Number 23 and Nix followed the scientists into a sterile, white chamber, where more than a dozen children were already waiting. It might have seemed like a crowd, but out of the hundreds who had been sent to the laboratory, these were the only survivors.
The rest had either been torn apart by the brutal trials devised by the technicians or consumed by the uncontrollable surge of aether forced into their bodies.
Most of the children appeared hollow, lethargic, broken, and worn down by years of torment.
Only one figure stood apart—Number 23.
Unfazed by the crushing pressure and the weight of expectation, he strolled to his designated spot, where four technicians were already waiting to prepare him for the following procedure. The remaining children would have to share the other four, a silent reminder of whom the lab truly deemed worthy.
