CHAPTER 3
The overhead lights flickered weakly as Aria stepped into the lab. The door sealed behind her with a hiss, drowning the corridor noise into silence.
Only a dim, blue-tinged light glowed from the wall panels, casting long shadows across the metallic floor. The room was cold, unnervingly sterile—yet as she moved further inside. A strange aroma filled her nose.
It was unlike anything she had ever encountered before: sweet and metallic, with an undertone of something more primal. It tugged at something deep within her.
Almost instantly, her body responded in a way she couldn’t explain. A heat blossomed at the base of her spine, creeping upward with slow intensity.
Her throat grew dry, and her knees weakened as if a fever had gripped her. But worse still, she felt a sensation of wetness between her legs, sudden and impossible to ignore.
Embarrassment flared through her, quickly replaced by confusion.
“What... the hell is happening to me?” she whispered, pressing a hand against the wall to steady herself.
Her breathing came quicker. The air seemed thicker here, charged with something she couldn’t name.
Her senses, dulled from confusion moments before, now sharpened.
Every shadow seemed to pulse.
Every sound echoed in her ears.
Her body didn’t feel like hers. Something was calling her—pulling her deeper into the lab.
“Dr. Justin?” she called, voice shaky. “Hello?”
No response.
She turned around, heart thudding.
The hallway she had come from was now sealed. The smooth door gave no sign of opening.
When had he left her alone?
He had been right behind her before they entered.
She hadn’t heard him go.
Swallowing her panic, Aria continued forward.
The scent grew stronger the deeper she walked, now thick with coppery undertones.
Her hands trembled as she approached the heart of the lab—a circular chamber, lit from above by a single, flickering spotlight.
And then she saw him.
A man.
He stood, or rather, hung, suspended by thick metal chains bound to his wrists and neck.
His feet barely touched the ground, his head bowed.
His body was naked, drenched in sweat and blood, yet despite his condition, he looked more like a sculpture than a prisoner.
Every muscle was honed to perfection, carved from torment. Veins bulged beneath his skin, as though barely able to contain the force of what ran through them.
Aria stopped dead.
“Oh my god,” she whispered, frozen.
The man stirred.
His head lifted slowly, strands of wet black hair falling away from his face. His eyes met hers.
Silver.
Not grey, not blue.
They glowed faintly in the dark, not with malice, but something older.
Wilder.
He blinked slowly, and she felt her breath catch in her throat.
He looked directly at her.
"You shouldn't be here," he said, voice rough as gravel and yet... impossibly alluring.
Aria took a step back.
"Who... who are you? What is this place?"
The man gave a slow, bitter smile.
"That depends. Are you the doctor’s pet project?"
"What? I—I'm just an intern. I didn’t know this was here. I didn’t even mean to—"
"Then leave. Before they come back."
She glanced at the sealed doors.
"I can't. It locked behind me."
He inhaled sharply, nostrils flaring. His eyes burned brighter.
"You're changing, aren't you?" he asked.
Her eyes widened.
"What do you mean?"
"The scent," he growled.
"You smell like heat. Like power waking up. Sonething inhuman."
Aria shook her head, stumbling back another step.
"What? No. No, I’m human."
The man laughed—a low, bitter sound that echoed off the steel walls.
"Is that what they told you?"
She shook her head more violently now, her chest rising and falling with rapid breaths.
"I don’t understand."
"You will. Soon."
There was something about him—something dangerous - but not entirely threatening.
She could feel his energy humming, pulling at her like gravity. The ache in her body intensified.
"Why are you chained? Who did this to you?"
"The same people who drugged you. Who made you drink their 'supplements.' They keep me here because I’m not tame. Because I know the truth."
She blinked rapidly.
“You know what they did to me?”
He nodded, lips curling into something between sympathy and anger.
“They’ve been awakening you slowly. Every morning test. Every pink vial. You’re not human anymore, Aria. Or maybe you never were. But now...”
His eyes darkened.
“Now you’re starting to feel it.”
She gripped the edge of a table to steady herself.
“No. This is crazy. I’m not like you.”
He tilted his head.
"Then why can't you stop staring? Why does your body burn every second you're in this room with me?"
She turned away, ashamed.
But he was right. She couldn’t stop staring.
Couldn't ignore the pulsing warmth spreading through her core, the electricity on her skin.
His voice softened, just a fraction.
"They kept me here because they couldn't control me. And now... they're trying to use you. You’re the key to something. I don’t know what yet, but they do."
She turned back to him.
"Then help me. Tell me what I am. What they want."
He looked at her, long and hard. Then, he nodded once.
"Come closer."
Her breath caught.
"Why?"
"Because there's something else they won't tell you. Something only I can show you."
Despite every rational part of her screaming no, Aria stepped forward.
One step, then another, until she stood directly before him.
The heat of his body rolled off him in waves, and her heart pounded in her ears.
"Give me your hand," he said.
She raised it slowly. He lowered his head and touched his forehead to her palm.
For a moment, the world exploded.
Visions raced through her mind—flashes of fire, wings unfurling against a blood-red sky, chains clamping around her limbs, screams, and her own voice roaring out in a language she didn’t know.
Then it all snapped away.
She stumbled back, gasping. He groaned, chains clanking above him.
"What was that?" she choked.
"Your memories," he said hoarsely.
"Or rather, what they buried. What you are is not human. You're like me. A hybrid. A weapon they created... or maybe tried to control."
She stared at him, body trembling.
"What am I supposed to do?"
He looked at her with something like regret.
"You have to wake up. Before they use you to break everything the world has left."
And just then—as if on cue—the lab lights roared to life. An alarm blared. The doors unsealed behind her.
Dr. Justin's voice echoed from the hall.
“Aria? Step away from the subject.”
She turned to the door, then back to the chained man.
His eyes bored into hers.
"You have a choice," he said, low.
"Run back to them. Or free me. And learn the truth."
Her fingers twitched.
And Aria knew:
Everything was about to change.