“Well, it sounds like you have already found a better method to use dyrite that at least cuts down on the painful, bleeding skin rash. Which is a step above dysea. The stuff may temporarily cut my kind's connection with the void, but the long-term side effects from constant exposure to dysea ranges from permanent skin damage, constant sickness, weakness, and on rare occurrences, blindness. Though that last one happened after some accidentally came into direct contact with a Dweller’s eyes.”
Seri frowned. “The void? You’ve mentioned it before, but I’ve never heard what exactly it is to you all. Shadow Dwellers have kept most of their history, along with their abilities, to themselves.”
“Ah, the void being what my kind calls the beginning of our people. Neither a defined being or thing, just a nothingness that it's said we came to life in. ‘From darkness they emerged’, or whatever weird nonsense some of my older family members like to go on about. It’s believed that the void is where our powers come from. So when we can’t use them, we say our connection has been cut.”
“Ah…I see. Well, the thing is, I didn’t fix any ofthosenormal side effects. If anything, I probably made them worse. But also, with the way it appears to absorb into the tissue samples you gave me, I think it should be a slow release, so the effects will last over a longer period of time. Which doesn’t sound good now that I say it, but the goal is eventually to make something for long-term use. Though, this one won’t work because it’s meant to incapacitate your kind. And that would be a negative for those in captivity.”
“Yes, this is so you have a defense against Preston. It’s useless if you don’t cause at least some harm.”
The Nymph eyed the cylinder again. “I don’t think it should kill you…but the fact I can’t a hundred percent say that it won’t, means I should test it more before using it on you.”
“You’ve been working on it for months. This is not even the first compound that you came up with…it’s like the fifth. Each one before this didn’t even begin to break down the cells, or whatever you said it didn’t break down. Let’s just try it out and see what happens. We need to know the side effects if you ever want to improve on it, right?”
“I should test more,” Seri said stubbornly.
“Seri, you know it’s likely going to weaken me and make me feel sick. I’m fine with that. Because the things you learn will only help us in the future when you work towards creating something that will cut my kind off from the void without hurting us. In my mind, a little pain is worth it for that final goal. And while this can’t be used on my kind who are jailed, or be made widely available, the CEB having access to something like this will make mine and the other agents jobs easier.”
Shadow Dwellers as a species were dangerous and hard to control.If this worked, and Seri was able to refine it to just temporarily take away a Dweller’s powers without negative effects, it could be used to more humanely hold his kind. Not all criminals deserved death or hard punishment. His people committed petty crimes, just like the rest of the species did.
Severo stood up and walked around the table, sitting Skya down in the new playpen they’d bought since she started to crawl. “Oh-Oh,” she complained, clearly wanting to still be held.
Smiling at the name she’d made up for him, he returned to Seri’s side. Rolling up his sleeve, Severo held out his arm. “Stab me.”
“Severo…this isn’t… I don’t want to hurt you… And we really shouldn’t do this lightly.” Seri took a deep breath. “Let’s spell out what we know, and what could happen. Based on how your tissue sample reacted to the compound, the chemicals should break down in your body within twenty-four hours. But that was only a small sample and a tiny amount. We don’t know how long it will take for it to metabolize in your system. Even if I had bioprinted organs to test it on…the fact is, it wouldn’t exactly help. Most tissue printers use human DNA. I don’t think even Ender could secure an organ printer that has the capability to replicate Cryptid DNA.”
Seri started to gnaw on his thumbnail as he continued to babble on, words becoming slightly garbled because of it. “The technology is highly guarded, and legally only about five labs total, on Earth and outside it, are allowed to even possess it. I can’t exactly cut you open and steal part of an organ or two… Because I neither have the skill, nor the equipment for any sort of organ biopsy. And the mathematical data on your species also isn’t available. Frankly, you and a lot of other Cryptids have kept as far away from medical testing as you possibly could, even though it’s been over five hundred years since we all came forward.”
“So basically, because you are limited in multiple ways, the only way to know for sure is to shoot me up with the concoction you’ve come up with. Which is why,” he shook his arm, “I’m standing here, offering my body.”
Seri’s brow lifted at that.
“For science, of course, you perv!” Severo gasped, covering his chest as if he was being scandalized.
The Nymph just rolled his eyes. “Arm out. You do know I’ll have to collect multiple samples of different bodily fluids for this to work, right?”
“I’ll pee in all the cups you want, and you can poke me wherever you want to poke me.” Severo chuckled.
“Stool too,” Seri said with little emotion.
Severo grimaced but nodded.
Grabbing the alcohol wipes, Seri cleaned a patch of skin on his forearm before picking up the cylinder. “Here we go,” Seri said, voice shaking slightly as he placed the end of the shot against his skin.
Severo flinched when the needle shot into him. The glowing compound quickly disappeared. On the device clicking, the needle retracted.
“Well…?”
Severo frowned. He didn’t really feel anything.
“I feel fine.” And he did…and then he didn’t. “Actually…” His head swayed, and before he could warn the Nymph about it, his legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor.
“SEVERO!” Seri cried out.
“Oh, God, I’ve killed you,” Seri cried out, full of panic as he tried to help Severo stand.
No, because he had met a guy, who was way too nice and good for him, and what did he do? He poisoned him with an experimental drug! Why had he agreed to even test it on him?!
Yes, Seri, poisoning your crush was the ‘in’ thing to do nowadays! Oh, Goddess above, he really had to pick now to admit his crush on Severo?!?! NOW WAS NOT THE TIME!
