Suddenly, the sterile white of the laboratory fractured without warning, scenery blurring like ink again before everything peeled away in layers.

The glass tanks, the researchers...all of it dissolved, like a painter, frustrated with his own work and throwing paint all over the canvas.

In its place, a vast amount of green.

Dense foliage stretched in every direction, the ground uneven and damp beneath their feet. A narrow stream cut through the forest, so murky that it could’ve easily been mistaken for sewage.

Aren’s head immediately snapped upward, trying to find where Eve was.

"Bring it back!" he exclaimed. "I need to see more. The answers...they were right within my reach!"

Eve flinched slightly at the tone, evident by the sudden shake of the space, causing both Aren and Miu to almost fall onto their backs.

"...I’m sorry," she said quietly. "This isn’t something I can control freely. The space is reconstructed from what I remember."

"...And that was the only time I ever saw her."

Aren’s jaw tightened. For a moment, it looked like he might push again before he exhaled slowly, gaze drifting back to the current scene.

"...Tch," Aren clicked his tongue before crouching next to Miu.

She wasn’t...hyperventilating, per se, but her breathing was so heavy that he thought she might pass out at any moment.

"Miu..." he said softly, considering his words carefully. "It’s okay...remember. What you were in the past doesn’t matter. It’s who you are now..."

Yet even as he said so, her gaze remained unfocused, like her mind was still trapped somewhere else—still trapped in that room, in that moment.

"...Hey," he said gently.

Miu blinked once, then again. Once she realized the scenery had changed and Aren was in front of her, she started to calm down. Her breathing casually slowed until it no longer sounded like she was on the verge of losing control.

"I’m...okay," she murmured, though her voice lacked its usual brightness.

Aren studied her for a moment longer before giving a small nod.

"...Good."

He straightened, offering her a hand. She hesitated for a brief second before taking it, pulling herself up slowly as her footing dug into the uneven ground.

Miu’s gaze shifted. "...Aren."

"Yeah?" he replied, following her gaze.

Almost immediately, he spotted what she was looking at. Just beyond the stream, partially obscured by the dense grass, lay a figure. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

They both ran towards it, only to find the undeniable truth.

Her form was frail, almost fragile, body curled against the ground as if she’d tripped and didn’t have the strength to stand up. The faint cracks against her skin were unmistakable, spreading wider and wider until blood flowed freely out from them.

Aren’s eyes narrowed slightly, muttering:

"Eveline..."

Miu swallowed quietly, her fingers tightening around her sleeve as she stared. "...They just...left her here...?"

Eve’s voice answered from behind them.

"...Yeah. This is where I woke up."

"...This is where they throw the failures," she continued. "The ones they don’t need anymore."

Miu took a small step forward, her expression shifting as she looked down at the weakened version of Eve.

"...What happened after...?" she asked quietly.

Eve didn’t answer right away, but when she did...a soft melancholy was hidden in her voice, one that Aren couldn’t bear to ask.

"The worst part wasn’t the experiment...It was after we woke up."

"The moment the Psychic control wore off," she began quietly. "That’s when everything came back."

I can’t imagine...the feeling of your body no longer belonging to you. It must be frightening. Aren glanced at Miu. Is...that what she’s feeling right now? The both of them?

Eve continued. "We could barely move. Some of us couldn’t even stand. Our bodies were already breaking down... as you can see."

Aren’s eyes flicked briefly to the faint cracks along her skin before returning to the figure on the ground.

"At first, we thought we could survive like normal people," Eve said. "There was water. There were plants. Even animals, if you were desperate enough."

A faint, humorless breath left her. "It didn’t work."

"Our bodies rejected it," Eve continued. "Food just...wouldn’t stay down. It didn’t matter how much we tried. We weren’t human anymore."

Aren’s eyes widened, the questions he’d been holding onto finally fell into place

That’s...that’s why Shen’s noodle went downhill! The taste and texture...the chef couldn’t taste his own food anymore.

"And that’s why you had to feed on ether, to keep your bodies from breaking down," Aren surmised quickly.

"How did you—"

"Just...a logical conclusion from what I’ve learned, that’s all."

A faint ripple passed through the space, and Eveline stepped forward from behind them. Aren flinched a little, but it didn’t look like she was gonna do them any harm.

She simply walked toward and placed a hand onto her younger self, still laying on the forest floor. But even she seemed to forget that it was all just a reconstructed memory, as her hand fell right through.

"Some figured it out quickly," she said. "Others...didn’t. They went feral, attacking anything nearby...including each other."

"When I thought I was next...that’s when he appeared."

"Who?"

"Our god."

Again...the word ’God’.

Aren had heard it from Shen’s group too, and how they told Shen to visit their ’God’ in Tigan. Again now, that Eveline had mentioned this person.

"He gave us stability, just enough to keep us from falling apart completely. Gave us the opportunity to continue living."

"Some of us tried to go back," she added after a moment. "Back to our old lives. Pretend nothing changed."

Aren’s thoughts flicked to Shen again. "...It didn’t work."

Aren looked at the figure on the ground, at the discarded version of Eve, his mind was filled only with one word:

Victim.

So they’ve been doing it even before Sun City. Bloodline Injection...If that’s the case, what they’re going to do to the drake is obvious.

I need to hurry up.

But before he could do anything, a soft ringtone echoed throughout the space. Eveline pulled her phone out of her pocket as she flipped it open.

Though Aren realized it wasn’t just hers, it was his as well. He pulled out his own phone, sliding open to see who the caller was: Stella.

"Hello?"

"Aren, we’ve found the Ghoul hideout. Ghoul Division is currently attacking the base of the terrorist group–Heaven, as we speak. Where are you?"

"What?" his voice came out raspy. "No, wait Stella! Cancel the operation!"

"It’s too late."