The clack of Verynika's heels were loud on the tiles of the corridor as she escorted Ka'hmesh from the elevator, her hand went to rest on his sleeve as she guided them towards a large room, filled with monitors, screens, and a variety of other devices obviously all devoted towards one important, singular purpose. "Here is the control room." She stated, her lightly accented voice matter-of-fact as she cradled her clipboard in her free arm. "You know, of course, or at least you've heard of the Aetherfay, the Vir'shaat being their technical name. Though some of those down in the streets prefer to call them 'spooks'." Walking forward, towards the room's grand centerpiece, which was a large, rectangular screen, spanning nearly the entire back wall, she turned her silvery eyes to the man at her side. "Here...lies the secret to our success. Our company for years has earned its living off the collection, extermination, and research regarding the Aetherfay."

Everyone knew of the Vir'shaat, creatures borne of a strange energy, Aether-touched...they called it. They were things given form that should never have possessed intelligence, wild and boundless, giving powers as their birthright that could easily decimate humanity. They had not existed in the early years, when man first walked the earth...but it was speculated that they came soon after. A crack...it seemed, had formed somewhere, that brought forth these monsters...and humans soon became embroiled in a war for their very survival. "Aetherfay are, by their very nature, feral, crazed at birth...which is what makes them so dangerous, babies given the power to flatten cities." Verynika's lips compressed into a thin line, as she pushed a lock of pale hair, which shone distractingly in multi-faceted colors, back behind her ear. "Before AeynCorp came about and conducted their research, these beings were impossible to track, save by following the trail of corpses left in their wake. Though there are still some tribes in the wilds that worship the Aetherfay, managing not to get slaughtered by the creatures they revere as deities. Some have interbred with them, as they did in the old days. There are many humans that have the blood of Aetherfay running through their veins. Your family line is obviously touched by it as well, Ka'hmesh..." Noted suchly by the man's red eyes and blue hair.

Walking up to the main control panel, she greeted a few of the scientists and other staffers quietly, and they waved to her from their places. As she beckoned her companion closer, it soon became apparent that the large panel...was not a panel at all, but multiple, layered panes of some transparent material...a window...to yet another chamber. Within...there was a creature, a being...enshrouded in a tangle of wires, arms outstretched as though the figure had been crucified, sacrificed on an altar of cold metal and technology. Its eyes were closed, and a flow of dark hair ran down...past its bare feet, though the tips of pointed ears...touched with what seemed to be feathers at the very ends, emerged from the ebon.

The form appeared to be male, for all intents and purposes, though any genitalia had been hidden by a bit of formed metal plating, to which several extra wires of various uses had been attached. There were a thousand monitoring strands of wiring attached to him, beginning with two large nodes at the temples, and working their way down. There was a collar curled about a slender neck, with even more strands attached. He seemed to be more a part of the machinery, than something that had been hooked up to it as an afterthought. Behind him, emerging from the cables, were two large, membraneous extentions...in greens and translucencies, shimmering with their own light. It usually took a moment for the eyes to realize...that they were another part of the being in the chamber, wings of a sort, though it was clear that the creature had never flown.

Clawed fingertips curled and relaxed, seemingly in rhythm, hair swayed as though stirred by some unseen current, and a rise and fall of that thin chest indicated life. Delicate life, but life nonetheless.

Verynika tapped Ka'hmesh on the shoulder, drawing his attention away from that window. "This...is the Source." She informed softly, "Created by AeynCorp...he has the DNA of all major lines of the Aetherfay written into his genetic structure. He is their...deity, their god if you will, connected to each of them through that link, intensely connected to the Aether. Initially, when they were crafting him, he was meant to be physically female...and a soulless shell, devoid of intelligence, merely something to be connected to the others, a sensor of sorts." Her lips pursed in clear annoyance. "But it seemed the Aether itself chose differently, as he is both male and sentient...like the kind that he was spun from. He has never spoken, but his actions upon awakening were violent, like that of his...'children' if you will. We do not know how much he feels, but we do know that he can sense each one of them, and we in turn, can track them. We focus, naturally, on those most instantly a threat to human settlements."

Turning, she clacked off towards one of the other displays, a map of the world, with thousands of shining points of light illuminated on it. "Each one of these is a Vir'shaat..."

Just then, a crackling came over the intercom, and one of the staffers instantly tapped a button, "This is Source, come in."

"Team A0-12. Objective completed." Came a low voice in return, and the crackling ceased.

As though by some signal, all eyes turned to that window, to the Source...and his eyes, some time in the last few seconds, had snapped open, proving to be an intense shade of green. Tears were coming from them, and his lips were parted in a cry that could not be heard through the glass, his head tipping back, as though somehow, he could beg someone to hear his sorrow.

"The mission in Panteris was a success." The silvery-haired woman informed, "The Aetherfay is no more...the Source cries for each one of them...it is how we verify the termination. We are not even sure that it knows...just why it is grieving. We have never been able to tell just how the Source is mentally or otherwise connected, barring genetics, to the creatures."