"It's Jason, he changed. I tried to follow him but I lost his trail when he crossed into Luskonios. He's out there somewhere, alone," she blurted out. Her face was pale, and the rends in her arm deep as blood dripped steadily from where she was gripping at the wound with her hand to slow the bleeding.

"Get yourself cleaned up and stay here," Baron told her as he started shedding his clothes even as he took to the stairs.

"What? No I'm coming with-"

"You'll stay here," he growled.

His words turned to the throaty snarl of a wolf as he fell to all fours, his body contorting until it was a wolf that bounded up the final steps. He shoved the door open with his snout and took off into the city in search of Jason.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

Present day...

Baron descended down the steps, pulling his clothes on as he went. He had returned only moments ago from his run with Ragenard when Vanessa had informed him that Carlisle and Julienne where down here, and that there had been some sort of trouble. It was revving up to be a long night from the looks of things. At his back trailed Snow, whom he had invited down.

It was easy to mistake Snow for a kid, but truth be told he hadn't been a kid for some time now, and he proven that in the days of late. It was more than that though. He had begun to shown an initiative and a willingness to enforce, but he hadn't succumbed to the pack mentality that often gripped their kind. He had a good head on his shoulders and a touch of morality that was needed if a pack was to maintain its humanity. It was time he started treating the kid like an adult.

"What happened?" Baron asked as he reached the cellar.

Julienne was laying on her stomach on one of the cots while Jesse swabbed the bits of metal that had grafted to her flesh. A small tray of tools sat on a chair next to him and he retrieved a scalpel and a pair of tweezers to begin the tedious process of removing the metal from her flesh.

Carlisle meanwhile was seated on the second cot waiting his turn when Baron reached them.

"We ran into trouble on the way back. Elliot didn't make it. A man - or machine really - pulled a knife on us. There was another, on the rooftops somewhere, but I didn't get a look at him. We were blind-sided. I didn't smell wolf, I don't think it was a rival pack."

"I didn't smell anything either," Carlisle seconded. "Nothing familiar."

"Fuck me," Julienne hissed through grit teeth as Jesse pulled one of the metal shards from her skin and dropped it into a metal tin on the floor next to the cot.. "I hadn't smelled or seen anything like it before. It wasn't human. It looked like a robot of some sort-" she broke off as she bit out a string of expletives as a second piece of metal joined the first in the tin.

"A new weapon of the Ardelean Society maybe?" Carlisle asked.

"It's possible, but we need more information before we jump to conclusions. Snow, I want you and Julienne to head out after Jesse is done here. You two are our best trackers. Don't engage it, but I want to know where it came from. If it's Ardelean, they've finally gone too far."

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

1 week later...

Jesse helped Re'Altarm down the steps of the cellar with one arm around her waist. Her good arm was slung around his shoulder to help support her.

"Easy... watch the step there," he told her.

The bar upstairs had been empty when they arrived, still closed for the afternoon. The cellar itself didn't exactly look homely, and the only sleeping arrangements available where the old cot that had been setup in one of the two iron cages that made up the far wall.

"I imagine there's some prisons that are more comfortable than this place, but I promise, it's just until you're through the woods and we're sure you have control of yourself. The doors won't be locked until right before your first transformation. You're not a prisoner," he reassured her.

The rows of wine casks and racks of bottled alcohol helped alleviate the 'prison' feel of the cellar, but it was still a dingy cellar no matter how you looked at it.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Knosis

Re'Altarm groaned with every movement made. Her fever had grown worse, as promised. She would have never have made it this far into the cellar on her own, so she leaned heavily on Jesse for support. She had begun hallucinating at times and if her mind was not kept busy, there were days the pain had caused her to clench her fist enough to make her palm bleed.

As soon as she got to the cot in one of the two cages, she nearly collapsed. "N-not that I'll b-be going far.. In the condition I'm in.." She murmured. This was one of her more lucid times. She had started switching between her native language, common, and Quelish as she spoke, which made understanding her really difficult at times.

"I f-find this place.. Quite charming actually.." She mustered up the jest. "Just throw up a few drops of p-paint and I'd say we'd have a fine bedroom down here.." She chuckled tiredly.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

Jesse chuckled lightly. "I'm sure Baron will be glad to hear it," he answered. "He's the guy who owns this place. He's our Pack Leader here. He'll be yours to, if you decide to stay."

He retrieved a wash cloth from a small table stand and lightly wet it from a bucket of ice he had brought down earlier to melt while he was bringing Re'Altarm over from Cornell's. It had melted down into a slush of chilled water and would see much use in the days to come with trying to keep her fever down. He lay the damp cloth across her forehead to help cool her.

"He'll probably be down to see you later."

 

[Tiko]

as written by Knosis

"I-if he decides to keep me, that is.." She said quietly. She had already made up her mind to stay with Jesse in hopes to some day repay the kindness that he had shown her, which meant choosing the pack of his choice. But it was ultimately up to the pack leader who was to come and who was to stay.

She shivered under the damp cloth. "Oh..? But I'm not dressed for the occasion.." She mocked a pout. She winced as her arm throbbed. "I do appreciate it, though.. Him l-letting me stay here.. The hospital was getting a bit drab.. I'm pretty sure I counted the same 30 ceiling tiles about a million times."

She closed her eyes, weariness showing by now.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

Several days passed and Re'Altarm had yet to meet the aforementioned, Baron. Jesse hadn't brought it up again either. Others came and went, a woman named Julienne, and a man named Carlisle where the most frequent in their appearances. Both took regular shifts in sitting with her and helping to offer what physical comfort they could as Re'Altarm grew sicker. A glass of water, a cool rag, a helping hand to eat when she could stomach it... there was no shortage of hands to provide whatever she needed.

Carlisle was friendly enough, but seemed somewhat aloof in his efforts to keep conversation brief during her more lucid periods. Julienne on the other hand seemed downright standoffish. She outright avoided engaging in discussion with Re'Altarm, and there was an air of reluctance to the both of them.

Jesse had assured Re'Altarm that it wasn't anything she had done, and that they where just wary of outsiders. It seemed more than that though. Julienne in particular seemed downright aggitated by the whole matter. And through it all there was still no sign of Baron.

It was Carlisle who kept an eye onher today,, but he rose from his nearby seat as Jesse descended the steps into the cellar.

"Hey, how's she holding up?" Jesse asked.

"She's strong. It won't be long now though, a few days at most.You may not want to be here when it happens," Carlisle warned Jesse.

It hadn't been hard to ascertain that Jesse was getting personally invested into Re'Altarm's well-being, much as the pack had with Jason's five years prior. None of the pack wanted to see Jesse crushed by this if Re'Altarm didn't survive.

Jesse shook his head though. "No, I told her I would stay with her when the time comes. I don't want her going through this alone like I did."

"The pack will be with her, " Carlisle reminded him.

Jesse shook his head again. "I want to be here."

"Alright. I'm going to get going. She's been incoherent most of the day, the fever has her now. She asked for you a few times though," Carlisle said before heading back upstairs and leaving Jesse to sit with Re'Altarm.

Her condition was rapidly worsening, and her fever raging, but it was nearing an end. Another two days, three tops.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Knosis

Re'Altarm panted heavily in the cot, her eyes darting this way and that in her sleep. Sleep was scarce enough before, as nothing stopped the pain for long, and now that the fever ruled her mind as well making it near impossible. She woke with a start, her eyes opening wide as the memory of the nightmare faded, but her mind was still playing tricks on her.

The girl was muttered incoherently, speaking mostly in her native language, but would bounce to common for a word or two before going back to her native language. She groaned as she tried to brush herself off, as if spiders were crawling on her. Whimpering, she climbed out of the cot slowly and huddled in a corner.

The burning inside her threatened to consume her now. "Jesse.." She whimpered. "Where are you.."

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

"I'm right here," Jesse said.

He knelt down next to her and took one of her hands in his own while moving the other around her waist to try and help her up and back towards the cot. Even with his heightened body temperature, he could feel the heat radiating off her skin.

"But I need you to lie back down, you need to keep your strength up," he told her.

 

[Tiko]

a written by Knosis

"Noo.. No no no.. T-they'll.. They'll get me.. They're coming after me.." She whined, fighting weakly against Jesse but to no avail. She was too weak to even attempt to fight back.

"J-jesse, d-don't let them.. Take me away, okay..?" She whimpered. She clung to him, desperation in her gaze. "I don't wanna leave you, please don't make me go away.. I love you.." Tears rolled down her cheeks dripped off her chin as she laid back into the cot. She laid back, her eyes rolling. Her breath came in quick spurts and she shivered as if she were in frigid cold.

She murmured something in her native language, but Jesse could see the light shift in her eyes as she slowly came to realization of her senses. "J-jesse... H-hey.. How long have you.. Been here..?" She asked quietly. "I'm so cold.."

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

"I know, we're trying to keep your fever down," he told her.

He picked up a wash cloth and dipped it in a bowl of cool water before using it to mop up the sweat from her forehead. If they didn't keep her temperature down, she would be risking brain damage. Their kind could tolerate much higher temperatures than a human, but her body was still adjusting and despite the chills that wracked her body, her fever was raging.

"Just try to get some more sleep, alright?"

He knew she would be beyond the point of sleep soon, and she could use whatever relief she could get for now to keep her strength up.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Knosis

She held on to him still and nodded her head, giving him one long look. "I'm scared.." She whispered. She wasn't sure when or if she would be lucid enough to speak to Jesse. "T-thank you.. Y-you've been a great companion.." She managed a small smile.

She closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to another uneasy dream.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

Two days later and Jesse was back in the cellar with her, having scarcely left more than a few hours here and there. He lay the back of his hand against her face to feel her temperature. It was still running hot, but her fever was breaking. It wouldn't be long now at all. An hour or two at most.

Unfortunately with lucidity came all the pain that was being wrought on her body.

Every breath, ever twitch of a muscle, or shift of her head was agonizing. She might not be delirious with fever anymore, but this kind of pain was enough to drive anyone mad.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Knosis

The weeks leading up to this point had been bad for the girl. But of all the fever, delusions, and pain she had to deal with before now paled in comparison.

This was hell on earth to her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she pondered the possibility that she had died.

Breathing came in short bursts, every breath making her cry out until her voice had nearly gone. Now she made only weak whimpers and whines. Touches, smells, changes in light also was painful. Now she didn't care if she lived or died. She just wanted an end.

 

[Tiko]

as written by Tiko

The weeks leading up to this point had been bad for the girl. But of all the fever, delusions, and pain she had to deal with before now paled in comparison.

This was hell on earth to her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she pondered the possibility that she had died.

Breathing came in short bursts, every breath making her cry out until her voice had nearly gone. Now she made only weak whimpers and whines. Touches, smells, changes in light also was painful. Now she didn't care if she lived or died. She just wanted an end.