The concrete floor of Sector 9's laboratory felt bitterly cold, as cold as the ice now frozen in Adrian's chest. He dragged Dimitri's limp body past rows of broken glass tubes that had once been silent witnesses to nameless suffering. The sound of Dimitri's shoes scraping across the dusty floor created a horrifying rhythm in the silence of the old building."Let go... Adrian, please..." Dimitri whimpered, his voice almost lost behind the oxygen mask, tattered from the earlier accident.Adrian didn't answer. He flung his father's body onto an old medical chair still connected to several rusted sensor cables. With lightning-fast precision, Adrian clamped iron handcuffs onto Dimitri's wrists and ankles."You want to know why I brought you here, don't you?" Adrian asked, standing before a gigantic computer console that appeared to have been dead for a decade."This place... the place I buried," Dimitri mumbled, his eyes darting wildly around the room, lit only by the blue glow from Adrian

The silhouette of the red-eyed youth stood calmly on the balcony railing, as if gravity did not apply to him. A sharp night wind whipped the hem of his black suit, which was identical to mine. In the darkness of the apartment, silent due to the system blackout, his pair of red eyes glowed like embers thirsty for blood."Who are you?" I asked. My voice did not tremble. The absence of empathy within me made fear a foreign concept."Me?" The youth laughed. His voice was a mirror of my own, yet it possessed a wilder tone. "I am Subject B-01. I am the failure you found inside that zinc coffin, Adrian. Or more accurately, I am the remnants of a soul that refuses to be extinguished.""Altar does not detect your existence as human," I said coldly. "You are an anomaly.""And you are a puppet who is far too obedient," he countered, leaping down from the balcony railing and landing silently on my office floor. He walked closer, staring at my shattered monitors. "You spend too much time playing w

Elena Durnevra was still sitting on the cold bathroom floor, her fingers clawing at the slick ceramic tiles. Around her, sedatives were scattered like dirty snowflakes. The door remained locked tight. The screams of the mob outside the mansion gates sounded like the hum of a giant swarm of bees demanding blood.The mirror in front of her was still glowing, displaying a black silhouette wearing a silk mask. A pair of blue eyes behind the screen stared at her without blinking, without mercy, and most terrifyingly without recognition."Open the door! I beg you, open the door!" Elena screamed, her voice breaking and hoarse."Why do you want to go out, Mother?" Adrian’s voice came through the hidden speakers, so clear it was as if he were whispering right in her ear. "The world out there is celebrating your honesty. Didn't you always want to be the center of attention?""Stop it... I beg you, stop it..." Elena sobbed, hiding her face between her knees. "Why are you doing this to me? I'm yo

The VVIP elevator doors closed with a heavy metallic thud, as if locking the outside world away from the suffocating tension within. Dimitri Durnevra stood leaning against the elevator wall, his breath ragged, his eyes staring sharply at the masked figure before him."You... you're a devil," Dimitri hissed, his voice trembling."I am only a mirror, Dimitri," Adrian replied flatly from behind his black silk mask. "You see a devil because that is what you reflect."The floor indicator screen moved up rapidly. Dimitri's heartbeat could be heard amidst the silence of the luxurious elevator. Suddenly, Dimitri's phone vibrated violently. A call from his private assistant."Yes? What now?!" Dimitri shouted as he answered the phone."Sir... Mr. Julian..." the voice on the other end sounded panicked, mixed with chaotic background noise. "Mr. Julian collapsed in the middle of the shareholders' meeting!"Dimitri's eyes widened. "What?! How is that possible? Didn't he just get his new dose of med

White smoke billowed from the exploded console, filling the underground laboratory with the pungent scent of ozone and the smell of burning flesh. Dimitri was thrown into the corner of the room, his ears ringing violently. Amidst the chaos, Julian’s health monitor emitted a continuous, high-pitched shriek, signaling that his life support system had just switched to unstable emergency power."Ugh... Vektor! What happened?!" Dimitri shouted while coughing, trying to stand up amidst the wreckage of millions of dollars' worth of medical equipment.Vektor, who had taken cover behind a concrete pillar, pointed his tactical flashlight toward the operating table. "The system... the system exploded from the inside, Sir! There was an irrational energy surge!""Adrian!" Dimitri turned in a panic. "Don't let him get loose! Secure him now!"On the steel operating table, now blackened with soot, Adrian slowly opened his eyes. There was no trace of anesthesia left. The blue light emanating from his