I woke up knowing nothing. Twelve years old, I was twelve years old.

The first memory I had was opening my eyes and seeing the sky. It was dull and dim, and the gray clouds covered the sun, the only source of light. I got up. I seemed to know how to speak monster, and English too. I could still walk, still could empathize. So I wasn’t badly injured, was I?

After sitting up, I saw a little puddle. I gazed into it, and a reflection looked back at me. I touched my face, and so did the reflection.

That was me.

I was alone; no one was there. I still had my clothes on, but what caught my attention was the cap I had on; a name was written on it.

Jax.

Lost, I decided my name was Jax. What else could it be? I didn’t have any other information, and why would I be wearing a hat that said Jax if my name wasn’t Jax? I rubbed my face, and it wasn’t a face I was familiar with. 

I felt completely lost, basically like a kid in a whole forest he’s never been in before. He has no recognition of the forest, all he has is himself, his wit, and his skill. That’s exactly how I felt.

I prowled through the grass barefoot. There was a huge mountainscape to my left, and a river to my right. And in the middle of the grasslands was me. The wind was cool and breezy, and my hair ruffled in the breeze. I threw on my hood knowing my hat would fly away.

My hat, it was really important to me. It had my name on it and was my only clue about who I was. So I held it to my chest as I walked. I had nothing else to do but walk. I didn’t have a plan anyway, what was I going to do?

I looked at a star in the sky. It was at the center, shining boldly. I kept my eyes on it as I walked; it always stayed there, never lost. It was like a symbol of hope, to look up and make a new choice.

If I was going to start out like this, with absolutely no information and absolutely no identity, then I was going to make one. At the end of the grassland the mountain turned, and I saw a cave in the mountain, really large and deep, probably ten of me would need to stack up to touch the ceiling. I walked in, and to my relief, it was completely dry. 

I decided that this was where I was going to stay for now. I rolled a log in place, and started a cozy little fire. I hunched down, deep in thought.

My name is Jax, I was 12 years old, and my life starts here.

Poke… poke. I saw stars, flying stars. I heard a ringing loud in my head.

Ugh, what was I doing?! 

I bolted upright in a strange place. I felt a cold tingle on my fur. Speaking of which, why did I feel that? I felt my shoulder.

My jacket! It was gone!! Oh, nononono. Crap. I’m really screwed, aren’t I,  I thought to myself. My blue and fluffy jacket was my most prized possession. I started panicking a bit, I had no idea where I was or what I was doing? Stop, breathe, okay, think… Where was I? I looked around. I saw bars in front of me. Bars?! I thrusted on them, rattling them. 

I was in a cage!

“It’s about time you woke up,” someone said. I flinched. I thought it must have been my captor or something, but when I turned around, I saw another guy. Right next to me was a tall, skinny monster; a young adult maybe, and he was also in a cage. 

“Who are you?! What are you doing here?!” I blabbered. Then, I stopped. I can’t really describe it, but I felt this sense of deja vu, like I met him before. The guy next to me looked vaguely familiar. And his smell, he smelled like something from my youth. Oh, what was I thinking? It’s probably one of those stupid memories that your brain makes up from time to time. I was kinda gawking at him, and he kinda looked at me too. There was a metal stick in his hand.

“Did you… did you poke me with that? How long was I asleep?” I asked him, pointing at the stick. He smiled, a warm smile. Oh good, because he looked like he wanted to kill me beforehand.

“Yeah, I tried to get you to wake up. You’ve been asleep here for about maybe about two days.”

“TWO DAYS?!” I shrieked.

He nodded. “That’s normal, since you were probably captured by some humans, you were just recovering.”

“Captured by humans? I was never captured by humans,” I said shortly.

He paused when I said that, in thought. “I don’t know how you got here then, but you were just thrown up here two days ago.” He returned to fidget with his hands. Okay, that helps. Thanks a lot, I thought. I sighed. Captured by humans, what was he thinking?

Then it flooded back.

I remembered the last time I was conscious was at this base in Hiroshima, Japan. See, I’m a monster from another planet, and I remember I was at this huge base in Japan, where I was caught by this human guy. I was with two other friends, and the human threatened to get rid of me and my friends. I told him to just kill me and spare the other two. Surprisingly he agreed, and later I was sent to this huge monster. He was massive. He looked like a white, saber tooth tiger with wings and horns and green eyes. He had huge, burly arms and huge black claws. He roared when I arrived, and lunged onto me. Then blackness. 

I couldn’t remember anything after that. I thought I died. But I was here, alive. I was breathing and had a pulse.

Okay, okay. Reconsidering the situation, I didn’t die. So what happened? Maybe, the monster was in charge of keeping me in check while the human dealt with my friends, and maybe he didn’t eat me, but just knocked me out. I should have been unconscious by then, and the humans must’ve shipped me here. I didn’t smell the smells of Hiroshima though, not bustling city smells, it smelled like grass here.

Where was I?

Answers, maybe I could get answers. The guy next to me seemed to have answers. I looked at him. He was picking his nails with what looked like a knife. I kinda edged away from him after that. Not a sign of good character. Also, his overall appearance was already like, I’m an emo, stay away from me. He was clad everywhere besides his face. He had thick eyebrows (the right one had two piercings), maroon eyes, and a thin snout. He had a hat on that said Jax. He wore a black hoodie, and had ripped jeans. He turned to me, and I internally skipped a heartbeat, I realized I’ve been staring at him.

“You have something to say?” He asked, with raised eyebrows.

“No. No, I’m okay.” I said. I edged to the corner of the cage, tucked my knees to my chest, and hung my head. 

What was I going to do?

There was a kid next to me. Black, curly hair, floppy, big ears, short snout, light green stripes, and a mane that resembled a venus flytrap. He had green fur, and he wore nothing. I suddenly noticed that, and he was shivering. His head was lowered. He was kinda sad to watch, huddled there. 

“Are you cold?” I asked. He looked at me.

“I fine… a bit I guess,”

“Here,” I ripped off my hoodie; I had a T-shirt under it. “You can wear this if you want.” I snuck it between the bars. He stared at me, then looked at it. “You don’t have to be scared of me; I’m not gonna kill you,” I joked. He didn’t get it though and kept staring at me. I nudged it to him again, but the darn kid wouldn't move. I sighed, rubbed my face and stared into the opening. It was a cold, dark room. Sick place this was. I was sent here about a week ago. Humans captured me and flew me down here from my planet, which they referred to as M-1655. Now, here I am, going insane in a cold, bare cage.

Come on, stop fooling around Jax. It’s been a week, find a way to get out, I told myself over and over again. I’ve tried everything: lock picking, cutting the bars, scaring the humans and taking their keys… or just taking their keys. But it was all impossible.

Then I looked at that kid again, that sad, sad figure. Finally, he wore the hoodie I gave him, and his shivering ceased. I tried to start a conversation with him.

“What’s your name-”

“What’s yours?” he snapped instantly. I raised my eyebrows, he turned away from me. Silence. “Onji,” he muttered finally.

“Your name’s Onji?”

“Yes, Onji!” He spat. “What’s yours now?” He motioned to me. I was a bit surprised with his manner.  But looking at our position, I understood.

“Jax,” I said, subconsciously touching my hat. It sort of identified with who I am.

“Okay, cool,” Onji said. He turned away to stare in the distance. Taking a deep breath, I looked off to the other side. 

A week. A week of emptiness, loneliness, anger, and introspection. The humans barely fed us, only small scraps for breakfast and dinner. 

Why were they capturing us, I don’t know. But I needed to find out, I needed answers. Most importantly, I needed to get the kid out. The kid, I instantly felt a connection with him. Just something in my heart that told me I needed to give this kid his freedom, and I needed to protect him and get him back to our planet safely. Strangely, I think I knew Onji. But I couldn’t confirm any suspicions yet, not so early.

I didn’t try everything yet, there was one more way I could get Onji and I out.

I turned away from Jax. He was really strange, trying to talk to me. It felt so pushy, all these forced conversations. And he had this edge vibe I really didn’t like, so I tried responding in short sentences to make him shut up.

I felt so lost. Even with the hoodie, I felt empty, I felt cold. 

I felt so...lonely.

So I hunkered down at the side of the cage, staring at the wall to my left. It was blank and empty. I turned my face away from Jax so he couldn’t see my eyes. I could taste salty tears running down my cheeks. Hated to admit it, but I was afraid. I really felt idle and hopeless. Like I was sinking in quicksand, like I’d never see the sun again. 

Suddenly, I heard a groan. I wiped the tears with the hoodie sleeve, and turned to Jax. He had his hand raised. He seemed to be activating some sort of power or something, ‘cause he kinda looked constipated. I snickered a bit. Strange, because I never felt a smile on my face for a long time.

“What are you doing?” I asked him. I stared at him for a while, but he didn't respond. Whatever, I thought to myself, and returned to staring at the wall.

Creak! Creeeeaaak! I heard the bars of my jail groaning. It was disturbing in the eerie silence of the prison, it sounded like a scream. Slowly, I noticed that the bars on my jail were bending in opposite directions. Slowly, but surely. What?! I leaped to the edge of my cage and looked down. No one was there. Before I knew it the bars were already split wide open, enough space for me to squeeze through.

I heard Jax groan again. I whipped my head towards him, and he was breathing heavily. His hand, still suspended in the air, was glowing.

I hollered. “Jax, how did you—”

“Shut up,” he said, regaining his breath. He pointed towards the door to my right. I could hear distinctive chatter inside the room. “Humans.” I realized he was right. Stupid me, why did I do that?

After regaining his breath, Jax told me, “I have the power to manipulate metal.” The glow of his hand diminished and I looked at him in awe. More awkward staring. “Well, what are you waiting for? Get out,” he told me.

“Oh, right.” I looked down. It would take an impressive leap to get down there. My cage was high in the air. Just jump, I told myself. I closed my eyes and squeezed through. Then I fell, down and down to the ground.

“Land on your feet!” I heard Jax say while falling. But my body didn’t respond. I was panicking, the drop seemed endless. Before I could even react, I splatted on the ground, belly flat on the cold cement.

“What did I say?” I heard Jax mumble. Crap, I’d never do that again. Then I realized it. I was out. Heck, I was out! I wasn’t in a cage anymore. I could stand up fully without hitting my head. 

Free. It was such a foreign word. I was free. I looked up to Jax, he was staring down at his hands.

“Are you gonna get down?” I asked him. Surely, he wouldn't do that just for me.

“Yeah, wait. I’ll do it later.” He looked at me. “No actually, you get out first. I’ll take a while.”

“No, I’ll wait.” I paused and waited for him. It’d be selfish not to. Then my stomach did a backflip. I had to say it, didn’t I?

“Thank you,” I said. I didn’t see his reaction, too embarrassed to look honestly. Silence. Finally, I looked at him, he looked at me. He smiled, and so did I.

So I sat there, waiting for him. He didn’t take that long, about five minutes. After expanding the bars he jumped out and readjusted their position so it looked like nothing happened.

“C’mon Onji, we have to find our way out,” he said, motioning for me to come. I trotted along. 

Why didn’t I do that earlier? I guess I thought that the limited amount of food gave me little energy, so using my powers would be almost impossible. I never really used them anyway, so I almost forgot about them.

I heard Onji’s claws on the ground. Click, click, click. “Onji, you have to be quiet.” I said, turned my head back to him. “You know that a base like this is gonna have security cameras and humans everywhere, right?” I raised my eyebrow at him, realizing I was very fond of doing that.

“Oh yeah, right,” he replied. He looked down at his paws, carefully placing one after the other. I rolled my eyes and smiled.

“That doesn’t mean you have to go at the speed of a snail,” I told him.

“You want me to do this and do that?! Make up your mind!” he snapped. I stopped walking. Turned to him. “Sorry,” he mumbled. I looked back again, scanning the room. It was bare, with only the cages behind us. There was a door to my right. I turned to look there, wondering.

I recalled I was in the monster base, located in what looked like to be America. It’s a really secretive, science base. No science base would be empty, this place was probably full of information. Information, I really needed that. Humans have mysteriously been capturing us for years, how have they been able to keep it so secret from the monster population? My brain was spinning. If I got out alive, then I could tell the world the secrets. I could finally help everyone back there end this injustice. We could fight off the humans!

But I couldn’t just leave Onji now, could I? I’d be stalling and cheating on his freedom, wouldn't I? I mulled these questions over in my head. I looked at the door again, scanning it. 

My pack!

The humans took away my traveling pack, the one that carried most of my essentials. Now I saw it right there, leaning against the wall right next to the doorway. I rushed there.

“What are you doing?” Onji asked me. I went to the pack, digging at it. I knew I shouldn’t take the whole pack, otherwise the humans would get suspicious. But I needed food. I was starving, my ribs were probably protruding out of my shirt. My hands dug greedily for the food I put there. 

I sat down, back against the wall. I got a huge bag of dried meat. Opening it, I got a handful and shoved it in my mouth. I was wolfing it down kinda greedily, then I looked up and saw Onji. He was looking at me funny.

“You want some?” I asked him, holding my hand full of meat to him.

“Yeah, sure. But not from that,” he said, pointing at my hand. He walked to the bag and took some out. Then he turned around and started gulping it down. I shrugged, and finished the rest of my handful. I stood up and waited for Onji.

“Don’t eat the whole thing,” I remarked. “We need to save food for later too.”

“I know,” he said, still gulping down the food. Poor kid, probably hasn’t eaten forever. I stood up, crossed my arms, closed my eyes, and laid my head back against the wall. Thoughts kept swimming through my head.

It was hard, making choices. Especially choices like these. Dilemmas, if you will. I could either get Onji and I out, or I could stay back and look for information. Onji probably wasn’t capable of getting himself out, so I decided I’d have to stick with him. For his own safety. But my curiosity was eating up my brain. Valuable documents could be hidden here. Not just about humans and their association with monsters,

But my past.

I woke up, 12 years old, knowing nothing. Nothing at all. I’ve always wanted to find out who I was, and I never got the chance until now. If they recorded the files of every single monster, which I’m assuming they do, then I could find mine. 

When I woke up knowing nothing, I looked at my wrist. I saw it, a number. Faintly glowing on my arm. A stamp. A stamp that slowly faded away and disappeared into nothing. But it never disappeared in my mind. I knew my number. I knew which one I was.

Subject-1057.

Dried meat sucked. But I guess it was food, better than eating nothing at all. After a while I finished, and I turned to Jax, trying to get his attention that I was done. But his eyes were closed, and he was resting his head back on the wall. He seemed tired. I looked in his pack for other things. Maybe we should’ve just taken the whole pack, it seemed to have a bunch of valuable stuff inside. I saw first aid stuff, water canteens, and another kit. I grabbed it and tried opening it up.

Jax opened his eyes, and saw I grabbed the kit. “HEY! Don’t play with that!” he ordered. I flinched and looked at him, but it was already open. I saw an assortment of daggers, arranged from shortest to longest. They were all silver, and wickedly sharp. He took it from me and shoved it back in the pack.

“The food and water’s all we need. Don’t mess with it,” said Jax, closing the pack. “We want to leave minimal evidence about what happened.”

“We already left the cages, obviously they’re gonna know we escaped.”

“But we shouldn’t be giving every clue about what we’re doing and where we’re headed,” Jax concluded. Fair enough, I guessed. Jax turned and gazed at the distance, deep in thought. What was he always thinking about though? Why was he always so distracted?

“Jax, are we going to get out? Yes or no?” I asked, a bit impatient.

“Oh what? Yeah, we will.” He rubbed his face, then looked up to think a bit. “Onji, do you ever think about your past—”

“How do you know about my past—”

“I don’t,” he said a little too quickly. Pausing, he gathered his words. “It’s just that, you know the humans, right?”

“Yeah, who doesn’t.”

“Do you ever wonder why? Like, why do they capture us? Why monsters disappear but no one remembers? Why are they taking us from our planet and putting us in cages if we did nothing wrong?”

“‘Cause humans are jerks, that’s why,” I answered. “Can we go now?”

“No, it’s not that. Who would want to spend all that money, making these bases, storing these files, saving every file of every monster born?”

“How do you know all this?” I questioned.

“Because I’ve had my experiences,” he retorted, clear that we weren’t going to discuss how he knew all this. “Just, like, don’t you want to find out why?”

“Not really,” I muttered. “I just want to get out. We can focus on the attacking and discovering later.” Jax turned his head, gave me a long look. He looked stern, but almost disappointed.

“Okay, if that’s what you want,” he whispered. He walked away, looking down. I looked up at him leaving. What was it that made it so interesting? If you knew humans were bad, then humans were bad. We stop them, and they’re defeated. Then all the monsters are free. We didn’t have to find every single detail, didn’t we?

Then it hit me.

It was a base for monsters run by humans. Obviously, they’d be recording some information, right? Maybe if I snuck around, I could find information about my parents… 

“Jax… Jax!” I called.

“Yes?” He said, barely turning to me.

“Yeah, maybe we can look around. Try and find some stuff. So when we get back, we can tell everyone what’s going on.” A smile crept up his face.

“You sure? I can get you out first if you want.”

“Yeah I’m sure. Can we do it now?” 

“Well, okay,” he said. He smiled bigger now. What was wrong with him? Geez, I’d never get excited to read a bunch of files. But since my parents were involved, I’d do it. I’d do anything to find them.

Maybe there’s something Jax wants to find out too, for himself, I thought, so he was really eager to search the files.

“But Onji, it’s going to be risky. If we’re gonna poke around the humans’ files, we have to be extra cautious. We can’t let them know we’re doing it.”

“Oh yeah. But how can we do that, if you say there’s security cameras everywhere?”

“We’ll do it fast, and I can destroy the security cameras I guess. Then we’ll book it before anyone finds out. Let’s come up with a plan first. I think I know where the space jets are. If we can just get to that room, then we can get one of the jets and get out.”

“Well, obviously you don’t know how to use those jets,” I snickered.

“You never know, maybe I could,” he remarked. “Whatever, I’ll learn along the way. The point is, we cannot be found. If we are, we’ll die.”

“Well that’s harsh.”

“But it’s true. So, we’ll do it fast, and we won't look for anything unnecessary. You understand me?”

“Yeah,” I muttered. “Can you tell me the plan now?”

“There’s really no plan. But, I guess we’ll just sneak around. I’m pretty sure the jet room is right next to the entrance. When the humans were taking me here, I saw the layout of this base. This jail room is all the way at the back, deep underground. We’ll have to go up, then straight. There will be the entrance, or exit, whatever you call it. The jet room should be at the right. We’ll take one, and we’ll fly out.

“We’ll also make a detour to the main room. The main room has all the files. They were pretty stupid to take me there. So I immediately knew where all the files were kept because I can read English.”

“You can?!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah, no big deal. Some monsters can read, write, and speak English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish; a bunch of human languages.”

“Yeah,” I looked down at the cement ground. “Can we start now?”

“That’s what I was going to do.”

I made a promise, didn’t I? I told Onji that we couldn’t be caught, we won't look for anything unnecessary. I told him we’d be looking for information for the human-monster problem, not anything about me or my past.

I felt so angry, yet I felt kinda selfish, conflicted. Like my own desires grabbed one arm, and the right choice grabbed me by the other. I was getting pulled apart like a ragdoll, my brain shattering into bits. I had to push a heavy heart aside. It wasn't about me, it was for the monsters.

For Onji.

I couldn’t afford to let Onji see my emotions. He depended on me, and I couldn’t lose his trust, since I could already tell he didn’t like me so much. But that’s fine, I’m pretty used to it. Heck, I’m a guy who has a kit filled with knives and lives in a cave, who wouldn't be scared at first?

I led Onji up the U-shaped stairs. They kept going up, almost an eternity of going, up and up. Onji trotted along at the back, I led at the front. Taking one step after another over and over again until the process was ingrained in my brain.

Finally, we reached the next floor. 

“It smells better here. Less humid and more like fresh air,” said Onji, sniffing at the air. That told me we were probably much closer to the surface of Earth. Thank goodness, it was stuffy as crap down there. We entered a hall room. There were lots of corridors and doors where we could go. The room was square, with metal walls and a blue ceiling. From my peripheral vision, I could see security cameras beginning to activate. I’ve been through the drill over and over again, it was basically muscle memory.

Activating my powers, my right hand began to glow. A throwing knife materialized in my hand. I looked at the cameras, taking aim. In seconds, I released about five knives, all hitting their mark. The cameras malfunctioned, and they all deactivated. Score.

“Geez! When’d you learn how to do that?” Onji marveled. 

“Experience, I guess,” I replied. I beamed a bit. I never really got compliments or praise. When I did, I felt all fuzzy inside. “C’mon, I think the door to the next room’s this way.” I pointed to the door at the right. I readjusted my cap and walked over to it. “But I’m not sure if this is the right one. Stay behind me just in case,” I told Onji. He didn’t listen and went next to me. 

“Do you know how to listen?” I mumbled. Hand on the knob, I turned the door open. A creak came from the door opening, sending shivers down my spine and making me curse. Onji cursed next to me; I grinned a bit.

I peeked inside. To my relief, it was the right one. No humans inside, just another corridor. I had a map laid out in my head, so I sorta knew which ways we’d have to go. 

“It’s clear Onji, we can go in,” I motioned for him to come, and he tagged along.

“Jax,” he asked.

“Hm?” I responded.

“Can you like, just make knives out of thin air?”

“Yeah, kinda. It’s pretty cool, I guess. Do you have any powers?”

“I do. Just, I’m not good at using them.” He looked down, a bit ashamed.

“That’s okay. Harnessing powers takes a while.” I said. Onji and I talked quite a bit while navigating through the base. It helped ease my nervousness. My ADHD brain was hard to calm down, having someone to talk to made me feel much better. But once I got Onji to start talking, he’d never shut up. He kept pestering me about my powers and my opinion on the dumbest things, like cereal before milk or milk before cereal. Who thinks of that stuff?

“Obviously, you put the cereal before the milk. The milk would spill everywhere if you put it first,” I told him. He disagreed and said that you’d put the milk first so the cereal isn’t soggy. I didn’t talk to him after that. 

But later during the search, Onji brought up something of interest.

“Hey Jax, have you ever heard of the tale The Lone Swordsman?”

“No.”

“Really?! It’s a classic, they teach it in every school! It goes something like this, ‘On a cold, dark day, a swordsman dragged his blade through the soil. He heard the cry of a baby. Swooshing his sword, he saved the baby from the soulless who were grabbing for him. He rescues the baby. And in the baby’s heart, he remembers the chivalry and bravery of the swordsman...” That brought some familiarity to my head. I don’t know why, but that tale sounded like something that I’ve experienced before. 

“That’s a cool story,” I told him. “I’ll remember that…”

Finally, we got to the main room. We went through a series of small, dark corridors and a bunch of tiny, dull rooms, with stained walls and scattered papers. The main room was a change of scenery. First of all, it was massive. I had to look straight up to see the ceiling. It was bright, the lights were a glaring yellow. The ground was white marble. But what struck out the most was the crazy amount of bookshelves in the room. Large, wooden bookshelves. They almost touched the ceiling and surrounded the walls. Binders, books, and files littered the shelves, it was almost overwhelming.

Guess I’d better start reading.

Did we seriously have to do this? How many monsters were there? From what I could see on the files, there must have been at least a million. How in the world could I find information on just two monsters?

“How are we going to find information on a specific topic, if there’s so many files? We can’t even reach to the top!” I complained. But Jax was already climbing up the shelves. “What the heck are you doing?” I snapped.

“Trying to find info,” he said. He climbed to the top of the bookshelves, so high that he looked like the size of a quarter.

“They're not going to put important info so high up, get down from there!” I barked.

“But up here, there’s a bunch of case files though. Each is labeled with a monster. See here, ‘Subject 3042, Subject 3043, Subject 3044,’ and so on.” I didn’t understand the labels, it sounded like nonsense to me.

“Who cares about every single monster? Find the binder about the stuff they’re doing with us!” I ordered. He groaned, then climbed down the shelf. If I got him to look at the important stuff, then I could go poke around for my parents’ stuff… When Jax got down, I asked him a question.

“How do you know which label you are?”

“Um… you don’t. I’m not sure which one you are.”

“Do you know yours?”

“No,” he said slowly. “Why does it interest you?”

“Well, I just wanna know mine. I was just trying to see if you could help me.” Jax paused. He looked me deep in the eye.

“Onji, are you…”

“Am I what?”

“Do you know anything about your past? Like, at all?” I stopped. Should I tell him? I never let anyone know. I’m ashamed of it. But Jax was asking. Screw it, I’d never meet him again anyways after we got out. Might as well tell him.

“No, actually, I don’t. I… kinda want to know about my parents.”

“Why?”

“I never met them. Back home, I’m an orphan. All I remember is the orphanage I live in. They’re nice and stuff, but I want a real home. I don’t want to always be unclaimed. If I could just, like, find my parents, or at least get a bit of information about them, that’s all I want.” Jax stared at me. I looked up at him, embarrassed. What was he going to say?

“I’m an orphan too, Onji,” I barely heard him whisper.

“What?! You’re an orphan too?!”

“Yeah… I never met my parents either.” He looked down, a blank expression on his face. It was really silent, deadly silent. The security cameras were broken, the lights were blaring, and we both looked down, not knowing what to say. Jax broke the silence.

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll check out the important stuff. You know what? Since I’m doing that, you go about. Try and find your file, find out about your past.” I looked at him and beamed, but then frowned.

“Where do I start? There’s so many!”

“What species of monster are you?”

“I’m a ven..”

“Well, the ven section is up there, where I just was. All the subjects will start with 30. Can you climb up?”

“Yeah, I got it. Thanks,” I walked towards the shelf. Looking high up to the tippy top, I realized it’d be a huge feat to climb. How was I going to get up there? 

It’s just one paw after another, I told myself. Obviously, Jax’s body was built to climb these things. He had thumbs, he walked on twos, and he had a good grip. I could climb mountains, but never these things. I was basically the opposite of Jax structure-wise. How fun. Well, here goes nothing. One paw up on the shelf, then another. I brought my back paws up, and did it again. Front paws, back paws. Front paws, back paws. Soon, I was getting higher and higher. Farther and farther up. 

Finally, I reached the top. The very tippy top. I stood up, looked around. I felt like the king of the world, one of those exhilarating feelings you get after climbing a mountain. Focus, I told myself. I looked down at the files, pulled every single one out, and checked the picture at the top. Each picture showed a subject’s face, so I could see which one was mine. But it was worthless because I started picking at the files, one by one, and none of them were mine. I put each one back carefully, but got more pissed everytime it wasn’t mine. Stupid, sheets of paper. I thought. There were only five left. I began to think Jax didn’t know what he was talking about. Did I climb all this way for nothing?! Oh lookee here, the next file’s gonna be some idiot I don’t care about, I thought while pulling it out. I almost put it back after a cursory glance, but I caught it.

Subject-3064. There was a picture of me on the cover. Me. I found it, solid gold. Oh my gosh, I found it. I ripped it open. To my disappointment, it was mostly empty, just some gibberish scrawls on there, but Jax could read it for me. I took the file, and glided down the shelf.

“Jax, Jax!” I called, running to him. He looked at me, devastated. “Jax, what’s wrong?”

At the master desk, in the back of the main room, I found a binder. 3-inch, red, and top-secret.

The Monstrosity Project.

I knew I hit something at the title. Making sure the cameras were off, I tentatively opened it. Loads and loads of scribbles and paperwork were stuffed inside. There was a summary of the project right in the front. I read it, finger lining the text.

There comes a time when the human population falters. Since 1655, scientists have been working on creating a new society. A society of monstrosities. We’ve tied molecular ‘space’ matter and have created a planet, a host for these creatures. Genetic engineering of monsters began shortly after. Labs have hosted and bred different species, adding in specific elements into the embryos. As a result, different species have been created that nature couldn’t create itself. In time, the population began expanding. Years and years of genetic manipulation and breeding has resulted in the specific formulas in which we need to achieve absolute perfection. As in, absolute perfection of humanity: cures to any life-threatening disease, unlimited fuels, voids, portals. Most importantly, the potential to gain immortality and ultimate power…

Update: Success is near our grasp. In years time, the monstrosities will be annihilated. Each starred subject will be genetically broken apart. Subjects have been added and slain periodically to add into our project. The perfect breeds have been created, growth has been excellent. Humanity will see opportunities they have never seen before…

No. No no no no. No, I wasn’t going to accept it. I wasn’t going to believe it. I couldn’t believe it.

What did I just read? Here: Labs have hosted and bred different species, adding in specific elements into the embryos. As a result, different species have been created that nature couldn’t create itself. My life, my existence, was all a lie. It was all made up.

There wasn’t nature, there wasn’t a planet, there wasn’t the independence we thought we had.

Simple terms: we were bred by humans to all get killed at the end so they could get powerful. That’s it. That’s the purpose of our existence. 

To sacrifice our lives and give ultimate power to the hands of a greedy species.

I almost stumbled, almost fell. Almost tripped and hit the back of my head. I could barely keep myself steady, lungs breathing double time. When I heard Onji call me, I almost jumped in surprise. 

How was I going to explain it to him? 

Should I say a flat out, we’re all going to die. Should I water it down? Should I have even read the binder in the first place? I breathed. Shut my eyes, rubbed my face.

“Onji, I figured it out,”

“What do you mean? Why the humans are capturing us and storing our files?”

“Yes,” I said. I gathered my thoughts. “Onji, life isn’t what it seems. The humans… they um—”

“Get to the point already. I don’t really care to be honest,” he nagged. I scowled when he said that. Then I raised my shoulders, stood defiantly, and told him the flat-out truth.

“Humans created us in 1655. They bred different animals here and genetically modified the embryos. They’ve been monitoring our growth and development, and capturing us from time to time to get killed for their scientific purposes. We’re a tool for them. In time, likely very soon, they’ll kill every single one of us. After that, they’ll use our DNA to give themselves ultimate power. There, I said it. Happy now?” I stared at him disapprovingly, he blankly gazed at me.

“If that’s the case, how come we’ve never known ‘till now?”

“Good question,” I turned back to the binder. Started skimming through the information. After the summary, there was a bunch of records and data. Followed by a bunch of progress reports. The notes were old, yellow parchment with ink. But as I kept flipping through the info, the info looked more and more recent. 

At Progress Report 27, I found the answer. It was titled, Memory Erasers. 

The complexion of the monsters has been developing. Emotional status has evolved, and empathetic connections are capable within the subjects. We are unable to continuously capture subjects without a retaliation from the monstrosities. Therefore, scientists have devised an ingenious invention known as ‘Memory Erasers.’ These weapons are ray guns that use specific chemicals that disable the function of the hippocampus. Thus, monstrosities forget any association with captured subjects. Escape from the bases is nearly impossible, subjects will not be able to return to M-1655 without the use of a Memory Eraser.

I read this out loud to Onji, translating it to our language while reading. When I was finished, I turned back to him.

“There’s our answer, ‘Memory Erasers.’” He looked at me.

“Do you have a phone? We need to take pictures of it,” he suggested.

“Oh, good idea,” I reached into the pocket of my jeans. “Took it out of my pack.” (Monsters have phones, it’s a new invention.) I took pictures of the progress report and the summary of the project, as well as important details that may spark interest.

“Okay, that’s all we need. Now we have to get out of here,”

“Wait! Jax,”

“What?” I grumbled irritably. Onji looked at me, hurt. I sighed.

“Okay, sorry. I’m just upset about the project. What do you need?”

“It’s fine. I found my file. Can you read it for me?” He held up a case file. It said Subject 3064. I took it from him, opened it up, and a bunch of scrawled notes hit me.

“This guy’s handwriting sucks. Okay…” I studied the paper, read it and translated it for Onji.

“Subject 3064 Report.

Date of Birth: 2/9/05.

Status: Alive. *Edit: captured 4/22/20

Species: Ven

Associations: Parents (Status: Alive, in the caves of the largest mountainscape)—”

“Wait wait wait, stop there! My parents are alive? In the caves of the largest mountainscape?!”

“Yeah.” Onji grinned. So wide it almost touched his ears.

“Okay, keep going.”

“Associations: Prime Subject, Subject 3120, Subjects… I’m not gonna read that. There’s too much.  Notes: Subject 3064 has been on the lookout for 15 years. First hunt unsuccessful, intermission by Subject-1057.” I stopped, realization dawned on me.

“Why’d you stop, keep going.”

“Oh right. Captured again 4/22/20. Contains valuable biochemicals necessary for final step. Execution date: 4/26/20.”

“That’s it?”

“Basically.”

“So I’ve been almost caught once 15 years ago, but I was saved by some Subject-1057 guy. Now, I’m back here, captured again. If I didn’t get out, I would die in two days since today’s the 24th. Great news. But my parents are alive, and I know where they are.” He paused, glowing with happiness. “And apparently I’ve interacted with the Prime Subject? Who’s that?”

“I dunno,” I mumbled. I wasn’t really listening. 

I’ve had an association with Onji 15 years ago.

I knew it. I knew who he was. It was almost impossible, but it happened. I started smiling, beginning to accept the unimaginary. I gave Onji back the file and asked him to put it back.

“Wait, Jax. If I’ve almost been captured once, doesn’t that mean that the memory eraser’s been used on my parents. Will they even remember me?”

“I don’t know, Onji, I really don’t.” I paused, wondering if I should ask him. “Onji, do you.. Have you ever seen me before, besides today?”

His answer crushed me. “No… why?”

“You don’t remember me, at all?”

“No…”

“Oh, oh well. That’s okay I guess.”

“What, am I supposed to know you? We just met today.”

“Yeah, yeah, right. Exactly.” Awkward silence. “We have the evidence now, you found out what you wanted to, let’s go.” I rushed ahead, Onji barely keeping up with my long strides. What a bummer. Onji didn’t know me at all, but I knew him. In fact, I knew exactly who he was.

When would I tell him? 

So I knew about The Monstrosity Project, so I knew that my existence was man-made, but the one thing that stuck out to me was the information about my parents. 

They were alive, breathing, and in the caves of the mountainscape. 

Now I was more determined than ever to get out. I felt more energized than ever. Funny, because I’ve never felt this type of energy, this motivation. But now, I felt incentive, I felt urgency,

I felt a purpose.

Jax, on the other hand, went slower than before. He was walking distracted, head down and hands in his pockets. Eventually, we got out of the main room nearing the entrance. I could smell the fresh air, I felt nearer outside.

And finally, finally! We saw a huge garage in the distance. Bolted shut, but I knew it was the exit. I was shaking with excitement, I was finally going to get out!

“We have to turn right, the jets are over there,” Jax said, jerking his thumb to another door. I followed him, so happy I could fly to the moon. But I noticed Jax wasn’t very happy.

“What’s wrong, Jax?” I asked him.

“Nothing, nothing’s wrong,” he answered. He didn’t even look at me, didn’t smile, didn’t even do his raising eyebrows thing. Just a dull, muted answer with his head down.

“We’re almost home, what’s there to get upset about?” I questioned. He turned his head to me, his emotionless face disappointing to look at.

“C’mon, I’ll try to fly the jets,” he mumbled. His tone just made me feel more useless. Why was he so upset? Maybe the truth about The Monstrosity Project just affected him more than it did me. That made sense, I guess.

We went in the door and found a huge mass of space jets lined in an array. Jax threw knives at the security cameras, then walked up to the nearest jet, and tried to get it open, but it wouldn't work. To me, it just seemed like five minutes of poking and prying.

“Ugh, it’s useless!” he yelled, slamming the glass roof of the jet. I flinched a bit, keeping in mind that Jax could kill me anytime he pleased.

“Maybe there’s some type of key?” I suggested.

“Hm, you’re right. I saw a desk outside, it had a wide arrangement of ID cards and keys. I’ll go check it out.” He said, walking out of the room. I sighed, it suddenly got so tense around him. 

We just discovered that we’re all going to die one day, cut him some slack, I told myself. I slapped myself mentally. Not knowing what to do, I tried getting the jet to open.

Who knew that I would never see Jax again after these few minutes…

There it was again. The feeling of loss, the feeling of not knowing.

Except this time, I knew too much.

I knew everything, I knew it all. I knew our fate, I knew our existence, I knew it was all a lie. Everything I’ve known, cared for, wanted.

All of it would end. And it was because our lives were in the hands of humans.

I trudged to the desk, all the purpose drained from me. I looked up, and tried to find which keys and cards would help us. On the desk, I saw an instruction manual on the space jets, and a pen. I briefly read over the manual, apparently we needed some kind of password. The password was in the manual though. I scrawled down some notes in monster language on a sheet of paper from my pocket. How immature of humans to put out such important information like that, I thought, putting the manual back. 

Something caught my eye however, a file next to the manual. A case file. In red, there was the title of it.

Subject-1057.

That was... that was me. On the file, there was a picture of me as a teen.

That’s my case file.

Augh! But what did I tell myself earlier?! We won't look for anything unnecessary. I didn’t need it, it wasn't important for the mission. If I stalled more, we’d get caught. We’re almost out, why don’t you just suck it up and go? I scolded myself…

But just a peek wouldn't hurt.

Just a quick glance, just a tiny peek. It wouldn't hurt anyone. 12 years old, and now I’m 27. I've been wanting this for 15 whole years. I could finally have it. Couldn’t resist, so I opened it, and a blast of information hit me. What I saw brought tears to my eyes:

Subject-1057 Report

Date of Birth: 3/6/94

Status: Alive. *Edit: captured 4/18/20

Species: Ekia

Associations: Parents (Status: Deceased), Subject 3064, Subject-1056 (Sibling; Status: Deceased)

Notes: Parents of Subject-1057 kidnapped (use of darts; both had uncontrollable trauma). Killed two days after for medical/engineering purposes. Subject-1057 & Subject-1056 memories erased. Subject-1056 dies shortly after (sickness). Subject-1057 under development and growth, will be captured 15 years later.

Update: Subject-1057 captured on 4/18/20. Execution date: 4/25/20. Contains metallic atoms necessary for studies in metal materization.

There were two pictures inside. One was just me. But the other struck my eye. It was my family. There were two smiling adults, Ekia they called us, carrying two happy, laughing children on their shoulders. One (the mother I suppose) had a little Ekia with short, black hair on her shoulders, and the other (the father) had a bigger kid with spiky, black hair. I realized that kid was me. We were all laughing in the picture, all smiling. I had an oversized cap on my head, it said Jax. 

Jax, I gripped my cap. That was it. That was who I am, a kid with his family. My mom, dad, the little one who I thought was my sister, and me. If it weren’t for the humans ripping away my life, I’d still be with them, I’d still be that laughing child in the photo. 

I’ve never met my parents, or my sister, but I cried. I cried for them. Thin streams of tears fell down my face. I didn’t bother to stop them, I let them fall. I let all the feelings go. I let everything go. I knew it all now, and I’d never get it back

If I could just get it back, I wanted it back…

BBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! The alarm screamed. And I heard the stomping of boots, and Onji’s yell.

The humans were gonna kill me. I was going to die.

While Jax was out, I heard the alarm sound. The lights were blaring, and the alarm was overtaking my ears. I cowered, and tried to run away. But before I could, humans stormed in. They looked like troopers, with helmets and guns. 

I looked around, frantic. They were coming in from all angles, but I was unarmed. 

But was I though? I was a ven, our species had powers. Like I said earlier, we have powers, and those powers were nature powers. If I just focused really hard, I could bring them out.

All the humans had their rifles aimed at me, they muttered a bunch of gibberish. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath. Focus… All of a sudden, vines sprang out, grabbing the necks of the humans. Two went down, gasping for air. The other humans started panicking, frantically waving their rifles. Confidence filled me, and I started to attack them. Maybe I could hold them off. Who knows? Maybe I could defeat them. I attacked and attacked, slashing and slicing with claws and using my powers. I felt unstoppable, like an iron wall that could never be broken.

But that feeling soon ran out, after I defeated the first swarm, another whole army came, and another, and another. Along with rifles, they had dart guns, cages, net contraptions, a bunch of things that were just screaming DANGER. 

One soldier kicked me, I cried and fell down. I struggled to get back up, before I could he had his boot on my ribs. I bit my lip. The soldier aimed a weapon at me, his emotionless, goggled face unwavering. I whimpered. 

I was going to die.

But then I heard a familiar yell, and the silhouette of a swordsman appeared in the air. Split second later, a sickening slice and all the humans in his path fell to the ground, motionless. Landing in front of me was Jax, with two gleaming swords in both hands. I stared at him, too many words flowing in my head. I didn’t know what to say.

“Thank—” Then chaos erupted. The humans hollered, they started screaming, jabbing fingers at me and Jax. All got situated, with their weapons ready and in firing position. Jax materialized a bunch of throwing knives and threw them at the human soldiers. Each one hit their mark and each target went down. Even more panicking happened after that. The humans lost order. They all just ran after Jax and lost the attention for me. Good, I didn’t have to do the dying. But one glance at the fight told me that obviously Jax wasn’t going to win this alone, I might as well help. Preparing myself, I readied my powers and lunged at the humans. Plants and vines sprouted everywhere, humans fell.

“Onji!” I heard Jax shout. He threw me a folded piece of paper; I caught it. “Don’t stay here! Read the instructions and get out!” I unfolded it and skimmed through the scrawl. It was information on how to operate the jets...

The ending was in grasp. I could get out. Now was the opportunity. But I’d leave Jax. One sad look at him, and I made up my mind. I wasn’t going to run away, I wasn’t going to find the easy way out. I’d stay here, help him win the fight. It wasn’t for me, it was for the monsters. A new energy coursed through my veins, one I’ve never felt before. Already, I was taking down human by human, all going down because of me. 

The screams of humans, the gunshots, the slashes of swords, and the magical powers all filled the battlefield. I got really tired, but I never stopped. As long as I had my body intact, I’d always keep fighting, or die trying. The sound of a gun rang, I didn’t have time to look. But I felt a searing pain cut the edge of my back leg. I cried out loud, crumpled down, and couldn’t get back up. No matter how hard I tried.

“ONJI!” screamed Jax. He ran to me, swords ready to slash down the soulless who attacked me. Slash the soulless? That sounded awfully familiar...

The Lone Swordsman.

As Jax ran to me, the mob of humans ran after him and me. Jax turned around, facing the riot right in front of me with his swords crossed, blocking me from the whole swarm. He swooshed his sword with cunning ability, attacking the soulless that may have impelled the child’s devastating fate. I tied the two together, Jax and The Lone Swordsman. 

It all connected.

I immediately got a flashback. As Jax was fighting the humans now, I thought back to a time, fifteen years ago, when I was only a young ven.

One day, I was walking around. But then a jet landed next to me. Scared, I tried to run away. But then about five of these huge figures came out. Tall, with helmets and weapons, five-fingered hands and boots. They tried to grab me. I cried.

Seconds later, I heard a sword slash. And those creatures fell. I saw a kid before me, a young teen maybe, with black hair, a thin snout, and a cap that said ‘Jax’. This ‘Jax’ fellow killed all the humans for me. When he finished, he picked me up and wrapped me with his jacket. It was blue and fluffy. He smiled. I giggled, and we instantly felt a connection. I knew I’d remember the bravery and the chivalry of Jax, even if I forgot who he was, I’d remember his essence.

He dropped me off at the orphanage, and scribbled a note down and put it in front of me. He rang the doorbell and ran away. When the door opened, I saw the faces of my new caretakers, and entered the place of what would forever be my home…

I realized who I found. By coincidence, I found him. After fifteen years, I found him. That’s why he was so weird. He already knew who I was. I staggered back, lost in emotions. Was I supposed to be surprised, happy, confused? Maybe all of them.

I heard a cry of pain. Quickly, I turned my head. Most of the humans were down on the ground, but a couple were still surviving fighting Jax. I saw Jax clutching a bloody stain on his shirt with one hand and fighting with the other. Crap, he got hit. He was much slower after that, dodging failed him again and again. He got hit, punched, kicked, shot, again and again. But he never stopped. I screamed, and rushed at the humans, killing the rest of them with gritty teeth and claws.

All of them were finished after that. I felt a feeling of triumph. But I heard a moan from Jax, and he fell to the ground. Thump! I screamed.

“Jax!”

Pain. That’s all it felt like. Red hot, searing pain from everywhere on my body. I fell, feeling light-headed. My world started turning red, it started fading away. 

I was dying. If I didn’t look at that stupid file, that stupid Subject-1057 file, we’d be out by now. Onji scrambled next to me, his injured leg limp. He had tears in his eyes.

“Jax,” he whispered. “Oh gosh, I can’t just leave you.” I smiled, a sad smile. It’d be my last one.

“You were really b-brave out there,” I said weakly. He bowed his hand and put my hand in his paws.

“Jax… The Lone Swordsman, is it based on me and you?” he asked, pleading with his eyes. I considered it for a bit, and knew my answer.

“Yes Onji, it is,” I knew it from the beginning. 15 years ago, shortly after my memory was erased, I was the Lone Swordsman that saved Onji’s life as a child. Now he knew who I was; I could die in peace. 

My world began to fade away. My consciousness flowed away from me. I felt numb, numb and tingly. The pain slowly evaporated, and my vision stopped. I couldn’t see anymore. But after a bit, I felt free. I didn’t feel restricted in my body anymore. I was free from this life.

“Thank you,” were the last words I heard from Onji before I completely dissolved in blackness. Faded into nothingness. 

I know I died, but I died trying.

I made a grave, a grave for Jax.

After reading his notes, I saw the password was “To M-1655.” The glass opened, and I hopped in and dragged Jax’s body inside. There was an autopilot feature, so I really didn’t have to do anything. I focused on treating my wound.

I flew off to an isolated plain with a sign that said, “Welcome to Ohio!” The landscape was vast, there was a river to my right, a mountainscape to my left, and in the middle, me. Except the sun was shining, the sky was bright blue. I got Jax’s body and dug a hole. After taking his phone for the Project evidence I put his body in there, and grabbed a stone from the ground and etched some writing in it with my claws. After sticking it in his grave, I flew home, still wearing his hoodie.

Want to know what my grave said? In memory of Jax, The Lone Swordsman.