Three months ago.
Blare! The alarm flared to life, the lab flickering between harsh white and blood-red light.
Axel rushed to the console, brow furrowed, the red glow reflecting across his face. This… just what is this? His fingers danced across the keyboard, the hum of machines in the environment overlapping with the wail of the siren.
"What's wrong?" a panicked voice shouted behind him, jolting him from his thoughts.
"I… I don't know!" he yelled back, his voice cracking with frustration.
His hands trembled as he stopped typing, hands hovering over the keyboard.
I can't fix it if I don't even know what's wrong.
"What do you mean you don't know?" the voice snapped, and the owner, Ophelia, pushed him aside, her small frame somehow shifting his much larger body.
"Something has to be wrong!" she said, fingers clattering against the keys, her hands a blur as she cycled through programs. Lines of code and diagrams raced across the glowing monitors, her gaze absolutely focused on the screen.
Axel turned away, hands locked behind his head. His gaze swept the lab: polished steel surfaces, cold glass panels, and cables like veins strewn on the floor, cut off unevenly. The smell of smoke and burning plastic permeating the air.
Then, his gaze stopped on it, the machine.
It stood at the center of the lab, circular, a metallic ring suspended by pillars of metallic frames. Its core pulsed with spiraling colors, a mixture of violet, blue, crimson, twisting together in a mesmerizing pattern. It should've been beautiful, a fun project, a teleporter, but now it felt eerie and wrong, it was working or it looked like it, but something wrong was behind that cacophony of colors, something sinister.
We cut the power. We severed every cable… So why is it still running? Axel wondered, his gaze following the disconnected cords that trailed uselessly from the machine's base.
And the adults are nowhere to be found… He scratched his head hard, yanking at his hair.
No, they're gone. Dead…or worse, no matter how hard I try to deny it.
He swallowed the thought as he remembered the screams, the haunting echoes as they all walked willingly into the machine, blank-eyed, mechanical, husks of people.
He'd tried to stop them, but they hadn't even looked at him.
He turned to Ophelia again, her face pale but focused, hands trembling yet relentlessly typing. Even after everything, she still held on.
Then a glint caught his eye, a red flash from the machine. Not the emergency lights or the portal, something beyond it, something deeper.
Axel's throat tightened. He turned slowly, scanning the chamber. Nothing, no movement, no sound except for the pulse of the machine still running and the blaring siren of course.
His gaze finally stopped at the portal, still a cacophony of colors, nothing unusual, he exhaled shakily.
Then, two red orbs. No…eyes, glowing, bloodshot, alive, fluttered open suddenly from the portal, staring back at him from within the swirling lights. Demonic, was all that came to his mind, his breath caught in his chest.
Then the world fell away, everything ceased to exist, at least for him.The siren sound dimmed to silence, the clacking of keys faded. It was just him…and those eyes, staring at him.
His lungs froze mid-breath, chest tightening. He felt the slow, suffocating pull of drowning, although he had never drowned before, he believed this was what it had to feel like, a truly awful feeling. Cold sweat rolled down his temple, a chill travelled up his spine, fear.
Then everywhere started shaking, not from him, but the world itself. His vision of the surroundings blurred as the machine trembled, yet the red eyes were still clear to him, still staring at him. He wanted to look away, but couldn't. Some invisible force gripped him, holding his gaze captive.
Look away… look away! He screamed internally, but no sound left his lips, it was like glue had sealed his lips. His throat burned, dry and locked.
A distorted voice cracked through the chaos, jagged and glass-like,
"You summoned me."
"Axel!"
A shout right beside his ear snapped him free. He dropped to his knees, gasping for air, his shirt clinging cold and wet against his skin.
"Are you okay?" Ophelia's trembling voice reached him through the haze.
What was that, What am I doing? He shook his head and looked up forcing a shaky smile and nodded.
He couldn't break, he had to be strong for her.
"We have to go!" she said, tugging his hand, yet her strength barely budged him.
Axel steadied himself and rose, scanning the room, flames now burning across panels, smoke curling into the air. A machine sparked beside him, throwing golden embers across the floor. He flinched and instinctively stepped back, glancing once more toward the portal, but the eyes were gone, the colors gone, the portal seemed to be offline.
Gone? Did I imagine it?
"Let's go!" Ophelia's voice cracked, her eyes glistening with tears threatening to spill. Axel managed a soft smile, patting her head.
"Alright." He took her hand and pulled toward the exit, only to stop. The door was sealed. The guards had locked it before stepping into the portal with the others.
Ophelia coughed violently, the air thick with smoke. Axel's eyes darted, searching for another way out. I need t…
BOOM!
The explosion swallowed the rest. Fire, intense heat, darkness, and then Silence.
"Mr. Steele… Mr. Steele…"
A faint voice echoed through the void. Ophelia? The tone was soft at first, then it got sharper, more urgent.
"Mr. Steele!"
Axel's eyes snapped open as he sat up. The nightmare shattered, his chest heaving a sigh of relief.
Third time this week. They're getting more frequent, he thought, rubbing his face.
"Mr. Steele." The voice again, the tone low, with barely restrained irritation.
Axel looked up and found himself staring into comically large eyes magnified by thick lenses. Ah, right. The professor.
He chuckled.
"Is my question that funny, Mr. Steele?" the man asked, tilting his head, tone dangerously calm.
"No…sorry, I didn't catch the question," Axel said, rubbing his neck with an awkward grin.
"It's just that your glasses make you look more like a circus clown than a professor," Axel paused, Shit. Did I say that out loud?
A single cough broke the silence, sounding far too loud in the tension-filled air.
Axel cleared his throat, might as well go all the way. "Well, I guess I'm the only one bold enough to say it, but it'll do you a world of good to rid yourself of those glasses, you look plenty scary already…unless it's prescribed of course," he said with a smile.
"What was the question again?"
The professor's fists tightened. Silence stretched. A chair scraped somewhere in the room, sharp and shrill.
"Get out," the professor said, voice low and guttural.
"I didn't quite get that."
That was the final straw.
***
"So, you're telling me," a woman's voice said, smooth but edged with disbelief, "that the professor punched the table himself, Mr. Steele?"
Axel nodded. "That's exactly what happened."
"And broke his wrist doing it?"
"Yes."
The president, Miss Vesna Harris, studied him from across her sleek glass desk. Her sharp green eyes glinted behind thin lenses, the light catching on the edges of her glasses. She slowly leaned back on her chair.
Two swords hung behind her desk, their blades polished to mirror shine. Odd decor for a university president. Then again, Vesna Harris was anything but ordinary.
After all it was unheard of for a foreigner to be the president of the most prestigious university in Vostyn, yet here she was.
"That's an experienced professional," Vesna said, drawing Axel out of his thoughts while picking a candy from the bowl on her desk. "Does your story even sound plausible for a man his age?"
Axel smirked. "Who knows? Maybe he's got family issues. I'm not a psychologist." He reached for the candy bowl, but her gaze stopped him cold.
He raised his hands in surrender and looked away. Worth a shot.
"Since you arrived," Vesna began, "there's been an increase in violent and erratic behavior from staff." She paused, looking up. "Why do you think that is?"
Axel met her gaze with practiced nonchalance. "I don't know. But if you're implying something, you could just say it."
She sighed, rubbing her temple. "I don't accuse, Axel."
She dropped the file onto the desk. "Your record lists arrogance, laziness, and chronic tardiness."
Axel grinned. "Well, if my brilliance gets mistaken for arrogance, that's not really on me. And honestly, there's not much left here for me to learn."
Her lips curved, amused, "so, you feel trapped?"
He shrugged.
"Alright then." She leaned over the desk, her hands on the surface, Axel gulped as she leaned in, yet he refused to look away. The light from the window framed her silhouette.
"For three months," she said softly, "you're suspended."
Axel exhaled. "Only three? I was expecting worse."
"Oh, there's more." She turned toward the window, opening the blinds. Sunlight cut across her figure like a blade.
"First, you'll submit a written report on how you spend your suspension, it must be something out of this world by the way." She glanced at the horizon, eyes gleaming.
"And second…" She smiled faintly, watching a bird fly past.
"Survive it." She muttered inaudibly, almost to herself.
***
Axel dropped his backpack as soon as he stepped into his apartment, not caring about its fate afterwards, collapsing onto the couch.
What a drag, He thought.
He kneaded his forehead and sighed. "Three months, huh? That's… something."
Rising, he shrugged off his varsity jacket and wandered into the kitchen. The place was a mess, empty cans scattered across the counter, a faint metallic hum from the mini-fridge.
He took a drink from the fridge and gulped.
Then he paused. His eyes landed on a rectangular package by the stairs, Omnicart tape still wrapped tight.
"Oh, right. That came in today."
He picked it up, and nearly dropped it. Heavier than usual, he noted.
A grin tugged at his lips. Not your usual delivery, huh?
He smirked. "Might as well use this break properly."
He hummed softly as he climbed the stairs, not realizing that in three months, the world would no longer be the same, nor would he, and all beginning with the package in his hands at that moment.