The laboratory reeked of scorched chemicals and blood.
Dark tubes slithered like veins across the walls, pulsating with a sickly red hue. In the center of the room, a man was convulsing violently on a reinforced steel table, his eyes glowing like furnace embers. Black cracks spread across his skin as his body warped and twisted claws replacing fingers, veins bulging unnaturally beneath the skin.
Veyrix stood at the edge of the platform, watching without flinching. His sharp jaw, long platinum-white hair, and unnerving calm gave him the presence of a man who didn't fear monsters because he'd already become one.
"Subject 27," muttered a scientist from behind a monitor. "The injection accelerated the awakening, but his body's rejecting the surge of power."
The man on the table let out an inhuman screech before his chest caved inward and he stopped moving.
"Failed," the scientist finished grimly.
Veyrix stepped closer to the corpse, then casually kicked the table leg, sending it clattering to the floor.
"We're getting closer," he said softly. "His form held for fifteen seconds longer than the last."
A woman stepped out of the shadows tall, dressed in a deep crimson coat, eyes covered with a thin visor. Her voice was mechanical.
"If we refine the dosage any further, the risk of complete cellular collapse triples."
Veyrix smirked. "We don't need them to live. We need them to kill."
He turned, walking through the lab as flames in the torches flickered with an unnatural blue hue. A digital screen in the corner displayed a blurred satellite image a mountain range with a red blinking beacon at its center.
"Is it true?" the woman asked. "The report about her?"
Veyrix stopped.
"Yes," he said. "They spotted her. The granddaughter. And him."
There was a moment of silence before the woman responded. "You think the old man's with them?"
"I'd bet my veins on it," Veyrix replied. His voice dropped to a whisper. "Chandler Flaning... the Ghost of Eden's Edge."
She looked unsettled. "They say he once fought an entire battalion alone. That he shattered a Tier 1's mind with a thought."
"I know," Veyrix said, eyes darkening. "I was there."
The room went still.
"I was a child. He was a demon in the shape of a man. And now... he trains another."
He turned toward the screen. "This Kian he's unpredictable, already displaying dangerous potential. If Chandler's teaching him... we can't afford to wait."
The woman stepped forward. "Should I alert the Others?"
"Not yet," Veyrix said. "We'll send one of the enhanced. One of the stable ones. Let's see how the boy handles a Tier 2. And if Chandler shows himself..."
His voice dropped to a near whisper.
"We'll finally know if he's still a monster… or just a ghost."