I opened my eyes for the first time since I was knocked out.
Sadly for me, I only saw darkness. I couldn't look past this "state-of-the-art" blindfold. The feeling of not seeing anything always didn't settle with me, having my sight robbed from me was a jarring experience that I failed to get used to.
The scientists told us it was a precaution taken to prevent us from attempting any escape after mapping out the facility.
But I don't think a child raised in a laboratory would have such ideas come to mind. I wasn't that curious, honestly speaking.
I tried moving my body, but it was stuck. I was bound to my seat. Most of my memory was a daze, but I remember getting a needle shoved into my neck like I was some kind of animal. We were two children in the room...
I gasped once remembered the child I was with. "Ivy!" I called. "Ivy? Are you there?" My throat felt dry and perched. It was probably due to the medicine I was given to knock me out.
"Astrid…Astrid…" I heard a young girl's voice respond. It wasn't coming from far, so she was close by.
"I'm here..." I sighed, feeling slightly relieved. The fact that she was here somehow calmed me. A lot of things could happen in an evil scientist's facility.
"Astrid I'm scared." The little girl was already sniffing. Her voice was breaking as she started crying.
Ivy was the youngest one here. She was only five when she was brought to this facility, and since then we've always seen her as one of us. Sure, seeing someone as young as herself from the surface initially surprised us. But the cute brat stole our hearts with her warm nature, something we never knew we needed.
She was our little sister.
Following her voice, I turned my head to the right. "Listen to me, Ivy. It's all going to be alright." I lied and tried hard to sound as calm as I could at the moment. I hated lying, but Ivy was only ten.
Telling her the truth would scar the poor girl's mind forever.
For her, it was the beginning of her journey. Because Ivy was going to be injected with the genetically engineered ichor potion. If she survives the transformation, she will be studied for five years before getting sent to the Nether realm to merge with a soul.
I was injected with ichor five years ago and today was the day I get sent to the Nether Realm along with everyone else who consumed the ichor and survived its effects five years ago.
Strangely, I wasn't scared of what I would meet on the other side. I was told I was born here, in this fancy hell called Bloodhaul—a medical facility on a human-owned planet.
If I merged with a soul and became a Nexus being by any chance, I would get the chance to leave this hell and become an official citizen of Beta 3-099. But that offer didn't wow me, considering there was nothing that excited me about the outside world.
And to make matters even worse, the chances of me merging with a soul were significance low because I didn't get the expected power boost after consuming an S–grade ichor type potion—despite surviving the painful transformation.
My physical tests came out slightly above average, turning me into a defective experiment.
I'm surprised they hadn't disposed of me after five years of no results.
The Nether realm was going to be my death place. And I had come to terms with that a long time ago. For five whole years, I had prepared myself for this suicide mission.
'At least Ivy and the others will survive.' I consoled myself.
Every year, over one thousand people challenge Nexus Events in hopes of becoming Nexus Beings. Or as we called them, Hunters. Out of those one thousand, one to two hundred people came out of these Events as Nexus Beings.
Because the losses were too high, humanity had managed to create a back door that involved becoming a Nexus being by merging with superior souls of the Nether Realm after drinking special potions that they referred to as ichor.
Oh, and by the way. Up until now, no single subject had made it out of the Nether Realm because of how dangerous it was.
This was considered easier because Nexus Events were unpredictable to begin with.
"Are you sure?" The little girl's voice now sounded a bit hopeful as she stopped crying.
I nodded out of habit. "Yes. They're just going to take some tests to see if you're in good health."
As soon as I said that, I heard the sound of a door opening, followed by the gentle sounds of many footsteps that got louder with each step. They were heading towards us.
The two of us fell silent immediately as we waited for the footsteps to come to an end.
'Scientists?' I wondered.
When the footsteps ended, I heard a single cough. Then a familiar deep voice followed almost immediately.
"This is Subject 22. She was born and raised here in Bloodhaul. Her results are below average but she's the only one who could handle the new version of the dragon ichor. She's fifteen years of age and she'll be sent to the Nether Realm today to begin the fifth trial."
The tone he used was a professional one as he addressed whoever had come with him. By just hearing his voice, I had already recognized him.
He was Doctor Edgar Wall, the lead scientist of this entire operation.
"What about the one next to her?" someone in the group asked.
"Oh. That's Subject 30. She was born in a colony that was wiped out by the Plague, she was the only survivor and that alone made her extraordinary. Her antibodies are evolved, you see. Today we will inject her with B—grade ichor and see if she can withstand the changes. The whole purpose of this to see how the ichor affects people born outside Bloodhaul. Subject 30 is the perfect candidate for that."
'Aren't they bothered by any of this?' I asked myself. 'Why do they sound like any of this is normal?'
I had no idea Ivy was infected by the plague before coming into Bloodhaul. The Plague first appeared centuries ago when humans had just started space travel and planet conquering. The disease was mystical. And due to that single factor, no one had a way of countering it then.
The sickness could turn humans into doom creatures that only brought chaos and destruction to anything in their path.
Just when things couldn't get any worse, humanity started to experience Nexus Events. Nexus Events were world-ending catastrophes that could only be stopped by either Nexus Beings or Challengers. When an event was conquered, the challengers would then be recognized by the system as Nexus beings. Or if it was conquered by a Nexus Being, that hunter would advance to another rank according to the Nexus System.
The details were still unclear to me. The people here were careful not to reveal too much to us. We only knew what they wanted us to know.
Suddenly, I felt a hand over my face as the cloth over my eyes was gently removed. The bright light forced me to squint my eyes as the world slowly came into focus to reveal a sterile white room covered in white square plates.
There was a small crowd of humans looking at us with amused expressions. But I didn't mind because my eyes were already traveling to my right.
I gulped at the sight. Ivy was also strapped to the metallic chair, and her blindfold had also been taken off. Her indigo eyes were fixed on the man standing before her, etching with newfound fear.
Without saying a word, I turned to the man who had removed our blindfolds. Dr. Wall.
He was pale and tall, with messy golden hair and a beard that circled his face like a lion's mane. His deep blue eyes were beaming with both intelligence and excitement as they stared at me and Ivy as if we were his newest set of toys.
"Hello, girls." He said it with a pretended smile. "Today marks the beginning of both your journeys. Astrid…"
He looked at me while using the name I gave myself. "You will be sent to the Nether Realm to mark the beginning of your extraordinary path. When you cross over, you will be able to access the Nexus system. It will assist you while you're there. I already sent Devon and others, so you won't be alone."
Doctor Wall was a calm man. He spoke to us nicely and treated us like children while everyone else in Bloodhaul treated us like we were freaks of nature since we survived consuming the ichor.
Unlike the others, I didn't like Doctor Wall. I knew what manipulation looked like from the first step.
"Are you going somewhere, Astrid?" Ivy suddenly asked, sounding concerned.
I opened my mouth to reply with a lie, but Wall beat me to it.
"Yes, Astrid here is going to find herself a soul and become a Nexus being. She will be gone for a while, but I am sure she will make it back." He turned to me once again, smiled creepily, and continued. "She survived the S-grade ichor. The Nether shouldn't be that difficult for her. Silver bloods are known to be a more resilient race compared to most humans."
I hissed quietly and forced myself to look away. I was afraid to talk back. We were taught not to talk to our elders, especially Doctor Wall. Or else…
"Doctor Wall. How did you recreate a silver blood? I thought the last ones were wiped out on Eden."
I shifted my gaze to the owner of that question. And to my surprise, it was a dark-haired young man. His appearance was similar to that of someone slightly older than me. However, that's where the similarities between us stopped. Unlike me, the young man was in a crimson-colored suit with a black shirt under a coat with a red cape attached to both his shoulders.
I could feel his concealed presence as he tried to blend in with the crowd. If it wasn't for my keen senses, I was going to miss it because of how good he was at hiding.
Wall faced the group once again and coughed twice to clear his throat and answered, clinically. "Good question, Prince Amarac. You see, I managed to awaken silver blood genes from a corpse retrieved from Earth…sorry, Eden. Through extensive alchemy and multiple trial-and-error experiments, subject 22 was given life. Isn't she perfect?"
Once he finished his brief explanation, Prince Amarac's eyes then moved to me with newfound curiosity in them. They were blood red, like two bright ruby crystals cut from the rarest gems on this planet. His face was undoubtedly handsome, free of any cuts or scratches.
I immediately dropped my gaze to the floor, feeling a bit embarrassed. My appearance was horrible in contrast to his.
Wait. Why was I even feeling ashamed?
"Subject 22, face me." Prince Amarac ordered. The authority in his voice forced me to look up.
I was expecting him to say something cruel. But, to my surprise, it was the opposite. "Survive the Nether Realm and stand by my side after joining us," he smiled.
'What?'
I opened my mouth to speak and closed again out of fear. My body was stopping me.
The Prince gave me one final nod and left with the other visitors who had gone silent since the prince showed interest in me.
Dr. Wall shot me a complicated look before he began talking once again. "Get the preparations ready. Open the Nexus gate, we still have one more person to send. Take Ivy to my research laboratory and get the samples ready."
Following his instructions, Ivy was released from her chair and led out of the room by one of the guards. The small girl didn't hesitate or fight back when they forcefully grabbed her hand.
At the same time, a scientist walked in and handed Wall a small case. He first put on a pair of surgical gloves before opening and removing whatever was inside—a round obsidian bracelet with symbols drawn on its surface.
'A magic item.' I noticed.
"This is what we will use to keep track of you when you're in the Nether Realm. If you die, it will automatically go off."
Wall explained as he crouched down and released me from my constraints. I couldn't move, though. My arms and feet were numb after being held down for long.
I stared at Wall as he gently placed the magic item around my wrist. It was cold to the touch.
"Is that all it does?" I asked quietly.
"No…it will also kill you if you try to remove it. Remember Astrid, you belong to Bloodhaul. You're a product of supreme alchemy. Don't mess this up."
'Now you show your real face...pathetic. Don't worry, Doctor Wall. I have no intentions of coming back alive.'
I wanted to laugh at his words but my throat was too dry. I was also hungry. Were they sending me to the Nether realm without feeding me first?
After our small interaction, I didn't get even the chance to say goodbye to Ivy. I was changed into a black body suit and led to the gate room.
It was the largest room in Bloodhaul, with hundreds of engineers and alchemists keeping the room running. It also consumed the most power because opening a dimensional gate needed so much power. From what I knew, no Nexus Event was linked to the Nether Realm, making it the perfect place to hold challenges from.
I was placed in front of a large steel wall. On the wall, a circle with the "Omega" symbol in the middle was engraved on it. The Omega symbol meant death, which was what the Nether realm stood for. Of course it wasn't a normal steel wall. The material used to make it was a special kind capable of conducting Star Energy or Star Ether.
Placing his hand on my shoulder, Wall spoke to me with pride. "This is the peak of alchemy and magic, Astrid. If you and your friends succeed, humanity will be able to push forward without the fear of becoming extinct. But if you can't do that, at least survive for Ivy."
I sensed a shift in the atmosphere as the air started cackling with both blue electricity and star ether. The difference between the two energies was as clear as day. The blue color of star ether was richer and filled with life. Each time it made contact with my skin, that part of my body disappeared as it dissolved into the portal.
And before I knew it, I was covered in a myriad of electric blue and the deep blue hue of the star energy. The electricity avoided my skin, while the star energy ate away more and more of my being even faster.
[You have accepted the call.]
Prepare for your challenge...]
[Nexus point: Nether]