CHAPTER 2
ARIA
They were... beautiful.
The plaque beneath read:
DRACO MAGNA – Specimen 001 – Declared Extinct
Extinct?
They didn’t look extinct.
Preserved, yes.
But not dead.
The wings glistened with frost, too detailed, too intact. They looked ready to move.
A voice broke the silence.
"They belonged to the last of their kind. Or so we thought."
I startled, turning to find Dr. Justin standing beside me, watching me.
"It looks so real," I whispered.
"We believe in preserving what matters," he said, but his tone carried something else—something darker.
......
The next morning, he handed me a clipboard.
No explanation.
It was a request for me to accompany him to Sublevel 4 for “advanced sampling.”
"Why me again?" I asked as I followed him down a corridor I’d never seen before.
His eyes didn’t leave the path ahead.
"Your case is... special. We want to ensure everything is as it should be."
At the far end of the hall, we reached a steel door with no sign, no keypad—only a glowing biometric scanner.
It beeped, and the door slid open.
The lift inside was nothing like the others. Dark metal walls, cold to the touch.
Blue lights traced the corners like veins.
As we descended, I noticed them—deep gouges clawed into the walls. Long, ragged. Violent.
My stomach turned. I stepped back instinctively.
"What could’ve done that?"
He was quiet for a beat too long.
"Earlier subjects. Less compliant."
Subjects.
I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach.
"I thought this was a research internship."
"It is," he said, calm as ever.
"But there are layers to our work. You’ll come to understand."
The lift jolted and stopped.
The doors opened into a corridor bathed in red emergency lights.
Frost clung to the walls.
A constant hiss filtered through the air from vents I couldn’t see, curling around me like smoke.
The smell hit first—metallic, cold, sterile. It reminded me of the inside of a freezer, or a hospital basement—somewhere people weren’t meant to linger.
The frost on the walls glistened under the red emergency lights, casting eerie shadows that pulsed with every blink of the overhead panels.
I couldn’t help but shiver.
This wasn’t the kind of cold you dressed for.
It got under your skin, crept into your bones.
It felt… intentional. Like it was meant to keep something in, or keep something out.
I stepped out of the elevator slowly, careful not to make too much noise.
Even the quiet scuff of my shoes on the frozen floor felt too loud, too human. Like I was intruding.
“What is this place?” I whispered, not sure if I actually wanted an answer.
Dr. Justin’s hand came down on my shoulder—not rough, but firm. Heavy, like a warning.
“Stay close,” he said, voice low and even.
“And whatever happens… don’t run.”
Something about the way he said it chilled me more than the air ever could. It wasn’t dramatic. He didn’t look afraid.
Which meant he’d seen what happened when people didn’t listen.
And now I was starting to understand:
This wasn’t part of the internship.
This wasn’t routine.
This was a threshold.
And I’d just stepped over it.
We walked deeper.
Glass pods lined one side of the corridor, thick with frost.
Some were too foggy to see into.
Others revealed silhouettes—large, monstrous. Inhuman.
One pod rattled as we passed. I froze.
"Is it... alive?"
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he led me into a circular room filled with screens.
In the centre was a chair.
Strapped with restraints.
He motioned to it.
"Please, sit. We’ll just draw a few samples."
"From me? Again?"
My voice wavered despite my effort to stay calm.
"Yes. You’ve shown exceptional biological markers. Unprecedented event."
I swallowed.
"You still haven’t explained what makes me so... special."
He looked at me like I was an equation he hadn’t solved yet.
"You came to us, not through any known academy. Your records appeared just days before your arrival. Your blood holds properties we’ve never documented—mild regenerative capabilities, unusual cellular structure. You’re not just an intern, Aria. You’re a mystery."
My hands trembled.
"I want answers."
He leaned in slightly, voice low.
"And you’ll get them. But first—we need to finish the tests."
The needle gleamed under the surgical light.
And that’s when it hit me.
I hadn’t just stumbled into something bigger.
I had been brought here.
Chosen.
And the mystery of the pink milk? It was only the beginning.
The overhead lights buzzed faintly as I stepped into the lab, their glow flickering like they couldn’t decide whether to stay on or give up entirely.
Behind me, the door sealed with a soft hiss. The moment it closed, the sounds of the corridor vanished.
Just like that, I was alone.
Blue-tinted panels lined the walls, casting a dim, uneven light that stretched long shadows across the metal floor.
The air was cold, sharp against my skin—too cold for comfort.
It wasn’t the kind of cold that came from a draft or bad insulation.
It felt… intentional.
I took a cautious step forward.
That’s when the smell hit me.
Faint at first—something oddly sweet, like overripe fruit left too long in the sun.
But underneath that, something else.
Deeper. Wilder. A scent that didn’t belong in a place full of machines and glass walls.
It curled into my nose and settled in my chest, thick and warm and strangely intoxicating. Something was happening in my body.
And then I felt it.
Wetness.
Between my thighs... I stopped walking.
My thoughts blurred, and the room seemed to tilt for a second.
I blinked hard, trying to shake it off—but it wasn’t just in my head.
Something was happening in my body.
Heat, low and slow, uncoiled at the base of my spine.
It crawled up my back and settled in my belly, sharp and impossible to ignore.
My skin flushed hot, goosebumps rising along my arms even in the cold.
My breath caught.
My thighs pressed together instinctively, and my mouth felt dry, like I’d swallowed a mouthful of sand.
I froze as the warmth between my legs deepened into something undeniable. Immediate.
My body’s response didn’t make sense—not here.
Not now.
But the heat only grew.
And I had no idea why.
My knees wobbled.
Sudden.
Hot.
Mortification shot through me.
“What… the hell is happening to me?”
I whispered, reaching blindly for the wall, steadying myself with trembling fingers.
My breath came faster.
I could feel my senses sharpening, as if someone had turned up the volume on the world.
Every sound echoed like thunder.
Every shadow seemed to shift and pulse.
I didn’t feel like myself anymore.
Not completely.
Something was calling me.
Not with a voice, but with a pull.
I forced myself to speak.
“Dr. Justin?” I called out, voice cracking.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
I turned, heart pounding—but the hallway was sealed.
The smooth, metal door behind me was shut.
No lights.
No controls.
No way out.
When had he left?
He’d been right behind me.
I never heard him go.
Panic prickled under my skin, but I swallowed it.
Swallowed everything.
And walked forward.
The scent grew stronger as I moved—thicker now, laced with something darker.
Copper.
Blood.
I rounded a corner and stepped into the heart of the lab.
It was a circular chamber.
Silent. Cold.
Lit by a single, flickering spotlight above.
And that’s when I saw him.
My body locked up.
A man.
Or... something that looked like one.
Suspended by thick chains around his wrists and neck, his head hung low. His feet barely touched the ground.
He was naked.
Drenched in sweat and blood.
But it wasn’t just the state of him that stopped my breath—it was the way he looked.
Every inch of him was carved like stone.
Ripped, muscled, brutal in beauty.
His veins bulged under his skin like they were barely holding something in.
I couldn’t move.
“Oh my god,” I whispered.
He stirred.
His head lifted slowly, black hair dripping from his face.
Then his eyes opened.
Silver.
Not grey.
Not blue.
Silver.
Glowing faintly in the dark, not with rage—but something older.
Something wild.
His gaze locked onto mine, and I couldn’t breathe.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said, voice rough and raw—and yet somehow... magnetic.
I stumbled back, heart hammering.
“Who… who are you? What is this place?”
He gave a crooked smile—bitter and broken.
“That depends,” he said.
“Are you the doctor’s pet project?”
“What? I—I’m just an intern. I didn’t know… I didn’t mean—”
“Then leave,” he cut in.
“Before they come back.”
“I can’t.” I glanced behind me, at the sealed door.
“It locked behind me.”
He inhaled sharply.
His silver eyes flared brighter.
“You’re changing,” he said.
“What?” I blinked.
“What do you mean?”
“The scent,” he growled.
“You smell like heat. Like power. Something is waking up. Something not human.”
My stomach dropped.
“No,” I said, shaking my head.
“No, I’m human.”
He laughed.
A sound like broken thunder.
“Is that what they told you?”
My chest rose and fell faster. I couldn’t catch my breath.
“I don’t understand.”
“You will,” he said softly.
“Soon.”
And god help me—I believed him.
There was danger in him, no doubt. But not malice.
Not for me.
His energy was violent, yes, but it pulled at me like gravity.
Like a thread wound around my bones.
My body ached.
“Why are you chained?” I asked, voice unsteady.
“Who did this to you?”
“The same people who drugged you. Who made you drink their little pink vials? They keep me here because I don’t obey. Because I remember what they are.”
My mouth parted.
“You know what they did to me?”
His smile faltered.
“They’ve been waking you up, little by little. Every test. Every supplement. You’re not human. Or maybe… You never were.”
His voice darkened.
“But now, you’re starting to feel it.”
I backed up to a nearby table, clutching the edge like it was the only thing holding me to earth.
“No. This is insane. I’m not like you.”
His head tilted.
“Then why can’t you stop looking at me?” he asked softly.
“Why does your body burn, just being in the same room?”
I looked away.
Ashamed.
But he was right.
I couldn’t stop staring.
Couldn’t stop feeling the electricity racing under my skin.
His voice lowered, almost tender.
“They couldn’t control me. So they made something else. You. You’re the key to something. I don’t know what—but they do.”
I turned back to him, throat tight.
“Then help me. Tell me what I am. What do they want from me?”
He looked at me for a long, silent moment.
Then nodded.
“Come closer.”
My breath hitched.
“Why?”
“Because there’s something else they won’t tell you. Something only I can show you.”
Every nerve in me screamed no.
But my feet moved anyway.
One step.
Another.
Until I stood directly in front of him.
The heat of his body hit me like a furnace.
My pulse roared in my ears.
“Give me your hand,” he said.
I lifted it slowly.
Shaking.
He bent his head—and touched his forehead to my palm.
The world cracked open.
Flashes.
Visions.
Fire.
Screams.
Wings bursting from my back.
Blood. Chains.
A roar in my throat in a language I didn’t understand.
And then—darkness.
I jerked away, gasping.
He groaned.
The chains clanked above him.
“What was that?” I choked.
“Your memories,” he said, voice hoarse.
“Or what they buried.”
My hands were shaking.
“You’re like me. A hybrid. A weapon. A mistake they tried to control.”
I stared at him.
“No. What am I supposed to do with that?”
He looked at me with something like sorrow.
“You have to wake up. Before they use you to end what’s left of the world.”
Then—an alarm blared.
The lights roared to life.
The doors unsealed.
“Aria,” Dr. Justin’s voice rang out.
“Step away from the subject.”
I turned.
He stood in the hallway.
Waiting.
Behind me, the man’s voice came low. Steady.
“You have a choice,” he said.
“Run back to them… or free me.”
My fingers twitched.
My heart thundered.
