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The first thing Riku Aozora noticed was the taste of metal.
His tongue felt like sandpaper, his throat dry and scorched. He tried to move—arms, legs, anything—but pain bloomed like fire beneath his skin. A sharp breath escaped his lips, followed by the sound of rusted chains dragging across concrete.
He wasn't alone.
Flickering red lights pulsed above, casting the room in hellish waves of crimson. The walls were steel, blood-streaked and scarred. Tables full of twisted tools surrounded him—syringes, bonesaws, things not meant for medicine. Something buzzed in the corner, mechanical and low.
Riku blinked, forcing his vision into focus.
He was strapped to a steel chair. Needles protruded from both arms. A thick tube ran from his chest to a vat filled with a black, bubbling liquid. His reflection shimmered in it—a pale face, black hair soaked in sweat, eyes dull and lifeless.
"Subject 13: Vital signs stabilized."
The voice came from nowhere, cold and mechanical. A speaker embedded in the ceiling crackled as static hissed between words.
"Begin Phase Two."
Suddenly, pain. Not like a knife—no, something deeper. Like his bones were shattering and being rebuilt, one nerve at a time. Riku screamed, his voice bouncing off the walls like a dying animal's.
His chest ripped open—not with blood, but light. Red tendrils slithered out of the tube, crawling into his ribcage, merging with his heart. He felt them wrap around his spine, his brain, his soul.
And then… a voice.
"You are mine now, Riku Aozora."
Not spoken. Whispered. Inside his head. Cold, ancient, and terrifyingly calm.
Riku gasped, his eyes wide with horror as something—someone—moved behind his thoughts. Like a second consciousness. Watching. Breathing. Smiling.
"Who… are you?"
No answer. Only laughter. Low, guttural, wrong.
The restraints snapped.
Riku didn't move. He hadn't tried to. But the chains shattered as if they'd been burned through. His body rose from the chair on its own, muscles twitching, tendons snapping and reshaping under the skin. His shadow twisted unnaturally beneath him.
Across the room, a steel door burst open.
A man in black tactical armor stepped in, rifle raised. "Subject 13, return to containment—"
Riku looked up.
Something else looked through his eyes.
With a sound like tearing flesh, his right arm warped—bones cracking, skin splitting open to reveal a clawed, armored limb pulsing with red energy. Spines jutted from his shoulder. Smoke poured from his mouth.
He charged.
The soldier fired. Bullets ricocheted off the monster's hide as Riku slammed into him, sending the man flying into the wall. Blood sprayed. Bones snapped.
Silence returned.
Riku stood over the corpse, clawed hand trembling, breath ragged. The red light pulsed once more.
And for the first time, he saw his reflection again—only this time, it wasn't just him staring back.
It was the thing inside him.
"Let's begin, partner," it whispered.
Then everything went dark.
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End of Chapter 1