Claire sat quietly beside Ethan's hospital bed, her fingers gently wrapped around his. The steady rhythm of the heart monitor was the only sound filling the room. She rubbed his hand softly, whispering words of comfort, hoping he could somehow hear her. "Please wake up… we need you."
Meanwhile, in Ethan's mind, he stood in a place that didn't feel real. The room looked like a laboratory, but not the modern kind he'd seen on TV or in schoolbooks. This one had an eerie, ancient aura—as if it had existed for centuries. The walls were dark stone, lit by flickering torches that cast long shadows. The air smelled of rusted metal and something foul he couldn't name.
He looked around and felt his stomach turn. There were chains hanging from the ceiling and heavy iron cuffs scattered across the floor. Along the walls were rows of strange tools—torture devices, he realized—each one more terrifying than the last. His eyes darted to the corner where he saw a group of children, chained and sobbing, their voices low but filled with fear.
"Help us…" one whispered as Ethan moved closer, but a sudden sharp noise made him freeze.
Driven by instinct, he moved away from the children and deeper into the lab. A narrow passage led him to a much larger space, colder and darker. Here, the ceiling stretched high above him, and massive glass tubes lined the room. Inside the tubes was a greenish liquid, bubbling faintly. Ethan stepped closer to one and gasped.
Inside was a creature—part human, part beast. It had the body of a person, but the face… the face was slowly shifting. Sharp fangs pushed through its gums. Clawed fingers twitched as if the creature was dreaming. The more Ethan looked, the more he realized they looked like dogs at first glance—but no dog had shoulders like that, or bones that thick. No dog had eyes that glowed faintly under liquid.
They were more like wolves—mutated, twisted wolves in human form.
Ethan stumbled back, his heart racing. As he looked around, he saw even more tubes—dozens of them—each one holding a creature more terrifying than the last.
Ethan turned slowly, his body tense and his breath caught in his throat. Standing just a few feet behind him was the girl—the same girl he had seen at the hospital, the one who had led him into the woods before everything went dark. She looked exactly as he remembered: pale, with hollow eyes and a stillness that felt both fragile and terrifying.
She didn't say a word. Her gaze locked onto his, and for a moment, time seemed to pause between them. Ethan opened his mouth to speak—he had so many questions, so many things to ask—but before a single word could escape, she stepped forward and gently placed her hand on his forehead.
In an instant, pain shot through him like lightning.
It was as if a thousand hammers struck his skull all at once. His knees buckled, his body trembling. He let out a silent scream as his vision blurred and a loud, ringing noise filled his ears. The world around him—the tubes, the chains, the creatures—began to swirl violently. He felt himself being ripped away from it, pulled out by a force he couldn't see.
Back in the hospital room, Claire gasped.
Ethan's body had started to shake. His fingers twitched wildly, his legs kicked under the blanket, and his chest rose and fell in rapid bursts. The heart monitor spiked erratically as his entire body convulsed.
"Doctor!" Claire shouted, standing up in panic. "Something's wrong! Please!"
Two nurses rushed into the room, followed closely by a doctor. Claire stepped back, hands pressed to her mouth, watching in horror as the medical team worked around her son.
"Seizure activity," one of the nurses reported.
"Get the meds ready, now!" the doctor barked, checking Ethan's pulse and scanning the monitor.
Claire's eyes were fixed on Ethan's face. She could see the pain etched across it even though he wasn't awake.
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Zeck's eyes locked onto the Reaper, a wild grin spreading across his face. He looked almost entertained by the chaos around him, like a man watching a show made just for him. Then, without warning, he tensed—ready to lunge.
But just as he took a step forward, his entire body froze.
A sharp gasp escaped his lips, followed by a scream that tore through the arena. He clutched his head, stumbling back, as if something inside was trying to split his skull open. His legs gave way, and he dropped to his knees, writhing in agony.
His eyes turned bloodshot, the whites swallowed by red veins. A thin stream of blood began to trickle down from both eyes, trailing along his cheeks like crimson tears.
The arena fell into an eerie silence.
Everyone watched in frozen disbelief as Zeck's screams deepened into something more primal. Then, something even more disturbing happened.