"But I still haven't leveled up yet…" Galen sighed.
"There is still more, but you gotta look!" A voice chimed.
Another of Unity's co-workers dressed in white, but his hair was beige and messy with sleepy eyes emerged from around the corner, causing Galan to raise his brow in surprise. He didn't think he'd meet any more people from the lab.
"We will discuss it later, but first you need to level up," He snickered.
"Right..." Galen responded.
"Don't let Livia get you down even though she is level 15 now."
"Level 15?!" Galan repeated in disbelief.
"Anyway, goodluck to you!" He shouted.
They watched as they disappeared back around the corner. Galan looked at the bottle and shook it, wondering how he could reach level 15 as quickly as possible.
He was by himself again and needed to focus to find Adam like the goddess wanted. He walked down the path as gazed around up and down and side to side to find anymore of the glitches.
"Ughh!!" He growled frustrated. He knew he wasn't getting closer and he didn't know when he was going to find Adam. He began to walk more slowly, hoping to bump into Adam.
As he searched for signs of him or the glitches, he suddenly stopped walking. Someone blocked his path. He looked up and saw several figures covered completely in darkness staring down at him, their face covered by shadows with the exception of the glowing red eye.
He immediately recognized of the man with green confidently eyeing Galen before he jumped in front of him attempting to reach for his hand when Galen knocked it away defensively.
"Don't you remember me? Aspen?" He smiled.
Galen stepped aside and waved a hand dismissively at him, "No. Get out of my way,"
"Why? Are you afraid?"
"No,"
"That's not very convincing," The stranger scoffed. "Look, Galan, we can make this easy or hard for you, But which option is better?" He grinned.
"I have something to do!" Galen yelled.
"If you insist…"
Suddenly he grabbed Galan by the arm. Galan winced in pain, but he managed to resist. Suddenly another pair of hands appeared grabbing at his other arms from behind. The next thing he knew he was being dragged off. The two hands holding onto his arms loosened slightly.
Galen screamed in terror and pain as the two hands tightened their grip once more. He kicked frantically attempting to push away whoever held him but they merely grunted and pulled tighter. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that one of the figures holding him also had one of the mysterious hands attached to its arm and they were dragging it towards their car.
The figure pulled him closer and squeezed his throat until he blacked out.
*****
Galen slowly awoken to find his hands were tethered behind his back. He could feel several sharp pains shooting through his arms.
When he opened his eyes he noticed that he was surrounded by the black figures. There were too many of them, blocking all light. He struggled to free himself but to no avail.
"How interesting," the one wearing a mask said.
"Leave me alone!" Galan yelled.
"Oh come on now, don't give us any trouble! This is all your fault anyway!" One of the figures said angrily.
The figures started moving closer as Galan squirmed, trying his best to get away.
"No wait! Please!" He begged.
"You see when I first saw you I felt an odd aura about you..." He explained.
One of the figures reached forward, placing both hands on either side of his head and pressing down with incredible force forcing his neck upwards. "But your aura isn't quite human, but something entirely different."
A sharp pain shot through his head causing him to cry out in agony. He gawked around the room to notice blood stained on the metal walls. His eyes widened in horror. He tried to struggle again but to no avail.
He stared helplessly as he watched in despair as the figures started place their hands on the boy and forced his body in an unnatural angle.
Gilan cried out in pain but he was unable to speak nor even utter a sound. He closed his eyes tightly in defeat as they attached electronic patches to his skin. A small part of him wondered what was going to happen next.
After what seemed like hours, the screens stopped flashing and the lights dimmed to a dull gray. The images finally stabilized from the other side as they examined his mind to find images of Galen talking to someone, but no one reflected in the images.
"Who are you talking to?" Aspen asked.
He was too tired to reply, a few seconds passed before the screens flashed again before stopping. His mind went blank and he fell unconscious from the sudden exhaustion and stress.
"Hey, wake the fuck up kid!"
Aspen was not going to allow Galen to rest knocking him in the face when he tried to close his eyes blood ran down his nostrils. His head fell forward.
"I don't want to hear it from you,"
Aspen sighed in annoyance before picking him up and throwing him across the room. Galen landed awkwardly onto the ground where he laid unmoving. He couldn't tell if he was breathing or not.
"Fine, then I'm leaving. Don't call me if you die!" Aspen spat and left slamming the door behind him.
Galen laid on the cold hard metal of the floor for some time after he heard Aspen leave. His hands were still bound behind his back and he was feeling a bit weak as well. It was so difficult to breathe. When he thought about death, he would usually imagine he'll float up to heaven with his family, but he realized this goddess may have endangered his existance.
He was about to try to sit up when he heard voices outside, they sounded like arguing. He froze as his ears strained to listen.
"Where is he?! Where did he go?!"
"Calm down, he can't have gone far. We'll just follow him, we'll catch him eventually, calm down,"
"The bosses son can't have gone far?!"
"Shut up, it's not safe, he might be able to sense our presence here and alert the boss to our presence. Now shut up and keep looking."
"Yes sir."
Aspen's thoughts returned to what happened earlier that day. That kid sure had guts trying to challenge the authority. As soon as he saw the strange aura around him, something clicked in his head telling him something was wrong, but before he had the chance to fully process the situation, he was pushed forward by his two friends.
"Christian..."
Galen's ear picked up wondering who they talking about as they scattered in the hallway and disappeared from sight.As he continued searching in vain his eyelids became heavier and heavier. Just as he decided to rest he woke up feeling extremely tired.
He felt something kicking him in the sides to turn around but before he could open his eyes a strong hand wrapped around his mouth as he was roughly hauled upright from his lying position and slammed against the wall.
"You are that stupid kid gifted from the goddess aren't you?"
Galen didn't answer, but noticed his messy blonde hair in the dark. He blinked a couple times and tried to rub some of the sleepiness off his eyes as he stared at the face looming over him.
He couldn't help but feel intimidated by the person. The moment they saw Galen awake they released his mouth and stepped back away from him giving him a wary glare. He stared at them as they observed him carefully from head to toe. Galen took the chance to examine the stranger.
They were tall, slim, muscular with short blonde messy hair that reached their shoulders. Their eyes showed traces of weariness and worry but there was something else; a familiar look of determination glimmering in those blue orbs.
"Who are you?" Galen asked cautiously.
The blonde guy sighed heavily taking a step towards Galen. He stared at Galen curiously, studying Galen and trying to decide whether to trust him or not. Eventually he came to the conclusion that Galen was harmless and relaxed.
"You are gonna be the guy that gets me outta here!" He smiled.
"You are gonna be the guy that gets me outta here!" He smiled. "My name's Christian, nice to meet you!" He extended his hand to shake his but hesitated.
"I am tied up you psycho!" Galen yelled.
"Ahh, right!" Christian exclaimed snapping his fingers. "Sorry." he apologized sheepishly.
"Yeah…whatever…what exactly do you wanna do with me?" Galen asked hesitantly.
Christian smirked arrogantly leaning towards Galen, "Well, let's start small,"
"What do you mean by'start small'?" Galen frowned, confused.
"For starters what is your weapon?" He asked.
Galen checked his pockets for his phone panicing , "Shit! I must have dropped it somewhere when I got knocked out," he groaned.
"Don't panic, relax, I know someone who can get it for you," Christian assured him. He grabbed Galen's hand and started pulling him along with him.
He grabbed Galen's hand and started pulling him along with him. Galen followed reluctantly following after Christian's pace and stumbling over nothing occasionally. After a while of walking, Galen began to get worried about where Christian was leading him to the desks.
Christian gawked around as he looked through the piles of papers and random stuff strewn around.
Glancing, he turned towards Galen. "Is this your phone?" he smiled.
"Yeah…how did you find it?" Galen asked.
The blonde ignored Galen's question instead asking him a different one, "What is your name?"
Before Galen knew it Christian had taken his phone and unlocked it.
"I can't believe it!" Christian grinned. "It seems that this kid has a smartphone! Oh my god this makes me so excited!" He exclaimed as he quickly scrolled through all the pictures.
"Wait stop!" Galen yelled.
"Give it back...please!" He pleaded.
Galen sighed heavily and looked away from Christian in embarrassment. It wasn't really his fault...all he wanted was his phone back.
"How...did you open my phone?!" Galen shouted.
"Shhh!" Christian shushed. He giggled. "I've been waiting my entire life for this opportunity." He said winking. He pressed on certain keys on the keypad, and the device unlocked and displayed the contents on his screen.
His left eye glimmered golden making Galen wonder why that color was so special. As he stared into Christian's amber eyes something about them drew Galen.
Something about him felt familiar, it felt like he recognized him from somewhere but where, he didn't remember. However, there was also something odd about his expression; as if he was hiding something from Galen. Something Galen wanted to uncover, but was afraid of. He couldn't put his finger on it.
"Here, take your phone back!" Christian shouted.
Galen snatched the phone from Christian and placed it back into his pocket ignoring him.
"Now...where to start?" Christian sighed in frustration. "I need to contact our friend at the underworld. He might have some information…"
Galen was startled hearing Christian mention the underworld and he gulped nervously. "The underworld?" He muttered.
"Yup, and he might even be able to help us out," Christian smirked.
Galen nodded, but he was thinking to himself, how could anyone help him when he doesn't have any power whatsoever?
"I will bug mama later! Let's get the hell out of here!" Christian snickered.
He slammed the door widely looking down the left and right hallway, checking if anybody spotted them and ran down the hall holding his arms out. Galen followed close behind, not wanting to lose Christian who already knew what they were doing. They walked until they found themselves on a deserted hall which lead deeper in the building.
As they made their way further and further away from the main hallway they came upon another abandoned room filled with stacks of dusty old books piled high and shelves crammed full of broken pieces of furniture and various odds and ends. The room seemed almost empty except for an ancient wooden desk covered in dust and the few broken chairs and tables scattered about.
"Let's get started!" Christian smiled.