2749 was on the brink of death when his violet eye flickered violently.
—
He was drifting in a vast, dark space filled with the scent of blood. Yet, instead of fear or pain, a strange comfort wrapped around him, deeper than anything he had ever known. It was warm, almost soothing, as if the very darkness embraced him.
Then, a voice.
Silky smooth, dark as the void, it seeped into his thoughts like a whisper from something ancient and unseen.
His eyes snapped open.
The cold, rune-gss vault was gone. The heavy shackles that had bound his body were nowhere to be seen.
Then, a flicker.
A shape formed within the void.
A shadowy figure emerged, its movements fluid yet predatory, a twisted reflection of 2749. This being’s gaze was like twin voids, devouring the light.
A suffocating pressure radiated from it, warping the space around them, crushing down on him like a tangible force.
A shiver crept up 2749’s spine. It wasn’t fear. It was recognition.
"Why… Do I know you?" 2749 asked, his voice unsteady.
The figure smiled, slow and sly, drifting closer. Its whisper hummed through the void.
"I am you."
2749 stiffened. Something inside him recoiled. The words carried a weight he couldn’t grasp, yet they rang with undeniable truth.
"I know your pain," the figure murmured. "The suffering, the experiments, the emptiness they carved into you. They took everything from you, your past, your emotions, even your future."
Then, the void split open.
A flickering light. A screen hovering in the darkness. No, not a screen, but memories.
—
The cold bit into his skin , iron shackles biting deep into his wrists and ankles. He was bound to a rough wooden chair, its leather cracked and stained dark with old blood and his blood.
A thin, wicked needle slid into his vein. He twitched, the cold sting blooming into a fire that roared through his body. His muscles locked, shaking hard. Each heartbeat sent shards of pain ripping through his veins.
His vision swam, blurring the edges of the room. Through the haze, he saw him.
Valerius.
The man stood before him, an observer in an alchemy coat, his expression cool and detached.
"Increase the dosage," Valerius ordered, voice smooth as a serpent’s hiss as if discussing a b rat. "He's still conscious."
More liquid fire surged into his veins. His Aether, like a wild thing trapped within him, fought against the invading liquid. But it was useless. The world narrowed, the edges of his vision darkening.
—
Then, his eyes.
He didn’t remember when it happened, just the pain. Cold metal pressed against his face and dug into his skin. Then, they tore his eye out, and it hurt a lot. Tendons snapped, and blood poured out. The empty hole hurt badly.
Next, they put something wrong into the hole. His head burned as it went in. His body shook, he felt sick, and it felt alive inside him. His arms and legs jerked wildly.
He should have died. But they would not let him.
Death was a mercy they denied.
The memory shattered.
—
Elias punched 2749 hard in the ribs, knocking him to the cold floor. His bones shook, and he couldn’t breathe for a moment.
"Still not following orders?" Elias asked.2749 stayed quiet. He was used to that.
But today was different. Elias held a needle with something bck and bad inside. He looked excited to hurt 2749.
"This," Elias whispered, voice dripping with malice, "will teach you obedience."
When the needle went into 2749’s neck, he knew it was trouble.
It didn’t feel like a bruise or a burn. It was worse.
Agony coiled through him, knotting his nerves. His muscles locked tight, and his bones groaned as if splintering apart. A crushing weight gripped his chest, stealing his breath, as though he sank beneath bck water.
His sight fred white, then plunged into shadow.
A scream ripped from his throat, startling him—he’d forgotten his voice could break like that.
Elias ughed as 2749’s screams filled the air.
—
A new memory surfaced.
The training was merciless. No, not training, but merciless conditioning.
"Move!"
A sharp blow to his back.
"Fight!"
A bde pressed against his skin, drawing blood.
"Obey!"
Pain. Always pain.
There was no rest, no food, only bitter tasting medicine that forced his body to mend just enough to keep going. If he faltered, he was beaten. If he colpsed, he was dragged up and forced to continue.
He was not allowed to be weak.
Those who failed disappeared.
One day, he trained beside someone. Next, they were gone. No questions. No expnations. Just empty space.
His Aether Core, the strength within him, wasn’t ready yet. But they didn’t care. They crammed raw energy into his frail body, forcing it to forge his own Aether Core in mere days.
But at what cost?
—
Cold iron dug into his wrists, heavy chains keeping him bound. The cage was damp, the air thick with the stench of decay.
The food they gave him was a grey, unidentifiable sludge, its scent a mixture of rot and chemicals. It did not matter. He ate. He had to.
The whispers of others drifted through the darkness, the only proof he was not alone. Some voices remained for weeks. Others only days.
Eventually, they all went silent.
Then, new voices took their pce.
—
A flicker of light. A memory that did not belong among the others.
Sunlight.
Laughter, bright and carefree, filled the air. Children raced through fields of wildflowers, their voices untouched by suffering.
He was among them.
Then, a rough hand smmed over his mouth.
He screamed, thrashing against the grip. The world tilted and spun, colors blurring into chaos.
Darkness rushed in, swallowing him whole, dragging him to this hell.
—
A warm glow. Lanterns flickering against the walls.
A bowl of steaming food was pced before him. Real food. Meat, tender and fragrant. Vegetables, fresh and vibrant. The warmth spread through his chest, unfamiliar yet comforting.
A hand ruffled his hair. His mother’s. His father sat nearby, steady and kind. Home.
The word ached in his mind, stirring something deep within him.
His fingers twitched. His chest tightened.
A single tear slipped down his cheek.
Then, a voice, smooth and seductive, slithered into his thoughts.
"Don’t you want to go home?"
The words dripped like honey, sweet and poisonous.
"To feel warmth again? To be whole?"
It extended a hand. A writhing mass of darkness barely holding form.
"Take my hand, 2749. Together, we’ll burn this world to ashes and rebuild it in our image."
A pull deep inside him. Temptation.
He took a step forward.
Then another.
His fingers trembled as they reached out.
A pulse.
Something stirred within him a violent shudder erupting outward. Near his heart, a force pushed back—small but fierce.
A faint light sparked.
Dim yet stubborn, it flickered in his Aether Core.
Next, His violet eye fred, glowing like a star about to colpse.
Then, something monstrous tore free.
It wasn’t a beast or a spirit. It was something else.
Something alive.
From his eye socket, pale, oily tendrils writhed into existence, pulsing with a sickening rhythm. His iris no longer whole, it shattered like broken gss, the violet shards swirling within the translucent tendrils.
Segmented limbs unfolded, ending in needle-like cws that clicked hungrily. The creature’s form twisted, shifting, never settling. It was a grotesque parody of life, rejecting all natural order.
A low, guttural clicking echoed through the void, punctuated by high-pitched, grating shrieks.
"Kee kee kee!"
The sound scraped against reality like nails on bone, ced with something almost… gleeful.
The tendrils remained connected to 2749’s eye socket, thin cords of flesh binding them together. His skin stretched raw, torn muscle pulsing with each unnatural movement.
And the creature was alive.
A sharp, shrieking wail filled the void, vibrating with madness and hunger.
The shadow flinched.
For the first time, its confidence wavered.
A flicker of fear.
"What… is that?" its voice trembled.
The creature coiled, its tendrils curling like a nest of serpents as it locked onto the shadow.
"Kee kee kee!"
It struck in an instant.
The shadow shrieked, body convulsing as it recoiled. But the creature was relentless. Its tendrils whipped out, cwing into the void, eating the darkness bite by bite.
“No—stop!” the shadow begged, its voice breaking.
The creature ignored it. Its hunger had no end.
2749 watched as the twisted echo of himself was consumed, shredded into nothing.
And then—
Silence.
The creature hung in the void, shifting, watching him. 2749 braced himself, expecting it to attack next.
But it didn’t.
Instead, it grinned, neither cruel nor kind, something entirely alien.
Then, it folded in on itself, shrinking, twisting, until it was gone, retreating back into the depths of his violet eye.
The world shattered.
A whisper drifted through the void, a one st murmur.
But he couldn’t hear it as his Aether Core convulsed in rejection.
A sudden force expelled the remnants of the shadow’s influence, shattering the illusion.
—
Cold metal pressed against his skin. His Aether Core dimmed, its glow fading. The pain remained, but now it was distant, muffled.
Something had changed.
His blood, once red, now ran bck. His new Aether… no longer the same. It had altered something deeper.
2749 opened his eyes and he didn't care about this stuff.
The vault’s gss was fractured, jagged cracks snaking across its surface like veins of lightning. Above, the weight of the colpsed b bore down—crumbled stone, twisted iron, and shattered relics of alchemy pressing against the structure. The ruin had fttened everything around it, yet the vault stood, creaked but unbroken, buried in the debris.
He y still within, his body heavy. Severed tubes dangled from his arms, their dark fluids dripping onto his skin, staining it with faint, fading streaks.
An emptiness lingered in his chest.
But beneath it... something awakened.
A primitive spark.
A single thought, burned clear and fierce.
Escape.
