Realm of Darkness | Volume One

Different Heaven

Ali now dealt with, the sterile hallway fell into a suffocating silence. The only sounds were the distant chatter and footsteps muffled by the thick walls, punctuated by the soft whirring of unseen machinery. João leaned on the wall, his gaze darting nervously between the others. Dr. Malik, ever the cryptic scientist, seemed to shrink under the weight of the unspoken tension.

"I hope the Administrators are okay with this..." João finally croaked, his voice barely a whisper.

Dr. Malik scoffed. "Of course they are."

Isaac remained silent, his expression a mask of barely contained fury. Even through the sterile white walls, they could hear the distant rumble of the ongoing battle. He clenched and unclenched his fists, a surge of white-hot energy crackling around his knuckles.

A flicker of movement outside the hallway caught their attention. Fields of crackling crimson energy, the color of spilled blood, materialized before their eyes. Thick clouds of black smog, smelling of sulfur and decay, followed, rolling in like a monstrous tide. Unease curdled in the stomachs of the TLL.

From the swirling smog emerged a towering figure cloaked in a tattered black robe, its hood pulled low, obscuring its face. In its arms, it carried a limp form – Ryan. Or what was left of him.

A rasping voice, distorted by the hood, echoed through the sterile corridor. "Turns out I was late..."

Emily's knees buckled beneath her, a strangled sob escaping her lips. Despair, thick and suffocating, washed over Felix and Thomas, their eyes glazing over with a chilling emptiness.

Isaac's world shattered. His twin brother, the other half of his soul, was gone. A choked scream ripped from his throat, a primal howl laced with such raw pain and fury that it sent shivers down spines hardened by countless battles. Blinding light, a corona of white-hot rage, erupted from his body, dwarfing anything they'd ever witnessed.

The sterile hallway dissolved into a red haze for Isaac. Gone were the worried faces of his team, the sterile white walls, even the air itself. All that remained was the horrifying image of Ryan's lifeless form seared into his mind. Grief, a monstrous entity, twisted within him, morphing into a white-hot rage that consumed him entirely. In that moment, Isaac was no longer a soldier, no longer a TANT member. He was a brother, howling in the face of an unbearable loss.

His body became a conduit for his fury. The air crackled with a malevolent energy, the sterile white walls shimmering as if under immense pressure. The soft hum of machinery sputtered and died, replaced by a low, ominous groan as the very molecules in the air vibrated with his rage.

With a terrifying snarl, Isaac unleashed his power. His usually precise and controlled plasma manipulation turned into a chaotic frenzy. Blinding flashes of yellow and white, the colours of raw power and unbridled emotion, erupted from his hands. The air ignited, warping and twisting in the face of the unimaginable heat. The hallway transformed into a furnace, the smell of ozone filling the air, a testament to the sheer power coursing through Isaac.

But the energy wasn't just plasma. It was raw, unbridled fury radiating from him like a physical force. Gone was the easygoing grin, replaced by a mask of contorted agony. His voice, usually laced with sardonic humor, became a guttural scream, a primal roar that echoed through the hallway. "WHERE IS THEIR FREAKING MOTHERSHIP!?" it boomed, a thunderclap of rage threatening to tear the very walls apart. The monstrous entity of grief within him threatened to consume him whole, and in its wake, leave only destruction.

"WHERE IS THEIR FREAKING MOTHERSHIP!?" he roared, the sound echoing through the sterile hallway like a thunderclap. His voice, usually laced with a sardonic humor, was a guttural scream, raw and primal. The grief, a monstrous entity coiling within him, threatened to consume him whole.