Kren saw red as the three older boys surrounded Astor in the courtyard, shoving him back and forth tauntingly. He felt lightning crackle at his fingertips.

"Leave him alone!" Kren shouted, striding toward them.

The ringleader, Weston, sneered at him. "Looks like the freak's little boyfriend is here to save him."

Ignoring the jab, Kren stepped between Astor and the bullies, electricity arcing warningly around him. "Walk away. Now."

Weston just laughed. "Make us, tiny." He pushed at Kren's chest.

Acting on pure instinct, Kren released a bolt of sizzling lightning right at Weston's chest. The bigger boy flew backward with a cry, spasming and convulsing.

Horrified, Kren crouched by him as Weston trembled weakly, clothes smoking. "I'm sorry! Are you-"

"Kren, stop!" Astor cried, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. "You've done enough."

Kren looked at Astor desperately. "I didn't mean to hurt him that bad, I swear! I just wanted to protect you."

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Astor gave him a haunted look. "This has to stop. That power inside you, it's twisted." He backed away slowly.

Confused and panicking, Kren reached out a pleading hand. "Astor, wait, where are you going?"

But Astor had already turned and broken into a run across the courtyard. Kren started to give chase, then remembered the moaning bully behind him.

Tears stinging his eyes, Kren helped Weston over to a bench. He glanced back to see Astor disappear inside the dorms, looking terrified.

Kren felt utterly lost. He hadn't meant to take things so far. Now Astor was scared of him too. And Kren realized with dawning horror that some dark part of him had enjoyed unleashing that lightning, making the bullies suffer and fear him for once.

What was he becoming? Kren stared down at his hands, seeing only weapons of pain, not the tools of courage he had imagined. If this was the path of power he walked, soon Astor and everything good would be left behind. Kren had to find the light again, before darkness consumed him completely.

Astor shrank back against the wall as Dr. Miles loomed over him. "For the last time, recondition the Kren boy to be properly obedient again."

"I won't do it," Astor said weakly, already feeling the oppressive gloom of the White Room punishment ahead. "You've made him cruel. I can't keep twisting him like this."

Dr. Miles's expression hardened. "I tried to be patient, but you leave me no choice." He snapped his fingers, summoning the guards.

"No, please!" Astor cried as they seized him. But his pleas fell on deaf ears as he was dragged to that terrible place of sensory deprivation he dreaded.

Time lost meaning in the darkness and silence. At some point, the door opened again. Astor blinked up dazedly to see Dr. Miles's smiling face.

"Have you reconsidered, boy? Will you behave now?"

Astor shuddered but gave a small nod. He couldn't take any more of this torment. They had broken him.

After an adjustment period under watch, Astor was brought to see Kren. The boy eyed him nervously, clearly disturbed by whatever cruelty he'd endured under reconditioning.

Astor barely kept back tears. "I'm so sorry, my friend." He embraced Kren gently, then began carefully repairing the psychological damage, easing his friend's Inner turmoil.

When it was done, Astor staggered away, feeling shattered by this ultimate betrayal. The voice in his head pronounced a grim congratulations on reaching Level 5, but he felt only hollow.

Alone in his bunk that night, Astor wept quietly. He had sacrificed the last shreds of his principles just to escape more suffering. There was no light left within him now, just a cold and endless darkness.