The entire facility began to tear apart like that of flimsy paper. Ten was teetering on the brink of conscious and unconsciousness. The severe stress of everything that was going on had filled his vision with hallucinations. 

There were loud gusts of wind which whistled through the air. It was Katrina. She began to levitate into the night sky as dark thunderous clouds started to loom over her.

Wolf had taken a direct hit earlier and was struggling with all his willpower to get back on his two feet. Dreya and Ikara stared in horror, there was nothing they could do now. BANE soldiers were on a completely different level, especially one of Katrina’s caliber.

“WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!” Shouted Ikara.

“WHAT ABOUT WOLF?!” Dreya shouted back.

“YOU DAMN CRIMINALS! RESORTING TO UNDERHANDED TACTICS TO TAKE ME DOWN!” Shrieked Katrina as the galing winds grew more ferocious. 

Debris was flying all over the place cutting up Dreya and Ikara who tried to shield themselves. But it was no use. Soon they found themselves forced off of the very ground they stood on, picked up by Katrina’s unrelenting winds. Ten began to rise as well and so did Kal, along with many of the other test subjects that were still unconscious.

Wolf finally managed to get up but most of his energy had been exhausted defending against the attack Katrina had thrown earlier. If he hadn’t used his ability to its full potential in that split second, things could have easily been fatal.

“At this rate…”

Dreya turned around, noticing Wolf had recovered from the previous attack.

“CAPTAIN!”

Wolf barely manages to put up one hand, summoning a glowing barrier which engulfs Dreya and Ikara, preventing them from getting caught up in the hurricane-like winds.

“DREYA WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!” Screamed Wolf.

“I ONLY HAVE ENOUGH ENERGY FOR TWO MORE BARRIERS! WE CAN ONLY LEAVE WITH TWO TADS!”

“Damn it, only two…” Ikara muttered to herself. She looked up at the sky and noticed the thunderclouds ready to smite them at any second. An idea pops into her head.

“I'LL GET YOU AN OPENING DREYA!” Ikara shouted as she aimed her gun at Katrina.

She unloaded her entire clip at Katrina, missing every single shot.

“HAHAHA! WHERE ARE YOU AIMING AT YOU IDIOT!” Katrina laughed.

“YOU SAY YOU’RE A BANE SOLDIER YET YOU DESTROY THE VERY LABORATORY YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT?!! THE ONLY CRIMINAL HERE IS YOU!!” Ikara shouted back in a mocking tone.

“Shut the hell up… Know your place, you insect… It’s time for your judgment” Katrina coldly retorted.

A thunderbolt came flying down from the heavens, directly striking the barrier that was surrounding Ikara. It had absorbed most of the damage but Ikara still felt a powerful jolting sensation throughout her entire body.

“ARGHH!!” She screamed in agony as she collapsed to the ground, the barrier around her had been severely damaged.

But the deed was already done. In the moments leading up to the lightning strike, she had managed to activate her special ability, allowing her to alter her opponent’s perception of sound. She had successfully amplified Katrina’s eardrums to the maximum input.

Blood exploded from Katrina’s ears as she jolted backwards in pain. The sound of the thunder had completely devastated her eardrums and her head began ringing with an uncontrollable pain.

In that split moment of time, Dreya had created a portal. Wolf managed to barrier Ten and another test subject nearby, stealing them from the grasp of Katrina’s winds. His decision was completely random as all the test subjects looked pretty much identical. Kal would be swept up by Katrina's winds while Ten and the others escaped through Dreya’s portal.

After the ringing had finally subsided, Katrina regained her composure. Her prey had managed to escape without a trace. She scanned the facility but it was pointless. They were gone.

“Damn it…” She muttered to herself with an irritated voice.

“Next time I see those AA criminals I won’t hold back…”

The winds began to die down as Katrina descended towards the foundation of the destroyed BANE laboratory. She noticed a test subject squirming around in pain. Their body was cut up from all the flying debris that had been kicked up earlier and a part of their arm was completely crushed under a large pile of rubble.

It was Kal.

“T-ten…” he called out in a dying voice.

“Looks like we got a couple of survivors. Don’t take it personally, but due to standard procedures, I have to eliminate all of you now.”

The wind around Katrina began to twist ferociously.

Kal’s eyes widened as fountains of blood from all the remaining subjects gushed forward and began to obscure his vision. The last thing he saw was a crimson red hue as he screamed in his dying breath.

***

“So you’re telling me… that he’s dead…” Ten said with a wavering voice filled with agony.

“Well… I can’t say for certain… however, there’s a high chance that he has been eliminated.” Wolf replied in a solemn tone.

“What about Zena… she was with me and Kal back in Elysion…”

“Like I said… I’m not sure… if she was in that laboratory she’s probably dead too…”

Ten’s mind went blank as a sensation of hopelessness began to engulf his very being. He could no longer return to the world he once knew. His days of being a well respected hero were completely over. And now, his closest friends were gone too.

He no longer could discern what was real and what was fake. Perhaps this was all one bad nightmare that he would eventually wake up from.

He pinched himself as hard as he could muster. Tearing off bits of bloodied skin in the process.

He wasn’t waking up.

He began to grit his teeth and clench his fists with an unshakable sadness. Tears were streaming down his pale malnourished face.

“Saved? You people are saying you saved me?” He growled under his breath.

“By dragging me into hell along with you?!”

Wolf was staring at the ground in silence. Saying anything would only provoke Ten further.

The hero of Elysion had been completely shattered into a broken soul and now a vicious side of him began to fester.

“Get out… GET OUT YOU DEMON!!” Ten screamed as he flung foreign objects in Wolf’s direction.

Wolf quickly stood up and made his way to the iron door. There was nothing left for him to say. The conversation had completely broken down.

As he walked out, all he could muster was, “I’m sorry…”

The door closed and Ten was left all alone once again. He was rocking back and forth, cursing hysterically under his breath. 

Then an idea popped into his head.

He looked up at the sharp glass fragments that scattered across the floor from his clumsy accident earlier. He slowly crawled forward, picking one up and staring deeply into his own horrifying reflection.

He moved the shard close to his throat, slightly drawing a thin bead of blood from his neck.

His hands began to shake and his breathing became frantic.

“There’s no point anymore…” Ten whimpered.

“Just get me out of this nightmare already…”

He gritted his teeth, preparing to slice open his throat. It would only take a quick second and everything would be over. But just as he was about to commit, a peculiar memory started playing in his head.

It was when Ten had first met Kal and Zena.

Ten was hard at work that day, spending most of his time out in the fields harvesting crops for small change and scraps of leftover food. It was the only thing keeping him alive ever since he had lost his village from a bandit raid.

On his daily walks, he would often come across two young and orphaned children who were begging for food on the side of the road. Their clothes were tattered and dirty, and their faces were pale and malnourished.

One particular day, Ten had snuck some of the crops he had harvested in his trousers.

“Here, eat this.” 

Ten pulled out some vegetables, gently handing them over.

“T-thank you…” The girl replied.

The boy nodded and started wolfing down on the food. On closer inspection, they looked around Ten’s age. As he began spending more time with them on his daily commute, he learned about their situation and a bond slowly started to emerge.

Their names were Kal and Zena, children who had been captured by bandits to be sold off as slaves. Kal had been sold off by his own tribe in order to pay reparations to a rival clan. And Zena had been kidnapped as the daughter of a wealthy baron. However, due to sheer luck, they managed to escape. Ever since then, they’ve been travelling from town to town struggling to survive.

Ten had realized the three of them were all bound by a single commonality. The consequences of violence and war, which had plagued the land. Soon, they found themselves growing into extremely close friends.

“I’M GOING TO BRING PEACE TO THIS LAND!” Kal proclaimed pointing up at the sky one evening.

“I SWEAR TO THE GODDESSES!! THAT NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS… I WILL CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!!” He continued.

It was the first time Ten had seen Kal so passionate and outspoken.

“The three of us together… we can do it… I truly believe.” Kal said as he looked at both Ten and Zena with glimmering eyes.

It was a tall order. But Ten and Zena couldn’t help but feel inspired by Kal’s enthusiasm. They too, understood the tragedy of war and had longed for change.

Ten stood up. The sun was beginning to set and the skies of Elysion had been dyed with a beautiful blood orange.

“Then it’s a promise,” Ten said.

“That no matter what happens… Even if it means sacrificing our own lives.”

“We will always fight… for a better tomorrow.” Kal smiled as he finished.

They swore through a blood oath. A sacred ritual that symbolized the highest of promises. It was said that breaking such a contract would turn even the Goddesses of Elysion into your worst enemies.

***

Tears began streaming down Ten’s face as his emotions went rampant. He couldn’t forget the promise that he and his friends had made that day. Committing suicide here was the last thing Kal and Zena would have ever wanted. The small moment of hesitation was enough to spare Ten’s life as he dropped the glass shard and collapsed to the floor breathing heavily.

“Damn it…” He muttered while clenching his teeth.

“Why would I even do such a thing…” He sobbed.