Months passed within the laboratory as if they were an endless eternity.
The end of the experiment drew closer, yet time itself seemed suspended between muffled screams and faces erased by exhaustion.
Every day, they were dragged into cold rooms… injected with nameless substances… fitted with devices whose purpose they could not comprehend… then discarded like expired remains.
Hunger was not the worst thing they faced—
Pain was.
A pain that went beyond the body and burrowed deep into their minds.
Each day, something inside them died.
Nara's laughter had long vanished.
Nish spoke to the void.
Bleed could no longer move.
And Rath…
Rath watched. Stayed silent. Thought.
He felt something changing within him.
His wounds began to heal unnaturally fast.
During one session, his neck was pierced, and he bled heavily—yet by the next day, he had fully recovered.
The doctor recorded:
"Subject #4 shows exceptional response. Early-stage genetic adaptation likely."
Rath didn't understand the words…
But he knew one thing—
His body was no longer the same.
And more importantly…
Neither was his soul.
Fear began to transform into something else:
Anger…
Then hatred…
Then something beyond description—
Chaos.
A force feeding on his pain.
Every night, he whispered:
"You will pay… you will regret this."
Yet he did not lose himself completely.
A faint thread of will still held him together.
The experiments continued.
One by one… they disappeared.
Until only six remained.
One day, Lord Michel Lorraine returned.
He carried a strange metallic case, wrapped in an eerie material, glowing faintly.
"What progress?" he asked.
"Subject #4… he's special," Edward replied nervously.
Michel smiled.
"If this succeeds… the Lorraine Family will become the strongest in the Shelter… perhaps even escape this prison."
"Shall we begin the final phase?"
"Yes. It's time."
He opened the case.
A strange aura erupted—
Chaos. Madness.
Edward nearly lost control… until Michel forced him back to his senses.
Inside the case…
A hand.
Ancient. Gray. Petrified.
Not human.
A relic of something forgotten.
Michel whispered:
"The time is near…"
He struck it repeatedly until he drew a single drop of dark blood.
Just one drop.
"That is enough," he said.
Edward took it like sacred treasure.
Meanwhile…
Rath felt something stir within him.
As Michel passed by his cell…
Something inside him responded.
Something ancient.
Something chaotic.
And he did not know…
That this moment marked the beginning of his transformation.