My Little Protégé

It took a little time and elbow grease, but within six months, the lab was ready for use, filled with the latest in technology, sourced from all over the world, and a residential suite that would make a four-star hotel look like an alleyway.

It was truly the best of the best that money could buy; with a sentient A.I system running the whole shebang.

Doing all this while keeping clear of his protégé's natural radar was no easy feat.

The boy's senses were monstrous and hard to escape but with his constant vigilance, he managed to achieve his goals.

.....

A month later, Samuel, following his usual routine, left the house to explore and play in the mountains after his home school studies.

The cold breeze from the lake washed over him as soon as he stepped foot onto the small terrace at the side of the house.

It was positioned so that it could overlook the lake as it had a rather beautiful scenery.

He stretched out his wings and limps and shook off the drowsiness the chill came with.

He stepped off the terrace, spread his wings and flew high into the sky.

He soared through the clouds scoping out the land with his sharp eagle eye-sight. In the process of scouting, something unusual happened causing him to stop mid flight.

For the first time ever, he felt something that alerted all his senses. It felt like he was being specifically targeted by what seemed like radio waves, being emitted from a particular mountain.

"What's happening to me? I feel like all my senses are drawn to that mountain. This is so weird", he said as he flew closer to investigate.

Upon reaching the mountain, another unusual thing caught his eye. There was a thin line of, barely noticeable, translucent smoke coming out of a small hole in the mountain's side.

"Could that be volcanic fumes?" he asked himself as he circled the smoke and inspected it; taking a few sniffs to make sure.

He calmed down after realizing that it was regular smoke from burning wood that came out of some sort of chimney.

He circled around the mile-wide mountain hoping to find toan opening. He soon came to a small opening and fearlessly entered the pitch- black cave.

The cave was eight feet high and six feet wide. He sighed and blinked, as his eyes suddenly gave off a faint yellowish glow, a sign of the activation of his night vision.

With the help of his night vision, he saw through the structure of the cave as clear as day. He was surprised to see a button switch along the cave wall.

He walked up to it and pressed it, lighting up the whole cave; the suddenness of it stunning his eyes a little.

He deactivated his night vision, returning his eyes to normal, as he walked through the tunnel-like cave, his claws extended, prepared for any encounter.

The tunnel stretched for a few yards and upon reaching the end, he came to a door. He walked up to a door made of pure mahogany and analyzed it intently.

"What's a door doing here?" he asked himself as he tried the lock.

"Locked huh! How do I open this without breaking it?" he asked himself as he began staring at the lock.

Despite his wishes, his eyes glowed for a split second and the lock on the door burst into flames. The lock quickly melted and fell to the floor.

"That's a new one. The heck just happened?" he asked himself, completely stunned by what he had just done.

He had been discovering things he could do that continually blew his mind each and every time.

He smiled sadly at the now unlocked door, still amazed by his newly discovered power but slightly concerned that it happened against his wishes.

He opened the door cautiously and peeped into the room. Instead of the stereotypical thousands of bats nesting on the ceiling as he had earlier imagined, or the dark, creepy and gloomy place he feared it to be; due to prior experiences, he saw a fully furnished sitting room containing a seventy-inch flat screen L.C.D Television set with tower sound systems, air conditioners, game sets and many other cool looking things.

Realizing there was no one in the room, he entered with a dropped jaw, and started sniffing around the room. There was a sweet scent of Agarwood incense in the room that seemed to calm his racing heart.

He walked across the entire sitting room trying to uncover the identity of the one who owned such a luxurious home; a picture, receipt, anything at all that could provide that information.

Not finding any such thing, he approached the gaming console cautiously. He noticed that a game was already loaded and ready to play.

He wondered for a while if it was wrong for him to enter without permission and touch other people's property but the glowing 'PLAY' icon on the screen stirred up his desire to play the game.

As a ten year old kid, you could not pay him to ignore it. His sense of judgment was soon overcome by his childish desire and he sat down and picked up a controller, clicked 'play' and was soon engulfed in it.

He was so engulfed in the game that he did not notice a figure walk in and take a seat right behind him.

Emmanuel just sat watching the little extraordinary child as he played the varieties of games on the sets.

As Samuel played the game, Dr. Michelson studied his outward appearance up close.

From his wings to his horns, to his tail to his claws and talons. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary.

"It seems his other senses are dulled when he's too engulfed in an activity. He's still a child after all. He'll have to work on that", he said as he observed him further.

"I guess I better get him to the lab", Dr. Michelson said as he pulled out a small ball from his pocket and silently rolled it towards Samuel.

The ball cracked open and released a silent stream of potent sleeping gas into the air. Emmanuel quickly placed a mask over his nose and mouth and waited.

As he played, Samuel began to sway from side to side with his vision getting blurrier by the second until he finally collapsed on the soft and silky woolen carpet that covered the floor of the entire room.

"Prepare the lab!!" Emmanuel shouted as he bent down and carried Samuel into his arms. "ACKNOWLEDGED!" a female artificial voice echoed a response throughout the entire room.

Emmanuel carried him to his lab and gently placed him under his highly advanced PET scanner hybrid; a machine that combined PET technology with other imaging modalities, such as CT, MRI, or SPECT. 

He scanned him and was fascinated by the revelations of what the serum had done to the boy.

His bones were made up of properties similar to the toughest alloy ever tested.

He researched further into the new abilities the boy had and was pleased with the results.

"WARNING! THE SUBJECT IS BURNING OUT THE SLEEPING GAS FROM HIS BODY. AWAKENING IS IMMINENT!" the previous artificial voice warned.

Emmanuel noticed that, the boy's temperature had increased beyond reasonable levels and with every breath the boy exhaled, faint traces of the sleeping gas were expelled out of his body in the form of steam.

"His body is adapting to the foreign substance and naturally expelling the gas. I'm positive toxic gases will be neutralized as well", Dr. Michelson said to himself with a grin.

He concluded his tests quickly, carried the boy to a guest room, and laid him gently on the bed.

"Rest well my little protégé", he said as he walked out, gently closing the door.