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You open your eyes, for the first time. Your first thought is that you have too many eyes. You close them again.
There is liquid around you. You taste it. It tastes bitter. There is noise from outside your enclosure. You open your eyes again. The liquid should get in your eyes, but it doesn't. You have more eyelids than you should. You do not know why.
You have many limbs. You feel like you should have four, or five. You don't want to count.
You start moving through the liquid, hand feeling a smooth surface just in front of you. Glass. You are in a glass tube. You can see to the outside. Erupting cheers occur. They look like they're cheering for you. You do not know why.
Someone lets you out of the tube. You shake yourself to dry off, and everyone shrieks and ducks away. Maybe you shouldn't have done that, but none of them seem mad at you, just startled. You note that for later.
The one who let you out introduces himself as your creator. You ask your creator what you are. Your creator tells you that you're perfect. You don't think that's right. You decide to keep looking later.
The room you are in is large and complicated. Your wings itch to spread and fly. You don't.
People start examining you closely. They're touchy, and you don't like that. You let out a hiss to warn them off, and your creator chides both you and them. They're more gentle this time. The roughness wasn't what upset you, but you let them without complaint this time anyway.
You are brought to a room, and people start helping you test yourself. It seems to be just as much of a surprise to them as it is to you what you can do. You are allowed to fly. You are able to swim. You are strong, stronger than anything they have prepared for, and you break many things. They are not mad.
They take notes on you. You wish you could see them, but don’t want to interact with them more than you have to. You do not know why.
Your creator lets you know what your purpose is. You have been created to complete tasks, and you will be taught how to do them all soon. You wonder if that’s the key to who you are. Existence feels strange and wrong in a way that you cannot comprehend.
The next few days are simply for tests, training, and explanations. They give you things to memorize when those are over and you are alone, and you have nothing better to do. You learn a lot. At least, it felt like you learned a lot, since before you knew nothing.
The first task is very simple. You are told to go to a specific place, and destroy everything inside. You cannot be seen by anyone if they are not from the place. You figure out how to change colors, and that makes things much easier.
You complete this task easily. You can hurt, but not much can truly stop you, and you have nothing better to do. You don't know these people. You don't know why your creator told you to destroy them. You don't care. You weren't made for that.
Something goes wrong on your second task. The people have a stronger weapon this time, or maybe a trap. They found your weakness, or maybe you destroyed something you shouldn't have. You don't know how it happened, and neither does your creator. All you know is that you had an arm there once, and when you looked again, you did not.
You panicked, and left the task early. You came home and cried to your creator. Neither of you knew you could cry. You didn't know you could panic.
He seems disappointed in you for not completing the task, and pokes you with something. It hurts, even for you, and you decide that you will never fail a task again.
You are given a day to reflect on what happened and recover from your arm. It seems that your creator added in fast regeneration. He wasn't surprised that you only needed a day. He was surprised by your arm coming back, though. You were too.
Your creator doesn't give you a task, but another person gives you a mission. It's a different person each time, but the missions are usually the same. They always involve you getting hurt, and you don't like them, but you do not have a choice, and you have nothing better to do.
The testing is mostly over with by the tenth mission. They still consider you worthy of being tested, but the people giving missions seem to be in charge, because they put you on too many for the tests to be done properly. You lose track of them at some point during this period, and nobody you ask will give you a proper answer. You do not ask them who you are. They will not know, as they don't even know how many missions you've been on.
You don't know how many missions you've been on either, but you don't claim to know who you are. Then again, neither do they.
You are given a new mission, this time, for the first time, with an ally. You don’t know who it will be, as you’ve never needed an ally before. You are excited to meet them. Once you do, however, it becomes clear that you still don’t know who it is.
It looks like you, but different. Very different. It looks like a creature from the ocean. You reckon that's why they put you on the mission with it. Part of you wonders what it would be to be like it. You will never know, but you understand better than anyone, you suppose. You decide that it is your sibling. It is nothing like you at all, and yet you two are the same in every way that matters.
You strike a fleet of ships at night. You throw people into the water, and it doesn't let them leave. You two leave the ships untouched and pristine. You briefly wonder who the people are as they scream and fall. You suppose it wouldn't change anything if you knew, and you drop the thought alongside them.
They seem pleased at how well you work together. They leave you alone for a few minutes. You ask it what you are. It does not know. You promise it that you will look for the both of you. It considers that, and tells you that it will look as well.
You are not given a mission with it again. You do not know why.
You are given a unique mission this time. You were shown a picture, and told to get that person out alive. You’re careful killing each person, making sure that it isn’t them, but it never is. You find that person in a cage. They see you and attack you. This annoys you, but you don’t do anything to them. They are simply scared.
You see them around the facility sometimes. They are still scared. It’s less excusable now.
Your creator brings a friend at some point. He seems to be very proud of you. She is hiding something, but it doesn't seem like she's hiding it from you. It seems like she's hiding it from him. You debate telling him. He did make you, after all. You decide that he is smart enough to know what is happening on his own, and to suggest otherwise might be insulting, You say nothing.
She asks for some time alone with you, and he grants it. He's never granted that to anyone else. That is how you are sure that they are friends.
Your creator's friend seems very nice. She seems to think that you are lonely. You are not. You ask her what you are.
She takes you into a room you've never been in before. It holds files, ones you've never seen. One holds a picture of a girl. Your creator's friend tells you that the picture is of you. That isn't what you look like. It doesn't feel like you. You don't think you'd be able to recognize her if she were walking around the facility.
She gets a little bit sad. She takes out another picture, one of a different girl, and tells you that she was also used in your creation, just less of her. She looks just as unfamiliar as the first. There is some form of kinship you feel with them, though. After all, they are dead, and you were never alive. She seems saddened by this. You do not know why.
This is not you. You must keep looking.
You are getting better at the missions. You know, because they've started running out of them. They've been using you to guard things instead of attack things, and this annoys you more than it should. You like being more active than this. They do not care.
They have gotten annoyed at you. You got restless at one of the places they wanted guarded, and you knocked over some important things. They won't tell you what those things actually were, so you decide that it must not be important. They get annoyed at this even more.
They are going to make more of you. You do not want them to. You do not know why.
Your creator is gone now. He did not say goodbye. He went crazy when they tried to make more of you and your sibling. He said that you two were perfect beings and there was nothing to be improved upon. He had to be disposed of. They didn't tell you until after. You don't know if he is gone or dead. You do not care.
Your creator's friend is sad. She has become your handler. They want her to make another one of you. She doesn't seem to think she can. You try to comfort her. It doesn't seem to work. You keep trying anyway.
She is much nicer than he was. She is busy, but organizes time to simply spend with you anyway. She asks you what you like to do, and you do not know. Sometimes, she even manages to get both you and your sibling at the same time. You don’t talk to it much. It does not talk with you. You feel slight shame every time you try, as you promised to find who you are, and you have not. It has not either. Your handler seems to want you to talk. You feel shame at disappointing her too, but continue to do nothing anyway.
There are people doing tests on you again, and there are people annoyed at that. You ask them both what you are. The testers say that you are a marvel of science, and the others say that you are a valuable tool that is being wasted. You do not like either of those explanations. You discard them both and decide to keep looking.
You ask your handler what you are again. She tells you that you are whatever you want to be. You don’t know what she means by this. You keep looking.
Your room now has things in it, such as a bed and books. You were given a choice in some colors to paint the walls. You didn't know which one to choose. You made each surface a different color, just so you wouldn't have to choose. Going on missions now annoys you, as you have something better to do. They do not care.
There is a scientist who is assigned to learn about you. They are trying to figure out what your parts are made of. You have the nose of a bloodhound dog, but the ears of a bat. You have four humans arms, and cat feet. You have a mix between owl and peregrine falcon wings, with the coatings of a duck. Your skin is unidentifiable. They don't understand how that works, and neither do you. You are of very little help, and they have very little patience, but they do their best to be nice to you anyway. They are not nice to anyone else.
You ask them what you are. They give you a list of where all your parts came from. It is a list longer than can fit on one paper, and those are only the external things. This is not what you asked. You thank them anyway. You keep the list for later. What you will do with it later, you don’t yet know, but you keep it. You decide to keep looking later.
They let you read your books during your tests sometimes. You like them. You are the only one who does, including themself.
There is an alarm going off. You're supposed to go and kill people inside the facility now. This hasn't happened since you wee made. Apparently, they are coming for you, because they want something like you too. You do not like that. You do not question why.
They are wearing a uniform similar to the ones you are familiar with. You can spot the differences with ease. Still, you decide to only attack those who attack you. This includes some of your own. You do not care.
Something has turned off the lights. This does not affect you, you can see in the dark. It affects the people, as they can’t. You kills them with ease, and most never see or hear you coming. They did not know how dangerous you were. They still do not know how dangerous you were, because they are dead, and the dead cannot learn.
You realize eventually that you can do whatever you want right now. Everyone is busy, and there is nobody stopping you. There is nobody who can stop you.
You go to find your sibling. It's enclosure is open and it is no longer there. The ocean is large and it is fast. You do not know it, and you never will. It is your sibling and a stranger. It is gone. You will not find it. You hope nobody finds it now.
You wander around the halls for some time. You can hear sounds of fighting in the distance, and you know exactly where it’s happening, but you don’t go. You do not know why.
You go to find someone you know. It’s hard to find anyone who you’ve talked to that is still alive. The scientist who was only patient with you is nowhere to be seen. Several people who have given you missions are on the ground dead. You might have killed some of them yourself. You go to the room you were made in.
You do not like what you find.
Your handler is dead. She destroyed your creator’s research before they got her. There will never be another like you. You suppose that's for the best. You feel sad for her. She deserved more than that. You wonder how she got here in the first place. It never seemed like her thing.
You move on from this room. It will not help you to stay here anymore. You feel sad anyway.
There are dead people across the entire floor in every room. You step over them. There is one who is still alive, though. One of the ones who wasn't supposed to be here.
You ask the one in the other uniform what you are. You are told that you are a monster. You know exactly why.
You have found your answer.
This one feels right.