A new day rose once again and Soulen slowly woke up from her slumber once more. The fatigue had finally caught up to her which made sense since she had been up and about non-stop for days now.
Though she didn't need to sleep, her fatigue still slowly built up due to her being half human as well. Nonetheless, she was awake now, and the first thing she saw were the three infected she had used for her experiment, stare up at the corolla.
Upon seeing her move and get up, their attention shifted to her and they soon went into a knight bow stance on one knee. This gesture caught Soulen by surprise; causing her to tilt her head to the side in confusion.
A pledge of loyalty? Had their intelligence risen that high after the experiment?
"We.... greet..... our maker...." The female spoke up as Soulen's left eyes glowed dimly
It seemed the experiment was a success. They weren't regular infected anymore. Reborn as Revenants, she could see the two flowers that were on each side of their shoulder. This also gave her the idea turning regular infected to Revenants was different from turning humans to Revenants. Then again, she wasn't so sure if it was all too different. She had not tested on an alive or near the brink of death person before.
"....." Soulen stayed silent before walking towards the three of them and placing her hand above the three.
The vines from the tree slowly stretched and grew towards her before wrapping around their bodies; connecting them to the tree. Once that was done, she dropped her hand and grunted for them to stand up which they did without question
Their loyalty was something she'd have to get used to, and the respect and fear in their eyes of her made her worry slightly. She was basically their mother, Queen and creator. It was a weird thought.
"May.....w-we ask for names....My Queen?" One of the males spoke as she held her chin in thought.
They either forgot their old names or remember but threw it away. And so she paced around for a few minutes, thinking of a proper name for them.
She called one Virgil. The other male Snow. And finally the female Vira. Which they nodded in unison. Seemingly happy about their names.
Once that was settled and done, Soulen began to slowly pace around on what to do next now that her and the corolla's theory worked. She turned to face the three of them as a single thought entered her mind.
Combat...
She wasn't sure if they could fight, and with how their future would be in the long run, they will have more enemies than they will imagine; Both from humanity and from the infected. After all, they would soon be considered a new race than a mutation from the infected. Especially when they see the infected fighting them as well.
"First.....train....fight...." Soulen explains as the three of them look to each other. She orders them to follow her to a somewhat open area before telling them to ready themselves.
As they did, Soulen got into her own fighting position and within a few seconds, she charged right at them. It wasn't as hard as she thought to take them down as their movement were still very sluggish and wide which was the winning factor of her knocking them down to the ground. it also made her aware of her own movements. though ten times better than them, her movement were still a bit weird and uncoordinated; possibly due to her posture and walk style. This training wasn't only going to be for them it seems, but for her as well. And so they continued this routine of theirs for not just hours but days. Training none stop and grasping the reality of their strengths and limitations.
There was an incident that nearly happened when training when training was happening where, after excessive and non-stop fight practice. The flowers on their shoulder; the glow it emitted slowly dimmed out. and at this point, they lost control of their bodies. Soulen had to quickly summon a flower near them so the spores would rejuvenate them once more; giving them their rationality back. It was an interesting discovery that she would keep in mind in the future.
After a month or more of training and understanding and strengthening their bond, they felt more confident in themselves. And thus, ended their long training routine.
Currently, they sat at the bottom of the corolla either resting their head or just enjoying small chatters among themselves. But eventually, one of them rose up and walked towards Soulen. She looked up to Vira who had approached her and gave a small smile as Vira sat beside her.
"Mistress.... I felt a wave of infected gathering at a certain location. a horde seems to be forming in that area to move....somewhere." Vira says gently as Soulen tilts her head to the side gently for a bit in thought.
"Hmm...that is interesting indeed.." Soulen said as she stands up and dusts her outfit slightly from the accumulated filth.
"Then i guess...we.....should go...." Soulen says gently as the others slowly rose up and walked towards her.
Once everyone had gathered near her, the vines around began to grow towards them, wrapping them up in a cocoon. And by the time it opened once again, they were outside.
A few hours passed and they had made it to the location Vira had spoken about earlier. And just like she said. There were a huge amount of infected gathered at this point. A huge horde like this could level a settlement if they were not prepared enough. And Soulen wondered where they would be going after all. She planned on sticking around regardless.
As they moved, some of the infected turned to their gaze but soon lost interest and quietly waited or fell asleep on the spot. As they continued to walk, they were eventually stopped by a huge mutant. It stared down at them as soulen and her guardians just stared blankly at it. It was quite big, roughly 10 feets tall and a hulking muscle mass. Its right hand was a rather strong metallic arm while what looked like a missile launcher was stuck on the left side of his shoulder. From what she could recall, there was a mutant that fit this description. Its name was IRON ARM.
What a laid back name.....
".....Can.....you.....move?" Soulen replied in the mutant tongue. It grunted for a moment and turned as though it wanted yo move. but then turned around and smacked soulen towards the building with a heavy hit.
Vira, Snow and Virgil all called out to her with worry as they jumped back and ran torwards their mistress.
With a pained grunt, Soulen stood up and shoved off the small rubbles that were on her shoulder with a few cut marks on her skin. The mutant; Iron arm, Stared at her before adjusting the launcher on his shoulder while aiming at Soulen.
Two missiles flew out of the launcher and rapidly zoned in on their location. But soulen summoned her vines to pierce them mid-flight causing a huge explosion to happen.
As the dust began to settle, Soulen's right eyes glowed a deep shade of blue while she stared intently at the mutant before her.
"I....am going...make you.....regret that....." Soulen spoke as the vines began darting towards the mutant. It growled and grunted gently before digging into the ground and using the earth to stop the vines. Then it jumped toward soulen's direction once more and attempted to use its metallic arm to slam at her.
With her vine, she blocked the impact of his attack before smacking him backwards with her vines. It clearly was smarter. it had been a while she melt such a smart one. the last mutant was the one that attacked her at the military base when she was still a human. Ah maybe considering the gate defense while she was at camp bound. But that was by the way.
She stressed out her hand and the vine formed into a sword infront of her. Since she had lost her sword, this was going to be her new replacement for the time being till she either can make her own or get another one. Once she grabbed the weapon, she dashed towards the mutant and began slashing away at it while it responded with using its metallic arm to defend or attack back.
Their fight continued for a few minutes; with both sides eventually injuring each other. That was when she noticed it. a flower had formed at its chest. she jumped back and stared at it ass the flower bloomed; spores coming out from it. some of them flew towards her which instantly healed her wounds. making her now back to peak performance. It truly was a cheat of an ability. But what was intriguing was the fact that a blue spore this time flew out. and as she absorbed it, an ability began to register in her mind instantly. She could also tell how many times he could use it before it fades.
With this in mind, she knew what she should do now and wasted no time in carrying it. She dropped her sword and ran straight at the mutant once more as it charged up its launcher and shot at it. this time three missiles flew out. She dodged the first one easily; her acrobatic skills coming into use once more, then the second one that came she slide right below it. they two flew into a nearby building and blew up, causing the other infected to either be blown away or just stare at the destruction. The third missile that flew towards the vine she had summoned. Once the dust settled once more, she was running ontop the vine which she soon jumped up to around the mutants height and crashed down with her fist. This was the ability she had learnt from the blue spore and it caused the ground to crack and rumble instantly, causing everyone to tumble and fall down; including the mutant; iron arm.
Once it fell, Soulen could be seen once more in the air, her right hand with blue veins glowing dimly as she came crashing down on its face. Once her fist connected, its head exploded into a puddle of blue blood staining her outfit.
Once it died, she stood upright before giving a loud roar causing all the infected around to look at her and walk towards her direction.
As she got down, another mutant walked up towards her. but this time she could feel no killing intent from him. It simply stared at the corpse infront of him then at the amount of infected that had gathered before staring at Soulen.
He was quite tall. around 10ft in height. he was also quite mucluar; holding a giant mallet over his shoulder. It simply stated that she had caused alot of trouble which soulen crossed her arms and heaved a sigh. Another smarter mutant. This just confirmed her passing thought.
There were mutants who possessed great intelligence. Mutants that humanity had yet to see. Including her own special case.
Now, Because of the current situation of things, they would have to wait for more infected to gather towards their location. And once that happens, they would begin their hunt to wherever the wind blew them
At some point she began to wonder.....
....Has she truly lost her sight to the path of salvation....?