Ethan's breath caught in his throat.
The golden eyes gleamed in the dim light, their glow unnatural, predatory.
Adrian stood just inside the doorway—his form half-shrouded in shadow, his posture too still, too patient.
But this wasn't the Adrian Ethan had once known.
The air around him shimmered, like heat waves rising from scorched earth. His presence pressed against reality itself, bending it in ways that made Ethan's stomach churn.
Shadow hissed, fur bristling. Blaze whimpered, hackles raised.
Noah took a step back. "Oh, hell no."
Valerie's hand hovered over her gun, though they all knew it wouldn't make a difference.
And then—Adrian smiled.
"It's good to see you again, Ethan."
The Weight of the Past
Ethan's fingers curled into a fist. He forced his voice to stay steady.
"You're not Adrian."
The golden-eyed figure tilted his head, almost amused. "Aren't I?"
His voice still had the same smooth cadence, the same knowing tone—but there was something else beneath it. Layers. Echoes.
Like more than one voice was speaking at once.
"You saw the files," Adrian continued. "You understand now, don't you? What they did to me? What they turned me into?"
Ethan's jaw tightened. "They experimented on you. Used you as a test subject."
Adrian chuckled. "They did more than that. They rewrote me."
His gaze swept over the others, lingering on Olivia, on Valerie, before returning to Ethan.
"I should be dead. I was dead. But something… woke me up." His smile grew, sharp and knowing. "And now, I see the world differently."
A cold shiver crawled down Ethan's spine.
Because Adrian wasn't just talking.
He was showing him.
For a split second, Ethan's vision blurred—the room around him twisted, colors warping, time itself stuttering.
And then it snapped back.
He staggered, gasping.
Adrian's golden eyes watched him closely.
"You feel it, don't you?" he murmured. "The shift. The pull. The world doesn't work the way you think it does anymore, Ethan."
Ethan's heartbeat thundered in his ears.
He did feel it.
And that terrified him.
The Choice
Adrian took a slow step forward. No one moved.
"I'm not here to kill you," he said softly. "If I wanted to, I would've done it already."
Noah scoffed. "Great. Comforting."
Adrian ignored him. His gaze remained locked on Ethan.
"I came to offer you something, old friend."
Ethan clenched his fists. "I'm not interested."
A chuckle. "You haven't even heard it yet."
The golden glow in Adrian's eyes flared.
And suddenly, Ethan wasn't in the lab anymore.
A Glimpse Beyond
The world ripped open.
Ethan gasped as his mind was pulled somewhere else.
A city stood before him—torn apart by time and something much worse. The sky was fractured, the ground pulsing like a living thing.
And in the distance…
A towering figure.
Something vast. Unfathomable. Watching.
The air hummed with whispers, voices bleeding into his skull.
Then—blackness.
When Ethan snapped back to reality, he was on his knees, gasping for breath.
His friends stood frozen, eyes wide with fear.
Adrian loomed over him, smiling.
"Do you see now?" he murmured. "The world is breaking. And I can help you survive it."
Ethan forced himself to stand, despite the weight pressing against his skull.
His vision swam. His heartbeat pounded.
But he met Adrian's gaze with steel.
"Not like this."
Adrian sighed, almost disappointed. "You always were stubborn."
Then—
The world shook.
An alarm blared through the lab. The walls groaned.
And from the halls beyond, something screeched.
Something worse than Adrian was coming.
Adrian smirked.
"I guess we'll talk later."
Then, he was gone.
Leaving Ethan and his team to face whatever nightmare had just awakened.