“This is Doctor Josep Entenga, our head biological researcher at MEI.”

  I turned toward the man Makoto was introducing.

  He looked exactly what you’d imagine a mad scientist would look like. He was foreign. Average height, a little on the slim side, with long, messy bck hair that had clearly lost a battle with a comb that morning. His rge square gsses sat slightly crooked on his rge nose, and the dark bags under his eyes suggested he hadn’t slept properly in days.

  Deep wrinkles framed his face, the kind you get from years of all-nighters in the b.

  A white b coat hung loosely over his shirt and red tie.

  He smiled faintly and extended his hand.

  “Just call me Pep,” he said warmly. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  I shook his hand.

  “Nice to meet you, too.”

  “Pep here is going to give us a tour of the b,” Makoto said. “He’ll bring you up to speed on our findings.”

  Pep nodded and gestured for us to follow him.

  He led us toward a row of rge microscopes. Each one had a small sample sealed inside a gss case beside it. The station we stopped at contained what looked like a small piece of debris, dark and jagged like a fragment of burnt metal.

  “This piece of debris was recovered from a location where the Aethesium entity was spotted,” Pep expined. “Take a look through the microscope, my dear.”

  I leaned forward and peered through the lens. At first, I didn’t understand what I was seeing. Then my eyes adjusted.

  Tiny purple particles floated around the debris like a swarm of flies circling a trash bin. They drifted in random patterns, glowing faintly in the microscope’s light.

  “What are those purple particles?” I asked.

  Pep smiled slightly.

  “They, my dear, are Aethesium particles.”

  He folded his arms behind his back.

  “We believe they are a by-product of the entity that keeps flying around saving the world.”

  He gestured toward the sample.

  “We’ve found traces of these particles at every location where the entity has appeared. The first sighting in Okopo, the incident here in Rengappon, and the most recent one in Grossaint.”

  He paused.

  “With non-living materials like this debris, the particles appear harmless.”

  He stepped toward another microscope.

  “But when they encounter living tissue…”

  He motioned for me to look again.

  Inside the next gss case was a piece of flesh.

  I leaned toward the microscope—looked inside.

  The purple particles drifted toward the cells like magnets. Then they merged with them. Expanding… swelling… before splitting into two identical cells.

  Then those split again. And again. The tissue was regenerating. Healing.

  “This sample was taken from the corpse of one of the alien creatures found across the city,” Pep expined. “As you can see, the particles mutate the cells, strengthening them and causing rapid regeneration.”

  I slowly straightened up.

  “So anything the entity touches becomes infected with these particles?”

  Pep nodded.

  “That appears to be the case.”

  A sudden thought hit me.

  “What about humans?” I asked quickly.

  Pep raised an eyebrow.

  “I came into contact with the entity during the invasion,” I continued. “Does that mean I’m infected?”

  Pep looked impressed.

  “Very perceptive.”

  He nodded.

  “Yes. You most likely have Aethesium particles in your body. It essentially works the same as radiation.”

  My stomach tightened slightly.

  “But don’t worry,” he continued calmly. “Your exposure was brief. Your immune system should eventually eliminate the particles.” He smiled, eyes wandering across the room, “Well… unless it doesn’t…”

  “I don’t like the sound of that, doctor…”

  “Don’t worry, long story short, you won’t have enough to be seriously affected.”

  He tapped the gss container thoughtfully.

  “However, repeated exposure would allow more particles to accumute, and if enough of them build up…”

  He paused.

  “We believe the body would begin to change.”

  I frowned.

  “What kind of change?”

  Pep shook his head slightly.

  “That part remains unclear.”

  He adjusted his gsses.

  “If the body became fully saturated with Aethesium… it might become something simir to the entity itself.”

  I instinctively pced my hand on my chin, thinking through what he was saying.

  “So… hypothetically,” I said slowly, “if this stuff spread across the entire pnet… humanity could evolve into something… like… erm… godlike.”

  Pep chuckled softly.

  “That’s certainly one possibility.”

  He gestured for us to follow him.

  “Come. I’ll show you where we’ve been testing the particles on living animals.”

  I looked at Mrs Isamu with furrowed brows.

  She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s not the best, but we need to know what this stuff can do to us.”

  I looked forward, still sceptical.

  We entered another section of the b.

  Gss cages lined the walls, each containing different animals. Insects, mice, rats… even a few birds. It felt like an unholy zoo. Beside the cages was a door belled Vivarium.

  Pep opened it and led us inside.

  The room beyond was an observation chamber with desks and computers facing a rge gss window. On the other side of the gss was an artificial habitat filled with monkeys and other small animals.

  “This facility allows us to study how Aethesium affects living organisms,” Pep expined.

  He pointed toward one of the monkeys.

  “Take that one, for example.”

  I followed his finger.

  My stomach dropped.

  A small extra arm protruded from the monkey’s lower back. I stared in shock. If I encounter that entity again… will something like that happen to me?

  Will I grow another limb?

  Pep continued speaking.

  “The mutations can be both physical and psychological.”

  He looked tired as he said it.

  “Some subjects have experienced extreme aggression. Others entered states of psychosis. One of them stopped eating entirely and starved to death.”

  He sighed.

  “It’s unpleasant work… but necessary. If this substance spreads to humans, we must understand it.”

  Makoto nodded quietly.

  Pep continued.

  “However, there are also positive effects.”

  He pointed at another screen.

  “Strength increases. Reaction time improves. Vision becomes sharper. And of course… there’s the regenerative ability.”

  He paused thoughtfully.

  “If the particles repair cells faster than they die, then theoretically…”

  He smiled faintly.

  “Aethesium could grant immortality.”

  That word hung in the air.

  “If we understand its source,” Pep continued, “we might unlock the next stage of human evolution.”

  His eyes sparkled with excitement.

  “Perhaps even new methods of transportation. Space travel, for instance.”

  He stared through the gss like a man looking at the future.

  After a moment, he guided us out of the vivarium.

  “So far we’ve studied non-living materials, dead tissue, and living animals,” he said. “Which led us to another question.”

  “What happens when Aethesium interacts with pnt cells?”

  He led us to another door belled Botanical Garden.

  Inside was another observation chamber.

  But what y beyond the gss window looked nothing like a garden.

  The pnts had grown wildly, twisting and tangling together into an overgrown jungle.

  But there was no colour.

  Everything was grey.

  Lifeless.

  White vines coiled around pnts—purple veins pulsating, pumping like a heartbeat.

  I frowned.

  Pep noticed immediately.

  “Aethesium destroys chloropsts,” he expined, “Those are the cells that give pnts their green colour and allow photosynthesis.”

  “So, the pnts no longer need sunlight?”

  “Correct,” he said. “Aethesium overrides them—becomes their new source of energy.”

  He gestured toward the massive vines.

  “We pced Aethesium-infused material into the soil. Within days, the pnts grew far beyond their normal size.”

  He tapped the gss.

  “Certain pnts can also release spores containing Aethesium.”

  My stomach tightened.

  “So, it spreads?”

  “Yes…”

  He swallowed.

  “And those spores cause headaches, hallucinations, and mental instability in animals exposed to them.”

  I stared at the grey jungle. If this stuff escaped into the wild… It could spread across the pnet.

  Pep continued.

  “Our next step is testing what happens when contaminated pnts are consumed.”

  I shook my head slightly. This substance was far too dangerous. It should probably be destroyed.

  Pep finally stepped away from the window.

  “That concludes the current findings of the research department,” he said.

  Makoto nodded.

  “Thank you, Pep. Your work is incredible.”

  He smiled modestly.

  We said our goodbyes and headed to the other side of the building.

  The Special Operations department.

  Where my real work would begin.

  We wandered through long corridors. Pipes were exposed below the ceiling, giving the pce a signature industrial charm. The whole building was freezing—no heating instaltion to be seen.

  “Why’s it so cold?”

  “It’ll keep you stronger, get used to it,” she said with a toothy smile.

  We turned a corner. At the end of the corridor, there was an ominous-looking door bearing the sign, Field Training.

  We entered.

  The room was long. Windows lined one wall—the other bnk. Along the windowed wall, there was a rge desk with numerous terminals, each with camera footage. The footage was pitch bck—it must be the room through the window. Beside the terminals were microphones with multiple different buttons, each numbered from 1 to 9, linking to specific channels that the speaker wanted to talk into.

  The rge desk stood in front of the rge windows that acted as a portal to the hall that we were elevated in front of.

  It appeared to be some sort of observation deck, simir to the ones in the vivarium and the botanical garden. But what were we observing here?

  I turned—looked through the window.

  A hall—the room was gigantic. For the moment, it was bathed in shadow with only a minute amount of light seeping in from the window of the small room we found ourselves in.

  I could just barely see a small outline of some of the objects that were pced in the room.

  Boxes, Tall structures, Ptforms,

  All of a sudden, my question had been somewhat answered once those sounds went off.

  Click, click, click, click.

  Lights flickered on section by section. The room below came to life. It was an assault course.

  Dozens of structures filled the massive training hall. Small building replicas, towers, obstacle zones, and combat arenas.

  I’d trained in obstacle courses before, during police training. But nothing like this. This pce looked like it belonged to a military unit. Or a private army.

  “Welcome to the Special Operations Training Centre,” Makoto said proudly.

  Her arms spread wide as she admired the view.

  “This is where we conduct our field training.”

  I stared at the enormous facility.

  “How much training do we actually need for this job?” I asked. “What exactly are we preparing for?”

  Makoto turned toward me.

  “If the aliens return,” she said simply.

  Her smile faded slightly.

  “And if Aethesium begins affecting humans.”

  She folded her arms.

  “We need to be prepared for people with powers.”

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “Super soldiers?”

  “We don’t know,” she admitted.

  “But until we understand Aethesium… we must be ready for anything.”

  She gnced toward the training hall.

  “What if the entity turns hostile?”

  “What if someone else gains those powers?”

  I didn’t have an answer.

  Thousands of years of human history…

  And suddenly we were facing something completely unknown.

  “Over the next few weeks,” she continued, “you’ll meet your squad and begin training together.”

  She smiled again.

  “Eventually you’ll even learn what they eat for breakfast.”

  I ughed quietly.

  “Come on,” she said. “I want you to meet someone.”

  The next room we entered was a firing range. Targets lined the far wall at various distances.

  Makoto led me toward a metal gate.

  “Jen is in the armoury.”

  And that’s where I met the strangest person I’d seen all day.

  Jenna.

  Or Jen.

  She stood behind a metal counter inside a caged booth filled with weapons. Guns, rifles, explosives—enough firepower to start a small war.

  And standing among it all was a woman with bright pink hair tied into two buns with bck ribbons. Silver piercings glinted beneath her glossy lips.

  She leaned over the desk with a pyful grin.

  “Maki-moo,” she said. “Who’s this cutie you’ve brought to my theatre of dreams?”

  Makoto sighed.

  “This is Himiko Suzuki. Our newest operative.”

  Jen’s eyes lit up.

  “Ohhh, the newbie!”

  She sprinted around the counter and pulled me into a hug before I could react.

  “I’m Jenna,” she said cheerfully. “But you can call me Jen.”

  Makoto chuckled behind me.

  “Jen, here is our weapons expert.”

  Jen winked.

  “If you ever need a weapon, I’m your girl.”

  Makoto’s phone suddenly rang. She stepped aside to answer it. Then Jen immediately turned back to me.

  “So Miko,” she said excitedly. “What did you do before this?”

  “I was a police officer,” I said. “Working under Makoto.”

  “Cool!” she said. “I used to be in a band.”

  “What instrument?”

  She blinked.

  “You actually want to know?”

  I nodded.

  “I py keyboard,” I said, inviting a response, “my parents made me take lessons growing up.”

  She smiled softly.

  “Drums,” she said.

  For a brief moment, her energy faded.

  Then it snapped back instantly.

  “Nice to meet you, Miko!”

  Makoto suddenly returned.

  “You two, we need to head back to the bureau,” she said urgently.

  “The director has an announcement.”

  We rushed back to the bureau, racing through traffic. Once inside, we navigated through the maze of offices and entered a rge conference room.

  A long table filled the centre, surrounded by operatives I hadn’t met yet. At the front stood Tosin Odeji and Dr Entenga.

  “Take a seat,” Odeji said, “this will be quick.”

  We squeezed through the bodies crammed around a table that was only built for half the number of people here. We managed to navigate to three chairs at the back that had been left specifically for us. We took our seats.

  Pep nodded—stepped forward.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen. So far, it has become clear to us that Aethesium tends to be a byproduct of the purple figure we have become accustomed to. It is present in every location that he has been spotted in.”

  Is this the announcement? We already know this. This can’t be all we were called in for.

  “We have research teams across these locations, each of which—just like ours—has been researching the Aethesium product that has been left from the locations the Aethesium entity has been spotted at.

  He dispyed several locations on a screen.

  “These locations include: the outskirts of the Okopan capital, Angira. The attack here in Rengappon, and finally, the most recent attack on Grossaint, a couple of weeks ago.”

  My eyes sharpened.

  Grossaint... Apparently, the attack there happened straight after the one here. But fortunately, no one was harmed as the Aethesium entity managed to get there pretty quickly.

  “The most recent location is what has caught our attention: The Grossaint samples contain far higher concentrations of Aethesium.”

  Pep looked toward Odeji. Odeji stepped forward.

  “We have come up with a theory… “If someone absorbed an extremely high concentration of Aethesium…”

  He paused.

  “They might become the source of it.”

  The room fell silent—a gasp broke through.

  “Yes, the Aethesium user could very much be human just like us.”

  Confused murmurs followed.

  Odeji pointed to a map onscreen.

  “And if that’s the case…”

  He looked directly at us.

  “Then the Aethesium entity is most likely living in Grossaint. In the nation of Trosine.”

  He csped his hands behind his back.

  “So, in a few weeks… MEI’s Special Operations Division will be relocating to Grossaint.”

  His eyes swept across the room.

  “Our objective is simple: Find the identity of the Aethesium entity. And uncover the source of this power.”