The Callyn Chronicles

The hum of the old television set was annoyingly enough to keep Callyn awake. The blue light flooding from the otherwise blank screen seemed to fill the room, piercing her eyelids and irritating her brain. She stirred slightly as she tried to drift off, to at least a snooze. She was exhausted and the images swirling in her mind did little to ease her into the lull of sleep. She turned over on her worn brown corduroy couch and tried to nestle deeper into the familiar cushions as she snuggled closer into her pillow. A long day had turned into what seemed to be an endless night, and little did she know, her night was just beginning.

Restlessness was her only reward for all that she had accomplished. These types of thoughts zipped through her brain like lasers. She could not escape them, nor could she escape her longing... it was like hunger, but far worse. Callyn sprang to her feet in one motion, eyes wide, panting heavily. She now understood why she could not sleep - this pain coursing through her entire body... it was like a hollow cavern, calling out in thunderous echoing waves, begging to be filled...

Callyn glanced over to the corner of her small living room. There it was. Her eyes fixed on an oblong black object - the blue hue from the television caused a shadow to cast from it, and for a moment Callyn thought the shadow was beckoning to her, like a long, slender finger, drawing her near. The shadow blade, the fiercest weapon she had ever known.

She did not fully understand the connection between herself and the sheathed blade. She furthermore did not understand why the more she wielded it in combat the better and more complete she felt, or why when deprived of battle she felt a deep and in-explainable yearning to feed.. This is the only way that she could make sense of her desire...her hunger. She had to feed this hunger.

Instinctively, as she pondered, she ran her hand across the back of her head and felt a small metal circle. Flashes of memory hit her like jolts of electricity! She remembered the excruciating tests that she had endured when she had been first given this blade. It more felt like she had been given to the blade instead of the other way around! She cringed reflexively as she thought of the rigorous training she had gone through in order to try and become one with this mysterious weapon. She looked over at her old worn brown corduroy couch with a distant longing in her eyes. This was to be the last time she laid eyes on it. She grabbed her sheath, with blade inside, and jumped out of her 2nd story apartment window.

* * * * * * *

It was a cool evening, the night air was brisk but not cold – it was the perfect evening to hunt. Callyn’s thermal display visual kicked on immediately as she scanned the area for any trace of her enemies. Her long silvery hair flowed behind her as she ran. Her code-name in the Corps had been Lioness. Her fellow Corpsmen joked that it was because of her silver mane-like hair, but they knew it was because of her sheer ferocity. Her alert tone sounded in her head, loud and intrusive, putting her into a mode of focus that she was notorious for in the Corps. Her focus gave her abilities beyond the cybernetic implants that were now a part of her...

The alert was shrill and the subsequent attack was surprisingly quick! “Lurkers...nice,” Callyn mumbled with a slight smile. Lurkers had learned to mask their heat signatures at a distance and so were able to get much closer before detection now. Callyn drew her blade like a flash of lightning being released from a dark glass bottle. The soundless blue metallic blade drew lines through the night, catching and severing Lurkers in its diamond-sharp fury, showering Callyn in satisfaction! She grunted as she sprung up a fire escape ladder onto the top of the first building she saw. She looked down at her left side and noticed a tear in her suit. She had let them get close...but thankfully she was not badly wounded. A deep cut from a Lurker had proven to be toxic, if not life-ending for even the best Corpsmen.

Her silhouette in the moonlight drew 3 more Lurkers. Her heart pounded as synthesized dopamine and adrenaline flooded her brain. This cocktail drove her into an almost euphoric state, further enhancing her focus to levels that she craved in the heat of battle. She had forgotten the comfort of her couch inside her small studio apartment, she had forgotten the tussle with sleep that she just could not win, and she had forsaken all thoughts of rest, as she thought only of satisfying her hunger.

The 3 surrounded her and growled, showing gleaming fangs. The first one attacked, leaping into the air at Callyn, intent on impaling her with razor sharp claws. She swung her blade upward, catching the Lurker between the legs and slicing it in half. The other 2 backed away but did not retreat. Callyn wiped her blade on her leg and beckoned the other Lurkers. They attacked at once, wildly, and were met with demise resulting in them being left in several pieces. Callyn smirked as she jumped into the air, tucking into a full somersault onto the next building and the next.

She leaped through the night, atop and across rooftops with cat-like agility, somersaulting and flipping like a weighted feather. Every Lurker that crossed her path was cut down. Hours of the night wiled away as Callyn fed. She had almost forgotten this feeling and now could not remember why she gave it up – yes she could, it was because of Zeke, or more infamously known as Dr. Galaxy. He was the mad and controlling scientist who had fitted Callyn with her cyber-organic implants, which in turn led to her connection with the blade, which then led to her desire - her need to feed. She was his prisoner and she did not like it at all.

Zeke had promised Callyn a full reversal of the process, restoring her to the normal life that she had before the Corps. This arrangement came with a condition though, she must give up feeding with the blade long enough to bypass the withdrawals. The withdrawals from a lack of feeding were mind-numbingly painful, more so than the hunger itself and on a much larger scale. Callyn had attempted to quit feeding numerous times but had succumbed to the pain and pressure of the hunger each and every time. She could not even remember her previous life any longer, but she could not tell if this was because of the mind conditioning she had been through to become a Corpsman or if time itself had washed away all traces of memory of her previous existence. Either way, she had lost motivation to revert back to being normal…

“Callyn!”

A shrill female voice dripping with malice called out to her,

“At last I have found you!”

Callyn whirled around as she immediately recognized the voice of Alluna, a Lurker General.

“I am impressed by your handiwork, you have truly grown to embrace your darker side,” Alluna sneered.

She stood an imposing 6 feet tall, her full body red armor decorated with spikes, her eyes, glowing Lurker yellow. The sparse moonlight caused her fangs to gleam every time a cloud moved out of the way of its pale light. Callyn stood stone faced. Alluna walked toward her,

“Aw, don’t tell me you aren’t glad to see me? I mean you knew I would eventually find you! I just couldn’t bear to kill you in your sleep though, you looked so peaceful on that couch.”

Callyn narrowed her eyes.

Alluna’s move was swift, but Callyn was ready. Alluna darted toward Callyn in a blur, her red sword glowing, and their blades clashed in a brilliant cascade of blue and red sparks! Callyn’s blade, now fully charged with the life force of the many Lurkers she had destroyed this night, glowed a piercing blue.

Energy signatures pulsated and emanated from the blade in waves of blue glory. Alluna’s strikes were quick and deadly, keeping Callyn on the defensive. At last Callyn spotted an opening as time seemed to slow around her, and the blade met it’s target, slicing Alluna in two as Callyn parried and struck at near light speed. Alluna let out a slight groan as the blade passed through her. Callyn knew what would happen next, and she reveled in the anticipation of the coming onslaught.

* * * * * * *

Lurkers were not pack hunters, but they came together at the locus of the death of one of their Generals. This was the Lurker way and it always had been since the inception of their kind. Thousands of Lurkers had been known to descend on Corpsmen who were fortunate, or unfortunate, enough to kill one of the Generals. This had always resulted in the gruesome and gory death of the Corpsman, except for one. Only one Corpsman had ever survived the onslaught - then had lived in seclusion thereafter. Lurkers never gave up their prey after a General was killed. The legendary Corpsman was known only as Ultra Star among the ranks of the Corps. During her training, Callyn was constantly being compared to Ultra Star, and it had even been said that she had surpassed the legendary Corpsman in skill and ability. This was to be put to the test.

* * * * * * *

Callyn readied herself, closing her eyes and instinctively shutting off her Heads Up Display and thermal sensors. If she was to survive this she was going to need her own senses, her own focus, her own instincts! The Lurkers fell from the sky like rain in a spring shower, screaming their rage as they descended. Thick cloud cover masked the portals giving birth to the onslaught. Callyn acrobatically spun and whirled, the blade dividing each Lurker into pieces in a brilliant show of blue light. Her dance seemed to go on forever as she spun and twirled, the blade an extension of her will. She threw her blade in an arc, severing the heads from the bodies of a large group of impending Lurkers.

She rolled across the rooftop, knocking more of them to the side, grabbing her blade out of the concrete. Her moves were second nature to her, no they were more natural than that, and killing Lurkers was her therapeutic release. Callyn felt as thought she was where she needed to be, in this very moment, cutting down Lurkers by the hundreds! She glanced left and right, sensing the movements of her enemies as they continued to descend. The ones that had been knocked off the building were now climbing back up to rejoin the fray. Callyn spun with the blade extended and then plunged it into the rooftop, causing a massive surge of energy that vaporized the surrounding Lurkers.

She ran and jumped nimbly to the next rooftop, rolling as she landed and then springing to her feet. She turned and quickly sliced the head from a Lurker that had gotten too close. The onslaught was nowhere near over, and Callyn was nowhere near done...

* * * * * * *

Dr. Galaxy pounded his fist onto his desk angrily. He swept his arm across the desk top, knocking books and papers out of the way and sending them flying. It had been Dr. Galaxy's life's work to succeed with Project Anomaly Classified. Callyn Gomez had been the ideal subject ever since he handpicked her from the rolls of the United Directorate Corps. Her vitals had been impressive, but they were nothing compared to her aptitude for combat training with the Essence Blade and her natural ferocity that came along with this training. Her focus was something to be feared as well. The cybernetic-organic implants had only served to enhance Corpsman Gomez, and to make a more formidable and near-perfect, warrior.

Everything had been going so well until Callyn's escape from containment and testing during Phase II. It had been 2 years since she had slaughtered everyone in her path with the Essence Blade and made her escape. Secretly, Dr. Galaxy had been very pleased with her performance, even in the face of her breakout. She wielded the blade perfectly, but there was still much more that could be done! Dr. Galaxy needed to get Callyn back and get her mind wiped so he could continue his plan for her. She had once mentioned to him that she desired to get her old life back, and that she wanted to reunite with her former lover... and get married... and have a family... and this was preposterous!

Dr. Galaxy had tried to persuade her that a life like that would never suit one such as her, and that she should focus on becoming the most perfect and most complete warrior the world had ever seen, but she would not be convinced, so Dr. Galaxy did what he had to do – he lied. He spun a tale so intricate that even he himself started to believe it! He knew Callyn would not be able to give up her connection with the blade because it was designed that way. He chuckled to himself, “She'll be back, sooner than later.”

Ajax, Dr. Galaxy's sniveling right hand man suddenly appeared at the door, “Sir, she has been spotted,” he stammered, “and she um...” Galaxy looked up, slightly annoyed, Ajax went on, nervous excitement lacing his words, “she-she killed a Lurker General...sir.” Galaxy's face broke into a slow and wide grin, “That's my girl, I knew she could... Where is she?! What is her status?!”

“We are dispatching retrieval units to her current location as we speak, it appears she is in the midst of an onslaught of Lurkers at this very moment,” Ajax said solemnly.

“I want an immediate evac – and have her brought to my laboratory right away, do I make myself clear?” Galaxy said through clenched teeth. Ajax nodded, “Y-yes, sir,” and quickly disappeared.

“Well this was an unexpected surprise, but not one that I am not prepared for,” Galaxy said to himself. He took the elevator down to his lab. An electric buzzing sound coincided with all of the lights coming to life and illuminating a gleaming testing facility, complete with voice activated commands for all processes. A single plate-sized green light in the middle of the metallic wall blinked twice then remained solid -

Computer: “Systems ready.”

Dr. Galaxy: “Computer, begin staging Phase II”

Computer: “Phase II already in progress. Do you wish to terminate and restart?”

Dr. Galaxy: “Yes.”

Computer: “Phase II restarting...Please present test subject...”

Galaxy smiled, “in due time computer, in due time. For now begin file retrieval on subject – Lioness.”

* * * * * * *