Cold Flames : Book 1

Chapter 1: The Room

October 14th, 2025
3:00 am
"Hey boss! Am I done now?" Was my voice. I had done fight training with the dummies that Boss sets up for me to do. He says it's for my own safety, but I think he's just too big of a softie to admit that he likes me being safe. I looked up at the camera, which was inclosed inside of a rectangular box. The square that showed the person watching the camera was in the center, and on the other side, it showed me looking into the lens. The person on the other side was Boss.
Unknown First name - Boss
Age 44
Class Undecided
"Of course. Subject 237, transfer Subject 11 to his cell." A young, skinny boy pranced up behind me. But.. Not pranced, like he seemed to have been, but he was actually shivering it looked like he was pretty happy. We started to walk down the white, plain hallway. "Hey, What's your name? I know Boss says we're subjects and we have names and all, but I call myself Eli!" I spoke happily. But he didn't respond but only a couple of minutes after. "My name is Jake." He said it so soft I thought he didn't even mean to say it, like it was a thought bubble and it had just came out. That happens to me a lot. Boss is usually gets mad at me for it. "Woah! Jake's a cool name. Do you work here or something? Your wearing a different outfit than I am, and you look kinda roughed up. Are you some kind of security guard?! You probably beat up bad guys, don't you? Boss says I have to beat up bad guys too, but he says it's for my own safety. But he's just a big softie." I could sense Jake rolling his eyes, but I never really learnt what 'rolling your eyes' meant. "I don't work here. I'm a subject here and you are too." That seemed real mean! "B-Boss says I'm really useful! I'm unique! Special!" I tried to say it like I knew it for sure, but Boss always told me it, but I never truly knew. I'm starting to sound like a old man! I could hear Jake shivering more. He paused for a moment. I reached out for his hand, hopefully to comfort him, but he just shoved it away. "Let's go. Boss needs me."

I didn't see Jake the rest of the night, or well, day. You could never tell here, no windows and all. I had been lying in bed, thinking of Jake's face. He seemed like a nice guy. I wonder what he thinks of me.. Oh well. I wo-
clank; clank; clank;
It scared the living daylights outta me! My tail spiked up- Oh, yeah, I have a tail. I don't know why no one else has one. Boss says I also have elf ears, but I don't know what those are. Oh! Boss said I was also born with.. "fangs" I think he said. Body features, that's what Boss taught me. Parental figure, basically. Okay, Okay, back to real life time. "Ouch!" It was a different voice. Not Jake's, definitely not Jake's. I had memorized Jake's tone in every single word I knew! Jake's tone was deeper, this one sounded like mine. The vent that was well 10ft off the ground made a clank as it was shoved towards the floor. A head poked out, wearing the same shirt as Jake, but it wasn't him. "Eli, right?" He smiled. I smiled back, but he made a weird face as I did so. I wonder why. "Oh, uh, yes! Are you Jake's friend? Is he around here?~" I was pretty sure my eyes sparkled at the thought of my new friend. He smiled again. "Hop on in, I'll show you something real cool." The guy signaled to move inside of the vent, and waited there until I reached the exit. "Your butt is in my face!" "Ack, sorry!" "Shut up, Boss'll hear us up here!"

No One's POV
———
It was a room, filled with bubbling potions and several papers stacked up on computer desks. Almost every computer was on and had coding spread across the screens, obviously in a language other than English. But what stood out the most is a map in the center of the room, standing in the center of two desks with potions lined across them. Each potion had a name, date, and address. The two boys climbed out to investigate further. "I found this a little while ago, and I saw your name and knew where your cell was. Jake told me." Eli almost immediately went starry-eyed. "Were is he?! Is he in this room?" It was a stupid question to ask, seeing as there was no door. The guy didn't answer. "Oh, call me Walton. Jake's friend." He held up a hand as a small little wave as a introduction. Eli never really understood these gestures so he ignored them. He studied the map. It had names and photos stuck on it, having red marks drawn to people who were supposedly connected. Sticky notes had little words on them describing each person's address or just overall information. Most people worked at the laboratory though. Eli saw his name at the top, circled in red. Beside it said something.
Eli, Last Name Unknown
16, Male
Demon, Class 5
It had more, but the demon part stuck out the most as for it was underlined in a dark, dark red. It seemed almost like blood. "D-Demon.." Eli traced his finger over the word written in pen. "This isn't true.. No.. Boss would've told me.. Boss.." He was frozen in fear and covered his face with his hands. It was so sudden. His beard was pumping severely, his face was a bloodshot red, and he was sweating badly. "E-Eli! Hey, buddy, don't fall asleep, okay? Your probably just experiencing shock. Calm down, deep breaths." Walton placed his hand on Eli's forehead. "We need to get you back to your room," Walton started to pick Eli up, but he was stuck to the ground by his own will. "I.. can't.. must.. look.." Eli couldn't finish his words before he was dragged off to the vent to be carried to his cell; or where ever.