Layla heard a loud voice calling her name. She turned her head to the source of the noise. In front of the open door stood 3 people looking around the room. A woman stood at the front of the group with two men beside her. They were all wearing black vests with different variations. They were all fitted with different holsters around their waist. Two of them seemed familiar to Layla. One had black hair with red eyes. Layla could see a scabbard at the side of his waist, with a black grip sticking out of it. Layla also recognized the man beside her. His red eyes and black were very memorable.

“The tall one was the one that created the smoke,” thought Layla.

The tall man had short blonde hair along with black stripes along his arms. The woman at the front had crimson hair and was wearing a large glove. What surprised Layla was their red eyes. As Layla was watching them, She saw people start to discuss amongst themselves. It started as whispering but grew to loud complaints that were directed against the 3 people in front of the door.

“Who are you, people? Why are we here!” said a person close to the door.

More people started to voice out their opinions and shouted at the group.

“This isn’t right, let us leave!” said a man.

“Yea, we’ve been here for hours,” said a woman.

Layla could hear the frustration in their voice as they faced the group of three people. Some people started to approach them as the shouts got louder. The red-haired woman pulled out a gun and shot the floor in front of her. Silence dominated the crowd as they watched her. Sitting at the edge of the room Layla saw her return the gun to her waist, with a small grin on her face.

“I don’t think you people understand what your situation is. You are our captives, if you don’t want to stay quiet, then we'll simply clean up the trash,” said the woman.

The woman turned to the two men behind her. Her long scarlet hair swayed against her shoulders as she moved. The black-haired man moved from behind the woman and started to approach the group of people. They started to back away, making a path for him. Layla could see people trembling as he stared along with the crowd.

“Wait for a second, he is coming for me,” thought Layla. She found that the man was on a path towards her. She started to panic as he started to get closer.

“You can’t hide Layla. You’re much different than everyone else,” said the man.

After saying that, the man started in her direction. Layla met his red eyes as sweat started to run down her face. He had a mocking smile on his face as he continued to approach her. The people around her noticed this and started to part leaving her at the center.

Once the man approached her, he rested his left hand on the grip of his blade.

“You’re coming with us, I’m sure you know what will happen if you resist,” said the man.

The memory from the bus played in Layla's head as she looked at the scabbard. Layla took a deep breath and looked at the man in front of her. She clenched her fist as she stepped towards him, she felt the eyes of many people looking at her. Some looked at her with pity, while others had relieved expressions on their faces. While everyone's attention was on Layla, a scream was heard at the front of the group.

“What are you doing with my son!” said a familiar voice.

A terrible feeling started to form in Layla’s chest after she heard the voice. The man grabbed her right arm and started to drag her to the source of people. She felt a slight pain from her left arm as he continued to pull her left arm.

The man turned to her and started to look into her eyes. “So you have purple eyes, I thought everyone was red. I guess that’s why you're special,” said the man.

“What do you mean?” asked Layla.

“You’ll see,” said the man.

When Layla reached the front of the group, she saw a gun being pointed at the man that helped her. The tall man behind the woman grabbed their kid by the arm and pointed his wife at the man and woman.

Layla tried to take a step forward, but she was pulled behind the man with black hair. No matter how hard she struggled she couldn’t get her arm from his release.

“C’mon Layla, you should be watching the show,” said the man.

Layla looked at him with a frustrated expression. “Do you think that this is funny!” said Layla.

“Of course, we have become something that no human could ever reach,” said the man, while looking at his scabbard.

The child started to cry while being held by the tall man. The man and woman could only stare as their child was being pulled away. The child continued to struggle while calling out their names. Tears ran down his face as he stared at his parents.

“Mommy, Daddy. Don’t leave me!” said the child.

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The tall man turned his back to the family and continued to walk away with the child. The father stared at the man's back while the child’s mother was on her knees crying. The crying sounds of the child echoed across the room. Layla felt powerless as she watched the child being pulled farther and farther away from his parents. The people around her didn’t make any noise nor move, making the child’s struggle seem louder than it was.

As Layla was watching, the father charged at the tall man. His heavy footsteps echoed across the room. His choice surprised Layla, she couldn’t understand how and what he was trying to achieve. A mocking voice came from the man beside Layla.

“It seems like the captain found her prey,” said the man.

A familiar feeling started to form from Layla’s chest. She felt like something was calling her. Which led her vision to the end of the room where a red woman was standing. The woman’s eyes glowed red. As red and purple colors spread from her arm to her hand. On her palm, a red object formed. It seemed like a bright red spike, as quickly as she formed the object, it was sent flying at the man. Layla was only able to blink as the spike crashed into the side of his head. Causing him to fall on the floor.

Layla was shocked seeing what happened, she wanted to say something but she couldn’t find any words. The woman got from her knees and ran to the body.

“Jason, please answer me!” said the woman as she dragged the body towards her.

Layla could see a horrified expression on the child as he stared at his father’s corpse. All the power fell from his body as he stopped struggling against the tall man and was pulled beside the red-haired woman.

The man beside Layla started to guide her towards the red woman. “I hope you enjoyed the show,” said the man.

Layla wanted to pull away, but she couldn’t escape his grip. As they walked past the woman, a blue orb seemed to be escaping the man’s body. Layla found it odd, no one else was paying any attention to it. Once it fully popped out of the body, it was going in the same direction that Layla was walking. It moved past Layla at a very fast speed and landed in the palm of the red-haired woman.

“I’m sure you saw it?” said the man dragging Layla.

Layla looked at the man in front of her. She didn’t want to say yes but knew that the same thing that happened to the man could happen to her.

“I saw a blue ball form from the body,” said Layla.

“It seems you at least know the basics. If you couldn’t, then you wouldn’t be worth our time,” said the man.

Layla and the man reached the red-haired woman along with the tall man at the front of the room. She saw the child being held by the tall man, he stood there in a daze as he looked at his father and mother.

While looking at the child, Layla thought to herself. “If I want to survive this then I have to follow what they say. Satanachia promised me power, but I know it has to be something I have to get with my own hands.”

Layla’s attention was drawn to the red-haired woman. She was wearing a black glove on her right hand with red symbols along the edges. In her hand, the small blue orb in her hand was trying to escape. Red chains seemed to be tying down the orb, as it continued to struggle.

The woman turned to the man beside Layla. “We got what we came for, and it seems like glove works. Now we can move onto the second test,” said the woman.

Layla was led out of the room along with the child. The other people in the room only stared at them but didn’t do anything even when the door was being closed. After leaving the room, Layla saw two guards standing beside the door. They were carrying large guns with them and wearing some type of tactical gear. They glared at Layla as she was leaving the room. But turned their heads once the red-haired woman made eye contact with them.

In front of Layla was a wide halfway. It was illuminated by lights along with the ceiling. The red-haired woman led the group with Layla forced at the center. The two men were walking behind her while the tall man was dragging the child by the arm. After a few minutes of walking Layla was led to a large room. There were multiple tables around the room with different lab equipment. Some of it was things that she remembered from high school chemistry, but it quickly became unrecognizable the farther she looked. On some of the tables, there were flasks filled with a red substance along with parts of some type of animal on the desks.

She felt sick looking at the desk and could only think of getting away from it. Layla knew that she didn’t have many ways to escape. “I can’t beat them in power or speed. All I can do for now is follow,” thought Layla. She felt frustrated that she couldn’t help herself or anyone around her.

There were many soldiers around the room. They all stared at Layla gripping their guns as if she may do something. Layla also noticed that this room was connected to many hallways. Most of the soldiers were standing around the entrances.

“It’s almost as if they are waiting to do something,” thought Layla.

The red-haired woman leads her to the only entrance that didn’t have any soldiers guarding it. Once they entered the hallway, Layla could hear odd noises coming from the end of it. She could hear growls of different beasts echoing across the hallway.

The black-haired man behind Layla released a slight laugh. “It seems they think that it’s their lunchtime. They haven’t been this excited in a while, ” said the man.

Layla started to hear crying behind her. The child seemed to have started to cry. Layla was going to help him but hesitated once she saw the black-haired man staring at her.

“I want my mommy and daddy!” screamed the child.

The woman stopped walking and turned around. She ignored Layla and looked at the blond man. “Just use your ability, I am already holding this soul. I don’t want that child to break my concentration,” said the woman.

“Right captain. We don’t want to lose our test subject,” said the man.

The man grabbed both the child's arms and raised him from the floor. His eyes started to shine and red streaks started to travel from down his arm into the black strips around his arm. The streaks then went around his wrist. His palms started to glow red as he was grabbing the kid. Layla could hear the child screaming as he was trying to get out.

“Don’t worry kid, it will only hurt a little bit,” said the man.

Red streaks started to form on the places where the child was being grabbed. His screaming slowly got quieter until he didn’t make any noise. Eventually, the man let go of the child, but Layla didn’t see the same kid. He had an emotional face as he stared at the blonde man.

“Now, go and walk,” said the man.

The child nodded his head and started to walk down the hallway. Layla couldn’t see any fear from the child almost as if he was a puppet.

“What did you do to him!” said Layla.

The man looked at the woman in front of Layla. She began to speak after seeing him. “You don’t have to know that, all you need to know is that he’s under our control,” said the woman.

Layla stared at the woman while clenching her fist. “Why didn’t you do that to me then?” asked Layla.

“I’m sure you’re smart enough to know your position, Layla. There’s nothing I hate more than people that try to be something that they aren’t,” said the woman while moving the blue orb in her hand, “they’re bound to lose something important. You are the same Layla which is why your mother is no longer here,” said the woman.

Layla had a face of disbelief. “How do you know that?” said Layla.

The woman simply turned away and continued to walk down the hallway. Layla tried to grab her but was blocked by the black-haired man.

“C’mon Layla, this kid isn’t worth your life. Food isn’t worth all this effort,” said the man.

Layla was confused after hearing what the man said. “What do you mean by food?” said Layla.

The man gestured down the hallway. “If you want to know, then continue down the hallway,” said the man.

Layla looked down the hallway. The noises of the beast’s seemed to have gotten louder since the child went down it. She knew that she didn’t have a choice, so she started to take steps towards the end of the hallway. The two men stayed behind her as she reached the ending.

Once Layla entered the room the noises stopped, filling the room with silence. As Layla was looking around she noticed many odd things in the room. It was a mixture of black and gray paint on the wall, with a large machine on the ceiling connected to large containers lined up at the side of the room. They had a blue screen that made it difficult to see what was inside forcing Layla to approach it.

When she looked inside, Layla covered her mouth and backed away.

“What is that!” said Layla.

Layla found a human figure inside the container, but wouldn’t describe it as that. Half of its face was reduced down to a skeleton, its left arm seemed to have been replaced by long strings of flesh and it had a large tail striking from its back. Layla saw bright red eyes burning from inside the skull.

The black-haired man behind Layla stepped forward in front of the container.

“This is what we call a husk, something that used to be human,” said the man.