Kael was dragged out of the isolation cell after one full day.
Two armed guards held his arms firmly as they were walking along him. His legs were weak and his body was still sore because of that isolation cell, but he forced himself to walk, they got in the elevator and reached at 5th Floor.
They walked in the corridor and then stopped at the door and opened into a massive room.
The ceiling was high which was supported by thick metal beams, and the walls were reinforced with glowing seals carved into steel. The lights were dim and tinted with a pale blue color that made everything feel cold and lifeless. The room was wider than any test room, Kael had seen before.
And then he saw four Newborns.
Each one was sealed inside a containment cage that was placed at the four corners of the room. The cages were made of reinforced glass and glowing restraints and thick chains wrapped around the creatures' bodies. The devouring power was leaking out of them like smoke, pressing against the air itself.
Kael's heart dropped.
Even they were sealed, their presence was crushing.
He could feel them breathing.
The pressure was the same pressure that he had felt before, the same one that had almost killed him in his own home.
His hands started to shake.
Near the control panel Examiner Holt was standing, his face was calm but tense. His eyes flicked toward Kael for just a moment before returning to the monitors.
As the guards pushed Kael forward, he noticed someone else standing near the observation corridor.
It was a girl.
She was standing slightly apart from the guards and was wearing a black Aerin uniform fitted to her frame. She had soft brown hair tied back loosely, with a few strands falling around her face. Her eyes were sharp but uneasy, like she was trying to not show fear. There was something gentle about her expression, something human that didn't belong in a place like this. She was Clare Pearson.
Kael didn't know who she was, he just glaring at her, but then she noticed Kael looking at her.
For a second, their eyes met.
Her lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to say something—but she didn't. Instead, she looked away, her hands clenching at her sides.
Kael didn't know why, but that hurt more than those chains.
Then Holt stepped forward.
"This is the Survival Ethics Trial," he said flatly.
He reached in his coat and pulled out a small glass vial which was filled with a faint silver liquid, it looked different before. The light inside it shimmered gently.
"This elixir was sent by Lieutenant Clinton," Holt added, handing it to Kael.
Kael stared at the vial.
"Jake…" he whispered.
"It will help your body endure longer," Holt continued. "Nothing more."
Kael drank it.
The liquid burned as it went down and spread warmth through his chest, but it did nothing to calm his fear.
Holt pointed to the center of the room.
"You will sit there," he said. "For twenty minutes."
Kael's breath caught.
"Twenty minutes," Holt repeated. "You will endure the Devouring pressure of those four Newborns."
Kael's voice trembled. "And if I can't?"
"Then you die," Holt said simply.
Kael swallowed hard.
Holt continued but he didn't changed his tone. "You may awaken Rin and defend yourself. Or you may survive without it. The choice is yours."
Kael's legs felt like stone as he walked to the center of the room and then he sat down on that cold metal floor. There were no restraints, no weapons and no barriers.
No one to save him.
He remembered Jake who saved him away from being devoured.
But this time, Jake wasn't here.
Holt stepped back to the console.
"Now, on the count of three," he said.
Kael closed his eyes.
"Two."
His heart began to race.
"One."
Holt pressed the button.
With a heavy mechanical sound, each cage opened slightly—just a few inches.
And then the pressure slammed into Kael instantly.
It felt like invisible hands were grabbing his chest and squeezing his lungs. His head rang violently, and his vision was slowly blurring. He screamed with the pain, but the sound barely left his throat.
The Newborns stirred.
Their hunger was leaking into the room like poison.
Kael fell on his left side and started to gasp for air that wouldn't come.
Blood started to drip from his nose and then from his ears. His eyes burned, and a warm liquid started to blur his sight more.
But as for Holt, it was nothing. He was in the observation room, sitting beside Clare.
5 Minutes passed.
Each second was feeling like an hour.
The Newborns fed on his fear, his weakness and his existence. His thoughts shattered. His memories surfaced and broke apart—his mother's grave, his father -Mikhail, and the blood ocean.
6th Floor – Mirror World Entrance Room
A red portal crackled open violently.
Two Aeri stepped out, their weapons were still dripping with black blood. They were breathing hard, injured but alive.
"We're finally cleared our quest," one of them said.
They turned and left the room, but they forgot to close the portal.
The red light was pulsing, something was moving inside and then many monsters stepped out.
The room was filling with monsters, their claws were tearing the steel. They broke the door and went out in the corridor. They ate guards near them and screamed and run to eat more.
And then the alarms finally blared.
It was an outbreak.
5th Floor – Test Chamber
While Kael was surrounded by blood, he had passed fifteen minutes. His body shook violently.
He was barely conscious but only five minutes were remaining. For his eyes a stream of blood was coming.
He wanted to die, he wanted it to stop.
But then the building shook.
Kael lifted his blood-covered face weakly.
Something was happening.
And then screams started to come.
It was not inside his head, but from somewhere above.
Holt froze at the console.
Clare turned sharply toward the ceiling.
Alarms began to echo faintly through the structure.