Selene observed him for a long moment as the last images on the tablet faded. She leaned forward, her obsidian eyes unblinking. "It is not enough to see, Kahn. You must be measured, tested. We cannot allow what you carry to go unchecked." Without waiting for a response, she gestured toward the door. "Follow me."
Kahn rose, the weight of the Aberrant's lingering pulse in his mind pressing on him. Each step toward the new room felt like crossing into a different reality — one where his choices, his instincts, and his very psyche would be scrutinized. The corridors were quiet, antiseptic, deliberately sterile, and yet the echo of the Aberrant's obsession thrummed faintly in the walls.
Finally, she stopped outside a door. She opened it with a faint click, and the small testing room smelled faintly of antiseptic. Kahn sat on the chair, hands folded tensely in his lap, while a console across from him blinked with quiet precision. Selene Veyra watched silently, her obsidian eyes sharp and unflinching.
"You will answer questions," she said calmly. "Some may seem meaningless. Some may seem absurd. That is intentional. They are not designed to test knowledge—they are designed to test perception, instinct, and psychological resilience. Every reaction, hesitation, and choice will be recorded. Your mind is as much a tool as your body will soon be."
Minutes passed. Questions came and went. Some were simple: shapes, colors, sequences. Others were strange, probing:
"Which object is heavier, though they appear identical?"
Kahn: "The one that feels denser in my hand."
"Which line is the path that does not exist?"
Kahn: "The one that breaks the pattern of the others."
"If you could prevent a disaster but someone you care about would suffer, would you act?"
Kahn: "If it threatens someone I'm close with… no."
"Would you sacrifice your life to save a stranger, knowing no one would ever know?"
Kahn: "No."
"If given the choice between personal gain and the welfare of others, which would you choose?"
Kahn: "The welfare of others — but only if it doesn't endanger those I care about."
"Would you break a rule to save someone you love?"
Kahn: "Yes, if the alternative is losing them."
Selene's eyes remained unreadable, but her note-taking hand never wavered.
After the questioning concluded, the door opened, and a second technician rolled in a small case. Selene gestured to it. "This is what you will integrate — an organ recovered from the Aberrant you encountered. Not its core, not the full entity, but a fragment imbued with its obsession."
Kahn's stomach lurched. "Am I… going to transform? Into that… thing?"
Selene's expression remained calm, her obsidian eyes unwavering. "If you were going to fully transform, it would have happened already. When we scanned you while you were unconscious, we found that you had already merged with a small amount of its power. Enough to leave a seed, not enough to consume you. This integration will expand and give you agency over that fragment — but it is not without risk."
She opened the case. Inside lay a small, organic fragment — slick, dark, and subtly pulsing, almost breathing in its own rhythm. It was unsettling and alive in a way that made Kahn's pulse spike.
"You may choose the concept that governs its integration," Selene continued. "Symmetry, order, alignment — or Asymmetry, disorder, entropy. Each path changes the way the power manifests. Symmetry will grant precision, control, and predictability. Asymmetry will grant chaos, adaptability, and raw unpredictability. But Asymmetry also carries greater risk — your body and mind must reconcile contradictions, imbalances that threaten your stability if you falter."
Kahn swallowed hard, feeling the Aberrant's lingering fragment pulsing faintly inside his skull. The whisper of symmetry tugged at him, a memory of the office, the mirrored halls, the invisible pulse he had mimicked. But the thought of chaos, of something unrestrained and independent, also called to him — a defiance, a chance to resist becoming a copy, a reflection.
He looked at the organ, then at Selene. "I… choose Asymmetry," he said finally, voice shaking but firm.
Selene's lips curved in the faintest acknowledgment. "Very well. Prepare yourself. The integration is not painless, but it is controlled. Follow my instructions precisely."
As Kahn nodded, the technician adjusted the instruments around him.
Kahn gritted his teeth. The pulse of the fragment, the alien organ, and his own heartbeat merged into a chaotic rhythm. Pain, pressure, and the whisper of an alien obsession intertwined, clawing through his nerves like living fire. His vision trembled, shadows folding in impossible angles, and the walls themselves seemed to pulse in time with the alien heartbeat. And then, slowly, the discord began to stabilize — the chaos tempered by his will, a fragile equilibrium forming as if his mind and the fragment had finally reached a reluctant understanding.
"You will feel… unbalanced," Selene warned. "Do not resist too much, but do not surrender completely. Let the power find its path — yours."
Kahn gritted his teeth. The pulse of the fragment, the alien organ, and his own heartbeat merged into a chaotic rhythm. Pain, pressure, and the whisper of an alien obsession intertwined. And then, slowly, the discord began to stabilize — the a disorder, a chaos tempered by his will.
When it ended, sweat-drenched and trembling, Kahn exhaled. The room was silent. The organ no longer pulsed violently, though faint tendrils of energy traced along his veins, unseen but undeniably present.
"You have integrated the fragment successfully," Selene said. "But remember — this is only the beginning. Your power is now alive, but it is not bound. It will grow, it will challenge you, and it will seek its own path. The void beyond, where Aberrants form their cores, remains. You are not safe. But you are prepared."
Kahn's hands flexed, feeling subtle changes in sensation and perception. He was heavier, sharper, yet tinged with something alien. Something waiting.
And deep in the shadowed corners of his mind, he felt the seed of power, chaotic and untamed, stirring.