Dawn of the 13th Era

Escape From Cyberis

"H-How?!" The captain muttered watching the bullets bounce back from the Lion's skin like they struck a plate of metal.

"This can't be possible." A soldier nearby said with trembling hands firing even more shots at the Lion who stumbled backwards then let out a loud roar shaking the zoo to it's very core.

All the animals in the zoo suddenly cried out causing havoc in their cages, the elephant a distance away crashed out of it's cage with a single hit and came stumbling towards the soldiers.

Everything descended into chaos, the panicking soldiers and workers tried to escape from the zoo while being chased by the animals.

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Aeric opened his eyes and looked at the dead Lion lying on the ground beside Mira's corpse.

"The lion didn't have any sort of malice towards humans. What a pity, a tier 3 beast like it could be of great use if I found it earlier." He said then turned around looking at the zoo now dead silent after Damion's 'cleansing'

"Did you find the reason why there are so many mutant beasts here?" Damion asked Aeric who was still staring at the zoo cages.

"That lion, it has two different abilities. One of them allowed it to control the other animals, the other turned them into half bred mutants with a small chance of becoming a full mutant." Aeric said while pointing at the lion's corpse.

Vincent's also turned over to look at it "You mean there's an ability out there that can create other mutants??" Damion asked with a shocked expression clear on his face.

"Apparently, it exists and we need to send this report to the headquarters soon. But first, we need to find the rat that snooped out earlier." Aeric said with a thoughtful expression.

"He looks like he'll be a pain to chase."

"Not really, I placed a mark on him earlier, it's faint but I still sense it, we'll need to move fast though he might leave my range soon."

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Orion left the university without a second thought, he didn't know what would happen if he got caught but it would probably lead to being drafted by the army.

"I don't want to join the army or something right now, I'll lose all form of my freedom then."

He hailed a cab and returned to his lodge, packed what little clothes he had along with the money left from his little heist and boarded a cab for the train.

'I have this feeling like I'm under watch, I don't know why but I feel like staying here will bring more trouble.'

Getting to the railway station, Orion boarded a train going to Arizona, a coastline city in the USA.

As long as I don't stay too close things will be pretty fine, I just need to lay low for a while.

A few minutes after the train left the station Aeric arrived at the same station and watched the empty station with dark eyes.

"He actually ran away."

"Did he notice?"

"He shouldn't have noticed, no one ever noticed anything." Aeric said then turned around with his hands behind his head.

"Forget about him for now, we'll look for him later, let's return to the headquarters to give reports on Cyberis and the mountains, that's way more important than a rogue mutant right now, that train is headed to Arizona we could always track him down besides.... There's nowhere for him to run to."

Orion leaned back on his seat reminiscing about the incidents of the day, the sudden outbreak at the zoo created a chain of disasters that couldn't be concealed.

'A lot of survivors must've seen some of the mutant animals it will be hard for the government to conceal all traces of it.' he thought then pulled out his phone to scroll through the news headlines and there at the very top were various headlines about the incident in Cyberis.

Luminaries University was a famous education institute in the country, rated as one of the top five. The incident involved a lot of people and talents, the death toll were in the thousands, the news picked it up pretty quick.

'Even the government can't cover up an incident of that magnitude. They were also at fault for covering the whole incident up from the citizens, we would've been prepared for such incidents, Jerry wouldn't have died.' he thought with clenched fists when he saw a call from an unknown number.

'It might be them, but they don't have any means of contacting me right? There shouldn't be any harm in picking it up.' Orion thought trying to calm his mind.

"Hello who's this?" Orion asked with the phone raised at arms length.

"I almost mixed the numbers up, it's me Jerry, where are you Orion?" The familiar voice across the call made his heart feel at ease.

"I'm not in Cyberis at the moment, I left for a few important issues, I've been trying to get across to you."

"I lost my phone during the breakout at the university, I survived by luck glad to hear you're also alive." Jerry replied with a relieved tone.

"I'll call you back, I have something to do urgently, sorry." Orion said then cut the phone.

'I knew she would get worried, if I don't pick up her call she might resort to desperate means.' he thought while looking at his mother's call beeping on the phone's screen.

After losing his brother there were only two children left in the family and she wouldn't be able to bear the loss of another son.

"Hello mother."

"Orion! I heard there was an Incident at the university, the news is showing reports about casualties in thousands, what happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm alright mother, it was a zoo breakout and I managed to escape I'm fine mother."

"Leave the school, come home Orion I can't bear to deal with the death of another son. I've already lost your brother I can't lose you too Orion." She said with a sobbing tone.

"I'll be home soon mother, I just need to deal with a few things before returning home." He said then cut the call.

'I just need to lie low for a while, make some money then find out what plans the government has towards all these.' he thought then switched off his phone, laid his head back and closed his eyes falling asleep instantly.