Kyra’s Garden, The Isle of Sontmano

[Axel Gobetsu]

Prologue:

Trusting Axel after bringing back the weapons that were swiped during the transaction they brought him around to provide help or even just security for their situation. On a remote island is where they had set up their organization, a greenhouse set up to research and develop ways to increase food cultivation in the climate of impending doom. Basically a food bank that profited off of their recreational research, a highly technical facility based off the biggest port on the island that connected to acres of farmland and the small village of employees and scientists. Axels arrival came with an upgrade to their entire security force, a welcome visitor, amidst the increasingly violent culture that was inflicting society. Not that they noticed, it appeared they were just glad to be more armed. The focus or this organization was to make sure the farmlands of Vescrutia had the upper hand when it came to radiation poisoning, droughts, famine, and the multitudes of creatures and insects that are altering their migration patterns all over the planet. From fertilizers to cloud seeders this scientific establishment provided the world, or whoever could reach them, the means to harvest the fruits of their labor.

Kyras father, Kaiser Presente was very grateful to the ninja for his help in securing their transaction and eventually grew fond enough of Axel to impart the knowledge that he showed his interest in. Here Axel would learn how to grow his own weed, to smoke, at alarming rates but with only the right conditions, he’s had trouble with results every other way than one. Growing close with the different scientists he eventually gained access to their backup herb storage facility. Here they stored surplus dried herbs and seeds that were replaced with fresher stock before it could get used. It hadn’t been growing that often recently, recent droughts have forced them to use their own cultivation methods for the crops needed to support their organization, reducing the profit margin exponentially every year the famine continued.

It wasn’t that their production of fertilizer had decreased at all, it was the requirements for life itself that had risen. They had a completely renewable supply of seawater to desalinate, as well as mining facilities across the continent. It was the combined use of their products and increase in demand that was invoking their downfall. It was only when they went to produce oil and hemp products to compensate that they discovered the missing quantities. The only thing they could rely on to increase or even preserve the yield of crops every season was the genetic engineering of garden variety products. But every year the famine got worse, year after year their scientists looked for stronger and tougher strains of DNA that could survive disease, they had to be resistant to pests, etc. Even after trying to composite freeze and burn proof genetics into wheat it was only a few years before the product found another way to fail permanently.

This had been going on for quite some time before Axel arrived with the arms they required to protect their assets better. There was one in particular that they acquired recently that demanded better security measures. The fossilized remains of the fruit of an ancient world tree rumored to have provided eternal life to anyone that consumed it. Of course, recovering the entire pattern of DNA was out of the question, but certain strands could have been replicable and that was enough to make them believe they could use it to engineer the super food they needed to save the planet.

After arming their forces their scientific research advanced at an alarming rate. Using the resilient growth properties of the marijuana plant they saw the different combinations of DNA evolve rapidly, as well as easily testing for phenotypical responses through different oil applications. These prototypes continued to fill their storeroom until they ran out combinations to try, none of them increasing the longevity of plant life. There were a few individuals however that saw a benefit to perfecting the integration of the DNA they did have, even if the yield was less than marginally acceptable. They had been working on this very project they weren’t supposed to be working on when Axel saw fit to make his rounds where he wasn’t supposed to be.

He was teaching the guards to better patrol their routes, a very valid excuse to two guilt ridden scientists, however he didn’t have a clue about who was qualified for what. The information they were working on only told him they were putting in hard overtime on the genetics of a weaponized plant. It was this information he used to pressure and eventually blackmail them into giving him the keys to herbal storage, finally leaving them alone after popping up night after night. The thief got to work immediately with a literal book of seals already prepared to enclose at least a pound of weed each. Axel had written up two thousand of them and he still hadn’t gotten to the hard part. Placing one on every box he could find labeled with a high percentage of tetrahydrocannibol he ordained that he would have to organize them later. After the umpteenth day of hiding and polarizing enclosing seals Axel had to prepare the island for the biggest storm it had yet to see.

As a child his elders found Axel to be the best candidate for a ritual that was fit for a crowned king. The procedure saw to unnaturally fill its host with a massive amount of storm naten in order to change the nature of the very blood that ran thru them. After six days and six nights they were bled on the seventh morning, they did not mean for him to survive.

The resulting storm was a blatant feat of unnatural causes. So much so that it would have been a dead giveaway to repeat the process at the Sontmano facility. Granted that no one knew of his capabilities at the moment it wouldn’t have taken long to find out with their technical capabilities. Using their equipment against them would have them scrambling for an answer that would be long gone by the time they figured it out.