"...002...?"

But as soon her stupor faded away, Eve’s body tried to pull herself away from them, hands crawling until she made a sizable distance.

"...Stay back," she said hoarsely, one hand lifting slightly as ether condensed into it. She was ready to warp space again at any moment.

Aren’s eyes narrowed as he took a loose stance, but this time he didn’t advance forward.

"What are you talking about?" he asked instead. "What does ’002’ mean?"

Miu turned toward Eve as well, confusion written plainly across her face. "Yeah, and why did you call me that?"

Eve’s gaze flicked between the two of them before lingering on Aren’s gauntlet. The suspicion was still there, but something in her eyes told him the situation had changed.

He exhaled slowly, his breath fogging up from the cold as he cancelled the Art. The radiant gauntlet unravelled from his hand, dissolving back into strands of golden light before fading completely.

"I told you already," Aren said plainly. "I’m here because something doesn’t add up."

He gestured slightly toward her, though he tried to make his movements as non-threatening as possible, until finally—

Aren was able to make eye contact with her. "You’re part of that, aren’t you?"

"Please," he continued, glancing at Miu. "I just want to do whatever I can...for my sister."

A long silence stretched between the three of them, only filled by Eveline’s ragged breaths and the lingering echoes of Miu’s melody.

"..."

"Three years ago," Eve began slowly. "I was a student at the Western Dominion University."

"I didn’t belong there, not at all. Hell, I didn’t even have the money to buy a uniform."

Her lips pressed together briefly. "...But one of the professors took me in. He paid for everything: food, tuition...even housing."

A faint, bitter smile tugged at her lips. "I thought I got lucky."

Hmm, her story matches up with the records. What could possibly be the probl—?

"I really thought he was a good person."

Aren’s eyes narrowed at her words, at how her tone changed completely from the story she was telling before. He stepped forward slowly before crouching in front of Eveline.

"Go on..."

The girl nodded slowly, her voice growing quieter as she continued. "One day, he told me to come with him. He said there was an opportunity...something that could help me ’get ahead.’"

"Ha..." she snorted softly to herself, bitter. "Looking back, it must’ve been easy to deceive such a naive girl."

Aren didn’t comfort nor deny it, he simply continued. "He brought you to one of Aetherion’s labs, didn’t he?"

"I didn’t even make it past the entrance," she nodded. "The moment we got there...I was drugged."

"And...what happened next...?" Miu leaned in this time.

"..."

"I’ll show you."

Suddenly, the space around them distorted, concrete cracked and blurred at the edges until its texture was akin to wet paint dragged across a canvas.

The walls of the abandoned building swayed, stretching and thinning before peeling away entirely.

Instead of the abandoned building they were just at, a hallway stretched out before them. White ceramic walls and floors boxed them in from all four sides. The air smelled faintly synthetic, mixed with various chemicals.

Aren stared at the surrounding space, with only one conclusion in his mind. "A facility..."

He looked around the plain halls, only finding a nearby door. Yet there was not much else within the space.

Slowly, he pushed it open, the bright lights greeting him first. Aren raised his hands to shield his eyes, but once his vision adjusted...

An inexplicable anger surged from within.

People in full hazmat suits and lab coats ran around, spilling orders and information to each other.

A few were sitting in a nearby corner, tapping away at their keyboards, probably to file something in. But where Aren’s attention was, and frankly everybody else’s...

Were the gigantic glass tanks full of some kind of mysterious liquid...and inside of them—

People.

Their bodies drifted weightlessly within the tanks, eyes closed and limbs slack as various tubes and wirings connected into them—slowly pulling out blood and injecting them with a mysterious, crimson liquid.

Miu’s breath caught beside him.

"...What is this...?"

Aren’s gaze moved from one tank to another. At first, it was just strangers, each one indistinguishable from the next. Then something snagged his attention.

"...Wait."

One of the tanks, farther down the row.

He stepped closer, approaching the tank until he could finally see the figure clearly from inside.

A neat bob cut framed her face, younger and softer. Yet, she still had the same autumn brown hair. Her eyelids fluttered faintly, caught between sleep and waking–but the same red was present within the irises.

"Eveline..."

Miu stepped closer to see, only to gasp as she almost slipped and fell. "That’s...her?"

"Yeah."

But before any of them could say more, soft voices whispered to each other across the room that caught their attention.

Two figures in lab coats stood near a nearby console, with their backs toward them before the one on the right turned.

Aren recognized him instantly. The aging gray hair and matching gray suit underneath his lab coat was a dead giveaway.

Director Khan...what the hell is he doing here?

"...Batch Beta was a failure," the researcher on his left said flatly, eyes fixed across a holographic panel. "However, few subjects displayed irregular potential."

"013 and 066 in particular," they continued. "Both showed signs of enhanced aptitude and recent compatibility, if we—"

However, before the researcher could finish, Khan raised a hand to cut him off. "But...they’re still failures...aren’t they?"

"Yes, sir... but it would be a waste not to develop their talents further. With proper refinement, they could still—"

Khan was already turning away from the tubes, taking off his lab coat as he adjusted his collar. "Extract the remaining data..."

"And dispose of the entire batch."

Aren’s eyes widened as his head snapped back toward the tank, tension in his chest twisting violently. The image of the girl inside—a younger Eve, unaware of the fate that’s waiting for her...

No...I can’t let that happen.

His arms snapped forward instinctively, golden metal unraveling from within as it surged up his arm.

"Dragon Gauntlet—!"

The construct formed in an instant as he stepped in and drove his fist forward with everything he had at—

Straight into the glass tank.

Or, what should’ve been the glass...

His arm passed right through it, momentum carrying half a step forward before he stopped completely. Then, his gauntlet recoiled backward, the tank rippling without any consequence.

Right...this isn’t real. None of this is.

Behind him, the scene continued as if nothing had happened. The researchers moved, and the girl inside remained suspended, completely untouched by his attempt.

Aren pulled his arm back slowly, gauntlet disappearing again before he clicked his tongue.

"...Tch."

Eve’s voice echoed through the space, almost like a surround sound. "You see it now, don’t you?"

"I’ve had this scene replay over, and over, and over, and over. In my head, in my dreams, in my wake...everything."

The memory shifted faintly, the edges of the world warping as if reacting to her voice.

"Do you know what happens next?" she said, her voice growing colder by the second. "They drain everything. Blood. Data. Whatever they can get. Then they throw the bodies away like trash."

...

"If I have to give up my life..." she added, voice just barely above a whisper. "As long as I can kill Khan—"

"That’s enough for me."

Aren’s gaze lingered on the tank and the girl suspended inside of it—the version of Eve that had her life ripped apart by the whims of Aetherion.

His hands formed a fist, squeezing so hard that his nails dug into skin, drawing blood.

Those bastards...I thought they were just "the bad guys", but who could’ve thought they’d be so heinous...

He looked at the other tanks, looking at the numbers instead of names, looking at the faint cracks starting to form on their skin.

There’s no denying it...They’re getting rid of failed experiments...the ’Ghouls’.

This is where they came from. They’re not monsters nor something natural to the world.

Aren forced himself to look away, dragging his attention across the rest of the room. Now that his attention was elsewhere, he never realized how...blurry the memory was.

But channeling ether into his eyes, he caught something that might be the next lead, and the one thing that could get him closer to the truth.

Plastered on one of the researcher’s lab coat, was a single name: Reid.

A name. It’s not much but it’s something.

Aren exhaled quietly, committing it to memory before turning back. "Miu, did you—"

But his words trailed off.

Miu stood completely still, her eyes locked forward on something he just now saw.

A girl had just stepped into the room, hesitating slightly as the doors slid shut behind her. Her posture was nervous, uncertain, hands clasped together as she took in the overwhelming scene before her.

Nothing changed. The same pale skin, and the same pink hair.

Aren’s breath caught as his gaze dropped slightly, locking onto the small badge clipped neatly against her chest.

There was no mistaking it.

002.