MONSTER OF THE UNKNOWN

AARON'S MIND

In a certain forest in Lille—Grotenhoutbos to be precise—an ominous black armoured vehicle traverses the terrain in search of the secret UDAP headquarters. Occupying this van are: the stalker (who's driving the vehicle), Louane, M and of course, Aaron. It's been almost 24 hours since the cultists coerced our protagonist into joining another of their insane missions and he is still in the dark about what exactly they are going to do. Louane and M have been kept in charge of monitoring him and ensuring he doesn't escape, and no matter what he asks, the two remain adamant on not divulging any relevant information.

After a few more hours on the road, the stalker abruptly stops the vehicle, indicating that they have now reached the intended location. Due to the fact that all the windows at the back are opaque, Aaron has no way of identifying where they are, but he has a feeling it's nowhere familiar. A few minutes after halting, the stalker opens the back door and instructs all three of them to come out, and as they do so, the teen boy's attention is pulled to the black bag the man is carrying over his shoulder.

"What are you hiding in the bag?" Aaron asks him out of curiosity. Something tells him that, like everything the Zomer seems to be doing, it's either something illegal or dangerous, or maybe even both. "Is it a bomb?"

"You'll find out when it's time for it to be unveiled. For now, I need you to leave the van," the stalker answers the question with his regular vagueness and malevolent smile.

When Aaron told himself he wasn't going to recognize the final destination, he wasn't at all expecting what he's currently seeing. For as far as the eye can see, all there seems to be are endless tall evergreen trees and grasses. What's up with these psychos and taking everything to the woods? First was when they attacked Mathéo and Laura on the first day of school, then the disappearing library, and now this. What's next? Playing into cult stereotypes by making animal sacrifices in some backwater forest?

The stalker leads all of them deeper into the forest, insisting that they have to cover the remaining distance by foot for stealth reasons. After over ten minutes of walking through snakes, insects as well as other bothersome creatures, the man stops them in the middle of nowhere. Aaron's starting to think the guy has lost it cause he honestly can't tell the difference between where they came from and where they are at now.

"I thought you guys were planning on infiltrating some high-level security fortress. What are we doing in the middle of the freaking woods?!" The teenager's frustration and annoyance with the whole situation just keep growing bigger and bigger. "I can't even see a single building anywhere close to this vicinity."

"I assure you the headquarters is here. You don't see it cause it's underground. Just be patient," that's all the apparent leader of this operation says in response before switching his focus to Louane who's rubbing her palms on the ground looking for something. "Have you detected it?"

"Yes," the blonde answers as she raises her gaze to the man. "It's deep, but I should be able to teleport us down there."

The stalker's creepy smile appears to grow even wider after hearing the response, and he instructs M to stay back and keep guard while they're gone. Louane comes closer to her boss and Aaron and places her hands on both their shoulders, and in the blink of an eye, they are transported to a completely new location. At the moment, they're in a gigantic building that vaguely resembles the 'Men in Black' headquarters with everyone in it wearing black suits for some strange reason. They seem to use a lot of high-tech gadgets here, for example: a 3D hologram projector displaying the UDAP logo in midair. As Aaron's about to wander off to marvel in the beauty of his current surroundings, the stalker pulls him back.

"If you distance yourself from me, you'll no longer be invisible to all of them," the man warns the boy with a whisper.

The man is right. Everybody just walks pass the three of them as if they don't exist, or more like they can't see them. Like phantoms. This has to be the work of the stalker's zegen ability. His power allows him to manipulate the reflection and refraction of light rays in order to create illusions, mirages, and even make himself and other people within a certain radius from him invisible.