The darkness was thick, but it was no ordinary darkness. It was the kind that precedes dawn, the kind that penetrates the depths of existence before light breaks forth, as if surrounded by an empty point, within which unperceivable shapes glimmered.
Reis was floating.
Or falling.
In a world where there was no stability or gravity. A strange feeling, as if his body had vanished, leaving his consciousness to wander relentlessly, searching for meaning, for something to pull him from this void.
Then, the voice came.
A distant, indistinct sound.
It echoed in his mind, neither human nor the voice of anything living. It was something ancient, lost between time and existence. Yet, Reis understood it. The voice was part of him.
"Wake up, Reis."
He felt his body return, but it was not as it had been. It was taller, heavier, pulsing with both hot and cold energy at once. He looked around and found himself in a strange place, where the ground beneath him was made of black glass reflecting the sky—but the sky was not a sky.
It was eyes.
Thousands of eyes, staring at him from every angle. They did not close, did not disappear—only stared. These eyes made him feel suffocated, as if they were watching every part of him, every detail.
Then, the dove appeared.
But it was not the dove he remembered.
It was massive, with eyes glowing blue, dripping mana, and wings that stretched across the horizon. It did not flutter, but slowly approached him, as if staring directly at him.
Then, its body fragmented into light particles, scattering around him, seeping into his body, into his veins, controlling him. A strange feeling surged through him, as if he were at the heart of that light, breathing it, flowing with it.
He screamed, but no sound came out. His scream was internal, in his racing heartbeat.
In the next moment, the glass beneath his feet turned into images. Not live pictures, but strange, distorted memories. Images of a strange core being injected into his chest. A woman crying. A white room. Things he didn't remember, but they existed.
"They didn't fail in planting it, Reis."
"They awakened something they didn't understand."
Then, the glass beneath him shattered, and the world around him cracked. The sky/eyes scattered, one eye shattered, and ashes fell from it.
Then, darkness returned.
The void.
The silence.
In this quiet, the voice came again.
Ellen.
"Bring him. He's ready now."
He opened his eyes, but he wasn't in his body.
He wasn't in his own world.
He was in a metal room, surrounded by strange machines. His body was bound to tubes connected to his arms, blood flowing through them, but he felt something else.
Ellen Valeris was there, standing before him.
No mask, no friendly demeanor. Her gaze was cold, merciless, her smile twisted uncomfortably, and her black gown gleamed with the "the Black Eye" insignia.
She spoke softly, almost to herself: "Welcome to the real phase, Reis. Let's see... if your imagination can save you."
Then, she looked to one of her assistants and said, "Increase the dosage. I want to see him try to create something... before we begin the dissection."
When Reis heard the words, something inside him exploded. He tried to open his eyes, but his mind was confused. He couldn't understand what was happening, where he was, or what was going on. Nightmares blurred with reality.
"What's happening?" he whispered to himself, trying to piece the thoughts together. "Ellen?
Isn't she the same woman who offered him the chance to join their organization as a Waker or a Scavenger?".
Pain began seeping into his body, a strong feeling as if he were drowning in a sea of mental screams. In a moment, he felt something strange in his heart, an unfamiliar sensation. It was the "distortion," as he called it.
An intense internal struggle, intertwined with pain and a body bound to strange machines.
He tried to breathe. He couldn't. He felt something slipping inside him, a force he didn't know how to control, while his mind screamed, "No, I can't!"
But the hand that began to form before him was something extraordinary. He saw it approach, slowly taking shape, then moving around him, as if it were chasing him. He screamed internally, unable to stop it.
The hand took shape, wrapping around him.
"No... I can't...!" He tried to speak, but couldn't.
Then, the mana that had been moving inside him began to form before him. A beam of light began to concentrate, irregularly at first, then started to shine brightly. It seemed as if the mana was taking a form he hadn't expected, and the field began to expand, growing in strength, but it was uncontrollable.
"He's losing control," Ellen said, her voice devoid of any sympathy.
Reis tried, but he couldn't stop the mana flowing through him. His mind was about to explode, as if his body were on the verge of destruction.
"I want to see... your true power, Reis," Ellen whispered, in a dry tone.
Reis screamed internally, but no sound escaped his lips. He tried to control the field, the mana, but everything was slipping from his grasp. He felt as if his mind was collapsing under the weight of this brutal test.
Suddenly, the field exploded unexpectedly, and the machines surrounding him shattered. Smoke began to rise, then the light flared, as Ellen watched calmly.
"No..." Ellen whispered. "Not this."
Before she could take any steps, Reis lost consciousness again, while the mana dissipated around him, leaving behind an eerie silence.
In that moment, the place sank into a heavy stillness, nothing moving but the shadows dancing on the metal walls. Ellen watched silently, her eyes gleaming with anticipation. She took a step back, then breathed deeply, realizing what had happened was more than she had expected.
"He has crossed the line," she murmured coldly, then turned to the assistants behind her. "Has the analysis been completed?"
One of them replied professionally, "Yes, Miss Ellen. The final analysis shows that the mana that came out of him was distorted, but his power remains unclear. Something abnormal is happening in his body."
Ellen took a long breath, then looked at Reis, who was lying on the ground, unconscious, his body frozen. "This won't be easy. But we'll continue."
Even though his body was strapped to the machines, and his mind was in extreme turmoil, there was something else happening inside Reis. There was a continuous struggle, something stirring within him. It was something he hadn't imagined he could face. The mana, a strange feeling that troubled him, gradually enveloped him, changing his body from within.
As Ellen watched what was happening, one of the devices near Reis's head fell, sparking in the air, while a small screen displayed a new notification: "Unexpected changes in neural activity."
Ellen quickly moved to the device, watching the incoming data, but the surprise was greater than she could absorb. There was a transformation occurring in his brain's structure, something beyond what any measurement device could detect.
"How?" she muttered to herself, then looked at her assistants, who exchanged worried glances. "Do any of you think we're facing a supernatural transformation?"
One of them shook his head, saying, "If this is true, it means we are dealing with an unprecedented case. It's impossible for this to be just ordinary mana power."
Ellen turned her back on them, then looked at Reis, recalling the moment she first met him. "You never stop surprising us, do you, Reis?"
Then, disregarding the warnings from her assistants or the fear that was beginning to show in their eyes, she ordered the experiment to continue. She had no intention of stopping. She was convinced that this child would be the key, even if the mana he possessed was beyond prediction.
"Put him back in the stimulation device," she said coldly, her eyes gleaming with madness. "He won't be able to escape this."
Her gaze was filled with defiance, as if she didn't care about Reis's fate, as long as her ultimate goal was within reach. She considered him just another tool, but every moment revealed an extraordinary power within him, a power that might be beyond her control.
As the machines reconnected him, Reis began to move slightly, his body trembling, his eyes slowly opening, as if trying to return to his real world. But, he was still trapped in a prison of mana and pain, as if his very mind had become a distorted land, unable to escape from it.
"Get ready for what's coming," Ellen said with malice, as Reis slowly returned to consciousness, unable to control himself.