Before Raven and Damien were the charming, well-loved students of the university, before their names became whispers in the dark corners of the library, they were something else entirely.
They were chosen.
Unlike the others, they hadn't been created—they were the creators.
It started years ago, in the hidden depths of the school. Beneath the old library, where the smell of dust and ancient ink masked something far more sinister. There, in the abandoned archives, they discovered something—a room that was never meant to be found.
Inside, files covered the walls, old projects long forgotten by those who once ran the institution. Human experiments. Psychological manipulation. Mind erasure.
And at the center of it all—a blueprint.
A blueprint for something new. A recreation of the mind itself.
It fascinated Raven first. He was always drawn to the forbidden, to the power that knowledge could grant him.
Damien followed, not because he believed in it, but because he believed in Raven.
Together, they took what the forgotten scientists had left behind and made it their own. They didn't need to create life. Instead, they found the perfect candidates—students.
People they could rewrite.
People like Jian.
People like Elara.
The First Trial
Jian had been one of their earliest successes. A mind fragmented and stitched back together, his past wiped clean, his loyalty rewritten. He had been perfect—an obedient participant in their game.
But Elara?
She wasn't meant to remember. She wasn't meant to wake up.
And yet, she had.
Now, she was a problem.
And Raven hated problems.
Present Time—After Everything Went Black
Elara gasped as she regained consciousness, her body stiff, her mind sluggish.
Where was she?
The air was cold, sterile. White lights buzzed overhead, blinding in their intensity. She tried to move—but she couldn't.
Straps. Tight. Wrapped around her wrists, her ankles, her chest.
She wasn't in the school anymore.
She was somewhere worse.
A shadow moved in the corner of the room. She turned her head, her vision still unfocused, and saw him.
Raven.
He stood beside a metal table, adjusting something in his hands. A syringe.
"Welcome back, Elara." His voice was smooth, calculated.
She struggled against the restraints.
"Where am I? What did you do?"
Raven chuckled."You always were a curious one."
Footsteps.
Another figure entered the room.
Damien.
His expression was unreadable, but his eyes—they weren't the same eyes that had once laughed alongside hers.
They were empty.
Elara's heart pounded.
"Why are you doing this?"
Raven stepped closer, twirling the syringe between his fingers.
"Because, Elara… we made you. And now, we have to fix you."
Elara's breathing was ragged, her mind racing. She struggled against the restraints, but they held firm. Raven twirled the syringe between his fingers, the liquid inside glowing faintly under the sterile lights.
"Fix me?"
Her voice was hoarse, her throat dry.
"You think you can fix me like I'm some kind of broken experiment?"
Raven's smirk never wavered.
"You were never supposed to wake up, Elara."
Damien, standing in the background, shifted slightly. His eyes flickered with something—doubt? Regret? She couldn't tell.
Elara's mind was racing. She couldn't give in. If she let them do this, whatever they had done to Jian—whatever they had done to all the others—would happen to her.
She had to stall.
"What did you do to Jian?" she asked, her voice trembling.
For the first time, Raven hesitated. Just a flicker. But she caught it.
"Jian was a success." His voice was calm. Too calm. "But even successes have limits."
Her stomach twisted.
"You erased him, didn't you?"
Damien spoke this time, his voice quieter, almost… tired.
"We made him better."
Better?
Jian had been rewritten. His memories, his past, his soul—all altered to fit whatever they wanted.
Was that what was about to happen to her?
Raven sighed."Enough talking."
He leaned closer, the syringe hovering just inches from her skin. "Time to put you back to sleep."
No.
She refused.
Before he could press the needle into her skin, she twisted her wrist—forcing herself through the pain—and yanked one arm free from the restraints.
Raven's eyes widened, just for a second.
Elara didn't hesitate.
She reached out, grabbing his wrist and slamming it against the edge of the table. The syringe clattered to the floor, the glowing liquid spilling onto the sterile tiles.
Damien moved forward, but she was already moving, kicking, fighting.
She had one chance.
One chance to get out.
She wasn't going to let them erase her.
Everything went black.
A suffocating silence surrounded her, pressing against her mind like a heavy fog. Elara tried to hold onto something—anything—but her thoughts were slipping away, unraveling like threads pulled from an old fabric.
Then—a spark.
A voice.
"Elara."
Her eyes fluttered open.
She was standing.
Not in the cold, sterile lab. Not in the nightmare of straps and syringes.
She was back.
Back on the rooftop.
The same rooftop where she had confronted Jian just hours ago—or had it been minutes? Or days?
Her breath hitched. No. This wasn't right. Something felt... off.
Jian was in front of her, his body tense, his stance protective. His eyes locked onto Raven and Damien, who stood a few feet away, their expressions unreadable.
"Don't touch her." Jian's voice was sharp, firm.
Raven only smirked. "Now, now. Is that any way to talk to your creators?"
Elara's heart pounded.
What was happening?
Why did it feel like she had been here before?
She tried to reach for her memories—what had just happened? The lab, the syringe, the fight—it was slipping, vanishing, dissolving into nothing.
Her mind felt clean.
Too clean.
She stiffened.
They erased me.
She stared at Raven and Damien, then at Jian.
They did something to me.
And yet… her body wouldn't move. She just stood there.
Watching.
Jian took a slow step backward, shielding her even more. His hand clenched at his side, his usual calmness now laced with an urgency she didn't recognize.
"Stay away from her," Jian warned again, his voice lower this time.
Raven let out a small laugh. "Oh, Jian. Poor, naive Jian."
Damien sighed beside him, his gaze flickering between Elara and Jian before speaking for the first time. "It's too late."
Elara flinched.
Jian turned toward her, his eyes searching hers, desperate, pleading.
She opened her mouth to speak—but no words came out.
Panic clawed at her chest.
She couldn't move.
She couldn't speak.
She could only watch.
Raven took a slow step forward.
"See? She doesn't even remember, does she?"
Jian's expression darkened.
"You monsters."
Raven tilted his head.
"Now, now. That's no way to talk about family."
Elara's body shook.
Family?
Jian clenched his fists. "She's not one of you."
"Oh?" Raven's grin widened. "Then why did she come back?"
Elara's breath caught.
Come back?
What did he mean—?
A sudden pain pierced through her mind. Her vision blurred. Images—fractured memories—flashed before her.
The library.
The experiments.
Jian.
The truth.
And then—
A whisper in her ear.
"You were never meant to wake up."
She gasped—**a ragged, broken sound—**as everything came rushing back.
She remembered.
And she wasn't supposed to.
Raven took another step forward, watching her with fascination. "Ah… there it is."
Damien inhaled sharply, like he hadn't expected her to snap out of it so soon.
Jian moved, reaching for her—but she staggered back.
"Elara?"
Jian's voice was strained. "Talk to me."
Her lips trembled.
Raven's smirk widened as he turned his gaze to Jian. "Now, your turn… time to reset you and fix you."
Jian stiffened, his body going rigid. His hands curled into tight fists at his sides, his breath slow but calculated. He knew this moment would come—he just didn't expect it to be so soon.
Elara's breath was still shaky, her mind reeling from the fragments of memories clawing their way back to her. She shouldn't remember. She was supposed to be wiped clean.
Jian had spent so long making sure she stayed away, keeping her safe from the truth.
But now?
Now, everything was unraveling.
Damien took a step forward, his cold, calculating eyes locked on Jian. "You should've known better than to fight it."
Jian let out a breath, tilting his head slightly. "And you should've known I'd never just let it happen."
Raven sighed, shaking his head. "Stubborn as always."
Elara's heart pounded. What were they talking about?
She turned to Jian, desperate for answers, but the moment her eyes met his, something inside her twisted. That look.
A quiet plea.
Don't ask. Don't dig deeper.
Jian had always been the one person she trusted—the one person who never let her feel lost. But now, standing in front of him, watching the way his shoulders tensed, she realized something.
He had been lying to her all along.
Raven took another step forward. "Let's make this simple." His voice was almost amused. "You step aside, let us finish fixing her, and maybe we'll go easy on you."
Jian let out a humorless chuckle. "Yeah… that's not happening."
Elara saw it—the shift.
The way Jian's stance changed, his weight shifting slightly onto the balls of his feet. He was ready to fight.
Damien clicked his tongue. "We don't have time for this."
Raven sighed dramatically. "Then let's make it quick."
Everything happened in a blur.
Jian lunged first.
Fast. Precise.
But Raven and Damien were faster.
Elara barely had time to react as Raven sidestepped Jian's attack, grabbing his wrist and twisting it violently. A sickening crack echoed through the rooftop.
Jian gritted his teeth but didn't falter, using the momentum to kick Damien back before spinning free from Raven's grasp.
Elara couldn't move.
Her body was frozen in place, her mind screaming at her to do something—anything!
But then—a whisper.
Inside her head.
A voice that wasn't hers.
"You weren't supposed to wake up."
She gasped, stumbling back as a wave of nausea hit her.
Jian barely glanced her way before shifting back into a defensive stance, his eyes wild with determination. "Elara—stay out of this."
Raven and Damien moved in sync, their attacks relentless. Jian dodged, blocked, countered—but they weren't trying to kill him.
They were trying to break him.
To reset him.
Elara clutched her head, the painful whispers growing louder, pulling her in, dragging her down.
Who was she?
What was she before they erased her?
Jian suddenly cried out, falling to one knee. Blood dripped from his lip, his breathing ragged.
Raven stood over him, eyes gleaming. "You know, Jian… you never really had a choice."
Jian glared up at him, his chest rising and falling rapidly. "And yet, here I am… still choosing."
Raven chuckled. "That's exactly why we have to fix you."
Damien knelt down, his voice eerily soft. "You failed your mission. You were supposed to keep her from remembering. Instead, you let her break free."
Jian's jaw clenched.
Elara staggered forward. "Stop—stop it!"
Raven looked at her, amused. "Why? Don't you want to know the truth?"
She trembled. Did she?
Jian turned his head slightly, his voice raw. "Don't listen to them."
Elara felt like she was standing on the edge of something huge.
Something that, once she stepped into, there would be no going back.
Raven smiled. "Tell me, Elara… do you really think he's protecting you? Or is he just another part of the lie?"
Her stomach twisted.
Jian whispered, his voice barely audible. "Please, Elara... don't."
Her heart pounded.
What was the truth?
And more importantly…
Did she even want to know?
Elara's head spun, the world around her seeming to fade and blur as memories and fragments of whispers collided.
She stared at Jian, her eyes wide with realization, but it wasn't just confusion—there was clarity in the chaos.
It was him, the person she had trusted so deeply, standing before her, a com⁹.plicated expression painted across his face. In that brief moment, the hazy memory hit her like a wave. She could see him in the laboratory—cold, clinical, isolated, holding that vial of dark purple liquid. She heard his words whispered to her: "Finally, they will accept me… just be as I want." His voice was distant but eerily familiar.Then, just as her world tilted back into focus, she felt the bitter, cold taste of something creeping up her throat.
She remembered the injection—the moment everything shifted. Jian had said, "I'm sorry," and she saw the tear on the edge of his eye, as though he too was forced into this cruel experiment.
And now, here he stood before her in the present, his eyes filled with silent apology.
"Jian..." she whispered, her voice trembling, unable to understand the full depth of his involvement.
He watched her, his face unreadable, then said softly, "Elara, please don't—"
But she couldn't take it anymore. The pieces were falling into place, and it was almost too much. Her breaths were shallow, and for a split second, she thought she might collapse. The memory of the lab lingered like a shadow, and the questions began to pile up: What was he really doing? How far had they gone?
"Jian, is all of this a lie?" Elara asked, her voice sharp with a sudden clarity. "Are you an experiment too? Why do you know all of this? Why are you trying to protect me?"
He remained silent, his expression shifting with an emotion Elara couldn't quite place—regret, fear, perhaps even guilt. She clenched her fists at her sides, staring into his eyes, looking for any sign of truth.
His voice barely broke the silence. "You don't need to know everything," he said, his words heavy, strained. "Just... don't ask too much."
It was then that she knew the truth, or at least part of it. The darkness, the experiments, the manipulation—it had all been right there under her nose, and Jian had been a part of it. But more than that, she could sense his struggle, the silent battle inside him. His mission had always been clear: to keep her away from the truth.
To be continue ....