Cain returned to the tents allocated to the male ATP students. He slipped inside, changed into casual clothes, and walked toward the field hospital. On the way, he checked whether the officer in charge—a beautiful female medic in her late twenties—had any suspicion about the beer he had stolen.
Fortunately, there was no animosity in her demeanor. She didn't seem to recall the incident at all.
Satisfied, he made his way toward the tents where the female ATP students were housed. Their tents were located closer to the field hospital, while the male students' were near the soldiers' barracks—structures made of wood and plastic sheets, built to be abandoned quickly if necessary.
The girls had it better. They were allowed to use the lavatories in the hospital, while the male students and soldiers had to make do with open-air bathing zones –where Cain had to share his baths with insects, so the closed lavatories the girls got to use was a privilege as far as Cain was concerned.
In front of the hospital stood one of the five war machines stationed at this outpost. The others were currently on patrol.
Cain approached the guard posted outside the female tents and asked her to pass a message to Delilah. After a short delay, he learned Delilah wasn't in the tents—she was visiting the storage facility which was behind the hospital, opposite to where the tents were.
The storage facility was the most reinforced structure in the entire camp—sturdy enough to serve as a makeshift bunker in an emergency. Inside were pelts, blood samples, meat, and glands from the monsters recently slain. Everything was sealed away in acidic liquids to prevent contamination or birth of new miniature abominations.
Mutated monsters born from the symbiosis between H.I.V.E. and wild beasts were rare in this region—far removed from the central territories of the continent controlled by the H.I.V.E. infestation. That rarity made them a valuable research subjects.
Whenever a singular organism from H.I.V.E. merged with a host, it often gained a degree of autonomy. Some of these creatures wandered far from their origin, occasionally infecting other beasts or forming clusters of mix groups of mutant monsters and common beasts –where the strongest among them took command. Groups consisting only of Monsters was a rare but terrifying menace.
H.I.V.E.'s behavior was unpredictable.
Though capable of erasing entire nations, the collective had never moved in force—only small groups ever ventured out, usually into Iharen territory. These rare but devastating incursions were enough to destabilize the entire nation and delay its post-formation recovery.
Dzonal was mostly untouched by such threats, protected by the vast TianShan mountain range. It was a luxury that allowed young men like Cain to focus on impressing beautiful friends rather than worrying about the apocalypse.
Officially, the storage facility was off-limits to students. But Delilah and Kasper—both backed by the Academy and Wormwood—were allowed inside for their research.
After all, the specimens were meant to be sent to ATP and the Wormwood Institute anyway.
Cain entered the building, knowing he shouldn't be there –there was no soldier on guard today for whatever reason, so Cain had the excuse of having only the intention of making sure that everything was alright if anybody caught him.
The building had two floors above ground and two more underground. He began his search on the ground level.
And there he found them.
In a common-use room filled with scientific tools, equipment, and research supplies, he spotted Kasper and Delilah.
Kasper held a volumetric flask in one hand.
The other hand was gripping Delilah's chest.
Delilah struggled to push him away, using both her hands to pry his fingers off. Kasper, taller by half a foot, showed no emotion. No lust. No anger. No embarrassment.
It was the cold face of someone conducting an experiment.
Cain froze—stunned at first, then overtaken by a blinding rage. He ran forward looking to pounce at Kasper.
"Look at me," Kasper said in a flat voice –uncaring of the furious boy pouncing at him –while staring at Delilah's trembling face.
Cain's hand seized Kasper's wrist, his nails biting into the skin like the jaws of an enraged animal.
Kasper turned toward Cain, his lips parting to say, "Leave m—"
He didn't get to finish.
Cain's other arm shot forward, driving an elbow into the inside of Kasper's bicep. The jolt disrupted the nerves, forcing Kasper's fingers to release their grip.
Cain wanted to break his bones. He wanted to do far worse. But he knew that would only create more problems—for both Delilah and himself. Kasper was a scion of EmberWake. There would be consequences. Maybe not for Kasper.
But definitely for Cain.
He needed to get Delilah to safety first.
Cain pivoted, dragging Kasper's arm. He released the forearm, grabbed the upper arm, twisted his body to grab the shoulder, and then—twisting his hips—slammed Kasper's body onto the floor.
Kasper gasped in pain.
Cain mounted him, ready to unleash a flurry of punches.
But Kasper raised the flask in his other hand, attempting to strike.
Cain blocked it with a forearm across Kasper's wrist. His free hand darted to the boy's throat.
Kasper's other hand was now free, and he moved it in an odd motion, fingers twisting in the air—as if pulling on invisible strings.
The flask in his raised hand suddenly levitated.
Cain ducked forward, just in time to avoid the first pass. His eyes widened as the flask looped through the air.
Then Kasper made another motion.
The flask changed direction mid-flight.
It slammed into the left side of Cain's face.
Agony surged through him. It wasn't just pain—it was burning, as if his skin were being scoured off. His body twitched involuntarily.
Kasper used the moment to push Cain off.
He stood up, ready to strike—
"Enough."
The voice was calm, yet powerful. Derick stepped into view as if appearing from thin air.
Kasper froze.
Cain, half-kneeling, tried to steady himself. His face throbbed, his skin melting.
Derick approached Kasper and grabbed him by the collar.
"I saw the whole thing." he said, eyes locked onto Kasper's blank expression. "How long are you going to jeopardize the mission?"
Kasper's lips twitched with disdain, but he said nothing.
"You know both of them are priority targets." Derick continued.
Kasper glanced at Cain—who was now seething, the left half of his face raw and blistered—and then at Delilah, sitting curled up on the ground, hugging herself. Her tear-filled eyes trembled.
Kasper's expression faltered. A downward twitch in his lips. Something uncertain flickered in his eyes. A calculation? A memory? No one could tell what passed through that strange mind.
Derick growled, "Look at me, you defect."
Kasper turned his eyes to him, emotionless again.
Derick held his gaze, then dragged him away. "Stop being a disgrace to EmberWake."
Cain remained half kneeling. Ready to lunge forward if the EmberWake scions as much as looked at him with animosity –buy they didn't, they didn't even looked back, as if what just happened here was insignificant.
Delilah, still pale and shaken, rose and walked to him. She sat beside him, tears falling from her eyes.
"I'm sorry," she began, voice trembling. "I should've—"
---
Suddenly, memories surged through Cain's mind like tidal waves.
Things he had done.
Terrible, unspeakable things.
And things he remembered—but had never actually happened. Events that overlapped with real memories. Timelines folding over themselves.
It didn't make sense.
Cain's eyes were Heavy, he tried to open them, his right eye opend and he saw a barely lit place, a cage, he felt his hands hanging by the chains that confined them, numb, he was on his knees, he could feel his legs–atleast one of them, unable to feel anything bellow the knee of his left foot.
Most shocking of all, his left eye had feeling, he could move it, he could see, what he saw overlapping with what his right eye saw but it was something different, tiny streams moving through the air, all different colours, he could also see deep vain like streams of light deep underground, moving from one point to other, it wasn't like seeing the beginning and end of something but simply being able to perceive a bit of something grand, only seeing what he was capable of as of now. He tried to focus on the beginning and then the end point, all he felt was pain in his eyes and a part of his brain.
Too much. Too fast.
Cain's thoughts scattered—overwhelmed with questions, confusion, and fragmented memories.
Everything froze when a red glow approached, distant but growing bigger by the passing seconds.
The red glow turned into a flame, A Human-shaped flame.
It hovered just outside the door of the cage.
His right eye saw mostly darkness —like a suffocating future.
But his left eye burned with awareness.
The figure stepped closer.
And Cain knew—
He had left the boundary of the normal life that he dreamt of living.