Chapter 1
Espers and Guides started being in existence a little into the 1960s, following the outbreaks of wars that nearly cost the Americans a lot.
It was during this time that Vance Thorne finally made his first special human. This being was created with overly too much energy and power, possessing a beauty that America described as one of the wonders of the world. He was too tall, too handsome, with very long hair that shimmered under the lab lights. No woman had ever produced such a beauty from her womb, but Vance Thorne's very own lab did.
They called him Caspian.
The name was chosen for its elegance, yet he was undeniably dangerous. Half of his power was enough to clear an entire city twice over. The government saw an opening; they found the perfect asset. This was exactly what they wanted, a human weapon. There was no more need to focus on making guns when Caspian existed.
They invested everything into him. He was all the government needed, or so they thought. But as younger scientists conducted more research, they realized Vance Thorne's invention had a serious anomaly. Caspian would destabilize after exercising his power. His entire body temperature would hike up, his emotions would shatter, and he tended to become violent and impossible to manage.
He couldn't be controlled as much as they wanted him to be. To solve this, Dr. Sterling found a solution: Guides. If the Esper had Guides, then he could be better regulated. A Guide would be a human specifically trained to absorb and balance Caspian's overwhelming power.
"It should be someone attractive, someone the Esper won't be able to resist," Sterling said during a meeting with Vance and the science officials.
A few selected government officials witnessed the first guiding. It was such a massive success that Dr. Sterling's name entered the history books alongside Vance as a creator of something great.
For a while, it worked smoothly. But the scientists were greedy; they wanted a second attempt at making an Esper. Meanwhile, they pulled from everywhere to find more Guides, young soldiers, both male and female, and even children from orphanages were trained for the role.
The job was grim. Not every Guide survived long after absorbing the Esper's raw power or trying to handle the intensity of his physical needs and libido.
Then, Rose happened.
She was the youngest Guide they had ever recruited, and she was the very first person the Esper didn't look away from. From the moment she stepped into the lab, his eyes were locked on hers.
"She is to be your Guide from today henceforth," Dr. Sterling and Dr. Vance told him.
Caspian was sitting up in his bed, several wires plugged into his body to regulate his fluids and his sharp DNA. They were even extracting fluids from him to try and jumpstart the creation of a new Esper.
Rose darted her eyes all over him, taking in the sight of the needles and the tubes. "Isn't he in pain?" she asked.
Caspian's gaze sharpened immediately. He watched her closely.
"All these machines are plugged into him... all these things on his skin?" she continued, her voice filled with genuine concern.
Not only was she beautiful, but she dared to take his side. In the ten years since he had been brought into existence, no one had ever asked if he was hurting.
"He doesn't feel pain," Dr. Vance said, dismissive. "That's why he's a special human."
"What do you mean he doesn't feel any pain? Look at all this," Rose argued, pointing to the red marks where the wires met his skin.
"His body actually regenerates," Dr. Vance continued, while a trail of young scientists followed behind him like shadows. "His skin will quickly cover up scars as soon as they are made."
Rose's eyes met Caspian's again. Her expression was clear: There is no way this doesn't hurt him. Caspian could read the look on her face. For the first time in his life, someone cared for him. He couldn't believe it. He didn't even know what it meant to be cared for by another person.
"Now, it's time for him to undergo his examination," Dr. Vance announced.
Rose couldn't believe her ears. "Examination? What do you mean by an examination? Apart from these ones he's already having?"
Dr. Vance and the rest of the scientists ignored her, wheeling Caspian's bed into the examination room.
The room was cold, filled with heavy metal equipment and monitors. Wires were plugged into every part of him, and an iron-like machine was placed over his chest to monitor his heartbeat. He was placed inside a glass chamber while Rose watched with horror.
Suddenly, the room began to hum. His entire body charged with electricity. Caspian began screeching and groaning, his muscles locking up. He wasn't crying out loud, but Rose could see the agony in his eyes. She knew a human being couldn't withstand the kind of shock they were pumping into him.
"Increase the voltage," Dr. Vance ordered a young scientist.
The machine hummed louder.
"He's going to collapse!" Rose yelled.
"No he won't," Vance replied calmly. "He is regenerating. He needs to be controlled, otherwise, he may shut down the lab someday. He's too powerful. In the next ten years, he might become completely uncontrollable."
"Isn't that why the Guides exist for him?" Rose asked, her face white with horror. Caspian's eyes were becoming lifeless, yet he was holding onto the last bit of strength he had.
"Guides are not strong enough for him yet," Vance said. "We don't have a Guide who can withstand this much heat. In the last seven years, Caspian has had twenty Guides. You are the twenty-first. Do you know how many survived? Only three. And maybe you, for now."
Rose's eyes fixated on the glass. Her hands pressed against the barricade that separated them. She grew more nervous as the minutes passed, watching him suffer.
"End this now!" she shouted in a panic. "End it now! You will kill him!"
"Miss Rose—"
"You heard me! End this now!"
Before anyone could stop her, Rose forced her way past the barricade. She reached for her sidearm, lifted the gun, and blew the glass apart. It shattered across the floor in a thousand pieces. She rushed to him, her hands reaching for the wires, trying to pull them from his body.
Caspian winced in pain as the metal tore from his skin.
"I said shut this thing down now!"
Chapter 2
Caspian reached out his hand and held her and the entire system shut down immediately. To everyone's surprise, the lights flickered once and died, leaving the laboratory in a heavy, suffocating silence.
"What's going on?" Dr. Vance shouted, his voice echoing off the cold metal walls.
"We don't know..." the technicians stammered, staring helplessly at their darkened monitors. "The grid just... it just stopped."
In the middle of the wreckage, Rose didn't care about the power. She turned to Caspian, her heart aching at the sight of him. "You look..." She wanted to say he looked horrible, but the word got stuck in her throat. She drifted closer, her fingers trembling as she began to quietly remove the plugs from his skin.
Pulling them out alone drew thick, blue blood from his body. The sight of it made her nearly cry, the vibrant color a reminder of how different he was and how much they had hurt him to find that out.
"How could they be this way towards you?" she asked softly.
Caspian watched her, his head tilted. He tried to understand why she was crying. No one had ever cared if he was in pain or not. For ten years, he had simply taken the shocks and the needles because Dr. Vance said it was okay. But this woman was different.
He reached out, his large hand cupping her face, and pulled her down as she came close. He planted a kiss on her lips, and Rose's eyes widened. Up close, she was even more mesmerized by the shifting, deep colors in his eyes.
"He's not going through those sessions again," Rose said firmly.
No one dared to challenge her. Not even Dr. Vance, who stood in the shadows of the observation deck, shocked by how ten years of cold science had been dismantled the moment Caspian grasped Rose's hand.
"I think we have found the best Guide for the Esper," Dr. Sterling whispered to Vance later that evening. "The thing is, I don't know what happened in her training to make her so susceptible to him, or how she's able to keep him this quiet without any medicines."
"We need to study that," Vance muttered, though he looked unsettled.
In the weeks that followed, the lab became a different kind of cage.
"What is the update on Caspian today?" Dr. Vance asked as he walked toward Caspian's crib. It was the private wing where the Esper lived alone and learned how to interact with humans without accidentally harming them.
"Apart from his language classes he had this afternoon, nothing else," the assistant reported. "He seems to be waiting out for his new Guide, Rose."
"Waiting? Did he learn how to wait on people?" Vance asked, stopping in his tracks.
"Well, Rose must have been teaching him a lot in the past few weeks."
Vance began scribbling in his notebook. "Has he been getting enough guiding from her, or does she need a stimulant to make that work?"
"Well, that's what I've been trying to understand," the assistant said, shifting uncomfortably.
"What do you mean?" Vance's brows furrowed.
"Well, they just... couple up," the assistant said, gesturing vaguely with his hands.
"What do you mean couple up?" Vance asked, before his eyes widened. "They have sex? Like... sex!"
"Yeah. The usual exchange of body fluids through the ports? They don't do that. I think they really do have sex, even though I don't know how Caspian figured out how it worked." The assistant adjusted the rim of his glasses. "The most important part is... he shuts down the cameras every time he's doing it with Rose. I think he doesn't want anyone to see. He knows we're watching."
Dr. Vance marveled at the progress. In just a few weeks, Caspian had developed a sense of privacy and humanity that a decade of testing couldn't produce.
"Do you think Caspian is in love with her? But how?"
It was a mystery that their scientific tables couldn't solve.
"Miss Rose," Dr. Sterling started during a report session a few days later. "What exactly have you been doing with Caspian?"
"Why do you ask?" Rose asked, her brow furrowing. "You are always monitoring him and never let him out into the world. He practically lives here. Isn't that enough for you?"
"That's not my question, Miss Rose. You need to stop acting out of protocol. Dr. Vance is already going bonkers trying to control him, and you don't have to make it worse."
"But Caspian is okay," Rose argued. "We have been together these few months and we're totally fine. He doesn't need to go through those harsh examinations anymore. I check his vitals myself and feed him his drugs every day."
"Well, I don't doubt that you have been helpful, especially with how humane he has become," Sterling said, leaning in. "He can even speak English fluently now. However, an Esper who depends too much on you will be a problem when the sole purpose of his creation is to be a weapon for this country."
Rose didn't argue, her jaw tightening.
"Do you get that? He needs to be able to do without you. That's the only way he can function properly."
"But he is functioning well," Rose insisted. "He's taking his training seriously."
"That's because you make him do it. He seems to listen to everything you say. Do you know what that means? If the government finds this out, your life will be in danger. Don't feed so many ideas into Caspian's head..."
Sterling swallowed his words as Caspian appeared right in front of them without warning. His eyes were blazing with a cold, silver fury. Without a word, he grabbed Rose by the arm and dragged her away from the scientist.
"Now he's feeling jealousy, too," Dr. Sterling said, taking off his glasses and sighing.
The call came only a few days later.
"Dr. Vance, can you hear me?" It was the President's voice, sharp and urgent.
"Yes, sir."
"We need Caspian. There's a war."
"What?"
"War just broke out. We need him! Right this minute!"
The lab became a blur of steel and black tactical gear. Caspian was being prepped for deployment, his face a mask of stone.
"I'm going to be fine," he promised Rose as she helped him dress, her hands shaking as she buckled his armor.
"Don't take off your clothes so you don't get cold," she whispered, her voice thick with worry. "Make sure..."
Caspian didn't let her finish. His hands went over her back, pulling her in and kissing her, lingering for more than a moment.
"I love you, Rose," he said.
Rose felt utter shock as those words left his lips. He was smiling, a genuine grin that went from one cheek to the other. "I will come back," he said innocently.
Rose couldn't stop crying. Dr. Vance had already whispered that Caspian might never make it back alive, that he would be ruined by the time the war was over, and all they would need from him was a chunk of his DNA to make a new, more controllable Esper.
Then, the worst happened.
"Dr. Vance!" a technician screamed, pointing at the hangar bay.
"What is it?"
"Miss Rose just geared up and followed him! She's on the transport!"