Feed The Wolf: Elias Wakes

“Whenever you’re missing us, know that we won’t be too far behind. We love you, son and though you won’t see us and most times you won’t hear us; know that we are always here interceding for you. Go now, my love, fulfill your destiny, wake up.” “Wake Up!”

Elias’ eyes shot open in a panic. He began to dart his eyes around the room while shaking violently. He was trying to break loose from the binds placed on him but to no avail. The entire room was dark but still slightly lit by the little sunlight peering through the entrance. He’d try and scream but quickly figure out that wouldn’t be possible either. His mouth was prompt in a way to prevent him from swallowing his own tongue which also kept him from letting out a proper scream.

His struggle didn’t go unnoticed though. Byamba had been in the room the whole time and had been worried about Elias’ well being. He had been in a coma for over six weeks and usually those in such a long coma tend to never wake up.  So, Byamba’s primitive gambit had paid off.  Guess yelling at someone does work sometimes. “Hey, there you go! Two more seconds and I was going to start pounding on your chest”, Byamba said jokingly.

Upon hearing Byamba’s voice, Elias started to hyperventilate. Byamba decided to act quickly, and remove the strains on Elias while calming him down. “Relax kid, I’m a friend. You’re good, nobody’s going to hurt you.” Once free Elias would scoot towards the top of his makeshift bed. It was then his eye would catch a glimpse of a dark skinned man to the left of Byamba. This man looked very unwell. His hair was long and white but very unkempt. He had these metallic arms and he looks as if he had just seen a ghost.

Elias’ eyes at this point was bugged out and fixed on the creepy man. Before he could even ask who that was, the dark skinned man would scurry towards him. In the process of doing so, he’d fall to the ground and use all fours to get back to his feet. “GET AWAY FROM ME!” Elias screamed as loud as he possibly could in his condition after removing what was in his mouth.  “CALM THE FUCK DOWN!” Byamba shouted; now bringing Elias’ attention towards him for a split second. By the time Elias looked back the strange man was gone.

They’d remain silent for a few moments as Elias’ memories slowly start racing back. “Akili left some questions for me to ask you. Do you understand ?” Elias would turn his full attention to Byamba.  His expression was that of confusion but Byamba continued his questioning. “Do you know who I am?” He’d receive no response. “What’s my name?” Still no response. “What’s your name?” Complete silence. “Do you know where you are right now?” Elias would shake his head.

“No. Ok well let see here. Recite the alphabets” Byamba said while flipping through the checklist. “That’s not a question”, Elias answered with a smirk. “You’re .. you’re fucking with me aren’t you? “ Byamba laughed in relief as Elias joins in a bit. “This is serious business, Kid. You’ve been under for a long time now, we gotta make sure that your brain ain’t fucked up. Now what’s your name?” Byamba asked more gently.

“My name is Elias. Elias Dark.” He’d comply and answer Byamba’s questions. “Who am I” “You’re Byamba, member of the Inner Circle along with Tieros, Akili, Daymis, and Syn.“ Elias would answer this with little hesitation. “Well, we’re all known as members of Exodus now, but that’s for another time. Do you know what today is?” Elias would chuckle at this question as he thought about it. “No, what’s the date?” “It’s March 18th” , Elias gets a bit excited at the realization. “It’s my birthday.”  Byamba would break into a big smile.

He’s genuinely happy to see that Elias had pull through with minimal to no memory loss at all. “Heck yea it is. How’re you feeling?” Elias began to look for his regular clothes to get dressed as he answered the questions. “Honestly, I’m still angry if not angrier than before. I had hoped that after all this; I would find some peace.” Elias spoke disappointedly about his state of mind.

Byamba would continue to give Elias a check up to make sure everything was working fine with him. He’d then retrieve his clothes and respond to his comment. “Heh, well if it’s peace you’re looking for, Syn is your guy. He’s done a hell of a job dealing with our trauma. The pain , now that’s something I’m familiar with. I still remember my brother’s face bursting into pieces of meat from a stray bolt back in my field days. “

Elias paused for a moment at the dark imagery. This was not out of character for Byamba but that was his brother that he was describing. “Damn, that’s rough . I’m soo fuckin sorry bro. That’s terrible, how’d you manage?” Elias asked knowing that had it been anyone else who took his loved ones that he’d become distant beyond retrieve . “For a time I didn’t.“ Byamba laughed to himself while gesturing for Elias to open his mouth so he could check the back of his throat.

“Life’s about ninety percent fucked up, about five percent disappointing and the last five is happy.  So fucked up shit happens and in turn you’ll make fucked up shit happen to others as well. It came to a point where my entire life had become a battlefield. Everyday was a new battle and every month a different war.  Like I said, Syn helped. He showed me that peace is quite possibly the easiest thing to find but the hardest to accept.” He’d finish the check up and give Elias space to change while continuing his lecture .

“You can find peace in simple things like hunting or you can find it in others, like your friends and family. Your choice so long as you accept it. But if you really want my crazy advice, I’d say find your peace but keep that beast. That rage and anger cooking up inside of you with every breath you take, that your loved ones can’t.

That animosity you now have with every betrayal and dark secret life brings your way. Keep all of it locked away deep down and when the time comes. You feed that wolf and mercilessly do what needs to be done to keep what it is that brings you peace. You do this and you might not save everyone, but at the very least ; you might not lose everyone either.”

Elias remained silent as he took it all in. He’d only nod to acknowledge that he understood then changed the topic. “So, what’s been going on since I’ve been out?” Byamba would nod back and answer his question while preparing to close up. “Not much. There’s been reports of something moving towards the shinobi nations but these reports are unconfirmed so we need not to worry. Indra has been hunting game. Jinnouchi and I have been lifting but he has since went on to grow this ridiculous mustache. He says it hides his identity, I think it only hides his iq and highlights his need to be in adult entertainment. Kaili woke up a few weeks before you and had promptly placed himself on Akili’s shit list for jumping straight into a spar with Jinnouchi not even ten minutes after. Hence why I’ve been here watching you while Akili is out.”

Elias smiles knowing that everyone is ok. “Ah man, you must’ve been hella bored.”  “Nope”, Byamba replied quickly. “I keep busy, most of the time I’m sitting right over there beating my meat.” He’d burst into laughter at his own vulgar joke while Elias displays a look of utter disgust. “Cmon it’s a joke. I wash my hands before the check ups at least”. He’d laugh harder while he and Elias make there way out. “Dude stop that’s gross.” Elias replied.

“I see that Akili has removed your sense of humor. What a shame. You’d think she’d  leave you that much after taking your dick.” “She what?!” Elias freaked out, checking his underwear then sighing in relief. “Ha! That’s just too funny. Happy birthday ,Kid make the best of it.”

despite being locked in her room today seemed to be special, their seem to be something that Faith was pulling her towards, yet she still hated fate and those chance encounter since Neither of them ever went her way. The tall wooden door that hid her sloppy environment, her eyes peak through the cracks in her door spotting a familiar figure and someone who'd he followed behind. she slowly pushed the door open with as little strength as possible her eyes examined the new person back from head to heel, before her voice finally crept out of her chest "Hey whose the tree branch byambi?" She questioned as her head full tilted as she used her hand to hid her face and the hand that was directly behind it.

"Whatever, Who are you again?" she quickly jumped to question him placing her glance back onto him, her eyes barely holding themselves open, yet once he opened his mouth and reveal his identity, she would look toward byambi to confirm his identity. Once that situation was settled she slowly lift the sleeve of her shirt back over her shoulder "Great, so what is the plan, cause im not down to just blindly follow you into the pit of hell like that greaseball?" she asked as she insulted byambi in her form of a playful manner.

Elias had just finished a conversation with Byamba when he’d sense someone incoming. He’d turn to look in that direction to see Indra’s familiar face coming towards him. From that moment he’d begin to experience a few flash backs of Azazel and then remember that the last time he’d seen her, she was unconscious in Byamba’s arms.

So it made perfect sense why she’d be curious as to who he was and why she wouldn’t be very trusting. This moment technically is their very first official greeting. So when she’d hide her face to check in inconspicuously with Byamba, he couldn’t help but smile big at that. It seems like the six weeks he’s been gone hadn’t been too rough on everyone. In fact, Indra has seemed to warm up to Byamba a bit; and he’s quite possibly the toughest personality to deal with.

Byamba seems to have warmed up to her as well just by the way he’d answer. “Wait? I thought he’s with you? Well shit... that’s  another random infiltrating our little hunting group. You know what to do Indra, take em out.”  Elias chuckled nervously at the thought, not knowing if Indra was the literal type. “Hey Indra, I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Eli and it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” He’d reach his hand out to her while she looks towards Byamba for confirmation.

Byamba this time would respond with a simple shrug towards Indra continuing his charade. As Indra began to roll up her sleeves, Byamba would tap Elias on the shoulder, “You two get acquainted, I’ll let the circle know you’re awake. We’re all meeting at the pits tonight at sun down.” “Aight “ Elias replied doing a secret hand shake with Byamba right before he’d walk off.

Elias would now give Indra his undivided attention. She said that she wouldn’t follow blindly and then playfully insulted Byamba , which he heard but only chuckled as he walked away. Sincerely, Elias didn’t really have a grand answer for her which he figured would be disappointing. She had waited and endured for over six weeks now, she deserved to know what’s going on. Unfortunately, Elias wasn’t fully informed yet either, he only just woke up after all.

Elias would grin and respond, “your guess is as good as mine right now. I’ve been in a coma for a bit. Although it’s a shame you wouldn’t blindly follow me into the pit of hell. We woulda messed around and end up running the place. “ Elias would then gesture for Indra to walk with him while he heads towards the training grounds to maybe find the others. “ If it’s any consolation, I’m just a strategist with a fancy title. Jin’s the leader and Tieros is his mentor. So, until Tieros comes up with the right info and Jin presents it to me, I’m pretty clueless. The best I can think of right now is just maybe building our chemistry , ya know?  Which is actually a good idea don’t you think?” He’d  check in with her to see if she agreed.

Spoiler:

It was good news, or at the very least, Jin considered it to be good news. Elias was up and awake on his birthday of all days, word was ent to Jin while he was training and getting himself together. It was a good thing that Elias woke around the time that he did, Jin had a surprise for him. It was a recipe that Jin was working on with his free time since he was getting into cooking a few things for himself. It was a cake, it was a custom-made birthday cake that Jin was keeping as a top-secret mission for himself to celebrate his friend's awakening and return to the land of the consciousness.

So when he heard that Elias was up, Jin grabbed the cake and slowly walked over, trying not to put out the candles so that Elias had most of them to blow out when he walked over.

"Please don't go out, I'm out of matches...."

As he mumbled to himself and directed his body to where all of the noise was, there he was. Elias was up, the surgery was successful, his friends had made it back. It made Jin cry some manly tears, but he didn't have time to go into an entire monologue right now, it was Elias's birthday.



"HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Red velvet cake from the Red Flash himself! Elias, happy birthday to you...cha cha cha! Oh, I don't have any Maracas and it sounded like it was easy to produce in my head but, ah forget it. Happy birthday, man."

Noticing that the unconscious girl was around and about, Jin gave a bit of a wave. They didn't see each other much and he did look a bit different, but he was still friendly.

Kaili had been away in a little spot he claimed for himself not far from their base of operations. It was a small clearing he had made by a lazily moving river. He used it to train on occasion and to be clear of Akili's hounding. It was mainly the second reason that an innocent medjay had almost been torched when she came to tell him of Elias' awakening. Kai was stunned for a minute, and after immediately apologizing bolted off to go check on the situation. Hopefully, the woman's eyebrows would grow back quickly.

Once there he came through the door at the end of Jinn's birthday maraca song. Noticing the sweet cake, he inferred it to be Elias' birthday. "Oh nice cake boss, I didn't know you could bake." He'd say with a grin as he patted Jinn on the back. From there he spotted the girl Jinn was holding a while back in Azazel, he had seen her around but didn't really talk to her much. Now was probably the best time. "Hi there newbie, welcome to the group." Looking to Elias, he would give a two fingered wave as he stood to Jinn's left side. "Nice to see you up dude, how are you feeling? Oh, and happy birthday! Didn't know it was your special day or I would have done something." Well there was something he might be able to do. "Hm. I could pop off some "fireworks," you know?" This was good, the whole gang was up and operational now.

Elias and Indra didn’t get very far before he’d sense someone else approaching them. This person was large, just slightly smaller than Byamba with red hair and what seemed like a creature on top of his lip.  It wasn’t until he came closer that Elias was able to figure out that this person is Jinnouchi.

He’d nearly jump for joy at the sight of his best friend. Dude definitely got bigger, as if all he did for six months was undergo intense training . More to his surprise, Jinnouchi brought a well decorated cake along with him. Of all things he expected to see out here in the wolf, cake was not one of them.

Before he could speak a word, Jinnouchi started singing. Elias could only chuckle as he’s overwhelmed with the gift of being able to hear Jinnouchi’s voice again. Once Jin’s song ended another surprised came walking through a door.  It was Kaili! Man, the dude has changed. Elias remembers him as the watchful-timid type and now he’s comfortable and cool. Just like Elias, Kaili seemed surprised by Jinnouchi’s cake as well. Guess this wasn’t something he had done before.

This only raised questions about how this cake tastes. “Good lookin out with  the cake brutha! “ he’d go to perform their signature hand shake with Jinnouchi and Kaili. Assuming they remembered that is.  “Yo Kai, I’m feeling great man, definitely better than before now that I get to see y’all. This is probably the coolest gift anyone could ask for. Also you all look pretty damn strong; guess the wilderness is working wonders for y’all.”

He’d offer to carry the cake from Jinnouchi and gesture for them to all come along. “Since we’re all here we might as well head to the meeting place before it gets any darker out.”

"Oh hey, Kai, you're here as well. Glad you can make it my friend, it's good that we are both here with Elias being awake. He needs to see that, symbolism more than anything. We were around for the start of unconsciousness and now we are here for the time he's waking up and stuff. I'm sure you're just as excited to show him what we learned as I am huh?" Jinnouchi was in a rather upbeat mood, but it increased even more with Kai arriving. "I like family gatherings like this, ya know? It feels good to be a family again. But we are burning daylight, let's get on with it then, time to find a more suitable place for us to have some cake. Trust me it's good. I take my cooking like I take my training, and I'll tell you, this is my 67th try of trying to get the recipe just right. No mistakes at all!!!"

That last bit was Jin trying to convince himself, he did hope he didn't make any mistakes at all this time with the recipe.

"Plus you should get out of those clothes, I think there's a jacket with out-group insignia on it. Some would say it's too tacky but it seemed like you, a black leather flask jacket that had some flexibility on it. Not sure if you want to change or not, but the meeting can wait. A hot bath I can probably make the lake a little hotter and we got some soap, I'm in no rush man, you just got up. "

The atmosphere of their reunion was joyful, with smiles and laughter. "Thats good, I felt sorta off when I first woke up. Nothing big though, I was pretty quick to jump into a spar with Jinn." He'd say as he looked at the buff guy with a smile. "I learned a thing or two from that experience.  But yeah, living out here has been pretty relaxing. Atleast for me it is, turns out I enjoy hunting a lot."

"Thats true." Kaili couldn't have said it any better than Jinn. It was good to be together like this; as a team, and as a family. "Oh, I'm looking forward to it. Besides, I don't think I've seen Elias fight before." He was curious on what he'd be able to do. But Kaili soon found himself chuckling at Jinn's explanation on his cake and his number of attempts at it. "Now, thats determination." That aside, it seemed everyone had a mind to change location so he followed along with a grin. "Oh, we have uniforms? Neat.

Elias would wave off Jins suggestions to get clean before the big event tonight. He was just too excited to see everyone that he didn’t even care if he was a bit stinky. Although, the idea of getting the new uniforms was very enticing , Elias would still motion to get to the meeting spot on time.

So as they head on over ,Elias would respond to Kaili and Jin. “I can’t wait to find out what any of us can do now at this point. But knowing Tieros, he’s probably already has a lot planned”. It wouldn’t take long at all for them to reach the meeting spot.

At the center was a fire pit with meats being cooked and large stone benches. The inner circle was gathered there joking around and waiting for them to arrive. “Oho, what took you guys soo long? We were just about to go on and eat everything without you all, oho.”

"Ok so maybe I forgot to mention this but maybe I've been unconsciously avoiding Terios for a couple of days after a nightmare had a week ago. So this is the first time that I'm sticking around without generating something to do for myself to keep moving and keep busy. " Though that was a full disclosure for his close friends only and he didn't reveal this to anyone else. At the end of the day, they were all a team. Whatever was going on internally within a member of the group, this is something that they had to handle on their own. Or the very least, it can't be considered as a weakness for Jin that would bring everyone down.

"I was trying to get him to put on the new clothes but it seems like he was excited to see everyone now. But I would like to give a big thanks to the doctor for the successful operations, Byamba for showing that muscle doesn't mean you can't be nurturing, and....everyone else for getting this small celebration together. Now that they are awake, we could get moving,. However, no shop talk, this is Elias's birthday. Even if just for tonight, let's take it easy. "

Immediately Indra shifted off into her own world, thoughts of her friends and the time that had spent together, ”it was much since they were only truly together on mission especially on that last one.” she thought to herself as Jin and Elias meet up and spoke to each other about this and that had happened, yet her mind shifted to her father well whoever those letters were from the Asn deserves the wrath of datara to rain down on them. Her two colleagues soon becoming three as another entered the Frey, which didn’t make speaking any more comfortable. She only followed their lead well until she realized the amount of them that had gathered around to eat to their stomachs fill.

“Excus me, I’ll be taking mine back into my quarters with me” she spoke letting her soft, sweet, and polite tone out of her mouth softly and lowly before stacking a few on a plate and making way to her quarters, she moved at a rushed pace as she didn’t want to be stalled with one of Tieros slick comments.

"Well we can have a shot at each other when you're ready and Akili gives the ok." Speaking from experience, Kaili still seemed to be on bad terms with that woman. However, he didn't mind due to his own grudge against her. "You're having nightmares bro? Thats no good, stuff like that can lead to stress." The meet-up spot turned out to be a campfire styled cookout with everyone gathered around. With a quick laugh at Tieros' joke, Kaili found a seat spaced away from the others and proceeded to chow down while Jin talked. Afterwards he caught sight of the newbie leaving and spoke up to catch her. "Hey, you leaving early?"

"Yeah, it's like being in a genjutsu but nothing really wakes you up from them. Except for...waking up naturally. I guess it doesn't matter, forget I said anything. I wouldn't want to ruin the birthday celebration with all of this negative talk. " For now, Jin buried it. This was neither the time nor the place to talk about THAT, so he didn't. However, he did have a surprised look on his face when the new girl started to leave. "I wouldn't take these bonding experiences for granted, not if we are fighting with our lives on the line all the time. Plus, I have admittedly forgot your name, so before you leave..I'll reintroduce myself. "

After clearing his throat, Jin would offer a handshake and a big smile.

"Jinnouchi Tapir, The Red Flash. Looking forward to working with you, junior."

This story follows the recently escaped group of teenagers known amongst themselves as Exodus. A week after escaping two of there members ,Elias and Kaili underwent major surgery in hopes to improve themselves genetically. This was a practice made known to them by Akili Li Taki herself. The inner circle knows her as Deaths Surgeon or The Augment Soldier.

Kaili was the first to wake from his surgery and a month later Elias did the same. After a heart to heart with the inner circle’s brute and strong man, Byamba; Elias found some clarity. Now burdened by purpose , Elias finds the strength to push forward and is then met by the rest of his team. They’ve been adapting well to life in the wild. Jinnouchi even learned how to bake a cake using fruits and things he'd scavenge. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect because today they celebrated more than Elias’ waking but also his 14th birthday.

While the group celebrated together with cake,  music, a feast, and bon fire ; Indra felt a bit emotional. She missed the teammates she left behind. So she chose to isolate herself for the rest of the night. Byamba took notice but let her leave because of some other business at hand. While Jinnouchi, Elias and Kaili enjoyed the moment, Akili whispered something into Tieros’ ear. This led him to asked a series of questions.  Questions all directed to the youngest member of this group Kaili.

“Oho, you’ve adapted well for a child. Back in Azazel, that was your first kill , yes? Was It very difficult for you, oho? To betray and slaughter an ally like that. Oho, you're a savage, no? Can you even be trusted, oho?” Testing to see if Kaili would confess and tell the truth; he’d press on. Kaili being honest in character told him the truth. That he did not kill Aurielle in the labyrinth and that he let her escape.  Tieros would commend Kaili for his honesty but rebuke him for being dishonest for soo long. As payment, he’d demand that Kaili pay him back with his life. He'd also give him the option of defending himself.

Tieros emphasized this as being the wrong option to take. He explained that defending himself would only result in further torment and fail to prove his loyalty. Jinnouchi hearing enough attempted to intervene. He nearly volunteered himself but was held back by Elias. According to Elias, this was a matter that was best for Kaili to decide. Decisions had to be made but the time for thinking was over.

Tieros brought forth his bladed staff and rushed towards Kaili’s chest attempting to plunge his blade through it. Elias noticing Kaili’s stillness shouts once in hopes that with a few words, their youngest member could find the courage he lacked. (Both Elias and Jinnouchi): ” KAILI!!!! FIGHT BACK!!!” Suddenly like a spark of energy, Kaili would parry Tieros’ kill strike. The battle for Kaili’s life was underway.

The beating of makeshift drums, the lights of flaming torches, and the chants from the crowd to “Fight back ,now”; all created the epic scene before them. Tieros versus Kaili a battle to the death. After a few solid exchanges the battle was over. Tieros had forfeit, but decided to walk away without ending his own life. “Oho, you’ve adapted very well indeed, Kaili. Please forgive me, I never cared about the life you didn’t take,Oho . I simple had to ensure that you wouldn’t freeze again. “

It was a test all along, one that Kaili surely passed. The festivities and the night was over, what more could they ask for? Kaili was alive. They'd head to their bunkers and do whatever they do before bed.


The end.

Tech Used:

Elias preps when he gets to his bunker: